MMA Stuff

A Guest Post by my friend Nicole

Women in MMA. Say what you want but more and more women are taking up an interest in the male dominated sport. I am one of those women. I don’t have a background in wrestling. Never took a karate class in my life. I did, however, play sports growing up. Volleyball, basketball, softball, track & field, and soccer didn’t lead me on the path to MMA. How did I get in to the sport? Now that’s a story. I was 18 years old and met a boy who told me everything I wanted to hear. We ended up in a relationship together. For the first few months everything was fine. Eventually, he became very controlling and dictated who I could hang out with, what I could wear, who I could talk to and he had to know where I was at all times. If that wasn’t bad enough, he started getting physical and would hit me every time we got in an argument. I can’t tell you how many times I was thrown against walls and beaten. To make matters worse, I was a very religious girl and was waiting until marriage to have sex and he raped me for “the good of the relationship.” I was so weak and after 2 years of putting up with it; I finally left him. I was broken and scared but I knew I never wanted to be subjected to that again. I didn’t want to be a victim. I signed up at LA Boxing a few blocks from my house and started doing kickboxing. I became obsessed with it. For me, it was my therapy, strength and empowerment. I had been doing that for a couple of years when an old friend of mine invited me to train with her at De La O Jiu Jitsu. I had always loved watching MMA but I never knew where to go about training for it so I jumped on the opportunity. After one class, I was hooked. I cancelled my membership at LA Boxing and started training at De La O Jiu Jitsu. The rest is history.

Now getting started with jiu jitsu was very frustrating and uncomfortable for me. Having to make physical contact with boys and be in somewhat awkward positions was very hard at first. It was also difficult being one of the few girls. It’s like the guys wanted nothing to do with you. I had to gain their respect and show them I wasn’t there to try and hook up with them because they were fighters. I have also dealt with several injuries since I started training. I’ve had broken toes, sprained fingers, torn calf, cuts on my knees and elbows, fat lips, and even 2 shoulder surgeries. I’ve never let any of that hold me back.

MMA has been a blessing to my life in so many ways. It’s helped me with my self esteem. It’s made me stronger, faster, and more aware. It’s helped me lose a tremendous amount of weight. It’s helped with my anxiety and anger and has given me the confidence and strength to avoid terrible relationship choices like the one I made that got me into training in the first place.

Currently, I train 6 days a week: 4 days of MMA/Jiu Jitsu and 2 days of Muay Thai. I’m a blue belt under John De La O. It’s been about one month since I’ve been back from an 8 month hiatus due to 2 shoulder surgeries. I thought I’d be struggling more with my comeback but everything seems to be going relatively well. Granted, I still have my bad days but I’m getting better and better and I’ve never been more fired up to train than I am right now.

I hope to compete in the future but I still have to let my shoulder get its strength back. Just being a part of the sport has been life changing. I’m a completely different person.  If you’d like to follow me on my journey check out my blog: http://nizzicole.unfilteredmma.com

Related posts:

1. Changing MMA Schools
2. 9 Lessons I’ve Learned From Jiu Jitsu So Far
3. The Rotater Review
4. Ringside Heavy Hitters Review
5. My First Fight Checklist