Bryce Teager week 1 blog

Hello all! Over these last week weeks leading up to my title defense against Chris Mickle, on April 16, I’m going to blog about my past, present, and future.

I grew up in South Sioux City, Nebraska.  I have always been intrigued with combat sports.  While all my friends liked to watch the typical sports, I liked to watch boxing.  We had a local boxing gym in my town and I bugged my mother repeatedly until she took me up there one day to get a lesson on the heavy bag.  The owner of the gym said I was too young for the gym, but the one day he showed me how to throw a few combinations and keep my hands up, I was hooked from that point on.  I remember watching UFC 1 for the first time and the butterflies I got in my stomach each time the bell rang.  I remember feeling like my heart was going to beat out of my chest and couldn’t believe those guys were doing what they were doing.  I didn’t realize at the time that I would eventually be one of those guys, but I knew that I loved what I was experiencing.  
 
I continued to watch every UFC, sometimes multiple times.  I tried moves on my friends although I had no idea what I was doing since I had no coaches to really tell me how to perform these techniques.  I even remember grappling a few offensive and defensive linemen and occasionally submitting them with a sloppy armbar or choke when I played football at Wayne State.  Then I was dared to fight by a few of the guys I played ball with.  I fought in a small ammy show in my hometown.  The only real experience I had was watching the UFC and hitting the heavy bag at my place, but somehow I won by rear naked choke late in the second round.  I had to keep telling myself not to quit because I was dog tired.  I was in pretty good football shape, but I soon realized that conditioning for football and mma didn’t really correlate.  I remember having the biggest rush of adreneline right after he tapped and I got my first win.  My teammates thought it was pretty cool, but my coaches weren’t too happy when I came back to practice beat up and uglier than I was before.  However, I knew that I would compete again in MMA after my football career. 
 
After graduating from college I started working on my masters and UNO and was a GA strength and conditioning coach.  Me and another guy wanted to learn the finer details of MMA, so we asked one of the best guys in the midwest to help us out (Jason Brilz). He was a wrestling coach at UNO at the time and also fought professionally.  He helped us out from time to time and directed us to Mid America Martial Arts.  That is the place where I figured out I wasn’t as tough as I thought I was.  Little weakling guys with solid technique were beating me up.  I knew from then on that I wouldn’t just be able to rely on being an athlete but that I would actually have to learn technique.  I have been there for 4 years now, training with guys like Ryan Jensen, Jake  and Joe Ellenberger, Jason Brilz, and getting great coaching from guys like Aaron Cerrone and Ed Shobe.  Although I still have a ton to learn, I am definitely a different fighter from when I first started. 
 
I was excited to find out that I was going to be fighting Chris Mickle.  Beating a guy with a ton of experience and a lot of tough fights on his record will give me a little more respect.  My record really isn’t anything to brag about.  I actually hate telling people that I am 5-4 because I feel like I am better than that record shows.  I actually try to make it sound better by throwing in my ammy record in there too (2-0).  I lost my first 3 pro fights.  I lost to Jason High, Justin Wilcox, and John Halverson.  I thought I was ready to fight the big dogs right out to the gate, but I quickly realized that I had more to learn.  However, I feel like I fought each one of those guys tough and that did give me confidence knowing that I could hang with them even though I was really inexperienced.  Although that made my record unimpressive it did give me 8 rounds of experience with really tough guys and that helped me go on a 5 fight winning streak and eventually earn the MCC lightweight championship against a tough Paul Bird. 
 
I then landed a job as a firefighter, so I had to take about 18 months off to focus on my new career.  While taking that much time off wasn’t ideal for my MMA career I wouldn’t change it for anything.  It is the best job in the world and lets me spend a lot of quality time with my wife and three kids.  MMA is a hobby for me… Firefighting is my career and a way to support my family.  Having a job with 24 hour shifts and 3 kids does make it hard to train like a professional, but I do the best I can at balancing family, job, and training.  I just make sure the time I do get to train I make the most out of it and train really hard.  Fighting Chirs Mickle will be no walk in the park, so I am going to have to make sure that every minute I get to train, I make the most of it.  It is going to be a great fight, so hopefully all of you get a chance to watch Chris and I beat each other up for 25 minutes. 

Might as well plug myself too during this blog, so anybody that wants to sponsor me email me at bat1201@aol.com.  

Follow me over these last 3 weeks, as I explain all the in and outs of my training and day to day life. I hope to see you all at MCC 26 in Des Moines, April 16th
Bryce Teager