Love is like a roundhouse kick, you never see it coming the second time. -AaronI fell in love with the first guy I got close with.

Not out of convenience, but fate. We shared everything—the same apartment, the same trainer, the same gym, and ultimately, the same dream—to become famous and successful UFC fighters.

But the reality was much different from the dream. It was a bitter pill to swallow knowing that if we wanted to find success, we couldn’t do it as lovers.

I only found the strength to walk away from him because my drive to succeed was greater than my need to be loved. Or so I thought…-CortezOnce upon a time I was a fool in love.

A naïve kid with starry eyes. I thought being a great fighter was all it would take to launch me to the top.

I had so much to learn. And the hardest lesson of all was finding out the one man I thought I could trust, who would never betray me, could rip my heart from my chest and crush it in his fist like I never meant anything to him.

Lesson learned. Don’t shit where you eat.

Don’t sleep with your coworkers. And above all, don’t ever fall in love with your rival opponent…again.

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