United States Army veteran Mark Bascovsky will make his mixed martial arts return on Friday night at Driller Promotions’ Downtown Showdown V from the Hyatt in downtown Minneapolis, MN.
Bascovsky, 9-2 as a professional, left the sport over five years ago to join the Army, where he was deployed in Afghanistan and stationed in Alaska. When he got back to the states, however, he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to continue with the path he was down as a mixed martial artist.
“I almost thought I wasn’t going to fight anymore,” he told Bleacher Report MMA. “It kind of seems like there’s a lot of politics involved now. I just didn’t really want to deal with it. Not only that, but I really didn’t make that much money doing it, when you start adding up all of your normal bills on top of training, it made it hard to be able to do it.”
In the end, though, it was the members of his platoon who convinced him to get back into the sport. During their time together, Bascovsky rolled with members of his platoon who would reiterate how strongly they believed that Bascovsky should fight again.
“I guess we’ll see what happens. I’m hoping the game hasn’t passed me by,” he said. “I still want to make a splash in the sport, but it’s been a long time since I fought, so who knows how it will work out?”
His return fight will be against Bruce Johnson, a fellow Minnesotan who is known for his unpredictable and borderline wild striking.
“Bruce Johnson has really heavy hands. He throws some really unorthodox punches. Looping hooks, uppercuts,” Bascovsky continued. “I just made sure that I’m prepared for that. I just had my teammates throwing those kinds of strikes at me to make sure I could react.”
The game has changed quite a bit since Bascovsky’s last fight in 2007. He noticed a big change in even his training partners when he came to the Academy. That has inspired him to up his game a level and expand his horizons as a fighter.
“It seems like everyone is an all-around better fighter now,” he said. “It used to be that I was kind of a one-trick pony. All I did was take people down to the ground and either hit them or tap them out.
“Thanks to my training partners now and thanks to my trainer Greg [Nelson], I’m going to be able to do everything. I’m a lot more well-rounded. I’ve got fast hands, I hit hard and I’m confident standing…and that actually helps with my ability to take people down because I can setup my shots a lot better.”
As a more well-rounded fighter, Bascovsky could be more dangerous now than he was after 11 professional fights in 2007. Still, the unpredictable nature of the sport makes this a very interesting bout.
“I’m about as nervous as my first fight,” he admitted. “It’s been so long and I haven’t been in front of a crowd in so long. I’m just hoping I don’t go out and have a big adrenaline rush and gas out in the fight.”
Bascovsky’s platoon will be anxiously awaiting the video of the fight which they have already planned to put on a projector in the conference room to watch together. However, if you’re in the Minneapolis area, you don’t have to wait—you can buy tickets to the event online today or purchase them at the door on Friday.
For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com