After career-threatening injury, Bellator 121's Austen Heidlage ready to send message

You very likely don’t know who Austen Heidlage is. But his plan is to change that on Friday night.

But there was a time not long ago when it was possible he’d have never had the chance to make a name for himself. Just getting to this point would be accomplishment enough for many. But ahead of his Bellator MMA debut, Heidlage has message-sending aspirations that he’s a name to be reckoned with.

Heidlage (7-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) on Friday meets Philipe Lins (8-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) in the opening round of Bellator’s 2014 “Summer Series” light heavyweight tournament. Their fight is on the main card of Bellator 121, which takes place at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

But a severe back injury early in his career could have kept him from the chance to get his name out there on Friday with an upset of Lins.

“About three years ago, four months after my first MMA fight, I suffered a spinal injury and was completely bedridden for a month,” Heidlage told MMAjunkie. “I lost all the feeling in one of my arms. It went completely numb. It’s gotten better slowly but surely. There’s still a little bit of numbness there from time to time, but obviously it’s not bothering me that much. It was something I was able to overcome and I’ve been able to win a lot of fights since then.”

The accident happened when Heidlage was rolling with a heavyweight. He didn’t tap, heard something crack, then hoped everything was fine. It wasn’t, and it made Heidlage learn a little about perseverance.

“Even though I suffered such a serious injury at an early point in my career, I never thought about giving up,” he said. “I always knew I was going to get better and get back to fighting. Wrestling most of my life really taught me that hard-nosed mentality. You get through it and you keep going on with the rest of your life.”

Heidlage has six of his seven wins by submission, and against Brazil’s Lins, he’s a significant underdog. But for a guy who says his life outside fighting consists of plenty of Dungeons and Dragons, he’s got a path to victory mapped out.

And he believes his name will be on peoples’ radars thanks to a submission in the tournament.

“I know Philipe is a big guy and he’s undefeated, but I feel very confident coming into this fight,” he said. “Speed is going to be a big advantage for me, and I plan to get in close and get him to the ground. My wrestling will definitely be a big advantage for me in this fight. I’m going to pressure him and force him into a submission. That’s just what I do. That’s exactly what I’m going to do in this fight.

“I want to send the message that this is my tournament to win. I want to take Philipe out in dominant fashion and show the world that I’m coming from my title shot.”

And after that, you’ll know who he is, even though you might be wondering where he came from.

Heidlage is fine with that.

“After this fight, there’s going to be a lot of people saying, ‘Who the hell is this guy and how did he pull this s–t off?,’” Heidlage said. “This tournament is a life-changing opportunity for me, and you bet your ass I’m going to make the most of it. Winning this tournament could change everything for me. And that’s just what I’m going to do: I’m going to change everything.”

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