My One Fight: The Backstory

Beer is both the greatest invention and the cause of some of the worst ideas known to man.

In September of 2007, an amateur event was held in Cincinnati Ohio. Four of the fights that night involved fighters who were also members of the MMA Underground forums. These fights were scheduled as a result of a post from forum member Supercan who stated he wanted to fight just once in his life. The challenge was answered by Dreamer420. Additional members of the forum then arranged for their own fights which wound up being held in conjunction with the ICE event in September of 2007.

Fast forward one year. A discussion comes up on MMA Underground about whether or not to have another event dubbed the Underground Grand Prix v.2 (UGGP v2). Various members began “signing up.” This is where the beer comes in. Six or seven beers into the night, I decided it was a good idea to do the same.

The UGGP v2 is scheduled for April, 2009 in Davenport, IA in conjunction with an amateur event called the Chupacabra Challenge. The amateur part is actually pretty important for me. In my “free time,” I am the head of my state’s MMA commission. As such, I am unable compete professionally, as this would require me to give up my position in the commission. However, amateur fights are a bit of a gray area.

It was the responsibility of each participant to find their own opponent. After exchanging posts and email Nickman9000 agreed to meet me in the cage at 185lbs. I don’t really know anything about him other than he is about 13 years younger than I am.

This blog will chronicle my journey as I prepare for, and ultimately competing in, one MMA contest. It is the story of a 37 year old man with no formal training, but has the desire to climb into the cage once in his life.

I am married. My wife is generally supportive of my involvement with MMA. I am fairly confident she will support this as well…just as soon as I tell her. I also am the father of a 3 year old boy (soon to be 4). 2 years ago last November my daughter was stillborn at 7 months. I still think about her almost daily.

I was somewhat dishonest when I made my initial post looking for the fight. I said I was 200lbs. In reality, I started at 217 and haven’t been close to being in shape for about 10 years. Here in Bismarck there is no formal MMA or Jiu Jitsu training. So about a year ago, a friend and I started our own MMA club to give people in town the opportunity to train. We meet 3 times a week. Historically, I have made it about once a week. Bismarck Mandan Mixed Marital Arts Club has about 15 members, 4 of whom have had professional fights.

The club is doing pretty well right now. Well enough, in fact, that we are looking for our own space (we currently sublet from a Judo school in town). Opening this gym will be my little vanity project. I doubt it will ever make money, but the hope is I don’t lose too much doing it.

To help get back into shape, I joined the local Crossfit Affiliate. I am hoping this goes a long way into getting me into some kind of shape and ready to fight.

My training currently looks like this:

• Run a couple of miles every morning
• Crossfit 5 times a week
• Work on doing something about my diet
• MMA practice 3 times a week
• When time and finances allow, travel a bit to check out some different camps to learn some new things

Any comments and/or advice is appreciated.

Chad