#55 The Black Cobra's Origin Story: From LA Gangs to World Champion (Part 1)

He was forging his mom's signature to sneak into Muay Thai class at 9 years old, knocking out grown men for his brother's gang by 8th grade — and 30 years later he's coached a UFC heavyweight champion. This week on Coffee with Doc, Dr. Pierce sits down with a longtime friend and combat sports legend, Dewey "Black Cobra" Cooper, for Part 1 of a conversation nearly three decades in the making.

Dewey is a two-time world kickboxing champion, a professional boxer, and one of the most respected striking coaches in the sport — best known as the longtime striking coach and cornerman for former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. But before any of that, he was a kid in 1980s Los Angeles trying to survive a childhood shaped by gang violence, and the fighter he became almost didn't happen the way you'd expect. In this episode, Dewey and Dr. Pierce go all the way back — to Muay Thai as a survival skill, the real story behind the "Black Cobra" name, the ultimatum that got his family out of LA, the mentors who built him into a champion, and the 2:30 a.m. conversation at the Vegas club where they both used to work that changed both of their lives.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Welcome to Coffee with Doc: introducing Dewey "Black Cobra" Cooper

04:00 – Reconnecting after nearly 30 years

05:00 – Growing up the youngest of eight in Los Angeles

06:30 – The crack epidemic, gang life, and his brother Paul

08:00 – Forging his mom's signature to train Muay Thai at 9

10:00 – Why he really started fighting (it wasn't Bruce Lee)

11:00 – The real story behind the "Black Cobra" nickname

12:00 – His first fight at age 10 in Upland, California

14:00 – Arrested and taken to juvie after a fight in Oceanside