Danny White
Sisseton Wahpeton fighter gets big chance
By David Michaud
Native Sun News Correspondent SISSETON — Every fighter dreams of the day when they get their big shot; the time when all the stars align and everything seems to be working out perfectly. For Sisseton Wahpeton tribal member Danny White it looks like that time is going to be April 26 in Fargo, N.D., at Dakota Fighting Championships Spring Brawl. White is scheduled to fight former UFC and World Series of Fighting Mixed Martial Artist Jacob Volkmann. A win against Volkmann, who holds a 16-5 record and went 6-4 in the UFC, could potentially set up White with his own UFC run. “He's a big name, I haven't been doing this for very long and now I have a chance to put my name up there by beating him. He is rated 42nd in the world at my weight and after this people are going to know who I am,” said White. The fight actually came through after his original opponent, Ryan Shell, backed out of the fight. After hearing about his opponent backing out White was understandably disappointed, but that turned around quickly. “Shell said he didn't want to fight and that day Volkmann's people called and tried to get on the card. It was amazing that it worked out that way,” said White. “As soon as I lost the first fight Volkmann called, so Chris Nelson (Dakota Fighting Championship promoter) asked what I thought about Volkmann and I said ’hell yeah let's go.’” “This is a fight I can win and do something great for my career. He said he wanted it at 165 instead of 155 like I was training for but I said 'whatever,' I'll knock him out anywhere.” To prepare for this fight White has been traveling around and diversifying his training camp up. He is currently training in Minot with Alvera MMA working on striking with some high-level boxers. “I've been doing a bunch of footwork and counter striking drills. He has been really predictable in his past fights and I know what to do. He just wants to wrestle, but I wrestled too. I know how to defend a double leg and a single leg. I've been working hard. I'm just going to make him hurt, stop his takedowns and rough him up,” said White. “I haven't been this excited in a long time,” said White. “Win, lose or draw I want to fight the best guys I can and this is a chance to do that. I just have to go in there and beat him. I'm going to go in there and just battle and see what happens.” White believes that this fight is coming at the perfect time for him. He has been on something of a streak, winning his past six fights and has been training hard for an opportunity like this. Volkmann on the other hand has had a rough go of it as of late, going 1-2 in his last three bouts and getting dropped from the UFC and WSOF. That slide could lead a man to do desperate things on fight night, and if that happens, White will be ready for it. “I have to be physically ready to fight. I know his strategy. I've been able to diversify myself since I started and I'm ready to go wherever,” said White. “I have nasty, dirty standup and I'm just going to beat him up. I do that and he melts.” When people close to White heard about the fight they all knew right away that he would take it. It is in his blood to do so. “When my friends heard about the chance they said, ’This is why you live like you do, why you go train everywhere, why you wake up early and work hard and live this life,’ so I can fight the best guys around” Now that he has a chance to do that, to fight a man who was in the biggest MMA promotion in the world for four years, he says he will be ready. It only remains to be seen what happens on fight night. (Contact David Michaud at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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