Well, this is the first post for my MMA blog, so I guess the best thing to do is to introduce myself, what got me into the sport of mixed martial arts and tell you what this blog is about.
My name is Phil Harris. I’m 20 years old and I’m living in a village in the Maritimes, I don’t like to drink and I never found a legit use for drugs and that’s not gonna change anytime soon, I’m the type of guy who doesn’t like being in the spotlight 100% of the time but likes to make a statement every now and then, and back in high school I was considered a loser and a geek. Still am.
I was first exposed to MMA the same way a lot of new fans are these days; The Ultimate Fighter. I saw the first season of TUF a few years ago and I was automatically sucked in. I didn’t understand all the intricacies of grappling, or the idea that these guys where trained in multiple arts . Hell, I didn’t understand a single thing about it. All I knew that it was interesting and I wanted to learn more about it. So I started watching any MMA fight that I could (even some of the old UFC fights back when Royce Gracie was making anyone with a pair of arms and legs tap out), and started learning anything and everything that I could. And it wasn’t long before I wanted to be part of this world.
There was only one problem: there was no MMA gyms around. At least none that I knew of anyway. So there I was, waiting for a path to open to get me started. There were plenty of “traditional” martial arts schools availible around me, but I wasn’t willing to waste my time learning techniques that I knew wouldn’t work in a MMA fight (Years later, Lyoto Machida would prove me wrong and is now my favorite fighter, oddly enough). Later in my life, I noticed that there was going to be a demo from a local MMA gym going on in the next town for the yearly Gala Days, so I hopped on my bike and headed down to see it. There, I saw the guys (and girl) use several submissions, punch and kick combinations, and they were really good. Interested, I grabbed a brochure and had a look at their website.
So now I found a MMA gym, but there was yet another problem. Two of them, actually. Lack of transportation, and lack of funds. So I ended up waiting until I left high school and got a job at a call center and then I found out almost a year into my job that the same MMA gym was very close to the bus route. Realizing that I had nothing to lose and being sick and tired of wasting my days off hanging out in a mall all by myself, I decided to join the gym and start training. And I’ve never looked back.
This blog is going to document the training that I do on my days off and my progress as an aspiring MMA fighter, a couple of editorials on certain MMA news, predictions on upcoming UFC events (I don’t follow DREAM or the other Japanese MMA orgs, I wish I had The Fight Network so I could tho’), and anything else that comes to my mind. I hope that people will read this blog and possibly have an understanding of what mixed martial artists like myself have to go through in their training and appreciate the hard work that we put in for this young sport.
Thanks for reading this and have a great weekend!
– PH
My MMA Journey 
hey Phil,
Im kinda interested here, have you had any fights yet or how far away are you? what type of martial arts do you focus on? plan on ground and pound, stand up, submissions, or havent chosen a true focus? anyways, best of luck.
Hey Logan, thanks for commenting!
To answer your questions, I haven’t had any professional fights yet and I don’t plan on competing in MMA until I at least get my blue belt in Brazilian Jujitsu, which won’t be until another year or two. As for what I’ve been focusing on, I’ve been focusing on both the stand up and the submission aspects of MMA by training in Brazilian Jujitsu, Western style boxing, and Muay Thai.