Dr. Pretila had never had any martial arts training through high school and most of college. When he was at Oral Roberts University to get his undergraduate degree, he had a PE requirement and chose a martial arts class in his final semesters there. That was where he fell in love with it, where he trained in two martial arts at the same time: combat ninjitsu and Jeet Kune Do. He got his black belt in combat ninjitsu while finishing his MBA at Texas Christian University. While a pharmaceutical salesman after TCU, he wanted to stay in shape, so he joined a jujitsu club. He trained three times a week and would work out and do cardio and weight training on top of that. 

The guys that he was training with were current fighters and told him that he would be good at fighting. At first, he turned down the offer flat and thought that it was a crazy idea. A while later, he thought that he didn’t want to look back and regret not taking the chance to do it. So, he agreed to do just one fight. 

Instead, Dr. Pretila ended up doing three fights in total. Because his first fight finished so quickly, his coach persuaded him to take on another, and after that one… another.  Two of the fights were in Houston and the other in Fort Worth. The first fight lasted about 2 minutes, the second one was 24 seconds, and the third fight went into the second round. The rounds were five minutes long, which he said felt like an eternity in the combat world. He won all three fights and had a 3-0 record. 

Dr. Pretila said that when he was in the fight, he felt like he was on autopilot. He said the hard part is the training before the fights. He stopped fighting because of the mental strain between fights and the thoughts that something could go really bad in the ring. He also said that it was only a matter of time before he’d be defeated or even worse. He had only intended to do one fight but went over the original limit he put on himself.  Dr. Pretila said he did the fights just to prove something to himself and that he was able to do it. He saw it as a sport and never fought with ill intentions or rage. 

Prior to the fights, he would do workouts that would almost make him throw up like grappling sessions in the dark. While at the arena before the fights, he said he ate sunflower seeds in the locker room. He also focused on staying hydrated and did visualizations of what he would do once he got into the ring.

He had watched films of his opponents before the matches and knew certain strategies and techniques to use. He said that everything was just muscle memory and it felt like you were on autopilot. All three of his wins were arm bars and knew that when his opponent couldn’t get out once their arm was extended, he had won.

Today, Dr. Pretila runs the heavy bag boxing club at Chaminade. He still does boxing with bags and says it allows him to get an MMA-like workout in without the risk of injuries. He thanks martial arts for his health and says that it has enhanced and helped his life in so many ways and allows him to live a healthy and fit lifestyle.