LXF 5: “Bulletproof” Blake Troop Talks Move to Heavyweight

Long a light heavyweight, California’s “Bulletproof” Blake Troop will be moving up to heavyweight when he returns at LXF 5 later this month. The Lights Out Xtreme Fighting promotion has been on the radar thanks to former NFL’er Shawne “Lights Out” Merriman’s involvement. Recently, ‘The Alpha Ginger’ Spike Carlyle became the latest LXF alum to join the big leagues, picking up a win at UFC Norfolk this past weekend.

32-year old Troop, who has also competed for LFA, had been on a nice little four fight win streak prior to a setback last September against Andrey Vasilenko. After that loss, he decided to take a little time before getting back in the cage. Now, it’s time for the jump to heavyweight — and a title fight.

“You know, I’m moving up to heavyweight so I took a little bit of time to put on some size,” he told Cageside Press recently. “The last fight I was cutting down to 205 from about 230. Now I’m walking around at about 240, so in the last 5 months I’ve put on a solid and sustainable 10lbs of muscle, and I’ve been building my conditioning up so I that I am able to work this for as long as I need to. But just like always, I don’t really expect it to go outside of the first round, cause I’m bringing the pain.”

The move to heavyweight came about in response to the drain of cutting weight. “I felt like cutting weight put handcuffs on my body’s ability to perform,” said Troop. “And as a result I wouldn’t preform as well as I knew that I could.” Troop explained that while his cut wasn’t crazy bad, coming down from 225 or 230lbs, he still felt it, “especially in the later rounds of my last fight.”

“You know I’m down to fight anybody and I’m gonna call myself the king of combat sports, so I cant really be hiding behind a weight class,” he added. “So Ive moved up to heavyweight, I’m gonna be the king of the mountain baby, I’ll be the baddest man in southern California come Friday the 13th.”

Troop, who got his start in MMA through kickboxing, training with a family friend in the early 2000s, will face Michael Quintero at LXF 5. Quintero has fought a few notable names of late, including Tyree Fortune, Jack May, and Jay Silva. The Silva fight saw him claim LXF gold, after holding the title in the promotion’s predecessor, CXF.

“You know, Mike’s been the champ for a minute and he might have just gotten the belt back from Jay [Silva],” observed Troop, “but he was the champ for a while and he was a champ in CXF. I honestly think he is the next best heavyweight in southern California after myself of course. He’s a high level black belt is jujitsu and he is tough.”

In particular, said Troop, “in the fight with Jack May he proved that he will fight to the death, he will continue to push forward and fight, regardless of what punishment is coming and so fourth. I think it’s going to make for a really exciting fight, because I have a similar style of— we’re there to fight you and we’ll take what we need to, throw what we need to and I think it’s going to make for a fantastic fight. Fight of the night, baby.”

Watch our full interview with LXF 5’s Blake Troop above!