Jon Craig grew up fighting and learning how to fight as part of his father’s boxing club in Lima, Ohio. Wrestling in high school and boxing on the side, Jon grew into a formidable opponent for anyone he steps into the cage with. With an 8-2 amateur record and a pro record of 3-1 with a title under his resume, Craig continues to fight to this day. After having been away from the sport for a short while due to family issues Jon is now back to training and preparing for a return to the cage. An exciting fighter in the cage and an entertaining person, full of life and energy and love for the sport of MMA, Jon Craig is well on his way to becoming a contender for any title in the Mid-West and beyond.

Q.  How did, you get started in MMA?

A. My dad was one of the founders of Spyder's Boxing Club in Lima, Ohio. He started it for kids who needed something to do to help them stay out of trouble. Dad (Dave Craig) was the main coach. I loved going to the gym and learning and sparring, unfortunately mom wouldn't let me fight. I was also the class clown and drove dad nuts. I goofed around a lot during drills but I was still learning, having fun and I was good. I had to sit down a lot. As a kid and even as an adult I have a lot of energy-boxing and MMA help me focus it somewhere. I also wrestled all through high school and was at one time ranked #1 in Lima in my weight class. Boxing and wrestling are a good foundation for MMA. When I turned 18 I started boxing and doing well. Year’s later dad was asked to train Jody Poff and Jerry Po on the boxing part of MMA for a huge fight show in Russia. I went with him, to Jerry's gym in Lima, did some sparring and did well. I have been fighting ever since. I don't tell a lot of people about all of my fights because mom still doesn't like me fighting. She comes to some of them, but I don't want her to worry so I keep some of my fights secret. I still goof around a lot at MMA practice in fact everyone at Team Total Revolution goofs and jokes around a lot. We are serious and work hard but we have a lot of fun working on our sport.

Q.  What is the hardest part of being an MMA fighter?

A. Balancing family, work and practice and a fight schedule is tremendously difficult. Family issues have kept me out of the game for a little while. I have worked 60-70 hours a week, went to practice and fought. I sometimes take my baby girl (Alivia-6) with me to the gym so I can spend time with her. She actually loves watching practice.

Q. What is your strongest discipline?

A. Boxing is probably my most natural strength. I started at the boxing gym when I was Alivia's age and even though I didn't fight until I was 18 I learned a lot. When I did finally start fighting I did well. 4-2 boxing, 3-0 toughman contests and 1-0 kickboxing before I really learned how to kick. I also have good ground game-5 years of wrestling and in recent years I have won a couple of submission grappling tournaments to improve my skills. I am more of a naturally gifted boxer but in recent years I have more wins by submission than by K.O. The best compliment I ever got came from Jessie Austin (Team Total Revolution Coach and one of the most knowledgeable minds in the sport) who said I was one of the most well rounded fighters he has worked with.

Q.  Is the inside leg kick worse than taking a punch?

A. I take leg kicks well but they still hurt. I also take a good punch, but it is obviously better to not get hit or kicked if you can avoid it. That being said-strategically leg kicks can really slow you down and the leg kicks also hurt for a lot longer after the fight. The funniest conversation I ever had with a fighter after a fight was with Mike Damron after our 1st fight. I had hit him with some of the hardest punches I have ever hit someone with. I rocked him and busted him up with punches so hard my hands hurt for a couple of weeks after the fight. I leg kicked him a couple of times (mostly to set up more punches). After the fight we hung out and he says "the leg kicks really hurt." I laughed and told him he was the toughest dude I ever fought. All those hard punches and the leg kicks bothered him. Mike Damron-we have fought twice and probably will yet again. He is a good guy. He has all my respect. I actually consider him a pretty good friend. We always hang out at the Kombat Zone fight shows. When we fight each other we hang out, beat the heck out of each other, and then after we fight we watch the rest of the fights together.

Q.  With only a few fights a year, how badly does a loss hurt your career?

A. A loss is devastating. I am finally on the best win streak of my career (4-0 plus a new belt and 2-0 Grappling), but I have had 3 more fights scheduled that fell through. A loss can derail a career before it gets started. It can destroy a fighter's momentum and a mentally or emotionally fragile fighter may quit. It is important to have good management and coaches. Most importantly a fighter must have confidence and a positive attitude.

Q.  What is the pay scale for an amateur fighter and is the pay worth the pain?

A. My wife says no! Actually the amateur pay scale is no good at all but then I have done pro fights where I did not get paid. When your doctor bills are more than your pay it is frustrating. I did a fight in Kokomo Indiana that I had not told anyone about (including my mom and ex-wife). It was a brutal but awesome fun fight. My opponent and I both ended up in the Kokomo hospital together like something out of a Rocky film. About a month later a doctor bill showed up in the mail. I hadn't told anyone I had gone to the hospital either. I got lectured for a while. I still think it is worth it but I hope to make enough money to make those people lecturing me stop. I would do this stuff for free because I love it but it would be awesome to get paid good for doing what I love.

Q.  What is your biggest career goal?

A. Just to do something in the sport that people would remember me for. Just to have people say Jon Craig was a good, exciting, action packed fighter. I have been ranked in the top 20 in the world as an amateur by the I.S.C.F. (International Sport Combat Federation) and I am ranked in the USA by MMAuniverse.com. After I am done I want to coach. Until Jen got sick I was fighting and helping coach with Team Total Tevolution.

Q.   If you could fight anyone, who would it be?

A. Mike Damron. Style wise we match up perfect to make good, exciting fights. Plus he is someone I like as friend and respect as a fighter and tough dude. I would also fight GSP, or Anderson Silva just to see where I stack up with the best in the world.

Q.  If you were a promoter, what would your money fight be?

A. GSP-Anderson Silva at a catchweight.

Lesnar-Fedor

Penn vs. anybody

Q.  What is your best road story?

A. Before my fight with Mikey Wireman Jessie, (Team Total Revolution Coach) kept asking me what fight shorts I was going to wear. So at practice 3 days before the fight I had on sweat pants. I asked, "Do you guys want to see my new fight shorts?" I then do a very bad stripper dance and reveal that I have on a pair of my wife's pink shorty shorts. Everyone is laughing hard. Except Mark Gordon who is mesmerized (Just kidding-couldn't resist messing with Mark in this interview.) No one would roll with me at practice after that. I would run up to wrestle with them and they would run off the mat. By the way I didn't actually wear my wife's shorts for the fight. I wore my lucky crimson and grey Starter shorts (6-0).

Another time I was fighting Jessie Roby at Full Contact Fight Series 1 at the Kruze auction Center in Auburn, In. Me and my wife had only been dating a short time but she was going to come and watch my fight. I walk out to get my gymbag when 5 beautiful women (FFS had hired strippers from Showgirls in Fort Wayne, In. to be the Round Card girls) go walking by. I am doing the whole head nod, "How are you doing, what’s going on? You going to the after fight party?" When I get to the 5th girl I realize it is the woman I am now married to. No, she is not and was not a stripper (though she could be-she is a hotty)-she just happened to be walking in directly behind them with her brother, Kurt. She starts yelling-"What do you think you are doing?" I am like, "I was just looking for my gymbag." She comes back with, "well it isn't in that girl's shirt." I smile and respond it looks like it could be." Meanwhile her brother is bent over with laughter. That story still makes my wife laugh and gets me in the doghouse at the same time. She gets mad at me sometimes before I do a fight and she'll say- I hope you get your ass kicked. I work even harder to win those fights-now she says it before my fights as a funny form of motivation.

Q.   How long does it take to heal after a fight?

A. I have had everything from a bruised hand to broken ribs. An easy win takes about 1-3 days to fully recover. A tough fight like my 3 round war with Damron can take all of two-three weeks to be all healed up.

Q.   Have you suffered more serious injuries training or fighting?

A. Definitely fighting. Training can be tough but the intensity and adrenaline is so turned up for fights that the damage done is intensified also. I did three fights in a two week span. I won a tournament the week before but by the time I got to the next weeks fight I had badly damaged ribs. I lost that fight because my ribs hurt so bad I couldn't do anything. My wife told me I should postpone that fight but I didn't listen to her (which she is sure to remind me of. lol). A couple of days after that 3rd fight I got x-rays that showed I had broken ribs. Fighters definitely need to take time between fight shows and fights to heal up. When I met my wife I actually had a black eye. A very ugly black eye from sparring. I was preparing to fight Jon Kitzmiller the following week. Jen came and watched me fight and we've been together since. Jen thought I was cute despite the black eye-but she doesn't come to my fights anymore.

Q.   What has been your highest profile fight?

A. Nick Sorg is a good pro. I fought him when I had the rib injury. I have beaten a really excellent fighter named Steve Rollins for the Kombat Zone Welterweight Title. (I am still the only fighter to beat him.) Mike Damron was the Kombat Zone Middleweight champion before and after I beat him twice (for the KZ 170 lb.Title) in two fight of the night type of fights. Stylistically and from a competitive standpoint, Damron is probably my toughest and favorite opponent though. Jessie Roby was a huge fight because it was a huge audience-Wes Sims was fighting on the card, Mark Coleman and Dan Severn were signing autographs and Jen told me she wanted me to get my butt kicked, lol. My fight with Kitzmiller was big because it was my first date with Jen.

Q.   How important are sponsors to amateur fighters?

A. Jessie puts a lot of his own money into Team Total Revolution. Jessie has helped a lot of fighters enjoy good careers through all of his efforts. I am sure lack of sponsorship has probably killed a lot of really promising fight careers. Every fighter and a lot of fans owe guys like Jessie so much. Without guys like him and sponsors the sport would be dead.

Q.   Do you think fighters deserve more of a cut from the gate, PPV and TV revenues?

A. Absolutely. Fighters risk injuries and make tons of sacrifices to entertain people. Meanwhile everyone else is making money off the fighters.

Q.   You are starting your own promotion, who are the first five fighters you sign?

A. Steve Rollins-Young and talented and not many people know about him.

Chris Leben-every fight is exciting.

Chris Henderson-Has been a King of Cage Champ and good stand-up.

Gabe BrooksOne of the best 135 pounders I have seen-Kombat Zone Champ

Mark Gordon-Just watch his fight on YouTube vs. Roman Zehner and you'll see why.

Dave Corbin-Always exciting.

Jessie Austin-would be my fight/ match maker. He has an excellent mind for analyzing fight styles.

Q.   Besides you, who is the best to step into the cage?

A. George St. Pierre

Anderson Silva

But I still prefer guys like Forest Griffin and Chris Lytle and Chuck Liddell and Chris Leben. Not necessarily the best but always have the best fights.

Q.   Do you think MMA has displaced boxing?

A. As a former boxer I think boxing killed itself. MMA is just a slightly more exciting alternative. In MMA there are so many ways to win and lose. There has been less controversy and far better match ups in MMA. Boxing had too many bad decisions and mismatches before fighters fight real competition. In MMA fighters are matched tough right away.

Q.   Do you feel pro a wrestler coming into MMA weakens the sport?

A. Anything that puts the sport in the mainstream is a good thing. Besides as long as the wrestlers can really fight I think it is good. It is just a shame that guys like Lesnar are not more respectful to the sport and to the fans and other competitors. When one person disrespects the sport and fans like that it gives all competitors in the sport a bad rep.

Q.   In the annals of MMA history, what will be said about you?

A. I do not think I will be anything more than a footnote in the history of MMA unless I do something big in the near future. In the end it is not important if I am remembered in the annals of MMA history-just as long as people who got to see me and fighters who fought me remember me. The fans know I gave them their money's worth and the opponents know I gave them one of the toughest fights of their lives. They know I was a fighter-a warrior.

In the end I do not really worry about history. Do not get me wrong it would be nice to be remembered and appreciated but I just hope the fans had as much fun watching my fights as I had doing the fights. I have so much fun fighting that I do not know what I am going to do to replace it when I am done. I am not going to worry about where I fit in as far as MMA history; I am just going to savor each fun moment of this ride for as long as it lasts. Thank you to everyone who has watched me fight, helped me fight, cheered for me, booed me, and fought me. Thank You. Now let's do it all again.