Kyle Estrada has been training backwards for most of his career, and now he looks to put together a run that would make training partners Pedro Munhoz and Alan Jouban proud, all at the expense of Cody Freeman at LFA 73.

Kyle Estrada looks to show a more mature version of himself when he fights Cody Freeman at LFA 73.

Estrada (9-4) has always trained with UFC-calibre fighters, but he has not always carried a UFC-calibre mindset. Estrada started his MMA career as a training partner of top-ranked UFC bantamweight Pedro Munhoz. Unfortunately, he rushed a lot of things early in his career leaving him with a 3-2 record in his first five fights.

“When I first started training, I got invited to Black House by Pedro Munhoz. Being with him for three years straight and getting my butt kicked, and eventually getting good, I started rushing things,” Estrada, now 28, told FanSided. “Pedro got signed when he was 26 and I was like, ‘I’m 23 I need to hurry up, I need to hurry up.’ I rushed a lot of things in the beginning of my pro career. After that last loss to Louis Smolka I was like, ‘first of all I need to move up a weight class and then I need to slow everything down.’ I need to slow everything I’m doing in life and realize I actually have time.”

Since 2017, Estrada has gone on a tear and won six of seven fights. His last set back came against established fighter Louis Smolka in October. Estrada made his LFA debut in June of this year, scoring only the second leg-kick TKO in the promotion’s history.

He contributes much of his improvement to Munhoz and fellow teammate Alan Jouban. “It helps me so much. Alan helps me with keeping my mind right, with the business aspect and what to do with management. What to do with weight issues. Pedro has gotten me to a confidence level like never before. To know that he is doing what he is doing and that I can hang with him,” Estrada said. “If I can hang with Pedro I can hang with anybody.”

Estrada has seen all sorts of craziness behind-the-scenes of MMA. He said he once fought on the undercard of Bellator 160 in 2016. Normally, fighters are assigned changing rooms based on the color of their corners. This works to keep opponents separated before their fights. Unfortunately for the Bellator undercard fighters, they were forced to share rooms with their opponents. The only thing to separate them was a see-through tarp. On the flip side of that, Estrada praised LFA for providing a professional environment top-to-bottom.

“They make it feel like it is the big show. Like it is the big time,” he said. “I really respect it. It seems like they respect the fighters.”

Estrada lived in Dallas for several years as a child, but he is prepared to be the villain when he fights local favorite Freeman. “I lived here from 1996 to 2001. My family is still here. I have some friends from Indiana who moved here… I’m sure the guy brings a lot of people. He’s a really cool dude, he has a really awesome mullet,” he shared. “I believe I’ll be the away team but that’s okay. I have my mom in the crowd. She’s with me at every one of my fights and when she’s with me I’m never away.”

LFA 73 takes place on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019 in Dallas, Texas. The event is headlined by Levi Mowles and Adrian Yanez.