Nearing the most important fight of his career to date, Abraham Campos of Umatilla said he’s now making the right choices.

Training out of Pendleton mixed martial arts gym Solid Base Jiu-Jitsu, Campos has dedicated himself to eating healthy, and improving his stamina and technique in preparation for a bout with Idaho’s Andrew Cruz. Campos and Cruz will square off at Front Street Fights 9 in Boise on Friday.

The stakes of this fight are unlike any Campos has faced previously.

Front Street Fights is a feeder organization to Bellator MMA — widely considered the most elite circuit below UFC. If Campos beats Cruz, who owns a 2-0 professional record, he could gain significant momentum in his fighting career.

“I look at it like the most important fight of my career and I take it very seriously,” he said.

Campos, 22, has come a long way professionally and personally since he first set foot in an MMA gym seven years ago.

Johnny Picard, owner of Solid Base, met Campos in December 2009 when both started training the same week at Straight Blast Gym in Umatilla.

Campos came in a scrawny, tall and troubled kid. Picard heard stories from Campos involving him packing weapons and often getting into fights to fend for himself. He was raw, both in skill and attitude, and didn’t stick around for long.

As he continued getting into trouble at school, his parents grew increasingly worried. At their urging, Campos eventually agreed to attend Oregon Youth Challenge Program, an alternative school and boot camp program in Bend. He spent 22 weeks there, and returned home determined to get his life on track.

“I started thinking about the decisions I was making that were not just affecting me, they were affecting my family and everybody else around me,” Campos said. “That’s when I started focusing.”

Campos enters Friday’s featherweight bout with a 1-1 professional record, although his loss came against the UFC’s Jason Novelli.

It was Campos’ first professional match-up in March 2014. Novelli was undefeated at the time, and Campos battled him into the second round before ultimately losing by technical knockout. Novelli is now 11-1 as a professional, and made his UFC debut Aug. 6.

“That loss, it didn’t put me down, it let me know what I needed to work on,” Campos said. “I look at (Jason) like a lesson in life and my MMA career… I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that (fight).”

Campos began lifting weights more often, trying to bulk up his 6-foot-1, 145-pound frame. He also started running in the mountains to improve his conditioning. But his return to the cage had to wait. His second son was born shortly after the loss to Novelli. As a single father, he found little time to train for a fight.

Two years later, however, Campos finally got his chance to move on from the loss. At Wildhorse Casino’s Mission Mayhem in April, Campos defeated Jack Floyd in two minutes, 44 seconds to earn his first professional win.

His growth as a fighter is impressive, Picard said, but even more so, how he’s turned his life around. Campos, has since become a correctional officer at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, and commutes to Solid Base a few times a week for training. All of this while raising his two boys, ages 1 and 3, with help from his mother.

“I’m on the road a lot,” he said.

His job at TRCI often puts him in chaotic situations where he must keep his cool. With the help of MMA, which Campos calls a lifestyle more than a sport, he learned how to channel his anger. Campos still has a mean streak, but now it’s being put to good use.

“He uses fighting as his output,” Picard said. “He sometimes comes in here and he’s got a lot of pent up aggression and energy. This is what he uses to calm that all down.”

Campos has spent the last month preparing for Cruz’s grappling style. Both of his pro fights have ended by submission on the ground. Campos has spent time sparring with Dylan Holcomb — a former Pendleton High first team all-state wrestler — at Solid Base.

“At first he had problems with his footwork, but he can pretty much take me down now,” Holcomb said. “He learned quickly.”

Todd Carlson, matchmaker at Front Street Fights, estimates a crowd of between 3,000 and 3,500 for the event at Boise’s CenturyLink Arena. Due to the proximity of each fighter, Carlson said the crowd will likely lean towards the local guy Cruz.

“It’s always tough to go into someone else’s turf,” Carlson said.

But between family, friends and training partners at Solid Base, Campos expects a good number of his supporters to travel to Boise. He said his training partners at Solid Base — 10 of whom are active fighters — are like family to him. They’re a big reason why he continues to make the hour-long drive from his home for training. Come Friday, they will be watching as Campos takes part in a fight that could grow his professional status.

“This is a big opportunity for Abraham,” Picard said. “Hopefully he shoots to the top right away.”

Front Street Fights 9 begins Friday at 7 p.m. The organization will live stream each fight with commentary on its Front Street Fights YouTube channel.