UFC Fight Pass
CFFC 137 Headliner Beau Samaniego Anxious To Put Gilbert Grappling On The Map On Road To UFC
Samaniego challenges for CFFC's vacant featherweight title this Friday, live on UFC FIGHT PASS.
It's been a banner stretch for Chicago-area MMA, with the city's Valle Flow Striking Academy owner and head coach Mike Valle featuring prominently in the corners of recently crowned UFC champions Belal Muhammad and Julianna Peña.
However, Cage Fury Fighting Championships featherweight contender Beau Samaniego wants to make sure the world knows that's not the only gym making waves around the Second City.
Thirty-five miles to the south in Harvey, Illinois, Samaniego is putting in work at Gilbert Grappling under the watchful eye of co-founder Dan Gilbert and the rest of the G2 Training Center.
"It's a really low-key gym," Samaniego explained. "Actually, we had a new guy come in the other day, and he was like, 'I can't even find this place. You go to the website, and it's not that. I called the number, and it's not the real number, so I'm thinking, is this even the real place to come?' So that's one thing we're going to work on. We're going to work on the social media aspect and stuff, but yeah, I feel like we've been doing the heavy lifting lately. We're fighting all the guys that nobody wants to fight.
"All these other guys, especially in CFFC, it seems like they all kind of know each other, so they don't want to fight each other. This guy doesn't want to fight that guy because he trained with him twice and all that, you know? But we're doing the heavy lifting. We're making the fights happen and fighting the guys that the guys don't want to fight."
Samaniego (6-1 MMA, 3-1 CFFC) headlines Friday's CFFC 137 event, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Philadelphia's historic 2300 Arena. There, he'll challenge for the promotion's vacant featherweight title when he takes on undefeated Serra-Longo Fight Team member Anthony Dilemme (6-0 MMA, 3-0 CFFC).
Samaniego debuted for the promotion in 2021 and actually suffered a submission loss to a then-undefeated James Lyons at CFFC 97. However, he's since rattled off five consecutive victories, three of which were featured on UFC FIGHT PASS. That success earned him this crack at CFFC's vacant featherweight belt, a title that was previously held by Samaniego's teammate and 2023 "UFC FIGHT PASS Fighter to Watch" Jose Perez.
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Perez will be in Samaniego's corner on Friday night, and the 28-year-old prospect said he hopes his teammate will present him the title after a victory and further prove the legitimacy of their team.
"Jose definitely gave me the blessing, and I want him to wrap the belt around me after," Samaneigo said. "It's like a lineage now. The featherweight belt is just like the G2 belt at this point, you know? Then we're going to have another featherweight coming up. His name is Evan Fitzgerald. Maybe he'll come and take it pretty soon."
Of course, first Samaniego will have to get through Dilemme – something six previous opponents have been unable to accomplish. Samaniego, however, believes he's simply the better fighter and will get a chance to prove that on Friday night.
"I think (Dilemme) is a tough kid," Samaniego said. "He's good. Well-rounded everywhere, but I don't think he's extraordinary in any one position or any one aspect of the game. He's got some good knockouts and stuff. I've seen that, but I don't take too much into that. He ain't knocking me out.
"I just think I'm just a little bit better everywhere – a little bit better in the standup, a little bit better in the grappling. It's going to make for an exciting fight, but eventually it's going to start going my way, and I have way more heart than him, so I'm going to show that."
A victory would certainly go a long way towards Samaniego's dream of making it to the UFC, where former CFFC champs Jared Gordon and Pat Sabatini currently reside. Perhaps a berth on the next season of Dana White's Contender Series could be in the cards.
Whatever the path ahead, Samaniego knows who's going to be walking it with him, and he's looking forward to seeing some respect put on the Gilbert Grappling name.
"I'm a Gilbert Grappling guy for life, for sure," Samaniego said. "Dan, he took me in when I had nothing, and Jose, he's got the same philosophy. When I met him, I could just tell, it's us versus everybody else. If you don't want to join, then we're just going to f**king beat you up. That's how I see it.
"My last fight was against a guy from a good gym. I'm pretty sure this guy goes to the same gym, and we've got a slogan: We're just going to keep beating another million-dollar corner. So these guys think they're good, but we're better. It's only a matter of time before we get that recognition, and that's going to happen."
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