Ikei Performance Athlete Edwin “Bam Bam” Dewees prepares to fight July 19, 2008 at Affliction-Banned

It has been a grueling month for Ikei Performance Mixed Martial Arts Athlete, Edwin “Bam Bam” Dewees. After a dominating first round win and being crowned the Heavyweight Champion at the No Limits Fighting Championships back in late April, Dewees received a phone call from promoters of the newly formed Affliction-Banned. With a last minute notification from the events promoter, Dewees took on this fight with only 5 weeks notice. Affliction Clothing has become one of the hottest clothing apparel on the market and is now organized one of the most stacked fight cards in MMA history.

“It is a huge honor to have been given the opportunity to compete at one of the biggest fights in MMA history. I’ve been working extremely hard and am ready to show my skills to the world that I belong here amongst the best in the industry. I’ve changed my entire life over the past 4 months since training with Ikei Performance and have prepared myself in every aspect of the game: mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually,” remarks Dewees.



For the past month, Dewees has been training on another level. “Edwin has taken on a whole new approach to his game plan. He has always been a talented fighter, but had never had a team as solid as he does today. With the Lion’s Den behind his MMA Skills and Ikei Performance pushing his intensity during his strength and conditioning the world of MMA is in for a rude awakening. A lot of people are questioning the match-up between Edwin and Nogueira, saying Ed’s to small to fight at light heavy weight. Well, most of the MMA world hasn’t seen the new and improved Edwin Bam Bam Dewees. Just tune in to the Fox Sports Net portion of the fight and see for yourself,” comments Edwin’s Strength & Conditioning Coach, Chad Ikei.

According to Ikei, Dewees has been training intensely between 4-6 hours every day. “For the past month we have laid out a calendar for Edwin to follow from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed. We have every meal laid out for him, every training session mapped out and even down to his nap times. MMA is one of the most physically demanding sports in the world, therefore we must prepare Edwin for extreme conditions. Our program has a strong emphasis on developing his functional strength and power, but a lot of time is spent on his ability to tolerate work at high loads for long duration. The average human being would not even come close to what Edwin does day in and day out. In fact, I’ve had several of my NFL Athletes go through modified (scaled down) version of Ed’s conditioning program and they struggle to finish the program. It just goes to show how well conditioned Ed is for this fight. When he started our program Edwin was fat at 18.8% and now only several weeks later he's down to 8.81%, he lost over 24 pounds of useless body fat and packed on over 12 pounds of functional muscle. He's completely prepared for the fight in all forms of the game.”



Dewees recalls some of the more interesting training methods that Ikei utilizes to prepare him for his battle, “He tried to drown me. No kidding, the guy is crazy he literally tried to drown me. He had me wear a 40 pound vest in his pool that is 8 feet deep, go to the bottom of the pool and grab a 55 lb kettle bell, make me lift it several times, put it down and throw punches all while holding my breath under water. Oh yeah, not to mention I had to wear a mask so I could only breath through my mouth. If that’s not enough, he decides to jump in the pool with me and tries to choke me out while I’m under the water too. Then when I try to come up for air he pushes or pulls me back under the water. He has me do this for over half an hour. I’m serious Ikei is crazy, but it works because I feel great. In fact, today at the pre-fight medical evaluation my resting pulse was 41 beats per minute which really impressed the doctor especially because that was after jumping around and shadow boxing for 5 minutes.”

Edwin’s training program is very unconventional. The use of large tractor tires, sledgehammers, sand bags, chains, bands, ropes…the list goes on according to Dewees. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, Ikei comes up with some crazy exercise that I’ve never seen or even imagined. I sometimes ask him if he just sits down and dream about developing crazy exercises. But every time I perform each exercise I can truly feel the benefits of the program, even my teammates notice the difference.”

Ikei chuckles at the fact Dewees calls him crazy, “it’s a compliment.” Actually it’s the second greatest compliment, the first being the results his athletes get from the program. “I love what I do and as a coach it’s not about me, my program or how crazy an exercise is, it’s about them, my athletes. I’m here to help guide them to the next level. They’re the ones doing all the work, putting in the hours, grinding through the pain and coming back over and over again to get themselves better. All I’m doing is providing structure, balance and support for them to believe in themselves and their ability to become the best. My philosophy for every athlete is that if they give me 100% effort, discipline and honesty, I will always step forward and accept the blame for my athletes failures and step back and allow them acknowledgement upon their success. So when Edwin‘s hand is raised as the champion that will be my biggest compliment.”

So don’t miss this opportunity to witness one of the greatest fight cards in MMA history. Coming this Saturday, July 19 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA the popular clothing line Affliction Clothing is hosting Affliction: Banned. There are 11 fights scheduled on this fight card with the main event of the evening between Fedor Emelienenko vs. Tim Sylvia for the Heavyweight Championship Title. Fight card: Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell, Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo, Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao, Renato Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead, Mike Pyle vs. JJ Ambrose, Aleksander Emelienenko vs. Paul Buentello, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Edwin Dewees, Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin, Ray Lizama vs. Justin Levens, Savant Young vs. Mark Hominick. There will be 2 fights aired on Fox Sports Net (FSN) which Edwin Dewees is scheduled to fight, the main event along 4 other fights will be aired live on Pay-Per View. Visit the website at http://www.afflictionclothing.com/banned_july19/fight_card.php