The sport of Mixed Martial Arts has been around a lot longer than most people believe, however; it was introduced to the world on a cold evening in Denver, Colorado on November 12, 1993, and called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The premise was beautiful in its simplicity: to simply answer the question of which martial art is most effective.

Fast forward over 20 years and we now have a sport that jockeys for top position in popularity in many countries. Although the sport has evolved, the original question that was set out to be answered is still one that intrigues people to this day.

The sport is so popular in fact that not only are competitions and tournaments held around the world but the age at which people are beginning to compete is getting younger and younger. Long gone are the days where it was common place for UFC fighters to have started training in the martial arts in their late 20s or even early 30s, these days, kids as young as 5 and 6 years old are beginning to train in the sport of mixed martial arts.

With the age of training beginning at ever younger ages, the will and heart shown during competition is becoming greater and greater. We are beginning to see performances that defy the odds and, in some cases, the fights are luckily stopped by a referee who quite literally is saving a fighter from himself.

But what happens when the will to win is so great that not even a referee can convince a fighter to stop fighting or when getting knocked out doesn’t do the trick? Check out the video below to watch a man continue to fight long after the match has been called.

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Jacob C. Stevens is a lifelong athlete and cerebral martial arts enthusiast who is also skilled in the art of linguistic manipulation, his published work, Afterthoughts and Handgrenades, can be found here…