Knowing his remaining days in MMA competition are numbered, 15-year veteran Cheick Kongo has gotten a leg up on his retirement plan.
In a few days, Kongo will meet Tony Johnson in his 37th pro fight at Bellator 161. Neither of his stints in the Dutch incarnation of Rings, the UFC, or his current home have yielded a world title, but as much as he'd love to strap one around his waist before he hangs up his gloves, Kongo will be the first to admit retirement is steadily looming larger.
"Of course, I think about it all the time, I'm 41 years old," Kongo told theScore. "If all goes well at age 42 ... I give myself another two years of fighting. If I push myself, it'll be two years. As long as I can, I'll continue."
Few fighters are as well prepared for the day they call it a career as Kongo. For the last two years, he's championed an alternative form of radio-frequency reliant treatment transmitted through electrodes to stimulate the body's existing self-healing mechanisms for muscle and joint rehabilitation. The Paris native claims it accelerates recovery and keeps patients, himself included, out of the operating room.
"I threw myself into the project two years ago, and it's been a good start. There've been good returns."
Kongo embarked on the endeavor after reaping its alleged benefits firsthand. Months prior to his 2011 fight with Pat Barry at UFC on Versus 4, Kongo was plagued by two broken vertebrae and torn ligaments in both his shoulders. Surgeries and rehab had been estimated to take a combined five years, and would have forced him into early retirement. Thanks to the alternative treatment, Kongo claims to have recovered in a fraction of the time.
"I was in therapy for eight months, plus one month to prepare for the Pat Barry fight," Kongo said.
While surmounting such normally debilitating injuries was easily the hardest part, Kongo had to regain a mental edge and confidence in his body for the win. The fight lasted less than three minutes, as a barely conscious Kongo recovered from Barry's early onslaught to plant his feet and land two hard rights for the knockout. The surreal, come-from-behind finish would remain the hallmark of Kongo's seven-year run in the UFC, taking 2011 Knockout of the Year honors.
"I came out of therapy and treatment, and went into the Barry fight with confidence because I'm a fighter, but physically and morally, I had some doubts because even though I was training, the call to fight had just left me. But since the treatment brought good results, I told myself, 'We'll do it.' And indeed, it allowed me to earn a great victory that's a testament to the spirit of MMA. For me, the greatest revenge was not to come back from the chaos (of the fight), but to come back physically."
Kongo later learned a number of European athletes had previously taken up the treatment, then unavailable in the United States and Canada. He's spent the last two years making it accessible to this side of the Atlantic as the American ambassador to a company based in his native France.
The Frenchman is the treatment's foremost guinea pig, eluding surgery and now flirting with title contention in Bellator, where he's compiled a 6-2 record.
Kongo will meet Johnson on Friday at Bellator 161 in Cedar Park, Texas at the H-E-B Center.
