[autotag]Ben Reiter[/autotag] might walk away from Saturday’s CFFC 79 with a belt around his waist, but he says he won’t keep a dollar in his pocket.
Reiter (17-2-1), a four-time Bellator veteran and former wrestler at the University of Pennsylvania, is returning to MMA action for the first time in three years when he takes on Shawn Teed (5-2) for the promotion’s vacant heavyweight title at CFFC 79.
While Reiter hopes to capture the title, he isn’t worried about the check that comes with it, choosing instead to donate his entire purse to the sports-based youth development program Beat the Streets Philadelphia, which “uses the sport of wrestling combined with mentorship and academic support to serve under-resourced student youth in the Philadelphia area.”
It’s an organization for which Reiter also works as a mentor, even shuttling high school kids around for college visits in the days leading up to his own fight.
“That’s just balancing life, that’s all,” Reiter told MMA Junkie. “There’s always a lot going on in life. I’m just feeling grateful to be able to do what I do every day. I’m feeling grateful to be able to do what I do with Beat the Streets and be able to train and be able to compete and be a father and be a husband and just kind of balance all of the great things going on. It’s a privilege.”
For Reiter, charitable contributions are nothing new. In fact, charity work is why the first 16 fights of his pro MMA career all took place in South America, where he went after college and established a non-profit organization.
“We would do relief campaigns where we would fundraise for a whole bunch of warm clothing and blankets and bring them out to these villages in the Andes Mountains,” Reiter said. “I’m talking like 17,000 feet altitude. We would do educational work in these community centers and all sorts of projects just to help out any way we could.”
Reiter eventually met his wife in Peru, and his two children were born there, as well.
After a four-fight stint in Bellator that saw Reiter traveling back and forth between Peru and training camp in the U.S. at Jackson Wink MMA Academy, “The Hunter” took a break from the sport to help relocate his family to Philadelphia and adjust to life in the states.
Now he’s back to training and competing in the sport he loves, and he returns to action at CFFC 79.
At 32, Reiter knows his time in the sport is most likely limited to the next six or seven years, but he’s ready to make an impact in that stretch.
“If I can do awesome here and get back in the running with big leagues and climbing up world rankings, yeah, let’s do that,” Reiter said. “At the same time, I’m grateful for the journey. I’m grateful to be able to be in there and compete and do what I love, and I’m just going to keep doing that as long as I’m able to. I just feel really happy about that.”
And he’d be even happier if MMA fans would consider joining in on the contribution he’ll be making to Beat the Streets Philadelphia, as well.
“If you want to make a donation in my honor, that would be really appreciated,” Reiter said.
CFFC 79 takes place Saturday at Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, N.J. The night’s main card streams live on UFC Fight Pass.