DALLAS, TX, May 30, 2012 – “To me each fight is like a snake shedding its skin,” says Octagon MMA’s Klayton Mai when asked about his evolution as a fighter. The 25 year old featherweight has only been in the sport for little over a year but has already shown plenty of promise while racking up 3 wins (2 in the pros) ever since debuting in March 2011.
A plumber by trade working in the family business (Mai Plumbing Co.) alongside his father, Klayton keeps the goal of one day running the family business that the Mai’s have cultivated over the past 25 years at the forefront of his mind but also has other motivations as well in life – like learning how to be a good husband (he is engaged to fiancée Hannah and will be married this October) and his hobby of collecting ball pythons – which he breeds for rare color mutations and sells to other enthusiasts in the DFW area.
So you take fighting, plumbing, love, and snakes and what do they all have in common?
Well the answer is…. nothing… but they are all things Klayton is passionate about, and passion is what drives him to excel.
“I always give the things that I care about in my life 100% of my effort and as long as I give everything that I have to accomplish my goals then I am happy with my results. My relentless work ethic definitely spills over into every aspect of my life. If i find something that I am passionate about then i go after it with everything i have. For example, I enjoy fishing, but ask anyone that knows me and they will say that I am obsessed. My dad even tells me today that when i was a little kid i had more patience with fishing than most adults and I would literally fish from sunrise to sunset. Relentless work ethic is what i strive for.”
That blue collar work ethic has helped immensely when it comes to the balancing act of working full-time in a taxing profession, taking care of his reptiles, giving appropriate attention to his relationship, and training with the energy of a full-time fighter despite the fact that he can only dedicate part of his time to this endeavor.
“Sometimes I feel like i have no free time to relax but I think staying busy pursuing the things I love makes me a stronger happier person,” he says about the balancing act.
As a fighter, staying busy in the gym has been pivotal to his evolution.
It’s also left him supremely confident heading into his XKO 15 fight Texas Fighting Syndicate’s Sidney Cawdrey this Saturday at The Gym.
“I have grown a lot since my last fight (a win over fellow wrestler Casey Hudson at XKO 14) and am excited to go out on June 2nd give it everything i have and put on a show for the audience. I’m feeling very confident heading into this fight. I have felt healthy and strong all training camp and feel like a few things are clicking in my fight game over the past few months. My coach Sayif Saud once told the team to be tenacious in everything that you do inside and out of the cage and that has really stuck with me. I view myself as a soldier and my coach as my commander. Whatever he tells me to do I do it without any hesitation and that’s going to pay off every time I step into the cage.”
Fighter Acknowledgements
‘I want to thank my fiancé Hannah for supporting me through all of my fights. My sponsors, NuGreen, Armslist.com and Mai Plumbing Co. Also to my teammates at Octagon MMA and to Sayif Saud for being a great coach and mentor.” – Klayton Mai
