BlogKick: Do you remember your first time?

I actually remember it like it was yesterday. Let me take you in a trip in my time machine, back to the year 1994. I was young and naive, didn’t know too much the world yet. Growing up as a young kid in Vancouver, Britsh Columbia, Canada at the time I was a big Martial Arts movie buff. I loved watching movies with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jean Claude Van-Damme, Steven Seagal just to name a few. I loved playing Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat on my Sega Genesis (or Megadrive for you people not from North America). I lived for Saturday Morning Cartoons, watching the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Power Rangers. All fun and games aside, just from reading this you can tell Martial Arts was a big part of my young life. My dad and I regularly watched Boxing at home. My grandpa growing up in the Philippines trained in Karate, Judo, and Boxing, so he passed on a bit of his knowledge to his grandchildren. But it wasn’t until a family friend of mine popped in a video tape that forever open my eyes and instilled a passion in me to this day. UFC 1 to me at a young age was like real life Street Fighter, with elements of Bloodsport combined with an old school WWE cage match. I had no knowledge of the ground game, no understanding of grappling, or any of the basics the fans of today know about.

When I first saw Gerard Gordeau step into the Octagon with Teila Tuli, Gordeau kicking Tuli in the face and seeing Tuli’s tooth fly out of his mouth will be a image forever imbedded in my mind. Seeing Royce Gracie and his gi to me was like seeing a real life Ryu. Just like Ryu from Street Fighter, Royce was taking on opponents much bigger than him and proving to the world that his style of Martial Arts was superior. The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event caught my imagination at the age of seven years old. From that event I was hooked, my family friend ended up getting one of those illegal cable boxes, also bought a bunch of UFC video tapes from the old infomercials. At the time it was hard being an MMA fan, hell the term “Mixed Martial Arts” didn’t even exist yet. But every single event, from Superbrawl to the early UFC, whatever event I could get my hands on I watched.

Everyone never forgets their first time. Today at the age of twenty three, I still try my best to watch all the fights with wide eyes and an open imagination like that of the seven year old version of me. With a stacked February for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, featuring some of the greatest fighters this sport has ever seen, I suggest you fans to close your eyes, and remember your first time. Look back and try to think about what made you fall in love with this wonderful sport in the first place. Trust me, you’ll have a greater appreciation and I look forward to witnessing more memorable moments. One day, you’ll be able to show these fights to your grandchildren and tell them how great people like Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko were. From there you’ll probably have another generation of seven year old children who dream like me and become passionate about this great sport we love.

Do you remember your first time?

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RCV