Omar Trinidad has never struggled for motivation to represent his home city.

It has arrived in abundance for his first fight of 2025, which comes as the L.A. fires have burned down more than 23,000 acres of land in a little more than a week. Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs), The Ring’s No. 10 featherweight will face the Philippines’ Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) atop a UFC Fight Pass card this Friday from Commerce Casino in Commerce, California.

The venue is just far enough out of reach from the most affected areas of the catastrophic event. A step outside for something as simple as a morning run, however, was a reminder to Trinidad, who hails from the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, that his fights in the ring are always a part of something much bigger.

“Fortunately, thank you God, we are not directly affected,” Trinidad told The Ring. “The only thing that we are affected by is the air quality. The people we do know who were affected, we would like to pray for them, hope that it works, and that I can do anything to help them.

“When it’s about two weeks or even a week and a half out, I still like to jog. I knew the air quality wasn’t good, so I stayed away.”

Trinidad found other ways to physically and mentally fine tune for 360 Promotions’ latest offering at a venue where he has come THE attraction.

Whereas the show will go on this Friday in Commerce, the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams had to trade in its only home playoff game due to the ongoing fires. Their wild card round game versus the Minnesota Vikings took place at State Farm Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The Rams stuck to the task at hand and manhandled the Vikings in a game dedicated “to the people at home.”

Trinidad—who fights at Commerce Casino for the fourth straight time and fifth overall in the past two years—can most certainly relate.

“When you see teams from your city do great, it just inspires you to do greater,” Trinidad noted. “I have a big fight coming up, so of course it fuels me for Friday.”

A win this weekend is expected to advance the 28-year-old contender into a position where a title fight is in reach. Plania’s four career defeats have come versus former titlists or Ring-rated contenders and is regarded as a divisional gatekeeper.

It was important for Trinidad and 360 Promotions to secure an opponent of his ilk, if only to maintain the momentum gained from a three-win 2024 campaign.

“We’re thinking title shot this year,” Trinidad insisted. “So, we have to take on these fights where they all mean something.”