Che Mills BAMMA 7 Blog, Episode 1: It’s My Time Now, Joey!

Che Mills

Writing a blog is a new thing for me, not sure what you expect to read, so I will just write down what pops to mind leading up to BAMMA 7 and my fight against Joey Villasenor.

I was doing a photo shoot for BAMMA on the 3rd of July when I found out that Joey was thinking about dropping down to welterweight, maybe for the fight after the proposed rematch between him and Camozzi, which was going to be at middleweight. So he didn’t really register on the radar. I didn’t give it much thought, but when that fight fell through, I started to get excited.

My first impressions were that he obviously has a lot more experience fighting at a high level and it will be my first time in there with someone like him. Personally, I look at it as a good opportunity. On paper, he appears to be the hardest opponent so far, but whether or not he will be on the day remains to be seen.

He looks like he could make the weight cut quite easily, as he never appeared to be that big of a middleweight. I think that Mexican warrior spirit kept him going when he could have been cut a long time ago, but it’s here now so we shall see how he adapts.

Weight aside, I really hope he comes out to box with me. I don’t know how he will approach the fight, but I know him as a striker, so I hope that is who turns up. It’ll be a good test, but Greg Jackson is a master game planner so maybe they will think that I have no wrestling… just how a typical British fighter is perceived.

I don’t think it will be a boring fight whatever the case. Despite some saying that Jackson-helmed fights are boring, I tend to disagree and think it’s a harsh criticism. Look at Melvin Guillard; you can’t say he’s boring can you?

Anyway, training is going well. I usually take a couple of weeks off after a fight, taper off a little, but I have been almost constantly training from about two to three days after the last one. It’s the first time in my life I have done it and I am taking this period very seriously, but I do still enjoy the pleasures of life.

I am not as heavy day-to-day as people think. I walk around at the 82-kilogram mark anyway (that’s 180 pounds for you guys in America) and I usually make weight pretty easily. My diet gets much stricter about four to five weeks out from a fight, just to be on the safe side, but for now I am eating a lot of crap and enjoying it.

If I am training properly, I can eat anything and my weight doesn’t go up. It’s not all junk food, but it’s not the kind of food most people eat when cutting weight. I eat loads of steak and chips; lots of Jamaican food because of family, so loads of rice, peas and chicken; all washed down after with chocolate. I could eat chocolate for breakfast if I had the chance.

Yeah, chocolate fudge cake and ice cream, that’s my vice and the thing I miss the most four to five weeks out when I start that tightening-up period. It kills me when I can’t have it. At the moment it’s fine though. I am not much of a cook so I eat out a lot; desert is always on the cards. If I train hard enough, the treats are worth it.

The mood in the gym is good, training is going well, and I am working on the things I have to. It’s good to workout with Old Skool Hip-Hop on shuffle in the iPod, things like Wu-Tang Clan and Boot Camp Clik mixed in with a good bit of Reggae always gets me pumped and ready for a hard session.

Joey, I respect who you are and what you have done, but it’s my time now. So make sure you are taking me as seriously as I am taking you because I don’t plan on losing!

(BAMMA 7 is live from the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England, on Sept. 10, exclusively on Syfy in the U.K., Fight Network in Canada, and www.bamma.com everywhere else.)