Mixed martial artist Clayton Grawberger has had a terrific run of late and he's looking to keep the good times rolling into this weekend, when he'll head down south and enter the cage for what should be an epic battle.
Before getting into what's ahead, Grawberger went back to the beginning of his MMA career and says he may of found it later in life, but he's wasted no time getting the most out of it.
"I've always been intrigued by mixed martial arts since I was a kid," Grawberger says with a smile. UFC has always been popular, and I wasn't too young of a kid because I'm pretty old now, but I always wanted to do it, yet it never lined up for me. I took my boys, they were nine at the time, to Revelation Martial Arts to just try something. They started, they enjoyed it and it was them that suggested that I try it. I shrugged it off thinking I was too old, I was almost 40 years old but the next thing you know, I'm on the mat and I never looked back. I started competing after four or five weeks of training and I just kept going from there. It's been a crazy journey, now my three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son are also training and my five-year-old is competing as well."
Having his twin boys as well as his two younger kids all involved has made it a family thing that Grawberger values deeply. "It means everything," he says proudly. "Being able to share the same interests, coach my kids, actually know what I'm talking about instead of being that guy on the bleachers that's just yelling out stuff, I can actually be productive. I owe a lot to my coaches in all the disciplines for what they've taught me. I've taken coaching classes and it's been so amazing to help my kids and those around them."
A couple of weeks ago, Grawberger and his twin boys were in Brandon competing and the proud dad says it was a whole experience that he will never forget. "It was an absolutely amazing experience and I was so excited to be there with my kids. It was an actual stage event, a super fight is what they call them in jujitsu. I've never seen kids in these events, usually it's adults with higher level belts, and my boys have had a pretty huge amount of experience in competing. One of my boys started it off with a really nice take down and submission finish. My other boy had a very dominant match where he got the submission, as well. A few matches later, I got out there and I got it done. It was a dominating performance, I was very happy given the level of competition I was going up against. It was the highlight of my career, getting to share that moment with my family, be on the stage, have walk out music and to have us all win, it was very special."
The oldest Grawberger says after watching his boys do as well as they did, it eased the pressure he was feeling. "It meant everything to see them do what they did. I was stressed watching them on stage. One of them is a little more shy, the other more outgoing, but to see them both go out there and enjoy it, soak it all in, it was great. When my fight came up, I felt a lot less pressure because the kids had done what they needed to do, and that pumped me up even more. My one kid came up to me right before and told me not to screw it up, taht I had to win. Those moments were highlights and those moments of seeing them celebrate was something special."
Never one to back down from a challenge, Grawberger is preparing for a big event this upcoming weekend. "Fargo, North Dakota, that's the sight of this event that is through Throne MMA, it'll be inside a cage, I do weigh in's on Friday, 24 hours prior to the fight, it's a cruiserweight fight at 225 lbs. It'll be on pay per view and I'm so excited. It's going to be the biggest event I've been in and I'm excited to represent Revelation Martial Arts, represent Canada and to have my family there, that's really what it's all about for me."
On top of it being a bigger event, Grawberger says it'll be a different set of rules compared to what he is normally used to. "It's a little different rule set than what I've dealt with before. It's three, five minute rounds. It's not full contact, it's grappling rule set. It's different because it's a cage. Lock the door behind us and we don't stop until there is a winner, kind of thing, that'll be cool. We're the only ones to get a grappling rule set match on this card, it's a first for Throne MMA and they do a lot of events every year. It's really cool we get to do that. I'm going up against a former world masters champion. He's called me out and I'm looking forward to taking on that challenge and looking forward to bringing it home."
Being one of the few Canadians on the card, Grawberger says he and his family feel a bit like Team Canada. "Yeah, it's special to kind of represent Canada, represent our gym out of Steinbach. I'm so proud to be Canadian and going into enemy territory, it's going to be fun."
Fighting isn't just about being physically dominant, Grawberger says that, especially given his age, his mental strength gives him an advantage. "If there is one thing that helps me stay in the game, it's my ability to have a strong mental focus. I never want to quit and it can be easy to quit. I've had some major injuries in my life where others might have quit, others did tell me to quit. I came back. I came back from surgeries. I had three surgeries in eight months, not all from the sport but things happen. You can quit easy or you can stick with it. Here I am today, I'm here, I'm going into the cage. The ability to push yourself comes from the discipline as much as anything."
His family will be in his corner but Grawberger knows the entire community will be in his corner this weekend. "It means so much, the martial arts community is huge. It's a family. You meet these people, you may not see them for years but you have this connection. People remember fights, people hear about you and we're all a tight knit group."
Grawberger's fight is this weekend. Tickets are available at Nitro Tickets - Groups, use reference code Clayton Grawberger. Also, the fight can be ordered on PPV Home | STARFUND