Joey Beltran: 'True Calling Is Coaching, Teaching Martial Arts'

Joey Beltran, who has fought in the UFC since January of 2010, freely admits that competing in the ring isn’t what he was born to do. The heavyweight contender firmly believes, however, that his calling still lies in the world of mixed martial arts.

“I think martial arts has gotten me to my calling,” Beltran, 29, recently told Bleacher Report. “But I believe my true calling is coaching and teaching martial arts, primarily to children.”

“I started off coaching adult classes and at the same time—this was before I was in the UFC—I had a couple jobs. I had a DJ job. It wasn’t, like, a cool DJ job, though (laughs). We’d DJ bar mitzvahs and 13th birthday parties, so I was always around kids. I could relate to kids and work with them and handle big groups of kids. One of my coaches opened up a gym and asked if I wanted to teach some kids classes. At the time, I needed some money, so I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’”

According to Beltran, who has three step-children with his wife, coaching younger generations in the world of mixed martial arts is—and always has been—a “perfect fit.”

“I have a really special connection to my students,” Beltran, who teaches several classes a week in his native California, explained. “I have a couple older guys that I help out, but my calling is really coaching martial arts to the youth.”

“No matter what is going on in my day, once I walk into that gym, those kids are expecting me to give them my best. That’s very therapeutic to me. They bring me so much joy, words really can’t explain it. Words really can’t explain the joy that my students have given me.”

Although most coaches dream of having their young students one day collecting checks in the highly-competitive world of mixed martial arts, Beltran has other aspirations as an instructor.

“I think I have a bigger influence on my students than I realize, sometimes,” Beltran, who is looking to return to the Octagon against Ben Rothwell in the coming months, admitted with a laugh. “I always make sure that I keep everything positive...I see them getting stronger—and not just as fighters—and I think the coolest thing that happens to me isn’t seeing my students bring home a medal from a grappling tournament. The coolest thing for me is when parents come up to me and say, ‘You changed his life. He walks around with his head held high. He used to get bullied and now he doesn’t.’ That really lets me know that I have an influence on their lives.”

“If none of my kids ever step foot in a professional-setting, that wouldn’t bother me at all. I would just like to help them along the journey of life and I feel that I’m doing that. If I never coached again, I would be fulfilled.”