If you decide one day that it's a fantastic idea to see how hot sauce works out on breakfast cereal, then you pretty much get what you deserve when it comes to nicknames.
For Scott Holtzman, though, things didn't turn out so bad. His little experiment to spice up his Lucky Charms one day at work wound up leading to his in-cage moniker, and the rest is history. Or … "hotstory"?
"When I first started MMA, they tried to give me some of the traditional nicknames," Holtzman told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "But I eat hot sauce on everything. One of my buddies that trains with me caught me putting hot sauce in my cereal one day at work. That stuck. It was Lucky Charms.
"I don't know if I'm proud of that one, but that's what it is."
"Hot Sauce" Holtzman (3-0) may not be running around bragging about his magically delicious spicy Lucky Charms, especially this week. This week, he has Jason Hicks (5-0) on his mind.
Holtzman and Hicks meet in Friday's main event at Xtreme Fighting Championships 22. The show takes place at Grady Cole Center in Charlotte, N.C., with a main card on AXS TV (10 p.m. ET).
Calling it the biggest fight in his career and Hicks' would be a no-brainers. The winner is going to get a lightweight title shot at XFC champion Nick Newell (9-0).
"That's the word on the street (that we get a title shot)," Holtzman said. "I'm excited. Both he and I have come up through XFC, and any time you have a chance to go after a title, it's extra motivation. I'm pretty excited for sure. They made the circuit through Tennessee last year, and that's where I got my start. They do a good job and done a good job keeping me as busy as I want to be."
All Holzman's pro MMA work has been under the XFC banner, and all three of his wins have been by stoppage. In his pro debut a little more than a year ago, he submitted Brandon Demastes in the second round. He followed that up with back-to-back first-round TKOs of Matt Metts and Chris Coggins.
Hicks has a pair of stoppages of his own for XFC, and only one of his five wins has gone the distance. Holtzman will have a height and reach disadvantage against Hicks, which is something he said he'll figure out once things get started.
"He's well-rounded and a long, rangy fighter," Holtzman said. "He's going to be a little taller than me and he likes to counter and sit back and strike. It's going to be interesting chess match in the beginning, but I'm going to get in there and figure out how I can win. He's got about a three-inch reach difference on me. When a guy knows how to use that reach, it's tough to deal with. You have to be all the way outside of it or all the way inside of it.
"He'll be tough to figure out, but once we get going I'll create some openings."
Source: MMAJunkie.com