MMA Rob

Most of you don’t know me personally and just from my posts in year. Here’s a little bit about the weirdo with the Mohawk.

I grew up without my father consistently around and when he was it wasn’t good. My brother’s father was no different, although I must admit I am proud that he has been clean and sober for over 20 years and has a great relationship with my brother. If I could get over my childhood and the tears he brought to my little brother and mother, perhaps we too could have a relationship, but I digress. In addition to being abused both verbally and physically by them, it became the norm throughout elementary and middle school and even the first year of high school. That is until I joined the wrestling team. So I guess you could say that I have always had a chip on my shoulder. I was never the cool kid or the biggest kid, but wrestling let people know that I certainly was a tough kid.

After High School I did what I was raised to do (and became the last in my generation) and joined the military. I proudly served in the Air Force, even though the sent me to Alaska. There I joined and coached an elite group of freestyle wrestlers that included national female place winner Michaela Hutchinson, her sister and Alaskan state High School champion Melina Hitchinson and Tela O’Donnell who took 3rd at the Olympics the first year the introduced female wrestling. Those ladies taught me more than I could ever teach them. When I got out of the military I immediately got involved with middle wrestling.

Along the way somewhere, I lost myself. I became infatuated with money. To the point that it almost changed me. I wrestled my senior year at 125 pounds cutting weight from 155-160. I ballooned up to 215 this past December/January time frame. It was around this time that I became sick with severe anxiety disorder. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat and by March I was down to an unhealthy 170 pounds. My saving grace was in February I became heavily involved with the High School wrestling team that I am now an assistant coach at. I was out on disability and my friends refused to let this disorder beat me. To the point that they would literally wake me up in the morning and make me get out and do something. This is when I fell back in love with fitness. I was blessed to have the opportunity to help coach a year round wrestling program at a local mixed martial arts gym. Over the spring and summer my wrestlers and their parents noticed a HUGE change both in my appearance and in my demeanor. The kid that always had a smile on his face, once again had a smile on his face. It was at this gym that I fell in love. I fell in love with MMA. It had started out as a great workout and soon I was sparring with the pro and amateur fighters to help them prepare for fights with opponents that have a strong wrestling background (which is a huge advantage around MMA in the Northeast).

It was here that I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I have held onto and still hold onto a lot of hatred toward my father, my brother’s father and the numerous people that bullied me. Every time I step in the cage my mind switches and mentally I’m trapped in there with them. The great news is when I step out all of that anger is gone till the next time (this may make sense to some of my posts about flipping the switch). I also learned that will I can and will bend, I will tap out and submit, the only person on this planet that can break my will is the man in the mirror.

I know it isn’t understandable to some that at 34 years old I want to fight in MMA. That I push my body to it’s limits and beyond multiple times a week. That I don’t mind getting bruised and bloodied. To me, all of that is earned. That I pushed myself past what I thought I could do and keep going. I am currently training to make my amateur debut this summer. Nothing will stop me. If something gets in my way, I will not ask it to move, I will not go around, I will not wait for it to go around me, I will go right through it with ZERO reservation. This group has helped get through those days when I’m sore and don’t want to workout, when I want to curl up in bed in the dark. I will be here for you. And when that cage locks behind me this summer, the switch will flip….. Sit back and enjoy.