Palm Desert, CA - Regarded as one of the best communities in southern California, Palm Desert is home to many country clubs, upscale shopping centers, and a competition fight team? Nestled in the heart of the Coachella Valley, lies the aptly named Coachella Valley Jiu Jitsu home to, MMA Pro, Donovan Wegner. Wegner is slated to fight Christafer Anderson on Friday, November 8th at the Masonic Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. We sat down with Wegner ahead of his upcoming bout to learn about his journey from High School Wrestler to Professional Fighter, his daily training regimen, and of course, Wegner's plans for the future in this exclusive Combat Sports Report Q&A! Check it out!
CS/R: Let's start from the beginning. How did you begin fighting? What was it that initially made you step into an MMA gym?
Wegner: I started the journey in high school. I was not good on the academic side, so I found a path through Sports. I started by joining the wrestling team. My coach, his name was Mr. Santone, saw me playing football and he was making fun of me. You know teasing me. He's telling me: "Come check out wrestling." I said no. More like "Nah I'm cool." You know?
A couple days later we have physicals we're lined up outside the wrestling room. I'm joking around and I get called out by one of the wrestlers. So I go in there, I started wrestling around. I didn't really know what it was, but I got beat up...and I came back. I thought to myself: "No, that's not good enough. I've got to come back."
So I ended up joining the team. I started wrestling with them. They got me started. So I wrestled with them for a couple years. When I graduated high school, I was looking for sports, I didn't know what to do. I was supposed to join the Army which I eventually did, but in between then I didn't know what to do.
So I'm searching for gyms, trying to find a wrestling school to continue down that path and I found American top team Temecula who was coached by Fabiano Silva. This was 2013. I go in the gym, and long story short, a couple months later Fabiano said "Hey I know you want to fight. Do you want to do Jiu Jitsu?" I said "Hell yeah. Let's do it." So I have my first fight in May of 2013 which is about four months after going into the gym. I fell in love with it immediately, so that was the path that kind of got me going.
On the Jiu Jitsu side, my coach at that time, Fabiano Silva, was belted under Ricardo Liborio. I started doing my research and I started to see who's who, and when those names pop up, they catch your attention. You're like "Man, these guys are the best." So that kept me on that path and I really committed to the gym.
Then I joined the Army. I was on the Army boxing team. They do Jiu-Jitsu but it's not Jiu-Jitsu in a sense of a traditional format, you know, it's combative oriented. So, when I got out of the army and I continued with Jiu-Jitsu. Now I'm at Coachella Valley Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and under Anthony Mantanona and that's by far one of the best gyms I've ever walked into.
CS/R: I've heard a lot of guys have a hard time managing military and martial arts training just due to the unpredictablity of the military. What did that balance look like for you?
Wegner: I had never been out of the state prior to joining the Army. I didn't have any plans, I didn't have scholarships, I didn't have college waiting for me. So I joined the army. I went active duty. I committed to it fully. When it comes to the martial arts, I did train, but the problem is, is you'll move Duty stations. So when you move Duty stations, it throws you off your game a little bit. You have to find a new home now. You might have success with one gym but then you go to a different state, you've got to start over.
Gym's like to build rapport with you. They like to see your level of commitment and when you're constantly moving, it's kind of hard to build that with them. So when I got stationed in Germany, I found a fight gym in Nuremberg. My good friend at the time, Sebastian used to pick me up from the train station and take me. That was one of the only times that I would get to train.
Now when it comes to the field, yes, it does interrupt. Deployments they interrupt. You might get a hot streak and be training for six months, but then be gone for, you know, nine months and it definitely throws you off. There will be big chunks of time where you miss training. You train with your guys in military but it's not, the same like I said...in that "traditional sense". So it's a little difficult. It can be overwhelming. It can also be frustrating and kind of make you not really want to pursue it anymore because you're doing all this work, now you're gone for nine months. You don't get the train. You feel like you lose progress. So it can be demoralizing, but that's where persistence comes in. You just have to keep chipping away.
It is hard, especially when you're active duty. You will bounce around I was stationed in a couple different spots: Korea, Germany, Mississippi. You have to find these new homes and the longer I was in the military, I got better at doing my research. I'd find out, where am I going to go next? Go on Google. Look up gyms in the area and they pop up. So trial and error in that sense, but it's definitely hard to fully commit to a gym when you're constantly moving.
Fighter Profile: Donovan Wegner - Weathering The Storm
CS/R: Now that you're out of the Army, what does your work/ life/ training balance look like now? You're super active. So it seems like you've mastered the balance now.
Wegner: Like I said in the earlier, I had never been out of the state of California before getting shipped out to Korea and Germany. These places are far away from home. I really was homesick in that sense. I got over it in time, but when I was coming to the point of reenlistment, I just told myself: "I want to go home. Let's go home." So I got out and went home.
I was nervous. I didn't know what to do. I didn't really have a support system at that point. Just kind of winging it trying to figure it out. I got home, it was difficult to to train because now you're not getting money every month. You have to get a job. You have to find a place to live. You have bills to pay. In the Army, if you live in the barracks, it's free. Food is free. So when you get out, you have to make money to provide for yourself. Finding that balance was definitely difficult.
I would say, in all reality, I only really achieved it about two years ago. I built pools for the past almost 10 years. I would have 12-13 hour days, get off work and hit the gym at nine o'clock at night and get out at midnight. Just trying to get the work in. That balance is extremely difficult to to achieve and once you achieve it it's harder to maintain, because in life, things just happen. There's obstacles, whatever you want to call it. You're going to have to just keep chipping away. Now I'm really blessed. I do personal training, so I'm in the gym consistently. I use the benefits I earned in the Army. I went back to school. I want to be a lawyer one day and they're paying me to go to school, which is awesome. It helps put food on the table. I get to train full time, and then I study. It's a blessing. I wasn't utilizing those benefits for about ::Wegner Pauses:: almost six years. During that time man, it was long days, long nights, and very little sleep. It's the grind. It's just the grind that you gotta tough out. So it's been a process. A long process.
CS/R: If you Google Donovan Wegner, it looks like you just hopped right into the pro scene. I did a little research on you, I know that's not totally the case, but what did your amateur career look like?
Wegner: I did fight amateur. However, I had come from a boxing background. I had a couple amateur MMA fights in highschool. I was only a couple months in. I ended up winning. I missed my homecoming for it actually. Not that it's a big deal. You know you make these sacrifices. I don't know what happened there or why those were never put on my record. I have a video of it. I've tried to get right with Tapology and sent it to them. I never got an update about it. Now, it's not a big deal.
In the Army, I boxed 25 times. I was 19-6. I was on the All Army Boxing Team. So with that being said, yes, I basically did jump right into the pros. I'm not upset with that, you know, I wish now, in hindsight, I had more amateur experience. I would have probably turned pro last year. More experience is better, right?
In 2017, I got offered a fight. I didn't know much about it. I said, yes, but it was a pro fight. Once you go pro you can't go back. So in 2017 I was pro after taking that fight. I definitely wasn't ready, but there's nobody to blame, but me. I said "Yes.", I made the walk. A lot of lessons were learned...but yeah, no, real amateur MMA career. You see some guys with 10, 15, even 20 amateur MMA fights before jumping into the pros. I didn't have that experience. Realistically there was a lot of on-the-job training. That's the best way to put it.
CS/R: Now, let's talk about your pro career. You're coming off of a win. Tapology says it's ineligible for your record, but sanctioned or not, a win is a win. Now you find yourself on this card for Fierce FC among some extremely tough regional fighters with a losing record that doesn't exactly reflect your skills or experience. How do you find yourself on these big cards, opposite top flight competition time and again?
Wegner: Number one I have to recognize uh Fierce FC. Zach definitely, he's one of the head guys over there. I have to give him a big thank you because it's with his blessing that he let me onto this card and like you said, this card has some tough guys. You're talking some real skill from top to bottom. Even on the amateur side! When you actually do some research and see these guys... Man, these guys have some talent. So I need to give a big thank you to them.
One of the things that I can tell you is that I had switched teams about a year and a half ago. I was trying to find a home, that was suited me and we just clicked. I knew found that home. When you find that stable place, the people operating them have connections. There's Georgie Karakhanyan, he's fought for Bellator. He's a stud with almost 50 professional fights. You're talking about Garrett De La Cruz and other another stud with like 15 plus professional fights. Julio Aguilera who fought for Bellator. These are the guys that I've come to lean on and then I have another gym, Melania MMA over in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Coach Romney is there. I have these these names in my corner that have so much experience, and with that experience they have, comes the connections to people. What I've learned from them over the past year and a half has brought my game up levels.
The way I got onto this card in particular, was honestly just hard work. When I first walked into those gyms, I probably wasn't at the level of being able to compete at some of these tough shows, but if you grind long enough, your skills will get there and it got recognized. With that recognition, comes opportunity and you have to make the most out of it.
I can't really speak on how I got on this show. Just hard work. Hard work, and you have to be recognized by your team. You know, a couple years ago I would have never been allowed onto this card, but you put your head down and just keep grinding.
My record is what it is. When you do some research you're seeing I've fought champions like Collin Godbout. He's definitely on his way to #UFC. Carlos Puente, he's fought for #CombatGlobal. These guys who have had so much more experience than I did at the time, I fought them. Now, transferring teams, here we go. We're we're at that skill level. We're ready to compete. We're with the right coaches and if they go out and vouch for you, you'll get an opportunity. That that's pretty much what I believe.
CS/R: I commend you for staying true to the course and trying to right the wrongs. All too often we see these guys that are 2-0 as an amateur. They go pro, take one loss, and then you never see them fight again. I think that speaks more on your character than you know, but now is your time. The floor is yours.
Wegner: I had a tough two years prior to this last fight. I do feel like it was the turnaround. I feel like, something clicked and I've taken off. It's full steam ahead. So with this fight, I'm sure I have a tough opponent. Not taking anything away from him, but I'm extremely confident and it's gonna go my way. With that being said, after this fight, Fierce doesn't have a 125lbs champion. That puts me, only a couple fights away from fighting for that belt. Then who knows what's after that. In 2025 I'm looking to fight two or three times, God willing, staying healthy, and good camps.
2025 is a big year, I got lots of plans. I've already written down a couple things, I would like to end the year at IBJJF No Gi Worlds in December. I'm looking at ADCC in San Diego. Then getting three fights in, so it's gonna be a pretty stacked year. Activity is key if you wanted to get recognized. You know, it really goes back to those three fights. Those are the biggest thing for me. Fierce FC they're building a 125lbs division, so it's really time to buckle down and put the best foot forward and and then you know, the opportunity will come.
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