It was the most money he’d ever seen in his life. Easily. Just sitting there in his hand, all at once.
You bet Chris Beal reacted. After all he’s been through, he had earned it. Once back at his home base in California, he marched to the car lot, newfound wealth in hand, and bought himself a used hybrid.
“I needed some better gas mileage,” Beal recalled of his wild spree. “Most of the rest of it I just put in the bank. You’ve got taxes and stuff on it, too. I’m just trying to be smart with it.”
Maybe that’s the kind of forethought that comes when you’ve been living on the thin line of pro MMA fighting for a while. Maybe that’s what happens when you have “two bank accounts with about $10 in both of them,” as Beal estimates he did before the windfall. Maybe that’s what happens when you’ve faced death before.
Who knows. But Beal probably had more restraint than the average 29-year-old. According to estimates from MMA Manifesto, Beal walked out of Baltimore Arena this past April with $66,000: $8,000 for showing up, $8,000 for winning his fight with Patrick Williams and a $50,000 bonus for staging one of the best performances of the night.
“Even if I hadn’t gotten the bonus, it still would’ve been the most money I’d ever had,” Beal said in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report.
But he did indeed get the bonus, earned for scoring the most memorable knockout of the evening and perhaps the entire UFC year. Beal had been landing punches through the bout’s first eight minutes, but things reached another pitch in the second, when Williams went for a takedown and Beal launched himself into the air, slamming his knee against the side of Williams’ head. Williams was unconscious before he hit the mat.
“As soon as I landed it, I think he was out,” Beal said. “It took me a second to realize what I just did. It was just surreal.”
It was the second time Beal‘s life changed on a dime thanks to his knee. Five years ago, Beal‘s doctor informed him that a bump behind his knee was fibrosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The ensuing 18 months kept him out of the gym, but he eventually put himself back in. A return to the cage soon followed, as did a return to form. Beal, a high school wrestler and dynamic boxer, remains perfect in his pro career, currently sitting 9-0.
Beal‘s backstory was part of the narrative when he was a contestant on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter. Beal won his way into the house, but a hand injury slowed him in his next bout, a submission loss to eventual season champion Chris Holdsworth.
Even so, Beal had plenty of TV time. Surely that was the biggest break of his pro career?
“Honestly? I’d say it was the flying knee,” Beal said. “I enjoyed The Ultimate Fighter. It definitely helped my career. It helped me get there a little faster. But the knee was probably even bigger.”
Beal has a chance to build on that momentum at UFC Fight Night 50. Jet-lagged from his trip from California to Connecticut, where the event will go down this Friday, Beal recalls his run-in with Dana White after his big knockout, when the UFC prez told him that “it was the sickest flying knee he’d ever seen.”
Can he do it again? Sure. He’s certainly a substantial favorite to defeat Tateki Matsuda, a late injury replacement for Dustin Kimura, who himself replaced Beal‘s original opponent, Rob Font.
TheSHOOT! @ufc @RealDealCbeal ready to do battle at #UFCFightNight50 #ufcfightnight @danawhite @UFCONFOX http://t.co/cwfZOXZPFa
— SHOOTMedia (@shootmediatv) September 3, 2014
Beal speaks about the matchup with the newfound confidence of someone with a newfound foothold in life. And he has his knee to thank for it.
“We have to stop for a few more pictures now, a few more autographs,” Beal said. “And I don’t worry anymore about rent or when I’m going to eat or how I’m going to fill up my gas…But it’s still the same thing on a different day. If you liked my first fight, this will be the same thing.”
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. Follow Scott on Twitter if you feel so inclined. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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