Every day, constantly, Brent Primus is cognizant of his journey.
Not just his journey in the world of combat sports but the path the former Bellator lightweight champion took to this point in life: 39 years old, happily married with “a beautiful wife, three kids and an awesome house and, you know, things that I didn’t have growing up.”
As he stares down two of the most important fights of his MMA career — a Saturday PFL semifinal matchup against Clay Collard in Hollywood, Fla., and the potential fall championship bout that would mean a $1 million year in the cage — he keeps it all in perspective.
Primus is no longer the same headstrong 13-year-old who was kicked out of his Oregon house by his stepfather.
He’s done dealing marijuana, enough for a teenager with no adult supervision to keep the lights on and enough to draw the attention of both “gangb*ngers” from Los Angeles and the police.
That was another lifetime ago, before Primus put streetfighting aside for the humbling path of Brazilian jiu-jitsu mastery, putting him on the straight and narrow and leading to the eventual creation of the top seed in the PFL lightweight postseason tournament.
“It’s just crazy what life can bring and what you can make out of it,” Primus tells The Post reflectively during a recent video call. “It’s pretty cool, man. And I’m gonna win this dang million dollars, and it’s gonna be amazing for me and my family, for sure.”
Primus’ turbulent youth is well chronicled by now, considering his bout against Collard comes a month shy of 14 years since his professional MMA debut.
He’s one of the few mixed martial artists who can say he became a champion in the primary arena at Madison Square Garden, where he picked up a TKO victory over current UFC star Michael Chandler in June 2017 in one of the old Bellator regime’s rare visits to The World’s Most Famous Arena.
“I remember thinking when I was fighting in Madison Square Garden [against] Michael Chandler, I remember walking out there and was like, ‘Man, I chose this, and I worked for this, and I could have been in jail or some stupid thing like a lot of my friends were or ended up,” said Primus, underscoring the gratitude he carries with him wherever he goes.
He brought that to the PFL after Bellator was acquired by its rival for the No. 2 position in North American MMA behind industry leader UFC.
In the process, Primus (14-3, 12 finishes) says he signed a contract which meant he could fight either for PFL or on events the promotion continues to put on using the Bellator branding but ended up in the 10-man, 155-pound field for the regular season that began in April.
That meant as many as four fights this year: two regular-season contests that could place him in the four-man tournament.
While Primus’ MMA career goes back to his mid-20s, he’d managed to compete in just 16 pro bouts from the time of his 2010 debut to his Bellator 300 no contest (a loss to Usman Nurmagomedov that was overturned by a banned substance positive test from the current Bellator lightweight champion) and had never had more than two bouts in a year.
The more hectic competitive calendar was nonetheless welcomed by Primus, who didn’t always love keeping a lighter annual load.
“It was just hard to get fights back-to-back [in Bellator], and even when I asked to get them, I just never did,” Primus explains, unsure of why that was the case. “And that’s why I really like this whole PFL platform and season because we’re fighting three, four times a year. I absolutely love it. I love staying busy. I love staying in the gym. I obviously cannot wait to eat some carbs and some dessert, but I’m loving staying busy. It’s awesome. I love PFL.”
Surely, it helps that the results have been stellar for Primus this season, with a pair of rear-naked choke submissions by the grappling ace that earned him a total of nine points in the standings and the top seed in his bracket.
Those victories, over Bruno Miranda in April and Solomon Renfro in June, opened the door for the all-important semifinal against Collard (25-13, 15 finishes).
Though Primus has a pair of TKO victories on his ledger and Collard has won three times by submission, it’s no secret where each is most effective: Primus’ strength is on the mat, and Collard’s is with the striking skills that made him win his first five boxing bouts of a surprising 2020 run in the ring.
All the same, Primus says he’s “not just a grappler” and has the utmost confidence in his muay thai and boxing skills against such an opponent.
“I know I can stop Clay Collard with my kicks and my punches. I know I can, especially how he keeps his hands kind of low and how he dips and moves,” explains Primus, pointing out potential avenues to exploit the opponent who also has lost three of his last four including one via armbar submission. “I feel confident that I can knock him out. But at the same time, man, yeah, I take that boxer down, I’m gonna choke him out, submit this guy.”
