Sam King: “I Would Say It Has Been the Best Year of My Life"

To say that the past 12 months have been kind to Sam King as a martial artist would be something of an understatement.

King, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt under the highly respected AJ Scales at Regina’s Complete Martial Arts and Fitness, has entered the ring as an amateur mixed martial artist four times since December of 2011.

In each bout—including a 24-second TKO victory over Ian Odland at Saturday Night Fights 6 in Regina earlier this month—King’s opponent failed to reach the second round of action.

“I would say it has been the best year of my life,” the 21-year-old Queen City product said with a laugh after a recent training session. “I feel really good about the past year. The only thing that I didn’t win was one jiu-jitsu tournament. Everything else that I went to, I ended up winning.”

King, who trains with Scales six days a week, has tasted victory quite a bit recently, but he emphasized that he isn’t necessarily surprised by the success that he has found over the course of the past 12 months.

“I put my work in and I do my best when I’m in the gym,” King offered. “I make the gym my life, so that’s what I have to show for it—all the success that I’ve had.”

King intends to continue paying his dues under the watchful eye of Scales, though he admittedly isn’t certain what his future in MMA—in both the amateur and professional ranks—holds.

“I like to just live day by day—I don’t like to think too far away,” he said. “If you’d ask me that a year ago, I would have no idea that I’ve had four fights under my belt right now. We’ll wait and see what happens next December, right?”

Ed Kapp is a Regina, Saskatchewan-based freelance journalist. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations were obtained firsthand.