![]() Team responds to tactical situations that are deemed high risk and/or require specialized training, expertise, and equipment. We always want to be ready to take a fight on short notice, whenever the big break comes along."įor a rising prospect like Velez, this is an essential attitude, as he learned firsthand recently, when UFC matchmakers contacted the camp about using him as a possible last second replacement for a recent FX card.The Sheriff’s S.W.A.T. ![]() "That's the Bombsquad culture," Velez says. The steady influx of talented, hungry athletes ensures that team practices are always intense and competitive. Indeed, I work out at the Bombsquad's home gym of Ultimate Athletics in Ithaca, and it can be tough to even begin to keep track of the amount of talent continually coming through the doors. Sterling and Velez will be joined in Atlantic City by lightweight teammate Desmond Green, another blue-chip prospect and a former star wrestler for the University of Buffalo. "We just had a bunch of young guys breaking into the sport, hungry for opportunities." "That's about when we started up with the Young Gunz," he said. Velez made his professional debut just a month before Sterling. "So the big thing it helped me with for MMA is that I've been used to seeing punches and kicks coming at me since a very young age." "It's a full contact Japanese style," Velez explained. At four years of age, his father and Shihan Ervin Velez started him in World Oyama Karate. His journey into martial arts has been a lifetime commitment. In a similar manner, Velez told me: "With the UFC adding the flyweight division, I really see things opening up for me."Ī Bronx native, Velez wrestled at Hunter College in the city. It's a mental outlook characteristic of the team. I see myself in the UFC, eventually becoming the champion. Because you've focused your awareness on it, you start to do things in your life to make it happen. So when you say it, you start to channel yourself towards it. I really believe, anything you want, you can achieve. Reality." When asked to elaborate on this idea he commented: Sterling's mental intensity and focus is exemplified in the slogan emblazoned on his t-shirts: "When I dream, I work. The 2012 Bloody Elbow world bantamweight scouting report ranked Sterling as their No. Success has come quickly in the professional ranks. Sterling turned pro in April 2011, following a standout wrestling career at SUNY Cortland, where he twice earned All-American honors. "I actually saw them fight each other at my pro debut," Sterling told me. In a funny twist of fate, his challenger this Friday will be Sterling's teammate, Velez (5-1, 1 NC).įurther thickening the plot is the fact that Santella holds a victory over Sterling's opponent on Friday, Brazilian native and Pennsylvania resident Sedico Honorio (8-2).īut in the tough Northeastern regional circuit, familiarity breeds respect, rather than contempt. ![]() ![]() Santella (10-3-1) promptly dropped to flyweight and captured the CFFC title at 125. The Ithaca team will be on the road once more this Friday, August 24, when Bombsquad members and highly ranked prospects Evan Velez and Aljamain Sterling head to Atlantic City, N.J., to fight for the Caged Fury Fighting Championship flyweight and bantamweight titles, respectively.įor Sterling (6-0), it will be the second defense of a belt he won last October when he beat New Jersey native Sean Santella by unanimous decision. Head trainer Ryan Ciotoli once estimated to me that he travels 30-35 weekends a year with his fighters. ![]()
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