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Welcome to my site. My name is Fernando
Rivera. I was born and raised in Hartford, CT.
Being raised in a tough city, from gangs to
prison, I had a pretty up and down life. My
story is a long one. If I were to put it all on
here, you'd either be entertained or die of
boredom. I may have lived on this planet 37
years. But, most people that do what I do
now, are looking at retiring soon. I am only
beginning.
I was introduced into Martial Arts at the age
of seven. My dad thought that I would be
okay on the streets if I knew how to kick ass.
So, he put me into Tae Kwon Do. I did Tae
Kwon Do for almost ten years. This made me
a hell of a street fighter.
Throughout my youth I got involved with
several other martial arts. I fell in love with
anything that had to do with it. I did some
Judo and Hapkido too.
When The Ultimate Fighting Championship
came to the scene, I felt the sport was made
for me. I had to get involved. As the years
passed and my involvement with the street
life caused me to do some prison time, I felt I
needed to do something I knew I would be
very comfortable doing. Especially if I wanted
to live to be a ripe old age.
About four years ago, I decided to move to
Worcester, MA with my soon to be wife to
make positive changes in my life. i got a job
and enrolled in an American Kenpo Karate
school up the street from my house. Being
that I had extensive martial arts background,
I ranked pretty fast.
I earned my Black Belt in American Kenpo
Karate May 6th of 2008.
While browsing the web, I came across an
am league looking for fighters. Hell, I signed
up. I then signed up for any and all that would
accept applications. Soon after, a pro league
out of the Boston, MA area, the WFL was the
first to call me. When asked what team I
belonged to, I gave my Karate's school name
East West Kenpo Karate. That was the birth
of Team EWKK...

I weighed 245 pounds for my first fight. I
was still smoking cigarettes at the time. I
won my first pro fight. Apparently the guy I
was fighting got tired before I did. That was
an awesome feeling. I then realized that I
did in fact find something I can do for a
while...
My second fight was to David Woodby. This
is when I realized that my first fight was in
fact a pro fight. David was the victor in that
battle. Since then, Dave and I became close
friends and training partners. We then
decided that we would join forces. Team
EWKK - Hoodlum MMA Fighting Systems was
created,. (EWKK standing for East West
Kenpo Karate at time the school I was in).
People ask, “Why Hoodlum”? Well, the word
Hoodlum is a term for being street tough. It
derived from a gang’s or group’s call to unite,
“Huddle’em” and ready themselves for a
fight... We thought it was perfect. It stuck.
As you look through my site, you will see any
and all that is me. The real Fernando Rivera.
From my experiences in my up and down life
to the life I have created for myself and my
family now. Any one who says they can’t
make their dreams come true is just lying to
themselves.

Enjoy...