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I've always been attracted to the visceral response that a good fight brings me. I should give you the cool version & tell you that I first noticed it while watching ENTER THE DRAGON at the drive-in when I was a kid. But, in reality, it was while watching the old Elvis movies that I watched with my mom when I was little that I first noticed it. Every last one of those things would have a fight scene in them & they never failed to excite me. I enjoyed the violence.
However, it was the fight scenes in ENTER THE DRAGON that got me turned onto the martial arts. After which I begged my parents to allow me to begin studying them.
Unfortunately, I never found real satisfaction during five years of training in Karate, Judo & Tae Kwon Do. I earned some nice colored belts but point fighting & learning forms didn't do it for me. Then, I began watching boxing on television & I became an instant fan. Not only that but I wanted to participate. So, my parents found me a local amateur club to begin training at & shortly thereafter I began my amateur career. And, after that first bout in which I stopped a kid by the name of Pierre Shannon in the third round, I knew I'd finally found my niche.
Fighting gave me that same visceral thrill as watching those old movies & watching the fights on television only amplified ten times over. So, after about 40 fights I turned pro & in the process began training at a hybrid boxing/kickboxing gym. So, in between training for my fights, I went back to my roots a wee bit by crosstraining in kickboxing. Which is how I met my buddy from my hometown of Buffalo, Kevin Rosier. He helped me train for my black belt in kickboxing & arranged for my lone kickboxing bout vs the Canadian champion Jersey Long. Which was supposed to just be a pro exhibition bout but it turned into a fight along the way as they sometimes tend to do & it was scored a draw in his hometown.
Anyhow, I kept in touch with Kevin over the years & he called me up one day in November of 1993 to tell me about a tournament that he'd just signed up for called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was a multiple time world kickboxing champion as well as a pro boxer & he was absolutely convinced that he was going to win. So, he told me to be sure to order the PPV to watch him do it. So, I did & the rest is history. That was UFC 1 & I was immediately hooked. Especially since Kevin won his first fight by knocking out Zane Frazier. Unfortunately, he broke his hand by doing so & went in against Gerard Gordeau damaged goods & got KO'd. Of course, Royce Gracie put on a BJJ clinic to win it & from that point on I was a huge MMA fan as well as a boxing fan.
These days, I'm a combat sports fanatic & my weekends are pretty much devoted to watching the fights. Even after all this time, they still bring the same reaction & of course, now that I'm long retired from the ring, I live vicariously through the fighters on screen.
So, if you've somehow made it this far, that's how & why I watch the fights.
Apologies for the ridiculous length.
Peace.
It's like a circle and circle, as we know, have no ends. That's why I said it's like a never ending source for learning. I always get excited when I notice and learn new things so for me it's a drive (even tho it's not my profession).
