Canadian mixed martial artist currently competing in the World Series of Fighting's Welterweight division, Ryan Ford had to wait for a long time before he was able to fight.

He said "I always grew up around boxing because my dad was a Canadian lightweight champion and was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world, at one point."

In an interview with Cagewriter he said "So, boxing was always around. When I was in junior high school, I started wrestling. I was an athletic kid and I played every sport I could. But my mom really didn't want us to box so we didn't get to do the boxing, too much. Dad did show us how to hit pads and throw a punch, though."

When he grew up and had come to his age, instead of going forward to throw punches and be a boxer, his love for another sport became eminent and that was when he realized he wanted to be in the MMAs.

Both his parents were not fond of the career that he chose but still, he chose his own path. He said "He had that old school boxing mentality of, 'What is this stuff?'"

"After seeing a few of my fights he actually was like, 'OK.' I actually got into it. He saw that it isn't this crazy sport"

But when Ford convinced old daddy on the beauty of the sport, dad could not resist giving his advice.

Ford said "Yeah, he gives me some pointers after fights with stand up striking. He's a boxing analyst. But, It's changed. He used to box back in the '70s and '80s. A lot has changed between then and what we do now."

Ford is off to face Jake Shieds this Saturday night in Edmonton and he eagerly listens to the game-planning ability of his head MMA coach Firas Zahabi.

He said "Coach Firas set the game plan when Georges fought him, so I've definitely relied on his knowledge. Firas knows the game. He knows what game plans to use. At the same time, I'm a totally different fighter than GSP, so his game plan is different"