FIGHTING

WHO IS A "REAL" FIGHTER?

 

It has been awhile since I have written an article. Between training camps and shows the last couple months - haven't had much time. I do have a few observations if anybody cares to read them.

Seems to be a ton of guys trying MMA lately - I was careful not to say fighters because there is a difference between a guy practicing MMA and a fighter. I do give props to anyone who gets in the cage - it truly takes some heart. It can also take away a person's heart.

I am working with around 20 guys right now, out of the 20 maybe 4 are real fighters. The real fighters work, they live a fighters lifestyle, they enjoy a win maybe for a weekend and more often than not are very dissatisfied with their performance.

Now a guy practicing MMA will live as long as he possibly can in victory over a win, and not only are they happy with their most recent performance they will do a play by play of the fight to anybody and everybody who will listen for as long as they possibly can. They take their week off, maybe more if a rib hurts.

A fighter is back in the gym the following Monday trying to fix every mistake they made either real or imagined, they have no time for time off unless they are truly nursing an injury and even then often come back to soon. A real fighter at the amateur level wants every fight he can get his hands on, while a practitioner wants to see fight tape dating back as far as possible, wants to think about it a week, haggles over what weight the fight is going to be at and then wants to think about it some more. The real fighter many times has to be told "no - you are not fighting that guy, you are not ready", he gets mad and beats everyone of his sparring partners up and apologizes after, saying he was mad because I did not make that fight for him.

Now I am not by any means disrespecting the guy who is not there yet or will never be there, I am merely pointing out the difference, and anybody who has been in the fight game awhile - knows what I am talking about. I am sure you all are aware the American Pit Bull is the symbol for DogBoxer and the heart and courage they display. Now a dog is either born with heart or not, very black and white, but a human can choose - granted some have more naturally than others, but it still is a choice. Even though few make that choice anymore. We have bred a very soft and spoiled people these last couple of generations, but it is satisfying to see a young person come into the gym who chooses to and is determined to hone their skills and put themselves thru trial and tribulation until not only are the physical skills and the conditioning there but the heart and the courage to become a true warrior.

Sometimes these are the very ones who make it to the championship levels - by choosing to have heart, by observing how champions got to the levels they have gotten to and mimicking what they see. Champions begin with the end in mind, they see themselves as champions and then do what champions do to get there - even when the odds are against them. They are better off for it because it still gets them to the destination they are supposed to be at whatever that may be. It is thru the bad times, the struggles the trials of life that our character is built.

The people who constantly bob and weave away from this and always choose the path of least resistance are robbing themselves of the very things that I believe are put in our path to make us great, or at the very least better people, stronger people, people that wake up in the morning and try to matter to somebody or something.

These things not only build our character but they make us humble, able to help another and keep us from being so self centered we are not worth the led asprin it would take to put us out of our misery-- just saying.