Griffin vs Rua 2.

So I don't know if it's really gonna happen, but I overheard Forrest say that he would be fighting at UFC Brazil.  I'm pretty sure he said he would be fighting against Maricio Shogun Rua, BUT we'll see. They've met before and Griffin won via submission and Shogun got his ass handed to him 2 weeks ago.  It kinda makes sense since Shogun needs to bounce back with a tough opponent and Forrest is tough as nails and beat him before. Not to mention Forrest could use a win against a tough opponent to establish himself as a force in the Light Heavy weight division again.

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Best Day Hands Down.

Me, Evan Dunham, and Forrest Griffin.

Today was amazing!  This morning me, Kyle and Dwayne made a eggs, bacon and toast.  I normally just eat rice in the morning so it was a nice change to have some real "Sunday Morning" food.  After breakfast I went back to sleep for a little before practice and I ALMOST overslept. I'm so glad I didn't because When I walked into practice Forrest Griffin was warming up in the back.  He was talking to another guy in the back that looked familiar, but I couldn't put a name to the face until Forrest called him Evan.  He had been practicing here the past week and the whole time I knew I knew him, but do you really go up to someone and ask them if they're famous?? As soon as i processed the fact that I was about to practice with 2 legit UFC vets I was giddy like a school girl.  I instantly had to start telling myself to be cool and don't fanboy, but towards the end of practice I started positioning myself closer and closer to them till I was right next to them and I asked for a picture. "Fuck no! just kidding sure."  No lie that's what Forrest said without missing a beat.  It was definitely an unexpected treat to meet and train with UFC vets and Forrest really is as funny as they say.  Before I came to Vegas I just thought famous people were everywhere, but once I got here I was like where the hell are they??? This was my long awaited answer!

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LET THE GAMES BEGINNNN!!

So I didn't know it would be this long till I was able to get online, but like I said before the internet is pretty shotty here.  Anyways I'm really on the last leg of my trip now, only 5 more days not including today.  I've been sad about leaving for the past week, but when it comes down to it a lot can be done in 5 days when your're in Las Vegas.  I managed to start getting down to the vacation part of my trip the past week so I went out to some food places and checked out the night life.  One thing I forgot about the night life is that it doesn't end till about 4 or 5 am since the clubs don't close till 4.  We took advantage of that the other night when we went on the strip, but what my friends forgot to mention is that they don't allow re-entry after a certain time.  So around 3 am I headed out to this late night sandwich shop across the street (Johnny Mcguire's and it's open till 3ish 4ish! HIGHLY recommended) and grubbed on the best late night food I've had in awhile. After grub session I tried to get back into the  place and they wouldn't let me back in!!!  Good thing that food place was still open because getting two guys that have been drinking out of a club with a lot girls isn't easy.  About 20 min later we headed back to the apartment and if the casino didn't beat my wallet like a 1950's housewife earlier that night we would've detoured to Larry Flint's Gentlemen's Club, but sadly enough I didn't have the strength to make it rain.  Past that I've been training hard still, but the past week I just did morning sessions and ran a few miles at nighttime once it cooled down to keep my cardio up (rather than doing morning and night sessions).  Hmmm what else??? Oh yeah we bought about 150 pieces of Sidewalk chalk. No lie I've been making huge chalk gang graffiti murals LOL.  The other day I made a 5 by 5 West side Bloods Mural. I guess that's what happens when you have a lot of free time on your hands after a Gangland Marathon on Spike.  In my defense I've been doing my artwork on the deck of a 2nd story apartment so no one besides my roommates see them.  Yeah I know I have some interesting hobbies, but hey I try to enjoy myself as much as possible.  Anyways I don't know how the internet is gonna go this week, but I'll check back in when I can.

ps - I'm done with casinos! The roulette guy straight up told me I didn't place my bet where I did after he cleared the table, but you can't argue with a casino employee especially with my skin pigment or darker... No one wants to be the next Rodney King.

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What a woman!

Also I forgot to mention that not only was Robert Drsydale's pregnant wife teaching Jiujitsu, but she also happens to be a black belt! I bet she could kick ass if she didn't look like she was carrying twins or maybe that's a normal size. Anyways maybe I'll sneak a picture to show you...  This could definitely end awkwardly.

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Last Leg.

Yooooooo!  It's been awhile, but I promise I've been working hard while I was gone. I had a great time hanging with my friend Kim who's also visiting from Maryland.  Me and Kim love eating out at random food places so we ate at a Japanese place one day and a Hawaiin BBQ place the next( no camera cjhsfacjga!!!!).  I wish I could've shared the magic with you, but you're just gonna have to take my word for it when I say it was orgasmic... I finally got my phone back too so that was a pretty big change (20 days w/o), but seriously I really enjoyed the time away from it.  I could've had it mailed to me sooner and I was, but then I thought why not just go off the grid? So I guess starting a blog, using Facebook, and playing PS3 isn't what you would traditionally call going off the grid, but I'm winging it here!  Anyways I just got back from a run around the block and later on tonight I'm gonna go to BJJ at Drysdale Jiujitsu.  This last week I'm probably gonna tone back a little and enjoy Vegas a little more and so I can jump back into training as soon as I get back to MD. Vegas  has been a great experience so far and I'm sad to say it'll end in 11 days. As for the previously promised Wand goodies that'll have to wait till I get home and get a better connection or maybe the internet will improve, but who knows. I'd also like to share that the past Sunday was without incident with the people downstairs.  I thought things were gonna go down, but they stopped blasting their music.. Which was good because ironically I was about to bring the noise.

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Recap.

So I've been dead over the past few days.  Last night I sparred with am/pro Muay Thai fighters and that was a humbling experience to say the least.  I  definitely showed my skill and showed even more heart, but some of these guys ran through me. We did 12 3 min rounds with 45 second breaks in between switching partners each round.  That's 36 min of straight Thai with barely any down time.  Sometimes I was really on the ropes just taking shots trying to weave in and out only to have my legs kicked from under me. It's give and take each day out here, but it keeps me hungry.  On top of that I've had a lot of internet problems so I haven't been able to get on or post videos  (really slow connection).  Anyways that was last night, but the night before that I went to Wanderlei Silva's gyms and it was AMAZING.  Their instruction was quality and their facility was the best gym I've seen.  They had an area for BJJ, Muay Thai, weights ( like a full on gym), a full size cage , an altitude training room and a PING PONG TABLE!!! Wow that's a mouth full and yes I'm still pumped about the Ping Pong table! It happens to be something a really enjoy and also something I don't get to do that often.  Anyways I met some really cool people out there including some of their fighters and they had nothing, but great things to say about Wand and his program.  The only thing that was missing was WAND!  It's a 20 dollar cab ride and a 25 dollar mat fee so it's almost fifty bucks to train for a day so hopefully next time he'll be there.  Anyways one of my best friends Kim arrived in Vegas Yesterday and we were supposed to go to Vegas in August, but she couldn't make it so it's been a few months in the making.  A guy who I train with (Topaz) is also out here training so hopefully I'll be able to get up with him too.  I would add some pictures of his gym and vegas, but the internet is about to die on me again so I guess I owe you one.

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Who knew how hot he really meant when he said they were really hot.

Before you get into this post let me say for the record that I powered through and ate 4 more before quitting!  On top of that I saved them to finish tonight so quitting isn't really quitting in my book!

"All these years I thought I liked chicken because it was delicious. Turns out I'm genetically predisposed to liking chicken."

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Finally made it to Wanderlei's!

Too lazy/tired to update since I just got outta practice, but it was tight and I'll update tomorrow some pictures and ish.

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Just Mentioning.

Robert Drysdale's wife was teaching a BJJ class tonight...PREGNANT! Not even kinda pregnant I'm talking REALLY pregnant. Let me say for the record, that's my kind of woman.

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At least it's not Herpes.

Ok so I know this post isn't gonna get me any female fans, BUT I told you in my first post that I was gonna take you all along for the ride and guess what THIS is apart of the ride.... RINGWORM!!!!!! Yeah I'm aware I could also use some lotion, but I just got out the shower so get off my case! And just because I got the "worm" doesn't mean I'm not clean. Welll it does and it doesn't. Seriously I shower after morning classes, night classes and whenever I go out to run or workout. I'm really thinking it's all because of my shower gel. I KNEW something was sketchy about a 3 in 1 wash(shampoo,conditioner, and body wash), but I figured cutting cost and saving money was the way to go... lesson learned not with soap.

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Speed Bump Redux!

Have you ever taken a shot to the nads only to get up and take repeat shot to the nads?? Well that was my day today! To start things off there was that training camp shenanigans and then to cap it off I missed Muay Thai tonight. When I walked in I was wondering why they started class early so I rushed to get my stuff on and this whole time I'm unaware that I'm being stared at (the new kid walks in and starts to strap up 5 min before the place closes..if you can't tell I'm slowly starting to look more and more retarded as things pan out). So right as I'm about to warm up the instructor asked me what I was planning on doing in the 5 min I had left and what time I thought it was. At first I was confused, but then It all clicked and I slowly started to realize that me and my roommates forgot to change the time for every single clock in the apartment. To sum it all up today was a complete waste of training minus my morning run. I only have 17 days left so I gotta make em count from here on out.

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Speed Bump.

So today was gonna be my first time back at Drysdale's since I got sick, but when I got there I found out there was a schedule change. That wasn't really an issue, but what was the issue was that the class that's been thrown in there is 300 DOLLARS! When I signed up they failed to tell me that in the third week of March there would be an overly expensive Pan Am Games Training Camp! Hell That's what the new name could be, An Overly Exspensive Pan Am Games Training Camp or 2 Arm's and a Leg Training Camp. I sure either would work just fine, but the second one has such a nice flow to it. I'm even positive Rumpelstiltskin has better deals than that! Anyways I can still get in a lot of Muy thai and I guess just less BJJ this week unless I finally decide to hop on the bus and go to Tapout or Wanderlei's gym. Who know's, but sorry about the rant...Here's the schedule I know it's hard to read but I normally can go to Gi BJJ, No Gi BJJ and Muay Thai in the mornings and then at night time it alternates between Gi and No Gi (Muay Thai every night. There's also only morning classes Saturday and the gym's closed Sunday). Now that this camp's going on it knocks out one morning class a day and all BJJ night classes.

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The Sunday Pilgramige.

So I was gonna take my friend's car out this afternoon to check out the area and when I hopped in the drivers seat I found out that I had a slight problem, MY FEET COULDN'T REACH THE PEDALS! His seat was on that crucial gangsta lean and the controls were broken(insert womp womp here). Since driving was a lost cause I just walked around vegas for 2 hours and all I came back with was some Asian food, sidewalk chalk and a milkshake I shouldn't finish. I actually probably shouldn't have started it since I'm lactose intolerant, but it was from Sonics.. Like come on, its Sonics. just kidding but seriously it's sonics.

All the spots I would've parked in if I could've reached the pedals.

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War!

I SWEAR THE GUY DOWNSTAIRS TURNED DOWN HIS MUSIC, BUT TURNED UP HIS BASS!!!

It's kinda ironic to use an anti-war song to declare war, but oh well.

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Techno Alarm Clock pt. 2

It's not even eight in the morning..Bum Bum don don na na don bum bum don don, that's all I hear right now. I can feel it vibrating through the floor as I type... Ok so I just went downstairs to talk to my inconsiderable bastard of a neighbor and I was really expecting some college burn out tripping to dub step on the weekends, but to my surprise it was a little Spanish girl and her dad! It would explain all the bells and horns I hear through the bass, but it doesn't explain why he said " But it's after eight???"  First thing I wanted to tell them is that it's 7:50 and second, it's been going on for at least 20 mins aka well before eight!  I could careless what time they wanna have a fiesta as long as it's a quiet fiesta!  I dunno I'm done ranting for now, but something tells me shit's going down next Sunday.

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but ehhhh.... ehh.

YEAH I KNOW HOW I SOUND I'M HORRIBLY CONGESTED!

Anyways like I said in the video I'm finally starting to feel better, but that actually started last night ish.  So to celebrate my health I went to one of the casino's off the main strip but still kinda in that area. I can't remember what it was called, but it had some kind of cowboy western theme so Wild Jack's, Cactus Jack, pretty much  "something" then Jack.  It was fun though and it was a good place to brush up on my skills.  No lie my friend won 125 dollars in the first 5 or 10 mins on some slot machine. If he would've maxed out his bet he could've won 30,000!  When this kind of thing happens right next to you sometimes you feel like you were part of the magic and you can take the magic with you and continue this winning streak...Unfortunately this was not true, but I managed to snap out of it 23 bucks in hole.  I had a really good run on Roulette, but the Craps table took it all.  We were in and out in probably an 1hour, but it was good times. After that I went home and chugged Nyquil and watched Afro Samurai on Netflix which was also good times!

Yep, that's a mountain chillin in the background.

PITTENS!

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Bleh.

Somehow I managed to get a chest cold and I've only been here a week. I know that doesn't speak well for my survival skills, but I'm already starting to feel stronger after taking the day to recover.  My PS3 arrived in the mail today too so it was perfect timing since I was taking the day off.  Anyways here's some random photo's from my flip.

Look's like the Coor's Light Mountains.

Right as you get off the plane.. 

Vegas Home.

My Lawn.

Sometimes I crawl.

Emeril Lagasse stopped by for lunch.

Bam!

It's called Vanilla Coca Cola and is considered a delicacy in most of the 3rd world.

Waiting for a car to play chicken with.

Fresh to Death.

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F'ing Wiley Coyote.

So I thought I was done posting for the day until I rolled with this 17 year old at practice tonight. I already had rolled with a few people this session and earlier in the day so I was content to coast through the round and head home. Unfortunately for me he didn't have the same idea.  He was a wiley lil MF'er, but I figured I'd let him work his moves.  So being the wiley character  that he his he throws a quick triangle lock around my head, but I didn't panic. I calmly went about my triangle choke defense till I realized this MOTHERFUCKER IS REALLY TRYING TO TAP ME OUT!!!  For everyone who hasn't done BJJ before when  someone really locks in a triangle choke deep counter or no counter the bitch is deep and you have a few seconds before you're unconscious. I tapped... I'm not proud to admit a young'n caught me, but I will say I tore that ass up afterward!

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Drysdale Jiu Jitsu.

Drysdale LV Banner.

I'm actually cutting off a good portion of their gym so this makes it look a lot smaller.

Muay Thai Area.

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Got Rice?

So here's my pot of rice that I make every morning. Not some mornings I mean every morning. Good thing I like rice and I'm not horribly picky.  I do eat it plain sometimes, but you can't eat the same thing every day so adding some vegetables, eggs, chicken and stuff like that goes a long way in flavor department. AND there's my sauce...

This is my sauce! It's this Asian tasting Sesame and Ginger awesomeness from Marketside (endorsement money??).  I also have this everyday since it doubles as my salad dressing.  It could probably go on so many other things and create so many great combos, but I'll have to keep you posted once I discover them...  So A+B = BOWL OF AWESOMENESS!

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Iron Chef.

 

This isn't a food blog or anything like that, but I feel that what I eat can also be apart of the adventure too. Fun Fact: I eat rice everyday. I make at least one pot each day and if I'm feeling especially Asian I make two.  Tonight's dinner was pretty damn good for what limited supplies I had and sorry about the quick cut off at the end I had to flip my eggs. 

Rice, Fried Eggs, Onions and Green Peppers.

Quick News
- Started Muay Thai training w/ Forrest Griffin's Muay Thai Coach Mark Beecher
- Signed Up with Drysdale Jiu Jitsu so I guess that's my new home away from home

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Womp Womp.

Just found out that the concert's tomorrow.
I also really like this BUTTON.

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1234 I Declare the Dish War..OVER!

My Poor Banana's after 4 days..

When I first got my banana's I left them on the kitchen counter, but then I thought the heat out here would make them go bad quickly. Sooo I put them in the fridge and this is what I got... The banana's are officially gonna stay on the counter from here on out. Anyways This was the least of my concerns this morning because the people under me are in love with dubstep.  They started around 8:30 or 9 and they didn't end till 11. I'm not gonna lie I'm not the biggest fan of techno music, but I don't mind it too much, but before 11 am on a Sunday??? So first the Techno alarm clock and then my banana's.  There's also a dish washing war going on between the two people I live with (week and a half deep so far) and if you didn't know these things can go on FOREVER between 20 something year old guys so I took out my frustration on the kitchen.  By the time I was done the dishes were washed, the dishwasher was unloaded and loaded and the counters were bleached. Tonight were going out to the palms to try and see Snoop and Wiz Khalifa so hopefully things will start going my way.

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Finally some Jitsu!

Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu

So I wanted to take it easy my first full day in Vegas, but by the second day I was getting antsy. For anyone who hasn't done Brazilian Jiu Jitsu it's highly addictive and will consume most of your daily thought process when you're not doing it.  Anyways I got their schedule the night before while on a jog and prepared to be the new kid at school again. I got lost on the way there and found 20 bucks in a fast food parking lot so even if I got my ass kicked I was 20 bucks richer (yes, the glass is half full).  I finally got to the school and I introduced myself to a black belt from Hawaii named Sonny (who also looked like Ruffio striped hair included) and we started class. I'm always excited to roll with new people, but you don't want to be over excited and come off as cocky or overconfident. So I started off a little hesitant,but tried to stay open and fluid with my moves.  By the end of our 3 hours (90 min no gi, 90 min gi) I earned everyone's respect including Sonny's and a handful of upper belts.  After giving and taking some bumps and bruises I headed home home to rest.  I was physically beat and the three hour time difference had been affecting my sleep so I took a much needed nap.  Around six thirty I headed back to roll again. This time I was a little more confident and started working my moves, but once again it was a fair exchange of ass whoopin's. If I thought I was tired before I had no Idea because after a total of four hours of rolling over the course of the day I was DEAD.

 Robert Drysdale and I.

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Early in the AM.

Publish Post

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After Traveling and My first Night.

So I finally arrived in Las Vegas after 8 hours of traveling/ layovers...Am I thankful, of course. Was it it smooth, no, but who's keeping track.  I went to dinner with my Aunt Brenda and talked about my pursuit of happiness. That's what I'm calling this trip and what i do from here on out in life.  It's definitely not conventional to take time off from school to pursue mixed martial arts, but it makes me happy.  It's what gets me up in the morning, it's what I think about during the day, and its what I dream about at night. It's my driving force to say the least.  If you had the chance to possibly get paid to do what you love what would you do for it? 

PS- By not smooth I mean that I left my phone on the east coast before I got on a plane headed for the west coast....

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In The AM Before Vegas.

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