Itzel Esquivel

The Process of Becoming a MMA Fighter

Before we start this story you have to know what MMA is; MMA is short for Mixed

Martial Arts. MMA is a very violent sport in which you fight an opponent in a caged octagon.

The fight can last up to 25 minutes depending on if the fight is a championship fight or not. If it

is not, then the fight can only last up to 15 minutes. However, the fights can be stopped before

the time has run due to someone getting knocked out, submitted, or injury.

Many people might ask why would anyone like to do this horrible sport. Well, let me tell

you from experience that it is a great sport that challenges you in all aspects of your body. There

are two aspects of this sport that play a big part to it, the mental part and the physical part. Both

of these aspects are extremely important to become a successful professional MMA fighter. You

may be a fighter that is physically strong but you may not have a great mentality which could

affect you tremendously in a fight; vice versa.

Anyway, the first step to becoming is deciding that you really want to commit your time

and effort into it. If you are just going to train every once in a while and you expect to make it to

the big leagues in the sport, then you are greatly mistaken. This sport is one of the toughest out

there and it takes a lot of knowledge and dedication to become a MMA fighter. You must be

willing to take time out of your schedule to go to the gym every day and work on all of the

technique and drill it over and over again every day. Many people expect it to be just an over

night thing, however, this will most likely take from a couple of months to years of practice in

order to get comfortable to fight.

Second step is to actually start training and learning the different techniques necessary to

get somewhere in this sport. There are different disciplines that can be used in this sport; Jiu-
jitsu, Wrestling, Boxing/Striking, and Kicking. All of these different disciplines have certain

techniques that can be practiced in order to get better in the sport. It is essential to learn as much

from each discipline as possible because this is mixed martial arts and anything can happen in a

fight. So if you fight someone who is a wrestler, it is important to know a lot about wrestling

because it would be your best chance at winning. Once you think you have excelled enough in all

of the disciplines then you should consider trying to find a fight.

Finding a fight might be both easy and hard because it all depends on the division that

you will be fighting in and also what gender you are. For example, if you are a male who is

between the weight classes of 135-185, it will most likely be easier to find a fight for you.

However, if you are a male and you are lighter or heavier than the weight classes in between the

weights above then it will most likely be more difficult for you to find a fight because now many

guys that fight weigh that much or that little. The same goes for the women, if you are really

heavy like above the 135-pound class then you will most likely not find a fight.

Finally, after you have found a fight the next step is to prepare for it. There is a thing that

fighters call a fight camp and that is when you prepare for a fight by just focusing on training and

dieting. This usually lasts 6 weeks prior to the fight week and it is very hard on the fighters.

When fighters are in fight camp they are meant to be focused mentally and physically in order to

prepare well for their fights. They must eat healthy in order to cut to the weight class that they

are meant to fight in. They will drill harder than they do on a normal day and they will train more

hours than they do on a normal day as well. Once they have prepared enough, they will get ready

to fight and battle against their opponents. MMA fighters are seen as modern day gladiators and

to a certain extent we are that exactly because we risk our lives for the sport we love.