Chase Boyde didn't want to fight — not at first, at least.
Boyde (4-0) will face Cody Reece (4-0) for the 247 Fighting Championships amateur welterweight title this Saturday, Nov. 16, at Canonsburg's Printscape Arena, but the road there was anything but easy for him. When I sat down with the 21-year-old Boyde, inside the South Side's Big Dog Coffee shop, I began with the most obvious question for anyone choosing a life of combat inside the steel cage:
So how'd you get into this? Did you wrestle in high school?
Boyde first chuckled. Then he lowered his gaze.
And he wasn't laughing anymore.
"I used to get bullied by wrestlers. So ... yeah," Boyde said.
It's not an uncommon story in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA), using the sport to escape bullying or otherwise violent life circumstances. For Boyde, though, the silver lining was this: He was good. Really, really good. And once he got more and more involved with fighting as a sport and a martial art — and not as a defense mechanism — he began to unlock his potential.
"I didn't really have a lot of money growing up, so eventually I had to move my schools when the bullying got really bad," Boyde continued. "So I moved to New Brighton ... I got in a fistfight with this drug dealer, and my mom was like, 'Yeah, you gotta do something.' So I started training with Rodrigo Junqueira in Cranberry and just kind of went from there."
Boyde credits fighters such as Royce Gracie and Rory MacDonald as early influences, and now he crafts his own style daily at Armezzani Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Monaca, Pa., where he works with Lou Armezzani to polish his craft on a daily basis.
And just as Boyde is hoping to turn his promising start in MMA into a productive career at the pro level, 247 Fighting Championships Owner Ryan Middleton is tackling his own challenge in the Steel City. He doesn't want to be just another promoter or another promotion. He wants to put on high-quality fights with slick light shows, walk-out ramps, cameras everywhere — everything.
He wants to bring MMA in the Steel City to the mainstream. No big deal.
"I firmly believe with Pittsburgh — there are places in California that are hotbeds for MMA," Middleton said. "Southern Florida's another one. Hotbeds for MMA. And there's not one single reason why Pittsburgh shouldn't be in that conversation."
This starts with fighters such as Boyde ascending to the next level, and Pittsburgh certainly has a headstart in this regard. Adam Milstead recently retired from the sport but reached the top of the sport as a UFC heavyweight/light heavyweight. Mark Cherico, long one of the region's most popular fighters, made it to UFC President Dana White's Contender Series. Khama Worthy is coming off a knockout victory in his own UFC debut at UFC 241 in August, and Chris Dempsey and Dominic Mazzotta — standouts from New Kensington's Mat Factory — made it to the UFC and Bellator MMA, respectively.
So the foundation is here, no doubt. Now, Middleton wants to take it to the next level.
"One of my goals from the get-go was to fill up these gyms with more people," Middleton said. "People who like the UFC but have never come out and support these local shows, just ... why? And I say that knowing that I was one of those people once upon a time. These fighters are legit, and it's right in our backyard. Once we get that support, that community, that's when something magical can start to happen."
The next step in Middleton's journey features Boyde, UFC veteran Yuri Villefort, local striking specialist John de Jesus, and plenty more Saturday night in Canonsburg. Get your tickets right here.
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