How To Not Start Fighting: My First MMA Fight

Let me tell you about my first fight. The takeaway lesson is: DON’T DO IT LIKE ME. Don’t make the same mistake! I mean, unless you like to make fun of yourself and get destroyed. Then yeah, kindly copy and paste.

I first started with MMA after I moved to Hong Kong for kung fu. The way we trained kung fu at home was quite contact-ly, but in Hong Kong it was more about the forms. So I tried boxing, Sanda, and others, to find someplace where I could spar. Because I knew for sure, I don’t want to be that kung fu coach who never fought and was never hit. I was about to get hit! Well, that came out wrong… And so I got into MMA and it totally took over my life. That’s a different story.

I was training for some four months. My best BJJ offense was the tap, and I got knockout by my Taekwondo friend for the first time. It was a great time. There was an amateur event that some of our guys went to. It was Shooto, which is a Japanese type of MMA rules. On the amateur level, no ground and pound is allowed (you cannot hit the person on the ground).

I am not really sure what got into me, but I suddenly felt that fire inside and I knew I could definitely do that too! Hell yeah! (Spoiler alert: I couldn’t).

A week before that event I got an opponent. She was a blue belt in BJJ — I was the first half a year into BJJ. In case you don’t know what that means, that meant I was screwed. So I happily accepted.

I had to lose 5 kg in 5 days. Now, years later, I would be OK with that, because I have techniques and mentors. But those days I did not. I had no idea and the boys around me simply said: Well, don’t eat. So I only ate some nuts and chicken for five days and felt terrible. Making weight is an important part of every fight, and probably the most painful one. It is really important to have mentors and people who check on you, and ideally a nutritionist — I don’t have one, because I can’t afford it, but I try to learn as much as I can from others, books, articles, and podcasts. It is truly a craft.

So there I was, weak and 5 kg lighter. I remember my teammates put the helmet on my head (also part of the Shooto rules). The blood was running loudly through my ears, I almost couldn’t hear anything. My heart rate skyrocketed, I had tunnel vision and felt really scared. I mean, REALLY SCARED. As if I am about to die.

I and my opponent stood on the tatami on the opposite corners, and the judge shouted: “READY?” I know they have to ask, but I never in my life felt like I would tell him “Yeah, man, I am ready”.

I remember my mouthguard was stuck to my lips and I tried to fix it while marching forward, one hand stuck in my mouth. We met in the middle of the tatami and she took me down. I remember my corner sitting on his butt and yelling reluctantly “Yeah, do that again. She is tired.”

I managed to sweep her, which was funny since I had not really learned that yet.

If you did not get it until now: I was very much underprepared, I had zero ground game and I had no previous full contact experience. It was a big mistake. I would do that again.

She took me down three times, and I stood up twice. I think that was pretty good! The third time, which was in the second round, she took my back and applied a choke. I tapped, mainly because I panicked, way too early. I was really angry at myself that I couldn’t wait a bit longer. But that is ok, I was about to learn that yet.

After that fight I felt two emotions:

1. Right after, I was super happy. I was laughing as if I won. I loved it so much.

2. I hated it so much. I hated that after my forever years of experience in traditional martial arts (not fighting, which is why I am doing what I doing now) I had zero control over that fight. I felt helpless and I hated that feeling. I was HUNGRY to go back and do it again.

That hunger did not go away, and I had to wait for more than half a year for a boxing match and another year for a second MMA fight. But in some way, I still feel hungry today, that little fire is lit in me as I am waiting for another fight, again and again.

Do I regret I had my first fight like that? I may be crazy, but no. If your ego can take it, what is a better motivation than to become forever hungry?