By Felix Rodriguez, Staff Writer
AUSTIN, TX, January 16, 2013 – Garrett “Deaf Grappler” Scott is a 29 year-old fighter who will be making his mixed martial arts debut at the Texas Cage Fight Cage War in Capital City card set for Austin this Friday.
Scott was recently profiled by TXMMA because of his ability to achieve athletically despite his lack of hearing. Garrett Scott took some time out of his training camp to talk to TXMMA about how his preparations were going and to let Texas fight fans know that although he is known for being the Deaf Grappler after Friday he will also be known for his fighting ability inside the cage. Garrett is very excited to fight along some of his friends on the same card and referred to the experience as a “great challenge.” When asked about first-time jitters Scott admitted he felt them a little at first, but knows he won’t be nervous on Friday because “it will be time to be brave and ready to fight.” Scott noted that preparing for a fight gave him a similar feeling as when “preparing for wrestling tournaments, BJJ/Grappling tournaments, and sparring” and hopes he handles the fight in the same way because becoming a pro MMA fighter is one of his “true dreams.”
The Rubicon Fightsport product has been training in BJJ for five years and has been wrestling since he was 15 – a decision he made to save himself from being bullied.
Scott first learned of MMA thanks to Matt Hamill and his participation on TUF 3. Scott had never heard of the UFC or MMA until then. This Friday January 18th, 2013 Scott will follow in the footsteps of UFC veteran Matt Hamill and try to become a deaf professional mixed martial artist. His eventual interest in competing in MMA was further spurred on by watching a submission wrestling tournament DVD along with some other tapes from the Gracie family with a buddy from Austin Community College.
From there he began training in earnest around 2007, first with judo and then on to BJJ and eventually MMA. His training has resulted in him going down in weight from 235 lbs. to a more manageable range of 165-180 lbs. Encouraged by the results and his new found fighting skills Scott decided to become the first ever deaf Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and to see how far he could go in MMA as Hamill had done before him.
Scott is an intriguing prospect with a strong wrestling background and excellent understanding of submissions from his time training in catch wrestling and BJJ. Aside from grappling he has also trained in Muay Thai and kickboxing for three years.
The children’s wrestling coach and BJJ purple belt also tends to his cardio by doing kettle bell training, hiking and swimming. While some may see his deafness as a disadvantage Scott told TXMMA that being able to block all outside noise out is actually an advantage because he is fighting in a calm quiet environment where he isn’t susceptible to boos or the effects of hearing the crowd cheer for someone else.
This Friday he will meet Xavier James, a fighter of whom he admits to not knowing much of other than him having a “karate background.” Scott is undeterred by the lack of information and is looking forward to the challenge. Scott declined to reveal a game plan, but did say he would not underestimate his opponent and be very “careful” to follow the fight plan devised by Paul Nixon, Britton Wells, Ronny Lis. Laren Umplett and Ezzard Charles in order to be mentally ready for the new “combat game” he is about to experience. Scott has no idea how the outcome of the fight will turn out, but he is happy to know that he trained properly and did all he could to be prepared on fight day. Win or lose Scott wants his opponent to “try him if he can” because he is ready to test their skills against one another.
Scott’s plans for 2013 are to continue progressing as an MMA fighter by getting more fights and to continues to amass medals at BJJ competitions in Texas. He hopes to one day replicate the successes of Matt Hamill competing at the highest levels, but wants the comparisons to stop there. While he is appreciative of the attention he gets because of the similarities between both athletes Garrett Scott is his own person and wants to be known as a fighter who happens to be deaf and not as a deaf fighter like Matt Hamill.
When asked if he had anything else to say to our readers Scott told TXMMA he’d like to thank “God, Rubicon FightSport, Paul Nixon, Britton Wells, Ronny Lis, Wellington Brito, Laren Umplett, Ezzard Charles, Ken Primola, I Love BJJ and USANA for helping him get to this point in his career.