Starting pay for the UFC is 2/2 or 3/3. That is to say, in your first UFC fight, you would likely get $2,000 to show, and if you win, another $2,000. You will have to cover your own medicals required by the State AC which can easily top $1,000. And by the time you get into the UFC, you must have proven yourself in many competitive fights, characteristically for less than the amounts noted previously.

 

So do not walk down that road for money.

 

That said, if you want to test yourself, your mind, your body, your athletic skills and your character, there is no greater arena than MMA, and no greater way to build them.

 

The single determining factor, over riding all others, is hard work. It is hard work to do 500 body squats. Try it. That is the kind of effort you will have to make every day.

 

The second crucial decision you make is the place you train. While during its infancy, some of the greatest MMA names came out of garages; those days have largely passed. You have to find a place to train that consistently places people in fights of the type you are interested in. Check out our extensive schools listing, and visit all within driving distance. Watch the classes, ask how often people from there compete, and at what level of competiton?

 

Once you have decided upon a gym, listen to your trainer. Forget what you think you know, which likely is not much. Just listen. That said, the person fighting is you, so take responsibility for your training. You will learn a lot with your eyes. Watch skilled fighters live and on the screen, and try to piece together as much as you can from there. Train with as wide a variety of people as you can find. Make sure that you are in good shape, sleeping and eating well, in a good position to be brought to peak conditioning.

 

Probably the biggest single determining factor in your first fight, and perhaps a few after that, is your conditioning. Due to nerves, when you step into the ring or cage, your heart rate will already be over 100. When you throw a shot, and protect your self from one, your heart rate will be over 140, and the match is seconds in. This is not Tennis where a poor performance means you lose 11 to love, it is your ass being beat in front of your friends, team mates, the hot ring card girls, etc. So approach your conditioning with the utmost dedication.

 

You do not want your first competitive fight sport ever to be MMA, so if you did not wrestle in High School or college, it is advisable to test the waters in grappling or BJJ or Amateur boxing first, to get a feel for performing against resistance in public.

 

After technique and conditioning, the third major component of your ability to fight is your mental state. If you are well trained and conditioned, the necessary confidence will be there, somewhere. Having a supportive team provides an enormous boost to your mental state. Trying to achieve a state of bliss before a fight is not possible. What you are aiming to do is not erase the butterflies, but rather to get them to fly in formation.

 

So if you want to be a fighter, find a good trainer with a good team, and work hard every day. In hard time, you will be a new better person, a fighter.