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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=170785" target="_blank">
Brad Blackburn – Late Bloomer
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<a href="/go=news.detail&gid=170785" ><img class="photo" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=80&q=75&x=7&y=1&w=245&h=130&ro=0&s=E978B209-1D09-6BFC-E58A0AE5EEA4F415.jpg" /></a>
<strong class="ArticleSource">[ufc.com]</strong>
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Most mixed martial artists can usually track their journey to the Octagon from prior sports experiences.
If the fighter is a Midwesterner, he may have wrestled from the moment he could crawl. Others saw glory on the football field and failed attempts to get drafted led straight to the mat, if only to stay in shape. However, some fighters are more freaks of nature: never played on any team but somehow became professional fighters. Brad Blackburn belongs to this latter class but has been extremely successful despite it.
“I actually didn’t play any sports in high school; that surprises a lot of people. I was 4’10 until I was in my sophomore summer - I wasn’t even 5 foot. But by 21 (years old), I started working, bought a house, got into boxing and started getting all my stuff together.