Ryan Phillips Plans To Go ‘King Mode’ And Knock Out Damien Dibbell In One Round At Power Slap 7 (Interview)

It’s been a long journey for Ryan ‘The King Of Kings’ Phillips but he’s ready for his chance at the Power Slap heavyweight crown.

At Power Slap 6, Phillips knocked out second ranked Nate Burnard in devastating fashion to earn himself a title shot.

On April 12th, Phillips will be taking on Power Slap heavyweight champion Damien Dibbell at Power Slap 7 in a match that will air live for free on Rumble.

Phillips initially injured his arm while taping the first season of “Power Slap: Road To The Title” but has worked his way up the ladder to earn his title shot against Dibbell.

“Yeah, you know, it’s been a long time coming. Unfortunately, the injury pushed everything back. I should have been champion well before this date of April 12th, but you know, hey, it’s better late than never. I’m glad to get this opportunity, and actually, it’s a pleasure to go up against someone like Dibbell.”

The Cleveland, Ohio native believes that his chin is strong enough to negate the champ’s power.

“His technique is a lot of overhand. He likes to do an overhand slap. But I think my size, I think that’s going to deter him from using that slap, which is his knockout slap and I think I’m going to be able to take away from his power just with my height difference.”

While Phillips is friendly with most of opponents off stage, when he’s competing he turns into a different peron and goes into what he describes as the “king mode.”

“Yeah, you know, before I go on the stage, I start thinking of things that would get me into that mode. I guess you can say the king mode.”

“And, you know, I’m not seeing my oppponent, I’m seeing my enemy, you know, and everyone, unfortunately, the last event, I was getting booed a lot. So everyone in the crowd was my enemy as well. So, you know, that drives me into a killer instinct per se, you know, the king mode, I call it.”

“And when I’m in that king mode, it’s do or die. Unfortunately, whoever’s standing across from me, they got a bad night ahead of them. And, yeah, even though we’re friends and we can be friends afterward all we want, but when I step on that stage, it’s all business and I’m here to perform.”

On April 12th, the King of Kings predicts a first round knockout.

“I get the coin toss. I have the first hit. The soul slicer is in action. You saw what happened with Nate Burnard and it’s going to be the same for big old bell.The wind chime. He’s going to go down in one.”

(Interview has been edited for length and clarity)