Answer the question:

My life has put me in a position where I have had to fight for lots of things. I have had to fight to be myself then fight as a profession. The struggle to be a fighter then the fight itself have taught me many things about myself and those around me.

Only thru hard work can we truly know who we are. Thru effort towards a positive goal we can be pushed to a a point of truth. The truth is our ability to endure or not. Our ability to fight on no matter what is in front of us if we believe. We will know at the end of the day what we believe and if we are strong enough to live our beliefs.

While in the struggle we are faced with many questions but only 1 that is really important; Do we want to continue on and achieve or do we quit and lose everything? If we quit we really do lose everything. Some say you lose today so you can fight tomorrow but this is a bogus concept. If we quit we may never have the confidence to rise again. If we are to be defeated let it be after all our energies are spent and our opponent is simply greater or better on that day.

To struggle and fail after all is spent is one thing. To quit out of fear of the effort to win is another. The burden of knowing we have the ability to quit will be with us until we prove otherwise. Some never prove themselves strong and live scared small lives because of it. Don’t take that chance. Fight on in all things so you know how strong you truly are.

We should not fear our truth if we have done all we can. This gives us a reflection of who we are that we can compare with the who we want to be. This leads to action and change for the better.

When in the moment of struggle we will remember the bad before the good. It is part of being human. We remember the work not done before the work achieved. The days off instead of the days on. To make sure we stay strong and limit our chances of failure we must live in a way that creates a pattern of positive effort so we can be strong when our body or mind may tease us with weak ideas.

I fought in Denver back in 1999. I was unprepared for the altitude. My body was dead from lack of oxygen and fatigue. My mind started screaming at me “Quit now! This hurts to much!” I remember this moment clearly. It really pissed me off. I internally yelled back “No way am I quitting! I trained to damn long and hard to quit! I would rather die then give this moment up!” I pushed aside the pain and fought on. I lost the fight by decision. I never hurt so bad in my life. My lungs were on fire and I didn’t know if I was going to die or not. It was over an hour before I could even walk. But I sat there in pain and thinking I was going to die with a huge smile on my face knowing that I did everything I could. I didn’t care that I lost. I was satisfied to know that when I needed to go I went.

I would have never been able to answer the question in an affirmative way if I didn’t train as hard as I did before hand. I trained for 6 months to get ready for that bout. I trained wrong but I did train hard. I sacrificed and struggled for what I was preparing for. This gave me the mental strength and courage needed to get thru this event.

I was surprised by Amir Davis, one of the fighters who trains with me. He had a tough MMA bout that put him in the same spot I was. Amir got caught with a nasty punch comb to the head in the 1st round. He doesn’t remember much of the fight after that. But he does remember kind of coming to at one point and asking himself if he wanted to continue or not? It was as if time stopped and he started to have an internal conversation. He could have quit, coasted, or fought on. He clearly and specifically chose to fight on and win.

Quick back story on Amir. In high school he was a very good heavyweight wrestler. He had a good scholastic career going until regionals one year. He got beat in the state final bad by a kid he grew to fear. At regionals he was matched up with the same kid. Instead of taking the challenge head on he went home. He quit the tournament and just left. This experience crushed him.

For years Amir came in and out of the fight game. He kept trying regain the confidence he lost but couldn’t. He would get close to fighting then training would break him. The fear of not being able to compete he developed thru quitting years earlier just wouldn’t stop haunting him.

Amir came to me and said he wanted to fight. I told him I wouldn’t train him until he proved himself. He had to prove that he could get past that bad day and move forward. I made his life hell. It was war. Physical, verbal, and mental assault. Full court press to try and break him. Amir stayed strong and earned a shot at competing for me again.

After answering the question he knew why I train him so hard. He now appreciates the drills, the sparring, and the conditioning day in and day out. There are no complaints or questions when asked to train. He knows that because of the work he can get thru the fights and be the Amir that he wants to be.

These are the moments that get you thru the hard times in life. Its knowing that you can push when you have to not just when you want to. This is answering the question.