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 At 86 years old, Fidel "Pinoy Savage" Puno retires from coaching at Convicted Fight Club in Miami, Florida. The Heavyweight legend from Manila, Phillipines had an illustrious Hall of Fame career under manager Avon Barksdale. He compiled a record of 34 wins 8 losses and was an all-around fighter that could finish the fight anywhere with 16 knockouts and 8 submissions on his resume.
After Fidel retired he was hired by Chris Karter to focus on training the next generation of fighters at Convicted Fight Club. Fidel's training regiment was simple, brutal, and efficient. Swing big hammers. Throw big rocks. Submit crocodiles. Fidel helped groomed many generations of talent in the Florida-based facility, perhaps none more important to him than his son, Kajun Puno (32-9-0).
Like father, like son, Kajun would climb to the top of the MMA rankings, reaching the pinnacle of the sport by capturing the SYN' Heavyweight championship and cementing himself as a legend of the division. Kajun started his career as a puny 16-year old middleweight fighter, and slowly bulked up to the heavyweight division where he established himself as one of the best to ever do it. Kajun finished his career with a 26-4 record in the Heavyweight division with 20 knockouts and 7 submissions victories to his name.
Kajun was living proof that the Puno circuit system was effective, even if a bit primitive. Their system churned out legends of the sport like Orlando Diggs (43-19-1) and "Tasmanian Jesus" Badr Al Din (31-19-0). But it wasn't until Kajun followed his father into coaching full-time at Convicted Fight Club that they started to really produce generational talent.
"The Pitbull" Mohammed Kahn (45-13-1), Jeronimo "Pinoy Savage" Puno (24-10-0), "Kung Fu Zombie" Bong Ji Woo (40-12-0), Marcello "Hurricane" Sosa (21-9-1), Ryoto "War Machine" Takahashi (33-12-0), Cooper "Redbeard" Roos (24-7-0), Zachary Klimenko (23-3-0), and nobody could forget the legendary GOAT of MMATycoon himself, Kilo "Bloodbath" Maluga (67-15-0).
There's plenty of credit to go around for the gym's success. Some would argue that the bloodline of "One Bad Man" Moses Diggs (42-14-0) was just as instrumental to the fighter's evolution as the Puno circuit system. Unlike Fidel, Moses was a homegrown and raised Convicted Fight Club fighter who was with Chris Karter since the beginning; much like "The Godfather" Don Marciano (58-17-2) and "The Tasmanian Devil" Taj al Din (45-10-1), a pair of former #1 P4P ranked fighters who followed Moses into coaching full-time at the gym upon their retirement from the game.
Never the less, the staff over at the Tycoon Times and Convicted Fight Club would to thank Fidel Puno for his service to the MMA community and his impact on fighters and fans worldwide.
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