MMA: North Ridgeville's Drew Dickson on the comeback trail again

Drew Dickson has always had a competitive drive, a high motor and the work ethic of a world-class athlete. Now he just needs a little bit of luck. Dickson was a grinder during his four years of wrestling at North Ridgeville High, clawing his way up the ladder of success until finally qualifying for the Division I state tournament during his senior season in 2013. But before Dickson could step onto the mats in Columbus, he failed a pre-match skin check and just like that … his high school wrestling career was over. "I came off the mat (at the Lorain County All-Star meet) and said, 'I think I'm totally done with wrestling,' … and I meant it at the time," Dickson said. "I went to Kent (State), joined a fraternity, got really good grades and for some reason I was thinking, 'This is way too easy.' I didn't really like my life and when I came home for Thanksgiving break, Nick Mayer was coaching at Avon Lake and asked me if I wanted to help coach." Dickson was so excited to be back on the mats, he left Kent State, enrolled in classes at LCCC and worked at his father's business so he could continue coaching high school wrestlers. Even though Dickson continued to help coach at several Lorain County high schools over the next few years, the call of competition returned. "I just wanted to walk on somewhere," he said. Dickson ended up back at Kent State and even though he got "the (expletive) kicked out of me every single day," he earned a spot on the Golden Flashes roster. He won 13 matches his first season, winning the 125-pound championship at the Ashland Open and placing fourth at the Purple Raider Open. He matched his win total the next season while placing fifth at the EMU Open and eighth at the Nittany Lion Open. Then, Dickson's college career ended more disastrously than high school. "At the end of my second year I blew my right labrum out and I had to get a full reconstruction on it," he said. "I got into that third season and I messed up my hip in the first tournament of the year and I kept wrestling on it because the training staff kept telling me I just pulled a muscle. I ended up going to a chiropractor and she told me my hip was getting worse. I ended up getting an MRI and my doctor called to tell me my hip was broke and if I kept wrestling on it, it was going to collapse." Dickson felt the writing was on the wall and that his career as a wrestler was over. But he had always had the idea of becoming an MMA fighter in the back of his mind. "I could have gotten a medical red shirt for that season and I still had another year of eligibility on top of that, but I was like, 'Dude, if I don't heal from this, then I can't try fighting,'" he said. "I feel like I would have been very upset with myself." Dickson began training in MMA during his final year at Kent State and took his first amateur fight in 2017. He clearly wanted to make up for lost time. "My first five amateur fights were over a span of four months," he said. "I would just leave a fight and go take another one." Dickson went 7-1 as an amateur — his one loss was by decision — and then he was forced to put his competitive career on hold again. "It was 2021, I was 26 and I didn't really have a real job that was worthwhile," he said. "I needed to get away from everything. I needed a reset. A good friend of mine suggested trying real estate and I ended up taking the courses, got my license and finally had some stability in my life. "I originally thought I was going to build a real estate business for like a year and then go back to fighting. Then come to find out real estate is pretty hard and it took awhile to build a stable business." Four years later, Dickson decided to return to MMA. He took one last amateur fight — a split decision victory in May of 2025 — before making the decision to turn pro. He made his pro debut in December of 2025 … and it did not go well. "Honestly, I don't have anything good to say about it," Dickson said. "Everything within my control didn't really go too well, and then everything outside of my control went absolutely terrible." After winning the first round by controlling his opponent — Pittsburgh fighter Tim Bailey — for over three minutes, Dickson was caught in a triangle choke and went unconscious despite tapping multiple times in an attempt to end the fight. It wasn't the loss that leaves a bad taste in Dickson's mouth, but the circumstances surrounding that first fight. Lack of fight promotion, the opponent missing weight and a shady secondary weigh-in all seemed suspicious. "He needed to make 128 to keep the fight alive and they said he made 128 on the dot," Dickson said. "But it was the first weigh-in I had ever been to where they kept the scale covered. (My people) tried to look at the scale as (my opponent) was on it and the commissioner took a few steps back to get in their way. It was crazy." The experience made Dickson wary, and he took his time vetting opponents for his second pro matchup. He thought he had done his homework and had a solid fight lined up in May, but again his opponent failed to make weight, then didn't show up for the secondary weigh-in and the fight was canceled. "At that point, I'm just like, 'I've just about experienced everything,'" Dickson said. After all the controversy and hardships, Dickson is finally ready to get back to fighting. He is set for his second pro fight Saturday at ForeFront Field in Avon as the co-main event of the Legends Fight Series 3 card. "It's right next to my hometown, on a baseball field … it's really kind of cool," Dickson said. "It's still kind of a new promotion. They had their first fight on this field back in May and then had a second one earlier in the summer. So I'm excited to get back out there and see what I can do." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 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