one thing i like about this site is the level of education in mma, i CAN'T STAND when i watch a box break and people can't pronounce fighters names right, i can understand a few, because some are crazy hard, but come on people who can't say guida or machida right.

 

one thing i would like to see is bruce buffer do a box break

I am from Toronto, Ontario Canada. I wasnt involved really involved in Martials arts much, except doing 2 years of karate when I was a kid. I ended up watching Ufc 1-3 when I was about 15 at my friends place because I figured it would be interesting. Then the sport faded when they lost their PPV right (the dark days) and I got into other things. I still kept into it through VHS tapes and remember being in awe of guys like Vitor Belfort and ESPECIALLY Marco Ruas, who IMO was the 1st true all around MMA fighter to enter the sport.

Long story short, I still followed it as a fairweather fan until about 2001 when my dads company, whom I worked for, hired a CFO. I get to talking to him about sports one day and he tells me hes part owner of a BJJ club and pretty "good" at it. After about a month I asked him if I could try it so he brings me to the club on a saturday afternoon after all the classes have been run. I walk in, and he tells me to change and come back out. I come back out in a tshirt and shorts and he calls me over to 2 guys hes talking to. He says these are the instructors and they will be showing me a couple of things and to get stretching. Needless to say, the guys thoroughly kicked my ass. Afterwards I tell them they are great and I cant wait to learn from them. I ask my CFO friend who these guys were and he says Marck Bocek (current UFC LW fighter) and Wagnney Fabiano (former IFL FW champ & current WEC fighter).

In the following months, I continued to roll with them and the one day Carlos Newton (former UFC WW champ) pops in to teach class. Surreal. Anyways kept at it for 1 year, until one day some older guy went way too hard on me, slammed me and I couldnt turn my neneck for 4 months without pain.

 

Didnt return to MA until about 2005 right before the 1st TUF. Started MT at a gym close to work at 275lbs and started getting decent at it with a lot of dedication and in teh process went down to 185 lbs training BJJ, MMA, and MT. 

Fast forward to Sept. 1, 2007 and I am some little town called Mansfield Ohio staring at some guy across from me in my first, and to this day at least, only MMA fight.

http://revver.com/video/385238/chris-abate-mma-cage-fight/ - http://revver.com/video/385238/chris-abate-mma-cage-fight/

 

Anyways I tore my knee up 6 weeks prior to the fight, and in the following months fell down some stairs tearing ligs in that same legs ankle and have been limited to riding a stationary bike for the last year or so. Add into that I am getting married in April 2010, we just purchased a condo and take possession 10/16, and our son was born this past March, and there is not a lot of time for training.

 

But, there is lots of time to collect MMA cards. I collected cards as a kid and got back into baseball and hockey cards somewhat around 1999-2002 and then again from 2005 - present. Naturally, with MMA being my chosen sport I just naturally gravitated toward MMA cards.

I collect pretty much most MMA cards, but I try to focus on cards you dont see everyday like promo cards of Chuck Liddell, Rampage and Tito Ortiz and the 2008 Proelite cards as well as different years of K-1 releases. Also I have most of the 2006 Pride FC cards, and I am 1 Rashad Evans away from completing my 2008 Americana Ring Kings base set /500. I am not a huge fan of the Round 1 cards, and I only have 2 autos I am keeping from them which are BJ Penn and Vera (my fiances favorite fighter). I love Round 2 though but only got 1 box. (which turned out to be a great box with Rachelle Leah Ultimate gear red auto, Bader and Gamburyan Ultimate gear, Credeur and Machida silver /188,  and a Bader Auto which is good since hes my favorite TUF guy!

I currently have a few incoming incoming Round 2 cards that include 2 x Wanderlei Mat Relics, 2 x Wanderlei Autos, 2 x Thiago Alves Autos, and a Dan Henderson TUF Auto.

 

My hope is to get as many on card autos of guys possible which is possible through some seminars my gym hosts and other gym in my area that I attend as well as fighters I communicate with through email, Facebook, and Myspace. Some of the fighters I have met include Wanderlei Silva, Frank Trigg, Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Rob Kaman (Famous Dutch kickboxer), Dan Henderson, Fabricio Werdum, Thales Leites, Mauricio Shogun Rua. Heath Herring, Bruce Buffer, JZ Cavalcante, War Machine (aka Jon Koppenhaver) and Roger Huerta.

Here is a gallery of most of my on card autos:

http://s607.photobucket.com/albums/tt151/ChrisAbateMMA/MMA%20In%20Person%20Autographs/ - http://s607.photobucket.com/albums/tt151/ChrisAbateMMA/MMA%20In%20Person%20Autographs/

As well you can see some of my MMA card pics in the other albums there.

Anyways, my favorite MMA monets besides my fight were doing a Wanderlei Silva seminar where I got 3 of his 2006 Pride FC Cards autographed and even got a chance to train technique with him, and in 2006 my friend and I went to Gatineau Quebec for an MMA event that his brother in law and other friend were putting on called Freedom Fight Canada VS USA. Me, my friend and his bro in law ate dinner with Carlos Newton (Canada coach), Phil Baroni (USA coach), and Dan Henderson(cornering his fighter in teh main Event). Henderson was fresh off winning the Pride WW GP and he had his belt with him.

 

I have been to 4 MMA events live. Apex shows in Gatineau, UFC 83 in Montreal, and UFC 84 in Vegas.

Anyways thats my story, so feel free to ask any questions or anything.

 

All the best,

 

Chris

I collected basketball cards as a kid.  I was very excited when Round 1 came out.  I didn't pull anything real good but I have put together almost all of the cheaper autos.  I have all the mat cards and only missing 2 Ultimate Gear cards but I won't buy GSP and Sherk because they are cheaters. 

 

I just recently started my glove and photo collection.  UFC 102 was my first live event.  I have met Randy who signed a 8x10, Round 5 figure, few dvd's, book and glove.  LOL I took a few family members to help out.  Also met Noguiera and got a glove and Victorious Debut card signed.  Also have met Wanderlei, Anderson Silva, Shane Carwin, Nate Quarry, Chael Sonnen, Clay Guida, Nate Marquardt, Keith Jardine, Thiago Alves, Bader and Condit. 

 

My favorite fighter is BJ Penn.  I have a few friends in Hawaii and they got me an autographed glove and magazine.  I also ordered a shirt from BJPenn.com and the shirt took a little longer to ship.  When I got the shirt, there was a hand written note from BJ saying sorry he had moved offices and he enclosed a signed mini poster.  My second favorite fighter is Ryan Bader.  I have met him twice once at TapouT and at a TapouT signing at a Champ's here in Portland for UFC 102. 

 

I'm often called Mr. TapouT by a lot of my friends because I literally wear TapouT everyday.  I own over 50 shirts plus a lot of sweatshirts, shorts, warmups, socks, hats, and even a TapouT bedspread.  I first heard about TapouT from one of the fighters wearing it.  I have been wearing TapouT since their website came up, maybe 5 years ago.  I went to the TapouT warehouse sale in May and they had shirts 3 for $20 and sweatshirts 3 for $40.  And no I don't wear TapouT like a lot of douchbags do.  I love the brand.

 

I came to this site because of Nate Quarry.  I saw it on his shorts during the last fight night.  I've met him and also seen him workout.  His new gym is about a 10 min drive from me.

 

My wife is also an avid fan.  Her favorite fighters are Bader and Alves.

Good to see you here.

 

My name is Ray, my friends call me (Mass-C).  I am 32 years old, I am a bartender in upstate NY.  I have been watching the UFC since the very beginning when Royce was winning them all.  I didn't watch many thru UFC 20-40 or so, not sure what I was doing at that time.  I started watching again sometime around UFC 40, and haven't missed many since.  I have only been to two live events:  UFC 79 (St. Pierre vs Hughes, Liddell vs W.Silva, Machida vs Sokoudjou) that was amazing.  UFC 100 (4th Row from Cage) (Lesnar vs Mir, St. Pierre vs Alves, Henderson vs Bisping) UNBELIEVABLE!!!  I went to the UFC Fan Expo both days, the whole trip was a blast.  I will put up some of my pics and my collection of Topps UFC cards soon, in the bragging writes section of the forum.

I've been a fan of the sport since UFC 1, but stopped following somewhere along the way. I found my way back just in time to witness Matt Hughes slam Carlos Newton on his head. My wife and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by heading to Las Vegas to attend the Fan Expo and UFC 100 live. It was a dream come true and we're already planning our next fight vacation.

After that, I didn't really watch a lot of it, but would catch some here and there. Then fast forward some years and I was taking karate classes and everyone was talking about UFC and submissions and so we would all chip in some buckolas and watch the fights, this is when I really was following it closely.

 

Now, about a year ago I was engaged/married/had a kid/bought a house/moved/got a new job, and so life has been hectic and I dont' know many of the fighters nor have I seen them fight. I have been getting back into watching and trying to keep up with it lately.

 

As far as the card collection, I've been collecting cards since I was a kid, bought and sold collections over the years, and I've recently been riding high on collecting my favorite football team, the Colts. Somehow I was on eBay looking at Colts cards, then was looking at UFC stuff and then realized there were UFC cards. After a few google searches I stumbled in this forum when I was looking to buy UFC cards and the rest is history.

 

I can't buy any cards locally b/c Wal-Mart/Target/local card shops don't have any cards. One local card shop has a guy selling singles on consignment and I picked up a Jon Jones auto for $10. That is my UFC collection right now. One card.

 

Favorite fighters are Tim Sylvia (when he was in UFC and good), Keith Jardine, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn, Brandon Vera, and Tito Ortiz.