Marshall Janson, who had his legs and hands amputated after contracting meningitis, is proving that his sporting skills don’t just include playing football – he is also excelling at mixed martial arts. Having watched some martial arts with his father and spurred on by a family friend, Marshall has been attending classes for more than a month.

Earlier this month, Janson was given the opportunity to not only go backstage at UFC 204 and meet Middleweight champion Michael Bisping but was surprised with a much more involved experience. He was not only given a tour of the octagon, where he met Brazilian Jiu Jitsu superstar and top mix martial artist Demian Maia but he was given the opportunity to show off some of his own martial arts skills…in front of 10,000 people!

This was not all that the young mixed martial artist was able to experience that night, to top the night off he was presented with a full size, 12 pound, 18 karat gold, replica UFC championship belt that had been signed by all the participants of UFC 204! Talk about one inspirational evening!

In his own words, Janson said, I got to see the two main fighters and when I went into the octagon it felt awesome!

Although he does have prosthetic legs, he chooses not to use them during his BJJ classes which are run by Peter Mahar from the Mahar’s Martial Arts Academy. Mahar had this to say about is young pupil, Marshall is a real inspiration. There is nothing he will not try. We tend to say in life there are reasons why we can’t do something but you look at young Marshall and it makes you think again.

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…