'Savage' Bellator star Luke Trainer admits he would drop promising MMA career in favour of his passion helping foster children find homes
09/13/2024 04:54 AM
Bellator star Luke Trainer has his eyes on winning a world title within the next year – but he would give it all up to help house dozens of foster children.
The hard-hitting light-heavyweight faces Laurynas Urbonavicius at the Bellator Champions Series in London tomorrow night. He is a big favourite, and expects to face one of top contender Karl Moore or champion Corey Anderson should he get the victory.
Trainer has dedicated the majority of his life outside the cage, as well as most of his earnings from inside of it, to helping foster children in his hometown of Stevenage. And he says the reason he is fighting at all is to raise enough money to start a string of foster homes for teenagers who are on their last chance.
- Who is Jake Paul? Get to know the YouTuber-turned-boxing sensation as he prepares to fight Mike Tyson
Luke Trainer plans to fund foster homes with winnings from Bellator career
Until his last fight in Belfast earlier this year, Trainer was living at home with his parents aged 27. Growing up, his parents fostered a number of children who helped him to understand the struggles outside of his own lifestyle.
And he has since turned that experience into a life’s purpose, with plans to now buy his first home and open it up to a number of children who need a further chance. Speaking at media day for his fight in London, the MMA star told of how his goal is to make enough to open a chain of foster homes.
“I’m going to go get the win, get double my purse,” he explained. “And then the plan is to get my first property and that will be the first children’s home that will be opening. So yeah, no, we are rolling, we’re thicking it right now.
“Mom and dad are still fostering. I’m not living at home anymore but I see the foster kids all the time and I do my bits and bobs outside of that. Everything with a foster caring that is still number one for me.”
Luke Trainer would quit fighting to further help foster children
Trainer notes he would even hang up the gloves if it meant being able to help more children than he can as a fighter with a large platform. He is currently 8-1, and has opted to pursue Bellator gold instead of chasing the PFL season’s $1million prize pot next season.
“Once I’ve made enough money to do what I want to do in foster care I’ll leave this sport,” he continued. “I’m not sticking around to become a journeyman and all that sort of jazz. My end goal once I walk away from this sport I will have a chain of children’s homes.
“It will be children’s homes purely for 13 to 18 year olds between them age ranges the kids that get thrown to the wayside; the kids that aren’t the popular kids to get into a foster home and have a second chance.
“Those will be the children that I’ll be focused on and I’ll bring martial arts, I’ll bring a different outlook and a different set of a different set of skills that a lot of children’s homes brings. No disrespect to them, but I don’t think there’s enough enough done for those kids right now.
“And from speaking to them I think I have what it takes and and I have the people around me to help me. So I’ll have a gang of children’s homes all around Stevenage, hopefully around the UK.
“We’ll have the same sort of ethos the same sort of atmosphere and we’ll be helping a bunch of human beings become better safe loved human beings… This sport is like a stepping stone. And I know I know that sounds maybe silly to say because I’m in such a great position right now and blah, blah, blah.
“But if it was a choice; don’t fight tonight and become a foster carer or never become a foster carer and fight for the belt tomorrow. I would scrap this. I’d say, ‘see you later’ to everyone and I’d go be a foster carer.
“I love this sport, it has give me so much and I’m super grateful. But that’s what I’m here for. So I’m going as much money as I can here, win as many belts as I can here. But when it’s time to go, I’m going and I’m going to go help some humans.”
