Jared Downing grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a hotbed for wrestling that
eventually helped him participate in the sport in high school.
He also had a speech disorder, but the first bully to point that out in
middle school received a physical reminder that Downing didn’t care for
being picked on.
But it was a friendship with a future UFC fighter during his childhood
that most led Downing into a career in mixed martial arts.