Coming off a sensational KO sequence at Future of Fighting's inagueral event. Tyler "No Smoke" Stout has been crowned the promotion's Flyweight Champion and is now 7-3 as an amatuer. Combat Sports Report sat down for a Q&A with the 125lb Champ to learn more about the 26 year old phenom.
Q: We’re just going to get right to it. Talk me through that crazy finishing sequence. What was going through your mind as you set up that kick?
A: He was being really aggressive. So from the moment we had space, I was trying to occupy that space, with the hands. I was trying to keep his mind going because, we were right in a 50/50 position. We're standing right in front of each other. So I was trying to occupy that space, but still make him feel welcome to stand in front of me. I knew if I could get him to stand in front of me, even for a second, I could hurt him. I had already hurt him very early in the fight, like the opening 10 seconds. I landed a straight right hand and knocked him down, but he popped back up. So I knew if I could get him to stand in front of me for a second, I could get a good shot in and probably finish the fight so that's what I was able to do.
Q: You’re 7-3 as an amateur, and you’ve only been fighting for 3 years, if I'm not mistaken. Are there any signs of slowing down now that you’re an amateur Champion or do you want to keep up this pace?
A: Actually, December made 2 years. So I've had 10 fights in 2 years. I've been training for a little over 4 years. I mean 4 years straight as far as dedication to MMA...But the fight before last, I had a split decision loss to a kid named Bryce Woerner out of Tennesee. He's the number 1 ranked fighter over there. He just had a fight last night that he looked pretty good in, so I think we're going to make that rematch happen next March 9th at Future of Fighting 2. That's what I'm eye balling right now. If we're not able to make that happen, then I'm not really pressed on having another amatuer fight. I feel like we can go Pro March 9th. I think it's up to my team really. If we can get the Bryce Woerner fight I would do one more amatuer if not, we can do the Pro Debut, it's really just up to our team's. Definitely next year we're going Pro, regardless.
Q: You’ve fought for a few different promotions, in your opinion what makes a great MMA show from a fighters experience?
A: The organization of the production. The social media they bring. It's all about effort really in my eyes. I like fighting for the shows that do both Pro & Ammy because it brings a little bit more eyes to the Ammy side. You've got shows like Combat Night that are just killing it. Future of Fighting 1 was damn near as close to a as close as you can get to being a top notch show, especially with it being the first one. Match making is very important because you don't want to sit through a bunch of mismatched fights. Styles make fights, so its very important to see the fights that make sense. Definitely the production of the show but not just what the fans see, how its run behind the scenes. You want weigh-ins to be structured so you're not just waiting around before you weigh in. There's alot of things like that behind the scenes that make a fighter want to stick to one promotion. We're fighting for free, so we might as well fight for the best promotions that'll give us the most eyes and the biggest opportunity.
Tyler Stout MMA | Tyler Stout Future of Fighting
Q: Well that's all we have but, we have some fan questions if you're ready.
A: Cool, let's go.
Q: @JordanB107 asks: What was your opponent’s corner saying after the fight?
A: Oh, I guess the way the show was run there was an intermission that was thrown in before our fight or they switched the line up before the fight. We had a lot of Area 502 guys on the card so my coach was out there back to back to back to back. So they switched the production up in the back and it might of pissed the coach off. They said they were already warmed up but dude I'm in the back the whole time. We have nothing seperating us but a curtain, I could see him the whole time too. He was getting his hands wrapped when I was wrapping my ankle. He was warming up when I was wrapping my hands. So it wasn't that big of a difference. Maybe a 10 minute differential? So I don't really see an issue with it. He came out hot and aggressive. Warm up or not, he still got flat lined in 2 minutes so I don't know. It's a fight man.
Q: @TwoBills21 asks: What has been your toughest fight to date?
A: I would say my most difficult camp, I hurt my MCL early in my amatuer career and fought like 12 weeks later. That was probably my most difficult mentally, just overcoming something, but that was only my second fight. Opponent wise, Noah Williams I would say. He's a bigger guy, he's fought at 135 & 145. It was his first time coming down to Flyweight and I was 3-0 at the time. He had a little more experience than me. He had fought for Combat Night, so he had already been under those big lights. He was the first guy to put it on me early, and force me to make adjustments. He ran away with the decision, but it was a damn close fight. Definitely my hardest fight to date. He was a little bit better than me that night, but I learned a lot.
@TrendyGooWapp asks: What’s your daily training routine look like?
A: Sometimes I like to get two a days in so I can split up my training sessions. If not, then I'm in the gym 6 days a week for 3-4 hours. A lot of these Pro guys get to split up their training so they're doing 2 different things a day. I'm doing everything at once. I'm doing MMA class, then jumping into Jiu Jitsu, then I'm doing Kickboxing right after. My gym is made for a fighter's schedule so all of it is available to you everyday. It just depends on what your mindset is, are you getting ready for a fight or am I just in there helping the guys?
A lot of my striking is old school boxing based. The team based stuff is more grappling based. It's a complete fighters gym at Area 502. A quote from Khabib is "You're not training MMA unless you're training MMA." You can't train boxing one day, then train wrestling the next day. It just doesn't work like that when you're trying to get to the next level.
Q: @TwoBills21 asks: What is the one thing you’re focusing on most going into the pros?
A: We upped the grappling. We upped the wrestling. We upped the Jiu-Jitsu. Just because, my coach feels that's where these guys will take the fight in the future. Which my grappling is very underrated. It seems like whenever guys want to engage in grappling, I'm able to shine in that area. I have TKO victories and 2 submissions. My coach specifically wanted to up that thought just because he feels that's how guys are going to try to weasel their way around to get a win. It's going to be hard to find someone who wants to strike with me after that nasty KO. Personally though, I'm getting bigger. Growing into my man strength and becoming an adult. So my goal going into the Pros is to just have healthy, solid weight cuts at Flyweight.
Q: Any shout outs? The floor is yours.
A: Yeah I want to shout out Nate and Greg Pierce. I'd like to give a shout out to my coach, Philip Perkins, Zachary Grasso, Alex Hacker. My sponsors, Patrick Carter Tattoo, Upperkuts Barber Shop, Gary Muncy over at Muscular Therapy. I want to give a shout out to my gym Area 502 MMA & my training partners up there. Shout out all them guys training up there.. Just keep your eyes open, follow me on social media @TyNoSmoke & March 9th Future of Fighting 2, you are not going to want to miss it. I've got a video on my page, that aged real well, of me promoting the last fight. I said "Man when I jump on that cage and you're not there, you're going to wish you were." So you better be there if you missed this last one.