money fight
This article was published in Bitcoin Magazine. “Main Problem”. click here To get an annual Bitcoin Magazine subscription.
I always find it hilarious whenever I attend a Bitcoin event like Bitcoin 2023 or Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville next year. A fight fan recognized me with a puzzled expression and asked:
“Cyborg?!… “What are you doing here?”
The answer always seems obvious to me. “Because I am a Bitcoin user!”
One thing that makes Bitcoin special is Everyone And the more you understand it, the more confident you are of its success. Whenever I meet someone and find out that he or she is a Bitcoin user, I immediately feel a connection with that person, a sense of respect. It’s hard to explain to someone not involved in martial arts, but it’s a very similar feeling to how you feel about a Muay Thai or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sparring partner. Perhaps this is why there are so many puzzled looks at conferences. I know we are both part of the financial freedom warrior community. In many ways, Bitcoin is reminiscent of many martial arts in that anyone can participate and proof-of-work is proven to have positive, life-changing results.
I have been a professional fighter for 18 years and during that time I have won every championship in the sport of MMA. I am a current Bellator MMA Champion and former UFC, Invicta FC, and Strikeforce Featherweight Champion. This makes me the only “Grand Slam Champion” in the history of the sport. This title is only given to those who have won all four major world championships. During my time as a fighter, I’ve seen the sport change dramatically from a “No Holds Barred” spectacle to one of the highest-grossing live sporting events in the world, entertaining a truly global fan base. Fighting for money is called a “prize fight,” and money is the prize. As fighters, our careers have very short earning periods where we have to pursue the biggest “money fights” so we can save that money and invest it for retirement.
MMA is a relatively new sport. UFC, the largest MMA promotion, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. A brief look back at its history shows an incredible growth rate of global popularity and acceptance never before seen in professional sports. The Bitcoin network is less than halfway through the age of MMA sports, but we see strong similarities in that it is reaching a tipping point where it has evolved into a truly global phenomenon and is quickly becoming common culture, no longer undeniable.
Early in the history of “Ultimate Fighting,” there were few rules. In the absence of an athletic commission to sanction the sport, Congress attempted to create legislation to ban the sport in the United States through education, regulation, and self-reform, and audiences eventually got to see the sport of MMA evolve into what it is today. It’s approved and relatively safe for competitors.
When I meet fellow Bitcoin users who are educating themselves about the network, advocating for adoption, and even running their own nodes or miners, I see them as early pioneers in the sport of MMA. I know that each of us plays a critical role in strengthening the Bitcoin network, ensuring that the true benefits of decentralized peer-to-peer exchange of value are never compromised.
The first 30 years of the sport of MMA taught us more about hand-to-hand combat than the previous 200 years of martial arts training combined. Through the early style-to-style fighting of MMA, audiences and practitioners quickly learned that, despite old kung fu movies, there was no “five touch death” punch. Over time, we saw the most effective martial arts demonstrated inside the cage, and eventually competitors focused only on techniques that had proven effective and valuable in real fights.
I see Bitcoin financing what MMA did to traditional martial arts. The first 15 years of Bitcoin taught us more about store of value than the first 150 years of fiat money combined. Once you become “Orange Pilled,” it’s like joining “Financial MMA.” Once you understand how Bitcoin is the most effective store of value – the most durable, portable, divisible, fungible, scarce, untrustworthy, censorship-resistant, and universally accepted form of money. proven) can make Bitcoin their financial focus. , we know that it is the most effective and valuable tool for preserving your value long-term.
BJJ is not karate and Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency! As an MMA athlete, it is my job to train in different styles of martial arts. To a beginner taking martial arts classes, there may not seem to be much difference between a karate uniform and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu uniform. Despite their similar uniforms, the two martial arts could not be more different. One focuses on punches and kicks (karate), the other focuses on wrestling and submissions (BJJ). Most people think MMA is “mixed It is a “martial arts” and uses the rules of Olympic sports such as boxing (punches), taekwondo (kicks), wrestling (takedowns), and judo (submissions) to compete in hybrid competitions with the goal of proving what is the most effective fighting system. .
Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency exchanged through a peer-to-peer network. It is open source and anyone can participate without a central point of control. No one person or entity is responsible, and proof-of-work proves every day that each block is the most effective store of value. As with the techniques used in the sport of MMA, the proof is in the effort and the results (reward). To understand why Bitcoin is the most effective hybrid financial system, it is important to distinguish between Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
If our industry has taught me anything, it’s that it takes women to lead a revolution. Although the first UFC took place in 1993, it was not until she won the Strikeforce World Championship over Gina Carano in 2009 that a female fighter was recognized as an undisputed world champion in the sport of MMA. When we look at sports today, we see how important women have been to its overall growth. Now we are seeing the biggest events featuring top female athletes and witness training facilities around the world filled with young, motivated and hungry women eager to prove themselves in the sport of MMA.
At the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami, I had the opportunity to attend the second annual “Women in Bitcoin” brunch hosted by Natalie Brunell. The brunch was attended by over 250 women from all over the world. It was inspiring to meet so many young, educated, and motivated women working together to make the Bitcoin network a form of financial empowerment for women around the world. I am confident that in years to come, when we look back on Bitcoin’s journey, history will be filled with stories of female entrepreneurs, developers, and evangelists who played a significant role in the development and growth of the network. Because Bitcoin: Inclusive – all races, religions and genders.
If you want longevity and success as a fighter in your sport, you must understand the concept of ‘time preference’. If you want long-term success as an athlete, you can’t go out partying, eat crappy food, or enjoy instant gratification. To be successful, you must focus on achieving small daily goals, understanding that all your hard work will be rewarded with victory on fight night. I view Bitcoin and Stacking SATs (DCA) practices with the same mindset. Once you have decided on your Bitcoin strategy and understand that there are only 21 million Bitcoins available, it becomes easy to focus on the concepts of delay of gratification and time preference. Just like winning a championship belt in your sport, having the results of all your hard work saved into sound money will change your life.
Early in the history of the sport of ‘ultimate fighting’, the sport disappeared from the airwaves. MMA was able to get through these “dark ages” thanks to a dedicated and loyal fan base who spent time on internet forums and shared VHS videos to keep people exposed to this evolving sport. Never in a million years would I have imagined myself fighting in front of 50,000 fans in a football stadium and selling millions of dollars per view.
The Bitcoin network reminds me a lot of the early mixed martial arts fans who invested their time, energy, and effort into their communities because they believed in the outcome. Just like in the early days of my sport, the Bitcoin network will continue to grow because there is no turning off the internet. This will continue to grow stronger, and with it comes a tipping point that will allow Bitcoin to be accepted globally.
Fans are amazed at my skill, courage and focus when I step into the cage for a championship prize fight, but the reality is not much different for me. It seems to me that everyone who swallows the orange pill has already signed a contract for the ultimate money fight.
Next time you see your favorite UFC or Bellator MMA fighter at a Bitcoin conference, don’t panic. Instead, let them know up front that you are both economic freedom warriors in training to be valuable warriors for the Bitcoin network!
This article was published in Bitcoin Magazine. “Main Problem”. click here To get an annual Bitcoin Magazine subscription.
