Curtis Millender Discusses Trigon Combat Debut
Curtis Millender clashes with Ke’ali’i Kanekoa at BYB Extreme‘s Trigon Combat on April 27th. Instead of the usual bare-knuckle boxing fare for BYB Extreme, this event will see competitors don the four-ounce gloves and throw down in the Mighty Trigon while still being able to utilize the active clinch.
Millender appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts to discuss competing in the Mighty Trigon for the first time, his future MMA plans, and a whole lot more. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Curtis Millender
The temperament when this bout offer came his way involving four-ounce MMA gloves within the normative BYB ruleset/ framework
“Mel Valenzuela the matchmaker for BYB, he was actually my first manager. He matched my first seven fights. So me and him are really close. He’s been trying to get me to do bare-knuckle for a long time. But for a long time, I was like my hands are not built for that. I have little pillow hands sometimes. So bare-knuckle is definitely out of the question. But he said they were coming to California and they were coming to The Hangar.”
“He was like yo, they’re gonna be wearing the MMA gloves. I was like yeah, I’ll do it now. Then it being at The Hangar just adds more to it. I’m the man at The Hangar. Have more fights than anybody, nobody’s ever fought more than me there. I believe this will be my now ninth fight in The Hangar. So any time I can bless The Hangar within my fighting presence I’m down for it.”
Trigon Combat
Millender’s thoughts on Ke’ali’i Kanekoa’s resume and skillset ahead of this fight
“What I’m trying to think, man, a lot of these guys are saying yes to me. Now that they know that I’m retiring, they’re saying yes. But I think a lot of these guys are taking it as in ok, I’m retiring because I’m too old or I don’t feel like I’m fast enough or I don’t think I’m good enough. I just know when it’s time. I think this dude based on his record, him and his coaches probably for sure think oh, he’s on his way out, he’s not as motivated now. Boom, wrong. Well, 2-4 record and he doesn’t have the same level of experience and he said yeah. ”
“So he either just wants to really take a chance on himself or he’s underestimating me. Me personally I’m not underestimating anybody but I know when somebody can pop me in the chin and this dude doesn’t. I’ve watched his fights. He’s tall but he’s not really. He doesn’t know how to use it, he likes to brawl. It doesn’t matter how small the ring is, you’re not going to be able to brawl with me. If you get in my face, I’m gonna get my movement, and I’ll pop you every time.”
