"Wanna see how tough I am?" he shouted. "Do you? Kick me in the balls as hard as you can! C'mon, you pussy! Do it, Fayner!"
I had heard of Dick Delaware before this encounter, but like many I feared meeting the 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound performer and professional mixed martial artist for the first time. My intuition triggered visions of the worst possible scenarios — me being a wise-ass weakling and him rumored to be an unhinged methamphetamine abuser on steroids who fought Goliath-sized sickos for sport.
What wasn't to fear, right?
Delaware was grooming himself for a future clash with another professional gladiator when I first made his acquaintance that night. He was stewing in a bad mix of speed and juice, an uneasy ball of anger who at any given second could uncurl and unleash massive waves of unpredictable thunder on me or anyone naïve enough to stick around.
But I've never run from trouble before, so why start then? Plus, I was counting on my status as a member of the press to keep me safe. It was my only hope as the video camera came out and we set up for Delaware's mindless demands.
I counted to three and then kicked my right foot into Delaware's nuts as hard as I could. He was still standing, so I decided to do it again. And then a third time, too. Delaware still wouldn't hit the pavement. Hurt, but not too bad, he called me in close to give me a burly hug.
"Not many people would have the balls to do what you just did," he told me.
"I feel the same way about you, too," I shot back.
Dick Delaware was born Aaron Brink on Nov. 12, 1974, in Huntington Beach, Calif., and has spent his whole life as a good ol' Southern California boy. Delaware had a normal childhood — "boring" he says — until discovering the world of competitive fighting. He was so quick to learn the art of his chosen style — submission fighting — that Delaware skipped any amateur status and had his first fight, as a professional in 1998.
Delaware had another love besides fighting: fucking.
"I couldn't get enough," he says.
It's no big surprise that Delaware soon found his way into pornography. With his chiseled physique and deranged sexual appetites, Delaware, who began performing under the name Dick Delaware, shot his first adult movie on Dec. 26, 2002.
"That day couldn't have been any more nerve-wracking for me," he reveals. "I was working with a chick named Candice Jackson, a black chick. I'd never fucked a black chick before. Plus, I had to do an internal pop-shot. 'A what?' I remember thinking. This was all new to me. Sure, I was a sicko, that much was certain, but all this at once and on my first day ever on a porn set as a performer? When I tore that whore a new one that day I knew I had a future in the business."
Unfortunately, though, that future was not always filled with good times. Soon after entering the business, Delaware began experimenting with methamphetamine. Able to ruin even the strongest constitutions by itself, the meth soon was joined by Delaware's intake of anabolic steroids, the toxic twins producing something not meant for the sex game.
"I loved fucking chicks," Delaware insists. "I loved speed. Problem was that the two are a horrible mix together. Forget the fact that I was a moody, angry man. What really pissed me off was that for so long I was fucking just for the money to get more drugs. And that wasn't fair to the women I worked with back then. I could have fucked them so much better if I wasn't such a drug addict. Think they'd all let me have another go at them to make it up to them now that I'm sober?"
Delaware's been clean and sober now for about six months, thanks he says to the zero-tolerance policy of his girlfriend, Cassandra Cruz.
"I had to go to rehab to get clean, which was tough for someone like me," he says. "I mean, look at the big tough guy who can't even get off drugs! What a pussy! Seriously, that's what I was thinking the whole time. But I fought it and won. The steroids — that was easy to kick — but the speed, man was that tough. If it wasn't for my lady, I'd be doing it right now. I know I would. I know that if I slip even once she'll be out of my life forever. There will be no second chance. I love her so much that meth just ain't worth losing her for." Sobriety has created a kinder, gentler Dick Delaware.
"I regret so much of those days," he admits. "I treated a lot of people very badly, ruined more than one relationship I valued dearly. I wish I could take all of that back now, make amends for all of my evil ways back then. I mean, I physically hurt people for no good reason at all because I wasn't sane. Try living with that, will you?"
Delaware continues to shoot adult content at his own leisure. His professional fighting career now over — his record is 23-15-1 — Delaware uses his knowledge of the sport as a trainer and sparring partner in the San Fernando Valley.
