The life of a fighter
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Logan Vannoy’s record is 1-1, and he hopes to tack on another win during the Ohio Xtreme Cage Fighting 19 — Redemption event Nov. 6 at the Washington County Fairgrounds.
Vannoy, 25, of Marietta, started training to be an MMA fighter about four years ago.
“I’ve been aware of the sport for many years,” he said. “I knew someone who lived in Marietta who was dabbling in it and I happened to cross paths with him one night and the next day I was in the gym.”
MMA encompasses boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, wrestling and judo. Vannoy said as a fighter, he is a “jack of all trades, but master of none,” but there are certain things he focuses on while training.
They include muay thai, brazilian jiu jitsu and wrestling.
Muay thai, he said, involves a lot of kicking, as well as heavy use of the elbows, knees and hands. He described brazilian jiu jitsu as a “ground game” and said it allows a fighter to use a joint and lock system to cut off air to his opponent or manipulate a joint to make him tap — or lose the match.
“You have to know how to submit an opponent, but wrestling is knowing how to get them down to the ground,” he said.
Both of Vannoy’s fights were in 2009. In the first fight, he competed in the lightweight class at 155 pounds, and he competed in the featherweight class in the second fight at 145 pounds.
“In the first match I was choked unconscious in the second round,” he said. “In the second fight, I submitted my opponent in the first round — basically I got him in a choke and he tapped.”
Vannoy said his normal body weight exceeds 160 pounds, so he has to work to lose weight in order to compete in a certain weightclass.
“I trim off weight from my frame,” he said. “I do that through losing water weight, eating correctly and doing cardio.”
“I always try to make sure I do something active every day, either riding a bike or going for a run,” he added.
Vannoy acknowledged that some people think of MMA as “ethically barbaric,” but for him, it’s a thrilling competition.
“I like the competitive atmosphere, and also the type of work ethic and the visceral part of it,” he said.
Contact Ashley at letters@graffitiwv.com