Hello everybody,

Let me introduce myself. I have been reading MMA sites including bloody elbow for a while, and have wanted to join a forum for a long time as well. I didn't want to get involved with the wasteland that is Sherdog or anything like that but I love the community here.

I am a little obsessive with MMA as I can see many of you are. It only makes sense as I was this obsessive with wrestling for most of my life, which I started in 7th grade and continued competitively through community college. I must have been crazy to get involved in such an intense sport as I was born with mild cerebral palsy on the right side of my body, and I was just too stubborn to quit until I got decent. I have been an MMA fan since about 2005, I did see a few Pride fights here and there beforehand but I really started watching when my high school wrestling coach told me about his college teammate who made it on a reality show about fighters trying to get a UFC contract. That teammate turned out to be Rashad Evans. I watched that one season of TUF and then that was it for a while.

I started watching MMA again once I got to Junior College, where once again it was hearing about Rashad from my coaches drew me in again. This time it stuck for some reason. Maybe it was me and all of my teammates loving that our last national champ knocked out Sean Salmon with a head kick or watching Anderson Silva destroy Chris Leben but I loved it. Also a college coach I knew by the name of Josh Koshcheck was getting to be a pretty big name. Anyway ever since I have been crazy about the sport, that in my opinion is the NFL for NCAA wrestlers. I transfered to a small private college in Ohio to finish my undergrad and the closest MMA gym or BJJ school is about an hour away in Pittsburgh but as soon as I graduate in August of 2011 I plan on getting involved personally with Mixed Martial Arts and I have made it one of my goals to become a BJJ black belt by the time I die. 

While competing in MMA would be amazing for me, I am realistic about what level I could get to with a physical disability and I really am interested in getting involved with a small regional promotion in some sort of business aspect and possibly working my way up to the level of the UFC or something similar. It would definitely be my dream job to be a promoter or a match maker of some sort. I have a deep resonating baritone voice so I could even become an announcer. Anyway I just realized I have rambled on for almost 500 words about my dreams aspirations and athletic biography but I just want to say hello to everyone and thanks for making Bloody Elbow a great place.