Todd “The Black Hulk” Stoute, 36, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada made his professional mixed martial arts debut on November 14, 2009. On November 23, 2019, he made his debut in the Bahrain-based MMA promotion BRAVE Combat Federation.

On July 25, 2020, I interviewed Stoute, who is currently in Romania for “BRAVE CF 36.” I asked him what he considered his proudest moment as an MMA fighter.

“Signing with BRAVE,” Stoute told me. “And the reason being is because when I first started, I started in November of 2009, it was my first fight, I said to myself I’d give myself 10 years to sign a big contract and if it doesn’t work in those 10 years, then I’m done so I had a lot of ups and downs.”

“There were times when I was very, when I was inactive not due to injury or anything but just due to not having fights and it made me consider quitting and not doing it and literally, in November 2019, BRAVE came and asked me if I wanted to fight,” Stoute continued. “And it was like, it was like, I could’ve quit so many times, I could’ve stopped so many times, I could’ve gotten a job or, you know, done something else and you know but I decided to just keep training, keep putting my lifestyle towards fighting and it paid off and that really was my proudest moment and the reason it’s my proudest moment is because I didn’t give up.”

Stoute is proud of the resilience that he had that kept him going. Such resilience enabled the Canadian MMA fighter, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, to “have a dream and to not be deterred” to the fight he dreams and “get the opportunity on an international stage.”

“I didn’t just wanna sign a big contract,” Stoute shared. “I wanted to see the world. I wanted to go to different places and so far with BRAVE, I’ve gone to India, I’ve gone to Saudi Arabia, places I never thought I’d be going to and now Romania so I’m very proud of that.”

On July 27, 2020, he will compete in the main event of “BRAVE CF 36” at Berăria H in Bucharest, Romania. It will be his third outing in BRAVE CF.

“BRAVE is pretty more organized,” Stoute replied when asked what makes BRAVE CF different from the previous promotions he competed in. “They are way more organized. They treat you like a person, not just like a number. You’re a name. You’re not a number. You’re not just another number on the list. You’re a person that they take care of.”

“The staff, the people that work for BRAVE are all great people,” Stoute continued. “They’re all kind people. They are very welcoming. For me, that’s my experience and I’ve never heard anything bad come out of here.”

“I’ve never heard, I’ve never seen anyone disgruntled,” the Trinidadian-Canadian MMA fighter added. “I’ve never seen anyone upset and like I said they don’t treat you like a number. They treat you like a person.”

Originally, Stoute was set to fight Amilcar Alves, 40, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the light heavyweight division in the main event of “BRAVE CF 36.” However, the Brazilian MMA fighter was replaced by Cristi Constantinov, 23, of Bucharest, who will now fight Stoute at a catchweight bout.