Tyrone Spong attempts to overcome personal tragedy ahead of GLORY 15

Tyrone Spong is doing his best to stay focused on next weekend’s GLORY 15 light heavyweight kickboxing tournament, but there are much more serious matters weighing heavy on his mind.

The recent deaths of a former coach and a close family member nearly led to Spong’s withdrawal from the April 12 tournament in Istanbul, Turkey. However, despite his decision to fight on, the 28-year-old is having difficulty dealing with the traumatic situation.

“A good friend of mine who I started my career training with, Tarik El Idrissi, he passed away – he got killed in Amsterdam,” Spong told MMAjunkie. “Then my uncle, my mother’s brother, got killed in South America. So it’s like suddenly it’s a rough period.”

According to Spong, both murders took place took place during his training camp in the recent weeks leading up to the fight, which made him question whether or not he’s mentally fit to compete.

While that question still lingers in his mind, Spong believes both men would wish for him to more forward with his career.

“I’m not the type of person to cancel a fight,” Spong said. “I know they were both big fans of my career. I started training with Tarik, and my uncle was a big fan of my career. I know that they would want me to focus on do what I need to do, so that’s what I’m doing right now.”

What makes these instances so difficult to grasp for Spong is the nature of the deaths.

“It’s just f—ed up,” Spong said. “Death is part of life, so you need to accept it. But the way these people passed away is tragic and very violent. That makes it harder to accept and to deal with.”

Even though Spong admits he had thoughts about pulling out of GLORY 15, which airs live on Spike TV, he believes the choice to compete was ultimately the right one.

While he could have taken some additional time to mourn, Spong says the distraction of training was a good outlet to take his mind of the recent hardships.

“When I think about it, it makes me sad,” Spong said. “It’s so fresh. People around me ask me if I’m still going to do the fight and say maybe it’s better if I don’t, because they saw how it affected me. But it’s not in my nature. I know these people would want me to focus and do what I need to do. That’s what I’m doing right now heading into April 12.”

Spong is one of the most active athletes in combat sports, but the GLORY 15 tournament will mark his first night of competition this year.

He hopes to return to a more active schedule as the year goes on, including his next MMA bout for World Series of Fighting. But before making anything else official after GLORY 15, Spong wants time to sort out his emotions.

“I’m going to see how I feel after the fight,” Spong said. “Maybe it’s better to keep busy because otherwise you fall into a hole. But we’ll see how far the fight is, what is the exact date and everything. When everything is official we’ll make a decision from there.”

Pushing his emotions to the side to compete is one challenge for Spong. The other is to actually win the four-man bracket by earning two victories in a single night.

That’s no easy feat, especially when looking at the field of competitors, which includes Gokhan Saki, a fighter who handed Spong his last knockout loss back in 2009.

While a rematch in the tournament final would be the ideal situation, Spong says he isn’t focused on redemption of Saki, but instead proving to the world how far he has come since that loss.

“I want to win the tournament – that’s all,” Spong said. “Back then I was a different athlete, a different person and I relied too much on my talents. Not that I wasn’t training hard, but it was just different. I wasn’t dedicated to my craft like I am now.”

Among the four-man field, Spong is considered the favorite to win the tournament. However, it’s hard to determine how, or if, the deaths of his former coach and uncle will factor into his performance.

Spong says it won’t at all, and in fact, he plans to excel beyond expectations as a way to honor those who are no longer with him.

“This fight is dedicated to them,” Spong said.