practice, which includes intense workouts, grappling and striking exercises, full-contact sparring sessions and then even more physical conditioning, a regimen grueling enough to weed out unfit, unserious hopefuls. The action takes place on a long stretch of mats walled by chain-link fencing and surrounded by packed bleachers. There are a lot of MMA enthusiasts in town for UFC Fight Week, so about 75 people show up to watch what was essentially a high-stakes practice for lower-tier amateurs. In the end, six make the team, a larger number than Davis planned to accept because it’s a more talented group than he’s used to seeing. Atom Fogarty, one of those who make the cut, is trying out for the fifth time. He, too, says it’s the most competitive group he’d ever tried out with. Hof — who says he has a young daughter to support — struggles to keep up with lunges and leapfrog exercises. He scurries off the mats at one point to dunk his head into a nearby trashcan, causing one coach to howl, “We’ve got a puker!” “God, I feel old,” he tells me afterward. Many professional fighters retire by 31, so I suggest that perhaps Hof is, indeed, too old to break out in the sport. “People keep telling me that,” he says. “I don’t care. People have been downing me my entire life. I don’t listen to them.” If sportsmanship were the only criteria for a spot on the team, Hof would’ve been picked. By far the most generous person on the mats, he congratulates opponents and cheers on peers by name even when they’d only just met. As his energy starts to flag, they return the gesture, lifting him verbally and physically. And though his name isn’t called in the end, several fighters encourage him to work on his cardio and try out another time. “I’ll be back,” he says, “I love this stuff. I’ll make the team — I know I will.” Trading arm bars and elbow strikes is apparently a bonding experience, which is good because even if his dreams don’t come to fruition, showing up to MMA gyms in Idaho and now Las Vegas is a vital part of Hof’s routine. He started training as a way to give up drinking; those prison terms stemmed from alcohol and marijuana-related offenses. So Hof is using the sport as a kind
of sobriety program. At UNLV this fall he is pursuing a degree in business, in the hope that as a college graduate he’ll find a sympathetic employer. But there might yet be occasions when he, as do so many others, needs to step into an octagon-shaped cage. They do it to demonstrate strong will, cope with stress, let out tempests of frus-
tration and enjoy pride in newly developed finesse. None of that is as surprising to me, though, as the fact that people use this somewhat violent, individualistic sport as a way to overcome anger and loneliness. Count me among those now who feel proud that this happens in Vegas more than anywhere else in the world.
HONORING OUR AWARD WINNING CARDIOLOGISTS. DEDICATED HEALTH BEGINS WITH A DEDICATED TEAM. The state of health care in Nevada cannot improve without constant innovation and development.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our cardiologists, patients can enjoy improved access to high-quality health care and advanced medical technology in Southern Nevada.
Dr. Bedotto
Dr. Navratil
Dr. Routh
Dr. Sirulnick
“Best Doctors”—Desert Companion
September 2015
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