Colin Wright - Photo by Mike "The Truth" Jackson
Colin Wright has new level of confidence ahead of Fury FC 35 title defense
It’s been an interesting 13 months so far for Colin Wright. Last October he had to pull out from a fight day of because he suffered from food poisoning. Two months later to start 2019 he earned his second title when he defeated Rey Trujillo at Fury FC 29 Rey Trujillo at Fury FC 29 to become the new Fury FC featherweight champion. Then shortly afterwards Wright agreed to a fight but was advised by a high-level manager (whom he was in talks with to represent him) who advised him to turn down the fight in hopes of a spot on the Contender Series which he listened to and withdrew from the fight. After not getting a Contender Series opportunity, Wright set out on vacation to Iceland and Norway and now finally back, he is ready to fight and at Fury FC 35 he will defend his title against Cameron Graves.
As one can imagine, it’s been a whirlwind for Wright and there is a lot to unpack.
At the end of 2018, Wright was riding high, he rebounded from a two-fight losing streak with two quality wins including a win over Kendrik Williams to become the American Kombat Alliance featherweight champion. He was set to defend the belt on October 27, 2018 against Jesse Butler but it didn’t come to fruition as Wright explains.
“I went out a 100 percent ready for that fight, trained my ass off, I was ready for Jesse Butler. I had a big weight cut, I cut 18 and a half pounds in 24 hours. Had no problem cutting the weight, actually felt great making weight. Even starting the rehydration process, I felt pretty good. My uncle who is a big supporter of mine came out to the fights and was in town and he had a few friends that lived there and they suggested that we go to this restaurant. We get to the restaurant, and it’ like a higher end restaurant but I was still sticking to my diet so I ordered a grilled fish and sweet potato puree, it was just real simple, clean food. I started eating it and there was something about the fish, there was something weird about this. A couple bites in, I cut it down the middle and I realized it was a raw fish. And it wasn’t like a salmon or a tuna that you could eat raw and this was like some fish you had to cook. Immediately my stomach started feeling sick and I got food poisoning really really badly.”
Wright couldn’t keep food in and couldn’t hydrate, he let the promotion now and when his coaches arrived a few hours ahead of the fight, they saw him and immediately called the fight off.
“He took one look at me and was like you’re not fighting, you look like shit, you look like you haven’t put on any weight, you look like you’re still dehydrated so he made the decision for me. Who knows, I might’ve just even toughed it out, gone I there anyway. I’m glad he made that decision for me cause I was really struggling. I think worst case scenario, I’m just glad I didn’t go in there and shit my bridges.”
(Writer’s note, Wright has been rescheduled to face Butler on November 15, 2019 to defend his AKA belt)
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After recovering from food poisoning, Wright headed back to the cage in January of 2019 to fight for Fury FC’s featherweight title against veteran of the sport Rey Trujillo. Wright and Trujillo were previously training partners and Wright says his success against the veteran in training gave him confidence heading into the fight.
“I actually went into that fight really messed up physically too. I had broken my foot, my ucl was torn and I had one other major thing as well. We had actually trained together as an amateur (Wright was). I subbed him in training, 10 or 15 times a practice, I knew at any point that we got in a position that I could throw up a sub on him I could finish the fight.”
And that’s exactly the position Colin Wright found himself in during the fight and he executed on it, earning a second-round submission.
“After the first round, I was real gassed, I was like not feeling good, I had a real rough weight cut that I botched real bad…then my LCL was giving out on me, every time I’d circle to the right, my leg would give out on me so I started circling to the left. He ended up getting me on my back at one point and I knew as soon as he started ground and pounding he’s going to give me the triangle so I just stayed there. I could’ve gotten back to my feet at any point and I was like, he’s going to give me the sub so I’m going to stay here until I get it.”
As mentioned previously, Wright is on quite a run having won his last three fights, the biggest difference is his confidence. Having had a rough childhood, he was abused by kids and staff members at boarding schools and he lost several people he was close to including his mom at a young age, Wright has been able to keep his head above water knowing it was worse before. He also overcame a break up with a long-term girlfriend and a displaced rib courtesy of Sage Northcutt.
But its also been the training with high level opponents like Northcutt, journeys across the world and winning multiple fights while overcoming adversity.
“It’s a journey and a culmination of many things have kinda come to this new level of confidence.”
Wright will take that new level of confidence into his upcoming title fight on August 23. He will defend his Fury FC featherweight title against Cameron Graves. Graves and Wright are former training partners and Wright genuinely likes Graves. Ahead of accepting the fight when it was offered, Wright ensured that Graves was going to accept to make sure it was all taken care of a respectful manner. When recounting his training with the highly touted Graves (7-3 and though he lost in his last fight, he impressed Din Thomas on Dana White Lookin’ for a Fight), Wright believes fans are in for a great show.
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“Based on the training session, I’d say it’s going to be a really good fight. We both got our licks in. I think we both got some good positions on the ground, he may have subbed me once, I may have subbed him once, I don’t really remember to be honest exactly.”
Wright sees a finish in this fight and he believes based on the feedback he received from high level managers interested in signing him and UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard, that he isn’t too far a way from a spot on Contender Series or a short notice UFC fight.
“I did get a lot of good valuable feedback from them (managers) in those talks with them and talks with Mick (Maynard) and just getting a little closer to that insight. Some of the feedback I got was just the number of wins, quality of wins and just watching the Contender Series, obviously Dana is looking for exciting fighters. I think that I am absolutely and exciting fighter, I would agree with the criticism that I got, I think my wins are quality wins but they aren’t against the highest caliber of guys. But I do have six finishes and I think if I get two more finishes in the next two fights, I think that along with my two titles and two title defenses, I hope that gets their attention for Contender series next or a late notice matchup early next year.”
