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Posted by Mika Frankl
You can’t see it or measure it but we know it exists. The heart of a warrior lives deep within all of us. Every combat sport athlete wears the Aura of the warrior on their sleeve. When you see the combination of the human will and warrior spirit come together you will witness unexpected fetes to be achieved. After this past weekend UFC on Fox 4 with the performances of Jamie Varner, Joe Lauzon, Mike Swick, and Brandon Vera I started thinking of the heart, desire and will it takes to just make it into the field of battle.
You can look at Joe Lauzon who has a prominent career in the computer industry and was coming off a loss. Jamie Varner who is a former WEC Champion and had lost his passion for fighting. Lauzon vs Varner turned out to be a Fight of the Night award winning war. In the desert of Arizona Varner found his love of combat once again. Varner went from a beaten man unsure of his future to a man with a broken hand, a loss on his record but a smile on his face and in his heart. Lauzon proved one who was once beaten can come back better then ever. Both men stood their ground landing devastating strikes and on several occasions the finish looked to be near but the man in trouble would find a way to survive. The heart they showed is the reason why this sport is the best in the world.
Mike “Quick” Swick, after two injury filled years away from competition, made his return to the UFC. Injuries and a disease that would not allow Swick to properly eat and keep weight on. This did not stop Swick from his goal of returning to action,he just worked harder. Swick also did not give up when DaMarques Johnson was on top of him late in round one landing blows. Swick again survived and in round two caught a Johnson kick and used it to take him to the ground and then followed Johnson to the ground landing a knockout blow.
Brandon Vera headed into UFC on Fox 4 as a main event fighter and a huge underdog. It was a foregone conclusion by many that Mauricio Rua was going to walk through Vera all the way to a Title shot. The only person who didn’t know this was Vera. Vera would go on to put on the performance of his career and proved he can compete with the best in the world. Vera may have lost but at different points in the fight Vera had the opportunity to quit, lay down, or let the ref step in but he dug deep and fired strikes right back at Rua.
One on one with you just relying on your training at the moment with no team mate to help you, this is combat. If you can see the guys I talked about and not realize how special they are you may never understand how great this sport is. The heart, the will, the desire of a warrior was on full display at UFC on Fox 4 and to me it showed again why this sport is so amazing. Unstoppable is the human will!
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