So if you have been a long-time reader of this blog then you know that it started when I found out I was expecting my first child. That child is now 12-years-old and y'all she is just amazing!
In 12 years we have gone from gymnastics to martial arts and that is where this update picks up. I am going to retire Gymgirl, much like I did Ravebaby when she was well past being called a baby, and she will officially be BlaxicanMMA.
So why that name? My GymGirl is still at the gym just a martial arts gym. She is there around 12 hours a week. She has committed herself to becoming an MMA fighter. It is not what my momma heart wants but it is what she wants so I'm having to learn all about MMA!
So far, I have learned that MMA moms have to watch their children get hit in the face. I do not like this lesson. I watch her at practice. Honestly, I'm so clueless I have no clue if she is doing well or not. I find it very confusing. She had her first Brazillian JuJitsu tournament back in September and the first fight when it was over, I wasn't sure if she had won or lost. It just all happened so fast! She won by the way. She brought home 2 gold medals and the best smile. I was so proud of her! I still don't want to watch her get hit in the face; I worked hard on that beautiful creation for 9 months, but she has goals and dreams so here goes!
Back to the Blaxican MMA thing, so part of being a professional fighter is social media presence so she has her own Instagram account for her fighting! Can you guess the name? Yeah, we went with Blaxican MMA. Why that name? Well, we decided that we wanted her to embrace her full ethnic/racial identity from the start, and what better way than to put it right in the handle.
This need to stand strong as a Blaxican fighter is part of the thing that makes me nervous with the world of MMA if I'm honest. The roots of MMA are firmly in White supremacy, as in skinheads, not just the concept. It is still a male-dominated sport. I don't want to hear my baby called ugly names just because she is good and Black/Mexican. I don't want to hear men say that if she was a man she wouldn't be considered good. I want to protect her from judgments about her body shape. I want to protect her from so many things but this is the world she wants to enter and to dominate.
Y'all BlaxicanMMA is tough. She is so much stronger than me. I'm sure people have already said stuff to her. She holds her head high and learns to punch harder. Me? I don't want to hear some sore loser dad saying anything ugly about my child because she just beat the shit out of his kid and I know the place they are going to go is attacking her Blackness/Brownness/Womanness. How am I supposed to hear someone say shit about my daughter and hold my tongue? I don't know. At the tournament, she fought in an all-Latina field so nobody was ugly. It won't always be like that so I worry about me and my actions. I want to be strong for her and support her. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Anyways, my beautiful strong DD1 is officially on the 'Gram so give her a follow.
You can watch that tiny baby that started it all grow into a full-blown MMA fighter!