Fighter Monologue:The Entrance

This is my first fan post ever and i hope you all enjoy it. Its kind of what once wrote about a fighters thoughts right before he goes out to the octagon to fight. I hope everyone enjoys it and please give me some feedback. Thank you.

Ten minutes to show time boys. Let’s go, be ready to go. I hear the words spoken as if through a wall. They sound muffled, though they are spoken less than three feet away. The crowd roars from the exciting finish of the previous fight. I’m nervous. All the training in the last three years led up to this day, this moment in time. The sparring wars in the ring and the thousands of hours spent grappling on the mats. My heart starts pounding, my adrenaline rushing through my veins. I know I am ready and I should be confident but all I feel is the terror of losing. Suddenly, Coaches voice echoes in my head, “your desire to win has got to be greater than your fear of losing otherwise your fucked.”

Coach taps my lowered head. “Let’s go kid its time.” It sounded to me like a whisper from a mile away. Like a zombie I rose from the bench, a storm of emotions raging throughout my mind and body. I stared at my gloved hands and read the three letters that have been my life for the years of training. UFC. I read those letters hundreds if not thousands of times since I put them on for the first time today. This is my dream, a UFC fighter, me of all people. I can’t let this go. I won’t let this be taken from me. I inhale deeply trying to calm my frayed nerves. I steeled myself as my entrance music started blaring. Coach turned to me nodded and gave me the best advice I’ll ever receive. Win.

I pictured my first walk down to the octagon a million times over in my mind. I would dream and fantasize about it day after day. My music hitting, me jumping from the curtains pumped up and excited high fiving all the fans, the greatest experience I can imagine. As I push through the curtains and see the thousands of screaming fans, the bright lights blinding me, I feel the fear start to overtake me once more. Try as I might, I could not become excited at all. I’m walking down the aisle to the cage just following my cornermen with my head down and my hood on. Master of Puppets is the song I chose. It’s my favorite. I don’t even realize its playing. Right now all I could think is how scared I am of making a mistake. I’m not ready for this yet. I’m just not good enough. If I lose then my life and everything I’ve worked for will be gone in one fell swoop. Dana White is sitting less than five feet away from me to my left. He tells me good luck. The UFC president just told me good luck in my match and I am just staring at him with my mouth half open to awestruck to say anything back! The ref is waiting to check if everything is on right and to put Vaseline on my face. I hug my teammates and say a quick prayer. I turn to my right and climb the longest four steps of my life into the cage.

I finally see my opponent enter the cage. A longtime staple in the UFC and a tough veteran with over twenty wins. A dominant striker and kickboxer, my opponent is a force to be reckoned with. Hundreds of hours of tape watched. My sparring partners copied his fighting techniques in the gym, I lived him for the past eight weeks. I watch him standing across the ring pumping his massive fist into the air with such confidence. I stand motionless as Bruce Buffer begins to introduce the fighters. I hear him announce my name and the crowd cheers politely. The roar of the crowd for my opponent is deafening. The referee calls us to the center of the ring. I feel more and more nervous with each step forward. I’m amazed my legs will still obey me. It feels as if my legs are made of jelly. Face to face with him at last. His eyes seem empty. He is so calm and collected. There is no emotion to be found on his face. We touch gloves and go back to our corners. The referee steps forward. “Are you ready?” he asks. I nod my head. He starts the fight, “let’s get it on”! The crowd roars but I hear only silence. The fear is gone. Time to fight.