Grant Eyes KOTC 170-lb. Title
Andy Cotterill Apr 28, 2007
TJ Grant (Pictures) always knew he wanted to be a
fighter. The 23-year-old mixed martial artist from Cole Harbour,
Nova Scotia, will put his undefeated status on the line this
Saturday, when he faces Toshido Fighting Arts' Gary Wright for the vacant KOTC
Canada welterweight title, at KOTC "Megiddo," in Vernon, BC.
Grant's first pro fight was at the inaugural Extreme Cage Combat on April 29, 2006 -- exactly 364 days before this weekend's title match. He admitted to Sherdog.com that he thinks it's a little crazy that within that one year he could potentially have seven fights, seven wins, and a title belt.
"A year ago I was 203 pounds and I wasn't in shape," Grant
recalled. "This all just came about when MMA became legalized in
the Maritimes."
He had always thought about fighting, and it was when his brother got him into Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 15 that he knew he had found something he loved. It was difficult at first, but Grant quickly saw the benefits of developing a good grappling technique.
Jiu-jitsu took a back seat to wrestling once Grant started high school, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise when he broke his leg at wrestling Nationals.
About the same time Scott MacLean opened up Fit Plus Martial Arts, where Grant started going for rehab. It also was where he rekindled his love affair with BJJ.
"I'm lucky working with TJ," MacLean said. "He's pretty much self-motivated and there's no excess hype with him; he's a humble guy."
While Grant may be humble, he's also confident.
"I'm just starting to realize my potential," he said. "I'm getting better and better; my jiu-jitsu's getting better and everything's just starting to click."
"I've been training harder than I ever trained and my body's becoming like a machine."
MacLean has been sure to provide Grant with the skills required to succeed. The pair spent several weeks in February honing their Muay Thai skills at the Fairtex training facility in Thailand, and last year Fit Plus became affiliated with BJJ black belt Jorge Gurgel (Pictures), all the better to acquire excellent ground skills.
Grant told Sherdog.com the story of how he attained his purple belt in BJJ. It was an afternoon class and he was down in Ohio training with Gurgel after just becoming a part of his association.
"Jorge hadn't previously had a chance to see me enough to judge, but I was rolling with a lot of his higher level guys -- one of them he just promoted to a brown belt, mind you he has more skills than me in jiu-jitsu -- but I was holding my own with him," Grant remembered. "Dustin Hazelett (Pictures) -- he's very good."
"He vouched for me and so did Josh Souder, another good purple belt under Jorge," he continued. "A couple of them vouched for me and then I tapped out a brown belt. Jorge went into his office, came out and threw a purple belt at me and said, ‘Here, you can't be wearing a blue belt any more.'
"Jorge lined us all up, and then they whipped me, bare skin with wet belts. That was fun."
Gurgel has since been to Nova Scotia twice to oversee Fit Plus's BJJ program, and told Sherdog.com that he has high expectations of TJ.
"TJ is one of my protégés," the UFC veteran said. "He's one of my top two or three welterweights and he is definitely a legit purple belt."
"He's also a very hard worker and he has all the tools to go very far in MMA."
About this weekend's opponent Gary Wright, Grant says that respect is the biggest thing.
"I think in this sport you have to respect all your opponents, and I like to assume that my opponent is really good.
"If he can test me, that's great. I'm eager to show what I can do under those situations where I get punched. Because when I get punched I'm going to punch you back, I'm not going to cower and back down.
"If I get taken down, so what? I train for the ground. I don't care, really. If I have to fight off my back, I'll fight off my back. I'm confident standing up and I'm more than capable."
Grant says that he's confident going into this title fight and that he's going to do what he always does, put on a good show and hopes that he comes away with the win.
When asked where he'd ultimately like to go with MMA, Grant took a long pause, and then gave an atypical answer for a young fighter with dreams of glory.
"I'd like to end up with respect for myself and other people respecting me."
Grant's first pro fight was at the inaugural Extreme Cage Combat on April 29, 2006 -- exactly 364 days before this weekend's title match. He admitted to Sherdog.com that he thinks it's a little crazy that within that one year he could potentially have seven fights, seven wins, and a title belt.
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He had always thought about fighting, and it was when his brother got him into Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 15 that he knew he had found something he loved. It was difficult at first, but Grant quickly saw the benefits of developing a good grappling technique.
"I was the only kid there," he said, "but I got into it and I just
loved it. It was about a month of being a weak little fat kid that
got beat on, but then I armbarred a bouncer who was 230 pounds or
something, and I was only a 135 pound kid walking around on a 120
pound frame."
Jiu-jitsu took a back seat to wrestling once Grant started high school, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise when he broke his leg at wrestling Nationals.
About the same time Scott MacLean opened up Fit Plus Martial Arts, where Grant started going for rehab. It also was where he rekindled his love affair with BJJ.
"I'm lucky working with TJ," MacLean said. "He's pretty much self-motivated and there's no excess hype with him; he's a humble guy."
While Grant may be humble, he's also confident.
"I'm just starting to realize my potential," he said. "I'm getting better and better; my jiu-jitsu's getting better and everything's just starting to click."
"I've been training harder than I ever trained and my body's becoming like a machine."
MacLean has been sure to provide Grant with the skills required to succeed. The pair spent several weeks in February honing their Muay Thai skills at the Fairtex training facility in Thailand, and last year Fit Plus became affiliated with BJJ black belt Jorge Gurgel (Pictures), all the better to acquire excellent ground skills.
Grant told Sherdog.com the story of how he attained his purple belt in BJJ. It was an afternoon class and he was down in Ohio training with Gurgel after just becoming a part of his association.
"Jorge hadn't previously had a chance to see me enough to judge, but I was rolling with a lot of his higher level guys -- one of them he just promoted to a brown belt, mind you he has more skills than me in jiu-jitsu -- but I was holding my own with him," Grant remembered. "Dustin Hazelett (Pictures) -- he's very good."
"He vouched for me and so did Josh Souder, another good purple belt under Jorge," he continued. "A couple of them vouched for me and then I tapped out a brown belt. Jorge went into his office, came out and threw a purple belt at me and said, ‘Here, you can't be wearing a blue belt any more.'
"Jorge lined us all up, and then they whipped me, bare skin with wet belts. That was fun."
Gurgel has since been to Nova Scotia twice to oversee Fit Plus's BJJ program, and told Sherdog.com that he has high expectations of TJ.
"TJ is one of my protégés," the UFC veteran said. "He's one of my top two or three welterweights and he is definitely a legit purple belt."
"He's also a very hard worker and he has all the tools to go very far in MMA."
About this weekend's opponent Gary Wright, Grant says that respect is the biggest thing.
"I think in this sport you have to respect all your opponents, and I like to assume that my opponent is really good.
"If he can test me, that's great. I'm eager to show what I can do under those situations where I get punched. Because when I get punched I'm going to punch you back, I'm not going to cower and back down.
"If I get taken down, so what? I train for the ground. I don't care, really. If I have to fight off my back, I'll fight off my back. I'm confident standing up and I'm more than capable."
Grant says that he's confident going into this title fight and that he's going to do what he always does, put on a good show and hopes that he comes away with the win.
When asked where he'd ultimately like to go with MMA, Grant took a long pause, and then gave an atypical answer for a young fighter with dreams of glory.
"I'd like to end up with respect for myself and other people respecting me."
