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Jonathan Smith

@jon.smith.fights

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Software engineer. MMA hobbyist. Pain enthusiast. Progress pending. Also a musician.

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if you only judge me by my losses, congrats -- you’re missing the entire character arc. reminder: losing is just gaining in disguise.

#bjj #bjjlifestyle #jiujitsu #rollmore #matgremlin by @jon.smith.fights

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10 months ago

april 2024 vs. october 2026.
somewhere around 300 lbs in the first picture. just under 185 in the second.
apparently spending most of your free time voluntarily fighting people you genuinely like has some interesting side effects.
the weight loss isn't even the best part. it's the friends i've made along the way. no meme intended. i've met some of my favorite people through an activity where we routinely attempt to beat each other into the floor, then slap hands, bump fists, and discuss what time we're doing it again tomorrow.
completely normal social behavior. nothing to investigate here.
but there's something else about all this that i've had a hard time putting into words.
for most of my adult life, the person i saw in the mirror wasn't really the person everyone else was seeing. in my head, i always looked something like i do now. and it wasn't until i started seeing pictures of myself after losing all this weight that i realized just how much had changed.
even then, it took a while for my brain to accept the photographic evidence.
it's a really strange feeling to finally look like the person you thought you were looking at all along.
i'm genuinely grateful to jiu-jitsu and @clinchacademy for that. i showed up wanting to learn how to fight people and somehow ended up with a bunch of friends, a completely different body, and an increasingly concerning collection of minor injuries.
seems like a reasonable exchange.
anyway, that's my friend henry in the first picture. we haven't gotten to hang out since before i started training, and i really miss the guy.
hopefully he recognizes me next time, because several of my former coworkers apparently didn't.
although i suspect the more reliable test of whether i'm still the same person will be how many beers we can put away together.
for scientific purposes, obviously. taken in Jukebox Comedy Club by @jon.smith.fights

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18 hours ago

josh was the first person i met when i walked into clinch, the guy who introduced me to everyone, and eventually one of the black belts who would periodically remind me that i had absolutely no idea what i was doing.
yesterday was his last day being the public-facing human of clinch, which genuinely sucks. he's been part of the personality of this place since before i knew it had a personality.
fortunately he's apparently still going to train here, so this isn't actually goodbye. he's just losing his administrative authority while retaining his ability to fold me into increasingly inconvenient shapes.
thanks for making this place feel like somewhere i belonged before i had any idea what i was doing here, man.
now you just have to pay money to come in and beat me up like everybody else.
#ClinchAcademy #BJJ #BJJFamily #JiuJitsu #HeCanLeaveButHeCannotEscape taken in Clinch Academy by @jon.smith.fights

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24 days ago

It’s time to put myself to the test. I’ve been called out and I accept. Jon Smith vs. Isaac Breslau Sept. 11th. COMBAT CHALLENGE @clinchacademy Frederick MD 7pm by @jon.smith.fights

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a month ago

KENGAN MATCH ANNOUNCED
fighter qualifications:
isaac: trains jiu-jitsu
me: also trains jiu-jitsu
reason for fighting: there was a signup sheet
ancient bloodline? forbidden technique? corporate succession dispute? nay, sayeth i. just two white belts voluntarily creating problems for each other.
i absolutely do not belong on a poster this dramatic and that is precisely why i love it. taken in Clinch Academy by @jon.smith.fights

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a month ago

first combat jiu-jitsu session.
turns out adding "sometimes the other guy can just hit you" changes the problem-solving process considerably.
absolutely brutal. i was exhausted, soaked through, and by the end operating almost entirely on whatever emergency systems the human body keeps behind glass.
loved it.
there is apparently a very specific part of my brain that becomes extraordinarily happy when the stakes go up and everything else has to shut up for a while.
anyway, excellent enrichment activity. someone should put a tire swing in my enclosure next.
#bjj #combatjiujitsu #chooseviolence taken in Clinch Academy by @jon.smith.fights

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a month ago

still not entirely sure how i ended up regularly training in a room with this much experience, but i've discovered that if you keep showing up, taking notes, asking questions, and volunteering to be strangled, eventually you actually get better.
not good enough to stop any of *these* people, obviously.
just good enough to understand, in increasingly precise technical detail, exactly why you're being ground into a fine powder.
#BJJ Mastery Program. taken in Clinch Academy by @jon.smith.fights

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2 months ago

by @jon.smith.fights

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2 months ago

throwback to the first couple months of jiu-jitsu, when somebody could apparently grab my wrist with moderate enthusiasm and my body would respond by documenting the event.
at the time i called them "battle scars," because apparently i had been training for six weeks and had already become completely insufferable.
i genuinely considered asking a doctor why i looked like i'd been fighting a commercial wood chipper.
instead i chose the scientifically rigorous alternative:
more training.
somehow that worked.
i don't bruise like this anymore.
i have no explanation for this beyond my blood vessels eventually realizing nobody was coming to save them and adapting accordingly.
nothing got gentler. the meat simply adapted. #bjj #bruises #fightclub #bjjlife by @jon.smith.fights

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2 months ago

happy one year to @e9fc_edgewater.
i was there when the doors opened, and somehow one year later they still haven't implemented a policy specifically preventing me from wandering in, taking pictures with everyone, and requesting consensual violence.
had an absolute blast at the anniversary open mat. congratulations to the coaches and everyone who actually belongs here.
sincerely,
a tourist who has now appeared in both the pilot and the season finale. taken in Enlisted Nine Fight Company - Edgewater by @jon.smith.fights

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2 months ago

just some clips of one of my first sessions for about an hour with Carson last year throwing 2s and 1-2s at a heavy bag, trying to get my hands, feet, hips, shoulders, head and everything else to simultaneously do the correct thing. some reps were good. some were an opportunity to reinforce exactly what i should never do again. eventually fatigue took over and this became less "striking practice" and more "research into whether nausea improves punching mechanics."
(results: no.) my music makes this footage sound significantly more dangerous than anything actually occurring in it. #mma #mmatraining #numetal taken in Clinch Academy by @jon.smith.fights

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3 months ago

she agreed to come back to the place we visited fifteen years ago.
i agreed not to ask strangers if they wanted to grapple near the falls.
relationships are about compromise. ❤️ taken in Niagara Falls State Park, USA by @jon.smith.fights

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3 months ago