Feb-27-2009
Pete Sell - MMANY
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Silver Star Urijah Faber Cali Crown T-shirt
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By Rhett Butler
As of this report, mixed martial arts is an unsanctioned sport in the state of New York. Still, some of MMA’s more colorful figures hail from the Empire State; none more so than the Serra-Longo campers. The trio of Luke Cummo, Pete Sell, and of course their kingpin, Matt Serra, have branded the sport not just as MMA but as MMANY, for the charisma oozing out of this camp is infectiously distinct.
Pete Sell is one MMANY flag bearer that is on an upswing in his career. After making his UFC debut in early 2005 against another MMANY subscriber, Phil “The New York Bad Ass” Baroni, Sell submitted and shipped his rival out of the league. But then after four consecutive losses in the UFC, redemption came after a drop to the welterweight division and a unanimous decision win over Josh Burkman. Now on the course to try and double his fortune, Sell looks to extend the MMANY style.
“I grew up in Bay Shore, New York; a lot of my close friends grew up in Central Islip. Basically, where I grew up, it was an ethnically diverse neighborhood. I had to definitely defend myself at that time and with me saying that I’m sure it’s like that everywhere. But it is what it is; you grow up and go through things in life and choose the wrong paths for things. Jiu-jitsu and the fighting got my head on straight with everything and took my life into a positive direction.”
Surprisingly, Sell didn’t really pursue athletics in high school. Considered a big guy by welterweight standards, one can easily envision Sell tearing up the football field or the weight room competitively.
“I wrestled one year and I played football one year, just freshman year. It’s actually funny I was more of a party kid in high school, but at the same time I was in the parking lot doing my thing. Now I’m a full-time professional athlete, when I was never into the sports like that as a kid. Now it’s the best part of my life.”
However, the martial arts, which had been a part of his life since his youth, provided solace from life’s distractions. It was a part of his life that stayed with him all the way until he eventually made the big leagues.
“I started as a kid, my dad was into martial arts and as a kid he put me into Ha Rai Do; it’s like a traditional martial art and I was young, like eight years old. I did that for a bit and then I got out of there. Years later when I was about fifteen I did Tae Kwon Do for a bit. I did that for two years and I got my black belt in that and these guys were actually from the old school. The guys that did the challenge matches back in the day, they knew my Tae Kwon Do instructor and they came in there and they did a challenge match type of thing, like style vs. style. They were like, ‘you can punch, you can kick, you can do whatever you want and we won’t even hit you.’ So I’m like ‘alright let’s do this’ and these guys just took us down; it was like Gracie In Action 101. They took us down and submitted us; I didn’t even know what was going on. I was like, ‘wow man I’ve been doing this for two years and these are guys that are like white belts at that school and they could kill me. At this point forward I started getting into stuff: boxing, Thai boxing and the wrestling, you know, as far as getting your overall MMA game down, but the reason I got excited was jiu-jitsu.”
That excitement led to his encounter with Matt Serra and the MMANY bug struck and rested within Pete Sell.
“I first started training jiu-jitsu when I was seventeen. I was with Matt Serra and Nick Serra; I was going to their school in Long Island. At the time Matt and Nicky were fighting in all the local shows before they had it real illegal out here. Before they banned it in New York they had the local shows at the Vanderbilt and stuff back in the day. They were competing just in MMA and they were submitting everybody. So I kind of got into it through them. Then of course the UFC came out and that made everything else amplified. I was pumped up about Royce Gracie submitting everybody and the jiu-jitsu got me excited and it took off from there. I just followed in Matt and Nicky’s footsteps and started fighting like they did. Then one day, of course, Matt ended up fighting in the UFC and I was so excited. That’s my boy, he’s fighting on pay-per-view and this and that, it was crazy! I wasn’t doing the same thing at the time, I was just fighting; I don’t even know if I had my first MMA fight yet. I was doing the jiu-jitsu shows, competing in tournaments and stuff and I was excited to see my friend on pay-per-view fighting and I’m like, ‘Yo man I want do that.’ So that’s basically how it ran. I basically chased a dream and made it come true.”
At this point, Sell can be considered a UFC veteran, having graced the Octagon six times since his 2005 entrance. With Matt Brown currently in the way of the MMANY momentum, Sell is focused on his goal.
“As far as Matt Brown goes, I feel like his disadvantages are, from what I’ve seen of his ground game, which really wasn’t a lot, it seems like all his losses are by submission. The guy seems like a tough guy when he comes back and swings so I guess we’ll test him out with that, see if he can take the power that I got. As far as the experience, I definitely feel like I have more experience than him as far as dealing with all the hype of the UFC and the greatness of it. I’ve been there, done that as far as dealing with the losses and having to come back and persevere through all that. For me, I’m kind of callous by this fight game; I’ve been through it all so there’s nothing that I feel that Matt Brown has in store for me that I haven’t seen before.”
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