Michael Gomes Ram At The Fights interview on Kodi Kent

The Michael Gomes Ram At The Fights interview covered his upcoming grappling match with Kodi Kent at SFL 001 in Toronto, his goal of reaching a promotion such as UFC BJJ, and the coaching and training behind his run of frequent competitions. Gomes said Kent will be the first jiu-jitsu black belt he has faced in competition.

How is Michael Gomes preparing for his next grappling match at SFL 001?

Michael Gomes said he trains twice a day and competes nearly every weekend as he prepares to face Kodi Kent at SFL 001 in Toronto. Grappling has been his main focus for the past several months, although he still trains MMA; he said injuries have recently kept him out of MMA competition.

That schedule includes tournaments and superfights. Gomes said he is continually looking for high-level matches rather than treating the Kent matchup as a reason to start preparing from scratch. He wants each contest to move him closer to competing at the highest level he can reach.

Jiu-jitsu was his first combat sport, and his current focus is also a return to where he started. He took up MMA after his football years, but said grappling now offers a path he is determined to pursue. His longer-term aims are to make money from jiu-jitsu and appear on a larger stage, naming UFC BJJ as one promotion he would like to reach.

Competition itself matters to him, regardless of the sport. Gomes told me he feels an itch when he is not competing and enjoys the challenge of facing someone who is trying to prove the same thing. He put that motivation simply:

I love the feeling of having to face someone and trying to prove that you're the best at something

What did Michael Gomes say about Kodi Kent?

Michael Gomes called Kodi Kent a valuable test because Kent is a jiu-jitsu black belt and a former professional MMA fighter. Gomes said this will be his first competition match against a black belt, but he does not see belt color as a reliable prediction of who will win.

Kent’s experience and the matchup

Gomes did not know much about Kent until the matchup was sent to him. He said he generally accepts the first opponent offered rather than turning down matches. After learning more, he was excited by Kent’s experience and said Kent had also wrestled for barack wrestling in Canada.

Gomes has already competed against purple and brown belts. He wanted the chance to face a black belt because he is seeking tougher opposition, not because he considers a belt an answer to how a match will play out. In his view, the competitors’ plans and what they do on the night matter more.

The experience-versus-belt narrative

When SFL framed the match around experience and jiu-jitsu level, Gomes welcomed the perceived underdog role. He said other people’s expectations do not determine his approach: he trusts the work he has put in and wants to execute his game plan. He has encountered competitors whose ability, in his opinion, did not neatly match their belt color.

How does Michael Gomes train at One to One MMA with Connor Rydow and Darson Hemmings?

Michael Gomes said One to One MMA has been his home gym for the past two years, with owner Connor Rydow helping him in training and outside it. He also cross-trains with Darson Hemmings of Studio 102 Jiu-Jitsu to sharpen details of his grappling for jiu-jitsu matches.

Connor Rydow and One to One MMA

Rydow is a former professional MMA fighter, according to Gomes. After training at other gyms, Gomes found a group at One to One MMA that he says treats him like family and gives him useful rounds ahead of matches. Rydow has also given him opportunities to teach classes and helped him understand how to run them.

Darson Hemmings and Studio 102 Jiu-Jitsu

Gomes likes working with people from other gyms as well as his regular teammates. He credited Hemmings, whom he described as a former ADCC trials winner, with helping him refine his guard game and leg locks. Those details are part of making his jiu-jitsu more rounded for grappling matches, which he said call for adjustments from MMA grappling.

How has coaching changed Michael Gomes’s jiu-jitsu?

Michael Gomes said teaching jiu-jitsu has made him slow down and examine techniques more closely. He teaches children and adults at One to One MMA, and believes explaining the same fundamentals to students of different ages has improved his own understanding when he trains and competes.

He teaches younger children’s classes as well as jiu-jitsu classes, including instruction for adults. A detail that is easy to miss while performing a movement can become clearer when he has to explain it to someone else. Teaching also makes him consider different routes into a position.

Gomes pointed to the connection between instructing a six-year-old and a 25-year-old: the basic lesson can be the same, even if the explanation changes. Rolling with students gives him another chance to see what they need to improve while testing how well he understands what he has taught.

The role matters beyond his own development as a competitor. He said Rydow has helped him learn how classes operate, knowledge Gomes expects to value after his fighting career.

How did Michael Gomes go from football back to jiu-jitsu?

Michael Gomes was born in Toronto and began training jiu-jitsu as a child, around age eight or nine. He competed in gi and no-gi before shifting more of his attention to football in high school, playing college football in Canada, and returning to jiu-jitsu and MMA around 2023.

His first years of competition were in grappling rather than MMA. Gomes said his focus changed around age 16 or 17, when he began playing high school football. He continued with the sport for a couple of years in college.

Even while playing football, he said he knew he wanted to come back to combat sports and try to build a career in MMA or jiu-jitsu. Once his football years were over, he returned to training with that ambition. He described MMA as a more recent pursuit than the jiu-jitsu he started as a child.

What are Michael Gomes’s plans after SFL 001?

Michael Gomes said he planned to keep competing after SFL 001 and pursue a title at No-Gi Worlds in December in Vegas. For his match with Kodi Kent, he expects to bring an aggressive, pressure-heavy style to a show taking place in his home city of Toronto.

He described a busy schedule, with another local match ahead of SFL 001. The Kent contest is one step in a wider effort to accumulate difficult matches and work toward his grappling career goals.

At SFL 001, Gomes said he intends to press forward and wear Kent down. He is particularly looking forward to competing downtown in Toronto, where he was born and raised. His plan is to give the crowd a committed performance while testing himself against the first black belt he has faced in competition.

Who is Michael Gomes?

Michael Gomes is a Canadian amateur MMA and jiu-jitsu athlete and former college football player. Born in Toronto, he is pursuing his goal of becoming a world champion while competing in MMA and grappling.