Mike Drake, who lives across the street from mixed martial arts wrestler Jake

Grigson's grandfather in Northwood, is an RN and has been a nursing supervisor at the University of Toledo Medical Center (formerly MCO) for the past two and a half years.

The 5-10 Oregon native, now 37 years old, was a mechanic before he decided to go into nursing.

“It kind of got to where I realized getting a degree, some good insurance and being able to take a vacation was important,” Drake said of switching careers. “I became a nurse at 26. I felt I had to find a degree and I chose nursing. I'm a people person and I always enjoyed the sciences.

“I worked full-time as a mechanic and went to school full-time, and I would have to scrub my nails real good before I went to clinicals. I cut trees on the side now ... I'm all over the place.”

Drake is taking his new avocation, MMA fighting, very seriously. Despite his age, he intends to turn pro.

“I wouldn't mind looking back in my life and saying I competed as a professional athlete,” said Drake, who is 4-0 in the ring. “It would be a pretty cool thing to do, to look back and say that I trained for this sport seriously, that I was a competitive amateur and I became a competitive professional athlete. It keeps me motivated to work out, to be honest. Training is the hardest part.”

Drake beat a 20-year-old opponent to win his first amateur belt on April 2. He said he dropped about 15 pounds to make the 185-pound limit for middleweights.

“I was glad with the win,” he said. “I was pretty pumped. I have a pretty decent-sized following. I sold 160 tickets to this event, which was more than anybody else. Half the crowd was standing for me, and that was pretty cool. I feed off that energy, too.”

When he steps into the ring, Drake said it's never his intention to kick his opponent's head in. He looks at fighting as more of a chess match, and that's where he and Grigson differ.

“Me and Jake are like night and day,” Drake said. “Jake wants to rip somebody's head off, where my attitude is more, 'I train for this, you train for this. Let's see who's better at this.' ”

Competition has always been a huge part of Drake's life. As a prep wrestler, he was a three-time Great Lakes League champion at Clay, at 152 and 160 pounds, and a two-time state placer.

“I'm really not a fighter,” Drake said. “I consider myself more of a competitive person. I've never had a drink in my life. I've always been the guy who kicks back, who kept his buddies under control. I started working out with Joe Martinez, and when he told me he opened up this gym, he said, 'Come check this out.'

“When I went there, that's where I learned submission grappling, which some people call ju-jitsu. I got into a few competitions with submission grappling and I did pretty well. That gave me the bug to get into mixed martial arts. I thought, I'm 36 years old and I want to look back at my life and say I've done this. It's kind of like a bucket list.”

Drake's 9-year-old son, Noah, isn't a big fan of Dad's MMA exploits.

“He really could care less about it,” Drake said, chuckling. “I tried to get him pumped up. I said, 'hey, I'm going to fight for a title belt. Cool?' He said, 'I hope it's not going to be one of those fake, cheesy belts.' It's funny how he acts. I asked him if he thought I was going to win my first fight and he said, 'Probably not.' He was dead serious. Now, I've convinced him more about me winning, but he's not too impressed by his dad.”

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