Finding the drive to win again

Joe Keesick of North Spirit Lake First Nation just turned 25 years old in July. He celebrated his birthday in Lethbridge, Alberta, then packed up his car and made the drive back to Ontario.
He is headed to Burlington, Ontario to scope out a training center.
“There is a Tapout gym there,” Keesick explained. “My last fight in June, I met a coach and he invited me to come down to Burlington.”
Keesick has been a mixed-martial arts (MMA) fighter since he was 19 years old. Prior to his decision to pursue MMA, Keesick played a lot of hockey.
“I played hockey for ten years, I thought I would make it to the NHL but it never happened,” Keesick said.
Keesick has resided in different towns and cities. He was born in Winnipeg, lived in Ear Falls, stayed in North Spirit Lake for some summers, and spent a few years in Thunder Bay. He graduated from high school in Thunder Bay and eventually found himself in Lethbridge, Alberta not too long after graduation.
It was around this time that Keesick first took notice of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – one fighter in particular stood out to him.
“Tito Ortiz, he was the champ when I first started watching,” Keesick said. “He was just destroying guys left and right with his wrestling, he was the scariest looking guy in the whole world.”
Keesick soon learned that a lot of people were making a living off of fighting, and he felt he was automatically drawn to MMA.
“I knew right away, that’s me! I knew as soon as I saw it,” Keesick explained. “I never became a fighter, I was born one.”
Keesick figures that he gets his fighting-nature from “a rough life” but credits it for making him stronger. Growing up, he also watched a lot of action movies starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagull and Bruce Lee.
After making his decision to pursue MMA as a career, he learned he did not have as much support as he thought he would.
“I wanted to be a MMA fighter and no one thought it was a good idea, they weren’t too supportive of it,” Keesick expressed. He felt he was alone in his decision but he had faith in himself that he could become successful in MMA.
Keesick was quick to become one of the toughest amateur MMA fighters out of Lethbridge, Alberta. When he went professional in 2011, his fight record was four wins, zero losses.
“I couldn’t believe it, with every fight I was reaching a new level. I could see punches coming at me, slow them down and dodge them,” Keesick said as he thought back to his fights. “I felt like Neo off of The Matrix,” he laughed.
Keesick said that it is hard to believe he is watching himself when he views his old fights. He was soon thrown into a world of VIP treatment, plenty of gifts, money, and never-ending party invites.
“People said I was poised for the UFC and I believed it,” Keesick said. “Now I am on the worst losing streak from hell.”
His fight record since turning pro is now four wins and three losses.
“I felt on top of the world after my first wins, people wanted to interview me. People were praising me for my success. I was being invited to this party, that party. I was given free tickets to everything and girls wanted to date me. I didn’t focus on my training the last three fights and it showed, in the losses it showed.”
Keesick admits to having been caught up in the fame and adulation of his early success as a pro-MMA fighter.
“When you win fights, you are praised. When you lose fights, it’s like they treat you as if you aren’t good enough anymore,” Keesick said.
So Keesick is on his way to find a new place to train, having accepted the June invite of a coach from Burlington who was at his last fight in Edmonton.
“Something is just telling me that I have to go down there. It’s an opportunity,” Keesick said about the gym in Burlington. “The coach saw something in me, and invited me to come check out the gym. UFC fighters train there, and people will want to pay me to train them as well. I can make a decent living off of it.”
Keesick had a fight scheduled for September 7 in Calgary but he received a call from the promoter who said his opponent had backed out of the fight.
“I have a lot of guys who back out of fights against me,” Keesick said, but he isn’t worried about his next fight. “I usually fight like five or six times a year. There’s always another fight.”
Keesick plans on training and hopes to find a new home in Burlington. He feels he needs to get away from the life in Lethbridge and focus on his career.
“My (fight) record should be 7-0, not 4-3 – but I didn’t try. I am going to try. I am going to do things differently now.”
“I watch my fights and I see what I am able to do. I need to train again.”