Friends in high places

It's been weird not living in the USA these past couple of years. I tend to forget how the reality of combat sports has been part of my life for a LONG time. The pics were sent to me by my good friend and Muay Thai Champion Fabian Zuniga. He's a young guy I met when I came back into training in the mid 1990's. He writes me periodically to tell me the news that he's continually bringing out the best in himself. I think the greatest kick I get is hearing how much his dreams are being realized through his fighting career. His performance is through the roof and his sincerity/honesty/humility in the fight game is hard to find.

The guy he fought is William Syrapai - a former champion and muay thai phenom himself.
Fabian is definately a star on the rise.

I miss being around fighters. I mean, I'm in the islands and I know Tetsuji Kato - who is also a great guy by the way. And there is my jiu-jitsu coach who has also been around combat sports most of his life. Outside of that, everyone is new to the game. It's hard to find friends in the game that have time in it. It's not that the new people entering the game aren't cool to be around, it's just some of the hype can be SO big that 'the day in day out' part of training isn't as big a priority. When you get too old to compete, there is only a couple of ways to stay connected to the fight game. 1) keep in shape with it as a sport. That way you'll always keep learning while ensuring what game you still have isn't losing as much edge. and 2) pick up a bucket and learn to corner with experienced people.

There was a Judo development coach who came in from New Zealand 4 weeks ago. He was a cool guy. The crazy thing is that he thought I was ten years younger. That would put me at 27 years old by his guess-timation - still old by combat sports standards.

Question: So at 37 years old, what's a washed out ex-fighter to do?

Answer: Have fun with it. And if it no longer floats my boat, find something else to do ;>