news : HE HAS A FIGHTING CHANCE...

Lou Armezzani grew up playing football and wrestling during his formative years. He stepped onto the gridiron for the Valley View Cougars during high school, playing for legendary coach Frank Pazzaglia. But when his athletic endeavors came to an end, he found the perfect way to scratch that athletic itch that exists in all athletes - mixed martial arts. After an undefeated amateur career, the 25-year-old signed a contract with Lionheart Professional Management and Promotions Inc. and now lives and trains in State College. On Saturday, Oct. 4 from 6 to 9 p.m., Blues Street on Wyoming Avenue in Scranton will host a fundraiser for Armezzani with live entertainment by Mike Mizwinski and Cosmic Charlie. Cost is $35 and there will be a cash bar. All proceeds will assist Armezzani in his quest to further his mixed martial arts career. Meet mixed martial arts competitor Lou Armezzani ...

How did you get involved in mixed martial arts?
I started training with the Royce Gracie network back in the beginning of '06 and from there it was just like a snowball effect. I started picking up different disciplines and it went from there.

Were you into boxing or wrestling before this?
I was always an athlete. After high school, I wasn't participating in any sports, and I'm an aggressive type of person, so I needed to do something that fit my need.

Is there one style or discipline that you fight under?
Yeah, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's submission grappling.

So your thing is to get your opponent on the ground right away, right?
Yeah, it's pretty cut and dry Jiu-Jitsu technique for fighting. Takedown, then get him to submit.

Did you gravitate to that style because of your wrestling background?
Yeah, pretty much. My wrestling background was kind of short-lived because I was a football player and I couldn't be cutting weight in the offseason while I was trying to build mass. So, yeah, I guess it was kind of a wrestling-football hybrid style that I brought into my Jui-Jitsu.

What's the most brutal part about mixed martial arts?
The conditioning. The fight is the fun part. The conditioning that we do at Lionheart is very intense. It's at a high level. We run ski slopes and we do all sorts of hill sprints with weighted vests on, and plyometrics and just high-intensity conditioning. We work out three to four times a day, five and a half days a week, and we condition every day.

How much time do you spend each day on technique?
A lot, probably like five hours. This is what I'm doing every single day. This is my job.

Are you worried at all about getting seriously hurt?
No, not at all. I just overcame an injury. I hyperextended my arm and did a little damage to my tricep. It was in my fight in July. I had to take some time off. I had to do physical therapy. I rehabbed it and everything.

How did you get the contract with Lionheart?
My manager's name is Chad Dubin, he's the founder of Lionheart. A mutual friend referred me to him and I gave him a call. Back in April, he had me come up and train, kind of like a tryout. I was there for a couple days training with some guys. Then I came up again to train and once he bought his facility and started the company, he offered me a spot on the team.

How many fighters do they have?
We have four fighters right now.

How does the contract work?
They do everything. He manages my life, pretty much. All I have to do is show up to wherever he needs me to go. The money's there. He owns our condo we live in, takes care of all my management. He invests money for us once we start.

How many expenses do you have through all of this?
Before I moved up there, I tried to minimize all my expenses, so I'm just looking at basic things like car insurance, food, spending money, gas money.

Where do you live now that you're training?
I live in State College now.

So you're sort of isolated.
Yeah, out there in the middle of nowhere, running mountains.

What kind of career aspirations do you have with mixed martial arts?
I want to take it as far as I can. I'm hoping that in the next year or two things will really come together a lot more and I'll try to get on some major fight cards.

Now that you're into the business of mixed martial arts, is it what you expected?
It's actually a lot cooler and I'm having a lot of fun doing what I'm doing. I'm getting to meet a lot of famous people. My roommate was on the Ultimate Fighter TV show and people he knows - he trained at the (Pat) Miletich Camp in Iowa - and his friends will come and stay at our house. We had one guy who fights in Elite XC come and stay at our house for a while. I just got to train with Ricardo de la Riva (a fifth degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). He came up from Brazil for three days. So, it's pretty cool. We get to network a lot.

Do you have an idol, someone you really look up to?
You know, I get this question a lot. I really don't. I don't know why.

Was there a moment or a fight you saw that caught your eye?
George St. Pierre, he's pretty much the reason I started fighting because I saw the way he fought and I'd like to start fighting like him. But as far as an idol, yeah, I look up to him and everything, but I don't glamorize him.

MMA is still sort of catching on in ways, but there are still people out there who might ask, "Why not just be a boxer?" Do you get questions like that?
Kind of. It's more like, "Why are you doing it? Why would you want to be an MMA fighter? You guys just kick your heads in and beat each other up." There's a lot more to it than that. People aren't educated as much about MMA.