Folks are beginning to find out that, although there are tough guys everywhere, there is a mindset...no...there is a lifestyle out West that is just...well...Western. It's about grit. It's about muscle and extreme elements, it's just a "fight to survive" mentality that is bred into folks out there. We are proud of our heritage and it is a true mixed bag. Indian (Ute, Hopi, Navajo, Apache, and others), Mexican, and Anglo cultures predominate (in NO particular order)...we are all proud to be Nuevo Mexicans. It's a magical country and if you have never been there you have to visit. I remember Rio Rancho (where last nights fights were held) in the mid-70's..just a dusty little housing community on the West Mesa and not much more. Now it's the 3rd largest city in the State.
I was born near and raised in Farmington, NM which is about 180 NW of Albuquerque. My high school was a 4AAAA school and most of the schools in our division were from "A" town. Del Norte, Eldorado, Albuquerque High, Valley, Sandia...the list goes on. Those damned teams (mostly football I am talking) consistently handed us our ass, year after year after year. They were always just chock full of tough ass kids that loved to fight as much as play sports...there just wasn't any school sponsored fighting (although I do recall a good fist fight or two after the games usually
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There are just some rough and tumble dudes raised in that town and it is starting to show. Even Leonard Garcia said it well when he was talking about someone coming into to "his turf...Albuquerque, Texas"...ha. He is from Lubbock but the Western mentality is the same.
Anyway...yeah...I am a true native of that part of the country and a real "fan boy" of the Jackson camp. It does not suprise me that the city is embracing Mixed Martial Arts in a big way. And watch out people...I just bet there are more nasty little suprises just quietly working their way up the training chain and logging in the miles at the base of the Sandia Mountains.