Stipe Miocic (photo via UFC)

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has become a widely followed sport in part due to high profile events such as the UFC. With this increased popularity, the number of athletes training to be professional fighters has also risen. Many of today’s MMA fighters actually started out in other career fields before making the change.

Terrence Chan

Initially, Terrance Chan’s claim to fame was his career as a high stakes poker player. However, he became interested in MMA and began competing as a bantamweight on the side with the intent to earn a spot in the UFC. His current record is 6-1 with his most recent fight being his first recorded loss. Chan continues to play poker but on a limited scale. His most recent tournament was the World Series of Poker in Vegas but even if he decided to go on as a full time fighter, he could still play poker online and even participate in a tournaments mentioned in a review such as Casinoland review.

Stipe Miocic

As with many MMA fighters, Miocic has a day job and that is working as a firefighter and paramedic. Despite being the reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion, Miocic remains humble and expresses his love for firefighting.  He has defended his championship twice and as a result tied for the most title defences won.

Rich Franklin

Prior to becoming a successful fighter, Franklin earned a bachelor’s degree in math and a master’s degree in education. He taught high school mathematics and began participating in MMA events in 1999 strictly as a hobby. Teaching paid more than fighting at that time which indicates how little MMA fighters made in the beginning. After 19 matches, Franklin won a total of 17 and decided to make the move to fighting full time. He finally retired from the sport in 2015, leaving with an impressive record of 29-7-1.

With the increased popularity of MMA, will the sport see more entering the sport as their first career or will it continue to attract professionals from other fields to do the sport part time?