Jordan Leavitt: college student by day, professional MMA fighter by night.
Leavitt, 23, a political science major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has dreams of getting accepted into law school and pursuing a career in family law. He also has dreams of becoming a UFC champion. The Nevada fighter said it’s been tough to balance trying to bump his grades up while training for fights, his next bout being September 14 under the Tuff-N-Uff banner. He believes he’s got his double-life sorted out ahead of this fight, however.
“I’ve had to make some concessions,” Leavitt told MMASucka. “I couldn’t train twice a day as much as I like to. I had to put some time into my schooling. I’m not just trying to pass, I’m trying to get into law school.”
College Life
Balancing college and MMA hasn’t been easy for Leavitt in the past.
“I’ve had to withdraw from classes because exams have coincided with the fight or weight cut,” he admitted. “I’ve walked in brain dead to a few exams because of cutting weight. I think I’ve found a way to balance it without either my training or schooling suffering.”
Leavitt projects he’ll be done at UNLV after 2019. If all goes well and he gets into law school, Leavitt wants to practice family law.
“I want to help out custody cases and divorce cases,” he said. “I want to help out families in the law field. Being that I come from a broken family and I’ve had friends who’ve come from broken families, it’s something that’s always been close to my heart.”
Leavitt said once his qualifications are in-line to get into law school and he graduates undergrad, he may postpone law school in favor of his fighting career, but with a caveat.
“I’ll see where my fight career is at that point but if nothing’s doing, I’ll suck it up and go to law school, which isn’t the worst thing in the world,” Leavitt said.
MMA
Leavitt is currently 1-0 as a pro fighter after an undefeated amateur career (4-0 per Tapology). Four of those five wins have come via submission. He won his pro debut against Tony Martinez via Peruvian necktie.
Now, he’s set to face Lucas Neufeld (3-0) at the Tuff-N-Uff event on September 14 in a featherweight contest. Leavitt said he sees Neufeld as his toughest opponent to date, but believes he’ll still submit him fairly easily.
“[Neufeld’s] pretty good but he hasn’t fought anybody like me,” Leavitt said. “I’ve seen a wrestler with a high work-rate who throws kicks before but he hasn’t seen anyone like me. I’m pretty confident going into this one.”
Leavitt, having never tasted defeat, said his mindset before each bout is to put that fact out of his mind.
“When I fight, previous fights before don’t matter because when I go into a cage with a new person, the previous experience doesn’t prepare you for the opponent standing across from you,” he said. “I like to think of my opponent in the now. I don’t think about my record ever.”
The bout marks Leavitt’s first of 2018. He said the reason is that it’s been tough finding people willing to fight. If he could, he’d rack up fights as long as he’s not dealing with any injuries. All that to prepare him for his goal of reaching the UFC.
“I hope to get a few more interesting submissions and hopefully Dana White gives me that call one day so I can make some decent money doing what I love,” he said.
He’ll look to add another submission to his resume against Neufeld.
