Fighters Only

Issue 051

June 2009

When he made his infamous UFC debut in 1994, Dan Severn was a 36-year-old amateur wrestler who had never thrown a punch in anger. Over the following years, the resident of Coldwater, Michigan metamorphosed into an adept and prolific no holds barred fighter, whose successful application of wrestling techniques in the cage had a significant effect on the evolution of the sport.

Starting his MMA career at a relatively advanced age, Severn is quite used to being interviewed by younger people, a point which he demonstrated just moments into the conversation. “I won my first national title in 1972, and you were born when?” He laughed when I told him the answer (1977). “You’ll never meet another person quite like me: I am walking history!”

Despite his profound success in the sport and a career spanning 15 years, the fondest athletic memories of the mustached hard-man stem from his early amateur wrestling career. “People only really know me because I’ve been involved in mixed martial arts or been involved with professional wrestling… My amateur wrestling career overshadows both. All you have seen here, from 1994 on, is Dan Severn residue, what’s left of me. If you wanted to see an animal, you should have seen me at the peak of my amateur wrestling career. From 1984 to 1986 I ruled the world.”

While dominating an amateur sport is an incredible achievement it doesn’t pay the bills, a point which was cruelly underlined for Severn as he was laid off soon after he moved to Coldwater. Rather than let his physical talents waste away in an unemployment line, Severn decided to make the most of his athletic ability by entering a ‘Tough Man’ contest.

“It was three, one-minute rounds of dirty boxing,” he explained. “I had never boxed a day in my life. I had never even put on boxing gloves. Actually, because I didn’t know how to hold my hands and I had my mustache, I looked like someone from the past, people were laughing at me!” His five opponents were laughing on the other side of their faces as Severn flung each of them around the ring and bludgeoned his way to winning the evening’s $1,000 prize.

Severn gathered further experience in the paid ranks as he took part in shoot-wrestling matches in Japan. Severn had a chance meeting with then-UFC matchmaker Art Davie, who offered him a place in the next tournament on the spot.

Initially quite concerned by the risks posed by this form of competition, Severn chose not to inform his family of this new feather in his athletic cap. “In the beginning, there was just no biting, no eye gouging, that was it. There were no weight classes, no time limits, they did not wear gloves. It was bare-knuckled action, it was about as raw as it gets. I did not tell a single family member because I did not want anyone to worry about me. If things went bad I would simply tap out or tell the referee, ‘I have had enough fun for the evening’.”

Though his secret came out long ago, he still doesn’t tell his family when he’s got a fight coming up. “They just know that I’m leaving for another business trip. I think they look to see which bags I have packed though.”

Severn blew through the opening rounds of the UFC 4 tournament, winning both fights by submission without having to throw a single strike. He went on to face Royce Gracie in the final and, though he was reluctant to punch the scrawny Brazilian, Severn is convinced that he took Gracie close to breaking point.

“‘The eyes are the viewing glasses to the soul,’” he said. “I was in Royce’s guard and I’m staring right into his eyes, and he was looking over to the cage side where his father was standing, and I could read exactly what was going through his mind. He’s like, ‘Dad, I’m hanging in here… but if you were to throw that towel in, I wouldn’t hold it against you!’”

Severn then looked over to see the reaction of the family patriarch. “He was standing out there, he did have a towel in his hands. He brought it up, put it underneath his arms and he basically shook his head, ‘No’. Take this the right way, but I thought in my mind, ‘You old bastard, you would let me kill your kid out here now for Gracie jiu-jitsu!’”

The Beast lost the bout by submission to a triangle choke, but Severn would go on to forge an incredible career. He has over 100 fights (with over 80 wins) and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2005.

In true humble fashion, Severn laughed off his incredible list of achievements as he explained the secret to his success. “If you knew how little I have trained since 1994, you would almost call me a liar. My students see me walk around with a cup of coffee, but I tell them ‘It’s a heavy cup of coffee! And I’m ambidextrous, I can go left hand and right hand with it!’”