Shogun Fights IV to Feature Local MMA Fighters

As teammates at Ground Control MMA Academy and fellow fighters on Saturday night's Shogun Fights IV card at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, James “Binky” Jones and Dave Daniecki have taken slightly different paths to becoming the fighters they are today.

As a child, Jones attended St. Rita's School and lived with his mother, a single parent, and his younger brother and sister in Turners Station. In order to keep Jones on the straight and narrow, his mother enrolled him in as many sports as possible.

Jones played football, basketball and wrestled in the various Dundalk rec programs. Jones met Shogun Fights owner John Rallo, also a Dundalk native, while playing football for the Packers at Merritt Point Park.

While Jones excelled at every sport, wrestling became his true passion.

“I started wrestling for the Hawks at 7 years old,” Jones said. “I loved how it was an individual sport, but still had a team aspect. We were the first team from Baltimore County to win a junior league state championship. There were a lot of great wrestlers on that team that went on to have great high school careers at Gilman, Curley and Calvert Hall.”

When it was time for Jones to pick a school, he chose Mount Saint Joseph, a Maryland wrestling powerhouse in Catonsville. Jones' coach John Hefner  would swing by Turners Station early on school days to pick Jones and other kids that lived in the city area up from home.

At. Mount St. Joseph, Jones dominated MSA competition. He applied his strong work ethic to intensity of the year-long wrestling season at The Xaverian Brothers-sponsored Catholic school.

Jones paid for his scholarship by working year-round on his wrestling skills, and the school cashed in when he placed four times in the MSA State Tournament, earning two MSA State Titles as well as a National Prep runner-up performance for the school. He finished his high school career 118-16-2.

Jones accepted a scholarship to wrestle at Morgan State, where he starred as a two-year starter. Eleven years ago, Jones began training in Brazilian Jujitsu at Lloyd Irvin's school in Camp Springs.

When Jones decided, against his coaches' wishes, to fight professionally, he was asked not to return. He then began training at Ground Control, where he currently trains.

During his professional MMA career, Jones has fought in several high-level promotions, including Elite XC, Bodog Fights and the UWC, but has been unable to score a fight at the highest level the UFC.

“My goal is to fight in the UFC,” Jones said. “I'll fight anybody they have at 145.”

Jones trains every morning at the gym he has constructed in his house from 4:30 to 6:30 in the morning, working on his cardio and strength. He then trains at Ground Control from 8-10 in the evening, working on his BJJ, Muay Thai and MMA techniques.

“I love fighting in front of the Baltimore fans at Shogun Fights,” Jones said. “You draw so much energy from the crowd, and John Rallo really puts on a professional event.”

During the day, Jones works as the warehouse curriculum supervisor at Youth in Transition, a special education school.

Jones has honed his MMA skills to a sharp edge working at Ground Control.

“In the beginning I was a wrestler trying to fight MMA, then I was a BJJ guy trying to fight MMA,” Jones said. “I have been putting everything together—now I consider myself a true mixed martial artist. When that gate closes I just put it in beast mode.”

Of his fight with Jay Hass at Shogun VI, he said, “We are going to touch gloves and see what happens. I'm ready to bang, I'm ready on the ground, and my cardio is the best it's ever been.”

Daniecki was also a very gifted athlete in the rec programs of rural Monkton, playing football, wrestling and lacrosse. He chose to attend Loyola-Blakefield, a Catholic Jesuit high school.

While Jones specialized in wrestling, Daniecki was a three-sport athlete for the Dons, competing in lacrosse, football and wrestling.

Daniecki wrestled for a MSA State Championship in his junior year against Jake Hollin of John Carroll in 1992.

“He was just a methodical work horse on the mat,” said Hollin, now an assistant coach at John Carroll. “It wasn't that he did anything out of the ordinary, he just did everything with a 100 percent effort and rarely made mistakes.

"Our match in the MSA finals was 2 to 1. It was a scoreless first period, I had a stalling call for a point in the second and then got an escape to make it 1 to 1. Then in the third he had an escape and won by a point. He definitely earned the win and was gracious in victory. I remember him saying, 'Man, it was like we were two bulls going at it out there.'"

Daniecki repeated as MSA State Champion in 1993, but chose to play lacrosse at Penn State, turning down several Division I wrestling scholarships. He then went on to play professional lacrosse with the Baltimore Thunder and the Baltimore Bayhawks, where he won two MLL championships.

After his professional lacrosse career ended, Daniecki began taking BJJ classes at Ground Control. He kept getting better and better, winning most of the amateur BJJ tournaments that he entered.

“I decided to start fighting MMA,” Daniecki said. “I was 5-0 as an amateur when John Rallo gave me the chance to fight at Shogun I. Right now I am 2-1 in my professional career.”

At Shogun IV Daniecki fight Adrian Belcarris, who finished as a state champion in the 171-pound class while attending Oxon Hill High School in Prince Georges County.

Hollin, who coached against Belcarris in high school, sees the fight this way: “Adrian always had incredible hips and a will to win. So this should be a really interesting fight with Dave and Belcarris—obviously there will be some upper-level wrestling on display.

"Though I would say having watched Dave he is becoming more than just a wrestler but a much more complete fighter. Whoever wins will bring pride to the state.”

SHOGUN FIGHTS IV

When: Saturday, April 30 at 7 p.m.

Where: 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore

What: MMA fight card featuring 11 scheduled fights

Tickets: For ticket information, go to ShogunFights.com