After years of incessant whining from fans to the UFC to add Flyweights to the roster, Zuffa has decided to put together a 125 pound tournament which starts at UFC on FX: Alves vs Kampmann. One of the fighters taking part in the tournament is Ian McCall, better known as ‘Uncle Creepy’ to his fans. McCall started becoming a bit of a household name in Tachi Palace after defeating the consensus top flyweight, Jussier da Silva, early in 2011. However, it’s not his fights that really captured fan attention. Instead, it’s his life before becoming a MMA fighter.
My friends Rick Lee and Danny Accosta of Cage Side Sports had a chance to speak with Ian and the result was a fantastic video. Rick and Danny got Ian and his wife to open up about the darker times in their lives that included multiple overdoses and for Ian, one that nearly ended his life. McCall recognizes that he’s been given another chance to live a better life and be a good father to his daughter.
I am my own worst enemy. I have a lot of demons and they’re still there. I still battle with them. But I’ve always had those values in the back of my head. Even though I’ve done horrible, horrible things to myself and other people, it’s not like I don’t feel bad. When I died I was sober for a while. I was doing good. And then I was getting getting tattooed. I was getting the heart tattooed on my chest saying Capulet and it’s the sacred heart from Romeo and Juliet on Tybalt’s chest. So I wanted that one. And I was like ‘yeah, ok it’s gonna hurt so I should so I should take something. So I took a few oxycontin. Then I was getting anxiety so I took a few xanax. And then smoke some weed and then I think I drank some GHB. And then I woke up a day or two later in the hospital. There was no light. I didn’t see any light. No one spoke to me. I didn’t have some apparition or whatever. I woke up like ‘why are there tubes in me? What’s going on?’ And my brother just told me and the doctor pointed his finger at me and told me I screwed up.
Ian has since turned his life around with the birth of his daughter and is now trying to lead a better life for his family. It took a moment where everything could have been taken away for him to recognize how dark of a path he was headed down and he came out the other side a better man. It’s truly one of the more inspiring stories in MMA and I highly encourage everyone to watch the video.
Ian McCall is scheduled to face Demetrious Johnson at UFC on FX 2 in Sydney, Australia at the Allphones Arena on March 3rd.
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