Live in:
Life, Death and Fighting
Steve Bruno (Pictures) remembers every detail about the
day he and four others fell out of the sky: the taste of blood in
his mouth, the saltwater stinging his eyes, the sounds of unabated
chaos and fear around him.
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Bruno served as a door gunner aboard a military helicopter that provided air cover for SEAL teams boarding and searching ships leaving the Persian Gulf. On Sept. 15, 2002 -- a year and four days after the Sept. 11 attacks -- Bruno was part of a five-man crew on an ill-fated mission that forever changed his life.
Everything had gone according to plan until the helicopter clipped its tail rotor and spun out of control. It plummeted 70 feet into the sea, hitting the water sideways. The impact was violent, and the aircraft sank quickly.
"I remember thinking, ‘Man, I'm going to die down here,'" Bruno says. "I had 40 pounds of gear on me, and when I went to push out the door, I realized I still had my gunner's belt on. I used my last burst of energy to get out. I wasn't sure if the blades were still going or if I was going to get chopped up or what."
Adrenaline poured into his bloodstream, as images -- past, present and future -- raced through his head. He even had visions of newspaper clippings reporting his death back home. Bruno instinctively swam for the surface, and relief overcame him when he broke through.
"I checked to see if I had all my teeth and whether or not I could move my toes," Bruno says. "I was so happy I wasn't paralyzed."
As the professional mixed martial artist bobbed up and down in the Persian Gulf thousands of miles from home, he had but one prevailing thought: "Thank God I can still fight."
Five hours passed before he reached the Kuwaiti Armed Forces Hospital in Kuwait. He had sustained a broken leg and a torn knee ligament but escaped with life and limb intact. The man seated to his right on the doomed flight was killed; another to his left suffered a crippling back injury. Bruno counted his blessings, though he would awaken to cold night sweats for a year after the accident.
"It made me never take for granted the things I can do with my body," he says. "I can't compare it to anything in fighting. I escaped a sinking helicopter with a broken leg and 40 pounds of gear on. It makes everything else seem very easy."
Toughness was drilled into Bruno at a young age. He grew up on a dead-end street in Staten Island, N.Y., the middle son of a New York police officer who had his hands in bodybuilding and martial arts. Bruno's childhood was marked by perpetual competition. Little came naturally to him, other than fighting.
"I'm not going to pretend it was like the ghetto, but it wasn't exactly the suburbs," Bruno says. "Growing up in that house, you always had to prove yourself. I always wanted to prove to my dad that I could be successful. Being strong in our house was important. That's why I chose martial arts."
Bruno picked up karate at age 12, graduated to other forms of controlled combat and won a state championship in tae kwon do. When he was 16, he received his first formal MMA training under Phil Dunlap, a man with whom he remains close. The experience was an eye opener.
"They weren't even calling it MMA then," Bruno says. "That's where I cut my teeth. My real lessons as a fighter were learned there. It was one of those hardcore gyms."
He made the decision to turn professional in 2001 and won two of his first three bouts before the Navy called him into service. Six months after the helicopter crash, Bruno returned to competitive MMA and submitted Jorge Cuellar at a Retro Maximo show in Mexico. The victory triggered a five-fight winning streak, still the longest of his career.
A former member of Ken Shamrock (Pictures)'s Lion's Den, Bruno joined forces with American Top Team in 2004 and flourished under the watchful eye of 1996 Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Ricardo Liborio (Pictures). There, Bruno added submissions to his growing repertoire.
"I didn't know anything about jiu-jitsu," Bruno says. "It was very humbling. There were days during training when I was broken down, miserable, sitting in the corner. I overcame that. They not only made me a better fighter … they made me a better person. They changed my life."
He developed quickly at ATT, won the Spirit Martial Challenge middleweight championship in South Korea and in April 2007 signed a three-fight deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Suddenly, he was at the pinnacle of his profession.
"It's everything to me," Bruno says. "This is where I need to be. My fighting in the UFC isn't just for me -- it's for all the people who helped me get there. I owe it to the people who put up with all my crap over the years."
Originally booked to compete last summer, Bruno (11-3) tore a chest muscle while training and withdrew from his UFC Fight Night 10 bout against Chad Reiner (Pictures). Now fully recovered, he will make his promotional debut against Team Quest's Chris Wilson at UFC 87 on Aug. 9 in Minneapolis. The 26-year-old will carry a four-fight winning streak into the match.
Wilson (13-4, 0-1 UFC), a one-time Sportfight champion, gave top welterweight contender Jon Fitch (Pictures) fits at UFC 82 in March and owns a victory against reigning International Fight League titleholder Jay Hieron (Pictures). Bruno, who has knocked out his last two opponents, expects no cakewalk.
"He's really good at controlling distance," Bruno says. "He comes from a lot of different angles and does a lot of misdirection. He's tricky. I only have good things to say about him."
No matter how far his MMA career carries him, Bruno remains haunted by the events of that September day six years ago, when death crept to within a heartbeat. The accident motivates him to excel, to achieve more than he believed possible. Second chances, he says, deserve no less of a response.
"I owe it to the people who pulled me out of the water, to the guy who died next to me," Bruno says. "It's something I think about every day."
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Bruno served as a door gunner aboard a military helicopter that provided air cover for SEAL teams boarding and searching ships leaving the Persian Gulf. On Sept. 15, 2002 -- a year and four days after the Sept. 11 attacks -- Bruno was part of a five-man crew on an ill-fated mission that forever changed his life.
Everything had gone according to plan until the helicopter clipped its tail rotor and spun out of control. It plummeted 70 feet into the sea, hitting the water sideways. The impact was violent, and the aircraft sank quickly.
"I remember thinking, ‘Man, I'm going to die down here,'" Bruno says. "I had 40 pounds of gear on me, and when I went to push out the door, I realized I still had my gunner's belt on. I used my last burst of energy to get out. I wasn't sure if the blades were still going or if I was going to get chopped up or what."
Adrenaline poured into his bloodstream, as images -- past, present and future -- raced through his head. He even had visions of newspaper clippings reporting his death back home. Bruno instinctively swam for the surface, and relief overcame him when he broke through.
"I checked to see if I had all my teeth and whether or not I could move my toes," Bruno says. "I was so happy I wasn't paralyzed."
As the professional mixed martial artist bobbed up and down in the Persian Gulf thousands of miles from home, he had but one prevailing thought: "Thank God I can still fight."
Five hours passed before he reached the Kuwaiti Armed Forces Hospital in Kuwait. He had sustained a broken leg and a torn knee ligament but escaped with life and limb intact. The man seated to his right on the doomed flight was killed; another to his left suffered a crippling back injury. Bruno counted his blessings, though he would awaken to cold night sweats for a year after the accident.
"It made me never take for granted the things I can do with my body," he says. "I can't compare it to anything in fighting. I escaped a sinking helicopter with a broken leg and 40 pounds of gear on. It makes everything else seem very easy."
Toughness was drilled into Bruno at a young age. He grew up on a dead-end street in Staten Island, N.Y., the middle son of a New York police officer who had his hands in bodybuilding and martial arts. Bruno's childhood was marked by perpetual competition. Little came naturally to him, other than fighting.
"I'm not going to pretend it was like the ghetto, but it wasn't exactly the suburbs," Bruno says. "Growing up in that house, you always had to prove yourself. I always wanted to prove to my dad that I could be successful. Being strong in our house was important. That's why I chose martial arts."
Bruno picked up karate at age 12, graduated to other forms of controlled combat and won a state championship in tae kwon do. When he was 16, he received his first formal MMA training under Phil Dunlap, a man with whom he remains close. The experience was an eye opener.
"They weren't even calling it MMA then," Bruno says. "That's where I cut my teeth. My real lessons as a fighter were learned there. It was one of those hardcore gyms."
He made the decision to turn professional in 2001 and won two of his first three bouts before the Navy called him into service. Six months after the helicopter crash, Bruno returned to competitive MMA and submitted Jorge Cuellar at a Retro Maximo show in Mexico. The victory triggered a five-fight winning streak, still the longest of his career.
A former member of Ken Shamrock (Pictures)'s Lion's Den, Bruno joined forces with American Top Team in 2004 and flourished under the watchful eye of 1996 Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Ricardo Liborio (Pictures). There, Bruno added submissions to his growing repertoire.
"I didn't know anything about jiu-jitsu," Bruno says. "It was very humbling. There were days during training when I was broken down, miserable, sitting in the corner. I overcame that. They not only made me a better fighter … they made me a better person. They changed my life."
He developed quickly at ATT, won the Spirit Martial Challenge middleweight championship in South Korea and in April 2007 signed a three-fight deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Suddenly, he was at the pinnacle of his profession.
"It's everything to me," Bruno says. "This is where I need to be. My fighting in the UFC isn't just for me -- it's for all the people who helped me get there. I owe it to the people who put up with all my crap over the years."
Originally booked to compete last summer, Bruno (11-3) tore a chest muscle while training and withdrew from his UFC Fight Night 10 bout against Chad Reiner (Pictures). Now fully recovered, he will make his promotional debut against Team Quest's Chris Wilson at UFC 87 on Aug. 9 in Minneapolis. The 26-year-old will carry a four-fight winning streak into the match.
Wilson (13-4, 0-1 UFC), a one-time Sportfight champion, gave top welterweight contender Jon Fitch (Pictures) fits at UFC 82 in March and owns a victory against reigning International Fight League titleholder Jay Hieron (Pictures). Bruno, who has knocked out his last two opponents, expects no cakewalk.
"He's really good at controlling distance," Bruno says. "He comes from a lot of different angles and does a lot of misdirection. He's tricky. I only have good things to say about him."
No matter how far his MMA career carries him, Bruno remains haunted by the events of that September day six years ago, when death crept to within a heartbeat. The accident motivates him to excel, to achieve more than he believed possible. Second chances, he says, deserve no less of a response.
"I owe it to the people who pulled me out of the water, to the guy who died next to me," Bruno says. "It's something I think about every day."
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