 Lyle Beerbohm has one of the more interesting stories in MMA. At this time three years ago, Beerbohm was in a prison cell without a single MMA fight to his credit. As a matter of fact, he didn't even watch MMA regularly. Fast-forward to three years later, and Beerbohm is out of prison, clean, and has amassed a healthy 9-0 professional MMA record. Beerbohm faces his toughest challenger to date in UFC veteran Duane "Bang" Ludwig (18-8) on tomorrow night's Strikeforce: Challenger Series card, live on Showtime from the Showare Center in Kent, Washington. Beerbohm talked to FightLine.com about his prison days, his unique nickname, his fight tomorrow night and his future.
FightLine.com: How is training going for your big fight with Duane "Bang" Ludwig tomorrow night?
Lyle Beerbohm: Training couldn't be better. I train at the Sik Jitsu gym in Spokane, WA, and I have the best pro fight team around. I have a pro team that's 25-0, stats don't lie, especially when it comes to MMA. That's a great record. I train twice a day, six days a week and things couldn't be better.
FightLine.com: You've had an interesting start in MMA. It can be said that your MMA career started in the Washington State Penitentiary. Tell us about how your interest in MMA came about, and how you started in the sport.
Beerbohm: I wrestled in high school, and I did real good wrestling. I got out of high school and started running with the wrong crowd. I ended up selling drugs, and at about 20 years old, I started using drugs. I started doing meth and the first time I did it, I was hooked. I started smoking it and snorting it for a few years, but that wasn't really doing the trick. So I started shooting it, using a needle. Within 8 years of doing meth, I racked up about 8 felony charges, a bunch of misdemeanors and so that put me in Washington State Penitentiary. I was sitting there, watching TV one night. All of sudden, there's this UFC reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. I'm watching it and thinking, "Are you kidding me, these guys are sitting on TV and making money?"! I'm thinking, 'I can take them'. Right then and there, I was like, that's what I'm going to do. That's what I want to do when I get out. My parents came and got me, I asked my dad to pull over and we stopped at the MMA gym and I made him stop. I went in and told them I wanted to be a fighter and he threw me a gi and we started grappling. I loved it. Eight days later, I'm fighting in the cage. I met a guy who has an amateur fighting promotion in Spokane and I fought on his card. Within 9 months, I went 12-0 and decided to turn pro. I am now 9-0 as a pro, 12-0 as an amateur and 20 finishes out of 21 fights. Now I'm going to fight Dwayne Ludwig on June 19th at the Showare Center in Washington.
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