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Sports

Fighting For Family: MMA Fighter Erik Purcell Opens Up

Nearly five years ago, Erik Purcell had an important decision to make.

Nearly five years ago, Erik Purcell had an important decision to make. He wanted full custody of his daughter, but needed to find a way to make things work financially.

“Me being a think outside-the-box kind of guy, I realized I couldn’t have a normal job and get full custody of her,” Purcell said. “I knew I could fight, so I decided I would become a cage fighter just sitting in the kitchen of my house. I never planned on making MMA a career. It was always just fun, and then it reached a point where I had to go for full custody of my daughter.”

The 1995 Neshaminy graduate wrestled for the varsity team. 

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After high school, to go along with his wrestling background, he experimented with Russian Sambo and Jiujitsu. 

His first MMA fight came against Joe Silva.

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“He came out and he was a monster. He looked like someone off of Muscle Fitness, just huge and scary looking.  I came and just dominated him,” Purcell said. “So since then, everybody was like, you got me, you can do this.”

Not only did Purcell see a career inside the cage, he found a career outside of it as well.

He has a MMA training series with NBC sports, and has opened a business revolved around personal training called EP Fit.

“I did a couple things with versus initially, where they followed me around leading up to a fight. All of that went pretty well. Then, they asked me to put together a training series for the website because versus was ready to start carrying UFC,” Purcell said.

“I choreographed a sequence of training moves that weren’t just here’s how you do a Jiujitsu move or here’s how you throw a cross. It was a combination of everything. It was a pretty big hit, so we shot some more," Purcell added.

Purcell talked about his new series.

“We’re highlighting UFC fighters now, so we’re doing some of the moves that made them as popular and as devastating as they are. We’re getting ready to do a shoot for that coming up,” he said.

Purcell has started training for a fight coming up in Wildwood come August 5. His opponent has yet to be announced.

“I train with the best guys in the world,” he said. “I’m over at Ricardo Almedai's gym, world renowned Jiujitsu specialists. We have the UFC Champions Frankie Edgar over there, they’re all just World Champions. And everyone meets there from around the world and trains. We spar Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  It’s pretty amazing when you’re sitting around the room and you’re familiar with who you’re sparring with.”

"It’s just been a weird sequence of events, my pro-career so far. I just want to wipe the slate clean and beat people up, have some fun"

Make sure to check out Purcell's personal website at erikpurcell.com. Follow him on Twitter @Erikpurcell.

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