This Saturday, the Worcester Palladium will host the first CageFX event, Wartown Beatdown. The headlinging fight will feature veteran fighter and owner of the BoneYard, Mike Littlefield versus fighter who has firmly established himself in the local circuit, Rigo Dominicci. I had a chance to talk with Littlefield about his upcoming fight and his step back into the cage after a two year hiatus.
FTG: From 1999-2006 you maintained a very consistent fight schedule. You rarely took more than six months off between fights and averaged 2-3 fights per year. Now, its been over two years since your last fight against Tamden McCrory. Why did you take so much time off? Did you just decide to take a break or were there unforeseen circumstances?
Littlefield: It was a few things that piled up. First was my shoulder. Going into the fight with Tamden I severely injured my neck and shoulder on a really bad take down. I was getting cortisone injections just to be able to not drop out of the fight. I needed surgery, so after the fight I did that and took some time to heal.
Second was the amount of new students that were coming to The Boneyard. With the recent popularity of MMA, I had a bunch of new students signing up and a lot of them were getting to the point of being good enough to compete as amateurs. This ties in with another issue, Full Force Productions. Since we introduced the amateur circuit to local MMA, I really wanted to focus on some of my young talent and help get them ready for competition. Training a dozen or more guys takes up a lot of your time. Thankfully I have Bobby Dias, who is an incredible trainer and is 100% dedicated to our students. He and I talked and we agreed to invest our time and knowledge into these new guys and see what they could do. We have not been disappointed.
Lastly was my full time job. I’d worked there for 20 years. I made good money, had a desk, didn’t have to do any real labor but I hated it. I hated it so much that is was darkening my life. It depressed me, so I recently quit. I’m poor but happy and that’s a more fulfilling life than well-off and miserable.
FTG: Did you always plan on getting back into the cage?
Littlefield: I answered the first part of this question above, but as far as planning on getting back into the cage, I’m not sure. There was a time when I said to myself and possibly to others, “I’m done, I’m too old, My body can’t take it,” etc. But fighting is something that I really enjoy. I’ve never done it for money reasons. I’ve never done it to be a popular guy or get chicks or any of those reasons. I just really love to get punched in the face and punch other people in the face. There’s something so simple and pure about that. So I guess I always hoped I’d have the chance to be healed up and compete again.
FTG: Before the McCrory fight you were coming off of a six fight win streak. What was your training like then as compared to your current training for the fight on January 17?
Littlefield: Well, if you saw the fight with Tamden you can probably figure out that my training suffered. I took a really bad throw in training and landed badly. On top of that I got cut over my right eye and had to get 8 stitches in my eyebrow and I bit part of my tongue off. So I had a rough time training for that fight and due to those things I had to stop for a while which severely affected my cardio. “Fatigue makes cowards out of men,” is the saying and it couldn’t be more true. I was so confident going into the fight with McRory that I basically overestimated myself. I thought that my skills would get me through, which they did until I gassed out. I was mounted on him and I was so tired I couldn’t throw a punch. It sucked. That taught me a valuable lesson. So I’ve been focusing on my cardio as well as my skill.
FTG: When offered that fight, had you planned on fighting anytime soon? Had you been training? Or did you feel like you had to polish things up for the CageFX event?
Littlefield: Well, I had thrown my name out to a few different promotions to find me a fight. I’d been training alot with my own fight team. It’s different when you’re that guy that is the primary focus of the training though. I certainly had to do some polishing. Not so much on mu Jiu Jitsu and MMAa but on my cardio. I was about 190lb.
FTG: What do you know about Rigo Dominicci? Had you seen him fight before?
Littlefield: Like I said, I know Rigo. I think he’s a solid dude. He’s fought for me before at Untamed. Ya, he’s an exciting guy who likes to swap punches. He’s a perfect fight for me. I’ve lost fights before, so I know what it’s like to lose. I’m over that fear. I just want to have fun and get that adrenaline that comes with getting hit. I think Rigo is my guy.
FTG: What do you think you have in your skill set that Rigo doesn’t? And vice versa? What are you bringing to the cage that will give you the advantage?
Littlefield: I’ve been told my ground game is better than his and his stand up game is better than mine. I don’t really listen to all that. I don’t necessarily think that I have an advantage over Rigo. He’s been actively fighting and he’s been training for a fight for about 5 months because his last two opponents dropped out due to injury, so I know he’s ready. It all depends on who the best MMA fighter is on Saturday night. If we fought 10 times there could be 10 different outcomes. His left hook might be better than my triangle on one of those times and vice versa.
FTG: Do you see the fight staying on up on the feet or going to the ground?
Littlefield: I’ve seen both. I try to visualize all the ways that I can win. I can’t say I plan on standing and I can’t say I’m shooting on him. I don’t know. I’ll see when it happens. My body goes into autopilot sometimes when I fight. I just hope I drilled the right things enough to do them automatically when the time comes.
FTG: Mark Dellagrotte is your Muay Thai coach. What has training with him brought to your game?
Littlefield: I started training with Mark after my fight with Thiago Alves. I realized that I needed some legitimate Muay Thai training to make my overall game effective. Thiago was able to pick me apart with kicks and combos that I had never encountered before. Mark and I were friendly with each other. Our teams used to compete against each other in MMA events but we were always cordial and respectful and on several occasions he offered to swap training. So I finally took him up on it and now Sityodtong and Boneyard are like family. We made a pact years ago not to compete in MMA against each other. Myself, Bobby Dias and several of our fighters get our Muay Thai from Sityodtong.
Mark doesn’t need my endorsement to credit his coaching ability. He’s got Goldie, Rogan and every magazine in the country doing that for him. It’s all true though, the kid is a genius when it comes to mixing MMA with Muay Thai. He’s very knowledgeable and he’s a true friend to me.
FTG: Do you have a prediction for the fight?
Littlefield: Sorry man. I’m not the shit talking type. I hope the fight goes long enough to enjoy it but I also hope it doesn’t go to decision.
FTG: When did you open The Boneyard?
Littlefield: 1999.
FTG: Do you have any news about the school you’d like to share? Programs, classes, etc.?
Littlefield: I’m doing it full time now so I’ve started day classes and classes for kids. We expanded to the second floor and made a grappling room for our no-gi and gi classes.
FTG: What is your background in jiujitsu? Do you offer belts in your gi classes or is it more geared toward competition training?
Littlefield: I began training BJJ in ‘96 with Roberto Maia at Boston Brazilian, then in Watertown Ma. I used to be a gi guy until the MMA bug bit me in ’99. After that I started doing a lot of no-gi and MMA type grappling but I still competed in the Pan Am’s every year a did some gi training. I won the gold in 2002 or 2003 as a blue belt and was promoted to purple shortly after. I competed once more as a purple in the Pan Ams and lost. That was the last time I put a gi on for years. I went totally no-gi/MMA. I recruited one of the Boston BJJ guys to teach gi at my school. Tomas Malave, who is an old training partner of mine from our blue belt days is now a black belt and is the Boneyard gi instructor. Once our students are ready, Tomas brings them to Roberto for their promotion. It’s all done under Gracie Barra, so it’s a legit promotion that the guys (and girls) can be proud of. I also teach a gi class at the school, as I have once again put my pj’s back on. It’s as much for me as it is for the guys I instruct. Teaching is the best way to learn in my opinion. I also train with Mat Santos in both gi and no-gi. Mat and I have been pals since the early days. He’s a very talented guy who has an answer (and a joke) for every situation.
FTG: Who are some of the top fighters you have at the school? What makes them stand out?
Littlefield: Matt Fletcher is the top guy at the school hands down. He’s not that active because of his family commitments but he could fight any 170lbr on the planet. Matt is easily a brown belt level in terms of Jiu Jitsu skill although he doesn’t wear a gi. His wrestling is off the chain and at 170lb he hits like a heavyweight and moves like a feather weight. If he ever decides to actively compete and really focus on his MMA the welter weight division will be in trouble.
Lance Everson is another one. I don’t have to describe Lance to anyone that follows local MMA. He has all the tools to be at the next level. He just needs a little more consistency.
Bobby Dias has had some tough fights. He’s lost a few that he shouldn’t have and he knows it. The guy has incredible skill and at 155 he’s a beast.
We have a bunch of other guys both pro and amateur that are showing lots of improvement and tons of promise. The amout of heart that these guys display at team practice is unmatched. (our team practice is hell). Most of them are just coming up but you’ll be hearing their names more and more in the local circuit.
FTG: Do they have any fights coming up?
Littlefield: Lance is fighting Woody Weatherby at Untamed 26 on Feb 28 in Westport (ding!) as well as a bunch of other Boneyard guys: Joe Dechaves, Jed Tinlin, Justin Corneglia, Mark Rodriguez, Graeme Prue, Kevin Camara and Sam Elliott.
FTG: Anything else you would like to share?
Littlefield: Did I leave anything out? I’d like to thank Mat Santos who’s been helping me with my Jits and Mark Dellagrotte who is my Muay Thai coach. Also, Bobby Dias and Graeme Prue have helped me tremendously as well as the rest of my Boneyard brothers and my beautiful wife Stacey for all her help and support.
