this is making for interesting reading. Couple questions though.... do you work only reason i ask is i find it hard to train around work and always wonder how other ppl manage it. Also what kinda diet are you living on at the mo using any supplements?
cheers
Something I wish I understood before my first fight (boxing, not MMA but regardless) is that it isn't heart that wins fights. If you're tired and taking shots you don't start toughing it out whilst getting hit on the chin over and over and swinging back and just generally saying "fuck it" will do you no favours. When you're tired and hurt it's easy to just throw bombs and not be smart. It's mental discipline that wins fights, not listening to the voice that says just rest here when you need to move out and to keep doing the basics that you learnt in the gym so your chin doesn't start coming up and that sort of thing. A fight's not the same as sparring but those same basics you use there is what will win your fight and you'll never go 100% on all your punches anyway in a fight so be relaxed because you've done it before and this will be hardly any different. Anyway that's my 2c
Good luck mate!
Thanks guys.
To answer Billy's question I do work but luckily I work pretty much 9 till 5 an I go to the gym straight after work.
My diet has always been quite good but leading up to the fight I've cut drinking out.
For breakfast I usually have 3 scrambled eggs on brown toast with 4 rashions of lean bacon. Il snack on fruit,usually apples and banannas,lunch is chicken and veg,sometimes with a small amount of gravy for flavour,snack on nuts and seeds,then for dinner il have a fish dish or some other type of protein before training. If I'm in a rush,say at work then il take healthy sandwiches on brown bread and have a protein shake for lunch.
After training il have another protein shake.
Not on any supplements at the minute. Because I walk around at 96kg I pretty much kept my normal diet but this passed week I cut out the fat from my diet to help me shed (crisps,sweets,burgers etc).
My normal diet would still include healthy foods but I'd have pizza maybe once a week,burgers,and general comfort food.im 6ft 2 so and I've always been active so never been far,but this passed week I've lost the but of fat that I had.
Thanks for reading guys.its good to know that it's interesting and could be helping other people.
I've been feeling the nerves more and more and I'm finding it harder to sleep,mostly cos I'm thinking about my fight on a night which keeps me awake, but I'm told that's normal.
Roll on tomorrow.
My weight this morning is 92.5kg
Twitter @ricbrad
Thanks mate.that is true.iv been guilty of this before when sparring,thinking just rest when I should have been moving and been tapped for it. I appreciate the adviceOriginally Posted by uly
Twitter @ricbrad
Good Luck mate- Try and keep ya ears open to your corner,enjoy and win!
Thanks partridge
Twitter @ricbrad
So today was the day off the fight. It was a strange, surreal and action packed day.
Im going to start from the beginning and put how the whole day went, my thoughts and feeling , how the fight went and what happened afterwards.
So last night I did not get much sleep. I woke up several times throughout the night with a chesty cough. I put this down to nerves and I couldnt stop thinking about the day ahead.
Eventually my alarm went off at 7am. The weigh ins were at 10. I got up and weighed myself. 92.5kg. Great, Im fighting at 94kg which allows me to have breakfast
Scrambled eggs on toast followed by lemsip tablets to take the edge off of my cough, and some multi vitamins I stole off the missus (read somewhere that they are good for getting rid of colds). Lots of fresh orange (vit c) aswell.
I had packed all my stuff the night before so I had a quick shower and was ready to go. The whole morning was like a dream. It didnt feel real, again I put this down to nerves.I set off on my own to the venue, my fiance was getting a lift with my parents later.
On the way to the venue Ian album on which had my entrance music on. I wanted it to get me in the mood. Half way there I started worrying that my fight was on 16th out of 17 and that I didnt want to mentally drain myself too early so I turned off my music and drove in silencethe rest of the way.
I arrived at 9.15. 45 minutes early and was the first fighter there.......
I saw the promoter and he made a big deal about me and was very enthusiastic. I wont lie it made me feel like a big deal lol. I guess thats what he is there to do. I thanked him for getting me a replacement fight on such short notice. He said he had been reading my blog and asked me to update it with what I thought, good or bad and that it is a good tool for debut fighters, or people thinking of taking up the sport.This made me feel great, as it is exactly what I wanted it to do.
10 minutes later 2 of the other fighters turned up from my gym. Fighter A was fighting 4th, fighter B 14th. Fighter A was very calm. He had fought and won on this show before ad told me to relax and not let the nerves get the better of me. Fighter B was very quiet, but kept braking the silence with quick whips and jokes, it helped ease the nerves slightly.
I think they could see how nervous I was so did their best to calm me.
We were called up for the weigh ins. At this point I was getting more and more nervous. I had not seen my opponent yet, and was anxious to see if he had turned up. He did. I weighed in at 92.5kg, he weighed in at 91kg. I remembered what my coach had said. I had to imagine that he was my worst enemy. I tried to put myself in 'the zone' (cliche i know). I didnt want to speak to him. I wanted to hate him. He shook my hand as we faced off and told me he had only had a week to prepare, and that he had got back from Paris with his new fiance last week (proposed out there).WHY WAS HE TELLING ME THIS!!!!I wanted to hate him but he was genuine. He looked nervous which made me feel more confident. I wanted to hate him but I couldnt. He was a genuinely nice guy. I thanked him for taking the fight on a weeks notice and walked away. I did not want him to talk to me anymore, I wanted to distance myself from any sort of nice thoughts about him.
Soon after corner men 1 and 2 arrived. They are both veteran fighters. Corner man 1 had fought and won the night before, corner man 2 had cornered him.
I told them about what had happened at the weigh in and they said its good that he is nervous, but I should hate him till after the fight!!! No more thoughts about what kind of person he is.
I was feeling more confident and less nervous now.
Up to the warm up area, and corner man 2 could tell that i was super nervous. He walked out for a while, came back in and said that he had just seen my opponent and he was more nervous than I was.I think he was saying this to try and calm me. ( I was going through waves of confidence and then sheer terror). Corner man 2 had fought my opponents coach before so he said he used it as an excuse to see how my opponent was feeling.
Soon after corner man 3 turned up (Mr X). He would be my main corner man.
He was the most experienced fighter out of the 3 corner men.
Fighter 1's fight was called off due to his opponents no show. He was pissed off but stayed to support us.
My parents and friends then started appearing so went to see them.
(sick/emotional/mushy warning)
When I saw them a wave of emotion hit me and then nerves started even more. They were here to support me but at that point all I could think about was losing in front of them all and being embarrassed. Great, more pressure on myself.
I watched a few fights but it still felt surreal, the whole day up to this point still felt like a blur.
I was still going through waves of confidence then terror. I could see myself physically shaking at points and had to try to calm down (im getting goosebumps thinking about it again).
It was fighter 2's turn to fight. He went with corner man 1 and 2 leaving me alone in the warm up room with Mr X. HE told me that Im going to go through every emotion in the cage. He said that I would feel my familys emotion but shouldnt let it get the better of me. If im down and need to get back up, then i use it, but no where else as fighting on emotion can be dangerous. He said Im going to hear a lot of voices, but the only voice I needed to listen to was his. He told me to become accustomed to his voice, to concentrate on it, and only hear his. As he was talking to me I closed my eyes and just listened, taking everything he said in, but also concentrating on the sound and trying to block everything else out.
I warmed up and hit some pads, rolled abit and drilled take downs. I felt my nerves melting away.
Fighter 2 came back, he had lost via decision and looked upset, but I had to ignore him. I was up soon.
I was called to the entrance area. Mr X told me that this was my time. If I wanted more time , then I took it. Everyone else can wait He told me that I need to use the nerves I had. Take the top off them but use the rest.
I could feel myself welling up.......... this is the most nervous I had ever felt in my life. I was overcome with emotion. I wont lie, it was the worst feeling I have ever felt in my life. Every time I looked at Mr X I though I would burst into tears. I had to look away. I had to control my nerves. My music hit and I shouted at myself a few times to 'take the top off my nerves'. I thought I had to go out there and show everyone that I was confident, even if it was a facade.
I burst through the curtain and walked up to the cage. Took my top off and put my gum shield in. I could hear my family and friends screaming so I looked over and raised my hand to them before checking myself!! I was not to be distracted by anything!!! I stared at the cage and felt my nerves dissapearing. I walked into the cage and stared at my opponent. He looked at the floor. I wanted to make eye contact just once to reassure myself that he was more nervous than me but he did not raise his gaze once. We went to the centre of the cage while the ref went through last minute rules. Il not lie, I cannot recall a word the ref said. My eyes were transfixed on him, silently begging him to look up and show me I was not as scared as him. He did not. He touched my gloves, murmoured what I think was 'Good Luck' and backed off.
FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING NICEATIES!!! why couldnt he just be the dick that I wanted him to fuel my desire to beat him!!!
Twitter @ricbrad
Il be honest, the fight was a complete blur. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Im not a nasty person, I would have much rather had hated the person I fought than actually respected. He took the fight on a weeks notice, had not had 6 weeks to train knowing he would fight at the end, and had to travel a lot further than me to the venue. How could I not respect him.
From what I remember, round 1 I took him down and basically laid there for the whole round, with some ground and pound to his body. I spent most of the round in his half guard before eventually transitioning to mount 10 seconds or so before the end.
Round ended. Mr X said I had a good round and that I was 1-0 up.
Round 2. We traded a few kicks before he went for the takedown which I reversed and ended up on top in his guard. He went for a triangle. I panicked like mad, untill I heard Mr X calmly telling me what to do. I had forgotton how to defend a triangle!!!..until Mr X talked me through it. I finally broke the hold but took and accidental knee to the face for my troubles which didnt faze me until I saw my own blood. I felt dizzy. The ref asked if I wanted 5 minutes, I took about a minute to gather my thoughts and catch my breath..........or so I thought. I was bowing out of my arse. When the round restarted we grappled against the cage trading knees and body punches until the round ended.
Mr X said it was another good round but it was closer and could have gone either way, so I needed to go out there as if it was 1-1. Out I went for round 3.
I went for a takedown and felt y big toe snap on my right foot. I thought shit, but didnt feel anything else, so carride on. He defended and landed in my guard. I threw up a triangle but he defended it well. I evetually managed to sweep him and get into mount with 15 seconds left. I thought about an armbar attempt but heard Mr X shout just score, so I pounded on him till the bell.
At the end of the fight I looked at my big toe. There was a deep cut and I could see my bone................SHIT.
I won by unanimous decision. WOW. My nerves went and I felt extatic!!! I had just won my first MMA fight, gone three rounds. I hugged my family and friends and then was helped to the warm up room. My toe was in a bad way. Ambulance was called.
My opponent came up to check on me to make sure my foot and face were ok. He was genuinly a sound bloke and will always have my utmost respect. It is a shame I had to go to hospital otherwise I would have bought him a drink and shared a few laughs with him.
At hospital I must have looked a right state. Foot bleeding with an exposed bone, but a huge smile on my face. Luckily there was no bones broken or ligament damage, just a nasty gash.
Im now home and everything is starting to feel real again. im exhausted, my foot is wrapped and stitched and Im dropping to sleep whilst writing this. so to conclude;
today I have felt the worst I have ever felt in my life. I have never been as scared,as nervous or as terrified, but I have also felt exstatic feelings of emotion that I dont feel every day. All the hard work has paid off, I won, and I have experienced something that only a small percentage of people have done. I have tested myself in the most intimidating environment and felt awesome whilst doing it.
The next time I fight, I will do things different though.
I will train harder and become fitter. I underestimated how fit you need to be to do this!!!!!! I cannot stress how difficult it is to fight whilst blowing out of your arse!
I want to thank everyone who took the time to read this and everyone who commented. If you want to see the fight, my twitter link is below, il post it on there. If anyone has any other questions, please ask.
Twitter @ricbrad
Enjoyed reading this, reminded me of how I felt doing my first Ammy fight, the rules may be very limited in those fights but the mental side of it is still a nightmare, as time goes on and the more you compete the better you get at channelling those nerves
Oh and congrats on your win
Nice work I am sure Dana would be proud.
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