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By Scoop McTroll
Dhira "The Candyman" Dhira
"I'm young, I'm fast, I'm pretty and I cant possibly be beat". Those famous words of Muhammed Ali come to mind when one gets to see Dhira "The Candyman" Yesufu in action. The dynamic fighter from California continued his rise to the top of the middleweight rankings with a convincing defeat over previously undefeated Muay Thai fighter Matt Hendricks at Total Combat 3 in Tijuana, Mexico last weekend.
MMA Veterans such as Tank Abbott watched in awe as The Candyman applied his trade. It was truly a great moment in MMA history, to be there was probably like being present at a sparring session of a 19 year old Muhammed Ali, spectators could definitely see star quality in Yesufu. In his previous MMA fight, he submitted Sean Betts, a tough California wrestler previously undefeated in MMA. Dhira says that he has had many other fights that the fans don't know about, he didn't tell us if he won them all but his whole attitude said "what, are you kidding me?" at the mere hint of any suggestion that he might have lost.
A likeable and friendly Yesufu took some time out to answer a few questions for his growing legion of fans around the world on the road to capturing the UFC Middleweight Title. When we asked Yesufu about the UFC Middleweight title and the fighters he needs to go through to win it he told us, "Baroni is an ass clown" and "my style would give Matt Lindland the most trouble". He told us that he admires Murrilo Bustamante and Lee Murray, this is no surprise because his style resembles a combination of both of their styles. Amazing ground skills with lethal striking skills. The Candyman is ready and willing to meet any of them in the Octagon however.
I asked The Candyman if he would still fight in the UFC, if they offered him a low amount of money, and like the true warrior he is, he told me that "only a fool would refuse an offer in the UFC. I would accept.". Yesufu knows that once he gets his first fight in the UFC he will get his first win. From then on it’s all the way to the top for Dhira "The Candyman" Yesufu. The Candyman is also considering going into the KOTC to polish his skills and notch up a few easy wins but clearly his sights are set on the UFC and capturing its Middleweight Title.
Dhira, who is reluctantly accepting his moniker of "The Candyman", a name given to him by his fans, at first seemed bewildered by the nickname. Noone seems to know quite why it was coined, although it could be due to way he sweet talks the ladies at the fight shows or it could be his sweet style of both ground fighting and stand-up.
Dhira had this message for his fans;
"It humbles me beyond words. I mean with all the threads dedicated to me here, and all the support I've received, how can I not be touched? The sincerity of the turnaround here.....touches my heartstrings deeply. I am very devoted to my fans."
Dhira "The Candyman" Yesufu is the real deal and should be coming to a UFC near you in the near future.
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The Candyman (in black) vs. Matt Hendricks
The following is a report by Japanese journalist Scoop Tanaka, who was in Tijauana, Mexico, last week to cover the Total Combat 3 show for Japanese magazine 'Shoot Fight'. One fight in particular, the Dhira 'The Candyman' Yesufu vs. Matt Hendricks fight, made a great impression on Tanaka:
Dhira 'The Candyman' Yesufu vs. Matt Hendricks
The African-American fighter known as Dhira "The Candyman" Yesufu is introduced to crowd. Never before have I seen so much applause for one fighter. It is almost as if I am watching a living legend about to ply his trade.
The more I observed, I noticed that Dhira was only 5'8, but he was built like a black Igor Vovchanchyn, with very powerful thighs and buttocks. Wearing nothing but his sleek form-fitting spandex, the Candyman had the look of a killer whale getting ready to hunt its prey.
In came Dhira's opponent Matt Hendricks, an undefeated world class Muay Thai kickboxer who stood 6'2 and was built like a Greek God. Despite all this, the Candyman had nothing but supreme confidence in his eyes. It is as if the Candyman knew something the rest of the audience did not.
The first round was about to begin and the audience was filled with tension and excitement for what would obviously be the most anticipated fight of the night. Hendricks looked like a crazed tiger, yet the Candyman looked as calm as could be. It was clear that the Candyman was no ordinary fighter. Years of experience had no doubt made him impervious to pressure or fear.
My observation would turn out to be correct soon enough.
Round 1:
The bell rang to start the fight and Hendricks immediately fired out of his corner and tried to take Dhira's head off with a CroCop-style high kick, but the Candyman deftly blocked the kick. What happened next was amazing...not only did the Candyman block the kick, but he also caught it in his hand and was holding Hendricks by his leg!
The Candyman then looked at Hendricks with a smile as if to say, "now we will trade some strikes", and then let go of the leg to the surprise of the crowd.
The stunned Hendricks, wanting nothing more to do with the Candyman's unorthodox standup skills, immediately clinched with him as soon as his leg was let free. Hendricks struggled to get the fight to the ground, but he did not realize that the Candyman's grappling skills were also legendary.
The Candyman suddenly reversed the momentum and took Hendricks down instead! The crowd was going wild at the Candyman's complete domination of this undefeated world class Muay Thai kickboxer.
Dhira's ground skill was every bit as good as I imagined. He was inside of Hendrick's guard, and reminded me of Sakuraba the way he struck Hendricks with Karate strikes.
Hendricks desperately tried a triangle choke to no avail. Hendricks then tried to transition to an armbar, but again...no luck. The Candyman was just too skilled and too agile, like a big cat.
Dhira easily escaped and passed Hendrick's tough guard. Dhira wanted to put on a show by effectively striking Hendricks some more. The strikes opened Hendricks up some more, and enabled the Candyman to seemlessly move into the mount position.
Sensing the end was near, Hendricks tried struggling his way towards the ropes, but the Candyman would not let him escape from his mount, striking Hendricks with a devastating slap to the side of the head. A stunned Hendricks instinctively turned his back, and the Candyman quickly tried to apply the rear naked choke.
As fate would have it, the Candyman's leg got caught in the ropes as he tried to sink in a grapevine into Hendrick's legs. It appears that Hendrick's strategy to get near the ropes had paid off, and it allowed him to survive. This seemed to give Hendricks new life, as I will explain in the next paragraph.
The Candyman relentlessly tried to apply the rear naked choke, but Hendricks was able to defend it every single time! I can not explain how Hendricks was able to do this. The fighting spirit he displayed was simply incredible.
In one such attempt, Hendrick's face was cross-faced so badly that I thought his nose was going to be permanently disfigured, but he did not give up an inch!
The first round ended this way with the Candyman on Hendrick's back, unable to sink in the choke.
The crowd was going wild with applause, loving every minute of what they had just witnessed. In all my years of covering MMA, it indeed was probably the most intense first round I have ever seen.
Round 2:
The second round would start with a bang as Hendricks came out with a re-newed energy, and quickly threw a powerful right cross at the Candyman. The Candyman deftly slipped the punch, and Hendricks immediately clinched.
It seems odd that an undefeated world class Muay Thai kickboxer like Hendricks would not want to strike with a non-professional striker like Dhira, but the Candyman was no ordinary fighter, and Hendricks could sense this.
You could also see that the Candyman's vast experience came into play as he did not panic when inside of Hendrick's powerful clinch. Instead, the Candyman used it as a time to re-gather his stamina, give a quick smile, and then launch a lightning-quick reversal in which he took Hendricks down with a thunderous slam!
The Candyman then put on a show as he pounded Hendricks with powerful slaps from inside the guard, seemlessly passed guard once again, and then started to throw some Muay Thai elbows of his own from side control!
The crowd was cheering wildly as the Candyman began to rain down unanswered elbows to the side of Hendrick's head, but the referee would not stop the fight. Instead, the referee warned the Candyman that only the forearms were allowed, and that the tips of the of the elbows were illegal.
It was clear to everyone who was watching that the Candyman was not using the tips of his elbows. At this point I began to detect something was foul from the referee, and I would soon be proven correct.
The Candyman continued to legally elbow Hendricks, but the corrupt Mexican referee continued to say he was breaking the rules. The corrupt Mexican referee then stood the fight up and announced that one point would be deducted from the Candyman. I had heard before that Mexicans do not like black people, but this was starting to look very suspicious.
The Candyman looked furious, but at the same time did not seem phased. The Candyman had the same look in his eyes that I have only seen in the finest of champions I have covered over the years. Champions such as Ali, Sakuraba, Silva, Rickson, Takada. A look that said, "I am furious but it is fine. I will make my opponent pay for this injustice with interest!"
I could only help but feel some sympathy for Hendricks. Hendricks was tough as could be, but now we would see an even more determined Candyman. Once again, my thoughts would soon be proven to be correct.
The fight re-started and Hendricks rushed in and attempted a Thai clinch, but to his surprise it was the Candyman who would deliver the punishment! Candyman grabbed Hendricks firmly and began to mercilessly knee him to the mid-section.
The Candyman was on fire and every knee he threw at Hendricks would recieve a wild roar from the crowd. All Hendricks could do was hang on for his life.
The Candyman then decided to show off his hands by throwing bodyshot after bodyshot to the exhausted Hendricks. Once again, each body shot sounded harder then the last, and each one would get a huge roar from the crowd.
It is a testament to Hendricks that he was able to hang on. The Candyman must have hit him with at least 20-25 unanswered knees and strikes. It reminded me almost exactly of the time Vanderlei Silva was punishing Rampage Jackson in the PRIDE middleweight GP final.
I thought for sure that the Candyman would put Hendricks out of his misery, but no, the Candyman was not satisfied. He easily took Hendricks down to the ground and now wanted to show off more of his ground techniques to the crowd and to the corrupt Mexican officials.
The Candyman mercilessly delivered slap after slap to the downed Hendricks. The Candyman even put Hendricks in a keylock, but let him go so that he could strike and slap him some more. And the second round ended in this way.
It was obvious that the Candyman wanted to leave no doubt to the corrupt officials who the winner of this fight was, and poor Hendricks would have to bear the brunt of the Candyman's wraith.
Round 3:
The third round started and you could immediately see that the Candyman was all business and still had a fierce look in his eye.
Hendricks immediately comes out and attempts a knockout punch, which the Candyman counters with a left-right combination that stuns the undefeated kickboxer!
Hendricks was able to save himself from getting knocked out by partially blocking Dhira's right cross. The stunned Hendricks immediately went to clinch, thus ensuring that the Candyman had outstruck the undefeated world class Muay Thai kickboxer once again.
The Candyman immediately countered by getting a body lock of his own. Hendricks then desperately attempted a standing keylock. The Candyman then locked on, lifted Hendricks many feet into the air, paused, smiled at the audience, and then slammed Hendricks to the ground!
At this point the crowd stood up and began to applaude wildy for the Candyman. They knew they were witnessing a legend and could not contain their hysteria.
Hendricks was hurt and now it would be showtime. Dhira began to ruthlessly punch and slap the happless Hendricks. Effortlessly passing his gaurd, Dhira slapped him some more, and then mounted him, just as in the previous rounds.
From there the Candyman began to slap Hendricks in unison with the crowd chants! The atmosphere had become electric, and in all my years of experience, the intensity of the atmosphere was only comparable to the top shows of PRIDE and K-1.
The noise had become defeaning, but the Candyman still had one last display of showmanship for the crowd...the Candyman was just about to go for an armbar, then paused, smiled to the crowd, and instead continued to slap Hendricks for the final 30 seconds until the final bell.
One of the finest battles and displays of showmanship I have ever witnessed finally came to an end, and everyone there knew they had just been treated to a show by these two incredible warriors. Even the corrupt Mexican officials gave the Candyman his due, and had no choice but to award him the victory on the judges scorecards.
I am lucky to have witnessed such a legend perform. I can only hope that my countrymen in Japan can one day be treated to this African warrior display his fighting spirit in the rings of PRIDE and K-1.
To the delight of his newfound fans, the Candyman then did a sort of African-style victory dance in the ring. The Candyman then humbly left the ring and disappeared out the doors to chants of "Dhira! Dhira!".
I had thought to myself, "these people don't yet realize his nickname is 'The Candyman', but there will come a day when everyone knows who the Candyman is".
Scoop Tanaka (c) 2004
Shoot Fight magazine
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this is guaranteed to cause a very emotional reaction out of both the promoter and ref who have already been posting on mma.tv. more importantly, the facts are true, and josh h from vegas cares about the truth.
"Since last weekend, the Fightsport 24/7 staff have received numerous emails from fighters and fans in attendance at the Total Combat 3 event held in Tijuana. The issue among almost all of the emails we received involved the Keith Sutton and Alex Garcia fight, with the extremely controversial stoppage being mentioned by every email. By all accounts, Sutton dominated the fight both standing and on the ground, only to have the fight stopped in the last round after Garcia attempted an armbar. Sutton did not tap, but the ref deemed the fight to be over.
When later questioned about it and asked why the fight had not been changed to a no contest, three different versions of why the fight was stopped were given, apparently because a story cannot be decided on. At first the referee and promoter claimed Keith’s arm had been broken, then they claimed it had been hyper-extended, then they claimed it could have been hyper-extended. The strange ending has become even stranger as information from fans and fighters at the event have come to FS 24/7’s attention regarding charges of bias and corruption.
The FS 24/7 News staff has been bombarded with emails regarding this issue. All of the emails claimed the fight should not have been stopped, with most charging a direct bias in favor of the Mexican fighter for the local Mexican crowd. As one email we received from an anonymous pro-fighter based out of Southern California stated, “I will not be fighting in this event and will be advising my friends to stay out of the event as well. I don’t want to be fighting a local favorite and have someone attempt a submission on me and have the fight stopped. That was pure bullshit and it is laughable that they are trying to defend such a horrible decision. Anyone that knows anything about grappling knows that fight should not have been stopped. They were very biased in favor of the outclassed Mexican kid and it showed, they wanted to do anything possible to see he got the win.”
Another email from a fan said “I don’t plan on attending any shows by this same corrupt Mexican promotion ever again, they might as well be putting on pro-wrestling events. At least that way, it would be a lot more honest.”
Yet another fan who attended the event said “That was the fight of the night and Keith looked great, too bad he was robbed by the ref and the promoter. I could tell by the promoter’s reactions during the fight that he was pulling for the Mexican kid, he sure seemed relieved when the ref stopped the fight over the crappy armbar attempt.”
Finally, another pro fighter who asked to be kept anonymous based out of California sent us this rant. “I saw the Reggie Cardiel judge claiming he had the fight even until the stoppage and it was a good stoppage. Well let me say this, I don’t think a guy who runs his mouth and then gets tapped out and humiliated by Shannon The Cannon of all people is a good judge of what exactly real submissions are. The promoter was a typical pretty boy Mexican wannabe Oscar De La Hoya type and he and his referee made sure his golden boy won the fight. The fact that they won’t overturn it to a no contest shows just how corrupt they are. I had been thinking of sending some of my fighters to compete in this event, but there is no way I will even think about supporting this kind of corruption. The sleazy Eric promoter put his own fighter in the event and they went easy on him even though he cheated and threw an illegal knee. All fighters should stay away from this corrupt sideshow!”
FS 24/7 will continue to investigate this event. All fans and fighters who have more information relating to the Total Combat 3 are encouraged to contact the FS 24/7 news staff.
-Josh H. from Vegas
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