9 – Early MMA vs. Teaching High School w/ Albert Rios

Southpaw

We sit down with former MMA fighter (Bellator & Affliction) Albert Rios and discuss the early days of MMA (before it was legal). We discuss how the original pioneers went into it with no promises of a future or a career, and how a lot of them were just street fighters. Then we discuss what training was like before super camps and all the BJJ and kickboxing schools became widespread, how fighters made ends meet, knowing when to retire, and how Albert had a backup plan with school and became a teacher.

From there, we transition to the difficulties of teaching inner city students, and how in many ways it's mentally tougher than MMA. And how many of these kids have it worse than the hardest training Albert went through, and the real life faces of kids crossing the border to escape violence. It ain't just statistics, it's real kids.