Bryson Whitehead: From Summit reject to Hype sensation

Fighter profile of Bryson Whitehead by James Listerman

We’ve had a quick chat with manager James Listerman regarding an interesting rising star. Bryson Whitehead first auditioned to join the Summit series a few months ago, and was rejected by his own manager when he failed his physical test. He took it quite hard, but at the end of the day, he accepted his fate and has been training like an animal ever since. He is now a top contender in the 155 division at MMA Hype Promotions.

Being rejected from the popular show was the motivation that Whitehead needed to explode in the MMA world:

Bryson Whitehead: I honestly needed that. I had an amateur fight booked prior to the audition and I don’t think I did enough in the fight to prove I was worthy to join the Summit.

Following his amateur match, Whitehead immediately signed a contract with MMA Hype Promotions and didn’t waste time calling out a much experienced fighter for his first appearance. He had something to prove.

Whitehead: I simply couldn’t stay still and I didn’t want that rejection to affect my goal. I want to be known as an elite fighter one day. I know I still have a long way to go, but I will take all the baby steps needed to get there. The MMA Hype crew took me in and didn’t go easy on me. They warned me that they wouldn’t give me any easy fights, and I was okay with it.

His first MMA Hype fight was against a 25 years old wrestler who was known to be very dangerous with ground and pound. Whitehead went into that fight with the wildest gameplan and pulled guard early in the first round.

Whitehead: I honestly don’t know why I pulled guard against that wrestler. I just felt like my reach disadvantage would play against me, so I figured, why not just try to out grapple that guy. Yes, he was a superior grappler, but I still had something to prove. It worked well though. As soon as I pulled guard, I looked for an opportunity, and I did manage to get the top position. I felt comfortable and basically just told myself, you either submit him, or he does, so don’t stop until you succeed.

The odd gameplan worked. Whitehead locked an arm triangle after the 3 minutes mark of the fight and shocked the fans. A lot of people had put bets on his opponent to win, which made this an even better underdog story. That fight made some waves in the division, and put Whitehead way up in the 155 ranking. The next day, he was called out by an aspiring elite fighter, and they both agreed to the fight.

Whitehead: After my unlikely win, I was so pumped. The adrenaline stayed with me for at least a week. Then my manager calls and tells me there’s a tougher fight being offered. I didn’t even think. Another chance to prove myself? Let’s do this. I signed on the fight, then I looked at a few videos of this guy and knew I’d have to up my game on this one.

His new opponent was Sage Rochester, a highly trained Muay Thai fighter with a purple belt in BJJ. This was literally Whitehead’s biggest test. Rochester excelled where Whitehead was only decent. Back to the drawing board he went. He updated his training schedule and tried to find flaws in his new opponent’s game.

Whitehead: The one thing we focused on prior to the Rochester fight is the standup game. We knew he was going to want to bring the fight to the ground, he had a huge grappling advantage over me, so all I could do was hope to out-strike him and maybe catch him clean somehow. When the first started, I missed a few strikes then he easily took me down. This early in the fight, that was clearly not how we had planned it. I managed to survive, but of course, he clearly won that round. 

Second round, same thing. He takes me down early and we go back at it. This time, I tried something different. I started to move more and tried for submissions off my back. Didn’t work, of course, but it made him struggle a lot more, and the ref eventually stood us back up. I felt Rochester a little more hesitant after that. The rest of the round, we stayed standing and it was clear that I had won the round.

Round three went a little differently. We exchanged on the feet a little more, then Rochester pulled guard, which I did not expect at all. He changed his gameplan and was now trying to submit me from the bottom. He got the best of me for a few minutes, but towards the end, I got desperate and knew I needed to show something, so I tried to get a better position and also tried for submissions. It made me look like a good grappler, and I think that’s all I needed to win the round.

Whitehead won that fight via unanimous decision, and it was a close one. That win put him at the very top of the 155 division. 1 more win, and he gets a shot at the title. Who would have thought that a Summit reject would be that quick to become a contender?

The ending of the story will write itself next month.

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