There’s a common response that runs among fighters in MMA when challenged by fans, who are critiquing them for one reason or another about a fight or performance.
“You haven’t fought so you don’t know what this is like.”
Typically speaking, any fighter who says that is probably right on the money. Few fans actually get the chance to step into the cage and compete, and even fewer probably have the desire to actually fight as opposed to just being a fan of the sport from afar.
Still, most fans would love the chance to compete alongside their idols in their favorite sport.
Who wouldn’t want to take LeBron James to the hoop in a game of one-on-one in basketball? Who doesn’t dream of catching the touchdown pass from Peyton Manning at the end of a 50-yard bomb?
Well, Jason South is living that dream as an MMA fighter right now.
Growing up in Utah, South wasn’t a high school football star. He wasn’t on a wrestling team with hopes of making it to the Olympics. He didn’t even grow up watching The Karate Kid, dreaming of one day landing the perfect crane kick on a bully.
No, Jason South just grew up a sports fan and one day when he was watching a promo video for an upcoming UFC fight pitting Matt Hughes against Royce Gracie, something clicked in his head that he wanted to give this thing a try.
“I never did anything. I never played a sport in high school, I was actually pretty fat when I got out of high school. I never did anything. Like everybody else, it looked cool on TV,” South told Bleacher Report recently. “It was when Royce Gracie fought Matt Hughes and they showed a bunch of Royce’s old fights and I was like what the hell is this?
“I used to think jiu-jitsu was karate. I’m like ‘I’ve got to go try this.’ My mother-in-law for my birthday bought me a one month pass to do jiu-jitsu at a local gym here, Unified Jiu-Jitsu. I was a pretty solid 215 at the time, and I rolled around with this 135-pound kid and he just destroyed me. Armbarred me, choked me, left and right, every 15 seconds I was tapping. I was just completely blown away and I had to figure it out. I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Now, there are thousands upon thousands of people enrolled at martial arts academies all over the world, but it’s not likely many of them will ever have the desire to try their hand at actually competing in a fight. South was the exception.
He took to jiu-jitsu like a fish to water, and pretty soon he was ready to give professional MMA a try. He won his first fight in 2008 and now stands in 2013 at 35-years of age as a 10-0 fighter after only trying out martial arts for the first time a few years ago.
South did get a shot at making it to the big time when he appeared on The Ultimate Fighter season 16, but lost in the opening round fight to eventual finalist Mike Ricci. It was a disappointing set back for South, but not something that’s going to deter his goal of one day making it to the UFC.
“I don’t regret it,” South said about his brief appearance on the reality show. “I went back and really worked on some new things and getting better each time.”
Throughout most of his MMA career, South was also working full time at his family’s moving company, but when the economy tumbled, so did his business. South tried to turn the negative into a positive, so he closed the moving company and dedicated himself full-time to mixed martial arts.
Now in his mid-30’s, South knows that many will look at him and think he’s too old to make a run at a promotion like the UFC where it appears youth is the ruling class these days. South disagrees and promises that if he gets a chance to fight inside the Octagon, he’ll show the young guys a thing or two.
“My age might look deceiving, but I don’t feel old at all. I’m usually the first guy to wear guys out. I don’t quit moving either,” South stated. “Age doesn’t mean anything. It’s never too old to keep pursuing what you love to do.”
While he hopes to get a call from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva soon, South isn’t going to stop pursuing his dream of making it to the big show one more time. There is no deadline on how long he’ll give this MMA thing a chance to pan out.
South wants to be in the UFC and live every fan’s dream of going from the couch to the cage.
“I want to make it to the UFC more than anything, that’s the ultimate goal, but I’m just going to enjoy the ride,” South said. “I’m going to keep fighting to the point where they can’t ignore me.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
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