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Meet Lt. Tommy “Gun” Truex, Army National Guard, Executive Officer of Bravo Company, 1-200th Infantry, cagefighter (8-3 of Jackson/Winkeljohn MMA) and matchmaker/promoter (MMA Fight Pit-Genesis).
Truex graduated from Juanita High School in Kirkland, WA, where he was a varsity wrestler and football player – he even played baseball for a year. He married his high school sweetheart, then, devoted to our country, Truex joined the Army National Guard after high school, attended Basic Training, then Advanced Individual Training, then started to attend college at Central Washington University, where he intended to study Exercise Science. However, after a few short weeks in school, he was deployed to Iraq and was away for more than a year. On his return from theater, he resumed his studies at Central Washington, hoping to participate once again in wrestling, but unfortunately, the team was disbanded by this time. A few of his teammates, from the former wrestling team, began to train in mixed martial arts and encouraged Truex to join them. With his Army Combatives training (he is now a Level 3 Instructor), and his wrestling background, Truex was more than ready and willing to get involved. In fact, he not only joined them, but took over and helped put together an intramural fight club, even obtaining funds from the university to outfit the team with equipment and fees.
In 2007, during a visit to his in-laws in New Mexico, Truex decided to visit Jackson’s to train while in town. Shortly after that, Greg Jackson invited him to train at Jackson’s, so in 2008, when his wife was offered a good job in NM, they moved here. He transferred to UNM and switched his major to Business Administration, and went on to obtain his BA from Anderson School of Management.
He had his first fight in NM in August 2008, at Duke City Bike & Brawl, and has gone on to win 5 of his last 6 fights. He has also, in the last few years, been a stunt man in several movies.
With years of experience in fighting, organizing, leading, as well as production, Truex decided to try his hand at the promotions game. To that end, he began to work with promoters Torry Crooks and Nick Montoya, to put on the MMA Fight Pit “Genesis”. He obtained his matchmaker license this summer, and helped put on a stellar show in August, not only matching up fighters, but organizing logistics throughout the production. Not done with fighting by a long shot, he also hopes to fight in November and once more before he goes to Egypt in January, for a year. In the mean-time, he trains 2-3 times a day, takes Army Combatives classes, and prepares for his deployment.
