Well, it’s 2012, and I just finished my “vacation”. It seems as though I, like Forrest Gump have a skewed concept of “vacation”. I trained twice a day for the 10 days I had off and was more tired after than I would have been if I worked. I was also reminded what it feels like to wake up in the morning and be sore everywhere. I didn’t get as many classes with Kalib Starnes in as I would have liked, but I did manage to get out there a few times and train with him, Vinicios and Lelo (Axe Capoera studs). It’s nice to finally feel motivated, not that I didn’t feel challenged in my last fights, but I just didn’t feel any urgency to get in shape or to be all that focused. This year has started off great. I am already in better shape now than I was before any of my fights last year and I finally feel driven to make a run at this sport and see exactly what I can do.
I don’t think that I ever underestimate myself in my athletic abilities, but I do think I was taking more of a sideline approach to my MMA career. Just watching what happened and having the “I coulda trained harder” card in my back pocket in case of a loss. But that’s over, I am holding myself accountable for my actions this year and look forward to seeing what I can do. I hope to really showcase my talents in this upcoming fight on Feb 11th, and then assess the situation and see whether or not I will go pro.
When I do enter the pro ranks you can expect my first fight to be against someone with a winning record, someone that when I beat will have me climbing the pro ranks in BFL immediately. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t do things in moderation, I don’t wade slowly into the water and wait till I’m adjusted to the temperature, no, I find the biggest cliff and dive in head first (You can ask my manager Darcy McBride about that). I understand why one might be tempted to take an easy fight when starting off to see where they are at, but frankly I am too impatient for that. Most of the guys that are currently on the pro circuit didn’t have the opportunity to fight as an amateur, so the way I look at it is I have had 7 fights and it doesn’t matter what level they were, it’s all experience.
That’s it for today, my next two weeks will be filled with working, training, eating and sleeping. I would like to thank all my sponsors: Dominant Ground, FVSTR clothing, Passion Sports, Dank Energy, Drako, T-Barz, Fine Arts Bartending in Victoria and MMASucka for all the support.