Gary Goodridge had more than 80 fights during his legendary career in combat sports.
The former UFC star traded blows with some of the hardest-hitting heavyweights of all time, including Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko and Mark Coleman.
However, Goodridge insists none of his 46 fights in MMA were tougher than one he had in kickboxing.
‘Big Daddy’ shared the ring with Glaube Feitosa at the peak of his powers, which ended with the ‘Brazilian Warrior’ winning the coveted K-1 World Grand Prix.
In April 2005, Goodridge got knocked out through the ropes by a high kick.
The 58-year-old managed to go the three-round distance with Feitosa in November of the same year, but he probably wished he didn’t after getting one of his teeth knocked out by a front kick.
“My toughest opponent was a guy named Glaube Feitosa,” Goodridge told talkSPORT MMA.
“I fought him twice in K-1. This guy really beat the heck out of me.
“I mean, he kicked out one of my teeth. Wow! It was just a tough fight.
“It was just gritty, and you just had to get in the trenches and work, work, work. It was a lot of pain. I had a lot of pain in K-1, there was a lot of pain involved in it.
“It was such a gritty fight. I lost to him twice, but it was such a good, entertaining fight the first time that they brought it back a second time.
“It was the same thing, just painful. They paid me for the pain really. It was a lot of pain.”
Goodridge suffered 24 TKO/KO losses during his epic two-sport career.
The Trinidadian Canadian fighter is pretty sure the hardest he got hit was during one of those fights, but he can’t be sure as his lights went off and he can’t remember.
Goodridge added: “The hardest hitter I never felt them, because I went to sleep.”
Goodridge walked away from fighting in 2010 and two years later he was diagnosed with early-onset Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head
The symptoms can include problems with behaviour, mood and thinking, but 12 years after his diagnosis, the MMA fan favourite is feeling fine.
Goodridge stated: “I’m not really impacted that much.
“I forget a thing here or there, but I’m also 58 years old. I’m fine.
“I was always a tough person and wanted to prove myself to be tough.
“Unfortunately, that’s what you get when you’re tough.”
To learn more about Goodridge and his story head over to his YouTube channel.
News Summary:
- I fought Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko – but toughest opponent was ‘Brazilian Warrior’ who kicked my tooth out
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