(Editor’s note: This story was written with the assistance of ESPN’s Jeff Wagenheim)
I remember the first time I ever saw a prizefight. It was sometime in the 1980s, and I was a young kid. I went to my next-door neighbor’s house with my old man to watch Mike Tyson.
It was late at night and a bunch of my dad’s friends were there, all hyped up for the big fight. I don’t remember who Tyson was up against — it might have been Michael Spinks — but I do remember Tyson going out there and getting a quick knockout. The men were pissed that they’d bought a fight that ended nearly as soon as it started.
But even in that short time, it became a memorable night.
Then, I saw MMA for the first time in seventh grade. It was right around the start of the UFC, either UFC 1 or UFC 2. My buddy and I heard about this new no-rules thing, this spectacle, and I went to his house to watch. I was already wrestling by then, so I was interested to see how the wrestlers would do. But what got me was Royce Gracie. He was winning and I had no idea how he was doing it.
None of us at the time understood what jiu-jitsu was. All we knew was this little guy was somehow putting it on these bigger dudes. That’s what made an impression on me. I was always the little guy in a fight, too, going back to when I was very young and scrapping with other kids. I was never in a fight where I was the bigger guy, just like Royce in the day.
Now, nearly 20 years later, I’m about to close out my fight career at UFC 281, and I’m doing it practically in my backyard over at Madison Square Garden in New York (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV). There have been a lot of big moments over the years, lots of ups and downs — sometimes both ups and downs in the very same fight. And I’m looking forward to making more memories and contributions in the next chapter of my life.
Here are a few personal highlights from my MMA career and some things I look forward to.
Rumble in The Bronx: My first MMA fight
Source : espn
