Metro Police Officer Ulysses Gomez says the discipline required to succeed in mixed martial arts prepared him for a career in law enforcement.
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Ulysses Gomez woke up for his shift as a security supervisor at an off-Strip casino. He saw a text message sent overnight alerting him of a shooting on the Strip, but he didn’t know the scope and didn’t think much about it.
As he brewed his morning coffee, he began to scroll on his Twitter timeline.
The grim images documenting the mass shooting the previous night — the deadliest in modern U.S. history — were so impactful that two days later, he began the process of becoming a Metro Police officer.
“I love Vegas,” Gomez said. “I should do more for my community for how much it has given me.”
The shooting on Oct. 1, 2017, claimed the lives of 58 victims (two additional women have since died) and injured hundreds more. Many locals reacted in the days after with acts of charity — financial donations, giving blood or attending a remembrance event.
Gomez, a former mixed martial artist in the UFC, became an officer.
The seed had been planted by his father and his friends already in the department. They would tell him that his skills as a professional fighter would transfer to law enforcement: the way he communicates, his composure and training for high-stress situations.
He’s heard stories from friends from the night of the mass shooting, including from his Metro colleagues. He sometimes places himself there, mentally, he says. He wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but maybe he could have ushered survivors to safety, he thinks.
There’s nothing he can do to change the past, but he’s inspired to be the best, most unflappable officer he can be, keeping his calm as he responds to other critical incidents in his community on some people’s worst days.
Since he hit the streets in 2018, Gomez has been cognizant about how he treats citizens and strives to be understanding and respectful.
“The only way that we’re going to make our community safer for everybody in the long run is if we have a better relationship,” he said.
Sgt. Kyle Frett, Gomez’s supervisor at Metro’s South Central Area Command, met him as a new officer at the academy. He spoke about Gomez’s growth, maturity and confidence as an officer.
“He just has that drive as a lot of professional athletes do,” Frett says. “To be the best at what they do.”
Gomez, who still practices martial arts in his free time, has become a “squad defensive tactics instructor,” qualified to train his closest colleagues but also any other officer in the department.
And if Gomez ever seeks promotion to detective, sergeant or lieutenant, “he’ll just handle it the same way he has his whole life, just (being) the best at it,” Frett says.
Gomez, 37, was born to Mexican parents in Southern California. In the early 1990s, the family relocated to Las Vegas.
“Being Hispanic,” he says, “it’s either (you) like soccer or fighting.”
His brother, Herculez Gomez, a former forward on the U.S. national team, “was way better at soccer than me,” Ulysses Gomez says. “If I can’t beat him in soccer, maybe I’ll beat him in fighting,” he said.
Around the time he moved to Las Vegas, he learned about the Ultimate Fighting Championship, having watched UFC 2. He was fully absorbed.
Wrestling in high school wasn’t gratifying enough, so he started training in jiujitsu at age 18. From 2008 to 2014, he posted a 9-5 record fighting in MMA, mostly on undercard fights.
“It was the best,” Gomez says about the UFC. “You learn a lot about yourself and about people in a fight.”
Anyone can learn how to defend themselves, and it’s often an essential life skill, he says. The only difference is when someone turns into a pro fighter, there’s nerve-wracking anticipation as the weeks count down before each fight. After that, once someone’s in the octagon, it’s nothing but “fun.”
Sometimes Gomez wonders what his career in Metro would look like if he became an officer earlier in life instead of trying to become a world champion fighter. Maybe he would be a supervisor by now.
When that thought enters his mind, he pauses to reflect on how his stint in the UFC and the discipline required prepared him to be in law enforcement.
When he’s not patrolling Las Vegas, he finds himself in the gym, the shooting range or with his family of four children, he says.
“His patience and his cool under pressure is pretty extraordinary,” Frett said. “He doesn’t overreact or panic in most situations (and) helps calm down all the other newer officers (to make) level-headed decisions.”
Frett jokingly added, “For a guy who’s been punched so much in the face, he’s a very intelligent guy.”
