Troubled youth led Bellator 72's Rudy Bears to life of MMA, Paul Daley fight

Rudy Bears faces arguably the biggest test of his MMA career on Friday. But considering an upbringing filled with run-ins with the law, Bears' fight against Paul Daley might seem easy in comparison.

Bears (14-10 MMA, 2-4 BFC) faces Daley (29-12-2 MMA, 0-0 BFC) in the co-main event of Bellator 72, which takes place at USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla. But it's the memory of some near-misses in his past that keep him pushing forward now in the sport.

"Growing up, I started to get involved with gangs, stealing cars and stuff like that," Bears told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I actually ended up getting caught stealing a car and ended up facing some time in jail. I ended up doing a month and a half in jail and I was looking at doing seven years in the penitentiary. I knew I had to get away from that crowd I was hanging out with in order to stay out of jail, and that's when martial arts came into my life.

"I always just wanted to keep my ass in the gym so I could make sure that I would stay out of trouble."

Bears said while in jail, at just 17, he made a decision to turn his life around. A heartfelt letter to the judge in his case got him a second chance.

"Lucky for me, he actually ended up reading the letter and let me out on probation with the condition that I graduate high school and stay out of trouble," said Bears, a Missouri native. "There was no way I was going back there after I got out so I made sure I did whatever I had to do to stay out and I never went back."

Bears' MMA career started out rather pedestrianly. He went 4-3 to open his career, picking up all four wins by submission – but also losing three times by submission. But a six-fight tear put the welterweight, a black belt in both Kempo karate and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, at 10-3 – and the big organizations started to take a look.

After a win under the M-1 Global banner, Bears got a shot in Strikeforce – but was submitted by recent welterweight title challenger Tyron Woodley. He got a shot with Bellator, but has been up and down with the promotion.

Since his 10-3 start, Bears is just 4-7. And he believes that may have Daley, who is making his Bellator debut, overlooking him – which he said would be a big mistake.

"I'm really hoping that Paul Daley is looking at me like I'm the underdog in this fight," Bears said. "It's going to be a real eye-opener for him when I hit him in his face. I'm going to keep coming at him and he's going to be thinking, 'Where did this guy come from?'

"I'm hoping he's thinking I'm going to be an easy fight, but I know in my heart he has another thing coming on July 20."

Daley is looking to get on track after a split decision loss in March to Kazuo Misaki for Strikeforce. With three losses in his past five fights, and with a new promotion to impress on an MTV2 broadcast, Daley is not likely to let Bears off the hook.

And that's just what Bears wants and is expecting.

"Paul Daley likes to stand up just like I do, so I'm expecting for this fight to be a (expletive) war," Bears said. "I'm putting all of my cards on the table in this fight. I'm not backing down for nothing. I see myself going in there and giving it all I've got. I'm all in. I can't see myself losing."

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