Some might say Marc Laimon leads a double life. He’s an acclaimed Jiu- Jitsu trainer at Cobra Kai Jiu-Jitsu in Las Vegas by day, trading competitive moves with some of MMA’s top up-and-coming stars, and an avid gaming enthusiast by night. When the lights of the gym go out at the end of the day, Marc puts a different kind of strategy and gaming into play.
Brought up in the dawn of Nintendo, Marc started out playing such classics as Pac Man and Super Mario Brothers. “I was always a gamer,” recalls Marc. “I liked going to the arcades and I could beat Double Dragon with one quarter…I used to play a lot of Mortal Combat, a lot of Street Fighter in the arcade…now it’s like the best time ever in gaming because it just keeps getting better and better.”
With a 73-inch television and a 36-inch computer screen, it’s easy to see how Marc can get into his gaming. Having just about every gaming system available at his disposal when he walks through the door after an intense, sweaty day of training Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t hurt either.
Marc is proud to be a part of the testing of a mixed martial arts video game in the works, due out in 2009. “It was pretty much a dream come true for me…there’s a rumor that I’m going to be in the game and hopefully I will be…I’ve seen my character model and it looks pretty sweet.”
Is there anything that could possibly be any sweeter than that? Try private gaming lessons from pro-gamer Fatal1ty to hone your kill skills and let’s see what happens. Consider this unique and smart trade-off: Jiu-Jitsu trainer becomes an ultra-skilled gamer, while professional video gamer becomes a dangerous Jiu-Jitsu practitioner— now who’s leading the double life?
The two are sure to practice brushing those skills up on some of Marc’s favorite video games: Call of Duty 4, Prince of Persia, Gears of War, God of War and Street Fighter4, to name just a few.
As much as other people might question the art of the games—both MMA and video—Marc Laimon casts aside the ageold stereotype of the “nerd” and is happy to embrace his inner geek. “One of the biggest joys I ever had in life was when I was gaming and it wasn’t real popular— everybody else kind of looked at it as what nerds did and I used to hide my gaming from my friends and whatnot, and once I accepted that I was a nerd, I became much more happy in life and I didn’t have to hide my gaming. I was a proud gamer and I started to enjoy life a lot more.” That being said, it’s still probably not a good idea to challenge this Jiu-Jitsu training video gamer in a dark—or lit—alley.
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