Rupture fighter Tyler Toner makes his WEC debut against undefeated Brandon Visher
March 20th, 2010After a long, tough road, Tyler Toner finally makes it to the the WEC! And as always, we’re going to be in his corner – win, lose or draw.
I’ve known Tyler for quite some time, and I’m amazed at how well he’s managed his career. He embodies everything a sponsor would want from an athlete. Courage, athleticism, politeness, humility, charisma – he truly has it all. Tyler is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, and we’re extremely proud to have him as part of the Rupture family.
Below is an article on Tyler’s upcoming fight, courtesy of the WEC.
*************
Roughly 2,800 people attended UFC 1 at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Co. One of those intrigued spectators was a 10-year-old Tae Kwon Do student named Tyler Toner. The boy didn’t find the spectacle – which happened to be unregulated at the time — to be disturbing or violent. In fact, the only thing that shocked him, as would be the case for many who watched that night on Nov. 12, 1993, was witnessing a skinny Brazilian named RoyceGracie
repeatedly conquer Goliaths to win the 8-man tournament.
Fast forward 16 years later and Toner has a sociology bachelor’s degree he never uses and is primed to make his own debut inside the cage against unbeaten Hawaiian Brandon Visher (13-0) at WEC 48.
Like Royce Gracie, the lanky Toner has been an underdog in many of his pro fights, but he keeps proving people wrong. At 10-1, 1 NC, “Thunder” boasts a pro kickboxing win over Japan’s Kenichi Ogata, a 2006 World Shootboxing Champion. The 26-year-old Coloradan, a disciple of Amal Easton, Trevor Wittman and Duane Ludwig, spoke about the path that led him to martial arts.
Q: Why fight?
Toner: I ended up training Jeet Kune Do and my instructor took us to the very first UFC here in Denver. It reminded me of going to a Denver Broncos game or something. I had been to full contact martial arts tournaments so it didn’t seem like anything new to me. I just remember me and my brother betting on who was going to win the next fight and Royce Gracie was not somebody we picked. So when he won, Brazilian jiu-jitsu stayed in my mind for like 10 years after that.
I went to college and went grocery shopping and I saw a big sign that said “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.” I remembered that from the UFC and I freaked out right away. I started training two days a week and that turned into six days a week. I fell in love with it. Fighting has taught me that I’m tougher than I thought I was. I have fought as a huge underdog and through some pretty bad positions, so my coaches say I have a lot of heart.
Q: What titles have you won in the sport?
Toner: Ring of Fire title as a featherweight. I was the national point sparring champion in Tae Kwon Do when I was 8 years old (chuckles). It was pretty exciting for me back then. It was the first fighter to score five points. Pretty much the only target they scored was chest or stomach with punches. You could get a point for going to the head but you had to pull it, you couldn’t actually make contact with the head. It taught me to learn how to manage my adrenaline a little.
Q: What was your highest rank in Tae Kwon Do?
Toner: Brown belt. My brother and I stopped training right before we got our Black Belts.
Q: Any regrets about not earning your black belt?
Toner: Not really. Football is a lot cooler to a 13-year-old kid than Tae Kwon Do was. So I played football, played some lacrosse. I came back to martial arts when I went to Boulder (University of Colorado) for college.
Q: You’re a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Amal Easton, but you’ve won half of your fights by knockout or TKO. Is your preference to stand with Visher?
Toner: I like to think of myself as pretty well-rounded but I like to stand more, just from years of training with Duane Ludwig. It’s something that I picked up more naturally. But I’ve been training Brazilian jiu-jitsu for like six years now, so I have a lot of submissions as well. A lot of my coaches say my ground is better than my standup. But I like to stand more. I think it’s more fun.
Q: What do you know about Brandon Visher?
Toner: I’ve watched videos of him. He looks like a good athlete with quick, heavy hands. He’s 12-0 but hopefully I’ll end that streak … I haven’t really thought about him being undefeated. He’s just another fighter. I don’t really care.
Q: Who are some of the people that you train with?
Toner: Eliot Marshall, Amal Easton, Duane Ludwig, Trevor Wittman, Nate Marquardt and Shane Carwin.
Q: Talk about the biggest win of your career to date.
Toner: My biggest win was over Kenichi Ogata. He was the 2006 World Shootboxing Champion. He’s fought pretty much all of my idols in kickboxing and I went in there on two weeks’ notice, fighting up a weight class (at 155 pounds), against a guy who had over 100 kickboxing fights and it was my first kickboxing match. I was a pretty big underdog. It was an awesome experience.
Q: You had the chance to watch Brandon Visher beat Courtney Buck. What were your impressions of him that night?
Toner: He always kind of does the same thing: He’s an athletic guy with quick, heavy hands and that’s what he does. I think I’m more well-rounded and hopefully I can expose the fact that he’s pretty one-dimensional.
I always like to stand in my fights. I have a more versatile standup game than him with more kicks and knees. If it does go to the ground I think I’m more well-rounded there as well.
