Today was the day we trained for. Fight day. USA vs New Zealand. We slept in and lounged out before going for our last big meal for breakast. Eggs, bread, bacon, hash browns, sausages and mushrooms! Delicious. All of us had the same thing. As the day grew on it was closer to scrap time. We arrived at the arena around 4:00 for the fight debriefing, and then it was on. 6pm doors open and 7pm fights started. Fighters loaded the locker rooms and the crowds Loaded the arena. Music blasting and then it began. First fight was underway. We paced around until the 3rd of 10 fights and then Tahi wrapped our hands and we started to warm up. In a fairly small locker room kaleo and I started breaking our first sweats. Fight 5 ended, then 6, then 7. It was almost time. Fight 8 concluded and then they had short intermission before the co and main event fights. This was it. Time to shine. Kaleo was up first. Welcomed to a surprising roar from the crowd he stepped and the cage and it was on. Kaleo traded and showed dominant ground skills for a 3 round tough fight almost finishing the fight several times and walking away with the unanimous decision! Great performance. Next up was me. The main event of the show. As my walkout music sounded the arena surrounded by harley davidsons all started roaring, the crowd was going crazy. The energy was insane. I couldn’t stop smiling in excitement to get in there. I got to the cage, greased on, said my good byes and here we went. Me and NZ top bantamweight were starring eye to eye. Ding……the bell sounded and we went at. Both charged for center of the cage. I got a brief takedown and he worked back up, we got into a standing exchange. Crowd was loud as can be. Then he rushed me…I threw a long rear uppercut and that was it. Sleep! I just jumped on top and through it must have been 20 elbows before the ref jumped in and stopped the fight!! RD 1 KO!! We came, we saw, we conquered!!

I need to give big thank you to Brad Kora and the amazing town of Whakatane for not only bringing us to fight but for putting on a FANTASTIC event and welcoming us with open arms. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Check out the pics here

Today we woke up bright and early at 7am ready to hit the gym and cut off the last of our weight. Pretty exciting considering we would be all set and ready to eat by noon. We arrived at Sunny Gymz around 9 and spent the next hour doing for the most part a routine flawless cut. 5 minutes in the sauna, 5 minutes on the bike, followed by 5 minutes of laying down. Rinse and repeat for about 5 rounds and the weight was off. We were set, official and ready to eat our first real New Zealand meal. The show set us up with a near by cafe and it was on. We ate grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit, some veggie pie things and topped it off with a coffee at the end. Yeah, now were are back to normal. After our first meal we headed back to the hotel for a little recover nap before we had a formal tribal welcoming from the tribe. This was also a welcome home for Tahi. Ill start by saying this was AMAZING. As we walked into the Marae (a tribal meeting place) we were faced to face with a pack of tribe man doing a traditional Haka Dance. If you have ever seen NZ rugby, its a breath taking experience. Super energizing. Following the dance we were sat down and the elders spoke in Maori tounge about the land and welcoming us to it. A truly blessing to be apart of. Once the ceremony concluded we all took some photos and then went off to more sight seeing directed by Tahi. I cant believe this island gets more and more beautiful as we get to travel around. Except this time we also get eat! I could go on and on about what we say today, but i figured instead Id just show you for yourself. ENJOY! tomorrow is the fight. Kaleo and myself are ready to rock. Stay tuned and we will keep you posted. Thanks for all of your support and reading the blogs. TEAM USA!!

Today started off with us sleeping in until about 10:00am. After we finally got up Tahi wanted to take me and kaleo around town and do some sight seeing to take our minds off food for the day (today we cut out water and day 2 of no sodium). I’m telling you, this island gets more beautiful as the days go on. Our first stop was to this private beach that Tahi used to go to when he was a kid. Giant open surf, big mountain in the dead center of the water surrounded by sea and amazing sea shells all over the shore. This has to have been one of the signal amazing places I have ever been privileged to have visited. So much energy it’s almost un explainable. Next we visited a natural hot spring pool in a neighboring town. Water was steaming from the heat beneath. I wish I would have brought some swimming trucks, but I heard we might come back! Now With our energy starting to fade we headed back into town and took a power nap before our final workout. Tomorrow is the weigh ins and they are also doing a traditional greeting ceremony for us! I heard it will quit amazing. 2 more days to go. Im Feeling great and kaleo is looking like a beast. We are ready to get the rest of the weight off in the morning and then carb up. It’s almost showtime. WAR team USA

After a 12 hour flight and a 4 hour car ride we finally made it. Tahi burns, Kaleo Gambill (from bj penns gym in Hawaii ) and myself were in New Zealand!
We landed in a city called Aukland and traveled through the beautiful green lands to the beach city of Whakatane “pronounced -fuckatane”. (happens to also be Tahis home town). Once in town we un packed and searched for the things we needed to cut weight with for the week. Apparently people here think we are nuts for wanting to drink distiller water. In fact one person we asked gave us the stink face when we asked for it lol. Reminded me of the movie Idiocracy if youve ever seen it- when he was looking for drinking water and all they have it Gatorade. Anyways, so it dosnt look like we will get it.
We gave up on the hunt and decided to do a little site seeing of Whakatane. (pictures will come soon) it reminds me alot of like Hawaii, everything is right on the the ocean, mountain on the other side, small streets, and beach town vibes. It’s really peaceful. Can’t wait to fight! 3 more days to go! WAR Team USA!

Fight Flyer

LOS ANGELES – BAMMA USA presented Badbeat 2 at the worlds largest poker casino, Commerce Casino, on Saturday June 11 and proved once again that they are the premier proving grounds for local Southern California talent. The event hosted 4 professional and 6 amateur mixed martial arts bouts including a main event fight that had the crowd going crazy.

Props – http://www.bammausa.com/