Ronnie Britt Week 1 Blog – Into His Final Fight

Hi fight fans,

My name is Ronnie Britt, and I am a pro mma fighter. You may also know me as the Warfrog……a lil bit about myself. I grew up in Diagonal Iowa, a town in the southwest corner of our state. If you have never heard of it, that’s understandable.  Its a small town. The population is around 200-300 people. Heck, I had 11 people in my graduating class ( I didn’t even make the top ten!). Diagonal was too small to have a wrestling program, football team or many other fun things for an energetic kid to spend his extra time on.  So I spent a lot of time doin some backyard boxing and imitating pro wrestling but doing it for real. Just like we saw on tv, we did this ‘wrestling’ in a makeshift ring in the yard.  Headbutts, chokes and submission moves. Things like the boston crab really do hurt, let alone being headbutted. Lol.  But little did I know this activity was laying the foundation for MMA in the future. Me and a rather large friend named Elmo would go to the river, find a sand barge and play a game called ‘Tap out’. It was anything goes and you could even hold the other guy under water. All you had to do was tap out or yell “I squat to pee” to signify you had enough. This was 1981 folks, way ahead of the UFC. It also probably accounts for half the pain I feel now and days too!

The years following I found myself in college at Peru State College in Nebraska (graduated with a B.S. in history in 1996). I walked on and made the football team despite never playing in high school. I had to watch the other guys in the locker room to figure out how to put on my pads!  I ended up playin corner and became a defensive captain later on.  It was during this time one of my teammates brought me a tape with the fist UFC on it. I watched Royce Gracie in awe, his style of fighting just made complete since to me.  Shortly after I founded a small grappling club and trained with my fellow football teammates, several wrestlers and other martial arts enthusiasts. We shared techniques and gleamed stuff off other UFC’s as best as we could.  After graduating college in 1996, I moved to Des Moines. I tried high and low to find a dojo to train this Ultimate Fighting style, all these supposed masters looked at me as if I was a crazy assed hick, which I was.  I eventually got my own mats and trained with fellow coworkers and other unfortunate souls who came into my circle.

I found out about an event called the Midwest Regional Shootfighting Championship and made a call. I talked to Monte Cox himself and he said I should participate. At first I was hesitant, seeing as how the event was just3 days away, but I had been training with my coworkers and other assorted toughs, so I figured I was more than ready. Ha! little did I know. I shaved my head,  grew my best goatee and tried to look as mean as possible. I fought in the 195 and under class I think. Now I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t scared the first time I stepped in the cage. The moment I got in the cage, I told myself I would never do it again. I was sure the socially maladjusted maniac across from me had developed his muscularity in prison and I was going to be humiliated in public. Or worse. As it was, I lost six minutes or so into the 10 minute round by referee stoppage. It was an eye opening experience. It was hard on my ego, I thought i was a somewhat well rounded fighter and could handle myself if need be. I was humbled.  I decided I wasn’t goin to fight again unless I found a real team of fellow wannabe fighters.  It took a couple of years, but I found the The Des Moines Extreme Fight team, all two members. Lol.  It was the first real place to train with guys who have actually fought. In later blogs I will go into those early days of training in better detail. A few of the names that passed through DMEF will be recognized as they eventually became UFC veterans and others wont be but they were amongst the toughest of them all.

But fighting isn’t all I have been doing. It doesn’t pay the bills. For my nine to five activities I have done a variety of jobs here in Des Moines. I have worked with a company that deals with several states and set up intoxalock devices, I have been an insurance agent, an office drone and I am currently a truck driver. I have an 8 yr old daughter named Cheyenne that lives is San Francisco and I fly out to see her as often as I can. I currently live with my girlfriend Keri and her two kids and they keep me pretty busy as well.

For the next few weeks I will be letting you in on my mindset and preparation for my upcoming fight with the MCC in June. It will be my last fight.  Now the subject today, you may ask, ‘Why are you quitting? Why not fight some more?’. My first answer to you would be that I am getting old! I turned 44 in March and i have been cage fighting for 11 yrs now. Most days my body holds up pretty good and I feel I can fight till I am 50. Other days, every bone and joint in my body aches and hurts, and its a chore to get out of bed. Never mind that my reflexes have dulled and my stamina doesn’t hold up like it used to when I was in my 20’s or even my 30’s. There comes a time in every athletes life when you have to come to grips that you are no longer capable of being a top competitor.  I went through this with competitive football, it was hard to walk away from something I had been doing since I was 8. This sport is demanding and highly competitive and if you are not on the way up, you are on the way down. Folks, I am on the way down. I don’t want to be some young upcoming fighters stepping stone to the title. OK, maybe I already have been, lol.

I also dedicate a lot of my time to fighting and training.  This means the more time I spend at the gym, the less time I get to spend with my loved ones and family. I have sacrificed numerous things for the sake of being a pro fighter, I just don’t want to do it anymore. I want to be able to eat a dozen donuts if a fellow employee brings them to work. I want to have whiskey or a beer when an old friend drops by. I want to take off on the weekend to visit my kinfolk back home. I want to hit that bed and breakfast in Minnesota with my chick anytime she wants. You get my drift I hope. Oh, I will still be involved with fighting in some way I am sure, just not in the cage with my love handles hanging out for all to see. I will be moving on to something a little easier on the body, something like bull riding.  Just kiddin.

Next week I will discuss the early days of training here in Des Moines and some of the characters I have encountered among other things. Over the next few weeks leading to the fight I will also go into detail on my training regiment and what I am doing each day.  I will also discuss some of the training I have done in the past and some of my other fights too.

Till then, don’t croak!
The Warfrog.