After leaving Vegas i felt energized and ready to put my new techniques and conditioning to the test. In less than 3 weeks i was to have my 2nd professional MMA fight. I was up against a bigger stronger opponent with a solid wrestling background, i knew i was in for a war. Having two brothers i learned about heart the hard way, suffering some of the worst beatings ive had at their hands, anyone who has siblings knows what I'm talking about, I'll get back to that in a bit.

As a human being in general, i have many areas to work on. My "acheles heel" so to speak has always been my emotional nature. The ups and downs i have experienced in my life have been drastic, these ups and downs have affected me not only as a person, but as a fighter as well.

When i locked eyes with Todd Wood on January 25th, the day before our fight, i felt confident. I saw a drained man that had a difficult time walking up the stairs onto the platform to face off, and i knew that i was ready. However, that very same man looked entirely different the next day, he outweighed me by at least 15 pounds and looked extremely confident with his new found size. There is no way to explain how a man feels when he looks across the ring and sees a man determined to defeat him. One second you feel on top of the world soaring with confidence, the next second you are at the bottom of the barrel surrounded with self doubt. This has been something i have struggled with.

Picture of Todd and I at weigh ins.

However, as soon as the bell rang all thoughts of doubt left my mind, i was going to win. We touched gloves in the center of the ring and exchanged punches.

Todd landed a hard straight, fracturing the bridge of my nose, i was bleeding already. I returned with a hard leg kick and two hooks, we clinched, i landed another hard right. Todd shot in on me, i got double underhooks and reversed him, landing in side control. I landed a number of elbows and i felt todd begin to squirm, i tried to posture up but he got a high crotch take down when i left too much space between us. He slammed me and landed in side control, he then took my back and faught for a rear naked choke, i tried to turn into him but he was too powerful and landed in mount. He worked hard for a key-lock which was extremely tight, the ref asked me if i wanted to continue because i refused to tap, i gave him a thumbs up.

Me in side control.

Key Lock.

So there i was, fighting for the survival of my right arm when i thought to myself - my brothers and father are sitting in the front row, i will not give up, i will get out of this. Three men that mean the world to me and had given up so much of their life to help me succeed were worried, and i was determined to show them the heart they helped build unknowingly throughout my 23 years on this earth. I scrambled with all my might and escaped the lock, i ate a couple elbows and punches in the process but eventually got a single leg take down of my own.
I landed in side control and worked for an arm bar triangle transition, Todd slammed me through the ropes, he was exhausted, i knew he had put everything he had into that keylock and the round was coming to an end, i needed to finish. His hands were low and he was swinging for the fences, i ate a left uppercut and countered with an overhand right, dropping him to the canvas. The crowd went wild. The high was incredible, to see the look on my friends and family's face was unexplainable.

Knockout.

I learned a lot in Vegas, thanks again to Evan and Renzo - two great men, friends, and coaches. However, i owe my brothers and parents a large part of my success for molding me into the person i am today. Thank you.
The afterparty was a scene, ill touch on my adventures after my fight with my brothers and friends and my trip to Columbus to watch Evans return to the octagon in my next writting. Thanks for your time.