It has been one year, one month and two fights since the last time I wrote about my transition from a mixed martial arts journalist to a mixed martial artist. Thirteen months later, I am now 3-0 in my amateur career with still so much to learn in this sport. I made my debut back in November of 2009 and won in 52 seconds of round one from a TKO. After my win, I continued to study under Spencer Fisher and Team Evolution eager to fix the mistakes I made from the first fight. One thing that separates my career from other fighters is that I have a full time job, a part time job and I am still in college. In this sport you sometimes see fighters quit their jobs in order to train full time with high aspirations of making it to the UFC, the NFL of mixed martial arts.
Balancing work, school, and training while also trying to have some sort of social life was very challenging at times but having the support of my girlfriend, my family and all of my friends, made it easier. Then there were the “other” days. These we re the days that you come home beaten and bruised, not being able to walk the next morning. The days where you are so tired from training and work and school that you can’t even put a sentence together. These are the days where you can’t eat what you want, can’t drink what you want and have to go to bed early because you have to train again early. I wonder why we don’t see Tapout shirts that say; MMA: Early Bedtimes and No Snacks.
After training so much, I figured it was time again to compete again. So, in the District of Rock Island on a warm August night in 2010, I fought for the second time against Jasen Kennedy. It was in only 53 seconds this time that I had a rear naked choke applied as he tapped giving me the win while also receiving the Submission of the Night award.
Not wanting to wait as long this time, I verbally committed to another fight in for three months later. I wanted to focus on my strength and conditioning so I went back to ChiroFitness Xtreme and with the help of trainers, Dr. Chris Molck and Shawna Nylin, worked on strengthening my endurance. I also added swimming to help prepare my body for my fight. Then, two weeks from the night I was supposed to fight in December but the card event was canceled and rescheduled for February 4th at the OS Sports Complex in Davenport, IA. Now having 10 more weeks before my fight, I stepped up the intensity of my training wanting to come in at the best shape I had been it yet.
After weighing in and eating a combination of The Olive Garden and Biaggi’s I was ready to see how the fate of my third fight would turn out. After a sushi lunch and watching, The Last Dragon I arrived to the complex ready to check in. I found my boxing coach and cousin, Nile Pena and he wrapped my hands preparing them for battle. After a light warm up session with Spencer, my name was called and “Closer” a slow eerie song by Kings of Leon filled the air. With, family and friends beside me I walked down the aisle toward the cage. Bowing, showing respect to the cage, I gave my traditional air squats and touched gloves ready to go.
As round one started, we quickly started throwing and ended up on the ground. I thought I h
ad it won in early as my ground and pound was solid and I was landing shots very frequently. My opponent, Elijah Wyant, protected his face very well and kept active sending us into the second round. This was the first time that my fight had gone past round one so this was new territory for me. As round two began we added a few kicks to change it up a little and the fight ended up back on the ground. He almost caught me in a triangle choke but I was able to break free. It was towards the middle of this round that I felt the momentum starting to favor him. He landed a few good power shots as the round came to a close. Sitting, listening to my coach before round three, I looked over and my opponent looked just as exhausted as I was feeling. This is where you have to dig down deep and leave it all in the cage. Round three began with us swinging for the fences looking for a quick knockout. As we were both in the pocket trading punches, he ducked under a punch and delivered a spinning back hand that landed flush on my face. I knew something was bad as I looked up and saw the cage at a different angle than I’m used to. But I was not knocked out as we continued to fight. About a minute later I took his back and went for the rear naked choke. He fought it for a little while but I eventually sunk it in and squeezed as hard as I could as I felt him tap out. Although, bloody, bruised and battered, I was the winner of the fight.
Like I said before, in my first two fights I had won them both under a minute and hardly took any damage. This was not the case this time. I learned some valuable lessons that I will defiantly use not only in MMA but in life. 1: Never underestimate your opponent. Train everyday with the notion that he is training ten times harder than you. 2: Whatever cardio you are doing, do more. I know that adding swimming helped tremendously this time not only physically but mentally as well. 3: Make sure your diet is flawless. I started the weight cut earlier this time and not having to worry so much about where your weight was at the week of the fight helped me focus on the actual fight.
After this last fight, I truly consider myself a true mixed martial artist now. You find out what kind of soul you have when you are locked in a cage with another human being fighting for over eight minutes. Surprisingly, the best part of the night was not the actual win, but it was when my opponent and I talked after the fight about what we could have done better. For those who still think MMA is a heartless, brutal display of human cockfighting, you are wrong. Mixed Martial Arts is growing up. Gone are the days of no-holds barred rules and drunken slobs entering the cage. We are now witnessing a sport growing faster than any other sport has in history. Whether I have a pen in my hand or a 4oz glove on, I am very happy and grateful to be a part of this sport.
Facebook Comments