 |
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
MHCC student finds home in MMA world
The Advocate
The Mixed Martial Arts world continues to grow in popularity but MHCC student Ian Loveland didn’t start to fight because it was the cool thing to do.
Loveland fights because it is his passion.
“It is a sport that you can’t blame someone else for losing. You compete as a individual and, yeah, you have your trainers but it is all on yourself,” he said.
Loveland grew up in Portland where he started wrestling in middle school for USA Cobra, which is an elite team made up of the state’s best young wrestlers.
“I played basketball and baseball when I was 12,” he said. “But it was wrestling that drew me in the most. It allowed me to be a little more aggressive which I have always been.”
Loveland went to Cleveland High School and joined the wrestling team his sophomore year. He won a district title in his weight class his junior year.
“I only wrestled my sophomore and junior years,” he said. Loveland had to stop wrestling because he was academically ineligible. “And that was when I found MMA.”
Loveland joined Team Quest where he trained for two years as an amateur before turning pro in 2005.
Loveland started training at the same time his friend and current training partner Ryan Schultz joined Team Quest in Portland.
Schultz said, “I started training with him (Loveland) when he started fighting back in 2003 or early 2004. I have gotten to know him really well over the years. He started out fighting younger than me and to watch him grow into the fighter he is today is amazing.
Loveland said, “I began training for a couple years out of school and became an amateur fighter when I was 20. I fought as an amateur a couple years and then turned pro. I have been with Team Quest since I started fighting and it is the best gym to train at in the world.”
Team Quest has been the spot to train for former champions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship such as Randy Couture and Matt Lindland who have been training in Gresham for years.
Loveland said when the gym opened it was the place to train and athletes come from all over to train at the gym.
“It is awesome that we have a gym that people want to come to and train at right in our backyard,” said Loveland.
Loveland said he hit a rocky road in his career where he realized he needed to grow up to become a better fighter.
“I was winning fights,” he said. “Fighting always came easy to me. I didn’t have to work very hard at it. But then the competition began to get better and I wasn’t putting in the work. I was going into fights that I knew I wasn’t prepared for but still fought. I had to go through a period to get back on top of my game and had to get my mind right and stop being a kid. What helped me was getting married four years ago. It helped settle me down.”
He says his maturity came with his marriage, along with the guidance from fellow team member Lindland, who is a former Olympian with a silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling. Lindland is also a former fighter for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
“He has helped me with my maturity,” said Loveland. “With his help he has been able to make me a better fighter.”
Loveland also said there has been many times he wanted to quit.
“I have had a lot of reasons to quit in a fight,” said Loveland. “I was in some bad spots but I have fought through it, which has made me a better fighter.”
Schultz said, “That is Ian. He works hard and trains hard to be the best.”
Since bursting onto the scene, Loveland has been a premier fighter for Team Quest and is on five-fight win streak. His latest victory was Jan. 16 where he knocked out Doug Evans with a kick to the head nine seconds into the fifth and final round.
“I had to pull it together,” said Loveland. “There were times he had me in bad spots and I knew I just had to pull it together. That fight was definitely my best fight I have ever had.”
Schultz said Ian is a beast when he is fighting.
“Ian is savage,” he said. “He is always trying to take your head off. He is quick and his kickboxing is excellent. He is an excellent fighter and great friend.”
With his last victory, Loveland’s record is 20-7, with most of his losses coming when he was an amateur or going through the rough patch in his career.
Outside of the ring, Loveland said he loves the fact that he can fish everyday and not have to have a real job.
“I hate real jobs,” he said. “I love the fact that I can fish in the morning and fight at night. I don’t do it for the money. I do it because I want to say I am the best and won’t stop until I am the best in my sport. I want to be a world champion.”
Loveland is currently taking classes at Mt. Hood, which is on the back burner compared to his fighting career in which he wants to ultimately become a world champion. He has a shot in a few months to be the world champion of Wreck MMA where he gets to fight in his true weight class at 135 pounds.
“This is the first time I get to fight in my true weight class,” he said. “I normally fight at 145-155 class and I am competing against guys who normally weigh 185 pounds when they are not about to fight. I have to put weight on, so I cannot wait to compete at my natural weight.”
Since Loveland gets the opportunity to compete at his natural weight, he says he is definitely going to be in the best shape of his life.
“I will be bigger and stronger than the guy I am facing for the first time,” said Loveland. “I will not have to rely on my speed for the first time so I am ready to just go in there and beat up the guy. This is why I do it — I get to beat them up.”
Schultz said, “He is just a good guy. I am lucky to be friends with him and get to train with him. He is one of the best at what he does.”
Loveland said, “All I want to do is be the best. I will put in the work and in a couple months when I get my title shot, I will be ready.”
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.
Comments