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Interview with Dennis "Superman" Hallman - June 13th, 2009

Interview by Mike Renouard, Photos by NW Fightscene


On Friday June 19th, night, veteran MMA star Dennis "Superman" Hallman will be fighting on the Strikeforce Challengers event at the Showare Center in Kent, Washington. Owner of Victory Athletics in Yelm and a fixture on both the regional and international MMA scene, Dennis was kind enough to sit down and talk with us...


NW Fightscene: Is your fight with Cedric Marks at 170 or 185 lbs?
Dennis Hallman: Its going to be a catch weight at 180. Cedric's having a problem making 70 right now.


NWFS: What weight do you prefer to fight at?
Hallman: 170.


NWFS: Have you fought most of your career at 170?
Hallman: Its been a big mix. 170, 155, and 185. I do my best at 170.


NWFS: This fight for Strikeforce. What does it mean to you?
Hallman: You know, realistically its just another warm-up. I won't say warm up, that's disrespect to Cedric but its more of a get me back in tune to get to step up in competition. A little higher. Cedric's a good fighter but I should be fighting at a higher level. Means another warmup. 
 [Note: Interview was done before Hallman's opponent changed.

He's now fighting Justin Larson at 195 lbs]


NWFS: How long have you been fighting in total? I know you got out of high school and didn't go to college and just started fighting. Is that it?
Hallman: I went to community college to wrestle and pre-season is in September and I was doing pre-season practice and broke my leg, and that kind of put me out for the season after my high school. And that's when I learned about fighting. I had my first fight, an exhibition fight, in January 1996. My first sanctioned fight was May 18th of 1996. 

NWFS: So that's 13 odd years. Tell us about the injuries. How are you feeling?
Hallman: I feel good... just little bumps and bruises here and there but I'm training properly now. So when I have an injury I focus on a different area of training. 

NWFS: I heard you brought in a strength and conditioning guy into your gym.
Hallman: We brought a guy in named Jody [Dolphin]. I haven't had a lot of chance to work with him personally but he's worked with our team a lot and they really like him.


NWFS: Is that something new or have you had a strength and conditioning guy before?
Hallman: We haven't had anything before. You've been to our gym, we're back in the woods. Climb ropes into trees and split firewood have been the traditional workout.


NWFS: What brought that about to bring him on?
Hallman: He was working with Marty Robertson at Robertson's Kickboxing in Puyallup and he was helping some of the guys there. And some of my fighters were going up there to train, to cross train and they met him and liked him. 

NWFS: You were supposed to fight Duane Ludwig. How come that didn't happen?
Hallman: Ludwig decided he didn't want to fight at 170 and went down to 155. And that bumped both of us off the main card.


NWFS: Is your fight televised?
Hallman: No its not.


NWFS: So that's kind of a bummer.
Hallman: Yeah, kind of disappointing.

NWFS: After 13 years of fighting, how do you see yourself having evolved as a fighter?
Hallman: I think my Fight I.Q. is pretty high. I know what works and what doesn't work. Fight training has taken a different role. I know how to train correctly and prepare myself for fights better. I think the biggest thing in MMA is the Fight I.Q. Don't go out there swinging windmill punches. And I'm just fighting smart. 

NWFS: Who do you want to fight?
Hallman: I want to fight good guys at 170. Top guys at 170. I've been thinking about talking to my manager about getting back into the UFC, making a run there. There's a lot of guys at 70 there that I am 100 percent sure I can beat. 

NWFS: Lets talk about Victory Athletics. How long has the gym been open?
Hallman: I'm opened Victory Athletics in 2000. I've had a couple locations and then three years ago, I built a building on my property. Its a pretty good facility. A padded mat room, got the wrestling takedown dummy, the big climbing rope, pull up bars and all that good stuff. Have a little kid wrestling team I coach. 50 little kids, ages 6 through 12, come out there and practice there too.

NWFS: Do you enjoy coaching or teaching more than fighting?
Hallman: Its a fine line. I enjoy teaching moves and seeing guys use them. I don't' know if its actual enjoyment of teaching, but watching results of my teaching, I enjoy that a lot. I get a lot of enjoyment of watching John Albert fight. I put some time into him and he's a pleasure to train because he uses the moves and the techniques that you show him. He has a high Fight I.Q. Goes out there and fights smart, and knows when to use his moves. 

NWFS: Tell us about some of the other guys we should be looking out for.
Hallman: We got a good group. Cory Devela when he's there. As always Brad Blackburn's there and he's having a good shot through the UFC. Len Bentley just dropped weight down to 55, which I think is better for him. Bryan Caraway when he's not nervous. If I could get that guy.. to go see the Wizard of Oz and quit being the cowardly lion, he could go all the way to the top I believe. He is a top ten 45 pounder in the world. He has the skill level but its just being able to fight at that level. A lot of my guys are really just coming into their own. Young guys like John Albert coming along. Wes Welch is finally finding his knack, being able to realize that he can compete at a high level. 

NWFS: Then you have a fair amount of amateur guys coming up?
Hallman: My amateur guys are getting better. They're doing good. Like our philosophy is everyone trains each other. We only train in our gym 3 days a week and then we go cross-train the other days. And we do that because I believe being at one gym all the time, you get to a certain level and you don't grow. You know, so if you're at your home gym three days a week and then go cross-train to the other gyms in town or in the regional area than it just makes you a better fighter. 

NWFS: You're also promoting fights as well. Tell us about upcoming fights you got going on.
Hallman: I always do my smokers at bars like Station 56. We're doing one there I think August 1st. We're there because I have to get my guys fights. I'm really an advocate of amateur guys fighting as often as they're healthy, because I believe the more matches you get the better you become. Like wrestling season, you don't train three months of wrestling season to only wrestle one time. You wrestle as often as the season lets you. Same thing with my philosophy for amateur fighting. I got that and then August 29th, I'm working with the guys from Vision Quest Sports and Fitness at the Auburn Supermall. We're going to do a State Championships, the USAMMA State Championships belts. We're going to try to get the best amateur guys at each weight and have them fight each other for the belts. 

NWFS: You're a father of three boys, is that right?
Hallman: Three boys.


NWFS: And also a baby girl?
Hallman: 12 year old, 9 year old, 8 year old. Ryley, Richard, and Jayden. And then a 6 month old daughter named Kylar.


NWFS: That's a big gap. Is that a challenge being the father of a young infant again?
Hallman: I like it. When you're young and you're a father, it kind of goes by really fast. You overlook things because you're doing what you're doing in your life and you're trying to raise kids too. But when you settle down a little bit... I'm kind of a slower paced guy now that I'm in my thirties.. you kind of enjoy watching them grow up a little more. 

NWFS: Are any of them going to become fighters you think?
Hallman: I hope not. Maybe my youngest. He ornery. He gets picked on by his older brothers. My middle son probably because he wants to do everything his daddy does. 


NWFS: Is he in the gym rolling?
Hallman: Yeah, they all wrestle. They've all wrestled for three years. And that's the base I believe for fighting. They like striking and stuff.

NWFS: Talk about sponsors right now?
Hallman: The Vision Quest guys are sponsoring me in supplements and training. They give me personal training and chiropractic and stuff. Those guys help me out a lot. Chirofit, Dr Shawn. He's been a help for our whole team. That's pretty much it right now. I get sponsored per fight by Tapout or whatever. 

NWFS: Anyone to thank?
Hallman: Just everybody who's trained with me. Everybody helps everybody out. I'd like to thank Matt Hume and all those guys up there for getting me started and all my training partners for keeping me going.


NW FIghtscene thanks Dennis for taking the time to speak with us.

Learn more about Dennis and Victory Athletics at myspace.com/victoryathletics.


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