Athletes
RYAN SPANN ACCEPTING HIS CALLING
Talented Fortis MMA Rep Talks Consistency Ahead Of Heavyweight Debut
Accepting and believing that we are deserving of good things is something that a great number of people struggle with every day. The talents we possess, the love and support offered to us by others, the successes we have feel misplaced and like mistakes; cosmic errors meant for someone else that create anxiety, skepticism, and internal strife more than anything else.
For all 12 years of Ryan Spann’s professional MMA career, everyone else has been able to see the tremendous talent and limitless potential the towering Texan carries with him each and every time he steps into the cage. Standing six-foot-five with power in both hands, a slick submission game, and athleticism for days, the Beaumont native embodies his “Superman” nickname in terms of the upside he exudes, but for much of his career, he’s struggled to find consistency.
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“A large part of my life — I’m gonna open up a little bit,” begins Spann, a historically media-averse individual who has begun to embrace being in front of the microphone or camera a little more prior to his last couple appearances, accepting that it’s part of the gig, even if he does like to paraphrase Marshawn Lynch, and joke that he’s just doing a lot of this stuff so he doesn’t get fined.
“A large part of my life, I felt that I didn’t deserve to be me,” adds the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate, who makes his heavyweight debut this weekend opposite fellow DWCS alum Waldo Cortes Acosta. “I’ve had a hard life, went through some things, persevered a lot past fighting, and that’s why I respect Jon (Jones) so much, because Jon goes through things that everybody is aware of, but he can still focus and balance and do what he’s gotta do in there.
“That’s what I’ve been looking to mimic and that what I’ve been talking about with my consistency, because I know with consistency, it’s all gonna come together.”
Perhaps more than anything in life, consistency is both the most important and most difficult thing to achieve, as the ability to do the right things and adhere to the lifestyle and approach needed in order to be successful is far more challenging than cutting a few corners and making excuses. Good habits are hard to build, and bad habits are difficult to break, and when coupled with a voice in your head telling you that you’re underserving of the byproducts of being consistent, getting up each day and making the right choices time and again can feel like a monumental challenge.
Getting to that point where consistency is a constant has been a longstanding goal for Spann and his coaches, with Fortis MMA headman Sayif Saud frequently expressing that the preternaturally gifted competitor could be an absolute force if he were to get to a point where he believed in himself as much as those around him always have.
It seems like that time has come.
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Last October, after making quick work of divisional mainstay Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 305 in Salt Lake City, Spann spoke about his previous struggles with staying consistent, acknowledging that he hadn’t always given the effort desired by his coaches and required to thrive at this level. He pledged to show fans a different, more consistent side of himself, pointing to his children as key drivers in his shift in mindset and approach.
“It’s been me,” he says with an easy smile when asked about his lack of consistency in the past. “This entire time, I’ve hindered myself, not being able to keep myself focused, a lack of discipline, burning the candle at both ends at times; it’s been purely me.
“I’ve known what God had for me. God has been showing me all my life what I can do and, for whatever reason, I felt like I wasn’t deserving of it, so I didn’t live accordingly, and now I’m trying to put it together.
“It’s more an accumulation of…” Spann begins when asked if there are individual things he can point to that prompted his commitment to being consistent. “I’m 33 now. I could have been flipping this switch in my 20s and, for whatever reasons, I didn’t, and that’s on me.
“Every loss I’ve had has been on me, and I’m aware — and I guess that’s why it’s a little easier for me to live with, but, at the same time, it’s like, I know I want to set my kids up. This is my life, and I’ve got responsibilities, and I’m trying to show them that if you’re consistent in anything and you try and have fun with it, there is nothing you won’t be able to do.”
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While his kids are a big part of his push to be consistent, they’re also part of the network of people that remains fully behind him as he looks to maximize his God-given talents and immense skills inside the Octagon, along with the rest of his family and the all-star cast at Fortis MMA in Dallas.
“I guess the thing about my family is they understand it and they see it, and they help me as much as they can,” he says. “It’s a group effort and we all want to see me do as best as I can. That’s the goal for us all right now — helping me — and we try to keep that balance and I try to stay as consistent.
“I’ve got some good coaches around me — Coach Scaccia, Eric Pena, Charles Byrd; Sayif Saud, “The General” of Fortis MMA — and they all kind of make sure I stay moving in the right direction. We all see the same thing in me.”
Spann catches himself and laughs.
“Well, they’ve seen it more than me, to be honest with you.”
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Everyone has, but now that he’s finally caught up, “Superman” is ready to show just how talented and dangerous he can be inside the Octagon, starting Saturday when he ventures up to heavyweight to face off with Cortes Acosta.
In his pre-UFC days, Spann split time between middleweight and light heavyweight, with the idea of him trying to get down to 185 pounds now seemingly like a situation where the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Since reaching the UFC, he’s fought almost exclusively at light heavyweight, where he’s missed weight once, and competed in a catchweight bout against Nikita Krylov another time when the duo’s main event pairing was postponed on fight day when the Top 15 stalwart fell ill.
While most outside the sport envision moving up in weight as something easy and a shift fighters should be able to make without issue, especially when venturing up to the heavyweight ranks, where all you need to do is come in under 266 pounds on Friday, Spann admits this camp has felt decidedly different because it’s so atypical from what he’s used to experiencing in the run-up to fight night.
“Honestly, it’s just getting used to not seeing myself how I’m used to seeing myself; that’s basically been the difference,” he says, explaining the mind-and-body disconnect he’s been dealing with. “It’s strange, honestly, because my entire career has been ‘get down, get down, get down.’
“There have been two occasions where I fought at a catchweight, so that was less cutting, but cutting nonetheless. This is strange. I’m excited to see how God uses me, but it’s weird.”
Strange as it may be, this isn’t a one-off for Spann, who sees a greater opportunity to thrive and potentially chase down championship gold competing in the heavyweight division, as evidenced by the fact that he’s debuting against a ranked opponent this weekend.
“It’s definitely not a one-off. We got aspirations — I like gold, I like shiny things, so I do plan on adjusting myself accordingly for the weight class,” he says, the gold chain around his neck shining, but nowhere near as much as the platinum and diamond grills that shimmer as he smiles.
The pairing with Cortes Acosta is a perfect one to test the truthfulness of Spann’s commitment to consistency, as the Dominican heavyweight enters on a three-fight winning streak, having lost only once in his career, and stationed at No. 12 in the rankings.
“I like the number,” he says, his icy smile growing wider when asked about his assignment this weekend. “I like the number. I respect everybody, but I like the number.”
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Though he likes the idea of facing a ranked competitor right out of the gates and recognizes the potential that a win over Cortes Acosta brings, Spann isn’t one to allow himself to think about outcomes and what comes next with a victory.
Instead, he tries to stay focused on the here and now, and eager to see how the Lord decides to deploy his consistent, committed soldier on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
“Honestly, I haven’t really thought about (securing this victory) and I try not to because it serves me nothing for where I’m at right now; that is then, this is now, so I try not to think about it.
“What I can say is that I’m excited — I’m excited to see how the Lord uses me because this is a great challenge for myself, personally,” he adds, his smile ever-present. “I’m excited to see how God uses me.”
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