June 01--CORPUS CHRISTI -- Nearly eight years ago, after Roger Narvaez joined the Corpus Christi Fire Department, he began dabbling in jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts simply to remain in shape.
Now, the 30-year-old Carroll graduate finds himself on MMA's biggest stage, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
In becoming the first Corpus Christi fighter to make it to the UFC, Narvaez will face Patrick Cummins Ultimate Fighting ChampionshipJune 7 at the Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The three-rounder is on the Fox Sports 1-televised undercard of the Benson Henderson-Rustam Khabilov UFC Fight Night 42 main event.
The road from training at the gyms at Full Contact Fight Academy, Hard Style Kettle Bell Club and Weapons At Hand in South Texas to the UFC was a long one, Narvaez said. Reaching the pinnacle of the sport now is "surreal," he said.
"It's huge; it means a lot to me," said Narvaez, 6-0 as a pro and 10-0 counting amateur bouts. "It's a sense of validation, years of hard work. I basically started doing jiu-jitsu and MMA about seven years ago when I got into the department as a means to stay in shape. I tried my luck at the amateur level and turned pro.
"I always had aspirations for the UFC, but to have it become a reality is still somewhat surreal."
Narvaez is stepping in to fight Cummins, a former All-American wrestler at Penn State, in place of Francimar Barroso, who bowed out because of an injury. Cummins (4-1) was hammered in his UFC debut in February. Daniel Cormier, a former U.S. Olympic wrestling training mate of Cummins, scored a technical knockout via punches at the 1-minute, 19-second mark of the first round.
While Narvaez only learned of the UFC opportunity a week ago, he isn't going in cold or without confidence. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder had been preparing for a June 13 title fight against Bubba Bush on the Legacy FC 31 card, a rung below the UFC.
"I got this opportunity, which is a week earlier, so I had to speed up things, cut things back a week," Narvaez said. "But other than that everything has been going along right on track, my strength and conditioning, my sparring, all that good stuff. This camp's probably been one of my best camps ever. Each camp gets a little better.
"So (going) to UFC, it was a short-notice fight but for me it was not," Narvaez said. "I was already in camp. I was already training so I'm excited."
A four-year-plus MMA veteran, Narvaez was a two-time All-South Texas honorable mention selection as a Carroll offensive lineman in 2000-01. The father of stepson Enrique, 8, and daughter Cynthia, 2, Narvaez will celebrate his third wedding anniversary with wife Brandi two days before the fight.
With coaches Hector Munoz and Rudy Valenzuela preparing him, Narvaez said reaching the UFC level always was an attainable goal.
"It was always a possible idea of making it," Narvaez said. "I knew I had the coaches and the teammates to push me there. I have the support at home, which is huge. I knew I had the physical ability. I've always been an athlete and so I knew it was just a matter of hard work and dedication and it's paid off.
"I made my name on the regional level and had a couple of managers throwing my name in there on the UFC bucket and this was just an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So I got the chance and I took it."
Twitter: @Caller_GeorgeV
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