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When I arrived at
the Honda Center, the parking lot was already filling up so I found
a parking spot as close as I could. When I got out of my
car, my experience began. Parked two cars away and just beginning to
walk up to the arena was Jacob “Stitch” Duran. I decided
to catch up to him and walk with him. He is an awesome guy. I asked him
if there were any hard feelings from Dana White towards him for doing
the Affliction event as opposed to being at the UFC Fight Night. He said “that
there were not and that Dana understands that he goes with Josh (Barnett).”
A quick story about
meeting “Stitch”: I sent my wife a text
message saying that I had just walked through the parking lot with “Stitch” because
she wanted to know who I had met. She sent a message back asking what
Stitch was doing in the parking lot. I was confused. It seemed pretty
obvious to me being the best cut guy in the business! Then I realized
that she was thinking the Disney character Stitch. Now I understood why
she would be confused as to why Stitch was walking through the parking
lot at the Honda Center.
Once up to the arena,
I got my media credentials and waited in line to get into the building.
That was probably the most boring part of the
whole night!
Then the time came
for us to go into the arena. I couldn't wait to walk around the concourse
to find my seat. I had to go in and see the ring
and setup. Imagine this, the biggest ring ever used for MMA, a nearly
empty arena just waiting for possibly the biggest event in MMA, and
a stage with an amazing backdrop for the fighters to come down. Though
it was silent, there was a deafening roar of excitement in the air.
I walked down to
go to my seat and was told by the security guard that we weren’t
allowed in the seats yet, we had to be on the floor. Are you serious?
I HAD to be on the floor? I wasn’t about to
argue.
On the floor, I walked
around the ring. It was big! Across the ring, I saw Frank Trigg and
Jay Glazer getting ready for their announcing
duties. I decided to walk over and listen in. On the way over, I ran
into “Big” John McCarthy but didn’t get much of a
chance to talk to him as Herb Dean and Jake Rosenthal came up to him.
It seemed that they haven’t seen each other since December when
McCarthy had retired. I stood by and listened to the referee reunion
for a couple of minutes before deciding to move on.
After walking around
for about 10 minutes and just taking it all in, a few fighters made
their way out to the ring to “feel it out.” Edwin
Dewees came down with Joe Riggs and Ken Shamrock. Dewees looked big.
He wasn’t much in the mood for talking though. Shortly after
that, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira came down too. Little Nog was much more
personable.
Finally before the
fights started, I got to meet Aleksander Emelianenko. That guy is huge!
What a disappointment to not see him fight.
Now the fights were
ready to start. In all the hustle I got pushed to the other side of
the arena from where my seat was. So what did I do?
Find out in Part 2! - Main Event |
Affliction:
Banned 
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