16-year-old follows his passion, becomes MMA teacher in Humboldt

HUMBOLDT, Tenn. — Michael Fuller is a 16-year-old in Humboldt, and mixed martial arts has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. After many years of learning, he now passes along his knowledge to others as a teacher.

Michael was born in Illinois where he would go with his dad to MMA classes where he would stand on the side to mimic what the class was doing. Eventually, they made their way to West Tennessee where Michael found a teacher who unlocked his passion for teaching others what he has learned.

“Later on, there were times when I would open up the school for him, run classes for him, and things like that just as I got older. I just really fell in love with teaching and stuff. Seeing the students go through like the ranks and stuff really inspires me,” said Fuller.

After sometime of helping his instructor teach classes, learning more, and becoming an assistant, the classes that Michael was attending had to close down. He and many others were looking for another place to learn, so he decided he wanted to start his own.

“I started looking around and wanted to start a program somewhere. I started off talking to city halls, seeing if there were community centers, and just all kinds of different places. Eventually I came to the Girls and Boys Club. Actually, a lady at my mom’s work is the one who recommended that. So I went by, I talked to the programs director who said they want to get one started. So then I took off and now I have a lot of students of my own and everything’s going really good with it,” said Fuller.

Michael says he has loved teaching because learning martial arts can build confidence in his students. We also asked him if he had any advice for people that may want to teach.

“You just have to find your rhythm. When you start teaching, speaking from experience, a lot of people are going to try to tell you exactly how to teach. But everybody teaches different. That’s why I have multiple instructors,” said Fuller.

Michael says it is good to start learning MMA when you are young. This way you know the moves early, and can learn how to apply them when you get older.

Michael teaches at the Boys and Girls Club in Humboldt, he says if you want to learn from him, no matter what age, you can come by and get started.

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