A young wrestler from Iowa Central Community College hears from a buddy that there’s an MMA training going on. He then completes his transition to the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and hits the stardom, joining the big leagues, and achieving the glory.
If you’re a long-time fan of Mixed Martial Arts, you probably guessed that the paragraph above refers to Jon “Bones” Jones or Cain Velasquez — and, of course, you wouldn’t be wrong in your guess.
The same story of Jones and Velasquez, though, repeated itself with another Iowa Central Community College alumnus only a few years later: BRAVE Combat Federation’s Phil Hawes.
“I had a buddy in college, we were both wrestling at the time, and he was into MMA and participating in jiu-jitsu competitions. One day he went to the gym and brought me along”, Hawes said. “I fell in love right away. It was so different from everything I had seen so far”.
The uniqueness of MMA was the main reason why Hawes joined and stayed in the first place but not the only reason that kept him coming back.
“When you’re a kid you’re told a lot of things and usually segregate each martial art but here it was all different”, Hawes continued. “This was of course very much welcomed by me and they appreciated too. And once you start participating in sports it’s endless techniques, combinations, and aspects to analyze, in MMA those would be boxing, jiu-jitsu, judo, etc. I love learning, so I can keep learning, improving. This keeps me hungry, keeps me fulfilled”.
Since he joined BRAVE Combat Federation, Hawes showed the above-mentioned hunger, scoring a first-round submission over Dominik Schober at BRAVE CF 30, in India, and a TKO victory over Yuri Fraga less than two months later, at BRAVE CF 34, in Slovenia.
On his way up to the top of BRAVE CF Middleweight division, Phil “Megatron” Hawes guarantees that the best is still yet to come. “My story is being written and I can say it’s one of resilience and hard work. I’ll make my way to the ultimate goal, which is becoming the world champion”.
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