Only days before his welterweight finals TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) Season 2 in Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, I had an opportunity to observe Luke Cummo training both in Jiu-jitsu as well as kickboxing. While concentrating on escapes from varying positions and chokes on the ground with Matt Serra, Cummo's real strength is in his Muay Thai clinches, elbows and knees. As conditioning and stand up coach Ray Longo emphasized footwork, jabbing and knees, it is obvious that Cummo has become not only more technical and aggressive, but he also seems to have an inexhaustible supply of stamina.

"You’re a matador! Don't let me get too close, don’t let me touch you, use that jab, elbow..."

After a noon to three o'clock workout earlier in the day at Serra Jiu-jitsu in Huntington, he begins his evening session at eight o’clock at the Ray Longo Martial Arts Academy in Mineola, N.Y. Having napped for a couple hours and eaten brown rice and poached halibut, he gets in the groove by jumping rope with a timer, which sounds every couple of minutes telling him to increase the rope speed and intensity at various points, double jumping, jumping higher, anything to jump start that heart and break up the rhythm.

After hitting the speed bag for a while, an intense choreography in the ring begins with kickboxing coach Ray Longo holding the mitts.

Luke sharpening his wrestling and jiu-jitsu skill at Serra Jiu-jitsu Academy in Huntington, New York. Photography by Shu Hirata

Q:
How long did you train so far today?

Luke:
About two and a half.

Q:
What did it consist of?

Luke:
Grappling mostly. At first I did about an hour of just Jiu-jitsu, and probably about a half hour of ground n pound with the masks. And then we did more Jiu-jitsu from various positions where Matt saw that I was doing wrong earlier. Kind of corrected and told me what to do from those positions.

Q:
How much of a break do you get before your next workout?

Luke:
I'm working out at eight so, hopefully I’ll get in a two-hour nap or at least an hour.

Q:
What does tonight's work out consist of?

Luke:
Tonight is gonna be stand up and takedown defense. Ray's gonna hold the pads for me and we gotta couple wrestlers coming down to Ray's. What we've been doing is hitting the pads and in between we're throwing in some calisthenics or the guys will try to take me down, or we’ll just rep the takedowns to try and get that energy in between the striking.

Q:
Since you came back from doing the show have you moved?

Luke:
Well, my stuff is still at my parents' house but I've been sleeping at my girlfriend's place since I came back. In the last week or so I've been staying at my parents again to focus more and not accidentally wake up and have sex in the middle of the night.

Q:
Do you think that was a major factor for you being in the show locked up with a bunch of jocks and restrained from pretty much everything?

Luke:
Yeah, that was a big part of why I got a lot better I think, because the training was so intense, it was all training all the time. There were no TV's or radios; everything we did was based on training. I never stuck to my diet for that long and that strict. I slept all I needed to, took naps, it was like a boot camp pretty much and I thrived in that environment. Since I got back I've been trying to duplicate that but there are so many distractions around here.

Q:
So do you think that there are more distractions now that when I met you over two years ago? Did you ever expect to be in this situation, this kind of recognition so early on?

Luke:
Well, there are not so many more distractions, but at this level I have to focus more. It's the same amount of distraction, but I would say I have to really work harder because my opponents are going to be tougher. But no I never thought I would make it to the UFC or be somewhat of a reality celebrity. I got recognized in the city last night a couple times.

Luke Cummo vs. Josh Koscheck took place on April 2004 in Ring of Combat 6 held at RexPlex Center in New Jersey. Photography by Minori Yoshida

Q:
Oh yeah, where you in Manhattan?

Luke:
Yeah at the New Life Health Expo, bought some flax seed oil…

As Cummo shadow boxes in front of the mirror he looks confident and his form is very impressive. Having watched all of his fights for over the last two years, including one where he had Josh Koscheck in a guillotine, and then was thrust backwards through the ropes and landed on my lap on the press table, I would say that Cummo is a different man. When I first met him he was still timid with his strengths, but now he is at a different level, and is mentally very grounded and confident. After all he is even happier now, not only did he win his first octagon fight, but also he finished off his last opponent with a solid Muay Thai knee. Ahh, at last! That sweet elusive strikers finish.

"That's all I've got for you, we've covered everything. That was good you looked strong. I tried to give you every angle possible to get in there."

Longo has observed and analyzed each choreographed step and move as Luke winds down and stretches.

"Nice, I can see that you know what you are doing. That's the best by far I've ever seen you shadow box, totally different intensity."

Part 2 >>