My UFC 94 Trip: Part One

Part one of my two-part mini-series will describe highlights of the trip coming together and weigh-in day at the MGM Grand, including meeting and coming face to face with several fighters.

Back in 2008, it was rumored that BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierre would be facing off sometime in 2009 in Las Vegas.

I have a very close friend who just moved to Vegas (let's call him Danny), and so, I thought it would be very easy to take a trip out that way and catch this specific UFC event, showcasing one of my favorite fighters in one of the biggest matches ever.

When GSP beat Jon Fitch and BJ came into the ring, I was ecstatic that my wish would come true—the superfight of superfights that the UFC would have to offer. With the way the first Penn-St. Pierre fight ended, this was bound to continue one day.

Then, the rumors in October came and a finalization of the fight was announced shortly before Thanksgiving. The mega-fight of the year would be Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture.

I had mentioned that I wanted to make the trip out and a couple of friends joined in on the fun (let's call them Yao and Gary). After noticing how much the UFC Fight Club actually cost and weighing other alternatives in order to get the pre-sale password, I decided to use the other means I had discovered.

I obtained a pre-sale password and bought my tickets one day early. I was able to obtain $100 tickets that people were people upwards of $400 for a few weeks before the fight.

My friend, who lives in Vegas, Danny, and a friend, who was going to join me for UFC 94, Yao, were in Vegas during UFC 93. They did not have tickets to UFC 93 but had discovered that you could go to the weigh-ins for free. My friends had outlined the painstaking two to three hour wait that they had endured when they went to the UFC 93 weigh ins.

They said there was no way that you could get in without being in line earlier than that and that the weigh-ins were uneventful. You could not get close to any of the fighters it was a very quick process with not much being said, and it was only 30 minutes. They didn't think it was worth it for the event that we were going to attend for UFC 94.

With that in mind, Gary and I decided that we were going to go but only arrive 30 minutes prior to the gates opening at three. So when we got in line, we noticed how packed it was in front of the arena but were optimistic about getting in.

After about 10 minutes of waiting, which was almost exactly where the Arena starts and the Grand Walk ends (the mini mall the Grand has), we noticed a camp making their way through the crowd. Clay Guida, Jason Guida, and his camp, all decked out in the same gear you saw on pay per view, happened to pass right by.

Not only that, an official from the Grand stood right in front of me and Clay right next to him telling the official who exactly was with him. A bunch of fans were saying hi and good luck. I specifically said "Take it to Nate!" Clay responded with "You got it!"

Then, as we wait a little longer, about five minutes later, someone comes up behind me and says, "excuse me, we need to get through." I look behind me and there is this, what seemed like, seven-foot dude and behind him happened to be some other camp. I didn't notice at first because Gary, who was on the other side of me, said, "Look, it's Manny Gambruyan."

Let's just say Gary is very short. It was astounding to see how small Manny actually is, since he was actually shorter than Gary. Seeing the stats is one thing, but being right next to these guys is another altogether. 

With me still in astonishment (and making fun of Gary's height issue), I turn due to a tap on my shoulder, and it happened to be Karo Parisyan trying to get by. It blew my mind that one of my favorite fighters was literally chest-to-chest with me as he happened to make his way into the Grand.

After looking around like crazy for other people while we waited, we spotted a handful making their way in. They included Bruce Buffer, Dan Cramer, Chris Wilson, John Howard, Thiago Tavares, and Lyoto Machida.

Finally, after getting in, we got semi decent seats, which ended up being better than the ones we had for the actual event. The hour before the weigh-ins began went by quickly with the airing of UFC Primetime of BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierre.

There seemed to be more Penn fans at that point. Let's just say that every time anything with the word Penn, Hilo, or Hawaii came on the screen, there was a cheer as if BJ himself had popped out from behind the curtain.

The weigh-ins started and was uneventful except for the fact that Clay Guida was like the Energizer bunny, and Akihiro Gono came out in like a two-foot wide and high afro, which he weighed in with it on. Then, when Gono and Jon Fitch posed face to face, Gono gave Fitch the afro and Fitch put it on as they did their customary stare down—all smiles however.  

After the weigh-in, Rogan interviewed Penn and St. Pierre, but it was inaudible due to the cheers for Penn and jeers for GSP. Afterward, my friend Gary had told me when he came to the Oscar de la Hoya versus Bernard Hopkins fight a few years back, he got fed up with the crowd and went through a side exit. He came out exactly where the celebrities were leaving from that fight and he thought we should go that way too.

Well, we did and we saw a door open that probably shouldn't have been, so we decided to peek in. Just as we did, we noticed the Diaz brothers, Nick and Nate, talking to somebody, so we made our way in.

Just as we got in, we started seeing all of the other fighters on the card. We shook hands with Dan Cramer, Matt Arroyo, and Chris Wilson. I also got to shake hands with Thiago Tavares and Thiago Silva who were exiting together.

After they came through, we saw Akihiro Gono and camp but they didn't stop and neither did Jake O'Brien. Everybody else signed a few autographs, took a few pics, and shook some hands.

We also saw Lorenzo Fertitta. Then, a Grand official came over and kicked us out, largely because of this star-struck guy who happened to come in sometime after we did and would almost mug every fighter he saw.

We left that interior area that we were in but were led to the area that all the fighters were exiting through, close to the general public. I decided to walk around back to where the parking lot exit was to see if anyone would go out that way.

Gary stayed on the first floor of the Grand Arena entrance where we were led out. I saw a beautiful black Aston Martin Vantage and the Nevada license plate said WAND on it.

I took a few pictures, thinking it could be Wanderlei Silva's. As I was doing so, Gary called me and said that he just saw Wanderlei and Thiago Alves and that I should get over there fast.

As I got there, missing Thiago and Wandy, I saw another fighter and camp emerge. Lyoto Machida came out to an eruption from the crowd just flocking to him. He was taking pictures, signing autographs, and generally seemed to be a nice guy. I got a decent pic of him myself but I didn't talk to him.

Then, while waiting by the escalator, I noticed that Thiago Alves was making his way back down. I tried taking a pic but he was walking too fast and wouldn't stop. It came out blurry. But, I happened to pat him on the back and it was like patting a rock. That man is/was scary.

We also saw a few other fighters make their way out such as Dan Cramer, Matt Arroyo, Chris Wilson, and John Howard. All of them were very nice and courteous to the fans.

Matt hung around for a bit with his friends as they teased him a little for his popularity. Gary and I were right next to him and his friends for some time. After a long wait of nothing, we decided to leave.

We decided to go up to the Grand Buffet, but as we were walking, we got to meet two more fighters just randomly meeting people in front of stores in the mini-mall area. Jason MacDonald was there and he was much bigger (and a little older looking) in person. He was very polite and all smiles.

Then, we walked a little further and we saw Mike Swick. I shook his hand, told him I was a big fan from Texas, and he said thanks. Swick had a significantly larger amount of fans mugging him than MacDonald, so it was hard to get to talk to him for an extended period of time.

We went up to the Grand Buffet as we were starving and noticed that we were two tables away from Doomsday John Howard. By this time, I was sure that they thought we were stalking them.

As we were eating, we noticed Thiago Tavares happened to walk right past us and right out of the buffet. I wonder if the MGM comps them their meal.

Then, in my general direction, a server seats a big party and it happened to be Karo Parisyan and some other people, only one or two from his camp. No Manny. My friend and I thought that this was really cool, and at some point, I told myself that I would go up to him and say hi, but not while he was eating. Most people greeted him on his way in, and everybody let him be while he was eating.

When he got up, I decided to go up and say hi. So, in front of the ice cream machine, I told him that he has always been one of my favorites and it was good to meet him.

I wished him luck and he thanked me by saying it meant a lot. He was genuinely nice and humble about it all and I let him be.

As he was leaving, I was about to leave myself, so I asked him if it would be okay to take a picture with him. He said it was cool and that is the picture you see up above. He was a class act with all the fans and very cool.

Tune in later this week for Part Two: Fight Night, with a post fight talk with Karo Parisyan, Greg Jackson, and Firas Zahabi.