Picture courtesy of Classic Traditions Art Co. (via Facebook.com)
Joey Beltran’s life could have taken a drastically different path.
Meth binges, gang jump-ins and stints behind bars, those would have been some highlights of that alternate existence.
However, Beltran can thank some of the gang members he once aspired to emulate for sending him down a radically different road, one where his accomplishments are worthy of praise rather than prison sentences.
“I was fortunate enough that I never got jumped in,” Beltran said, speaking candidly of his youth to hosts Joe Rizzo and Jeremy Fullerton of Rear Naked Choke Radio on the MMA DieHards Radio Network. “I ran around with them…but the couple times I was close, they’d tell me (they) don’t want this type of life for (me).”
Instead of slinging drugs or taking part in drive-bys, Beltran turned around his life by finding his way into a gym. It would be the beginning of a transformation that took him from thug life to Octagon success story.
The UFC heavyweight knew he wanted to fight from the very beginning and considered everything from boxing to tough man competitions.
“I wanted to do something in fighting,” Beltran said. “I just didn’t know how to do it.”
At the time, the California native was attending school in Hawaii. While MMA had yet to experience its nationwide explosion in popularity, the sport was already a part of the culture in the Aloha State.
“Martial arts in general (is) huge in Hawaii,” said Beltran. “The way kids play little league baseball on the mainland, that’s the way it is with fighting (in Hawaii).”
While waiting to catch a bus ride home after class, Beltran happened upon the Bullpen gym and trainer Dino Fernandez. Fernandez allowed Beltran to train at the gym for free, affording him the opportunity to work with the likes of Bellator and EliteXC veteran Mark Oshiro.
After school didn’t work out for him, Beltran headed back home. Upon returning to the San Diego area, he read about the North County Fight Club in the newspaper and decided to check the place out.
“It all happened really quick,” Beltran said. “I only had about two months of consistent training (at North County Fight Club) before Matt (Stansell) got me my first fight.”
Beltran lost that fight by decision, but he was hooked on the sport and the loss only motivated him to train harder.
“I jumped in head first and never really looked back,” Beltran said. “I just always knew, from day one, that I’m going to fight in the UFC. I’m going to be one of the best fighters in the world.”
However, Beltran’s drive and determination weren’t always apparent in those early days of competition.
“I was one of those fighters who would fight, disappear from the gym for a couple of weeks, go out and party, and go back and start all over from square one,” Beltran said of his commitment to training. “I didn’t really train year-round yet. I didn’t really grasp that concept.”
The “Mexicutioner”, as he was dubbed by training partner and UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez, eventually dedicated himself more fully to the sport and, with a record of 10-3, received a call from the UFC. While the promotion’s intent was likely to showcase Beltran’s UFC 109 opponent, Rolles Gracie, Joey had plans of his own.
“I didn’t see (Gracie’s) name shimmering up in lights on a giant beautiful billboard in Las Vegas,” Beltran said. “All I saw was a 6-foot-4, 240-pound black belt in jiu-jitsu who couldn’t box. It was a pretty simple game plan: keep it on the feet and I’ll win.
“I just knew that I was going to win that fight. I knew that was my moment.”
Beltran followed his upset victory over Gracie with a unanimous decision win over Tim Hague at UFC 113 and now gears up for another run as an underdog within the organization as he gets set to meet Matt Mitrione at UFC 119.
“It’s still not the big UFC challenge that I’m waiting for,” Beltran said of Mitrione. “It’s not a top ten fighter. It’s not somebody I would consider a world class fighter yet.
“But I’m also very happy that things have worked out the way they have,” he continued. “I’m not looking to start trading hands with Junior dos Santos or roll around on the ground with Frank Mir yet.”
Mitrione took the time to join Beltran on the show. The two heavyweights, more concerned with cashing in on the night’s bonuses than with trash talk, had nothing but kind words for each other.
“We’re both going to go out there and earn our money,” Mitrione promised. “He’s looking to get his win bonus and I’m looking to get my win bonus. It’s just our job.”
“We both know we’re going to come out and punch each other in the head,” echoed Beltran. “If one of us has a weak chin, we’re going to fall. But I think we both have pretty durable heads, so it’s going to be a fun fight.”
Beltran might be riding a wave of success at the moment, but his professional record is not spotless. Besides losing his professional debut to Yohan Banks, he has dropped two bouts to Tony Lopez.
Lopez, who until recently held the King of the Cage heavyweight and light heavyweight titles simultaneously, handed Beltran a submission loss – and a broken arm – in their first meeting and earned a unanimous nod from the judges in their rematch.
Joey feels that circumstances – fighting on an Indian reservation on an unsanctioned card for a promotion featuring Lopez as its star – played a big role in the outcome of their second meeting.
“(If) we fight on an even playing field with real judges, I win that fight every time,” claimed Beltran.
He would love to welcome Lopez into the UFC and, at the same time, avenge those prior losses.
“If he somehow gets into the UFC, I would welcome that,” Beltran said. “He’s the kind of person I don’t really have to get motivated to fight.”
Beltran is lucky that his gang-affiliated buddies shielded him from a life that would have made it impossible for him to discuss beating a Gracie or fighting Lopez.
For Beltran, bringing the violence in the cage saved him from being a victim of the violence on the streets. Now, the UFC heavyweight is trying to set a positive example for some impressionable people in his own life: his nephews.
“I just wanted to give them an example,” Beltran said on the show. “Show them that if you work hard at something every single day of your life and you devote your life to something, you can be whatever you want.
“You can be a 300-pound ex meth-addict felon and three years later be in the UFC because you worked your ass off.”
