Kolton Englund’s head movement, boxing and perseverance may be just what the Texas native needs to turn all the right heads at Dana White’s Contender Series.
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Englund made his FIGHT PASS debut at Fury FC 44. His backstory was immediately worthy of “Storyline of the Year,” but a story is kind of empty without a happy ending, isn’t it?
After being diagnosed with cancer, beating it and losing his mother, Englund has gone 3-0 in absolutely dominant performances, earning him a Fury FC title shot. Before the big day even came close, Englund got the call that he would be fighting in front of UFC President Dana White instead.
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The world outside of Fury FC may not know the beast they’re about to encounter, but the fighters under the Houston-based promotion are all breathing a breath of fresh air after witnessing his last performance.
Englund’s master class of head movement and pugilism was one of the most dominant performances on UFC FIGHT PASS’s 2021 schedule. The performance was so strong Englund surprised himself.
“Me and Coach Lester train a lot on slipping, bobbing and weaving, countering of the punches, kicks, and elbows,” Englund said. “I think that it just kind of became a habit and I had never done it. I jumped into the fight and it just kind of revealed itself. In the middle of the fight, I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I guess it’s just sort of muscle memory because I’ve been doing it for so long in training.”
Englund explains that while he does fight with emotion, he’s able to wrangle it in and, emotion or not, he won’t be focused on making an impression on the UFC President with his personality.
“During the fight I won’t say a word; I really have to stay focused,” Englund said. “I stay focused, I keep my mouth shut and I make him miss. Like I said in the interview for the Contender Series fight, I said, ‘I’m going to make him miss, I’m going to make him miss a little more and then I’m going to make him miss a lot.’”
Englund’s enjoyment in exhausting opponents, neutralizing their gas tank and striking came with a lot of hard work, and as hard as Englund may have thought it was initially, after seeing it pay off he became addicted to the process.
“At the end of training we always finish with guys throwing punches at us against the wall so we have to slip, slip, slip,” Englund said. “Then he’ll have us switch but we’re not throwing light punches, we’re throwing bombs, so if you don’t move you get cracked.”
As nice as the Fury FC championship would have been, it’ll be sweet to clean out the UFC’s lightweight division too.
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