Controlled Chaos: Spohn's Journey from the Mat to the Octagon
3/25/2021 2:04:00 PM | General, Wrestling
Jerald Spohn has always been a fan of mixed martial arts (mma). He sees it as a perfect combination of the things he loved growing up: football, wrestling and fighting with his brothers.
“I grew up in a household where my brothers would give me the boxing gloves and they’d have the puffy hulk hands so I wouldn’t get hurt and we’d duke it out in our hallway,” Spohn recalls. “So, when the UFC really started getting big, we all thought it was awesome.”
The former Kent State wrestler has made the leap from fan to burgeoning professional fighter. At 5-0-1 as an amateur and 4-0 as a boxer, Spohn is quickly becoming someone to keep an eye on as he transitions into the professional ranks.
Wrestling was Spohn’s formal introduction into combat sports and provides a solid foundation for any mixed martial artist. It was his junior high football coach made the introduction because he also happened to be the high school wrestling coach. That’s one of the quirks of growing up in a small town like New Lexington, Ohio.
A natural athlete, Spohn was only taught two or three basic moves as an eighth grader and was given the freedom to figure everything else out on his own. That strategy worked as Spohn won 19-of-21 matches in his first year on the mat.
“I didn’t even bother to try and qualify for the district or state tournament,” Spohn said. “I didn’t find the sport all that challenging until I got to high school and faced people who had been wrestling their entire life.”
Spohn got his first real taste of losing early on in high school, only going “about 500” as a freshman. The competitor in him hated the feeling of losing so much that he became obsessed at becoming a better wrestler. Additional training, camps, summer tournaments, whatever it took to be better, Spohn was all in.
The added work paid off, Spohn, who was already getting college looks as a wide receiver, started popping up on college wrestling programs’ radar as well.
“I was dead set on playing college football,” Spohn said. “I was convinced I was going to play in the NFL, I had felt I had put the work in to accomplish it.”
Injuries would derail Spohn’s dreams of playing on Saturdays and Sundays. They also impacted how his high school wrestling career came to an end. As a senior, he was unable to compete in regionals and in the state tournament, leaving him with more to prove to himself.
“I love wrestling more than football, but football was way more fun,” Spohn said. “But I had been recognized to some degree for my football skills, my wrestling story was incomplete.”
Spohn accepted a wrestling scholarship from Kent State in advance of the 2014 season, spurning division-I football offers, including one from the Golden Flashes. From 2014-17 Spohn wrestled anywhere from 165 up to 184.
“I was a good training partner, that didn’t always translate to competitions,” Spohn recalled. “I realized way too late in my college career that I needed to adjust how I trained, because I wasn’t improving year-to-year like I used to.”
Spohn’s wrestling style is described as relentless, and he was known for having a seemingly infinite amount of energy. When he graduated from Kent State in 2017 with a degree in entrepreneurship, that energy would have to go somewhere.
“I gave myself about six months to let my body recover from the rigors of college wrestling,” Spohn said. “I couldn’t shake the need to compete, rec league soccer and basketball weren’t cutting it. My best friend from Kent State, Drew Dickson, had started competing in mixed martial arts, I walked into Strong Style MMA the day after I saw Drew compete.”
Strong Style doesn’t let people come off the street and start fighting. Spohn had to prove that he was serious about this next chapter in his athletic career. For five months, he took every boxing, kickboxing and jujitsu class that Strong Style offered. The persistence and diligence paid off, Strong Style had an opening on an upcoming fight card and gave Spohn his shot.
Matchmakers work closely with gyms like Strong Style to make sure that the fights that get arranged are between fighters with similar styles and experience. Spohn’s wrestling background made him the ideal opponent for Josiah Harrell, an amateur fighter out of the Columbus area who was a standout wrestling in high school.
“Easily and without question that first fight was the craziest thing I have done in my life,” Spohn said.
Before stepping into the octagon, Spohn wanted to make sure he could take a punch and not be fazed. He went 4-0 in amateur boxing tournaments, even winning the Cleveland Golden Gloves tournament along the way. Spohn proved he could give and take a punch. However, four-ounce MMA gloves are way different from 12-ounce boxing ones and a mma fight is way different than a boxing match.
“I think I made it maybe 10 seconds before Harrell caught me with a punch and knocked me back,” Spohn said with a laugh. “That punch showed me that I had what it took to compete because it was a good shot, and it didn’t stop me.”
Spohn described the fight as more of a brawl. He proved to be the superior boxer and kept the fight on his feet, winning the first two rounds of the three-round fight. He admits that he tried to relax for a second in the third round and that ultimately cost him.
“I should have won the fight outright,” Spohn said. “I settled for a draw because he knew a lot more jujitsu than I did at the time and I got into trouble when the fight went to the ground.”
Spohn lost the third round 10-8, making the final score 28-28 on all three of the judges’ scorecards. Both he and Harrell readily admit that the fight was the toughest they have had as an amateur. The draw remains the only blemish on both their records.
That first fight had Spohn hooked. He’s won all five of his fights since and started becoming a someone to watch for. Spohn credits Kent State and his entrepreneurship degree with giving him the tools to market both his brand and himself; two qualities that are a must for anyone who wants to rise up the amateur and eventually, professional ranks.
“In order to move up as an amateur or professional, you need two things,” Spohn said. “First, obviously you need to win, you need to prove that you can fight. Secondly, you need to be marketable, you have to have your own brand and that’s something that I understood from the beginning.”
Spohn’s intensity in the octagon is matched with a similar zeal when it comes to marketing. Developing relationships is one of his strengths, whether that came through an introduction or a simple cold call. He often serves as his own hype man relying on his business hustle and the help of some close friends and teammates.
It’s Spohn’s marketing acumen and his 9-0-1 total fight record that made him standout to sports agencies, even as an amateur. It also helps that UFC champion Stipe Miocic is a Strong Style teammate. Stipe didn’t call in a favor but did put Spohn in touch with the right people at his agency, Vayner Sports.
“Vayner Sports was on my radar as an agency I would love to work with,” Spohn said. “I’ve been a big Gary Vaynerchuck fan since I read his books on being an entrepreneur in college. I didn’t want to sign with somebody because they were doing Stipe a favor. That wasn’t the case with Vayner Sports, he simply made the introduction, and it has become a partnership that has worked out for both sides.”
The next step for Spohn is to determine what professional platform is right for his pro debut. There are a number of pipelines into the UFC but choosing the right one is critical for both Vayner Sports and for Spohn.
“Vayner has got all the right connections, now it’s about finding the right fit,” Spohn added. “I don’t care so much about the money for the fight at this stage of my career, I want an organization that has a connection to UFC and one that is showcased on outlets like UFC Fight Pass.”
Spohn anticipates his pro debut to sometime over the next few months, likely between April and June.
Fans of Spohn and the Golden Flashes can follow his journey on social media @JeraldSpohn and JeraldSpohn.com. He also offers an inside look at his training process and his professional journey as a whole on his YouTube channel, Jerald Spohn MMA.
