MMA fighter Aaron Brink [aka Dick Delaware] who, when he wasn’t spraying wads of love on screen and pounding guys into a pulp, off, has been out of the XXX game awhile.

Enough for Delaware to have found his weight ballooning up to 274. Enough for him to be generally aware of the fact that the adult biz is flatter on its back than some stiff in the Octagon.

“This is what I’ve heard,” says Delaware who’s back in shape and been getting ready for his next MMA bout which is at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, CA , August 20th.

“At first I thought people were just dogging me, like, we’re not shooting right now. I used to hear that when somebody would be mad at me. I thought I was getting a little bit of that, but I’ve been hearing from many sources that the industry has slowed almost to a complete halt. But I’ll take whatever gigs I can get because I’m as healthy as ever and available for work.”

When Delaware, a native of Huntington Beach, does his thing as a porn actor, it’s for certain people- like Chucky Sleaze, for instance, who directs for Lethal Hardware. Delaware calls it working incognito, but if you ever met Delaware, a square jawed Mastadon, you know that “incognito” is not a word logically applied to him.

What Delaware also likes about working for someone like Lethal Hardcore, too, is the fact that they pay him the rate he was getting back in porn’s heyday.

“They let me do the kind of scenes I want to do,” he says.

“Otherwise, I took a break from the industry because of some of the things I’ve gone through in the past.“

The past for Delaware included a lot of crystal meth and marijuana usage which landed him on an A&E Show called “Intervention”.

Before any of that started happening, Delaware was encouraged by Tito Ortiz, an old friend from high school, to get into the ring after Delaware had honed his MMA skills at the Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island – for smuggling marijuana from Mexico.

Now that Delaware’s eliminated those extracurricular activities from his bad boy repertoire, he’s been “training his butt off” for the upcoming bout with Dan Quinn. On any given day, Delaware’s running, swimming and surfing the San Diego [where he now lives] beaches and training at the MMA academy in Point Loma.

Delaware’s last fight was five months ago against Travis Brown. He was called on with less than a week’s notice for that bout. And, as, you might suspect with little time to prepare, things didn’t go well. Delaware suffered a fracture of his sternum in a take down.

“I tried to sprawl out but I couldn’t breathe,” Delaware recalls.

“I tried to tap out.”

The Brown fight’s the main reason why Delaware’s now training like Rocky Balboa possessed.

As I also recall, the story was that Delaware dropped out of the porn business when rumors began surfacing about his alleged involvement in a homicide.

Nothing further from the truth, says Delaware who thinks a lot of those rumors and stories sprang up from his participation in the A&E show.

“I was tricked into being on that show,” says Delaware who seemed to be getting high all the time.

“My wife Cassandra Cruz contacted these people and they felt I had an interesting story being that I was a professional fighter who became a porn star, then later became addicted to drugs. My life at the time had become extremely unmanageable. The intervention took place on the show. They offered me to go to rehab.”

Cruz and Delaware married January 30, 2007, are separated, but are eyeing a reconciliation.

“She’s been a huge support in my life,” he says.

“She’s been very good to me. She contributed to saving my life. I believe the path I was on with my drug use I was headed for jail or death.”

According to Delaware, he hasn’t used crystal meth since the day he was seen under the influence on the show – Dec. 10, 2008, yet, at the same time, it’s also cost him lots of problems, embarrassment, and, subsequently, bookings.

Neither did it address the fact that Delaware went on to use marijuana on a daily basis and would drink periodically. So Delaware put himself back in rehab for several months on his own recognizance.

“I left the LA area because of old acquaintances and old emotions,” he notes.

“People still think I’m that guy they saw on that A&E show. It re-airs like once or twice a month. But at the same time it’s contributed to saving my life.”

I mention to Delaware that a day didn’t seem to go by, too, that he wasn’t on some adult gossip site. Delaware seems almost relieved that War Machine, another MMA fighter turned porn performer has taken over the dunce chair.

Delaware was at a party the other day when the subject was brought up. Delaware is friends with War Machine [formerly Jon Paul Koppenhaver] who had his name legally changed and is facing a year in jail for felony assault www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=42722 stemming from a bartender’s refusal to believe that.

“He and I know each other from San Diego,” explains Delaware who began asking questions at the gathering about War Machine’s going berserk at a porn party last year.

“I was wondering what the real story was,” states Delaware, “because War Machine gave me a different version. He indicated that he had been jumped by several people.”

Then some people not realizing Delaware was at this party began gossiping about him, though within earshot.

“I was a little embarrassed to hear that, honestly,” continues Delaware.

“So I felt a little uncomfortable. Jay Ashley and Jack Vegas were such nice guys to invite me over. Far be it for me to confront somebody.”

Of War Machine’s recent incident, Delaware says, “He’s got an MMA fight coming up and is going to surrender himself after that. I was in the same situation a few years back.”

Delaware explains. He should also explain what would possess a civilian to get in his face.

“A guy attacked me in a parking lot and I had to use self-defense,” describes Delaware.

“Instead of waiting around for the cops, I fled the scene because I hurt the guy. I was in a Volkswagen Rabbit backing up my car. He slapped the back of my window and to intimidate me yelled, ‘watch the fuck where you’re driving.’

“This guy was surprised that I was getting out and so he shut the door on my leg. He panicked. Then he tried to tackle me which was a big mistake. I instinctively reacted. I swept him, and his head struck the ground. I ended up using a knee to his head. To me I got attacked by a guy in a parking lot and I got to safety as quickly as possible.”

And so Delaware was charged with assault with a deadly weapon because of his fighting background. The charges were later dropped to a misdemeanor and Delaware was given probation due to inconsistencies in the other guy’s statement. A witness, who saw the whole thing came forward several months later after Delaware began putting up posters in the area, soliciting testimony. Delaware’s other guess is the homicide rumors may have sprung from that incident.

These days Delaware doesn’t like staying in Los Angeles any longer than he has to.

“I feel more comfortable being around family and being in the San Diego element,” he explains.

Another rumor you’d hear about Delaware, along the way, was that he was a scion of a family fortune but kept that fact under wraps.

“That’s partially true but a little exaggerated,” he answers, explaining that his fraternal grandparents are somewhat wealthy. His grandfather was Jewish and became a Mormon convert. So did Delaware.

[Delaware can be reached at [email protected] particularly for those who are interested in tickets- with a 10% discount- for his upcoming bout.]