Four local fighters highlight card

When Cody Brundage steps into the Octagon on Saturday, he’ll carry his daughter’s fight with him.

Brundage, one of four locals on the UFC Fight Night card in the promotion’s return to Denver at Ball Arena, has gained strength from watching 3-year-old Kingsley battle ALG13-CDG — a rare disease caused by a genetic mutation.

“This (fighting) life is pretty hard in terms of balance because it demands everything of you, and a lot of times it doesn’t really give that much back,” Brundage said. “At one point fighting was the most important, biggest thing in my life. But with kids, that changes, and especially with Kingsley and the care she needs.

“I know as long as I’m being a good dad and good husband and partner, I’ll check the boxes with fighting and that will take care of itself. I didn’t really have that perspective before.”

Doctors initially told Brundage and his wife, ex-UFC fighter Amanda Bobby Brundage, that Kingsley would likely never be able to use her hands, sit up or feed herself. But Kingsley has already met those milestones, and though she remains nonverbal, the Brundages feel fortunate with where she is now.

That includes getting Kingsley’s seizures under control over the past couple of years. When she was an infant, she was having roughly 130 seizures a day.

“Imagine trying to go off to training when you know your baby at 6 months old is going through that many seizures a day,” Amanda Brundage said. “You’re trying to fight for your dreams, which is what Cody’s been doing, and that’s going on at home. It makes it hard (to focus).”

Amanda, who fought in the UFC from 2016 to ’18 and was on the cusp of returning to the promotion when she got pregnant with Kingsley, gave up her professional MMA career to be a mom. While Cody trains at Factory X in Englewood, she stays home with Kingsley and the couple’s other daughter, 1-year-old Millie.

“People can view living through someone else as kind of a negative thing, but for me, it’s a positive,” Amanda said. “I’m living through Cody. I’m supporting him, watching him train. I want him to go to the top, to reach all his dreams and potential. I still get to go to the gym to train. So I still get my feel for the sport, I still learn stuff, and he’s teaching me now.”

That latter part has been a role reversal for the couple, who initially met at an MMA gym in Michigan where Amanda was an instructor. She became the first MMA coach for Cody, an ex-college wrestler searching for his next step in life.

“She was in there doing private lessons and she came up to me and was like, ‘You have no idea what you’re doing,’” Cody recalled with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Thanks for that.’ And in my mind, I was like, ‘Who is this little woman telling me I don’t know what I’m doing?’ Turns out she’s in the UFC.

“She would always tell me, ‘You’re just going to owe me 2% (of future earnings). I’m not ever going to charge you anything now for coaching.’ I’ve been chasing that 2% deal ever since.”

On Saturday, Brundage (4-5 in the UFC) will look to get back into the win column after losing his last fight by submission to Bo Nickal in April.

Brundage’s middleweight opponent at Ball Arena is Ghanaian fighter Abdul Razak Alhassan. Brundage, a 30-year-old Parker resident, is expecting “chaos and fireworks” in a bout between two fighters capable of big finishes. All six of Razak Alhassan’s UFC wins have come by KO/TKO.

“We know Razak is a tough opponent, and we also know that Cody’s skill set could be Razak’s kryptonite,” Factory X head coach Marc Montoya said. “We think this is a fight he can win. Now, he just needs to go prove it. … Cody’s skill set is very well-rounded. Razak’s obviously a good striker, super powerful and explosive. Can Cody’s well-roundedness on the feet and defensively negate what he’s doing?

“I don’t think Razak’s game plan is to come out and try to finish Cody on the ground. The hardest part for our opponent is figuring out what Cody is going to do because he’s very well-rounded.”

Fremd’s “coming-out party.” Another 30-year-old Factory X middleweight on Saturday’s card is Josh Fremd, who will fight Andre Petroski in the evening’s second preliminary bout.

Fremd is 2-3 in the UFC and coming off a KO loss to Roman Kopylov via a body blow last September. The Connellsville, Pa., native and current Englewood resident said he’s underperformed in his five big-show bouts so far.

“This one’s going to be my coming-out party for the UFC,” Fremd said. “Coming up through the regional scene, I was having viral knockouts and performing great, and then when I got to the UFC it’s been a whirlwind. Even my two wins, they weren’t my best performances. I want to do better and show everyone what I’m actually capable of.”

Like a lot of fighters, Fremd’s road to the UFC was underscored by a rough upbringing. He was in and out of juvenile detention centers, halfway homes and foster care before his grandparents took him and his five siblings in.

But Fremd came out the other side, then developed his will to fight on the regional scene, where he dealt with various injuries and worked as a bartender/bouncer to make ends meet.

“There’s been so many times I could’ve quit, took the easy route out, got a (9-to-5) job, and said, ‘To hell with it.’ But I’ve fought through a lot and it’s taught me work ethic,” Fremd said. “… My boxing and my cardio are my strengths, but at the end of the day, I’m just a fighter. I’m not going to cave, give in or wilt under pressure. I’m okay to get beat up for a little bit just to turn it around and finish a fight.”

Montoya believes Petroski is going to want to capitalize on his grappling ability against Fremd.

“Josh and Cody are in a very similar spot where they’re young in the UFC and they have a high, high ceiling,” Montoya said. “Josh just needs to go out and perform. When you see a confident Josh Fremd, he is scary to fight. And what I’ve seen in the build-up to this fight is that it seems like Josh has found a lot of the swagger he had pre-UFC, and that’s a big deal.”

While Fremd and Brundage fight, Factory X’s top UFC fighter, flyweight Brandon Royval, will be in the stands watching. The Denver native and top-ranked contender in his division had an offer to take on an unranked fighter Saturday but turned it down.

Montoya said the fight didn’t make sense considering Royval is waiting for another shot at a title fight against Alexandre Pantoja, whom he lost to in December before beating then-No. 1 contender Brandon Moreno in February.

“That’s the man of the city right there,” Fremd said of Rovyal, “so in honor of him, I’m going to go out and knock this fool out.”

Main event preview. The night will conclude with one of the state’s all-time fighters in the main event.

Westminster resident Rose Namajunas, a former two-time strawweight champion, fights Tracy Cortez in Namajunas’ third flyweight bout since moving up a weight class. Namajunas was originally supposed to fight Greeley native Maycee Barber, but Barber withdrew a few weeks ago due to medical issues.

Namajunas is No. 6 in the UFC flyweight rankings, and Cortez is No. 11. A win will inch Namajunas closer to an eventual title shot and a chance to become a two-division champion. Alexa Grasso currently holds the belt and is the No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound female fighter.

“I’m feeling lots of excitement, nerves, gratitude for this chance to fight here,” said Namajunas, a Milwaukee native who moved to Colorado about a decade ago. “I’ve had such a great career so far, with some ups and downs, so to get to this point of my first time fighting in Denver, there’s a lot to take in and a lot to process.

“If my heart is right, and my spirit is right … I’m the best for a reason, and (Cortez) will have to find that out.”

Cortez is riding an 11-fight win streak coming into Saturday — with five of those triumphs coming in the UFC — and is eager to hold on to her status as one of the promotion’s intriguing up-and-comers.

“I know right now (Namajunas) is a veteran, and we’re in her home, we’re in her backyard,” Cortez said. “All of that doesn’t really intimidate me. She was an amazing champion at 115 (pounds), but I don’t think she’s yet to face a true 125er like myself in her career. This is going to put both of us to a good test to see if, one, if she belongs in the flyweight division, and two, if I’m really as talented as I believe I am.”