by John Morgan
WEC featherweight Leonard Garcia (11-3) has lived through a roller coaster of emotions over the past 12 months.The 28-year-old first came in to prominence with a spirited decision loss to lightweight Roger Huerta at UFC 69 in April 2007. And after mixed results in Garcia's next two fights, "Bad Boy" decided to drop to his natural weight of 145 pounds, and he earned an impressive first-round-TKO victory over Hiroyuki Takaya at February's WEC 32.Less than a month later, though, the Texas native was arrested, along with 12 others, in connection with a cocaine-trafficking ring and threatened with up to 40 years in prison and a $4-million fine.Two months after the arrest, Garcia told
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that he is close to clearing his name and returning to the cage."I've been cooperative with anything [the authorities] have asked me to do," Garcia said. "As far as letting them look into my bank statements, looking into any bills, into my vehicle -- I've let them look into anything and everything they've wanted to. I've basically opened up my life to these people and let them see everything that I've been doing with my life since three years ago. The way it looks now, I can't say for 100 percent sure that I'll be able to walk away from this scot-free, but I don't think it's going to have a really big backlash on my career."Garcia does not deny his association with the rest of the accused earlier in his life, but he maintains those connections are well behind him."A guy who I believed was my friend back then, he got in trouble three years ago," Garcia said. "I guess when he got in trouble and he got thrown in jail, he went in there and he said, 'Oh, well these are the guys that I hang out with,' and he listed a couple of names. Me and another guy got arrested for that. I've never been caught with any kind of drugs, any kind of anything. I mean, basically, it's not so much guilt by association because I'm not claiming to be an angel. I've made mistakes in my past, and that's exactly what it was -- just a mistake from my past. Like I said, it was three years old, and the way it looks now, it looks like they've done investigations on me since then, so they know that I haven't done anything."A May 5 hearing resulted in a continuance for all of the accused, but Garcia hopes the findings in his next hearing will allow him to return back to his team in Albuquerque, N.M.Garcia has been part of Greg Jackson's camp, Jackson's Mixed Martial Arts, which has quickly become one of the sport's top training camps with fighters such as Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt, Keith Jardine and others."We go to court for another hearing June 2, and I'm hoping that they'll release me back and let me go to Albuquerque and start the real training with my team." Garcia said. "That's been one of the hardest things for me is just being away from all of my teammates. I know [Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone] has got a pretty big fight coming up on the first. That was actually the first time Cowboy and I had ever been on a card together since the Ring of Fire way back when, and we were pretty excited about that. Then all this came to pass. "I think this is something that I guess had to happen to me before I go in there and win the title, just so that I clear my name now and get all of this behind me. That way I don't have anything but Urijah (Faber) or Jens (Pulver) to think about whenever the time comes."While remaining away from his team and in Texas on judge's orders, Garcia has tried to maintain his level of fitness as best he can."I have been running; I have been getting in to shape," Garcia said. "I have been hitting pads. I've had no really heavy sparring because in (Lubbock) Texas, there's (only) Rex Richards. I can spar with him, but he weighs about 300 pounds, so that's kind of tough for me. He has been by a couple of times to the gym, and we knuckled up a couple of times. "I've also got my nephew, Larry Garcia, that I've been training. He's got an amateur thing, now. He had a fight, and I've been working with him. He's undefeated right now in the amateur ranks. So being able to have these guys with me here in Texas has helped me out a lot, but I need to get back to my team, man."The WEC seemingly tried to wash their hands of Garcia after the arrest, removing his name from the organization's official website. Garcia explained that his relationship with the WEC and Zuffa has not faltered, and that the decision to remove his name was actually made in order to protect both parties."They had to protect themselves from any implications," Garcia said. "What they really, really wanted to know is that I wasn't doing anything with the money that I was winning from the WEC. They were really, really specific with my manager. They were like, 'Let's find out how many years this thing goes back. If there's anything that just recently happened we're going to cut him.' "Basically, the only reason, at least to my understanding, I was taken off the website is because they said if they started getting calls, or people saying, 'Hey, you're still supporting this guy, and he's going through this case right now,' then they would have to cut my contract indefinitely. So taking me off the website, that protects me and them. But [the WEC and Zuffa] have been 100 percent supportive."In fact, the WEC has been supportive enough to begin negotiations with Garcia's camp for a return bout, despite the ongoing litigation."I don't know if my manager is releasing that yet, but, as far as I know August is the date that my attorney has asked me if I think I could be ready to fight by," Garcia said. "That's my attorney talking to me. So obviously he's hearing something from my manager because they contact each other every day or as much as they can."And when Garcia is able to step back into the cage, he says motivation will not be a problem."This thing right here was really hard for me to get through, and there's nothing more that I want than to fight," Garcia said. "I think Kenny Florian said one time for all the opponents to hope that it's not him on the other end. That's pretty much what I'm telling anybody. I don't care who it is. The next guy that I'm fighting, the next few guys or whatever, I've got a lot of frustration. Ya'll are going to be in a lot of trouble."Until Garcia does get the opportunity to strap back on the five-ounce gloves, he remains focused on the fight to clear his name."I know I have a bright future," Garcia said. "If you live in the past, you have no future. That's what I hope these people see, that I have changed my life dramatically. I don't hang out with any of these guys. I don't talk to them. It's just basically the worst thing that could have happened other than losing a fight. But I'll get through it. I'll be OK."
