Fighters of New York: Emmanuel Walo
In this edition of Fighters of New York, we spoke with the “ArmyFighter” Emmanuel Walo. Walo is a professional mixed martial arts fighter from Jersey City, NJ, who got started in MMA quite casually — simply watching. “I was intrigued,” said Walo. As he entered the U.S Army, Walo participated in basic training and self defense, better known as combatives, and from there he gained more of an interest. As soon as he returned back from bootcamp, he began looking for martial arts schools, but shortly after had to leave for Iraq. While he was overseas, he realized many of the soldiers trained wrestling and boxing. “We just started training on our off time together, and I was like man this is really dope; I really like it,” he said.
Once Walo arrived back to the U.S, everything began to fall into place for him. “I think I started full MMA training in February of 2011, and I never looked back,” he said. As of now, Walo trains out of multiple gyms, each used to sharpen every aspect of his fighting. All Star MMA in Kenilworth, NJ, is his current primary gym, where he trains with former professional fighter and third degree Renzo Gracie BJJ black belt, Jamal Patterson. He trains Muay Thai at Driven Gym in Woodbridge, NJ with James Meals, focuses on wrestling at Edge Hoboken in Hoboken, NJ, and focuses on sparring and fine tuning at Renzo Gracie Academy, here in NYC.
Emmanuel Walo currently has a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. His last fight, was fought for Cage Fury Fighting Championships (CFFC), in Atlantic City, NJ. On that day, February 27, 2016, Walo walked away with CFFC Welterweight Title, after defeating his opponent Jeremiah Wells by unanimous decision. “I’m willing to defend that or hopefully get the call from UFC,” said Walo. The recent allowance of professional MMA in NY state serves as a positive for him. “I’ve been saying it for a long time, it was ridiculous that NYC was one of the biggest and largest cities in the world and MMA was illegal there? I was thinking to myself ‘the only people getting hurt from it is NY state itself’ — the economy,” he said. “Think about all the money a UFC event is going to generate, think about all the jobs that are going to open up; not just for UFC, but for Bellator and other promotions!” Another reason for his excitement, stems from the convenience of living his dream extremely close to home; only a 20 minute train ride to be exact. “It’s a very very good thing, because now I can just hop on the train, and end up right at Madison Square Garden,” he said. With the first UFC show premiering in NYC on November 21st, Walo is keeping a hopeful attitude. “Hopefully I get some tickets to that, actually forget the tickets, hopefully I will be fighting on that.” He continued, “I don’t want to be a fan anymore, I want to be a part of it.”
To put it simply, Walo is just trying his best to accomplish his dream. He aspires to, one day, be a world champion, and appreciates the UFC for fueling his passion. “That’s the reason why I even started fighting, because I started watching these guys.” He continued, “I saw they had normal lives — married, boyfriends, sons daughters, just regular everyday people; so I’m like, I can be one of those guys.” Another chapter of Walo’s inspiration is proving himself, not only to himself, but to his doubters and supporters. Most importantly, he values being looked at as a positive role model for Jersey City youth. “Where I’m from here in Jersey City, it’s pretty rough,” said Walo. Although it is getting better now, he described the area as a lot worse when he was growing up, and stressed that there aren’t many public figures of success for kids to look up to from there. “I hope the kids I grew up with, and the kids up and coming, can see I’m just like them,” said Walo. “Went to the same schools as them, college educated, and now a professional fighter who hopes to fight on TV in the UFC, living his dreams, and I hope to inspire them to do the same,” he said.
However, making a dream come true doesn’t come easily. Like many people, Walo faces struggles that are unique to who he is as a fighter. One of them, being the way he handles criticism. “One of my biggest struggles is trying to please people,” said Walo. “A lot of people say I fight too safe, because a lot of my fights I could’ve finished, but they went to decision. I take that to heart too, because when the fight is over, I look back and think ‘oh I could’ve done this or I could’ve done that’.” He said those results come from thinking too much while he is in the cage, and not just fighting. “My struggle is trying to win the fight, and trying to entertain the crowd, and finding the balance, but I’m thinking too much because I don’t want to take unnecessary risks,” he said. “I know it sounds crazy, because you can say ‘well it’s a fight’, but there’s a saying in MMA that says ‘you rather win ugly than lose pretty’.”
During his down time, Walo enjoys watching movies and television. “I like watching The Food Network, and movies on Netflix — I’m a huge sci-fi fan, and I love watching fantasy kind of movies,” he said. In-between camps, he also enjoys watching fights. He does not discriminate, and is open to viewing all levels of fighting, not just professional MMA, and all forms of combat sports. “Even though I’m a fighter, I’m a huge fan; there aren’t many fights that I miss — I watch fights!”
The CFFC champ describes himself, and his mission, as “A hard worker, who took the chance at something he believed in and is making the most of it, because life doesn’t give you too many chances and opportunities, and sometimes you have to go out there and create your own, and that’s what I hope I inspire people to do.” Passionate about his words, he continued. “Don’t just sit on your ass and want things — it doesn’t happen like that.” As for advice, Walo suggests that any aspiring or up and coming fighters take their craft seriously, and says the only way to be successful in the cage, is to be successful outside of it. “Waking up in the morning and doing your roadwork, running and getting your conditioning up, going to all your training, your sparring, your nutrition, you’ve got to put your all into it, you can’t half step it, because you’re putting your body on the line, and whatever you do outside the cage will show in the cage,” said Walo. Full commitment is a must, and Walo wants to send the message across to those who follow his lead, that all that glitters is not gold. “It’s a lot of hard work. I’ve been doing it for 5 years and I am finally starting to see some rewards of it,” said Walo.
