During days of good weather, many people enjoy their time getting exercise outside. The same can be said about Spencer, except he will workout to his limit day in, day out, in good weather or bad weather. If it’s rainy outside, he’ll hit the heavy bad or workout inside at his gym. He still prefers the sunny weather, when he can often be found jogging or “sparring” with other fighters. Spencer is a guy that will push himself to his physical and mental limits constantly until he reaches his goal of becoming a professional MMA fighter. In life, you have to roll with the punches to reach your dreams, even if that literally means getting hit on a day-to-day basis.
Me: With mentioning Martial Arts, what first got you into the whole fighting thing, like Martial Arts in general?
Spencer: I don’t know, I guess it was an easy transition you know; I took Tai Kwon Do when I was little and I just liked it. I liked kicking stuff and breaking boards was always really fun, but I got out of it for a while then came back when I was older and actually knew a thing or two about how to go about the moves an everything, and taking it more seriously. And then, I just started getting real athletic in early high school and I don’t know, I’ve always liked fighting; it’s always been something that’s not too hard to stick with for me, it’s always been something that I can always enjoy doing and fall back on.
Is there anyone in your family that either positively or negatively influences your goals with fighting?
I know it may sound bad but I am very much a solo act as far as my family goes. My Dad is kinda neutral, one way or another he’ll support me in everything. He’s not too much into the fighting though. My brother supports me, he’s not really a fighter himself but he is really psyched about the idea of seeing me fight in the ring and everything, so I do have some support there from my brother. My brother thinks it’s pretty sweet, as well as my sister. They’re both more of just the enthusiasts; they think it would be cool but as far as actual support, pushing me to do it, not a whole lot. My mother is strictly against it [laughing], as far as heaven and hell are concerned; cause she’s completely against it, she doesn’t like me getting bloodied up, where as I actually love it; love getting hit, giving hits; dishing out the pain, absolutely. She’s not too thrilled about that. But that’s how it rolls, it’s what you’d expect from the typical mother, unless she’s a combative woman but that’s not the case with my mother. It’s an uphill battle sometimes, that’s why I keep it between myself and my friends, let the family just kinda breeze along it, it’s my life so I’ll just push it how I need it to go.
What do you consider to be THE most important, or one of the most important, quality or characteristic of being a fighter?
I would have to say the upmost important skill you should have is discipline. Discipline runs your entire life as a fighter; discipline is everything if you want to be a fighter; that means controlling your life in every way. (However,) I’ve always been a slight paranoid person, I’ve always been on edge to some degree, I’m always thinking about that what if scenario, that most people would say ‘you’re just stupid’ or something. I’m always thinking that and MMA [Mixed Martial Arts], it does in a way keep me on the aggressive stance, I do tend to have that aggressive mentality more often than not now.
Would you say that the slightly increased aggression has led to any altercations or fights in the past?
Unfortunately no. I know it sounds bad but I was always one of those kids who really wished I’d gotten into a fight during high school. Never happened, it never ever happened.
It probably would have been pretty wild to see.
[Grinning] You’re telling me man, I used to dream about that; just teeing off on someone I hated back in high school, there was quite a few of them ya know; just those class clowns that needed put down…ugh terrible.
With fighting playing an important role (obviously), but still wanting to be a personal trainer, would you rather be a pro fighter or open up your training facility?
[Laughing] I’m going to answer that with another question; why can’t I have both? I feel I can do both, you know I can open my gym and be a professional fighter if I wanted to. That’s honestly what a lot of the UFC fighters, nowadays, do. A lot of the fighters have their own gyms; their own training place…
I know the UFC [The Ultimate Fighting Championship, is a fighting company that mixes martial arts styles from around the world. It started in 1993] is your favorite, but if you had to, to become a fighter, would you be willing to fight for another company?
I might consider it, yeah. A lot of the big UFC fighters started off in Pride; Pride’s a bit different with the rule settings and all but I might consider that. I don’t think that’d be too big of a switch, not too bad, absolutely.
It’s all about doing what you love right?
Absolutely, if I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t be in it. Most people don’t like getting hit. I guess that’s what makes me unique.
Spencer is currently training with Pro Fighter Steve Cotterman. Steve is helping set Spencer up with his first amateur fight in the near future. The fighting and training may be brutal, but Spencer’s more than willing to take a punch if it means being happy.
Me: With mentioning Martial Arts, what first got you into the whole fighting thing, like Martial Arts in general?
Spencer: I don’t know, I guess it was an easy transition you know; I took Tai Kwon Do when I was little and I just liked it. I liked kicking stuff and breaking boards was always really fun, but I got out of it for a while then came back when I was older and actually knew a thing or two about how to go about the moves an everything, and taking it more seriously. And then, I just started getting real athletic in early high school and I don’t know, I’ve always liked fighting; it’s always been something that’s not too hard to stick with for me, it’s always been something that I can always enjoy doing and fall back on.
Is there anyone in your family that either positively or negatively influences your goals with fighting?
I know it may sound bad but I am very much a solo act as far as my family goes. My Dad is kinda neutral, one way or another he’ll support me in everything. He’s not too much into the fighting though. My brother supports me, he’s not really a fighter himself but he is really psyched about the idea of seeing me fight in the ring and everything, so I do have some support there from my brother. My brother thinks it’s pretty sweet, as well as my sister. They’re both more of just the enthusiasts; they think it would be cool but as far as actual support, pushing me to do it, not a whole lot. My mother is strictly against it [laughing], as far as heaven and hell are concerned; cause she’s completely against it, she doesn’t like me getting bloodied up, where as I actually love it; love getting hit, giving hits; dishing out the pain, absolutely. She’s not too thrilled about that. But that’s how it rolls, it’s what you’d expect from the typical mother, unless she’s a combative woman but that’s not the case with my mother. It’s an uphill battle sometimes, that’s why I keep it between myself and my friends, let the family just kinda breeze along it, it’s my life so I’ll just push it how I need it to go.
What do you consider to be THE most important, or one of the most important, quality or characteristic of being a fighter?
I would have to say the upmost important skill you should have is discipline. Discipline runs your entire life as a fighter; discipline is everything if you want to be a fighter; that means controlling your life in every way. (However,) I’ve always been a slight paranoid person, I’ve always been on edge to some degree, I’m always thinking about that what if scenario, that most people would say ‘you’re just stupid’ or something. I’m always thinking that and MMA [Mixed Martial Arts], it does in a way keep me on the aggressive stance, I do tend to have that aggressive mentality more often than not now.
Would you say that the slightly increased aggression has led to any altercations or fights in the past?
Unfortunately no. I know it sounds bad but I was always one of those kids who really wished I’d gotten into a fight during high school. Never happened, it never ever happened.
It probably would have been pretty wild to see.
[Grinning] You’re telling me man, I used to dream about that; just teeing off on someone I hated back in high school, there was quite a few of them ya know; just those class clowns that needed put down…ugh terrible.
With fighting playing an important role (obviously), but still wanting to be a personal trainer, would you rather be a pro fighter or open up your training facility?
[Laughing] I’m going to answer that with another question; why can’t I have both? I feel I can do both, you know I can open my gym and be a professional fighter if I wanted to. That’s honestly what a lot of the UFC fighters, nowadays, do. A lot of the fighters have their own gyms; their own training place…
I know the UFC [The Ultimate Fighting Championship, is a fighting company that mixes martial arts styles from around the world. It started in 1993] is your favorite, but if you had to, to become a fighter, would you be willing to fight for another company?
I might consider it, yeah. A lot of the big UFC fighters started off in Pride; Pride’s a bit different with the rule settings and all but I might consider that. I don’t think that’d be too big of a switch, not too bad, absolutely.
It’s all about doing what you love right?
Absolutely, if I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t be in it. Most people don’t like getting hit. I guess that’s what makes me unique.
Spencer is currently training with Pro Fighter Steve Cotterman. Steve is helping set Spencer up with his first amateur fight in the near future. The fighting and training may be brutal, but Spencer’s more than willing to take a punch if it means being happy.
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