Brighton’s Danthony Muniz still wants to be a professional mixed-martial arts fighter.
But until that comes to pass, he’s going to try something new.
Submission grappling.
His first venture is Saturday, April 29, when he and his team head to New York.
Muniz said this new turn involves trying to score a submission victory, either through a choke or through what he called “a joint lock,” a technique that maneuvers an opponent’s joints beyond their maximum range of motion.
“Yes there is a difference between grappling and wrestling,” Muniz said. “In wrestling, you are looking to score a take down to a pin. Within grappling, you’re looking to take your opponent down and score a submission over them.”
Mixed martial arts doesn’t carry over to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But BJJ does transfer over to mixed-martial arts. Muniz said training in either BJJ or grappling gives the competitor an advantage on the floor during an MMA bout.
“I believe I am at the absolute top of my game at the moment,” Muniz said. “I’ve been preparing for moments like this for years. The biggest change in my training has been I’ve moved my focus over from boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and jiu-jitsu over to strictly only jiu-jitsu. This gives me the chance to focus on technique that will be needed in order to finish some of the best guys in the world.
“I also believe I am doing everything I need to be doing in order to be where I need to be,” he added. “I’m a ‘both-feet-in-the-water’ type of person.”
Even with the switch in focus, there’s been no switch in Muniz’ routine. It’s extensive .. a five-mile run and weight lifting in the morning, a training session late in the morning, then more training late in the afternoon. All told, it amounts to four to five training sessions per day.
Muniz still has his eyes on mixed martial arts on down the road.
“This is an incredible opportunity for me. So, at the moment, my focus will be completely on being prepared to face the best black belts in the world at 135 pounds,” he said. “This new step has given me an opportunity to get out to somewhere I’ve never been before and also to be able to compete on a very high level. I believe a ton of big things will come from the publicity I’ll be receiving from Emerald City Invitational and FloGrappling.”
