The Shamrock FC amateur lightweight title will be up for grabs on Saturday night at the Lumiere Casino in St. Louis as Issac Purnell will look to remain unbeaten when he faces fellow undefeated fighter Evan Elder.
Purnell (3-0) had his first amateur fight two years ago and all of his wins have come by TKO/KO. On Thursday’s edition of “The MMA Report Podcast,” Purnell explained how current Bellator featherweight Justin Lawrence had a role in his transition to mixed martial arts.
“I played football in high school and was a first team All-State wide receiver,” Purnell said. “Could have went off to college and all of that. Had a scholarship and all of that to college. Ended up having children and kind of had a breakdown moment where I thought my life was over and everything was done for me. My good buddy, Justin Lawerence, who I also played football with grade school.
“He knew that I was a really good athlete,” he continued. “He was like, ‘man you should come down and try kickboxing. Just to stay in shape and I think my dad would really like you.’ I came down a kick box for about a year. Went to nationals. Won nationals a couple of times. Golden Gloves a couple of times in St. Louis. Then finally my trainer sat me down one day and decided one day to transfer over to MMA and see how this goes.”
Check out Purnell’s complete interview from Thursday’s episode of “The MMA Report Podcast” below and be sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher.