Why do you compete/fight?

[Ross Davidson]

I love competition. More so, I love to fight. Regardless of the outcome, like my performance at the State Championship, I love to throw my hat in the ring and try to overcome the will of another human being. We technically do fight in the gym, but it just doesn't have that same blood thirst that competing does.

Maybe my mind will change one day and I'll grow weary from the adrenaline dumps, heartbreaks, and physical abuse that come along with competition. But for the foreseeable future, I shall be repping 10P in grappling tournaments, and perhaps, eventually, in MMA, for a very long time.

[Tori Applegate]

I do it for the ladies.

^Lol

Every time I compete, I fight myself. I put myself in a terrible position and force myself to push through. I'm forced to listen. Therefore, I am pushed to learn, to be a better all around person, and to increase my drive and my will power.

I fight because I want to be the best. I want to push myself to at some point be able to use all of my skills in competing. I want people to know who we are. I want people to respect me as a competitor and think I'm good because I am good, not that "I'm pretty decent for a woman doing Jiu Jitsu." I want to know that when I'm put in a high pressure situation that I got it, I can handle it. Fighting also helps me be tough and learn to control my emotions and as much as that sucks, it's good for me.

[Amber Kamischke]

I compete because it is the best way for me to test my skills and progress. Even in competition I rarely get to go against girls my own size since I get moved up but it is still a way for me to see how I have grown as an athlete in the sport.

I also get anxious when I can't compete often. There haven't been in competitions in the Chicagoland area since early November so it's driving me crazy!

[Tom Carbone]

Love representing my gym and the system. You train harder when you're not just doing it for yourself.

[Mike May]

To test myself and rep the system. I hate competing alone, and really have to push myself to do it, but I persevere because it's the only way to test what I am doing since I am a pure MTS Ronin with no formal BJJ training outside what I get from seminars.

[Ryan Boor]

There really isn't one reason why I compete. I do it pretty much for all the reasons all you guys said. I guess when it comes down to it, I really just do it for the love of the game. Before I found jiu jitsu my life had no direction. I was literally a walking zombie. Worse yet, I didn't even realize how "asleep" I was. No one really ever pushed me or guided me in any direction and I never had any perspective about life. No passions, no goals. A ship adrift at sea with no captain. This was probably a blessing in disguise because it gave me the opportunity to take control of my life and forge my own path. I can remember the EXACT moment where my whole world shattered before me and I could look at life with a fresh set of eyes. I was riding in a car with a friend when he played one of the many Joe Rogan clips on youtube. I was blown away. I had never heard conversation like this before. This was about three years ago. After that I was obsessed with JRE and naturally I came across Eddie Bravo. It was all downhill from there, or uphill however you want to look at it. Jiu Jitsu has literally become one of the few things that gets me up in the morning and it is never too far away in my brain. I think about it from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep. In my short experience I have met so many cool people and pushed myself to do things that I didn't think were possible. Part of the reason why I travel, compete and attend seminars is to give back to the game that has given me so much and to leave my small, microscopic mark in jiu jitsu. I can think of no better way to honor this art than to put myself out there and rep jiu jitsu and 10th planet as hard as I can until the wheels fall off. I will do it until the day comes that I physically can not step on the mat again. Oss.

[Brian Tupper]

I didn't start jiu jitsu for self defense...I can typically stay out of those situations, and as someone who once got beat down by 3 dudes when I was younger. ..no form of self defense will get you out of that type if shit. So...I started because I used to wrestle...I sucked, but I enjoyed it. From the get go I knew I wanted to compete. I did a free month at a gracie gym to start with, and we it was a fine gym, it was very self defense oriented and almost discouraged competition (not totally, but they weren't encouraging competition). I then did 30 days at the hotbox I train at now. I was not very familiar with 10P at the time, but I learned quickly that it was very competition friendly.

I'm not sure why I originally wanted to compete. ..but I can tell you that now, it shows my wife and kids that I haven't been waisting my time at the gym (I.e. The time I sacrifice away from them). It helps me learn my weakness when I lose. It makes me feel good about myself when I win. It provides me some video to watch so I can break down my game (or lack of it) and make changes. It makes me proud of myself....even to just get past the nerves.

[rickdawson]

I personally compete to:

#1- Test my Jiu-Jitsu in one of the purest forms possible... One on One battle against a guy that paid $100 to win a medal and the only thing standing in his way is you.

#2- I have panic disorder and prior to training jiu-jitsu, I was prone to panic attacks... since training/competing, I went from having one every other month, to one time in the past 3 years (and it was stress related)... I'm no Doctor, but I think that there is definitely a direct correlation.

#3- My dad was all talk and no action... and when I have kids, I want them to look up at my medal rack and (atleast one point in their life) say "Damn, my dad was a bad mother fucker."

[BJ Searle]

Epic reply...

[Scott Philips]

I figured enough people would post legitimate responses. In all reality, I just enjoy Jiu jitsu and have always been competitive so it's quite logical that I would also enjoy competing in bjj. Enough people basically said that so I threw up some motivational gangsta shit.