Wednesday, 20 February 2008
6 Weeks to go!
I'm now 6 weeks out from my semi-pro European Title fight (well, 5 weeks and 5 days).The good: I'm only 6 weeks away from being able to have a MacDonald's for breakfast, KFC for dinner and a Burger King for supper. The bad: I've got 6 weeks worth of grilled chicken and raw spinach coming up.
The ugly: I've got a team of savages looking forward to torturing me in the gym 5-6 days a week. The training really steps up a gear now.
(More after the jump)
This means ahead of me I have; thousands of burpees, hundreds of rounds of sparring (usually with fresh partners every round), dozens of cuts, bumps and bruises (mostly on my face and shins) and most probably an injury or two to look forward to.
I'm fighting Christopher Sprong from Team Hilti in Sweeden. The Hilti Team is infamous for having great BJJ skills which is perfect for me stylistically, I train with a dozen excellent grapplers and my game's evolved around that. I thought a sprawl and brawl fight was in the pipelines using my long reach to jab his face to mincemeat. After further research I ended up finding out my opponent was actually taller then me (I'm 6"3, so he must be a lanky welterweight). I've also recently found out Mr. Sprong is a good thai boxer. As I haven't trained with anyone taller then me since I was 16 or 17, I realised I would need to find a gym with someone who mimicked his size and style, but wasn't really sure where to go.
While filming the technique section for Fighters Only Peter Irving offered an invite to train with his team, Knuckledraggers as he has a handful of tall stand up fighters for me to spar with. So this past Saturday I turned up and managed to get 5 or 6 rounds of sparring in which was pretty cool. After that I was slammed a couple of times as we worked on wrestling (I was put with the heavyweights), then I rolled with Peter and he raped me (in a Ju-Jitsu sense). Pete caught me in brabo chokes, darce chokes and every other choke there is with a stupid name. It was good fun though, now I'm looking forward to going next week.
To put it nicely, cutting weight is horrific. Especially when in life you're surrounded by idiots who don't have a clue why you do it or what cutting weight even is. They still however manage to voice their opinions on cutting weight. In the past I've been told; "why are you dieting, your not even fat", "Just eat loads curry's and fight in a heavier division" and my personal favourite; "Why don't you just eat nice food like pizza and chips, but less of it"? I've also got my mother trying to tell me it would be better for me If I ate weight watchers cakes as my main meals, as they only have one point per bite. The ratio of clever people to illogical people around me must be 1:10, it really is that bad.
Something weird happened the other morning. As I wandered around the house in my boxers making my breakfast I stopped to look in the mirror (as you do). Besides noticing my legs are growing at an incredible rate I realised I'm starting to regain a 6 pack. I haven't had one of those since November! This has given me more motivation then ever because not only will I be able to make fight weight, but girls might start finding me attractive once again. Score!
I've also decided to give up alcohol for good. Not for any benefit to my health, but for the sole reason of I hate slobbering drunks. It would be hypocritical of me to constantly slag them off and avoid them at all costs if I was one. People always ask why I don't drink and I often get called boring by my mates as they wobble about trying to find their equilibrium, but it doesn't bother me. I'm still haunted by some of the things I done as a kid while under the influence of 'White Ace' so I suppose its kind of a relief.
Ever since I left school and stopped going down to the beach getting drunk with large groups of charva's my weekends have really went downhill. So when there is a local MMA event on it really makes me happy. Lucky for me, Total Combat 23 is this Saturday. On the star studded card I have my younger, troublesome cousin Sam 'The Lonely Villager' Sexton fighting. Sam is like Nick or Nate Diaz, but more arrogant and less of a marijuana supporter. My MMA Coach; Eddie Ng takes on Jason Ball in a British Welterweight Title bout. In his professional debut he stopped Lee Doski with his trademark 'Lucky elbow'. But seeing as elbows have been banned in Total Combat now, his luck may have run out. Main eventing the Card is my uncle Colin so all in all it should be a good night out.
So that's my wrap up for the week folks. Keep it real.
Lots of Love, Jack "gonna be champ in 6 weeks" Sexton
P.S: apparently there will be camera crews filming Mark 'Spenna' Spencer as he prepares for his bout with Ross Pearson at Total Combat. Expect the Sexton trio; myself, Sam and Joe to try at all cost to make a cameo in this, preferably without the camera crews realising. Keep an eye out for us!
posted by Jack Sexton at Wednesday, February 20, 2008 << Back To Main Page
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