UFC 119 Weigh Ins...

Friday was really cool. I didn't get much sleep the night before, again, and it took me minute to get up, but I was excited to go to Conseco Fieldhouse for the weigh ins. I called the arena to confirm the schedule, but they had no clue. I decided to trust the UFC's website and figured I'd just wait if I got there too early. Mom dropped me off, then I made my way into the building. At the security checkpoint, I was informed that I couldn't bring my water in with me, but they only saw one of my two bottles in my backpack, so after a couple swigs of the one they saw, I dumped it and made my way inside. I made it up the stairs, which was more difficult than it should have been because I almost tripped and fell a few times, probably from leftover wooziness and fatigue. As soon as I stepped onto the concourse, I saw a guy I met at the Press Conference on Thursday. He was with some buddies in line for autographs from fighters who weren't on the card, and I just stuck with them. The line was hella-long, so I saved myself 90 minutes catching on with them. Aside from just being closer to the front, it was cool talking to them about the fights. They're all good guys. I got some Halo Reach/UFC/Marines dogtags while in line as part of a promotion. I also signed up for a credit card that I know I'm not going to get in order to procure a UFC T-shirt.

We made our way through the line, which took awhile to get going, but moved along quickly enough. I don't mind waiting as long as there's a payoff in the end and that the line progresses at a reasonable pace. I was digging talking with my new friends, too. The fighters who were signing were stationed in Legends. Junior Dos Santos, a Brazilian heavyweight who will fight for the title soon, was up first. He was really nice, and maybe a little shy since he's still learning English. Not that he was small, and he was behind a table, but I thought he'd be a little bigger. He was very personable and seemed happy to be there.

Next up was middleweight (185 lbs.) Alan Belcher. He has the best tattoo in MMA, Johnny Cash's face on his arm. He was a cool dude, too. He detached his retina training not long ago, and is having some issues with that. It's possible he may not fight again, which would be a real shame. He's young, talented, exciting, and a good guy. I told him a bit about my eye troubles and how I could relate to having messed up vision. It was empowering to connect with a world class athlete, a fighter no less, on that level.

Matt Hughes was the last fighter signing. He's a former champion and maybe the best 170 pounder ever, though Georges St. Pierre is nipping at his heals for that title. While I respect his accomplishments, I'm not the biggest Matt Hughes fan, but he was very cordial with me. He's a legend in the sport, and I'm glad I got to meet him.

It was so awesome to meet the fighters, spend a little time with them, and to get their autographs. They all had their pictures at the table, so if you didn't have anything of your own to get signed, you could at least have a nice 8x10 to take home. It was all FREE, too. The UFC knows how to put on a show and treats its fans really well. Big thanks go out to my new buddy for hooking me up with the pictures! That was very gracious of him.

After getting the autographs and talking about how crazy cool it was to be able meet the fighters, we made our way to sit down for the weigh ins. There were a lot of people there, but we had decent seats. There was about an hour to kill before things got started, so we just talked about how great it was that UFC was actually in Indy and how cool it was that they had all of these free events. The weigh ins, themselves, went by quickly. Each fighter made weight and it all went very smoothly. Jeremy Stephens (accidentally?) mooned the crowd as he took his shorts off to get on the scale. Luckily,I missed it since my head was turned talking to the guy next to me ;). His staredown with Melvin Guillard was intense. Most of the other staredowns were rather jovial. Chris Lytle and Matt Serra had fun with theirs. The crowd was great. I didn't think there'd be that many people there, though, but I'm happy Indy showed up. It bodes well for a return from the UFC. There were definitely some boos, but I'm surprised that Serra didn't get more of them since he's fighting the hometown boy in Lytle. Serra's actually a good dude, and he doesn't care about the boos, either. He knows he's in Lytle's backyard. Frank Mir got the most heat from the crowd for some reason, which I didn't understand at all. Maybe they were all just CroCop fans, I don't know. Mir's a good guy who has been very accommodating with his time with the fans, making himself available to sign and chat. You can watch watch the weigh ins here: http://www.ufc.com/media/ufc-119-weigh-in-replay.

It was awesome being able to take part in all of that, especially since I won't be able to go to the fights.The access that the UFC and the fighters give you is a very welcomed surprise. They know who pays their bills and they have a healthy respect for the fans. It's really nice to see and experience. It's very cool how closely knit the fight fan community is, too. Everyone that I've talked to have been very amiable and friendly. I really hope that as the sport gets bigger, that the camaraderie among the fans, fighters, and promoters doesn't change. I fear that it may as more casual fans take notice and as the fighters make more money (which they deserve). I'm enjoying it now, though. It's been really fun taking part in all of the festivities.

There have been tons of UFC related events around town. Radio stations and UFC sponsors have been doing a lot of promotion leading up to the fights. The fighters have been part of many of those, along with just being out in the open in the city. I wish I'd have been able to go to more of those, but not driving or being able to walk around a whole lot put a damper on that. I was able to go to Buffalo Wild Wings downtown Friday night. Bud Light had some trinkets they were giving away, as well as a raffle for 2 tickets to the fights. It was my last hope for tickets, so I made it out. Tequila Cazadores was also there. Both groups were giving away tons of stuff. I got a few shirts, a hat, shot glasses, key chains, magnets, koozies, beads, a mouthpiece and its container, and I got my picture taken with a REAL UFC belt. It sucked a bit that my friends weren't able to meet me, and I didn't win the tickets, but it was still a good time talking to other fight fans and just being in that atmosphere. It's always nice to get out of the house, too, plus, I didn't need a wheelchair today ;). The Tequila Cazadores girls were hot, too, which didn't hurt :P.

The Champ is here!

I can't wait for the fights Saturday night! It's still KILLING me that I can't go, but such is life. Being able to do all of this stuff leading up to fights has helped mitigate my disappointment in not being able to go, but it's also gotten me more excited about it all. I'm still elated that they finally came to my town, that I've had the opportunity to see some of it first hand, and that it's been so well received here. It's great for the city, too, bringing in money and exposure and I can't wait until they come back, hopefully next year. Even though I won't be there live, it will still be a good time watching it at Buffalo Wings and Rings (111 W. Maryland St., 8PM) with friends. :)

GO IRISH! BEAT STANFORD! We have a big test this week with Stanford. I like our chances, but it'll be a tough game. Our offense can play with anyone as long Crist is running the show. The defense just needs to get healthy. The lack of depth because of injury has really hurt us. The biggest problem on D has been tackling, I think, and a lot of that can be contributed to fatigue from lack of substitution. We should really know where we stand after this game. Stanford is legit, so playing well against them and beating them would mean a lot and it would show that we can compete with anyone. If we get dominated, which I don't think will happen, then maybe we have more growing pains to deal with than I thought. It should be a good game. LET'S GO, IRISH!

Extremely excited for a busy Saturday,
-B

Caught up with some friends...

I didn't get a whole done Wednesday, but I did catch up with some friends I hadn't talked to in awhile. One is an older ND alum who worked with my dad when I was in high school. He learned that I was interested in Notre Dame and he kinda took me under his wing. He's a really good guy who's helped me out a lot. We hadn't talked in awhile, him being busy and me being sick and just spacing it. It was nice catching up, talking about ND football, and just reconnecting a bit. I also spoke with a HS buddy whom I haven't seen since HS. I can't believe it's been 13 years! We just lost touch after school, as it happens, but he recently moved back to Indy and joined Facebook, which is how we found each other again. I'd been looking for him online for awhile, so it was really cool to talk for a minute. Though I hate how easy it is for people to move on, whether it's on purpose or it just happens, I am glad that it's easy to just pick right back up...at least for me.

I'm digging the new Google phone thing. It saves me a trip downstairs and the frustration of the terrible reception I get in my room (and around the house). I do feel a little silly talking into a PC mic and listening to headphones that are connected to my stereo (that's connected to the PC, as I'm sure you figured), but I really enjoy actually being able to hear and be heard on the phone.

I also chatted/talked with a few other friends, and it's always a pleasure to keep up with everyone. I'm really going to miss that if I lose the Internet. I think I may have a temporary solution, so I should hopefully be good for a little while. It depends on whether or not I can withdraw some money I won from a credit union in one of those money-grab bubbles at a Fever game without penalty. They opened a savings account for me with my winnings, but if I take the money out, I'll have to close the account, which is a little disappointing. Too, since the entire cable bill is behind (TV + Internet), if my parents can't come up with enough money to catch up, my contribution won't matter. So here's hoping they can get their shit together enough to do that. I really wish they'd listen to me a little. While we'll probably always be poor and borderline broke, if they'd just do a few simple things, mainly quit wasting food/water/heat/air/electricity/etc. and money, in general, we wouldn't struggle as much. I'm sure I could do better, too, but I do try.

I got my web surfing in and I caught up on a little TV. There are some crazy bitches on Survivor. One chick threw out some snails the others were planning on eating because she deemed them inedible after watching another lady grimace while trying some, so then the others were talking about how weird and wasteful that was. So she got upset, stole a dude's $1600 shoes (why he'd bring those on Survivor, I don't know, but that's beside the point), filled them with sand, and dropped them in the ocean. She apologized after, and everyone seemed OK with that, except for the guy who now has no shoes. I'm with him when he said that she's lucky she's a woman or else he would have popped her...lol. The UFC reality show, The Ultimate Fighter was on, too. I like watching them train, and of course, fight. "Bruce LeRoy," a crazy, but cool Afroed brotha who dresses up like Bruce Lee won his fight. As of now, I'm rooting for him to win. He's a character and a good, albeit young and relatively raw, fighter. He kills that he's smiling the whole time he's in the Octagon while his opponent is trying to knock his head off.

I caught a few new shows, and a couple are very promising, while none were horrible. I try to give at least 3 or 4 episodes before I make a final judgment, though. The time between, and changes made to a show after the pilot is shot are significant. I try to allow them some time to get in a rhythm, usually. Some returning series are back, too, and they all started strong. Modern Family is a really good show. I still have quite a bit of TV that I've 'recorded' and haven't watched yet. I have 10 or so programs that air tonight, too. Luckily I got nothing new on Friday, so I can catch up then, maybe. At least I won't get any more backlogged ;).

I'm planning on going to the UFC Pre-Fight Press Conference at the Murat (it's too weird calling it the Old National Center) this (Thursday) afternoon. A friend is being nice enough to give me a ride and to accompany me. She'll probably have to leave for work before it's over, though, but I'm hoping that my step-dad can pick me up. It'll be worth waiting on him if I have to. Friday, at Conseco Fieldhouse, there'll be an autograph session and the weigh-ins for free. There's also a Q&A session for UFC Fight Club members that I'm going to try to sneak into. Then the fights are on Saturday. It's killing me that I can't go to them, but it looks like I'll be able to watch the PPV with some friends. Saturday will be busy with ND vs. Stanford at 3:30PM, then the televised fights starting at 9PM on SPIKE TV, and the PPV starting at 10PM. My plan is to make a reservation at Buffalo Wings and Rings (111 W. Maryland St.) for 8PM. I'm expecting downtown to be fairly packed with the UFC overflow crowd. Plus there's the possibility of hanging out with another friend on Friday night, and the Colts game (on TV) Sunday afternoon. It's kinda nice to have stuff going on. :)

Have a great Thursday! Let me know if you want to hang out at all for the UFC (or other) stuff!
-B

MMA

There is a UFC card this Saturday night, 9PM for the prelims on Spike TV, then 10PM to 1AM for the Pay Per View. The best place I've seen them, and where I'd like to go again (though I'm cool with wherever) is Buffalo Wings and Rings, downtown, next to Steak 'n Shake (111W. Maryland St.). There are TVs everywhere and you can hear pretty well, too. I can't go alone, but if people can meet me, I'll be there by 8:30PM.

MMA is now my 2nd favorite sport behind football (basketball is now 3rd). Much to my surprise, it's a fairly close 2nd, too. It's pretty amazing because I LOVE football. Football and MMA overlap in many areas with the physicality and brutality and violence, but also with the need for game planning and precision. While I am a fan of the (controlled) violence of MMA (and football, too), I admire more the technique and skill and strategy. I can't stand when people start to boo when fighters are on the ground or aren't engaging "enough" on the feet. 99.99999% of the people booing would have NO CHANCE at all of doing any significant damage to a trained, professional fighter who is literally risking his health and life, in part, to entertain the crowd.

A submission is just as beautiful and dangerous as a standing knockout. The intricacies of the positions and the setups to get to a hold are fascinating. Submissions are more impressive to me because they're harder to do. If anyone gets hit hard enough on the chin, he will go to sleep. But to put someone in a position where he is forced to tap out and quit rather than lose consciousness from a choke or break a limb/ligament/tendon from a joint lock--to make someone say, "I quit," or better put, "I QUIT! LET ME GO!"--is more poignant than a hitting someone in the head (or sometimes the body) for a knockout. That's not to say that I don't appreciate good striking, either. Joe Rogan, hilarious comedian and UFC color commentator, described (UFC Middleweight Champion) Anderson Silva's fighting style as a "ballet of violence" and I couldn't agree more. A good brawl is fun to watch now and then, but someone with such superior skills, on the feet or on the ground, can just be mesmerizing.

The best way I know how to describe MMA is to think of what pro wrestling would be if it were real, but with practical (mostly) rules. I'm not a big fan of Wikipedia, but their article on MMA is pretty good. Check it out for the history and evolution of the sport: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts. Here are the rules in North America: http://www.abcboxing.com/unified_mma_rules.html. The rules are different in Japan and in other places around the world, though. For instance, you can kick and knee a grounded opponent in the head there in some promotions. And some North American leagues limit the rules by disallowing elbows to the head on the ground.

Like a lot of people, for a long time I thought that MMA and the UFC were just glorified Tough Man contests and I had no interest in them. Then I stumbled upon the UFC reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. I used to watch WWE pro wrestling, and the first season of TUF aired right after WWE's Monday Night Raw. I just happened not to change the channel after wrestling. TUF is basically a tournament of up and coming fighters, divided into 2 teams coached by established fighters. The up-and-comers are all sequestered in a house in Las Vegas with no access to the outside world for 6 weeks. They train and go back to the house (and usually drink and get on each others' nerves). The show leads up to a pay per view headlined by the 2 coaches squaring off. Watching TUF showed me that the fighters were real athletes with real skill who trained very hard. They weren't just thugs and rednecks who liked to fight, but usually educated guys who loved competition. You still have your occasional thug fighter, but he'd better have skills or he'll be a knocked out/choked out/tapped out thug who isn't as tough as he thought.

The UFC is the biggest and best MMA promotion around. In the U.S., you also have Strikeforce and Bellator as major companies, plus hundreds of smaller, local shows. I include the WEC with the UFC since they're both owned by the same people. The WEC just has lighter weight classes as the only main difference between it and the UFC. Japan has 2 major promotions, Dream and Sengoku, but they're still behind the UFC. I enjoy fights from any promotion--a good fight is a good fight--but the UFC has most of the best fighters and I think they put on the best show. They're also the most accessible to me.

MMA is still evolving. It used to be that a wrestler or a jiu jitsu guy or a kickboxer would learn just enough of the other disciplines to defend them, but stuck with the style that made them world class athletes. Now, everyone has to train everything. You may have started out as a wrestler or a striker or a submission guy (or gal), but if you're not well-rounded, you're not going to fare well against high level competition. Now you see wrestlers and submission specialists knocking people out and strikers tapping out their opponents. You have to be able to capitalize on any weakness, any opening, no matter your background, and it's happening more and more. There are kids now growing up studying MMA and not just wrestling or jiu jitsu or taekwondo or karate. A few young fighters out there now started that way. I can't wait to see how skilled the next generation of fighters will be, especially when you see more athletes turning to MMA instead of more traditional stick and ball sports.

As the combatants' skills continue to advance, it becomes more and more important for the sport to progress with them. Fighter safety is the most important issue in MMA. There need to be more competent referees. Too often a fighter takes excessive damage. Too often a fighter loses dominant position because the ref didn't understand what was going on. Too many mistakes are being made by someone who is directly responsible for the safety of the fighters. There are problems with judging, as well. Not enough judges know exactly what they are watching and don't credit fighters for effectively using techniques that they don't recognize. Scoring a close round one way or the other is understandable, but not scoring the fight right because you didn't know how dangerous a submission hold was is unforgivable. Most fighters get paid a certain amount just for fighting, their "show money," and then a win bonus. Judges are taking money out of fighters' pockets.

I'm a huge fan despite the issues I have with MMA. You have the incompetent officiating and judging. I don't like all of the rules--I think you should be able to knee a grounded opponent in the head, and maybe kick him, too, and elbows should always be allowed, among other things. Most promotions won't work with each other and co-promote, so there are some very interesting fights that we may never see. I'd like there to be more MMA on free TV. All main event fights should be 5 rounds, even if a title isn't involved. Even with my objections, MMA is still one of the purest forms of competition. Track and field and swimming are pure, as well--running/swimming faster, jumping higher/farther, throwing something farther--but MMA has the element of direct contact and physicality, too. It can answer the question: Who's tougher?

Another part of MMA that I love is the respect that the fighters have for each other. They can talk all the trash they want leading up to a fight, but once it's over, they usually hug each other (or at least shake hands) and thank their opponent for the experience. I've not been in many fights in my life, but I've hit and been hit a few times, and there's something about the bond that comes out of that. While it's certainly different in many respects on the street than it is in competition, there's still this link with another person that you can only get by fighting him. To see 2 highly skilled, well trained athletes try to hurt each other for 15 or 25 minutes, risking their own safety in the process, embrace and smile afterward is amazing and enlightening. It's sport, it's competition, it's pure.

If/when I get to feeling better and am physically able, I'd like to fight once. I want to test myself. Of course I'd have to train first, and I have a lot to learn. I know that recognizing what pro fighters are doing and being able to do it myself are not the same thing, but I was a good athlete and I'm as tough as they come. No man could put me through worse than I've already dealt with. I'd love to see how I stack up, how well I could compete.

I get that MMA isn't for everyone, too. I can see how it would be hard for some people to watch people hurt each other, even in the context of sport. That's all fine. What I don't like is people who bash it without knowing what it is, what is involved, and without having seen it done well. If you don't like violence or physicality, don't watch football, either. I've played football, and it is indeed violent.I have the scars to prove it. The injury rate for football players is 100%, and that's not rounding up. If MMA isn't your thing, that's cool. I'm not into bungee jumping, but I have no beef with those who are. I'll just choose to stay away from bungee jumping ;).

Thanks for reading, especially if you're not an MMA fan. Hopefully this little blurb gets you closer to at least respecting the sport that I'm loving more and more. Comments and feedback are, as always, welcomed and encouraged. Acknowledgement that you read this is very much appreciated, too. Take care, and COME WATCH THE FIGHTS WITH ME THIS WEEKEND! :)

-B