By Trula Howe of US Combat Sports
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Jackson's Travis Marx will make his Bellator debut in the Bantamweight Quarterfinals at Bellator 64 this Friday live on MTV2 against Masakatsu Ueda who is on his own win streak of five, with the majority of his victories coming by decision.
For Marx, also known as "T-Train", the majority of his wins have come via submission, 10 in fact, which is no surprise given his strong wrestling background as a three-time Utah State champion in high school, and third in NCJAA in college.
Marx is competing for a grand prize of $50,000 (half the purse of the Welterweight and Featherweight Championships, which boast grand prizes of $100,000), and a guaranteed shot at the Bellator bantamweight title.
Marx (18-3-1) was initially nominated for the contest through sponsor and friend, Eric Herrholz with www.fight.tv. Shortly after this nomination and negotiation, which took less than one week, Marx signed on with current agent, First Round Promotions - agent for UFC world champions Johnny "Bones" Jones, Carlos "Natural Born Killer" Condit, and UFC veteran Diego "The Dream" Sanchez.
From the moment the contract was signed, Marx leapt into his training camp, with coaches Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn, Chris Luttrell, Brandon Gibson and Rob Ange, as well as the stacked team of fellow fighters at Jackson's MMA. "I'm so thankful for all of these people, at the grind every day, helping me out."
Marx has been studying Ueda, learning all can about his opponent in "the biggest fight of my career!" He sees Ueda as somewhat of a robot with 10 of his wins by decision.
"He is obviously prepared to win. He's solid at what he does: he doesn't stop, he doesn't get frustrated, he has no expression. He sticks to his game plan, and fights his fight." But Marx refuses to fight Ueda's fight, "I will push the pace, I will take him out of his element and bring him into mine. I will make him uncomfortable everywhere, whether standing up or going to the ground."
Marx has his priorities clearly sorted: Family first, then training, then work, which is fortunately somewhat a part of his training. He is the program director for the new "Jackson's Martial Arts & Fitness Academy", a facility dedicated to training Jackson's amateurs and kids. At first, the position was fairly time-consuming, as Marx was determined to put his all into making the facility a successful venture, not only for himself, but for his friend and facility-owner, Greg Jackson.
However, things soon settled into a consistent routine, and with help from his right-hand man – teammate and friend, Isaac Vallie-Flagg, Strikeforce fighter as well as one of the main instructors for the new school (the other being TUF's John Dodson) – Marx is able to care for his family, maintain his rigorous training regimen and successfully direct the new gym.
As far as what's next for Marx, "I'm only looking at this fight in front of me, but the goal of this tournament is of course the $50,000 purse and title shot." The winners of the quarterfinals go on to semi-finals, from there to finals, and the winner of finals gets the purse and the shot at the Bellator title. Marx has never trained harder or been more motivated to win, so he can continue to take care of his 1st priority – his wife and two sons.
Marx would like to thank his sponsors: ACM Industries, Streamline Insurance, Mild to Wild Classics, Integrated Wellness, ABQ Lasik Specialists, RevvNRG, Frosty Mayfield, Paragon Oilfield Products, Rockwell, Konfusion Clothing, Outlaw Engineering, and Eric Herrholz with fight.tv.
