Duke City’s Moreno eager for major test
Don’t be fooled by the 1-0 record. Josh Moreno isn’t your average novice professional MMA fighter.
Moreno, a 27-year-old Albuquerque High graduate, is scheduled to face Colorado’s Sonny Yohn (2-1) Saturday night on a Jackson’s MMA Series card at Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino in Pojoaque.
Married shortly after graduation from AHS, Moreno quickly and quietly entered the work force. He waited tables for a couple of years before taking a job as a roofer. And he fought. And he won. A karate student as a kid, Moreno happened to see Albuquerque legend Diego Sanchez perform on an MMA card. He soon found his way to Albuquerque’s Jackson-Wink Mixed Martial Arts, where Sanchez still trains.
First came some kickboxing fights, then some MMA fights, a total of 21 in the amateur ranks — all victories.
The pro ranks beckoned, but so did the day-job responsibilities of a husband and father.
“First, I had to support my wife (Monica) with what she wanted to do, going to college . ... Then we had a kid (Joshua Jr.). He’s 5 years old now. So I had my responsibilities as a man.”
Finally, though, the pro debut came to pass. In August, on a King of the Cage card at the Embassy Suites, he dispatched Mike Cook via first-round knockout.
Meanwhile, Ricky Kottenstette had been watching.
Kottenstette, who runs the Jackson’s series, had watched Moreno serve as a sparring partner to some of JacksonWink’s top pro fighters.
“He was a beast as a kickboxer,” Kottenstette said. “... Once he started his MMA career, he started finding success in it.”
In June 2015, Kottenstette had put Moreno in with Elias Proce, a top amateur light heavyweight, on Jackson’s Series XV at Buffalo Thunder. Moreno walked through Proce’s punches to score a firstround knockout in his final amateur fight.
“One of the craziest knockouts I’ve ever had on one of my shows,” Kottenstette said.
Now comes Yohn, whose 2-1 pro record also belies his combat-sports experience. He was a three-time wrestling All-American at Minnesota and was a three-time Colorado state champion at Alamosa High School.
“When I had the opportunity to put Josh, a kickboxer, in with an accomplished wrestler,” Kottenstette said, “what better way to test him to see what it takes to make it to the next level?”
After making his pro debut at 205 pounds, Moreno has trimmed down to the middleweight level of 185 for Saturday’s fight. Cutting the weight, he said, has not been difficult.
“If I’d known it was this easy, I would have done it a long time ago,” he said.
There is, though, one problem going forward.
“I live,” he said, “right across from a Blake’s Lotaburger.”
THE MMAAA: In Los Angeles, two prominent Jackson-Wink fighters were among the principals on Wednesday as the formation of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association was announced.
The organization is being formed in hopes of organizing fighters in an attempt to get better pay, a benefits package and all-around better treatment from the UFC.
Jackson-Wink middleweight Tim Kennedy and J-W welterweight Donald Cerrone were joined by former UFC champions Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez and T.J. Dillashaw and by former Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney.
“We’re here to make sure that no fighter in the UFC gets left behind,” Kennedy said.
“What’s going to happen, I have no (expletive) idea,” Cerrone said. “But let’s run it until the (expletive) wheels come off.”
Cerrone and Kennedy are both scheduled to fight on UFC 206 in Toronto on Dec. 10.