The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Ex-Sam’s Club worker faces big test with MMA version of Tyson

Bout against MMA version of Tyson would be life-changing for Rogers.

Miami baseball coach ‘liking the progress’
Updated 22 min. ago
RedHawks plan ‘severe overhaul’ in football
3/18/10
RedHawks want to get on top of teams early on
3/17/10
Who will get call in goal for Michigan?
3/17/10
Prep results, schedule
3/17/10
> More sports headlines

Associated Press 12:57 AM Thursday, November 5, 2009

EAGAN, Minn. — When Brett Rogers steps into the cage Saturday night, Nov. 7, against Fedor Emelianenko, he will be face to face with the most feared fighter in the world.

Emelianenko is the mixed martial arts version of Mike Tyson in his prime — mysterious, ferocious and seemingly unbeatable.

A victory by Rogers in front of a national television audience on CBS would be akin to Buster Douglas’ stunning knockout of Tyson back in 1990, and the man who hails from one of the toughest housing projects in the country knows he’s viewed as that type of underdog.

But it beats changing tires for a living.

As late as April, Rogers worked at a Sam’s Club in the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury, changing tires to put food on the table for his wife and three young children. He also happened to be one of the fastest-rising challengers in MMA, going 10-0 with nine knockouts to earn a shot against the man simply known as Fedor — which rhymes with Vader — in his highly anticipated debut for Strikeforce this weekend.

“There’s very, very few fighters who have the choice between Harvard and the cage,” said Rogers’ trainer, Mike Reilly. “You don’t run into a lot of blue bloods.”

Rogers spent much of his young life on Chicago’s South Side. He fled to Minnesota with his grandmother around the age of 12.

He played basketball in high school and junior college, then started in amateur boxing before finding his way into the no-nonsense world of MMA. He thought his big break came in 2007 when he signed with EliteXC, a rival startup to the influential UFC.

Rogers knocked out Jon Murphy on the undercard of a CBS-televised fight in 2008 and was thinking that his days changing tires were over. Instead, EliteXC folded. That’s when Strikeforce called, offering a spot.

Rogers knocked out Abongo Humphrey, then broke through in June by knocking out former UFC champ Andrei Arlovski.

Share this article