It’s been nine months since this city last saw “The Greek” compete in his hometown. It was then at Legacy FC 5 that Mike Bronzoulis charged out of the gate to batter his opponent Joe Christopher (11-6) for three straight rounds before forcing a technical knockout in the third in order to defend his Legacy welterweight title for the first time since winning the coveted crowd crown against Jonathan Harris in November of 2010 after literally tossing a salad in his face at weigh-ins.
Using the momentum of the win over Christopher and a subsequent victory over Florida veteran Lucas Lopes (19-13) at Shark Fights 14, Mike B. would go on to fulfill one of his life goals in signing with Zuffa to compete in Strikeforce. Since then he’s gone 1-1 for the promotion with his most appearance being a dominant victory over Chad “The Boss” Leonhardt (10-3) just last month at Strikeforce Challengers 18.
Now with five wins in his last six bouts, “The Greek” once again stands at a career crossroads as he faces an uncertain future while the powers that be decide what to do with his employer.
As with any acquisition in any business, Strikeforce remains in flux as its parent company goes through due diligence and continues to define itself in the wake of that purchase and other accretive transactions like their recent deal with FOX. Other factors like the promotion’s expiring deal with Showtime only serve to further complicate matters.
For fighters like Mike that could mean any number of things in the near future. He could find himself competing in the UFC in the event the promotion gets folded into the giant. Or he could find himself fighting for other promotions again. You just never know. What he does know is that he needs to fight now. Like his bosses worry about the future of their company, he too has to be proactive in taking care of his own career and continue to put food on the table, so to speak.
“I’m a fighter and if it were up to me I’d fight every day if I could,” Mike told us today. “As we all know with Strikeforce, they are kind of limited on the number of shows they are running right now and they have so many people (fighters) in their stable needing fights. Unfortunately they can’t put us on all the shows they have. Me being the fighter that I am I asked them if I could try and find a fight outside of the organization. They told me they were cool with me finding one fight out of my contract to hold me over so here I am. I’ll be back in Houston this December.”
Legacy FC 9 Bout on HDNet Pits Champion versus Champion
Proving his warrior spirit with this decision to get back into the cage, Bronzoulis didn’t waste the opportunity on a cupcake. Instead he’s be taking on Macaco, a legend of the sport who he saw win the belt he walked away from to sign with Strikeforce in the first place.
Knowing that he was there at the event and saw the Brazilian win the belt earlier this month, we asked him how it felt seeing the Legacy FC 170 belt around somebody else’s waist.
“You know, Macaco is a legend in the game and I believe he’s an awesome fighter but watching him win that belt broke my heart man. I can’t describe it but that belt means a lot to me. I walked away from it to go to Strikeforce. I never lost it and he did earn it but watching that hurt me. It’s hard to describe the feeling of seeing him win it. I got kind of jealous.”
Now with this upcoming December bout at Legacy FC 9 pitting champion versus champion, “The Greek” only has one thing in mind.
Beating the legend.
“I feel really good about this fight. I’m going to go to go in there, do my thing, and win. No disrespect to Macaco… He holds that belt fair and square and he’s the champion but I also want to show everyone why I’m also as great as I am. This is my opportunity to prove it against a great fighter. They say to become a legend you have to beat one right?”
YOU can help us grow Texas MMA! Please take a moment to read this article to see how YOU can help us grow the sport. Please make sure to LIKE TXMMA on Facebook when you get the chance and let us know if you have any feedback on how we can serve you better!
