2017 Warfare MMA 17

Brandon Bushaw: Lessons Learned Through Warfare

Brandon Bushaw: Lessons Learned Through Warfare

Warfare MMA fighter Brandon Bushaw signed up for a fight and brought far more than he had to bring.

Dec 21, 2017 by Duane Finley
Brandon Bushaw: Lessons Learned Through Warfare

Brandon Bushaw knows the tears are coming. He also knows there’s nothing that can be done to stop them. 

Just to fend off or push down what is surging toward the surface would take a Herculean effort, and the 36-year-old is acutely aware there isn’t an ounce of fight left in him to do so. Bushaw knows this because everything he had to give was left under the lights at Warfare MMA 17 on Dec. 15 for all to see.

The floor beneath his feet shakes and rattles as another fighter on the card is announced on the speaker system and makes the same walk he made 20 minutes earlier at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, SC.

What began as a twinge deep in his chest is now barreling like a bullet train toward the surface. In a matter of seconds the flood arrives, and Bushaw draws his swollen hands that were just used to batter and bloody another human being to his own face.

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Adrenaline and bruising prevent Bushaw from actually feeling the tears streaming down, but it’s the constant flow of crimson that’s been present for the past 13 minutes that truly erases the sensation.

And in that moment a once-hardened gaze softens in the storm of it all. The inevitable arrival of everything built up, set aside, and stored over the past six weeks has earned its time, and the full release comes to call. Bushaw exhales a tremored breath as flashes of the most sacred things in his life fill his mind.

This is the part of the fight game lesser individuals attempt to hide and tuck away like a raw truth that would threaten the very foundation upon which personas are built. Yet, the vulnerability and emotion experienced in the aftermath of the battle are among the realest moments a competitor will ever experience in a sport built on pain and sacrifice. 

The tears are the reward. The blood is the currency, and the swelling pride or the stung ego is the result of the primal transaction. Distractions have to be pushed aside in order to ensure it’s felt all the way through — because this is what it’s about — and I watch as Bushaw keeps himself in the moment.

That’s what a competitor does, and Bushaw doesn’t know how to be anything else but that.


****


“I’m really glad you’re here," Bushaw said. "Normally at this point I don't want to talk to anyone, but having you here has lifted my spirits."

Bushaw splashed a handful of water onto his face just as an oddly timed shot of December air cut through his property. He was deep into the seventh round of a 10-minute hot-tub soak, which would serve as the finishing touches to a successful weight cut.

“If you’d gotten here 10 minutes earlier you would have seen me on all fours in the kitchen,” Bushaw said with a laugh. “There are miserable moments in every cut where you wonder what the hell you got yourself into. There are thousands of times in the lead up to the fight where I ask myself why the f*ck I’m doing any of it, but the cut is a totally different battle.”


All in all, Bushaw had been peeling off weight for competition for as long as he could remember. A standout as soon as he took to the mats, Bushaw would rack up two state titles during his time competing for Westbrook High School in Maine before accepting a scholarship offer to wrestle for Michigan State University. And while injuries would create a rocky road to travel for Bushaw through the collegiate ranks, it was his time in East Lansing that would plant the seed for a future career in mixed martial arts.

Watching friends and teammates Rashad Evans and Gray Maynard go on to forge successful careers under the UFC banner lit the fighting fuse for Bushaw, but his approach to combat sports would take a different trajectory — and launch for entirely different reasons than would motivate his peers.

While Evans and Maynard would set out into the fray with championship dreams and large paydays in their minds, Bushaw’s drive was solely based on the competitive challenge fighting represented. And it’s a fire that continues to rage in him.

“I’ve never been under any illusion that I would become a UFC world champion, but that’s never what it’s been about for me,” Bushaw said as the man affectionately known as Big Dennis trims up his hair. “After my college career was over I had to put my focus onto something else, and that became starting our business. (My wife) Cynthia and I were 22 and 23 when we opened Island Bar and that endeavor not only provided a huge challenge to jump into but gave me an entirely new realm to dive in and commit to.

“Even as the business grew to be successful, I found that fire to compete was still there. The [Myrtle Beach] area’s mixed martial arts scene was just starting to blossom at that time, and it was the perfect vehicle to provide the answers to the questions I had swirling around my head. I’ve always been able to handle myself on the wrestling mats, but I wanted to see what I was made of when the cage door closed. 

“I think that’s why a lot of fighters step into the cage. We are looking for the truth, even if it comes in brutally honest form.”


In between the back-and-forth of the question-and-answer session, Bushaw’s eyes close and the visible tension in his forehead fades for the time being. With a weight cut at its end and a fistfight rapidly approaching, Bushaw is trying to keep his mind focused on the task at hand, when in reality, the events of the past 72 hours have had very little to do with his ability to perform on Friday night. 

Being a hometown hero and fan favorite competing in his own backyard comes with the perk of having a rabid cheering section on fight night, but the hassles that accompany the situation are far more pressing than Bushaw would ever let on.

In fact, there are very little tells where Bushaw’s frustration levels are concerned, but the snags are certainly there for the trained eye to see. That said, the South Carolina transplant does a remarkable job of keeping his game face intact, because his perpetual good-natured presentation is more than temporary representation.

This is simply who Bushaw is regardless of scenario or circumstance. 

Once the crowd clears out of his home and we are on our way to the official weigh-ins on Thursday afternoon, Bushaw finally opens up and lets a bit of unaccounted-for weight slide off his shoulders.


“Don’t get me wrong, I love fighting at home because it allows all the people who support me to watch the fights live and have that experience,” he said. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t say it didn’t come with a ton of frustration. I honestly don’t even think they are thinking all that far into it or about my situation at all. I mean if they were, I doubt I’d get a quarter of the texts, calls, or hassles I get during fight week.”

While Bushaw wasn’t in the mood to air anything out, getting a firsthand look at the chaos he referenced was eye-opening to say the least. For an experienced writer like myself who has spent the bulk of his career covering the largest shows and fighters in the sport, riding shotgun as a showcased fighter on a regional card did his thing allowed a much different perspective than I’d previously been privy to. 

Although Bushaw was cutting weight and trying to focus, that didn’t stop his phone blowing up from people looking for tickets or better seats for fight night. In the few moments when relaxation should have been available, Bushaw had to jump in his truck and zip off to make sure someone had what they needed, which is the exact opposite of how the dynamic should be working.

For all intents and purposes, Bushaw’s needs should be the only thing on Bushaw’s mind, but the people-pleaser in him won’t allow him to do otherwise — even though doing so was of the most crucial importance.

“Even if you take the real-life responsibilities out of the equation, it’s still a ton,” Bushaw said. “On top of running a business, taking care of a family that includes a newborn who came into this world two weeks ago and the day-to-day grind, then you throw in all the things you need to do to properly prepare for a fight. I’m constantly worried I haven’t done enough, and the more life builds, the more worry I have.”


****


The buzzer sounds just as Zac Cooper drops an elbow that crashes into the side of Bushaw’s head. It was a thunderous shot that served as a resounding stamp on a round that saw the tides take a strong turn for the Georgian.

What started as a strong frame ultimately became a rough round that saw a sizeable gash opened up on the inside of his right eyebrow, as a Cooper knee landed flush as Bushaw attempted to change levels. Once the shot landed, Cooper was able to put Bushaw on his back and control the action until time expired.

And before the final second ticked off, the elbow landed with authority.

As cornerman Derrick Kennington helped Bushaw to his feet, the proverbial cobwebs hung thick. Blood gushed from the open wound and the entire right side of Bushaw’s face was in the midst of a sizable swelling. The scorecards were split a round apiece, but the damage absorbed by Bushaw in the middle round clearly had Cooper in the driver’s seat heading into the final frame.

“You have to wake the f*ck up, kid,” Kennington screamed. “If he takes you down again, you have to dig for the far-side underhook and explode up and out of it. You have five minutes left to get this done.

“You have to go now, Bushaw,” I added from my perch outside the cage. “It’s a round apiece and you need to implement your will right now. Right f*cking now, man.”


From my vantage point, I could see his posture still slightly slumped from the wear and tear of round two, but the instructions from his corner and the realization it was time to get back to work reignited the necessary fire inside him.

With the success Cooper found on the canvas, it was clear that’s where he was aiming to return, and despite Bushaw’s resilience, that’s exactly where the third round played out. 

Despite being in a compromised position, the fight never left Bushaw. The 20-fight veteran continued to scrap even as defeat started to close in around him.

It was all he could do in the moment, but it just wasn’t enough.

Yet, little did he know, sitting 5 feet away from the cage there was a young man getting inspired every second the fight carried on. Bloodied, battered and against ominous odds, Bushaw battled onward, and that display of grit meant something.

For Warfare MMA 17’s featured guest of honor, nothing mattered more.


****


For some, hardship and hassle arrive at the doorstep with great frequency and without cause or warning. Furthermore, when that friction reaches a point where it is kicking in the door and stealing every sense of comfort or self-identity, drastic options can begin to appear as the only suitable ones available.

Several weeks back, James Bashaw came face-to-face with that reality.

After months of being tormented by his peers and classmates, the shy and reserved high school freshman decided to create an end of his own. Reporting incident after incident to his teachers yielded no results, and physically fighting back failed to gain him anything other than black eyes and busted lips, therefore James decided the only way for him to find peace of mind was to remove himself from the equation.

Therefore, James attempted to commit suicide and bring his long-standing suffering to an end.

Fortunately for James and his family, the attempt was unsuccessful, but what he did accomplish was raising the alert on his personal situation. Once James stabilized, his father, Brian, began reaching out across the Myrtle Beach community, and one of the direct calls he made was to Brandon Bushaw.


In addition to being the owner of a wildly popular local business, Bushaw was also one of the biggest names on the resort town’s MMA scene. He was plugged into a community that had been bringing positive energy and entertainment to the shore scene for the past decade, and while Bushaw may not hold any direct answers to the complex situation at hand, help of any variety would provide a glimpse of salvation in the darkest of times.

Once Bushaw became aware of the situation, he was all in from the jump. As a father of two, and having experienced bullying to some degree during his own formative years, the 36-year-old featherweight was adamant about getting involved.

“It’s just a heartbreaking story, man. There’s no other way to put it,” Bushaw said on the eve of his tilt with Cooper at Warfare 17. “To think a 14-year-old kid would feel so hopeless and tormented that the only suitable option for him was to end his own life is insane. Not to mention he’s already dealing with a condition [autism] that makes him feel like an outcast to begin with, then he has to come to school and face this shit every single day of his life? It’s just heartbreaking.

“We see it more and more each year how much of an epidemic bullying has become. Kids are tormented to the point they try or do kill themselves, or the flipside of that situation where they go looking for revenge and walk into a school with a gun and the absolute worst happens. I’m not trying to get political with this because that’s not something I engage in, but this is a problem all across the board. Something needs to be done about it and it has to start somewhere.

“I’m by no means trying to save the world or anything like that, but if I can make a difference in this kid’s life, then I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen,” he added.

With the Keaton Jones video going viral around the same time as James’ situation breaking public around the Beach, Bushaw took to the web to further the conversation. Sitting in a sauna during a portion of his weight cut, the scrappy veteran shared news that he and Warfare MMA, led by President Andy Hall, would be rolling out the red carpet for James and his family during fight week.

The embattled freshman would be invited to a plethora of behind-the-scenes activity in the lead up to the event and given cageside seats on fight night. In Bushaw’s mind, any string he could pull or meeting he could set up had the potential to take James’ mind far away from the static that had consumed his world. And while the effort put forth served to motivate the fighter in a much larger sense, it also stoked the fires of inspiration heading into his showdown inside the Warfare cage.

“No one deserves to be treated that way,” Bushaw added on the situation with James. “I just want James to have a special night.”

Later that evening, as James and his family sat directly left of the main stage where public weigh-ins were being held, the smile on his face was the most visible thing in the room. The young man danced to the music spun on the turns by the in-house DJ between matchups, and he cheered loudly for the local fighters when they took to the scale.

After Bushaw exited the stage following a hype-inducing impromptu speech that not only addressed James’ situation, but flipped it forward into the positive vibes surrounding the event, I pulled the young man aside to get his thoughts on being the man of the moment in what had grown to become the event of the weekend.

“I’ve never done anything like this in my whole life,” James said as tears of excitement and joy filled his eyes. “This is so awesome and I don’t even know what to say. This is so awesome.”

Fast forward 28 hours and James sat on a chair just 5 feet away from the cage, and the excitement of the night had taken a physical toll on his slender frame. He had not only witnessed an action-packed night of fights but was also spotlit and celebrated on several occasions throughout the night.


Hall and Bushaw collaborated to ensure James was given the seat of honor, but then the ante was upped as the young man was able to sit in at the commentator’s booth and call a fight with this writer and partner Scott Lee. Last but certainly not least, James was brought into the cage by Andy Hall and several fighters and gifted a yearlong membership to Fitness Edge, where he will start his wrestling, kickboxing, and jiu-jitsu training.

Where the tears had welled up the night prior, standing in the middle of the cage, James could no longer fight them back. What transpired under the bright lights at the House of Blues was not only a special evening in the life of a child who desperately needed something to break positive, but most importantly, the moment was also a marker of the start of a brand new chapter where James would know beyond a shadow of a doubt he was no longer alone.

And standing there in that moment, it was clear a difference had been made. 


****


The tears Brandon Bushaw attempted to fight off flowed with full force now. 

The thought of everything that had gone wrong inside those 15 minutes by far overshadowed any physical pain he was feeling in the aftermath of the fight. Naturally self-critical, Bushaw couldn’t allow himself to take in the positives of the night, or the first round he won outright with crisp striking and strong wrestling kicked off by a perfectly timed double-leg takedown.

The weight of the loss was consuming him in that moment and negating the fact he fought a sound fight up until the point the knee landed and sliced him open. In fact, if the fight was stripped down completely, the aforementioned knee and the two elbows at the end of the second round provided all the damage.

Take those three strikes away, and what you have is a veteran fighter and an opponent 12 years his junior engaging in a fast-paced, technical battle that provided one hell of a show for those in attendance and watching on FloCombat. On a larger-scoped narrative, what fans witnessed was a proven talent making a hungry up-and-comer go through the fire to earn his passage into bigger fights. 

It was this very scenario that inspired “The Dream Killer” moniker I tagged Bushaw with two years back. Although the nickname could be perceived as arrogant, the true nature of the tag was a nod to an exact and necessary process of the fight game. In order for young fighters to rise, they must truly test themselves, and it’s a juncture many young hopefuls attempt to avoid at all costs.

Yet, there are those like Cooper who know stern tests are the only true way to gauge readiness for the next level, and they jump at the chance to face a fighter who will provide the type of challenge Bushaw would. On the flip, it’s the uncertainty of the moment and knowing he may not have enough to turn back a buzzsaw that made a fighter like Bushaw request a bout with the likes of Cooper in the first place.

And while Cooper and his team were celebrating the unanimous-decision victory across the hall and Bushaw sat with his team with tears and blood running down his cheeks, both had a multitude of reasons to hold their head high in the aftermath of the bout.

Once the initial wave of emotion swelled and crashed, Bushaw was joined in the backstage area by his father, Timothy, and the two embraced. Of all the great relationships this writer has witnessed in my 38 years on the planet, the bond between father and son in the Bushaw family is something truly remarkable. Their connection is one of support at the most molecular of levels, and I watched as Tim held onto his son and the retired lumberjack gripped with all of his might.


“I love you, son,” the elder Bushaw said with his voice shaking from battling his own emotions in the moment. “I’m damn proud of you. Damn proud. You hold that head high, you hear me?”

“Yeah. It’s just….”

“Just nothing,” his father snapped back at a low tone but rock-solid stern. “You gave it all you had out there and there’s never any shame if you gave your all.”

Father pulled son in for one more long embrace before making his way out of the backstage area. I could see the concern regarding his son’s safety and well-being he carried when he entered had faded and been replaced by pride upon his exit.

While Bushaw’s fight was certainly a high watermark of the evening, there was still much work to be done as I returned to my duty at the play-by-play booth for the remainder of the card. Once stitched and patched up, Bushaw made his rounds through the venue, greeting and thanking the scores of people who gave their Friday night to support him and the Warfare promotion he carries the flag for.

By the time Bushaw made it over to the far side of the stage, he even donned a headset and jumped in to call the fight of his friend and teammate Amos Collins. “The Titanium Warrior” and “The Dream Killer” had logged countless training hours in the gym and even fought side by side in the short-lived Arena Combat League, and when Collins locked in a fight-ending arm triangle choke, Bushaw pumped his fist with enthusiasm from the booth.

Collins’ road through mixed martial arts has been filled with more adversity than most could endure, and seeing his brother’s hand raised inside the cage echoed the sentiment of pride his father stamped into his mind backstage. And while only one of them would be celebrating a victory in the aftermath, the outcome paled in comparison to the strength of the overall journey which they’ve shared stride by stride.


Several hours after the event had concluded and the fighters, coaches, and crew were deep in celebrating success or drowning their respective sorrows, I was able to pull Bushaw aside for one final take before closing the book on the Warfare MMA 17 experience. With his wife, Cynthia, at his left and close friend Joel Barrett on the right, a swollen-eyed Bushaw was finally starting to embrace all the warmth that surrounded him.

The time for waxing poetic about the romance of the fight game or breakdowns of technique had long since passed, and the only thing sitting within reach to him was the reality of what truly matters.

“I’m a regional fighter who does this for a different reason than 99 percent of the fighters competing at this level of the game,” Bushaw said. “That by no means makes me any better or is an excuse for any lack of motivation, because I was extremely motivated for this fight. Yeah, I told you before how it’s my love for competition and testing myself that keeps me coming back, but I want to win. Make no mistake about it... I want to win, and just f*cking showing up is something you’ll never see me do.

“That is me breaking something very complex down to a very simplistic reason, but there is just so much more to it all at the same time. The love and support I feel is incredible and I never want to let those people down. That goes so far beyond fighting. When people believe in me, it means the absolute world, and that core group of people who matter the most... I do everything I can to make sure I don’t let them down.

“Even on nights like tonight where I kind of feel like I have, all it takes is one look to tell me otherwise. I didn’t come out on the winning side tonight, but in the much larger game I’m very much winning. The fact I can acknowledge, recognize and appreciate that makes me realize I have a pretty damn good life. 

“I wouldn’t change a thing. Well... maybe I wouldn’t have tried to catch that kick that brought that knee into my face, but besides that I wouldn’t change a thing,” he added with a laugh. “I have everything I could ever want, and I’ve been blessed to have so many great people who truly love me. I couldn’t ask for more.”


While there will be more fights and more nights where his hand will get raised or he’ll be forced back to the drawing board inside the gym, Bushaw has already been crowned champion of a much more important game than the one that involves judges, a referee, and four-ounce gloves. 

Brandon Bushaw is winning at life, and everything else is exactly that. Everything else.