Andy’s Blog

Sorry for the long delays in posting; in between new training hours that usually keep us up until past 10pm, graduate school has also been a big blow lately.  It used to be that assignments could be turned in on MS Word and that would be that; the powers that be now ask for Excel and PowerPoint and as stated several times on my website, I’m probably the most computer illiterate guy out there so it’s taking me quite some time to run down to the library and borrow books and figure out what the heck I’m doing!

A lot of people have written me about the recent episode of the “Ultimate Fighter” where Mac Danzig, one of the stars of the current season, talks about me and gets offended when some guy in the house bad-mouths me.  I still have not seen the episode and am going off what people have told me, but it is good and satisying to know that Mac was watching out for me and setting people straight.

Mac and me go pretty far back; we first met at the rAw gym in El Segundo, Ca. where he and his friend had packed up everything in his bright red Toyota Tercel and drove cross country from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles with the goal of becoming an MMA fighter.  That was over 5 years ago.  When he first came in, we weren’t sure what to make of him.  The rAw team was very well established at the time and some of the guys that just happened to be training there that day included Frank Trigg, Vladimir Matyushenko and Fernando Vasconcellos.  Mac wasted no time and jumped on the mat with us and I remember him rolling with Fernando, who is probably one of the best BJJ players in the world, and Mac refused to tap.  Right then and there I could see that he was in it for the long haul and dedicated to the game. 

Since Mac and me were about the same size we usually paired up together to train and since we were also the smallest guys in the gym, we took our beatings from the heavies together, as well.  We became pretty close due to this, a friendship that has lasted in a sport that is filled with shady characters and con artists. 

Beyond the fighting skill, which he has plenty of, the thing I respect about him the most is his honesty.  While him and I have different kinds of personalities and philosophies ( I love steak and eggs for breakfast!), we have always seen eye-to-eye on the way we train and the way we compete. I will be rooting for Mac the entire season, not just as a fighter, but more importantly, as a friend.