How did Danny Steele look at ROTR?

"Ghost: Since you train with Steele, what's his side of the story on his no-show for the fight with Smandych in Canada?"

I couldn't tell you, but if it's anything along the lines of what he's dealing with now... very, very personal stuff that we don't need to go into here. He's got a lot of adversity in his life that he deals with, and through it all, he gets in the time to train and remain somewhat competetive. I have no idea how he does it. Mad respect. All heart.

I DO know, however, that it's not very easy for a guy like Danny to make it out to Canada, and the promoter probably knew well in advance that Danny wasn't going to show. Additionally, he was offered this opportunity to fight at Rumble On The Rock about a month ago, and when I last spoke to him, he was going through some terrible things, mainly financial. He got flown out to Hawaii for that fight because of family he has out there, from what I know.

Pitmaster... hahahaha. Danny, I'm sure, has a lot of respect for you. As he does with all his guys. If he's on one and it's amongst peers... he can be cocky. Kinda weird to see that one kid get all hyped up on him though.

My Thai coach, Matee Jedeepitak, recently beat Danny in CA...Danny looked to be in good shape, as they went all five rounds and he took everything that Matee threw at him (which was ALOT!). Matee said he was a tough guy and is hard to knockout. Having issues outside of the ring in your life, while you are trying to train and fight sucks! Nothing can hurt a fighter more than having to deal with money, women, family, etc while you are trying to focus on a fight.

-Angelo

In the distant past, Muay Thai instructors were very careful in choosing their students. They required their students to have honesty, integrity, courtesy and humility. Students learned their skills only to be used to defend their country, family or their own lives. This rule was strictly enforced-street brawling was strictly forbidden.
This holds true in more modern times. Instructors still hold their boxers by the same guidelines. Thai boxers do not need to speak loudly, brawl, boast or be disrespectful. They fight against each other fiercely when in the ring but not outside of the ring. To be a good fighter and a good champion, one must be humble and respectful. The spectators love that kind of fighter.

Danny did great he sent the smart ass into convulsion I believe he won the draw was complete BS! Danny is a great guy inside the ring outside the ring he has a huge heart.

I don't really know anything about the arrogant thing...
Danny came to our gym one night to spar with some of our guys a few days before ROTR... probably just to stay warm and get a workout in... (he DID look to be in shape... albeit a little more muscular than i've seen him in the past)
While I hardly ever train with strikes (rarely do vale tudo... NEVER just pure kickboxing... although I should... lol), we had our regular no-gi class going on and he still took the time afterwards to introduce himself...
We hung out with him at the weigh-ins too and one of the guys with us was paying his respects to Danny's rather lengthy and impressive record, Danny was still very humble about it and appreciated the compliments but definitely didn't come off as arrogant or anything...
I also mentioned to him that I used to be friends with Melchor Menor (one of the few guys who have beaten him) and Danny had nothing but good things to say about him as well and how great a guy he thought he was...

Maybe these adversities he's going through in his personal life have something to do with affecting his attitude and disposition, and maybe the Danny Steele that some have met in the past might have come off as cocky in the past... but that probably wouldn't be the first impression someone would get from the Danny Steele that we met here in Honolulu...
I'm sure it didn't hurt either that we're all local boys and Danny grew up out here in the same neighborhood as me too...

Danny is a good guy. I think that every fighter or public figure has at least one peson who has a "funny story" about them. Sometimes people don't make a good first impression.

I have trained with Danny for over a year at HOC, we trained together a few years ago. He was always cool with me and he would always make the time to talk with everyone and answer any questions news kickboxers had for him (and thye would ask often and many).

He has a ton of heart. As for his weight, he is not even close to 185. I think he fights between 145 and 155 or so.

He looked out of Shape and came in weighing 19 pounds over the contracted weight which was 150. He couldn't come down to 150 so the ROTR guys had to pay the other guy more money to still fight Steele. That is what some guy told me in the crowd who knew danny steele.

the guy in the crowd told you half of the story cause it wasn't 19 it was 14 the fight was set at 165 and Danny had to drop 4lbs and pay the guy a grand

Ghost: I haven't followed enough of Steele's career as kickboxing is a hard sport to keep track of (I think the last fight of Steele I've seen was against Jongsanan Fairtex, and that was 4 years ago)......But things going on in his personal life would probably explain it. The reports from that Canadian show mentioned that Steele couldn't make weight (And he didn't show up).

Here's what the promoter put on his website. It's from www.mikemiles.com:

Unfortunately, on the down side, a principle athlete in one of the co-main event bouts caused much turmoil by being a no show bringing the house to a very scary situation indeed. "We have been put into a situation that must be dealt with to our satisfaction between this party and ourselves", said Keith Crawford. "This athlete knows what he must do or he will not like where it leads financially."

The event featured a co-main event. Calgary's Trevor 'T.N.T.' Smandych was to face the hardest test and fight for his life yet. He was to fight his kickboxing idol, American Danny Steele. The USA athlete had signed a fight contract (held by the Calgary Boxing & Wrestling Commission). He assured the promoters that he would be coming to the event after 'missing' several of his flights, in the days before the event. The flight ticket to Canada was purchased well in advance of the event for Steele to come and fight Smandych by the promoters. The promoters have taped messages from Steele promising that he has never screwed anyone over and that he would be flying in the day of the event for the fight. On the day of the event, the promoters had an assistant sitting at the airport waiting for Steele to arrive from 12:00 noon until after the event itself had started. When it was finally realized that Steele was not going to attend, the bout was cancelled. The audience was informed of the bout cancellation during the intermission between the first and second half of the event. "I felt the audience could have turned very ugly, very fast", said a Calgary newspaper reporter. However, promoters Keith Crawford, Mike Miles and then Trevor 'T.N.T' Smandych managed to appease the crowd. Smandych, on the verge of tears during his presentment of the WKA Professional North American Welterweight Muay Thai Title by default (which he pushed away and would not accept), was the epitome of class apologizing to his legion of fans and then thanking his sponsors, settling even the most stubborn fan down.

The Calgary SUN reports that Steele missed his (Thursday and rebooked Friday) flights and on the night before the event claiming he had a shoulder injury. Then what was discovered is Steele admitted to being 8 pounds over the fighting weight, and that was why he never caught his flights. The promoter told him to catch the plane and the fight would still happen, though not for the title in the contracted division. Steele agreed and promised to show up the next day (the day of the event) and fight Smandych. "I have never f----d anyone before. I promise I will be there to fight," said Steele.

According to reports promoter Mike Miles is planning to pursue Steel legally for breaking a binding contract reported the Calgary SUN newspaper. "Danny Steele... you knew know what was expected of you", said a very disappointed Trevor Smandych. "I'm so disappointed. I've wanted to fight this guy forever. All my training has been for this match", Smandych said in the Calgary SUN.

No, I heard Alex the announcer say this fight is scheduled at 150 at the time of the weigh in, But because there was no way that steele could come down 19 pounds they said make it 155 plus one Grand.

Danny weighed in at 159 (9 lbs over...NOT 19 over), but they agreed to 155, so Danny droped the 4 lbs.

My email is gerald@geraldstrebendt.com please let me know if you can make this happen. I will probably ask for one fifth of what he asks for. Gerald Strebendt

Daimon Hellstrom - thanks bro.

Gerald- Good deal. I'll see what I can do. Expect an email from me soon.

Everytime I have met Danny he has always
presented himdelf as a true professional and has
never came across arrogant towards me. In fact I
always see Danny taking that little extra step to go
up and introduce himself to people. He even takes
time out to say hi to all the children at these events.
IMHO, Danny Steele is a really cool guy!

Really the only reason I ask is because he fucked over Smandych and Mike Miles with that no show. And I heard he was fighting again.

gerald... drop the candy, and back away from Danny.

"Really the only reason I ask is because he fucked over Smandych and Mike Miles with that no show."

You Canadians have attention spans that the rest of the world can't hang with. No one cares, BRO. He's fighting, you're Canadian, closed topic.

It would be nice to see Strebendt tap him out.

i honestly don't see danny steele getting into MMA... i guess Ghost would have a better idea since he knows him... but it kinda' sounds like he's pretty happy with just sticking with what he's always been good at...

Pitmaster- I am not sure sure i understand what you are saying? Could you break that down for me please?