Banged up:The sparring partner

Hello all! I hope this finds you well. I wanted to just touch base on sparring partners and what you must endure in order for the person fighting to have success. Generally speaking, helping a fighter prepare for a fight as a sparring partner is a give and take. On one hand you get to work on some skills and also help in some cases a friend and in other cases your wallet. While that might seem look a pretty good set of reasons to throw on the headgear, sacrifice accompanies the work. The fighter getting ready for the fight gradually gets faster and stronger and more accurate as the weeks go on. Now if you yourself are preparing for a fight the differences may not be noticeable. However if you're in between fights chances are you're not doing the same kind of training as the guy you're sparring. As he gets faster it becomes more difficult to keep up. The punches, kicks,and submissions become harder to defend. By the the last three weeks the fighter is sharper than ever. You've done your job, usually at the expense of your own body. However, you always come away a better fighter than you were going in.

I recently had the opportunity to spar with a good friend and fighter Asim Zaidi. Asim was preparing to fight in Italy and was trying to get in as much sparring as possible. By the end of a few weeks I was completely banged up. Between sparring with Asim as well as some of my clients I was a mess. From toes to shoulders. I picked up a bunch of new tricks and enjoyed every minute of it, but ouch!!. 2 weeks later I finally feel back to normal. I checked good old Facebook yesterday and there he was with his hand raised. It made it all worth it! A great win for a good guy that I know for sure put in the work necessary to win...trust me..lol The video above is from one of the sparring sessions. Enjoy my pain.

Say yes and don't stop

When she said,"you gotta come take Keith's class!" I almost blew it off. I was on an extreme street basketball kick at the time. My mind said I need to work on my 15 foot shot but something else in me, before I even realized it, had fixed my mouth in the yes position and the word flowed out. I found myself a little out of place and amazingly comfortable. The warm ups were done and then it happened. The moment that changed my life. I KICKED THE BAG! IT was at that moment that I knew where I was supposed to be. After taking these classes with my buddy Keith I started to feel alive again. As all things do, it came to an end. There were some fill ins as the class dwindled down to nothing. I was lost but realized that I couldn't let it go. I found something good, wait not good...Great. I trained for about 2 years on my own. Get someone to hold pads for me every now and then, but for the most part alone. Maybe in retrospect, I was falling in love with kickboxing.

Shortly after the beginning of my love affair I realized that I just didn't want to do much else. I was given an opportunity to teach and it again reaffirmed where I was meant to be. Still bartending 5 days a week, I decided to start a company making clothes and an MMA news website. I sponsored a couple of fighters and worked hard to get my business going. Once my bartending gig went the company went the way of the dinosaur.

I spent all of my money and time on it and it was gone. However my love for kickboxing had turned into a love for Muay Thai and then blossomed into a love of Jiu jitsu and re-hashed my love of western boxing. It all had meaning and purpose and gave me a feeling of fulfillment. What happened next was the hard part. After training for about 5 years(no real coach) I decided to try a fight. Now it had been in my head for a while. After class one day someone asked me "so when are you fighting again?". This had just reaffirmed what had been bugging me. How can I teach what I haven't directly applied. So I hunted down some fights, asked some people for a little help preparing, called a friend to corner me, and adrenaline did the rest. I got myself a fight and won. After that I truly believed that I was good at kickboxing, I was so not. In my next fight I was "handled"...easily. I studied nonstop and trained nonstop, I still do. I can only attribute it to passion. I am passionate about what I am doing. It has taken 11 years and plenty of sacrifice. You can't get certified to do what I do or carry the knowledge I have now in this brain. This is the first time I have been able to make living off of the countless hours studying, training, and competing. The injuries, from back pains to broken fingers and everything in between including a couple of broken hearts and bank accounts.

I have met amazing people along the way, laughed and cried in the same moment. I wouldn't change it for the world. People sometimes think this is an easy life or easy road or even glamorize it because of the rise of MMA, but the truth is it's flat out hard. Embrace the struggle. In my case it has been ever so worth it. I say all of this because I want you all to find your passions, say Yes to life and once you feel like you have something, don't stop regardless of the obstacles in the way. It's all starting to come together now, but it was earned and that makes it that much better. Love you all, follow your dreams and "Live Life-No Regrets"

Getting back to it

I remember feeling like a fish out of water when I first started doing Jiu jitsu. Trying to figure out what it was all about while getting tossed around like a ragdoll. It took some time but I started to be more and more comfortable and familiar with the positions and reasons why I was suppose to be there. I started off doing no gi Jiu jitsu, that's a big no no for traditionalists. Some believe that not learning the gi is really taking something away from the art. I think that if your goal is to be successful in MMA you must stay deeply rooted in no gi jits as there is no one in the octagon that's gonna choke you with their lapel. I totally understand the feeling that maybe people aren't grasping the traditional ideas of Jiu jitsu. However Jiu jitsu is many things. It's a major part of history,it's self-defense,a sport, and an ever evolving art that demands serious concentration and respect. It is not owned by Japan, Brazil, or America. Jiu jitsu is owned by the people that practice it.

I learned so much from my first instructor Troy Waugh, Abu Dahbi Combat Club competitor and referee, pro MMA ref, and all around good guy. He was so easy to understand that it made it easy, he just had a knack for it. Under his watch I won my division in my first tournament. I trained for about 3 years and started feeling very comfortable with my skillset. Unfortunately, I left the gym after several owner changes and disorganization. Troy moved and I focused entirely on my Muay Thai. I hadn't found a way to get back to Jiu jitsu until now and what a way to come back. I picked up another teaching gig at a place that has a well known Brazilian Jiu jitsu instructor. The wonderful thing about this is that it's Gi. So now I return to doing jits and not only that but I get to really increase my skills.

The instructor is Jorge Pereira, a 6th degree blackbelt under Rickson Gracie. I feel like i'm getting proper instruction and I'm loving starting over. It may seem strange to some but this time the Gi allows me to have handles to grab on to instead of someones slippery arm. I feel great about rolling twice a week and can't wait to compete again. It never stops, only you do. Evolve into a fully rounded fighter, don't hold yourself back into only liking one thing or another. It's all related at some point you might be on your back, then what?

Training blog ep. 3

Sorry it took so long guys... more coming soon!!! Had problems adding the music but I will update it later. Love you all.