John Cholish doesn’t fight crime by night. He just fights.
The 29-year-old Ivy League graduate wakes up every day at 5:45 a.m. for his regular job as a junior partner at Beacon Energy Solutions in Manhattan. When he gets off at 5 p.m., you can find Cholish in the gym.
Boxing in Brooklyn. Wrestling in New Jersey. Jiu-jitsu in Union Square.
Cholish’s regular job is as an energy trader and financially that’s all he needs to be stable. But his second career – the thing that really gets him going – is competing in the UFC, the world’s largest mixed martial arts league.
“I fight because I love it,” Cholish said. “MMA is different. You really have to have a passion for it. It’s very dangerous. People try to say it’s gotten safer and it has. But there’s still a lot of injuries.”
Cholish took vacation time this week to compete at UFC on FX 8 in Jaragua dul Sol, Brazil on Saturday night. Across a chain-link cage from him will be Gleison Tibau, one of the toughest lightweight (155 pounds) fighters in the world.
Beacon supports Cholish’s other occupation 100 percent – so much so that managing partner Steve Kessler, Cholish’s immediate boss, is in Brazil this weekend to watch him compete. Cholish has turned a number of co-workers and clients on to training MMA. Actually, Kessler met Cholish through a mutual friend who trains at one of Cholish’s gyms and ended up hiring him.
Kessler said some associates were taken aback by Cholish’s choice to be a prize fighter. But now they’re just stunned at the high level at which he competes. Cholish is 8-2 as a pro, including 1-1 in the UFC, where he has fought since 2011.
“I think people look at it naturally like, why would somebody subject themselves to that?” Kessler said. “They’re surprised somebody is willing to put their body on the line. You’re risking serious injury.”
Cholish has never been hurt too badly, though black eyes, scrapes and bruises are the norm. Last year, he battled a groin strain that made it difficult for him to get around, but it didn’t affect his work at Beacon.
“I’m hoping he’s not spending next week in a Brazilian hospital for a number of reasons,” Kessler said with a laugh.
Cholish wrestled at Cornell and got a job at Morgan Stanley after graduation. He wanted to stay active and, as a UFC fan, sought out the nearest Brazilian jiu-jitsu school, which happened to be famed Renzo Gracie Academy in Chelsea.
After being pretty good at it, Cholish took a pro fight six months after starting down in Florida in 2007.
“I thought this will be a cool thing to do once to tell my grand kids about,” said Cholish, who is originally from Hackettstown, N.J. “I never thought I’d actually like it.”
Cholish was winning that entire first bout until the end when he was caught in a guillotine choke submission. He’s had the itch ever since.
A bachelor living in Long Island City, he doesn’t need anything more than Beacon as a source of income. And he’s one of the few fighters the UFC has that doesn’t do it as a full-time job. Cholish made just $6,000 in his last fight, a May loss to Danny Castillo.
“Most of the people normally fighting, they’re fighting more to fatten their wallet, to better their financial status for the future,” Gracie said. “That’s not Cholish’s case. He’s fighting for passion. Those are the most successful fighters.”
Kessler just sees it as another outlet for Cholish’s competitive nature. Cholish believes fighting is just as mental – “a chess match” – as it is physical.
“What defines himself in energy trading is the same thing that makes him a very successful fighter,” Kessler said. “The qualities match up so well. Except for the black eyes.”