Welcome to My World

Mixed Martial Arts, family and friends. Seems like an odd combo, right? Let me tell you how its made such an everlasting impression on my life.

Photo creds: UFC/Zuffa LLC

Hey everybody, my name is Matt Forkapa and I’m here to tell you a little about myself and my blog. For anyone that knows me, or even kinda knows me, they know I am a ‘sports junkie’ or however you want to put it. My entire life I have either played or been surrounded by all different types of sports and just so happened to surround myself with people who do the same. I’m in the works to get myself involved in the sports industry any way that I can after graduation. There is one specific sport that hits a little closer to home and draws more passion than any of the others out there, which is the purpose of this blog.

There is one specific sport that hits a little closer to home and draws more passion than any of the others out there, which is the purpose of this blog.

I plan to share informative, unique and personal stories surrounding the ever-growing world of mixed martial arts, or MMA for short. A lot may question as to why I chose to write about this topic especially with its societal controversy at times. Well, the reason being is those people who got me interested in the sport. Being a new sport to our culture, I grew up with little to no idea what mixed martial arts even was. When I heard the name, I thought karate or ninjas or the stuff you saw in movies. Ya know Jackie Chan style stuff, because what else is a kid supposed to think? The two individuals who introduced me to the world of MMA at the young age of 15 was my father and a very close family friend from back home. Yes, many people are surprised when they hear my father introduced me to such a combative and violent sport at such a young age. Yes, I get the sport of MMA can be seen as aggressive but for those uneducated, which I hope to educate by further spreading the knowledge, it truly isn’t as barbaric as people make it seem, hence the reason for its introduction on large worldwide platforms like ESPN currently.

Anyways, back to my story. Although those two individuals are near and dear to me, what makes it stand out even more than that is the memories, knowledge, and fitness it has brought in to my life. Until recently, the only way you could watch these events were through Pay-Per-View or if you went to a local bar, so in other words it was pretty difficult to be a fan and catch one of these events live. Since this became something my father spread to not only me but my brother and sister as well, yes even my sister became a huge fan, it slowly turned in to a family event every Saturday night. It seems odd to have a family outing at a bar or sitting in your living room watching people try and knock their opponent unconscious, but it has truly made some of the best family moments I have had. It may not be traditional, but now after ten years of watching these events together it has become almost tradition to our household. To this day, I still venture home on Saturday nights forfeiting the night with friends just to be home and catch these events with my family. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but I don’t do this regularly for other sporting events or any other sport in general, so ultimately it holds a stronger passion for me and my family. Just simply because everything is better when you do it with family.

So, I hope you are all ready to learn more about the vast world of mixed martial arts as I bring you some exciting content soon, stay tuned!