13 Sep Gym Roles – The Story of Kiko Lopez
In every tribe there are different roles that must be filled. That is always true in a gym or fight camp. A team is not sustainable and will not grow without diversity and people willing to take on different jobs. This will be a little more of a story than the normal posts, but my hope is the lessons will shine through just the same.
Federico “Kiko” Lopez is someone who is unknown to most fight fans. Like a lot of smaller fighters from the early days of MMA he spent most of his career fighting up in the wrong weight classes. His Sherdog Page lists his record at 10-6, his height at 5’4” and his weight as bantam. All 3 are incorrect. Kiko had many more fights that never made the list. He would need to be on his tip toes to be 5’4” and he easily made flyweight (125lbs) many times once that weight class was even available. The entire time I lived in Southern California Kiko and I trained together at Team Quest in Temecula, and throughout many other gyms.
Kiko had a special gift. He possessed insane power with his strikes. Rather than the concussive knock of getting hit by a larger opponent Kiko’s strikes felt like a small explosion detonating on impact. Numerous times over our years training together I saw him drop larger fighters in practice. He never sparred out of control, but he just had this power that was tough to deal with. On top of his power he had a great mind for fighting, particularly the striking game. He understood set ups and tactics well, and had a mind for exposing fighters mental gaps. Most importantly to me, he had a game that was simultaneously fundamentally sound while also containing lots of surprising tricks to keep opponents off balance.
When I first came to Team Quest I was just a normal student. I served in the Marine Corps and was in class as often as my schedule allowed. After a few months my BJJ coach Bryan Harper asked me about coming in for the pro classes in the AM. I was incredibly excited about the opportunity to say the least. There were some huge names training at the time and to share the mat space sounded amazing. I first came on a sparring day and we finished class with five – five minute rounds of sparring. There were not a ton of small fighters so Kiko and I got matched up frequently. He and I were sparring the last round in a moment I will never forget. I was exhausted and in survival mode, he threw a round kick that I stepped back from to evade with my back touching the wall. Knowing I was now trapped against the wall I wanted to step forward to close the gap as he spun through off the missed kick. I quickly moved forward, but instead of spinning through, having correctly predicted my reaction, Kiko brought his leg down and jumped up into a side kick. His kick pinned me to the wall, dropped me, and took away my wind. I couldn’t even finish the round, despite coaches yelling for me to shake it off. I thought my time of being invited to spar with the pros was done.
Kiko on the other hand had different thoughts. He did not go laugh with the pros about dropping a clueless amateur, or he certainly did not just pack up his gear and leave having gotten his work done for the day. He took me aside and explained many of the techniques he was using. From that day on until I moved from Southern California Kiko gave generously of his knowledge anytime we trained together. He was never in a formal coaching role, but he always took the time to coach, mentor, and teach the details. More than just techniques, he taught so much about the fight game and how to avoid the same pitfalls he had experienced.
The most important thing to know about Kiko is that my experience was no special. He did this for so many fighters. Fighters like Joey Gomez (now in the UFC), Martin Davila (4-2 Pro), Jesse Cruz (8-6 Pro). One person took responsibility for the development of several young fighters all at the same gym. Most importantly, no one asked Kiko to do this. It was just part of who he was. The key to the success of a group is developing a culture of willingness to assist others on their journey. When everyone gives selflessly the results will come in time.
All classes at Elevate are setup on a two week cycle. So for the next two weeks students will be learning many of the tricks and setups that Kiko regularly used. More importantly I hope the lessons of how he supported others infuse the gym in the long term.