“When I got the win, I felt better about my place in the UFC,” Muñoz said. “The first one (against Nate Maness in August 2020), I didn’t get the decision I wanted, so I was like, ‘I’m here, but I gotta win.’ I’m not trying to be like these other guys that get in the UFC, start telling everyone they’re finally here and they stop working. They get finished or lose two fights in a row and get cut, but that ain’t me. I’ve been working hard my whole life to be here since five years old training jiu-jitsu. I had a lot of hurdles to get over coming up in jiu-jitsu, injuries, hardships – I’ve been working my whole life towards this point, sacrificed a lot of things, so this is my time.”
Muñoz returns this Saturday against Tony Gravely, his first start since the Simmons bout and following a trip from his home in Norco, California, to train with the Entram Jiu-Jitsu squad in Tijuana, Mexico. He needed a little convincing from his buddy Brandon Moreno to make the initial 2.5 hour drive to Mexico, but once he got there, he knew the former flyweight champ’s call was the right one.
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“They got everything there that you need to train as a fighter – strength and conditioning, striking, jiu-jitsu, everything,” said Muñoz. “You go there and just train hard and go hard. Sparring’s hard, and there’s nothing fancy about it. There’s no ‘look at me’ or none of that bulls**t. It’s all hard work and then we’re cool afterwards. People always come out of there, banged up, bumped up, bruised up – it’s part of the process.”
And while the gym has produced Moreno and several UFC fighters past and present, it’s those future Octagon battlers that often give Muñoz the best work.
“Every time I spar the guys that weren’t in the UFC, they try to tear my head off,” he said. :They were trying to prove a point, but I liked it because it keeps me on my toes. If you’re not hungry enough, another young lion’s gonna come and take your spot, so it keeps you on your toes and keeps you hungry. You gotta smack these young lions around every now and then.”
