Adult performer Dick Delaware, aka Aaron Brink, will fight in the main event of Pangea Fights on Friday night at the Hollywood Palladium.
Brink’s opponent is Sherman “The Tank” Pendergarst, a former Division I wrestler who has been training for the past month with the highly regarded Team Miletich in Iowa and has a 6-3 professional record. Team Miletich is also home to two current UFC champions, welterweight Matt Hughes and heavyweight Tim Sylvia.
The 6-foot Pendergarst, who is from Baltimore, weighed in at 242 pounds Thursday night at the weigh-in at the Farmers Daughter hotel in Hollywood, while the 6-foot-3 Brink weighed 234.
Brink will be attempting to win his second mixed-martial-arts fight in three weeks, having beaten Adam Nance via a technical knockout in 41 seconds on July 29 in Riverside, Calif. That was his first victory since September 2005.
“He’s actually somebody I don’t know anything about," said Brink, who will be fighting in Hollywood for the first time since December 2004. "All I saw was a video on youtube.com where he was clearly mismatched. So I don’t know how he deals with pressure. I don’t know how he deals with my type of pressure. But I’m preparing myself for the worst.”
So has Pendergarst, who told AVN.com at the weigh-in that he trained harder for this fight than he has for any other in his career.
"I'm confident," said Pendergarst, who found out he would be facing Brink last week after his two previous opponents backed out.
A native of Huntington Beach who is known for his heavy hands, Brink has fought professionally for the past eight years, compiling a 26-18-1 record that has included fights in the UFC (a loss to Andrei Arlovski in 2000), King of the Cage, 2Hot2Handle, WEC and Rage in the Cage. His recent TKO victory ended a four-fight losing skid, and Brink is anxious to prove he still can go with the best in the sport. With Pendergarst, he'll test himself against a rising prospect who is taking a step up in competition in facing him.
In the meantime, the former nominee for AVN Best Male Newcomer is also adding to a porn resume that started in Dec. 2002, thanks to Anabolic's Sal Genoa and Vince Vouyer, who hired him for his first sex scene after Brink banged a girl in front of a crowd at Vouyer's house party. On Wednesday, he did a scene with Lia Lopez for Vouyer Media and worked for Combat Zone on Thursday before the weigh-in.
“I’ve known Aaron for a long, long time and I’ve seen him in several different mixed-martial-arts fights,” Pangea Fights promoter Jamie Walsh told AVN.com. “The nice thing about him is he always brings a good spirit into the ring.”
Brink this past week has been training with the notorious brawler David “Tank” Abbott at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. Abbott, known for his wars in the early UFC days, will be in Brink’s corner for the fight.
“I’ve had a tough time finding people I can trust and can count on,” Brink said. “I have to realize I’ve got to train with professionals.”
On Aug. 5, Brink was scheduled to take on the King of the Cage heavyweight champion, Kadalack Marshbanks, at The Grove in Anaheim, but the fight was called off after Marshbanks couldn't get medically cleared to compete. Brink instead did color commentary for the event.
“I was prepared to fight the King of the Cage world heavyweight champion. I felt it... I said, ‘What if I could go and beat this guy right now?’ It could catapult me,” Brink said.
“Now with this fight, I don’t see myself having anything to lose from this. I have everything to gain. Everybody would expect me to lose to the two-time East Coast champion, and my recent record would reflect that. I’ll shock the world if and when I win. Either way I get credit for fighting a tough fighter, and there is no reason why I can’t beat him. I feel like I’m in better shape now than I was (Aug. 5.).”
Doors open at 7:15 p.m., and tickets may be purchased at The Palladium box office, ticketmaster.com or wantickets.com. For the entire fight card, visit pangeafights.com.
