SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A transition from cross country to mixed martial arts may seem unlikely, but that’s exactly what one former South Dakota State runner has accomplished.
Cheyenne Bowers has found a home training at Next Edge Academy in Sioux Falls, and she says fighting has helped her overcome mental health battles.
Photojournalist Sam Tastad brings us her story.
“I fell into this. This was not on my not on my life path that I had when I was 16. But once I found it, I was like I am putting everything I have into this, give everything I’ve got, and see where it goes and its worked out so far,” said MMA pro fighter Cheyenne Bowers.
“She was a Division 1 athlete at SDSU in cross county and track,” said Cheyenne’s trainer Bruce Hoyer.
“I actually scrolled back to a journal I wrote at the beginning of this year and I said I would be their champ by the end of this year, 2024,” said Bowers.
“Fighting at the Pentagon, the first couple times as an amateur was overwhelming. There’s a lot of love pouring down on you. I have worked a lot on harnessing energy from crowd. A lot of
my mental game has been tailored to understanding that energy can kind of make or break you in that first round. This time, I was able to harness that, collect it, keep my emotional levels down and controlled and I ended up getting a second round TKO,” said Bowers.
“She’s super dedicated to her craft. I think this is very rare in this day in age that is like, ‘Hey, I am going to go through this sucky period of trying to learn this thing,’ that I really truly want to learn it so I am going to put in time,” said Hoyer.
“I am excited to see what future generation brings because my favorite thing after a fight is when a cute little wrestler girl walks up to me and says, ‘Can I get your autograph and I say yes, you are going to be so good when you are older,” said Bowers.
“The inspiration behind my fighting now, all of the mental health issues that I have dealt with in the past, it’s a way for me that I have dealt with all of that chaos in my brain, and put it on paper,” said Bowers.
“When I was a young teenager, I had a really severe eating disorder and was actually hospitalized a couple months for that,” said Bowers.
“I still deal with that today. It will be something I hold onto for rest of my life but thankfully I have built a system around me that know my triggers, knows what I struggle with, and they help me on the day-to-day and when I am having a bad day, I can call them. I can walk in doors here and have all my people here to help,” said Bowers.
“There are definitely days when I have left and cried the whole way home. I cried in the back bathroom. Not out of getting beat up or tapped too many times, just out of love because I know I am capable of so much. This place has definitely been my temple and sanctuary and I will never ever regret walking into this place because it has literally saved my life,” said Bowers.
Cheyenne is 5-1 and is the current LFA Straw-weight champion. She is continuing to train awaiting her next fight and her goal is to be in the UFC.
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