Mike Massenzio: Exorcising ‘The Doberman’

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By Elliot Worsell

Middleweight Mike Massenzio doesn’t have dreams and nightmares about the usual stuff. You know, boogeymen, creepy crawlies and teeth crumbling from one’s mouth (a personal favourite). That’s not to say Massenzio isn’t haunted, though.

Rather than anything supernatural, grotesque, absurd or flat-out ridiculous, Massenzio is haunted by the face of a man he once knew. A man he once wrestled even. Massenzio can’t escape the rugged features of ‘The Doberman’.

No, it isn’t the latest Wes Craven creation. We’re talking CB Dollaway.

“Oh, he’s always been in my thoughts, in my dreams and in my head,” laughs Massenzio. “He’s been a bit of a monkey on my back for the last five years.”

To explain, Massenzio and Dollaway have a history. Five years ago at the Junior College Nationals, Massenzio, then an unbeaten collegiate standout, saw his undefeated record snapped by the younger Dollaway.

“After he beat me in our first year at junior college, I was distraught,” recollects Massenzio, born and raised in New Jersey and now a resident of Paterson. “I trained like an animal the following year in the hope of getting a rematch with CB but it just never materialised that way.

“Every night after that fight I had to put up with CB Dollaway in my dreams and in my thoughts. I couldn’t get away from his face. It was everywhere. I remember that match like it was yesterday.”

Only 21 years of age at the time, Massenzio surrendered his unbeaten college record and watched fate steal any chance of future retribution with Dollaway. Frustrated, Massenzio watched his college archrival progress through the system to much acclaim.

“After it was over and I realised I wouldn’t get another match with him, CB went off to division one and did a great job and I wasn’t lucky enough to go,” says Massenzio. “I didn’t wrestle in division one, I just decided to go pro and fight. I thought it was all done – that I’d never see Dollaway again. Then one day I noticed he was doing mixed martial arts and I thought to myself, ‘wow, one day we might see each other again after all’.”

Five years on and now 11-2 in a thriving mixed martial arts career, Massenzio gets his chance to rid his demons on December 27 at UFC 92. Next week in Las Vegas, Massenzio and Dollaway will renew an old wrestling rivalry and close the book on any doubt as to who is the superior fighter.

“I think it’s a great match-up and I was very excited when I was told CB would be the guy I was facing,” admits Mike. “To be the best you’ve got to beat the best and I consider CB one of the top up and coming guys in the sport right now.

“It’s truly a revenge match for me, too, because of the fact CB beat me in college at the Nationals. That was my only college loss and I never got a chance to get any kind of redemption against him. What better place to get my chance at revenge than on December 27 in the UFC?”

Whilst reluctantly conceding second place to Dollaway in the wrestling stakes, Massenzio hopes his evolution into a well-rounded and well-respected mixed martial artist will help deliver a return victory over CB as a pro fighter.

“I’m getting better and better with every single fight I have,” says Massenzio. “That first match with Dollaway was five years ago – I’m a much different person to that guy, let alone a different fighter. I feel I’m leaps and bounds better, stronger and fitter than I was back then.”

When deciding to give up the ghost of chasing further wrestling accolades and pursuing a career in professional fighting, Massenzio was intent on not becoming known as ‘that wrestling guy’. Though clearly coming from good wrestling stock, Massenzio - a thorough student of mixed martial arts since deciding to punch for pay - realised solid wrestling alone wouldn’t be enough to bring about success as a mixed martial artist.

“A problem a lot of wrestlers have is that they’re not open-minded,” explains Massenzio. “They just want to go out there, drag people to the ground and wrestle them. In this game you can’t just be a wrestler or just be a stand-up fighter, you’ve got to have a bit of everything.

“Ever since I started doing mixed martial arts, I wanted to be the best in every aspect. I want to be known as the best wrestler, the best jiu-jitsu guy and the best stand-up guy. I like to surprise people. When it’s all put together in the cage I become a well-rounded fighter.”

Interestingly, despite both being predominantly known as ‘that wrestling guy’, Massenzio and Dollaway are two well-versed practitioners whose boundaries extend well beyond the limited, albeit effective, capacity of top-class wrestling. A blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Massenzio has scored his last five victories all via submission. His most recent, and perhaps most eye-opening, was the first-round destruction of heavy-handed Drew McFedries in September.

“It felt great just to have a big fight like that in my first fight (with the UFC),” says Massenzio. “The win was great because it felt like I shocked the world and really put my name out there. There may have been some people out there who didn’t really know me or know what I’m all about and I hope that win let those people know that I can fight.

“I was an unknown, whereas McFedries has been in the UFC a while and is a name known to most people. I don’t mind being the underdog. I knew McFedries was all stand-up and that he’d just want to stand there and bang with me. If he hits you, he’ll hit you hard. My plan was to take him out of his element, not even let him start his offense, and then submit him. That’s what I did.”

Name out there, Massenzio now turns his attentions to a more personal matter. Though fully respectful of Dollaway’s abilities as a fighter, a win over his old wrestling foe will undoubtedly prove to be the proudest moment of Massenzio’s four-year mixed martial arts career. After all, he’s waited five years for this chance.

“I’m taking CB very seriously,” says Massenzio. “He’s a great athlete, a great competitor and a very good wrestler. I’d say his wrestling is his best attribute but he’s also good in the stand-up. I know this fight is going to be a war and I know I’m going to give it everything I’ve got. I’m planning to put every ounce of strength I have into this fight.”

Whereas McFedries offered the threat of being short-circuited with one shot to the chin, Dollaway appears to represent a subtler, though equally alarming, kind of danger. While McFedries had one shot at winning – of the punching variety – Dollaway has a few shots in his locker.

“This is a totally different fight (to the McFedries bout),” explains Massenzio. “Dollaway is more well-rounded than McFedries. He’s not as dangerous in his stand-up, but he’s better in more areas of his game. It’s probably a step-up for me in terms of event and in terms of the quality of the opponent in front of me. I’ve no doubt this will be the biggest test of my career so far.”

Another perk to meeting Dollaway at this juncture in their respective paths is that Massenzio stands to become a beneficiary of CB’s recent rise in profile and national fame. As runner-up on the hugely successful Ultimate Fighter 7 reality series, Dollaway carries the kind of profile that Massenzio is keen to tap in to.

“He’s in the public eye,” says Massenzio. “Everyone knows who he is. If I can go in there and take him out it will mean so much more. I’m planning to make a dominant statement in this fight and take the position he’s in right now.”

Dollaway’s ‘position’ in the mind of Massenzio is something that has perturbed the New Jersey 185-pounder for the last five years. ‘The Doberman’s appearance on The Ultimate Fighter only heightened Massenzio’s craving to meet him again.

“Yeah, I watched it (the series),” admits Massenzio. “As soon as I knew CB was on the show I predicted he’d win the whole thing. I told everyone that CB would be head and shoulders above the rest. I was shocked that he got arm-barred twice by Amir (Sadollah). Hey, Amir’s very good, too, though, so there’s no real shame in that. I did think CB would go all the way, though.”

Massenzio remembers Dollaway’s potential better than perhaps anyone else. On December 27, he’d like to forget ‘The Doberman’ once and for all.

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