-Shane Mercer
Rising mixed martial arts star Amun Cosme made a fan for life at his last fight at iKON FC 2. It all started with a young kid, about 10-years-old, named Markus Seger Jr. He was lucky enough to go backstage before the event and he was meeting lots of famous fighters, getting them to sign his poster.
'Moon' signed the poster and they got to chatting, and Markus told him he does jiu-jitsu and wants to do MMA.
“So I was kind of just talking with him a little bit about it and fast forward to when I'm walking out and walking out with this MILLIONS hat, I signed this hat and I had intentions on throwing it into the crowd,” says Cosme, “I can't see anything because the only lights are on the cage, throw it into the crowd. I go in and finish my fight, three minutes into the first round and as I'm walking out of the cage, little Mark comes up, the same young gentleman who we signed the poster for, comes up with the hat."
Markus Jr. caught the signed hat! “When he was walking out, he had this song going, going it's about work. So when he got down to the stairs, he threw it out. I caught it. And right after that we took a picture,” says Markus Jr.
But the story doesn’t end there. “That moment could be ingrained in his and my memory for the rest of our lives and then I bumped into him and his dad again later on, getting Denny's that night at 3 a.m. in Miami. I wanted pancakes, he's knocked out with the MILLIONS hat in Denny's.
And it turns out Markus Jr. doesn’t ever want to take it off, “Yeah, I love it. I wore it like three days in a row and I still wear it like every day.” When we showed that video to Cosme, he says he was filled with emotion, “he met Jorge Masvidal, Tito Ortiz, Rampage Jackson, Frank Mir and he said, I'm his favorite fighter, so that means a lot. And you know, it just meant a lot to me.”
Cosme says he’ll be carrying this moment with him throughout his career. Here’s the video Cosme sent us after we showed him the video of Markus Jr. talking about the hat, sent to us by his dad. We’ve also included the transcription of Cosme’s video.
Amun: Alright, I just kind of want to talk about my experience with little Mark and his dad that I had at my iKON 2 fights because it made a huge impact on me and little did I know that it made a huge impact on Mark as well, little Mark as well. I walked out with the Millions hat, but before I walked out all the fighters are in the back and we were just kind of just hanging out and getting ready for the fights and the little kid comes back there, about 10 years old, and he has a poster and he gets he asked all the charity fighting tonight, he gets all the guys who are fighting to sign his poster and when he came to me and I signed the poster, I was like, “Hey man, like, do you do any martial arts or whatever?” he's like, yeah, he does jiu-jitsu and he wants to do MMA.
So I was kind of just talking with him a little bit about it and fast forward to when I'm walking out and walking out with this Millions hat, I signed this hat and I had intentions on throwing it into the crowd and as I'm walking out to Eric Thomas, motivational speaker, I'm coming out to a song called, it's about work, you know, hard work and that's why I feel what my journey is about and as I get to the end, I throw the hat in the crowd, randomly, there are hundreds of people there, maybe 1000 people and I can't see anything because the only lights are on the cage, throw it into the crowd. I go in and finish my fight, three minutes into the first round and as I'm walking out of the cage, little Mark comes up, the same young gentleman who we signed the poster for, comes up with the hat. He's like, “I caught the hat.”
They're trying to like, get me to go backstage because we're like, live and I'm like, yeah, hold on, I got to take a picture with this kid because out of everybody who could have caught that hat, anybody who caught it would have been cool would have took a picture with them. But the fact that he was able to catch the hat and he wanted to come and take a picture with me and that moment meant a lot to him and made that moment mean a lot more for me too.
So the next couple of days, they had the freedom flights and everything like that, the kid’s wearing the hat. It just showed that that one small moment of thought of I don't do anything without intention of me throwing it into the crowd for someone to receive, like he was there to catch it. That moment could be ingrained in his and my memory for the rest of our lives and then I bumped into him and his dad again later on getting Denny's that night 3 a.m. in Miami, I wanted pancakes, he's knocked out with the millions hat in Denny's.
I just thought it was a cool story because you never really understand the impact you have on people what everyone you meet. Then his dad reached out to me and they sent me a video and he told me I was his favorite fighter and he remembered the song that I came to talk about, it's about work and I just thought that was a really like a really just beautiful moment and it meant a lot for me and it let me know that the journey that I'm on is affecting more people than I know. I came out to that song, it's about work for a simple reason, like this behind me. It says success. Success is at the tip of the iceberg, but at first you got to go through risk, failure, doubt, criticism, you got to have discipline, you got to sacrifice, you have to… you also have to have late nights, you got to have persistence and you've got to have hard work. So you got to go through a lot before you succeed and then when you do get to the top or on your way to the top, you have to remember everybody that helped you get there and this kid Mark also helped my journey in ways that he doesn't even know.
So he met Jorge Masvidal, Tito Ortiz, Rampage Jackson, Frank Mir and he said, I'm his favorite fighter, so that means a lot. And you know, it just meant a lot to me.
You can support Cosme on his journey through the fight game by buying his merchandise. And follow his story by frequently checking in on the MILLIONS blog.