Eddy George talks training and mindset through the coronavirus pandemic
Eddy George is an up and coming fighter out of Connecticut who is looking to make a splash in the MMA world. George is coming off his professional debut back in January where he fought for CES and won via a first-round knockout. Now looking to make that second walk to the CES cage on Oct. 14 at CES 61 in Rhode Island, George caught up with My MMA News to talk about his training under Bellator fighter Nick Newell and his mindset through the months of the coronavirus.
“I train at Fight Arts Academy under Nick Newell,” George explained. “I’ve been with Nick for about three years now and in the beginning when I first started training with Nick it wasn’t necessary to get a fight it was more for the comradery of having a team and a brotherhood around me. Then a few months in, I was like, ‘man, this is pretty fun. I think I’m pretty good, I think I want to fight.’
Just three years in the game and six amateur fights to his name, George is ready to make the jump to professional fighting. He credits his coach and his training partners for getting him ready for this moment. Having more experienced fighters at the gym is a blessing to George.
“It’s like a luxury that I have, some people don’t have that,” George said. “I was very fortunate early on in my career that Nick allowed me to come with him when he was on the Contender Series, I have been to Vegas twice with him. Nick didn’t want me to get to the show and be star struck.”
Having to take time off from training when gyms closed in the United States could have deterred some athletes, but not George. He instead saw the opportunity to thrive when others might have failed.
“I didn’t feel discouraged or anything like that,” George said. “Actually, I kind of enjoyed it because in the back of my mind I’m always wanting to one-up someone and break them. I know people are going to fall off and get fat. Eventually when everything dies down people will be all revved up like a new year, new me, and I was training hard the whole time.”
George will face Frank Mazepa on the CES 61 card that is headlined by a welterweight matchup between John Gotti III and Nick Alley.
