(WFRV) - While competing in season eight of Dana White's Contender Series, a Wisconsin man made his name known en route to a rapid win by submission, securing himself an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) contract.
29-year-old Nick "Blue Collar" Klein, a former Random Lake wrestler who was a 50:1 odds to win in the first round of his matchup, stepped in with just one week's notice as an underdog, according to the Silver Creek Fire Department.
A father of three, the Plymouth native Klein quickly took down his opponent and was deemed the victor by putting his opponent into submission after just 36 seconds in the first round.
"I think what separates me from the rest of the guys in this sport is that I force myself to do the hardest parts of training," Klein said in the episode. "On some days when everybody's taking a rest day, I'm running hills and thinking about how everybody's sitting on the couch. [I'm] doing whatever I can to go the extra mile to make sure I get where I want to go in this sport."
Klein will now get the chance to fight in Mixed Martial Arts' (MMA) most prestigious organization, the UFC.
"I feel amazing, I did not think the fight was going to go that quick," Klein said in a press conference. "Ultimately, trusting in my skills and my team, the ultimate plan of the fight, clearly paid off."
Klein added that being an underdog eased some of the pressure he may have felt.
"I feel like any time that the odds in my favor and any time I fought on the regional scale and a ton of people showed up to see me, it was almost like more pressure," Klein said in the press conference. "I kind of like being the guy who's supposed to lose, it relieves me off all the tension."
Dana White's Contender Series is an MMA promotion where UFC President and CEO Dana White brings in fighters from all over to become contenders for contracts in the UFC.