By TXMMA Staff // Cover photo: Charles Nguyen
Abilene-based striker feels like every fight is important at this stage of the game
ABILENE, TX, July 9, 2014 – 19 fights into his pro career and Brandon Farran (11-8) remains an enigmatic story of untapped potential. His record is littered with streaks on both sides of the win/loss column. And although he’s looked dominant at times, most recently TKO’ing durable Mike Bronzoulis in under a minute, he’s also still seeking to put everything together on a consistent basis and finally take his career to the top.
“I started my training in boxing over 12 years ago,” he says about his beginning in combat sports.“I had to put boxing on hold after receiving a scholarship to play football at ACU. At that time MMA was on its continuous rise and had captured my interest pretty easy when watching Pride Bushido. After getting kicked out of college I needed a way to make money and began looking into MMA. I started my research on Muay Thai through books, instructional DVDs, and constantly watching fights.”
Brandon Farran only fought once at the amateur level before turning pro in April 2007, for Texas promoter Mick Maynard in one of his earliest shows in College Station, Lonestar Beatdown 2.
“I started way too early and did it for monetary gain. I had two pro fights before even taking one jiu-jitsu class. This gave me unnecessary losses that could have been prevented by proper training. Later in my career I learned that it is not important to be the biggest guy in your weight class and stopped cutting so much weight. A guy like me walking around between 205-210 lbs. with little body fat shouldn’t be fighting at 170 lbs. I’m trying to be smarter than that now. I always had a desire to fight and never needed motivation, but now I fight for my family, my gym and my teammates. And after meeting (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva and having him extremely impressed by me, every fight is important!”
Farran returns to the cage this Saturday at Twenty Four Seven Entertainment XV: New Regime. He’ll be taking on another experienced opponent in Warrensburg, TX native John King (4-3). Though his opponent doesn’t appear to be a world-beater like some of the other guys he’s faced in the past on paper, Brandon isn’t taking him at all lightly.
“He (John King) is a good fighter with a deceiving record such as myself and I believe he might be my toughest opponent to date. He has fought in Glory and likes to strike as well. My goal is to showcase my phenomenal striking skills in this one. I train the same for every fight. I am an extremely fast and powerful striker and expect everyone to go for takedowns on me, so I constantly train takedown defense and getting back up. Ideally I’d like to get my 13th first round finish by KO, but am prepared to take the win in whatever form it presents itself. Let’s just give the crowd what they came to see and strike it out!”
Fighter Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank my loves Channing and Angelina Farran for always fueling my fire…My manager Jason Haak for always representing me well…my Hostile Takeover teammates and gym family…my sponsors Chad Mitchell w/ Mission Abilene, Tim and Mandie Whitecotton w/ WhiteCo Concepts, Sparrow T’s, Ryan and DeAnn Starks, The Nut Shack, Larry Whitehead w/ Economy heating & cooling, and my lovely parents Greg and Pamela Samuels. – Brandon Farran