Nuanced. - 92. Chad Anheliger: Canadian UFC Bantamweight Fighter

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

Chad Anheliger tells Aaron about how he became a mixed martial artist, how MMA has influenced his life outside the cage and his journey into the UFC. Chad also talks about his new gym opening, what you can expect in 2023 and the potential for him to be on a UFC Canada fight card.   In this video, Chad Anheliger shares his journey to become a UFC Bantamweight fighter. Chad shares his tips on how to become a successful fighter, from training hard to staying motivated. He also provides some insight into his experience fighting in the UFC and shares some advice for aspiring MMA fighters. If you're interested in learning more about the journey to become a UFC fighter, then you need to watch this video!  Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://aaronpete.substack.com/Send us a textThe "What's Going On?" PodcastThink casual, relatable discussions like you'd overhear in a barbershop....Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the shownuancedmedia.ca

Chad, it is a pleasure to sit down with you. I'm so excited to be able to speak with you today. Would you mind giving listeners a brief introduction of yourself? Yeah, you bet. My name's Chad and Heliger. I'm a professional M.A fighter. I fight in the UFC. I've been fighting pro for about 15 years, and the last couple years I've been lucky

enough to be competing in the UFC. Brilliant. Can you tell us how did this journey start? When did this come onto your radar? When did it become something you were interested in being involved in? Well, you know, I wanted to start training martial arts after I was done

playing hockey. I was already athletic and competitive guy, but after hockey was kind of done for me, I came from really small town. So we didn't have any kind of other athletics. Once hockey was done and I couldn't go any first, than that, I walked into my first MMA gym.

I was basically hooked ever since when I walked in there. I knew it was something I really wanted to be a part of. I wanted to learn. And then as I was learning, you know, I started doing a little bit more competing. And one thing led to another. And then I had a pro career on my hand. And then even, you know, making the UFC was never really the goal from the start. But as I started having more success and getting closer,

I realized I could actually make that a reality. And then I made that to focus. and now we're here. You train out of Alberta. Can you talk a little bit about where you come from your roots, finding that gym, and what you saw in it? Yeah, like I'm originally from a small town called Consort, Alberta. We only have a population of like 700 people.

That's where I grew up and went to high school and all that stuff. And then I went away to school and ended up in Calgary. I was probably 19 or something like that when I finally first walked into my first gym. And this was a long time ago, so back then, I mean, I just kind of looked up a gym and found one and went in there. It was called Canuckles. It's not around anymore. But that's where I first walked in and got my first introduction into MMA. And then eventually I was able to find a more established gym with better pedigree and coaches and teammates and Champions Creed. And that's where I've been ever since is training of Champions Creed.

What aspect stood out to you? There's grappling. There's striking. There's so many different assets. that you're able to develop over time. Was there something initially that pulled you in where you were like, no, I'm hooked? Well, I was always interested in boxing.

Boxing is actually what I thought I wanted to do first. I didn't know it was going to be MMA or not. I thought maybe I wanted to box. And I started there, and it was good. But then when I got my first taste of grappling, I really realized that boxing on its own was not enough in a real fight or especially for MMA. So I kind of switched gears and took on a full, you know,

MMA aspect to my training. I'm lucky. I'm one of the guys that did that early on. Most people come from a more distinguished background. They had years of whatever Muay or wrestling and then they add MMA. But I basically from day one I've been training MMA

so that's why I have such a round full rounded skill set. Brilliant. Is there somebody at that time that was inspiring you when you're starting to train? Is there somebody you were looking to for inspiration? Not really. No, not really.

When I first, like I said, it kind of came organically. When I first started training, I just wanted to learn martial arts. And then as I was learning it and getting in shape, I wanted to start testing that in some, you know, tournaments and things like that. And then eventually it evolved an amateur fight, which evolved from there. So I wouldn't say, you know, there was one person that I, you know, was obsessed with being like or that motivated me. I just kind of organically got to where I am on my own. Fascinating. Through working out, through being able to build your body, I think you start to learn things about yourself and I think that that's why as fans were so intrigued because the journey you go on in a fight career is how people sometimes feel in their work life or if they're trying to overcome something or grow, develop a new skill or something. How did training MMA sort of shape how you think about things in your personal life or in your life generally? Well, one of the things I love about training and martial arts is that, you know, it's a very clear reality.

So sparring and things that come with real training really show you where you're at very clearly. There's no sugar-coating. There's no making excuses. The results are the results. So if you're losing and sparring and in tournaments and things like that, then you need to make the adjustments so that you start to win. And so the real-time feedback of the results in sparring, tournaments, competitions, fights, things like that is what really keeps me motivated to do better and be better because you can't just trick yourself and say you're doing the right things.

If you're doing the right things, you wouldn't be losing. So it's like a very clear, you know, very clear reality check that sometimes you don't get out of other things. You can kind of tell yourself in work or personal life that you're doing the right things and you can kind of make excuses for why things might be happening the way they are. But in fighting, in martial arts, the proof is in the pudding. If you can't do it in reality, when it counts, then you need to change something. Brilliant. What aspect have you noticed it impacts, like, how do you think about fighting?

How do you think about a fight coming up? Are you a person who's got a six-week camp, preferably? How do you sort of put together a fight camp? Well, that's changed throughout my career. You know, when I was younger, I was just really just trying to add skill sets as fast as I could. I was improved my jiu-jitsu, improve my wrestling, all these things. But now, later in my career, when I take a fight, the number one goal is get as fit and be as healthy as I can so that I can perform that night. I used to overtrain a lot.

And the Chad that was getting into the ring or the cage that night, I was just, you know, I was too hard on myself in training camp. and I was I just wasn't putting my best foot forward a lot so now outside of training camps I'm working on skills all the time trying to get better but as soon as I sign that dotted line I'm getting in shape and I'm making sure my body is 100% ready to go for that fight so yeah it's kind of a mindset shift no more fun in training no more trying out new moves I do what I do best and I get in shape and I make sure I can do it it's fascinating because that's one of the challenges it seems like is balancing you want to be

as sharp as possible you want to train as hard as you can and that's often the mindset i think people bring is like give it everything you have but you have to balance that to make sure that you can show up to the fight with as minimal injuries as possible so you're giving the best of yourself on that night and it seems like a very difficult thing to balance yeah you know you definitely you just can't balance it when you're younger you need more experience so i've had a lot of fights you know my next part would be my 20th fight i think yeah 20th fight so i've got a lot of experience and i've seen the realities of overtraining into a fight, overthinking my training into a fight, all kinds of things. And I've really got it fine-tuned into a process now where I know how long I need

to get into the peak physical shape I need, and I know how to take care of my body along the way. I know when to work on new skills and develop weaknesses. I know when to train and focus on my strengths. And it's a real process, but I've got training camps really dialed in. I know how to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward. brilliant you have coaches and in life most people don't have coaches they don't have somebody able to give them real honest sincere feedback on where they can improve where they can grow where they don't take that personally because often when we hear that we're doing something wrong that we're saying it the wrong way we take it personally what has that been like to work with your coaches can you talk about the relationship you have with them yeah it's all about you know honesty and accountability um i will always put everything i can into my training and into the techniques that I'm shown. And there's times that certain techniques and things and strategies work for some people and not for others, some body types and not for others. And then even versus an opponent that might change things too. So you have to have,

you know, full trust in your coach because the coach is making these decisions and you have to kind of, you can't put yourself 100% into something if you don't believe it. So if my coach tells me, you know whatever it is we need to take this guy down in this fight i'm going to put a hundred percent of my effort in training into my takedowns because i believe what he's saying is the right answer and we have trust with each other so um you know and the same thing goes from my coach he's seen me through training always he knows that i do well he knows that i don't do well uh and the things that we talk about come from a place of you know trust and accountability so in between rounds if my coach tells me something that's what i'm going to focus on because i trust uh the opinion

know his opinion comes from a place where he's been watching and understands me really well. So you have to have a lot of trust if you ever want to actually fully commit to something and get better at it. You have to come from a place of trust. Otherwise, you just won't fully commit in the same way. So, yeah, we have a really strong relationship. That's so important. And I think people miss out on that and then they're not able to grow and improve because

they're so stuck with their mindset, their mentality, and to balance that out and to be able to balance ideas off of people. It's just it's a way to help yourself improve and have feedback from somebody who wants the best for you. And I think that we just regular people sometimes miss out on that. Definitely. I mean people, coach is a lot of things. But it's kind of a mentor in a way in some ways. But in a lot of ways, a coach is really just kind of a compass showing you the direction. You know, you still have to do the work. You still have to go there. A coach won't do it for you and I feel like sometimes people are looking for that type of solution

they want to lose weight, they want to get in shape, they want to do whatever, they run out and hire a coach to do that for them but it doesn't work like that. A coach can show you the direction and tell you what they think you need to do but you still need to do it so I feel like people need a good balance so a coach

is great but the reality is the on you as a person so people out there try to take the shortcut, hire coaches and then blame them when things don't go the way. It doesn't work like that. You've got to look in the mirror. Absolutely. You're a person, I would say, with a lot of mental fortitude. I feel like your mind, you don't get to see it, but your mind is incredibly strong. And seeing you go into fights and really persevere, adapt, and change is just so fascinating to me.

Can you talk about where that comes from, where you've developed that? Is that in the gym just grinding it out? Is that reflecting? How do you develop that strength? I developed it out of necessity because the guys I'm fighting, especially at this point in my career, that's some of the best athletes in the world. It's something I never claimed to be the biggest, strongest, fastest, most athletic. It's not something that I have for a skill set.

Not that I'm not on that athletic, but it's not my highest skill level. I have to figure out a way to beat guys that are more physically gifted than me. and I've been doing that for a long time, but I really haven't figured out on what works. I know the most effective techniques in a fight, and I spend the majority of my time training those techniques, not training other things because I don't want to put a lot of time and energy into something that's not going to have the same payoff.

So for me, I'd rather spend all my time and energy on things like my jab, my low kick, an overhand right, maybe a couple takedowns, maybe a couple takedown defenses. Beyond that, I'm kind of wasting the time of my training, so I train really efficiently into the most effective techniques. I make them as good as I can possibly make them, and I usually find a way to beat guys that are a lot more athletically gifted than me.

So, yeah, I'm a pretty cerebral fighter. It would be the term, you know, I think about my fights a lot. I think about strategies and ways to beat these guys that are, you know, technically in some ways better than me, but I find a way to win most of the time. That actually reminds me. I don't know if you followed David Goggins at all, but he talks about that as well, this mindset of being able to not look at your gifts because sometimes people use that as a crutch. They view it as, well, I have this gift. Perhaps Connor McGregor is an example of a person who relies on one thing and that being their gift. And then when that doesn't work, when that doesn't show up, who are you without that? And obviously he's shown that he's a skilled person. but that challenge of having that one thing

can actually limit the person to seeing what else they can be good at. Well, you can actually use it to your advantage and this is what I typically do is I go against a really strong explosive opponent. It's a very typical MMA-style opponent and I will make them work so hard in the first round and now come round two and three

they're not stronger than me and they're not more athletic than me and now they don't know what to do because they're usually stronger and they're usually more athletic. So you take away something that's their strength and then you'll find sometimes their foundation isn't really there to support that. So that's a tool I use all the time, especially against really strong people.

I just make them use as much of that strength as early as I can, and then the fight's really mine for the taking up for that. That's a brilliant strategy. You also have to be ready to go dig deep, and I'm just curious as to what that journey is like. Is it people talk about how it's different in a real fight versus training camp, the experience that you have. What has that been like?

Yeah, I mean, you always have different motivators when you're fighting. The number one motivator will always be somebody's throwing punches at your head and trying to hurt you. So there's an obvious reaction to that. But when it comes to my fight, what makes me really have confidence in myself and confidence that I can dig deep is because I do it in training. I dig deep in training every chance I get. I find those moments in training where I know that there's an opportunity for me to really push to the next level. And I'll always take those opportunities. So, you know, if there's a bunch of guys lined up

and everybody's picking partners around, every single time I'm going to pick the hardest, most physically empowering person that there is to really wear me out. And I look for that constantly so that when I find it in the ring and in the cage for fights, it's not new to me. So I push myself in training into deep waters often,

and that's why it's nobody deal with me when I'm in the cage. How much of that transitions into your life, this ability to look at the easy path, the simple path, and say, no, I'm going to do this, take the hard path and take it seriously and put my best foot forward? How much do you think people are able to pull out of that and adapt it to their everyday life? Martial arts has done so many wonderful things from my life to my mindset, my confidence, the way I attack problems, the way I am able to. to push myself into new situations with confidence. Yeah, martial arts training is the absolute best way to improve the other aspects of your life. I'm better in my relationship.

I'm better in my job. Martial arts really gives me the mental capacity and strength and discipline and just everything you need for day-to-day life, everything you need comes. It is a big staple in martial arts training. So I see it every day. It's why I love teaching. that's why I love helping people find martial arts because it doesn't have to be at the level of UFC professional fighter,

although that does amplify those things. So it's a good thing, but even at the lowest level, people will find ways to relate martial arts training to literally every single day of their life. Can you talk about that? Can you talk about how it's impacted your relationships, just how you approach your life? I mean, a lot of it just comes down to confidence.

I have a confidence in myself because I push myself I push myself into new scary situations all the time so when they arise in my day-to-day life I'm not as scared I know that you know the worst thing

I've been through some of the worst things that can happen and they're not that bad you build it up in your mind a lot so I'm confident to walk into any room and talk to anybody about anything because I just have confidence in myself as a person you know myself

into these situations that really you have to dig deep and I always end up coming out on top so I've just really got a confidence that I'm out of the situation I can count on myself to show up and do well at it so I mean maybe it's something that's maybe more personal to me but yeah the more I've pushed myself and challenge myself in martial arts the less scary any other challenges seem

I definitely agree with you because you're facing for sure for yourself you're facing some like an unthinkable circumstance for average people. Stepping into a cage and knowing that the person wants to take you out in any way that they can and you have to protect yourself and you have to, at the end of the day, try and beat them. And that's an incredibly intimidating circumstance that for most people is unfathomable. You talk about being a cerebral fighter. I'm just interested in how you balance looking at your fights and not criticizing yourself too hard.

It seems like the balance that's incredibly hard for most people is being able to look at where we can improve but not going so far as to see that we're not worth anything that seems to be the challenge i hear from so many people how do you approach that in a balanced way yeah i mean you have to be able to give yourself a break you know every retrospectus is a good and a bad thing when you're looking back yourself and whether it's a fight a decision i made in a fight or a decision i made to training camp for a fight uh whatever it is i just i'm not that hard on myself. I don't think people should be because the reality is at the time you made the best decision you could on the information available. So at that moment, I thought I was making the right

choice. In the end, maybe it ended up not being, but I'm not going to go back and beat myself up about that because me in the present knows more than I did in the past. So it's not fair to compare the two. So I give myself a break. Making no decision is the worst thing. So I make the best decision I can in the moments and I go with it. And then that's what I think keeps my progress. that's going. I know I learn more. That's why my experience, a lot of people have experience, but I feel like I can really utilize my experience because I don't beat myself up about mistakes or wrong decisions. I just use them to make a better decision next time. That seems like an example that other people can take away from this is that it's a benefit to understand what happened,

but to take advantage of that as an opportunity. And you just seem like the type of person who's able to go, okay, then I'm going to go train that in the gym. Then I'm going to go. work on that, then I'm going to go grow that skill in this new way because I have this new understanding and not focus just on what it should have coulda, it could have been this way or could have been that way. Yeah, absolutely. I'm not going to waste time and energy, you know, thinking about what could have been. It's just you got to deal with what you have now and make the best of it. So yeah, I've gotten pretty good at that, but it's definitely something that applies to a lot of things in life, I think. Absolutely. Can you tell us about

you've had, you have a unique career that most people can even imagine. And so I'm just interested some of the milestones in your career can you talk about? Can you tell us about getting chosen to do Dana White's Contender Series? How you thought about that during that period? Yeah, I mean,

the career has been a real it's been a roller coaster in some ways, but it's funny, once I finally felt pretty happy with my career and pretty content and satisfied. And, you know, when I won my second belt in Canada and I had two-way classes and I was pretty happy with what I'd done. I had a lot of respect to within the community and from my peers. It's like as soon as I

took some of the pressure off myself, that's when all of a sudden I got an opportunity on the contender series. I was like, oh, well, I mean, that's really cool. I'm already happy with my career, but hey, let's do it. And then I won that and then I get a contract and then I get, you know, a debut and I win that in the UFC. And it's like, wow, as soon as I took a lot of the pressure off myself the positive things really just started flowing and and picking up momentum and now it's just more and more and more and it's just a great feeling I'm really really satisfied really happy with my career and everything from this point on and I even said this a couple years ago but everything from this point on is just cherries on top man because I'm already really satisfied and got

gone a lot out of martial arts in my career and it just doesn't seem to be ending so I'm going to keep going. Yeah, and I think that that's also so valuable to go into it just like open arms ready to accept wherever things go, but you're ready. And that's such a difference for some people who want to be here, who want to succeed over there, who think they deserve X, Y, and Z, is they're missing that just ability to accept the moment and just bring your best self every single time. I'm interested to know what it meant to you to be able to succeed in those moments because that's incredibly stressful, incomparable to any day in the life of a normal job where your boss is saying, oh, we're looking at maybe a promotion for you. This is incomparable

because it's everything like in that moment is going to be decided on that night. It's not like they're going to go deliberate for two weeks. What was that experience like? You know, it's hard. I struggle with being able to really look back and I feel great about those moments because I'm always looking to the next thing. I'm always looking to do better and keep progressing So a reflection on those things is something I'm actually not very good at. But, you know, I get moments of it. And it's usually the day after, you know, you're on the airplane home or something. You're just kind of like sitting to yourself, be like, wow, you know, I really, you know, I really did something great.

And I'm really just, it's not about being proud, but it's like I'm very happy that I'm able to do something at such a high level. It's like more grateful than I'm able to do that because a lot of people just. just aren't and um you know a lot of people i hate to say it but they go to dig down deep and they come up empty handed and for myself i've never been able to dig deep enough i just always keep coming up with more and more so i'm just very grateful that uh i'm able to perform at such a high level i'm able to perform in my you know relationship life my work life my fight career i've just you know a person that can do a lot and i'm grateful that i'm able to and i'm going to keep, you know, burning the candle.

Everybody says at both ends, but I'm doing all four sides all the time because I'm capable of it. So I'm just more thankful than anything. It also sounds like you have some peace about all of this, that you're able to soak in the positive and appreciate it as sort of a journey and not have that definitive. If I don't get here, then what? It seems like you're able to just enjoy the path that you're on. Yeah, I've just got some good balance in my life.

I have a lot of great things going on. I'm opening my own gym, my own Champions Creek gym, and I'm really excited about that. I've got a great relationship with my girlfriend, Jenny. I've got my fight career going great. So the more things that are happening positive in my life, it takes some of the pressure off the other ones. You know, if my UFC career quit today,

I have an awesome opportunity in my own gym that I'm excited about. If my gym went under today, I have an awesome career in the UFC I can look forward to. I just have these other things and it lessens the pressure on the individual things. Can you tell us about this gym? Can you tell us about what inspired you to do this? Yeah, I mean, I've always wanted to. I've always wanted to.

I've been lucky enough to partner with my coach, my longtime gym Champions Creed. We're opening a second gym here in Calgary, and I'm going to be the one running and founding it. And things are awesome. We're building it as we speak. It's going to be open in a couple months here in Silver Springs. And yeah, it's just another awesome positive thing in my life right now. Brilliant. Can you tell us about that debut for the UFC?

what was that like to be able to have a real crowd rather than starting perhaps more in the apex? Yeah, no, it was awesome. That's the type of energy that I feed off of. I'm a type of fighter that really reacts well to that. Not everybody does. Some people prefer the smaller venues, but not me. I love hearing the crowds. It gets me fired up.

And, yeah, I perform my best in those situations. Brilliant. We're hearing a lot about UFC Canada. We're hearing that they may be coming back. How do you feel about that? Can we expect you to see you next fighting in your home country? If UFC comes to Canada, I'm going to be on the card, guaranteed. Brilliant.

No matter which province they end up choosing, hopefully, BC. Yep, yeah, I'll go anywhere. Hopefully it's Calgary, but I make to travel out to BC or Toronto, wherever it is. Yeah, Canada's got a lot to look forward to with our current fighters, and I really want to be, I really want to lead the way. So the UFC would be insane not to put me on a candidate card, so I'm sure that's going to be happening. I couldn't agree more.

You're in one of the deepest divisions that there is, and I don't think that's really disputed anymore. Is there any names that stand out to you right now? Is there anybody who just sort of impresses you or you're enjoying their energy in your division? You know, that's a great question, because there's such a diverse skill set and people through the division that I look at all these matchups.

I honestly I feel great about every single one like I I'm not just saying that like I love the test that every different person brings but I'm looking at matching up fights when I'm looking at signing a fight the number one thing on my list is excitement I want an exciting fight so I want somebody with a lot of skills and who's going to bring it and that we're going to put on a great show that's all I care about so find me who's going to really bring me a fight and we'll put on a great one I couldn't agree more I definitely think that you've got that energy as well that's able to bring so much many different facets to your game that makes it so engaging every time you don't know where it's going to go and the person i also think of is like a michael chandler who's able to bring that like you just don't know what's going to happen and that makes it so intriguing uh for viewers definitely definitely that's how i want to be remembered you know half the people on every night are going to win so you have to differentiate yourself from that half still you need to be uh doing something more than just winning brilliant can you tell us what advice do you have for people you have unique perspective because you know you experience highs and lows that are very different than

most people you perform in front of a lot more people than anyone could ever imagine what what advice do you have for people when they're trying to succeed at their nine to five or they're trying to take steps to follow their dreams yeah it's tough you know my my advice usually comes from you know martial arts and competitive experiences because that's what I have the most of. But I mean, the more that you push yourself and test yourself, the more you're going to learn and be better for the next one. So even taking a test or taking on something at work or a project or something you're not confident in, even if you take it on and fail, that means you're more equipped to do it the next time. And if it happens again, you're even more equipped

for the next time. So the only way to actually be able to achieve something is sometimes is to fail out at it a few times. So people just need to get out of their comforts. own only positive things happen when you get out of your comfort zone that reminds me of jocco willing who talks about he has this motivational clip that's just he was a navy seal and he says didn't get the job you wanted good more time to get better didn't get the opportunity you wanted good more time to learn more time to study and we get so used to saying that we need to just keep going like this that we don't see it as an opportunity like maybe i didn't think of that maybe i didn't think of this thing over here. Maybe I can continue to grow and we forget that the journey is way better than

the destination. Absolutely. Absolutely. There's no, the only wrong move is no move. So you need to just try things. You need to push yourself. That's how to get better. Absolutely. Can you tell people how they can connect with you, how they can follow you, how they can keep up to date with everything you've got going on? Yeah, the best way to keep track and me is on Instagram. The Monster underscore CA. Keep following our gym, championscrete.ca.ca. They have Instagram as well. That's where you're going to find everything about me. That's where I post my fight stuff. And that's where I'm going to put progress in the new gym. So check it out. I really appreciate you being willing to do this. I know that you're heading off to training,

but it's such a pleasure to be able to sit down with you. I'm really excited about UFC Canada. And if you're on the card, I'm definitely going to be there. So I appreciate you coming on and sharing such wisdom, such good advice for people who are trying to take those positive steps. Yeah, thanks for having me on. It's a lot of fun.