Kennewick woman ready for fight — on her way to becoming a mixed martial arts champ

Kelly Clayton got into the mixed martial arts fight game behind schedule.

That’s because it took the Kennewick woman some time to fall in love with the sport.

But on Friday, 36-year-old Clayton gets a shot at the big time when she fights Hailey Cowan, an up-and-comer at 26 years old in LFA: Legacy Fighting Alliance 91 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Clayton carries a 2-2 pro record into the contest, while Cowan — a former member of the acrobatics and tumbling team at Baylor University — is 5-1.

LFA is a feeder system into UFC.

The fight can be seen on UFC Fight Pass starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

The Clayton-Cowan fight is on the main card and is third from last on the lineup.

Clayton’s coach is Anthony Hamlett, a three-time All-American wrestler for Air Force, who works at Combat Mercenary Academy — a 1,500-square foot gym at Midtown Plaza off of Fourth Avenue in Kennewick.

He and Clayton arrived in Sioux Falls on Wednesday, took COVID-19 tests, and were quarantining in their hotel rooms.

Clayton’s fight is at 135 pounds, and she would hit the scales at 135.5 pounds on Thursday morning’s fight weigh-in.

But Clayton had to do some harsh weight-cutting on Wednesday.

“I like to keep her weight in the 148-153 pound range,” Hamlett said.

On Wednesday, Clayton weighed 141 — 6 pounds over the weight class.

But Hamlett, as a former wrestler, knows how to make weight.

Clayton began her weight cut by what they call dehydration, sitting in a personal sauna while on the phone with the Herald.

How she started

Once weigh-in on Thursday is complete, Clayton will begin to eat and drink and gain weight back in time for Friday’s fight.

Clayton attended Toppenish High School around 2000 and was a senior standout athlete there through 2002.

She went off to college and got a degree.

“I got a late start to fighting,” Clayton said. “I first walked into this Yakima MMA building at the age of 25, but it took me a few years to commit. The reason I walked into that gym was to do some cardio kickboxing. My schedule had changed at work.

“Life just kept sweeping me away. It took me four years, and perhaps a mid-life crisis at the age of 29, to get back into it,” she said. “I was always programmed to go to college. Do the right thing. But I got a dream job out of college, and MMA was on the side.”

Clayton works as a fisheries habitat biologist for the Yakama Nation.

She started to become a regular at that Yakima gym.

Her coach at the time was Rich Guerin.

“I remember, 12 of us sitting in practice, and Rich said ‘How many of you want to be a pro fighter?’ All of them raised their hand except me. I said ‘Rich I’m doing this for fun!’ ”

Guerin finally convinced her to try a fight.

I started competing in Brazilian jujitsu

“What was always stopping me was the fear of failure. The first time I got into the cage I won in 40 seconds with a TKO,” she said.

And she was thrilled.

“It’s like the movie ‘Fight Club’,” said Clayton. “How do you know who you are if you’ve never been in a fight? I was learning about myself. It’s all about making myself a priority. My motivation has changed over time. I’m doing this for me.”

Guerin had been coached by Hamlett.

And Guerin became sick.

“Rich closed down his gym in Yakima. He passed away a year ago,” Hamlett said.

Clayton had met Tony Solis not long before that.

The two met during a martial arts fundraiser, Solis as an MMA fighter and Clayton as a Brazilian jujitsu competitor.

Solis is Clayton’s fiancé, and the two own Mercenary Combat Academy.

Meanwhile, Hamlett has become her Clayton’s coach.

He has two other local MMA fighters in the Tri-Cities, both went to Pasco High: Arnesto Toscano and Jacob Romero.

And we’ve got a lot of women who train with us.

Hamlett likes what he sees in Skittles

Hamlett says that a woman’s athletic prime is between the ages of 34 and 38.

“But I wish I could take four years off of what she is now,” he says, thinking of her potential.

Her fight moniker is Skittles, because Clayton loves rainbows and it’s her favorite candy.

As a promoter, Hamlett must have known what he had in Clayton.

She had 12 amateur MMA fights before turning pro a year ago in June.

The turning point came in March, when she went to Kansas and won on a card.

That got LFA officials’ notice.

“We took that fight on five days’ notice,” Hamlett said. “I had some suspicions that some fighters might drop out. So I started to get Kelly’s weight down beforehand.”

She’s ready for Cowan, who is being primed for a star spot in the sport.

“I’m super excited to fight Hailey,” Clayton said. “Just like me, she’s had a lot of close fights.”

But she stops and thinks about how far she’s come in a sport that she never thought about as a high school or college student.

“I never planned on being a fighter,” she said. “But things changed. Motivation became confidence. And then confidence turned into now it being all about fighting.”

It’s never too late to follow new dreams.

“I got a late start, but I never stopped doing it,” she said. “I love this sport.”