We are in the van for 11 hours, so it gets boring over time. Bobby decided to play a game titled "who farted?". He was the only player. After countless stops for pee breaks and more fast food restaurants i can think of(I don't eat fast food, I consider it death food. Fruit salad works wonders ^_^) we arrive in Miami. The ride to where the event was being held was pretty awkward. Every person was silent, just looking around. Not saying a word. *ffaaaaarrrrrrttt*. Luckily Bobby knew how to break the ice.
We pull into the parking lot, and to all of our surprise, there are photographers outside. Apparently nothing exciting goes on in Miami, so for a bunch of people to take pictures of amateur fighters, thats gotta be the evolutionary step.We step out and the flashes start flying. By the way, this isn't even fight night. This is 2 days before the event even takes place. We just run in, and look around. The place is fucking huge! It looked to be the size of the civic center (which is a stadium in Pensacola). Me and bobby started to get really excited. Ricky was just silent, not showing any emotion. Jason looked at the other fighters coming in and decided to taunt every single one. Calling every one of them a "dick nugget" and pointing and shouting wither "submission, tko, or knockout". An asshole at its finest.
We all are told to go to the banquet room. Theres only about 30 fighters at this event, but the entire room was filled with fans, photographers, and journalists. We all had to sit in the front. When we got to the front, I noticed why it was such a big deal. There he was, sitting on top of the podium, Eddie Alvarez. My fucking hero, he's here. In my mind, i flipped my shit. We all sit down, and the promoter goes over all the rules for the event. What is illegal, what is not, and what to do when something "bad" happens. Elbows are not allowed on the ground, and no kicking downed opponents. Everything else was standard rules of MMA. After the promoter got done talking, Eddie Alvarez comes up on stage and talks to us about what he expects, and what he has in store for the "prodigy's". I honestly cant remember much. I was in shock and awe. After the pre fight conference, if you can even call it that. We get back in the van and drive to the hotel. John and Jason get a room, and me Bobby and Ricky get one room. We just put our stuff down, and Bobby takes pictures out of certain situations, such as using southpaw, going for the clinch, or ground situations. I try to remember what to do, and how to remain calm in those situations. I feel good, this fight is my first and I feel really good about it. Bobby is more excited than me, and Ricky is still silent. We get to bed early, and me and Bobby decided to wake up early to train a bit and get to the stadium before the other fighters.
We wake up at 5 am and walk to the stadium, considering its only a few blocks away. We get to where the counter lady is, and ask her if we can get inside the cage, and just get a feel of things. She gives us the ok, and we walk into the stadium. We get to the cage, and realize its almost identical to the ufc cage. Except a little bigger. We get inside and start to walk around, see how springy the fence is, how padded the mat is, the usual. We decide to just wrestle a bit, without changing. Just to get a feel for it. We try clinch on the fence, we just goof around after that. We feel good, laughing, playing around. Not trying to be as serious as everyone else is. You gotta have fun too if you wanna do this job.
After that we just decide to go back to the hotel, and chill a little bit. John and Ricky and Bobby see us come back and thought we had just run away. "You guys scared the shit out of me", John said. "We just went to see the cage, and get a feel for it. Don't worry", I said. After we talked for a bit, we just walked around the hotel, talking to other fighters, and just relaxing. 1 more day, and the event would be here. My first fight on the line, and a chance to see whats in store with Alvarez. This is going to be good.
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