Basically a fighter's local reputation is based on his closet friends and supporters spreading the word of how big of a bad ass he is.
When I was in high school and just out of high school, I used to fight in a lot of Toughman and similar type competitions. (I used to lie about my age) Anyways, my friends would always come and watch and they always talked about how tough I was even if I lost and that was how I got a big name in my hometown area.
I then started doing MMA, and at first I have to admit that everytime I had a fight I would get a copy of the tape ASAP and go from friend's house to friend's house and make them watch my fight tape over and over. Well as I got more fights and it wasnt such a big deal to me anymore, I stopped doing this. So alot of my friends dont even know that I have competed outside of Iowa much.
As I said before, we have alot of fighting events in Iowa that would give these guys the chance to step into the ring. Well at one time or another I have talked almost every one of my friends into fighting at least once. Except for the real "tough guys", of course they always have an excuse.
Well the problem this creates is to this day, even if they fought 5 years ago and lost horribly and it was their only time in the ring, if they're sitting at a bar or a friend's house and the subject of fighting comes up, my name will usually follow shortly thereafter. These guys would rather focus the attention on their one or two fights rather than praise my fighting ability when asked about it. So that is why I dont get much respect in my hometown area. Not that I care, but it does get annoying when you've seen the world and the best fighters out there, yet these morons believe that the toughest guy in the world is prowling the alleyways of Waterloo, Iowa just searching for his next victim, and apparently in most cases that victim is me.
Another thing that Ive seen happen a few times is that a guy is thought to be a huge bad ass streetfighter until he steps into the ring. Alot of times this tarnishes his local reputation. Sometimes they even win, but to all of his friends and acquaintances it just doesnt seem as though he was as tough as when he beat up that drunk homeless guy behind Slippery's Tavern or that mouthy 13 year old kid in the park across the street from Bill's house. Maybe this is just backwoods Iowa, or does this exist everywhere?
in kotc they had a guy over 200 who put up 5k of his own money to fight, he was a streetfighter and said he could beat anyone in kotc. they gave him 5-1 money to win. he lost to a 130 pound wrestler by choke in about 3 minutes
I read that article and saw the picture, LOL. 130lbs man is 5000k richer, is that guy still around challenging guys and putting up his own money again?
That's the first comment always made when someone finds out you fight, " Oh, you do that toughman stuff right?", or they want to know when you train and where the gym is at, so they can come in and start fighting. They never show up.
"Another thing that Ive seen happen a few times is that a guy is thought to be a huge bad ass streetfighter until he steps into the ring. Alot of times this tarnishes his local reputation. Sometimes they even win, but to all of his friends and acquaintances it just doesnt seem as though he was as tough as when he beat up that drunk homeless guy behind Slippery's Tavern or that mouthy 13 year old kid in the park across the street from Bill's house. Maybe this is just backwoods Iowa, or does this exist everywhere? "
Yet, you look at "Blackbelt Magazine" and you have self-proclaimed street lethal badasses speaking of how mere sportfighters can't fight without a ref and rules to save them from damage.And they give seminars, teach morons, sell videos and have websites where all their kissass fans go and brag about how the instructer could "beat vandelei Silva in a streetfight" and that is an exact quote BTW.
I get tired of how many times I hear someone ask how Frank Dux or Steven Segal would do in mma competition. These guys are 1000 times the liars of any small time fighter
