Berlin man to represent U.S. at Pan Am MMA tournament

May 21—David Krouse is headed to Mexico next month, but this trip will not be a day at the beach.

The Berlin Brothersvalley graduate will be representing the United States June 22 to 24 at the IMMAF Pan American Mixed Martial Arts Championships in Monterrey. Krouse's coach, Danillo Villefort, of Indio Dojo in Pittsburgh, nominated Krouse for the U.S. team, and is expecting big things from the heavyweight.

"I think he's going to win, otherwise I wouldn't send him," said Villefort, a former jiu jitsu world champion and UFC veteran. "I don't send people to take pictures."

Krouse is only 1-1 in his amateur career, but Villefort said that he has improved tremendously since his last time in the cage, which came nine months ago at Flood City Fight Night in Johnstown.

"The fact that he hasn't fought is because it's hard to match him up," the Brazilian said. "People are not really willing to fight him. His grappling technique is improving a lot."

Part of that is because Krouse trains with Tanner and Taylor Cahill, former Division I wrestlers, at The Shop in Berlin.

"The fact that they have a lot of great wrestlers, it's building a new breed of fighters in Pa.," Villefort said.

Krouse has a boxing background and punching power, as evidenced by his 18-second knockout of Trevor Ward in Johnstown, but he's adding to his repertoire.

"Great progression, especially in the grappling," Tanner Cahill said of Krouse. "A lot of guys don't realize how good Dave is at wrestling and grappling. Everyone knows he can throw hands.

"That's no secret. ... He's been competing (in jiu jitsu) a lot — I'd say he's got over 30 wins in the last year. He's won a lot of gold in jiu jitsu."

Krouse might have been able to make the team at light heavyweight, but Villefort didn't want him to have to worry about making weight three days in a row.

The prospect of facing three fights in three days is daunting enough.

"It is crazy," Krouse said of the schedule. "I like that because I don't know any of my opponents. I think when you have time to prep for an opponent, it's something that's on your mind. I'm just going to show up and fight. I usually do a lot better under pressure anyway."

A victory in Mexico would qualify Krouse for January's world championships in Abu Dhabi. This year's championships featured athletes from more than 60 countries and were watched in more than 1.2 billion homes.

Until he found out he would be on the U.S. team, Krouse didn't expect to take his MMA career to the international level.

"I never really thought of it," he said.

"I dreamed of it, but never thought it would be my reality. I stayed consistent, stayed the course and the stars aligned. Hopefully, I'm going to ride it all the way, put the small town of Berlin on the map. Show them how we do it in the mountains of Berlin."