Ronnie Britt Week 7 Blog

Focused

Hello faithful reader. As you read this we are on the last few days before the fight this Friday and the final blog before the fight. I am not in the most chatty mood I have been, I hope you understand. I have concluded another arduous week of training unscathed for the most part. Its rare to go through weeks of of physically demanding workouts without pulling or tearing a muscle or any other number of injuries. One could also suffer all kinds of injuries to the joints, get staph or get injured from the hard contact of sparring. As it is, I am very fortunate for this fight, I have a few bumps and bruises but nothing to hinder my performance at all. I am ready to go. This week I will just work on sweating and cutting a bit more weight. I will eat smaller portions and drink a lot more water, up to a gallon and a half a day. When Thursday morning rolls around and I have to weigh in at the Twisted Parrot that night, I hope to be about 174 lbs.  I don’t like to cut a lot of weight on weigh in day anymore, at my age I don’t recover as well as I used to.  It seems to effect my performance when I lose anymore than 5 lbs the day before.  Unfortunately I have to work at my job on both Thursday, the weight cut day, and on the day of the fight, Friday.  In truth, its really not that big of a deal.  Working kind of keeps me occupied, keeps me from thinkin about food on Thursday and keeps me from getting too worked up about the fight on Friday. Ideally I would like to be able to lay around and play violent video games and watch Braveheart, Rambo and other macho guy movies the day of the fights.  As it is, I will just think violent thoughts and be content with that.

In the last blog, I mentioned I would give my thoughts on MMA past and present. I became a fan of MMA much like everyone else watchin the early UFC’s. I saw my first UFC in 1994 while attending college and became enamored with it.  The internet wasn’t as evolved as much as it is now, so I relied on a nickle and dime publication called Hook’n'Shoot to get updates on fights from around the world (usually in Japan or Brazil, as well as the US). I also recall a 1-900 number that I used to call to hear the latest rumors about the UFC and MMA fighters. There was even a ‘video magazine’ I subscribed to that came monthly that had a guy sitting in front of a self operated camera commenting on MMA news.  You really had to be a fan in order to find anything about the sport or the fighters. It was such a niche sport.  As they say back home, I was ‘ate up’ with MMA. The first fighters to compete were usually guys that studied a singular martial art, but when I first competed in 1998, a few guys were crosstraining in several styles, but not many. Brazillian Jiu Jitsu was somewhat rare and lessons were expensive. Most fighters were traditional martial artists of some sort. They were your neighborhood instructors down the street, policemen, firefighters, teachers etc that studied Judo, Karate, Kung Fu or some other style. Not too much different than today I suppose, but they all had something in common. They usually trained in some traditional gym that had a code of conduct and a strict regimen. There were not too many thug types involved in the sport at all. Its ironic that in the beginning the sport was basically without rules and contested by men who believed in their particular styles. Now the sport has rules out the wazoo and is fought by men of no particular style (in the traditional sense).

Today everyone is well rounded…usually. Or should be, considering how much MMA is on tv now.  It used to be I would submit someone in a match and they would ask me afterwards what I caught them with. They would ask me to teach them that particular technique and I would do the same when I got caught. Now it seems there are no surprises, you cant sneak up on anyone anymore with a submission (but I still try!). Everyone crosstrains now, which is a good thing. The popularity of traditional martial arts has waned as MMA has exploded. Part of me thinks that’s a good thing, especially when I recall trying to learn to block punches with me feet in Tae Kwon Do so many years ago. Its no wonder the school bully got my lunch money so easily!  Now one can enroll in classes at a MMA gym that teach combative techniques that are proven to be effective by MMA fights.  However, I wonder if we lost something that those old school dojos used to teach. Those things like respect, discipline and honor.  Many traditional martial arts schools were and still are involved in community activities and cater to teaching children those principles. When you watch the UFC or any MMA fights now, many fighters don’t seem to care about any of those old school beliefs. It was bound to happen though. MMA is big time now and it attracts all kinds of people.  Part of me thinks this a good thing too. As one trains to compete in the demanding sport of MMA, they will undergo a change in order to meet those rigorous demands.This means getting people to alter bad habits, like doing drugs and living an unclean lifestyle. It can also be very humbling and that’s a good thing for the mind.  Besides, well rounded fighters are fun as heck to watch. Even if the sport does attract a few bad apples, they wont spoil it for everyone. I have to admit, Mike Tyson was a less than stellar human being, but he made for some great boxing matches and some must see tv moments. Same thing can be said for some of the modern day bad boy fighters. If every fighter was a model citizen and boy scout, we wouldn’t have the drama and interest in some of the fights as we do.

I had mentioned that this week I am cutting weight. All fighters do it and its probably my least liked thing about fighting (I must say broken teeth and a punctured eardrum are right up there). Actually… I hate it. Well, that’s not an apt description. Let me try again, I hate it with a white hot intensity of a thousand suns. That give you an idea how I feel about cutting weight?  I am really craving some pastries. And I know I am typically a beer and whiskey guy, but I also want a margarita real bad. Abstaining from enjoying things like this really piss me off. And believe me, I am abstaining in more ways than one. By the time I face my opponent in the cage, I will be ready to work him over as fast as possible. Chuck Grigsby commented to me after training one day that I got three rounds to work with, why be in such a hurry?  I replied, I got beer to drink. But that’s just part of it. In my past fights, I came to fight, I don’t generally feel my adversary out and play patty cake. I went right after them, now you know why. I’m hungry and thirsty. But seeing how this is my last fight, I may be feeling a bit nostalgic and take my time. Of course, the guy I am fighting might have something to say about that as well. My strategy for this fight is….well, I cant give that away just yet. At the time I write this, I have a new guy to fight.  I never really know what I am going to do fight wise for sure till I see my opponent standing in front of me.  I have seen a video of him, and I have already come up with some stuff I want to do. If I can pull it off, you will be entertained. If not, then it will be a battle. Heck, more importantly, I hope I enjoy my fight!

Next week will be the aftermath blog.  Hopefully I will be in a good mood, lol. I will go over the fight night, what my plans were and how they worked out. I will also go into what my plans are after fighting. When one door closes, it seems another opens. I hope so anyway.

I hope to see you at the fights,

Warfrog