His great grandmother and high school principal steered him towards MMA, enrolling him at Modern Vision MMA in Welland, and while he felt a connection with the sport, challenges at home and the quick returns of hustling continued to be the negative north star in Gouthro’s life.
Forced to move out on his own when his great grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the now 28-year-old prospect was, in his own words, “just a bad little f*****,” fighting and selling dope, venturing down paths that lead to nowhere good and a future with no real future. It continued that way once his mother moved back from Barbados, but she encouraged him to give MMA another try, and this time, it stuck.
“When I turned 18, it just kind of clicked in that I either got to go to school or get a job, and I knew that I had to get back to fighting,” began Gouthro, retracing his steps from young hustler with a violent streak to emerging bantamweight talent on the cusp of breaking into the big leagues in mixed martial arts. “I went to Vision for a year and once I started, I knew that was it.
“My biological mom moved back from Barbados, and I lived with her. Things weren’t going good, but she told me ‘You should go back to MMA.’ She pushed me towards that and then once I started at Muay Thai Niagara in St. Catharines, it just leapt off.
“I had my first fight in four months, fought five times my first year in kickboxing, and just kept fighting,” he added. “Fought internationally, fell in love with the sport, and seeing that people took notice as I traveled the world is how I lifted off.”
Now eight fights into his professional MMA career and brandishing a 7-1 record, the compact, physical specimen is standing on the precipice of graduating to the next level, just a few days away from the kind of matchup every regional talent hopes to land at some point in their journey when he steps in with Shelton on Friday night.
The 32-year-old Shelton worked his way through the regional circuit and onto Season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter as one of the regional titleholders competing for the opportunity to face then-UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson. He upset Canadian Yoni Sherbatov, the No. 2 seed, in the opening round, and then bested Ronaldo Candido to advance to the semifinals, where he fell to eventually tournament winner Tim Elliott by majority decision.
A six-fight run in the UFC produced just two victories, and since returning to the regional scene, “Showtime” has picked up wins over Dana White’s Contender Series alums Riley Dutro and Jacob Silva, establishing himself as one of the more established, talented names out there for emerging threats like Gouthro to potentially face.
“Patient, calculated boxer; he’s coming to win,” he said when asked what he’s seen from Shelton. “He’s got a high Fight IQ and I hope he brings the same s*** he’s been bringing the last three, four fights I’ve watched.
“He’s the biggest matchup, the hardest matchup out there right now that we could have taken because everyone else said, ‘No,’” Gouthro added, echoing the frustrations felt by many of the top up-and-coming regional talents who struggle to find opponents. “I told my coach and manager, ‘I’ll say yes to everyone as long as you’re down’ because we went this whole year with 60 people saying, ‘Yes,’ but when it came to contracts, saying ‘No,’ which is very stressful.