Impostor Syndrome: Mixed Martial Arts Fighter

I trained for a few months, long enough to desire testing myself against a real opponent. Back then, the major show in NYC was called The Underground Combat League.

So I made arrangements to get a fight. The day of my fight, my opponent didn’t show up. However, there was a young man who was always ready to fight last minute. I knew I was outclassed, but I accepted the fight arrangement, I had too many people present to punk out. Win, lose or draw, I was going to fight.

So I stepped into the ring and I stood across from another man. I waited for the referee to issue the command fight, and then it started. During what feels like an eternity, I walked across the ring to fight my opponent.

On this day, my opponent was far more skilled than I was, he was also a much more experience fighter. So I got beat up and lost the fight in under two minutes.

I lost, but I showed up and I fought. Since the fight was so fast, at times I’ve felt that it doesn’t count and I’m just faking the funk out. here. However, the fact of the matter is that I showed up, I got in the ring and I fought as best I could given my limited skillset.

When people speak about my Mixed Martial Arts “career,” I sometimes feel like a fake because I only did it once and I lost pretty fast. But regardless of the outcome or number of fights, I really did go in there and fought in a no holds barred underground Mixed Martial Arts fight. So at the end of the day, regardless of what my mind may try to sabotage me with, yes, I was a fighter.