Luke Caudillo of North
Platte, Nebraska is so popular in his community that
3,000 people out of 15,000 total residents came out to watch him fight when a
Ring of Fire was staged in North
Platte – that is 20% of the entire population! Many of those same fans will make the trek
down to Broomfield
to watch him on Friday night.
Luke is now a Denver resident
but he often makes the 3-hour trek back to North Platte as he is a self-described, 27
year old Mamma’s Boy. He has found a way
to make training and fighting his full-time profession as he trains others in
kick-boxing, stand-up and wrestling.
Although Luke started out as a wrestler at the wee age of 6
or 7, he now appreciates the need to be “everything” and has been training hard
in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He considers
himself a stand-up fighter and regards his opponent, Torrance Taylor, as having
similar strengths.
Luke speaks with reverence of his great friend and MMA
mentor, Duane “Bang” Ludwig, who took him under his wing shortly after Luke
moved to Denver. Friday will be a deciding match as Luke
Caudillo looks to avenge his most recent two UFC losses in order to return to
the Big Game.
Torrance
“The Tyrant” Taylor of Cleveland, Ohio tells me that he enjoys being the dark
horse to the hometown hero – the self-described Darth Vader. The only strategy that he would share with me
is that he doesn’t want his victory to be turned over to the hands of the
judges – he will work hard to knock-out or submit his opponent early in the
match.
He too has a lot to win Friday night as he has already
defeated two UFC opponents, Jason Dent by split decision and most recently,
Junior “The Punisher” Assuncao. He
believes that a decisive win against the Ludwig-trained Caudillo, could be his
ticket to either the UFC or to Pro-Elite XC once the powers-that-be see that
his last two victories were not a fluke.
Like Luke, Torrance
has also been strongly supported by his mother.
Torrance
is one of 4 boys that his mother was “privileged to have” (his words – not
mine)! Two of his brothers also fight
and the third is a huge fan. He
describes his mother, who raised her boys as a single mother, as being very
tough and often stepped-in with the influence most often attributed to a strong
father.
Torrance currently trains
while balancing his classes at Cleveland
State University
where he is working towards a double major in Business and Prelaw. He recognizes that he will eventually have a
life outside of the cage where he might enjoy being an MMA Agent or engaging in
Sports Law.
Torrance
has been inspired since he was a little boy by his revered brother, Tiawan
Howard. Tiawan started him early in
Point Karate and American Tae Kwon Do that led to his first national competition
when he was 10 years old and his first cage fight at age 17. With such an impressive start and being a
scant 20 years old at the time of this writing, there is little doubt that this
“outsider” will make an impact this Friday night.
After interviewing these two fighters, I couldn’t begin to
place a bet on either of them. They both
have strong incentives to win decisively and early. This is the contest where it would advisable
not to blink for fear of missing the deciding blow!
Reviews & Interviews 
