Bronx, New York native Leo Muniz has had a difficult career journey to tonight’s Copa Combate tournament. But after six years away from the sport, winning a $100,000 check would be the perfect capper on what has been a “restart” year in his career.
Muniz started his MMA journey in 2011 as an amateur and eventually worked his way up to a 4-1 record as a professional by 2015. However, in that year he hit a career and life crossroads. While he was a talented fighter with potential, his personal life was not where he wanted it to be. He was a husband and father of two, still living in the tough Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx that he grew up in. Which was a life situation he did not want his children to mirror. So he made a difficult choice and paused his career to try and make a better life for his family.
After five years he was able to finally achieve his goal by taking his wife and kids out of a difficult situation and improving it all with a house in Pennsylvania. With his living situation far better, the possibility of a return to MMA seemed possible.
Leo Muniz needed 6 years away from MMA to find that spark to restart his fighting journey
“The Mexicutioner” eventually took his talents Gracie New Jersey — the home of UFC veteran Mickey Gall. It was there that Muniz’s interest in diving back into MMA was truly rekindled, thanks to in-depth conversions with Gall and others.
“Talking to him kind of like sparked that interest. Then once I met [coach] Carlos Brooks, he also has a very good mindset. That’s what pretty much sparked everything in me again,” Muniz told MixedMartialArts.com. “And I’m like, ‘Yea man, let’s do this, let’s get on this journey. At the end of the day, this athletic career is so short. The opportunity opens and closes quickly, so I was like it’s now or never. I took the jump and this year that reset gave me the biggest opportunity of my life.”
“This year by far has been the most productive year of my mixed martial arts career.”
In 2021 he has won two straight and improved his record to 6-1. However, returning to the sport after six years away, and being successful, is all the more impressive when you factor in the absurd lifestyle Muniz had to live during those fight camps.
Muniz’s recent life ‘hustle’ has him well prepared for whatever comes in the Copa Combate
Up until recently, the Mexican American worked as a rope access technician. For the uninitiated, these are the folks who do construction-related work on the outside of buildings while a harness keeps them suspended hundreds of feet or more in the air.
For this job, Muniz had to wake up at 4 am. Drive nearly 3 hours from PA to NY. Work until three in the afternoon, then drive an hour to New Jersey to train at Gracie’s, and sometimes elite MMA gym Tiger Schulmann’s, until 10 pm. Then drive an hour back home to eat, sleep, and do it all again. Could you imagine a workday like that, on limited sleep, then training with killers like Mickey Gall, Shane Burgos, and Julio Arce at night?
“This whole year has been a hustle. That’s one of the things I hope people can take from my story, anything’s possible bro,” said Muniz. “Whatever you want to do, if you really want it, you’re gonna do it. And if it’s for the right reasons, you’re gonna find a way to do it.”
“I didn’t come back into [MMA] for the money, I just wanted to do it for me. It’s something that I feel I needed to do and see where it took me.”
With a one-night tourney ahead of him, and the possibility of competing against three different men, Muniz finally dropped that rope access job and is an MMA fighter full time now. Although he admits the job paid well and he doesn’t need MMA for the money, he can’t deny winning the tourney’s $100,000 course would improve his family’s lives even more.
Muniz will be filled with Mexican and American pride at Combate Global’s Dec. 12 event
What makes this opportunity on Dec. 12 all the more special is that this man of Mexican parents will be representing the US in this tournament that includes fighters from Ireland, Peru, and France. That fact fills the New Yorker with a great deal of pride.
“It’s a prideful moment because I do come from Mexican heritage. My parents are all Mexican, I’m a Mexican-American. But I love this country and the fact that I get to be the one to represent this country, it makes me very prideful. I like that feeling,” he says.
Although he enjoys the opportunity to represent the US in the Copa Combate as in airs to English-language fans on Paramount+, getting to compete on Spanish-language network Univision is a big deal. The channel is a powerhouse among the Latin community in the US and abroad, and Muniz appreciates Combate Global for offering such a major platform to Hispanic cage fighters.
“One thing I have to say about Combate Global is they’ve given our community, hispanic fighters, our own platform. The fact that we’re on Univision, to the Hispanic community, that’s big,” said Muniz. “Like for my last fight, I had people in Mexico watching my fight. That was an amazing feeling. So the fact that I’m on Univision, for my family, that’s big.”
The Copa Combate takes place at Univision’s studio in Miami, Fla. Tonight’s event kicks off at 10 pm ET on Paramount+ with the preliminary card, then is followed by the main card at 11 pm, which is simulcast on Paramount+ and Univision.
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