This month we are putting the spotlight on Anthony “Antmo” Morrison.
Q. Anthony how did you get into this sport?
A. I got into this the same way Joe Silva did… WWF wrestling. I was a huge fan, my life was wrestling, comics and video games. When I saw MMA for the first time i was like maaaan and this aint fake! hahaha! Since then I have just studied and watched anything and everything I could get my hands on.
Q. That leads us to the next question. We have been told you are a walking encyclopedia for MMA, meaning you can recite the fight card for nearly every event?!?
A. Haha, well i don’t know about that but yeh i get made fun of by my teammates for being “The Rain Man” of MMA cuz i can remember every event, event name and fight that i have ever watched… i just happened to have watched them all! lol! One of the coolest moments I had was just talking fights with Joe Silva when he came to visit our school… we talked for a good bit and I think i surprised him with my knowledge of the sport… that’s when i found out he was a wrestling fan! Joe is a cool cat.
Q. What are some of your interests, or what do you do in your spare time?
A. I love Gears of War man! I am a video game junkie! if I am not playing my games I am watching as much fight footage as I can. I also write a lot… I have boxes of note books that I have written in over the years. I am a deep thinker so I really like to get into my journals, it helps me keep things in perspective… I know my boys back home are gonna read this and be like, “you sissy!” lol. it’s all good… but I am what I am and I do what I do… I write, thats right i said it! I write! lol!
Q. Tell us a little about your training, we know you have trained with some good people but for the most part your early training was pretty much on your own?
A. Yeh i have been to many camps and even trained with Dan Severn but for the most part I was brought in as a sparring partner for other fighters on their teams. I never really had a home to train at until I moved to Richmond, VA to be a part of Team Combat.
Q. Why did you choose Richmond, VA and Team Combat to be your home?
A. I had fought on a few cards down there and saw that they had some tough guys on their team. Brian Crenshaw invited me down to train and I never really thought about moving down full time but I could tell right away when I worked with those guys that I had holes in my game that needed work. I bounced back and forth from Philly to VA every now and then for about a year and tried to stay sharp training on my own out of my grand mama’s basement but I knew i could never reach that next level unless I moved.
Q. So what made you move?
A. I made some bad fight choices because i needed money and lost a dumb fight in Atlantic City that i took on 24 hours notice… that loss opened my eyes that if I wanted to make a go at this as a career I had to make some changes. I have sacrificed more than you know to be in this sport.
Q. Can you tell us a bit about those sacrifices?
A. Yeh but don’t you try and make me cry! don’t do it! lol. I realized that most of my friends are either dead, in jail or hangin on the same street corner they have been for years. I have a daughter that I love dearly and I just have to make good for her. I was going nowhere by staying in Philly but i couldn’t afford to move with my daughter. I have had the odd jobs here and there but in that environment it is easy to get sucked into doing bad things for money. I would be no good to my girl if I ended up in jail or dead. I had to weigh what is best for her and I long term so i scraped together enough money for a one way bus ticket, packed my bags and told my daughter I am going to become a world champion. I slept on couches and picked up odd jobs in VA so I could be a part of this team and I have not lost since. I talk to my girl everyday and I get emotional if I think about her… but she is proud of her daddy and with the help of some of my sponsors I have been able to go home and visit her a few times in the past several months.
Q. Wow, so you basically recognized a bad situation that you felt would not get better, and made a very aggressive move to change your future?
A. I guess you could say that… To this day I’m torn about it because I miss my little girl so much… but I know that i had no future with her if I stayed there. I just wish I could have her here with me but that is what I am working at. It keeps me motivated to work hard, Brian Butler told me that I am here for one reason only and that is to train and become the best I can be… Every minute I train I am working to get a life for me and my little girl, If I get lazy and slack for a bit Brian is the first to remind me that that is a wasted time away from my daughter… I aint wasting no time! I love the town I am in and I love my teammates on Team Combat and on SuckerPunch. Good things are starting to happen for me.
Q. Anyone you want to thank?
A.Yes I would like to send a shout out to my daughter Kamya! My mom, grandma, Trisha, and my brother darryl for looking after Kamya.
Stephen, Briheem, Ronnell, and Man Man, for always being there.
To Kru Brian Crenshaw, my teamates at Team Combat, Brian Butler, Max C., my brothers from another Bartimus and Big Frog, and all my teammates at SuckerPunch Entertainment! SuckerPunch is about to take over!
R.I.P. to my friends Ty and Gees, I will never forget you guys.
PAST FEATURED FIGHTERS:
NATE MOHR
FRANCOIS AMBANG