http://www.purefight.org/rss/recent-blogs http://c0179261.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/512919_tQkHmSOZPSc9bayZ8mEy_m.jpg http://www.purefight.org/rss/recent-blogs en-us Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:45:43 GMT Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:45:43 GMT http://www.purefight.org/blog/14298-Chael-Sonnen-the-next-Larry-Owings Owings over Gable in 1970                                                  



Could Chael Sonnen become the next Larry Owings... who is Larry Owings?  Larry Owings is the man who beat Dan Gable in the NCAA finals, Gable's senior year of college, after finishing high school undefeated and going undefeated through college to that point.  Dan Gable was hands down the better wrestler, but the better wrestler doesn't always win.  Aside from beating Dan Gable Larry Owings did something else nobody ever did, said he was going to beat Dan Gable.  Chael Sonnen is attempting to do something that nobody else has ever done, beat Anderson Silva inside the UFC octagon.  Chael Sonnen is also doing something else nobody has done before, speaking out publicly at Anderson Silva.  

While their approach to these tactics may be different, the tactic remains the same.  Announce that you are not afraid and let your opponent know that you are confident.  Larry Owings made that statement to one newspaper reporter in 1970.  Chael Sonnen has launched an all out verbal assault on the long time UFC champ through out all types new age media in 2010.  Of course the times are different as are college wrestling and mma.  But the principle remains the same. The mental game is such a big part of any sport, but especially sports like wrestling and mma, one-on-one contact sports where confidence is essential.  Dan Gable had never heard someone come out and say that they were going to beat him, and when he finally did hear that he ended up losing.  Could all the talking that Chael Sonnen has been doing leading up to his fight with Anderson Silva actually be working?  When you look at the fight on paper you see that Anderson Silva is far superior in striking, very strong on the ground and Sonnen has shown to susceptible to submissions.  Chael is a better wrestler and has shown good ground and pound and can go hard.  On paper Anderson Silva is the better more complete fighter.  But the better fighter doesn't always win.

If Chael Sonnen truly believes he can win this fight and Anderson Silva knows that, then Chael Sonnen just might win this fight via the mental game, just like Larry Owings did over Dan Gable. ]]> Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:23:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/14298-Chael-Sonnen-the-next-Larry-Owings http://www.purefight.org/blog/12633-Rampage-vs-Rashad-No-Whining

For all of you complaining about Rashad Evans' performance against Rampage last weekend, Wake UP! This is MIXED martial arts.  People said it was boring, I didn't think so, I was entertained in seeing if he could implement his gameplan, and we all knew what that was, against an angry Rampage.  People said they wanted to see Rashad stand in front of Rampage and go toe-to-toe... why the hell would he want to do that?  So he could get knocked out?  Rashad's not an idiot and he obviously knew that he was facing a guy with plenty of knockout power, so what is he supposed to do just stand in there and bang and know there is a good chance he might end up getting knocked out? For the pleasure of some fans?  Get serious people.  At what point is it his job to entertain the fans rather than try to win a fight?  Which will get him more, let's see, a 6 figure fight bonus plus a shot at the title if he wins.... or no win bonus and drop back in line for a title shot if he loses, but the people watching liked it more?  Hmmm, it's a tough decision I know, but I suppose I can see why he fought the way he did.  It's like the football team that runs the ball up the middle a lot averaging 4-6 yards per carry and grinds out the wins, not the most exciting thing to watch but if it's effective and gets the job done, so fuck the fans, these guys are trying to win.  


In the same regard Rashad did plenty to entertain the fans, he and Rampage both by hyping the fight the way they did and creating so much excitement and build up around it.  If you didn't like that fight I'm sorry but the point of this sport is to find the most effective fighting style and right now what Rashad is doing is working.  This sport is still young and ever changing so it wouldn't be surprising to see evolution and game planning catch up at some point.  But until then deal with it and please, please stop whining about it. 
]]> Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:49:37 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/12633-Rampage-vs-Rashad-No-Whining http://www.purefight.org/blog/10051-WHATS-NEXT Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:32:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/10051-WHATS-NEXT http://www.purefight.org/blog/9972-Merry-Christmas-from-Purefight Mark]]> Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:38:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/9972-Merry-Christmas-from-Purefight http://www.purefight.org/blog/9754-PureFight-Network-Site-Builder
Fill out my Wufoo form!]]> Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:18:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/9754-PureFight-Network-Site-Builder http://www.purefight.org/blog/8888-Road-Trip-Update So it is the middle of my 2 week road trip and wow what a trip its been. Started off in Biloxi visiting with Alan Belcher, I spent 2 nights at his house and got several videos to put together of him, his training and his gym Remix MMA. The Purefight team is in the process of redesigning both his personal website as well as his Remix website, look for those to be redone and updated soon. I had talked to Alan on the phone but this was the first time I met him in person, I got to know him and quickly learned that he is a great guy, down to earth and I got along with him great.

From there I went to Charlotte for Fight Lab Promotions Cage Fights at the Epicentre, a fight card that took place on the rooftop of the Epicentre, one of the hottest spots for night life in the southeast region. It was a little chilly and misty out, but there was a giant tent over the cage and seats and enough energy to keep the place warm. The fights were exciting and can be seen on Purefight as well fightlabpros.com which was another site created by the Purefight team.

From there I flew to Baltimore the next morning and met up with my friend Joe who runs our wrestling website Flowrestling, the largest amateur wrestling website in the world. We got picked up and brought to Annapolis where we spent a few days covering the wrestling team at the Naval Academy. This stop was great as there are great people in that program from the coaches to wrestlers, and so no. Their wrestling coach, Bruce Burnett, was a multiple time Olympic and World team coach and it was just awesome to be able to sit down with him and pick his brain for over an hour, I could have done it all day but he is a busy man. We were introduced to the "Burnett Shuffle" in which his athletes mocked his beginning of practice warm up, it was hilarious and if you haven't seen the video you need to.

From there we rented a car in Baltimore (I'm not even gonna get into the issues we had with getting that car) and headed to New Jersey where we stayed with the Ghione family that Joe had met and stayed with before. What a great family, they treated us good, feeding us with great food and tons of it. They have 4 boys and it was crazy over there, kind of reminded me of my house growing up. Their son Jonny turned the camera on me and I did my first interview on the other side of the camera. While in Jersey we went to Shore Thing which is one of the top wrestling clubs in the country. Kurt Pellegrino used to wrestle and coach at that club and was there during the practice which was great because I got a chance to talk with him on camera about his fighting career, his upcoming fight with friend Frankie Edgar and his future.

From New Jersey we headed to Pennsylvania where we stopped by Easton, Lehigh, and Bloomsburg where Joe did a wrestling coverage. We honestly thought we were gonna run out of gas from Lehigh to Bloomsburg as the gas gauge showed us on empty for the last 20 miles of a turnpike, we rolled into the station basically on fumes.

The wrestling room at Bloomsburg is small and the wrestlers were getting at it, wrestling hard and making that room hot and steamy. These elements (sites, sounds and smells) brought me back to my college wrestling days and actually brought out emotions through my body that I hadn't felt in a long time. Wrestlers are badasses... they bust their asses and for the most part nobody gives a shit. But that's not why they do it. They do it because they love it. Nobody works like wrestlers do, the guys were dripping and the ground was covered in sweat after practice, they were exhausted and beat. It was their second workout of the day with classes in between, and now they had to go home and do their homework, watch what they eat, go to bed early to get up and do it again.

That was yesterday, now we are in Elizabethtown, PA where I dropped Joe off to do a coverage at a small college. I wanted to do a coverage at an mma gym not too far from here but when I contacted the guy he basically told me he didn't want us to come. This pissed me off at first, but whatever, it's his loss and anyone who comes on Purefight regularly knows that. I took the car to work at an internet cafe, except that there aren't any, anywhere in this town (what?!?!). So I am sitting here at a cafe with no internet writing this blog (which I will post as soon as I find some internet).

I am usually on the road by myself and traveling with someone else has been awesome. Joe and I come up with some good and funny ideas while in the car and have a few funny videos we have shot that we will put together soon. One was pretty funny, at least I thought so, kind of raunchy, but I might just post it anyway. The video is about how excited I was to stay in a hotel as opposed to sleeping in my car which I am forced to do sometimes when traveling for Purefight.

Tomorrow we are visiting American University to cover the wrestling team and then Thursday I am dropping Joe off in Baltimore where I will stay and tentatively catch a workout with Donald Cerrone and Leonard Garcia on Friday, before I come back to Pennsylvania to cover the Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge mma fight card on Friday night and then possibly cover another fight in Baltimore on Saturday before flying back home to Austin. It's been a good trip so far, stressful at times but good overall. The toughest thing about traveling like this is that I spend almost all of my time in the car or in the gym and I don't get a ton of time to update the site, but look out for some sweet videos to start popping up on Purefight in the next week or two. Until then, in the words of Joe Dirt, "keep on keepin on"

Mark
]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:45:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/8888-Road-Trip-Update http://www.purefight.org/blog/8198-A-little-disappointing This was an outdoor event with the cage and seats under a large pavillion top and there had been a thunderstorm, earlier, but the rain had stopped. He came on a couple more times and mentioned something about waiting on one of the fighters who had travel issues. Since there weren't any fight cards being handed out I went over to where the commission was sitting and copied the names of the fighters down on paper so I would be able to label the videos... There were 6 fights listed on the sheet.
Shortly after that is when the rumors started circulating about about the show being cancelled... and sure enough it was cancelled. The ring announcer came back on and announced that the state commission shut it down because of weather... What a coincidence that there were only a couple hundred people in the stands and not a whole lot of fighters there either. It was really frustrating, especially seeing the fighters in the back getting warmed up, knowing they trained and prepared for this fight and their friends and family there to watch. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and trust that Purefight will not be headed back to any Southwest Fight League events anytime soon... so instead of the Pure knockout and submission videos, today we have this blog... my apologies]]> Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:39:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/8198-A-little-disappointing http://www.purefight.org/blog/7924-Another-trip-back-out-west Vegas-
Having misplaced my drivers license I had a temporary one faxed to me from the DMV, turns out Las Vegas rental car places won't accept anything photo copied so I couldn't rent a car. Thanks to Gene Stevens for saving the day by picking me up and brining me to the MMA seminar and expo at the MGM, not to be confused with the UFC fan expo which took place on Friday at Mandalay Bay. I attended both but enjoyed the one at MGM more, even though there wasn't as much going on it was way less crowded and easier to get around. I got a chance to meet and talk with Joe Warren while I was there and he told me he would be training at Xtreme Couture that night if I wanted to stop by. When I got there later Henderson was doing a light workout with Lindland, Krzysztof Soszynski, and a couple others. I took some video of Joe Warren training with a Japanese fighter and I should be able to get to making a workout video in the next week The coolest thing about the UFC expo on Friday to me was the Grapplers Quest going on which is where I spent a decent amount of my time, the rest of it was ok, the idea for it was great but it was just way too crowded.

Later on Friday afternoon I went to the UFC weigh ins where I was able to finagle my way into the back stage area where all the fighters were. What was interesting to me was to see all of the fighters were were down to weight, having been a college wrestler I know that feeling of extreme thirst all too well. I was sitting by myself when a all the fighters were called to the area where I was sitting and Brock Lesnar came and sat down right next to me, I wanted to pull my camera out and ask him a couple questions but didn't really think it was the right time and doubt he wanted to be bothered... so I waited until he walked away and it on and made a little video of what was going on around me. After the weigh ins I actually had to get to the airport because a good friend of mine was getting married in San Francisco.


California-
My flight got in to San Francisco a little before midnight and thought I was going to meet up with some friends for a place to crash for the night... well the place they were didn't get cell phone reception so my dependance on technology bit me in the ass and I was forced to find a side street in San Francisco where I could pull my can over and sleep in the back seat spreading all my clothes out over me like a blanket. Finally got ahold of my friends in the morning and everything worked out, the wedding was fun but I couldn't wait until it was over so that I could go watch the UFC 100 fights on replay.

Monday was gym day, I started in San Francisco where I visited Fairtex, then drove to Berkley and stopped by Jake Shields new gym, from there I headed over to Cesar Gracie where I took videos to make gym tours at each place. From there I went all the way down to San Jose and stopped by Frank Shamrocks gym before going back to San Francisco for the night. My final day of the trip I drove up to Sacramento to visit Ultimate Fitness. When I got there Danny Castillo was finishing up a workout inside the ring and then Chad Mendes and Joe Benavidez showed up getting ready to train. Chad went through a weight cutting workout in preparation for his PFC fight which he won in :44 by KO and Joe did a little wrestling with one of the wrestlers from Cal Poly. The guys at that gym are good guys and I wish I could have stayed to watch them workout again but I had to get some videos up and get back to San Francisco.

I finally made it home on 2 days ago and am getting ready to leave again either later today or early tomorrow to go down to Houston with Yves Edwards to catch a fight card and do a coverage, I don't even know the name of it but as soon as I find out I will create a coverage page for it and hope to have the fight videos up by Sunday morning.

Until next time...]]> Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:18:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/7924-Another-trip-back-out-west http://www.purefight.org/blog/7303-On-the-road-and-bringing-you-more My most recent trip was a great one, I visited 7 gyms, went to the best amateur mma event I have ever been to and drove over 1,000 miles in 4 days. It started when I flew into Los Angeles last Thursday. I drove down to San Diego where I visited 3 gyms, the last one being Brandon Vera's Alliance Training Center where I spent a couple hours hanging out shooting videos. I drove back up to Fullerton and stayed with my friend Chris Carlino for the night. The next day I drove to Torrance to check out the Gracie Academy, from the moment I walked inside the doors I felt very welcome by the people working there. Rener Gracie gave me a video tour of the facility there which included a sweet museum inside the building.

From there I went to Bread Co. for lunch and internet to plan my next move. I stopped by the UG and saw a post about a ticket give-away to the Tuff-N-Uff show in Vegas the next day. I contacted the guy right away and thanks to Eric Callahan from Tuff-N-Uff for hooking me up with tickets. I stopped by 2 gyms on the way out of town, including Freddy Roach's Wild Card Boxing and drove out to Vegas.

Saturday in Vegas, before Tuff-N-Uff started I stopped by Wanderlei Silva's new gym and the people were very friendly and take a video tour of the facility (video should be up in a few days). I got a chance to meet the man himself and get an interview in with him, another extremely friendly person.

From there I headed back to Tuff-N-Uff where Gene Stevens met me to help with the coverage. During the day there were 2 rings with fights going on so between Gene and myself we got most of the fights and interviews. We came back for the evening session and I recorded the fights while Gene was behind the scenes getting exclusive interviews with the fighters.

I was extremely impressed with the quality of production that Tuff-N-Uff put on for the event. This was an all amateur show but if you didn't know better you would think it was a professional one, the lights, the smoke, the quality fighters, the good match-ups, the announcing... the security even came through when needed. The overall production for that show was unmatched for an amateur fight card that I have seen, good work Tuff-N-Uff

The next morning I was tired but had to fight through it and drive back to southern California so I could catch my plane back home to Austin, TX. I made it home and have since left again... I am in St. Louis right now and have a good weekend of coverages lined up. I am driving to Indianapolis to cover the Legends of Fighting Championships to record all the fights and get plenty of interviews and other videos. I will drive back to St. Louis right after the show, get some sleep and get myself ready to check out Strikeforce in St. Louis on Saturday which should prove to be an awesome card with lots of good fights.

I will fly back to Austin from here and plan to have another full schedule ahead next week. I have confirmed going to the XFL in Tulsa on next Friday June 12 and am still waiting to hear back from a promotion near Dallas on Thursday and another one in Austin that Saturday. Stay tuned people because I am just going to continue to travel and get new original content and fight coverages for you to see.]]> Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:45:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/7303-On-the-road-and-bringing-you-more http://www.purefight.org/blog/6612-Some-fans-just-dont-get-it I have attended a number of mma events from California to Florida and in between, and last night in Nashville just reconfirmed something that I have seen on both coasts and in between, complete unappreciation of the sport of mma and the constant booing and criticizing. Now this doesn't come from everyone or even most, but there are plenty of guys sitting up in the stands who "know everything about mma" and they kinda get on my nerves. These are the casual mma fans who don't really get it all the way, they want to see a Stephan Bonnar-Forrest Griffin brawl every time they see a fight, and so do I, but I understand when it doesn't happen and I understand why. People have different fighting styles and they have to use what works for them, not everyone is going to be a great striker and the fighters are trying to win, period. These guys in the stands who yell and call fighters douche bags for getting takedowns instead of standing and brawling are actually the douche bags themselves, and I love it when they say, "Oh if he just would have.... or all he needs to do is..... If you are such an expert at it get in the cage yourself bud and see what its like.

These fighters spend countless hours preparing and training for their fights and are far more ready for battle and the number of different scenarios that might play out in the cage than our friends in the stands. The funny thing about it is the guys who are screaming these things in the stands are usually the same guys who are all over the fighters' nuts when they see them at the bar or club. Now don't get me wrong, if you pay $45-$150 and up for a ticket you are definitely free to express yourself and your feelings toward fighting and fighters, just realize that you sound like an idiot. As mma continues to grow and evolve as a sport, hopefully so will some of it's fans. So the next time you see an mma event and hear the know-it-all in the stands just do what I do, chuckle to yourself and realize that they don't know much at all. ]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:26:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/6612-Some-fans-just-dont-get-it http://www.purefight.org/blog/6163-DITL-6-Training-at-ATT My trip started Sunday. I got into town and hung out with an old teammate JP Reese and just kicked back. Monday i went to a local wrestling practice between two rival HS teams (Gibbon and St. Thomas). The tension was high as that thang! It was weird I thought the coaches were about to fight! I would have def whipped out my camera and youtubed it! Pronto:) Then i lifted upperbody. Monday night I helpled Yves Edwards run his Beginners MMA class.
Day two is the big sparring day. The call it "Blocao" don't ask me what it means. I think it trainslated into 40-60 pro fighter beating the crap out of each other in Portuguese. I got a chance to go with Marcello Garcia and Cole Miller. This upper body lift was not the wisest move. My shoulders where burning so bad. I almost couldn't keep my hands up. Wanted to go with Masvidal and JZ, but they were in the cage preparing Mike "Charlie" Brown for his title defense this Sunday in the WEC. That night we went to Parrumpinha's school and rolled. One of the best Jits coacheds I've seen. So Mike Brown, Thiago Alves, Jz Calvancante, Yves Edward, Michah Miller, Richie and some other guns all got our roll on. it was good.
Wed. we had JiuJitsu Class and then i got in the car and drove down to Port St. Lucie to go workout with my Homie Din "Mr. Fantastic" Thomas. We sparred five 5s and rolled like three 5s. Dude can box! I was like, "Dang G how many rounds can you go?" My shoulders were burning like fire. It was no kicking or takedowns, so i had to deal with his long jab and him being almost impossible to hit. Which accounted for alot of my being tired. I consider him and Yves like big Bros. Fulll of wisdom and good and bad experiences. Don't want to learn to rope from someone that hasn't experienced the "not so sweet" side of the MMA game. Cause its def out there.
Day 4 was Blocao again with small gloves. with a focus on the ground. Got to go with Marcello again. You know how they hype someone up and you go with them and you like, "Ah he wasn't that tough!" CLEARLY not the case here. Dude is from another world where all the do is JiuJitsu. They probably teach it in school there as a language. Cause i was in straight survival mode for two to three rounds. Later that night we drove to Pembroke Pines to Marcello's new school (as if i didnt get my butt kicked enough earlier!). He has some really good ground guy there. wasn't really a easy round there. Finished up, And then i decided to lock the doors and then slam my keys in the trunk! Hot mess! Yves didnt make it any better talkin bout, "if you believe the doors will open." Being sarcastic about a convo we had the day before. We finally got Pop_a_Lock to save the day.
My last day there Parrumpinha had one more class, so of course i wasn't going to miss it. We did guard pass drill with out using our arms. Nearly impossible. Pitbull might have came close, but i think he cheated and used his hand plus im not going to disclose his weight? J/K Pit..... mess around and get me kicked in the head:) lol. After that Yves Held the mitts for me and i was off to the airport. Short but sweet trip! Until next time]]> Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:43:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/6163-DITL-6-Training-at-ATT http://www.purefight.org/blog/6122-fightshark-blog-25 Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:44:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/6122-fightshark-blog-25 http://www.purefight.org/blog/5943-DITL-V Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:42:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/5943-DITL-V http://www.purefight.org/blog/5849-hello-purefight Fri, 30 Jan 2009 01:38:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/5849-hello-purefight http://www.purefight.org/blog/5115-DITL-IV-Short-and-Sweet Sunday Nov. 2, 2008 "The Pick Up" I got to the airport like 11am to pick up Din . We scooted over to the university i coach at to get a workout in before our wrestle offs. We did some shadow boxing, worked on some head motion, and then got into the workout. I really enjoy workin with Din, his strenghts are my weaknesses and my weaknesses are his strengths. This makes for a sweet swap out.
So we started with some takedown defense. From there we went into transitions from defense to attacks, and gaining better position versus working from your back. Then he helped me on passing the guard, and getting to better position. This is the place i am most likely to be in during a fight. We showered up (separately of course) and got ready for the wrestle off. I had to get my GQ on because thats how i roll:) j/k. Then we got some quiznos and got on the road heading to Columbia, MO ( Home of ATT MO).
Ben met us at ATT to get some grapple boxing in. We went like 12 rounds. It was hard training for all of us. Din is better at striking and on the ground than both of us, Ben and i go at it in wrestling and I have been training just a couple days longer than Ben in striking so my stand-up has had a few more hours to develop, and Din came to MO to work with Wrestler doing MMA. But watching those guys go at in grappling, and me battling with Ben in submission wrestling was awesome. A Pro Boxer/Black Belt/MMA vet, Wrestling Olypian, and an All-American up-and-comer. All sharing the same hunger to fill their holes, turn weaknesses to strengths, and make their strengths sharper. You just don't get that type of training everyday!
Nov. 3rd "Baggin With Big Gloves" Then next morning we came in and got 12 rounds of MMA sparring with big gloves. This is why i call Din "Mr. Fantasic" cause his jab is so long. This fool stole me in the eye ball i couldn't see for a couple mins:) Just a matter of time until he accepts his nickname. We also had some bigger guys sparring as well. Kiko France, a straight nasty Black Belt in BJJ with sick kicks, and Isaiah Larson an aggressive wrestlers thats pretty rounded in every area. So lets just say it went down. Later that night we got some rounds of grappling in and hung it up. Then went and got some mexican.
Nov. 4th "Rock the Vote" The next morning i got a quick workout in with Din. I showed him ways to escape when guys take him down, and he helped me work on slipping punches and foot work. It was a great trip. I learn a ridiculous amount in a short period of time. I was sad to leave, but it was Nov. 4th and i had to make my VOTE count.
Shout out to Din, Kiko, Isaiah, Ben and Jake (who ribs prevented him from banging)! Thanks for helping your boy get better. Go support Ben in Jan., Isaiah is fighting for a belt today (Nov. 20), Din is got some trick up his sleeves for the fans, and Kiko is looking for his second pro opponent to dominate.
Until next time.
PureProfessor]]> Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:12:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/5115-DITL-IV-Short-and-Sweet http://www.purefight.org/blog/5046-Day-in-the-Life-III I woke up like 6am to get on the road. The tryout’s registration started at 9am. I knew it would be crazy, so I wanted to get there early. I arrived at like 8am. It was already like 200 people there. The producer told me that she was expecting like 300, and they would cut it down to 50 people by the end. When I saw the line I knew that it was going to be well over 500. I saw my friend and teammate Din Thomas talking to some of his fans. I went up to say what’s up, and to see how the process was going to go. He told me that they were already starting. So I continued to talk to him, and made sure we were all set for the following week (we were set to train in ATT MO). I figure I had stood there long enough I might as well just stay there. Pretty much jumped like 250 TUF hopefuls.
But whateva!.....I do what I want!
So I went to the line and asked the producer what the process was. She told me to go and get my picture taken and get a number. I went and got my picture taken and they gave me number 165. It had to be luck. That was my college weight class. I was already feeling better about the tryout. I saw guys I fought, was supposed to fight, wrestled, or trained with. Seemed like everybody and they momma came to tryout. I think they should have had a scale. They changed the weight from 185 to 155 at the last minute. So it was a gang of guys that really had no business there. I think the final count was anywhere from 640 to 700 athletes trying out.
We started the tryout with grappling. They broke us into groups of 50. One by one we had one minute to show Joe Silvia what we were made of. Out of all the guys that look skinny or unskilled, I drew a "ish" brick house wrestler. I knew this would just be a matter of position fighting and guard passing. I went after him from the jump. I tried to work my front headlock to a darst choke, but he was way too strong. So I resorted to my “meat head” jiu-jitsu and before I knew it I was suit casing my man. Joe Silva was yelling no suit casesJlol. I was kind of embarrassing. I just passed the guard like 3 times and showed my speed. I was confident that I had made it to the next round. So at the end of my group they started to call names, and I was blessed to be one of the ones called. So I went to get something to eat and try to sleep. I knew it would be at least 6hrs before I would hit mitts.
So 8hrs later it was my turn to hit mitts. I found out that we could use our own coaches, so Chad (striking coach) and I started choreographing a mitt routine to show speed, power, head movement, and kicks. We got a pretty solid one down packed. So when they called my number I was confident that they would advance me to the next round. We were the first of five groups, so you would think that they would look at me first. But they started all the way at the end. They took a few second to examine each athlete. I wanted to be fresh when they walked by me. I saw a couple guys not make it cause the mitt holder sucked, and they blew their load before the judges came around. So Chad was going at it hard. I whispered “Chad calm down and wait till they get here.” I guess he didn’t hear me and kept yelling out 4 and 5 punch combos. So I said it again “Chad calm down and wait till they get here.” He didn’t hear me again. So I yelled, dude chill out they are not here yet! I almost laughed. He was more nervous than I was. When they came around we “put on” when the time came. So I made it one step further to being the next Ultimate Fighter.
Two hours later we went to round 3, which was the interviewing part. I was the 7th guy to go. I think I did a good job connecting with the producers. I was happy to go first. I wanted to leave a good first impression. Hoping that they would remember me, and my comfort with answering questions and being myself. By the time I walked out it was 11pm. The producers said that they would contact us in two week. It was a very long day, and now we have to play the waiting game!
It is now coming to the end of week two of the wait. We will find out next week who will make the trip to Vegas for the final screening. Hopefully things work out. It would all be worth the wait. Everything is in God’s hands now!
P.S. Stay tuned the next Blog will unfold a training session with Din Thomas (UFC VET as if he needed an intro) and my dude Ben Askren (Olympian and Two-Time National Champ) . It was well work the Trip. Stay tuned!]]> Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:30:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/5046-Day-in-the-Life-III http://www.purefight.org/blog/4583-Day-in-the-Life-II As promised here are the last two days from my trip to Chicago. I had it done a while ago, but i didnt want to post it and knock any new interviews out of the top ten. I am still a fan myself, and i want to make sure people had plenty of time to watch the videos before i kicked # 10 out. So here it is. Enjoy!
Day 3 October 25, 2008 UFC 90/After Party
I got up at the a$$ crack of dawn to get a run in. I knew I would not have time later, since I was going to the fights. It was like 6:30am, 45 degrees, and the wind chill was like 37. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I got-UR done. I ran on a trail that had a lifetime supply of horse crap on it. I guess I worked on my agility dodging turds. I would get all in my song on my iPod, and then run right up on a pile, forcing me to show off my high school hurdling skills:) lol. I went back to take a shower and eat breakfast, then I fell unconscious for like 4hours. I woke up and ate lunch. I know it’s starting to sound like I just eat and sleep huh?..... Don’t hate! Then I watched “Saving Sarah Marshall.” By then it was time to get ready for the fights.
(And by the way, all you guys that go and watch fights with your TapOuts or Affliction shirts on, please stop drinking beers and watching fights and thinking you are an “Ultimate Fighter.” These guys are at the fight knowing all the techniques and the he-shoulda-done-theses or the coulda-done-thats. If you wanna fight, quit yelling for action or booing and get your spectating a$$ in the cage. Sorry I kinda went off on a soap box, but it vexes me when I’m just trying to enjoy the fight.)
Got to the fight and it was packed. They might have sold the joint out. I was pump to see my ATT brother’s get down. Thiago and Aurelio both had a lot on the line. Thiago is recking his way up the UFC ladder, and needed to make Koscheck another stepping stone to solidify his title shot opportunities. Aurelio and Franca had some unfinished business from way back. So it made for good controversy. The card was stacked. Pitbull vs. Kos and Sherk vs. Tyson could have been main events on a UFC fight night. And by the way I think that all main events should be 5 rounds. How many of you would have paid to see Thiago and Kos or Sherk and Tyson go another 2 rounds? Man I think it would have made things interesting. So all the fights were good, upsets occur and we got to the main event…..quite frankly Anderson Silvia is too good for his own good! He just played with Cote for two rounds. I think he is truly getting bored. He ices everyone in round one or two. And hasn’t really been tested. Now if they want to match him up, then let the fans see him and GSP go at it. I think he still comes away with the win, but it would be one hellava fight. It’s MMA we have seen crazier things happen.
So we got out of the fights and went to the after parties. I went to a place called Level first. It was quite a few people there. I was waiting on my ATT crew, but Brazilian time is later than CP time! And I can say than since I got the green light. So then I scooted over to Moda. Man it was really packed there. I think it was Extreme Couture’s after set. When I walked in Randy Couture was leaving, the TapOut crew was walking in, and it was loading with UFC fighters. Good thing I hung my player jersey up, cause I would have starved in there trying to pick up some ladies. They all flocked to the "Ultimate Fighters" I saw Tim Silva, Dean Lister, Hermes Franca, Tyson Griffin, Gray Maynard, Frank Trigg, Jay Hieron, and Gina Carano. Man did Gina look Delicious! I need a moment of silence………Okay I’m good now. So I sitting in the VIP section, and it was unreal how many groupies were making their way to the section trying to do anything to get a piece of the action. Groupies have no gender! It might have been more males than females trying to get in. I left! I didn’t see any reason to be hanging out, and definitely didn’t want to be mistaken as a MMA male groupie. I’m cool on that! We will just call them M.A.Gs- Male Athlete Groupies. So the club let out at like 5am. I got back to my bed at like 6am. Not a smart move:( I started to go to eat, but I barely made it home. My co-pilot was sleep and kept jumping up and giving 10sec directions and falling back to sleep. I’m like man did you even see the road we were on. I guess I’ll just call him Tony "The human GPS device."
Day 4 October 26, 2008 Rest
Not much to Report here. Man I just slept the entire day away.
Stay tuned! Day 5 is the TUF9 trials. Hopefully by then i will be getting ready for a training camp and packing for vegas. I also will give the play by play of my trip to Columbia, MO to train with former teammate and Olympian Ben Askren and American Top Team's own Din "Mr. Fantastic" Thomas (not really his nickname just call him that cause his jab is hella long and hard to get away from:) ]]> Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:00:00 CST http://www.purefight.org/blog/4583-Day-in-the-Life-II http://www.purefight.org/blog/4486-Day-in-the-Life October 29, 2008
Hey what the dealio? Just getting back from a trip to Chicago. I had to kill like 4 birds with one stone on the trip. I went down to check out the Overtime School of wrestling, do some recruiting at some local Chicago powerhouses, watch UFC 90, as well as try of for the TUF show. So needless to say it was a long week. IÂ’ll backtrack and give you the play by play on how everything went down.
Day 1 October 23, 2008
I left SIUE and hit the road to make a trip to Overtime School of Wrestling in the Chi. Man?it was raining the whole entire time I was on the road! Good thing I got skills behind the wheel or I would have be slipping and sliding all across the highway. I touched down at Overtime at about 7:30pm. For you guys that donÂ’t know what Overtime School is, itÂ’s the Official Olympic Wrestling Training site for the Midwest. It is also where former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski trains at. Or you could just check out the tour on pure. Either way. But anywayz, I sat in on a wrestling practice. Just trying to see if there were any potential kids that might fit the mold for my program. Then I got a workout in myself. It was good to get the trip out of me. I was sitting on my butt for 4 hours and felt like crap. Got done, went to get something to eat and hit the sack. I had a long day ahead of me.
Day 2 October 24, 2008
I woke up got some breakfast, and then I headed back to overtime to get a lift and do some plyos. When I got done I beat the Thai bag like an abusive husband. Almost like it was my job.? I guess I had some stuff I needed to get off my chest. When I got done Sean Bormet (owner and multiple time All-American) walked in and started working out with Rory Markham (IFL standout and current UFC contender). Seemed like they got a pretty good roll in. After that, John Kadding (Overtime coach and National Champ) came in to work out with Jake Herbert (National Champ). IÂ’ll keep those results to myself. I left there and head down to the Official weigh-ins for the UFC. They were held at the Chicago Theater down town. I got there at 4:20pm and they were already done. I was pissed. I'm used to anything dealing with fights starting late. Say something about CP time....I dare you:) lol. ?I knowÂ…you are like dude all you missed was guys mugging each other in their underwear. I was just heated I had to wait in all that Chicago traffic and pay $12 for 20mins of parking. Hot steaming MESS! So I left there went to get some food, and hit the sack.
I gotta go and pick up my mini me from school, so stay tuned ill give you the rest of the story tomorrow. Believe me it will be worth it. Things got interested that weekend. Until then ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:16:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/4486-Day-in-the-Life http://www.purefight.org/blog/4499-Day-in-the-Life Hey what the dealio? Just getting back from a trip to Chicago. I had to kill like 4 birds with one stone on the trip. I went down to check out the Overtime School of wrestling, do some recruiting at some local Chicago powerhouses, watch UFC 90, as well as try of for TUF9. So needless to say it was a long week. I’ll backtrack and give you the play by play on how everything went down.
Day 1 October 23, 2008
I left SIUE and hit the road to make a trip to Overtime School of Wrestling in Chi-town. Man It was raining the whole entire time I was on the road! Good thing I got skills behind the wheel or I would have be slipping and sliding all across the highway shuffle board style. ?I touched down at Overtime at about 7:30pm. For you guys that don’t know about Overtime School, it’s the Official Olympic Training site for the Midwest. It is also where former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski trains at. Or you could just check out the tour on pure. Either way. But anywayz, I sat in on a wrestling practice. Just trying to see if there were any potential kids that might fit the mold I need. Then I got a workout in myself. It was good to get the trip out of me. I was sitting on my butt for 4 hours and felt like crap. Got done, went to get something to eat and hit the sack.
Day 2 October 24, 2008
I woke up got some breakfast, and then I headed back to Overtime to get a lift and do some plyos. When I got done I beat the Thai bag like an abusive husband. Almost like it was my job.? I guess I had some stuff I needed to get off my chest. When I got done Sean Bormet (owner and multiple time All-American) walked in and started working out with Rory Markham (IFL standout and current UFC contender). I didn’t notice him at first he looked huge! I don’t know how he makes 170. Seemed like they got a pretty good roll in. After that, John Kadding (Overtime coach and National Champ) came in to work out with Northwestern's own Jake Herbert (National Champ). They were scraping! I’ll keep those results to myselfJ I left there and head down to the Official weigh-ins for the UFC. They were held at the Chicago Theater down town. They were scheduled to start at 4pm. I got there at 4:20pm and they were already done. I was pissed! I know…you are like dude all you missed was guys mugging each other in their underwear. I was just ticked I have to wait in all that Chicago traffic and pay $12 for 20mins of parking. Hot steaming MESS! So I left there went to get some food, and hit the sack.
Stay tuned! It gets really interesting Day 3 and Day 4. The male MMA groupies? and the TapOut/Affliction shirt wearing bad a$$es will be exposed!]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:13:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/4499-Day-in-the-Life http://www.purefight.org/blog/4075-Adventures-out-East I'm sitting here in a sub shop in Kent, OH where my buddy Zeb and I have taken over a row of tables as we are uploading videos in this free wifi setting. I am on the last leg of my latest trip and fly home tomorrow to catch my breath for a few days. I started out by going down to south Florida to cover a WEC fight which ended up getting postponed due to Hurricane Ike's threat. Not to worry though, I got to spend a couple days at American Top Team. WOW, what a place to train, top notch facility and awesome fighters. There were so many Brazilians there and some of the practices were actually in Portuguese. I also got to stop by Marcelo Garcia's new gym while I was there and see a jiu jitsu workout, that guy is amazing, period. I stayed with JP Reese, a college teammate of mine who lives right by the ocean and I'm not gonna lie, those waves beat me up pretty good when I went swimming.

From there I went to State College, PA to see LionHeart mma and fitness gym where they had a 3 day training camp going on. This facility is really nice and was just recently completely redone, it would be an awesome fitness gym on its own, or an outstanding mma facility on its own, but it's both. Chad Dubin, the owner, is a great guy who made the drastic improvements happen. He really seems like the kind of guy who can make things happen. Mark Miller, who trains at Xtreme Couture, came into town to help run the camp. I didn't know what to think of this lanky bald guy who was covered in tattoos at first. The first thing he did when we met was get in my face and tell me how I need to learn how to spell muay thai (I spelled it wrong in one of my videos). Then when we were going home I called shotgun and he said he would fight me for it, I sat in back. But over the next few days I understood how he likes to bust people's balls and was actually a real cool guy, he also has an amazing story so if you haven't seen the "Bionic Fighter" interview you should watch it.

I then caught a train to New York City. The 2 train stations I was at were polar opposites, I got on the train in the middle-of-nowhere PA where there were maybe 18-20 year olds basically making out on the benches (I witnessed more than 1 couple do this), and I got off the train in Penn Station. For those of you who haven't been to Penn Station it's crazy. People are running around all over the place, and when I say running around I mean literally running around, like you see in an airport when someone is late for a flight, except nearly everyone was hustling like that. I managed to find all the right trains to get out to Long Island. I stayed a couple of days with another former teammate of mine Justin Spates. We stopped by Matt Serra's gym one night and Justin actually jumped in with the class. Justin had zero jiu jitsu experience and when it was time for live rolling he was going balls to the wall at a wrestling pace not jiu jitsu pace. Needless to say everyone just kind of looked at him like he was crazy.

I went to Ohio the next day and covered a fight in Columbus last night. LionHeart members Matt Kocher and Phil Davis each won their fights, Matt's was his first fight ever and Phil's was hopefully his last amateur one. Phil has a ton of potential to make some noise on the professional level. He is an extremely gifted athlete and as a wrestler was a 4X all-american and 2008 NCAA Champion for Penn State. Since I was in Columbus I went to my first ever OSU Buckeye football game. They really like their football here and I stood out like a sore thumb because I was one of the only people in the stadium not wearing red, on top of that I had on a bright yellow shirt.

Like I said I leave tomorrow but will get back at it as I will travel to St. Louis to cover another fight. 2X all-american wrestler Tyron Woodley, another gifted athlete will make his professional debut at this fight and the venue should provide for an entertaining evening of fights. Well they have put the food away, are cleaning the sub shop and basically telling us to leave, so I gotta go.

Until next time...]]> Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:41:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/4075-Adventures-out-East http://www.purefight.org/blog/3880-UFC-88-A-Good-Night-of-Fights Watching this fight card definitely helped make up for the fact that I came all the way down here to south Florida to cover the WEC fights scheduled for next Wednesday, which have been postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Ike. In one of the earlier fights of the night Matt Brown faced Dong Hyun Kim in what proved to be a very close decision. Kim won the fight on a split decision, but many people in the arena let their thoughts be known with a chorus of boo's. I personally feel like the judges got it right. Kim definitely won the first round as he appeared to almost end it with a deep rear naked choke which Brown defended nicely. Brown came out in the second aggressive and put in a good performance which I feel won him the round. The third round of the fight was close, but a takedown by Kim and him opening a cut on Brown's face tipped the scales in his favor. It was very obvious from the fighter introductions just before the fight that the crowd didn't like the Kim, one of two Koreans in the UFC, as there were many boo's when he was introduced. So of course they were unhappy when Kim won a close fight, but like I said, I think the judges got this one right.
 
How about Dan Henderson, he held 2 PRIDE belts simultaneously but up until last night had never won a fight in the octagon. That changed after he beat a very talented bjj fighter in Rousimar Palhares. It was obvious from the start that each of these guys would prefer to take this fight to their style, with Hendo wanting to stand and strike while Palhares definitely wanted to bring this fight to the ground. In the first it initially looked to me like Henderson knocked him to the ground a couple times, but it later became apparent to me that Palhares was falling to the ground on purpose in order to try to get Henderson to pounce on top of him so that he could bring the fight to the ground. Henderson wanted no piece of that, and when it did get to the ground Palhares applied what looked like a very tight leg lock which Henderson eventually squirmed out of. Henderson did a good job of keeping the fight on his feet and simply out-boxed his opponent and won the fight on that very game plan.

Rich Franklin looked like the bump back up to the light heavyweight 205 was not a problem for him as he faced former training partner and friend Matt Hamill. The fight looked pretty even in the beginning, with Hammill even landing a big punch which put a nice cut over the right eye of Franklin. This was not enough to stop Franklin though, he controlled the remainder of the fight and seemed to be making progress with his leg kicks. The fight came to an end when Franklin landed a clean kick to the body which sent Hamill to his knees where the referee stopped it.

Onto the main event, I just had a feeling that something wild was going to happen, I just didn't think that I would see Chuck Liddell get dropped like that. What a blow he received from Evans, this at the same moment that Chuck was getting ready to connect with an uppercut of his own. Liddell definitely seemed in control up to that point. I had Liddell winning the first round as he controlled the center of the ring and had Evans back pedaling most of the fight. Some people have been saying that they don't respect the way that Evans fought and that he didn't go after Chuck enough. Are you kidding me?!?? Rashad Evans fought that fight the exact way that he should have... HELLO, he knocked out Chuck Liddell. Does it really matter what happened before that, he did what he had to do to win and that's all that matters. I was surprised and impressed by the speed and quickness shown by Rashad Evans and think he still has some work to do, meaning that he will only get better as time goes on. But do I think he will stay undefeated? No. I'm just not sure who will be the one to beat him.

On a side note, I ran into Mike Brown at the sports bar where I went to watch the fights and asked him about his WEC fight being cancelled. He was obviously disappointed as he felt he was prepared and completely ready to go. When I asked him how he was going to prepare for the fight from here, he told me he would probably take about a week off from training and then get back at it from there. It has got to be tough and disappointing for all of the fighters scheduled to go on that card. The worst part about it is that now it looks like the hurricane is actually going to miss, although I understand the decision was made with everyone's safety in mind.

Until next time...]]> Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:16:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/3880-UFC-88-A-Good-Night-of-Fights http://www.purefight.org/blog/3562-PureFight-Who-are-you-and-what-is-this-all-about And so it begins. I have spent the past couple weeks traveling the country in search of the best mma gyms and fighters around. What I have found has totally engrossed me, meeting the top coaches and fighters around and getting to see their facilities and how they train is just awesome. A brief visit of the midwest and then a week long tour of California, north to south, was where I went. But it is who I met and what I saw that really fascinated me. I quit my cush job as a high school p.e. teacher and wrestling coach and hit the road with a man I know as the road warrior. We drove a crappy, ugly, bright blue P.T. Cruiser, slept on couches and hard wood floors, almost ran out of gas in the desert between L.A. and Vegas (twice), were sleep deprived, and skipped meals. But I have started to find what I am looking for, a better understanding of this intense sport and the crazy people who do it.

THE PURE IDEA
What's this site all about...? MMA has got to be the most complete sport that I can think of, taking ideas, aspects and techniques from different people, sports and martial arts and putting them all together to find out who is truly the biggest badass around. My goal for this site is to offer something just a little different from many of the other mma web sites around. I want to get an inside look at what drives these athletes to train and battle on such a constant basis. I want to know what motivates them to get in the ring and know that they are going to be punched, elbowed and kicked anywhere from the head and face all the way down to the shins and ankles. Why are they so anxious to get into the cage where their opponent will try to put them to sleep, break their limbs and completely dismantle them... is it for the money or the girls, is it because they love to train and compete, is it because they want to show everyone that they are the toughest guy around, or is it some other reason? So far it seems like it can be different things for different people, but the bottom line is these guys are gearing up for war, with one goal in mind, WIN and it is going to be intense!
I am going to find out what the best training techniques and tactics are, if there is one way that is better or if everyone should approach the sport in their own unique personal way. It is obvious that the Gracie family definitely had that figured out at first, but since then people have been adapting and changing their training and fighting styles, thus the evolution of mma. When you think about it, mma is still in it's infancy stages and yet it has already changed so much, and one would assume that as time goes on it will continue to do the same. So what will mma look like in one, five, or twenty years from now? One guy told me he thinks the fighters will resemble cyborgs or robots because the youngsters are getting such an early start and their skills are so sharp by the young age of ten. Whatever it does end up looking like you can bet that one day we will look back and think about how much we really didn't know way back in 2008.
So this is who I am and what PureFight is all about. Come on people and get on the bus because it is going to be one hell of a ride!]]> Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:34:00 CDT http://www.purefight.org/blog/3562-PureFight-Who-are-you-and-what-is-this-all-about