Kingdom MMA caught up with Dean Simmonds ahead of his fight at ECFF Night of Champions 4

Kingdom MMA focus on the UK amateur MMA scene with Dean Simmonds

by Ben Heather @benheather

On Saturday night Dean Simmonds (@DeanoAKAbn) will be fighting PK Zadeh at East Coast Fight Factory Night of Champions 4 from the Epic Studios in Norwich and ahead of that fight he took time out of his schedule to have a chat with us about his upcoming fight and life as an amateur MMA fighter.

Ben: When did you first start training in MMA and how old were you then?
Simmonds: I first started training MMA when i was 18 years old, i went to a class at unique results and met the coach, Jack Mason and its just gone on from there.

Ben: Did you have any previous experience in martial arts before taking up MMA?
Simmonds: I think I did boxing for about 3 weeks when i was 12 and karate for about 2 and a half years when i was 7-10 years old but apart from that i spent 14 years of my life playing football. I wish i could have discovered and trained at a gym such as BKK when I was younger with a coach like Jack around to push me and the rest of the guys on to better things.

Ben: For the fans out there who may not have seen you fight before can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what they can expect on Saturday night?
Simmonds: I'm the number 1 cage fighter in Chelmsford. The hardest part of my training camp is 9 minutes on a sunbed 3 times a week and I'm brilliant with the ladies as well, ask em! 

On Saturday I'm going to bring it like I've never done before, I feel even though I won my last fight I had an awful preparation leading up to it and it showed in my performance so I want to prove to everybody what I can do on Saturday.

Ben: I believe you have a 6-3 record, how do you feel your career has gone so far, are you happy with the progress?
Simmonds: That is correct. I'm very happy with how its progressed so far, even though I've got 3 losses on my record I have learnt so much from each one. The first loss I learnt not to be a melt, the second loss was against Jack Mezzetti and I realised where I need to improve my game and that I had some tools in my arsenal I didn't know i had. That fight was without a doubt the toughest fight I've ever had! and the third loss i just froze and didn't do anything at all, and I've learnt from that as well.

Ben: How did it feel getting your hand raised for the first time after winning a fight?
Simmonds: I'm not just saying this because everybody who has won a fight will know, its the best feeling in the world knowing you've lived up to expectations and made your team proud. Having guys like Jack Mason, Arnold Allen, Sean Carter, Jason Cooledge and Craig Powell to train with me each and every day I can only improve in all areas! (sorry to everybody i didn't mention there!)

Ben: How do you expect the fight at ECFF on Saturday night to go?
Simmonds: This fight will go where i want it to go, my opponent isn't anywhere near my level on the wrestling front so I'll decide whether we fight on the ground or we stand. I don't ever have a gameplan for a fight because as soon as you get hit the gameplan goes out the window anyway.

Ben: What do you know about your opponent heading in to this fight?
Simmonds: His name is PK Zadeh but apart from that not a lot. I prefer to not look too much into what my opponents can do, i try to focus on what I'm going to do to him.

Ben: Where do you think you will have the advantage on Saturday night?
Simmonds: In all areas, my wrestling is on a completly different level to his and I'm confident I'll be better than him standing and on the ground so I'll just see how it plays out

Ben: Would you like to thank anyone?
Simmonds: I'd like to thank my coaches Jack Mason, Stephen Byerley, Russ and Stuart Barlegs. All of my training partners who no doubt I'm going to get a punch from if I miss one of them off, so here goes, Arnold Allen, Sean Carter, Jason Cooledge, Craig Powell, Matt Hughes, Joe Harding, Justin Bodj, Kerry Hughes and Tim Stokes. Also a big shoutout to Tim Stoke who without him none of the success would be possible.

My Awesome Sponsors as well:
Attack Fighter who produce the best walkout tshirts you'll ever see
(Twitter: @attackfightwear) (Wesbite: www.Attackfightwear.com)
Funkygums for keeping my teeth looking super sharp
(Twitter: @funkygums) (website: www.Funkygums.com)
There is always room on my walkout tshirts for more sponsors aswell guys :)

Thanks again to Dean for speaking to Kingdom MMA ahead of his fight and everyone at Kingdom MMA wish him all the best going in to the fight. If you would like to find out more about Dean or follow him on twitter his twitter name is @DeanoAKAbn.