His name was Luke Cummo.

Said another way, Cummo was simply not your cookie cutter MMA fighter. Perhaps because of this he was the last person picked for a team on the show. Who knows, maybe the coaches were simply confused by it all.

But as the show continued, another thing became crystal clear. Different, was not bad in Cummo’s case. Along with this, playing the role of underdog he won two exhibition bouts on his way to the TUF 2 Championship against Joe “Daddy” Stevenson.

Yes, he lost that bout in a close decision. But his tremendous heart was once again on display, enough so that he was also offered the same six figure UFC contract usually only given to TUF winners. And now, fresh off of two straight knockout victories in the UFC, Cummo is getting ready for another MMA challenge in opponent Luigi Fioravanti at UFC 82: Pride of a Champion on March 1, 2007.

But the interesting thing is that Luke Cummo isn’t just an MMA fighter. Rather, he is actively involved in intelligently fighting for the environment and promoting general health as well. And lucky for us, Cummo decided to have a word with MMAFighting.com’s Robert Rousseau about the environment, Kung Food, Life Food, his match with Luigi Fioravanti, and much more.

MMAFighting.com: How’s training been going?

Luke Cummo: Very good.

MMAFighting.com: Who have you been training with and where have you been going to do it?

Luke Cummo: My usual team. I trained with the champ Matt Serra at his school for jiu jitsu and all things grappling. My stand up and conditioning coach is Ray Longo. There was my Jeet Kune Do instructor, but mostly we concentrate on boxing and Muay Thai for competition. And I also have Michael Jocson who’s my Chek practitioner, which is like a strength and conditioning coach, only he takes more of a holistic approach to that area.

MMAFighting.com: What do you think of your upcoming opponent, Luigi Fioravanti?

Luke Cummo: I think that he’s very tough. He’s young; he’s thick; he’s like a little Mike Tyson.

MMAFighting.com: In looking at it, you’ve never been knocked out in an MMA match and neither has he. Both of you like to stand and bang a little. What do you think that translates to in the fight?

Luke Cummo: I think that translates to an exciting stand up bout that could get a little ugly.

MMAFighting.com: Yup. From a technical sense, how do you think his stand up game matches up with yours?

Luke Cummo: Well technically, I think that I’m going to be on my game that night. For me to come out the victor, I’m going to stick to my game plan and be very focused and be in the best shape ever.

MMAFighting.com: Could you talk just a little bit about what Life Food is (this is mentioned at his website)?

To read the rest of this article, check out MMAFighting.com