After practicing Aikido for 15 years I decided to switch to MMA. You won’t believe what happened…
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Welcome to the Martial Arts Journey YouTube channel!
My name is Rokas. I’m a Lithuanian guy who trained Aikido for 14 years, 7 of them running a professional Aikido Dojo until eventually I realized that Aikido does not live up to what it promises.
Lead by this realization I decided to make a daring step to close my Aikido Dojo and move to Portland, Oregon for six months to start training MMA at the famous Straight Blast Gym Headquarters under head coach Matt Thornton.
After six months intensive training I had my first amateur MMA fight after which I moved back to Lithuania. During all of this time I am documenting my experience through my YouTube channel called “Martial Arts Journey”.
Now I am slowly setting up plans to continue training MMA under quality guidance and getting ready for my next MMA fight as I further document and share my journey and discoveries.
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If you want to support my journey, you can make a donation to my PayPal at info@rokasleo.com
SUBSCRIBE to see when the next videos will come out:
► http://bit.ly/1KPZpv0
Check the video “Aikido vs MMA” which started this whole Martial Arts Journey:
► https://youtu.be/0KUXTC8g_pk
If you want to support me and this channel on a regular basis check my Patreon page:
► https://www.patreon.com/rokasleo
#mma #martialarts #bjj
source
In case you want to check out the whole fight:
1) Without commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTP6DxrVFPQ
2) With my commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2-vN-j8kzg
Very cool, my question is what’d you do for income?
excellent video
Sorry i wasn’t here to share the journey but I enjoyed the story 😯👏 you sure got a lotta drive, guts and determination dude massive respect to you 👊 I’m just pleased I’m officially too old and broken to step in a ring 😄
Haha! I was never a morning person either. Then, I had the genius idea to join the army. They make you into a morning person… very, very quickly! 🤣
I am 29 Years Old, and just a few weeks ago I considered the possibility of training. When you said that you were 29 when you started MMA, that hit me… (I have no experience whatsoever in fighting or martial arts tho, should I still consider it?)
I see true character unfolding through this experience.
One thing I do to reset my sleep clock… stay up for 24 to 36 hrs straight and then go to bed at 8 or 9pm and your clock will be reset. I have to travel overseas for work sometimes and this helps me adjust to the new time zone quickly.
Good for you man.
Just to get in the ring is awesome.
Bro I really respect you.
If you're puking up blood… yes, it is a sign of something serious. Pretty much no matter why you're puking up blood, but especially if you've recently been in a fight. Blood's not supposed to be in your GI tract.
Click bait
You can’t always win. But it is a learning experience.
It’s never too late. I’m 37 and getting started. There’s an older man in my class too. Everyone should know how to fight.
you had your guard up and maintained good form, while your first amateur fight, you are already in a place that 99,9 percent of us are not, please try to fight some more like 5 times, you will get better, sometimes I want to throw it all away and just train and do some amateur fights. but I want to be a good artist
Man, I think you beat a more important opponent than the one you fought in the cage, and that someone is yourself. You showed your improvement and your advancement in MMA, and you exceeded your limits. Now is the time to continue training and exceed the level you have now, and when you level up, I know that you will be able to train more to improve yourself again. All the best
Very interesting video, I hope you learned something. You are too harsh with yourself. You should ease your mind and be patient, because timing is everything. Congratulations for your fight, it takes courage to do what you did!!!
The fact John made time for you what a down to earth guy
You are such an amazing person, your sportsmanship is an inspiration, thank you for sharing and daring, KUDOS
Combat-Tai-Chi black-belt here……….and yes, I have been in the cage, and yes,
the chicken-beak strike is extremely effective. Great job.
i noticed you ended up close to where i live! im your nothern brother close to the border! (not canada)
Edit: if we sparred or not, itd genuinely be nice to experience aikido. to me, it looks hella flashy and culturally significant, but i dont think it has practicality in a real fight. no offence
i feel your pain, i often don't sleep for days. it's a nightmare
Try mixing in some Muay Thai homie . Respect for stepping into the cage and good luck on your journey.
Nailed it.
Man. I don't think you should continue your journey guy. You are just not equipped to to keep going
2:37 that's the downfall for most people right there. Pure dedication, fair play to you. Bloody brilliant.
People aren't all bad. I'm proud of you man. Also most of us could never even think of accomplishing a loss in the octogan. No shame. Just keep it real. You already do that
"It was 4 AM, and I was vomiting blood. But let's start at the beginning."
Me: uh oh
UH OH
UH OH
You moved to a different country jumped into a training camp for six months did additional training on minimal sleep jumped into a cage with another fighter who is just as good. Three due to a done nothing all day but send a chair said he did better than you. Screw those guys you won because you gave it everything you had
Dont feel too bad, I wanted to fight mma so bad and lost all 3 of my bouts.
There was no amateur mma where I lived, so when I competed it was pro bouts.
I transitioned to boxing, which because I was entered into pro mma I had to compete in pro boxing, and lost 5 bouts straight.
I lost 8 fights.
I cried in frustration many times.
I ended up getting a bad head Injury and a dislocated jaw in my last boxing bout and had to force my retirement at the age of 23.
I dreamed of retiring at 30, maybe at least be a challenger for a title fight.
But no matter how much I wanted it, I couldnt even grasp myself a single win.
Although I did come close in boxing to winning my 2nd bout.
I am glad you got to experience a live event from the inside 🙂
Yeah man, it takes BALLS to get in to the ring and uploading the truth shows integrity and character. Good on ya!
Get blublox glasses and get some liquid collagen. Both help me sleep.
He is better story teller than a fighter
Because of the type training that MMA practicers do it makes them hard to be knock out .