Luis Gonzalez is a member of London based Team Titan, currently 3-0 in various promotions in England, including UCMMA which has produced top talent including Michael “Venom” Paige and “The Poster Boy” Jimi Manuwa. Currently with three straight finishes and an ever improving striking game the young flyweight is looking for his fourth win this weekend at Shock N’ Awe 19, a fight which he took on short notice.
“When we first spoke I was 1-0 and since September last year I’ve gone to 3-0 with quite a few more fights booked up. Man, initially it was a struggle, nobody wanted to fight an unknown who was 1-0 and being touted as a prospect except for guys with much more advanced records. It’s all going well now.”
Raised in London to a Colombian mother, Gonzalez began his MMA training as a way to look after himself and his family. This brought him to Team Titan, home base of top UFC fighter Brad “One Punch” Pickett among others such as retired UFC veteran Jason Young and Ashleigh Grimshaw as well as Ireland’s own Joseph Duffy when he’s in London.
“There’s so many of us here, too many to name at Team Titan. The training has really enabled me to make a quick turnaround, my last fight was 7th February and it ended quite quickly by TKO so I wanted to get another one in as soon as possible. I’ve started eating cleaner which is helping, keeping below 64kg. The big struggle was cutting back on the soda.”
Like so many other prospects before him, Gonzalez had to decide if the dedication to train and fight full time was for him. In order to accomplish that he went to Sacramento based Team Alpha Male for a six week camp prior to his second fight.
“It was an amazing experience for a young, lightweight fighter. It’s the way of life, MMA is a way of life to the guys there. People live just as fighters, and the way they train it’s almost religious. It motivated me, I train twice as hard now as I used to. I took a lot away from it, especially my wrestling which improved dramatically training with Sac City College and the guys at Ultimate Fitness. I fine tuned a lot of my BJJ thanks to tips after rolling with Joseph Benavidez, and obviously my striking went up a lot as I got my chance to train with Duane “Bang” Ludwig and some Bang Muay Thai. Not to mention some great lessons from Martin Kampmann.”
With Shock N’ Awe being a fair sized promotion Luis has been aware of it for some time, he has been there to corner team members but it’s his first time fighting on the card. As the flyweight title currently lies vacant, now more than ever is his chance to make an impact.
“They have a lot more guys to pick from, and I know if they have any flyweights I’ll be able to show my skills against them. I can definitely see myself competing for them again in the future if I impress.”
Working full time hasn’t impacted much on the young Londoner, who schedules all of his training around the gym and pushes himself through every session regardless of tiredness.
“It’s all to do with lifestyle, the only reason you’re tired most of the time is overexertion, not eating right or not sleeping properly. The cleaner you eat, the better you feel and the better you perform. I don’t get tired or sore because I focus properly on my recovery. Even if you’re not training as hard as you want, get in the gym and learn or practice something. I need to clock at least ten hours a week to cover all my bases outside of fight camps.”
His opponent for the bout is “Fun Size” Darren Castleton with a 1-0 professional record and his win by rear naked choke. A bout with the grappler doesn’t perturb Gonzalez, a blue belt under Team Titan coach Carlos Santos, in addition to a dynamic wrestling game developed against TAM prospects Hector “Kid Alex” Sandoval and Portsmouth’s own James Brum.
“The guy he beat, Joe Lawrence was on my flyweight hitlist to get to higher levels so why not go straight ahead to someone who beat him. Following that I potentially have a shot in BAMMA before the end of the year and maybe even a push into Cage Warriors. It’s all one fight at a time for me though.”
Discussing the progress of his weight division on the world stage and some of his goals for a potentially very active year Gonzalez had this to say:
” It’s the best time to be a flyweight as the division is heating up in the UFC and European flyweights are showcasing themselves in the UFC like Neil Seery, Paddy Holohan and my team mate Brad Pickett. I’d like to fight all over Europe, the UK and Ireland if possible. I’m going to Colombia soon and would love to fight in South America. There’s a lot of flyweights there, I’m of Colombian descent and I represent my nationality when I fight.”
“Finally I’d like to thank my coaches for helping me form both my own style and incorporate everything I’ve learned. This is my second fight already this year and hopefully it’s the start of a very active year. Also to any potential sponsors I would like to impress them with my abilities including NUTrition_irl and their Cleantella. Hopefully soon I’ll be finding more sponsors.”
Luis Gonzalez can be found on twitter and instagram as OfficalLuisGon and he fights March 7th at Shock N’ Awe 19. Expect big things from this up and coming flyweight out of one of England’s best MMA gyms.
Photo courtesy of MMA Fightfoto on facebook.com
By Ian Holland – @Linkmaster2
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