The first few months- abridged

I've been training hard for about three months now, and I've had two scheduled fights that were canceled. The first was canceled because they didn't have an opponent for me. One of the guys I had been training with was fighting that same night, so I went to the fight to support him. He ended up losing his fight, but being there was a great experience. Even though it was only an amateur fight, the atmosphere was charged. It really made me realize how much I needed to fight- I wanted to feel that energy and experience that moment when your body takes over and you don't think, you just do. From that night on, my training became much more intense. My trainer started a fighter training camp and dedicated most of his time getting me and a few other people fight-ready. The intensity of the training made me become even more addicted to the sport, and I felt the need to become an accomplished fighter burning inside me. By the time the week of my next scheduled fight rolled around, I felt 100% ready and confident. I was stronger than I had ever been. I'm usually a very humble person, but I was so proud of my defined abs and tone arms that I would catch myself flexing in the mirror and smiling!

About 5 days before the fight, I found out the even was postponed. I was crushed and furious, and having to tell everyone that they weren't going to see me fight yet made it even harder. It didn't help that I had been eating very little to try and get my weight down to 135. My diet was so strict that I had to resort to cutting down to half a granola bar before training, and half a scoop of protein powder for my last meal of the day. I had been monitoring my water intake and cut from 3 gallons of water a day to about 1 gallon. Try drinking 3 gallons of water a day. You end up feeling like a water balloon! Then you get used to it, and when you cut out the water your body is screaming at you to drink more. Needless to say, this torture to cut weight for essentially no reason made me furious.

A few days of taking my frustration out on the heavy bag helped ease my anger, and I was able to convince myself that I'll just be better, faster, and stronger for the next fight...whenever that may be. I still have no date set for my first fight, but it seems like I might have an opportunity to fight in November. The plan is to stay fight ready, all the while building up my skills. I've already made up my mind that I want to go pro. The purpose of this blog is to document that journey...to give some insight into what an aspiring fighter goes through mentally and physically.