The man nicknamed “Daddy” became a coach in the first place through circumstance, rather than as a planned gig. “My coach at the time was fighting in the UFC, and he was kind of focused on himself, so I ended up coaching a lot of [his] classes,” Stevenson told Sherdog.com. It was the beginning of a parallel journey he would have for the next decade and half as fighter and a coach.
Some of Stevenson’s earliest lessons in coaching occurred when he worked with MMA legend Bas Rutten for several of his camps, including for his bout with Kevin Randleman at UFC 20, where he won the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title. Incredibly, Stevenson was still in high school at the time.
Stevenson began his own professional fighting career at the age of 16. At 23, he reached the UFC himself by winning the second season of The Ultimate Fighter. However, he had started attending UFC events as a coach several years before that.
“The first year that I coached in the UFC I was 20 years old,” Stevenson told Sherdog. His earliest memories go back to UFC 40 in 2002, where he served as one of the coaches for teammate Phillip Miller in his win over Mark Weir. “I have been able to corner many people in many shows [and] got to see the world doing it,” he says.
He eventually left his home in California and moved to Las Vegas in his early 20s to train and coach with Mark Laimon at Cobra Kai Jiu Jitsu, a gym affiliation he maintains to this day. At Cobra Kai he worked with notable fighters such as Phil Baroni, Gray Maynard and Forrest Griffin. However, Stevenson took full advantage of the opportunities afforded him by living in Las Vegas.
“I would go over to Randy [Couture’s gym] and run drills for the MMA class,” Stevenson said.
As Stevenson progressed as a coach, he was still an active fighter, defeating talented opponents such as Yves Edwards and Melvin Guillard. For much of that time, he fought under the tutelage of renowned MMA coach Greg Jackson. Stevenson believes the time spent with Jackson helped him progress as a fighter as well as a coach.
“I’ve been blessed with people like Greg Jackson, Randy Couture and Dan Henderson in my life,” Stevenson said.
The dedication and love for coaching he gained from those experiences, he now admits, may have been a detriment to his fighting career. In many instances he prioritized the needs of fighters he was working with over his own. Yet because of this, he earned tremendous amounts of respect from his peers. Not to mention, that continued growth as a coach has paid off now as his fighting career nears a close.
“I think those experiences really catapulted me as far as [coaching goes],” he said. “I think that allowed me to be in the position I am in [at] 36, but I have the knowledge of a 50 year old in the sport.”
Thanks to his exposure to the coaching styles of Jackson, Laimon and Couture, Stevenson does have a base concept he likes to build many of his fighters up from, and that base is wrestling.
“Wrestling is very important,” Stevenson said. “Being able to wrestle dictates whether the fight [stays standing] or goes to the ground.”
In his mind, wrestling can be a neutralizing factor in a bout. One fighter could be more well-rounded than the other, but if his opponent can decide where the fighting takes place, that is a serious advantage. Stevenson also views wrestling as an easier base to build up from than other martial arts, especially when it comes to quickly learning how to blend grappling and striking.
“I’ve seen very good wrestlers cross over and do striking,” he said. “But I haven’t seen every good striker crossover and do wrestling,” he says.
Stevenson believes that mastering wrestling pushes some athletes’ fight IQ to expand at a more rapid pace. “To wrestle, I think it makes you have to use the creative side of your brain, and it makes you have to be a quick problem solver,” Stevenson said.
Tom Gallicchio -- a fellow The Ultimate Fighter alum and friend -- appreciates the grappling acumen of Stevenson and how it is the base of his coaching methods.
“We have a very similar style in grappling, but he’s just a little bit older and a step ahead of me,” Gallicchio told Sherdog. “Joe is a great MMA coach, not just a great grappler. He’s very attentive with his students.”
While he works mostly out of Cobra Kai, Stevenson also does training at Team Quest with Gallicchio, and with his protégé, rising Bellator MMA featherweight prospect Juan Archuleta, at his gym, the Training Lab. With the coaching side of his MMA life only growing by the day, Stevenson was asked if he is officially retired.
“I’m retired to tell you the truth. I’ve got a great job, I’m coaching some great people and I love it,” he said. Yet the pull of fighting still beckons him, as he admits he is in negotiations with an MMA promotion on a possible comeback. “That is going to push me to maybe make a final run and show the world what I have. And it excites me,” he says.
“There’s something about fighting that you can’t buy. There’s that feeling of adrenaline when another man is being paid to knock you unconscious that puts you on your toes,” Stevenson said. The passion for the sport he has been a port of for nearly two decades is still there.
Although he may fight again, he is still aware those days are numbered. However, what about the next generation of Stevenson fighters? “Daddy” does have four sons, and all of them have shown an interest in martial arts or combat sports. Would he be open to them fighting one day?
“It would be an honor to watch them fight if that’s what they want to do,” he says. He would also be fine with taking on a dual role of dad and coach, if it came to that.
Stevenson has not been a perfect fighter and knows he may not always be the perfect coach. However, he understands those learning experiences have made him the person he is today, and one of the rising coaching talents in the sport.
“I can tell you for sure I did a lot of things wrong. I do not regret one thing, because that in itself shaped me into the man I am now,” he says.