LOS ANGELES—The veteran adult performer known as Dick Delaware will fight Cody Sons this Sunday in a heavyweight bout at California Cage Wars.
The mixed-martial-arts contest will be held on a private property in Valley Center, Calif., about 35 miles north of San Diego.
Delaware, aka Aaron Brink, will be fighting MMA professionally for the first time in more than a year. He is on a four-fight winning streak in MMA and comes into the fight with an official record of 28-26 with two no-contests in an MMA career that started in 1998 in his hometown of Huntington Beach, Calif.
The performer recently returned to adult after a five-year hiatus, doing a couple scenes a month for Stoney Curtis’s Lethal Hardcore, which will be on his fight shorts Sunday.
“He’s the only person I’m shooting with right now,” Delaware says, noting he’s open to shooting for other companies. “I’m really grateful for Stoney.”
Delaware, who has almost 500 adult DVD credits, did his first sex scene in December 2002 for Red Light District’s Cum Drippers 4.
“I’m a minor-league pro MMA fighter but I went to the Super Bowl in porn,” he says.
When he’s not shooting or competing in MMA, the 44-year-old works as a commercial diver, doing quality-assurance maintenance, inspections and recoveries for the Port of San Diego; he also trains up-and-coming fighters at the Undisputed Gym in San Diego.
“Diving is my main source of income; I do that three days a week,” Delaware says. “I’m still a man of lust but I’m trying to channel it in a positive direction.”
Nicknamed "The Pornographic Puncher" in MMA, Delaware fought in UFC 28 in November 2000, losing to future UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski. The journeyman fighter also has competed in promotions such as World Extreme Cagefighting, King of the Cage, RINGS and Rage in the Cage.
When it comes to training amateur fighters, he says, “I use all my expertise to help guys overcome things.”
“And help them learn tricks of the trade,” Delaware says. “Especially cage control and wall work. A lot of guys can learn a lot from me.”
The California Cage Wars event will begin at 4 p.m. at 16760 Paradise Mountain Rd., Valley Center, 92082. Visit promotiontix.com for ticket information.
On March 4 last year, Delaware defeated John Rizzo via a first-round submission at California Cage Wars 4; a few weeks after, on March 31, 2018, he choked out William “Little Bear” Johnson in the Gladiator Challenge.
Delaware’s opponent this weekend, Cody Sons, lost to “Little Bear” Johnson—by TKO.
“So Cody Sons is looking to get that back,” Delaware tells AVN. “I want Shannon 'The Cannon' Ritch after Cody Sons.”
He continues, “We were supposed to fight in so many different organizations. We’re both at the end of our careers. We need to get this done before it’s too late, before we’re too old. We’re getting there. No one’s gonna wanna to watch two old dudes fight each other.”
Delaware says if he wins Sunday that he’s in line to fight the winner of Travis Fulton vs. Shannon Ritch in M1 Global, which is affiliated with the Bareknuckle Fighting Championship. He suffered a TKO loss in his BKFC debut—on pay-per-view in October.
Then in April of this year he was cornering one of his 170-pound fighters when he saw his current trainer Sean Loeffler capture the California Cage Wars 205-pound title and then retire, vacating the belt.
“This brought me to pitch the promoter on me fighting for the vacant title of 205. The promoter offered me a non-title mix-match bout versus a heavyweight that can’t make 205,” Delaware explains.
“Cody Sons is a veteran of 15 professional bouts who has won his last two pro MMA fights just as I have. Both Sons and I are gunning for our third consecutive pro win and the No. 1 spot in CCW. Mine is 205 and his is heavyweight but the bout is a heavyweight non-title bout.”
Delaware has been training with Loeffler, whom he met at the weigh-ins for their fight with each other in April 2016, at Compound MMA in Oceanside, Calif.
“He and I were friends on Facebook and Loeffler even offered to allow me to train at Compound MMA due to the fact that I lived in Vista, Calif., only two miles from Compound MMA gym,” Delaware says. “And the fact no gym would give me a comp pro membership due to my reputation as a porn star that appeared on Intervention, Celebrity Sex Rehab and Divorce Court.
“I was indigent in 2016, unable to pay for a gym membership (fresh out of prison/sober living). Loeffler had amazing coaches and they spotted a hole in my game, which led to a quick victory.
“I humbly went to Loeffler afterwards and asked him to train me. He gladly accepted me as a member of Compound MMA and made me a coach there. Since joining Compound I have remained undefeated in my last five MMA bouts and a NAGA grappling championship in the black-belt division. I’m a brown belt in Ju-Jitsu under Loeffler, submitting several black belts in grappling competition.
“My pro record only reflects two of my five MMA wins due to the illegitimacy of Gladiator Challenge, which refused to post my wins for the following reasons: On December 10, 2016, Shannon Ritch forfeited by bowing out and would not fight; on October 17, 2016, Dave Huckaba verbally submitted and then after a 10-minute intermission following the referee stopping the bout to confirm his jaw was broken—which X-rays later confirmed was broken—his verbal submission was ruled a TKO and I was the champ.
“The Gladiator Challenge refused to reverse the no-contest, vacated the title and made me the interim heavyweight champion—which makes no sense because they won’t let the current champion Ben Davis fight me because he sells tickets and is scared to fight me.
“On June 17, 2017, I defeated Bellator vet Eric Smith—a 185-pound pro—and was awarded the victory but it was an exhibition due to me cutting from 220 pounds to 205.9 and him weighing in at 195 with pants on.”
As for adult, Delaware sums up his approach for 2019 and beyond by saying, “I just want to be the best porn star I can possibly be.”
“And stay clean and sober-minded and see where that takes me with this last little run in porn,” he says. “This is the end of it. This is the last chapter.”
