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Dave Bownds
Dave is a UK MMA fighter out of the Grindhouse MMA Burton Fight team. Dave has fought in Cage Warriors and FX3 in the U.K. and has a current record of 4-2-0. Follow his training progress and his thoughts on his fights and his approach to MMA in general.
Medicine balls are evil07 Feb 2010 8:28PMFurther to my last post about training and my
enjoyment thereof I have decided that medicine balls are truly wonderful
yet evil creations. Over the last 2 years I have played around with
them a fair bit and come up with some interesting variations on a theme.
I thought I’d share some of the exercises with you – below is an
example of one of the rounds we complete in my conditioning classes (at
present). In isolati...
Times they are a-changin’13 Jan 2010 6:07PMOk, first off here’s an apology for leaving it so long between blogs. But in all honesty there hasn’t been a huge amount to report on the MMA front... well... that said I suppose there is. I should have perhaps put I haven’t done much MMA since my last blog. Work has continued to eat into the time I had to train and I was finding it difficult to even make it to the 3 weekly team sessions, let alone my 2 conditioning classes. Any additional fight prep would’ve been nigh on impossible without quit...
 Fighting Fit27 Oct 2009 1:27PMWe’ve made the move at long last. Out of the squash court and into a proper gym. It’s great, no sliding mats, no bruised knees, elbows and foreheads from concrete walls and wooden floors and more importantly more mat space (with even more to come!). We left our old home of Meadowside Leisure Centre about 3 or 4 weeks ago and moved into the as yet incomplete, yet infinitely more comfortable, surrounds of Fighting Fit Mixed Martial Arts gym, Rosliston Road, Burton on Trent. The owner, Corrie Short...
Reasons to stay in bed03 Oct 2009 12:40PMI’m sat here on Saturday morning, its 9.55am and I’m waiting for Ian to turn up for a 10 O’clock fitness session in the ‘dungeon’ (or my garage, as the uninitiated call it). If I’m perfectly honest I’d much rather be still wearing the bed-warmed t-shirt and shorts I had on an hour ago and just sipping the first coffee of the day. Instead I made myself get up earlier than I wanted to so I could squeeze some breakfast in with enough time to let it settle in. (I can’t train on an empty stomach). Yo...
To Gi or not to Gi? That is the question13 Sep 2009 1:41PMI was hoping to be able to tell you something about the BJJ classes I had started, but thus far I have managed only one. I’d have been there again this morning but I have a horrible feeling that Pep has passed me his dose of swine flu. (My Mum mentioned this morning that I could get my own back at training when I’m well... I pointed out that this was probably Pep getting his own back for me beating him up three times a week over the last 3 years!). Last week I made the rather lengthy round trip ...
Summer lovin’29 Aug 2009 11:54AMSo I’ve had a lazy month... ish.
Lots of Ben and Jerry’s, lots of lounging around, the odd take away, a holiday here and there and many missed MMA sessions. My conscience has been pricked enough to give myself regular beastings and thankfully my fitness is probably not too bad at the moment given the fact that I have borrowed a rowing machine over the summer holiday, which is stored in the garage. The fallout from this and my cancelled gym membership has been that the neighbours think I’m crackers....
Mu-Sa Fightwear07 Aug 2009 10:10PMAs anyone who trains regularly knows, washing and maintaining your kit can be a nightmare when you haven’t got Mum (or a willing and understanding wife) to do it for you. Piles of sweaty shorts and rash vests pile up and fester as the week drifts by and the laundry basket develops its own green tinted weather system. This is made all the worse when your ‘favourite’ shorts are dirty or still in the washer and I’m positive I’m not the first person to have fished a wet pair out and banged them in t...
 Rome Gladiators and Tiramisu06 Aug 2009 8:44PMI have recently returned from a week away in Rome where I indulged in far too much pizza, tiramisu and espresso... quite possibly 3 of my favourite things in the world. That said the pasta, bruschetta, Nastro Azzuro, cappuccino and flavoured (whole) supermarket chickens weren’t bad either... oh, and there were some cool, old things to see as well.
Naturally I did the tourist thing and saw all the sights Rome has to offer – the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, th...
 ‘Randlethighs’15 Jul 2009 7:59PMWhat to talk about when things are going well?... Well it’s a testing question really. I had last week off ‘cos my hip was playing up from all the guard work I mentioned in my last post. Ironic really that I managed to hurt myself doing something well... normally it’s a mistimed kick or weak takedown attempt that tweaks my ageing aching limbs. But this time it was from exerting too much pressure with my ‘Randlethighs’ (thankyou David and Jon for my new nickname). For those not in the know this i...
Compliments and improvements25 Jun 2009 10:09PM“Oi lazy, do another blog”... this was the message that greeted me on Facebook a few days ago from David George. Dave...id is a sometime coach and cornerman for me and Grindhouse Fight Team. I say ‘sometime’ as he is currently residing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and to be fair it’s a lengthy, not to mention expensive, round trip back to Blighty to shout at me while I roll around sweating and bleeding on people. I am taking his comment as a compliment and that he enjoys reading them... either that...
 Team mates not class mates05 Jun 2009 11:42PMMy last post talked about made, natural and never will fighters and I made reference to the fact that thankfully most of the team mates I have are made. I have had some positive feedback about this. What’s funny about that is that after I wrote that blog I wasn’t satisfied with it at all. Normally I just sit and type what’s on my mind and quickly spell –check it before sending it off to MMA Hit Pit. For once I read this one ‘Natural Ability’ http://www.mmahitpit.com/diaries/alldiaries/mmablogs...
Natural ability?22 May 2009 2:53PMMy
last entry made references to team work and passion. Being part of a
team and playing your part… like a body, with each member of the team
playing a vital (if sometimes only small) role. In playing my role in
the ‘body’ of the team I have been weighing up the importance of
ability in those roles. I have considered at length the significance of
someone’s ‘part’ within the team according t...
Shining a light05 May 2009 1:31PMI will begin today's sermon with a biblical quote for you - "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds..." (Matthew 5 verse 16). Why quote that here on an MMA website?... well it's a reference to setting a good example. In a Christian sense this would mean behaving in such a way that people associate with Christians i.e not swearing, carousing, gambling and robbing orphanages. But instead showing love, charity and faith.
...
Instant playback26 Apr 2009 10:46AMSo what has ch ch ch changed this week? I have not had such an enjoyable week at work or at training in years... literally. I started a new role at school on Monday and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It's very, very different and has thrown up some new challenges and pressures. But without exception it was a pleasure going to work each day... not that that means it's easy! It was intriguing that as I was so much happier in myself, enjoying my working day and was more relaxed I dealt with some ...
Ch ch ch changes19 Apr 2009 10:10PMEaster is a time for fresh starts, new beginnings and growth. I have hovered on the brink of writing a new entry since the day after my last entry, but have struggled to think of what to write. I haven’t trained at all really over the last 3 weeks, partly due to my chest problem flaring up again but mainly that I have had little MMA to report on. Things are changing though in camp Bownds... I’m not talking necessarily about adaption or evolution, but rather wholesale change.
It’s no secret that the...
Dave Bownds vs. Joey Van Wanrooy30 Mar 2009 6:57PMThe fight went to plan. Exactly... well... almost. Pep and Jon were chuffed to bits with my performance and I have to say, so was I. I have watched the fight back and yes there were some technical hiccups and missed opportunities, but in terms of sticking to the gameplan it went pretty much as we had predicted (or hoped). On paper (and probably in real life) Joey has a much better stand up game, I am reasonably confident my ground skills are similarly better than his. We had to assume he had see...
Weight kutting with Kooky28 Mar 2009 7:01PMIt’s always an odd week leading up to a fight. Your mind does funny things that are quickly forgotten after the fight has passed. Every single fight I’ve had I have had the same familiar mix of apprehension, aggression, nervousness and excitement. It could be very easy for your feelings and thoughts to be all consuming, so once again one has to consider our old friend ‘perspective’. One thing that I have mentioned to several people is that I always forget what a ball ache it is sorting out ticke...
 Countdown to fight number 622 Mar 2009 11:44AMA week today I’ll fight Joey Van Wanrooij from Mike’s Gym in Holland on Paul Daley’s new promotion – Ultimate Gladiators at the Britannia hotel, Nottingham (see links below for tickets). It’ll be a new
experience for me as it’ll be my first fight in a ring. I’m really excited about it and am far more ‘up for it’ than for my last fight a few weeks back. Matt has questioned the good sense in taking a fight on short notice once again and in some ways I’d agree with him. I’ve nev...
Need inspiring? Try these14 Mar 2009 7:58PMI’ve
given up watching the Italy vs Wales game, it’s boring me and I keep
shouting which is aggravating my sore throat. Instead I’ve turned to
the delights of YouTube to provide some MMA inspiration. I really enjoy
the little highlight reels that people conjure up and some of them are
very, very well put together. At times like this (when I can’t train or
am bored stiff) I often co...
Fall down seven times get up eight12 Mar 2009 11:27PMThat’s an old Japanese proverb and a truism for any MMA fighter who’s worth watching. Or as Rocky Balboa also said “It’s not about how hard you hit... it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward”. The sentiment is essentially the same thing. The value of a fighter lies not in his ability to win but rather his ability to deal with defeat and move on. There are very, very few top level fighters who have two zeroes following their win column. Off the top of my head in the UFC there ...
The Post Fight Comedown (and how I deal with it)05 Mar 2009 2:51PMThe post fight ‘comedown’ is something I’m sure every fighter experiences in some way, albeit at different levels. Certainly every time I’ve fought I’ve had what is best described as a mild depression in the week following the fight. I’ve pondered over this and come up with various answers to explain why.
Essentially I go through a few phases which affect me mentally and physically. Obviously immediately after the fight there is elation at winning or deep disappointment at losi...
Night of the Gladiators at long last (part 1)01 Mar 2009 10:10PMThe ups and downs of 2009 continued to up and down in a suitably confusing manner. Originally I was supposed to be fighting Dan Edwards, then I wasn’t, then he wasn’t, then we both weren’t, then I was again... against someone else. Confused? So was everyone who I tried to explain it to. Last Monday I got a call from a slightly stressed Ross Pointon asking if I would want to fight Steve Douglas from Team Machine – he was originally on the card in an 80kg catchweight fight but was prepared to f...
Night of the Gladiators at long last (part 2)01 Mar 2009 9:55PM I go for a high crotch throw and slam him down hard, making the
crowd cheer. I work to side control and start to work short elbows but
Steve defends them well, taking little damage, I trap an arm in the
crucifix position and think “I’ve got him” then he bridges hard and
squirms out. Back on our feet again, Steve throws a combo 2 of which
land and I get the ‘white flash’ as they land. I try and counter and
Steve throws a looping left as I over commit with an overhand right, it
catches...
 11 year old sparring partners wanted!10 Jan 2009 9:52PMI’ve not been to Leicester this week unfortunately, though I’m hoping to get the chance again in the next few weeks. Ross Pointon kindly invited me to train in Stoke with him at some point as well, an offer I will try to take him up on (after all he is promoting my next fight as the main event on his card – see poster). Nevertheless I have tried to use Nathan’s tips and advice in this week’s sessions with some success. My footwork was slightly improved through conscious effort and consequently I...
Hips and tips04 Jan 2009 1:51PMThere is so much value in training with different people. At Burton Grindhouse we have a ‘core’ of guys who turn up consistently and this is very valuable and important. It is however also very easy in this situation to adapt and refine your techniques to suit each person. When you train with a wider range of people this is much, much harder to do and your skill set, subsequently needs...
Identifying how bad you really are!02 Jan 2009 5:08PMTraining sessions should always be a learning curve. Even if you walk away from the session feeling like you’ve not performed I always think you should try and glean something from the experience. We’ve all had those sessions where perhaps you feel like you’ve been in ‘negative learning’ and you may be picking up bad habits by persevering with it. Even these situations can have a positive outcome if you accept that this is happening and learn how to cope and move on, getting yourself ‘out of the...
Christmas ramblings29 Dec 2008 2:29PMChristmas is often used as an excuse for over indulgence and general idleness and relaxation. I had fully intended to indulge myself as much as the next man, but have actually managed to lose weight and get fitter over the last 2 weeks. Bizarre I know. The reasons for this peculiar behaviour are complicated and I shan’t explain in detail. Suffice it to say I haven’t touched a drop of booze (bar one pint which fell into my mouth on Christmas Eve) and have eaten quite cleanly. I’m not writing t...
Krispy Kremes and positivity16 Dec 2008 9:30AMI went to training with a bit of a bounce in my step tonight. I’ve had an interesting weekend and once again my old friend ‘perspective’ popped his head up. The bounce in my step was largely due to meeting someone who put some of my life experiences in perspective. I often sit and bitch and moan (as you may have noticed in previous posts) about being tired and injured and lethargic and lacking in motivation. I often get wrapped up in my own problems and don’t consider the wider picture or what s...
Fatties, commitment and hummus09 Dec 2008 10:59AMFat people in supermarkets with packets of weight watchers chocolate Swiss rolls in their trolley - balanced carefully on top of the crisps, oven chips and bottles of red pop. If there’s one thing that really gets my back up its people who have no will power. The sort who will ‘treat’ themselves to a cake or a pie or some monosodium glutamate loaded chunk of crap, then moan about how their glands/asthma/bad knees/etc stops them losing weight/exercising.
Now don’t think I’m some sort ...
What’s up?02 Dec 2008 11:24PM“You’ve not done a blog in a while Dave, what’s up?”
This was a comment thrown sideways at me by a smirking Pep earlier tonight. Quite what he meant by it I’m not sure. He may just have meant it as a genuine question, but the look on his face seemed to suggest otherwise. I’m probably being a little paranoid though. My reply was quite straightforward however, “I’ve had nothing to write about!” Cue laddish banter about how we should do some really stupid, crazy stuff to give me something to write abou...
The sadomasochism of sports22 Nov 2008 6:20PMI can’t remember anytime in the recent past when I haven’t had some sort of injury. Now I’m not tying to give you the impression that I’ve spent ten years limping around in various bandages and casts, but frankly the whole situation is beginning to get to me. I have a far from unique ability to carry injuries for months at a time, which get progressively worse till I start hurting somewhere else. Then my body seems to say ‘oh I can forget about the shoulder ‘cos now my foot is really, really sor...
 MMA League – 15th November 200818 Nov 2008 11:33AMRound 2, Nottingham
I joined three competitors from Burton Grindhouse fight team who were entering the second instalment of the year’s increasingly popular MMA league in Long Eaton, near Nottingham last Saturday. There appeared to be a large number of competitors in each weight class, though I was somewhat preoccupied cornering for our entrants in the welterweight and lightweight categories.
Essentially the tournament was split between two large matted areas wit...
Team mates and preparation14 Nov 2008 9:39PMOver the last four weeks or so as a team we have been preparing for the Amateur fight league’s second round in Nottingham. Several of the new guys have been gearing up for their first experience of competitive MMA and it’s been interesting to watch and contribute to. Essentially (as you may well have gathered from previous entries) since I pulled out of ‘the fight’ last month I’ve had a slightly refreshed view on training and what I want from it. A big part of this has been due to the other lads...
Morals of bag work?09 Nov 2008 11:48AMTutting and sniggering greeted my session at the local Fitness First yesterday. I have a badly underused membership there and went for the first time in months on Saturday morning. The reason for not going has basically been that given the chance I’d rather train outside (I spend a lot of time in the gym/sportshall in my job).
Anyway, I digress. I went and did a simple, light session involving some skipping and light weights then went in the studio to have a little play on the punchba...
Crazy s**t, confidence and fun!04 Nov 2008 9:20PMEven though he has ‘white Don King’ pretensions Pep can talk a lot of sense. I was enjoying training last night, despite its simplicity, (I sometimes crave something completely new, but I appreciate the necessity for repetition), we were drilling basic guard work. The simplicity however was offset by Pep’s opening gambit.
“I read your last blog, it was good. Tonight just relax and go for some crazy shit!”
So I did… sort of. It wasn’t quite flying triangles and gogoplatas all round, but I did pull a...
You can never stop learning or you get hurt28 Oct 2008 9:03AMHa ha ha….. it happened. I had a planned rest and if you’ve read any of my previous entries you’ll now what I’m going to say. After the disastrous sparring session a week ago Thursday I had the whole week off. I went down to training on Monday to see Pep (who wasn’t there) and ran the warm up, then came home. I didn’t train Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. I also did no cardio or any other sort of gym work. The only thing I did do was go for a light run to get some air in my lungs on one day. The...
Mental flab and emotional injuries22 Oct 2008 9:05PMGutted, absolutely gutted. I’ve had to pull out of my November fight and I am gutted… except I’m not. Let me explain.
I’ve pulled myself out of the fight for a number of reasons, the main one being that my shoulder (rotator cuff) has not actually got any better and entering the most intense period of training before a fight (4 weeks out) it was not allowing me to drill, roll or spar in the way I needed to. This inevitably threw up a number of questions – firstly, if I can’t prepare properly should...
Wind ups, psychobabble and machismo16 Oct 2008 11:47AMI did one of those odd things last night at training. I decided that Liam wasn’t hitting me hard enough while sparring and egged him on by doing the old ‘drop the hands, jut out the chin and nod and grin’ when he gave me a quick one – two. Pep screamed at me:
“Stop being macho and fight prop...
Motivation, footsteps and excuses10 Oct 2008 8:30PMThere’s a fight in the distance. It’s a long way off yet, not even coming over the horizon. I can’t quite hear its footsteps and I think my hearing must be getting worse with each progressive fight (cauliflower ears can do that!). What I mean is that previously just the thought of the sound of said fight has been enough to get me in the gym kicking my own ass as well as having it handed to me by a queue of enthusiastic training partners. Before my pro debut I had a date in mind and flogged mysel...
Ask not what your sponsor can do for you, but what you can do for your sponsor!08 Oct 2008 6:12PMOne of the questions I frequently get asked by people outside the MMA circle is “are you sponsored?” I’m guessing they make an assumption that as a pro fighter you’re entitled to all sorts of freebies. As it stands at the moment I have none. Bar 15 is a local bar which provides a few bits and pieces for me, David, Matt and Pep at fights but it doesn’t really qualify as a ‘sponsor’ in my book, as apart from some shorts, a t shirt and a hoody I’ve had little else from said ‘sponsor’. In return all...
Injuries and controlled car crashes05 Oct 2008 9:22PMI’m at a bit of a loss for anything to post this time. I’ll just keep typing and see what comes to mind, then put the title in at the end.
Last week I struggled at training due to a torn rotator cuff (for a group of muscles so small they’re a serious hindrance and disproportionately painful!) and had to sit out some of the drills. Being sprawled on was the thing of nightmares, but in fairness the lads were very soft with me despite my attempts to tempt Moose into a slugfest on Thursd...
Esse Quam Videri 30 Sep 2008 6:56PMEsse Quam Videri is a Latin phrase which means ‘To be, rather than to seem’. It has always had a significant resonance for me as I like to apply the philosophy of this phrase to many areas of my life. The most obvious of these is in MMA and those of you who hate to see bodybuilders swaggering about in Tapout/UFC t-shirts will appreciate my point. (I personally have no issue with anyone wearing branded clothes at all I must stress that). However, from the moment I started training was aiming at s...
Nuts and extreme violence26 Sep 2008 12:00AMThe fight isn’t happening! The promoter in question deserves a medal for his efforts to arrange one, but it all came to nothing unfortunately. On Wednesday morning I was beginning to get impatient about not having a match up and was thinking of asking Pep to pull the plug on fighting at all. But we waited… and waited… and waited. Till Thursday when all of a sudden a match up appeared on the horizon Lawrence of Arabia style (anyone who has seen that scene will know what I mean if I use the word p...
Short notice and long words24 Sep 2008 12:46PMIt’s been very interesting reading some of the comments written about my last 2 posts, it’s nice to get positive feedback. I’ve also had some nice compliments from team mates about my style of writing, the best being “I didn’t think you could write like that considering the way you speak!” It might have something to do with my excessive abuse, piss taking and trash talk at training to be fair. But let’s be honest if I minced around at training using words like ‘erudite’, ‘loquacious’ or ‘pedagog...
I hate that 1 on my record (sort of)22 Sep 2008 7:01PM“Why do you do that?”…. “Do you enjoy bullying people?”
Comments made by a female work colleague. She doesn’t ‘get it’ at all. She doesn’t understand the training, she doesn’t understand the diet, she doesn’t get the sport full stop. I have tried at length to explain that there is not much to enjoy in 6 weeks of hard preparation and sparring and ultimately climbing in the ring for 3 rounds of someone trying to knock your head off, but… and it is a big but because it is the reason for taking part in ...
Introduction and thoughts on latest fight in FX320 Sep 2008 12:54PMI thought doing a blog would make for an interesting exercise. In all honesty it’s a little selfish as I’m hoping it’ll work a little like a diary of training and fighting and become a useful tool in reflecting on where I’ve been and where I’m going. In the past I’ve tried keeping a training ‘diary’ but it ends up being a list of diet, weights, times, distances and other measurements which have only served to give me some idea of how similar my fitness is now to way back then. Little improvem...
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