The Pledge

Originally posted: January 8th, 2008

“Most guys are at fight club because of something they’re too scared to fight. After a few fights, you’re scared a lot less.”

Before June 1st, 2008, I will have fought in a sanctioned mixed martial arts fight.

I am an 18 year old college student with no formal martial arts experience.  Hell, I haven’t even been in a fight of any kind since I was still wearing spiderman underpants.

But let me restate this: Before June 1st, 2008, I will have fought in a sanctioned mixed martial arts fight.

A cage fight.

I feel like I’m missing something in life.  I earn good grades, have a girlfriend that adores me, and friends that I can trust.  I have a family that supports me and I succeed at most things pretty easily.

For some reason, though, it’s not enough.  All of those things help, but at the same time, they’re constricting.  With every passing day, I come more locked into a set path and more indoctrinated into acting the way society tells me to. They want me to be polite and helpful and courteous. 

And I am polite. And helpful. And courteous.

But it’s not enough.

I need violence.  I need to release the energy, to feel my fist crash into another man’s skull.  I need to feel dead tired and exhausted, with my blood and sweat dripping to the floor as I struggle to remain conscious.  I need to feel pain, and I need to overcome it.  Up to this point, life has been too easy. 

Quite frankly, I need to get my ass beat.

I will train with my friend, Mike, who will be fighting for the first time on March 22nd.  If I am ready to go, I’ll be joining him in that same event.

My training will consist of weight lifting twice a week and fight training whenever I can fit it in between school and work.  I’ve taken the liberty of posting my training schedule in the column to the right.  Feel free to look it over and let me know what you think.

The purpose of this blog is to tell my story.  You’ll know how I train, what I eat, and how I feel as my deadline approaches.  My every decision and thought will be tossed onto here into the public domain.  Perhaps you’ll be entertained. Perhaps you’ll learn something new.

Maybe not.

The point is, this is my story.  My goal.  My journey.  My pledge to improve myself.

At 3:20 pm EST on January 16th, 2008, I am officially cage bound.