I told a friend I was going to a fight on Saturday afternoon. To which, he promptly replied. “I’ll hold your hoop earrings for you!”

I have friends I can count on.

But no, really.

My family and I went to our first MMA fight. It was perfect timing too, during Father’s Day weekend.

We were invited by friends from church, and who doesn’t want to go? Seriously. It’s human nature to want to go.

Perhaps not human nature to want to be in a fight, but definitely human nature to watch.

The event was held in some maze-like school/community center, with a line of people and a big gym. I was paying very close attention.

I didn’t know what to expect, but when I entered the gym, things got real.

There was a cage. A real-life cage. I don’t know what I expected. Probably a long stretch of clean blue mats like the kind used in Tae Kwon Do, but this was a huge black cage. Things were instantly more exciting.

Also, how do I get up there?

We were a little early so we grabbed some seats, and naturally, I began snapping pictures of me and my family.

Friends, my camera decided that my little brother was making such an epic expression in this photograph that it automatically created a portrait of just his face in my camera roll.

It’s a masterpiece!

The fights began with a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner played on an electric guitar, and I believe that was the first time we were introduced to the . . . group of specifically brain damaged adult-type human beings sitting behind us—put nicely.

They were purposely singing the song off key and laughing, and I made it a point to turn around and glare at them. It was everything short of what I really wanted to do at the time.

They were acting drunk. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they really were mentally challenged and couldn’t physically contain their dirty jokes, obnoxious yelling, female burps, and—let’s not forget—the woman with a butt so large, she could not physically control it from bumping me in the back of the head every time she walked passed.

I’m mature though. The last time she did it, I bent my torso forward and whammed the top half of my body into her.

It felt very therapeutic.

Above is one of my best freeze-action shots from the fight.

It reminds me of when my older brother and I try to high-five and miss.

It’s really cool to watch these kind of fights. Every fighter has a different style. Some kick, or wrestle, or throw each other. I personally enjoy a good throw. I also appreciate, what I call, The Hug Technique, where one fighter basically grabs and hugs onto the other one for dear life.

Only one pair of female MMA fighters competed.

As I watched them, I was strangely motivated to work out.

I actually thought, maybe I should go to the gym today.

All in all, though, it was a lot of fun. We were so happy to be invited. What an experience!

It was the perfect event for Father’s Day weekend, and my dad enjoyed it. My little brother and I had fun giving the different fighters nicknames like “tiny-short POWER!” and “ponytail WHOO!” And my mom and I were brought closer together as we eavesdropped on breakup stories and commented to each other, “if you ask me, she did him a favor.”

It’s all part of the experience!

Because we knew somebody (we’re cool like that), we were asked if we’d like to take a picture in the ring! Father-son photo op!

My little brother is so intimidating.

I took some video at the fight, so I was inspired to put together a pretty awesome tiny clip for you guys! Enjoy and thanks for reading and watching!

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