Michael Hill returned home for the first time in 18 months this December to spend Christmas with his family. He had one goal leading up to his return and shortly before arriving he achieved it. He was coming home a winner.
Hill, 23, is an MMA, or mixed martial arts, fighter. It’s a controversial sport that is often criticized for its culture of violence and testosterone-fueled, seemingly no-holds-barred combat. It’s also insanely popular. Hill has been involved in the sport off and on for about three years now and won his first professional fight in December. For an often troubled youth without much direction MMA has changed Hill’s life and given him purpose.
Sports were a constant in Hill’s life throughout high school and beyond. Although never a top student, Hill excelled at hockey and baseball. He went to the provincials with his rep hockey team and played in the British Columbia Premier Baseball League. After school Hill tried out for a couple of junior hockey teams but he soon realized that he had gone as far as he could.
Having no backup plan and limited prospects Hill found it difficult to find direction. With nothing to focus his often aggressive energies on Hill started getting into trouble, which often meant getting into fights. Hill has long battled issues with anger and this, combined with a lack of purpose, was getting him nowhere fast.
“When I’m not playing sports I’m an angry person,” said Hill. “There’s a lot of stuff that I bottled up inside growing up and the worst part is I took it out on the people that love me the most. I took it out on my family, I took it out on my friends, I took it out on myself.”
MMA was breaking into the mainstream world of sports in a big way around the time Hill graduated high school. Early competitions combining martial arts schools had been around since the early 1900s but it wasn’t until the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) match in the United States in 1993 that the modern form of the sport came to life. The sport’s popularity waned and flowed in the following years as it fought with controversy over its violence and overcame hurdles to establishing itself as a legitimate sport.
In 2005 The Ultimate Fighter, a reality TV series following fighters trying to make the UFC, gave the sport a boost of popularity and helped bring it mainstream. Hill was introduced to the show and the sport just as he was looking for the next step. Someone suggested to Hill that he look into trying the sport out and maybe bring his aggression and penchant for fighting indoors. Working out already filled most of Hill’s time, so with little direction and in need of an outlet he decided to look into it.
In 2008 Hill went to Vancouver to take a six-month fitness and nutrition diploma at Hilltop Academy in Surrey. During this time he started training at a small MMA gym in Tsawwassen where he went for three hours everyday after classes and began learning the basics of the sport. After three months of training his coach entered him into an amateur tournament where Hill came in second place. After that he was asked to compete in another tournament where again, despite a disqualification, he showed that he had a talent for the sport.
Family concerns brought Hill back to Powell River after finishing his degree. He worked at Avid Fitness and the Powell River Recreation Complex while back in town. He coached hockey and finally felt like he was doing something he excelled at. With two friends, Raphael Vecsey and Michael Murphy, Hill began MMA training in his basement. They watched fights, read books on the sport, trained everyday and helped each other learn the basics of the sport.
After competing in another tournament in Vancouver a promoter suggested to Hill that he go to Seattle and try out for The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Hill put together a tryout video and got a passport in the course of a week to go. He knew he didn’t meet the qualification of needing three professional fights to tryout but he was determined to go and see how he did. Over 500 fighters showed up. After two bouts in front of judges Hill was called up to talk to the organizers. They told him that because he didn’t have any pro fights he was ineligible but they had liked what they saw. They told him that of the three C’s a great MMA fighter needs, he had two: concentration and condition. All he needed was coaching.
While back living in Powell River, Hill got in touch with a well regarded gym for young fighters in Kelowna called Toshido Mixed Martial Arts Academy run by respected MMA fighter and trainer David Lea. With his bags packed and every cent he had saved up in hand, Hill went to Kelowna and showed up at the gym. On day one Hill was thrown into the ring with some of the regulars.
“I thought I was a fighter then, but they beat the living piss out of me,” said Hill. “You know, I took it, I didn’t give up. Coach said ‘you’re definitely a tough kid. We’ll see how tough you are if you want to show up tomorrow.’”
Hill did show up, determined to work hard and give it his all. After six months Hill went out one night for one of the first times since he had moved to Kelowna. He went to the bar with his buddy, who Hill only feels comfortable referring to as Matt. While walking home Matt began crossing a street when a drunk driver ran a red light and hit him. Hill called 911 and did what he could for his friend but there was blood everywhere and Hill couldn’t find a pulse. Matt was dead.
Losing his friend and going through the trauma of the accident set Hill back from the progress he had been making. He couldn’t eat or sleep. He lost his job because he was having trouble functioning. He started training less and drinking more. He moved in with some friends with similar lifestyles and spent three months digging himself into a hole.
It took coach Lea to get him back on track. Lea called Hill up one day and asked him if this is how Matt would have wanted him to deal with his death. His words got through to Hill and he realized that he needed to make a change.
“Right then I said ‘You know what, you’re right. What am I doing wasting away again?’”
said Hill. “I’ve never had so much determination and hunger and just everything. I put it all together.”
Hill said he trained harder than ever before and got to the point where Lea said he was ready for his first professional fight. On December 17, after only two weeks’ notice and shedding 25 pounds to make weight, Hill arrived in Red Deer, Alberta for his first professional fight. Hill fought Red Deer’s Dustin Tremblay, also fighting pro for the first time.
Representing Team Toshido and with coach Lea in his corner, Hill took Tremblay to the mats with a ground-and-pound tactic, consisting of pinning an opponent and then hitting them repeatedly. He defeated Tremblay at 4:38 in the first round by technical knockout.
“When the ref touched me and threw me off of him and said that it’s over, it’s probably the best feeling of my life,” said Hill. “I finally accomplished something that a lot of people said I couldn’t do. I was going home a winner.”
Hill came back to Powell River for Christmas with a win to his name and proud family and friends waiting for him. He said the support he receives from home is inspiring and keeps him going. After being written off by a lot of people Hill said it means a lot to him to come back and hear congratulations and support and feel like people look up to him.
Now back in Kelowna, Hill is training for the next fight. He’s not sure when it will be, maybe March, but he’s hungry for it and knows he will be ready. Hill said he’s in for the long road with MMA and has no plans to leave. But he is being realistic and feels that if in a few years from now things aren’t looking bright, he’ll look at his options. Coming back to Powell River and opening a training gym of his own is one that he’s particularly interested in.
Hill might soon be on TV too, on a reality show about Toshido Academy. The show, called David Lea’s Fight Camp, will be about the athletes training at the gym, their backstories and struggles breaking into the sport. The show is being produced by DCD Productions, who have just finished up filming for a pilot episode that they will then be shopping around to bigger networks.
“Right now I’m just focused on getting another win and training that much harder,” said Hill. “From now on everything else is going to get that much tougher. It’s going to be crazy if I keep going on...It feels good, it feels really good.
A shorter version of this story ran in the Peak, Wednesday, January 26, 2011.
