Parenthood motivates Johnny Nunez ahead of ONE Championship debut

The 34-year-old lightweight began his mixed martial arts journey with the UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter series, before appearing on Bellator and the World Series of Fighting. Nunez, who currently holds a professional record of 7-1, is looking forward to his debut in the world’s largest martial arts organization.

Singapore-based Las Vegas native Johnny Nunez is about to make his ONE Championship debut at ONE: DAWN OF VALOR on 25 October from the Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia against Kazuki Tokudome.

Despite the challenges of moving to a new country away from family, friends, and settling in his new training camp at Evolve MMA, Nunez finds inspiration from his partner ONE Championship Vice President and former World Champion Miesha Tate and their one-year-old Amaia.

“Oh man, being a father and now training camps are so much easier on me,” Nunez said.

“More from my mental aspect. I do not take things so seriously and I am more relaxed, especially when I get to come home and see baby Amaia. It does not matter how hard of practice I have or if I have a nagging injury, the smile I get to see when I come home in between training is simply priceless and I would not change that for anything in this world.”

“I have been excited for my ONE debut since I moved to Singapore in April,” Nunez said.

“It was kind of hard leaving all my family, friends and training partners to come out to Singapore with my daughter and her momma, but I feel like we have adapted fairly quicker than I anticipated. I would say that I simplified my life a bit and now I can totally dedicate myself to being ONE World Champion.”

He will be facing off with an experienced competitor in Japan’s Tokudome who is coming off a sensational TKO victory at ONE: Warriors of Light. Nunez is upbeat coming into this bout, thanks to proper training and a healthy lifestyle in his new hometown.

“Training in Singapore is great as far as the warm weather is concerned. It does not take much of a warmup to get the blood pumping and getting that hard sweat going. I am getting elite Muay Thai training over at Evolve; we have some of the top Thai trainers in the world and they sure do push you.”

“This fight camp has been great with the ONE Championship weight classes and now I do not have to stress and worry about my weight because there is no weight-cutting,” he said. “I just have to eat the right things and in Singapore, a lot of the food here is fresh and clean with nearly no preservatives.”