Alliance Middle School physical education teacher Travis Peak is not only the head wrestling coach for the Alliance High School Bulldogs, but he also has a professional fighting career. Fighting in the Victory Fighting Championship league (VFC) Peak boasts a 13-3 professional record. His most recent victory came on November 2, in Rapid City, where he defeated Chris Hocum by a tap out.

Peak has been the head wrestling coach at Alliance High School for the past five years, and Peak says that when it’s wrestling season, it gets his full attention. “There’s no way that I would miss a wrestling event to fight.  I owe too much to my team to do that.” Peak continued, “The hard part is having to take time off from fighting when you are on a roll, there have been a few times where I feel like I am starting to hit a high point in my fighting career, (like now)”, said Peak, “I’m fighting well, I’m winning, and I have a lot of big opportunities come up, but I have to turn them down because I can’t fight during the wrestling season.”

A lot goes into preparing for a fight, “I workout a ton,” mentioned Peak about his schedule. “I workout in the morning either doing cardio or strength training, then in the evenings I will drive to Scottsbluff to practice MMA stuff, like kickboxing or jiu jitsu. I will also travel to Chadron and get some of the college guys to wrestle with me.” All the training takes time and Peak said that he spends a lot of time on the road. “It’s tough, either way I’m on the road a lot.” There is also a mental aspect to MMA fighting said Peak. “There is a lot of studying and game plan that goes into a fight, you have to know what you are walking into, kind of like preparing a football team for a game, you can watch film and learn their plays so you can defend them.  The same things go into fighting.

Even though Peak talked about opportunities he has had to give up, he has no regrets. “It kind of sucks, but I made my decision a long time ago about what I was going to do. ”Peak added, “I had a lot of potential and great amateur and pro career, being undefeated before I came to Alliance. I could either chose to go pursue MMA and move to a bigger city where I had the right coaches and training partners, or I could pursue a career in coaching and teaching, I chose my career path, and I would probably still do the same thing again if I had the chance.”

Injuries have stayed away from Peak for the most part, except for a broken hand when he was an amateur, along with a few stiches and sprains along the way.

Peak plans to fight until “he thinks he’s done or his life won’t allow it,” Peak explained, “I have a wife, and will soon have a family, so it will get tougher and tougher to do.”

When asked which he enjoyed more, Peak said that they are all too different to pick. “I get the most fulfillment out of coaching,” said Peak, “I love helping other people pursue goals and to see them have success, it’s an overwhelming feeling to see them do something that they might not have ever thought they could do before. Teaching people to be a better form of themselves is pretty cool.”

As the Wrestling season is underway, Peak will take a step back from fighting, and focus on his coaching duties, leading a solid team, returning two state medalists, and great talent. But come March, Peak will most likely be back in the gym, preparing for his next fight.