"It's not the winning...

...it's the taking apart." That was the theme of a 1990's era Nike Rugby campaign featuring England international Brian Moore. Rugby, like the fighting sports, demands an internal ferocity of some players, so I understood the idea at the time. I just didn't care for it much because I never needed to fabricate my internal desire to compete at my limit when I played the game (some 400+ times over 19 years).

                                         Brian Moore

Fast forward to last Saturday afternoon where I was utterly taken apart during full contact sparring in MMA class. Make no mistake, I love boxing, kickboxing, and full MMA work. But I worked with a guy who just had my number. It got so bad, I made the ultimate sparring mistake and starting closing my eyes every time I threw. I made little or no contact while getting jab-countered relentlessly. I even tried feinting my jab to draw his left so I could counter-straight over his left, then hook.  I got kicked in the head for my effort  because he didn't bite on my fake. Changed angles, stayed away from the power, changed levels. I had no answer. I just sucked.

I chalked it up to not having a good MMA class for several weeks and doing no bag work on my own outside of class. Valid reasons, but it didn't stop me from feeling sorry for myself after class. Ugh, I hate that! Bottom line: there's only two classes a week and I have to make both. I need to do bag work on my own. And for chrissakes, keep your fucking eyes open.