by John Stapleton, Contributing Editor
Armando Lucio was born into the fight game. Hearing the sound of punches making contact, the grunts of pain, the dull thuds from someone hitting the mat, the voices pushing for better effort or to ‘get back up’— are a natural soundtrack for him.
His family owns the Rodriguez and the Madison Boxing Clubs in Phoenix, the Taz Boxing Club in Eloy and Pinal Martial Arts in Eloy.
Lucio was raised in Eloy and Casa Grande with his mother Alvina and father Armando Sr., along with his two sisters. Lucio says at 9 he began combat sports, eventually competing locally and nationally in Chinese Kenpo, then later on jujitsu and mixed martial arts.
“I began training MMA in Eloy with Richie Reyes at the Devil’s Den, then with Gabe Rivas and Carlos Ortega at Arizona Jiu Jitsu Academy,” Lucio says. “I trained any time I could between work and college classes. I went 2-1 as an amateur and 0-1 as a pro. At that point I realized I enjoyed coaching more than fighting.”
In 2011, Lucio began helping his cousin Ronnie Rodriguez at the Taz Boxing Gym while also starting to teach his own children the fundamentals. Five years later he started the Cobra Fight Club in Arizona City before moving it to Casa Grande.
“As a parent I wanted to be able to give back to the kids and young adults in the community, while sharing my love of the sport,” Lucio says. “Cobra Fight Club was established for this purpose, to give the youth and young adults in our community a place to come and learn a new skill, keep busy off the streets and away from the temptations of gangs and drugs.”
Cobra Fight Club is a nonprofit organization with a mission of keeping at-risk youth out of trouble by giving them not only a positive environment, but also a place where they can channel their energy.
“Our club was established six years ago in Arizona City to give the kids something fun to do in a small town with no sports or parks and to help those who were starting to take the wrong path,” Lucio says. “MMA teaches discipline and a sense of self-worth — you become a part of a family and build self-confidence. You are able to defend yourself and stand up for yourself and others who are not able to for themselves.”
As a nonprofit, Lucio and the other coaches have volunteer their time. They all have 9-to-5 jobs. Lucio starts his day at the gym then heads in to work at Lucid Motors. After work, he returns to the gym to continue training the fighters.
Since the inception of the gym, the staff would dedicate their free time coaching students and their weekends were filled with competitions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.
The volunteer staff has been limited and the club forced to halt classes to the public, now keeping the focus on fighters currently training for competitive matches.
This recently included Lucio’s own return to the MMA octagon in Las Vegas at age 40. While he had to tap out on his match, Lucio says it was “great fun.”
Lucio says the club is training six fighters to compete. He is using his favorite saying of “always push forward and believe in yourself” as extra motivation on the next part of the journey.
“Cobra Fight Club is forever,” Lucio says. “We have had a lot of big opportunities this past year and made some new great connections in the fight game. So we are looking forward to the change and are going to go all out this year and try to bring home some titles.”
