In March 2007 while conducting research in Travis Lutter’s gym over in Fort Worth, TX, I had the privilege of interviewing a young man named Cleburn Walker. At the time, Walker was a true MMA novice if ever there was one.
Then 23 years old, Walker had just finished time with the Marine Corps and was forging a possible career in MMA. Despite looking as muscled as any other fighter I’d met, I’m not going to lie, I had my doubts about this young aspiring fighter.
In our first interview, Walker shed light onto his pathway towards MMA, entering his first professional competition with only his military training behind him and literally no formal MMA instruction. Said Walker:
No, no MMA training whatsoever. I had just got out of the Marine Corps, and one of the things we did was wrestled, submitted each other a lot as way of establishing somewhat of a pecking order outside of our rank structure, to fight each other without actually fighting, so I thought I could fight on the ground, and from past experiences, I thought I could fight standing up well enough to defend myself, and I knew I was in shape. So I thought, what the hell let’s just jump in head first and see how it goes.
Although the rookie from Stephenville, TX didn’t come out victorious in his first contest, Walker pushed on.
A year later, “The Spartan” has erased my doubts and proven to be a warrior in and out of competition. This coming Saturday night, July 26, at the Reliant Arena in Houston, TX, Walker will enter full MMA competition again. However, since our interview about a year ago, Walker has gone on to win a string of matches without any losses.
Recently, Walker spoke with me again to talk about how he’s grown as a fighter, balancing life as a single father and pursing his dream of making it big in the MMA world.
After going through some personal issues, Walker moved into his own place with his two young children. He mentioned some of the challenges young fighters can deal with, which we don’t hear about from established superstars who have greater financial resources.
It’s kinda crazy because it’s just me raising them right now, and I can’t afford child care, so I just take them with me everywhere I go. To train, to get groceries, to eat, everything. I am arranging it so that their mom and her parents can watch them on the weekends so I can be more consistent with coming to Travis’ (Lutter) gym to train.
In addition to training under the tutelage of others, Walker is now earning income as an instructor. His combination of teaching and continuing to learn from experts in the industry have given him confidence as he approaches Saturday night.
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