Developing Your Skills
Learn to fight. If you're going to go pro as a fighter, you're going to have to be the best fighter you possibly can be. Study the techniques and training regimens necessary to whatever style of fighting you're interested in. MMA is by far the most popular modern fighting style. Combining elements of boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, and jiu jitsu, MMA will require that you develop a "total package" of fighting skills. If you're strong, fearless, and an adaptive learner, MMA may be the right choice for you. Martial arts such as karate, tae-kwon-do, or ju-jitsu require a tremendous amount of mental as well as physical discipline to learn. The study of these will take many years to perfect and might involve moving to another country in order to study with the best possible trainers. Wrestlers have a wide network set up in schools and universities. Consider joining a wrestling team to get the necessary skills involved in mat wrestling and as a foundation for expanding your fighting skills to other styles. Boxing is the classic fighting sport. Old-school gyms filled with heavy bags and jump-ropes exist all over the country, in rural and urban areas. Often, youth boxing programs are available at relatively inexpensive rates if you want to get started early.
Narrow your focus. Do you want to go pro in boxing? MMA? Muay Thai? Even if you're interested in many forms of fighting, if you're going to be a professional, you'll need to specialize. Find a gym that trains in the particular kinds of fighting that you're interested in and hook up with a great coach who can teach you the secrets of the trade. Consider joining more than one gym to learn from a number of different coaches and practice with a variety of opponents.
Train hard and frequently. Spar with a wide variety of opponents to hone your combat skills such as strike delivery, reaction, and speed of recovery. During sparring, wear protective gear to minimize the harm impact can do to your body. Before you set out to become a professional fighter, think about how much time you have to devote to training and conditioning. In addition to striking and grappling, you'll also need to spend time doing things like cardio exercises and lifting weights to ensure you're in excellent shape.
Get a good trainer to train with. An experienced trainer who has trained professional or high-level amateur fighters will be invaluable to your career. He can help you develop your strengths and minimize your weaknesses by assessing how you perform, and adjust your training accordingly. He can also pair you with good sparing partners that challenge you appropriately during sparring.
Be willing to pay. Highly regimented nutrition, expensive gym memberships, time commitments, and the toll on your body--the cost of pro fighting will quickly add up. If you break a wrist in a fight before you've gone pro, who's going to pay for it? Get a physical job that will allow you the hours you want for practice and keep you employed while following your dream. UPS truck loaders have to lift heavy boxes but work early hours, allowing the rest of the weekdays free. The physical work will also do double-duty, keeping you in shape while you're making money. UPS also offers competitive insurance packages that will keep you safe.
Getting Sponsored
Compete in amateur fights. With your trainer's help, determine which competitions would be good for you to compete in and steadily build up the number of fights you enter per month. The more fights you win, the more you'll get noticed by scouts for sponsors.
Network. It would be great if a sponsor noticed your skills in the ring and offered you a contract to become a professional fighter, assigned you to a team, and hired you a new manager and trainer, but the truth is you'll have to do most of the work to get noticed. At conventions and big fight nights, tell everybody you meet you're training to become a professional fighter. Profiling yourself as a dedicated and skilled fighter with a number of amateur titles under your belt will win the interest of sponsors. Join fighting-centric websites and message boards to make connections on the Internet. Use as many resources as you can to build a name for yourself. Use social networking to market yourself as the next big thing.
Talk with management companies. Approach management companies like Fight Tribe or Made to Win, that have a proven track record of managing fighters and negotiate a management deal with them. By calling the shots yourself, you'll stand a better chance of determining who your team will be. However, it's important to understand that most management companies will only be interested if you have proven to be an interesting investment in the ring by winning a number of key fights against strong opponents. Keep winning to give yourself the best possible chance.
Be unique. "Iron" Mike Tyson used to come to the ring without the gym robe traditionally worn by boxers, and was surrounded by police officers, accompanied by the sound of chains clanging and a siren going off. It was beyond intimidating and instantly iconic. Kimbo Slice's prison tattoos, gold teeth, and giant beard made his YouTube bare knuckle fights all the more memorable and striking. The more savage and flamboyant your reputation, the better chance you'll have getting noticed and becoming a professional fighter. Earn a nickname and use it to market yourself. Make it scary. Use your background to create a story for yourself to give people something to relate to. If you're a veteran, use that image to appeal to people's patriotism. If you've served time in jail, use that. Even if you're the wealthy child of an insurance executive, cultivate a killer Wall Street persona to stand out from the crowd.
Maintaining Your Career
Stay healthy. Your body is your life, so keep it in top working condition. Train correctly, regularly, and intelligently. George Foreman tried to return to the ring late in his career and appeared out of shape and unprepared. Don't make the same mistake. Get injuries taken care of and rested before jumping into the ring and risking your career. Avoid drugs, alcohol, and other unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Fight regularly. If you want to stay on top of the fighting game, you're going to have to keep fighting. Taking too much time off might allow people to forget your skills and let you slip in people's estimation of your talents. Treat your training as a job and your fights as a promotion. Constantly work toward the next victory and the next rung on the ladder.
Forget the losses and the wins. Few fighters will retire undefeated. If you're beaten, go back to the gym and get training. Do your best to forget about the losses, and avoid becoming overconfident about your victories. A fighter should always be eager to prove that he's the best. Challenge fighters that are better than you to continue honing your skills and get better. Michael Jordan used to tape negative criticism (even if it wasn't that negative) to his locker to motivate himself for games. A good fighter will adopt a similar attitude. Prove yourself to the crowd, to the other fighters, and to yourself.
Seek championships. Eventually, a career as a fighter will end if you don't make it to the top. Too many losses or too many periods of inactivity will result in lost sponsorships and a demotion in the prestige of your fights. To maintain a career as a fighter, you have to seek championship fights and defend your titles against the best fighters in your division.
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