Rising Flyweight Carlos “The Cannon” Candelario (2-0) Looking To Stay Undefeated at CES XXXIV

Carlos “The Cannon” Candelario (2-0) returns to the cage on Friday, April 1st, 2016 for CES XXXIV: Curtis vs. Burrell at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

After ending his 5-0 amateur career in July 2014, Candelario made his professional debut in January 2015 with a first round Rear-Naked Choke submission victory over Josh “The Hebrew Hammer” Baker (1-2) at Reality Fighting: Mohegan Sun.

In October 2015, Candelario obtained his second professional victory: a three-round Unanimous Decision over Jesse Gutierrez (1-2) at CES XXXI: De Freitas vs. Pollard.

A former Golden Gloves champion training out of several elite Connecticut mixed martial arts facilities, Candelario will look to remain undefeated when he faces Luay Ashkar (2-0) as the opening match on the CES XXXIV card.

While approaching his twenty-fifth birthday in June 2016, Candelario took the time to speak about boxing, hard work, heart and the influence of his mentor and training partner Matt “The Mangler” Bessette (17-7).

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ON MATT “THE MANGLER” BESSETTE

He really helps me a lot. I met him since I was in high school, and that was almost six years ago. I would just train with him sometimes jiu jitsu, because when I started I was mostly doing kickboxing; sometimes I would go on the ground. Actually my kickboxing coach was the one who introduced me to Matt and them. He knows these guys that are good on the ground; he’d seen what I liked to do – the whole MMA thing – and he would be there sometimes Sundays.

That’s when Matt was training: it was cool to see other guys do what I kind of wanted to do. And he was whopping my ass, so I was like…

Some other guys that were fighters too, like Oz (Pariser) and Erik Lee and a couple other fighters. My jiu jitsu coach – he’s a Black Belt named Kenny – he would train some just MMA guys on Sundays. Just volunteer to train on Sunday mornings, and he would always have the best guys there.

Ever since then, I would see Matt here-and-there doing his thing and I always knew I wanted to train with him – just because I was seeing how dedicated he was, just like me.

It’s always good to have a guy like that in my corner: a guy that’s showing me the path, in a way.

Because there’s not too many guys in Connecticut around me that do MMA strong. The opportunity was right there and I knew he was good. I would train with him here-and-there and I was just like: I need to train with that guy.

ON HEART

That’s one thing Matt always tells me before my fights: “Carlos, you’ve got the heart, man. You don’t know how to lose.” He tells me things like that – and that’s what I need to hear from people who fight: “You got the heart for this.”

And a lot of people don’t have the heart for this. They just want to do it for something else – fame or money. But a lot of people don’t have the heart when it comes down to it; there’s only a few.

You can’t teach that.

ON FIGHTING IN CONNECTICUT

My pro debut was in Mohegan Sun. It was on a big card, too: it was on a Tim Sylvia card. I knew a lot of people were going to watch that card. And Matt and my other teammate Johnny (Lopez) were supposed to fight on that card, too.

It was a big card, and everyone had these expectations like, “These guys are fighting – they’re going to kill it.” Because everyone knows how hard we train. So to perform: I feel like it’s just another day in the office, really. Just training – on the big stage.

I have heart training with these guys, so I just see it as the fight’s easy.

That was a big fight, and it was a guy that was 2-1 or something. A lot of guys would probably go against a guy that’s their kind of record, or also their pro debut or a small crowd. And then you have your boys that are fighting on that card, too – you’re like, “Man, I got to win just like them!”

So I felt like it was a good pressure, but I thrive off this stuff: just to perform in front of the big stage. I feel like I feed into it.

ON WORKING FOR DREAMS

When I was younger, I was always just a big fan of fighting. I always felt like I wanted to do something good; always had that dream. Every time I would see fighting I would just be like, “Man, I want to be that guy.”

I know this is my calling; it really feels like something’s calling you.

I think about it every day. Like when people say you’re in love with something – you know. You think about it every day, you want to do it every day.

A lot of people don’t have that.

I train with guys sometimes and they’ll say they want to train, but you know those guys: they’ll just train one or two months and that’s it. That’s why I always like training with Matt and those guys and a lot of my kickboxing friends: those guys will always train consistently. All those Underdog guys, my boxing guys – they’re always training consistently. And that’s what I need.

They’re helping chase this dream with me, because they’ve got the same dream.

ON PRESSURE

All my coaches: they’re all just with it. They’re all just trying to just show me the path. We’re all having fun and they don’t really see it as too much pressure.

We’re just training to become a better fighter.

Everyone knows I’m always just trying to become a better fighter in all ways. I don’t put too much pressure on myself.

ON GOALS WITHIN MMA

I always felt like I always wanted to be the best in the division, or just always be known as one of the best in the division. So I definitely have goals for that: to be one of the best 125-pounders.

I feel like I definitely could be, just with my work ethic.

Especially in the beginning: I feel like you try to pick your fights, get more used to the cage and everything. But I did a lot of kickboxing and boxing – I was a Golden Gloves champ. I did wrestling in middle school and a little bit in high school, so I’m used to going consistently. But with this MMA, I want to take my time. I’m still young.

I feel like every time I fight, I’m definitely getting better. But I’m happy I’m with CES, because I feel like they definitely have a lot of the best guys around; I can definitely test myself.

ON BOXING

I’m Puerto Rican, so my family’s really into boxing, too. When Trinidad would fight De La Hoya back then, they would have a big party just to see that fight. Every time a big fight like that happened, we would have something.

That’s how I always knew: when I would see that, I always wanted to be that guy.

I did wrestling in school; I got hurt one time and stopped for a while. But I always wanted to do something hard. There was a local boxing gym: I just went in and doing that for a while; training with some tough boxing guys. I was learning that for a while.

I enjoyed it, but I always felt like if you couldn’t beat a guy with your hands, you were pretty much done. Somedays I would train on my off-days of boxing, and downstairs there would be a kickboxing class or MMA class. I would see those guys and I would see how deadly they were and I just always wanted to try that, too.

But I love boxing, too. I always have that in my arsenal; I never took it out of my routine. I love boxing.

Later on, I do want to try professional boxing a little bit – just to see, because I know I’m good at it. I do it at least three times a week in my routines. I feel a lot of the good champions did boxing or really studied it.

Those were always my hardest workouts, my hardest sparrings. Those guys just know how to punch different than a kickboxer. They move and it’s so hard to hit them; when you miss, they’ll make you pay.

I always wanted to be like that: you miss and I’ll make you pay.

ON MMA AS OUTLET FOR YOUTH

When I was young, I had a lot of attitude issues, anxiety issues. What helped me with that was training or doing something hard, something that would show me discipline. I would always beg my parents to bring me to the gym.

So I really believe in showing that to kids. I always felt like it definitely got me to where I am today. Without it, I don’t know what I would be doing. I tell my family that all the time: I don’t know what I would be doing. It’s just a stress reliever: after I train, I feel so much better. So it’s definitely good for a kid.

THANK YOU

I just want to thank definitely my head coach Dennis Volpe: he helped me a lot, introduced me to everyone like Matt and all my jiu jitsu guys. My teams: New Britain Judo & Karate and Underdog BJJ: they help me a lot every time I fight. All those guys: Johnny, Justin, Roberto – all the guys. Our coaches: Kenny, Soulfighter – all those guys. Jiu Jitsu Strength Academy and Hartford Boxing Center: those guys have been helping me out. My chiropractor definitely helping me out this training camp: Richard Powers. All my family that’s supporting me: I feel like a lot of them are giving me the faith to compete and chase my dreams.

Without them, I can’t do this.