Do you think it’s easy to catch a punt? Have you lambasted a batter for looking at a pitch right down the middle? Have you ever mocked a tennis player for serving into the net? If so, then you sound like every other sports fan who thinks it looks easy for a professional athlete to perform, and you sound like I used to sound.

For years I was just like most other sports fans. It was common to hear “come on, I could’ve hit that pitch” in my house if a baseball player swung and missed at what appeared to be a hanging curveball. But that fact of the matter is there was absolutely no way I would have come close to touching a major league curveball, let alone a routine fastball.

As I grew older and began to fall in love with MMA, I found myself in the same position of chastising fighters for dropping their hands, giving up their back or not shooting for a takedown. I had never even stepped foot into an octagon, let alone a boxing ring, and I fancied myself an expert in combat sports. I had spent the better part of the last 10 years following the rise of MMA almost religiously, so in my mind I had earned the right judge a fighter’s performance.

That all changed two Saturdays ago when I squared off against MMA prodigy Jake Watson at Power MMA and Fitness’ two-year anniversary.

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