When he took up kickboxing in high school, Sedalia-raised Gauge Young didn’t think it would lead him to a career in MMA.
“I was just doing it for fun, to be honest,” Young said. “I played a football game Friday night and then I would go kickbox on Saturday. It was just something I was kind of into.”
Since then, Young is 7-1 in his professional fighting career and has a shot at making a UFC roster.
However, Young isn’t fighting for fame, fortune and glory. He’s doing it for Sedalia.
“I’m living in Kansas City, but my heart is really with Sedalia,” Young said. “I want to put on for the community and I want to inspire the younger generation to shoot for the stars, you know, and if you miss, at least you tried and you can consider yourself a winner for that.”
Young, a Smith-Cotton alum, played football and wrestled in high school, so he had some downtime during the spring sports season.
To fill some of that downtime, he took up kickboxing after he was introduced to the sport by John Maupins, owner of The Sedalia Body Shop.
Young had his sights on college football, but when that didn’t work out, he turned to kickboxing.
“I kind of got stuck and didn’t really have much to do. I was like a super antsy kid, too,” Young said. “So, I put my wrestling and kickboxing together and as soon as I turned 18, I was like getting into MMA fights.”
Maupins said he could tell Young was going to be a special athlete.
“A couple of practices in, I started telling people he was going to be a superstar,” Maupins said. “I’ve been there long enough to kind of get a feel for who’s kind of got it and who doesn’t. Right from the beginning, I knew he was going to be one of the best.”
Maupins said Young has several attributes and qualities that separate him from many other fighters.
“His power, I mean, not a lot of people that size possess the power,” Maupins said. “He already had a wrestling background, so that was a really important thing, too. So, I knew with his athletic ability and his power that he was going to be able to do some very special things.”
According to his Tapology page, Young fights in the welterweight class and weighed 164 pounds at his last weigh-in. Young stands at 5 feet 9 inches tall.
Young said he believes having a football and wrestling background has helped him become the athlete and fighter he is today.
“If you can wrestle, it’s like a super advantage that a lot of people can have,” he said. “I think football just made me like more of an athlete like as far as cutting and jumping and like being explosive.”
“I’m super well-rounded, to be honest,” Young continued. “I really love the art of like striking, throwing punches and kicks, and knees and elbows. It really appeals to me and my personality type. I have good range control and I have good eyes.”
Young trains twice a day for four days a week.
On Mondays, Young works on his MMA skills, which usually involves practicing his striking.
On Tuesday mornings, Young has jujitsu practice followed by strength and conditioning training in the afternoon. He follows a similar schedule on Thursdays.
Wednesdays are heavy wrestling days, as Young works on wall wrestling in the morning and continues to wrestle during his night session.
Fridays are live sparring days, and Saturdays are open mat days that involve live rolling, a form of sparring. Friday and Saturday afternoons are recovery periods. Sundays are days off.
Young’s coach, Jason High, said Young has one of the greatest work ethics he has seen in the fighters he has coached.
“He’s one of those guys that’s first in the gym every morning,” High said. “He’s super internally motivated, but he’s open to instruction and critique as well. He’s a great kid. It’s my pleasure to work with him.”
Young’s teammates look up to him as well.
“It’s been amazing to watch him progress,” teammate Muhammad Zwolak said. “I’ve been there since he was an amateur. So, just watching him progress and grow has been amazing.”
Zwolak said Young is a tremendous teammate and friend.
“He’s just there for you. Whenever you have a tough fight, he’s there for you throughout the entirety of the camp. If you're struggling with a weight cut, he’s there for you,” Zwolak said. “He’s a good teammate and a good friend. To be honest, I don’t see him as like a teammate anymore, he’s more like a brother to me.”
Young said his training leading up to a fight depends on his opponent.
“If I’m fighting like a heavy grappler, I’ll add extra wrestling rounds, or if he’s really good on the wall, I’ll do extra sessions on the wall,” Young said. “Just having that mental clarity of putting in the work where I needed to put in the work so that way if it does get to this place, I’m prepared for it.”
On fight days, Young looks for ways to calm his nerves, especially when he’s at the end of the card and has hours before his own match. As it gets closer to fight time, Young goes through several scenarios while he warms up.
“The whole time, I’m doing visualization. I’m visualizing the walk. I’m visualizing the good, the bad, all those things,” Young said.
As he walks to the cage, Young said he acknowledges the crowd but is so focused that he doesn’t give it too much energy.
Once he steps into the cage, that’s when it's time to go.
“It’s super surreal, man. You got the bright lights on you. You have the sound of the canvas underneath your feet. All your senses are heightened,” Young said. “You’re scared, but that fear makes you dangerous.”
Young said fighting an opponent is like finding the pieces of a puzzle and putting them together.
“I just want to check all the boxes. Find your feet. Find your jab. Find your low kick,” Young said. “I’m the type of guy like if I can find my jab and I can find my low kick, I feel confidently that I can find anything else.”
Of course, there is no better feeling for Young than winning a fight.
“It’s like a drug. Once you’ve got a taste for it, it’s hard to let it go,” he said. “The feeling of winning a fight, especially putting somebody to sleep, you get that surge of adrenaline.”
Fighting has its highs and lows. Young has won four fights in his professional career via knockout. He’s also had fights where he couldn’t walk the next day.
Then, there are things people don’t see, like the times Young has asked himself the tough questions and times when he has gotten depressed.
“There’s a lot of nasty in this game as well. It’s an unforgiving game,” Young said.
To overcome these challenges, Young reminds himself of why he got into fighting in the first place.
“I have these goals and these aspirations, and this is the way to get there,” Young said. “This is the way I provide financial freedom for the future family I want to have. It’s my skills that I’ve been harnessing, and now it’s my career and I want it to be a fruitful career. I just know if I play my cards right and check all the boxes, I can really be something someday and really inspire a lot of kids in Sedalia.”
“Coming from a small town, we don’t think making it to the UFC and becoming a champion is possible,” Young continued. “Or going to the NFL or MLB. Like, I just want to pioneer and pave the way for them. Like, it’s possible, it doesn’t matter where you come from if you work hard enough. You put yourself around the right people in the right environment, those dreams are attainable.”
Young has won his last two fights and goes for his third straight win on May 3 against Josh Tully, who is 5-5. With a win, Young could land himself on a UFC roster.
“I’m stoked about it. I’m super excited,” Young said. “It’s nerve-wracking and scary, but it’s a healthy fear. This is what I’ve been working for since I was 17 years old.”
According to Tapology, Young ranks No. 74 out of 1,082 pro-welterweights in the United States and No. 4 out of 67 fighters in Kansas and Missouri.
Young, 23, said it means a lot to him to have so much success in his young career.
“It’s motivating, you know, it’s kind of what I’ve always asked for,” he said. “I’m just super grateful and blessed.”
