If you haven’t heard of me yet, you will soon enough.  My name is Dave “The Badman” Huckaba, and I’m an MMA fighter specializing in what fans love to see…. KO’s.  I currently work for the Sacramento City Unified School District and prior to working with the school district; I was a Union Iron Worker for 8 years.  My life manages to stay very busy.  Both of my children are active in sports all year round and I have just recently opened Huckaba’s Next Generation MMA Training Center along with my wife Stacee and business partner John Padlo. We teach the full spectrum of MMA to adult and youth members.  Our professional team currently holds several MMA belts at the local level.

Being raised by my grandparents, they saw to it that I stayed very active and out of trouble growing up.  Playing little league and helping out around the farm I grew up on kept me busy.  My Uncle John also helped raise me.  He was very strict and hard on me, physically.  I learned at a very young age to defend myself. He was the only boy (of 5 children) until I came along.  Thanks to him I learned to be tough.

It was always a dream of mine to become professional in any sport I have ever played.  I passed up a scholarship to play college football because of my biggest love, my wife. I loved basketball and I didn’t get into football until I started high school. I was a star player for both sports.  I boxed occasionally in school and sparred, but I mostly boxed on the streets or with my uncle.

After school I soon married my high school sweetheart, Stacee.  I started coaching youth basketball in the evenings at the junior high school I attended.  I stayed active playing softball for different night leagues and weekend tournaments.  My wife gave birth to our son Donald in December 1997 and 3 years later we had our little girl Neesah in November 2000.  Our family was growing and I needed to make better money.  I then went to work for the Iron Union Local 118.  The work was hard on my body but the money was good.

In April 2006 I was invited to watch a friend in his first MMA fight.  I was so pumped from just watching, and I wished I was fighting!  For months, I talked to my wife about getting involved in the sport, she was optimistic.  July 2nd, 2006 I got a call from my friend asking if I would be interested in fighting the next week.  After talking it over with my wife, I decided to take the fight.  With one week to go, I began to train as much as I could.  July 8th 2006 I won my first fight against Donnie Easterling in 26 seconds by submission.  I had sold over 200 tickets and had the biggest fan base ever at a Gladiator Challenge event.

This was something that I decided to try again.

My second fight was a commissioned event. I sold over 250 tickets to yet another big crowd.  I won that fight in 1:28 minutes by TKO.  This was now becoming serious for me.  The owner of Gladiator Challenge asked me to take a fight against a professional kick boxer, Rick Cheek, and I accepted.  Losing this fight hurt me emotionally and only pushed me to train harder.  After a couple more wins I felt ready for a title shot.

In May 2007 I was given the chance to fight Bo Cantrell for the heavyweight belt in Reno, NV at the Silver Legacy.  I sold over 280 tickets and with my family by my side we went to Reno.  The belt was mine, in 24 seconds Bo was tapping out.  There was some controversy, so we had a rematch in August 2007.  Selling over 300 tickets to this event, I knocked Bo out in 5 seconds.  This was the fastest Gladiator Challenge knock out in history.  After defending my belt multiple times I signed a contract Elite XC.  I fought for them on 3 days notice in Mississippi.  This event was televised on Showtime on August 22nd 2007.

After adding a few more wins to my record I was asked to avenge my lost with Rick Cheek in November 2008.  This is the fight that changed me as a fighter.  I brought on a new coach, Justin Castrillo.  We worked so much on my wrestling and grappling leading into this fight, that I finally felt like a complete fighter.  I won this fight by submission, which cemented everything I believed about myself.

My winning streak came to an end in Feb 2009 with Palace Fighting Championships against Lavar Johnson.  I took a blow to my right ear and ruptured my eardrum, which stopped the fight. In June 2009 I signed a contract to defend my title for the last time with Gladiator Challenge against Rick Randolph.

Dave Huckaba Vs. Jeremy Freitag

After defending my Gladiator Challenge belt I have decided to move on to bigger and better things.  I am now on a four fight win streak earning two more championship belts, one with the IFC and the other with Rebel Fighter.  My most recent win came over a very respected fighter from Team Alpha Male, Jeremy Freitag.  We had a very exciting fight, which ended in the 2nd round via KO.  It was a great opportunity for me not only because of the outcome, but also because of the experience.  The television show “American Cagefighter” on Comcast Sports Net filmed my daily life before the fight and also aired the event on TV.  This was an amazing experience because it prepared me for bigger events and let a larger scale fan base see who I am.

I would not be where I am today if not being blessed with the love and support of my family and friends.  I love doing what I do and I am always looking for bigger and better things to broaden my horizons.  The one thing I feel most accomplished of in the sport of MMA is being an exciting fighter that the fans love to watch.  Win, lose, or draw I come to fight and give the fans a show.  Nobody will ever be able to say Dave Huckaba is a boring fighter, and I am proud of that.

Dave “The Badman” Huckaba