Last August, Breeden showed up to Las Vegas with an 8-2 record and three consecutive knockout wins. He already had a reputation as a fighter to watch and as one of the many killers coming out of James Krause’s Glory MMA gym in Lee’s Summit.
Unfortunately, it was Romero leaving the UFC APEX with the win, while Breeden limped back home after taking a brutal array of leg kicks. It was the kind of night that could make him want to go back to his gig as a union electrical apprentice, but he’s not built that way.
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“There were times,” he said. “And this fight game is a tough world, but I definitely wasn’t gonna throw in the towel, because what’s that gonna teach him? He knows how important this is for me – my overall dream was to make it to the UFC, and I wasn’t gonna quit on my dreams and show that to my son.”
Less than four months later, Breeden closed out 2020 with a second-round knockout of Ken Beverly, and in May, he won a three-round decision over Nick Compton. As the fall began, he was a UFC fighter.
“It means everything,” Breeden said. “It just proves to me that you can accomplish anything with a little hard work and dedication. Even though I didn’t have the credentials growing up, like wrestling and all that stuff, if you’re determined, you can be anywhere you want to be in life. It’s hard to put into words, but this is one of my biggest achievements ever.”