By Felix Rodriguez, Staff Writer
The 44-year old Celtic Tiger has been involved in martial arts for longer than Drysdale has been alive. Reed’s involvement with combat sports started with wrestling in elementary school. He began competing in local pancrase type shows before MMA was regulated in Texas and open hand strikes were the only types of punches allowed in our state’s events. With more than 34 years of combined martial arts experience it is safe to say that this isn’t Reed’s first rodeo.
Like many of his colleagues still fighting in smaller promotions Reed, a retired assistant police chief and decorated police officer, is not a full time fighter. He explained that between juggling his multiple roles as a husband and father, working full-time as the city manager for the city of Nassau Bay, TX, and sitting on several boards and commissions he sees himself as a fighter only a quarter of his time. Reed has still managed to compile a 4-1 professional record despite not dedicating himself to fighting full-time. When he isn’t busy in a mixed martial arts cage, managing the city he lives in or taking out the garbage and mowing the lawn, you may also find him out at your local department stores holding down abusive spouses who like to beat on women until the police arrive. Three years ago he did just that when one of his children pointed him towards a man beating his partner in front of a Best Buy, thankfully for her, the Celtic Tiger was there to lay down the law until the police came to arrest the coward.
With so much lived and seen Reed is not phased or intimidated by his opponent, far from it, he is relishing the opportunity to fight in his home state against someone with the pedigree of Robert Drysdale as the main event. We asked the Celtic Tiger about his fight preparations and he told us that he was splitting his time between coaches Jason Carter at 646 MMA for sparring and Chad Cook for striking and game planning at Rogue Fight club. When asked about how he was preparing for Drysdale’s MMA submission streak, which we analyzed in detail previously, Reed gave us a surprisingly candid answer, “Nothing. I have a brown belt in judo and I’ve been wrestling since grade school. I’m not going to become a world champion jits guy in a couple of weeks.” Reed who holds a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu from Draculinho believes that focusing on Drysdale’s jiu-jitsu will not be beneficial, because if he worries about being taken down and being submitted, he won’t do much better than Drysdale’s other opponents. He explained about Drysdale’s past fights, “In all the videos the guys [fighting Drysdale] were too worried about going to the ground, that’s not my style. I dictate the pace of the fight. This isn’t a jits match or a wrestling match it’s a fight. I’m going to come at him look for the big slam and try to finish the fight with strikes, if Drysdale wants to stand and bang though I’ll be more than happy to as well.”
Whether this strategy works or not against such a skilled submission artists remains to be seen, but Chris Reed is one of MMA’s true gentlemen and win or lose he will show up to fight. Legacy Fighting Championship 15 will take place at the Arena Theatre in Houston, TX this Friday November 16th and will be aired on AXS TV (formerly HDNET) at 10pm ET. Be sure to tune in or watch it live!