I used to get beat up a lot as a kid. My dad got sick of seeing me get hurt so he taught me the basics of judo and boxing. Throughout my entire childhood I loved movies like Rocky, Kickboxer, Bloodsport, Enter the Dragon, and such. I was a huge Ninja Turtle fan too. For whatever reason, I never pursued the martial arts though.

As time went on I started studying philosophy. I found that I really identified with Eastern philosophy, which led me to explore Eastern religion, which led me to explore Eastern culture, which led me to the martial arts. While studying philosophy I became an even BIGGER Bruce Lee fan so naturally when I started training I chose wing chun. I dabbled in a lot of other traditional arts before stumbling upon MMA.

Somewhere along the line I decided I wanted to give this MMA thing a shot so I picked up boxing and judo again. I was completely resistant to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so sure that judo was just as good. Well, I was wrong, and from the moment I started training BJJ I knew it was for life.

Now I train a healthy mix of boxing, muay Thai, judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, and of course Brazilian jiu-jitsu. And I’m still a philosophy nerd.