Profile Piece

“He’s a Fighter”
by Jordan Rickard

Matt looks at driver’s licenses for a living. Though he hopes to professionally deliver head kicks starting this November. Matt Stringham is a bouncer. Most nights he stands in the doorway of Rugger’s Up and Unders Sports Bar. He makes sure people are 21 before coming in and every now and then throws someone out.
Matt doesn’t identify himself as a bouncer. He’s a fighter. He’s not a street brawler and he’s not a bully no matter what drunks may think as they’re being dragged outside. “I fight MMA, I have fifteen fights right now, and I go pro in the fall. My record is 10 and 5 right now,” said Stringham. Mixed martial arts (MMA for short) is fought in an arena that features fighters of a myriad of backgrounds with almost no rules except for no strikes to the groin or the back of the head.
For now though, he’s just a bouncer, but that’s okay. “I love this job, it works well for me,” said Stringham. “It’s a power trip.”
Bouncing for bars may seem like the ideal job for a fighter. Stringham is tall, cut, and keeps his hair shaved close. He’s an intimidating figure to see walking towards your table when someone is starting a fight or spilling too many drinks.
Stringham isn’t a bouncer because he wants to beat up on drunkards. Being a bouncer allows a surprising amount of freedom. “I like bouncing because I can leave here. There’s no future for me as a professional fighter in Kalamazoo. It’s a job that translates pretty well because I can go to any city and become a bouncer,” said Stringham. He is ready to leave as soon as he goes pro.
If you saw Stringham sitting on a barstool by the door during off hours you might wonder what he was thinking about. In a way, he’s not thinking about anything at all. “I meditate a lot when it’s just me here. I focus on my breathing and it phases out all of the other distractions,” said Stringham.
Stringham didn’t used to be so calm and motivated. He used to be what you might think a bouncer would be; angry. “I was an angry angry person. I’m such a calm person nowadays now that I get to head kick people on a daily basis. I don’t know why, it’s just something in me,” said Stringham. He looks like he could be an angry person. He’s usually smiling, but when he is in a fight there’s a completely different side to him.
MMA provides a controlled environment that’s radically different from fighting someone outside of a party or on the street. Stringham used to think he was the best fighter around before his second MMA fight when he got knocked out by someone smaller but better trained than himself. There’s a difference between releasing anger when you fight and being an angry fighter. “I don’t like street fighting. In my sport I can shake a dude’s hand, be nice with him and then beat the living hell out of him and try to kill him because I know someone is going to pull me off of him. I unleash everything that is dark,” said Stringham.
Of course, he doesn’t win every fight, but losing is helpful in its own way. Stringham likened to video games he played when he was younger: “did you ever play Final Fantasy VII? Win or lose, you’re leveling up. You’re getting experience.”
This mindset has led him to survive the darker parts of his life, take the experience, and make himself into a stronger fighter and person. “I was a heroin addict for a long time,” said Stringham. “I’ll be four years clean in June. My best friend died in rehab, so I don’t do anything [drugs and alcohol] anymore.” This is why he doesn’t drink much after work like other bar employees.
Now, Stringham’s goals are set on going pro, but he still has to keep making money until he gets there. He doesn’t fight as much as one might think he would as a bouncer. In fact, he never does. He’s not allowed to strike anyone, but there’s still use for his skills. “In here grappling is the name of the game,” said Stringham. Grabbing, disarming, and generally getting someone out the door before they can cause more problems is a valued skill set for a bouncer.
“We’re the guys everyone hates,” he said. Some drunk people want to fight, and most drunk people want to watch a fight. Normally, Stringham would too, but not when he’s on the job. He has to stop fights before they happen, and that means keeping an eye out. “You can always spot the douche bags,” said Stringham. “If you’re a jackass when you’re sober than you’re probably going to be an even bigger jackass when you’re drunk.”
Knowing how to fight isn’t just about connecting punches. Fighting is about confidence, diligence, and working the angles. Winning a fight isn’t just the time in the ring either. Stringham has to lose 29 pounds in order to make weight and fight in the 185lb group. He also has to keep making money for now.
Stringham is going to keep bouncing as many hours a week as he needs. You might not want to see him in the ring, but you should feel safer when you see him in the bar because there’s not many people that can touch him there. “Yeah, I could get knocked out with a bare fist, but in reality it’s a video game. I’m a level 10 and they’re a level 1.”