JUL 24, 2015 2:52a ET
JUL 24, 2015 2:52a ET
Takanori Gomi (left) says he still has a pure love for competition and MMA.
By the time former world champion Takanori Gomi got to the UFC, in 2010, he was already a living MMA legend. Now, as he heads into a UFC on FOX main event contest against Joe Lauzon on Saturday, Gomi is a nearly 17 year-veteran.
He began his professional MMA career in 1998, while still a teenager. After all these years, we asked the fighter Thursday afternoon if he still has the same excitement and enthusiasm to compete at age 36 as he did as an adolescent.