Photo By Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Matson | Felix Miguel Almonte, a Nashville Reservist with the 372nd Public Affairs Detachment...... read more read more
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By Ryan C. Matson
372nd Public Affairs Detachment
FORT BENNING, Georgia - Since coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic nearly 20 years ago, Felix Almonte has experienced many things.
He has been to war with the U.S. Army as part of the 1st Armored Division, which deployed to Iraq from 2003 to 2004. He has experienced college, as he is about to finish his degree in mass communications from Austin Peay University this December. And now, the 25-year-old is entering another phase of his life. He has found a passion for the sport of mixed martial arts, one which he said is indirectly influenced by his Dominican roots.
"Growing up in the Dominican, in Puerto Plata, all my cousins used to box a lot," Almonte remembered with a smile. "Some of them still fight. Now, when I go back to the Dominican to see them, they may get me on boxing, but I have other tricks I can beat them with, like submissions."
The Nashville Reservist, a broadcast journalist with the 372nd Public Affairs Detachment, owns a 5-2 record and one tournament championship after competing in his first two grappling/combatives events.
Almonte said he first became interested in mixed martial arts in 2002 when the young Soldier was on Active Duty in Basic Training at Fort Benning. He said he enjoyed the short introduction he got to the sport then, but never found a good place to train.
That all changed when Almonte came to Clarksville, Tenn., in 2005 to attend Austin Peay. As a student there, Almonte joined his older brother, Felix Jose Almonte, who is currently attending the Reserve Officer Training Course.
In Clarksville, Almonte said he officially caught the mixed martial arts bug when he began training at the Scientific Streetfighter Academy.
"I was ready to do something, so I just found a gym and started training," he said.
Tyler Lee, 17, became Almonte's primary training partner in Clarksville. Though he outweighs Almonte by 20 pounds, he said while training with him, Almonte has displayed the characteristics it will take to become a good fighter.
"With a lot of fighters, it's the heart," Lee said. "He's got the heart for it, and the determination to be good. He's a real cool guy – he's down-to-earth, but he also knows when it's time to be serious. He trains really hard and most of all is a quick learner and willing to learn. It's interesting to see the developments we make as we train."
What started out as an interest grew into a passion for Almonte.
"Besides the fact that it keeps you in shape, I like the technical aspect of it - I think it's pretty fun," Almonte said. "I'm a pretty small guy, but this is a sport that allows the smaller guy, if he knows what he's doing, to beat the bigger guy. I really like the techniques involved, it's almost like a game of chess."
Almonte said he also enjoys the universal camaraderie that is found between competitors in the tournaments. When Almonte lost his first match, the fighter who beat him showed him how to defend against getting caught in the arm bar he used to win the match.
"That's not even an exception," Almonte said. "If I beat a guy on something, and I think it's something they could have gotten out of, I'll show then right there on the spot."
After training several months, Almonte said he missed out on a tournament which many of his friends he was training with in Clarksville entered and ended up winning. He said this gave him the confidence to enter a tournament of his own.
"In the gym, you end up rolling with some of the same guys over and over again," he said. "In a tournament, you never know what you're going to get."
So Almonte began training hard for the next tournament he saw advertised, a North American Grappling Association event, the 2008 Georgia Grappling Championships, held Sept. 13 in Alpharetta, Ga. He said he was in the gym training for hours a day, 5 days a week, all while balancing a 15-credit course load at Austin Peay.
Though he said he was nervous, the hard work paid off. Almonte won the beginner featherweight division of the tournament in the no-gi category. He won three matches, using three different techniques to do so.
"I won by guillotine choke, one by leglock and one by decision," he said. "I actually like doing leglocks. People never seem to be expecting them."
Almonte said he also enjoys fighting from his back, because he feels there are more tactics available to a fighter from that position.
After winning his first tournament, Almonte said he was ready for a real challenge. He decided to enter the 2008 U.S. Army Combatives Tournament held Oct. 4 to 5 in the Sgt. 1st. Class Paul Ray Smith Physical Fitness Center at Fort Benning, Ga. The event, which is in its fourth year of existence, brought together nearly 350 of the Army's top fighters to compete in a mixed martial arts competition. It featured many Rangers, Special Forces Soldiers, and other elite, highly-trained competitors. Almonte held his own with them all, finishing with a 2-2 mark in the tournament, including two wins via submissions less than a minute into each match.
"I think those guys were wrestlers, which made me feel good because at that point we were still in the grappling part of the tournament [in later rounds full-contact strikes were permitted]," Almonte said.
He defeated the opponents by using yet two more submission methods this tournament, the arm triangle and rear-naked choke, but never was in a position to sneak in one of his leglocks.
Almonte lost his first match by submission on an arm bar, and his second, by a narrow 2-0 count, on points after surrendering a takedown.
When he visits the Dominican Republic the next time, Almonte said he will be able to tell his friends about the tournaments, and maybe do a little grappling/mixed martial arts work there, himself.
"Obviously the big sport in the Dominican will always be baseball," Almonte said. "I remember when I was growing up there was like one wrestling team around. Now they have some places you can do mixed martial arts, so it has spread there, too."
And even though he didn't win the All-Army tournament, Almonte said the experience gained was invaluable.
"Competing in the All-Army tournament was great for me," Almonte said. "Even though I didn't win it, win or lose you gain a lot of experience, and here we're all on the same team."
| Date Taken: | 10.14.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 10.14.2008 23:42 |
| Story ID: | 24984 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 368 |
| Downloads: | 262 |
This work, On a Roll: Dominican-Born Nashville Reservist Shines in Grappling/Combatives, by CSM Ryan Matson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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