Donovan Beard seeks phenomenal finish at CFFC 111, then wonders, 'Will the UFC be ready for me when I get there?'
The last time Donovan beard set foot in the CFFC cage, he was handed the first – and to date, only – loss of his professional career, when he came up short in a decision against undefeated welterweight prospect Raheam Forest at CFFC 103.
The result did not sit well with Beard, but he believes it pushed him to become a better fighter.
"I just went in with the wrong mind state," Beard admitted. "Even though I was training, I was just feeling like I was already going to be a winner with a good winning streak going on, and I'm like, 'Man, yeah, I can win, and I ain't got to try so hard,' and blase, blase, and then the next thing I know, I ended up with the result that I did. Only thing it did was just light another fire within me not for that to ever happen again, especially if I can prevent such things."
Frustrated by the feeling, Beard couldn't wait for another CFFC booking and took a bout on the Arkansas regional scene, moving up to middleweight and scoring a first-round knockout. Beard admits he was fiending for that feeling of victory.
"Oh, man – I was like a crackhead on a crack pipe," Beard joked. "Like, 'I need me these cheeseburgers, man.'"
Still, the victory didn't make Beard any less focused on improvement, and he said the effort has remained high in the gym since.
"I'm never going to be satisfied with any kind of win, whether it was in the first round, the first 10, 20, 30 seconds – either way, I'm still going to be the best I can be in each part of the game," Beard said.
On Friday, Beard (6-1) returns to the promotion, when he headlines CFFC 111, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Mississippi's Horseshoe Tunica Hotel & Casino. There, he competed for the promotion's vacant middleweight title when he faces undefeated prospect and former CFFC NextGen middleweight champion Miles Lee (3-0).
Beard said his excitement level has been difficult to control.
"Man, it's been all types of mixed emotions going around in my head about that fight," Beard said. "Like, I can't believe this is happening. Is this really happening? Hoping my mind ain't playing tricks on me. Like, is this fight really going to happen? Is he going to back out? Am I going to back out? I know neither one of us are scared of each other, nothing like that. I mean, stuff happens, you know, so injuries happen, life happens, and stuff prevents you from doing things that you really want to do – and the moment keeps getting closer and closer and closer and it's just like, 'It's going to happen.'"
Undefeated as a professional, Lee was also perfect as an amateur, as well, so Beard will be hoping to be the first man to ever hand the 24-year-old Renzo Gracie Philly product a defeat. Beard believes he's up for the challenge.
"I think of him like I've thought of everybody else I've faced: He's a tough competitor," Beard said. "He's going in with something on his mind, like he wants to win and he wants to finish me and get me out of the way, just like I've got everybody else out of my way, and we're just going to face off against one another and see who's going to move – and I refuse."
CFFC titles tend to get attention from the sport's biggest shows, and Beard believes a 7-1 record to go with that belt might be enough to get a look.
"Whenever I win that belt and I get that phone call, that's all I've been waiting on, and like my coach said in the interview from my last fight, will the UFC be ready for me when I get there?" Beard said. "That's a question that everybody needs to be asking."
First things first – Beard knows he can't slip up again. But he believes the lessons learned from his previous CFFC appearance are going to pay dividends on Saturday night.
"I just want to send a special shout out to all my sponsors that helped me through this training process and have been through each training camp that I've ever been in," Beard said. "It's going to be a dominating performance, followed by a phenomenal finish."
