A former Drumheller man is making waves in mixed martial arts after competing in the National Amateur Championship.
Many in the valley will remember Dylan Schellenberg on the ice. He was drafted by the Kootenay Ice in the 2008 Bantam Draft and played almost three seasons for the Drumheller Dragons. Now in Lethbridge, about four years ago he began training in MMA.
On April 10, he competed in Day One of the National Championship in the middleweight category and defeated Shawn Sitthikoun with a guillotine choke at 2:35 of the second round.
This was his first time back in the ring in almost three years after recovering from injuries that required a number of surgeries.
“I threw myself back in a tournament format and went from there,” said Schellenberg.
This victory put him into the final to face Mark Mosure.
“I got in there with a great competitor with Mark Mosure and he was a better man on that night,” said Schellenberg.
He said it was a competitive first round, and the second started out the same.
“It was tit-for-tat for both of us and then it got into some really heavy wrestling and he had top pressure on me I just couldn’t get out from underneath and he got the win with a TKO,” said Schellenberg.
Despite the loss, it was a step forward in his career.
“It felt great to get back in there. There was a little bit of cage rust, but I felt great to be there, it was where I belong,” he said.
He is back at it training and looking forward to more opportunities.
“There is a card coming up next month I have my name in for, so hopefully I get in and there are few more things coming up in the fall,” he said.
He said depending on how things go, he may have an opportunity to compete at the Worlds in the 180-pound weight class. The competition would be in Bahrain.
He says Alberta has a strong MMA community.
“You have a bunch of great guys especially in the amateur rank coming up and they are really hungry and doing everything they can to get to the next level,” he said. There is a great relationship between all the gyms.”
Schellenberg trains at the Canadian Martial Arts Centre in Lethbridge.
Photo courtesy AM to PM Photography
