Alton Cunningham was picked on and bullied as a high schooler. This is an all too common theme for most children growing up in the school system. Dealing with bullies is just a sad fact for live for school aged children.
For Alton, one of the things he would be picked on was his love for wrestling.
“I was bullied in general, but they picked on me a lot for my love of professional wrestling,” Cunningham said. “I wanted to be a WWE champion. Who wouldn’t want to be like Stone Cold Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan.”
One of Cunningham’s favorite wrestlers is Brock Lesner. When Lesner left wrestling to join the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Cunningham fell in love with a new sport.
“Once MMA started to get bigger, I started watching and it began to drive me,” Cunningham said. “I felt it was right for me. I’m still a huge fan of wrestling, but MMA is who I am. Watching Brock Lesner brought my brain into the mixed martial arts game and I knew it was something I wanted to do.”
In 2013 Cunningham started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and never looked back. Today, he is preparing for his second professional fight (set for Saturday, June 24th) which also happens to be his 24th birthday. He will celebrate by facing off against Jordan Seufzer (2-1) in a Pure FC event at the Milwaukee Theater.
In order to reach his ultimate goal of fighting in the UFC one day, Cunningham is ready to embrace the grind of making his way through the pro ranks.
“I’m loving every single moment,” Cunningham said. “Every fight is getting harder, but my training is getting better and better. The grind is getting harder, but I love that grind. You just have to keep on grinding until you get to where you want to be.”
(Sourced from https://www.hngnews.com/)
*If you are in the Austin, TX area and need a good place to train, you can CLICK HERE and sign up for 30 days of FREE Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes at the top Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school in the Austin, TX area … Aces Jiu Jitsu Club. 
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Andy Gonzalez is a coach at Aces Jiu Jitsu Club. He has earned his BJJ Brown Belt under 2nd Degree Black Belt, Professor Mikal Abdullah. Follow Andy on Twitter at @GoGoGonzilla
Andy lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Amanda and their 3 beautiful children. Andy is also the father of a Marine who is honorably serving in the United States Marine Corps.