(article from wec.com)
For years Antonio Banuelos has lived in the gargantuan shadow of close friend Chuck Liddell, and the fiercely loyal understudy has never given it a second thought.
“I owe everything to Chuck, he’s the one who got me started,” said the 5’3 bantamweight, whose laissez faire demeanor during casual conversation is quite the contrast from the frenetic pace he imposes inside of the cage. “Without Chuck I wouldn’t be able to fight. There was a time in my life where I didn’t have a job and didn’t know what I was going to do. He found me a job working downtown and told me to keep fighting and plugging away. If it wasn’t for him I might not be fighting, I might be in prison, who knows? This keeps me out of trouble.”
The only trouble on the horizon for the native Californian these days is Scott Jorgensen. The former Boise State University wrestler and Banuelos will battle April 24 on the main card of the Jose Aldo-Urijah Faber mega-fight. Banuelos-Jorgensen is a rematch of a scintillating, topsy-turvy tussle the pair waged in June of last year, when Banuelos escaped with a controversial split-decision victory. Now both men will be competing on the biggest stage of their lives as the first fight on the Aldo-Faber pay-per-view event. Raising the stakes even more is the potential for the winner to receive a crack at newly minted bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.
“This fight should show everyone – when I win – that I’m ready to fight for the belt,” said Banuelos, who resides in one of Liddell’s houses in San Luis Obispo.
2010 has thus far been kind to Banuelos. In addition to the elevated exposure he stands to receive from next week’s historic pay-per-view extravaganza, the nine-year pro was also fortunate enough to join Chuck Liddell’s team of coaches for the current edition of The Ultimate Fighter.
“We had a great bunch of guys and it was a great thing to be a part of,” Banuelos said. “You may see me in the background (during episodes). I don’t think they show me much, but you’ll see me bouncing around, jumping up and down. I was like the timekeeper.”
Hey, little people sometimes move on and become big people. This example jumps immediately to mind for some reason: Samuel L. Jackson’s relatively minor role as a crack addict in the 1990s film “Jungle Fever,” which earned him critical acclaim and caused his career to skyrocket (astonishingly, the prestigious Cannes Film Festival gave Jackson a Supporting Actor award for his performance, which couldn’t have consumed more than a few minutes of on-screen time). Banuelos, however, isn’t banking on a similar breakthrough.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Banuelos said. “I’m just happy to be part of Chuck’s team.”
Part of the source of Banuelos’ effusive gratitude is the keen awareness that things could be a lot worse. Because, in fact, they once were. Growing up in Tulare, Calif., sandwiched between Fresno and Bakersfield, Banuelos characterized the neighborhood where he came of age as “pretty rough.” Full-blooded Mexican, there were plenty of days when the entire Banuelos clan of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins came together for all-day gatherings.
“We were poor, but it didn’t bother me,” Banuelos said. “I can remember a few summers where all I had to eat were beans and Top Ramen. So I still like Top Ramen to this day.”
The greatest obstacle for young Banuelos surfaced when he was 8 or 9.
“I woke up one summer morning and I was walking down the hall and I just fell,” he recalled. “I got up and thought, ‘Oh, maybe I’m just half-asleep.’ And I fell again.”
The odd gait persisted, day-after-day, eventually prompting his family to seek medical attention. Doctors determined the boy had major problems with his hip socket.
“They were hoping that as I grew up the problem would fix itself,” Banuelos said. “For two or three years I had to wear these really crappy metal leg braces. It sucked. They made me walk like I was riding a horse. My mom and older brother still laugh about it.”
Then, one day, the weird horse-walk disappeared. By his high school years, Banuelos possessed extraordinary power and balance in his hips, so much so that he placed third in the California State Wrestling Championships at 119 pounds. He went on to wrestle at Cal Poly, redshirting his freshman year.
“I made the team and then I had a falling out with the coach because I couldn’t make the weight,” Banuelos said. “So I quit.”
Banuelos dropped out of college. A year and a half later, he bumped into two other wrestling buddies, one of them being Jake Shields, who invited Banuelos to some MMA sparring sessions. Shields then introduced Banuelos to Liddell and Banuelos continued coming to the gym to wrestle and observe.
One day back in 2001 Liddell asked Banuelos, “You ever thought about fighting?”
A few months later, with minimal MMA training, Banuelos fought pro, prevailing by TKO. He has amassed a 17-5 record, with key wins over Jorgensen, Kenji Osawa and Cole Escovedo.
Every step of the way he’s been mentored and encouraged by Liddell and John Hackleman, who create Banuelos’ fight strategies.
“I had a few setbacks, ups and downs,” Banuelos said. “But I had great people around me and Chuck always pushing me forward and telling me to keep my eyes on the goals that I had.
“Chuck gives me advice. He’ll watch me spar. The last month he’s been watching me spar and been all over my ass. He always wants me to get better and tells me what I need to work on. So I’ve learned that hard work pays off. You just keep grinding and putting in the work.”
(article from Frank Curreri from wec.com)
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