To you mma fans

It would be fun until I gassed out early in the fight.

Are we talking about 3, 3 minute rounds with shinguards and the padded helmet thingy?

Well that’s why I’d take my daughter to learns jiu jitsu for kids when she’s 5/6 since she’s so kinesthetically ahead. She’s 2 so for now it will be gymnastics then karate

I have a black belt in tkd and some skills in judo/bjj so I’m considering it.

If not I do want to earn a judo black belt and teach eventually

No no shin guards

Been punched several times throughout my life lol

Back in 2003, yes. Even trained with some guys a few times including one that had 2 or 3 fights in the UFC.

What surprised me is how easy it was for them to handle me grappling. At that time, I did cardio in the am and lifted in the PM almost every day. Was lean, strong, very athletic etc. I figured I could hold my own at least somewhat just because I felt physically superior to guys about my size. Nope. Technique was everything and I was humiliated with more ease than I thought.

Point it, unless you have a legit wrestling background, be prepared to be humbled.

I have two humbling experiences I was submitted by a 3 stripe purple belt back in 2011 5-6 times in 2 minutes. He’s now a bjj black belt

The other was from a judo guy who was a member of the Cuban national judo team for almost a decade. I never felt so helpless

Wanted to wrestle in high school but my school didn't have a team and there were no other outlets. There was some judo instruction locally but virtually no students. A guy moved to the area, he was a national champion in his age / weight group. We were close in size so we would go at it. I was brand new. He toyed with me and choked me out numerous times. I would never tap to a choke but he was kind enough to stop the action when I was going out. That taught me that the ground game takes years. I was always a good athlete but was no match for a legit pro like that.

Combatives stuff in the Army turned me off to exploring it further - some of the testing they do makes no sense and is the opposite of how we do things in combat, and I thought that was just setting the stage for giving bad habits etc.

I did take some boxing lessons from a guy that was an armed forces golden gloves or whatever they're called. My technique was OK, power OK, but when you see a real boxer's speed, it gives you some perspective. I'm not an ultra fast person.

At this point, I'd just like to move somewhere that has a 10th planet school and take a few boxing lessons again. I really like this stuff.

My experiences have led me to marvel at the skill in professional MMA and have taught me that it really takes years and years of immersion to get to that level. I'm a bit of an all or nothing type. So I wouldn't mind sparring if I were very active at a gym and had good training partners, but I'll never try to compete.

MMA is sort of like cycling for me. When I began cycling and really enjoyed it, I went nuts with a top of the line bike and components. I knew I was riding a machine that was pretty close to what the pros were riding. To see the differences in my abilities compared to them was shocking. Same for MMA.

Another bit of perspective came at an Army course. Instructor could fricking destroy any of us students. He was a pro that wanted to get in the UFC. He never even sniffed a UFC contract. Like Cormier says, there are levels to this stuff.

I do believe there are a lot of people tough enough to do it. I'd like to think I'm one of them. But there just aren't many people skilled enough. I know for a fact I'm one of those in the lack of skill category.

10 mg 1 a day
10 mg Ritalin 1 a day
150 mg bupropion hcl 1-2 a day

I’m over 40 and I’ve been considering it lately. I’m around a few very competitive camps so I get roll with some monsters. Don’t think I’d try mma at this point, but I’m just starting sambo and Judo on the side and I might compete in some old man tourney or something. Just finishing up a two month training injury and very motivated right now. Probably a very dumb idea but getting my arse whipped by a pro mma guy in a Judo class reminded me just how bad I like and miss any sort of competition.