a fighters mentality

The mentality of a fighter is the key to success. Raw talent or technic is nothing without a good mentality. A fighters mentality affects his approach to a fight, the way he trains, how he rests, and pretty much everything. People draw these conclusions that a fighter has to be ferocious and fired up before a fight. Or that they have to be calm, cool and collected. The truth is it all depends on the person, people handle different things different ways. 

I know a lot of fighters who fight because it gets them attention. They don’t take it as serious as I do or other successful fighters. In this case the fighters who fight for the wrong reasons don’t really train as hard as some who do this cause they love it. At the same time you want to have a balance. A balance between hard training and rest, between focus and not taking yourself to seriously. If all you do is train, train, and train. It doesn’t matter how tough you are you’ll get burned out on it, and you wont enjoy training or fighting as much anymore. Lots of great fighters have “valleys” in there careers. A point where they fall, lose a fight, or just lose there edge. This is the defining moment wether you fight through or accept defeat. This is the part that tests your mind.   

Entering the MMA world

Becoming a fighter, its not as cool and fun as it might sound. If you want to become a fighter first you have to join a gym, memberships at fight gyms are very expensive. For most people in our local area to join a fight gym they would try to join the Peoria Athletic Club or PAC.  This gym is located between East Peoria and Morton but will soon be moving down by Bradley. PAC is a good gym with good trainers and a nice facility, but it is outrageously priced. For 100 dollars a month they will let you take there classes and you have to put up with the “know it all” gym owner. I personally will not step foot in this gym unless it’s a Saturday morning sparring, which is free, and the only day the owner isn’t there. The owner is a stuck up guy who has spent a million bucks to get his black belt, yet he can be submitted by people who don’t even have a belt.

Another gym it Central Illinois Combat Club, or CICC, which is a gym that I love. Located in Canton Illinois, which is a bit of a drive from Peoria but it is still worth the four day a week training program. The gym provides a great diversity of fighters/trainers. The owner, a man lets most of us train there for free doesn’t even take credit for being the coach. It is a family mentality, and whenever you came to train you also teach we learn from each other and there are no egos! We are all simply there to get better and train. If you are just entering MMA it will cost 30 dollars a month to train at this gym. These are the two main fight gyms in central Illinois, there are also programs at worlds gym, and align life chiropractic. But both of these programs are “run”, or comprised of fighters that also train at CICC or PAC . Entering any program will cost money, but once you become a good training partner, they might let you slide on the payments.     

Anybody wearing a Tapout shirt

Mma is a very fast growing sport but you’ve got to be careful of some of these “fans”. Personally Im a very competitive person I always have to win, be better than you, or be above you period. Now this is both a good thing and a bad thing its good because it drives me to be better, its bad because Im constantly comparing myself to people around me. 

Something that I’ve noticed about a lot of guys is they wanna be known as the tough guy to. I can’t tell you how many guys that say they are “fighters” and they train at these tough gyms. Which usually the “tough” gyms are the places I train and the fighters there are my friends. Somehow these guys will talk all day to people about there fighting and hard training. Then I try to talk to them about training and its pretty obvious that they have never stepped foot into a fight gym. Much less any of the gyms I train at. I don’t like to tell people that I fight until I get to know them or someone else I know tells them. My english class and part of my business class are the only people outside of my close friends and high school who know Im an MMA fighter. I don’t always like the attention and you immediately become a target for the guy in the class who thinks he’s the most macho. So if somebody is telling you how hard there training is, they could just be trying to be the “macho guy in the room”.      

fight video/competitive experience

Im waiting for seth to get back to me on a better way to post the link to my video, but if you aren't friends with me on facebook then you can't use the link that I've posted. Don't be shy I will accept your friend request if I cant get the other link up then you can watch the one on my facebook.  

Competitive experience is very important not always just in MMA. I plan to try and walk on and wrestle at the college level, I have a lot to learn about wrestling and I want to get my college degree. For me it is the best way to continue competing and training while in school and getting an education. I’m not very worried about making my way through the MMA ranks. Im the youngest fighter at my camp and one of the youngest period. I want to compete in boxing, wrestling and MMA, all for the end benefit of MMA. Im going to buy my boxing license either for 2011 or 2012 and get some competitive boxing in as well. People sometimes forget that life is about the experiences, and that while we are young experiencing things is the most important. Right now I enjoy training and competing after college I can pursue any kind of career I want but for now competing in all the sports and going to school is what i want to do. Once i put college behind hopefully I will know better what i want out of life. 

test

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=732142113#!/video/video.php?v=1390758781329

Post fight

It was a quick fight only about a minute and a half, he looked tougher then he actually was. He had an AK-47 the actual gun tattood as his side burn, and on the other side he had some Chinese writing down his other side burn. He didn’t belong in the cage with me I threw one punch and he dropped like a sac of potatoes, I was surprised when he shot in to take me down. I immediately reversed it and took him down, he began to stand back up so I picked him up and slammed him. During the slam I injured myself he landed on my shoulder, which kind of hurt and it is still a little sore today. After the slam he grabbed my head from the bottom position and began to squeeze. He didn’t have a choke or even a dangerous position he was just squeezing so I let him. I fought somewhat to get out of it but very lightly allowing him to wear himself out from holding me. Sure enough about 10-20 sec later his hold began to loosen and I could feel his arms getting weaker. I popped out of the hold and began to punch, he lost his cool and began to try and scramble away. Instead he allowed me to get to a better position and take his back, I kept punching as hard as I could, just instinct. Then my corner man yelled at me to stop hitting him and go for a submission so I did, I went for a rear naked choke which is a very simple choke. Once I got my arm under his chin though I realized he had no idea how to defend against the choke. So I transitioned into a short choke which is a simple version of a rear naked choke, he tapped almost immediately. He only hit me twice once in the face and once in the side, my face is fine not even swollen but I think if I had had more time I could’ve knocked that AK-47 right off his face.

Fight week

The nerves are here the stress is on the only thing thats a positive feeling is the excitement. The prospect of winning, getting my hand raised at the end of the night. Theres something magic about walking into the cage, feeling the canvas, and the bounce of the ply wood underneath my feet. It is a chaotic moment in anyones life, but out of chaos comes order a strange calm takes over. There's no reason to be afraid anymore theres no going back, he's only a man, and he has nothing thats going to stop me. Confidence is the biggest thing now no fear, no doubt, but your still nervous. You see your opponent across the cage staring you down like a bear looking at its meal. So many emotions going through me I don't know wether to smile or throw up, I decide to smile and stare back at him. The cage door closes you can hear the clank of metal, all of a sudden its just you him and a referee. My stomach feels light like its full of air, but there actually butterflies. The referee says are you ready? FIGHT! The bell dings, and any fear or nerves fade away.

 Only the weak minded are affected by a stare down, anyone can stare tough its backing it up thats what counts. Confidence, even false confidence, is needed to fight. I watch Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, all of the greats I watch them talk trash, and somehow in a weird way it builds my confidence. I put everything physically and mentally that I could into this, whats the worst thing he could do to me? The worst thing is he embarrasses me, but since I'm in there I wont let that happen. I fight on sat wish me luck(i hope my parents don't read this blog before then) but you will all find out how I do very soon.

Camera shy

I wasn't able to get any pictures or videos of myself doing fight training this week but i do have a video that some of you may like. If you do not like blood DO NOT watch this video these are some of the bloodiest fights in the UFC. Sorry they aren't me i will work on getting a video of me hitting mits or doing some sparing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAH1AamxCuk&feature=related

injuries

I had a minor injury earlier this week, i was allowing someone to do a move on my and they kneed me in the elbow. Which dislocated the elbow, thankfully my head trainer Dave, who is some what of a doctor was there and popped it back in immediately. This happened wednesday night so i was forced to take the day off of training on thursday because of the injury. I’ve gotten a lot of injuries and seen a lot of people get injured so id like to take the opportunity in this blog and tell you how i believe its best to heal from a combat sports injury. RICE it, rice simply stands for Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate.  So rest, simply keep it away from any stressful activity for example, if you hurt your back don’t lift heavy objects. Ice is the most effective way to stop swelling, and within the first 24 hrs after the injury happens. that is the time that will determine if and how much swelling there will be. Compress, rap the injury not to tightly that it cuts off your circulation but enough to where it feels comfortable. Elevate, a lot of people don’t realize that when we say elevate it doesn’t mean just stick it up in the air. It means to simply elevate it above your heart promoting good oxygen blood flow. Next week i will talk to you about training methods and moves and i might even get a picture.   

fight preparation

The preparation for a fight is as important mentally as it is physically. To be strong and in shape is great but if you don’t have the competitive mindset theres no point in fighting because you will lose.  But if you are a spectator of the sport which is who i am writing this to you don’t have to worry about your mindset before you watch fights. The reason i say you will lose is because either you are all in or all out before a fight if it is in the gray area then your mind isn’t in the right place. I try to base my training camps on how the pros do, trying to duplicate there success for myself, but at the same time my training is basic. Just hard work. I show up to train and let my coaches do the rest, i trust there training that ill be ready for the fight. I work hard because i don’t know how else to be successful, if any of you figure out another way to be successful please let me know. I usually train between 10 and 14 hours a week, so between working 15 hours a week school 13 hours a week, plus homework my schedule is pretty full. I enjoy being busy though it keeps me focussed and allows me to ignore any distractions. I am still in deciding wether i will fight oct 2nd against my parents will or not. I need to decide soon i am preparing for the fight physically like i’ve decided, but like i said i need to be all in mentally.   

Bob long is the coach out at canton he's a very good ground fighter and an expert in no gi ju jitsu. No gi just means without the white traditional martial arts outfit. Training this week hasn't been go good monday i went to canton and its been my first time there in like 2 weeks and i can always tell when i'm off my game. We did stand up at first and i'm usually very comfortable on my feet but i felt sloppy. I felt sloppy the whole night after that as well, and tonight i was only able to get a little cardio and weights in before i had to come home and do homework. My next scheduled fight is october 2nd in east peoria. Im pretty excited i've been training for almost 3 years and i've only had one fight because my parents hate this sport so much. I know i have the potential to be great thats why i'm doing this fight without telling them. Im usually supremely confident before a fight even if deep down i'm not as good as i think i am it doesn't matter. A fighter without confidence in himself doesn't belong in any kind of fighting. This sport is 80 percent mental, the guys who are tough aren't always the big strong ones its the ones that are mentally tough. Tough is only that a mindset, a way of thinking. Before a fight i will pretty much believe im Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali, not because i'm cocky, but because i have to have confidence to perform on fight night. That might just be me but finding your mindset to compete in any sport is very important especially any kind of combat sport. I developed a bit of a wrestlers mindset during wrestling season, i learned what to think before a match. Never think the negative once i realized that i did much better competing. Even if i new the guy i was going to face was way better than me, i didn't care cause i was just going to ruff him up. Even if i couldn't win he was going to look back and say, holy crap that kid was tough or if he looked back and said a simple ouch i'm in pain after wrestling him, i'd be happy. People are always scared of the journey, i look forward to it.

my gyms

I have been training for a fight that is set for oct. 2nd in east peoria. Its being hosted by the main team that i train with CICC central Illinois combat club they, are located in canton. I usually work with a local pro fighter named David Gaston, he is recently retired from the fight game but is an ex pro boxer also wrestled in college, and has been a pro mma fighter for quiet awhile. He and his wife own a small chiropractic clinic, she runs the clinic with her colleague and he runs the small gym in the back of the building. This gym is in peoria closer to where i live im usually there four or five days a week its hard work but its worth it. We have a small group of fighters about 6 on a good day but most fighters cant take the workouts. Dave believes strongly in the conditioning and physical aspect of the sport we have strength and conditioning almost everyday for an hour before fight practice even starts. Most fighters just wanna punch somebody in the face or wrestle, atleast most amateur fighters do. I usually make the 40 min drive to canton about once or twice a week, and there all fighting and grappling. What i get from dave is my stand up and conditioning when i go to canton we do wrestling and ju jitsu. They have about 30 guys there. Its a decent sized gym with nothing but wrestling mats lining the floor and walls, looks like one of those padded rooms you put crazy people in but bigger.  

introduction

Hey my name is Grant im an MMA fighter. I started doing mma back when i was 15, i wanted to do the crazy workouts get in shape and ofcourse learn how to fight. I dont have what most people believe as a fighters attitude, i dont walk around trying to pick fights or have a tough guy bully type personality. If you get to know real fighters though they dont have that attitude either. Im a nice guy outgoing when i want to be, and im always sweet to the ladies. Enough about me though this blog will be about the day to day life of an amatuer mma fighter. You see the professionals life style and training on tv but you never see them in there younger years. I hope to provide some perspective to people who are interested in the sport, either entering the sport or watching the sport.