Fighters of New York: Clubber Creed

“Clubber Creed” (real name Jude Paulemon) is the reigning KTFO Welterweight Champion. With an amateur MMA record of 5-1, he is set to defend his title against Matt Roman on September 9th. It was during his teenage years that he discovered his passion for martial arts. In high school and junior college he wrestled, and began to learn about MMA soon after. Not only did he find pleasure in the art, but he started seeing improvement in his health as well. “It was helping me with my weight loss,” said Creed. “I was 280 and then the numbers started going down and I had fun doing it and within time, I figured I might as well pursue it and keep going.”

Pads with Coach Jay Isaac

Creed decided to experiment with boxing as well. “I was at American Top Team in Franklin Square, then I departed and went to Church Street Boxing gym and competed in boxing,” he said. After his first time competing in the Golden Gloves at 205 lbs, he advanced to the semi-finals but fell short. The next year he tried again, but had a difficult time progressing. “A lot of things went to my head once I got close to achieving my goal,” said Creed, but that did not stop him from pushing forward. He knew MMA was a better route, and was determined to pick up where he had left off.
Interestingly enough, Creed’s first experience fighting in MMA was with the KTFO/Platinum Gloves promotion. “It was a tournament, and I found it in the newspaper and I was like you know what, let me sign up,” he explained. “It was last minute, so I didn’t have a camp or nothing, and I got my friends, Nathaniel King and Codie Payne, and we drove in the Honda Civic all the way out to Long Island and I won.” After that, Clubber Creed became a familiar face within the promotion. He has already fought on their events four times, and this time will be his fifth. With the last appearance on a KTFO fight card being the one that garnered him a title, he says that although he was proud of the accomplishment, he was not proud of the show he put on. “It had been while since I’d been in the cage… so I was very rusty,” said Creed. “Even though I came out with the win, I was very unsatisfied with the victory because of my performance.”

Victory

This time around, Creed is dedicated to making sure that his performance will be up to his own standards. “Camp has been awesome!” said Creed. “I’m back training at Marcelo Garcia Academy, thank you to everybody over there, those guys are awesome, and I moved over to Militia Fight Academy, which is my new home.” He credits one of his biggest improvements during this camp — his stand up game — to his coach Jay Isaac, and mentioned how important spirituality has been to him during his camp. “That’s the most important part for me, because you go through nervousness the last few weeks and you know, amateur MMA fighters don’t get paid, so it’s like you’re putting a pause on everything you’re doing — your whole lifestyle — you break down emotionally and you need an outlet to make sure you stay on point,” said Creed. He credits motivational speakers such as Bob Proctor and Eric Thomas, and says reading books and watching film have all played a part in organizing his mental game.

In the future, Creed hopes his combat journey will help bring him back to school, where he dreams of studying holistic medicine. Between discovering a liking toward yoga, fight life, and idolizing people like the late “Dr. Sebi,” Creed found a love for holistic medicine and knew it was an avenue of interest that he had to pursue. Additionally, fighting has empowered to him defeat his own personal struggles with dyslexia, and he hopes it can refocus him on his personal pathway of success. “I hope in the future this sport is going to need a coach that’s a doctor in holistic medicine and I hope that I can be that person,” said Creed.

Before Creed reaches those goals, he must first accomplish the short term — defending, and hopefully retaining, the KTFO Welterweight Championship, whether people want him to or not. “Every fight I’m always the underdog and I feel like that,” said Creed. “I take the initiative like that — like I’m the underdog and I need to take his title, and as a matter of fact, I feel like he’s the title holder, and I feel like I have to take his title, so I’m hungry.”

Although the promotion has failed to make him the poster child, as they have done to other title holders and champions in the past, Creed doesn’t let that get to him. Instead, he uses it as motivation to help propel him towards his goal of guarding his top spot. “Me being the color that I am, I just move forward, and it makes me stronger — I push forward,” said Creed. “It puts me under the radar, I like that, and I don’t like to be out there too much, because I’m a very personal person — I don’t like the mainstream thing anyway, so it’s cool.”

To remain positive, Clubber Creed makes the best of every moment, by living in it, and even has a fun imagination when it comes to weigh-ins. “I always have an image of popping a champagne bottle at the weigh-ins, and I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we go through so much,” he explained. He says he is looking forward to one of his favorite edible rewards — wings, from Wings Over Farmingdale. “I like wings,” said Creed. “I like all kind of wings, zesty bbq, honey bbq, I like garlic parm fries…they make the best garlic parm fries! Oh man, I’m getting hungry because I’m cutting weight! (laughs) — I’m cutting weight I shouldn’t be thinking about this!”

All in all, Creed is keeping his spirits high, and hopes, above all, to have fun during this upcoming bout. “My game plan is to go with my strong points, and have fun doing it…I’m excited,” he said. “I just want to get through with the weight cut, and I hope to see all my family and friends out there in the stands and put on a show for them.”

Writer/Photos: Janah Campbell/The Fight Chick