After 4 years away from competition, UFC vet and Team Link Hooksett product, Joey "KO King" Gomez (6-2), is looking to make his way back into the bantamweight ranks in New England. We caught up with Gomez after a training session this afternoon, and we were pleasantly surprised to hear that he was actively working towards making a comeback in the 1st quarter of 2021.
If you're not familiar with the "KO King", well you should be. Gomez launched his career in 2013 and rattled off 6 consecutive KO/TKO wins over the next two years. 5 of those 6 wins came under two minutes in the first round. After dispatching the uber-tough Kin Moy (12-4) in March of 2015, Gomez got the call from the UFC and debuted against fellow New Englander Rob Font (17-4) at UFC Fight Night 81 in early 2016. After dropping that fight late in the 2nd round to Font, Gomez then lost a decision to Jose Quinonez and found himself at a point in his life where he needed to reprioritize things. After taking some time off from the sport, Gomez found himself training again about a year ago, but it wasn't enough to scratch that itch.
Gomez is hungry for competition, and that should put all bantamweights in New England on notice. "There's an element of danger missing from my life", said Gomez, and at 34 years old, he still has some mileage left on those tires. When asked about his near term aspirations, Gomez made it pretty clear that he didn't want any cupcakes coming out of his semi-retirement. He'd like to fight a top flight competitor on the regional scene before hopefully taking on someone on the national stage. If he can rattle off those two wins, then he feels confident that he can get a 2nd audition with the UFC.
Only time will tell how Gomez will fair in this comeback attempt, but a few things we do know for certain; he's training hard under the tutelage of Ed Carr, he's yearning for violence, and upon his return he'll instantly be one of the top 135'ers in the region. Keep your eye out for Joey Gomez to make his triumphant return to the cage in early 2021. You can check out the full interview with Joey below.
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