AFTER A LIFETIME OF OBSTACLES, BEN MIRANDA USES MMA TO OVERCOME HIS DEMONS

Gandhi once said, “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”

There is, then, only one option… keep going. 

When the terror seems to pile on further and further… keep going. 

That’s what Ben Miranda has always done… 

Keep going.

“I’m the kind of person who thinks there is always a worse story than mine,” he said. “But I’ve learned something, there is no scale of pain, something easy to heal for you will be hard as hell for someone else.”

He makes a good point. 

Pain is, after all, relative. 

But there’s no denying he had it rough.

“I grew up alone for the most part,” he said. “My ‘half’ childhood, as I call it. My mom had very bad OCD so my brother and myself had to learn how to live unlike most kids. We were not able to hang out with our friends, to have them at our house, that kind of thing. So we grew up alone in a way. When you’re in that kind of situation, you think your world is falling into pieces.” 

Later on in life, Ben would face betrayal in all areas of his life. Much of it is too painful to talk about. Then when the pandemic hit, he lost everything – money, a job, people close to him… everything. 

Even as we spoke, he informed us that he was hit by a car when walking home from the gym that resulted in a broken coccyx. 

So how did Ben get through it all?

“Fighting,” he said. 

Literally and figuratively.

“I got through all of this with the help of people who love me deeply,” he added, “but also discovering something that was sleeping within me for years.”

The second part of his life, his rebirth, is all about fighting. 

“MMA and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are the reason I’m still standing on my feet,” he said firmly. “On my first day at the gym I’m at, I was broke, with only my suitcase and a few clothes, I was getting here with a taxi and the first thing I saw was a sign on a fence that said, ‘Are you dead?’

“The answer was no; I want to fight.”

Ben says that APEMAN helped him through a lot of the struggle. 

“Reading the phrases were the words that helped me move forward from where I was at,” he said. “It’s still a sensitive subject, but I’m on my way and I’m sure I would never be able to get through my fears without MMA and the words of APEMAN.”

Ben says that no matter what is happening in his life, training is the thing that keeps him going. Challenges him. 

Makes him a better man. 

“For me it’s all about doing my best to prove myself that I’m not done,” he said. “I train three times per day – one MMA, one conditioning and one Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I want to become a professional, and I want to prove that you can come from nowhere, especially from the hardest storm, and still rise if you’re giving yourself 100%. Training helps me pay tribute to the bad things I’ve done in my life, and to improve from that situation.”

Ben wants to be a better man, not only for himself but for the people he loves. He wants to be able to handle every situation with peace and is exactly why the war in the cage is so important to him. 

“It’s not about breaking someone in front of you in a cage,” he said. “It’s about respect and helping each other. It’s about liberating your inner strength.”

He is living proof that whatever the strength of the storm, there is always a way through. 

“Find your path, stay on it as much as you can and most of all, don’t doubt yourself.”