Starting Monday April 18th, this will be the official spring and summer schedule. Please take note..

Leister Bowling III – Colorado’s Wrestling Authority

Leister Bowling III began cementing his Colorado wrestling legacy growing up in Lyons becoming a 3 time state champion. In addition to the multiple state titles, his records for most wins (154-2), pins (131), and takedowns(785) in a career/season still stand today.

Most pins? Most take downs? Insane.

Those that have wrestled or just followed the sport know how impressive those numbers truly are. While attending college he was a 3 time NAIA All-American, 4x Central Regional Champion, 4x Great Plains Athletic Conference Champion, 2005 National Runner-Up, and the 2004 Central Regional Outstanding Wrestler.

Bowling III showed he could transfer his skills over to teaching becoming the Lyons High School head wrestling coach. A stint that produced 10 state placers over a 2 year span and an opportunity to become the assistant wrestling coach at UNC in Greeley from 2007-2010. A job that he regretfully had to step down from after parlaying his wrestling notoriety into an opportunity to train several high-profile Mixed Martial Arts fighters.

“I was doing a little too much and with a beautiful wife and 4.5 year old at home and another one due in April I figured I better pick one or the other.”

As the story goes, it all started when Leister was looking for a skilled heavyweight to train with one of his own heavyweights while coaching at UNC. He happened to later be at a ‘Ring Of Fire’ event Shane Carwin was fighting in and realized he lived in Greeley. When propositioned, Carwin agreed to help out if Leister would train his friend Nathan Marquardt. “The Great” started making the commute to UNC 2-3 times a week and asked if he could bring some other fighters. And the rest is history.

Many of the other noted fighters are also from the sports largest promotion, the UFC. Some of these include Eliot Marshall, Brendan Schaub, Duane “Bang” Ludwig, and arguably the world’s best in Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre. At the time of this writing both Schaub and Marquardt were coming off big wins at UFC 128. After the fight, Marquardt still holds the number two spot for takedown accuracy behind ‘GSP’ according to FightMetric.com. Schaub was able to take the legendary ‘Cro-Cop’ down at will despite Mirko being number one in takedown defense prior to the loss.

Coincidence? Not likely.

With all the success, Leister Bowling III points to his Dad as giving him guidance on the way to live life and words of wisdom.

“My dad played a huge role in my wrestling and also the way I run practices. Not only as a wrestler but my dad taught me how to be a man.

“One thing that anyone who knows me will tell you is that you will always know where you stand with me, there is no middle ground. He taught me how to speak my mind and stand up for what I believe in. That is a trait that I wish more people had.”

Did I mention Bowling III’s possible plans on opening up a wrestling academy?

Get your singlet ready and stay tuned.

You can follow Leister Bowling III on Twitter athttp://www.twitter.com/LeisterBowling.

Eliot Marshall’s mission to get back to the UFC has paid off. The one time “Ultimate Fighter” competitor has stepped in on short notice to face Luis Cane at UFC 128in New Jersey.

Sources close to the negotiations confirmed the new bout to MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday. Tatame.com initially reported the change.

Marshall went 3-1 during his time with the UFC following his stint on the eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” but was released following a loss to Vladdy Matyushenko last March.

At that point, Marshall made it his personal mission to get back to the UFC. He has since gone on a three-fight win streak to prove that, and now he’s back.

“The goal is the UFC. Let’s not beat around the bush, that’s where the best fighters fight,” Marshall said in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. “Yeah, there’s this guy that’s here, there’s this guy that’s there, and you’re always going to have this talk like ‘what if (Alistair) Overeem or Fedor or whatever.’ You tell me where the best guys fight? They fight in the UFC.”

The original bout between Cane and Karlos Vemola was set to be a part of the Spike TV prelim broadcast, but there’s been no word if the new bout between Marshall and Cane will stay with the same slot.

Marshall will be joined by two teammates on the card as both Nate Marquardt and Brendan Schaub have bouts at UFC 128 as well.

After years of dealing with nagging shoulder problems and a crisis of confidence, former UFC lightweight Alvin “Kid” Robinson finds himself on the road back, feeling better than ever.

“I feel like I’ve grown everywhere,” he recently toldMMAWeekly.com.

Every aspect of Robinson’s game has benefitted from a change of mindset and hard work with some of the best trainers in the business.

“I’ve always been good at jiu-jitsu, but now I’m believing in my jiu-jitsu and I feel like I’ll tap anybody if it goes to the ground,” said Robinson. “I’ve gone back to my roots of wrestling and I feel like I can out-wrestle anybody. Working with the coaches at Grudge, I feel like I can stand and bang with anybody, and I have confidence in it.

“Over the past year I feel that not only my physical skills, but my mental (skills) have grown, and I’m ready to do work again.”

Not only has confidence bolstered Robinson’s game, but shoulder problems he’s suffered with since high school and once thought would require surgery have been taken care of via a different route, allowing him to focus once again on his wrestling base.

“It definitely was a blessing in disguise,” he commented. “At first I thought I was going to be out for another year with no fights sitting on the sidelines, but sure enough, my strength and conditioning coach was able to fix the problems I was having and now I’m stronger than ever.”

Robinson will have an opportunity to test his newfound strength at Fight to Win’s “Mortal Combat” showon Friday, Feb. 25, in Denver, against former “Ultimate Fighter” alum Cameron Dollar.

“He’s pretty well-rounded and has wins by submission and knockout, and I’m expecting a war,” stated Robinson.

“I want to show everybody that I’m a well-rounded MMA fighter, and wherever the fight takes place that I’m ready. I’m conditioned, I’m strong, and I want to make a run at the UFC and the title.”

As for which title Robinson’s gunning for, with the recent acquisition of the WEC and its weight classes, he now sees himself competing at 145 pounds.

“After I go in there and execute against Cameron, I’ll be knocking on the door in the UFC again and this time I’ll be at my natural 145-pound weight class and I’ll be able to do things there for sure,” said Robinson.

“I feel stronger, I feel faster, and my conditioning is better. I can eat healthy and stay at a weight that I’m comfortable at.”

Mentally and physically Robinson is at his peak, and he’s firmly affixed on achieving a higher level of success than he’s ever had, making him a fighter to watch in 2011.

“I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Grudge Training Center, Kline Bros. Jiu-Jitsu, Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, my wrestling and strength and conditioning coaches, my sponsors for this fight and everybody who has supported me through the ups and downs and my career,” he said in closing.

“Please come check out the fight and support the ‘Kid.’ I feel I can compete with any 145-pounders, and this is where I can showcase my skills and get back in the big show and let it go and have fun out there.”

Glover, who is looking to work his way back to the top, is relying
on his jiu jitsu skills, his dedication and determination and his
teammates at Grudge Training Center to get him there.

Tyrone Glover has fought all over the world against some of the
greatest fighters in the lightweight division. Glover started off
with a bang, defeating some of the very best fighters of the time
including Din Thomas in 2005. Despite quickly garnering a 4-0 re-
cord, Glover decided to put his mixed martial arts career on hold
so that he could pursue his law degree. Glover earned his Juris
Doctorate from the University of Colorado but never took his eye
of mixed martial arts. During his time at the University of Colo-
rado, mixed martial arts grew and so did the lightweight divi-
sion. Glover knew he could still compete so after graduation he
began training to make his return to mixed martial arts. Glover, a
practicing attorney by day, began training at Grudge Training
Center.

Glover made his return to the sport on November 12, 2010 at The
Professionals. Glover overwhelmed his opponent, Nick Busch-
man, and earned a submission victory via armbar 4:20 of the first
round. On February 25th, 2011 at MFC 28: Supremacy, Glover
hopes to continue his winning ways against a very tough opponent
in Robert “The Beast” Washington.

“Washington is a very tough guy. He has some good wins,” Glover
stated. Washington, with an MMA record of 9-1, trains with the
likes of Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler at the Hit Squad. He has
shown both excellent striking and solid wrestling with good
ground and pound in his nine victories. “This will be a very tough
fight for me; I expect Washington to bring his best and that is what
I am preparing for,” Glover further indicated.

MFC takes place in Edmonton, Alberta Canada on February 25,
2011, and will be televised on HDNET. Tyrone Glover and Robert
Washington are two of the top lightweight prospects in the world,
and the winner of this fight will certainly put themselves one step
closer to their ultimate goal.

Glover is currently sponsored by Knockout Brands, Full Tilt Poker,
Nogi, Character Restaurant, Inked Out Apparel, Sheppard Law
Firm, Relentless Fight Gear, Easton BJJ, Paragon, Grudge Train-
ing Center and Grudge Sports Management.

To schedule an interview with Tyrone Glover please contact Ricky
Vasquez at ricky@grudgesports.net. For more information re-
lated MFC Supremacy 28 or for ticket information please go to
www.maximumfighting.com.
HEIGHT 5’8”
WEIGHT 155
RECORD 5-0
AGE 31
TRAINS AT Grudge T.C.
OPPONENT Robert
Washington
SPECIALTY Jiu Jitsu

It takes a lot to gross out a seasoned fight promoter. Once you’ve seen enough blood on the mat and enough broken bones, you start to become immune to it all. At least, that’s what Jamie Addie of Fight to Win promotions in Denver thought. Then he saw what happened to Justin Salas‘ foot.
“It was gross, man. I’ve seen a thousand fights and many different situations, but I’ve never seen that in my life,” Addie said.

Neither had Salas. Neither had his trainer, Trevor Wittman. It hadn’t even occurred to them to be worried about something like this.

At first, neither even realized what was happening in the Jan. 29 fight. To Salas (8-3), it simply felt like he was having trouble getting his footing against UFC vet Rob Emerson in the main event.

“I wanted to work my combos and move to the right, away from his power,” said Salas. “I tried to get that angle there on the corner, on my right, but I was having a tough time because of my right foot, which is the foot I pivot off of. I noticed I wasn’t able to pivot on it and a kind of panic set in. I was slipping and it just wasn’t working, but I didn’t know why at first.”

As the first round wore on, Addie, who was sitting cageside at Denver’s Paramount Theater that night, got a glimpse of the problem.

“I think about two to three minutes into the first round we noticed the flap of skin kind of hanging off his toe. He went back to his corner and then came out for the second round and the flap of skin wasn’t on his toe anymore, it was on the ball of his foot. By the third round, it was easily a half-dollar sized flap of skin just kind of hanging there and bleeding everywhere.”

After weeks of training, Salas thought he had prepared for every possible scenario. But of all the things that might happen to you in a professional MMA bout, who expects to lose the skin off the bottom of his foot?

The culprit, it seems, was the lights. According to Addie, whose company joined with Full Force Fighting to put on the event that night, it was the first time the Paramount had hosted an MMA fight.

“It’s more of a music venue,” Addie explained. “[The Paramount] required that they use a certain staging company to do the lighting and all that. We actually own all our own lighting – LED lights and all that, so they don’t get too hot – but we had no choice. They used the good old-fashioned cam lighting, and it was a bit of overkill.”

Salas and Emerson were the last bout on an eleven-fight card, which meant that by the time they stepped in the cage the mat had been soaking in the heat of the stage lights for hours.

“It wasn’t like touching a burner hot, but it was uncomfortably hot,” said Salas. “I think it softened up the calluses on my foot and blistered it a bit, and then it just ripped off down to the middle of my foot.”

I was running on adrenaline, so it hurt a lot after, but at the time I was just trying to zone in on the fight.
– Justin SalasWhile Salas said he wasn’t the only fighter to suffer some negative effects from the hot mat, his were by far the worst. At first he hardly noticed, but as the skin tore more and more and exposed the raw flesh underneath it to the hot mat, then things got really painful, said Salas.

“I was just trying not to think about it. I was running on adrenaline, so it hurt a lot worse after, but at the time I was just trying to zone in on the fight.”

Salas was so focused, in fact, that he failed to tell his coach what was happening to him.

“He never mentioned it,” said Wittman. “I could tell he was having problems with his footwork and he wasn’t doing what I’d seen him do in the gym … I was like, man, what’s going on? But he never said a word during the fight. That kid’s so tough, man.”

As Salas explained afterward, complaining about the foot would have given him an out. In his mind, the moment he said something he’d have a reason to lose. In a fight this important to his developing career, he couldn’t risk that.

“I knew my foot was hurting, but I was thinking that I didn’t want to make any excuses or give any reason to quit. It’s like, if I start telling my coaches that my foot’s hurting then it’s like a built-in excuse for myself, and I didn’t want that. I just tried to stay in the zone and push through it. Even if your game plan is kind of messed up by it, you’ve got to find a way to win, because this was a big fight for me.”

After a three-round, fifteen-minute battle, Salas got the unanimous decision nod from the judges. As the adrenaline faded, the pain started to settle in. Over the next few days Salas could barely walk. When he was offered a fight on an MFC card in February he had no choice but to turn it down, since getting right back in the gym to prepare was hardly an option.

“It was kind of a bad deal, but in a roundabout way it probably got me more exposure than I would have otherwise,” said Salas. “Between the pictures that they got of it and me getting the win, getting a unanimous decision and looking dominant, it was actually kind of a blessing.”

He has a point. Without the gruesome and unusual foot injury, most MMA fans might still have no clue who Justin Salas is. Now they not only know about his victory over Emerson at a small show in Denver, but they know he’s the kind of guy who will fight through just about anything without complaint – and they’re not the only ones.

“It was unfortunate,” said Addie, who admitted that, in hindsight, his promotion should have done more to educate the Paramount staging crew about the potential dangers of their overzealous light use. “But one thing I can say is that Justin Salas is a tough, tough kid. He didn’t hesitate and didn’t say a word about it. He kept fighting and came out with a victory over a UFC vet. I was really impressed. He’s someone who could go a long way in this sport.”

Ben Fowlkes MMA Writer

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. – Trevor Wittman has a case of strep throat. Maybe. At least, there’s a chance he does, and for a top MMA trainer, a chance is too much.

In his line of work, which requires getting right in the faces of elite professional fighters who are anywhere from several months to several days away from important fights, he can’t risk the possibility that he might accidentally infect them. They have enough to worry about, and he can practically feel the white spots popping up on the back of his throat every time he swallows. This explains his uniform for today.

“I swear I don’t normally dress like a ninja,” the 35-year-old Wittman explains as he leads me into his little office inside the Grudge Training Center.

He sports a long-sleeved black shirt with matching gloves, a knit wool cap, and a face and neck gator to ensure he doesn’t accidentally breathe on anyone. In preventing the spread of germs, he’s also hidden his most recognizable feature – his ubiquitous, infectious smile. Only the creases around his eyes can convey how happy he is to be at work in a job where calling in sick is hardly an option.
Trying to create a heart for a guy who doesn’t have it, that just ain’t going to work.
– Trevor Wittman
Wittman’s days start early. He’s usually in the gym by eight in the morning, sitting down for some quiet “visualization” time before the fighters start to trickle in. He thinks about the day to come, what he wants to accomplish, and how to make it happen. Then it’s on to watching film.

Today’s movie is a present from Lex McMahon at Alchemist MMA management, who wants him to take a look at young fighter they’re thinking of signing.

“He’s got heart,” Wittman says as one of the kid’s recent bouts plays on his Macbook. “But he’s very, very green.”

Then again, green is okay. Green is where he’d prefer to first get hold of a fighter, before he’s learned too many bad habits. Green you can work with, as long as the guy already has the core attributes that nobody can teach him.

“I see so many more guys who are talented not make it just because of their lack of a willingness to train,” says Wittman. “Guys who are gifted sometimes grow up getting away with things. They can be the best on the team without hard work. But then they get to a certain point, and you can’t give them a work ethic. Just like you can’t create them a heart. Trying to create a heart for a guy who doesn’t have it, that just ain’t going to work. If they’ve got a little bit of quit in them, you just can’t change that.”

For instance, take one of Wittman’s brightest young stars, UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub. He walked into the gym one day just looking for a place to train. A short time later and there he was in the Golden Gloves, knocking out a 6′11″ boxer from the Army squad.

Wittman gestures to the framed photo of that very moment that adorns his wall – one of many in the office that is essentially a museum to his career in fight sports. The photos and memorabilia come in handy, serving as exhibits he can point to as he makes one point after another about the fight business.

One photo of a certain boxer is the launching point for a story about how relatively few fighters he’s ever quibbled over money with. He puts nothing down on paper with any of his fighters to guarantee his ten percent as their trainer, so if they wanted to – as this one boxer apparently did – they could easily deny him his share. Of course, they could only do it once, he points out.

Another photo reminds him of how world champion boxer Verno Phillips would take so much head trauma during a fight that it was routine for Wittman to sit with him in the hotel room afterwards and answer the same questions over and over again.

‘Did I get knocked out?’ Phillips would ask. ‘No, you won a decision,’ Wittman would tell him. ‘Yeah, that’s right. I did win,’ he’d say, as if he remembered it vividly now.
The thing I like about MMA is, MMA is so freaking safe compared to boxing.
– Trevor Wittman
This is just one reason why he’s glad to be out of the business of training boxers and on to MMA instead, Wittman explains.

“The thing I like about MMA is, MMA is so freaking safe compared to boxing. Boxing is a brutal sport. Just brutal.”

In the fifteen fights he worked with Phillips, for instance, Wittman says that Phillips urinated blood after at least ten or eleven of them. In all his time training MMA fighters, he says, he’s only seen it once – “and that was after a war.”

“I love boxing. The sweet science. I love it. But I’m sort of glad to be away from it. I love the science of boxing, but it’s just brutal. A life in that sport is absolutely brutal over the years. Put it this way, I wouldn’t want my son to box. If he wants to grow up a little bit, learn to defend himself, that’s fine. But not as a career. I see now why my parents didn’t want me to box.”

MMA takes a different toll, such as the one that’s growing out of the side of Schaub’s ear when he shows up for his morning one-on-one training session with Wittman.

“Look at that thing,” Wittman says, gesturing at the bulbous mass of fluid and tissue on Schaub’s left ear. “Seriously bro, it looks like a butt cheek.”

Schaub nods and fingers the ear self-consciously, admitting that it hurts so much it even wakes him up in the middle of the night if he happens to roll over on it in his sleep. He’s been draining it twice a day, and now it’s a tender red mass that he can’t forget about, in part because Wittman’s constant jokes won’t let him.

“He used to be such a good-looking guy,” Wittman needles. “Every girl who came in here would always say to me, ‘That Brendan is fine.’ Not going to happen anymore.”

You can’t see Wittman smiling beneath his homemade hazmat suit, but you can almost feel it. Everyone in the gym takes the good-natured ribbing in turn. It helps to alleviate the stress of the long training camps, particularly for those fighters nearing the grueling end, such as lightweightTyrone Glover.

Glover’s just getting back into the swing of a professional career after leaving MMA behind to finish law school. Now he works full-time as an attorney for a Denver-area law firm and also fits in a full training camp for his upcoming bout with Robert Washington at the MFC: Supremacy card in Canada on February 25.

“The hard thing is not necessarily even the training, it’s making sure you get enough rest and making sure your nutrition is right,” Glover says in between swigs of a protein shake after another hard day on the mats. “Most desk jobs or jobs where you have to be in court, the diets aren’t always that healthy.”

Glover left the sport in 2005 after a decision victory over Din Thomas in Japan. After surveying the dim prospects for 155-pound fighters at the time, law school just made more sense. These days it’s a different story, and forgetting about his former life as a pro fighter isn’t so easy.

“One thing I realized after going to law school is that fighting wasn’t just something I was doing and then I can be done with. It wasn’t like a first career before my second career. It’s something that’s in me, and I wasn’t done. I’m still healthy. I have great resources, with a place like Grudge Training Center right in my back yard. So why not keep going and do it until it no longer makes sense? It still makes sense now, so why not?”

These are the guys Wittman lives to train, he says. Ten percent of a purse from the small local shows is barely worth mentioning on his tax return, but if the fighter is a true worker he never has to think about whether it’s worth his time to train him.

It’s the guys with a constant hunger to improve who can make a lot out of very little, he points out. Give him heart and a willingness to work over natural talent and ability any day. Give him the Clay Guida’s of the world, he says, and he’s a happy trainer.
Guys like Clay Guida are a trainer’s dream.
– Trevor Wittman
“Guys like Clay Guida are a trainer’s dream,” says Wittman. “He comes to Greg Jackson when he’s honestly at about .500 or even, let’s say, gatekeeper level, and now here he is submitting [Rafael] dos Anjos and [Takanori] Gomi, who was, five years ago, one of the pound-for-pound best in the world. … And Guida just comes out there bouncing around, keeping his hands up because he’s fixing his hair, but his work ethic, his ability to want to learn, his willingness to do every little thing in his power to become a better fighter, that’s a coach’s dream. That’s what you want.”

Somewhere out there that dream is waiting to start up anew, maybe via another link to another video waiting in his email inbox. Maybe it’s waiting to walk through the door to the gym on Kipling Street, in the form of some kid with more enthusiasm than skill.

Someone who will work. Someone who, like Schaub, sometimes needs to be forced to go home, but never needs any encouragement to show up.

That, Wittman can work with, he says. That’s why he’d rather cover every potentially disease-spreading surface on his body than call in sick. That’s what he’s here for.

This is What the Hybrid had to say!

“I think guys get so caught up in respecting Mirko so much they don’t approach him with a killer instinct. They don’t look for the finish. If you look at his last few fights he fought some tough guys, Frank Mir and Pat Barry, but they go out there and show him too much respect. I respect the guy just as much as those guys do if not more. It was the same with Gonazaga. I respect these guys so much that I give them the best fight I can on the night. That’s my way of showing respect to these guys – I go in there and try and take their heads off. I put the pressure on them. There’s going to be no high-fiving. There’s going to be no hugging. I can tell you that.”

Is Mirko Filipovic a legend? In the eyes of many the answer to that question is yes. Does that mean he should be given more respect in the cage? That depends on your definition of respect. His opponent at UFC 128,Brendan Schaub, says he plans on showing his by going out there and trying to take the Croatian’s head off. He also takes an oh so subtle jab at Pat Barry by making sure to point out that he won’t be hugging or high-fiving his legendary opponent once they get in the Octagon.

As much as anyone, a friend’s pregnant wife could be considered the cause of Justin Salas’ improving mixed-martial-arts career.

It was about five years ago when Salas was back home in Green River, Wyo., joining his father in working in the town’s well-known trona mines. He hadn’t finished his final wrestling season or academic year at the University of Wyoming, so he was looking for a course in life

Then an old wrestling buddy from Colorado called.

“He said, ‘I’m supposed to do this fight, but my wife’s about ready to have a kid and I don’t wanna leave the guy high and dry,’” Salas told MMAjunkie.com(www.mmajunkie.com). “I asked if it was pro or amateur, and he asked which I wanted. I said, ‘Do I get paid?’ He said, ‘If it’s a pro fight, you get paid.’

“So, I got a week-and-a-half notice before becoming a professional fighter.”

With no training beyond his standout high school wrestling career and Division I college experience in the sport, Salas competed well but was beaten by an armbar submission.

The experience, though, got him out of the mines and started him a career that has led to a 9-3 record and an upcoming 155-pound fight against Rob Emerson at a Full Force Fighting show on Jan. 29 in Denver.

The bout will be a chance for the 28-year-old Denver-area resident to fight in front of his adopted home crowd but also to take on a seven-time UFC veteran while trying to show he continues to improve with more training.

“Denver is a huge hub for fighters, so there are a lot of connections,” Salas said. “I’m here with Grudge (Sports Management), and I just got back from training at Greg Jackson’s camp for two days, so I’m just trying to be the best.”

Out of the mines

Green River, Wyo., contains the world’s largest known deposit of trona, a mineral mined for uses including making glass containers. The workers can mine up to 1,700 feet below ground for long hours.

Salas’ father worked this job when he was born to young parents in the town. His father was from California, but his mother was a town native and worked as a waitress to help support the family. Salas’ parents were 16 and 17 when he was born.

Aside from the mine, the town was also known for its high school wrestling team, so by eighth grade Salas was participating in the sport. During his time in high school, the team was nationally ranked, and so was he. He won two Wyoming state championships.

Many of those who drew up in Green River ended up working in the mine, but Salas moved on to a wrestling scholarship at the University of Wyoming. It didn’t end the way he would’ve liked.

“I fell off, did the college thing, was partying too much, so I ended up not finishing my senior year,” Salas said. “It’s like a lot of things, you never know until you make the mistake yourself.”

His main option was returning to his home and joining his father in the difficult mining work. It was a comfortable living for many, but not one Salas wanted.

“It’s a trap life,” he said. “You work very hard, but you make good money and can have a nice life. The community’s pretty solid, it sticks together, but if you get into it, that’s your life. You buy a nice house, get a nice truck and have a family.”

It wasn’t Salas’ dream to continue that life, but he didn’t have many other options until a friend’s eminent fatherhood caused him to reschedule an MMA opportunity.

Moving around

Salas had been back at home for about three years when he got the call to fill in for his friend and make his MMA debut. He knew nothing about jiu-jitsu and just as little about submissions, but he used his wrestling instincts to stay competitive in the fight.

Afterward, he thought if he could find some training, he might gain success in this sport. That was May 2006, and Salas quickly found some MMA education. Six months later, he met the same opponent again and won with a first-round knockout.

It seemed he had found his way out of the mines.

“I just didn’t know what to do,” Salas said. “I had no idea how to go about being a professional or making money.”

He turned to the wrestling community he knew so well, which had embraced MMA. In making connections with old friends, Salas made several moves to try new training. He went from Colorado to Arizona to Las Vegas and, finally, settled in Denver with a variety of training now in his background.

After starting 2-1, Salas took a year-and-a-half break from taking fights to train, and he returned to take a 7-2 stretch into his upcoming matchup with Emerson.

Salas has finished several of his fights early, winning four times by first-round stoppage. He hopes to continue that against Emerson.

“This is a big night for me,” he said. “I’m been doing well, finishing a lot of guys, and I’ve been around some of the best. It’s time for me to take that next step.”

Jen Berg dominated kickboxing vet Lisa Jeanson Friday night December 18th in the main event at the Battle of Champions.. Berg controlled the action though-out the 1st round winning the exchanges and taking Jeanson down at the 4 minute mark and finishing the round with vicious ground and pound. Jeanson did not answer the the bell to start the second round. Berg wins TKO of the 1st round.