Photo courtesy of Moutinho's Instagram account
Kris Moutinho is ready for his chance at gold at CES 54
Kris Moutinho’s name has been synonymous with CES since 2016 when he made his pro debut at CES 38. Since then, Moutinho has stepped into the CES cage 8 more times and each and every time he has pleased the crowd and TV audience. But more importantly, Moutinho has come away victorious in 7 of the bouts and at CES 54 on January 19, he will step in the CES cage for the 10th time and compete for their bantamweight championship.
But the fight almost didn’t happen, Moutinho fought at CES 53 where he defeated James Quigg by unanimous decision back on November 2nd, he then asked to be put on CES 54 but didn’t hear about an opponent for quite some time and thought it wasn’t going to happen, but now, he is focused and ready to fight.
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“I kinda gave up, I wasn’t going to fight this card. They were telling me they were going to give me a fight and they weren’t telling me who it was and they weren’t telling me what it was going to be. I just told my manager, I’m good, I don’t want to fight, I’ll wait till the April card. Then the next day, they were like, we’re working on the title fight for you. I had to switch gears and get going. It was a little rough at first but I’m always in shape, I’m always ready to go, so as soon as they gave it to me, we set it up.”
At the time, Moutinho said he wasn’t eating as well and got a little lazy because of the holidays and that he had already fought three times in but as soon as the call came in, e refocused and believes this is his best camp yet.
“I feel better than I’ve ever felt in my life, I’ve trained harder than I’ve ever trained in my life and this kid’s not going to get an easy fight like everybody thinks, I’m coming to win.”
Moutinho is fighting CES’ current bantamweight champion Tony Gravely, Gravely won the belt at CES 53 when he defeated Kody Nordby. Gravely was originally supposed to fight Moutinho’s teammate Dinis Paiva, but Paiva had to pull out on a day’s notice. Moutinho is glad he didn’t get the call that day, because this is how he envisioned this fight happening.
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“Taking on a days’ notice is cool and it sounds good, I don’t like to waste opportunities. Taking it on one day’s notice gives us both a chance to have an off night. If I go in there now, I’ve been training, I’ve been working extremely hard, planning on what he’s been doing and what I do all the time. I’m ready to go, everything has manifested the way I thought it was going to go, this is it, this is everything I want.”
The New England native knows this is toughest test yet but he believes that his well-rounded game will be the kryptonite to Gravely’s wrestling.
“I think I can bury this kid. He’s a tough opponent, I’m not looking past him like I said. He’s the toughest fight I’ve ever had in my life. I don’t take fights I know I’m going to win. I know this fight can go either way cause the kid is an extremely talented fighter. But I think I’m more well-rounded in every area. I think I got a better striking game, I think I have a better jiu jitsu. The only nod everyone (seems to give him) he’s a bully wrestler. He’s a good wrestler, but how long can he outwrestle me for? Can he outwrestle me for the whole fight? I don’t think he can, I think my cardio is better, I think I work harder then him and I think I can take it to him.”
