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MMA - Equivalent to Life (a fan's perspective)
There are an endless amount of sports today that combine team work, camaraderie and above all else the chance to taste sweet victory. Building the bond and trust between fellow teammates is a trait we've all been taught to cherish since the first time we stepped onto a practice field. Having the privilege of being side by side with your best friends and brothers in competition has given all of us a feeling of comfort in knowing they will be there to cover our every mistake. My sport of choice growing up was football. I was our team's defensive captain at outside linebacker and a full back on offense. My coach told me every day since I was 10 years old that football is a game of life; that the challenges I would go through out on that field every Sunday would prepare me for the real world. However, one of the biggest lessons I have learned in my twenty years of life is when it all boils down to it in the real world, no one is there to cover me. There is no one to pass the ball to and there is no one to step up and block for me to break free when my ability to overcome adversity is put to the test. Ever since I have had this newly discovered mind set on the sports I played in High School, I have been in search for new means of competition that resembles the way life really is. Fortunately I found it faster than I had ever thought that I would.
Late one night I was flipping through the channels on my television watching paid programming. You know, the one with the girls wearing almost nothing advertising a new workout machine. We've all been there. After drifting off for a bit I clicked over to Spike TV only to discover what would soon be my new found obsession. MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fights in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Every fan out there remembers the first time they saw the fastest growing, up and coming sport in the United States, and all of the things that ran through their minds when they saw a viscous body shot followed by a breath taking knock out punch.
It was in that moment that I knew I had found the sport I was made to be a part of. A sport that combines not only hard work and dedication, but also a magnificent amount of culture wrapped into each fighting style. Through training I've learned that camaraderie and team work can be found in different ways, with trainers and training partners. But to taste sweet victory in this sport it must be earned alone, which is a true testament to what being a warrior is all about. Just like life, when your back's against the cage and your opponent is throwing all of his will at you, no one is in there but you. Fighting doesn't give you the option of help, only you can return fire and fight your way to a victory. If you refuse to accept that, it's either tap out, or get knocked out.
by Mark Harlacher
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