Matthews-Grove fight: A test of strength and stamina
Lapu Lapu’s got AJ’s back: “I felt like I just had bonus power.”
Pinoy Bellator welterweight/middleweight AJ “Pison” Matthews returns to the cage this January but this time, he is up against a good friend in veteran Kendall Grove. They will battle at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in California. This will be a true test of his strength, skill, and stamina!
The 29-year-old Under Armour ambassador says he is pumped and is scheduled to fly back to the US this month to dive back into intense training after recently relocating to his mother’s homeland, the Philippines.
Upon learning about his next fight, Aegle Wellness Center at The City Club in Makati has been helping him prepare for this through immune-boost IV treatments and hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions through the assistance of Dr. Ben Valdecañas, the center’s medical director.
AJ has been doing everything he can to make sure that his new year opens with a bang and looks forward to bringing more honor and glory to the country in the near future!
PHILIPPINE STAR: Is it hard for you to get into a fight, fighting against somebody whom you consider a friend?
AJ MATTHEWS: We've messaged each other briefly, when they were starting to put the fight together and in the end, that’s how we get paid, it’s just how we eat and so that's kind of what we agreed with each other. But I still don't know how I’ll feel about it. It’s like, it’s Kendall Grove, so you get pumped up, but then he’s my homie so it’s kind of like, damn, but I’m sure I’ll get over it and I’m sure that the best AJ is gonna come out because I have to be in my best in fighting Kendall.
What preparations are you putting into place for January?
Well, I’m a little bit light and I’m going up to middleweight so right now, I'm just lifting a lot of weight in a lot of food but also spending a lot of time on the treadmills doing cardio, with coach George Castro as well as Brandon Vera so we’re doing striking technique and then I get hard rounds on the mitts with coach George and we just got back on the backyard, too. So we’ll be ripping that thing apart.
You're coming off on an injury, you want to touch on that a bit?
Ha, ha, ha, we can talk about the injury after, because that doesn’t matter. Its just gonna be a big mountain to climb and that’s kind of when we learn a lot of things about ourselves, and we can overcome this matter that is put in front of us, and then just get beyond that. I’m using this all as an opportunity to be motivated to become a better AJ.
On a personal note, talk about your tattoo of Lapu Lapu and why it pumps you up.
(Laughs) I didn’t know he was so tall, I’ll tell you that much. I was in Thailand and I had an appreciation for certain Thai fighters and most of them would have a big demon on their back, a war god on their back or somebody, so I came to the Philippines to live here and I was talking with my friend, and we’re talking about tattoos I like for my back and he says, “Get a Lapu Lapu”! I was like, who’s that? Then just every story would tell a great tale so I said just book a guy who will do it! The more Lapu Lapu is done, like my last fight, half of his body done, and I felt like I just had bonus power. Now it’s full on. I can’t wait and I’m ready to unveil him.
What’s in store for AJ in 2018?
2018 is just gonna be such a crazy year, I get to start this one, January 26! My birthday is January 23, so it starts with me winning a fight turning 30 years old. From there, this is my last fight on the contract of Bellator, which makes it even much more an important fight for me, because you know the potential is endless at that point. Bellator has been so good to me, so obviously I would like to be the reason that Bellator comes to the Philippines. So maybe we'll be doing that in 2018.
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