Many here on the UG have fought.
Many have fought MMA, wrestling, BJJ, kickboxing, boxing and even war.
This thread is focused on sport fighting though.
It's still strange to think of myself stepping into a cage and fighting....because I'm hardly a fighter, I'm a diplomat by nature.
I'm the kind of guy that can talk his way out of almost anything. I was always good at finding a peaceful middle ground to any conflict.
So good in fact, I'd never been in a real fight in my life until I volunteered to fight Bryan Fyock (UG member Supercan) for the UGGP in 2007.
I never thought of myself as a real tough guy...I wrestled a bit in school and took some martial arts, and once in the army I volunteered for a toughman boxing tournament just for shits and giggles. I lost a split decision....the strange thing was, I didn't consider it a fight, I was there for fun against a very serious looking opponent and he punched me right in the face!
Well, my unit loved it and I got a couple cool awards from the army for participating but that was pretty much the end of my fighting days until 8 years later.
I wasn't planning to fight, I had just moved to Cincinnati and just kinda wanted to train some BJJ.
I'm on the UG one day and I see a thread by Supercan titled "I have a dream to fight, once....".
I clicked the thread and read it over and it really affected me. I was reading the thoughts of a man who felt he was reaching an age were he had to do or die, he wanted to fight at least once and thought it'd probably never happen because he was 31 and never really trained and didn't want to get slaughtered by some amateur who'd been training for years.
I saw he was about 20 pounds heavier than me and kind of half jokingly I said I'd fight him if he came to Cincinnati, I really didn't expect a serious reply.
He jumped all over it and volunteered to cut weight and meet me at 190, I was currently sitting around 185.
I thought about it for a second.....and the truth was I felt alot like Brian, I wanted to step up at least once and try this out....so I agreed.
Cont.......
The way things blew up after that was a shock.
I made a thread on the UG announcing the fight, expecting some yawns and maybe a little interest.
It turned into an entire event, hosted by Monte Cox and sponsored by Gladiator Mouthguards thanks to the UG.
I was still only like a 2 year newb on the UG and didn't realize how many times someone had been challenged to a fight on the UG and someone dicktucked. Many expected us to do the same.
If anything, that attitude made me more determined than ever. I said I would fight this man, I was going to do it.
I was scared though.
The guy was big, strong and determined.
He went into super training mode immediately.
The thing is, I told him I wouldn't fight him unless he took 6 months to train because he'd never trained and I had enough wrestling and BJJ to slaughter him if he didn't get some skills down.
Well, UG interest grew, Crazy Zimmerman made us a video and the UG continued to cheer us on. Soon, other members asked if they could fight someone from the UG for the first time on the card with us, and soon we had 4 matchups suitable for the fight date.
I won't go into the whole Xeptuck debacle on this thread, but 7 people actually showed to fight and our smallest fighter had to fight a very tough and experienced local.
Well, the other three matches were first, Brian and I were the main event for the UGGP.
I was in the back warming up.....alot was going through my head.
I'm a big fan of Paul Buentello and I emailed him about this fight to ask for advice, he gave me some good advice and also told me he gets so nervous he throws up before every fight.....that made me feel a whole lot better.
I wasn't about to puke, I felt fine, just a little nervous, so I guess I was ok.
It typically doesn't show when I'm scared or nervous, I'm an extremely calm person and very hard to rattle.
The announcer called my name and I walked to the cage with my BJJ coach cornering me.
Looking across the ring I could see Bryan standing there shaking his arms out looking at me, I just stared back at him and waited.
Referee Greg Franklin (Rich's brother) explained the rules, made sure we were ready and started the fight.
It's difficult to explain what I felt at this point or what I was thinking....
I remember a thought passing through my diplomatic mind "There's no getting out of this one, you better fight."
I touched gloves with Brian and focused. He immediately starts throwing bombs at my head so I blocked and dodged what I could until I clinched with him. I was in a position were I suddenly just fucking knew he was about to throw an uppercut, I was wide open for it.
I immediately released the clinch and threw my hands in front of me to block the oncoming uppercut as I was stepping back, I caught the punch on my arms and tripped on the mat falling flat on my ass.
Brian charged at me so I swung my legs around and launched into his waist for an attempted double leg takedown, he immediately sprawled and started throwing punches.
conti......................
I managed to get back to my feet and we circled a bit more, failed another clinch then he wrapped me up and we exchanged some punches and knees, he got a bodylock and tried to pull me down but I blocked the takedown and attempted a hip throw, failed and ended up on my face.
He kept the position, peppered me with shots and made sure I wasn't able to get up again, eventually pinning me in the corner.
I hear "5 seconds left" as I'm crammed into the cage getting punched so I figure "Fuck, I'll just wait out the last few seconds and cover up.
Bad idea, that was me not defending myself so the ref stopped the fight with one second left in the round with me losing by TKO.
So now the fight is over, I stand up and hug my opponent and we walk over to the counter and order some drinks.
Overall, it was one of the best experiences in my life.
I'd never fought before, even had a sort of fear of fighting.....but that fear is gone now, I kinda liked fighting.
I know this is a long FRAT story, but it's a story of oppurtunity.
This sport presents an oppurtunity to many of us to step up and give it our all and test our own limits as men.
Since we fought 4 more UGGP's have happened and many more people have had the oppurtunity to fight, some have even gone on to fight again, one UGGP fighter will likely be a star in womens MMA in the next few years if she decides to stick with it.
This oppurtunity got me hooked up with Rupture Clothing, ADCC and Tuff-N-Uff and helped me realize what a little courage and a little passion will do for you.
I love this sport like nothing else and will probably be around it until I either die, or the sport crumbles.
I don't know if there's a real point to my story, if nothing else I encourage people to step up at least once if you are thinking about it...give it a shot, it could change your life.
Thanks for reading, and I know, FRAT.
Great read.
Great story. Well worth the time! Thanks Dreamer.
If the intention of this was to get some new blood into the UGGP, you may have sold me, lol.
LiftStrong - Great story. Well worth the time! Thanks Dreamer.
If the intention of this was to get some new blood into the UGGP, you may have sold me, lol.
My intention wasn't solely for the UGGP, although I support and encourage these events.
Fact is, there's alot of guys out there right now thinking "I'd love to test myself and step up just once."
Some are afraid of losing, or of being laughed at, or being told they can't do it.
Fuck that, fuck anyone who say's you can't step in a cage, I say step up anyway, then when you climb out of that cage find that person and see if they have the balls to do it.
Fear shouldn't tell you what you can't do, fear should be an indicator of what you must overcome to become more of a man.
You couldn't have put what i feel everyday in my mind. I've wanted to just get in the ring since i was 17. Thanks for this, DreamerMMA, kind of makes me realize why i started this sport about 8 years ago.
CWolvie - You couldn't have put what i feel everyday in my mind. I've wanted to just get in the ring since i was 17. Thanks for this, DreamerMMA, kind of makes me realize why i started this sport about 8 years ago.
Do you train now?
Nice read.
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Awesome post, well worth the read!
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nice read.
"There's no getting out of this one, you better fight."
I think I said the exact same thing. I love to fight...a lot but just the idea of doing it in front of fans freaks me the fuck out.
I have trained kickboxing for years and years and yet I turned into a royce gracie clinching machine the second the bell went off. I was so disappointed so I just went to the ground. I was so upset i did that I took another fight and ended up doing the same thing.
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good read
i was thgere
great read, thanks for sharing. i have my first fight in Chiang Mai a week from Monday. ill give my thoughts here if I don't forget.
DevinS - great read, thanks for sharing. i have my first fight in Chiang Mai a week from Monday. ill give my thoughts here if I don't forget.
I miss Chiang Mai. :(
yeah, i still train, Dreamer. Its been very on and off. I jsut finally got back into it solid, though. but, more BJJ.