The truth about my job: Jake Butler, MMA fighter

Jake Butler has been working with Evolve MMA for just under two years, but has been involved in athletics and martial arts since he was eight.

After graduating from Princeton University in 2006, Butler went straight into a career in finance on Wall Street, but soon found he tired of the rat race. He made the decision to move to Southeast Asia in 2008 and has never looked back since abandoning his climb up the corporate ladder.

Today, he divides his time between training for competitions and teaching classes at the gym. Butler has since gone on to win several ONE Fighting Championships (ONE FC) regionally.

What made you decide to be a trainer at the gym?

It goes hand-in-hand with training as a professional mixed martial artist. I love mixed martial arts, it’s my passion, and I get a lot of enjoyment from being able to pass on my knowledge and help people get the same things I get out of martial arts.

What would an average workday be for you?It’s very busy and very tiring. Usually, we start with professional training at nine in the morning, and that goes on for about two hours. After that, we break and take on different responsibilities, whether it’s teaching classes or doing some work for Evolve, and then we all come back at two in the afternoon for the second training session of the day, which also runs for about two hours. That usually involves a long run and some Muay Thai. After that, there’s more work or teaching of classes.

Do you think you would ever go back to working in the corporate sector?I would prefer not to. It wasn’t for me, and I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing now.

If you weren’t a mixed martial artist, what do you think you’d be doing?I think I’ll still be involved in MMA in some capacity – maybe more teaching and coaching. No matter what, if I weren’t a professional fighter, I’d be involved in MMA.