Local MMA gym produces positive atmosphere — and champions

POCATELLO — At the corner of Pocatello’s East Lander Street and North 5th Avenue sits an auto repair shop. At least it looks like an auto repair shop, with its large bay doors and detached lobby. But inside, you won’t find any lifts, no service wells, just a few dozen of the area’s top MMA practitioners and the belts and trophies they’ve earned.

Three of Colossal Fight Company’s fighters recently added to that impressive collection of awards, winning Revolution Cage Combat championship belts in the lightweight (155 pounds), welterweight (170 pounds), and middleweight (185 pounds) divisions during an Oct. 25 event at Pocatello’s Mountain View Event Center.

According to David Gorham, Colossal’s owner and head coach, the gym has been out-punching the weight of eastern Idaho for years.

“We’re performing disproportionate to the resources we have,” Gorham told EastIdahoSports.com. “We’re in Pocatello, Idaho, we’re training in an auto shop. To have guys that are coming together and putting together those results consistently … it’s a big deal.”

Colossal has been in operation for nearly a decade, but made the move into its new digs at Lander and 5th around three years ago.

Gorham, a former jiu-jitsu competitor who accepted and won one amateur mixed-martial arts (MMA) fight before realizing he enjoyed training others more than fighting, runs the gym as a passion more than a profession. He is an Idaho State University graduate and engineer who dabbled in scrapping in his free time. And he is one of several Colossal gym members who can say the same.

Colossal represents the way skills learned in a gym can transition into the world outside of it, Gorham said, and there is no better evidence of that than the gym’s three newest champions.

Donnie Farris, who won the Revolution lightweight champ via second-round D’arce Choke, is an ISU student majoring in family therapy. Lonell Woodhouse, who claimed the middleweight belt via second-round rear-naked choke, is a licensed behavioral therapist who works with children with autism.

The youngster of the group, Kaleb Jordan, who won the welterweight belt by third-round rear-naked choke submission, is a former wrestler at Century High School who discovered MMA and has quickly developed a passion for it. He said that MMA has helped him grow into a better and more driven person, saying that he could see this becoming a career.

“I want to go as far as I can go, as far as I can push myself,” he said. “Ride it ’til the wheels fall off.”

According to Gorham, the majority of his fighters came in with a wrestling background. At Colossal, they learn jiu-jitsu and kickboxing to complement their wrestling base. But more than the skills they teach, what makes Colossal special is the culture it has produced and nurtures.

Farris, 27, joined the gym at the encouragement of a dirt biking buddy. But both Woodhouse, 29, and Jordan, 21, were previously trained at other gyms before leaving because the atmosphere was not to their liking.

“They just weren’t doing it for me,” Woodhouse said of his previous gym, which he did not name. “Then I came here — I love the atmosphere here, I love the competitiveness and the mentality everybody has here.”

Part of what makes Gorham more of a coach than a fighter is his ability and willingness to personalize the competitive yet complementary atmosphere.

While everyone at Colossal is equal, he said, the focus and emphasis of training centers around whomever is scheduled for the next fight.

“The mark of a coach is being willing to make yourself obsolete,” he said. “It’s not about me. I want to make a program where, if I can’t show up anymore, it still runs. … Colossal is bigger than any one of us, and I love that.”

Gorham added, “We all work together. The most important person in the room is whoever has the next event coming up — everything you do is in service of them.”

According to Tapology, Farris is the 475th-ranked amateur lightweight in North America — out of 3,198 fighters. Jordan is 20th out of 2,733 welterweights, and Woodhouse is 40th out of 1,707 middleweights.

All three are at least considering furthering themselves in the combat sports world.

“At this point, with the commitment and dedication that I have given to this sport, let alone the things it has given back to me, I am going to stay with this as long as possible — as high as I can go, as far as I can go,” Woodhouse said.

However, not everyone who trains at Colossal is interested in being competitive.

While around 25% of Colossal’s fighters, according to Gorham, are there with the intent to take competitive fights, another 75% are there for other reasons — to stay in shape, to learn self-defense techniques, or just for the love of combat.

Tyler Hardin, another of Colossal’s coaches, said that there is a lot about the world of mixed-martial arts that is misunderstood. It’s not as barbaric as it is portrayed, he said. But it does offer a great many valuable tools, chief among them is the ability to defend yourself and your loved ones. But also the ability to respond to pressure and the self-confidence that comes with proving to yourself your own capabilities.

Enrollment is always open, Gorham said, with existing students ranging from 3 to 67, “and she’s no joke,” Gorham said of that elder statesman.

For more information or to join, visit Colossal Fight Company in-person at 300 North 5th Avenue in Pocatello, or on Facebook — here.