Dressler making a name for himself in mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts. Cage fighting. Submission bouts. No holds barred.

Whatever you want to call it, Douglas High grad Stan Dressler is quickly climbing the ladder of one of the most rapidly growing sports in the world.

Dressler, 25, knocked out his opponent, John Devine, out in just 28 seconds to claim the No. 1 contender spot for the Native American Super Heavyweight title in a Gladiator Challenge event in Porterville, Calif., last week.

In May, he plans on heading back to Porterville to take on current champ Pete Herrera for the title belt at the Eagle Mountain Casino.

Remarkable, considering last week was only his third fight.

"I'm just treating it as a windor of opportunity right now," Dressler, who graduated from Douglas in 2000 and lives in Woodfords, said. "I wasn't really anybody when I first started, but this last one was a big fight and now people are calling."

The fact that he was even in the fight had a certain "Cinderella Man" quality to it.

Devine's original opponent backed out and Dressler got the call for the replacement.

"Someone backed out and they decided to give me a shot," Dressler said. "I just took it."

And it worked out plenty well.

Mixed martial arts, or cage fighting, became popular in the early 90s with the Ultimate Fighting Championship series.

"That was what inspired me to even consider doing this, was watching the UFC when it first started," Dressler said. "I thought that's something I might like to do some day."

The basic concept of the sport is that it pits competitors with varied fighting styles against each other with minimal rules (i.e. biting, eye gouging, fish-hooking, small joint manipulation and strikes to the groin are illegal and pretty much everything else is allowed).

Victories are awarded by judges' decisions, stoppage by a fight doctor, a submission when a competitor "taps out", when the cornerman throws in the towel or by a knockout.

"It's a free-for-all once you get out there," Dressler said.

Through Dressler's young career " three fights to be exact " he's only known victories.

In February 2004, he forced opponent Warren Rubio into submission in just 1:32 and last July he worked Ronnie Kruger into submission in 1:05 during the King of the Cage "No Holds Barred" event.

With his sub-30-second knockout last week, it would seem Dressler's trend is to work faster and faster.

"I'm just trying to climb up the ladder right now," Dressler said. "I've heard from a lot of people since that last fight and now I'm considering my options. There are a couple of guys I have in mind that I would like to fight in the near future."

Dressler's career, it would seem, has been bolstered by instances of chance.

"I remember someone asking me if I'd ever want to get into those types of fights," he said. "I said I would and they got me in there for my first fight.

"I just went thinking that I'd see how it went and I won. I was pretty nervous when I got out there."

Since that first 2004 fight, Dressler has put together a team of his own, called Stronghold.

"There are a lot of guys that want to fight," Dressler said. "Not all of them want to get into the cage, but they want to fight and test their skill. They are there just to train, but there are a couple guys interested in pursuing it too."

The team numbers around 10 with fighters from Douglas and Alpine County, Carson City and Schurz.

"We get together and do a lot of grappling and submission stuff," Dressler said. "One of the guys we work with out of Carson knows a lot of Jiu-Jitzu, so that adds another element to what we can do."

Along with the Jiu-Jitzu and the moves he picks up from his teammates, Dressler said he has a strong boxing background.

"I've been working with some boxing trainers in Carson and Schurz and I got an invite to go to Las Vegas and work with some guys down there. They'll come up this direction and help me out too."

Financing this young career has been a burden Dressler has carried the bulk of, although he received help from Rupert's Auto Body in Carson City.

"He's the only one who helped me out so far," Dressler said. "I needed some cash and he threw it my way."

Dressler said he will be fighting Hererra for the championship on May 18 curing the Gladiator Challegne "No Limits" event.

"The fight was originally supposed to be in Los Angeles, but I wanted to move it up to Eagle Mountain Casino because they helped get me my first shot. I wanted to move the fight there to help bring some money their way."

Dressler said anyone interested in working with team Stronghold or in sponsoring him can e-mail him at irretrievable_indin@yahoo.com.

"If someone gave me the opportunity to fight in the UFC someday, I'd want to do that," he said. "It'd take a lot more work. I'm just trying to take it a step at a time right now."

With the amount of ground he's covered in so few steps so far, though, it may not take that much longer.