Saturday, April 11, 2009
JC

Combat Fitness
(925) 934-9898
981 Bancroft Rd, Unit E, Concord, CA 94518

Tonight, Eric Lawson, a 28 year-old fighter from Concord, will be fighting to garner his 5th win in the Strikeforce organization. Lawson will be facing Waylon Kennell, a fighter with 4 wins and 1 loss to his name. Lawson's original opponent, Richard Montoya out of American Kickboxing Academy, withdrew from the fight due to an injury.

Lawson is a middleweight who trains out of Combat Fitness in Concord. He is not a guy with a chip on his shoulder who likes to fight, he is competitor who loves to push his own physical limits.

Lawson, also a BMX enthusiast, has competed in X-Games qualifiers and has several photos and videos on his myspace page of him leaping through the air on his bicycle. Although they would land most people in the hospital after one attempt, doing flips and aerial-turns are exciting to Lawson, adrenaline and challenges are what light his fire.

A dedicated work ethic is something that many successful fighters have in common, and Lawson is no exception. Lawson began wrestling at age 9, and continued to wrestle up until his collegiate years. Eventually growing tired of wrestling, Lawson began to seek out something new, and watching wrestlers compete in the UFC gave him inspiration to began training in MMA.

In 2004 he had his first professional fight, and since then has amassed a record of 8 wins and only 2 losses. Lawson currently trains his ground-game under Gill Castillo, a former UFC competitor with superior knowledge of grappling and submissions. Castillo notched notable wins over Chris Brennan and Nate Marquardt during his career, and now shares his experience with fighters and students alike. Castillo, and Lawsons striking coach, George Tsutsui, a 4-time Muay Thai World Champion, have diligently worked to develop Lawson into a menacing and well-rounded middleweight fighter.

During training for his bout, Lawsons coaches took turns confronting him with punching mitts and ground-work, grinding him down as his opponent will attempt to do during their fight.

Lawson is not one to be broken though, during his fight with Josh Neal in 2007, Lawson was stuck in a deeply-sunk triangle for over 2 minutes and was almost forced tapped out. His fortitude kept him from making a decision that would most likely haunt him in the future, and although Lawson briefly lifted one hand to tap, he did not. Lawson maintained his composure until he made it out of the round, only to come back and submit Neal 20 seconds into the second round.

Lawson's most recent victory was over Tony Johnson, a successful Muay Thai fighter who also boasted 3 undefeated wins in Mixed Martial Arts until their meeting in October of last year. Johnson is a tall and long fighter with very good power in his hands. Lawson was able to put Johnson down to the canvas with a hard right, and subsequently took his back to sink in the rear-naked choke for the win.

Although Lawson has 5 wins by way of rear-naked choke, he still considers himself a fighter that can take the fight anywhere, and he is not afraid to trade with another fighter at their strongsuit, whether it be striking, or on the ground.

With so many talented fighters in Strikeforces’ middleweight division, Lawson should have no trouble finding solid competition to fight on his way up the ladder to a middleweight title bout. Although Cung Le sits atop the middleweight mountain, Strikeforces’ new deal with Showtime gives their fighters the exposure they rightly deserve, and plenty of opponents to face on their way to the top.

Lawson predicts a second round KO/TKO victory over his opponent, and whether his prediction rings true or not, fight fans will be treated to heavy handed action in the cage as Lawson and Kennell are both ready to fight.