Brad ' One Punch' PickettDean 'The Renegade' Amasinger
Dean Amasinger is emerging as one of the most exciting athletes within the UK sporting scene. Dean is an incredible athlete, respected fighter and role model to up and coming youngsters wanting to get involved with Mixed Martial Arts. Dean is also a UK ambassador for the Knockout Bullying campaign which aims to get bullied children involved with sport to build confidence.
SPIKED: How did you get started in MMA?
Dean Amasinger: I started kickboxing at my Uncle’s dojo when I was young and I have always taken an interest in martial arts. I was playing rugby at a high level in my teens with judo and wrestling as part of the training.
At some point my friend (and now manager) showed me the first UFC videos and I was hooked right there and then. I would try and train with my brothers and friends, but none of us knew what we were doing. When I got to university, an injury dashed any hopes of taking rugby any further so when I recovered I got into power-lifting.
I met Paul Davis at the gym, he was training a few guys in the evening and I went along. Those guys where Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy and Paul Daley - I don’t think Dan had even had a pro fight at that point.
I carried on training sporadically while I was at university and as the sport developed, Bisping went on to join the Wolfslair, while Paul and Dan formed the Rough House. When I graduated, I joined and started training properly.
SPIKED: Tell us about your studies and how it applies to the sport.
DA: I did Biology, Chemistry, Sports Studies and Psychology at A-Level and I was keen to do something that linked the subjects together. I choose to do Nutritional Biochemistry and would choose modules that where related to sport or human physiology so I could relate it to sport.
As part of my studies, I learnt about how the body uses food and the different energy systems that work within the body to relate what I was learning to weight management and optimum nutrition for athletes.
I also chose several modules related to Endocrinology, which is the study of hormones and the glands that secrete them. I became very familiar with Testosterone and its physiological function as well as Growth Hormoneas an ergogenic aid and learnt a lot about PEDs in my research.
SPIKED: What is your view on PEDs?
DA: I think the media and the general social and moral connections to them distort people’s perceptions of PED’s. Caffeine and creatine are PEDs, but because they are legal, no-one has a problem with them. WADA and the IOC have changed their stance several times on caffeine over the years.
I do think that if you are a professional athlete you’ve got to play to all the rules of your sport so while some PED’s remain illegal you have to respect that and work on a level playing field.
SPIKED: What's your perception of drugs abuse in MMA, specifically steroid cycling and Human Growth Hormone? Especially given HGH is hard to detect…
DA: I feel that MMA has no more of a problem with PEDs than any other sport. Every professional sport has positive tests for PEDs and MMA is no exception. It’s a problem that doesn’t seem to have a solution because every time a new test is developed, a new drug has also been developed. The reality is that the money being spent on R&D for new drugs far outweighs the resources of WADA or the IOC, so drug takers are always going to be one step ahead.
As far as HGH is concerned, testing is very difficult because it is only in your system for a very short period and urine tests cannot detect it. It’s the biggest problem facing WADA at the moment. It must be the same in MMA and I have noticed that some fighters show the tell-tale signs of HGH abuse.
SPIKED: Where is the balance to be found between physical strength and mental strength?
DA: I feel that mental training is just another area that all athletes need to work on. To overlook mental training is a serious mistake and can be the difference between success and failure. In MMA it should be added to the list of things you work on, like boxing, wrestling, and cardio.
SPIKED: Do you think the use of steroids is negative or does it have its place in terms of injury rehab?
DA: Steroids first found its purpose as a medicine. The early research and journals looking at the effects of steroids were for AIDS patients, cancer patients and people with muscle wasting disease. It was only after the research showed what steroids did to muscle growth that people thenrealisedits potential as an ergogenic aid.
Steroids are widely available on the NHS for a number of diseases and they help a great deal of people. Self-diagnosis is a different thing though.
SPIKED: The UK is notorious for not having a governing body, so steroid testing isn’t as much of an issue as in the US, let alone blood testing. What’s your view on it?
DA: I’m not going to pass judgment on anyone choosing to take steroids because it’s their choice and they have to live with it. However, it is worth realising that if you want to get anywhere in the sport, you are eventually going to meet drug testing - like I did on TUF. Some steroids can be in your system for up to 18 months, so if people are taking steroids and it helps them advance their career it could come back to haunt them at a later date.
Blood testing is something I would really want to see as mandatory in the UK, and I think it’s more important than drugs testing. You can get it done very cheaply on the NHS, or maybe even for free, and it would make things much safer. Hepatitis infected blood can stay infectious for hours after it is outside of the body and it is worth UK promoters enforcing a mandatory blood test for fighters safety.
SPIKED: What’s your view of the UK MMA playing field, shows, fighters and politics?
DA: UK MMA is doing really well, we won both weight classes in TUF 9, we just had our first Brit challenge for the UFC titleand we have more fighters in the UFC and big promotions than ever.
The UK scene took a big hit when ‘Cage Rage’ went bust, but ‘Ultimate Challenge’ is doing well and there are some other shows like OMMAC and BAMMA that are putting on some great fights.
Every sport has some politics associated with it that stinks, and there are still some people in the UK MMA scene that aren’t professional in the way they act or how they do business and it is only going to hold the sport back. However, with UK shows now being shown on channels such as Sky Sports and Bravo, the sport is moving in the right direction and hopefully the bad eggs will be left behind.
Quickfire Questions:
Favouritefighter past and present?
Past: Pedro Rizzo, Present: Rampage
Biggest Inspiration?
Muhammad Ali
Favouriteperson to spar with?
Paul Daley
Pound-for-pound best fighter?
Anderson Silva
Favouriteplace to fight?
Las Vegas
Goals for 2010?
Win the Ultimate Challenge belt, fight in Japan and finish the year unbeaten
Guilty pleasure?
Harry Potter films
Pet hate?
People putting CDs and DVDs back in the wrong cases!
KO or Submission?
KO
Any last words?
Do what you love; life's too short.
Hit Dean up: www.deanamasinger.com
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