It’s been 10 years since Jesse Fox (4-5-0), co-owner of Havoc Fighting Championship, stepped into the octagon for the first time.
Although he and fellow co-owner Ryan Machan own their own octagon for the Havoc championships, it has been nearly four years since the last time Fox took to the cage for a fight following a second-degree concussion that left him unsure if he’d ever return to the ring again.
The date was Nov. 11th, 2011. Fox was in the ring against Allan Munroe (5-5-0) – a seasoned fighter out of Independent MMA. It was but a short 35 seconds after they touched gloves before Fox found himself at the mercy of Munroe’s mighty reach.
“The doctor said there’s a good chance I went into that fight with a minor concussion, so when I got hit once I went to sleep in the first punch of the night,” he said.
Concussion’s are common amongst MMA fighters and are defined as a head injury with a temporary loss of brain function. Concussions cause a variety of physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms, which may not be recognized if subtle.
Fox was unsure if he would ever return to the ring.
“It was an eye-opening experience and it was scary. I could still train a little bit but I would shake my head and get a headache. I would get depressed because I couldn’t be training like I wanted to be and that made me not want to do anything.
“I stopped training for a while and then it just got worse. I got in a really bad car accident where a guy ran a red light and t-boned me – it injured my shoulder and knee and that was essentially it for my MMA career until now.”
Despite being unsure if he would ever fight again, Fox will be making his highly-anticipated return to the cage on June 19th in the Havoc octagon against local fighter Brent Harvie (2-1-0) out of Kensei MMA.
“I’m 32, and I was contemplating packing it in because the training is so grueling,” said Fox who trains five days a week on top of a full-time job and helping his wife raise their two children, as well as helping Machan run Havoc. “But it’s fun and the last two months have been incredible – I’m happier and I get to punch guys in the chin again.
“It was one of those things that if I didn’t fight again at least a few more times then I know I’ll be 50-years-old one day sitting there and telling myself I’m an idiot.”
Fox said his love of MMA was born from watching the debut season of The Ultimate Fighter, a TV show which arguably fostered a generation of UFC fans as the audience watched UFC legends Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture coach two teams of fighters.
Fox began searching for local gyms and came in contact with Gary Vig of Arashi Do Martial Arts.
“I walked into that gym over 10 years ago and said to Gary that I just wanted to get into the cage – I didn’t want to train or anything I just wanted to punch people in the face – he basically laughed and said hell no, so I started to train with him and the rest is history.”
Fox said he is eager for Friday’s fight stating he knows Harvie well and knows he is a great fighter.
“I’ve watched him battle through some wars in the cage, so I want to go in there and be able to bang it out for a full 15 minutes and give the crowd the best match we can.”
Other pro fights of the night include a heavy weight match up against Noah Ali (5-2) and David Harris (7-7-1), as well a match up between Fox’s fellow Arashi-Do based fighter Wolfgang Janssen (4-1) and Curtis Demarce (14-11) out of Brandon, Manitoba.
For more information and to purchase tickets to Havoc 9 on June 19th at Westerner Park visit www.havocfc.com.
jswan@reddeerexpress.com
