SUNDAY, MAY 2

Logan's 10th blog entry —

It does not look as though I will be returning to competition before June, so I don't have anything to comment on regarding possible matchups. I've got a couple of offers for June, an offer for August, and another for October, but I was unable to work out a deal with local promoters for something this coming month.

My fighters will be back in competition on May 15 at a Gladiators event in Rochester. Heath Rud, Logan Otomo and Nick Gutierrez will be fighting, and I might add one more to that card.

The event is going to feature two former teammates, Jeremy Lafferty and Tom Speer, in the main event. Laff and Tom are both guys who started with Team Crazy around the same time as me, so I have seen them compete in the room, but they haven't trained together in four years or so. They have fairly similar backgrounds, but they have certainly taken different routes in the MMA world, and I am happy that they are both still competing.

Lafferty has come in during his breaks at school to train at Rochester MMA a few times recently, but he continues as one of the longest running members of Team Crazy. Hopefully, we can work together to have him ready for one of his toughest opponents yet. It will definitely be an exciting fight.

I spent some time in Wisconsin for a couple of events recently and realized that I am starting to get spoiled by our state's MMA commission. They may not always be great, and they certainly aren't perfect, but events are undoubtedly better run and more uniform under the commission. The two events in Wisconsin reminded me of what Minnesota MMA was like in the beginning of my career, and I don't want to go back to those days. Wisconsin will soon have a commission in place as well, so the days of amateurs fighting pro rules pass on into memory. Good riddance.

As often as fighters complain about the lack of elbow and knee strikes in Minnesota amateur MMA, I bet they also thank the commission for keeping them from getting cut open when they get caught in side mount. People have to be able to keep their jobs on Monday morning and a jagged scar isn't going help that cause.

If people intend to compete in MMA in the long run, they need to not take up scar collecting as a hobby. Some guys who have been around for a few years have racked up a nice tally of overlapping scars, and each cut just comes more easily than the last.

Regulated amateur MMA provides the opportunity to  get a real feel for the intensity of a fight without putting their long-term health and record on the line. Plenty of guys have taken pro fights without preparing properly and wound up with a loss that can't be erased. With our amateur system the "this is way harder than I thought" thought can be had without being accompanied by 20 stitches or a visit to the emergency room.

Our system gives people the chance move forward intelligently in this sport, and it is up to each fighter to assess his or her ability and take the step into professional bouts when they are really ready for that level of risk and reward.

— Logan Clark