'Young gun' Jacob Guertin earns first-round TKO

MOSES LAKE — 'Young gun' Jacob Guertin recently secured his fifth amateur MMA win in Lewiston, Idaho with a first round TKO over Lucas Reeves, putting his record at 5-4. Not only did he earn a first-round knockout, but it also came on his 18th birthday.  

"One of my favorite moments was after the fight. The entire crowd wished me happy birthday at the same time. It was so awesome ... I felt like I was on top of the world," Guertin said. "It'll be really tough to beat that moment. Then my second favorite part was walking out with no injuries ... I was able to run over to my girlfriend immediately after the fight and give her a big hug. Those are my two favorite moments." 

Reeves was aggressive out of the gate, applying pressure on Guertin, who responded with early grappling to control the pace of the bout.  

Guertin then used repeated leg kicks to create distance and an opening for a head kick, which stunned Reeves, dropping him to the mat momentarily. He recovered quickly but stumbled back toward the cage where Guertin pounced with a series of blows to the head until the referee called a stop to the fight with just over a minute to spare in the first round.  

Guertin said he was especially proud of defending against Reeves' heavy punches, a weakness he felt he had addressed since a previous loss. He described feeling calm and in control, and said the win strengthened his confidence. 

"I felt really in tune with myself. I felt everything I did was methodically thought of and planned," Guertin said. "I could tell that he was more caught up in his nerves, but I felt great. I felt the head kick building up. Like I knew that I was going to lead up to that. He did exactly what I wanted him to. I wanted to clinch up because opening up, I knew that he'd be rowdy. So, I wanted to sort of calm him down, and set the tone, set the pace." 

He compared his fight to a chess match; everything he was implementing in the fight was ideally going to set up a shot for him to take later on, which led to the eventual culmination of the bout.  

"I knew that he was trying to avoid the leg kicks, (and) I was hitting him with some hard leg kicks, man. I kicked him so hard so many times, and it was at the perfect range too," he said. "I knew that when he started backing up and he didn't try to check the leg kick, he was just trying to get out of the way. That's my cue, because I don't care if your arm's still up, I'm still going to kick you in the head, and I'm going to kick you hard. That's how I am with my training partners, too." 

His planning, combined with Reeves not protecting himself as well, led to the opening Guertin needed to pull off the head kick. 

With his ninth fight under his belt, Guertin is eager to keep building up his resume for an eventual opportunity to turn pro. In addition to his skill set, he described his mindset as a key example of his evolution as a fighter, he said. From his first fight where he felt more anxiety and amped up, whereas his most recent bout saw a more calm fighter who looked at home in the octagon.  

"I felt like I was home," he said. "It honestly felt like another day at training. I had nerves walking into it, but doing my walkout, all my nerves went away." 

As he becomes more serious about fighting at the professional level, Guertin said he feels ready skill-wise but has concerns about professional records, contracts and choosing opponents. He may take a few kickboxing, Muay Thai, or grappling bouts first, with a professional MMA fight targeted for fall 2027. 

"I'm just a little nervous walking into the professional world in that sense, because I'll have to be a little bit more picky on my competition," Guertin said. "Because now there's no room to spare... but aside from that, I feel like I'm ready, skill-wise and mindset-wise. I think I'm there." 

No matter what new challenges lie ahead, Guertin can find solace in the support he has here in Moses Lake or in one of his coaches, Rick Little. 

"That eases my mind a lot when it comes to that. That's pretty much my savior and grace, the people in my corner. Without them, I really wouldn't know what to do at all," he said. 

    Jacob Guertin crouches in his corner before his fight against Brody Case earlier this year.
  

    Moments before his MMA debut, Dominic Fuhrman (left) gets his hands taped by his trainer Jacob Guertin (right) from Freewind Martial Arts earlier this year.