Kevin Burns week 1 blog

Like many of you reading this, I am a born and raised “Iowan” from a small town in western Iowa called, Glidden. My 29 year journey began in a small school where as in Cheers everyone knows your name.  Growing up in small town Iowa seemed boring at the time, but now looking back it was priceless. Living in a place where family values, work ethic, and motivation were a requirement helped fuel me in life. It’s also the place I met my future wife.  All of these core values got put to use during high school. I was fortunate enough to be able to compete in Football, Track, and Baseball. Leaving high school I pursued college football at the University of South Dakota. My stint there wasn’t long due to an unfortunate shoulder injury during my red shirt freshman year. I moved back to Iowa the spring of my freshman year and began attending Simpson College in pursuit of a computer science degree.
 
As 2000 quickly approached technology jobs seemed to be dropping by the second. I made the decision to leave college and enter the workforce with Wells Fargo. In 2003 I started Tae Kwon Do with my sister for fun and to stay in shape. I was curious if the things they had been teaching me really worked so I decided to enter an amateur Kick Boxing event held every Wednesday night at Toad Holler. My life would be changed forever after that night! No one wanted to kick box, but there was a spot at my weight in MMA. I didn’t even know what it was, but said sure whatever I came here to see if Tae Kwon Do was worth anything. Later that evening I would record my first Amateur MMA victory. I didn’t really think twice at that point about doing it again. I went back to work at Wells Fargo and pursued my career.  A year later my opponent requested a rematch. I accepted and truthfully got my a$$ kicked until I verbally tapped. I realized there was a lot more to the game of MMA and I was clueless to what “Jiu-Jitsu” was. I decided after that night I would quit Tae Kwon Do, and learn BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). 
 
As I was learning BJJ I also decided I needed to go back to college to get my Business Degree. I started at William Penn in 2005 while working fulltime at Wells Fargo as a manager in their sales group. As I gained more knowledge about BJJ I began having interest again in striking, but I wanted to do something more useful. Muay Thai kick boxing seemed like a good choice and I was lucky enough to have a good friend willing to teach me. It didn’t take long for me to start getting the itch to fight! The hardest obstacle I needed to overcome was getting my wife on board with the idea. Finally one night over a bottle of wine she agreed and the next day I was on the phone trying to find a fight. When I told her, “Honey I was able to set up my 1st pro fight,” she was in disbelief. Since that 1st fight though, neither one of us have looked back.
 
Throughout my MMA career I have endured numerous injuries, but my goal has remained the same. I want to win a world title! That quest will continue March 13th at HY-VEE Hall in MCC 25 against Justin Demoney. I’m truly excited to have the opportunity to fight back in DSM, and trust me, you’ll all get to see fireworks in the cage!

Follow me over the next seven weeks leading up to my fight, as I share my past and present life in training, and outside of the gym.

- Kevin “The Fire” Burns

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