The Iceman Cometh

Mixed martial arts are is still growing all over the world. There are a few key names that have helped create the sport into what it is today.

UFC hall-of-famers Royce Gracie, the winner of UFC 1 and UFC 2, Mark Coleman, the first ever UFC heavyweight champion, and Randy Couture, one of only two fighters that has held championships at two different weight classes, have all had influences on the sport.

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell is a former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion with an extensive striking background in Kenpo Karate, Koei-Kan Karate, and Kickboxing. Along with fellow UFC fighter, Randy Couture, Liddell is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts into the mainstream of American sports and entertainment. On July 10, 2009, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

When I found out that Chuck Liddell was doing a seminar and autograph session at MMA Revolution in Toronto, I had to go.

When we arrived at MMA Revolution, I ran in to grab our wristbands for the meet and greet. I then went back to grab Diane and we headed inside. There weren't many people lined up yet for the autograph session, but we could see the seminar happening in the back of the gym.

It seemed to me that Scott Epstein, Chuck's BJJ trainer, was conducting most of the seminar while Chuck did interviews and sipped on ice caps.

While we were waiting for the seminar to finish, Carlos Newton came into the gym. He is pretty big for a guy that sometimes fights at 170 pounds.
After the seminar was done, those that were a part of it were able to meet Chuck before the people in line just for the autographs. When it was our turn to meet Chuck, I asked him if he was going to attend the UFC Fan Expo in Boston and he said that he still wasn't sure.

I grabbed a new photo with Chuck. He had two black eyes still from his fight with Rich Franklin. The photo I had before from UFC 101 in Philadelphia wasn't very good since I just happened to grab him and take the photo.

Its always a pleasure to meet a great fighter. This could have been my last chance since Chuck might retire.

2010 Olympic Gold Medalist: Drew Doughty

I have never actually met Drew Doughty. Why am I making this blog entry? Because Drew Doughty is the first piece of a team photo that I am trying to get signed.

Drew Doughty, now of the L.A. Kings, was taken second overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Following a standout career with the Guelph Storm, where he twice voted the league's top offensive defenceman, he made his NHL debut in 2008 as an 18-year-old and was named to the All-Rookie Team.

He has represented Canada four times internationally, winning a gold medal at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, where he was named the tournament's top defenceman, and a silver at the 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The youngest player on the team, he won a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics and was named a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the top defenceman in the NHL in 2010.

On June 12th, 2010, the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League held their 20th anniversary alumni game. I had found out about the game through a post online and decided to do some more research. The lineup looked decent with NHL players Ryan Callahan, Todd Bertuzzi, Kevin Dallman, Craig Anderson, Manny Malholtra and Drew Doughty. Tickets were super cheap....only $12 each, and for charity. I swiped up four tickets, two of which my sister wanted for her and her boyfriend.

As the day of the game approached, I realized that I still didn't have anyone to go to the game with. I didn't really want to drive to Guelph alone for the game, so I gave my 16x20 of Team Canada to my sister to get signed.

She came through and the photo has been started.

Running count: 1 autograph
Drew Doughty

K-os in the Capital

July first is a huge day in Canada. Its a chance for the whole country to get together and have one huge party. In downtown Ottawa, there is always a good time to be found. Buskers, face painters, fireworks, bars and beers are to be found. One other perk of living in the capital is the show that is put on at Parliament Hill.

This years lineup included the Barenaked Ladies, Johnny Reid, and K-os. Special hosts included Ron Maclean and actor Christopher Plummer. With that being said, I printed some photos and headed downtown with hopes of them being signed.

Diane and I arrived downtown at around 10:30am and immediately saw thousands of people waiting around. One big difference between this Canada Day and those of years past was the presence of the Queen. People had packed Parliament Hill by 9:00am and there was no hope of getting anywhere near the hill.

Diane met up with some of her friends and I met up with Steve to try and grab some autographs. There was no hope on parliament hill, so we headed to Major's Hill park to try and meet K-os. When we arrived, he was on stage already as part of the afternoon show. After he was done performing, Steve and I headed to the side of the stage area to try and meet the indie rocker/hip hop artist.

After a few minutes K-os came out of backstage and we were able to grab a graph and a photo right away. He was in a bit of a hurry, obviously trying to avoid some of the crowd that might gather.
After we met K-os we walked around the market and met back up with Diane, and then with Pete and Dana. Eventually we ended up back at Parliament Hill after the Queen had left and the crowd had scattered. There were definately some characters on the hill that day.

It was definately interesting to see the costumes, but there wasn't really much of a correlation to Canada Day.

After failing miserably to find any of the people we were looking for, we headed back to Major's Hill Park for K-os' performance. He put on a pretty good show.

As 10pm neared we headed back to Parliament for some fireworks.

Its unfortunate that we didn't get to meet all of the guys we were looking for, but at least we met one of them.

Dragon Boat Festival: 54-40

"54-40 are one of the most important popular music groups to emerge from the Canadian cultural landscape. With more than 2 decades of performing and recording behind them, the band has an unbelievable catalogue of hit songs. Lead by chief songwriter Neil Osborne, 5440 have carved out a legacy of gold and platinum albums and a outstanding reputation for their live performances that carries through to this day."

For those who are unfamiliar with 54-40, that was a brief description from the band's website.

Steve told me that 54-40 was going to be in town at the dragon boat festival and was wondering if I wanted to go and meet them. Definately.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a yearly event here in Ottawa that sees dozens of race teams compete in dragon boats. Tens of thousands of people visit each year. It really is just a big party. There are various kioks set up and a large beer tent.

We headed down to Mooney's bay to try and meet the band before their concert. Unfortunately, we didn't get there on time and would need to wait until the end of the performance to get our autographs.

This turned out to be very fortunate for us because 54-40 put on a fantastic show. I was suprised how many of their songs I knew. They played all of their hits and worked the crowd extremely well. There were points where lead singer Neil had the audience split in half and each half would take turns singing the chorus. It was great to see.

After their show, the band left the stage and headed back to a trailer that was behind the stage. After the crowd had exited, lead guitar player Dave Genn and dummer Matt Johnson came out to talk to some family and friends that had waited around. We were able to grab photos and autographs from these two almost right away.

There were rumours that the Neil and Brad had to catch a flight and had to leave immediately which would have been terrible for our photos. You can't have a group signed photo without key members of the band....especially not without the lead singer.

Steve and I headed around to the back of the trailer by the gated exit in hopes of meeting the other two members of the band. Eventually, Neil came out the back entrance to talk with someone he knew. He was really a pleasant guy and had no problem signing autographs and taking pictures.

After another bit of a wait, a van pulled up to take the band back to their hotel. The rumours of a quick flight were not true. As Brad came out to get in the van he fired off a few autos and pictures.Every band has a jerk. 54-40 might be the exception. Each guy was really nice.

Bif Naked

I can honestly say that this was one of the weirdest places I've went to get autographs.

I had heard on the radio that Bif Naked was going to be in town for the Simply Raw festival. Great! Another celebrity in Ottawa to meet. The guys on the radio stated that she was going to be a speaker at the festival and not performing. So, after doing some research, I found out that the Simply Raw festival aims to promote healthy lifestyles through raw vegan food and active living.

Steve and I headed down to the festival around 30 minutes before Bif Naked was scheduled to speak. The festival was simply made up of booths in different tents. There was a microphone set up under a larger tent and that is where people would be speaking. Thankfully there was no rain on that day.

The booths were promoting all organic products....from raw burgers to other foods. They weren't selling raw burgers, its a way of cooking the burger on a low heat for a longer period of time. It didn't make sense to me at all. There were people sitting around in a circle on the grass playing various instruments. It really seemed like a hippy festival.

Anyways, we saw another autograph collector walking around and he had already gotten his photo signed. We immediately went on the hunt for her. Until the guy pointed her out, I never would've guessed that it was her.

We went up to her and asked her for an autograph. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met. "Have you guys tried the food yet", she asked. "Not yet. What do you recommend?" She told us "EVERYTHING".

After grabbing a photo and an autograph from her, we were getting ready to leave when Steve asked me if I was going to try the food. No chance.

Legends of Boxing: Smokin' Joe Frazier

I thought I would give a bit of a background on Smokin' Joe Frazier for those of you that are unfamiliar with him.

"In 1967, Muhammed Ali was stripped of his world heavyweight title due to his refusal to be inducted into the military during the Vietnam War. To fill the vacancy, the New York State Athletic Commission held a bout between Frazier and Buster Mathis, with the winner to be recognized as "World Champion" by the state of New York. Although the fight was not recognized as a World Championship bout by some, Frazier won by a knockout in the 11th round and staked a claim to the heavyweight championship.

On February 16, 1970, Frazier became the undisputed world champion when he defeated WBA champion Jimmy Ellis at Madison Square Garden by a fifth-round knock-out.

On March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden, Frazier and Ali met in the first of their three bouts which was widely called the "Fight of the Century" in pre-bout publicity and the press feeding frenzy.

Many factors came together for Frazier in this fight. He was 27 years old and at his lifetime peak both physically and mentally, while Ali, 29, was coming back from a three-year absence, taking on Frazier soon after a bruising battle with Oscar Bonavena, whom Ali had defeated by a TKO in 15.

Frazier lost a number of early rounds but took Ali's combinations without backing down. As Ali started to slow in the middle rounds, Frazier came on strong, landing hard shots to the body as well as powerful left hooks to the head. Frazier would win a clear, 15-round, unanimous decision and hand Ali his first loss.

Frazier's undefeated record of 29-0 and championship run would come to an end at the hands of powerful puncher George Foreman on January 22, 1973.

Frazier's second fight against Ali took place in 1974, in New York, with Ali winning a 12-round unanimous decision.

Ali and Frazier met for the third and final time in Quezon City (a district within the metropolitan area of Manila), the Philippines, on October 1, 1975 and was dubbed the "Thrilla in Manila". The fight for Ali's title, which was attended by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, caused another media frenzy and was seen live aroudn the world. It was far more action filled than the previous encounter (there was no belt at stake in the second fight), and was a punishing display that ended when Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, stopped the fight before the 15th and final round with Frazier sitting on his stoo. Frazier never spoke to Futch again. For his part, Ali described the match as 'the closest thing to death' he had ever experienced."

Frazier would finish his career with a 32-4-1 record. Thank You Wikipedia!!

Frazier was in town for a charity event and Steve and I felt we needed to meet the legend. We headed down to the event and were able to meet Smokin' Joe, Gerry Cooney and Daniel Alfredsson.

I was able to get to Joe's table and grab a photo with the two boxing legends.

Seeing Joe was great. He needs to walk with a cane now, but its always a pleasure to meet legends of any sport. I was able to get a boxing glove and photo signed by him.

He has a sweet graph.

Gerry Cooney was a really nice guy. Not much attention was directed towards him at the event with the presence of Frazier. The guy is huge. I won't put a background on him, but Don King named him The Great White Hope, creating a controversial battle of race between him and Larry Holmes.
Holmes would win by TKO in the 13th round.

I had already met Daniel Alfredsson, but it was great to get a photo with us both in suits.

His family had already left to head back to Sweden, but he felt that this event was important enough to stay in town an extra day and fly back to Sweden alone. Its great to see how much he does for charity in this town that goes without notice.

I hope you enjoyed the read.

UFC 114: Saturday

Saturday was a little different than Friday for us. There wasn't much research that we could do for that day so it seemed like there would be a bit more running around that day.

Me met up with John again in the morning. He joined us in line and we discussed our plan of action for the day. John said that he only really needed Machida that day and that was basically it for him. He promised his wife that he would go for lunch with her that day. Understandable.

When the gates opened, we parted ways with John and headed directly to Tito Ortiz's booth. He wasn't scheduled to sign until noon and it was only ten am. I waited in line to start while Jordan went and grabbed an autograph from Forrest Griffin. When he came back, he waited in line and I left to go and get in line for UFC legend and hall of famer Ken Shamrock. I had no idea that all of these vets would be there. It was really an experience getting to meet all of the guys that paved the way for MMA.

Ken was great to meet. He was really friendly and signed a Muay Thai bag for me and signed Jordan's program for me as he was still in line for Tito.

I then went back to wait with Jordan. As we got closer to noon, we noticed that Matt Hughes had stopped in the booth right next to us. He wasn't doing a formal signing, but was headed to his induction ceremony and had wondered by. I couldn't get my photo out in time for him to sign it. He was gone fast.

Finally Tito arrived and thanked everyone for waiting in line for him. By now his line was huge again. Was I ever glad that we were second in line. We went up and I asked him if he could sign a couple of photos for me. He said of course.

I asked him if he thought that Ken would sign my photo of Tito kneeing him in the head as well and he laughed about it. I think he realized after that Ken was at the expo also and clearly showed that there is still some hate that exists between the two.

He looked at my second photo and commented on how swollen his face looks. He had a pretty good shiner in the photo so we asked him about it. He said that he had broken his orbital bone about a week before the fight. So when asked why he decided it was still a good idea to fight, he responded, "I had to feed my family". How crazy is that. I also asked him how his injury was doing. Tito was forced to pull out of his fight with Chuck Liddell because he needed neck surgery. He said that it felt so much better. He didn't have numbness in his arms anymore and he didn't have pain when he slept. I can't wait to see him back in the ring.

After we left Tito, we saw a short line for Stephan Bonnar. While we were in line, I remember that he used was from Chicago. It was the night of game one of the Stanley cup finals between Chicago and my Philadelphia Flyers. Needless to say, we had a good chat about the series as I was wearing my Flyers shirt.

We then grabbed a photo with Jeff "the snowman" Monson. Another oldie from MMA.

We decided we should meet Guy Mezger also, so as we started to head to his booth, we saw Jay Hieron with nobody in line. We grabbed a quick photo with him. Jordan asked him if he was going to get the other sleeve done. He said that he had other stuff he needed to do first.

Guy Mezger was another legend that used to train in the Lion's Den with Ken Shamrock. It was after Tito Ortiz beat Guy Mezger that he put on a shirt the read "Guy Mezger is my bitch". Ken Shamrock was furious thus starting the hatred between Ken and Tito.

It is always nice to meet the old guys. There were a lot of people at the expo that had no idea who these older guys are. It is only the hardcores that really knew. I guarantee it.

We then went and got in line for Shane Carwin. His lines tended to be pretty big, but we were in line early for him. I told Jordan I would be right back and went and got in line a the Spike booth just as Antonio Nogueira and Stephan Bonnar arrived. When I got up there Bonnar immediately remembered me and said "You Again". I grabbed a photo with both guys and then asked "Minotauro" if he could sign my photo. I asked him how come he wasn't at his brother's workout on Thursday when all of the other teammates were there. He said that he was moving and wasn't in town yet. He appologized to me for not being there. I told him he had nothing to appologize for. I then headed back to meet up with Jordan.

Its amazing how last year nobody knew who Shane Carwin was and he had short lines. Everyone knows him now and his lines were big. I guess when you become champion people know your name. I can't wait for his brawl with Brock.

After meeting Shane, we went back to our hotel to drop off our things as it was getting close to fight time. After the fights, I was walking out of the arena and was able to grab a quick photo with Vitor Belfort as he was walking directly in front of me.

All in all, a really good weekend for meeting people. I got a ton of things signed and a lot of pictures. Next up, Boston!