Last summer I did something strange, I opened up YouTube and searched for Mixed Martial Arts. Something I never took any interest in (and still don’t?) — lo and behold I was faced with many choices one of which was the “Top Knockouts” from the UFC, which then went further and further. I won’t link to any MMA videos in this post and you may look yourself of course.

I kinda knew what that sport was. Heck, when I was still employed the employer sponsored a fight and we had a table — our first ever taste of that. Yet I had no clue and was cheering for the wrong person and felt like an idiot all these years later (15 years ago now?) — damn my friend who told me the guy’s name was Nigel.

I don’t like fighting. I’m not great with blood. But I was fucking mesmerised! What the actual fuck?

I was in absolute shock seeing so much beating up and blood all over the place. Cuts that are inflicted by sharp elbows (who knew?). How much blood just drips and how easy your face just swells and opens up. How slippy blood is whilst the other person is trying to grab them.

Here are some professionals beating themselves up, knocking each other out, for the name of sport. Basically taking the human body to the limit, whilst following strict rules and good sportsmanship (you’d hope).

Did it awake some primal being inside of me? No. I’m not this kind of person at all and I have no idea what became of me whilst I was basically squinting at the screen and actually feeling a little sick at watching that at first.

Some of the fighters were totally violent of course and really high on something deep down in their psyche (borderline cringe watching them win a match and screaming and jumping — I guess that’s also adrenaline fuelled), which I would have expected, however some were totally cool — just normal people without all the showboating — calm. What? The? Heck? It was those people that kept me watching.

What followed was a few fights here and there, maybe for 2 or 3 random nights deep into the morning and then I just left it for a few months.

I talked to my wife for years that I wanted to look at some sort of fighting. In fact she’s been begging me for even more years to do exactly that. She said it would suit me. But MMA isn’t something I want to do, even though they have weekly classes where my daughter goes for acrobatics.

I don’t have the hand, leg and movement coordination needed for this outside of flying an aircraft (or helicopter)... so I look like a stiff washboard (thanks to sitting at my desk like an idiot).

I certainly don’t feel like getting beat up, or my nose to be broken, or have swollen ears.

So I took some short lived Wing Chun classes, because I loved the Ip Man movies. It was great just getting some of the basics and working on adding power (whilst totally relaxing) — I stopped short when I got ready to buy a sandbag to hit.

During the Christmas holidays I took another turn and came across a chap named Devon Larratt and saw a very short clip of him show boating and loved him straight away because he was pretty funny. He’s one of the top arm wrestlers in the world and is absolutely huge.

I thought it was fun to watch that little clip of him so I took another look and found some of his best moments on YouTube here.

Love the power these people have and to be able to hold for so long is just amazing. What I like about Devon is the way he totally just looks super cool without showing that much stress, whilst enjoying his sport to the absolute max. That short clip above, love how he’s placing his arm onto the table.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be watching any arm wrestling any time soon. Devon was the icing on the cake and just loved his energy.

My first interest in arm wrestling actually comes from the movie Over The Top with Stallone. Great movie! But beyond that, nothing that actually excites me to watch.

On Friday I signed up for a month of UFC Fight Pass. They had a live event I watched late into the morning at 4AM. It was a bit boring but enjoyed trying to figure out who could potentially win (it was mainly the cool people). Again, I don’t really know why I did that. It was on a whim.

I’m not really into watching sports so I don’t think I’ll continue beyond the month — I wanted to try something different heading into the year and make it more fitness orientated.

So back to the fight, I learned that the main fight is the last one! So that was 4AM bed time for me — thankful it was the weekend.

During the fight there was an ad about... power slapping. Slapping? Are you kidding me?

Nope. Super crazy and didn’t know it was a thing! So come some intermissions that night, of course I took a look through “the YouTube” and I totally went straight to the first result presented... which were the top knockouts.

I really don’t know it was a sport and it’s totally stupid. That’s one way to earn a living though haha.

Out of all though, I enjoyed arm wrestling the most — it feels super classic and just raw strength, technique and of course endurance (whilst not getting beat up).

Watching all these people, minus the slapping, just motivates you to go and get fit... and I think that’s why I’ve been pushing myself over the last few months also because I don’t feel I’ve been doing enough after watching these people.

So what’s the point of this post? Dunno, just random.

I’m aiming to gain 10kg this year — I loose it quickly too when I just take a few weeks off. Any motivation that tickles my fancy, like my above exploration, is good for my psyche. Just no slapping.

So, let’s go.