Photo Credit: Dan Ige/Instagram
UFC fighter Dan Ige has a match with Chan Sung Jung, aka The Korean Zombie this month and although he already considers himself a motivated person, he has a new surprise bit of motivation in his life. That motivation is his newborn son Bam Alexander Ige. Born this past April, he says this new addition to his life has changed his approach to fighting. “I’ve always been a pretty motivated guy. I was never a guy to look for that type of external motivation to push me. I’ve always had that internal drive but definitely having a little external motivation doesn’t hurt at all. 50K”
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Ige continued … “Having my son and my family and my wife and everyone just kinda adds to that fuel and yeah, now it’s not just about me anymore. It’s about my son, it’s about making sure he has a good life and he’s set and he’s secure, making sure my family is secure, so it’s definitely a driving factor when I go to training every day or when I’m tired.”
This is a man who took someone out in less than 30 seconds this past March, Gavin Tucker in all of 22 seconds so he’s pretty good on the mat. Any additional inspiration he’s able to muster up certainly spells trouble for his competition.
Also, his wife Savannah’s got a winner on her arms. And she married appropriately as well. He revealed in a previous interview that she too is a fighter. She once knocked out a 6’3 guy in a family fight. “Ever since I started training and developing martial arts, I’ve never had encounters really, except for one time. It was my wife’s 21st birthday. We all went out in Hawaii to some club. We’re drinking, whatever. Her dad was with us too. Her dad, her brothers. It was pretty fun. We had a good time,” Ige began.
“There were these European guys and they were trying to hit on my wife and her friends and talk smooth. Her dad was actually the one who got really offended and wanted to like, ‘Hey, don’t talk to my daughter. Don’t be disrespectful.’ These guys started getting lippy and we were outside. It was basically a family brawl. Everyone was fighting. Her dad was fighting somebody. Her brothers were whatever. She was punching somebody.”
“It was like the Matrix. Because I have a trained eye, everything was so slow. I remember locking eyes with this guy and he started coming at me. I don’t know why but my first reaction was to leg kick him. I kicked his leg and he did a full 360. I remember just grabbing him — body-locking him — and then I see my wife running up and she threw a huge — she’s five-one and this guy was like six-three — and she just threw an overhand and clocked the guy in the face. That’s the only time I’ve ever had to use my MMA skills but it was pretty funny. We all ran up the parking garage so we didn’t get in trouble with the cops. That’s a fun experience,” he concluded. “She’s a beast, dude. She’s a CrossFit athlete and she’s been a gymnast for 14 years. She lifts more than I do. She’s a beast.”
