Sam Schad has been down the wrong path.

Alcohol and drugs were a big part of his life for the past few years.

But now Schad’s past is in the rear-view mirror, and he appears to have his life pointed in the right direction.

One of the driving factors in Schad’s road to recovery has been his love of mixed martial arts.

Schad was an accomplished high-school wrestler. And “accomplished” is an understatement. He compiled a career record of 201-31 at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle High School in northern Minnesota. Schad won a state title his junior year, was a four-time state place-winner and was a five-time state participant. He is one of just 40 Minnesota wrestlers to ever record 200 career victories. Schad had a 154-5 record during his final four seasons, losing just twice outside of the state tournament.

After graduation in 2006, Schad went on to wrestle collegiately at Augsburg. But then his drinking caught up with him.

Schad calls that the “stupid” time in his life. His problems culminated one night, when he ran from the police in a car he recently purchased.

“I was depressed,” Schad said. “I had just bought the car, didn’t have insurance, didn’t have the title transferred yet. The cop was a long ways behind me, so I took off. I made it eight miles and the engine quit on me, so I got caught. Felony fleeing. In that drinking stage, I did a lot of stupid stuff.”

It’s amazing how candidly Schad talks about those times now. He’s not proud of what he did, yet he’s completely accepting of the consequences that resulted from his actions.

In fact, Schad is still dealing with those consequences. He’s currently on probation, and he’s still not eligible to have his driver’s license.

That’s made his hectic schedule tough, and it’s made training for mixed martial arts even tougher.

Even without MMA training, Schad is a busy man. Three nights per week, Schad takes care of his grandfather. The other two weeknights, he’s attending AA meetings.

While he was training for his last fight — a TKO victory over Chris Davis on Saturday at King of the Cage in Walker — Schad would work out at Snap Fitness from 1-3 p.m., then head to wrestling practice from 3-5 p.m. After that, it was off to take care of his grandfather or to AA.

“I’d go home, get some sleep, and then start it all over again,” Schad said. “Without a license, it’s tough to really train regularly. I can get it back in August, so after that, I’ll be training all the time.”

Even with the crazy schedule, Schad is feeling much better these days. Without alcohol filling his nights, he wakes up each day refreshed and loving life.

“I’ve got my life back on track, and it’s awesome,” Schad said. “I love it now because I actually feel good when I wake up in the morning.”

Schad’s victory at the KOTC event Saturday was a big confidence boost for the young MMA prospect. It was a dominating victory. He put Davis on the canvas several times and had no trouble gaining full mount. From there, he used his ground and pound to finish Davis.

Schad almost finished it in the first round, but Davis was saved by the bell. He wasn’t as lucky in the second, when Schad gained full mount in the center of the cage, then delivered blows to Davis’ head until the ref stopped the fight.

In addition to his wrestling and ground-and-pound skills, Schad also displayed a good chin. Davis landed a flying knee immediately in the first round, but Schad said it didn’t hurt him.

It was just the second fight of Schad’s career and his first victory. His first fight didn’t go as well, though he dominated much of the contest before being caught in an armbar.

“You learn so much from the first fight,” Schad said. “My brother put it on DVD, so I was able to study it and learn from the loss.”

Schad also trained harder than he did for his first amateur fight, which took place last April. He said having the support of his family was a factor, too.

“When I first got started, I was kind of hiding MMA from the family, doing it quietly. Now I have their full support. My mom supports me, my dad supports me. It’s huge; it means a lot to have their support,” Schad said.

Schad is comfortable relying on his wrestling skills to get fights to the ground. And when it gets to the ground, he has the ferocity and “rage,” as he likes to call it, to finish fights with ground and pound or submissions.
Those submissions will only get better, too, as Schad has had very little formal training in jiu-jitsu. When he obtains his driver’s license in August, Schad said he plans to join an MMA training facility on a full-time basis.

Once that happens, lightweight fighters throughout the Midwest will know Schad’s name. And Schad will be that much closer to accomplishing his dream of making MMA his job.

“I want it to get to a point where I can feed a family, pay the rent and everything, all from fighting,” Schad said. “That’s the dream, the goal.

“I’m feeling good about life now. Hopefully things can keep getting better.”

Here's a link to my KOTC event coverage story.