How did you get into MMA?

[UFCBlackbelt]

Write your stories;

Mine; when I was 13 I was really into ninjas/chi/shit so I got really into karate, kung fu etc. I thought MMA fighters were sluggish bald guys who liked blood, ruthless and not good martial artists. Then I saw Anderson Silva and I started to get into it. After the Chris Weidman KO i was like "OK, i'll watch just the rematch", then I got into Weidman, then Conor (Jose vs Aldo). At that point I was already really into MMA, bought all games, watched all fights, analyzed bets. Would get together with friends to watch cards.

you?

 

[HomeRun916]

UFC Undisputed Xbox 360 demo.

Only could play as Shogun/Chuck Liddell. I mastered like every possible move of Shogun, then was still impressed with the guy so started watching his highlights and then first PPV was UFC 100.

 

[loyalyolayal]

I rented an old UFC vhs back in 99 but really started following during Pride heydays back in 2002. Became a casual right after TUF 1.

 

[Da Speeit]

UFC Undisputed Xbox 360 demo.

Only could play as Shogun/Chuck Liddell. I mastered like every possible move of Shogun, then was still impressed with the guy so started watching his highlights and then first PPV was UFC 100.

That's actually pretty cool

 

[D Train]

I trained karate for many years. Then I saw a UFC fight and realized those guys, who could use whatever techniques they wanted to, were not using what I had learned. I immediately found an mma gym and signed up.

 

[ThinkGreen]

Had a buddy show me Royce Gracie/Bjj many years ago. He started training under Mike “The Joker” Guymon up in Orange County and I just became interested as well. First PPV I ordered was UFC 65 (what a main event!).

 

[HunterSdVa29]

my stepdad used to tell me stories when I was young kid about real life Kumites, but apparently wrestlers ALWAYS won (my stepdad wrestled at Oregon State, and his brother also did and was an All American, so they take that shit super serious)....he also knows Couture personally from the wrestling days

so when the first UFCs came out, even though he was astonishingly cheap and thrifty, he would let us rent the videos whenever they first came to Blockbuster. Dan Severn having early success, along w/ guys like Tagtarov (not a wrestler, but he counted it) and Eugene Jackson didn't do much to dissuade him from his beliefs.

Been pretty much hooked ever since. I own UFC numbered events 1-121 in a 42 disc set I copped in Afghanistan, great purchase IMO

 

[Shawn91111]

Around late 2006 someone at my work was talking about Ken Shamrock, who I remembered from the first few UFC's even though I never watched them, and he was talking about Shamrock losing to Rich Franklin. Curiosity got the best of me and went to find the video. Watched the video on MMAplayground.com, noticed a video of Matt Hughes vs Royce Gracie, and also recalled Gracie from the first few UFC's. Watched that video and just continued watching videos. Have been on MMAplayground.com doing their pickem for 11 years now.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Was always into ninja shit and fighting videogames.

TUF 1 got me into it. Started drinking the gracie koolaid after Diego won. Was a diehard by UFC 58, and never stopped watching.

 

[TeTe]

When I was in high school some of my friends got the ppvs for the first few tournaments. Kind of stopped caring after high school.

Then back in 2006 I went to a bar to watch USA vs Canada and it kind of reignited my interest in MMA.

 

[Revolver]

I'm not into this pseudo sport anymore so who cares.

 

[J.M.M]

Late 90's I stumbled across the early ufc videos at Block Buster. Rented a bunch of them, but never watched any of them live. Started following live when a bunch of friends were watching Coture/Lidell 2

 

[Cheese]

When Brock joined the UFC. I hadnt really cared for it before than cause I didnt really know anybody but Tito Ortiz up til that point. I cant wait for Brock to make his return, the champ better be getting ready to get his ass kicked.

 

[syct23]

Brother went to a friend's house to order the first UFC..

Brought back the VHS for me to watch the next day.

 

[Otto!]

I was deployed and one of my mates brought some Pride dvds to watch on his laptop. I thought this was the greatest thing. As soon as I came back home i started following it. A couple of years later, TUF started on Spike and the rest is history.

 

[BearGrounds]

Watched this on TV as a little kid, back in '95.

 

[Zer]

I saw some early UFC events (Royce Gracie era) but I thought they were kinda lame. Then, years later, I was on one of my old forums and some dudes were talking about Fedor. This godlike badass from Russia who was obliterating dudes like they were nothing. That's when I discovered PRIDE, which had a mystique all of its own because it was in Asia and in my young mind they probably held it on some mysterious island outside Hong Kong and everyone was showing up and fighting because their families had been kidnapped. After a while I even got semi-interested in UFC but it was never the same.

 

[UncleJosh]

Watched the first UFC live on PPV at a buddy's house.

 

[tec87]

Guess I’ll be honest in here and say it was the wwf that got me into mma somewhat at an early age. They hyped Ken Shamrock up so much that I rented early ufc’s from blockbuster back in 97. Didn’t follow it for a while until I was in high school. I wrestled in high school and heard about TUF 1 and started watching again and was hooked for awhile. Always found myself rooting for the elite wrestlers. Now the ufc has saturated the event market so much that I don’t even watch anymore and rarely follow stuff. It was just too much stuff to keep track of with 20 events a week. Lol

 

[boingyman]

I was always into martial arts since I was a kid. Love tournament style fighting, especially since I was into fighting video games and also watching old school Dragon Ball back in the day. Growing up in Hawaii we got into a lot of fights too, especially when I was just a elementary aged kid. When UFC first started I wasn't into it that much. It wasn't until 1997-1998 that I started watching more periodically and then around 2000-2001 when I actually because a true fan of the sport. Back in the early to mid 90s my friends and I would have submission grappling matches with each other. I was always the youngest in the group, but I still remember one time going at it with my older cousin for 1 hour and reaching a stalemate. When I think about it Relson Gracie's gym was up and running back then. How my life would be different if I discovered it back then when I was just 11 or 12 years old. I was always an athletic kid, top of the class in school fitness scores and always challenged myself physically for some odd reason. I also had that competitive mindset, but didn't have much opportunity in sports when i was a kid besides some baseball, which I was mediocre at. If I did BJJ since I was 11 or 12 maybe I could have been another BJ Penn, haha...