This was my second Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) fight at Earthlink Live. I wanted to fight somebody who had some experience. Shaun Gay had over 20 fights when I fought him. Although he didn’t have a stellar record, Shaun had experience. I was still a young buck in the world of MMA.
Despite the advice of my wife and my brother, I still decided to enter the ring in an Afro wig. I just though it really looked cool. I never thought of it as politically incorrect, just good ‘ol fun. My friend and fellow MMA fighter, James Thorpe, didn’t see anything wrong with it. On top of that, I came out to Ricky Martin’s song, “She Bangs”.
I didn’t quite have enough faith in my standup ability to trade blows with Shaun Gay, so I opted for the easy way out and took him down. Shaun’s strength wasn’t his ground game. I ended up hitting Shaun in the back of the head a couple of times which was illegal. Shaun let the referee know what was happening. I apologized to Shaun and hit him in the face a couple of times and asked him if that was ok, and he gave me a thumbs up. A few seconds later, I pounded my way to a referee stoppage.
I don’t have any hard feelings towards Shaun. After all, he did give me some inspiring words as he wrapped my hands and he helped warm me up before my fight with Todd Carney. MMA is a different world.
