Andrew Tamayo steps into the cage.
He can smell the cleaning solution used on the mats, but he clears his mind of that and all other distractions. He has to stay focused. He’s studied karate since he was 4. He’s competed in plenty of fights.
But never like this.
He’s standing in a fighting cage at the WCW World Cage Wars event in Ocala. It’s his first amateur mixed martial arts competition. In the next three rounds, someone is going down.
Tamayo isn’t going into this fight blind. As a member of the F2 Darkside Fight Team in Gainesville, he has spent hours preparing for this moment. The team is a group of about 20 men who compete in amateur and pro matches against fighters across the nation, and, sometimes, across the world. It’s the oldest fight team in Florida, and as a member, Tamayo has been pushed by his teammates to fight harder, stronger, better.
But this time, he isn’t sparring with his team. He faces a true opponent. It’s time to put his skills to the test.
As he taps gloves with his opponent, he forgets about the scantily clad girls standing cage-side. He doesn’t notice the Vaseline on his face, rubbed onto his skin to lessen possible bleeding. His whole world revolves around this cage and the other fighter standing inside it.
His opponent throws a punch, but Tamayo barely feels it through the haze of adrenaline. He answers with a high-kick that misses, followed by two kicks to the body and one to the head.
He grabs the fighter around the chest and shoves him toward a corner.
Covered in sweat, they fight. Tamayo ends up in a headlock but doesn’t stop moving, getting his opponent on the ground. He holds tight to keep him in place. But there’s still more than a minute left in this three-minute round — plenty of time to lose the upper hand.
With his friends and teammates yelling from the sidelines, Tamayo presses his advantage.
Two rounds later, he wins.
Tamayo, 19, has been practicing mixed martial arts for about a year. He started the sport as soon as he became eligible at 18. He joined the F2 Darkside Fight Team in September.
He is taking courses at Santa Fe College and plans to attend nursing school. After he graduates, he wants to pursue careers in nursing and MMA.
“I’ve always looked up to cage fighters,” he said. “I think they have a lot of guts to do what they do, and I just want to be one of the better ones.”
For now, Tamayo is focusing on honing his skills as an amateur competitor with F2 Darkside.
The team was started in 1998 by Mike Lee and evolved over the years into F2 Darkside. Members practiced in several places around town before finally settling at F2 Arena and Darkside Athletics this May, said gym co-owner Becky Hodge.
She owns the gym with her husband, Ryan Hodge, who joined the team in 1999 while studying engineering at UF.
A seasoned competitor, Hodge competed in an MMA fight overseas in Cypress in October. During the first round of his fight, he knocked out his opponent, who fell awkwardly on his ankle and painfully twisted his foot.
For Hodge, a fight is over after a winner is declared, and he is friendly toward other pros. He waited for paramedics, holding the man down to keep him from doing more damage to his foot when he regained consciousness.
Hands protected by boxing gloves, Tamayo spars with a teammate in the warehouse that is home to F2 Arena and Darkside Athletics.
They practice on an expanse of mats, and beyond them is a 20-foot cage they are constructing for practices. A nearby wall is punctuated with holes made during sparring sessions that got too intense, a reminder that MMA is a sport of heavy punches, high kicks and hard falls — and no one goes easy on a teammate when they spar.
Ryan Hodge stands nearby the practice, coaching Tamayo who is fresh off his first amateur win.
“Don’t let me down. Hit him,” Hodge says.
Tamayo launches a punch and connects.
“There you go,” Hodge says. “Do it again.”
Backed close to the wall, Tamayo takes a few hits before throwing a punch to get his partner off him.
“Fight back.”
As a coach, Hodge helps amateur and pro team members prepare for upcoming matches and gives them pointers on improving technique. But he doesn’t try to make Tamayo or anyone else fight a certain way. Each man is free to play to his strengths.
Tamayo has established close relationships with his fellow fighters.
“These guys want to work with you and want to make you better. You might see them in a fight and they’re cocky — and that’s part of it — but outside (the fights) all of them are really humble,” he said.
They practice at the Darkside gym Monday through Thursday, often traveling on Fridays to practice at other gyms with different fighters. Practices are “sink or swim,” Becky Hodge said. New fighters roll with the pro guys and just go for it.
For Kevin “Kage” Pearson, amateur fighting isn’t enough.
Pearson, 23, turned pro in October after more than 30 amateur competitions. As a pro fighter, he can’t participate in amateur matches but is now eligible to be paid for fights and to receive sponsorships. He is already sponsored by Fresco Neighborhood Italian and Maui Teriyaki, which provide Pearson free meals in return for the publicity that the sponsorships bring.
He practices constantly, building muscle and refining techniques. A boxer since he was 9, Pearson is no stranger to a punch. His leopard-print hairstyle may turn heads, but it’s his lethal strength and determination that he’s building a reputation on.
When he’s not training, he works several part-time jobs, including one as a firefighter in High Springs and one as a bouncer at the Vault NightClub in Gainesville. While these jobs help pay the bills, his real commitment is to MMA.
He wants to work as a firefighter while pursuing a side career as a pro fighter. He’s proud to be a competitor in a sport that some people shy away from, and training keeps him in shape for his MMA career and for his job as a firefighter.
But turning pro wasn’t a smooth transition. In the days before his first competition, he was emotional at practice and even yelled at a teammate. He faced the nerves, however, knowing that when he stepped into the cage to compete he had to be focused.
Before the first round of his pro career started in Panama City, Pearson prayed.
It was a quick prayer, asking that he and his opponent fight well and stay safe.
Then the fight started.
Rushing his opponent, he throws a few punches to his stomach and shoves him against the side of the cage. Clasping his arms under the fighter’s legs, Pearson flips him to the ground with a thud.
The announcer’s voice rings across the cage, but he stays focused, landing punches against the fighter’s sweat-matted head even though his opponent has trapped his other arm.
The only thing he hears besides the smack of his punches is the advice of his coaches, who are standing nearby.
His opponent gets the best of him for a second, rolling him over so Pearson’s back is to the floor. Pearson grapples, pulling him closer to deaden his punches.
Grabbing the fighter’s arm, he twists it back like a cop trying to control a disorderly criminal. He twists it all the way up to his head, flipping himself back on top.
In less than 90 seconds, the match is over. Pearson wins, returning to his cheering teammates on F2 Darkside and ready to train again as soon as they get home.
With one pro fight under his belt, he has to start training for his next match in December.
