Bristol Marunde has had quite the career journey over the years.
The former UFC fighter and TUF 16 alum is making the jump from the cage to the political arena, though he had stops as a contractor and HGTV host (on Flip or Flop Vegas) along the way.
Recently announcing his run for Henderson, Nevada city council, Marunde told Cageside Press in an interview that “Henderson is growing, and the city is such a cool city. Sometimes it’s in the shadow of Las Vegas, but Henderson is such a cool place to live and business is thriving here— and I want to contribute to that. I want to leave Henderson a better place than when I moved here.”
It’s an admirable notion, and we asked Marunde for his pitch. That comes down to, as he put it, “responsible growth.”
“We need responsible growth. Henderson is growing at such a rapid rate, and what does that mean? We need to make sure we have enough qualified police to handle the influx of California residents moving here, and we need to have fire and safety. So I’m going to be an advocate for that.”
As a fighter, Marunde has plenty of friends in the law enforcement business. Beyond that, however, the Ultimate Fighter 16, UFC, and Strikeforce veteran added “we need transparency. Too many people don’t know anything about their local government. Who’s your representative in your district? I want to be very transparent. I think we can do a better job of bringing in the public and letting everybody know what’s happening, who’s making the choices for our community behind the scenes.”
There are lessons learned that should transfer over from fighting to politics, believes Marunde. “I think fighting plays a lot into whatever I do in life. It’s helped me in my reality TV career, it’s helped me handle pressure. I think being in a pressure cooker and being in situations you’re uncomfortable with and still being able to think, think logically, and handle the stress— I think that’s one of the major, key takeaways from being in the fight world, transitioning into business, is handling stress and still being able to perform.”
Marunde competed in the IFL early in his fighting career, which saw him go pro in 2005. His ten-year journey saw him make it to Strikeforce in 2012, then the UFC in 2013. The UFC stint came by way of The Ultimate Fighter 16, where Bristol Marunde was a member of heavyweight Shane Carwin’s team — winning two fights before falling to Neil Magny.
“I think the TUF experience is going to be different for every person. I think for me, the best way to describe it is part prison, part vacation,” Marunde said of his time on the show. “There was a part of it where I was like ‘man, this is cool. I don’t actually have to go to work today, I have no responsibility, I have no phone, I have nothing but to focus on the job at hand’ — and that was fighting and training. But then on the other hand I had no phone, I had no contact with my wife and son, and I lived in Vegas already, so I could almost see my house from the Ultimate Fighter house.
“There was a time where I was like ‘man I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed, and get away from all these animals in the house.’ It was two parts: part of it was fun, and then the part of it was ‘my God, time is creeping along, I can’t wait to go home and just actually relax for five minutes without waiting for someone to play a prank on me or drop an egg on me.'”
There was one big upside to being part of TUF 16, however. “All said and done, one thing I really appreciate about the show is literally everybody on that show is still to this day a good friend. We all went through that experience, we all did it together, and now we’re all really close still to this day.”
Watch our full interview with UFC vet and Henderson, NV city council candidate Bristol Marunde above.
