I started watching MMA because there was an illegal cable box in my vicinity when I was thirteen years old and there was nothing else to watch besides soft-core porn. At the time, porn wasn’t as cool as it was today, but even in the best of circumstances, everyone needs a break from time to time. It took only 45 minutes before I fell in love with MMA and decided that I wanted to make a career out of it. Between that and my collection of 35mm film cameras, I shipped off to college to pursue a degree in sports photography. Unfortunately, as soon as I graduated, digital cameras made my major entirely obsolete and I realized that making a living in the fight business is as difficult as predicting whether or not Nick Diaz will show up to a grappling tournament. Some of you are still wondering what happened to him that weekend he was supposed to grapple with Braulio Estima. We are too. For those of you who were there, you probably spent the rest of the expo admiring Susumo Nagao’s photography since Nick Diaz wasn’t around to hook you up with that awesome new ‘fist-up’ profile picture alongside the meanest mug in all of California. If you got a chance to see the exhibit, pat yourself on the back don’t bother pressing play on the video below. For the rest of you, check out Esther Lin’s enthusiasm for a fellow photographer’s lifetime of work and consider it a consolation prize for shelling out $10 to see a grappling match that never happened.
