One of my recommendations to everyone in a previous post was to take the time we have
indoors to read a few books. One of the books that I have been reading is Gates of Fire by
Stephen Pressfield. This novel, though fictional is based on the real-world events surrounding
the Spartan last stand at the battle of Thermopylae. As MMA fighters I believe that most of us
can look into the history of the Spartan warrior people and find many admirable qualities.
Something in particular that I have latched on to in reading this book has been Spartan honor
culture. This is something that we as martial artists and individuals can learn from and use to
create our own standard of excellence in our training and in life.
The Spartan mentality can be seen all though out the MMA world in our training. Though
done for sport rather than war, our gyms are like a modern Agoge, the Spartan military training
program. Those on fight teams will be disciplined by coaches and most importantly other
fighters for not upholding the standard of excellence that is expected. Like a Spartan unit we
understand that we are only as good as our weakest link, therefore we work together to lift
each other up and achieve new levels of skill and proficiency; we all rise together. Though we
cannot be training on the mat at Long Island MMA at the moment, I challenge us all to keep up
a standard of excellence and personal honor that we would in the gym; in anticipation of
returning to our brothers and sisters in the modern Agoge.
-Joseph Ninomiya