I
In this season of graduations and new
beginnings, lots of high school seniors eagerly
scoop up college scholarships. It’s a rite of passage
for many – but that wasn’t the case for Dan Farmer
in 2006. His story winds around like the lyrics of
an epic ballad.
“I was a basketball player and loved musical
theatre at Jeffersonville High School,” said Farmer,
now 31, and the founder and lead singer of The
Juice Box Heroes, one of Southern Indiana’s most
sought after cover bands.
“Not a lot of people have that combination of
athletics and theatre,” Farmer continued, “but I
was friends with everyone – from the jocks to the
artistic kids. I had several scholarships for theatre,
and I had the opportunity to play basketball at
a few schools as well. I turned them all down.”
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But why?
Farmer chuckled. “I was in love with the sport
of mixed martial arts and had every intention of
becoming a professional cage fighter.”
Following a heartbreaking loss in the basketball
regional his senior year, Farmer said goodbye to
basketball, and days later, started training in mixed
martial arts with New Albany police officer Craig
Pumphrey and Ivan Dale, who trained other New
Albany police officers in martial arts. Later that
summer, Farmer added a boxing coach, Rock
Cruz, and was on his way to his dream.
It might not have been his parents’ first
choice for launching his post-high school life,
but Farmer had a vision. He enrolled at Indiana
University/Bloomington, earning a degree in
fitness specialism-kinesiology, but trained night
and day to be a professional cage fighter, with the
goal of eventually opening his own gym.
“I trained six days a week in Jiu-jitsu for hours
a day,” said Farmer.
By the end of his first year at IU, he was ready
for his first cage fight.
“I was 19 and I fought a 29-year-old,” he said.
“The fight lasted just under two minutes, and he
(Farmer’s opponent) got 47 stitches in his face. It
was the first physical altercation I’d had in my entire
life. I was never rough, I never fought anyone. I
saw this as a sport I loved and wanted to master.”
The adrenalin was the lure for Farmer. “If you’re
going to beat someone in sports, a fight is the
ultimate physical competition,” he explained.
“It’s not who is the toughest, it’s who is the most
skilled in martial arts. I dedicated myself and