Ultimate Fighting

Flipping through channels the other night I stopped to see interviews with 2 guys:

- Diego Sanchez   and    BJ Penn -

Until then, I had never heard of these guys (out of touch, I know). They're going to meet in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the 155 light-weight class, this Saturday night - 12/12/09. I'm looking for a place I can go to watch it (likely, Dina won't come along).


I've always been intrigued by this Ultimate Fighting stuff. It seems so brutal and barbaric - there don't appear to be any rules. You win by either a knock-out, or a choke-out. That's tough stuff. My intrigue comes from a primal instinct (for guys) to go to battle, and prove that you're the best, the toughest, the meanest, the baddest one out there. My main sport in high school was wrestling -so I know the feeling a little: mono-e-mono. But there was no hitting allowed in wrestling (unless you could get away with it). It was more of an art, and we had weight classes, just like UFC. It was a lot of mental preparedness, as much as physical. (I was 'average' at both - just FYI). My mother always said I was a good wrestler, because I was her 'little hugger :)' - she would sit in the bleachers and tell the sweet story to the opposing team parents - who would then walk over to their boys and point at me and whisper - 'the little hugger'.

I was doomed from the start.

But, these 2 guys are unique. They both sound articulate and smart - I never would have suspected it. I work with all kinds of guys with advanced degrees who are not as well spoken as these guys. "BJ" made a comment - talking about his opponent "Diego": "He's gotten further than he should have - because he's tough mentally". Wow - that's quite a statement.  On the one hand he was complementing Diego - for his mental strength, but he was saying Diego doesn't have the physical skills to compete with him. That's confidence - on a whole different plane. You can have all the psychological or mental strength you want, it might get you a long way, it might even beat most people, but if you don't have the raw strength, skill and technique that I have, I will crush you - because I bring it all to the ring.

This fighting stuff is about discipline - mental, spiritual, and physical discipline. To win, at anything, you have to be disciplined, and you have to make sacrifices. These guys spend their entire lives trying to balance the physical with the spiritual - to win a gold belt - to be champions. What I admire about guys like this is watching what they do when they've been hit hard.  When they go down - they get back up. When they're trapped, they think of a way out. When they take a hit, they hit back. They're strategists - always thinking. They're champions - and they love what they do. (Diego even said he has "always trusted the Lord through his entire career").

You and I go "to the mat" everyday. We need to be ready for battle. When we get knocked-down, we need the discipline to get back up - and fight our way through.  And we don't have to go it alone.

In Oswald Chambers today (12/10) he said: "if we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will resist ..... and will produce continued turmoil. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, or mentally .... disciple yourself now - or you will ruin your entire personal life with God."

Good stuff.  Be an Ultimate Fighter.

(picture taken of a door marker - on the steets of Prague '08)