The percussively rhythmic punches echo off the basement walls at East Lansing Underground Martial Arts. A timer beeps and head trainer Matt Torres belts out “time!” as a panting fighter reaches for his water bottle.
Animal science junior Evan Carter-Taylor stands watching off to the side of the mat, wrapping his hands in preparation for another night of sparring and grappling. Just days prior, Carter-Taylor was tutoring science students at Lansing’s J.W. Sexton High School.
“Last week we made non-Newtonian fluid,” Carter-Taylor said. “Non-Newtonian fluid flows like a liquid but is solid to the touch, it’s neither solid or liquid.”
For Carter-Taylor, inside and outside the classroom life boils down to analysis.
“The same analytical skills I use dealing with a math problem is the same way I train for and fight an opponent,” he said.
Carter-Taylor was drawn to fighting from an early age, even though he didn’t hit 100 pounds util midway through ninth grade.
“He fought a lot, and because I hung around him, I had to fight,” Carter-Taylor said.
Growing up watching mixed martial arts, or MMA bouts, Carter-Taylor’s analytical nature drew him to try understand the fighters battling it out on his television screen.
“I would never just look at the fights, I would look at how are these dudes training, what is their backstory?” Carter-Taylor said.
Carter-Taylor was inspired by what he learned.
“Most of these guys come from really humble backgrounds, but they’ve made a life doing something that they love to do,” he said.
Watching MMA, Carter-Taylor said he saw something special that drew him to the sport.
“Seeing that you could put structure to fighting, that it could be more than just people out there brawling,” Carter-Taylor said.
Carter-Taylor immersed himself in kickboxing and jujitsu. Before arriving at MSU, he won a kickboxing state championship and numerous medals in jujitsu tournaments.
Growing up with his mom and brother in working class Highland Park, Mich., Carter-Taylor wanted to work hard to be successful.
“I see my mom struggling and (ask myself) ‘do I want to struggle, too?’” he said. “Or do I want to work to get her out of that struggle and get myself out, too?”
Carter-Taylor credits his mother for his work ethic and intelligence.
“Despite what was going on outside, my brother and I had a strong foundation at home,” he said.
He said his mother challenged her boys to be independent and strive for a better life.
Carter-Taylor’s trainers praised his dedication and maturity.
“You don’t see a lot of kids like him that are disciplined and know how to prioritize,” Torres said.
Carter-Taylor has worked to expand his fighting skill set.
“He’s more willing to learn and open himself up to working on his ground game, his clinch game,” East Lansing Underground MMA assistant head trainer Joann Nguyen said. “Coming in he just wanted to kickbox.”
Carter-Taylor’s work ethic led him to MSU, where he is studying to become a veterinarian.
“I like animals because you’re helping something that is alive and breathing,” Carter-Taylor said. “ Most of the time you’re helping a person, too.”
The future looks bright for Carter-Taylor. He is currently pondering whether to pursue professional MMA fighting or his veterinary medicine dreams. The upcoming spring semester will see both dreams tested as he next fights in February, and begins the process of finding a veterinary medicine graduate program.
