Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego -- His world title in the ancient martial art of Pankration didn’t come with ease. The road to his great achievement began with hard work at an early age.
At five years old, his father taught him Filipino Martial Arts and by 6th grade, Maj. Jackson T. Doan, operations officer, Edson Range, Weapons Field Training Battalion, earned his first black belt in Karate.
Doan explained martial arts was a big part of his childhood.
“In my family, martial arts was a form of discipline and respect,” said Doan, an Oceanside, Calif., native.
Despite his early success in martial arts, Doan chose to wrestle throughout high school. He didn’t return to martial arts until college when he watched a competition on television that inspired him to pick up where he left off.
“(At the Ultimate Fighting Championship) Royce Gracie was only about 165 pounds and just destroyed everyone that he went against. That inspired me because regardless of weight he won because of his superior technique. I wanted to challenge myself and make myself better.”
Doan began training in college but it wasn’t until he joined the Marine Corps that his competition jumped to a national and then global level.
In between deploying three times to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan, Doan made time to train and always ate healthy.
His training regimen included three two-hour sessions a day.
“Cardio in the morning, strength and conditioning in the afternoon and in the evening mixed martial arts training,” said Doan.
Hard work paid off for Doan and after entering his first Pankration tournament in 2012 he won the 2014 U.S Nationals. Doan then went on to win the U.S world team trials in 2014 and represented the U.S for the Fila Pankration World Championship in the 145 pound weight class.
For the world tournament, Doan fought the best Pankration fighters from countries such as Japan, Romania and Ukraine and beat them all to become the Pankration World Champion.
Although Pankration is currently not an Olympic sport, Doan explained there is a good chance for Pankration to be in the 2016 Olympics. If that happens, Doan said he would relish the opportunity to represent the Marine Corps and his country.
Doan said he always fights for his supportive family, and his fellow Marines.
“I challenge myself to do my best mentally and physically so that my children can see that example and find their path to challenge themselves,” said the 41-year-old Doan. “The other side of my inspiration is fighting for Marines, everything we stand for and in particularly the Marines that have given their all. Because after five combat deployments I promised to every Marine I’ve known that has gotten hurt or has died that I would live my life to the fullest for them.
Despite being the current Pankration world champion, Doan remains humble and says an Olympic competition would not be a guaranteed win.
“Anyone can win on any given day. But I always feel confident knowing I’ve prepared myself the best I could,” said Doan.
Despite his modesty, Doan said he would be speechless if were able to achieve Olympic gold.
“It would be one of the highest points in my life. To represent the Corps and country on that level, I couldn’t even put into words how that would feel.”