Whether It's The Fact That He's A 6'4" Featherweight Or A 39-Year-Old With Physical Youthfulness On His Side, Teejay Britton Is Looking To Continue To Turn Heads At FAC 12
How do you nearly set a record for canceled fights? Be a 6’4” featherweight.
FAC 12’s Teejay Britton has had nearly a full career’s worth of opponents pull out of fights with him in recent years. Few fighters have a thirst for staying active the way Britton does, but virtually no fighters were born to be mismatches for opponents the way he was.
“My first three or four years as a pro I only had four fights, but I had like 16 backouts,” Britton said. “I had people weigh in with me then don’t fight or people call the week of and then we can’t get anybody to fight a 6’4” guy.”
If a 6’4” featherweight wasn’t shocking enough, Britton began his career fighting at bantamweight before having enough fights fall off that his coaches finally convinced him to give 145 a shot.
From the sounds of it, Britton’s size sounds impossible. To get a 6’4” fighter down to 135 or 145 is hard enough, but for that athlete to perform at a high level would seem like an even bigger jump towards impossible. Britton explains that it’s very possible, and it’s the same principles that keep him fighting “impossibly” well at 39 years old that keep him impossibly sized.
“I’m very healthy,” Britton said. “I think the number one thing people underestimate is I get a lot of rest. I think that’s most important. I’m 39 and people keep saying, ‘You’re getting up there in age.’ Well, I didn’t wrestle or box, I didn’t do the other stuff these kids have been doing when they were younger.”
"God truly did heal her...that song meant more to us than people know."
Two months removed from lung surgery - Teejay Britton's daughter sang his walkout song Saturday ahead of his knockout win. pic.twitter.com/Yv3rvG5vp5
He didn’t grow up fighting but since he’s devoted his life to MMA he’s seen his fair share of amateur and professional wars. Things tend to stay on the feet and things tend to get bloody. At 7-2 it’s rarely been his blood shed, however.
He’s able to avoid the stress on his body that most fighters face and he’s fighting at as high of a level as he ever has. He’s got the Tom Brady-esque workout and diet devotion down and hasn’t lost a step since his collegiate athletics days, so what would stop Britton from pushing his career forward? When is it time to stop?
Believe it or not he has an answer, and it’s even more crazy than his height to weight ratio.
“I don’t have all the miles on my body,” Britton explained. “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t party. I feel great, I took my last physical and my doctor laughed and said, ‘Dude, you’re like a 25-year-old.’ I tell people all the time the day I’m going to stop fighting is when I can’t keep running a mile in under five minutes. I’m still running miles at 4:45-4:49. I’m a freak of nature.”
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