MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis is known for its grit and grind and there might not be anyone in the Bluff City who embodies that sentiment more than Pro MMA fighter Jaleel 'The Realist' Willis.
The proud Memphian regularly step into the octagon and comes face to face with some of the best in the world.
It's a life Willis loves living but one that nearly didn't happen.
Willis grew up wrestling. He won 100 matches for White Station High School and was set on taking his skills to the next level but poor grades got in the way.
“I was real talented, but I had a lot of quit in me," Willis said. "Every college was like 'There’s nothing we could possibly do for you.'”
But Willis didn't let no become a KO. Instead, he used it as a reality check which forced him to grow up and start fighting for the life he wanted rather than the life he had.
“We would have talks in the car and he would literally be like, 'Dude one day I will be fighting for money,' and that was before either one of us had a fight or knew how to get a fight," fellow MMA fighter Trey Manley said.
Willis started training in a local gym in Memphis and was selling t-shirts on the side to make a living. One weekend, that landed him at the Delta Fair where amongst all the rides, there just so happened to be a slate of mixed martial arts fights.
“I needed some money," Willis said. "I was trying to make $150 bucks and I could make $75 selling t-shirts.”
A quick cash grab turned into the opportunity of a lifetime - a fighter hadn't shown up and the matchmakers were desperate to fill his spot. An old wrestling coach of Willis spotted him and told the matchmakers to ask him to take his place.
"It was like a movie," Willis said. “I was nervous but I treated it as if like you 100% got nothing to lose. You want the dream, you got the dream.”
Willis grasped that dream with both gloves, jumping into the cage and becoming the leading man without asking for any money in return.
Former MMA fighter turned coach, Brian 'The Law' Hall, was one of three judges that night and watched the fight playout live.
“It definitely was the most memorable judging because I was able to see the talent that he had against someone that was way more experienced," Willis' coach and owner of Law School MMA Gym, Hall said. "I said, ‘That Jaleel kid is going to be somebody one day.'”
Hall and the other judges declared Willis the winner. The Memphian left the octagon and the fair that night enroute to a new life.
“I’m 18 years old and I had no clue where I was going and I always get super passionate about it every time because I knew that was it and I was like, 'Wow,'" Willis said. "I just can't believe I'm here. I just can't believe it. I wasn't supposed to be here and I only got that much of an opportunity."
In the 14 years since that infamous fight, Hall has coached Willis through 22 professional fights, a 16-6 record and an LFA World Title.
“What stands out to me is his aggressiveness," Hall said. "He's coming in like kill or be killed.”
No matter how the rest of Willis's career plays out,. Willis will always be the unheralded high school wrestler that never won state and has gone on to fight and beat some of the best in the world.
“A kid from Orange Mound, North Memphis, you’d never expect just by going to the gym that he could travel the world and use this as another way to venture out," Hall said.
This week the Memphis native returned to his home state to make his debut in the PFL Smartcage in Nashville against 14-7 Anthony Ivy. In Round 2 of the fight Willis knocked Ivy down but couldn't close out the match. He surrendered in the fight and now has a 16-7 overall record.
“He’s still exactly the same guy to me," Manley said. "I’m super proud of him, he’s accomplished it.”