With a year of polishing at Jackson Wink, Da'Mon Blackshear says 'The Diamond' ready to shine
Bantamweight prospect Da'Mon Blackshear impressed in his sophomore CFFC effort, picking up a gritty decision win over a game Mateo Vogel. But in his return to the promotion, and with a title on the line, Blackshear is planning something even better.
"I'm going to go out there, and I'm going to perform," Blackshear said. "I always want to win impressively, so I'm going to go out there, and a win should get me to the UFC, but for my sake, I want to go in there and I want to dominate. I want to win impressively and show that there's levels to this."
Blackshear has been fighting professionally since 2016 and actually debuted for CFFC two years later, when he suffered a decision loss to former featherweight titleholder Pat Sabatini, who has since gone on to compete for the UFC. Following that result, Blackshear made the decision to move down to 135 pounds while also relocating to New Mexico to train at Albuquerque's famed Jackson Wink MMA Academy.
"Since I've been out there, I've just been working and grinding," Blackshear said. "That school, the proof is in the pudding. They've created tons of champions, so I've been out there and I've just been leveling up with a whole bunch of coaches guiding me, guys that have already been there.
"I can kind of just follow the footsteps – the people like Jon Jones, the greatest of all time, he used to train there. I just follow the footsteps of these guys, you know what I mean? It's a lot easier just knowing that somebody has already done it, and I'm not just kind of guessing."
Blackshear's results have stood as proof of his effort, and "The Diamond" currently stands at 4-1 in his past five appearances. On Friday, Blackshear (10-4) will challenge for the vacant CFFC bantamweight title when he takes on the undefeated DeAndre Anderson (5-0) in the main event of CFFC 103.
The card streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Horseshoe Tunica Hotel & Casino in Tunica, Miss.
"This is a big fight," Blackshear said. "This is the biggest fight I've had. Every fight that's in front of me is the biggest fight I've had. It's that fight that could put me at the next level, you know, so every fight I have right in front of me is my biggest fight.”
Anderson made quite the splash in his CFFC debut, needing just 11 seconds to knock out fellow prospect Jose Perez. Blackshear's win over Vogel came that same night, so he had a chance to watch his opponent up close.
"He's not that experienced," Blackshear said. "I definitely feel like I've fought tougher guys. He's not something I haven't seen before. Mike Kimbel had power, and they hyped him up, and he came from a great team, so it's not like DeAndre possesses anything I haven't seen before."
While Blackshear hopes to wrap the CFFC title around his waist with a win at Friday's event, he also eyes an eventual move to the next level and believes an invite to a future Dana White's Contender Series event or perhaps even a short-notice UFC call-up could be in the cards for him. But first, he needs to pick up a win over Anderson, and he plans on doing it impressively.
"This fight won't go the distance, for sure," Blackshear said. "I plan on getting a stoppage early and yeah, my experience level is going to show. I've been doing this game for a while, so it's going to show."
