The Laws of the Ring Read Free Page B

happier, more positive, and far more fulfilling. By following the Laws of Power described in this book, you will feel more comfortable and confident about taking the kind of risk that will change your life. You will have the tools and the clear-eyed knowledge to take the smart risk that will pay big dividends.
    My passion is risky. It’s clearly not for everyone, and the style I employ while practicing it is high energy and exciting. Because of this, I’ve often been confused with someone who would be willing to take the contrived risk. I’ve heard, “Urijah, let’s go bungee-jumping,” or “Urijah, doesn’t skydiving sound like fun?”
    No, it doesn’t. I tell people, “Dude, my life is too good for me to take that kind of risk. I might screw up and miss out on the life I’m leading.”
    So here’s my goal: If you live your life by the Laws of Power outlined in these pages, your life will be so good you won’t want or need to take contrived risks. Metaphorically speaking, you will jump out of an airplane, but it will be a permanent, life-changing experience and not a cheap thrill. You, like me, will choose to embrace the real rather than chase the artificial.

Prologue: Know What You’re Fighting For
    I t wasn’t easy. My path to the cage at the Colusa Casino—and everything that followed—would not have happened if I hadn’t been consumed with a sense of purpose.
    The first task to complete on your way to a better, more passion-based life is this: Know what you’re fighting for.
    You’re fighting for a lifestyle that allows you to incorporate your passion throughout your personal and professional lives. You’re fighting to control your life instead of having it control you. In short, you’re fighting for a life without compromise. It doesn’t just happen organically. You can’t wish it into being. You must push forward at all costs.
    My pursuit began when my friend Tyrone Glover sold me a ticket to watch him compete in a new kind of professional fighting: MMA. He was fighting in Colusa—one of the few places in California staging fights—and from the moment the fight began, I knew I would do everything in my power to get inside that cage.
    I got a queasy feeling the second Tyrone’s fight started. It wasn’t nerves, it was excitement. I wanted to jump into the cage right then and there. I didn’t care that the sport was considered all but dead, pushed to the margins by Arizona senator John McCain’s attempt to make it illegal in 2000. After watching tapes of the first UFC events, run under the motto “There Are No Rules,” McCain called the sport “human cockfighting.” He was right; the sport was badly in need of reform. It was primal. It was vicious. And it was incredibly exciting. I had watched early UFC fights when I was in high school, but seeing one in person was completely different. I couldn’t imagine anything that would test a man’s mettle to this degree. I was convinced I would be good at it; it seemed to be invented with me in mind. I immediately became consumed with the idea of pursuing it.
    The butterflies in my stomach turned into bumblebees as I sat on a metal folding chair and watched Tyrone fight. This was my future, and I was ready for it to begin.

The 1st Law of Power
    Positive Thinking Breeds Success
    H ere’s an easy question: Who would you rather hang out with, someone who is always genuinely happy and positive, or someone who is always grumpy and negative?
    As part of your progress toward living your dream, you need to assess your attitude. Is negativity infecting your life and serving as a dream stopper? Is your mentality limiting your potential?
    Remember this: Negativity takes no imagination. It’s far easier to criticize someone’s decisions after they make them than to propose better ones beforehand.
    A t some point between my first