Teenager kicking his career into high gear

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Mikayla Whitmore

Jonathon “Cisco” Cosio on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015, at Sport Center of Las Vegas.

Sun, Oct 4, 2015 (2 a.m.)

Jonathon Cosio

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WHAT IS MUAY THAI?

Dubbed “the martial art of eight limbs,” Muay Thai allows fists, elbows, shins and feet as striking weapons. The combination has made it perhaps the most popular form of kickboxing. The sport also incorporates techniques to set up striking.

Walking in big footprints

Nick Blomgren, a lifelong martial arts enthusiast, opened One Kick’s Gym in 1993. It was the first Muay Thai gym in Las Vegas. Since then, the former professional kickboxer has trained more than 15 world champions, including UFC Hall of Famers Stephan Bonnar and Chuck Liddell.

Notable current fighters training under Blomgren include UFC lightweight Anthony Njokuani and veterans Jon Fitch and Phil Baroni.

Jonathan Cosio’s usual sparring partners include professional kickboxer Anthony Castrejon, a 24-year-old former amateur Muay Thai champion, and Jason Pacheco, a 21-year-old champion in King of the Cage, a well-known mixed martial arts promotion in Southern California.

“We can’t have (Cosio) spar with the kids anymore because he breaks them up,” Blomgren said. “He has to spar with the pros now.”

One Kick's Gym

121 E. Sunset Road, Las Vegas

702-384-6786, onekickgym.com

Free weeklong guest pass available

The lights are dim inside One Kick’s Gym on East Sunset Road, where 15-year-old Jonathan Cosio dances around the boxing ring. He bounces off the red, elastic ropes and shuffles his feet precisely while winging punches, kicks, knees and elbows from all angles.

There’s no opponent. Jonathan is only warming up. But it’s already clear the boxing ring is where he belongs.

Growing up with a developmental delay that slowed his speech, Jonathan struggled to fit in.

“I couldn’t do things that other people could do — mainly communicate with people,” he said. “I got bullied and pushed around a lot.”

When Jonathan was 12, his father encouraged him to begin training in Muay Thai kickboxing to better protect himself. Three years later, the people who need protection are the opponents who find themselves staring across the ring at the Amateur U.S. Muay Thai junior lightweight champion.

The martial arts kickboxing phenom has tallied an amateur record of 5-2 with three knockouts, all before completing his freshman year of high school.

Jonathan recently returned from a worldwide tournament in the sport’s native Thailand. The IFMA Royal World Cup lasted two weeks and featured fighters from 102 countries.

Fifteen fighters from the United States were invited. Jonathan was the only one younger than 18.

He lost in his weight class’ championship match in a razor-close decision, bringing home a silver medal.

“It was a great honor to go and compete where it all started, to go down there and represent the United States,” Jonathan said. “I never thought I would have an opportunity like this, especially at this age.”

It was Jonathan’s first time leaving the country, and the culture shock alone was an obstacle.

“It is so different, with the wealth and the poverty in the same area, but everyone was very nice and they live for Muay Thai,” said Janine Cosio, Jonathan’s mother. “Fighting is no holds barred over there. Anything goes.”

Children start fighting much younger in Thailand. Lookchang Sitchang, one of the trainers at One Kick’s, began his professional career in Thailand at 9 years old.

Everywhere Jonathan went with his red, white and blue jumpsuit, he received praise from locals, but the trip wasn’t without its bumps.

“There was a terrorist bombing in Thailand only about a mile away from the stadium that we were competing in,” Janine Cosio said. “They evacuated the stadium and locked down the hotel.”

The bomb detonated inside the Erawan shrine in Bangkok, killing 20 people and injuring 125. But the show went on, and Jonathan emerged with a lustrous, silver prize hanging from his neck.

“The first time I let him spar with one of our other fighters, I realized he had a gift,” said Nick Blomgren, Jonathan’s head trainer at One Kick’s. “Most people want to spar, right up until they get hit in the face. But he showed heart from the very start.”

The sport not only brought Jonathan halfway around the world, it helped him fit in at home.

As a freshman at Silverado High, Jonathan is a member of the cross-country team and is more focused than ever on academics.

“Being in the sport helps me concentrate in school,” he said. “I have to get good grades to train and compete.”

His average weekday starts at 4:30 a.m. He trains at home with his father until he heads to school. After school, he trains at One Kick’s until 8:45 p.m.

“It is good for him,” Janine Cosio said. “Before, we couldn’t get him off the couch or away from his TV and video games. Now all he does is train because he’s in love with the sport.”

The gym has taught Jonathan to not allow his developmental delays to hold him back.

“He has found out that he can do whatever he wants,” said Blomgren, who also had a speech delay growing up. “There are no excuses; you just have to put your mind to it.”

Long term, Jonathan has UFC gold glistening in his eyes.

He loves watching great Muay Thai practitioners such as Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo inside the octagon and already has begun training in Brazilian jiujitsu.

“When you hear mixed martial arts, the first thing that comes to mind is the UFC,” Jonathan said. “To hold that belt, with all of the history behind it, is the ultimate goal.”

To get there, he is attacking his short-term goals of winning more amateur titles, and fighting on the undercard of smaller promotions such as Lion Fights. On Dec. 19, he will face Jimmy Gomez (3-0) for a dual California/Nevada championship belt.

Jonathan has ended fights with kicks to the body and knees to the chest. In one fight, his opponent threw in the towel.

“He has such strength for someone his size and age,” Blomgren said.

And Jonathan hasn’t forgotten why he joined the sport in the first place.

“There are a lot of fighters that go down the wrong road,” he said. “But I’m staying away from that. I want to be a good example for kids to look up to.”

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