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Octagon Origins

Kyle Prepolec on His Mixed Martial Arts Career

Story by Ryan Percy
Photography by Yanick Maltais

In a house on the east side of Windsor, Kyle Prepolec lives like any regular guy, no real glitz or glam. He is wearing a UFC t-shirt, but unlike most people who wear branded gear, he does so because he has stepped into the octagon multiple times.

It takes a lot of courage and tenacity to decide to make a career out of fighting and step into an arena. Something Prepolec’s humbleness would not let him brag about.

Growing up an athletic kid, Kyle dove headfirst into team sports. Hockey still is his favourite. But as he got into his teen years something did not sit right with him.

“I kind of got sick of the team aspect because people weren’t putting in the same effort,” Kyle says with a sigh. “It’s like, we’re all trying to accomplish the same goal, why aren’t you hustling? Most of us are actually trying and the rest are being lazy.”

While the team aspect of team sports annoyed him, there were other factors that pushed his interest towards combat sports.

“My family and friends, we’d always watch UFC back then on satellite,” Kyle laughs. “We also had video games and watched boxing and finally went ‘you know what, let’s do this.’”

On the road to mixed martial arts, boxing was his first step.

Inspired by MMA legends like Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre, he trained and got his boxing licence before he started competing. 

But after some bumps in the road, things were not meant to last.

“My parents didn’t want me to box anymore,” Kyle sighs. “When you think about it, no parents want to say ‘yeah, we’re gonna have our kid go fight.’ No parent wants their kid getting hurt on purpose.”

This setback was an opportunity to pivot to another fundamental aspect of MMA, grappling. Kyle took the chance, joining up with his high school’s wrestling team, sticking to it until he graduated.

With both disciplines under his belt, Kyle ended up eventually making his leap into MMA.

“After high school wrestling I went to my first MMA gym and then eventually made the transition to Maximum Training Centre,” Kyle says of how he ended up at one of Canada’s top ranked MMA gyms. “It’s where I’m still at now because they have everything and they’ve helped in developing and nurturing me to where I am today.”

Kyle got his first taste of an actual bout in 2008, at Fighting Spirit MMA’s Superfights in Oneida.

“You see this cage set up and all these people shouting.,” Kyle reminisces. “Then you’re going up against your opponent and you’re like ‘I’ve heard of you but I don’t know anything about you.’ Now we’re here.”

With two athletes in their physical prime Kyle says the biggest thing is you never know how a match will play out. Everyone is tough, the fight could go quick or drag out to a judges’ decision. Kyle’s first bout ended in the former, his arm raised in victory after only 30 seconds into the first round.

“When it ended that quick this whole roller coaster ride of emotions takes over you,” Kyle says with a laugh about his first victory. “You’re excited, over excited. You’re so pumped you don’t know what to do with yourself. That’s why you see guys just hop around and go crazy.”

The fight launched his career, leading to a current record of 15 wins to eight losses. As he got more experience his family also began to embrace his career.

“The more fights and competitions I started doing they started to see I was going to be okay,  I took care of myself and was doing well,” Kyle smiles. “It put them at ease even though they still get nervous, but they aren’t as nerve racked as when I was a teenager.”

Kyle worked hard climbing the ladder, taking fights when he could, moving back and forth between promotions. 

Then one day, while he was eating chicken wings at John Max, his phone rang. 

He got the call. He was going to the UFC.

Kyle (right) fighting the Samourai MMA on November 19th, 2021, where he won the Samourai 155 Title.

“They told me I’d made it,” Kyle says, face lighting up at the old memory. “I couldn’t believe this was real life. You never know what’s gonna happen, then all this hard work pays off.”

That strive for hard work and dedication is what Kyle is most about. Whether it is training while listening to music or running his property management business he makes sure to take every
opportunity to get the job done.

While those opportunities have taken him far and wide across the US and Canada he always comes back home to Windsor.

“It’s the family and people,” Kyle says. “Windsor deserves a lot more credit than what it’s given. There’s a lot of hardworking people here and a lot of good hearted people here.”

Kyle even found the loves of his life here, his fiancee Emily and his adorable adopted beagle, Mac.

While he does say his career is far from over, he does know eventually he will have to throw in the towel and step back from the ring. This is especially the case with the sport’s history with concussions

“I think a lot of fighters don’t recognize that enough,” Kyle says of knowing when to finally call it quits and hang up his gloves. “It’s better to go off healthy instead of trying to keep going and end up with something like severe post concussion syndrome.”

While Kyle still has a lot of fight left in him, he says the goal is to know when to step back and reevaluate. But until then, he wants to keep shooting for the top so he can inspire others like he was.

“I want to be one of those guys people look up to,” Kyle says with a grin. “I want upcoming Canadian fighters to not just want to be like me, but want to surpass me. My goal is to become champion until my time’s up and I pass the torch.”

His lifestyle of dedication, hard work and grasping for every chance has led to Kyle having chances few have ever gotten.  

“At any moment you never know what could happen,” Kyle says. “So say yes now and then figure out the opportunity after, that way you don’t miss out.”

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