Worcester native Fran Collins' road to recovery features quest for MMA championship belt

LEICESTER — It took MMA pro Fran “The Fury” Collins 23 seconds to score a victory in his return to the octagon in June after a decade-long layoff.

The Worcester native and Millbury resident checked off one box on his bucket list with the bout as his 12-year-old daughter got to watch him fight for the first time.

“Now I want to win a belt,” Collins, 37, said Sunday during a break from a light training session at Double Play Sports & Fitness.

“Once we win a belt, we’ll have some opportunities because at the end of the day, it’s a business, and I need to make sure I can provide for people, as well. So, fingers crossed and God bless, hope it goes the right way.”

The 6-foot-4 Collins, who fights at 185 pounds and is a self-described brawler, will continue his championship quest Friday night when he meets Mus’Aib Baiyina of Rochester, New York, in a middleweight bout in CES 70 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

“We’re pumped; we’re excited for him to see what he does because he can still fight,” said Rocky Gonzalez, who trains Collins in boxing. “He’s tall for his weight class, and he’s maintained the same weight from before (10 years ago), which is amazing.”

Collins and his team, which is led by manager/mentor/best friend Chris Chambers and head coach Gabe Gonzaga, owner of the Squared BJJ Worcester martial arts training facility, have set their sights high.

But the motivational phrase they use most often is “brick by brick,” understanding it’s a building process to get to the top.

Collins also takes it day by day. He’s an alcoholic, one who is in recovery and has been sober since June 12, 2020.

Finding football, MMA

Football and basketball were Collins’ sports of choice in high school, a time in his life when he bounced around before ultimately graduating in 2002 from Tourtellotte Memorial High in Thompson, Connecticut.

Collins matriculated to Nichols for a semester, playing a bit of football, but quickly realized college wasn’t for him, so he enlisted in the Air Force. What was supposed to be a four-year hitch lasted a year, and he was out of the service in 2004.

“To be honest with you, I started getting involved with alcohol and stuff … and I got into trouble,” Collins freely revealed while looking directly into the eyes of a first-time acquaintance.

Collins soon was fortunate to meet Chambers, a former national Taekwondo champion who lives in Sutton and at the time owned the Mass Fury, a semipro football team in Worcester.

Collins went on to play nine years as a record-setting, championship-winning receiver for the perennially powerful Fury, who have since rebranded as the Marlboro Shamrocks.

“I was known as a guy who put his helmet down,” Collins said. “I wasn’t scared of the contact.”

Along the way, Chambers asked Collins if he was interested in giving MMA a try. The answer was a resounding yes

Collins, who grew up in the Vernon Hill area, started off with a charity event in his hometown, Give Kids a Fighting Chance, which was put on by the Worcester Police Gang Unit boxing program at the Palladium.

“It was a great experience,” he fondly recalled with a smile.

Collins made his MMA debut as an amateur in late September 2010, needing just 88 seconds to record the win. He won his next two fights, turned pro and quickly reeled off three wins to improve to 6-0 overall in a span of 18 months.

Rebounding, recovering again

Not long after that, Collins lost his fight outside the cage, alcohol again consuming and destroying him.

“It was a culmination of every part of my life coming to a standstill,” he said. “I lost everything. I lost relationships, I lost material (possessions) and I had to start over. I had to relocate. I ended up in the hospital.”

Years passed, and one day a construction coworker altered the course of Collin’s life with a seven-word assertion: I think you have a drinking problem.

Collins quit drinking the next day, beginning a process of self-healing and reconciliation with those once near and always dear to him.

“The biggest part of recovery for me was realizing all the mess-ups when my mind got clear and then dealing with those,” Collins said. “And once you deal with those and you forgive yourself, hopefully you get forgiven by your friends and family.

“Then you can completely start healing and try to turn it into something good, which is what I’m trying to accomplish here.”

Once he became sober, Collins started working out again after reconnecting with Chambers. His motivation was to get his mind and his body healthy.

Chambers didn’t hesitate to help.

“Part of me being a coach is you want to see the good in somebody and help them find that themselves,” Chambers said. “So, when he reached back out, I knew he was looking to be in the right place.

“And I said, ‘Come in Fran. Let’s put some work in.’ We weren’t necessarily working for this (MMA). We were just reconnecting and giving his life another direction.”

Gradual journey back to octagon

But returning to the gym led a bloated Collins, who has shed 30 pounds since he gave up drinking, to slowly find his way back to MMA.

His confidence at ground zero and all the techniques of the full-contact sport that incorporates striking (boxing, Muay Thai), clinching (judo, wrestling) and ground fighting (jujutsu) long forgotten, Collins took classes to relearn fundamentals that were once as natural to him as shaking someone’s hand.

“I pretty much knew nothing (anymore),” Collins said. “So, all in all, I’ve been doing it for two years, but faithfully and disciplined for the last year.”

Stepping into the octagon three months ago to resume his competitive career was an indescribable feeling, although Collins’ wide smile said it all when he stepped inside the eight-sided fighting cage with its 6-foot high fenced walls that measures 30 feet in diameter.

And those nerves he had? Those were good, too. Natural high and positive vibes.

“I can’t explain it,” Collins said “It’s where I belong. The support, too, it’s been two years that I’ve been sober now, and if it wasn’t for the support of the coaches and the team — Gabe Gonzaga, Chris, Rocky — seriously, it gives me a reason.

“It’s a good outlet, and if that’s what I need to do to stay straight and narrow, that’s what I’ll do.”

And while Collins is fighting right now to help himself and his daughter (he requested her name not be printed, but proudly noted she’s an honor-roll student and an excellent athlete living with her mom in southern Worcester County), he ultimately aspires to teach others how to fight for themselves.

“I want to help and transform people,” Collins said. “If they fix their body, they’ll feel better about themselves. Self-defense, kids getting bullied, the whole nine yards. It’s just the beginning of my brain opening up to all this. It’s time for me to do something.”

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester native Fran Collins' road to recovery features quest for MMA championship belt