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Posted by Mika Frankl
The undercard for Triple A MMA on April 28th at the Spanish Village inside the Expo New Mexico, will feature amateur bouts. None of these bouts is bigger than the Heavyweight bout pitting Lovato’s Total Fitness member Tuuga Pleasant against Rich Torres of Judgement MMA. While at Lovato’s Total Fitness I had the chance to see how Tuuga Pleasant feels coming into his amateur debut…
MF: How you feeling going into this fight?
TP: I’m feeling great coming into this fight. Like you said I got some grappling experience, some jiu jitsu experience, and a little Muay Thai experience. What I’m learning here at Lovato’s is a bunch of American Wrestling and a little bit of Mexican boxing to round out my game. I wanted to become that complete athlete before I went ahead and stepped into the Mixed Martial Arts arena. I didn’t want any weaknesses in my game. So this is my last stop, I’m sowing it all up, it’s coming altogether and I feel great coming into this venue.
MF: You said that normally you competed at Heavyweight in grappling events and that’s what you’re doing against Rich Torres, but that in the future you’re going to look to drop down and try Light Heavyweight; is that the plan?
TP: Yeah, I’m a Light Heavyweight fighter. I walk around at 205. There were talks of me making a pro debut, which I believe that fight was going to be at 185 lbs.; which I do have the capability of cutting too. I walk around at 205 that fight was supposed to come though at 205 and that didn’t work out. Finally third time is the charm and I have a Heavyweight fight. So, anywhere in that range is fine with me. I’m up for the competition; I think it will be a challenge. There’s not a lot of Heavyweight fighters around here, so for the fans, for the fans I’m glad to set-up and take on that Heavyweight. It should be from what my trainers are telling me a approximately 50 lbs. weight advantage. I’ll try and use that to his dis advantage hitting him with the cardio and keeping up constant pressure. He’s going to want to stop fighting before I will.
Hear the entire interview by playing the video below….
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