Son Of Scipio: Gast to fight for bantamweight title in B2 Promotion

With a background in wrestling and a little dabbling in jiu-jitsu, Jordan Gast decided to put the two disciplines together, add a couple more and give Mixed Martial Arts a try.

So far, the foray into MMA has been a successful one for the 29-year-old Scipio resident. Gast is undefeated in six bouts, and he has a fight for the Bantamweight Amateur Championship in B2 Promotion — a premier developmental league for UFC and Belator — Sept. 23 in Birmingham, Alabama.

“I just started training,” Gast said. “I was already a little bit in jiu-jitsu and judo from doing that in high school during the offseason from wrestling, and I started taking that serious, and I just knew that MMA was the next route to go.”

After moving to Scipio from Kentucky when he was in middle school, Gast became a standout wrestler. He was a state place-winner in Freestyle and Greco-Roman events, and he was a two-time semistate qualifier at Jennings County High School.

Gast, who also played football for the Panthers, had college scholarship offers for wrestling. He wanted to go to military and wrestle for the Marine Corps, but was declined because of disk bulge in his third spinal cord up from a weightlifting accident.

“I was still very athletic, though, and it drove me to prove to them that they made a mistake,” Gast said.

So Gast began training at Matside Sports in Seymour. A couple years later, he found Brown’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Columbus and began training with its owner, Mike Brown.

At that time, Gast was trying to work and earn money while finding time to train for an MMA career. He started fighting MMA in 2019.

“I was doing off-and-on jiu-jitsu tournaments that let me know I’m still where need to be,” Gast said. “I didn’t want to press into MMA before I was ready, and a few years ago, I felt ready. It came kind of natural. It’s the same concept. When you learn it, you watch your coach teach it, you go drill it and eventually, as you’re live sparring, you try to apply the technique. That’s what I always try to do all my training like, and it’s helped out.”

Gast trains for wrestling with Ty Olds, a former assistant wrestling coach at Jennings County and now an assistant at Columbus East.

“I knew I had some good ground game,” Gast said. “I’ve been training hard on the ground. I knew once it goes to the ground, it’s over. I was winning all these jiu-jitsu tournaments with a breeze, and I knew that MMA was the next route because MMA fighters don’t have the best ground game. They’re well rounded, but once you get them on the ground, they’re not the best down there.

“I just watched UFC, and that’s what motivated me,” he added. “I knew that wrestlers were dominant in there, and I knew I had jiujitsu skills, too, so I’m not just a wrestler anymore. I’m a full-rounded grappler.”

Gast estimates that he trains about seven to eight hours a day, six days a week. He lifts weights at his home for three to four hours in the morning, then does a long-distance cardio running workout. After going to work for a few hours, he heads to Brown’s to train.

Most days, Gast teaches classes at Brown’s, as well. He trains and instructs from 5 to 6:30 or 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and does a Saturday morning live roll.

Gast has the words “Son of Scipio” tattooed on his back and “Scipio Savage” tattooed on his leg. His fight name is “Gastank,” and his fans are known as “Scipio Savages.”

Those fans have turned out to watch Gast win his six fights, which have included three wins by submission and one by TKO. He’ll look for another one next weekend when he faces Alex Riley for the Bantamweight Amateur title in Birmingham.

“I like my chances a lot,” Gast said. “I believe this kid does not have the ground game that I have. I see a lot of holes in his game from the footage that I’ve got to watch because he does fight a little longer than I do.”