wldct1998's blog

In my social media feed, I read about one MMA fighter coming out as bi after an oral sex video of him was leaked, while a cryptic post from an MMA organization writes about another from Uzbekistan who died after injuries suffered in "training." With the little information on the latter, which doesn't seem to be on any news sites, I won't say much, but in the comments we all wondered how one can die in training, unless some horrifically unlikely accident happened. The best comment about Muhammad Ali Saidov's death was that training partners are there to help each other, not kill each other. Meanwhile, UFC fighter Jeff Molina came out on his Twitter (@jmolina_125) as bisexual after an intimate video of him and another man was released. It wasn't how he wanted this to happen, he said, and at age 25, he wanted to wait until his MMA career was done to come out so he wouldn't be known as "the gay fighter." Surprisingly, I didn't see too many troll comments on his Twitter, and teammates, who he feared would look down on him, seemed supportive. This one is on CNN and Fox News. He's the first UFC-signed male fighter to come out as anything other than heterosexual, but I have a feeling he isn't alone out there. Hopefully others will, in his footsteps, be able to publicly be themselves one day.

I finally spent the money on headgear. And wow, that gets attention on MeetFighters! HAHA I think views are mixed on the efficacy of headgear in preventing concussions and long term brain damage in fighters, but where I've heard it is good and the reason I bought it is to prevent black eyes. I'm one of those weekend warriors who hates having to explain bruises on my face, and my face bruises easily (see my photos!). I figure anything that gets me to spar more is good for my training journey. Let's see how that goes. Now I'm not doing an advertisement, but this is the Ringside Ultra Light that weighs about 10 ounces. I wanted cheek protection to protect against black eyes without it being intrusive to the point that it would blind me to uppercuts, because one of my favorite sparring partners loves getting me with punches on the inside. I have plans this Friday evening, so I won't be doing sparring at the gym just yet. We'll see the reaction I get, since nobody else wears headgear when sparring at my gym!

For some time I've journaled after training sessions, so I thought why not blog on here? I don't know that anyone will read it, but here goes. Sometimes I journal so I remember the names of my training partners that I meet. :) Yesterday in Muay Thai we worked on lean backs to evade kicks, and I paired with Jeff, a lean young guy who brought his infant in a car seat. I didn't catch the infant's name, but the babe (actual babe, not Jeff) was impressed watching us! Jeff would go talk to his son (daughter?) between rounds as the infant took a bottle. Most of the year, we complain about training in Phoenix's extreme heat, and our gym isn't exactly climate controlled (in extreme heat, 110 degrees+, our Kru will turn on the swamp cooler for a short time). With no heat in what has been a cold (for Phoenix) winter, I realized how hard - and important - it is to warm up my hips, lower back, and everything else, especially for some hard kicking. In addition to lower back and hips, my obliques are really sore today. I also notice training in the cold that it's harder to get a grip on the mat with my feet. In the heat, my feet just melt to the mat; I never fear I'll fall when delivering a kick! I enjoy Saturday morning classes, though I often have other commitments at that time, because they are pretty chill and we get to work in a smaller group on technique. But yesterday was also an excellent cardio workout. :)