Mixed Martial Arts' No. 1 ranked Bantamweight (135 pound) fighter in New England is taking his talents on the road this weekend.
Gloucester native Pedro Gonzalez, a 135 pound title holder in New England who has beaten a who's who of the top bantamweights in New England, will be fighting in Atlantic City, NJ Saturday on the Cage Fury Fighting Championships card at the Resorts Hotel and Casino against Claudio Ledesma, a 5-2 New Jersey native. Gonzalez is putting his 8-4 record on the line outside of New England for the first time in his career.
"I'm excited to make the trip down to New Jersey," Gonzalez said. "(Ledesma) is a strong fighter with some good wins, but I don't think he's fought anybody like me before. I'm hoping this is a busy year for me."
Following a 2011 where Gonzalez fought just once in May due to a combination of injuries and personal issues, it was an injury to teammate Tateki Matsuda that opened the door for Gonzalez to take Saturday's fight on fairly short notice.
In May of 2011 "The Beast" successfully defended his Global Fight League Bantamweight Title against Paul Gorman, in his hometown of Portland Me. The Gloucester native has not fought since and even had to pull out of a November fight due to an injury.
Gonzalez fought 6 times in 2010 and is hoping this year is just as busy, and it's starting to look that way as he already has a fight booked in March against a yet to be determined opponent and he is also working on signing a deal to fight again in May.
"I like to stay active and hopefully this year I can get in the cage a lot more often," Gonzalez said. "I want to get to the next level this year and it drives me to train harder. I have a lot of personal stuff going on right now I just want to stay focused on the fight. I'm happy when I'm training and fighting so an active schedule will be good for me."
In Ledesma Gonzalez, 24, faces off against a brazillian jiu jitsu purple belt and will once again be fighting a fighter in his home town. Gonzalez fought New Hampshire's Matt Smith twice and Gorman on enemy turf and pulled off a 2-1 record in those three bouts, the one loss being a controversial decision to Smith in 2010 where Gonzalez won three of the five rounds but lost due to the fact that he had two points deducted for infractions.
The GFL Bantamweight Champion has been in the cage with jiu jitsu aces before, as Gorman is a brown belt in the martial art. That didn't stop Gonzalez, who has seven of eight career wins by way of submission, from taking Gorman to the mat and not only fighting him in his element, but having several moments of success against the more experienced grappler.
Like Gonzalez, Ledesma has been in the cage with some well known fighters, most notably Jimmie Rivera, a former King of the Cage Bantamweight Champ who had a short stint on the last season of The Ultimate Fighter, a reality show where contestants fight in a tournament for a shot at a UFC contract. Gonzalez, on the other hand, has been in four title fights and has fought the full 25 minutes twice. Saturday's fight is a three round non-title affair.
Against Ledesma, Gonzalez will bring in a size advantage as his opponent stands at 5'5" to Gonzalez's 5'10". Dawning his nickname "The Beast" from his size and strength at 135 pounds, Gnozalez will look to put his size and strength advantage to the test on Saturday, as he always does. Combine that with an always improving ground game and an underrated standup game from training with Neil Legallo at Sityodtong North Shore in Beverly, Gonzalez is ready for the challenge.
"I don't know a whole lot about (Ledesma) but I know enough to know he's a tough opponent," said Gonzalez, who is also training at CKR Athletic Center in Woburn. "I need to fight my fight and focus on my strengths. I know he's good on the ground but I have a strong ground game too."
Gonzalez also has another big opportunity Saturday, as a match maker for Bellator Fighting Championships, the consensus No. 2 MMA organization behind the UFC, will be in attendance Saturday according to Gonzalez, who hopes to fight in Bellator or the UFC before the year is through.
"I'm not a local fighter anymore, I'm at the next level," Gonzalez said. "I need a couple more wins under my belth and hopefully I will be fighting in one of the two top organizations so I can show what I can do against the best in the world."
