Group uses mixed martial arts for competition, fitness and camaraderie

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    MIXING IT UP AS A GROUP — Three nights a week, a group exercises for two hours at the Dexter Town Hall with some participants taking part to train for mixed martial arts competition and others attending to help stay in shape. All of those participating in the free group come for the camaraderie and encouragement as they strive toward their various goals.

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer
    DEXTER — Monday, Wednesday and Sunday evenings a free group meets at the Dexter Town Hall from 6-8. Participants are a mix of ages, including one as young as 8 and another in his mid 50s, but they all come together for different purposes. Their reasons may be to train for professional and amateur mixed martial arts competition or to simply stay in shape, but most importantly the group provides the opportunity to exercise together and for group members to support one another.
    “I had no intention of starting a fight school, just a group of guys to work out with,” said Derek Shorey — a 2000 graduate of Foxcroft Academy where he won a state wrestling championship who now is a professional fighter — before the April 6 session. “It’s just grown from that. The more people we get interested the better we will do together.”
    Shorey said the closest mixed martial arts gym is in the immediate Bangor area and the travel time can be difficult, especially for those like himself with young families. “It is definitely beneficial, we will help anyone that wants to help themselves,” he said, mentioning one participant has lost about 50 pounds since he started coming.
    “I am not charging anything, I am not a teacher just a guide,” Shorey said. “I need these guys as much as they need me.”

    The workouts are split with the first hour dedicated to cardio and “the second hour is for people who might want a bit of mixed martial arts, submission wrestling and kickboxing,” he said.
    After setting up a collection of mats at the center of the town hall upper floor, the group began to exercise by running laps around the mats (some of the participants ran barefoot as in a mixed martial arts fight the competitors do not wear shoes). With rock music echoing from a stereo and several of the participants’ young children playing off to the side, the eight men attending on April 6 shifted from running to lining up for some other exercises. They stepped and jabbed and weaved before going into lunges, upper cuts and frog jumps.
    Later in the cardio-hour, the eight (a ninth participant arrived later on) circled on the mats for another exercise. A deck of cards at the center was used to determine specific actions, such as one suite representing pushups and another sit-ups with the number on the card indicating how many pushups and sit-ups the group needed to do. Those in the circle took turns going to the center to draw cards as they all made their way through the entire deck.
    The participants were able to each go at their own pace for the playing card exercise. If one needed to take a water break and skip a card then they could sit the exercise out, and in-between and during the sit-ups and pushups the participants yelled out words of encouragement and exchanged hand slaps.
    When hour No. 2 began the participants — a few departed after the cardio — all put on mixed martial arts gloves prior to grappling on the mats. For Shorey, the evening’s training took place less than a week before his third professional fight at New England Fight XVII on Saturday, April 11 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
    “I have been on the New England fight scene since 2010,” Shorey said. He mentioned when he worked in roofing in southern Maine he had a boss who was fighter and this helped get the former high school wrestling state champion started.
    “I am taking everything I have learned over the past 15 years and taking it home,” Shorey said about starting the group after moving back to his home region of Maine. “I teach really the basics, what I know and my philosophies.”
    Shorey also said he dyes his Mohawk purple for domestic violence awareness. “I’m definitely 100 percent against it,” he said.
    “It’s a group of guys with no ego,” he said about those he works out with three times a week. Two of the group members, Shorey’s brother Dustin as well as Ora “Sonny” Spratt, both had amateur fights on the same card as Derek Shorey on April 11. “I’m more excited about Dustin and Sonny fighting,” Shorey said.
    While Dustin Shorey and Spratt did not earn victories in Lewiston, Derek Shorey won his fight by technical knock out in the first round. He said the bout was the rubber match between himself and John Raio, with Shorey now having a 2-1 advantage between amateur and professional fights among the two. Shorey also increased his professional record to 2-1 with the win.
    “We want to keep the environment fun and light, and for those who want to fight I embrace it,” Shorey said.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    IN A TIGHT SPOT — Derek Shorey tries to get off his back while tied up with Justin Witham on April 6 at the Dexter Town Hall. Shorey, a 2000 graduate of Foxcroft Academy where he won a state wrestling championship, organized a group that works out three nights a week. The participants include himself, a professional mixed martial arts fighter, and Witham, who competes as an amateur.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    BROTHER VS. BROTHER — Derek Shorey turns his body while grappling with his brother Dustin Shorey as part of a mixed martial arts training during the second hour of a workout group’s thrice weekly sessions at the Dexter Town Hall. Both Shoreys had fights on April 11 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    STAND OFF — Ora “Sonny” Spratt, left, and Derek Shorey refine their mixed martial arts techniques on April 6 as part of a group that enables those interested in the sport to work out together at the Dexter Town Hall. Spratt and Shorey both competed at New England Fight XVII over the ensuing weekend.