Champion

Hi wonderful readers..

This post isn't an embarrassing story, but one that I feel like needs to do my papa bear justice!

As you all know, Chazz is a MMA fighter with an undefeated record of 4-0 (whoo hoo!). His last fight was in December (ya know, the one where he proposed.. no big deal) then shortly after that victory he had appendicitis which put him on a fighting hiatus. He was beyond ready to get back on the horse and decided to take a TITLE Muay Thai fight to get him back in his element before his next MMA fight next month. For those of you that don't know the difference between Muay Thai and MMA, here's some very basic knowledge (fighters reading, don't crucify me): basically, it's total stand-up striking for the most part. You do a lot of work from the clinch (google that if you must), use elbows, knees, kicks, etc. As with any fighting style, there are different rules in different states and different rules for amateur vs. professional. But, for the most part, the rules are pretty standard.



My copilot



The fight opportunity was scheduled to be at The Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, Fl (google this hotel). Having never been to St. Pete, I was thrilled to have an all expense paid trip to the beach! The odd part was that, although Chazz is 4-0 in MMA, he is 0-0 in Muay Thai and you normally don't get a title fight for your first time fighting a new style. Before finalizing the contract, the ISKA initially said the fight couldn't happen because Chazz is 0-0. The promoter was eager to have Chazz fight for the title and was able to use his grappling record as "point fighting" and the ISKA agreed to let it happen. Chazz started his training right away and didn't miss a beat. Before we knew it, it was weight cut time, where he dropped from 173-157 in 4 days (makes me sick), and then it was time to head on down! After 7 hours of driving while Chazz slept like a great co-pilot, we arrived and checked in! The problem was that we got there hours earlier than weigh-ins and the hunger/irritability was starting to kick in. Being the amazing fiance that he is, he agreed to take me to the pool. It was a little difficult for him when he could smell the hot wings and fellow sun bathers were ordering pina coladas at the pool bar, but he still participated and even bought me a fancy pool drink.



Mango mojito!



Fast forward a couple hours, we head downstairs to weigh in. Weigh-ins went well, Chazz and his opponent are both on weight and ready for battle the following night. It wasn't until that moment that we determined that the promoter was also the opponent's coach. After weigh ins the 3 of us (Chazz, his manager, and I) went to eat sushi for the post weigh in meal. After talking with each other, that's when we determined why the promoter wanted Chazz. It was simple, Chazz was to be the "sacrificial lamb" to get his guy his first win since junior league. Which also explained why he was willing to manipulate Chazz's record to get the ISKA to agree to the fight. Knowing this, I think it aided in Chazz's drive to want to win.

After packing on some pounds, Saturday/fight night is upon us and we hit the pool until having to go to the fighter meeting at 4:30pm. When we head downstairs, the promoter is running an hour behind schedule. Chazz's manager asks if we can go back to our room and be called when the meeting is about to start. The promoter confirms he has Chazz's cell number and says, "sure I'll text you when we are about to start." The next text was from Chazz to the promoter asking when the meeting was to start since we hadn't heard anything to which the promoter responded, "it's already over." Shocked, Chazz says, "I thought you were going to tell me when it was about to start." No response. When we head back down, we run into the promoter and Chazz's manager is able to say, "you never called us about the meeting. What did we miss? Is it regular rules?" Promoter, "oh yeah, yeah it's regular rules." Manager again, "regular Thai rules, right?" Promoter, "yes, regular rules." Game on. We watch some of the bouts then head to start warming up.

While warming up, I learn that they didn't require blood work or a current vision test. Hm, weird. I also learned that they only had two pair (red/blue) of head gears and shin guards. So basically, each fighter was passing one set to the next fighter. Which is actually pretty disgusting. Maybe why the sport isn't for me. Anyway, Chazz is warmed up and I pray for us and we head into the venue (did I mention I was in the corner?). Chazz and his opponent are both waiting outside of the same double doors to be announced into the ring. Awkward. His opponent is announced first, and then my honey. This is also where we learned that not only was the promoter the guy's coach, but also in his corner (tasteless). Chazz being from GA, fighting in the other guy's hometown, the crowd wasn't thrilled to see him fight. I don't care who you are, that has to affect your subconscious. Most athletes thrive off of the crowd's energy. Fight starts, they are going at it. Chazz is KILLING it in the clinch. His opponent is dropping like a fly. Just about every 10 seconds, he was down again, it seemed. Chazz had a noticeable adrenaline dump that affected his defense a bit, but he was winning, no doubt about it. In between rounds, his manager is cornering him and motivating him and doing all things a corner man should do while I stand there on the steps and look pretty in my fight shirt. And that's because in between one round I stepped up to add some encouraging words and Chazz accidentally spit blood in my face, and into my eye. Knowing that it was unnecessary to bring it to any one's attention, I knew better than to not mention it. But, I did anyway because I'm terrible at hiding emotions/facial expressions and I'm panicking on the inside because THERE'S BLOOD IN MY EYE. Yet, no one seemed to care. Whatever, it was traumatic for me.    

4th round (out of 5), these kids behind us start talking crap about Chazz's fighting. Not one to shy from confrontation, Chazz's manager turns around to yell, "actually it's legal." They were obviously idiots who didn't know anything about Muay Thai. Shortly after, the ISKA rep comes over to our corner to inform us that was Chazz is doing is not legal. The following dialogue:
Manager, "what do you mean it's not legal? It's a Thai fight."
ISKA, "no, it's not. It's Oriental Rules Kickboxing"
Manager, "WTF- the fight was sold to us as a Thai fight and we confirmed with the promoter it was a Thai fight. This is what we've been training for."
ISKA- "No, it's not Thai and it was discussed at the fighter's meeting"

At this point, the bell rings for the end of the 4th round and as Chazz's manager is having choice words with ISKA, Chazz is yelling that he needs a stool and water. Frantic, having never had these responsibilities, I trip getting water, can't get the stool through the ropes and yell for his manager to join, except he doesn't hear. Once he joins Chazz in the corner he briefly informs Chazz that he hasn't been getting any points for the clinch work, and that the scoring is different than we thought. Chazz isn't comprehending this, he's in fight mode! Last round and then the official decision. The announcer tells us that it's a split decision and raises the other guy's hand. Chazz. Is. Devastated. I'm devastated for him. His manager is off somewhere yelling at someone about the whole thing. I don't know what to say, all I know is that I want to get Chazz out of there. So when the doctor asks for Chazz's shinguards and headgear, I tell him that we aren't doing it there, we are going back to our locker room (you aren't going to make MY baby stand there in defeat in front of his opponent's cheering fans)! Once in the locker room, his manager and myself are trying to explain what happened. It wasn't until hours later, once the adrenaline died down, Chazz understood what we were telling him and couldn't believe it. It's always disappointing to have faith in a person that turns out to just have bad intentions. Chazz wasn't defeated. He may not have lost, but by technicalities. It wasn't fair what happened to him. But, as those of us that have ever lost know you can't appreciate winning if you never lose. He's now taking it in stride and ready to get in the cage in a couple weeks. To the shady promoter- you'll get what's coming to you. And we took two of the hotel's beach towels, I hope you have to pay for them.



Worth it for me!