fight news
Electrician's MMA dreams • Northwest Indiana Business Magazine – Northwest Indiana Business Magazine
A Crown Point electrician is lighting up the Indiana Mixed Martial Arts pro circuit.
Jonathon Appelman has three pro fights under his belt, with his quick fists and feet leading him to victories in two of those bouts.
Before turning pro, he established himself as an amateur, winning the Midwest Bantamweight title by defeating Chicago-based Juan Avila in a unanimous decision at the Elite Fight Night event Aug. 14, 2021, at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary.
Mixed Martial Arts is a demanding combat sport, combining such specialties as boxing, wrestling, judo, jujitsu, karate and Thai boxing. But Appelman has proven himself equal to the task, bringing to the cage the same work ethic he carries to the mills and powerhouses that are his arenas with Local 531 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
“You got to grind at work, just like you got to grind at the gym,” Appelman said. “I’m going to put my best foot forward every time, every day.”
There are some parallels between his job and his sport.
“You got to be aware of your surroundings, just like you do in a cage, because any false movement could result in injury or death,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going to be around the corner of a blast furnace or a boiler.”
Appelman has a strong union background. The son of a union carpenter, he graduated from Portage High School in 2006 already a welder. His sister’s husband, an electrician, helped Appelman get a job out of high school.
He entered Local 531 as an apprentice, completing the five-year program, before becoming a journeyman in 2015.
“I wouldn’t be able to be where I’m at if it wasn’t for the help of all the people that were my journeymen when I was an apprentice in 531,” he said.
A lot of his work involves installing piping and wires. He also does maintenance work in mills and powerhouses. He has sometimes put in 16-hour days seven days a week.
Projects have included the science buildings at Valparaiso University and a hospital in Michigan City. His latest project is as general foreman on the Dunns Bridge Solar Project in Wheatfield, an ambitious project that promises to produce the biggest solar array east of the Mississippi River.
He said he became interested in Mixed Martial Arts through his best friend, MMA fighter Henry Huff.
Appelman told him, “If you can do it, I can do it.” It was hard work to get in shape for fighting.
“Jon wasn’t always the skinniest guy in the world,” Huff said. “I told him at first, ‘All right, man, but you’re going to have to lose like 30 or 40 pounds.’”
Appelman entered the sport in his 20s and didn’t have boxing or wrestling experience. He said MMA was a lot harder than Huff made it look — especially because he started later than most.
“For the first few months, me and Henry, we’d go to the gym every night after I would get off work,” Appelman said. “He told me that if I wanted to do this, that I had to have the determination to want to do it. And I had to do something every single day, no matter how tired I was from work.”
Huff said his friend surprised him with his dedication.
“He’s always busting his butt in the gym after working 10 to 12 hours a day, waking up at two, three o’ clock in the morning to go to work,” Huff said. “The man doesn’t call off work. It says a lot about his character as a person.”
Appelman’s first fight was in the Michiana Fight League in December 2015. Weighing in at a little under 135 pounds, he won in the second round.
During his amateur career, he was 7-3 with two championship wins, including the bantamweight championship for the Xtreme Fighting Organization.
Focus is important to success in Mixed Martial Arts. When he is in the cage, he said, “I don’t hear the crowd. I don’t hear anything else. Everything goes silent except for the people that I need to hear.”
Appelman’s fan base includes members of his union. Jim Clarida, business manager and financial secretary of IBEW Local 531, has been to a few of Appelman’s fights.
“For anyone that can go out there and do what he’s doing plus hold a job and do all the things he’s supposed to do, it shows a testament to his commitment,” Clarida said. “When he wants to do something, he’s going to do it.”
Clarida has known Appelman since he was a young apprentice. “He has always been a hard worker and always done a good job,” Clarida said.
IBEW apprentices are trained in multiple specialties.
“I think Jon’s one of those guys that can probably do everything pretty good,” Clarida said.
Appelman said his next fight will probably be in August.
“I’m going to take it as far as I can and as far as my body will let me,” he said.
Read more stories from the current issue of Northwest Indiana Business Magazine.
Steve Zalusky is a newspaper journalist from suburban Chicago who covers municipal government and dabbles in writing about sports, libraries, old movies and jazz.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
August-September 2023
Download PDF of issue
Current Issue, Publisher’s Note: In this issue
Around the Region, Current Issue: Professional advancement
Banking, Current Issue: Partners in prosperity
Current Issue, Marketing: Agile marketing strategies
Current Issue, Small Business: The family business
Current Issue, HR/Workforce: Employment evolution
Current Issue, The future of: Valparaiso: ‘In the middle of everything’
Business Profile, Current Issue: Serving food and possibilities
Current Issue, Making a Difference: Strong start for babies
Current Issue, Off Hours: Electrician’s MMA dreams
Current Issue, Viewpoint: In honor of working moms
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Indiana Business Magazine | an imprint of Linker Media Group, Inc.
We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019.
By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
Filed under:
In the ever-shifting MMA landscape, ranking the world’s greatest fighters might seem like a fool’s errand, but that’s exactly we’ve set out to do with the MMA Fighting Global Rankings. Here, our esteemed panel sorts out the movers and shakers from every division to provide you with the most definitive list of the best fighters on the planet.
Let’s take a look at the biggest rankings storylines from this past two-month cycle (Aug. 21 – Oct. 24).
(Ed. Note: These rankings are updated as of Nov. 20, 2023.)
Here’s what I wrote about the then-unranked Khamzat Chimaev back in August:
Fear not, Khamzat fans, should he get past Paulo Costa at UFC 294 as expected, you’ll see him snatch a cherry spot in the middleweight rankings. Until then, everyone’s favorite wrecking machine remains in limbo.
Suffice to say, things did not go quite as expected.
The good news is that Chimaev did end up fighting at UFC 294, and in an actual established weight class. The bad news is that it wasn’t against an established middleweight, but rather former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman stepping in on 10 days’ notice.
Chimaev ultimately beat Usman in a fight where he was dominant for the first five minutes and then shaky for the next 10. The result was a majority decision where one judge scored the fight a 28-28 draw, a fair score given that Chimaev had a difficult time mustering up any meaningful offense against Usman in Rounds 2 and 3. If anything, it looked as though Usman was the one building up steam as the bout came to a close, and he later lamented the lack of championship rounds, something he’d understandably grown accustomed to.
Still, a win is a win, and though our panel wasn’t quite ready to rocket him up the charts (one panelist even left him off their ballot completely), Chimaev slots in at No. 10 in his first appearance on our middleweight rankings. This may turn out to be a case of “ranking, shmankings” anyway, because UFC CEO Dana White said in the lead-up that the winner of UFC 294’s co-main event was expected to challenge champion Sean Strickland.
White wasn’t quite as emphatic when asked about that status after the fight, but regardless, Chimaev is well on his way to finally getting the chance to “smesh” someone for a belt.
Related
It was a fun rivalry while it lasted, wasn’t it?
In an ideal world, Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski’s second meeting would have occurred a little later in their careers, with Makhachev racking up a couple of title defenses against actual lightweights first and Volkanovski continuing his incredible championship run at featherweight. But there’s something neat about these two settling the score in a single calendar year, even if it happened under less-than-ideal circumstances and even if it resulted in Makhachev delivering a brutal head-kick knockout to win the series.
Could Volkanovski have performed better with a full camp? Undoubtedly. Does the best version of Volkanovski beat Makhachev in their rematch? That, we don’t know, but the reality is they’ve met twice in the octagon and twice Makhachev has been the better man. Accept this and move on, is my advice.
That’s what’s best for the lightweight division, with Makhachev hopefully sticking around at 155 pounds to defend against Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje or maybe even past opponent Arman Tsarukyan somewhere down the line. Makhachev has also spoken about moving up to welterweight in the event that Colby Covington takes that title from Leon Edwards, which would undoubtedly intrigue the matchmakers (even if might make a few fans’ eyes roll).
Related
There was a time when light heavyweight and women’s bantamweight were marquee divisions. I swear this was a thing.
While there may be no hope for women’s 135 (Julianna Peña vs. Raquel Pennington for the vacant title when?), 205 has been sooooo close to being great again. However, injuries to stars Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill led to a calamitous series of events that have left the light heavyweight title in limbo, and though it should find a home soon when Prochazka fights Alex Pereira for a vacant strap at UFC 295 next month, would anyone be shocked if more craziness ensued?
That was certainly the case this past Saturday when Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker met in a pivotal bout that was sure to crown the next challenger for the aforementioned title, but it just couldn’t be that easy. No, the fighters had to deal with a restless ringside physician who was compelled to interject himself into not one, but two fights in Abu Dhabi. In Walker’s case, he saw his night end unceremoniously when the doctor ruled that he was unable to continue after taking an illegal knee from Ankalaev despite Walker’s protests.
Related
Blame the doctor all you want, but it just feels like this division has been cursed since Prochazka vacated the title last November after suffering a shoulder injury. We’re all praying that his fight with Pereira has a conclusive result, but at this point I’m expecting them to land simultaneous spinning head kicks and both to end up flat on the canvas.
Related
Check out the complete October rankings update below.
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 3 Ciryl Gane def. No. 10 Serghei Spivac, No. 8 Alexander Volkov def. No. 7 Tai Tuivasa
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic (UFC 295, Nov. 11), No. 6 Jailton Almeida vs. No. 14 Derrick Lewis (UFC Sao Paulo, Nov. 4)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Phil De Fries (5), Alexandr Romanov (2)
(Heavyweight rankings updated Nov. 12 after UFC 295.)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 3 Magomed Anklaev vs. No. 9 Johnny Walker ends in no-contest, No. 12 Anthony Smith def. No. 13 Ryan Spann, No. 15 Volkan Oezdemir def. Bogdan Guskov
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Jiri Prochazka vs. No. 5 Alex Pereira (UFC 295, Nov. 11)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Rob Wilkinson (2), Azamat Murzakanov (1), Khalil Rountree (1), Thiago Santos (1)
(Light heavyweight rankings updated Nov. 12 after UFC 295.)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 9 Sean Strickland def. No. 1 Israel Adesanya, No. 5 Johnny Eblen def. No. 14 Fabian Edwards, Khamzat Chimaev def. No. 2 WW Kamaru Usman
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 11 Brendan Allen vs. Paul Craig (UFC Vegas 82, Nov. 18)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Paul Craig (3), Nassourdine Imavov (3), Ikram Aliskerov (1), Kelvin Gastelum (1), Jack Hermansson (1), Bo Nickal (1), Kamaru Usman (1)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): Khamzat Chimaev def. No. 2 Kamaru Usman (middleweight bout), No. 13 Jack Della Maddalena def. No. 15 (tied) Kevin Holland
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington (UFC 296, Dec. 16), No. 4 Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. No. 7 Stephen Thompson (UFC 296, Dec. 16), No. 5 (tied) Yaroslav Amosov vs. No. 15 Jason Jackson (Bellator 301, Nov. 17), No. 8 Sean Brady vs. Kelvin Gastelum (UFC Austin, Dec. 2), No. 10 Vicente Luque vs. No. 11 Ian Machado Garry (UFC 296, Dec. 16)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Sadibou Sy (4), Andrey Koreshkov (1), Neil Magny (1), Magomed Magomedkerimov (1), Michael Page (1)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 1 Islam Makhachev def. No. 1 FW Alexander Volkanovski, No. 6 Usman Nurmagomedov def. Brent Primus, No. 8 Mateusz Gamrot def. No. 7 Rafael Fiziev, Bobby Green def. No. 11 Grant Dawson
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 12 Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Clay Collard (PFL 10: 2023 Championships, Nov. 24), No. 13 (tied) A.J. McKee vs. Sidney Outlaw (Bellator 301, Nov. 24)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Benoit Saint-Denis (4), Grant Dawson (3), Renato Moicano (3), Drew Dober (2), Matt Frevola (2), Alexander Shabliy (2)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): Islam Makhachev def. No. 1 Alexander Volkanovski (lightweight bout), No. 2 Max Holloway def. No. 11 (tied) “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung 26), No. 11 (tied) Giga Chikadze def. Alex Caceres, No. 13 Bryce Mitchell def. No. 15 Dan Ige
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 8 Josh Emmett vs. No. 11 Giga Chikdaze (UFC 296, Dec. 16)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Edson Barboza (3), Lerone Murphy (2), Adam Borics (1), Jonathan Pearce (1), Chihiro Suzuki (1)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 5 Patchy Mix vs. No. 6 Sergio Pettis (Bellator 301, Nov. 17), No. 10 Rob Font vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (UFC Austin, Dec. 2), No. 13 Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello (Bellator 301, Nov. 17)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Pedro Munhoz (3), Magomed Magomedov (2), Ricky Simon (2), Juan Archuleta (1), Chris Gutierrez (1)
(Bantamweight rankings updated Nov. 18 after Bellator 301.)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 11 Manel Kape def. Felipe dos Santos, No. 13 Muhammad Mokaev def. No. 14 (tied) Tim Elliott
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 2 Alexandre Pantoja vs. No. 8 Brandon Royval (UFC 296, Dec. 16), No. 4 Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Rob Font vs. (bantamweight bout) (UFC Austin, Dec. 2)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Azamat Kerefov (3), Kairat Akhmetov (2), Azat Maksum (1), Jeff Molina (1)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): Nora Cornolle def. No. 15 Joselyne Edwards
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 6 Irene Aldana vs. No. 7 Karol Rosa (UFC 296, Dec. 16), No. 11 Miesha Tate vs. Julia Avila (UFC Austin, Dec. 2), No. 13 (tied) Lucie Pudilova vs. Ailin Perez (UFC Vegas 82, Nov. 18)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Tainara Lisboa (5), Serena DeJesus (1), Claire Guthrie (1), Olga Rubin (1), Taneisha Tennant (1), Darya Zheleznyakova (1)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 1 Alexa Grasso vs. No. 2 Valentina Shevchenko ends in a split draw, No. 3 Erin Blanchfield def. No. 4 Taila Santos, No. 5 Manon Fiorot def. No. 5 SW Rose Namajunas, No. 6 Liz Carmouche def. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, No. 14 Viviane Araujo def. No. 10 Jennifer Maia
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 12 Juliana Velasquez vs. Paula Cristina (Bellator 301, Nov. 17), No. 13 (tied) Amanda Ribas vs. Luana Pinheiro (strawweight bout) (UFC Vegas 82, Nov. 18)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Casey O’Neill (6), Karine Silva (2)
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): 5 WFLW Manon Fiorot def. No. 5 Rose Namajunas (flyweight bout), No. 10 Marina Rodriguez def. Michelle Waterson-Gomez, No. 15 (tied) Loopy Godinez def. Elise Reed, No. 15 (tied) Xiong Jing Nan def. Nat Jaroonsak (special rules striking match)
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 5 Jessica Andrade vs. No. 9 Mackenzie Dern (UFC 295, Nov. 11), No. 12 Angela Hill vs. Denise Gomes (UFC Sao Paulo, Nov. 4), No. 13 Tabatha Ricci vs. No. 14 Loopy Godinez (UFC 295, Nov. 11), Amanda Ribas vs. No. 15 Luana Pinheiro (UFC Vegas 82, Nov. 18)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Karolina Kowalkiewicz (3), Emily Ducote (2), Xiong Jingnan (2), Gillian Robertson (2), Michelle Waterson-Gomez (2)
A refresher on the ground rules:
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Make your voice heard in the comments below.
Check your inbox for a welcome email.
Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.
-
fight news3 months ago
10 Facts You Probably Didn't Know About “Fight Club” (1999) – High On Films
-
fight news Canada6 months ago
Fight News 2023: Exciting Matchups
-
fight news4 weeks ago
woodbury minnesota, woodbury schools, woodbury,East Ridge High School, racist attack, racist school attack, racism, South Washington County Schools,Principal Jim Smokrovich, Shanka Gessod – CBS Minnesota
-
fight news3 months ago
Movies in North Texas theaters on Sept. 1 and coming soon – The Dallas Morning News
-
fight news5 months ago
2023 Detroit Lions Name Bracket Tournament: Round 1, Part 3 – Pride Of Detroit
-
fight news5 months ago
Kota Miura vs. Joker Fight Club: Date, start time, TV channel and live … – dazn.com
-
fight news5 months ago
Frank Warren drops 'game-changer' Tyson Fury next fight hint after Oleksandr Usyk update – Manchester Evening News
-
fight news5 months ago
Boxing News, Results, Schedule, Rankings » Fightnews.com™ – Fight News