© Marc Wickert
www.knucklepit.com

Brent Beauparlant has just arrived at his home in Ottawa, Canada, after spending the morning with his wife and son looking for carpet. He's now sitting back and ready to chat to us, and explains it was natural for him to have taken up a fighting art.

"Everyone's a wrestler in my family… my cousins and uncles – except my dad who's a national champion in archery. But my family is from Ukraine, so out there everyone wrestles. It's like a cultural thing. When people see me they tell me I look like (Igor) Vovchanchyn. It's like, 'I know. I know.' People tell me that all the time, " says Beauparlant.

Coming from such a wrestling pedigree, it was also natural for Brent to excel and represent the Canadian National Wrestling Team for over a decade, although Brent isn't exactly sure for just how long he did compete at that level. Then again, with everything he's done thus far in his career, it's not surprising nothing seems to faze him much.

"Oh, man, I don't know… at least ten years. Ahead of me was Chris Brown: I mean, I didn't wrestle him because he was a lot lighter than I was, but I certainly knew of him. I think he was Australia's best wrestler – hands down."

And once again, when Beauparlant did make the switch to MMA, it wasn't any big deal. "Well, like I tell everyone: It's not really a switch – it's a progression. I had a boxing club I was going to as well because I've always loved to box. And there were guys like Ivan Menjivar, Georges St. Pierre, David Loiseau, and Patrick Cote who's in the finals right now. We were at the same boxing club and the same wrestling club together.

"They told me I should do some grappling, which I did, and some jiu jitsu tournaments. And then I would train with these guys all the time – like whenever they would have the MMA sessions, I'd be training with them as well. So they said why don't I try the MMA, and I said, well why don't I? That's when I was in Montreal."

Brent, you've also trained in Muay Thai in Thailand?

"Yes, and I trained in it while I was in Brazil. It's actually an interesting story: Do you want to hear the whole story?"

Yes, please – fire away!

"Well, my girlfriend at the time, Tammy – who's actually my wife now – she said, 'You like this jiu jitsu stuff?' I said, 'Yeah, I like it.' She goes, 'Well, why don't we go down to Brazil?' So we went down to Sao Paolo – there are about thirty million people there, and everybody told us, when you go to Brazil there's a jiu jitsu school on every corner. So we went to the corner right next to our hotel, and sure enough there's a jiu jitsu school there.

"When we went to walk in, there was an old guy at the door, and he looks at me and he looks at my wife, and starts speaking to us in perfect English. He said, 'Well this school is closing down, but I recommend you go to this other guy's school with the Macaco Gold Team' ( www.macacogoldteam.com.br ).

"We said okay and the next day we went to Jorge (Macaco) Patino's school. Jorge has fought in PRIDE, Jungle Fighting… He's fought everywhere… He's the guy who fought Pat Miletich in UFC, but got disqualified for kicking Pat in the head.

"Then I found out that the guy we originally spoke to was Master Fabio Behring. And there were other guys in the room at Jorge's; I didn't know it at the time, but two of the guys he put me with were Gabriel Napao and Luiz Azeredo. Other guys there were Vitor Belfort's training partners. For me it was just like a continuation of meeting people."

So you met these people by chance?

"Right. And Jorge says, 'Why don't you come with me to chute boxe in Curitiba?' I was like, 'Man, I don't know… Okay, why not?' So I went with Tammy again and we walked in. Then they stuck me with this guy, and I thought, 'Man, this guy looks really familiar…My God, it's Vanderlei Silva!' He was my first training partner in chute boxe, and he was getting ready for his match with (Kazushi) Sakuraba. But then they switched Sakuraba with Mark Hunt right at the end."

What was Vanderlei like?

"A real gentleman – an awesome guy to train with. From there I trained with the two brothers: Ninja and Shogun. And their cardio was crazy because their mother is a long distance runner. So I was put with them all the time because I was 'Mr. Wrestler' – my background is wrestling and they love it. They always want to train with wrestlers there."

And you've since returned to Brazil?

"Wespentseveral months on another trip there with Chute Boxe in Curitiba.I learned a lot from them during the time I spent there. Tammy and I would sometimes eat at an Italian restaurant near the academy. Theowner and I became friends and he suggested I train withSergio Cuhna. Cuhna later left to venture out on his own and I owe a great deal to him. He is now with Yoshida in Japan…Without Sergio and Macaco, I would not be where I am today, and for that I thank them."

What about when you went to Thailand?

"Well I've always loved the Twins stuff so we were looking for the Twins Store at Lumpini Stadium, but we couldn't find it. Then we met this guy and he took us there and he introduced himself. Well, it ended up he was the fight promoter for Lumpini Stadium, and he brought me to train at the gym in Lumpini.

"I returned to Canada withmy wife who gave birth to our son, Krieger, and after he was born, we decided to move somewhere quieter than Montreal to give him a better life. We moved to Gatineau, Quebec, across the riverfrom the nation's capital of Ottawa. I joined Team Ronin headed up by Ben Meireles, Wade Shanley and Jamie Helmer. They have helpedme step up my training and find the consistency I was lacking. Being part of a team that cares about you makes a huge difference in your career. I never have to ask for what I need – the Ronin Team is always ready to kick me in the ass and push me harder every single day."

Read the full article on Knucklepit.com.