By Felix Rodriguez
Back from injury, Kolton Englund hopes to leverage amateur preparation in professional success
HOUSTON, TX, June 6, 2014 – “The White Assassin”Kolton Englund has been a mixed martial artist since before he was able to vote. The Atascosita, Texas resident knew early on he wanted to make a living fighting in cages, so he began training with Tony Orozco’s now defunct Silverback Fight Club at the age of fifteen. The ever-driven Englund debuted as an amateur after only two years of training, and compiled a 6-4 record while earning championship belts from three different promotions in Texas.
Englund is a part of the new generation of complete mixed-martial-artists, like Rory Macdonald, who chose mixed martial arts as their first sport and has prepared accordingly to excel in competition. Fighting is what Kolton believes he was born to do, “I train full time and fighting is my job I love mixed martial arts. Some people hate training but I love every second of it. Martial arts has made a lot of things clear in my life and it taught me a lot about myself that I would have never known.”
Now twenty, The White Assassin has been developing an even skill set for the past five years. Since the closing of Silverback FC, Englund has moved on to train at IV Fight Club and with Rilion Gracie’s Jiu-Jitsu Academy in order to be a threat to his opponents regardless of whether he’s striking or grappling. In Kolton’s mind being a complete fighter is the key to success. He explained, “I like to do it all. I train everything a lot. I hate if I feel that one thing is better than the other.”
Kolton will have a chance to put his complete skill set on display on June 13th when he makes his professional debut at Legacy Fighting Championship 31 against Delis Borges (2-1). Englund’s pro debut will be his first time back in the cage since losing to Omar Hillial via injury in his last fight as an amateur. The loss was particularly painful because he was defending Legacy’s lightweight championship belt for the first time. It’s been more than a year since that day, but Kolton still hasn’t forgotten the bitter taste of defeat; “I came down with a punch and hit [Lara’s] shin with my bicep, which dislocated my shoulder. I’m very upset with the outcome of that fight still. I don’t [dislike] anyone and [Lara’s someone] that I really just can’t stand. I don’t know if it’s just that he has/had my belt or if it was that he celebrated after I hurt my shoulder when I was in control of the fight. That’s all I’ll say about him. But in the end, he’s a good marital artist, and I wish him the best of luck.”
Englund is ready to get back in the win column when he faces Delis Borges. Years of hard hours of sparring logged in training and the seasoning that comes with 10 amateur fights have prepared Kolton for this moment. He noted, “I don’t know much about [Borges], but I do know he’s a good fighter. I think everyone is a little nervous about fighting someone, but I can just tell myself that I trained harder than I ever have in my career for this fight.” Englund is confident that he’ll be prepared for whatever Borges brings to the table, because training partners like Alex Black, Domingo Pilarte, Justin Reiswerg“ are very talented fighters that push [him] a lot.” Englund will be fighting professionally before he is legally allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages at the arena he is fighting in. Lara is not Borges, but Kolton’s next fight will help close a painful chapter in his mixed martial arts career. Kolton’s debut will be the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice for a goal he’s been driven to reach since his early teens. Come June 13th he will begin to collect the fruits of his efforts at the ripe-old age of twenty.
The Houston-area fighter is ready and happy to finally become a pro, and he wanted TXMMA readers to know, “[He’s] just excited to get in there again and [he wants to thank lot of sponsors that help him out like Valos Sport, Clipz, Kingpin Fight Gear, Tuned by Taylor, Team Swole.” He then added, “In the end it’s all glory to God and I’m happy that he allows me to do what I love. Thank you to [my parents, girlfriend] and everyone that has helped me out through my journey! See y’all June 13th!”
