Oct 29 2003
The Baddest Man On The Planet
By Mave Deltzer
SAN JOSE (Wrestling Reporter) – He was known by one name. Blake. He was also known by his nickname. “The Baddest Man On The Planet.” He was once known to strike with such force and efficiency that people called him a killer. In fact, he walked up to Iron Mike Dyson in Las Vegas a few months ago and simply told the former heavyweight champion that he needed to be a better role model and Tyson snapped. However, the word around Las Vegas was that Dyson tried striking and then was ceremoniously thrown to the ground and put in the ankle lock. Dyson tapped the floor as quickly as he could. While he’s no longer as ferocious as he once was, he’s more human now than ever.
Let’s start from the beginning. He was born in Alaska to a pair of Eskimo parents. His parents were both under five feet tall and he says he owes his short, but staunch and powerful legs to his father who was able to leg press their igloo on a good day. But on his 18th birthday, he decided to come to Northern California after watching UFC (Universal Fighting Championship) for the first time. It was Ken Bedrock vs. Dan “The Beat” Erving. They locked horns in the summer of 1995 and Shamrock won with a guillotine choke and Blake was sold. He looked for someone named Bedrock, and it turns out, he found one, but it wasn’t Ken. It was Frank Bedrock. Frank taught young Blake how to survive in the world of mixed martial arts. He taught Blake how to strike and how to defend. He taught him how to use submissions like the kneebar, the neck crank, and Blake’s famed ankle lock. But what was interesting about Frank’s training methods is that he kept Blake locked up in his basement, like an animal. Only on really hot days would Frank let his future killer out of the sweltering basement. He kept him on a chain. Around the city, Blake would foam at the mouth in anticipation of using his new tactics on regular people. But Frank would simply slap him with his chain to calm Blake down and tell him to wait until he gets his chance in the cage.
Frank knew that his methods were definitely brutal, and inhumantarian, but that he saw something special in his pale beast of Eskimo blood. He saw what he thought could be the greatest fighter of all time. But he wasn’t very civilized. He didn’t have many manners and simply didn’t communicate with people well. Rather than teach Blake how to succeed, he did the opposite. He made him animalistic. He made him hungry. Rather than teach him any civility, he tought him to be more ill-mannered and barbaric. But it was too much. In his first match, Blake was disqualified for biting. And in his second match, he was disqualified for strangling. Bedrock’s plan wasn’t working, at least in the legal ways of fighting. Bedrock soon decided that his monster was too crazy.
About this time, Blake’s parents came to Northern California to look for him. They were worried for their son as they hadn’t seen him for two years. And when they finally tracked him down to Bedrock’s supervision, they were horrified.
Blake’s father, Nobu said, “I was disgusted because my son had turned into a flesh eating monster. I was sickened. I taught my son to be handsome, not ugly.”
Blake’s mother had similar sentiment. She said, “At home, Blake would always be able to catch fish with his mouth. He would simply stick his head in the freezing cold water and come up with fish. I didn’t think anything of it until now. Did I raise an animal?”
Bedrock, who declined to be interviewed for this story decided to let his protege loose on his own parents. But Blake wouldn’t. He couldn’t harm his own flesh and blood, and instead grabbed Bedrock by the head and threw him through a window. It was a victory of sorts. He was able to see through Bedrock’s vision of turning him into nothing more than a machine like killer. And soon there after, he learned some civility. Blake’s parents turned him over to the Dongness family. Nobu knew one of the Dongness’ from his childhood and knew they could help his son practice martial arts, and also learn how to live an adult life.
It wasn’t long before Blake learned how to act in the world. And it also wasn’t long until Blake was turned loose on the UFC world. He was a master at the holds Frank taught him and he won 25 matches in a row. But it became too easy for him.
Blake remembers, “It was boring. I’d get in the ring and growl. Right away, I had them mentally. Like Mr. Dongness always said, Frank gave me that edge, and Mr. Dongness gave me the brains to use that edge.”
Finding a new and more fulfilling occupation wasn’t hard for Blake. Blake’s mother remembers how he would count the blocks of ice in their igloo everyday to make sure their house wasn’t falling apart. She knew he was good at numbers. Blake decided to take a few classes in Accounting, but he found it hard and he wasn’t able grasp it very well. The Dongness family was very much into technology, and their oldest son Anal tought Blake how to use a computer and surf the Internet. After being online for 76 hours straight one time after discovering the world of pornography, Blake noticed a company called VerySine that was on all the websites he looked at. He walked into their office the next day, growled a few times during his visit, and found himself with a job. At VerySine, he was able to learn the ins and outs of the Boracle data base system and became the go to guy for the OrderFulfillment Group.
Blake said at the time, he wasn’t used to being in an office. But he was able to to utilize all that the Dongness family taught him, and became a success. It was hard to give their son to another family to help raise, but Blake’s parents feel it was worth it.
Nobu said, “Blake has turned into a very happy human being. And most importantly, he’s handsome.”
As you can see below, Blake is happy, and while handsome may be arguable, he still has the fighting spirit. While now out of shape from his martial arts days, he can still perform damage, as Mike Dyson will attest to.
