Rosholt aims to be MMA champ

SANDPOINT — Mixed Martial Arts fighter Jake Rosholt has learned much in his first nine MMA fights, as he continues the segue from wrestling legend to the upper echelon of the burgeoning sport of ultimate fighting.

He’s learned how to take a punch, something he never encountered on the mat, and proven that he’s got a worthy chin.

He’s learned how to fight from his feet, trying to bring some newfound boxing and striking skills up to par with his nearly unrivaled wrestling skills.

He’s learned from his seven wins, and also from his two losses, both defeats coming by way of surprising submissions.

But most of all he’s learned some perspective, and after a neck injury sidelined him the night before his last scheduled fight, he’s spent the last month in Sandpoint rehabbing an injury borne of a lifetime of wrestling.

“My main goal is to get healthy. There is a lot of years of fighting ahead of me,” describes Rosholt, who returned to his hometown and has been living in a trailer for the past month while he rehabs with Peter Faletto at Pneumex. “It’s been nice to see a lot of people that I haven’t seen in a long time. All the people that follow my career; it’s pretty flattering the support in this whole area.”

The night before his last scheduled fight against MMA veteran Jeremy Horn, two herniated discs in Rosholt’s neck pushed on a nerve and caused a numbness and tingling down his arm. He said it was a tough thing to call off the fight, and he didn’t sleep that night.

At 27, Rosholt is still relatively young in the brutal sport, and has no designs on climbing back into the cage until he’s sure his neck and spinal chord can handle it. He remains a member of Team Takedown Fighters, all former collegiate wrestlers taking their ground skills into MMA.

Rosholt, a four-time All-American and three-time national champion wrestler at Oklahoma State after a stellar high school career in Sandpoint, will soon be joined on Team Takedown by his younger brother Jared Rosholt. Jared recently finished a stellar career as a heavyweight wrestler at Oklahoma State, and Jake is both excited by his MMA prospects and eager for a new training partner.

“That family-friendly competition, family battles, you want to be better than your siblings,” laughs Rosholt, who will be able to share some of his MMA knowledge with his younger brother. “A lot of things I did when I first started were a waste of time; I didn’t know any better.”

Rosholt is married and lives and trains in Las Vegas, working out at Cobra Chai Jiu-Jitsu and Striking Unlimited. His training partner, Chris Feist, is also a former Sandpoint and college wrestler. Rosholt is striving to be more well-balanced in the cage, or as he says “equally good everywhere.”

His wrestling background instilled him with a tenacity and relentlessness that transfers well to the rigors of MMA. The toughest adjustment has been learning the boxing component.

“In boxing there is a distance between you that I had to get used to,” explains Rosholt. “My whole life I’ve done a sport where you have direct contact with another person.”

After going 1-2 in his initial foray into UFC, gaining valuable experience at the sport’s highest level, Rosholt still believes he’s got a chance to make some noise in the sport once he’s fully healthy. He’s currently 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, but usually trims down and fights 20 pounds lighter, enduring two hard workouts on a typical training day.

Like all great fighters, he’s fueled by the adrenaline that comes before a battle.

“I love the energy of the crowd when you’re walking into the ring,” describes Rosholt, noting you don’t feel it once you’re into the fight. “Before you get in the cage is an amazing feeling, a natural high. I just love it.”