My son is now 2 - 0 in his MMA Amateur career!

[PraiseCaster]

He won a hard fought, Unanimus decision over a more experienced opponent that was ("was", being the operative word here) undefeated, until he met my son in the ring.

Scores of 29 - 26, 29 - 26, and 28.5 - 28 (and that score got loudly boo'd by the crowd).

Adam got in a tight spot in the opening moments: His oppponent mounted him after a slip/fall, and his opponent got a full mount but was unable to capitalize (Adam can fight well on his back). He did get his back for about 30 seconds (As Adam was getting back up, the guy grabbed by his ear and spun him), but Adam kept his cool, worked out of the rear-naked choke, flipped him into half-guard, and eventually got back up.

Too be honest, first round to his opponent.

2nd round, Adam dominated. He took a take down shot, his opponent tried to defend, but Adam was dogged and took him down into half guard. His opponent worked out of it, but as soon as they got up, Adam's stand-up came to life:

Wicked body kicks, followed by at least a 1-2 combo, or a 1-2-3 combo followed with body kicks again. He mixed up his combos too:

Left leg to the ribs, left jab/right hook. Right leg to the stomach, right hook/left uppercut, followed with right leg across the chest.

He kept pressuring him the whole fight too:

His opponent tried to set the pace, but Adam countered effectively and took control of the pace as his opponent got frustrated that he lost control. Leaned on him hard and his opponent clearly was not used to this. Then he started landing harder/cleaner shots. Then on a slip. His opponent began landing elbows too my sons kidneys, which in amateur, all elbows are illegal, and even more so to the kidneys/back of head: Intant oint deduction. Adam kept his cool, but made him ay for that: A straight kick right into the chest made him turn and back-edal, and Adam was all over him with over-hand rights, left hooks and straight rights. Took him down into a full mount, and he brought down the rain. Almost looked like theref was gonna stop it, but he was saved by the bell.

3rd/Final round:

Oponent came out throwing wild punches, Adam was patient, and started desimating him with precision punches and great knees to the mid-section. Then he took him down: Full guard and instantly to half guard, and then a quick Greco/Roman shift and got into a full dominating mount with the hooks in, and down came the rain again.

Unable to defend effectively he turned, Adam let go of the hooks, got his back, sunk in the hooks and spread him out, and got a full naked rear choke. Looked like he was gonna tap, and the bell rang.

The place erupted!

That was the first fight on the card! You could say they really set the bar high for the rest of the fights tonight.

2 - 0. And this opponent was WAY better than his first. This guy had tools/skills. Even Adams coaches who are confident in him, where saying before the fight about his opponent, "This guy is tough, experienced, and a lot of people are expecting BIG things out of him."

There were several "pros" ina attendance that where hanging out with Adams opponent before the fight. They where wanting to talk with Adam after the fight.

Am I proud of my son? Yeah, I am.

But I am much more happy for him, that he has been pursuing his dream, sacrificing a lot, and its paying off for him.

He was already talking about only a 4-day lay-off, then back in the gym, and focusing on the weaknesses he saw, and what the coaches will tell him they saw. He's talking about even more intense training, one more bout in the light-weights, and thining about moving up in weight one class, to his more natural weight. And his coaches agree with this plan

Yeah, he's being very focused.

So, proud-pappa, yeah, but more of a Happy-Dad for my son chasing after his dreams.........

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[winny pooh]

Wish him well, it's a heck of a thing to win such a match!

[Post Toastie]

Where was the event held at?

[goodandevil]

Awesome, good for you and your boy! Congrats!

[andyfromdenver]

MMA is one of my more guilty pleasures. Hats off to your son, what a bada$$!

[yark14]

Thats great! What weight class is he in? What is his "natural" weight class? What kind of training does he do?

[tiskit86]

Congratulations, dad. Being proud of your son is a great feeling.

Not to derail the initial intent of your thread too much, but I am curious about how you make sense of and deal with your son devoting himself to MMA, which I imagine might be conflicting on any number of different levels?

[PraiseCaster]

Originally Posted by tiskit86

Congratulations, dad. Being proud of your son is a great feeling.

Not to derail the initial intent of your thread too much, but I am curious about how you make sense of and deal with your son devoting himself to MMA, which I imagine might be conflicting on any number of different levels?

Not a bad question at all, matter of fact, a good one.

Reason number 1. I believe in competition and competitive sports. It drives an individual to excell.

Number 2, I believe you should follow your dreams, be it in music, sports, business, hobbies, whatever. As long as you are not breaking any laws, and forcing unwilling participants to join you.

Number 3, he spends a lot of time training, monitoring his diet and his training regemin, advancing his skills and knowledge by studying the sports and the leaders I their skills.

Number 4, he is not a minor. He's 24 years old. If he was a minor, HELL NO, I wouldn't let him do it!. For a minor, I think the sport is too extreme. Id allow him to get into martial arts training (which I did), but drew the line on MMA.

But he is an adult, capable of thoughtful reasoning, and fully responsible for his decisions, and understanding the pros & cons of his decisions. When he told us 4 years ago that this was his plan, we had a very long conversation about it all (pros/cons), plus all the concerns we as parents had with this decision.

But no doubt about it, the decision was his to make. We (mom/dad/brothers/family) could only decide to support him, or not support him in his decision.

Number 5, I myself pursued drag racing (I was a BB Funny Car driver in the mid/late 70's), and I was also pursuing my first love of football (until my third knee surgery ended that pursuit).

I saw how some of my friends where never allowed to pursue their dreams (as defined by reason number 1 and 2). And they where not happy, and seemed to lose drive/ambition, especially when adversity would come along. I don't think that is good.

I also saw how many of my kids' friends where not allowed to pursue their dreams/ambitions, and how they watch my kids from the sidelines (MMA for Adam,Music for Elisha and Jeremiah), and they seem like they're thinking, "How can you do that?" They seem to have conditioned themselves that they cannot chase after there dreams, and have a hard time processing how someone else can.

Yeah, its hard being a parent and seeing your kid climb into the ring, but is also good seeing that he is pursuing his dream too.

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[tjalla]

Way to go guys, the both of you!

[PraiseCaster]

Originally Posted by Post Toastie

Where was the event held at?

Canyon Country Club in Montebello, California.

It is a realy nice facilities. This was his second fight there.

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[cellrebral]

Congrats to both the son and proud father. Your description of the fight was intense and had my adrenaline rushing just a bit. It must be hard to watch your son take some shots or near submissions, but then quite rewarding to see him win, and have all his hard work pay dividends. Keep us updated on his progress. Hopefully we can see him on a televised event someday and all us TDPRI'ers can watch him in action, and root for him.

[TC6969]

Were.

[tiskit86]

Originally Posted by PraiseCaster

Not a bad question at all, matter of fact, a good one.

Reason number 1. I believe in competition and competitive sports. It drives an individual to excell.

Number 2, I believe you should follow your dreams, be it in music, sports, business, hobbies, whatever. As long as you are not breaking any laws, and forcing unwilling participants to join you.

Number 3, he spends a lot of time training, monitoring his diet and his training regemin, advancing his skills and knowledge by studying the sports and the leaders I their skills.

Number 4, he is not a minor. He's 24 years old. If he was a minor, HELL NO, I wouldn't let him do it!. For a minor, I think the sport is too extreme. Id allow him to get into martial arts training (which I did), but drew the line on MMA.

But he is an adult, capable of thoughtful reasoning, and fully responsible for his decisions, and understanding the pros & cons of his decisions. When he told us 4 years ago that this was his plan, we had a very long conversation about it all (pros/cons), plus all the concerns we as parents had with this decision.

But no doubt about it, the decision was his to make. We (mom/dad/brothers/family) could only decide to support him, or not support him in his decision.

Number 5, I myself pursued drag racing (I was a BB Funny Car driver in the mid/late 70's), and I was also pursuing my first love of football (until my third knee surgery ended that pursuit).

I saw how some of my friends where never allowed to pursue their dreams (as defined by reason number 1 and 2). And they where not happy, and seemed to lose drive/ambition, especially when adversity would come along. I don't think that is good.

I also saw how many of my kids' friends where not allowed to pursue their dreams/ambitions, and how they watch my kids from the sidelines (MMA for Adam,Music for Elisha and Jeremiah), and they seem like they're thinking, "How can you do that?" They seem to have conditioned themselves that they cannot chase after there dreams, and have a hard time processing how someone else can.

Yeah, its hard being a parent and seeing your kid climb into the ring, but is also good seeing that he is pursuing his dream too.

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Makes sense to me. Thanks for the thoughtful response.

[PraiseCaster]

Originally Posted by yark14

Thats great! What weight class is he in? What is his "natural" weight class? What kind of training does he do?

Weight class: Light weight (145)

Trains at MMA training at CSW (Catch Submission Wrestling), in Fullerton, California.

Coach Eric Paulson. A combo of wrestling and Jui-Jitzu (sp?), and strike (boxing/kick boxing).

His coach is a heck of a fighter too.

Oh, and I mispoke: Adam is talking about going down a class to feather-weight (135). They feel his power will be more effective in this class.

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[Colt W. Knight]

I had a buddy who was in to MMA, and even got some national recognition. He quit after he got to the top level because he said those fighters scared the hell out of him, and there was no way he could be scared and compete.

Congrats to your son.

[PraiseCaster]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

I had a buddy who was in to MMA, and even got some national recognition. He quit after he got to the top level because he said those fighters scared the hell out of him, and there was no way he could be scared and compete.

Congrats to your son.

Yeah, a big part of this is the mental attitude and aproach too it, just like in other sports.

Remember QB Jim Everett? How he developped a skittishnes (dropping to the ground when he was convinced he was gonna get sacked, but no defenders where even near him). You just can't compete in a sport like that (scared) andbe effective in your execution. You have to be right there toeing the line, face to face with the adversity. If your too concerned that your gonna get hurt, its gonna take you off your game and change you from a Jim Everett to Chrissy Everett.

Ok that was mean. Chrissy Everet wouldn't drop and cover like that.



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[tiskit86]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

I had a buddy who was in to MMA, and even got some national recognition. He quit after he got to the top level because he said those fighters scared the hell out of him, and there was no way he could be scared and compete.

Congrats to your son.

That's the thing, right? Knowing when it's time to stop or time to move on seems to me to be really, really important in this line of work.

[PraiseCaster]

Originally Posted by tiskit86

That's the thing, right? Knowing when it's time to stop or time to move on seems to me to be really, really important in this line of work.

Amen.

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[Joe Sailor]

Very nice. I've never seen a MMA fight, but I do understand doing what you want and having your father's support.

[PraiseCaster]

Originally Posted by Joe Sailor

Very nice. I've never seen a MMA fight, but I do understand doing what you want and having your father's support.

If you've watched UFC, or PRIDE Fighting, there ya go.

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