Training and a trip to Thailand helps national columnist change his tune on MMA
Mike Freeman used to judge mixed martial arts on two things – Dana White’s rants and the loudest, most obnoxious fans who lurk on message boards. He trashed White and the sport calling it garbage in an Apr. 2009 column.
Then, unlike most national columnists and scribes stuck in the 70′s, Freeman actually took the time to look into the sport a little more.
The CBSSports’ writer made a trip to a local training center to see what mixed martial arts was all about. Working at the same gym as the UFC’s Miller brothers, the AMA Fight Club in Whippany, N.J., Freeman fell in love. In a recent column, he wrote:
I remember the first time I got punched hard. These are the things you don’t soon forget.
It was during one of my first sparring sessions in New Jersey. The guy I was sparring was a bit of a bully, known for going hard at newer students. He hit me with a solid right cross. For a moment, I saw stars. They danced in my head and disappeared suddenly after he hit me hard again, this time with a left hook. The stars were gone, but the pain in my face wasn’t.
That moment made me angry rather than fearful and I trained twice as hard. I wasn’t going to be battered again. Sparring again about two months later, he and I got into it in the center of the mat — a hardcore brawl exacerbated by the presence of his girlfriend, who he wanted to show off for. No technique, just punches and kicks thrown with abandon. None of his punches got through my defenses. My switch-kick and overhand penetrated his. He backed off. He never tried to bully me again.
That was it. I was hooked. It wasn’t that I inflicted damage on another human being. Some people love that part of fighting. I’m the opposite. I enjoy taking another man’s best kicks and punches and still standing.
Freeman took things to the next level with a trip Thailand where he trained with some of the best Muay Thai practioners in the world. He got a look at what truly drives most people to fight. It’s certainly not the money.
Freeman joined ESPNRadio1100 in Las Vegas to recap his trip and talk about his column.
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