¶ Meet Anthony "The Violence" Prezzoli
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast . This is , as always , your host , mike Bono . I have a great guest to us for us today . He is brought to us all the way by the Latin assassin , tony , from a couple weeks ago . He is another mixed martial artist . We're going to get into that , and this is Anthony .
The Violence Prezzoli joins the show today . Anthony , mixed Martial Artist like that . Uh , I'm originally from rock creek , ohio . I live in austinburg now .
Uh , grew up going to geneva high school .
You know k through 12 went to a trade school , all that okay , um , so you know what did you do any other any sports growing up or has , like fighting , wrestling kind of kind of always , always been the thing for you .
I wrestled a little bit in middle school for like two and a half three years and then hit high school and I decided that I'd much rather go work and make money . For the time being I didn't really see the point in sports .
No , I got you . There's not . There's a lot of people like that . So , with that kind of attitude , like you know what kind of got you into mma uh , I originally got in .
It was just something I always want to do . I was always a huge fan , just watching on the tv and stuff and I was like I gotta get in a fight one day . I gotta get in a fight in one day .
And I don't know , got big in the lifting towards the end of high school , started pumping out weights all the time putting on weight , and then one day I was like why don't I ? Just you know what's stopping me .
So I looked up an MMA gym and started in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu , worked my way into MMA and then fell in love with striking and kind of just followed a path of being a kickboxer .
Okay , so you more of a striker versus a a grappler when it comes . Yeah , oh , yeah , absolutely yeah . Nickname the , the violence , I mean that kind of .
I'm not much for the grappling stuff . Uh , I've only had one mma fight . All of my other fights have been strictly stand-up kickboxing , muay thai boxing , uh , I don't know . It's even though I was like I wasn't bad at grappling at least I thought I was , and I still know enough to be dangerous . But no , I never liked the option .
I didn't like the option of the takedown . I didn't like the option of the leg . Hum , nothing against grappling , it's a beautiful sport . It's just I prefer no escape . I guess it goes with the nickname .
Yeah , absolutely . I mean I watch the UFC every Saturday for their fight nights , everything like that . I know the technical portion of the grappling and the ground game that a lot of the fans don't like . You can hear them start to boo whenever they're on the ground . It seems like it's a stalemate .
I mean there's a lot going on when that happens , but when it's a stand-up , just they're throwing it Like that's what I look for when I'm watching a fight and it's just so entertaining to me . And you know , coming from somebody who has , you know , black belt in taekwondo , I like the stand-up game . I was never really good at the ground .
I mean they say I have the body for it because I'm 6'5" , so I have these lanky arms and these lanky legs . But yeah , I just never liked it when I was learning Taekwondo . They try to teach us a little bit of the ground stuff . It wasn't for me either , so I get that for sure .
I mean it's not for everybody , but yeah , when , when it's two bruisers in there and they're just throwing in the middle of the octagon , there's nothing better oh , absolutely yeah . So , um , like I said in the beginning , you know you came to us uh former guest tony . Um , how did you , uh ? How do you know , tony , do you guys train at the same gym ?
Like what ? What's the backstory with you and Tony ?
That's a doozy . Actually , I don't know if he mentioned we're technically cousins . I was training at another gym
¶ Striking vs Grappling: A Fighter's Choice
and I'm not going to name names . It's honestly not even worth my time . I fought out of there . I had one smoker fight out of there , one that's where my mma fight was , and a whole bunch of grappling tournaments . You know bjj stuff and I , the owner just , and I didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things .
There's plenty I could say that's negative , but there's no point . Uh , so greener pastures , uh , a lot of times the grass is greener on the other side and I found that out firsthand . When I went to Upgrade Industries I got a taste of what the fight scene , training and everything should be like .
And you know , me and Tony became buddies and training partners and he helped me a lot through my first few fights at Upgraded . I want to say four or five fights ago a couple years back my cousin hit me up and she was like hey , saw your fight , you did really well . Blah , blah , blah . I just want to say thanks , love you , cousin .
I was like when is her last name Tortorice ? And out of curiosity I was like hey , tony , is there any relation to this broad's husband and he goes oh yeah , that's my cousin and his wife . And I go no , I go , that's my cousin and her husband . So since then we're like oh shit , we're second cousins , you know .
So you know , it was just one of those things where everything's meant to happen Like I was meant to be there .
Turns out . I'm related to the big goofball . Yeah , tony's hysterical when we had him on . You know just his energy , even you know doing it via Zoom , and just watching his last fight at Mountaineer Casino a couple months ago , it was amazing to watch him and Brolin win the championship . When you guys are in the gym , do we settle any family rivalries ?
When we're in the octagon of training , do we get into any of that while we're there ? Just settle it in the octagon .
We haven't had too many beefs in there . We've had . We're both , believe it or not , even though we're only related by marriage . We're both pretty similar in the aspect , as we're hard-headed and stubborn and there has been times where shit talking has gotten the best of us and we'll sit in there , trade shots out of purely stupidity .
But other than that no , not real any beefs usually at the end of the day we both realize that there's a touch of autism between the both of us and we kind of just let it be that got a touch of the tism huh , oh yeah , I should say it slapped the shit out of us .
but hey , no worries . I mean I grew up with , you know , my cousins being close by me and we always settled it in the dumbest ways . You know what I mean . I think that's just kind of like a family thing to do , especially with his two males Stubborn as mules .
You know , I grew up in a full bloodblooded italian family , you know we we're we're gonna talk for a second and then we're gonna get to fisticuffs and then hey , you see my last name , dog , I get it I gotta say the name . I see figure there's a little paisan in there somewhere more than a little bubba absolutely .
Um , speaking of you know , with , uh , tony , you know , and being the being the wrestler , I mean , do you think people with the specifically with specifically a boxing background or wrestling background , or more equipped for MMA ? I asked Tony the same question . I'm kind of interested to see your , your aspect of it .
That's the funny thing about Tony and I is we we both favor two different ends of the spectrum when it comes to that . He is super grappling heavy . He's a wrestler he obviously had . He is a decorated wrestler from back in his day , the old bastard .
But uh , he , I would have to say grappling for MMA , because that option is there is definitely the upper hand . Like , yeah , obviously every fight starts on the feet , but you saw what Tony did to that cat and a mountaineer is great .
Like , when you have wrestling like that and grappling , you can make the best of strikers look like a chump and that's yeah , that's why I'm , that's why I'm a striker through and through . But I'll , yeah , I'll ride with the grappler most of the time , just cause , if I mean don't get me wrong yeah , there's a lot of guys who are good at anti-wrestling .
I mean , I'm sure you're an Elliot to Poria fan . He loves the stand and bang and he loves to anti-wrestle . He doesn't have bad ground . Legate the takedown , then it's game over , buddy .
Yeah , I mean , I feel like most strikers have to have that defense when it comes to the takedown and they really need to master that first before they start to master it . Because , like you said , if you can stop the takedown it's just a straight fight .
At that point in time we're going to stand and brawl and we're going to swing , and oh , I fucking point time we're going to stand in brawl and we're going to swing and oh , I fucking love it . I love it so much when that happens and you can
¶ Family Ties and Training Partners
see a guy just stopping takedown after takedown . But you know , watching the ufc for as long as I have , I mean , look what , uh , madrid megavov did to conor mcgregor , to division champion conor was just a banger , like he wanted to stand , he wanted to throw hands and Madigan Magadova wanted to wrestle and he made Conor look weak Absolutely .
And that first round though , that first round , conor's takedown defense was phenomenal .
Yeah , yeah , I was shocked at that . I was like this might actually be a fight . He might actually have to stand and bang with him .
We're going to see what he's got to stand , but I mean I didn't think we're going to see what , what he's got the the stand , but I mean , I didn't think it was going to last with the takedown defense , especially against him , that big russian was a menace . Oh yeah , dude's a dude's a freaking agent , for sure all them dagestanis are .
Though yeah , absolutely like I said , not my style , not my favorite thing to watch , but , like , like you said , I I do know when it's when it is enjoyable to watch . I know the transitions that are happening , I know the submission attempts , I know the positions , but for someone who doesn't , I get it . I get it dude .
It just looks like two goofballs going around , but that's probably the greasy Dago in me . All the boxers and stuff back in the day they just want to watch .
You know swinging and banging I'm so glad you used the word day go . I'm not gonna lie to you here . I , I use that . My family uses that word a lot with each other , like wow , we're just a bunch of dagos . Like oh yeah , for sure I'm so glad you used that term .
Uh , I haven't heard anyone else say but my family , so that's great , um , but you know , have you seen a lot of interesting places , venues that hold these MMA fights ? Have you seen any personally that have taken place and do any really stand out to you ?
Believe it or not , kemba in Columbus , I fought there . That's a beautiful venue Like you're going to get a lot of , especially in the amateur regional scene . You're going to get a lot of , especially in the amateur regional scene . You're gonna get a lot of what you saw in Mountaineer .
But like I fought in my MMA fight was in Ohio or Valley and how do you know ? Uh , cherry valley in columbus , that was that's a . That was a nice venue . Kemba live was my favorite by far menu venue that I've gotten to uh fight at . Uh , I just got back from thailand and their , their venues are insane .
Like they had fights all over the city going on muay thai fights every night and their men they were like mini arenas for it , just seven days a week , seven nights a week . So that's the thing is . Like I've seen . I've seen just about all you can see . Uh , maybe New York's got some pretty sick ones like they do .
Buffalo Riverworks and stuff like that will hold fights . Nautica and Cleveland just got back to doing fight nights . Again , that's a cool venue , uh , but yeah , like I said , a lot of your regional amateur mma , amateur boxing , amateur kickboxing you're gonna see a lot of . You're gonna see a lot of , uh , hotel banquet rooms and bowling alleys .
Well , not so much bowling alleys anymore , but for a little while there , that was kind of a , that was kind of a scene for it .
I get it with these , you know , amateur venues and that you know , being an up and coming comedian , like I've done it in dive bars , I've done it in bowling alleys , I've performed stand up , you know , anywhere there's a stage and I'm like I performed at a festival where there was literally two people sitting in the stands watching and like 500 people walking
around Just heckling the shit out of you . But you know . So sometimes I appreciate those venues , like you said , the bowling alleys , the banquet halls . You know it's a little bit more intimate of a setting and at least for comedy , I know that for me , you know it's you , you know you get to interact with the crowd a little bit more .
Do you notice that with those types of venues at mma , like , does the crowd interact a little bit more ? Do you ? Do you feed off of them a little bit more than you would like these bigger arenas ?
it's funny you ask that because , see , I'm not one that takes into consideration who's there to watch or the size of the crowd . That part doesn't bother me much . I fought in Indiana last April or May for the Impacto 165 title and their venue was like .
The venue wasn't the coolest or the greatest but the production was nice , like brand new big ring , the lights , the cameras , the pay-per-view , all that good stuff . And I mean it brings a little bit the , it's an atmosphere , it's it's like a like , a like a vibe to it . It definitely hypes you up a little more .
If it is a cooler venue because the few boxing fights I've taken outside of kickboxing , just straight boxing just to do them , those are definitely on the lower end , like there was one I did in columbus just to knock the rust off a year ago and it was like a freaking barn , like a metal building up in a parking lot somewhere and it was just kind of like .
It kind of took away from . It takes the hype away a little bit for sure .
When it's a cooler venue , like kemba had like the double deck seating , like there was the ground floor , one level , then another level , that definitely made it cooler because it kind of just kind of gets in the zone a little bit yeah , I mean I could that , especially for the fight game .
Like you know , I've always said that . You know , for me in my profession , like I said , being a comedian , you know those smaller rooms are the harder rooms to win over , because for me laughter is contagious . You know you get one person that laughs and then somebody else just kind of chimes .
In those smaller rooms they're tougher to win over , for sure , and you kind of have that mindset going in like oh man , this is going to be tough and I think it takes you off your game . Like you said there with the with the different venues , it takes you off your game a little bit , um , and you really it really makes you focus a little bit more .
But I can see that for fight game like , like , if it's a smaller venue , I mean I know most fighters aren't really too worried about the crowd or worried about their opponent , um , and who's across the octagon of the ring , uh , but you know , I've I've always wondered that about certain
¶ Fight Venues and Performance Mindset
fighters , like I mean , after like a round or two , are you are ?
You're feeding off the crowd still , or is it more just now where it's down to strategy if we're out of the first round , usually the first . For me , the first round's a feeling out process . I don't usually go balls to the wall early . I'll usually kind of play touch butt with him first round , move around the ring , see what angles he likes to take .
Usually I'll let him go nuts . If they want to tee off on me and cast their arms out , go ahead . But yeah , later in the fight , like that . Like I said , that title fight in indiana was a five round title fight . So I was definitely after the third round , I was definitely like , I guess coherent to everything else going around going on in the crowd .
I could hear everything everybody was saying uh , you know , I was able to like look over and like visually see , because you walk into a fight fresh and you don't it's tunnel vision , you don't really , you're not focused on anything else .
But after going for three rounds and knowing you have two more rounds ahead of you , uh , you definitely start to like , start to get more coherent and adjust to everything going on . So yeah , you can feed off the crowd a little bit , especially in five round fights .
Later rounds , yeah , later rounds , indefinitely yeah , I , I can kind of , I can kind of see that for sure . Um so , oh , excuse me , with um you having you know , kickboxing and more of a stand-up game when you are training for , like MMA , what's a typical workout look like for you ?
Uh , to be honest with you , I'm probably I'm just a kickboxer anymore I will . Yeah , I did my one MMA fight and I was like don't like the ground game . So I've strictly been kickboxing ever since 2021 .
Okay , so with that , um , just being a kickboxer , is there anything else professionally that you do for a job ? Or is the fight game kind of what you do for a living ?
No , no , not a chance . I am a bricklayer by trade but I come straight from work into the gym and do conditioning . I come straight from work into the gym and do conditioning Usually every day .
Recently I've had some lingering injuries that have been keeping me from doing that , but I'm still in the gym two to three days a week , outside of lifting and doing cardio .
But say , fight camp's on and I'm in the gym every single day , usually not Sundays , maybe a Wednesday rest day if I'm too beat up , conditioning for an hour and then I'll do movement drills and then I'll class will start , and if it's not technique , it's mitts or just depending on if usually I'm fighting a taller opponent , you .
But I have a title for impact , oh , at 65 . And that was a three week notice thing . And then the following week I won golden gloves in Cleveland at 165 . And so if I'm not cutting a whole bunch of weight , usually my I , I , I thrive off good cardio . Usually I thrive off good cardio . I'm known for it . A lot of my fights are high pace .
So usually if I'm not cutting weight , we're not super focused on my cardio .
It's just more or less technique and sharpening certain things that I need to work on . Okay , I can see that for sure . Now you said you cut weight sometimes and sometimes you don't . Do you have a preferred weight that you would prefer to fight at ? I mean , obviously , if you're not having to cut it , you're 165 that you say you walk around at .
I mean obviously you might feel a little bit better than that . But I know some people like , yeah , I walk around at this weight but I cut to 155 and I just I feel like I do better there . Is that cross your mind any at all when you're selecting fights ?
I'm definitely not going to get any lower than 55 . I do have to try harder to get to 55 . 160 I can make pretty easy . I don't . My body is . I have not that hard of a time I say it because I'm a psycho but I don't have that hard of a time cutting weight in general , like I wasn't even trying to cut weight for that 65 fight .
It was on three weeks' notice . The title challenger pulled out three weeks out and I was next in line . So they called me up on three weeks' notice and I was like I'm 170 right now . I was like I'll get to work and within three weeks I knocked out eight , nine pounds . I got on the scale at 161 . Okay , so 55 , yeah , it's a .
That's where I'm start cutting water hard . 160 I can get down to fairly easy . Um , but yeah , I cut . I cut water pretty easy , I cut weight pretty easy . So it's never been a huge deal for me . There's sometimes if it's summertime and I'm eating and I'm partying and I'm just being stupid with my friends , and , yeah , sometimes I'll float up to 173 , 175 .
But once I put the work in and I eat right , it comes off pretty quick .
Yeah , I think I've noticed that about a lot of fighters Like they can put weight on real easily but they can take it off just as . Oh , yeah , I think their bodies just get used to having to cut that water weight and get all that out of them and it becomes easier to cut weight .
I don't know if that's true or not , if I'm just making that up , but you know I that's just kind of what I think happens is , you know , they just get so your body gets so used to being able to have to cut weight for certain events that it just starts to happen naturally .
Oh , yeah , for sure . I definitely fluctuate a lot more now than I used to . I mean
¶ Weight Cutting and Fight Preparation
, even if I'm not in a fight camp , I still try to get a gallon of water in a day . Sometimes my body doesn't cooperate , and it will purposely hold water , depending's weird . It's almost like I've grown to like okay , my body's like oh , you're depriving yourself of carbs a little bit , oh , you're pumping in protein .
You're doing this , that and the other time to shed some weight . So , yeah , it does come up , it does come easier over time , especially if you , if you've conditioned to water intake and you know killing water getting used to getting .
Now I know I've asked a couple of the other fighters that I've had on this show here in the past four years . Now I see these guys in the UFC and I know they weigh in like a day or two beforehand to get to their weight but we'll just use your 165 . But when I see them in the ring I was like I'll kiss your ass if he's 165 pounds right now .
There's no way he's 165 pounds . Like do you have that to where ? Yes , I made weight and now , okay , I could put a little bit more on to be into the ring , or do you try to stay at that 165 and be there ?
so for that fight I like I still obviously sweated out a little bit of water just to make sure I was under . I didn't expect to be 161 when I stepped on the scale , but yeah , that's 100 , true .
Uh , my first fight was at 55 and and it was my first hard cut like I've cut for I've cut for bjj tournaments , I've cut for the , I cut for the smoker fight before that , but that was my first real hard 155 cut and that was day of thank . That's the thing is from like title fights for kickboxing .
For the most part around these parts it's usually day before weigh-ins , which is nice , so there's really no point in me going at 65 . But uh , those day of weigh-ins , those are brutal . Because when I made 55 brutal Cause , when I made 55 , I was skin and bones . I tell you I was skin and bones .
And the minute I drank water I felt my body fill back up and I was like , all right , I got seven to eight hours to get back into , you know , to get back into go mode , and I probably I weighed in at one , 54 something . I probably stepped into the ring at one seven , one , maybe 169 I'm gonna say 169 , if I remember correctly .
I remember , uh , stepping on the scale later that night in the hotel room and I want to say I was like 169 .
That was before I started drinking and eating hardcore so , yeah , that's probably pretty typical for most fighters , especially the ones that have to cut weight to get down to their weight class . Oh , yeah . They're putting it back on before the fight .
Oh yeah , there's a huge difference between weight like scale weight and then ring weight .
Yeah , that's pretty consistent with what most of them have said , and they all kind of get that little smirk that you kind of did when I asked the question , like yeah , we all know that we're not that way .
Hey dude , look at Alex prayer . I mean you gotta think that cat was fighting at one , 85 at one point , and he walks around it two 30 .
So I would say there's no fucking way .
He's one 80 when he steps into the ring , not a big boy there yeah , he's definitely a big boy oh , I'm a huge fan of him , though I was watching him back when he was in glory yeah , there's a couple that I've watched and , um , you know , kind of coming up the ranks , um , and that there's a couple out of cleveland , uh , that I've had on the show .
Um , they're doing big things , they're starting to to make some headway in the amateur rankings and getting their professional fightings now and their professional careers and you know , I'm so happy for them because I had them on the show . They're like one of the first couple fighters we had on the show . It is , oh , my god , why can't I think of his name ?
I just thought of it and his name literally just left my head . But Blake is the last name , um , and he likes the last name . I believe Blake's the last name .
Where's he out of now ?
He's still out of Cleveland , uh , but he um . Every now and again he goes to Hawaii and trains . He has family .
You're talking about .
Blake Perry , blake Perry , there it is , yep harry blake player there it is .
Yep , absolutely . Oh , my god I could , I knew it and I could not think of his name . He's bouncing between hawaii and uh cali . Now , no , blake's a good dude , I know him . Uh , my buddy is married to his sister but blake comes up every now and then . I talked to his . I literally just talked to his mom yesterday . She's in the gym all the time .
Oh , his mom was on the show . She's hysterical and you know she's in the gym . She's fighting to him like , wow , that's insane oh yeah , she's a . She's a bad woman , that's for sure oh yeah , I just again seeing her on zoom . I was like you know what , I wouldn't mess with you . You look like you could . You just look like you could fight .
I'm just gonna say that , right , like you look like a fighter . And she was like , oh , I was like so do you and Blake ever like spar ? Like , do you ever like get into the ring ? Now we're having a mom son fight and now we're going to settle it in the ring . You know that stuff like that . You know it's funny . They're great .
People Love talking to him on here . But you know I follow him . I believe he just had something on the UFC fight pass not too long ago . I think it was um . Him and a couple people out of his gym have made it .
I believe his most recent fight was a loss .
I want to say it was a loss .
Yeah , that was his first fight after he had his nose , yeah wrapped around his head yeah , we , we .
It was . Oddly enough , it was like a week or two after that happened , when he was on the show . And we had him on the show , he was like , hey , I have a fight . I was like , no , do your thing and then we'll get you on the show . And then we had to push the recording back a couple days just so he can get his nose right and be able to talk .
And I was like man Dude .
I seen that goofy bastard's nose on SportsCenter .
Yeah , I saw able to talk and I was like man . I've seen that goofy bastard's nose on SportsCenter . Yeah , I saw that too . I was like man , that's I mean good for you for making SportsCenter , but not for the right reasons . I mean it's because your nose is literally attached to your ear now . It's just .
Yeah , no , he's from out this way . I believe he wrestled for Jefferson .
He's a tough cat , absolutely For sure , patterson , he's a tough . He's a tough cat , absolutely for sure . Um , but , anthony , hey , we are running down here near the end of the episode . Here I do have one last segment . I do want to get in here , um , and for anybody who's listened to the show before you know what's coming , for anybody who hasn't .
This is the fast 55 . It is five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast , johnny Fitty Falcone . Uh , these are the most random questions . They're kind . Manager of the podcast , johnny Fitty Falcone . These are the most random questions . They're kind of rapid fire , anthony , but you can kind of elaborate if you need to .
It's a fun way we like to end the show . So if you're ready for the fast five , we'll go ahead and get started . Let them rip , all right . First question baked or grilled chicken ? Which is better Grilled ? Yeah , I think he tossed you up on the first one there .
Question number two If you are doing dinner and a movie for a date , should you do dinner before or after the movie ? Dinner before ? Definitely before . Question number three the best fish to eat is Shrimp , shrimp , shrimp . All right , yeah , I can see that I'm a big shrimp guy . Question number four best place you've ever visited , thailand , thailand .
Okay , this last one . I knew he was going to ask this type of question . The last question here who wins in a fight , 100 chickens or 25 squirrels ? 25 squirrels , they're just too quick . I think the speed takes that one for sure . I raced chickens before Squirrels are taking them every time . That was the fastest .
I will say you took the rapid fire to that to heart and I appreciate that sometimes . This is just the way the mind of Johnny Fetty Falcone works and he comes up with these random questions on a daily basis and we like to put them into the show and it's a fun way for us to kind of wind down the episode here .
But I do give every guest , anthony , this opportunity at the end of any , every show . If there's anything you want to get out , if you have any fights coming up or you want to promote the gym that you're working out with , I'm going to give you about a minute and the floor is yours , my man I don't have anything coming up on paper .
Like I said , lingering injuries . Once I'm cleared , hopefully I'll be back in action june or july , maybe even august . Uh , outside of that , I mean upgraded industries . There's really no other way to go about it . It's probably the best gym around .
So we offer everything mma boxing , kickboxing , brazilian jiu-jitsu , kids , adults , fighters , common folk , you know and we got one of the best lifting facilities in the building in the area . So I mean , you're really we got everything you want to offer there all right .
yeah , I'm always down for helping people up . If there's a link or anything where people can uh look up that , I will definitely put that into the description of this episode so everyone can kind of check you guys out , see what you got going on there and maybe , you know , get a couple more fighters out there for you guys to bang around with in the gym .
But that is going to do it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast . I want to thank my guest , anthony the Violence
¶ Fast Five and Final Thoughts
Brazzoli , for coming on . This was a lot of fun to get to talk all things fighting and with your fighting career and everything like that . Glad to have you on , as always , if you enjoyed the show , be a friend , tell a friend . If you didn't tell them anyways , they might like it just because you didn't .
That's going to do it for me and I will see y'all next week .