Our Story
My Martial Arts journey started in 1996. Although I didn’t know it at the time, the experience I had as a kid in Kyokushin Karate would be a tremendous influence on me, and shape me as an adult. I stopped training in Karate in 1999 and didn’t pick up another discipline until 2007, after high school. I started training in Muay Thai and forthwith, and felt an unwavering affection for it. A friend of mine told me about this cool thing called “MMA” in 2006. At the time I had never heard of it, and didn’t know such combat sports existed, I only knew of boxing and traditional martial arts contests. Although I didn’t watch any live events then, I saw some highlights of various fighters, one standout being BJ Penn. I sporadically watched PPV events throughout 2007 as my interest steadily developed, but the one that hooked me was BJ Penn flying across the cage to decapitate Sean Sherk at UFC 84, in a brutal attack on Sean’s life. I watched with my mouth agape and as a witness to this violent encounter, could not comprehend the swiftness and viciousness of what I had just seen. In totality I have amassed about 8 years of martial arts training, and I’ve spent the last 16 years of my life completely immersing myself into this unique form of combat, and learning as much as I possibly can. Even when I’m not part of a Martial Arts school, I train at home. I love writing and as a result, I started For The Hardcores. I began my official process in July of 2023 and published the first article that September, but the seeds were sown in 2019 when I started writing in my own personal (private) blog. The idea behind this is to preserve combat history, and share my knowledge and passion for the sport with hardcore and casual fans alike. I also think I bring a unique perspective to fighting and I hope that I can inspire people through writing about Martial Arts, especially since it has given so much to me. Over time this project will evolve and I will take on new topics, and try to broaden the lens through which we view physical combat.
