Ring of Combat lightweight champion, Cedric Gunnison has a huge opportunity this weekend. When he steps into the cage Friday night, he’ll look to add a second, prestigous, regional championship to his mantle – Cage Fury FC.
Although he’s ascended quickly up the regional ladder and at a relatively young age, Gunnison didn’t get started in MMA until a little later than a lot of his contemporaries. However, he did already have somewhat of a base prior to MMA training.
“I used to box in the streets with my brothers and stuff,” Gunnison said with a laugh. “I didn’t start training until I was 19-years old. It looks like I’ve been doing this a long time because I’m fairly good at it, but I’ve put in a lot of work in these last few years to get to where I’m at.”
While some parents might be a little hesitant watching their kids mix it up in the streets with boxing gloves on, Gunnison’s mother was nothing but supportive of his martial arts journey.
“She’s just always been so supportive, man,” he said. “She had four kids and was a single mom growing up. Watching her struggle and watching her do everything we need – I want to be able to give back.”
Gunnison knows with a second big title over his shoulder, opportunities like the Contender Series can’t be that far away. Being able to sign a contract with the UFC would help him reach his ultimate goal, which is to pay his mom back for some of that everlasting support.
“The first thing that got me started is that I really want to get my mom a house through this. It’s something that I’m actually pretty good at – I think I’ve shown that a little bit,” Gunnison said. “I do believe that I could do that and I would love to give back to my family through mixed martial arts.”
He’ll look to take that next step Friday as he takes on Zulkarnaiyn Kamchybekov for the CFFC 155lbs title. That fight will serve as the main event and will be aired on UFC Fight Pass.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:04.
