Habakkuk Baldonado, a former MMA fighter, is coming off a knockout performance with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Playing in his third game of professional football, the 24-year-old defensive end registered two defensive tackles (one for a loss) and three special teams tackles on Friday against the host Calgary Stampeders.
“This is what I do,” the 6-foot-5, 260-pounder said. “Every time I’m out there, I make a play.
“It’s my job, so when they put me out there, I make plays.”
That is what the Roughriders had in mind when they selected the Italian-born Baldonado in the second round (12th overall) of the CFL’s 2023 Global Draft.
Three days earlier, he had signed as a free agent with the New York Giants. He recorded a sack, a pass defended and four defensive tackles in three NFL pre-season games before being released by the Giants on Aug. 29. Three weeks later, he became a Roughrider.
“It’s nice here,” he said. “It’s interesting, because I’m from Rome — a huge city. Before coming here, I was in New York — an even bigger city.”
The saying “when in Rome, do what the Romans do” didn’t necessarily apply to Baldonado, who embraced a sport — football, North American style — that is unfamiliar to many Italians.
“There is a league where athletes get paid, but it’s nothing compared to these major leagues,” he noted.
When Baldonado was 16, a friend suggested football as an option, so the transition was made away from mixed martial arts.
Only a year later, he decided to move on his own to Clearwater, Fla., to pursue his new sporting passion.
In one season of high school football at Clearwater Academy International in Florida, he amassed 30½ sacks. He also caught nine passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns.
For the inexhaustible Baldonado, it wasn’t enough to register — here’s that number again — 30½ sacks.
“That’s what got me to college,” he said, “and when I got to college, I got sacks.”
Most notably, he felled an opposing quarterback a team-best nine times in 14 games at the University of Pittsburgh in 2021.
That is an impressive total for anyone — but especially for a relative newcomer to the sport.
“I’m super-competitive,” he said. “I have a lot of pride in what I do, so I constantly try to get better and work hard on my craft. That helps me get better faster.”
Now he is striving to master the nuances of Canadian football after becoming accustomed to the four-down game.
“It’s a different environment, different rules,” he said. “I had to get adjusted to the game, but all my teammates have welcomed me in, so it has been a pretty easy transition.”
One that has been eased by the MMA experience.
Whether one is sizing up an opponent in the octagon or lining up against an offensive lineman, the objective is to win a physical, one-on-one battle. In that respect, football and MMA are comparable.
Footwork and eye-hand co-ordination, both of which are prerequisites in MMA, translate nicely into football. So does the confidence that is developed by facing an adversary head-on.
“When you’re in the ring, it’s you against him, so you’ve got to know that you’re the better guy and you’re the tougher one,” he said.
Baldonado is also a fortunate one — someone who gets to play a game for a living.
“A lot of people are working (mundane) jobs and I’m out here training, lifting weights and playing football,” he said leading up to Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Toronto Argonauts (2 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“It’s a pretty good life.”
BRETT’S BACK
Roughriders kicker Brett Lauther returned to the practice field on Wednesday.
He missed the game in Calgary due to illness.
“We think Brett’s going to be good (for the Toronto game),” Roughriders Head Coach Craig Dickenson said.
In Lauther’s absence, Ryan Meskell went 4-for-4 on field goals in his debut with the Roughriders last Friday.
