3 Photos
Neko Gettling THE WORLD BY EM
Neko Gettling gets his arm raised after winning his third professional MMA fight on July 1. THE WORLD BY EM
Neko Gettling, flanked by his trainers Avery Crocker, left, and Alan Quinones, after winning his third professional MMA fight on July 1. THE WORLD BY EM
The day before their mixed martial arts fight on June 30, during weigh-ins, Angel Villalba had a few words for his opponent Neko Gettling, even getting in the Southampton native’s face.
Probably not that the best tact for Villalba.
Gettling got Villalba into a rear naked choke and forced him to tap out 2:03 into their fight on July 1 at the Hauppauge Radisson, the co-main event of “Fireworks in the Cage” hosted by the New York MMA Pro Fights promotion. It was Gettling’s third consecutive victory to start his professional MMA career and all to this point have not made it out of the first. He defeated Philip Simpson in his first two fights, winning his first professional fight last October when he wrapped Simpson in a guillotine choke that forced him to tap out. In a rematch between the two in February, Gettling dropped Simpson with a right hand.
“It was perfect. It was exactly what I needed,” Gettling said of his latest victory on July 1. “We had spoken to the promoter prior to this fight who said if you put away this next opponent, your next fight could be for a title. So we’re looking at late September/early October for the 170-pound welterweight title fight and it would be my first title fight. I’m going to try and win the belt and then try and defend it one time before the year closes out in December.”
Gettling said his latest match against Villalba, who comes from a heavy kickboxing background, started out as a wrestling match. He landed a kick to Villalba’s ribs, he said, before getting in a clean jab. But to Villalba’s credit, he said, he actually executed a well done elevator sweep and had Getting on his back for a little bit, before Gettling suplexed Villalba over his left shoulder, where he said he could hear an “ugh” out of Villalba. Gettling then got into a full mount of Villalba, and from there eventually got the rear naked choke in place.
Avery Crocker, a part of Gettling’s fight team behind trainer Alan Quinonez, said Gettling was ready for whatever Villalba was going to throw at him.
“The promoter actually pulled us aside and asked us if Neko could possibly go a little longer this time out,” he said. “I told them Neko is not the type that tries to play with his food, but he gets the job done every time.”
Gettling was honest when he said he didn’t foresee this much success early on in his career — winning all three of his matches in the first round, but it’s really the simple things that motivate him. He said he’s been following the fight website Tapology since 2004, well before he graduated Southampton High School in 2008, and to see his name on there is exhilarating, then to see his rank improve — he improved to the 24th ranked of 337 active U.S. Northeast Amateur Welterweights, and 10th of 157 active New York Amateur Welterweights — is something he also loves to see.
“The fan base, the spectators are one of the reasons why I keep coming back so quickly,” he said. “The amount of support that I’ve had through my first three fights has been amazing. New York MMA Pro Fights has typically been out of the city, but since I came on board they have thankfully tried to look for venues out on the island which is where my last two fights have been, so they see something in me.”
Crocker said Gettling has no problem in marketing himself and that those type of things go a long way in the fighting world.
“Neko has something that is very marketable. He’s got the personality, he’s got the great look, the great name and a great story, and he knows how to execute,” he said. “I had someone come up to me at the last fight and ask if Neko was Sijo Gettling’s son. Now, not everyone may not know this, but anyone in the martial arts world knows Neko’s father is a legend, so again, he’s got a great story. I have a feeling when he wins his next title fight, they’ll be pushing him to go pro, whether it’s LFA, PFL, Bellator.”
Not long after winning his last fight, there was another fight team that almost immediately challenged Gettling and said they had someone who could “spark me in 30 seconds,” as he put it. Whether it ends up being that opponent or not, Gettling said he’ll be ready. The 32-year-old said he took this past week off to enjoy life in Rhode Island with his family, which includes his wife, Miranda, and 3-year-old son, Jax, who he said he could hear cheering him on at this last fight, something he got great pleasure out of. He thanked his wife for dealing with his hectic training schedule.
“She hangs back with Jax a lot of the time and I would not be able to do what I do without her support,” he said. “Everything she sacrifices for me is to chase this dream.”
Gettling plans to get right back into training very soon.
“I’ll be heading out Florida for some training, then I’ll be looking to get some time in with Julius [Anglickas], then I’ll get with my dad for a week, then Alan and Avery at Hill Street,” he explained. “This will be a long camp. The first three weeks will be all strength and conditioning, then it’ll be nine weeks of sparring and pads and all that good stuff.”
