Jul. 13—When Drake Randall enters the cage at 7 p.m. today at Northern Quest Resort and Casino near Spokane, he will do so with one more person in his corner.
His niece, Bowy Drake Way, was born early Thursday morning.
The member of the Randall family perhaps most excited about Bowy is her cousin, Drake’s 3-year-old daughter Huxley Randall.
“(Huxley is) my whole world,” Drake Randall said. “She’s pretty much the only reason I’m doing all this, so then I can have all my days with her.”
Drake Randall is a mixed martial artist and a Lewiston High School and Lewis-Clark State graduate.
He got his start with wrestling, becoming a two-time state runner-up and wrestling in college at Montana State University-Northern and at Eastern Oregon, where he became an All-American his senior year in 2019.
He moved back to Lewiston and became an electrician after earning a degree from Lewis-Clark State.
After the birth of his daughter, Randall decided to act on his dream of becoming an MMA fighter, with his sights set on the UFC.
Randall contacted former UFC fighter Austin Arnett, also of Lewiston. After a professional career of his own, Arnett focused on running his late father’s martial arts school and training aspiring MMA fighters.
Austin’s father, Frank Arnett, opened Arnett’s Martial Arts America in 1982 in the Lewiston Orchards.
“My dad did it for years,” Arnett said. “He was the head coach of our team. He turned probably 15 fighters professional in MMA, and then he passed away in 2020, so when he passed away, it was kind of put on me to take over and take that mantle from him and carry on the legacy that he started here.”
Randall remembers the exact date he began training with Austin Arnett’s Team Execution: July 7, 2022.
In two years, Randall picked up an array of MMA skills, learning karate, boxing and more.
“If you saw him sparring that first week when he came in and you saw him sparring today, you wouldn’t even believe it’s the same person. So he’s made a lot of improvements in those couple of years, and that’s been kind of just the main focus is making him a well-rounded martial artist,” Arnett said.
Randall has participated in two amateur fights and five pro fights over the past two years and enters today’s fight against Michael Kuehne undefeated (5-0 as a pro). The fight is part of the “Conquest of the Cage event and will take place at 7 p.m. at Pend Oreille Pavilion at Northern Quest.
He already has another fight on his schedule for Sept. 6 when he will travel to Vancouver, Canada, for an event that will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass, the first fight of his to gain such attention.
Arnett not only coaches Randall, but serves as his manager scheduling his fights.
“There’s no guarantees in this sport,” Arnett said. “Every day you’re going to go to work, and for work, you get punched in the face and kicked in the leg and taken down and slammed. You gotta do that over and over and over every single day for years and years and years. There’s not very many people in the world that are willing to go through that to make it to where you have to be. And so it’s just that grind — that grind of being in the gym every day and competing and doing well.”
Randall said his wrestling background equipped him with the mental toughness to pursue MMA.
“I feel like the hardest part of the sport is being mentally tough and just like believing in yourself,” Randall said. “You got no one else to rely on except yourself. So if you want to be the best, you got to do what it takes to be the best.”
Randall said he has learned a lot in training with Team Execution, from different fighting styles, to technique to one of the most important lessons of the sport.
“Don’t make it not fun. We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t enjoy it,” Randall said. “You’re already getting hit in the face and stuff like that. So you might as well make it fun while you’re doing it.”
When he is not working or training, Randall is spending all of the time he can with his daughter. Sometimes, Huxley even gets to watch her dad train.
Drake Randall said Huxley will begin learning karate soon at Arnett’s school.
Wrestling was a constant in his childhood, whether it was against his siblings (Drake Randall has three older brothers and a sister) or in an organized venue.
The chance to pursue MMA fighting was always in the back of his mind.
For the event today, Randall will join three others on Team Execution in making the trip to Spokane: Melvin Joye, Zander Johnson and Darren Phillips.
Joye is a 20-year-old pro fighter and Orofino High School graduate looking to remain undefeated. and Johnson and Phillips are two amateur Lewiston High School graduates. Johnson is looking to remain undefeated while Phillips is making his amateur debut.
Randall committed to MMA fighting not only for the financial rewards that come with winning, but also for the extra time it gives him with his daughter and his family, who each live in Lewiston.
“That’s why I’m not leaving here. I’m doing this all from Lewiston, Idaho,” Randall said. “It’s the best thing having all my family back here now.”
Blake Randall, Drake Randall’s dad, said that many members of the family have attended each of Drake’s pro fights.
Blake Randall said he grew up playing team sports and also boxed. When his children developed an interest in wrestling, he supported them. When Drake began MMA, he was excited for his son to pursue his goals.
“His mother, on the other hand, probably wasn’t as excited as I was, and she’s yet to watch his matches. She goes to all the matches, but she leaves before his fights start,” Blake Randall said.
The same can be said for today’s match in Spokane. Drake Randall’s father and mother will be there, along with most of his siblings, including his sister Demi Way, who on Thursday became a mother to Bowy Drake Way.
“They’re my number one supporters,” Drake Randall said. “I couldn’t do it without them.”
Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.
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