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by Tracy Lee, combatlifestyle.com
As you can see if you happen to follow my blogs, I left San Diego on wednesday afternoon around 4pm. I had to be back in Las Vegas to head to the airport by about 11pm. I gave myself enough time to get home and also possibly make some stops along the way. Along my route home was Team Quest in Temecula, various friend's homes, and Joe Daddy's new Cobra Kai location in Victorville. I decided to stop at Cobra Kai because I hadn't made it by there because of all my traveling as of late.
I googled the location from my phone, and used google maps to find that it was close off the freeway. I couldn't get a hold of Joe or Jess "The Joker" Laudin who is currently training for UFC 85, so I just dropped by in the hopes I would see them. Luck was in favor that day and they were both there, Joe was running the evenings rolling session and Jess was a part of it as he got ready for his impending fight in UFC 85 in London.
Cobra Kai is located on Monarch Blvd in Victorville. The location boasts a full excercise gym including cardio equipment, a cage, bag area, a boxing ring, and mat area for grappling and jiujitsu. All the pads and mats are red and black and the gym has yellow walls so the place stands out brightly.
I found Joe running a class in the back mat area, and Jess was rolling with some guys closest to me. Joe's wife Maia just had their second child (his forth) and was part of this class too while Maximus and Grandma looked on. I went and grabbed my camera and shot some photos of them training, and chatted it up with Joe's coach. Irvin Bound. Apparently after two and a half months, they already have an impressive 250 students!
I didn't have much time left, so I said my goodbyes and got back on the road to Vegas. I had 2.5 hours to drive and that would get me to my house by 10:30. I made it to my house at that time EXActly; not a minute before, not a minute after. I ran in the house, repacked my bags, jumped in the shower, and Melissa was knocking on my door within 45 minutes to take me to the airport. I was checking into the airport at 11:40.
My flight left at 12:30 with one layover in Chicago early in the morning. I was flying on American, and I have to admit it's one of my more favored choices nowadays. I would have liked to have gotten some work done, but true to form, the minute that I was on the plane, I passed out. On layover, I got on my laptop a bit, but again, once on the next plane, I was out. I landed in Rhode Island early, and found the driver at baggage claim waiting patiently for me, as well as Pat Miletich.
The hotel was an hour away from the airport; We were staying at the Mystic Marriott. I spent the drive listening to Pat tell me and Ryan (the driver) different stories about the fight industry in the past. He has a lot of good ones, and it made the time go quickly. When we finally arrived, I checked in and went straight to my room. I spent the next few hours trying to get some pictures uploaded only to figure out that I wasn't able to get pics to my FTP through the hotel's connection.
3pm,and It was time to go to the Weigh Ins. Shannon Knapp from the IFL told me that she was waiting in the van for me, so I ran downstairs and out front to see no vans. I called, heard her say something about a bus out back and I ran out there, up the stairs, on to the chartered bus. The vehicle was full with all the fighters. I started to move to try to find a seat before Lisa turned me around and marched me off the bus to the Van waiting behind it with all the girls. "I tried to stop you," Shannon said. I laughed at myself and my embarrassing moment as we drove to the weigh ins.
It was a 30 minute drive to the Mohegan Sun Casino where the fights and the weigh ins were being held. All the fighters went in back, and I sat in front and prayed for some wifi. The wifi gods were in my favor as the casino's network was not only unsecured, it was fast and FREE and I was able to get my photos up. So fast that I got the weigh in pics up as the fighters were having their rules meeting.
The weigh ins themselves went quickly and afterwards all the fighters shuffled to the back for the rules meeting and medicals. I went on a search for somewhere to plug my laptop in and was pushed by security into the room where all the fighters were. I shrugged my shoulders, sat on the ground and got the photos up online as I listened to the commissioner spout off the rules. A sponsor got up and spoke a few words, and then we all sat around for a few hours for the guys to get their medicals done.
Shannon and I took off to dinner with the Team Quest guys, foregoing the ride back to the hotel. We ate at a seafood place that the guys seemed to be familiar with. This was my first time to Mohegan Sun, although there have been quite a few fights here that I have missed. The food was pretty decent; I wasn't super hungry so opted to share the gumbo with Chael Sonnen. Shannon ordered the crab (it looked like too much work for me), Matt Lindland got the scallops and risotto, Zac George a steak, Aaron Stark got fresh fish of some kind, and I never saw what Ryan Schultz ordered. The meal was light hearted save Matt being upset at the size of his meal. The manager rectified that by bring out more of the risotto to fill him up.
We all jumped in cabs back to the hotel, and $45 bucks later, we were there. A bunch of people who weren't fighting the next day had talked about going out that evening (back to the casino) but as the evening wore on, many lost their motivation and we ended up hanging out in the lobby much of the night.
Earlier in the day, Lisa had given her number outloud to one of the fighters. I guess some crazy guy had heard her, called it and said some VERY lewd things to her. This had Pat Miletich on the phone with the guy on the bus to the weigh ins, and later had the cops out to the hotel. They confronted the guy and he said, "well she shouldn't have been giving out her number in public!" What??? Anyhow, much of the conversation in the lobby that evening revolved around what everyone was going to do that guy should they get a hold of him. That group dispersed as Mario Sperry and Kurt Otto, the IFL's commissioner were walking in the doors of the hotel.
I joined them on the couches in the lobby and ended my evening listening to story after story about parties, fights, and different things that happened to Mario in Brazil. Many of his stories had some well known names in the fight industry from back in the day, so it was great to hear this behind the scenes look at their lives. At that point I went upstairs to get some work done and turned in at 5:30am.
Fight day, and I was up working again by 8. I have a bad habit of getting so busy that I don't eat, but I always have so much to get done that I forget to. This day was no different, and I finally went downstairs to meet Shannon in the Octagon Cafe (yes, it was really called that) for lunch at 3. I guess the many of the fighters had already left to the venue. A few of the stragglers were hanging out in the lobby. A small group of us got on the shuttles at six, including Ken Shamrock and his wife.
I went in search of my credential when we arrived which is often a chore because I entered through the back door of the arena with everyone else. The staff seemed to know the arena pretty well this particular event and I ran up and secured the pass before running down ring side to stake out my location. That done, I went back towards the locker rooms to find Shannon.
She had taken off to find Tara La rosa, a prominent female fighter in the MMA industry. She had driven over from Philly to see the fights, and visit with Shannon. I recognized her immediately when I walked up, but was really surprised when she recognized me as well. We hugged as if we were old friends and I snapped some photos of her with Bas, Shannon, Chael and Matt Lindland.
Soon the fight was starting and I ran to my position ring side. I didn't leave there until the fight was over. As I shoot, I load the photos to my lap top and keep track of the details of the fight as well. Typically, it's a process that I have down and it runs smoothly, but between issues with my cameras, and then a memory card corrupting with an entire fights' pictures on it, I had quite a few hurdles to jump.
Of the first five fights, 2 finished quickly, 2 went to decision, and one went almost the full distance before a huge gouge above the fighters eye had the referee stopping the action. Bout number 6, Danillo Villefort finished the action on the ground with a slick knee bar, before it was time for the title fights of the night. First one was Ryan McGivern vs Dan Miller and was finished quickly as Dan secured the second knee bar of the evening, granting him the Welterweight title belt. Next fight was unarguably the fight of the night as Ryan Schultz and Deividas Taurosevicious battled it out for five full rounds before the judges came to a unanimous decision in favor of Ryan "the Lion". The final fight between Roy nelson and Brad Imes seemed anticlimactic although Roy's accurate punches had Brad woozy from the get go and had the referee stopping the action by 2:55 into the first round.
In the end, I successfully shot all the fights, and saved the photos using a recovery program. I quickly packed up my gear and went to the press conference that was underway by the time I arrived. Each of the nights winners along with their corners stepped up for questions from the press. As soon as it was done, I found myself on a shuttle back to the hotel. I got there and found that pretty much everyone had stayed at the casino, as there was a bus bringing everyone back to the hotel at 2.
I quickly cleaned up and changed and convinced one of the drivers to take me all the way back to the casino. I ran into Bas and Ron heading towards the gaming area, and Roy Nelson and John Howard on my way to the club. It was almost 1 by the time I got there and found out I couldn't get in, because of my camera.. Lol, see? Goes to show that I can't get in everywhere. Usually I would have talked to a manager prior to the beginning of the evening, but I had no clue that this was where they were going to party after. They would let me in if I left my camera at the Bell Desk, but I was unwilling to do that.
A bit frustrated, I stood around trying to figure out what to do and out of the club walks Royce Gracie. I asked him if I could take a picture and his friend grabbed my camera and took the photo of me and Royce. I ended up hanging out talking with them out front of the club until it closed. As were standing there, fan after fan came up to take photos with him. Finally the friends I was trying to meet up with came out, and then I spent the next 30 minutes trying to get them to leave the casino. They had a car though, so we didn't have to make the 2am bus. I just had a 3am shuttle to the airport to make.
We were back at the hotel at 2:45 and I ran up and packed the rest of my stuff. I had done most of my packing before I went to the fights that evening although I didn't want to check my bags on the next leg of my trip (you thought I was going home to Vegas? Oh hell no!) so it required a lot of adjusting of my toiletries so that I could make it through security. I was in the lobby at 3am sharp, and found that the Team Quest boys were leaving at the same time. We were at the airport by 4am, and my flight didn't leave until 6:30 so I broke out the laptop to try and get the photos from the trip organized.
The last two IFL's I had been to had pretty good cards, especially the one in NJ in April. I knew something had changed and that something was Shannon Knapp. I got a chance to interview her afterwards, and she had some interesting stuff to say about her job, the IFL's future, and The HEX! Check it out:
Shannon Knapp...
ME: What's your offical title with the IFL-
SHANNON: Director of Fighter Relations, but thats gettting ready to change again.
ME: Ok, what was your title before?
SHANNON: Fighter Liason and Commentator. I was a commentator for the IFL before MY Network TV came on board.
ME: So you were commentating quite some time ago. Still doing any of that type of work?
SHANNON: Yes, I commentate with Chael Sonnen on Matt Lindland's Sport Fight Event every couple months.
ME: So describe your current duties:
SHANNON: I wear many hats, I do contractual negotiation, matchmaking, scouting new talent, and taking care of the talent I already have. I keep the lines of communication open between the athletes and the company itself.
ME: Matchmaking? Wow, you're the first female matchmaker how did you step into that position?
SHANNON: I've been in the industry for a long time.. I've worked for King of the Cage, Sportfight, UFC, IFL, and various other smaller promotions across the country. It's like second nature to me after being in the industry so long. You learn to identify what makes a good matchup. Matchmaking to me is putting together the most entertaining and even matchups that I can.
ME How long have you been matchmaking for the IFL?
SHANNON: I have always assisted with the IFL's and scouting, but the last two cards I have put together along side Kurt Otto.
ME: And the April card was impressive, and this last one not too shabby itself.
SHANNON: Wait till you see our August Card. I'm bringing out all my marquee fighters; It's going to be a very impressive card.
ME: Is August's fight going to be Camp vs Camp again, like April's card?
SHANNON: Our August card is going to be more about good individual matchups, but still highlighting the Camps the athletes are training out of. We will have at least 4 title fights at that event. One of my favorite ones that I'm looking forward to is Vladimir Matyushenko vs Alexandre Ferreira for the light heavyweight title. This hasn't been announced, so you're getting the scoop first. It looks like Benji Radich could possibly be coming back on that card, as well as Tim Kennedy. There's so many more that I can't even tell you about. But one thing is for sure, that it's going to be an amazing card.
ME: Address some of the rumors we're hearing.
SHANNON: Our industry is filled with rumors no matter what promotion you are dealing with. I hear them just like everybody else. Don't count the IFL out just yet; just because we're a public company and you can look at the financials doesn't mean we're laying all our cards out on the table.
ME: Talk about THE HEX!
SHANNON: It's a new ring, a hyrbid of sorts. It's supposed to be a larger fighting surface and with 6 sides, it reduces the angles of each corner to keep fighters from getting stuck in them. This will hopefully keep guys from getting tangled up in the ropes and reduce the amount of interruptions in the fight with restarts; it's irritating to the the fighters and fans alike. We unveil the HEX on August 15th along with our amazing card in Newark, NJ at the Izod Center.
ME: Anything else you would like to talk about that I haven't covered?
SHANNON: I would like to say to the fans, get in there and support the sport. Attend live events, watch the free programming, buy the paperviews, and get to know your favorite fighters by utilizing the information that the internet has to offer. Of course, check out IFL.tv to keep up to date with what's going on in the IFL.
ME: Awesome, thanks Shannon.. We'll see you in August!!!
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