Yesterday was a great training day at Sityodtong. My coach, Jake Steinmann, really pushed me hard. I wanted to quit during the last couple of rounds. I had no gas, my legs felt like lead and I was struggling with all my might to get all the air I could between the bells. Jake was constantly encouraging me, being positive, and passionately motivating me when my tenacity started to fail.
There's something gained in a relationship when you work through a physical challenge and someone helps you get through it. In the fighting arts, there's a bond that is created that is difficult to describe. The person experiencing the challenge exposes their vunerability and indicates, to his or her trainer, a need for help. The other person, because he is dedicated to his student, helps him or her to overcome the obstacle. In the fight game, this obstacle is usually a physical one, like getting through the last 30 seconds of a round. However, the impact of the comraderie developed often lasts far longer than the physical exercise. Often, it lasts a lifetime.
Yesterday, I watched Patrick Cote go through his conditioning exercises at Sityodtong. He ran sweating from station to station to complete his circuit. Patrick is fighting for the UFC middleweight championship in October against current champ Anderson Silva. With each circuit becoming harder and harder, Patrick kept up the pace and sprinted in the later rounds of circuits. While no one yesterday morning was helping him complete each circuit, every single person there was pulling for him. I spoke with him briefly after he completed his workout. Patrick is a sincerely genuine person and I wish him all the best. I'll be pulling for him for his middleweight title shot. BTW...for those of you that are interested, Stacia says he is WAY more handsome in person.
Kenny Florian came by to give Stacia a poster for her classroom. He didn't have to swing by Sityodtong and drop it off to her. It was an off-training day for Kenny and he was going to fly out to LA to do a promotional signing for the UFC later that afternoon. He is pressed for time these days. Kenny and I will be friends when he is no longer a UFC star. He was my friend before that and he'll be my friend after too.
That's the way it is when you share an experience with someone and there is genuine sincerity between the two people. Tim Cartmell once told me that we'll always be friends, even if we never did martial arts together again.
Those are the true tough guys. People that sincerely give something of themselves like Jake, Kenny, and Tim.
Last but certainly not least...Jake has a fight in NY on October 3rd. He's been training very hard for it, and I want to wish him the best of luck.
Kenny Florian is fighting on the UFC 91 card against Joe Stevenson. Best of luck, my friend. "Get his neck!"
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