Although Paul Grebinski’s goals in this sport are ambitious—to say the least—the man they call “The Doctor” is taking his career one step at a time until he reaches what he calls, “satisfaction on his own terms”.
While satisfaction is a subjective concept, Grebinski has set his sights on making it to the UFC—the biggest stage in the world of mixed martial arts—to showcase his talent.
“It sounds kind of crazy—even to say to myself—but there’s no point in setting goals that aren’t high.”
Doubtless ambitious, Grebinski’s aspirations may not be so crazy.
A near lifelong grappler, Grebinski—who competed in his first wrestling match when he was five years old—wrestled for years before turning to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a few years ago.
Grebinski, a 230-pound heavyweight, has moved on to amateur mixed martial arts—where he is so far undefeated after a pair of bouts—and is currently slated to contest his third fight on Saturday, May 28. The fight will be a two-round amateur match against Jesse Haywood under the Saturday Night Fights banner in his native Regina, Saskatchewan.
After speaking with “The Doctor”, who trains six days a week under A.J. Scales at Complete MMA in Regina, it appears that Grebinski may not think his goals are all that extreme after all.
“I kind of always thought that my goals in the sport might be within reach. As I progressed and starting doing well in Jiu-Jitsu—competing at high-levels in that—I realized that it’s quite realistic. I’ve been to Brazil a couple times, I’ve trained at the TriStar gym—I’ve trained with high-level guys and I didn’t really feel out of place.”
While it’s too early to tell what the future holds for Grebinski in the world of mixed martial arts— much like most professionals—“The Doctor” is realistic in his approach and taking his career in mixed martial arts one step at a time.
“I feel like I can accomplish quite a bit in this sport, but I feel that I have to continue challenging myself. I think that your downfall occurs when you truly believe that you have accomplished what you’ve set out to do. I understand that I have a long-road ahead of me, but I also know that I have the commitment and the will to do it … I’ll probably take another amateur fight elsewhere at a bigger event and just work towards making a pro debut. I know my coach wants a few more amateur fights—which is a good idea—and from there, I just want to see how far I can take this.”
With his level-headed approach to the sport, the thought of Grebinski achieving “satisfaction on his own terms” does not seem so “crazy” after all.
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