WOD 072309

1.)   Who the hell
is Adrian Vilaca?

Well I’m a Criminal Justice/
English major at Lake State, odd how I started with education yet put the least
weight on that defining someone. I was born in Kitchener and moved to the Sault
at five. Started playing hockey and soccer growing up, added football once I
got to high school. Probably around grade ten I realized being the skinny kid
wasn’t cool so started lifting weights. Having a competitive nature left me
bored after high school so MMA has now replaced and surpassed all those sports
ten fold.

2.)   Why did you
get into MMA?

Funny story actually, I made a
really stupid decision one day at a gym to try and fight two guys for some
slight on the weekend…needless to say there is a reason its only one on one in
a cage. So after less than desirable results ensued I decided that I never
wanted to feel that kind of humiliation again. I’d been following MMA on TV and
the Net for a few months but unaware of a place to train I started traditional
martial arts at another local dojo. It wasn’t for me unfortunately I wanted to
be puking in the corner I was so exhausted and hear yells and smell sweat
(Little odd I know). I guess luck was watching me and decided to throw me a
bone because a guy who’s name escapes me showed up at the dojo and told me
about this Ho Shin Sool place where there were these crazy fighters and he’d
left because one of them had broken his hand…any guesses? Current Catalyst
Games champ Ray Gowlett. That was my kind of place and the next day I showed up
at Jim Liguori’s door a mildly terrified wannabe fighter.

3.)   What are
your strengths as a fighter?

Tough question, I’d say that
I’ll outlast you, in nature you see large intimidating rock faces dismantled by
a constant current, that’s my goal to be the constant current. On top of that
coming from no martial art or combat sport background I was a clean slate
essentially and that has helped me strive to learn everything and have a large
foundation. I don’t care where the fight goes be it standing or wrestling, I’m
confident that my training partners have prepared me for anything.

4.)   What’s the
scouting on your opponent?

Unlike a team sport the chance of
someone dropping out is much higher and as of last night at 11 my opponent
changed so not a whole lot of material. As far as I know he was a high school
wrestler so I’m imagining he’ll try and take the fight to the mat but that’s
all speculation.

5.)  One of the things I've noticed about you is that you're not afraid to be bad at something to grow overall.  It's becoming increasingly common among teenagers we meet for them to drop out at a sport if they can't win right away.  What's your life philosophy?

No matter what you do in life,
education, career, training, fighting you are going to get worked over by
someone who is bigger, stronger, and overall better. It’s true that in the
world there is always someone who will be better than you at something. The key
is to take that turn it into a positive experience. Go out and find someone who
is much better at you in a specific skill and learn from them, everyone no
matter what their background is has something you can incorporate into your
life.

6.)   What’s the
key to your continued success and where do you go from here?

I think the key is to never be
satisfied with what you have obtained when that happens you become stagnant. If
you don’t hold the record then chase that record, and if you do then try and
beat yourself but never be content with doing just enough to win, always look
to dominate. As for my future in MMA it’s still undecided I can’t see myself in
a position where it is not part of my life. Like anything you truly enjoy you
don’t understand how you ever went without it before, it’s an addiction in a
sense, for me atleast. I love training at Ho Shin Sool and all the guys there
so I plan on sticking around for a while and continue to get better.