Billy Christianson didn’t know what to expect when he got into the ring for the first time as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
He’s now 2-0, and promoters and managers are calling him all the time.
“This is something I want to do full time,” the International Falls native said. “That’s why I think they’re calling.”
Christianson simply watched MMA on T.V. and wanted to do it. He had an in with fellow fighter Tat “Mean Bean” Romero out of Hibbing, and the duo lived together for 6-7 months to help the training process.
It must’ve helped.
Christianson, a 19-year-old listed at 5-feet-7 and 140 pounds, won his professional debut Aug. 29, 2009 at M.A.X. Fights VI. He won again May 8 at M.A.X. Fights 10, even though he was forced to move up to 155 pounds due to his initial opponent backing out. His two opponents — Carl Klocke and Brandon Tupa — didn’t get out of the first round.
Christianson has plenty of athleticism, and admits to playing football and basketball growing up, but he never participated at the high school level due to his troubles. He didn’t even graduate from Falls High School.
He left FHS after his sophomore year and attended Wadena-Deer Creek. He came back to the Borderland his senior year and took some online courses, but dropped that to work. He eventually got his GED in 2009.
Now he’s working at Canadian National Railway in Ranier and training himself. Getting sponsors is next, along with potentially finding a trainer.
“Now that I’m living here, I’m really training myself, because no one is here to train me,” he said.
Max Fights is one of the many MMA circuits that continues to flourish with the popularity of MMA fighting. Christianson, although still raw as a fighter, expects to get a title fight with Max Fights by next spring at 155 pounds.
That’s the plan, anyway.
“Max Fights treats me pretty good right now,” Christianson said. “It gave me the shot in the first place and they’ve been treating me good.”
