To recap a bit for anyone reading who has not yet been following along, I won my professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut a little more than one month ago (March 31, 2018), fighting at the Gladiator Challenge: “Redemption” event at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, California. For all my past amateur fights, I’ve written a recap article that details all the events leading up to the fight and of course covers the action inside the cage.
I did my usual write-up (LINK), but luckily for my professional debut I was also able to have MMAmania/BloodyElbow videographer Case Harts flown out to help create this mini-documentary. For the better part of four days, Case followed me around and documented all that goes into making a professional face-punching debut.
Episode 1 showcased the experience of weighing in at a bowling alley/bar and not having much of an idea who I would be fighting, plus Case gave a bit of information on my background both as a martial artist and as a writer here on MMAmania.com. Next up, Episode 2 covered the entire pre-fight process during fight day: Arriving at the Casino venue, wrapping hands, gluing down hair and warming up.
In Episode 3, we finally arrive at the fight itself. I discover who my opponent is, walk out to the cage, and win my fight all in about 15 minutes real time. Thankfully, Case cut down a bit of the backstage waiting, capturing all the real action in this week’s episode.
For those who have followed along this far, there’s actually still more to come! Though it was originally planned to be a three-part documentary, the fight itself combined with all the post-fight fun amounted to nearly 12 minutes of footage, so we decided to separate it further. There will also be a separate bonus episode on my teammate and MMAmania.com co-host, Andrew Coyne, who fought on the same night and will make another guest appearance in Episode 4.
Stay tuned to MMAmania for Episode 4 of “Behind-the-scenes of a pro MMA debut: Andrew Richardson,” which will air next week!