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Andrew Tackett | Hard Work And Sacrifice
UFC BJJ Welterweight Champion Defends His Title vs Renato Canuto Thursday At UFC BJJ 2
We often hear people declare that they’re “living the dream.”
Twenty-two-year-old Andrew Tackett, the newly crowned UFC BJJ welterweight champion who defends his title against Renato Canuto this Thursday in Las Vegas, actually sounds like he is.
And you believe him.
Watch UFC BJJ 2: Tackett vs Canuto, Live And Free Thursday On YouTube
So despite picking up his belt just last month, and being put in the main event spotlight, the Laguna Hills native isn’t feeling an ounce of pressure.
“Not at all,” said Tackett. “I totally believe in myself. I say this humbly because I've struggled with pride and humility and confidence and learning how to use them and lean on them, and I'm grateful to be here. I really am, but I know I'm main event worthy with how exciting of a performance I can put on, and I know how many people that I'm going to be bringing to the stream because they know I put on an exciting performance. I've always put on a good match, and I believe I'm really starting to get a name for that now. So I know I'm bringing that, and I know I can do that again. And I know I can win. I believe in myself and I believe in my game plan and my team, so I don't feel the pressure at all. I just feel excitement, and as long as I keep that excitement down until game day, I know I'm going to get it done and it's going to be sick.”
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When discussing the new breed of fighter, no matter what the discipline is, Tackett fits the mold perfectly. He’s social media and traditional media savvy, he works hard at his craft, he can fight, and yeah, he makes it look easy.
How easy? There was barely a hair out of place as he submitted Andy Varela in June, and when you ask how he pulled it off, you will get chapter and verse on the topic in response.
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“You're not allowed to put grease or any products like that in your hair because then it'll make you slippery,” Tackett explains. “So I just stop washing my hair the week of the tournament and use sea salt water to thicken up my hair. So when I fight that day, my hair doesn't need products, it has volume, and even when it gets wet and sweaty, it still has volume. That's the real answer.”
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The new champ laughs, embracing the type of often-odd questions he’ll receive now that he’s firmly in the public eye.
“I love it,” he said. “I am homeschooled. I was raised in a good family and I've been waiting my whole life to be in front of a camera. I've been in front of cameras, honestly, since I was very young, just because jiu jitsu was such a small sport and I was doing very good in it my whole life. Since I was 13 and 14 years old, I've had a camera in my face, so I got pretty used to being around cameras. But definitely since I became the titleholder, so many more opportunities and publicity opened up, and it's been crazy just to see the effects of it and I'm loving it.”
Well, there’s the answer. For all the charisma and flash, there’s been hard work behind it and, more importantly, sacrifice. And not over the last couple years, but since he first stepped on the mats when he was six years old. That’s a lot of years to not be like the other kids, teenagers and young adults.
“I've had to sacrifice a lot of friendships so that I can keep moving forward and not let them pull me down,” said Tackett. “I've had to sacrifice partying. I did it for a year or so when I was struggling with identity issues when I was 17, but it didn't last long. I had to sacrifice dating girls and going out with girls with just too much time and investment. I had to sacrifice not fitting in, making people think I was cool because I was able to take a really fat rip off of something or I was able to chug a beer, and then I had to sacrifice just really doing what I wanted to do. I couldn't do what I wanted to do; I had to do what the book said is right: sleep right, eat right, take your vitamins and supplements, be healthy, train smart. And it's like nobody wants to do those things, but I had to learn how to do those things and I learned how to be smart in those areas. I got a lot of injuries as well throughout my career, so I had to learn how to sacrifice training. So right now, at the moment, I'm only training like three to four times a week in jiu jitsu. And then all my other training sessions are like physical therapy, weight training, yoga and drilling, things that don't beat me up. And that was really hard because I want to scrap, I want to train hard, but I had to sacrifice that in order to keep my body healthy. So yeah, I mean that's all this life is; it's just sacrifices. But yeah, it's been fun. I've enjoyed it for sure. I would never pick any other lifestyle.”
As UFC veteran Tom Watson wrote on his official bio form, “I realized that by living a few years of my life like most won't, I could live the rest of my life like most can't.” That’s what Andrew Tackett is doing, and he’s not looking back. So yeah, he’s a nice kid and a rising star on the UFC BJJ scene, and all that good stuff. And don’t forget the hair. But let’s remember that in his DNA, he’s a fighter.
Watch UFC BJJ 2: Tackett vs Canuto, Live And Free Thursday On YouTube
“I think what gives me an advantage over a lot of jiu jitsu guys is mindset,” Tackett said. “A lot of jiu jitsu guys, you're able to break them. You can gas them, you can make them feel fear, and then they quit. And so I think I definitely do have more of an MMA mindset as far as I can win a match off all strategy and all grit, and just go.”
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