American Top Team bantamweight Kevin Syler is the younger brother of current UFC bantamweight Bentley Syler and just like his brother, he is a professional mixed martial arts fighter.
The fighter originally from Bolivia has made the transition to Florida and has started his professional career 3-0 after a successful amateur career.
Along with being a pro fighter, Syler is a college student. He is likely going to get a degree in sociology and he told The MMA Report recently about how he balances his school schedule and training.
“I try to be really smart about how many courses I take per semester and I think it works well,” Syler said. “I train in the morning and at night. In the afternoon, I go to school or do my online classes because us fighters we train and besides that we have to rest. I do not think school takes to much out of me physically. I have time. I can study and I can learn. It’s not that difficult really.”
For a majority of pro fighters, their full time job is being a fighter and being in the gym for countless hours a week. With having something outside of fighting, Syler feels that being in school helps him take his mind off the daily grind of being a fighter.
“It can really get stressful fighting and all of that. It takes a lot out of you mentally too. Before, I use to be fighting 24/7 but it got tiring and stressful. I think if I zone out and focus on other aspects of life outside of the gym — when it comes down to training, I am fresher and more excited to train.”
Next Saturday night, he will return to Bolivia as he will look to remain undefeated when he meets Paulo Milanez. He has seen film of his opponent and feels due to his training at American Top Team, Milanez will see something he has never seen before.
“Every fighter is something you have not seen,” he explained. “I think he is a good fighter and I have seen some tape of him. I think he poses some good challenges but honestly here at American Top Team, I get the feeling for every kind of style. He is a jiu-jitsu guy. I think the wrestling and the jiu-jitsu here is great. He is going to have a tough time getting me down and holding me down. It’s really him that is going to have to get his game on that night because it’s going to be him who will see something he has never felt before.”
One of the sayings you will hear in the fight game is how it’s not about the opponent, it’s about what they plan to do. For Syler, he will always have a game plan and understands that plan can change at any moment in a fight.
“I like game planning, but just for basic stuff. I do not want to get into my opponents game,” Syler stated. “When it comes down to it, a fight is very different. A fight can take a different turn in every single moment. A game plan is important but just as a base. At the end of the day, I train to beat everyone, not one single opponent. Once I start fighting, I go into auto pilot and just let me skills do my fighting. I do not focus to much on what the guy is going to do but I always have an awareness of the strengths of the other guy.”
Syler hopes to join his brother in the UFC and with a couple of more wins, that dream of being a UFC fighter will likely become a reality.