Going Pro

It took 7 years of martial arts training, and just over a year of MMA specific training, but it finally happened; Drew Weatherhead has gone pro! Here are some of the exploits of the preparation, weigh-ins, and fight day.

We'll start with making weight. I personally didn't have alot to deal with for this fight when it comes to weight. It was set for a 155 lbs. bout, and I walk around at between 157 and 159 on average. So, skip a meal and hawk a loogie and I've made weight. The same could not be said for my friend and fellow fighter Michael Davis. He walks around somewhere about 143 to 145 and had to make 130! For a little guy, 15 lbs. is a BIG cut.

Mikey









I helped out however I could. I sat in the sauna with him. I walk the tread mill beside him. We did some light rolling and pad work together. He didn't eat or drink for a day. He ran with the sauna suit on. He spat into a cup until he was spitting dust. He tried an alcohol and epsom salt hot bath to leach moister out of his skin and muscles. Here's Mike trying as hard as he can to hip scoot across the mats at Legends gym:



Well, after a long and grueling process, we got Mike to 130.4 lbs. with 20 minutes before weight-ins! That's about 15 lbs. in just under 2 days. He looked like the living dead, and that's no exaggeration! Check out the weigh-in picture:



















Luckily for me, with such a minor weight cut, I had energy and felt fine for my first pro weigh-in. Not to mention I rocked the smallest, tightest, and flashiest weigh-in spankies of all!
















After the weigh-ins we went through all the sanctioning committees hoops; signing different contracts, basic physicals, and glove sizing. Ate a little food they provided, the first portion of which came back on Mike in a hurry! Then for celebration of making weight we all headed over to the Mongolie Grill : )

Fight Day. For the most part, it's a boring day. It's alot of free time before the one part of the day that means something. . . the fight. So, in the mean time I decided to document our hotel rooms, for posterity but mostly for comparison's sake.





At about 6pm we went over to the Edmonton Expo to get ready for the night. We unloaded our gear in the dressing room, then headed out to the main floor to get a feel for the ring. The ring itself was about 15' x 15', and the canvass was utterly splatter painted with old blood. It came across more sketchy than ominous in my opinion. Bouncing around on the mat and against the ring I made my mental notes. The top ropes were tight. The lower ropes were lose. The mat was soft to walk on, but a quick back break fall revealed the plywood structure to my bones. I was training and hoping for a cage, but this'll have to do.

Back to the dressing room. I decide to get my hands rapped up and gloved so as to get myself ready for an early fight. I'm the second fight of the night and they are set to start at 7pm, so by 6:45 I'm gloved, stretched out and warmed up.








































The first fight is up. I'm not allowed out of the dressing room without supervision so I can't alter the glove job after the commission witnessed it. There is no way to tell what's going on in the ring except by the sound of the crowd. There are loud crashes punctuated by sudden roars of appreciation. It doesn't last long and someone comes back to the dressing room saying something about "Yeah, knocked out cold . . .". Now it's my turn. I start bouncing on the spot in my fighting stance, getting the blood moving. I step out of the dressing room and take the long, barefoot walk down the concrete path and get ready to walk out to my music, and my pro debut. . . 7 years . . . let's put them to the test.