Tony Laramie is a 20-year-old MMA fighter who’s only just scratching the surface of his potential. Laramie is on the heels of scoring a big victory at PFC 10 that marked a return to form. It was a long road but Laramie would rebound from a two-fight losing skid and a lengthy hiatus to score a hometown W.
When I initially spoke to Tony Laramie, he was rewatching the fight with friends who had not yet seen it. Laramie admitted to combing over the fight around twenty to thirty times. Laramie is looking to make improvements in all areas and had some takeaways from his largely dominant performance.
Laramie said, “Now I’m at the point where I’m just picking myself apart, you know? Seeing stuff I should work on. I was pretty accurate and stuff like that but I just wish I picked my shots a little more. I started slowing down in the second round I noticed.”
Get to know Tony Laramie
Windsor Winning
Tony Laramie has a past of cross-training and traveling to different gyms to get unique looks. While Laramie still sees the benefits in doing this, he kept things more localized with this last bout. Laramie stated, “For this fight, I was pretty much in Windsor for most of it. I wanted to stick to my roots. For my next fight, I’m probably going to do more traveling and stuff like that.”
Laramie found the victory particularly significant because of the time away from the cage. In response to me asking, if there was additional importance considering the layoff, Laramie said “Especially just being out for so long and stuff like that. And fighting someone from a gym like Tristar; well known, well respected. I was just pretty excited to get in there and with him. It’s good to see where I’m at after being out for so long.”
He’s the younger brother of TJ Laramie. This pays dividends for Tony Laramie who not only has someone close to confide in and pick their brain, but Laramie also improves greatly working with his champion-caliber, older brother. At PFC 10, it marked another instance of Tony winning on the same card as TJ. Tony Laramie has fought on almost all of the same cards TJ has been on. The two have enjoyed mutual successes on past TKO cards. So both have a history of making big impressions on the same night.
In relation to his mindset whilst on the same cards as his older brother, Tony Laramie stated “It was a really motivating thing having him on the card. On the same night, you’re going through the weight cut process together. You’re going to the venue together. It’s just nice knowing that I can just look over and know I’m not alone.” Having someone with you that gets it can pay dividends. Especially in such a high-pressure scenario where there’s the potential for a lot of scrutinizing from those in the MMA sphere.
Tony Laramie has had the microscope on him for a while and from an early age. Much was made of Robin Black discussing Tony Laramie on the Joe Rogan Experience and breaking down Laramie’s bout with Keith Lee in TKO. Tony said, “Man, I just heard Tony on the Joe Rogan Podcast. I didn’t know if it was real or not. It was just cool. For my name to be mentioned on that, it was just a really cool feeling.”
Growing the mental game has been huge for Laramie as of late. His desire to go to the gym every day was waning. For Laramie, it began to feel more like an arduous obligation as opposed to the athletic art form he’s so passionate about.
Laramie stated, “I just felt like I needed some time by myself. I learned a lot about myself in these last two years, had two losses in a row, and hurt my hip early in the (second) fight. It wasn’t much of a fight. I’ve had a lot of people ask me in the last two years if I’m still fighting. It just made me realize how much I actually love this sport. I realize how much I want to be the best in this sport and I want to show I’m the best.”
Laramie craves training and craves the sport once more. The time off renewed his vigor and he recovered from the burn out of being around MMA on a moment to moment, day to day basis. Tony said, “Honestly last two weeks before the fight I was so nervous. Am I actually ready? On fight day, the moment I came in the venue and stepped in the cage I just knew I was ready.”
The Future of Tony Laramie
Tony Laramie has his eyes set on a September fight in London, Ontario. Part of Laramie is itching to get back to the cage sooner than that though. Tony Laramie seemed intrigued by a possible BTC bout. A chance to fight a top-ranked 125 lb-er in another noteworthy Ontario promotion is understandably attractive for Laramie.
Laramie said, “I was looking at maybe for a next fight, James Clarke. I think in his last win he called me out or something. I didn’t really watch his fight but someone told me he called me out. He just got the belt in BTC or something. If you think you’re the best, I’m ready to show you that you’re not.” There’s no bad blood despite Clarke losing to Laramie in the amateur ranks. There’s respect between the two and it’s all about deciding the best flyweight in Canada.
For now, Laramie is enjoying the ride and appreciates the attention he’s getting from the mixed-martial-arts world at large. He said, “It’s nice to know people respect the work you put in.”
