There is _____ here.

Many people that become fighters also become obsessive about it. It could be the training they enjoy or the camradery with their training partners, perhaps it's the release of the stresses of everyday life. I've often heard fighters and people that train regularly say things like, "if it wasn't for this I would be in jail for beating someone up", or, "this saved my life". Yes I can totally relate to those of us that just need to have an outlet to get away from all of the internal and external factors that keep us from just being free and happy.
However that is not the end all be all of what is felt in the gym, or on the mats or in the ring or the cage. There is something else their that the average fan won't ever see or get to experience and therefore understand. You can call it passion or energy or for that matter call it what it really is and that is love. There is love here even when it doesn't exist anywhere else. The moment one foot steps in everything else begins to evaporate. There is no question in my mind why fighters stick around past their prime or why people become lifelong martial artists. What is inside of those squared circles or Octagons or on those mats can't be found anywhere else. It's also evident by the amount of ex-fighters that become drug addicts, because they are searching for that out of body unconscious connection that they no longer have. Regardless of outcomes of fights or wins and losses, no matter the amount of sweat or blood lost in sparring or in actual competition there is a feeling in the hearts of those that compete that cannot be duplicated in any other sport. That is not to diminish other peoples chosen athletic activities and I understand that some sports are considered just as violent as fighting but that isn't what separates us. The differences lie in the unification between the physical, mental, and emotional connections and what can only be compared to an, at times, out of body experience. You hear basketball players and other athletes having a good game or day as being described as being "in the zone". A fighter is in constant expression of that zone and it is most evident when that energy is exchanged back and forth from one martial artist to another. There is truth to the phrase styles make fights but the real truth is that fighters make fights and those fights are built on the foundations of the  energy boiling and erupting in the places that fighters are made. I can

distinctly remember the places I have fought and trained or grappled and competed however like most fighters it is very difficult to remember what exactly happened during those times. Ask a fighter what happened after a fight and most of them will say I don't remember or they can remember only bits and pieces and they'll have to watch it later. In the moments that a the bell rings to start the fight or the competition all things outside of that moment often become blurry and almost non-existent. It's not that we don't realize that other people are there but we are in our "zone" and we are not alone, that zone is both our own and a shared space with the other competitor. There is nothing like it. Other than some adrenaline junkies you can ask fighters to do crazy things like sky diving or swim with sharks etc and most might shrug their shoulders at such things mostly because after you face mortality every single day a person facing mortality for one single day just doesn't seem very appealing.

For those of us that have been blessed enough to take part in what most consider an insane lifestyle we know about the energy that exists in these places and it is real. You can call it passion or energy or for that matter call it what it really is and that is love, there is love here.