Dave Reeves, the owner of Rise Combat, was matched to fight his student, Johnathan Monk! Dave turned 50 in December of 2024 and has been training and teaching taekwondo and kickboxing for 30 years. Dave had to drop over 20 lbs for this fight! Early last year (2024), Dave was actually battling cancer! Having defeated cancer, he continued coaching his students, including Johnathan, and never stopped training himself. When I spoke with Dave, he said, “Johnathan has been trying to get me to go full contact with him for a while and has been asking me what it would take to get me back into the ring. I always tell my students ‘sweat till you die,’ so of course, I took the fight. I would hit him with an open fist if it wasn’t a foul.”
I had a quick chat with Marc Beer, one of the coaches at Rise and who had trained Dave for this fight. He said, “I was surprised that Johnathan called for this fight. Johnathan walked into the gym one day after they had been matched, and I kicked him out. We know what Johnathan is good at. Dave has the ability to put together spinning attacks, and Johnathan doesn’t.” I asked Marc how he felt about this being Dave’s last year of fighting. Marc said, “When one door closes, another opens. Dave will continue to coach and can focus on creating great athletes.”
I met Kelly, Dave’s wife, very briefly that evening. I didn’t get a chance to chat with Kelly, but I could see from her eyes that she was both proud and worried at the same time. I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been for Kelly to support Dave, after beating cancer, cut weight, and train for a fight with a student ten years younger! I bow to Kelly’s selflessness!
Johnathan is 40 and started training in taekwondo and kickboxing under Dave about five years ago. Johnathan recently opened up his own gym, Elite Fighting Academy, in Guelph. According to Johnathan, the story is that in December 2024, the K Fighting Series promoter called him and said they had a possible match for him, not knowing the match was Johnathan’s coach! “I agreed, knowing that I was actually matched with my coach, and I had training with him coming up for a different fight in December 2024. I didn’t tell Dave we had been matched up until after our training, and only then, Dave found out after the promoter called him and told him I had accepted to fight. Dave called me right away, ‘You cheeky little sh##! I’m going to beat your as##.’ Dave took the fight too.”
I chatted with Johnathan a couple of times: “When I go into a fight, I never anticipate an outcome, and I give it everything I have. I’ve been training under Jaidip Kambo and Brandon Polo for the past month with a new game plan, but I might revert back to old habits in the heat of the fight. I took this fight because I want Dave to know how well I’ve turned out. Dave didn’t just train me; he mentored me too. I learned everything from Dave, and he’s the reason I’ve gotten this far.”
I chatted with Brandon and Jaidip too. I asked them what their strategy was for training Johnathan, given that Dave, as his coach, knew all of Johnathan’s strengths and weaknesses. Jaidip responded, “It actually goes both ways because through Johnathan, we also know what Dave’s game plan and fight strategies are. We focused on how to counter those. Johnathan has a work ethic like no one else, and with that, he has come to be compatible with his coach!”
Rise Combat had two other fighters that evening: Brat Liamido and North Meyer, both exceptional in technique and power. They had a way with their superman punches and spinning kicks! Rise won both of those fights. I caught Dave passing by and told him, “If all of your students fight like that, you’re in big trouble.” He told me to wait and watch.
Dave (the Coach) and Johnathan (the Student) were the last fight of the evening. As for the result of that fight, we’re all in agreement that Dave creates exceptional athletes and amazing fighters!
Quite a few of the local firefighters attended the event, so I just had to interview a few of them. I’ll write that blog in my diary.
Thank you, Doggpound MMA, for an amazing night and their generosity. I look forward to their future events.
Glow Recovery - Stretch Therapy
Comments