Fight Night 106

This morning we got up at about 8am and just hung out in the room for a little bit before George went to the lobby for hot water for his oatmeal breakfast. George is is good spirits and looks like he put on at least 7-8 pounds since yesterdays weigh in.

Once we get to our dressing room we George starts stretching out waiting for his hands to be wrapped. George has the first fight and wants his hands wrapped as soon as possible so he can start warming up.

While George is getting his hands wrapped the other fighters and their camps start to come in. We share the locker room with Paulo Thiago, Marcus Davis and Kendall Grove.

Paulo Thiago sharing our locker room.

Marcus Davis sharing our locker room.

Kendal Grove and his team sharing our locker room.

George warmed up with the mitts for about fifteen minutes before he got called to walk out to the cage. The fight went as George planned, he kept the fight standing until half way through the round when he shot in on Dent and took him to the ground where George controlled him until the end of the first round with his ground and pound game.

When the first round ended I was walking to George and I noticed that he was bleeding from above his left eye. At first I thought it was blood from Dent that got on him until George told me he was cut. At that time UFC's cut man began working on George's eye. The cut looked deep but the cut man did a great job stopping the bleeding and round two began.

After a few exchanges George catches a leg kick takes DENT to the ground where George controls him until he gets Dent's arm where he uses a arm crush to arm bar and taps Dent out!!

Team Sotiropoulos in the locker room after George's win over Jason Dent.

Friday weigh ins, UFC 106

Today was an early day. We got up at 7:00am and kinda of just laid around for about 45min. At about 7:45am we headed down to the workout room at the Event Center. Before we started our last workout, George jumped on the scale. He was right on target, 157lbs. He only had one pound to make weight and we haven't even started his workout yet. After checking his weight, George had his last light workout with Saohin and I that took about 30min. Just as we were finishing, Urijah Faber came in to workout with Saohin on his kickboxing.

Urijah Faber working out with Sohin

While Urijah and Saohin worked out, George and I went to the unofficial weigh in where UFC officials check the fighters weight to see where they are at prior to the official weigh ins. This is also the time that UFC officials check the fighter's shorts and banners to make sure all the sponsors are approved by the UFC. At the unofficial weigh ins George was 155lbs. PERFECT!!! We then headed to our room where we planned on resting until the Official weigh ins that were at 4:00pm. As soon as we walked out of the back entrance to the Event Center, George was met by a crowd of fans that gathered at the doorway waiting for fighters to get their autographs and pictures.

George was happy to sign all the autographs and take pictures with the fans despite the fact that he was hungry, tired and wanted to get to the room and rest. One thing that really impresses me about George is no matter what he is headed to or what his day consist of he always takes the time to stop to take pictures and sign autographs for the fans.

After George was done we headed to our room and rested. At 3:45pm we headed down to the Events Center where the Official weigh ins were. At the Official weigh ins in front of a crowd of about two thousand, George and Jason Dent both weighed in at 155lbs.

George Sotiropoulos and Jason Dent both weigh in at 155lbs.

Me, George, Todd, Saohin and Eddie Bravo at the weigh ins.

Both George and Dent looked to be in good shape and this is looking to be a great fight. After leaving the weigh in we headed to the room where George started his re-hydration.

George having his steak after the weigh in.

After a couple hours of taking in small amounts of liquids and food George was ready for a real meal. Of course George had a huge steak. In about three hours George looked a lot fuller and was in good spirits it was now time to get to bed and rest up for tomorrows fight.

Thursday, two days til UFC 106 fight

This morning started off with getting up and walking down to Starbucks. The line was the longest line I've ever seen at any Starbucks. Just before leaving our room I threw two bananas into my backpack with my mitts.After a 15min wait in line, I finally get one person away from making my order, when an older gentleman in a business suit orders a house coffee and a banana. The cashier tells him they don't have any bananas. Hearing this I say excuse me sir, if you want a banana I have an extra one. The guy looks me up and down with this puzzled look. Now, I'm wearing a Golden Gloves beanie, a Purebred Jiu Jitsu hoodie and camo cargo pants. I know he must be wondering who is this guy. So while he's admiring my stylish outfit, I pull out a banana and hand it to him. As he takes it from me he asks me if I'm an "UFC Guy". I told him, "No, my friend is" and pointed to George. Now this guy that seemed kind of stand offish says "Well, thank you very much. You've just changed my perception of UFC guys. Good luck and have a blessed day".

George outside his assigned workout room.

After getting my coffee and George's tea we headed to our workout room. Once in the room George jumped on the scale. He weighed in at 161.8, right on schedule. He warmed up for a half hour stretching then we began to work. We decided not to detail our workout in this forum but I can tell you his punches and kicks were so crisp and hard that they echoed the room. Brock Larson and his camp seemed surprised that George a jiu jitsu back belt, could punch and kick so hard.

We worked out for about an hour then headed to the spa where George jumped on the treadmill for forty minutes. The spa (in Mandalay Bay) is beautiful. If you get a chance look it up online, you'll see what I mean. So far we haven't seen to many other fighters. Robbie Lawler was working out at the spa and Carl Uno was walking into the workout room as we were walking out but other then those guys we haven't seen any other fighters so far.

After leaving the spa, we headed to our room where we had lunch and took a nap.

After our nap, I get up go to the restroom and realize the bathroom smells horrible. I ask George if he was the cause of this stink. George in his Australian accent says "nah you did it. Don't blame me".

So for next few hours George and I are in this smelly room resting, discussing the fight and blaming each other for the stink in our room. A short time later Todd White meets us at our room for George's second workout which consists of jiu jitsu and wrestling. Just as we are leaving I grab another banana and started eating it. For some reason I happen to look into our bathroom and notice that our shower and our bathtub had at least four inches of sewer, dark brown water, in them. I'm guessing you can figure out why the water was dark brown. Todd and George starts laughing while I sit there in disgust trying not to throw my banana up. We were amazed that between the three of us, we must have used the bathroom at least six times walking past the shower and tub with none of us noticing the dark brown water sitting there.

I then went immediately to the front desk while George and Todd went to train. I was able to get a fifty dollar food credit and a room change. I then met George and Todd at the training room. George went about a half hour of jiu jitsu and an half hour of wrestling. Again George was on and looking very prepared for the fight.

We went back to our room and now found that the plumbing problem had moved from our bathroom into our room and into the room next door. Luckily, for us none of our belongings get wet at all.

After finally getting to our new room and unpacking again, George ate his chicken and rice before we called it a night and went to bed.

UFC 106, first day in Vegas

The day started off with sprints in the morning at home at 24hrs Fitness with George, Miroslav and I. 7:ooam on the basketball court. It was then that I realized fighters make horrible basketball players. While Miroslav was warming up, I picked up a basketball and started shooting around. After at least 15 attempts and no basket Miroslav is dying laughing so he picks up the ball and continues to miss without making a basket. At this time we're laughing so hard I can't breathe. Now George walks onto the court and is going to "show us" how its done. George can't sink a basket either. Now I'm laughing so hard I have tears rolling down my face. After at least 50 shots, I think I made 2, George made 2 and Miroslav made 3 baskets. Its then I realized the only time fighters belong on the courts is to do their sprints!

After finally getting our sprints done it was off to take a shower and to the airport. The airport and flight to Vegas was uneventful being it was a Tuesday and pretty dead. We arrive in Vegas and was met by our UFC driver "Q".



He took us to Mandalay Bay where we were taken to the media room where we took care of our paperwork. While there they took my picture for my corner man license and George signed things for UFC. UFC has all the fighters sign things for sponsors. Today George signed 12 t-shirts and 180 posters. After that was done they checked his weight and did a pre fight interview with him. We then headed to our room. Our room of course is awesome. After about an hour in the room, Todd arrives. Since we are all starving we head down for dinner. At dinner we discuss and set our training times and schedule for the week. After dinner we head up to the room and get ready for bed. Its an early morning tomorrow. George is in great shape ready for this fight. I'm so excited and can't wait for this fight. Its going to be a good one.