We all have things on our bucket list, or have made the comment I could that right? Have you ever tried something you thought would be neat but wasn't. Well this is a true story of one of those occasions in my life.
 
So I ask has anybody here seen the movie Warrior. Well there is a line in the movie where the main character makes the statement "I was one of those animals." He was making a comment about those who participate in MMA. Well no he's not really he's an actor, but I really am/was. We all have things on our bucket list, or have made the comment I could that right?

So let me digress a bit. I have a friend that is a MMA trainer and he convinced me to workout at his gym to get back in shape. I'd wanted to get back in shape so I took him up on it. Ok, that was the first mistake. First night 90 minutes of P90X, then bag work for another half hour. Well in my case I had to learn the "numbers". I'll be honest I really thought Ii was going to pass out. Oh I guess I failed to mention that I was 53 at the time, hence was given the nickname "old school." Well I trained hard, was faithful to the gym. I showed up every night, practiced with the guys that actually were on the fight team. I could hold my own with some of them. So I made the mistake of asking if I could actually represent the gym at a local fight. (Second dumb thing)

There was a local fight at Hooters here, and I got to be one the team. Passed all the medicals, and then got the call to the fighters meeting. The first thing we were told by the promoter was that we all realized there was a chance we could die or be permanently injured as a result of our choice to participate. Then we were given the chance to back out oh yeah 50 alpha males. We were also told there was no shame in quitting if we felt we were over matched. Did I mention alpha males? So we got our matches, and dispersed. I was nervous as hell; think I had condors instead of butterflies in my stomach.

Wasn't long till I got my call to the ring. Entered the cage and looked across at my opponent for the first time. We were heavyweights but I was considerably bigger than him. Yes I had to cut weight to make the 256 maximum, and he was about 220. So I felt better. Figured I'd bull rush him and try for an early KO. They rang the bell and I did just what I planned, but he had the same plan. We met approximately center ring and for the first 2 minutes of 5 it was constant punches, elbows, knees and kicks. I think the crowd liked it. After feeling like I had loose teeth I took him to the ground. Made an early attempt at a kimora then tried for an arm bar. Naturally he reversed them and attempted to submit me. It was a great scramble between with some really quick reversals, and counters. He took my back; I attempted a reverse and turned right into a guillotine choke. Don't believe what you see in the movies or wrestling. You don't last a long time 8 seconds is all you have before things go black.

Yeah I lost, but I can say I did it, and crossed something off the bucket list. Just for the record I won the next one, but think he knocked some sense in me, as it was the last one.