Everybody Wants to be a Cage Fighter

It seems everybody wants to be a cage fighter these days. Some people have a better chance than others.

I once fronted up to a pub I was bouncing at, the guy I was working with stated "I’m only here because I got injured and missed my spot on The Ultimate Fighter" "I train in a shed with my mate"  He was about 165 tall and would have weighed 65-70KG. But, don’t judge someone on their looks.

Later that night the said bouncer got knocked clean out by some dude who was paralytically drunk.

He later told me he got hit from behind........

So you want to fight in a cage, full contact. Open handed gloves. Knees and elbows, The lot, Where do you start?

Its 6am the sun has only just started to peak over the horizon and its freezing. But, you have to get the run in, 20 minutes at least, with sprints & hills. Your girl is still in bed alone she respects your lifestyle but sometimes wonders if you have what it takes to raise a child and pay the mortgage if this whole fight thing falls through.
All fights start on their feet, so you want to train your kickboxing around 2 hours a day. You will need a world class coach and he or she will not come cheap.

After 2 hours of getting Thai kicked in the face, if you can still stand up you are going to need a pretty decent diet and supplement plan to recover. You have just 1 hour, so you hire a sport dietician with experience in fighting who understands the ins and outs of weight cuts. If you are not training 5 KG above your weight class you will be undersized come fight day.

Just admit it, you're fapping off

After your meal of plain pasta and egg whites washed down with a protein supplement that cost about $100 a kilo you front up to gym number two where you spend the next 2 hours having your limbs ripped off by a Jiu Jit Su coach. But you’re a tough camper it’s all in a day’s work.

Now it’s back home for an hours sleep, more plain pasta and chicken plus some of those uber expensive supplements since you physically cannot consume enough calories a day in solid food to maintain body weight.

The alarm goes off and you know the strength and conditioning coach is waiting for you with his trusty stop watch and heart rate monitor. You are now expected to plant your heart rate firmly in the heart attack zone for an hour.

Repeat this process everyday for 5 years. You will need to travel around the states or Japan to establish an amateur record. If you are really lucky that supplement company might give you some free stuff if you wear their shirts and your mate might let you sleep on his sofa, it’s better than a car.

Sooner or later the UFC hears of you and your class ‘A knock out in a rival federation they offer you a fight. You have made it, Professional fighting. Just don’t lose!

Here are the fighter salaries from UFC 132 the biggest purse to date. Unless you lost.

Dominick Cruz: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Urijah Faber: $32,000
Chris Leben: $92,000 ($46,000 win bonus)
def. Wanderlei Silva: $200,000
Dennis Siver: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus)
def. Matt Wiman: $18,000
Tito Ortiz: $450,000 (no win bonus)
def. Ryan Bader: $20,000
Carlos Condit: $68,000 ($34,000 win bonus)
def. Dong Hyun Kim: $41,000
Melvin Guillard: $64,000 ($32,000 win bonus)
def. Shane Roller: $21,000
Rafael Dos Anjos: $28,000 ($14,000 win bonus)
def. George Sotiropoulos: $15,000
Brian Bowles: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus)
def. Takeya Mizugaki: $12,000
Aaron Simpson: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus)
def. Brad Tavares: $10,000
Anthony Njokuani: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
def. Andre Winner: $14,000
Jeff Hougland: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
def. Donny Walker: $6,000