After finishing his amateur mixed martial arts career as the top heavyweight with a record of 7-0, Jackson Ross, 26, finds himself ranked as one of the best heavyweights in North America.
The Brighton native and Michigan State University grad turned pro at the beginning of May 2025, winning with a 14-second knockout, making his professional record 1-0. In summer 2024, he was in the GAMMA Pan Am games in Argentina where he won gold.
While the decision to pursue MMA fighting was easy, the path of doing so was often not.
On his first day of training, Ross recalls doing jiujitsu and getting tapped out 15-20 times by his opponent, who was much smaller than him. In the mixed martial arts world, “tapping out” is when one opponent defeats the other by forcing them to submit, often by tapping their hand repeatedly on the mat or their body to signal surrender.
After that first training session, Ross realized success was not going to come easy. He knew he had to overcome the mental hurdle of “you’re going to lose a lot more than you’re going to win.” With that in his mind, he grew stronger with each day until he was able to tap his opponent out.
“If it was easy everyone would be lining up to do it,” Ross said. “As long as I keep showing up the next day, I will figure it out and keep getting better.”
Growing up, Ross always knew he wanted to entertain people. Once he found his love for MMA, he knew that was the path for him. The first fight he watched was Michael Bisping versus Luke Rockhold in the UFC.
“I remember watching that thinking ‘that was awesome, I think I can do that. I wanna try that,’” Ross said.
Throughout his years at Detroit Catholic Central High School, Ross was on the wrestling team, winning two state championships. In his senior year, he and a friend went to a boxing gym to try open match sparring. With new mouthguards and old boxing gloves, they fought each other for 45 minutes. Looking back, Ross views that as the moment sparking his journey to becoming an MMA fighter.
Ross also wrestled for MSU.
When he first told his parents about pursuing MMA fighting, they were not thrilled and thought he should focus on getting a “real” job. With the risk of getting injured and being out for a year (in addition to the long road to the top), Ross knew he couldn’t rely solely on MMA to earn a living. He graduated from MSU in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in finance, and he works for commercial real estate brokerage firm Newmark.
Though his parents were hesitant about his new path in life, they were front row at his first fight. When it was time for his fight, his dad went into the hallway while his mom covered her eyes. Ross won that fight within a minute, and for every fight since then, his parents have been getting better at watching. Aside from his parents, Ross also has his grandma in attendance and says that she “loves it the most, every fight she is in the front row going crazy, yelling at me.”
Every day when he is not fighting, Ross is in the gym at 6 a.m.; he goes to work at 8:30 a.m., and is back in the gym by 6:30 p.m. While he travels for work at times, he always finds a gym for work outs, and ensures that his schedules never conflict.
Even though he trains multiple times a week, that doesn’t stop him from getting injured. Ross said that one of the most difficult recoveries he had was when he tore his shoulder when sparring with fellow MMA fighter Jamahal Hill. Ross was in a sling for two months, and went eight months without training, making him doubt his ability to continue.
“It set me back mentally, I wasn’t confident I would do it again…I didn’t think I could get back to where I was,” Ross said.
With the support of his coach, parents, friends, and more, not only has Ross overcome every injury, but he has truly made his dream a reality.
“I owe 95% of anything I’ve ever accomplished due to the people around me,” Ross said. “You can’t do anything alone, it takes a village.”
