First of all, I thought that your essay was intensely engaging because you deal with unique subjects, but in some parts I feel like it's almost too intense.
For example, your first sentences: "I begin to feel the warmth of blood rushing through my nose and into my mouth. I tuck my chin to spit."
This grabs my attention immediately but I don't know if it's in a good way or a bad way. It feels kind of scary, and that's the way I feel throughout your essay.
In order to conquer this, I feel like I need more explanation in this essay as to how this sport is healthy for your mind and body because right now it sounds rather pointless to be beating up people or getting beat up in a cage.
The struggles in life and the struggles in MMA have a common bond
This is good. More explanation would be better.
Overall, your essay talks about two things: MMA and your dad's addictions. I want more of your input. How it effects you in more detail. I think that the segment about your dad has more potential than the description of MMA.
If you just worked off of this and put more of why it effects/changed you I feel like you will have a really strong essay. You can add you experiences with MMA along with it. How does MMA define you? How does your father define you? How does it help you channel your emotions? Hopefully it's in a way that makes you stronger.