CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx. — Jimmy Lugo is an athlete, no question. He played football at Texas A&M Kingsville where he made an honrable mention All-American team, then became a world class jiu jitsu fighter and now is taking on a new challenge: MMA.
Just like the rest of the sports Lugo excelled at, he is picking up MMA rather quickly and after just one professional fight, he is moving up a level. He will be fighting in the second largest mixed martial arts promotion on the planet: Bellator.
"This is a stage that I have been preparing for my entire life," Lugo said.
Lugo has only been an MMA fighter for just over two years, but members of his team had heard about him long before meeting him.
"His reputation precedes him," strength and conditioning coach Hershel Shoats said. "I already knew him before meeting him."
Into the octagon Lugo went and began the journey to master yet another sport. His sparring partner, Kirk Hubble, has been in the business for close to ten years now, and knew that Lugo was a special talent when he first laid eyes on him.
"He is a world class athlete," he said. "He knows how to use his body and how to control it and that is priceless."
Jimmy will be making his debut on the Bellator stage next Friday night and will have his entire community of Alice behind him, hoping that this is just the first of many milestones in his MMA career.
"I've gotten so much love from my community," Lugo said. "They enstilled in us work ethic and if you work hard, then good things happen."
Good things are happening for Lugo and he will look to take the first step to a sucessful career on November 8th.
That fight can be seen on the Paramount Channel.
