I Find Peace When I Fight

Whenever I stop fighting, my life gets complex.

I will share my journey with martial arts and combat to then tell you why they are so important to me.

Growing up

When I was little, I loved ninjas and I started my fighting journey when I was 5 years old and joined a Dojo.

While I was allowed to do martial arts, I was forbidden from watching any kind of cartoons or action movies that had any form fighting, such as Popeye.

To be honest, I don’t believe Popeye was violent, but It wasn’t my decision.

I was told that watching “violent” cartoons such as X-Men would turn me into an aggressive person, so I had to hide to watch these shows and got grounded many times when caught.

After I turned 7, I was also removed from practicing children’s martial arts and completely stopped participating in sports until I was 14 years old and started roaming the streets with my friends.

Here, I discovered street boxing and fought in parks without informing my family.

Until one day, I began partying, going to clubs and focused on expanding my social network.

Fight for what you want — But what do you want?

When I was 17 years old, I discovered Muay Thai and fell in love with it. It is probably the most challenging combat martial art to learn.

Thai fighters must turn their bodies into iron if they want to withstand full fights. I have practiced many disciplines for several years, and there is nothing as tough as Muay Thai.

Due to my poor fitness level, it took me a while to become disciplined in Muay Thai. I wasn’t consistent until my early 20s when I became proficient at it and started participating in tournaments and competitions.

I trained for at least 3 hours a day and fought thousands of rounds with all kinds of opponents.

I stopped training and became a workaholic in my mid-20s.

I focused solely on my work for 7 years until I moved to Germany, and I forgot about sports for a while.

Wake up call

Just before Covid, I joined a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) club. After a couple of months of learning this new sport, the whole world stopped, and so did the gym.

In 2021, I got Covid even though I was vaccinated. In my family, we are really sensitive to that virus. After it took my father’s life, Delta caught me a couple of months later.

This virus has injured me so much that I will never fully recover. During this time, I also gained weight.

I used to go to the doctors almost every day, so I decided to start going to the BJJ gym again. The doctors were monitoring me, so I thought it would be safe to give it a try.

I started in late 2022 and haven’t stopped since then. I have consistently been training for almost 10 months now.

Due to Covid, my first few training months were horrible. I couldn’t breathe, felt like my brain would explode each time, and was afraid of being severely injured.

But I trusted the results shown by my doctors, who kept on telling me that my stats were improving.

In contrast to other people, Covid mainly affected my head (sinuses) more than my lungs. In other words, my vision, sense of smell, balance, hearing, and hormone production were (some still are) heavily affected.

My painful symptoms used to worsen during sports. So, imagine how I felt while fighting. I literally lost my balance, and my vision became blurry every day during the first few months.

Also, it was really hard to breathe and stay motivated.

BJJ is about grappling to make your opponent surrender using submission techniques such as chokes or arm locks.

So, I had to endure that pain along with long Covid.

Today, thanks to BJJ, I am almost fully recovered from most of my injuries, but I have a few that will stay with me forever according to the doctors. It doesn’t matter; I’ve learned how to live with them without noticing. My life is completely back to normal.

In fact, I feel stronger now.

Comparing BJJ with MT

While Muay Thai is all about endurance and enduring pain without showing expression, BJJ is about being comfortable in very uncomfortable situations. Furthermore, it doesn’t hurt as much as Muay Thai but is much more complex in terms of techniques.

For BJJ, you need to learn a wide range of techniques, positions, and drills. Additionally, BJJ is constantly evolving much faster than Muay Thai.

BJJ is less painful but more challenging to learn.

I am in my mid-30s now and in excellent shape, getting better every day, and building a community of fighters in Berlin.

Why do I fight?

In other sports, nothing much happens to you if you are losing the match. Sure, it feels bitter, but that’s about it. In combat sports, if you are losing the match, you will get smashed.

The greater the loss, the more intense the physical pain.

I think that’s why I like these kinds of sports because if you let yourself go during a match, you will suffer the consequences. It’s not over until you are literally done.

BJJ helped me overcome long Covid, which supposedly “changed” my life for the worse forever. I still have the scars, but I am stronger than ever. Muay Thai did the same for me; it turned me from a scared boy into a confident warrior.

There is a strong correlation between my focus on fighting and my success in life. Whenever I stopped training, my life and career started to struggle.

I know now that, no matter what, I will always train in combat sports. If I become too old, I will adapt to something suitable for my body. Sparring with partners gives me peace for all my other life activities.

I would never engage into a fight outside of the gym unless seriously threatened.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know your thoughts leaving a comment. Thanks for reading.

If you have problems with long Covid or any other issue, don’t take this as advice; instead, consult with your doctor.