· Dave Hess ~ Long Days And Hard Work
In every fighter's career an opportunity comes along to make a name for themselves by defeating an opponent with a well-known name. This Saturday, heavyweight fighter Dave Hess will get that opportunity as he faces off against UFC veteran "Irish" Jake O'Brien in the main event of "MMA Big Show: Triple Threat." MMASpot recently sat down with Dave to discuss his origins and his thoughts on the fight.
An Indiana native growing up in the town of Sunman, Hess has been an athlete his entire life. "I grew up playing football and got into wrestling at a pretty early age. I started wrestling before high school, maybe in fifth grade. I did just about every sport the school offered, but my main focus was wrestling. And I use a lot of that in my fights too, it's helped me out a lot."
While his wrestling certainly laid the foundation for a career in mixed martial arts, Hess never trained in one specific martial art. His transition to MMA instead, was the result of knowing people already involved in the sport. "I just had a buddy, kind of a guy that knew a guy that knew a guy. He told me where their team was at. I found their website and went up there and started practicing with them." That team was Team G-Force, led by Ron Gableman. "He hooked me up with my first fight with Cage Inferno in Louisville, Kentucky."
Hess spent a great deal of his career on the amateur circuit, amassing a record of 19-2 before making the transition to professional MMA. "I didn't even know who I was fighting most of the time, not until I got there. I don't even know how many sanctioned fights I've even had." Unsanctioned fights aside, Hess spent a great deal of his amateur career with the now defunct Caged Inferno. "A lot of my fights were with Caged Inferno, probably about 8 or 9 fights with them."
Following his tenure at Team G-Force, Hess moved to Universal MMA & Fitness in Lawrenceburg, Ind., where he has trained since. Training as a professional fighter can be tough; as one must also balance family life and a job. "I'm actually an injection molder. I've got long days and I work hard, so I'm gone from 6 a.m. until 7-8 at night." To add to the fighter's schedule, Hess has three children; a 7-year-old son and twin boys, born just nine months ago.
Since going pro, Hess has earned a 3-1 record. The submission expert has won all of his professional fights by submission: Eyib Mekhridze fell to a Keylock submission at "Caged Inferno 4," Josh Burns lost to a Rear Naked Choke at "MMA Big Show: Retribution," and Bo Huitt succumbed to an armbar just 39 seconds into their fight at "MMA Big Show: Heavy Hitters." Hess regards the Burns fight as his toughest test thus far. "I came into that fight off a layoff of almost a year and I just didn't have myself prepared enough to go in there and actually fight. It lasted three rounds and I was worn out, and it was kind of a sloppy mess. I choked him out in the third round."
Hess' only loss was to Steven Banks at "MMA Big Show: Unstoppable." "I never really got to fight Steven Banks, I got kicked in the nuts about 40 seconds into the fight. I'd like to fight him again though, that's where my only pro loss has come from and I never really got to fight him. It was about 40 seconds into the fight and it was a low blow, and I couldn't keep fighting. If I had to fight anybody again it'd probably be him." The fight was officially declared a TKO at 3:34 of round 1.
While all his professional victories have come by way of submission, Hess portrays his training as extremely well rounded. "I can hit pretty hard. I would say my main strength is the ground and my submissions. Out of my 25 fights I've probably had 20 submissions, it kinda came naturally being a wrestler and all." Despite the submissions, Hess remains unranked in jiu-jitsu. "To be honest I've never really pursued a belt."
Hess is looking to return to his winning ways against O'Brien. The two fighters both grew up in Indiana and in fact wrestled each other before in high school. "I didn't know him personally, I knew him because of who he was, always one of the guys to watch out for." Regardless of their history, Hess knows how he'd like the fight to go. "I'd like to stand up and knock him out. I know he's got excellent takedowns and if he does get me down on the ground I can finish him there too, so it doesn't really matter to me."
O'Brien, having fought for the UFC, is the more recognizable fighter, however Hess doesn't think that will make a difference come fight time. "He's taking a step back and I think he's gonna try to use me to get his record back up and to get a couple of fights underneath his belt but as far as I'm concerned that ain't gonna happen, I ain't gonna be a stepping stone for him." While O'Brien may hope to rebuild his record, Hess is thinking only of the future and becoming one of the biggest names in the world. "If I beat Jake O'Brien, you know, he's one of the top heavyweights in the world in my opinion, if I beat him I wouldn't mind holding [MMA Big Show]'s heavyweight belt and from there moving on to something bigger."
Despite a desire to be front and center on the world stage, Hess has nothing but praise for his current home. "Right now I think [MMA Big Show] is great. I know [Jason Appleton] has put a lot into it and compared to the other shows I've been in this is by far the best one. I think it's right up there with all the rest of them."
Hess would like to thank his training partners and his manager, Rodney Barker.
You can watch Dave Hess vs. Jakes O'Brien, as well as the rest of the event, this weekend as "MMA Big Show: Triple Threat" takes place in the Belterra Casino in Florence, Indiana. The main event card also features:
Roger Bowling vs. Jerrod Appenzeller (Welterweight Championship Bout)
Mojo Horne vs. Lucas Lopez
TJ Ball vs. Brandon Barger
Chris Bennett vs. Muhammad Abdullah
