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Saturday, March 1, 2008
Where Are They Now?
Eastern Oklahoma, OK
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Mikey Burnett has overcome all sorts of adversity to form new beginnings as a fighter and instructor of mixed martial arts
Located on 51st and Mingo is Apollo's Gym, home of the legendary Dale "Apollo" Cook, a training facility for some of Tulsa's toughest fighters, grapplers, wrestlers and athletes, a place to fight, and learn about M.M.A. - better known as Mixed Martial Arts. It is arguably one of the fastest growing sports around the world, one of the most popular sports on pay for view, and one of the biggest draws at casinos all over the country.
Mikey Burnett is better known as "The East Side Assassin" around the MMA circuit. Locally, Burnett teaches and trains kids to compete, learn martial arts, and has planted his roots here. Burnett grew up right here in T-town. A Nathan Hale graduate of 1991, Burnett began to wrestle when he was eight years old, idolizing some of the greats like Cowboy Bill Watts and Danny Hodge, while he and his siblings would be glued to the TV watching Mid-South wrestling. Passionate and dedicated to the sport of wrestling, Burnett grew and achieved much success at Tulsa Hale and at N.E.O. During the last 15 years, Mikey Burnett has faced his share of adversity and struggles. Burnett has had a bout with drugs and alcohol in the past and had to overcome many challenges in putting his life back together.
For Burnett, it’s a brand new beginning and a chance to expose his knowledge and talents and share something with the community that he came from. A chance
to save the sport of wrestling, and a chance to teach a combination of mixed martial arts and wrestling.
“There are so many different forms of martial arts and techniques that are involved in mixed martial arts - Judo, ju jitsu, tae-kwando combined with freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman,” Burnett said. “These variety of techniques feed off each other to build a winner. We have had kids that come out that have never participated in any sport and have found their niche. We also have kids who wrestle in high school and want to gain more experience in the mixed martial arts arena.”
Mikey Burnett has so much to offer in this program with his knowledge and experience in the mixed martial arts, as a fighter and a coach, professional and as an amateur. Burnett teaches more than just fighting. He shares valuable knowledge about life, work ethic, self discipline and setting personal goals.
Mikey Burnett also understands how to cope with making mistakes and correcting them and remaining confident.
"We all make mistakes everyday,” he said. “Those things happen and that is a part of life. The key is to learn from them and move on, and stay confident and remain
focused.”
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| krhern - 5:55 am CDT on Sat, Mar 29 | report profanity/abuse |
|  | This dude looks tough! |
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