ronnie lawrence fighter pose (1)

Before Ronnie Lawrence defends his Valor Fights Bantamweight Championship versus undefeated prospect Nathan Maness in the main event of Valor Fights 40 on February 11 in Nashville, LIVE on FloCombat, the Bellator vet sat down with Pro MMA Now.

How did you find MMA to begin with?

I was a teenager who played a lot of sports at the time, and I found a gym where they did kung fu and MMA. I was lifting weights with my friends, and we got into a bit of an altercation and threats were made. The kung fu instructor asked us why we were causing trouble. I lied to him and told him it was my friend’s fault. He asked me to try out and threw me some gloves. I was sparring on the first day (laughs).

Did you fall in love with the sport right away?

Oh, definitely. I got punched in the face right away. I didn’t ease into it, I guess you could say (laughs). I don’t know if they were trying to teach me a lesson, but I got punched in the face and thought it was awesome.

Why MMA? Some people go their whole life without getting in a fight.

That’s a good question. I don’t know why. I played sports all throughout my life. I had dreams of being a professional athlete. When I found MMA, I fell in love with it right away. I love it because you can always be improving, always getting better. You can always improve your technique, you can always get bigger, you can always get faster.

How excited are you for this upcoming fight?

I’m super excited. I’ve done some main events already, so it’s not anything I haven’t seen before. I’m super excited to go out there and put a show on for the fans, and to keep climbing that ladder.

If everything goes perfectly, where would you like to be one year from today?

One year from today, I’d like to be making that walk to the Octagon, sir.

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