In school of Hard Knocks
Peterborough native Cody Purtell is 1-2 in first MMA pro bouts as he chases dream of fighting in the UFC
If you Google Cody Purtell’s name you’ll find news stories of the bad things he’s done in his life but he’s hoping one day those stories will be bumped off the front page by his MMA success.
Born in Peterborough but raised in Bancroft, Purtell, 23, was a promising athlete at North Hastings high school. He won COSSA wrestling titles and joined the Kawartha Olympic Wrestling Club which trained at Crestwood Secondary School and competed at nationals and also starred for his high school football team.
But after school, Purtell got himself into trouble. He was arrested in a high profile, high speed chase on Highway 401 in a drug bust that landed him in jail for seven months. He got out and breached terms of his release and wound up under house arrest for four more months. He was released in early 2015.
Purtell is a rough customer and is straight up about his past failings but he’s also determined to do something with his athletic gifts and not end up back behind bars. He said he sold drugs thinking it was a fast way to make money to bankroll his MMA training.
“I was stupid,” he said. “I never did drugs but I was selling them just to make money.”
He was close to getting out, he said, when the police tried to pull him over one night while he was in possession of drugs. He panicked and hit the accelerator.
“I should have just pulled over. I should never have been in that situation. I was already signed up out (west) to be in an amateur fight,” Purtell said.
All he did in jail, he says, was train. He even learned techniques from other inmates and taught others how to wrestle. He said he learned a lot behind bars.
“It was a cool experience. I learned I’m never going to get in trouble again,” he said. “I’ve already been at my lowest. It will never happen again.”
When he got out he moved to Alberta last year to hook up with two MMA organizations, Edmonton-based Unified and Calgary’s Hard Knocks, where he’s gotten his career started with three bouts. He began training with former UFC competitor Tim Hague and Steve Bergeron.
“I kept coming and coming and coming and after a while they began to realize I was for real,” Purtell said. “I told them I didn’t come here to do nothing. I came here to fight.”
Purtell had his first fight at Unified 28 on June 3 winning on a rear-face choke hold in the second round in Edmonton. He lost his second fight by unanimous decision Sept. 30 to Johnny Choi in Edmonton. His third bout was against former No. 2 ranked amateur in the world Alex Martinez, making his pro debut, in Calgary. Martinez was 15-4 as an amateur.
“Nobody wanted to fight him,” Purtell said. “I said ‘he’s human. Let’s do this. I’m not afraid of him.”
Martinez won by an arm bar submission in round one when he dislocated Purtell’s shoulder.
The loss has not deterred Purtell.
While he’s five-foot-eight and 160 pounds, he says he out-lifts men twice his size in the gym, took down players twice his size on the football field and has always been abnormally strong for his size. He benches 360 pounds.
That combined with a willingness to do whatever it takes to reach his goal of making it to the UFC one day is what spurs him on. His desire started at age 10 when he saw his first MMA fight and began hitting a heavy bag in his basement.
“This year I’m planning on six to eight fights,” he said. “Every morning I’m up and training full out. Everyone here thinks I’m a psycho. I only have one mission in life and that’s to get to the top of the UFC.” Peterborough’s Nick Mann of the North Kawartha Knights has been named as the Ontario Hockey Association’s Pepsi Defensive Player of the Month for January/February in the Provincial Junior Hockey League Orr Division. Knights player Christian Lachapelle, of Hastings, was named as the Ontario Hockey Association’s Pepsi Offensive Player of the Month for January/ February. During the last five weeks of the regular season, Lachappelle notched 12 points in 11 games including six consecutive games where he recorded a goal. Mann, a stay-at-home defenceman, contributed goals on the power play and defended effectively against his opponents’ top lines. Honourable mentions went to Ethan McDougall and Brett Thomson of the Lakefield Chiefs for their performance over the past five weeks.