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Rogers is ready to rumble

Whitehorse's Miller Rogers is excited about his fight on Saturday, but the fighter from Avalanche MMA in Whitehorse doesn't want to over think it. "I'm getting pretty stoked about it," said Rogers.
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Whitehorse’s Miller Rogers is excited about his fight on Saturday, but the fighter from Avalanche MMA in Whitehorse doesn’t want to over think it.

“I’m getting pretty stoked about it,” said Rogers. “I’m staying out of my head right now. I’m more focused on my game plan, going to let my body do what we’ve been training for. If I start going into my head, I might come up with something that doesn’t work.”

The 20-year-old will be going for his second amateur mixed martial arts win at Caged Rage 5 in Castlegar, BC, Saturday evening.

Fighting in the 155-pound weight class, Rogers will be facing Calgary’s Shane Erickson, who also has a 1-0-0 fight record.

“I don’t really know anything about him; I was told his name about two weeks ago,” said Rogers. “He’s a Muay Thai fighter, so he’s more of a stand-up kick-boxer ... So my game plan is to feel him out for a minute or two, see how his aggression and stuff is. And I’m going to go in for a takedown and finish the fight on the ground.”

Rogers got his first fight-card at Warpath Mixed Martial Arts in Chilliwack, BC, on September 2.

At Warpath Rogers defeated Allan “Little Bear” George from Final Round Martial Arts in Duncan, BC. In the fight George, who had an undefeated 2-0 record going in, was saved by the bell at the end of Round 1. But Rogers took the win 1:01 into Round 2 with a triangle choke.

“(Miller) is well rounded; he’s getting good at stand-up, takedowns and on the ground,” said Cliff Schultz, owner/operator of Avalanche MMA, who will be Rogers’ corner-man at Caged Rage. “So we’re trying to get him to be good at all aspects and he’s getting better and better at all of them.”

Rogers was one of four Avalanche MMA fighters at Warpath last month. In what was the gym’s first time sending fighters to compete, all four were victorious. (Also getting wins were Schultz, by unanimous decision, TJ Woodman in the second round and Stefan Brynjolssfon in the first round.)

Now in the homestretch before Saturday’s fight, Rogers is doing his regular MMA training at Avalanche in the evenings and conditioning in the mornings, trying to drop a few kilos that he put on since his first bout in September.

“Right now we’re going to be working a lot on technique because I don’t want to strain a muscle before the fight,” said Rogers.

Coming a long way in a short time, Rogers only began to focus on MMA training with the opening of Avalanche MMA in Riverdale last November.

“I started when the gym opened up - it was off and on before then,” said Rogers last month. “As soon as the gym opened up, it was pretty much 100 per cent.

“They accepted me into the gym with open arms and I just couldn’t ask for a better team.”

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com