Local 13-Year Old to Fight in MMA Event in Cleveland April 21

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Haven LeFay may only be 13-years old, but thanks to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) he has had experiences most adults never get to have.

LeFay, who has been training in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since he was five-years old, has traveled across the United States as well as to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in pursuit of training with the best coaches in the world.

“My parents started doing it in our garage, and I just tagged along,” LeFay said. “I like the confidence it gives me.”

His next adventure won’t be quite as far as Brazil, as the Clarion native has been selected to compete in the Fight 2 Win Pro No. 32 in Cleveland April 21. Fight to Win holds events around the country and invited top-level submission grapplers to take the stage and showcase their skills in grappling matches where the goal is to force your opponent to “tap out” or surrender to a choke or joint lock.

“My dad (Leo, the organizer and manager of Clarion MMA) was notified about it,” LeFay said. “He sent different names of fighters he thought would be ready for it, and they chose mine as one that would do well. I’m excited about it.”

LeFay, an outstanding student — the seventh-grader at Clarion is two years advanced in math and one year advanced in science — is hoping to get some sponsors to help cover the cost of the Fight to Win Pro No. 32. Anyone interested can contact Clarion MMA at 814-221-0806.

“We are looking for anybody who is looking to advertise and support a local student at the same time,” Leo LeFay said.

Haven says his ultimate goal in Cleveland is to win, although he knows he will be taking on slightly bigger and older opponents.

“My goal is to not give up and to keep trying throughout,” LeFay said. “If winning doesn’t happen, I just want to do my best.”

Always looking to get better, LeFay, whose older brother, Mike, is a standout on the Clarion High School wrestling team, joined the Bobcat wrestling team to help prepare himself for opponents with a wrestling background.

“I learned what someone who has a background in wrestling would be going for and some basic defenses to that,” LeFay said. “It’s made me a stronger fighter.”

While Mike is a key part of Clarion’s High School wrestling team, don’t expect Haven to join him on the mat anytime soon.

“I am satisfied with this,” Haven said. “I didn’t really enjoy wrestling. Stuff like Jiu Jitsu has a much more controlled feeling. It’s slower, and I like the feel of it more.”

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, fighters engage their opponent, take them down to the floor and move into position where they are able to force them to submit.

“It’s kind of like wrestling where you are grappling with someone on the ground except you are going to a submission where you are either getting them into a choke or some sort of joint lock where you are trying to bend something the way it doesn’t want to go until they don’t want to do that anymore so they submit,” LeFay said.

LeFay has had a lot of success in MMA amassing a variety of gold medals and championship belts. In 2012, he won his division at the Jean Jacques Machado Canadian Open.

The support LeFay gets from his family is important.

“They are kind of there the whole time,” LeFay said.

After Cleveland, LeFay will be traveling to Japan this summer to study Judo and Karate.

NOTES — Tickets for the event in Cleveland are available at Clarion MMA and online at https://www.cagetix.com/index.php?group_page_name=f2w. The event will also be streamed online at https://www.flograppling.com. More information on Clarion MMA can be found at its website: https://clarionlinks.com/mma_blog/.