MMA career story

Despite all of the above, MMA is no prodigy, blessed with impossible talent and able to reach great heights with seeming ease. MMA is a player who has fought through the darkness of obscurity, overcome retirements and injury and reached the pinnacle of competitive glory through the virtue of his effort, his drive and his mentality. Much like his oft-praised multi-tasking style, MMA's success is the result of hours of preparation, allowing him to be in the right place at the right time to succeed, rather than overpowering his opponent with sheer talent or untouchable ability.

A sporting type, MMA was gripped early with a passion for a number of sports, eventually settling his focus onto Mixed Martial Arts (referred to by practioners by the acronym MMA). A component of that sport is the martial art of Jiu-jitsu, where technique trumps sheer physical ability and so the adept can overcome bigger and stronger opponents. While training MMA the young fighter suffered a severe injury to his pinky finger, which in time became chronic to the extent he could no longer punch a bag.

In GSTL May he rescued SlayerS in the semi-final against fOu, called up with the team down 3:4 and winning two straight, including the Ace match against sC, to put them into their second consecutive GSTL final. The final this time was against team MVP and MMA repeated his feat from the previous season, winning an Ace match to bring home the trophy, beating the up and coming Zerg DongRaeGu when it mattered most. The clutch nature of his performances over these two GSTL seasons had not only made MMA a team league champion, he was also awarded the Most Valuable Player Gold Card both times.

The storyline for this final was not if MMA could beat Mvp, but that Mvp would win the title and repeat as champion, securing his fourth title and moving past NesTea into first all time in GSL titles. One difference of note from previous GSL finals was that this one would be held at BlizzCon, in front of an American crowd. In fact, the location would be Anaheim, California, the home of the MLG final the two had contested and Mvp had won. All omens seemed to point to another victory for the king of StarCraft2, another coronation all but prepared by fans.

Earlier in the year the SlayerS Terran had risen to the moment of high pressure team league games only to stall each time he competed in the Korean individual leagues. Succeeding overseas first MMA had established himself as a top tier player in the individual leagues, but still seemed far from the top of Code S. Having eventually climbed the Code S mountain and seen the view from the top, he had now scaled similar heights, beating out the best Korean players to win the final trophy of 2011. In a year in which Mvp had won three GSL titles, an MLG and a BlizzCon, proceedings would end with MMA as the world's best player.

The month ended with SlayerS reaching the GSTL S2 final. Facing fOu there the series began with MMA facing GuMiho, the same Terran he had beaten in the final of the GSTL May final he had helped SlayerS win. The past stayed the past and the present the present, as MMA's form continued to be at an all-time low, his opponent not only beating him, but going on to all-kill his team and take the title. These results, in all leagues, were indicative of more than just poor play, MMA was suffering in the team environement too, having been demoted to the B team.

The storybook first individual league final of 2013 for MMA, his first offline individual league final in 17 months, came with the requisite storybook final boss: MC. The Protoss who had beaten him back in their BW B team days and denied him a finals spot in the previous WCS Europe season, would now battle him in a Bo7 to see who would be crowned champion, both sorely lacking championship for over a year and a half. Which GSL champion would emerge on top?