While Lorenzo Celis returned to Saskatchewan beaten and bruised, he already wants to get back in the octagon with even better mixed martial arts (MMA) opponents.
The 26-year-old Regina man took part in his second professional fight at Unified 40 in Edmonton on Aug. 14.
“It was a little bit different this time because my first pro fight was in the Saskatoon … family, friends and former teammates were there whereas I fought in Alberta and it was like enemy territory so as soon as I stepped out, it was like, ‘Boo!'” he said with a laugh.
“I missed that a lot … The crowd was about 2,000 people, I would say.”
It was also his first fight since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“It’s been like two years, over two years since I’ve fought,” Lorenzo Celis said.
“We would go to class with masks on and hip pads. And I remember we did sparring for a bit there and then with the rules and regulations, they got stricter. Then we did heavy bag class so I did a heavyweight class for over a year.
“Maybe two months before my fight, I probably got back into grappling again so it wasn’t very much.”
Currently, he has two jobs teaching taekwondo and working as a job coach at Ranch Ehrlo Society.
“It was a lot of work … for a guy with my schedule, I think that I did pretty well. And even though I’m disappointed with my performance, I mean, it wasn’t a lot of time to get completely ready but it is what it is and I learned my lesson,” Lorenzo Celis said.
“And, hopefully, I get to step back in there and put on the performance that I want to put on for my family, friends and also my fans.”
Lorenzo said one obstacle he faces is there’s not many to face in Saskatchewan gyms.
“I mostly train with, well, when it comes to Muay Thai, my brother Sandro is one of my top training partners but Sandro doesn’t know a lot of grappling … I didn’t have a lot of sparring partners for MMA,” he said.
“It’s either you have to travel the world, go to the United States or go to Tristar in Montreal or Vancouver because those (are where) … the top prospects are.
“If you want to be a high-level athlete, you have to train with high-level guys. That’s the only way you’re going to get better. Me, training here in Regina isn’t going to take me to the top.”
Celis said a combination of family, the pandemic but mostly financials are why he’s trained in Regina.
“When you start in professional MMA, there’s not a lot of money in it. We get paid very little … especially compared to boxers and kickboxers. I would say MMA fighters get skinned alive when it comes to getting paid,” he said.
“If you don’t get a win bonus, you really get s— pay. You only get maybe like $400, $300 if you lose in MMA.
“Sponsorship is what saved me because I was able to make over $1,000 (this past weekend) … if I would have won, I probably would have made almost double that.”
His head coach and father Washington Celis, 64, emigrated from Chile over 40 years ago and said he’s been around martial arts for at least half a century.
“I was at the national level and I competed everywhere and then when my kids came along, I decided to start coaching them … since they were four years old,” Washington said.
“Coaching Lorenzo in MMA has been quite exciting … because when I was young, I never got this nervous. It was just me, I hadn’t had to worry about anybody else and I was in control when I was in the ring.
“Watching my son is different is certainly there is a lot of pride, but also nerve-wracking.”
The family runs Celis Martial Arts Academy, teaching kids taekwondo and discipline.
“We love the discipline part of martial arts … And that’s what I love about doing it and teaching it to everyone,” Washington said.
“It’s part of our legacy and … we like challenges. Nothing has been easy for us because my brother and I, my siblings and my parents were emigrants. When we came here, we came empty-handed and then we had to face many obstacles. Diversity is part of our lives.”
While admitting some bias, Washington said his son has the skills necessary to succeed in MMA.
“I can see people who have the desire and the discipline to do it and Lorenzo seems to have the dedication and the heart. We had a tough fight in Edmonton last time and Lorenzo showed he has a big heart,” Washington said.
“He’s decided discipline and education and with the right sponsor, he can do it full-time and get to the very high level because he seems to have the skills.”
The coach admitted it’s difficult to train a MMA fighter in the middle of the Prairies.
“I do the major coaching and more striking … In MMA, you need a striking coach, boxing coach, you need a jujitsu coach, a wrestling coach — you need a good team,” Washington said.
“The problem here in Saskatchewan, we don’t have a high-level MMA school. Some people have done martial arts but they haven’t done it at a very high, high level and that’s a setback for Lorenzo.
“We don’t have a lot of people who want to do MMA at Lorenzo’s level so coaching him has been challenging because we need to find the right people or right coaches.”
Despite these obstacles, Lorenzo said he’s looking forward to stepping back inside the octagon in October.
“It’s a really tough sport. Some people can say, ‘Oh, it’s a brutal sport,’ but at the same time, it’s actually also a beautiful sport,” Lorenzo said.
“The other guy may not like you and you may not like the other guy, when it’s over, you can still show respect and still be humble.
“If you leave that fight and start flipping that guy off or anything like that, then it really shows your character. It’s a sport that is based on character … I love it and it’s my passion.”
The Athletic Commission of Saskatchewan (ACS) is responsible for regulating professional combative sporting events in the province. It has not sanctioned any events since the beginning of the pandemic and has no requests to sanction any in 2021.
There have been 11 MMA and six boxing events in Saskatchewan since 2015, according to the ACS.
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