You see an excited fighter bouncing to the cage to some
carefully selected “walk out song” followed by the entourage of guys wearing
matching shirts. Maybe there’s some
bling in the form of a championship belt.
Two fighters pumped full of adrenaline give everything they have and the
crowd goes crazy. After the fight, fans
and fighters congratulate each other and take pictures. Then there’s usually an after party made up
of fighters, their camps, a couple of former UFC fighters, production staff and
again, fans. It’s all part of the show,
and win or lose it’s always one of the most memorable nights of your life… Now
here’s the whole picture:
Thursday
After a 3 hour flight we wait in the shuttle for an hour for
a couple fighters that never show up (in general we are a flakey lot), then
there’s an hour ride to the town where the fight will actually take place. We arrive at a charming but less than modern hotel
where there is only a pretense of Wi Fi and a room that smells like
cigarettes. The “provided meal” that
night included Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. My husband/coach threw away his food and
saved his dinner roll. Then he tasted
his roll and threw it away too. I had to
cut weight the next day so I ate an apple and we braved the sleet and walked to
Sonic for some “nutrition” for him.
Friday
I relaxed until it was time to start my cut, which I always
do in a hot bath. I turned on the water
and yep, it was warm not hot. So I made a pseudo sweat hut out of one of
the comforters on the bed. I am nothing
if not resourceful. I weighed in at
114.8 lbs, right on target and the promoter gave us passes to the buffet. Now I know what you are thinking when I say
“Buffet,” because that’s what I was thinking too.. but it was 6 trays of fried
seafood and a tiny salad bar. My husband
again threw out his food and had some apple crisp and ice cream.
Back at the hotel it was “Taco Night.” A warm tortilla and re-fried beans (I didn’t
ask what they were fried in either time) never looked so good. My husband who was happily eating his taco
said “Life is all about comparisons…”
Because of my cut, I had a lot of nutrients to replace for the fight the
next night, I ate most of the food I brought with us, including my husband’s
turkey jerky… I’m a vegetarian, I was truly desperate.
Saturday
Fight Day! A winter
storm had moved in and the venue was freezing.
I was more concerned about getting warm than about my fight. Good for nerves, bad for warming up. Then they took all of our food except fruit
at 5pm, I didn’t fight until 11pm. No
excuses, my opponent was in the same situation.
My face got pretty lumped up and I lost my fight. There was no after party. My husband wanted to sleep, I had too much
adrenaline.
Sunday
After two hours of sleep, a late shuttle, and severe weather
warnings we made it to the airport on time.
I feel like everyone thinks my husband beats me and I’m wondering if I’m
going to be able to work tomorrow with bruises on my face.
The good news is the promoter was a straight up man, he paid
me in cash, and he wants to have my husband come fight for him too. As always, I met a lot of awesome people and
have many lessons learned for next time.
Although it’s never as glamorous as it looks, I wouldn’t trade these
experiences for anything.
