By By Matthew Nascone
Kerry Rothchild wants to make something of his life and he wants to do that by fighting. Not street fighting, but ultimate fighting. And he already has the slogan to fit what he does, "Team Big Dream, Knocking Chumps Out Since 1979."
Kerry "Big Dream" Rothchild started training for the cage matches involved in ultimate fighting four months ago and his first fight was Oct. 21 in Lake Charles, La. He put a Brazilian jujitsu purple belt into a submission hold in under three minutes. But it is not about the glamour for Rothchild, it is about the money.
"I want to follow my dreams and get rich man," he said. "I want to be able to support my family and not have them worry about anything. I am 27 now and I can try this until I am 35 and then I can go back to working at Fountain and retire at 50. But I have to at least try for my dream of winning the light heavyweight belt of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)."
The man was born and raised in Atmore. He graduated from Escambia County High School in 1997 after playing football for his first two years and baseball for one year.
"I try to tell all these young folks today they don't know what they are missing by not graduating," Rothchild said. "Those were the best years of my life man."
After graduation from high school he attended Reid State Technical College for a year and a half, but had to drop out when his daughter got sick and needed health insurance.
"I had to drop out of school and get a job to take care of my baby," he said. "But when I start winning some fights and getting some money, I will go back to school."
Lakera, 9, was the child who was in need of medical attention and Rothchild has two other daughters. Those two daughters, Ciuandra, 3, and 1-year-old Tyasia will always try and pick a fight with daddy when he comes home.
"I put my gloves on and they will want to fight with me," Rothchild said. "And sometimes Tyasia will put on the gloves and come at me. It is funny because all that looks like is a head and gloves attacking you."
Rothchild is associated with the International Sport Combat Federation (ISCF). This is the association every ultimate fighter must first go through to get to UFC. It is like the minor leagues of UFC.
The ISCF is a leading organization for the organization of what is known as mixed martial arts fighting.
"When the UFC first started out there were all kinds of specialist fighters," Rothchild said. "You had your wrestlers, your jujitsu guys and many other forms, but now everyone has to use a form of mixed martial arts. That is how much the sport has evolved."
Big Dream uses a mixture of wrestling, boxing and jujitsu, but he said his style is mostly of the freestyle variety.
"I will use whatever technique will get me the win," he said.
Former World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. is the reason Rothchild is fighting in the first place. His fianc/, Demetria Monroe, has a brother who happens to be Jones' trainer. He got Rothchild in a ring one day, but boxing didn't seem to fit Rothchild's style. So he tried fighting and his first fight was set up and his career is blossoming with his next fight set for Dec. 16 in Lafayette, La.
But before he can really hit the ground fighting, so to speak, he will need to snag a sponsor.
"I have been praying that I get a local sponsorship," Rothchild said. "I want to try and get something in Atmore, but anyone willing to sponsor me on the Gulf Coast would be great. I want to try and base everything out of this city and start up a local gym sometime in the future."
With that sponsorship can come bigger fights, and with bigger fights will come more money. Rothchild said that is the key to happiness.
"I have been with my fianc/ for five years and I want to have a lot of money before we get married," he said. "Because a good part of marriage is financial stability. Basically, if you have God and money, you should be all right."
If you want to keep up with Big Dream's success, visit www.lefthookpromotions.com for all his statistics. Or you can check out the current ISCF rankings at www.iscfmma.com.