Michael McDonald

TRAINING: Every day of my training incorporates strength training of a particular muscle group in the morning. Immediately after every workout I will replenish my body with the correct fuel it needs to build itself back to peak. At noon every day I have an hour dedicated to either massage, chiropractic, or therapy for joints and bones that get busted up throughout the week. In the afternoon I have private wrestling sessions with my wrestling coach Jordan Keckler. In the evening I finish the day with an hour of kickboxing, and an hour and a half of either MMA or Jiu Jitsu, followed by some cardio training. At the end of the day I ice all my battle wounds from the day.

When and why did you start training for fighting? It just kinda happened. It was never something I always wanted to do since I was a child. I always wanted to do boxing. My older brother asked if I wanted to try kickboxing with him. I was like “meh… I guess I’ll try it” then a year later he asked me if I wanted to do jiu jitsu. I said “No way…” Well he made me do jiu jitsu anyways. And after I pulled off my first armbar I fell in love. Around that time my coach asked me if I wanted to try my hand at fighting an amateur kickboxing bout. I gave it a shot and didn’t do too shabby. That was at the age of 14. By the age of 16 I was just as good, if not better than all the other professionals on the team. By the time I turned 16, and after 9 amateur fights I just fell in love with the rush and excitement and satisfaction of fighting.

What ranks and titles have you held? 3 time BJJ US Open Champion in blue belt once and purple belt twice, Brown belt in Behring Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Tachi Palace Fights Bantamweight champion.

Do you have any heroes? I wouldn’t exactly call them heroes. There has never been anyone on Earth that I have come across that is exactly as I would want to be. That is why I wouldn’t say I have any heroes, but I definitely have many people in my life that I want to be like in one aspect or another. My father is the hardest working man I’ve ever met in my life. My coach Tom Theofanopoulos is very wise and is the best teacher in general I have ever met. It takes a certain quality to be able to get through to people that other people can’t get through to. Above all I strive to be like Jesus Christ. That’s what it means to be a Christian. To be Christ-like. I have always admired people of great faith, which is what I lacked in my childhood, and am finally learning to have.