I’m at a point in my training and in my career where I feel like I want to fight the best martial artist. - Indiana flyweight James Porter
Indiana flyweight James Porter

Photo by B.B. Photography

Undefeated Indiana flyweight James Porter has experienced a roller coaster of emotions in the past few weeks. It all started with his second round submission victory over Carson Gainey at Colosseum Combat XIX on January 7th.  It was a hard-fought battle and Porter eventually weathered the storm to secure a triangle choke submission, and then the accolades started pouring in.

One of Porter’s biggest heroes, Eddie Bravo, went as far as to say it was the “sickest triangle set up in MMA history” when posting it on his message board, complimenting the 19 year old on his technique plus unique heel strikes which practically forced his opponent to surrender the choke.

 

Porter himself admitted that the compliment was “very humbling.” With the whirlwind of emotions and offers pouring in to compete in bigger and better fights, Porter instead dropped a bombshell, posting on his facebook wall, he stated he was retiring from MMA competition less than one year into his promising professional mixed martial arts career.

Some thought it was a joke, others were completely baffled by the announcement, but we caught up with the young fighter during a special interview as well as a guest appearance on The Verbal Submission to find out his thought process behind the decision.

“I guess retiring may have been a strong word,” said Porter. “Because I am really young and I don’t want to give any guarantee that I’m never fighting again, but I think a better way to put it would be to just step back, step down from competing so much … I think, not retiring, I gave everyone a heart attack with that one, but just stepping down and not really deciding on a time or place to fight again for a while until I feel ready.“

But still, it begs the question. Why?

“I think a lot of it is just because, and I’ve always felt this way,” Porter sternly stated. “Mixed martial arts is too much publicity and drama and that’s what sells the fights. It’s not the purity of martial arts, the best martial artist against the best martial artist. It’s the bad guy against the good guy. That’s not how I like to represent my martial art and it’s like this even at the local level. It turns me off. That’s not what martial arts is about to me and I don’t want to continue in that direction.”

Still just 19 years old, Porter has plenty of time to potentially come back in the sport, but in the meantime, he’s got other plans, although most of them still involve the martial arts.

“I’m definitely planning on spending time with my daughter,” the young father admitted. “I really want to spend time with her. Also big passion of mine, moreso than competing is to teach. I really, really, really enjoy teaching. I coach little kids at my taekwondo school. I really like to help other people who really take it as seriously as I do … I love my martial arts so I think my goal is to re-expand into a martial art and not just a cagefighter. I want really branch out into different martial arts, different styles.”

And while his focus now is on his daughter, learning and teaching new and challenging martial arts, the young fighter is absolutely not ruling out a potential return down the road.

“I really do enjoy competing,” says Porter. “Part of me returning, part of the plan is to return at a much higher level. I still have that high after a win where I don’t even sleep for three days, wide awake. I don’t want to put a timeline on anything but now I’m at a point in my training and in my career where I feel like I want to fight the best martial artist, a true martial artist like the high level guys. It’s gotta be the right person, the right show and the right time more than anything.

When and if that return will happen is something only James Porter knows, and he’s not ready to announce it. For now, his focus is on himself and the people he knows and loves. As long as he continues to treat everyone around him with the same respect he’s shown his opponents and fans in mixed martial arts, we at CageCraze.com feel he’ll be just fine.