MMATH

When you ask someone what MMA is they will likely give you a blank stare. If you’re lucky, you may get a “Oh, you mean the UFC right?” While MMA is a growing sport, it’s not glamorous or full of wonder and awe. The sport requires a high level of sacrifice, dedication and self-discipline that most fans are unaware of. These concessions are often made with no guarantee of success, adequate payment, or even enough money to cover injuries received in training. I recently had the opportunity to discuss the sport, the upstart fighter’s burdens and lifestyles with Mark Matthews of Jackson, California.

Mark is a tattoo artist in Sacramento who also dedicates his time to training and fighting.  Talented tattoo artists are hard to find and it’s a profession that I’ve always viewed as something of a dream job to those who have the talent. So what makes someone who has these skills want to put it all on the line in a cage in Northern California towns that most people don’t want to drive their cars through? Challenging one’s self.

Mark is a pragmatic speaker, getting right to the point when asked a question. “Life is nothing if you cannot challenge yourself and grow yourself into something better. If something is too easy, it drains your motivation. MMA, like tattooing, is something that you can always improve but never master.” I found the relation of his two trades to be apt. Tattooing requires confidence, technique and a desire to give your all – MMA is no different. One exercises the artistic side of the mind and the other, the physical. As an aspiring fighter, it seems that Mark’s life, while busy, is very fulfilling.

“I’m not going to lie, I’m a 1-3 fighter right now. I’ve lost by submission, I’ve lost by KO and I’ve lost by decision. I’ve tasted each kind of defeat. I’ve done that, and now it’s something that I don’t have to experience again.” From these challenges Mark has found the sport to be just as challenging as he was hoping for. The defeats and set backs have only induced a sense of hunger, speaking of it Mark relates “I want to be a champion, even if on a local level. I am hungry for it. I find that people who are not up against a wall, who don’t have that kind of hunger will eventually quit when times get hard enough.”

When asked about his previous fights, Mark detailed a recent situation where he was called up by a promoter to take a fight. No big deal, that’s what fighters do. The catch to his tale is that the promoter was looking to find a replacement for a fight that was scheduled on the next day. Mark fights at 185 lbs, with considerations of dropping to 170. The fight the promoter was inquiring over was at 205. Mark, upset over a recent performance, didn’t give it a second’s hesitation and agreed to show. He came in to the fight around 195 against an opponent who had clearly cut weight to make 205. The crowd quickly grew an appreciation towards Mark despite his being outmatched by the heavier fighter who was a BJJ brown belt under Dave Terrell.

“I gave him what I had in me. Despite what he threw at me, I wouldn’t back down and you could tell people were getting behind me based on my determination. I got handled in that fight, all the worst things I would worry about for this sport happened to me. I realized that they weren’t that bad and I can handle it. It evaporated any doubts or fears I had for the sport.” Even though Mark lost, the defeat was an experience that allowed him to realize that his heart and determination in the ring won him new fans, the extended appreciation of the promoters, as well as a new level of respect for himself. Although, Mark did concede that his days of fighting at “205″ are over.

So where does a fighter go? How does someone at this stage feel they can progress, to climb the mountain of being in one’s 30s and having a rough start to a sport that is considered a young man’s game? Perseverance and dedication. “I’m using my next fights to really gauge where I’m at. I’m fighting a guy in 2 weeks, and then another guy in 2 more weeks. After that, I have a third fight in 6 weeks. ” 3 fights in 10 weeks is a tall order for any fighter. I couldn’t help but wonder if someone fights so frequently, they must not have the time to train and work a straight job. Somehow Mark manages to fit both into his schedule. “I train about 30 hours a week, I have an hour commute each way to Sacramento, where I train at Ultimate Fitness and where my tattoo shop is located.” I dug in a bit to try to figure out how much time he dedicates to his tattooing. At first Mark tried to be conservative, but his wife silenced him with a more accurate answer of roughly 60 hours a week.

“My wife, Christina, gives me her undying support and I know I have to give it everything I have. When you have two kids who look up to you and admire you, you have to silence your inner complaints and get the job done. Without Christina and my kids, Marcos and Sevena, I wouldn’t be anywhere.”  Mark seems to handle the pressure well, never once giving a negative sentiment about his situation or the work he must put in. He relays it as work that must be done to improve and to achieve better things in life, all while discovering everything he can about himself along the way. “I like what I’ve found out.”

I try to avoid the typical cliche questions, really desiring to get to the root of someone’s personality, but I found it unavoidable to ask Mark which fighter he would model his life after. He came back with two, “Evan Tanner – The challenges he faced in life are inspiring. On a more basic level though, I see a lot of Rampage in myself. Simply because we’ve come from similar backgrounds and it took fighting to make me discover that I don’t need those negative influences in my life, we’ve both elevated ourselves to another level where we have replaced the bad with good.”

“MMA made me a better person. To succeed, you have to be honest with yourself, with the people in your life and the influences on your life. It has taught me to control my circle of influences, to steer my life.  This has taught me so much about myself that I may have never found out in any other fashion. I can accept the bad and the good.”

I’ve concluded from talking about life and MMA with Mark that this is a sport for purists. He is a living example that proves if you are faced with adversity, the only way to expunge it from your life is to face it head on, with a never say die approach.  In terms of self-preservation, it may not be the easiest way to go, but one can’t say they haven’t felt alive if they have laid it all on the line multiple times.  Both Mark and I had a laugh at how this can be related to the movie Fight Club – after all, what can you know about yourself if you have never been in a fight?