Local fighter set to take last few steps of long UFC journey

It’s a straight shot of just more than one mile from the gym Sherrard Blackledge trains in every day to the venue where he will audition for a UFC contract Tuesday night on Dana White’s Contender Series.

His journey to this moment has been far more treacherous than the quick jaunt down West Sunset Road from Syndicate MMA to the UFC Apex.

Blackledge had no intention of becoming a fighter when he moved from Baltimore to Las Vegas in April 2014.

With his mother and younger siblings, Blackledge packed up and joined his older brother in Las Vegas, where Blackledge had previously spent one semester of his senior year at Spring Valley High School.

Tough times in Baltimore

“It’s really rough growing up in that city,” he said of Baltimore. “There’s not much opportunity. Not many people believe in you that you’re going to even do anything with your life or that you’re going to make it out of there. … I came here just to change my life.”

He soon found himself working overnights at McDonald’s and pondering what more could be out there for him. That’s when he met a former pro boxer who was working maintenance at his apartment complex. He referred Blackledge to a boxing gym where, on his first day, the coach proposed an amateur bout the following month.

It was to be a mixed martial arts bout, even though Blackledge was training in boxing. They thought it would be good just to compete in front of a crowd and go through the process of a fight regardless of the discipline.

Blackledge showed up to his fight in basketball shorts and without a clue what he was getting into. After some ribbing from the officials, he got his gear squared away and actually won.

Just like that, a new path was laid out. Blackledge set his sights on becoming a pro fighter and eventually earning a UFC contract, most days traveling three hours by bus to train at various gyms in Las Vegas.

He’ll have the opportunity to earn it with a win on Tuesday night on the ESPN-Plus card. White, the UFC president, sits cageside and awards contracts to a select group of victorious fighters on the five-bout card.

“This is like a super-interview for the best position that you can get in your job,” the 27-year-old said. “To make it to the UFC, that’s the highest level of what I do. It’s like being a semipro football player and then having the NFL ask you to try out and practice with them.”

Blackledge believes he is ready for such a massive opportunity, physically and mentally. That wasn’t the case two years ago when he first turned pro, though he thought differently at the time.

UFC plan

His plan was to get into the UFC within a year, but his route was stunted by injuries and a series of canceled fights. Blackledge grew frustrated and often pondered whether he was on the right track.

He now sees that time as a blessing. While he was amassing a 7-1-1 record as an amateur and now a 4-0 mark as a pro, Blackledge was maturing.

“I may have been ready technique-wise or physically, but mentally, I wasn’t close to ready. I wasn’t ready for the spotlight or all the cameras. … I would’ve gone crazy with all that,” he said. “I’m ready now.”

The celebration will be on should he impress White and the UFC matchmakers enough to earn a contract on Tuesday night, but for Blackledge it will only be the beginning of his journey

He dreams of winning a UFC title and buying his mom her first house.

“We grew up struggling,” he said. “She’s never owned a house or anything and I think she deserves it. She raised six crazy children on our own. And I feel like she deserves to live in a nice house comfortably for the rest of her life.

“She’s going to freak out watching this fight. She’s probably going to have a bigger adrenaline spike than I am. She’s not going to remember even watching.”

Blackledge wants to make sure Tuesday night is impossible to forget. His bout against Cameron Church is part of the 5 p.m. card on ESPN-Plus.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.