Andy’s Blog

Another great event that put together fights that people wanted to see!  Even though the Chuck vs. Wander fight did not have any belts on the line, it was awesome being able to watch two living legends of the sport go at it.  The crowd at my house watching the fight was going nuts every time there was an exchange and it was amazing to see Chuck score a couple of takedowns; gave me an idea that maybe I should be doing the same thing in my fights one of these days!

GSP vs. Hughes was a terrific one and it shows the direction that the sport is going in.  Just like any other professional sport, strength/conditioning and athleticism is now as important as knowing how to punch and kick.  When the UFC first started, it was mainly martial artists fighting; guys that had learned fighting techniques, but weren’t very good athletes.  You see the evolution of the sport now and the explosiveness and physical attributes of guys like GSP and you know the days of just showing up and fighting are long gone.

One undercard fight I was very interested in was Lyoto Machida.  We used to train together at the old rAw gym and back when he first came, we had no idea who he was.  A very, VERY nice guy, he was almost purely karate back then and Rico Chiparreli put in a lot of time to get his wrestling and grappling up-to-par.  It’s good to see Lyoto reaching his potential and beating some top-notch opponents.

I’m sure most people have either seen the fight or heard about it, but Mac Danzig won the Ultimate Fighter Finale and was crowned the Season 6 champion after defeating a tough Tommy Speer on December 8th, 2007. 

 I could not have been happier or prouder of Mac, who has overcome so much to reach this point in his career.  He has caught a lot of flack for the way he was portrayed on the Ultimate Fighter, but hopefully now people will begin to see that he’s a hard-working guy that just expects the best out of himself and those around him. 

He asked Gray Maynard, John Alessio and myself to help him in this bout and the moment he won, all three of us exploded!  In the locker room before the fight I got the sense that Mac was going to do real well as his warm-ups were very, very sharp.  We did a lot of pads and grappling situations and each drill he was very clean and precise.  We all got the feeling that if he went out there and did what he did backstage, the title would be his.

 After his fight, I also awarded Mac his Brown Belt in BJJ as he has proved his technique over and over again.  I know this will be just the beginning of a long, successful jounrey in martial arts and in the UFC for him!