HOUSTON, TX, October 10, 2011 – In a world where fighters oftentimes step into the cage with specific intent to chase titles and make money, one man want to show the world that fighters can compete for an entirely different motivation – as a platform to give back to others.
Frost Murphy, a BJJ black belt out of Elite MMA’s Baytown academy will be making professional MMA debut at Legacy Fighting Championship 9 against Chris “Chop” Rucker (Paradigm TC). Though he’s dabbled in MMA in the past (once in 2004, again in 2008 on the amateur level), Murphy’s first love remains BJJ – where he’s taken on notables like Kron Gracie, Michael Langhi, Chris Westfall, and others in years of international competition.
Be that as it may, Frost has committed to making the transition to MMA at the professional level and use this experience as a medium to bring attention to a very special cause.
We recently spoke to Frost to get more detail on what he means to do and why he is doing it.
“A lot of the general public thinks of fighting (and even BJJ) as sports where all that matters is hurting people. I don’t think that’s the case at all. I want to show people this isn’t just a blood sport and that there are a lot of people in the MMA/BJJ world that have big hearts and really want to make a difference. I want people to relate to MMA fighters like they relate to Firemen.”
With that being said, Frost has already committed to donating 100% of his purse for his debut fight to a very special charity.
“The charity I chose is called HeartGift.org. I chose this charity because my soon-to-be father in law started it and I want to honor him and his family as we join families. The mission of HeartGift is to perform heart surgeries to disadvantaged children from developing countries where specialized medical treatment is either scarce or nonexistent.”
Talking further, Frost told us that the unique thing about this organization is that all contributions go directly to a specific child rather than some obscure bank account.
“You never really know where you money goes when you donate to a big charity. This is an opportunity for people to really see where their $20 or $50 or whatever will go and how it helps a particular kid out. I think it really helps when you know whose life you are helping to better with your contribution. For this fight, there is one kid with one heart and I plan on sharing his or her story for everyone to see the difference they made. It takes 22K on average to sponsor one surgery. I’m committed to sponsoring 1 surgery with my first fight and I’m starting by donating all the money I make from this fight. Hopefully the MMA community will get behind me and really help this kid out.”
Looking ahead beyond this bout, “The Icepick” is committed to MMA long-term and plans on fighting for the next five years in order to leave a Legacy (pun intended) for others to follow.
His ultimate goal is to transform the way people relate to the MMA community.
“If we can start a trend of people competing to raise money for others it will be good for the community. People will get behind a cause, they do not get behind one guy’s desire to be famous or kick someone else’s ass. Being in service to others is what life is all about. Legacy is an awesome organization and a driving force in MMA. This could be one more thing that sets them apart from other MMA organizations and I’m hoping to set an example for this spirit in the future.”
With his upcoming opponent Chris Rucker already supporting his opponent’s initiative with HeartGift.org, it sounds like that spirit has already taken hold.
For more on this cause, please visit HeartGift.org and/or contact Frost Murphy at Elite MMA.
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