2024 PFL 1: San Antonio Ceremonial Weigh-Ins at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Cooper Neill / PFL)
Steve Mowry using learning lessons and extra motivation as fuel in PFL Tournament
Last August as the future of Bellator MMA was unknown, Steve Mowry faced an uncertain future. At the time he was a surging contender in the heavyweight division, he was undefeated in his career, but there were whispers of the Professional Fighters League buying out Bellator. At the end of Bellator 298, Mowry suffered the first loss of his career when he lost a decision to Valentin Moldavsky.
With his future up in the air, Steve Mowry took time off to handle the one blemish in his career, ponder his future, and most importantly, prepare for his growing family. Once official news broke of PFL purchasing Bellator, there was a waiting period for most fighters and when approached about his next opportunity, Mowry decided to join the 2024 PFL Heavyweight season.
As the Heavyweight tournament was announced, Mowry not only prepared for the tournament style season, he also faced a conflict with the upcoming birth of his child. During an interview on the ‘On The Mic‘ podcast, “Tall” Steve explained the conversation he had to have with his wife about what would happen if she gave birth while he was in San Antonio for the opening round of the 2024 season.
With he and his wife expecting a child on fight week, how is @TallSteveMMA handling the situation? FaceTiming his wife in-between rounds?
Fun story here from Steve Mowry ahead of PFL San Antonio on Thursday. @pflmma pic.twitter.com/6dw0ohUSig
— Mike Pendleton (@MP2310) April 3, 2024
“The OB was telling us that baby was due on the 3rd, then we got moved to the 5th. Mike Kogan and the team over at PFL were very helpful saying ‘Hey, we’ll do whatever we can to make sure you’re there, but we need to make sure you’re there [San Antonio] on the 4th.’ For me it was a thing where I was like ‘I’d really like to be there, obviously I don’t want to miss the birth of my child.
My wife was the one who was like ‘Listen, dude, we got a baby coming you got to figure it out. I don’t care if you have to FaceTime me in-between rounds but you’re going to have to go out there and do this. That gave me all the piss and vinegar I needed.”
Putting the lone loss behind him, Steve Mowry credited not only his family but his team and coaches at Kill Cliff FC in Florida into keeping him focused on the next task at hand. Now an opportunity presents itself for him to win the world title with no politics involved and simply winning each fight in the tournament. With a new baby ready to add their name to the Mowry family, there’s even more motivation to leave the past behind and bring gold into the future.
