TUNICA, Mississippi – Like top professional fighters, Bobby Lee’s path to his first global name belt is still glamorous.
The 24-year-old grew up in football and wrestling at Becker High School, but another game caught his attention from an early age: jiujitsu.
Brazilian martial art has gained greater fame in recent decades for being a key detail of the wrestling championships.
When Lee first saw his favorite wrestler, Georges St-Pierre, confront Matt Hughes in a resumption of the fight of his name, he saw the emotion on St-Pierre’s face and looked for that in his own life.
The seed had been planted to pursue a career in martial arts and prize fights, and Lee was eager to learn. However, in 2008. Access to the game does not come close to what it looks like today.
“It’s so hard to go back to the days when you didn’t have a supercomputer at all times,” Lee said. “I was literally looking for old books in the library and hunting to teach me jiujitsu. Searching for YouTube and hunting to teach you martial art by watching YouTube videos. “
Lee came out of his humble beginnings to win the Welter Cage Fury FC Interim Weight Championship on September 18 in Mississippi. The global name match aired on UFC Fight Pass, and Lee is now about to have a chance at one of the UFC’s most productive promotions, or Bellator, some other combined martial arts organization.
He was all still simple. Lee would be the first to tell you that he wasn’t a herbarium in his wrestling past.
On his first day of wrestling in kindergarten, he followed his father’s recommendation to call the tallest child in the gym. The most sensible sophomore in elegance cradled Lee and hit him on the face. Soon after, Lee finished his first wrestling season.
Lee returned to fifth grade, where he suffered almost a 25-game-a-year streak, but until eighth grade, he began to enjoy good luck and fall in love with the sport.
His struggle took a significant step forward and the same sophomore who put him in his place, Matt Sadlowsky, became Lee’s wrestling captain at Becker High School and proved to be a wonderful figure in his life.
During his teenage years, Lee first learned of a local jiujitsu tournament. After some arguments, Dad agreed to let him in despite having no experience.
“I made a move called a flying bracelet, which is nothing to do in your first tournament and when you don’t have a coach,” Lee said. “Win a game in nine seconds Array . . . the confidence I’ve gained from that, I’ve kept it for a long time. “
Lee, a 16-year-old who fought in adult tournaments, and because he didn’t already have a coach, said he was fighting for the Becker Bulldogs.
Dave Owens, who co-owned a gym at the time with UFC veteran Brock Larson of Becker and had to check on the boy.
Lee brought Larson and has been educating with him ever since.
Larson has trained with UFC heavyweight world champions Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos, to name a few. He now owns Start BJJ in downtown St. Louis. Cloud.
“He is one of the most productive jiujitsu coaches in the world; it’s not a hyperbole,” Lee said. “No one has anything negative to say about Brock . . . I’m lucky enough to fall for a very smart coach. “
His first official amateur bout came since his last month of the best school, in May 2014, winning through side kicks against a 10-year-old veteran older than him.
After leading 5-0 in amateur fights in 16 months, Lee got tired of fighting for free. It’s time to turn professional.
Lee’s first professional match took place on November 6, 2015 and he finished Codie Kahler Kimura in the final circular to seal the victory.
He has five more victories in the next 14 months to fight Jeff Peterson. Lee dominated the first round, but Eventually Peterson is still standing. Peterson won the game by decision, which gave Lee a valuable lesson in his first professional defeat.
“I learned a lesson about patience and not looking for everyone to roll out in the first round,” Lee said. “When you succeed in the upper grades of the gameArray . . . you have to be able to keep your distance.
His father died a short time later and Lee said he had smart teammates for him over time and re-participated in MMA.
Lee fought three more times in the department (155 pounds) before moving on to welterweight (170 pounds) for a match opposed to Ben Nuemann in September 2018. Lee knocked out Nuemann with a flying knee in the assault of the moment, the first knee flight to win. LFA (Legacy Fighting Alliance) promotion story.
The AFL is the most productive food league at the UFC, making it an ideal testing field for its new weight category. Lee had a 1-2 mark on his next three fights, suffering to find consistency. round victory over Zach Shaw last October.
“First-round final attendance attracts other people’s attention at UFC or Bellator,” Lee said of the most productive promotions. “They need other people with exciting fights or endings.
He reads about to take a break on Bellator’s occasion on February 21 as opposed to Shamil Nikaev, but Nikaev’s visa disorders canceled the fight.
Instead of a $10,000 check to show and $10,000 for a win, Lee lost it to earn $20,000 for a night’s work. However, Lee stated that he had been compensated through Bellator for his wrestling training, which ended up being the biggest failure of his fighting career.
Less than a month later, COVID-19 closed gymnasiums across the country, prompting no fights for the remainder of 2020.
Lee spends time in education at Start BJJ and The Cellar in St. Anthony, focusing on fighting in St. Louis. Cloud and beat her in St. Anthony while still living with her mother in Becker.
Because payout checks aren’t big enough for a full-time race at the lower levels, Lee earns cash through the training, blocking and training categories at The Cellar.
COVID-19 did all this because The Cellar was closed for most courses. Fortunately for Lee, his coach Larson made education an option in St. Louis. Cloud.
“We made some changes in crown hours so there are enough men here to exercise and stay safe and clean,” Larson said. “It was a little more work, but it was worth it. “
Lee had a gym to work out again, now he just needed to fight.
A new promotion to Cage Fury FC came to call him a welterweight belt match opposite champion Jeremiah Wells.
The fight that will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass, and any global name belt is a vital currency of exchange when trading with the most productive promotions.
Wells withdrew from the bout to negotiate a contract with UFC, and veteran Mike Hill took his position in the match by name.
Lee could not finish, but won the resolution on the judge’s score cards in all four rounds.
“The canvas looked so professional and the quality of the production was great,” Lee said. “I won the fight in about every second. “
The moment of doubt came when Hill put him in a guillotine strangulation. Lee has used the guillotine twice in his career and has completely remembered the misfortune he felt after those losses.
“If I had had it before in my career, I would have exploited
Larson, the only man in his corner last Friday in Mississippi. I was pleased to see Lee get another victory, hoping to continue building that killer instinct.
“He’s young. I only started older than him and fought 52 times all over the world,” Larson said. “He went in there with a smart attitude and the greatest confidence I can see in him for a big fight. that twist where he starts to believe. I can’t wait for the rest. “
Lee has his passport in one position and said his manager was talking to the right people. The most realistic option for your next fight is for someone to get injured and reduce the weight to succeed in the elegance of weight through 155 pounds in no time. .
He is able to make the leap to Bellator and UFC, where pay days can start at $20,000 consistent with the fight. Lee was able to continue her MMA career with her mother’s money, but she knows it can’t last forever.
“I’m running out of cash more than once for this dream,” Lee said. “If this belt doesn’t work out, I’m on the right track, I don’t know what it’s doing. “
Zach Dwyer is a journalist and photographer for the St. Cloud Times. Contact him at 320-406-5660 or zdwyer@stcloudtimes. com. Follow him on Twitter @sctimeszach.
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