“Hope we can make everyone proud”: Three brothers compete in MMA tournament

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Virginia Fight Night returns to the Greater Richmond Convention Center this Sunday.

It all starts on August 25th at 3pm CET, the main card starts at 8pm CET and on this card three brothers from our area will fight.

“The three brothers who will be fighting are just a testament to hard work, as are the other guys on our team,” said Luke Hunsaker, head coach of the MMA Institute.

The MMA Institute is a family-run gym that trains local athletes at every level, and this weekend 10 of its fighters will compete to get their hands raised at Virginia Fight Night 2.

“I just hope we can make everyone proud, and you know our parents, our family, our team, the gym,” said Elvin Romero, professional fighter 1-0.

Brothers Roberto, Elvin and Edwin Romero have been training at the MMA Institute for over five years.

“This is what I'm good at. This is what I like to do,” said Roberto, an amateur fighter with a 2-1 record.

“It is one of the greatest privileges to train with your brothers,” said Edwin, amateur fighter 0-0.

Elvin was the first to start training here and his brothers quickly followed.

“I couldn’t let my younger brother beat me up,” said Roberto, the eldest brother.

Their trainer believes that the brothers’ desire to train at their gym is a divine intervention.

“By the grace of God, they came to our gym. He brought his older brother and started training. I just thought, wow, they have two talented brothers,” said coach Luke. “They brought their younger brother and started training. I just thought, okay, they have three incredibly talented but hard-working guys.”

Coach Luke is the head trainer and runs the gym with his wife. He has been training the brothers for the past six weeks for their fights this Sunday.

“The fact that I can do it with my two brothers fighting on the same card makes it even more special,” said Roberto.

“To be able to debut on the same day as my brothers, to fight on the same day as my brothers, is an incredible feeling,” said Edwin.

The Romero brothers are all strikers and owe their fighting experience to their father. As they grew older, they watched him box and fought with him, and also with each other.

“Just the daily training, the opportunity to work with them,” Elvin said. “They know me, I know them. We trust each other and we won't hurt each other. We can go hard, which definitely helps a lot.”

“You learn so much more because you have to learn two styles,” said Edwin.

Coach Luke believes the Romero brothers have a bright future ahead of them.

“They own the world. Again, they can't control what they can't control, but the things they do control, they're great at,” Coach Luke said.
So whatever they're up to, I wouldn't be surprised to see three brothers with such a small age difference all in the UFC.”

Visit the MMA Institute website to follow the Romero brothers' journey and purchase tickets for Sunday's event.

All rights reserved.