One of Battlefield Fight League’s most recognizable names will make his return to the cage this Saturday night at BFL 25. Gary “Saint Lion” Mangat (4-0) will look to keep his undefeated record that way when he faces off against American and also undefeated Josh Gow (2-0).
Mangat made the move from Vancouver to Montreal to train with the likes of Georges St-Pierre, Rory MacDonald and coach Firas Zahabi. However, since his time there he has made a connection with another Tristar fighter and you may know the name.
One of the guys that has become my Montreal mentor is Ivan Menjivar. He is probably the guy with the perfect body type to be imitating the guy that I’m facing. Also Ivan is fighting on the Toronto UFC card (165) and he’s fighting a southpaw, which is what I am, so that way we’ve been working off of each other a lot. It’s one of the greatest honors to be training with a guy like that and to be surrounded by all of the other guys.
Gary Mangat trained in order to combat insomnia prior to hometown fight
Many big names in the sport of MMA have made the change from one gym to another. When a fighter stays at the same place that they have trained at for their entire careers, they could very easily become stagnant and Mangat did not want that to happen. He was given some advice along the way which definitely rings true.
The greatest advice that I have been told is comfort zones kill dreams. I was getting to comfortable in Vancouver outside the gym and inside the gym at times. I was being surrounded by the city and all that stuff. Out here completely humbles you, because you are constantly in discomfort – especially when you come from out of town, everyone goes through the same phase where they know nothing. This is a French-speaking town and if you don’t speak French it causes an uncomfortable vibe right there. It’s not just the battles that take place in the gym, but a lot of battles that happen outside and how to handle life. It makes you grow mentally stronger and spiritually stronger.
The man known as “Saint Lion” finished off his amateur career under the BFL banner and has fought three of his four professional fights under those same lights. However one of those bouts was fought in his home country of India – Super Fight League gave him the opportunity to fight in a much different atmosphere than the Tristar fighter was used to.
That was definitely my moment to life thus far. It was completely different than any Battlefield experience I’ve had before, because that’s all I’ve had to live off of – was what I’ve seen with Battlefield. Everything from how many people show up to the weigh-ins to the crowds that show up. The weigh-ins for Super Fight League was in a four-story mall, every floor was packed and I’d say there was at least two thousand fans at the weigh-ins. You step on the scale and camera flashes blind you. It was a mixed crowd; it wasn’t all males, there were a lot of females and a lot of media. Then the fight day there was a lot of pressure. They love to run politics and I was facing a guy from China, so they ran it in the newspaper. The arena was made for nine thousand and they packed twelve thousand in there, so to hear the crowd go off on that first takedown I got was amazing. I try to re-watch it on TV, but it doesn’t justify it at all. The closest thing to explain it was when I watched Gladiator in the theater and Maximus walked out, the closest thing I could feel to that. It was unreal and it sent chills down my spine in the middle of the fight.
He has come a long way from that last fight and it’s almost full circle. Mangat fought his last fight as an amateur at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, BC and that is the same place he will be fighting to keep that professional record unblemished. So “Saint Lion” has home field advantage, however that does not stop the stress and nerves from occurring, in fact it might make it even worse.
I’ve had insomnia for almost three and a half weeks now. Every inch of nerves and stress is on that. I can be honest about that, but I’ve never trained this hard, I’ve never put in so many hours, I’ve never drilled so much, because that’s the only way I can combat these nerves and insomnia was to just kill myself in the gym.
Mangat’s opponent is on a two-fight winning streak, with both of those victories coming via first round submission. Being a regional fighter, with a fairly green record it can be tough for a fighter to study up. So instead of Mangat trying to dissect Gow, he has instead decided to dissect himself.
The biggest thing for me is I don’t really study my opponents much, I study myself and pick myself apart to find my weaknesses and that’s what has been working for me. Picking myself apart before the opponent picks me apart. I know a lot of the fighters at Tristar do the same, as much as they say they study tapes, you pick yourself apart more than anything.
Battlefield Fight League 25 goes down this Saturday from the River Rock Casino in Richmond, BC. There are still tickets available at www.bfltix.com.
