It’s been a long journey for Kelowna based Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Grayson Wells and MMA isn’t the type of sport that offers overnight success.
After training at Kelowna’s Toshido MMA Gym for the past five years, Wells took his skills to Red Deer over the weekend for a shot at the HAVOC Heavyweight Championship title belt.
“I was training at Toshido MMA under Coach David Lea for the last four to five years and just everyday I’ve been getting better, my skills a bit more sharpened,” said Wells.
“For this title fight I trained for the last three months solid, we started ramping up training a lot more in the last couple months as well, to the point where I was training three hours a day.”
Despite this obvious athletic dedication, MMA has a checkered history of criticism.
For many, the violent nature of the sport creates negative reactions initially. Even with this reputation, MMA still happens to be the fastest growing sport in the world and has undoubtedly gone mainstream with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
“MMA is no more dangerous than other contact sports like football, hockey or rugby and what I think people misunderstand is the dedication of the athletes and the community the sport builds,” said Wells.
“When you go to the gym for three hours a day for months on end the people there become like family and Kelowna has a great fight community and a lot of support for the sport.”
The legality of MMA events is sometimes questioned, but in Kelowna they are allowed.
“The B.C. Provincial Athletics Commission sanctions all MMA events for the province,” said David Lea from Toshido MMA.
“The city has the option to pass bylaws against MMA events but Kelowna hasn’t done that, the problem is finding a suitable venue for a proper 1000-2000 attendee event.”
The South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton has hosted multiple MMA events over the past years. The superstars of the MMA world have also visited Vancouver’s Rogers Arena before.
For Heavyweight Champion Wells, it would be great to be able to fight in the city he lives in but he credits his friends and family for supporting him out in Red Deer.
“I had my brothers and sisters all there, my fiancee, about 40 people came out to watch,” said Wells who also credits his fiancée’s patience while he worked towards his goal.
“Along with being at the gym all day everyday I had to cut 10 pounds for the fight, so I felt kinda bad for my fiancee, she has to put up with a case of the hungries a few times,” he joked.
The hard work and dedication won’t stop there, next Wells hopes to drop down a weight class and try for a second belt and eventually he hopes to fight overseas.
