thanx Heavy D. The reason we sparred is because we were involved in a conditioning class that starts out with sparring. There are about ten to fifteen of us and we all rotate sparring partners in beetween rounds. Even though it gets tough, I still enjoy it. It's nice to spar against a variety of fighters in a single session. You get fighters tall to short, buff, skinny, or fat. You are right, MMA guys can not afford to through light punches but I can tell that he was at least attempting to go light on me. I'll get my cardio game up and not stand there and take a woopin'.