Dre Miley is a mixed martial artist who fights out of Knoxville Martial Arts Academy in Tennessee. He is signed to Valor Fighting Challenge where he has competed ten times as a professional.
Transcript
Dre Miley: How are things going in quarantine? I’M pretty good, but everything that can go with the training is a little bit more challenging. So it’s a lot of solo drilling and you know just a lot of you’re by yourself training. You get to be six feet apart. You could see everybody, but still not same, looks like punching and kicking each other and wrestling each other. So are you at your they’re at Knoxville that that camp there right Knoxville, martial arts academy, yes, yeah, how’s, uh how’s that been obviously OSP trains out of there? How was his training camp leading up to his fight he’s pretty good? I know he left a little bit across train some other places before he went to fight, so he usually does most of his camp with us and then, if he needs a he’ll, go to another place and go train with him for a little bit just because They have bigger gas than what we have so wouldn’t that mean Lord yeah yeah. I thought he looked really good for considering he, you know debut at heavyweight fighting a guy like Ben Rothwell who’s. You know, he’s been around, he’s really good, it’s hard to put away. So I thought he looked good for for heavyweight debut. I guess what do you think’s next form? Should he drop back down or stay there at 265? I think light heavyweight. The crazy thing is that he took 10 people get just abused. He took that fight because everybody else that he was supposed to fight kind of like couldn’t get out because of the quarantine and everything else like that, so it wasn’t like he was intentionally moving too heavy way. It was just took fight because you know it’s available and he wanted to fight. So I think that’s what it is, but I think who moved back down to light heavyweight and he’ll know how good he is knock off. Man striking is so anytime. You can go against somebody weighs 270 pounds, you and your walk around 240 and you can hang in there and you drop them twice. Yeah, that’s gon na be a real confidence booster for him. Coming back to 205 yeah, you took it to a split which you know in a debut at heavyweight fight, any guy who’s 30, like he said 30 pounds heavier than him. I thought it looked really good, really impressive. A lot of people thought he won, so it no shame in that. I guess, and I guess what are your thoughts on on Knoxville martial arts academy as a whole. Obviously, I’ve had people like live-live Parker. She was on. I talked to her a little bit. What do you thoughts on your training camp area, to Train partners that are and your coaches and have you ever thought about training abroad somewhere else like going to an ATT or a bigger camp? No, no! I do have any ambition on leaving came in at all. You know it’s like my family, I started when I was 18 and I’m 29 now, so I’m not gon na jump ship just because they have. You know people that are like the whole name. My ATT, you know they’re like Walmart of MMA, so they got gym everywhere. It seems like so now. Okay make more family than anything like I kill us, it’s mainstream gyms or what not, because they care we care about. Everybody walks to those boards. So it’s a whole culture. If, though, why people get the misinterpretation that you have to be from a big gym to make it big, which is a bunch of crap, because you have people that care about you not just care, you can line their pockets. I love teammates and I love all my coaches, so I’m leaving you fought your entire career at valor. What are your thoughts on that organization as a whole? I guess and – and I guess on your your career – there have valorn. Have you ever thought about? You know competing at other organizations or trying to you know, maybe good LFA or anything like that. Or are you just happy at a valor there? It’S a local organization. What are your? What do you thoughts? I love this a regional thing, so it’s one of those things that get you jumpstart for your career and try to get you going to the bigger shows. So do I have ambitions, I’m going to the show. Oh yeah. Definitely cuz there’s never like I’m stalled, abandoned valor, you know, but I do want to go into like billet or maybe UFC. I was going to fight for m1 that have been the first Bismarck. That’S one to fall, this quarantine didn’t happen, so I would have been fighting for m1 right now, making money there so and all this through valor, because you know the people at valor, Tim, Moy and everybody else. They put us fighters out there and you know they put the people out there to go out there to show and they put the people out there a popular, and you know the few that really deserved it go to the next level, so they do their job. Promoting as well as parties do for the Instagram and Facebook, those oh yeah then to go then goes the belt or be a UFC. That’S my angle, with with the quarantine and the pandemic, and not being able to get the proper training and all that stuff. Do you have a timeline as to when you’re willing to get back in there? Obviously, you won back in January. Very impressive first round finish. Is there? Is there a date that comes to mind? Is it you know what I need a full training camp or is it if I get a call I’ll show up at this point is if I get a call, because I know that I know I can go and get some good work in about just doing Solo, drills – and you know I can get – I can do what I need to do – get three four five, so skirmishes waiting on phone calls like hey. This is what’s gon na happen when this is where you’re fighting, when you’re fighting make sure you’re ready. Okay, cuz right now, I’m eatin clean. You know working out training at the gym, so I mean there’s not really much as change besides the contact, but even then still never changed. So what are your thoughts on like an organization like the UFC? Obviously there to jump runners they’re the guys that were like we’re gon na go out there we’re gon na make this happen. We’Re gon na buy an island we’re gon na put a fight on the moon. It doesn’t matter how we’re gon na do it. We’Re gon na get it done. Obviously, they’ve received a lot of backlash, for you know doing that, it’s so you’re putting fighters at risk. What are your thoughts on that? I guess from a fighter’s perspective rather than a fan’s perspective. Well, from fires, point of view, I mean that’s how we make our money. You know, that’s, like you know the NFL and NBA Tom that boys can’t they can’t play ball. You know they don’t wait a little bit those people, you know they got your shelf and somebody’s. You know good years, prime years to be like okay. Well, you got away this stuff blows over, but we don’t know when it’s gon na blow over and with the economic crisis going on with the stimulus, checks and stuff going on like it. You really can’t be magnified if we jump back a bit and let go yeah. Oh yeah, I’ll fight, I’ll, go, take a test and like it’s negative, I get to fight and I get to keep doing what I’m doing. Just at the end of the day, you got ta make a living and you’re an athlete. This is what you got to do: fans just don’t get it. You know we live in a world now. If people like to complain, they love to have something to go against. They’Ve got to go against it wholeheartedly, and so anything that goes against what somebody higher than them tells them. They don’t go against it, but I applaud danga wife for doing this, because the world needed some kind of distraction and it probably educating more people in the world of MMA than what it was whenever you had a fight every what two three months, how people actually Get to watch and you got listen there’s now. The cool thing about life is that you get to hear everything and that’s why I want to be in, like I wan na, be here my coaches on Bill here to smack softer. You know contact all that gets all the commentators, because you know in an arena, no matter how big, how small you can’t hear enough cheering so yeah. I mean I kind of like that idea to a certain certain extent. Obviously, as a fan, I’d love to be able to sit in an arena and watch it, but you know when I’m watching it on TV and I’m hearing just engage these fists rattle off Toni Ferguson’s head. I’M like that’s cool. I like that, like it kind of, puts things into perspective, how much contact there actually is. You know when you see it’s like? Oh, that looks like it grazed. But if you hear it, you know it was a solid, solid shot. Yeah do you? Would you like, as a fighter, would you rather have that or would you rather I mean obviously you’d like to hear the corners and stuff better, but do you like hearing fans, cheering or people booing? Do you like that as well? Uh, yes, and no, I like it because you can feed off the energy of the crowd, but also at the same time, if you’re going to I, you know and you’re fighting and saying you’re and that you’re beating the guy or he does something crazy right. The crowd goes oh or they do something like that. That automatically looks good to the judges, because you know some of the judges are not educated and they they just see something or to hear it. Like reaction, oh, I must not really heard those crowds going crazy. So it’s kind of one of those things where it’s it’s hard. It really it it’s hard like I’m. I would much rather have like just it begins. If there’s a way you can like have a middle ground, where you have just a little bit of fans. That way, you can hear you I’d be down for it, but I’m cool either way yeah. I find it also influences the refs right like, for example, the ground, the game’s on the ground and there’s a lot of side control and not much damage is being done. Boos would often get the like the ref to stand it up, I’m not a fan of standing it up anyway. Obviously I love seeing a slugfest, but I think the most natural thing to do is let things play out on the ground and I feel like boos and stuff like that, would influence the referee as well yeah. They do and the obviously there’s rumors of fight Island, which I think it’s amazing. I love it if they were to do something like like an Ultimate Fighter or something like that on Fire Island. I still think that’s cool. It’S like some Hunger Games stuff, that’s something that you’d be interested in like going to live on an island and duking it out with a bunch of other guys. Oh yeah, there’s a chance for me that you know change the life of my family. I’M gon na jump on it, I mean yeah. I have to be away from my family for a few months, but hell it’s something that I’m gon na be doing for a living and they live off. They can live off that money. You know I’m doing what I love to do. You know. Paychecks were one thing, but taking family is totally different, so yeah yeah I’ll jump at the bit of N there’s like hey, we got bent weights or my firehouse coming like. I will put me in there. Cuz, let’s go so I need this money yeah. I love the idea. I really think it’s like some Hunger Games type stuff, just having a bunch of guys out there and duking it out and how I think that would be it’d be awesome. And what are your thoughts on fight island as a whole? Are you like? I love it, or is it just like that? It’S weird I love it. You know cuz you get to do you actually are away from the world, there’s no jurisdiction. You know whoever the governing body like the Commission is the one that says go so than that you like. Well, I get the fight, I mean you say it’s like Hunger Games, you get the food. What you want to do, I mean you who’s. Gon na tell you know so you got your coaches, you guys are people that you want to be there. Hey you get to Train you get to live to life. You know, I’m pretty sure it’s a fantastic Valley, because Dana White balding good-bye knows he’s loaded it. So, like yeah, you get your vacation and you get to fight and you get to you know: train at this beautiful location. That’S all the wind right there, so you’re you’re, now you’re, now, seven and three you put together a nice winning streak there. You know you went for fights in a row before that loss. What was it gon na take to pull off another streak like that? Get three or four more fights and win? What is it you have to adjust in your game and what do you think went wrong in that loss to go to 13? The loss to him was just a lot of just negative going into that camp. You know with him pulling out a fight. I psych me out of it because the camp was like extremely long. You know and not knowing, if he’s gon na, make it and him pulling out some bull, crap excuse and like oh, I I did dis damage to the my rib and all this another in life. You didn’t do anything you just needed more time so other than that. I’M pretty sure that, like the first round, I was winning the fight the second round. That’S when the knee happened. I still think the meat was totally legal, but it is what it is. I think it’s just me playing too much into the crowd me playing it too much into my emotions and not be able to challenge it because most of the fights that I’ve had I’ve never had that killed. My emotion like I never wanted to actually hurt somebody or take someone out there as much as I want him. So I think that me getting my emotions in check. I have been doing very well and being more of myself. So more of like how my last night went so taking the person to a dampened taking them to the ground and finishing them there. That’S where that’s what most month, I should be ending up in English, because no bun, no means of my striker and my pesky flies have been the striker and I’ve got lucky snatching up next on the guillotine. But I think wrestling is something that I’m had to go back to doing again. He said that you, you said UFC Bellator, that that’s the goal, how many more wins in a row do you think you’re gon na have to put together before you get picked up or noticed by a Dana White or Scott Coker? You know what I have no idea, I hope maybe about one or two good showings, because the weird thing is: there’s people in boats or who’ve only had like three pro fights in my division or five pro fights. Six pro fights like you mean to tell me: I have ten fights as a pro, and you mean somebody this guy’s barring me because he’s had three I’m like well he’s. He has some more followers or they say no. This is a bunch of bullcrap, so you guys don’t know about me, but so I think that if I take the Conor McGregor approach without being a dick just take out there put my name out there. You know let people know who I am people, okay with it and I think I’ll be there. So and I don’t know creature belts worth of watching all of the fights you know they. I’M know three of my teammates, a [ __ ] boat already, so Jason Kings ball. Taylor Turner follow Emily kingís ball, so I mean it’s not like they don’t know who we are or they know about us. They forget their arms and money. So they’re waiting on somebody to do something crazy, so hopefully next bite this stuff blows over and I can get back into it and maybe going just a wind spree the whole time. I think it’s like MMA is very different than other sports because, like, for example, football like if you’re good, you’re good in in boxing, if you’re good, you’re good in MMA, you really need to get out there and be vocal it it’s. So, unlike any other sport, you could be the best in the world, and people may not even talk about you really. You know the conor mcgregor’s had a massive following before he became champion, whereas some people aren’t as vocal steeping Meo dishes, for example, aren’t as loud. Aren’T as boisterous and they don’t get that attention, it’s it’s very different and it’s unusual for sure yeah you got to create your alter-ego, you got it. You got to have somebody or something to relate yourself to so with McConaughey’s being from ireland, and you know he’s Irish he’s very proud of that. Most people who go to fights – or you know they light Irish people because they like to fly. You know with all the movies that came out and then everybody and their mom claims that they have some kind of Irish in them dissonance. I know you don’t, but they that’s how he gets them. He appeals to that crowd. You know people that are the douchebags. The ones like I could be anybody, but he’s not he’s, not a douchebag. He just gives off that energy, so people feed into it. So he knows I play that field. Even so, who knows who knows everybody’s calling him cringy? I mean I I understand. Where he’s coming from, because you’re in a small division, thirty five and twenty fives with very small divisions – and I really know too much about that division, so you got to do what you got to do to sell it. You know now granny he’s not doing it! The right way not going about the right way, but it works for him, so a lasagna is probably the biggest person to do it right now, since his like hole entrance for his last time fight, that’s pretty dope, so that was crazy, yeah yeah! So you got to have some kind of market like that, so I know a bunch of us that came may have like these alter egos. You know so this. What do you got? Do you just got peeled to your fanbase and peeled the people that you want to target and come watch you fight and come say: hey, come check out this guy yeah um, okay! So last time I’m a question. I guess we have. We have a big fight coming up tonight. What are your thoughts on the main event? Obviously Walt Harris returning is very, very emotional, I’m rooting for them. I like them. I have over him. I feel like over ins, just the better fighter and I think he’s gon na get it done. He’S gon na spoil it, but but what do you think? How do you? How do you see it going? I like both of those guys all. I want Harris more because, while Harris is, you know he’s coming out with chip in his shoulder and he’s also, you know he’s going to get after it. You know I’ll show him. He has these fights where he’ll be good next time. He sucks be really good for a while and Amy sucks, so he really rides that rollercoaster. So I like what Harrison this week just because the difference is wrestling yeah, the striking. If each I stand up Alistar, oh he’s gon na go sleep and ain’t. No doubt about it, you can’t go against the kickboxing champ, you know for like years and think that I might trade with this guys. I know he could still put you away. So it’s what you got to do. I think I pick Walt Harris, but it’s probably what this probably won’t, be a decision and then the only other title fight, that’s kind of booked as Amanda Nunez, fighting Felicia Spencer. I think it’s everyone as Amanda Nunez, winning even the same boat. Do you think she gets it done and am i beating her and if I beat man and nobody beating the man knew this? It’S just not happen. She knows how good she is. You know she’s been working on the craft ain’t, nobody touching her, then, if, maybe maybe you know Felice gets some. You know some highlights on her to show other people hey. This girl can’t be beat, but there still ain’t gon na happen. It’S not. She beat the crap out, cyborg inside work was most dominant female in the world and she made her just look easy. So yeah, I’m with everybody on newness and last. I guess non MMA question is: what are you doing during quarantine? What are you doing you watching TV? Is there any shows you’re watching? Are you? Are you a gamer? What is it you’re doing to keep your mind occupied and just to waste some time uh, usually watching TV with the family, or you know what the dogs that we got. We usually try to get the kids outside, sometimes get us the jump on trampling with them and stuff like that. But mostly we play video games. I played my PlayStation a lot kids play theirs. You know just do anything to relax. So mostly video games TV. You know sometimes we have game nights, it’s really just be outside, try to not be in the house. So that’s pretty much. We do all right man. Well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk. Wish you all the best. Hopefully, you can get back in there sooner rather than later and get a couple wins, and hopefully you get noticed by Bellator UFC and get picked up all right man. I appreciate this all right. Man, no problem, all the best all right see you, man, yeah, stay safe,
