Before Chase “Mannimal” Mann ever threw a punch in a professional MMA fight, he was loading a bar with hundreds of pounds in a small Arkansas gym. That chapter of his life became the foundation everything else was built on.
Mann returns to ONE Fight Night 42 on April 10, where he faces undefeated Turkish welterweight Dzhabir Dzhabrailov live on Prime Video. He brings a 7-0 professional record into the matchup, extending his unbeaten run with a first-round TKO of Isi Fitikefu in January.
But the story behind that record starts not with MMA. It starts with a chance encounter at a local gym when he was 19, fresh out of a rehabilitation center and searching for direction.
That day happened to coincide with a powerlifting competition. A stranger named Logan Chapman, whose personal best across squat, bench press, and deadlift totaled 2,397.5 pounds and who Mann describes as the strongest man ever from Arkansas, noticed him at the bench and offered a tip. A mentorship followed immediately.
“He said, ‘Hey man, I think if you do this and this, you can bench a lot more,’” Mann said. “He showed me a couple of things, and sure enough, I did bench a lot more. He told me I had potential in this, and we ran with it.
“At that point, I was just fresh out of trouble. So, I needed something positive, and as I said, I was not mentally ready to put myself out there in MMA.”
Chase Mann meets Dzhabrailov in ONE Fight Night 42 welterweight bout
Within three months, Chase Mann was competing. State records fell first, then national records followed. He went all-in, becoming obsessed with the platform in a way that translated directly to MMA years later.
“Within six months, I became obsessed with it, just like I am with anything I’m doing,” Mann said. “I got to be all in. I think it’s an ADHD condition. All in or not in at all.”
In his final powerlifting competition, Mann totaled 1,820 pounds, squatting 700, bench pressing 450, and deadlifting 670. But beyond the numbers, standing alone under a loaded bar gave him something no record could quantify.
“Walking up, getting under that bar, it’s you and that weight, and one wrong move, and you could break both knees,” he said. “So, yeah, I would say it’s helped me gain belief in myself.”
That belief followed him into the ring. Every training partner who rolls with him for the first time notices it immediately.
“Every bit of powerlifting has helped me. Any of the guys, whenever I train with somebody new, whoever it is, that’s the first thing they say: ‘Oh my God, how are you so strong?’ he said.
“I just loved it, man. Powerlifting brought something out of me. I wanted to be the strongest, and it helped me gain that belief that has translated seamlessly into MMA.”