Tommy Gantt: On The Doorstep To Greatness

Tommy Gantt: Finding A Path To MMA

As with many successful MMA fighters, and MMA world champions for that matter, Tommy Gantt’s first experience in the world of combat sports came via his introduction to wrestling. “I loved wrestling in college and I loved wrestling internationally after college. Wrestling will always be a part of my life but after doing it for so long, it just started to feel a little stale to me. I wasn’t really as excited to compete anymore,” Gantt told MMASucka.

“The opportunity came up for me to take an amateur fight and I was curious to see what it would be like. I ended up taking the fight and performed well. I really enjoyed the whole process and I knew at that point I was probably done with wrestling internationally.”

Those Who Paved The Path for Tommy Gantt

There are many coaches who pave a way for a successful fighter. Becoming an MMA fighter will only add to your list of supporters in the cage due to the required knowledge needed to compete in so many different facets of combat sports such as your boxing, wrestling, ground game, etc.

Competing at the highest levels of wrestling, earning a bronze medal at the USA World Cup, along with being an All-American while wrestling at North Carolina State, Tommy Gantt picked up a whole new list of important people to develop his sport.

“I’ve had a lot of mentors across my time in wresting. As far as MMA goes, I’ve been in it a much shorter time compared to wrestling. But I’ve been fortunate enough to have some really knowledgeable people help me out. Just a few of the names I’ll mention are Remy Fullwood, who is my boxing coach back in Raleigh. He started me off my first day boxing and has been with me ever since. He taught me very good fundamentals,” said Tommy Gantt.

Gantt continues, “My MMA coach back in Raleigh is a guy named D’Juan Owens. D’Juan was a very talented fighter who would fight anyone at anytime, even in their hometown. D’Juan has helped me a lot in sharing his technique and experience with me. Derek Brunson has also a positive influence in regard to fighting. He encouraged me to take a fight years ago. I knew Derek long before I ever considered taking a fight and he tried to help me out however he could.”

“Since have I have relocated to California to train full time, I have been fortunate enough to work with Bob Cook and Leandro Viera,” Tommy Gantt mentioned. “Bob has coached quite a few world champions and most people don’t know this but he fought in the UFC himself a long time ago. To be able to work with a guy who has fought and coached at that level has been amazing. I learn something new from him everyday. Leandro Viera has been very helpful in teaching me how to defend BJJ and implement a lot of what he does into my wrestling.”

Paving The Way For Others

An ACC champion and and All-American in 2016 while attending NC State, Tommy Gantt joined the coaching staff In July 2023 to give back to his alma-mater, helping lead young men, as he was led.

“I am grateful for the time I had as both an athlete and a coach at NC State. I have spent half of my life in that wrestling room as either an athlete or a coach at this point,” stated Tommy Gantt. “I just felt that even though I was done wrestling competitively, I still had the fire in me to go out and test myself and I wasn’t going to be able to reach my ceiling in fighting while continuing to coach wrestling full-time.”

“I had a conversation with my former college coach who was also my boss at NC State, and he felt that I could beat anyone in the world in MMA if I was in the proper training situation. He encouraged me to go all in fighting and we both agreed that was the only path forward for me. I didn’t necessarily enjoy the office work and the travel that came with being a wrestling coach but the actual instruction and live wrestling with the guys on the team was  something I really enjoyed,” he said.

“A lot of the guys that I coached in my two years there as an assistant still reach out to me and ask me questions about wrestling or ask me to work with them 1 on 1 in the off season. That means a lot to me that they I helped them enough that they continue to reach out to me for guidance,” Tommy Gantt told MMASucka.

So About That “No Contest” We Mentioned…

As we mentioned in the introduction, there is a “no contest” blip on the otherwise perfect record of one of MMA’s rising stars. Why tell you what happened when the man himself has addressed the ordeal perfectly in his own words…

“Kyle Wright was my third fight in three weeks. Kyle was big and relatively strong but I was out wrestling him pretty easily in the first rounds,” Tommy Gantt said. “I felt break a little bit each time after each takedown I landed. Finally with about one minute and 30 seconds in the second round I hit him with an ankle pick and I felt him quit once he hit the mat. As soon he was on the ground he started illegally grabbing the inside of my glove and holding on for dear life. I used my shin to pin his forearm to the mat to free my hand from the illegal grip he had.”

The referee did an atrocious job and said that I illegally kneed Wright in the head when he was on the ground,” he said. “Once Kyle Wright actually realized that referee was calling a foul that didn’t happened he flopped on the ground and tears started streaming down his face and he was claiming he couldn’t see. I just started laughing. He deserves an Academy Award for his performance”.

You can see the fight by clicking here. 

Contender Series Showdown for Tommy Gantt Tuesday

Tommy Gantt will battle another undefeated fighter in Adam Livingston on the Sept. 16, 2025, showing of the Contender Series. With five of his six career victories coming by finish (four of those by KO/TKO) we can expect to see an instant classic Contender Series showing, but what does the next big thing in the UFC have to say about what to expect?

“The can expect to see me push a world class pace and use everything I’ve learned in the past three years inside of that cage. I plan on finishing my opponent violently and making a statement to the rest of the lightweight division that I’m coming for them.”