Dan Huber Training: 2014

Why I Love Combat Sports: Elevating Your Perception

When someone unfamiliar with the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) watches a match, they see 2 people locked in a metal cage trying to hurt each other. Basic. The complexities and depth of technique each fighter has acquired over years of extensive training doesn’t cross their uninformed minds. They see brutality and whether they love it or hate it, they can’t fully appreciate or comprehend what MMA truly is. Until now. I’ll give you some insight. Here are the reasons why I love, and why you should try, MMA.

Living in the Moment:

While I could write a book on the topic at hand, I will attempt to conquer the subject in this short essay. Keeping in mind the power of brevity, let’s dive in. I must include one of the most important reasons why I love combat sports: you are forced to live in the moment. What does that mean? It means there is no Facebook, no virtual reality, no planning out your week, no worrying about anyone or anything, no distraction. You must be aware of your surroundings and the threat posed in front of you. The ability to think of one and only one problem is calming. Even therapeutic. This might seem like an outlandish claim, experiencing peace through hand-to-hand battle, until you think of your complex, complicated life. How often you worry about bills, kids, planning, work, the future, the past, relationships, recreational trips. It does not exist, none of it, at least for that moment, when you have an immediate threat in front of you. Focus is demanded here. You must experience the moment, and such an environment breeds knowledge.

Obtaining Knowledge

I have discussed with clients, colleagues, and training partners the differences between information and knowledge. Information is usually free and doesn’t require much effort to receive. You can ask your phone darn near anything and it will spit information at you, so much that you could never get through it all. But knowledge is different. Knowledge is acquiring a skill or technique and effectively using it. You earn knowledge through hardship. This point is magnified in combat sports. For example, if I read online or my trainer tells me to keep my hands up while boxing, I have received information. When fists repeatedly crash onto my face, and then I put my hands up, I earn knowledge. It is that experience that gives the knowledge. Similar to playing an instrument, active and repetitive participation is required to gain knowledge. Real knowledge is rare these days, but available here. So you can actually obtain a useful skill-set through combat sports instead of being like most of the world that just relays information.

Improving Life: Mind, Body, Spirit

Few activities in life engage the mind, body, and spirit like MMA. MIND: you must have the technical knowledge, the focus to see opportunities, and the confidence to seize those opportunities. BODY: you can (and probably will) become exhausted within 1 minute the first time you spar. I have heard that most sports are like a sprint or a marathon. Fighting is sprinting a marathon. No sport can compare with the grueling requirements of strength endurance and cardio (maybe gymnastics). SPIRIT: you have heard of having a fighting spirit. A quote by Chael Sonnen explains this spirit, “… they’ll tell you failure is not an option. That’s ridiculous. Failure is always an option.” Every moment there is a way to quit. Every time you are hit, you don’t have to get back up. Every time you feel pain or fatigue or doubt, you can stop fighting; but your spirit will help you overcome. There are thousands of minute details to consider while engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The way an expert fighter can gage, manipulate, and control space, balance, movement, speed, technique, power, and calm is genius.

Vulnerability Leads to Accountability

The world will be a better place when everyone tries MMA. Why? It is the ultimate accountability exercise. Just as mentioned previously, to excel in MMA, mind, body, and spirit need to be tuned. In today’s world, you can find pointing fingers as often as you can find imperfect people. It is hard to say “that was my fault, I was wrong, my failure.” In MMA, the capability to blame someone else is stripped away and you find yourself in a state of extreme vulnerability. This creates excellence. Every flaw, imperfection, misstep is your own and can be blamed on no one but you.

So you must claim those weaknesses; and improve. You then claim the victories. Very rarely in life will you find such an activity where doing tiny things correctly is so beneficial and rewarding, while making tiny mistakes is so devastating.

In the End

Behind the thrill and violence you perceive in this sport lies the very reasons to live: enjoying the moment, obtaining knowledge, and self-improvement. I have barely scratched the surface to answering why; there is limitless depth to MMA. Try it out. Experience a true learning experience and powerful mind-body connection. You can apply the lessons learned here in countless ways to improving every aspect of your life. So. Fight!