Being a Jersey boy comes with its own allure. There’s a certain label that comes with being from New Jersey, and it’s no shock a lot of fighters hail from the Garden State.
39-year-old Brandon “The Mechanic“ Cuttino grew up in New Jersey, and after getting a degree in marketing from Johnson and Wales in Providence, R.I., he turned a lifelong passion into a career.
“I’ve been training martial arts since I was a kid,“ Cuttino told Combat Press. “I was a big fan of martial arts – you know, Bruce Lee, Jean Claude Van Damme, Ninja Turtles. You know, It really got me into it. And, my dad actually was a professional boxer. So, that kind of had me in the combat world. I always had a tendency to like kickboxing, because, even as a kid growing up, I used to watch kickboxing on ESPN 2 and on TV. I’ve always liked kickboxing, and, of course, like I said, Jean Claude Van Damme with the kickboxing movies and everything like that. And then, I went away to college, came back, and I got back to training with my team, which is Tiger Schulmann’s. I’ve been with them this whole time. I saw teammates competing, and I was like, ‘You know what? I think it’s time for me to start doing it.’ So I just started kickboxing as an amateur. And then a couple of people who I went up against as an amateur turned pro, and I was just like, ‘You know what? If these guys can go pro, so can I.’ And, here we are.“
It turns out that the marketing degree was a perfect complement to a fighting career.
“The reason why I chose marketing was that I had a liking towards it,“ said Cuttino. “I always thought, if I ever did become an athlete, I want to be able to market myself. If I maybe ever get my own martial arts school, or gym, I want to be able to promote it and market it.“
Cuttino has been a longtime member of Tiger Schulmann’s in Brick, NJ. But, the team trains at the headquarters, which is in Elmwood Park, NJ. While he got a bit of a late start in his career, he has been quite successful.
“I turned pro at 32,“ said The Mechanic. “I want to say it was 2016 when I turned pro. As an amateur, and even as a pro, I always had trouble getting fights. So I felt like I always had these long layoffs. I mean, in my time as a pro, I got to fight for GLORY not once, but twice. I was on GLORY 33 with Simon Marcus, and the main event was Rico. And then I got to fight at GLORY 55 at the Hulu Theater, where Cedric Doumbe was on the card, Alex Pereira was on the card, Tiffany van Soest was on the card. Those were two of my main highlights. I got to be in the big show.“
The team at Tiger Schulmann’s has always been a mainstay in Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat shows on the East Coast. For a while, they stopped doing them in the city in lieu of having them in Long Island, which is a bit far for Cuttino to travel. However, on Friday, Oct. 4, ROC will be holding Combat at the Garden at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Cuttino will be headlining in a kickboxing title bout.
“When the opportunity came to be at the Garden, I definitely hopped on that,“ Cuttino said. “I heard that they were going to be coming to Madison Square Garden, and I saw Lou and said, ‘Hey, Lou MSG?’ And he was like, ‘Yes, let’s talk.’ So I just hit him up. He came back to me and he gave me Irakli Ghvinjilia’s name. And I was like, ‘OK, let’s do it.’“
Ghvinjilia is currently riding a four-fight winning streak. Cuttino welcomes the challenge and has some thoughts on his opponent.
‘“I think he got a late start too,’“ said Cuttino. ‘“I feel like, when you look his record up, I feel like he maybe turned pro at like 34, 35.
‘“I like kickboxing, because I don’t worry about the clinch so much. Like, I don’t mind clinching, because growing up as an amateur, I had a couple of Muay Thai fights as well. I think I just like the more fast-paced Dutch style.’“
So, where did the moniker ”The Mechanic“ come from?
“Because I do work,“ Cuttino explained. “I’m very technical. I just remember when I was an amateur, my coach at the time, he just used to always say, ‘Go in there just be a technician.’ That’s all he kept on telling me. The Mechanic came, because I do a lot of work to the body you know, like a body shop. Also, growing up, I was a big pro wrestling fan. My favorite wrestler was Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart. So, I like the nickname ‘Hitman,’ but there were just so many Hitman’s around, you know. And then the movie The Mechanic actually came out and basically The Mechanic was another way of saying hitman.“
On Friday night, Cuttino has a huge fan base, which he calls the Tune-Up Crew, and they will be reading to see their fan-favorite fighter win a title.
“As I told all my fans, bombs and drama. That’s what’s going down Friday. Bombs and drama.“