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42nd MP Brigade’s top middleweight lives for competition, pushing his limit

Pfc. Domonique Dennis ready for combatives tournament

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JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. - Pfc. Domonique Dennis has always been a competitor.

Through Tae Kwon Do, mixed martial arts, track and football, the 21-year-old has continuously sought to be the best.

And now, combatives, the Army's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu-based style of hand-to-hand fighting, is doing well to feed his desires.

"I love to compete, and I like the contact," Dennis said. "Between competing and the contact, you can't go wrong."

Dennis kicked his competitive spirit into overdrive March 12 during a combatives tournament his unit, the 42nd Military Police Brigade, held at JBLM's Modern Army Combatives Academy to determine who, among more than 40 contenders, are its strongest fighters.

And the 16 who proved their mettle - two in each weight class - will represent the brigade against soldiers from JBLM during an installation-wide tournament in April.

Dennis, who placed first in middleweight class, is one of them.

"It makes me feel really great to be part of the team," he said. "This tournament is huge, and it's a great opportunity. I look forward to every bit of it."

More importantly, though, it's a chance for the Boston native to rekindle the same competitive edge that took him to the fields of Utica College in Utica, N.Y. - an opportunity that, unfortunately, was short-lived.

Dennis - short, lean and muscular, and always smiling - calls himself a former stud. He participated in track and football at the Division III school.

But a leisurely game of basketball during his second year brought his success to shambles in a split second.

"I ended up getting injured," Dennis said. "I couldn't continue with football."

So he left the school and instead cared for special-needs children and adults at Boston's Dimock Community Health Center for the next year.

"I took them out, fed them, went places with them, took them on walks," he said. "I figured if I was going to get out and gather myself I wanted to be helping people.

"I loved it, but I wanted to do more, so I joined the military."

And it's the Army, which Dennis joined in early 2011, that has allowed him to reconnect with mixed martial arts, a pastime he discovered during his last year of high school but was forced to give up for college sports.

"That was something I was really interested in, but when I went off to college it went behind because I never had time," he said. "Now that I'm back again, it's really about refreshing and just learning new things every day - and some of the things I knew, just enhancing and making them better."

And whether he's practicing on the mat with his fellow Soldiers, lifting weights at the gym or tightening up a cross-collar choke on an opponent during a match, Dennis is all about pushing his own limits.

In fact, it's what he lives for.

"That's what I'm about: Pushing as far as I can go and doing the best I can, and trying as hard as I can, because that's the type of stuff I feed off," said Dennis, who has worked on his fighting techniques twice a day for the past couple of months and works out at the gym during lunch when he can.

"That's my energy and my fuel."

During his brigade's tournament, Dennis competed with eight other soldiers for the top spot in his weight class, which stood as the most populated class for the 42nd Soldiers.

The event pitted him against three contenders, two of which he submitted before the six-minute matches had ended - one with a leaner choke, the second with a straight-arm bar.

And he surprised even himself.

"I didn't think I was going to lose, but I didn't think I was going to take number one."

But while Dennis is still a member of a team, he's savoring his recent wins as something all his own - something he worked to achieve, not anyone else.

"Yeah, you have your team behind you, you have your coaches, you have your teammates," he admitted. "But when you're in the ring and you're wrestling and you're fighting, it's just you.

"So when you beat somebody, you just beat them."

"The energy that I get from winning is almost like a weight lifted off my shoulders," Dennis said. "It's a really great feeling."

But as the story goes for most competitors with a similar level of vigor and grit, the work is never completely done.

For Dennis, it will only get harder over the next month.

"I have to still work hard and train hard," he said, adding that he plans to up his cardio and hit the mat more often to fine-tune his technique.

And until the installation tournament, Dennis's top spot isn't completely secure.

"I'm still allowing these guys to challenge up (in their weight classes) over the next month to keep our competitive edge," said Staff Sgt. Clifton Roberts, the team's coach.

"A number three guy can challenge a two, a number two can challenge a one - so on and so forth - so these guys don't get complacent."

Roberts said his team impressed him during the tournament, but there's still a great deal of work ahead for it.

"We have a lot of work left, but we're on our way up," said Roberts, a Roy, Wash., native.

But regardless of where his team stands right now, Roberts isn't planning on settling for second best in April.

"First place is my goal; that's the only thing I will allow."

And for Dennis, who's perhaps happiest when he's fighting for his life, the sentiment is the same.

"In no way in my mind am I thinking about losing. I don't plan on losing."

Photo by Sgt. Christopher Gaylord

Private 1st Class Domonique Dennis (top), a driver for the 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd MP Brigade, tries for a choke on Sgt. Ryan Black at the Modern Army Combatives Academy on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., March 12 during a combatives tournament Dennis's brigade held to determine which 16, of more than 40 contenders, will represent the unit during an installation-wide tournament in April. Dennis, a middleweight, secured the top spot for his weight class and defeated Black with a leaner choke.



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