HOUSTON, TX, March 1, 2012 – Why do some people decide to fight? For some, it’s the dream to one day standing inside the UFC’s octagon as one of the best in the world. That dream is commonplace in this sport. Yet for others, it’s not so much visions of glory or delusions of grandeur, but rather just the desire to feel the thrill of competing and seeing where they stack up, of wanting to hit and even get hit as a reminder of the fact that they are indeed alive.
Such is the case of two men debuting on this Friday’s Cage Combat 8 card in Houston. For AJ Hoffman and Garry Bolton, both military veterans, competing in mixed martial arts isn’t so much about wanting to make this a career, but quite simply about seeing what it’s like and how far they can take it.
In the case of 31 year old AJ Hoffman, his desire to step into the cage festered after some time being involved in the sport outside of being a competitor. Working as a radio personality on a popular Houston mid-day sport talk show on ESPN, “The Blitz,” AJ had always had a passion for analyzing and covering sports. A fan of MMA since the UFC debuted back in 1993, his profession and interest in fighting eventually led him to cover MMA first as a writer for The Examiner and ultimately as a part-owner of local website, TheCageDoor.net. Throughout the course of all this, AJ began dabbling in combat sports himself as a grappling student under Legacy FC 155 champion and vale tudo legend Jorge “Macaco” Patino. So from there he started participating in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. The more and more he competed, the more it wasn’t enough for him and that’s led him to this point. Now expecting the birth of his second child (he has a 4 year old son with wife, Annie), AJ wants to step into the cage this coming Friday “just to see what’s it’s like.” Even though there’s a high likelihood he many never ever do it again due to demands of job and family, he doesn’t want to miss out on the experience and wants to see how he stacks up.
Meanwhile, his opponent has a similar story despite the fact that he’s approaching it from an entirely different angle altogether.
“I was in martial arts since I was a little kid but kind of got out of it for awhile,” says 35 year old Garry Bolton. Like his opponent, the Groesbeck, Texas native is an armed forces veteran (Navy) that kind of fell into the MMA world by happenstance. “I got back (from active duty) and some guys I knew heard of some guys that were training around our area and I kind of just fell in to it that way.” A year-and-a-half later and Garry is now balancing training with Carl Perry and crew at Unleashed MMA with his profession of working as a Lead Hydraulic Operator at Stuart Petroleum. “I’m pretty much working all the time out there in the oil fields,” he says. With 2 children of his own in addition to his demanding job, Garry concedes it’s been difficult finding the time to train but it’s also something he’s intent on so he can see how far he can take it. “I work 8-12 hours a day. Depending on where I’m staying at the time, I try to get in some cardio or maybe get in the gym if there’s one nearby. When I’m working out of town, I’m pretty much training on my own.”
“It’s just something I want to see if I can do. I want to see if I’m any good at this,” he says about why he’s fighting and what his goals are in the sport. “I don’t think I’m going to make it as a job (full-time) but it’s something that right now, I want to try. I’m a hard worker man. I’m just your every day average guy but I’m a hard-worker and I don’t give up.”
Sometimes, just stepping in there is good enough. Good luck to both AJ and Garry as they follow their passions into the cage this Friday night in Humble.
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