Written by Carter Graham

As “Voodoo Child” blares from the arena speakers, Gage Bell’s mind isn’t on Jimi Hendrix’s famous guitar licks or the roaring crowd. Instead, he is mentally preparing for a fight against an opponent he’s never met or seen.. 

If someone had told Bell three years ago he would have been entering the cage of a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight, he would have called them crazy. His path to combat sports was different than most, he didn’t grow up wrestling or fighting, instead he focused on baseball and basketball. 

It wasn’t until his junior year of high school that Bell had even considered a different sport. 

“My position in basketball was being down low, more of a post, and my height was no longer going to carry me at that spot. So, I chose to choose a new sport,” Bell said. 

Wrestling was the sport Bell decided to pursue, and it wasn’t the most straightforward transition from rolling off of pick and rolls to rolling around on the mat. 

“It was rough. I could not have prepared for the shape I needed to be in for wrestling,” Bell said. “Even at the end of the season, I still felt like I was out of shape during those practices… It was a learning process of just getting beat and then keep getting beat all year long, pretty much. It wasn’t until towards the end that you started feeling better about how you’re doing. It was a mindset of just, ‘I’m just getting beat, getting beat, getting beat and I gotta get better.’”

With the help of coaching, Bell consistently improved over his time wrestling at Chattanooga Christian School. Head wrestling coach Josh Craft loved his intensity and commitment to improving, and teammates like Tyler Haga saw his improvement in real-time.

“He came in very new to wrestling, and at first, he wasn’t very good at it, but he just had that farm country-boy strength,” Haga said. “He just manhandled everybody. As soon as coach Craft was able to get some technique into him, he started actually winning matches and started looking like a really good wrestler.”

Every athlete’s career ends. For some, that may be after high school sports, and for the blessed few, after college, or maybe even the professional ranks. Many professional athletes struggle with life after sports because it’s all they’ve ever known. For the many people whose careers end earlier, they try to find other outlets.

Bell wanted to find a jiu-jitsu gym as his outlet after high school. 

“I got bored of not doing anything, like wrestling or sports-wise,” Bell said. “So the main goal was trying to find a jiu-jitsu gym. I asked my wrestling coaches if he knew somebody, and he did… then that gym ended up having MMA classes with it, and that’s when I started.”

To the untrained eye, wrestling and jiu-jitsu are similar, but in reality, they are very different, Bell explained. 

“It was hard because going from wrestling, you see, there were some big changes like never wanting to be on your back from wrestling,” Gage said. “Now it’s okay to be on your back and that was really hard for me.”

After a few months of working on the technique and skill, Bell decided to test his skills. This test came in the form of an Amateur MMA event. 

“There was no big, like, aha moment,” Bell said. “It was just like, man, I’m enjoying the sport. I want to test out the skills that I’ve been learning.”

Bell’s first fight was scheduled for April Fools Day. Unsurprisingly to Bell, most people thought the fight was a joke. Even his friends, family and former teammates were shocked to find out the fight was real. 

“I got those butterflies in my stomach, oh my Lord, this is actually… I’m actually here now,” Bell said. “It’s very nerve-wracking, especially because I had no information on my opponent.”

With Bell having never fought before, fighters with 0-0 records are matched with other 0-0 fighters. Bell went into the fight without knowing what techniques his opponent would use or even his appearance. 

Knowing his opponent did not matter. 

“It went perfectly for me, pretty much,” Bell said. “Right off the bat within the first 10 seconds, he just got his base too wide. So I just took a shot, and I took him down, and he was just so squirmy. I was too excited to calm down. All I was trying to do was lay a punch when I really should have calmed down. Then I finally did land, a couple of good ones, and that’s when his head kind of bounced off the canvas, and then I just got in a rhythm. That fight went flawlessly.”

With his friends and family in the stands, a loud cheer erupted as Bell defeated his opponent in a first-round technical knockout (TKO). At one point, his former high school wrestling coach was in the middle of the celebration on FaceTime to be there for his former wrestler. 

Bell’s former teammate, Tyler Haga, was in the stands. 

“He knocks them out in the first round in like, 40 seconds,” Haga said. “We all went nuts, and we’re screaming, oh my gosh, it was insane. I’m so proud of him. Even in the match that he lost, I was still so proud. He’s done it all by himself, and he was able to prove that he could do it. That was freaking awesome.”

Bell has fought one other time and lost in a third-round TKO. While Bell is not actively looking for another fight, he is open to the opportunity because he values what the sport inspires. 

“Just like any other sport, it’s good discipline to have,” Bell said. “It just teaches you hard work and how to fight. I feel more confident walking around.”

While combat sports are growing in popularity, more and more competitive opportunities are appearing nationwide. In three quick years, Gage Bell transitioned from a basketball player to fighting in amateur MMA events, with Jimi Hendrix serenading his entrance. 

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