Issue 095

December 2012

When I first talked to UFC flyweight Ulysses Gomez about covering his family’s big weekend, I imagined a story of incredible glory and once-in-a-lifetime joy. After all, the Southern California native was returning to Los Angeles to make his UFC debut, and he’d be fighting at Staples Center, the home of his beloved Los Angeles Lakers. 

The next night, he’d return to his current residence in Las Vegas and walk literally across the street to watch his brother, professional soccer player Herculez Gomez, take on one of the most powerful franchises in all the world as Real Madrid came to Sin City to meet Mexican club Santos Laguna. To top it off, the day of the soccer game was the boys’ father’s birthday, and the whole family would be there to celebrate.

What actually played out was a little bit different. “There was a picture of me right after the fight with tears running down my face,” Ulysses tells Fighters Only. “I had literally just got done getting stitches, so my head is still bloody. My eyes are red. It was a tough moment.

“I told myself before the fight that I was going to take a moment and look up at the all of the Lakers’ championship banners hanging from the rafters. I just didn’t think I would be doing it with my back on the canvas.”

Gomez stepped in with a little more than a week’s notice to face John Moraga at UFC on Fox 4. Unfortunately, things didn’t go his way, and ‘Useless’ was knocked out in the first round. It was his first career loss via stoppage. “The other two losses I had, I always said I didn’t really lose, I just ran out of time,” Ulysses says. “Not this time. I lost.” 

Herculez wasn’t able to watch his brother’s fight live. He was in Las Vegas, where both he and Ulysses graduated high school, to receive an award as an ambassador of the community, and he was recognized with an official day in his honor. Instead, Herculez heard the bad news via text message updates from his family.

“I mean, it was worst-case scenario,” Ulysses says. “I was knocked out in the first round in my UFC debut. It couldn’t have been any worse. That was the worst result.” But there was little time to sulk. Instead, with a battered ego and bruised skull, Ulysses made the trip home, put on a Santos Laguna jersey and made his way to Sam Boyd Stadium.

“No matter what I was going through, it didn’t matter because the day of the game was my brother’s day,” Ulysses admits. “The day of my fight was my day, and Herc was getting an award, but he was checking the results while it was his day. I had to be there for him. Real Madrid is a big deal. They had almost 30,000 people at that game.”

Things went a little better for Herculez – but not by much. His team played well and only lost 2-1 to the reigning Spanish champions. Herculez was unable to score during his 73 minutes on the pitch, and he was issued a yellow card after a little skirmish with Portuguese national Pepe. Ulysses, whose family sat just two rows up at the midfield line, said the passionate crowd around him forced him to bite his tongue on more than one occasion.

“To me, it was funny,” he says. “I was in the crowd, and I could hear people talking about Herc. I’m just like, ‘Keep on saying stuff.’” Ulysses said the criticisms ultimately quieted down when his identity was given away by the one identifying marker, the brothers share: the Gomez family ears. And while Herculez’s team fell short in their bid to upset the European giants, Ulysses said he was proud of his brother.

“He played a good game. They lost, but he played a good game.” And so my story of observing unbridled happiness for a special family on a special weekend instead transformed into watching a fighter deal with the pain of falling short in his biggest moment and yet still coming home to be a good husband and father, as well as a good son and supportive brother. Not exactly what I hoped for, but still beautiful all the same.

Ulysses adds: “It’s a tough sport. When you win, it’s the highest of highs. When you lose, it’s the lowest of lows. And it’s not just you. My parents, my sisters, they’re more stressed about it than I am. I was going to be at Herculez’s game, regardless. No matter how I felt inside, I was going to be there. But it was a weird weekend.”

By John Morgan, former Fighters Only World MMA Awards ‘Journalist of the Year’