Fighting out of the blue corner...

As most of you know, Zane and Lexi have spent the past year training in Mixed Marital Arts at the United Training Center in Lacey, WA.  They worked on everything from tumbling to kickboxing to climbing ropes to wrestling.  Their coaches Lisa and Eddie Ellis have been great motivators to them and have really pushed them further than they thought they could go.  I have especially seen a great deal of growth and development in Zane.  He started out clunky and awkward and now he can perform a lot of the skills with ease and even gets asked to demonstrate for the other kids.

On Saturday, he along with his buddy Gregory, were able to make their MMA debut at the Battle for the Belts #2.  Even though Zane was suffering with a cold and some respiratory problems, he still had a unbelievable experience.

Here's Zane on the car ride over rocking out to his tunes.  Gettin' pumped for some action!! (...actually he crashed shortly after this.  Like I said, he was sick!)

Ready to rumble!

So we had to be there at 4:00 PM and the fights didn't start until 7:30 PM, so Zane and his buddy were able to play and explore the venue quite a bit.

 Here they are checking out the cage.

Zane had to get checked out by the medics to make sure he was fit to fight.

Zane getting taped up by "Marty".  Super cool guy with a wealth of experience in the MMA world.

Bring it on!

Staying loose and warming up.  In think Zane might have blown his wad warming up with Gregory before the fight, but at least they were having fun!

Zane's fight was #5 out of the blue corner.

Checking out the other fights.  I think his nerves, mixed with him not feeling too hot started to wear on him.  About 10 minutes before his fight, he started to turn white (actually more grey) and had to lay down for a bit.  I was so proud of him that he actually went out there and tried his best.  There was one point were he was caught in an arm bar and was able to roll his way out of it.  In the end, Gregory caught him in another arm bar and then he  got caught on the ground. 

After the fight, Zane was in good spirits, but exhausted.  He requested a bean burrito, bed and then promptly passed out.  A wonderful learning and growing experience for him.  Oh and I almost forgot, Zane and Gregory were both given a very special pocket knife for competing.  I'm sure he'll tell EVERYONE about it!