by Tracy Lee, combatlifestyle.com

Friday, May 2nd...

I set my alarm for 8am, and finally pulled myself off the couch at 8:30 to jump in the shower. I was rushing to grab all my stuff as Urijah ran out the door at 9am. Mandy wasn't there to make breakfast this time, but he had stuck some of his shake that was leftover from the day before in the refridgerator and thats what he had for breakfast that day. I walked to the coffee shop with Mandy and grabbed a fruit bowl to eat.

When I got back, the pro session (mondays, wednesdays, fridays remember?) was in full swing; all the guys were grappling in the back room. Exhaustion hit me hard. I had been doing the 1-2 hours of sleep a night WAY too much in the last week and a half and I knew I was done. I kept finding myself walking back to the office to get on the computer instead of doing the strenuous work of shooting. I know, sounds like I'm a wuss, but shooting pictures can be pretty physical believe it or not. Mandy kept offering me a place to sleep in one of the offices, but I didn't want to lay down yet.

After they were done grappling, I came out of the office to a ton of noise. Yet again, Master Thong was yelling for push ups while many of the guys looked on. Poppie was the target this time, and was getting beat by a boxing glove on a stick, and kicked while he was doing the pushups. There was a lot of horse play going on at this point as Master Thong chased Danny around and started beating him on the ground. Danny quickly turned the tables on him and got him in a rear naked choke. It was cool to see this level of camraderie among the fighters there.

Urijah was in the office eating lunch. Mandy had gotten him some strawberries and grapes, as well as a turkey and cheese sandwich. I had been waiting for Miss Rara and her sister to arrive so that we could go to lunch at one of the most popular sushi spots in Sac, Mikuni's. It's walking distance from the gym so we took off over there to grab a quick bite.

When we got back, my tired ass passed out in the office. And again, someone took a picture of me. This was getting embarrassing!! I knew that I had to get sleep that night, or else I was screwed. I had too crazy of a schedule over the next week to continue like this. I had clearly hit my wall. And I wasn't covering Urijah like I would like to as a result. There's a couple hours in my day that day that I really don't know what he did. I was at lunch for an hour and a half, and then sitting at the desk for another hour and a half.

I walked out of the office around 3:45 to find all the guys with head gear and gloves on. They were going all out on each other, boxing in the ring. Urijah looked on as Danny and Mark sparred, and then some of the other guys traded off to spar with Mark. The guys were trading pretty hard; apparently they always do on monday, wednesday, and friday.

Urijah was up next with Master Thong. They were going 5 minute rounds with 1 minute breaks in between. At first it seems that Master Thong was getting the best of Urijah in the ring. Then Urijah came back and kept tagging him to the point I could see his eye was puffy. They kept trading back and forth for about 4 or 5 rounds before Thong climbed out and Charlie Valencia climbed in for 2 more.

Charlie and Urijah took a small breather and then did some strength and conditioning excercises. They did a modified version of a situp, a stand up if you will. And then Charlie dropped a 20lb medicine ball continually on Urijah's stomach while Internet Mike hit pads with Master Thong in the background. Urijah finished training by 6pm this day and instead of hanging in the office after, all the guys hung out front of the gym; the weather was beautiful.

Rara and I were wanting Jamba Juice, so Urijah, Mark, Rara and I walked around the corner to satisfy the craving. Tamara and I each ordered one of their Banana, Strawberry, Peanut Butter, and granola concoctions (it's new on the menu). Urijah grabbed not one, but two Strawberries Wild smoothies, one with a Whey Protein boost and the other with an Antioxidant Boost. Mark chose a large size Aloha Pineapple, and then we walked back to the gym where we hung out and looked at pictures for another hour and a half before heading back to the Fighter houses.

At 8:20, I looked at the clock, and knew that we were going to be leaving shortly. Here's where I passed out again... We had to be downtown at 9pm, and I woke up at 9:10. The living room was full of fighters, and Urijah had left. They all told me they tried to wake me up (was I really that out of it) and ended up leaving without me. I texted Urijah to find out where he was as I quickly got ready and jumped in my car to meet him and Charlie.

Urijah was out for the night doing promotions for the upcoming fight. The local Radio Station, 98 Rock was doing a search for the hottest Bodies in Sacramento, and Urijah was on the mission with them to find her. The 98 Rock bus was chauffering us around downtown as we went from venue to venue in search of these lovely ladies. We were accompanied by some of the girls from last year's Hot Body calendar.

I was able to catch up with them at Zebra Club, a bar in downtown Sacramento where at any given moment is a Highschool Reunion waiting to happen for me. When I got there, I was ushered to the kitchen by the owner as he handed both Urijah and I a plate of catfish filets and a baked potato. Laughing, we walked back to the table where Charlie was seated and dug in; Urijah and Charlie already ate, but Urijah always eats, so... We stayed maybe 15 minutes and then piled on the bus to the next stop, Whiskey Wild Saloon.

It was still early as we were hitting these spots and WWS was less than half full. People came up to take pics with Urijah and get autographs. The girls that were with us seemed more content to drink than find new hot body girls, but it really didn't matter to us. Next stop was Dream, a new Vegas style Lounge that seemed the most promising for our search. There were tons of little hotties here, but again, the girls didn't seem too into finding other girls. Funny how that works, lol.. Our last stop on the tour was to Blue Cue, an upscale pool hall that I used to spend quite a bit of time in. It was pretty slow there, so it was minutes before we jumped on the bus and left. We were back at the cars by 11:30pm.

I was hungry so I suggested that we stop by Ink, a late night restaurant that's pretty popular in downtown. Little did I know, but at least 3 of Urijah's fighters bounce there. No one else wanted to eat so the stop turned into a quick hello and then back to the Fighter pad. I made a pit stop for Hummus, pita's and bananas. Urijah and Charlie were still up when I got to the house, but within minutes they were headed to bed. I worked on my laptop a bit before turning in myself.

Saturday, May 3rd...

It was Saturday, and it's a day off! Dustin walked into the house at 9am, and we were rushing out the door on our way to the gym by 9:30. It didn't occur to me that someone was missing; each morning, all the guys got to the gym in different cars. It wasn't till we were at the gym for a couple hours that Urijah realized that he left Charlie behind.

On the day off, the morning was spent on grappling... All of the guys paired off and traded partners over the next couple hours. I even got in there are rolled with Kenneth Alexander for a little bit. It was my first time since I separated my shoulder in beginning of March. Didn't hurt at all, so I'll be starting again when I get back to Vegas. Somewhere around 11:45, they started working on drill thats a series of leg and heel locks. It was a 5 step drill very similar to an 8 step drill I had seen Chris Leben teaching in Hawaii in March.

They were done grappling by noon and Urijah munched down on a salad that someone had brought for him. Geez, I wish that someone delivered me food all the time!! While we were hanging out, Rara took the opportunity to put Mark Munoz in a triangle (This photo is dedicated to all of those who have been asking where the triangle pic was). Urijah was still hungry so we walked over to Mikuni's for lunch. This was my third time this week.

Urijah ordered a Miso Soup, a Citrus Blossom, and a roll that I didn't know the name of. I shared a bbq tuna and a citrus blossom with Dustin and Rara, as well as a tofu salad. As we were eating, a number of people came over to Urijah to introduce themselves, or say hello.

We got back to the house and found the other fighters in the backyard doing target practice on a fast food drink cup with pellet guns. Urijah tested out his aim, but the goal of the afternoon was to hang out by the pool so he lost interest quickly. The pool was at one of the other houses so everyone walked over their, watching their backs at all times as the pellets were flying all around us.

Some of the guys got in the spa, while one bravely jumped in the pool. I put my foot in, and it was ridiculously cold. Urijah, Internet Mike and I took off to the store to get supplies. Chips, guacamole, grapes, macaroni salad, turkey, cheese, mixed nuts, water for those who had fights coming up, and corona's for those who didn't. Watermelon was the main goal of the trip. As we wandered around the store, employees and customers kept coming up and introducing themselves. The guy that ran the produce section said, "I've never met a celebrity before!" and Urijah said (completely humble I have to add),"Oh, I'm not a celebrity." Tell that to the deli chick who gave us tons of turkey and cheese samples!

We went back to the house and unloaded all the groceries and everyone dug in. Urijah was intent on his watermelon and dug in as soon as we got back. The next few hours were relaxing as we ate and hung out and relaxed in the sun. The guys played with the pellet guns and ambushed one of the other guys in his room. An all out war ensued, resulting in a window getting broken, but everyone laughing about it.

Master Thong came out in a full track suit with a trash can in hand. He started cleaning up after us, and even threw ice in a bowl for the beer. Then he walked a bunch of grapes over to the tree and stuck them there with a butcher knife. We have yet to figure out why. He picked up the pellet gun and started shooting at a waterbottle on the fence; next we looked over and he was shooting at the trees. He's an interesting character and you never know what he's gonna do next!

Everyone went back to Urijah's to see if they could catch the DREAM fight. They didn't have HD Net at Urijah's so we had to look for it online. One by one as the evening wore on, the guys each said good night and went to bed. Urijah was on his laptop watching all the UFC prefight videos. I sat down and said to him, "So what do you think of your fight against Jens?" and as I finished saying that, his voice started emanating from the laptop. He pointed at it, and I laughed as we watched his prefight interview on WEC.tv. In the interview he states how he's watching Jens fight since before he ever started fighting and that he's honored to have the opportunity to meet him in the cage.

At this point, Urijah decided to turn in. I got up and gave him a hug goodbye and said thank you. I was leaving first thing in the morning to drive to LA, so wouldn't see him before I left.

I always love hanging out with Urijah. He's super dedicated to what he does whether it be training for fighting, or supporting his guys in their fights. He's respectful to his opponents, and doesn't underestimate them. His training is excessive; a regimen that many would be and are hard pressed to keep up with. Some would call it overtraining, but to him it's his every day thing, whether he has a fight coming up or not. The training level he kept up with this trip I took to see him was no more than when I went last august to sac and he didn't have an impending fight. He's got a funny sense of humor and a great rapport with the guys he trains.