To start Id just quickly like to say thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I'd like to stress that all topics I post are either my experiences or my opinions. Nothing is right or wrong and everybody is entitled to an opinion, I have just decided to put it all down as I get many questions about why I like to fight and why people participate in the sport of MMA.
So with that lets begin round 1. This is my personal story of how I decided I was a fighter, I get asked this question a lot "what made you decided to fight?" so I thought for any curios people that want to know, this is the start of my journey that made me the fighter I am today.
It all began at the tender age of 8 years old, like most schools mine had a bully that would pick on the smaller kids day in and day out. Well I used to sit there and watch this kid bully the others and it made me so angry but I never had the bottle to do anything about it, being a gigantic wimp and all. So after school one day I got home and my dad was watching one of the great Bruce Lee's films 'Big Boss'. There's a scene at the start of the movie where these thugs hit a little boy and Lee wanted to do something about it but made an oath not to fight, the little boys brother jumped in and gave the 4 or 5 bullies a beating by himself. At this point in the movie I was so into it, I liked how all the heroes in the film were full of honour and they laid down their lives to protect their weaker friends. The next scene which filled me with courage was the scene at the workplace where the warden guy started to beat on the workers and Lee's pendant was broken that was given to him by his mother which finally sent him over the edge and he started to defend the villagers.
Now this scene filled me with the courage to stand up to this bully, I had decided that I wanted to protect people and starting tomorrow that's exactly what Im going to do.
So I march into school with my new found bravery and confront the bully whilst he's picking on a smaller kid, did i deliver a Bruce Lee style round house to the bully....No, did I get my ass handed to me....Yes. However where the bully had the physical win I had the mental victory. I had achieved what I set out to do, I protected somebody much weaker than myself.
So after I arrived home and begged my mother to enrol me in some sort of martial art class so I could learn how to better protect people from bullies, her answer was a simple "NO". I'm sure at this point you can imagine an 8 year old going on and on and on, well that's not what I did. I took it upon myself to Learn everything I knew back then from the legend Bruce Lee himself, my dad had about 7 of his films so day in and day out I would study every fight scene, copy every technique and even copy the sounds. Within a couple of weeks I was a Bruce Lee clone, I'd do the same gestures, flick my thumb across my nose just like he did (I still do it now) and most importantly I had acquired the skills necessary to protect weak people.
The bullies no longer bothered the other kids and I was happy, well sort of, it wasn't enough, I wanted to fight and get better, I didn't want to be the same skill level for ever so at about 13 years old I asked my mum again if I could join a club and this time she was all for it. There I learnt competition and that is what moved me on from focusing to protect others into fighting for pride and to ultimately test my skills.
That is how I began. I started out wanting to protect others and ended up wanting to prove myself against the best. I don't fight or participate in MMA because I'm a bully or a thug. I have never laid a hand on somebody outside of training or in the cage unless they attack me first. The competition is what drives me, to prove I'm the best!
Well I'm sure for some that was boring and for others it would have been interesting to see how one comes about wanting to fight in a controlled environment. The next post shall be about why I fight, what motivated me and who my idols are that have made me the fighter and the man I am. I will also be touching on the sport in general.
If your also a fight please feel free to comment how you got started as I am interested in other people's journeys also. Any questions I'd be happy to answer them.
Thanks for reading
- Follow me on twitter @JayPattersonMMA
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
