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Staff Sgt. turns professional MMA fighter

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Rachel Martinez
  • 319th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  By day he is Staff Sgt. David Helmbrecht, a Military Working Dog Trainer with the 319th Security Forces Squadron, but at night he becomes David Helmbrecht, amateur Mixed Martial Arts fighter about to turn professional.

Sergeant Helmbrecht plans on making his MMA fight on May 8, at the East Grand Forks Civic Center, Minn., his professional debut.

MMA is a mixture between numerous forms of martial arts including kickboxing, boxing, Muay Thai, jujitsu, karate, Taekwondo and wrestling. Each fight consists of three, five-minute rounds inside a cage.

"I have been a wrestler since I was in kindergarten," said Sergeant Helmbrecht. "I went on a deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps in 2006 to Africa and the Marines were doing MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) which is a lot like wrestling but it has a lot of submission and grappling and that's when I started."

Since that deployment, Sergeant Helmbrecht started to learn and train in MMA.

"I found out about this fight early March and have been training since then for this upcoming fight," said Sergeant Helmbrecht.

Sergeant Helmbrecht's training includes attending classes at a progressive mixed martial arts gym located in downtown Grand Forks, on Mondays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays and sometimes Wednesdays, he attends boxing classes at the Young Men's Christian Association. On Wednesdays when he is not attending boxing classes, Sergeant Helmbrecht stays active by working out.

"On the weekends I go to downtown Fargo, to the Academy of Combat Arms and do some training there," said Sergeant Helmbrecht. "It's a lot of running, sprints and cardio."

Sergeant Helmbrecht spends at least 12 hours minimum a week training.

"It's tough," said Sergeant Helmbrecht about the amount of training and classes he attends in a week.

On top of the training, Sergeant Helmbrecht works out twice a day.

Even with all the amount of training Sergeant Helmbrecht receives, he is nervous for his upcoming fight.

"It takes a lot to build up the nerves, the nerves to get in a cage and know that you're going to be fighting somebody with more experience," said Sergeant Helmbrecht.

Although he is nervous, Sergeant Helmbrecht thinks he will do well in the cage.

"I am way more prepared than my opponent," said Sergeant Helmbrecht.

Both Sergeant Helmbrecht and his opponent will fight at 145 pounds.

Sergeant Helmbrecht has been in the Air Force for almost 10 years and is originally from Milbank, S.D.