Division champ Beard ready to climb UFC ladder
Donovan “The Highlight Reel” Beard has a professional record of 7-1 and is the Cage Fury Fighting Championships current middleweight world champion.
The disciplines Beard is trained in are boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu and wrestling.
Beard trains with several professional fighters twice a day from 11 a.m. to noon and 6 to 8 p.m. at Off the Chain MMA in Hot Springs. When he is not training for his future, he is training his teammates for their fights and doing personal training sessions.
“We have a lot of good fighters in here, and now we are fixing to make a move,” Beard said.
Coach Dawond Pickney commented on the process it took to build the team.
“It took a while to build our team,” Pickney said. “It is hard to build a fighting team.”
Beard and Pickney have been friends since they were children. “We are brothers,” Beard said. The team is focused on patience, preservation and keeping a do not quit attitude.
As an amateur Beard won Rage in the Cage in Oklahoma.
Beard’s interest in MMA came from playing UFC video games. Beard’s brother had a punching bag and speed bag combo, and Beard would see the moves on the game and practice them on the bag.
“There was training I had to do to elevate my character, and I thought if the guys doing the green screen moves can do it, why can I not do it,” Beard said. “So, I would get in practice mode to look at moves, and I would just apply it to this punching bag.”
Beard attributes his one loss to not going through his training and diet rituals the correct way. However, he said he learned his lesson and moved forward.
In Beard’s last fight, he battled and defeated undefeated prospect Miles Lee at the Horseshoe Hotel & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, with the fight streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Beard emphasized not giving up during his recent success.
“I knew I was down three rounds, and I knew I had one round to go,” Beard said. “I told myself just hang in there. I knew something was going to happen. Just look for that window and climb through it the moment it opens.”
Beard said he felt he was an underdog and that everyone wanted Lee to win, but fortunately for him, he took home the gold.
“Look, I am sitting here thinking it is a regular belt from a regular promotion,” he said. “When they said world champion I am like, ‘Are you sure? Are you serious right now?’”
Beard’s title defense is not yet scheduled, and he said he is just waiting for the phone call.
Beard is a 6-foot-2-inch fighter and weighs in for most of his fights at 185 pounds.
“He is a bad mamma jamma,” Pickney said. “He is an all-around fighter.”
Beard fights with several styles and has formed himself into a student of fighting. He spends a lot of time in the film room to prepare for each match.
Beard’s preference of techniques makes him versatile.
“I am more adaptable,” Beard said. “If you want to fight me against the fence, want to go on the ground and if you want to stand up and bang I am cool with that.”
He watches for fighters’ tendencies to see if he can find certain weaknesses within their styles and his own.
The CFFC is known for developing talent to send to the UFC.
Beard has also signed with an agency, Iridium Sports Agency, that will submit his name and records to the UFC matchmakers to find him his first fight.
He will fight, and Iridium will promote.
“If I do my job, everyone will get theirs, they will make sure I get there,” Beard said.
Beard wants his story to become an inspiration to the other fighters on his team.
“Just like if one of them makes it, I make it,” he said. “If I make it, they make it.”
Beard said a dream fight for him would be against Anderson Silva. He has always emulated Silva and his style.
Beard displays kindness along with discipline and a strong work ethic for his craft. With his world championship in his division on his shoulder he hopes to break into the UFC, and he hopes they are ready for him.