Fight Path: Strikeforce's Casey Olson returns to MMA after soul-crushing loss of father
As a freshman in high school, Casey Olson was small, but determined.
"I was 100 pounds soaking wet," Olson told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com), "but I made varsity (wrestling)."
Olson's father, who went through a rough patch when Olson was in elementary school, had stabilized his life and had coached his son. Heading into his sophomore year, Olson wanted to improve, so his father did some extra drilling at the house, with the couch pushed aside in the living room.
"So one time we're working on defense because he said I was babying it," Olson said. "He was pissing me off. So he shoots in, and cross-faced him as hard as I could, and I literally gave him a bloody nose. His glasses got knocked off.
"He said, 'That's how I want you to do it,' while he was grabbing his nose. He said, 'Great, do it one more time, on your uncle Max.'"
With such hard-nosed coaching through his youth, as well as close-knit parenting, Olson's father helped guide him on a path that could eventually make him a formidable mixed-martial-arts fighter.
Now, after taking the summer off to deal with the effects of his father's death from an unexpected heart attack at age 53, Olson, 29, is preparing to make his return in a 155-pound fight at "Strikeforce Challengers: Evangelista vs. Gurgel" on Nov. 6 in his hometown of Fresno, Calif.
Olson (10-3) hopes the fight is another step on his climb to stardom that began when he started traveling the two and a half hours from Fresno and San Luis Obispo to train with current WEC stalwart Antonio Banuelos. That training eventually earned him the notice of Chuck Liddell, who trained at the same gym, and Liddell encouraged Olson to start his career.
It's a career that was nearly ended prematurely by the death of Olson's father, but "The Underdog" – who had his first day of training on Monday – has rediscovered his passion for the sport from his time off.
"I went back to bartending and serving; I went back to a normal life," Olson said. "Now I'm back. I have a clear head, and I'm ready to move forward."
A father's coaching
Olson was in third grade when the father he idolized was sent to prison for some form of financial embezzlement. He says he still doesn't exactly know the circumstances, only that he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle.
Two years later, when his father was released, Olson returned to him immediately.
"He was my best friend, my mentor, everything," Olson said. "He obviously didn't do some things right, but he was still my dad. He always supported me, and we had a very close bond."
Olson heard stories about his father's past athletic achievements while growing up, which got him interested in wrestling. By seventh grade, Olson was old enough to join his first organized team, and without a coach, the team turned to his father for leadership.
Olson toughened by his sophomore year, aided by the impromptu practices in the family's living room, but a broken elbow cut short his season. As a senior, Olson appeared in a state semifinal match, and he was winning. There were seven seconds left, and he was up 7-3 when an opponent's move broke Olson's ankle.
There were two significant injuries that both played roles in keeping Olson from his high school wrestling goals, and it was adversity he would remember.
Following high school, Olson spent two seasons wrestling at Fresno City College before transferring to Fresno State University, where he finished his career in 2004 at 149 pounds.
Not long after finishing his college career, Olson started working at an Italian restaurant in Fresno to pay the bills, but he always wondered what it would be like to continue some preliminary jiu-jitsu training he tried with Banuelos, his old Fresno City College teammate.
Dealing with death
For awhile, Olson could never seem to shake Banuelos. As he traveled more and more to San Luis Obispo to train with Banuelos, he became more friendly with Banuelos and Liddell, who trained at the same gym.
"One day Chuck comes up to me and he says, 'You're not getting tapped as much; I think this is something you could do,'" Olson said. "But I still had some things to take care of, school loans and whatever, so I had to keep the restaurant job."
After training for about six months, Olson came to the point of making a major decision. Then he remembered some advice from his father.
"He always told me to not have any regrets," Olson said. "So in February of 2005, I quit and started training full time."
His first fight, which was also his professional debut, came just six months later at WEC 16. It turned into a first-round TKO victory against Rolland Parli, and he began to rise.
Olson won his first four fights, and he was 6-1 when he got to a matchup with Olaf Alfonso in February 2008. Olson had seen many of Alfonso's fights, and it was the first time he was truly nervous heading into a fight. The loss, by a knockout in the second round, helped teach Olson about serious training and handling his nerves.
Five months later, Olson fought another respected opponent, Tito Jones, at Palace Fighting Championship 9. Olson was impressed with Jones' hand speed and striking ability, but Olson won the decision, which was a major confidence boost.
Then, in November 2008, Olson's father died of a heart attack. It was jarring for Olson, who drifted to his next fight, a PFC 13 matchup with Eddie Yagin in May, and half-heartedly lost by first round guillotine choke.
"I just didn't know what to do," Olson said. "I just went out there and didn't even work on the game plan we talked about. He caught me with a big right and knocked me out, shot in, caught me with a guillotine, and it was over. That raised a lot questions for me."
To try and answer them, Olson took the summer off to clear his head. He learned he was, indeed, passionate about MMA and that he needed to return.
He hopes the upcoming Strikeforce matchup can jumpstart his return to winning and prove to others why his father and Liddell believed in him.
"I really feel like I'm ready mentally," Olson said. "I know how to train, I'm motivated, and I'm focused."
