Stay bullyproof my friends! My speech for this Friday in Willits! Feedback? BULLYPROOF My name is David Mitchell. I am a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter! My MMA record is 14 wins and four loses. I won all thirteen of my fights outside the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but only one of five in the UFC. I started competing in MMA at age 26 at Gladiator Challenge Deep Impact on July 6, 2006 in Lakeport, CA. I won my first 11 fights including seven first round submissions. I won the Cage Combat middleweight title on August 18th, 2007 and the Tachi Palace Fights welterweight belt on May 5th, 2010. Ive never been submitted and only knocked out once by Mike Pierce in UFC 162 and went the distance in my other four UFC fights. For the UFC alone I fought in Brazil twice; I flew to China once; I had bouts in Austin, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada. I won only once in the UFC against Simieon Thoresen on January 26th, 2013 in Chicago. Since being released by the UFC in 2013 I won against Fernando Gonzales by technical knockout at West Coast Fighting 8 on the February 15th, 2014 and submitted Jamie Jara in the main event at WFC 9 by rear naked choke on April 26th. Both fights took place at McClellan Conference Center in Sacramento, CA. On June 27th I will be competing in an eight man, one night, one champion tournament for Battlegrounds MMA in Tulsa, Oklahoma. All of these battles, the travels, the highs and the lows have lead me right here to Bechtal Creek Middle School right here in Willits CA. I am here today to talk to everyone of you from my heart about bullying. I was bullied all the time growing up. Getting bullied is an awfully terrifying and negative experience. IT JUST PLAIN SUCKS!! I grew up on a ranch here in Mendocino County. There were seven boys on the ranch and I was the second youngest. I got bullied a lot! I was locked in a garbage room when I was nine years old by four older boys. We did not have garage pickup service out in the country, so we collected the garage in a room until there was enough to fill up a dump truck and then we took it to the dump. You can imagine just what an awful place that garage room was. Getting locked inside was a terrible thing. I was so frightened. I screamed so loud for help. It was pitch dark and I was stumbling and falling on piles of stinky trash. The bullies let me out when they heard my shrieks. I dreamed of when they would be old and I would kick out their canes out while they hobbled around the small lake by my house on the ranch. I went through a whole lot of bullying when I was in middle and high school just north of here in Laytonville. Sometimes I would stand up and fight for myself and others who were getting bullied at Laytonville Middle School. In little league I was small and lanky and far weaker then most of the boys. I got picked on a lot. A few times I fought the bullies and a couple times I won, but mostly I got beat up and bullied more for it. The bullies in school, in sports, and especially at home on the ranch tortured me every day. I was often depressed and anti-social. I started training Kwan Bup, a traditional Korean martial art, when I was very young. I also practiced yoga, played soccer, baseball, and basketball. I loved these sports but could only take these team sports so seriously. I always wanted to compete mano y mano, one on one. Bram, the nicest of the older ranch boys, would have me and Jode, his younger brother my age, wear football helmets and shoulder pads. He would make a line between us. We would crouch down facing each other . Then Bram would say go and we try to tackle each other. Jody creamed my lanky body to the ground every single time, but I loved the one on one completion and slowly grew bigger and stronger. I started down a very special road in my life when I grew older, stronger, and wiser. I turned my life to a way of healthy eating and dedication to the martial arts. Brazilian Ju-Jitsu is my favorite of the martial arts. It teaches you so much about life. It teaches the wisdom of patience. Ju-Jitsu also builds your body, mind, and spirit. There are no limits in Brazilan Ju-Jitsu! There are infinite possibilities for submissions, positions, sweeps, transitions, and counters. There is nothing that is not possible in Ju-Jitsu, and I believe the same thing is true in Life. There is absolutely everything that is possible in this universe! I believe that each and every one of you young men and women can do anything in life that you put your hearts and minds into 100%. Some in this room will be doctors, nurses, farmers, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and maybe even a UFC champion! WE MUST STOP BULLYING so that each and every one of us, no matter how different we all are from each other, is free and encouraged to reach for our dreams. Do not tease a fellow student because they are different. I got bullied so much that later I became the bully. This is a pattern seen all to often, the abused become the abuser. It is a vicious circle. If you are a bully trust me, one day you will be the one thats going to get bullied and your not going to like it! Im here today to say thats its not okay to bully. Please think about how you would like to be treated by others. Remember the golden rule, treat others how you would like to be treated. Respect differences in people. Respect older and younger people. Dont judge people by how they look, how they dress, how much money they have, or how they talk. Treat everyone the way you want to be treated. There are so many types of bullying. These days cyber-bullying on Facebook and other social media is a growing problem. It is just as damaging to be cyber-bully as a physical bully. Words are very powerful in person and online. Facebook can be fun but also very damaging. Facebook can be good or bad depending on how you use it. Lets all keep it positive and encouraging on social media. Im still working on this myself! If you or somebody you know is getting bullied I beg you to find someone you trust and tell them about the bullying. I dont like bullying so much that I want to knock out Bullying, especially here at school. Please help me to Bullyproof Bectal Creek Middle School. DONT BE A BULLY and do whatever you can to stop any bullying that is happening around you. Ladies and gentlemen, I David Mitchell, five time UFC veteran, former CCFC middleweight champion and PFC welterweight champion, current Battlegrounds MMA fighter ask you to help me STOP bullying at Bectal Creek Middle School today!! Thank you very much. David Bullyproof Mitchell mitchellmma@gmail Tw: @dmitchellmma FB: Daudimitchell Ig: Davidmitchellmma
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 21:12:28 +0000