When I was a kid I wasn't the most athletic child in the world. I would constantly be picked on and groans could be heard all around when I was picked, last naturally, for any team sports we might have to play. Needless to say this didn't encourage me to watch sports.

But then something happened. I was picked on so much I got fed up with it and enrolled in martial arts. It changed me and from that day on if I wasn't in martial arts I was watching it. First I saw boxing and fell in love with it and the beauty that was unleashed in the ring. Years later MMA would do the same thing to me as I watched Forrest Griffin-Quinton Jackson dispelling all my negative prejudices against the sport.

That left wrestling. I respected what the performers did to their bodies but it wasn't my cup of tea. Until CM Punk came along. He changed the whole face of what I saw "pro" wrestling as. Sure there had been other guys who were great as characters, but his raw ability to do everything his way and shake things up made me want to see more.

Overall I love combat sports and sports theatre because it doesn't mean that the most musclar, genetically gifted guy wins. Sometimes it's the underdog that everyone else has given up on.

And that is why I'm a fan.

Now I want to make being a fan a career and I'm starting here with the bleacher report and all of you. Let's see where it goes.

Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog http://elbaexiled.blogspot.com/ which focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film, and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.