ICF: Sacrifice Post-Fight Interview with Dave Heidorn (May 27, 2009)

After the recent ICF: Sacrifice event, I had the chance to catch up with a few of the fighters as well as ICF Promoter Steve Stanton. One of the fighters I had the chance to speak with was FightTicker.com Fight of the Night co-recipient Dave Heidorn. Heidorn and Brandon Damastes tore up the canvas for the three rounds in a clear "Fight of the Night", with Heidorn coming out with a Unanimous Decision victory. Heidorn took some time to speak with me after the fight about his match with Damastes as well as his gameplan going into this fight after a loss in his last match.
(Heidorn is in the black shorts, Damastes is in the white shorts.)

FightTicker.com: You had a three-round war with Brandon Damastus tonight, both FightTicker.com’s and Fight For Life USA’s Fight of the Night – how did you feel going into the fight?

Heidorn: I felt great. I had a really good weight cut. My last fight didn’t go so well, so I was really anticipating this one – I just wanted to get in there and get it done.

FightTicker.com: How did you feel about your opponent, Brandon Damastes?

Heidorn: Coming into the fight, I had no idea about him. I heard he was a wrestler from West Virginia, that’s about all I knew. We came in, had a three-round war. He wanted to stand up with me a lot. I cleaned up a few things in my game so I didn’t get knocked out again [laughs], but I really had a great time in there with him.

FightTicker.com: In your last fight, you suffered a tough KO loss to Justin Hunt in your last fight – was there anything you switched up in your camp to get ready for this fight?

Heidorn: It wasn’t that we changed our camp so much, it was the fact that I had an understanding that I needed to improve certain holes in my game. In all honesty, what it really boiled down to is that I had to stay conscious [laughs]. Other than that, we just worked really hard to prepare ourselves for the fight.

FightTicker.com: In some of your pre-fight comments, including on your facebook page, you talked about this fight as “One more time…at least” – what did that mean? Do you want to fight again?

Heidorn: It was a big win tonight. As you probably know, I have a concussion problem [Dave has suffered four concussions throughout his amateur MMA career]. I’m not really sure what’s next. I’ll just let this win sink in and have fun and really think about it over the next two weeks or month, however long it takes me to make my decision. I love this sport to death, I really want to make it to the top, but I’ll talk to my coaches and we’ll see how it goes.

FightTicker.com: If you stop fighting are you still going to train with Team Xtreme at Cincy MMA and Fitness?

Heidorn: I love my gym, they’re like a second family to me. I have the biggest, most supportive family in the entire world and I can’t thank God enough for them, but my gym really is like a second family to me. I’m always going to train with them and make sure I go hit it hard – if they’re part of my team they’re part of my family.

FightTicker.com: Is there anybody you need to thank?

Heidorn: My family, first and foremost because they all sat down and talked to me and made sure this is what I wanted to do and I definitely want to thank my coaches for getting me ready. And of course my very loving and supportive girlfriend, she’s always there for me even through the crappy times like when I’m cutting weight and that means the world to me.

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Congrats again to Heidorn and Damastus on their great performances. I try (mostly with little success) to stay away from overused phrases like "three-round war" and things like that, but Heidorn and Damastus really left it all in the cage. I'm looking forward to seeing both of these guys get back in the cage.