Around the age of 12 I began to realize that I was never going to become a professional athlete. I decided that being a sports journalist would be the next best thing, so that became my new dream. After two semesters of college I realized that the odds of becoming a sports journalist were not much better than those of becoming an athlete and pushed that particular dream aside, seemingly forever. Well, a decade later the chance to be a journalist (in the loosest of terms) fell into my lap. For one glorious weekend I lived my dream. Here is my account. 

I arrived to the HP Pavilion in San Jose at 2pm, a full two and a half hours before the gates opened. Why? Why the hell not? I had the A’s game on the radio and a good book (TOTAL MMA by some cat named Jon Snowden) and the time flew by. Around 4:00 I simply couldn’t wait any longer and headed down to the media entrance. There was a line of about 6 people, all holding expensive looking cameras and laptops. I held my note pad and crappy Kodak. No matter, I was there for the story and my pen and paper were more than enough to achieve that goal. When I made it to the front of the line I produced my ID then sat there as the man working the door riffled through a seemingly endless pile of tangled credentials. Mine was sitting on top, and I pointed this out to the gentleman several times. Eventually he found it and I was officially IN. Laminated plastic with MY NAME on it and a kick ass lanyard. Sweet. 

After making a couple wrong turns I found my way to the floor level and walked through the curtain and just stood there for a few seconds, looking at the nearly empty arena. Technicians were running around, checking what must have been miles and miles of cables and adjusting lights. Brett Rogers and Cyborg were getting in some last minute work in the cage. The ring announcer was in the cage, practicing. I made my way to the media section and began to search for my seat. As each name not resembling mine passed by I began to feel a tinge of fear setting in. What if they didn’t get my name in time? What if they messed up? Oh please, no. NO! As I finished going through all of the tables I started to freak out internally. I bumped into a guy named Johnny B from Showtime who I had a great time with at the weigh-ins the day before and asked him who I should talk to. He just laughed and said “Kid, you gotta take what’s yours. Find some other guys seat and take that shit. Look out for you and you alone, man.” Just as I was about to snag the seat of a particular douche from some other blog I noticed another set of press tables over by the entrance ramp. And there I saw it, a piece of paper taped to the table the words MIGUEL GARZA TOTAL-MMA on it. Aisle seat. 30 feet from the cage. Crisis averted. 

By now people were starting to make their way into the arena. I had never actually been to The Shark Tank before and never realized just how damned tall the joint is. I guess a building designed to host hockey would have to be tall. In the HP Pavilion the term “nosebleed seats” is taken quite literally. The seats seemingly went up and up forever. I snagged a couple bottles of water from the catering room and decided to hunker down for the duration. 

The first fight of the evening saw the 0-4 Jeremy Tavares take on the debuting Shingo Kohara. Kohara had Bas Rutten in his corner. Bas may very well be the happiest man I have ever seen. And why not? He’s El Guapo. Kohara had a cheering section of about 40-50 people. Tavares started out with some leg kicks and then shot for a take down but ended up having to settle with pulling guard. Shingo got back up and ended up getting a takedown of his own. He quickly found himself in side control which he used to take Tavares’s back. He slipped off while going to for an RNC and ended up on his back against the cage where Tavares started pounding the piss out him for the last minute or so of the round. Shingo barely made it the horn. Tavares 10-9. Perhaps this is the night Jeremy gets that first win! 4 seconds into round 2 Jeremy shoots for double leg and catches a knee to the temple, knocking him out cold. Jeremy drops to 0-5 and is out cold for several minutes! Shingo wins his debut! His cheering section goes insane! El Guapo looks like he just won the lottery! This is awesome! 

The second fight of the night saw Zac Bucia face James Terry. This fight, it was not good. The first round was basically Bucia pulling guard and getting picked up and slammed. Terry was able to pass Bucia’s guard pretty much at will, getting side control, mount briefly, then back to side control all while landing zero punches. Round 1 went to Terry but the real winners were the fans! 

Round 2 started with some leg kicks by Bucia. Terry then got a nice double leg which then lead to some shitty ground and pound. Bucia went for a half assed arm bar only get slammed and then stacked. Terry ended up in side control and landed a couple of knees. They forgot to end the round at the 5 minute mark so we were “treated” to a bonus minute of “action”. Round 2 went to Terry without a doubt. 

Bucia came out throwing some jabs in round 3 and connected on a nice left. Oh hey, Tito’s here! Everyone is walking up to him and shaking his hand. Terry had a take down stuffed and then landed a nice right and slammed Bucia down hard and ended up in side control. I have never seen someone have side control for 3/4ths of a fight and do nothing with it. The round ends and I had it scored 30-27 for Terry. The ring announcer then comes in and promptly says that all three judges had the bout scored 30-27 for Bucia and the few people not paying attention to Tito are OUTRAGED! Bucia himself has to point out to the ring announcer that the CSAC rep is waving his hands feverishly to get his attention. After a minute or so the announcer comes back and announces that the scores were actually all 30-27 for Terry. All is well! 

Next we had Raul Castillo vs Brandon Michaels. Michaels didn’t make weight and didn’t look like he really wanted to be there. Castillo looks like a little pit bull. Castillo rushed Michaels and got a quick take down. He quickly worked to half guard to side control to mount with seemingly little-to-no effort. He ends up taking Michael’s back, flattens him out and locks in an RNC for the win in 1:45. This man, this Castillo. He’s good on the ground. Tito is still making the rounds, signing autographs and taking pics with literally everyone. 

Waylon Kennell and Eric Lawson looked like two dudes who were ready to throw. And they were. The fight started with Kennell missing a murderous left that would have killed Lawson. It appeared Lawson had a lot of family and friends in attendance. Lawson closed the distance and worked some dirty boxing before eating some knees. Nice hip throw by Lawson, but Waylon got right up only to get dropped with a right. Lawson ate a nice up kick on his way to the ground, ending up in Kennell’s guard. After taking a few punches Kennell escaped and landed a nice right. Both dudes were breathing pretty hard by now. Kennell started landing some huge bombs so Lawson took him down again. Kennell grabbed for a nice armbar arm bart and ended up mounting Lawson and started pounding him. Rather than continue the assault Kennell gave up great position for a shitty arm bar attempt and wound up getting mounted and pounded out. Big John stopped the fight with 7 seconds left in the first. Exciting short fight. 

OH MAN, THIS PYRO IS WAY HOT. Buck Meredith and Luke Rockhold. Rockhold took him down pretty quickly and went to work. In a span of like 1 minute Rockhold went from guard to side control to Meredith’s back to mount to his back again. Dizzying! Rockhold locked in a nice body triangle. Meredith fell straight back and looked to land a bit of a head butt which did nothing. Rockhold moved back to side control and locked in slick arm triangle and that was that. Rockhold looked like a million bucks. 

Tito had now been working the crowd for close to 30 minutes. I think I finally get Tito. He’s clearly on the decline and thinks higher of his skills than he probably should, but the man loves his job. He loves the fame it has brought him. We isn’t really Tito Ortiz: MMA Star anymore. Now he’s just Tito Ortiz: Famous Guy. Of course, these same people asking him for photos and autographs are the same people who would later boo this hell out of him when he’s showed on the big screen. Chuck Zito and Mickey Rourke walked by me. Holy crap, Andrei Arlovski is HUGE. The TapOut crew made their way to their seats and they opened with a ten bell salute to Mask. 

Abongo Humphrey vs Brett Rogers was a lot more competitive than it had any right being. Abongo came out throwing some nice kicks and nailed Rogers with a spin kick. Abongo was pretty smooth on his feet. At one point he had Rogers against the cage. Herb Dean warned Rogers about pulling Abongo’s hair. Abongo landed a nice right that kinda wobbled Rogers briefly. Rogers went for another Thai clinch and Herb stopped the action and took away a point for hair pulling. First rounded ended up being 9-9. Abongo wasn’t great, but he wasn’t the absolute can most thought he would be. 

In round 2 Abongo again had Rogers against the cage, but this time Rogers started landing some huge knees. A couple more knees, a straight right and a left hook and it was bedtime for Abongo. Rogers extended his unbeaten streak while Abongo should probably be thinking about heading back down to light heavy where he probably stands a better chance. 

Next we have the biggest mismatch of the evening. There were more than a few chuckles at the weigh-ins when Cyborg came nowhere near making weight. I have little understanding on the mental workings of human females, much less their biological workings, thus I have no answers re: avoiding this sort of thing in the future. Perhaps an open weight ladies division? I doubt state athletic commissions would be cool with that, but then again the CSAC let this fight go down, so who is to say? In any event, “Girlfight Monster” is officially my favorite MMA nickname ever. The first round mainly consisted of Cyborg punching the shit out of poor Akano whose only response was to fall to the ground repeatedly in hopes that Cyborg would follow her there. She would not. At one point Cyborg dumped Akano with a German suplex. Awesome. Cyborg ended the round with a huge flurry. 10-9 Cyborg, although the case for 10-8 could certainly have been made. 

Round two offered much of the same with Cyborg beating the Akano pretty badly. So bad, in fact, that the man sitting behind me was SO MAD that Josh Barnett refused to throw in the towel for Akano. Akano get stuffed on a take down attempt and countered Cyborg’s sprawl by again throwing herself on her back. Cyborg again refused to comply. Cyborg dropped Akano with a big left and took to the ground. She landed a few elbows and eventually got Akano against the cage. Unable to move, Akano took some real punishment. Cyborg worked to side control right as the round ended. Another near 10-8 round. Guy behind me is NOT PLEASED. I turn around and notice that the dissenting voice belongs to none other than WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner! Huh. 

Round three is the same as the rest of the damned fight. Cyborg came towards Akano, Akano flopped. This time Cyborg followed her and pounded her into the ground. Josh Rosenthal stepped in and ended it 35 seconds into the round. Akano attempted to pull guard on Rosenthal. Wow, that was brutal. 

I knew going into this fight that Scott Smith vs Benji Radach was not going to be a technical masterpiece. Both guys throw bombs and eat bombs. I still haven’t so much as chuckled at Radach’s “Facesmashing-Fu” style. I chuckled at John Matua’s “Hawaiian Bone Breaking” style. I chuckled at “Joe Son Do”. I even cracked a grin at Jeremy May’s “Jeremy-jitsu”. “Facesmashing-Fu” just doesn’t do it for me. Oh well. This fight started with both dudes throwing some bombs. Smith landed a nice combo that Radach countered with an upper cut. Smith dropped Benji and when he moved in for the kill, got dropped himself. Smith got up and ate a couple of rights before being taken down. Benji started landing some blows from the top and Smith barely made it to the end of the round. 10-9 Radach. 

In round 2 Smith managed to get Radach against the cage and then did nothing. The pace slowed considerably in this round. Neither guy landed much the first couple minutes. Left right combo dropped Smith, allowing Benji to attempt a standing guillotine. Smith got free and grabbed a single. Nothing happened and then Dean called for a restart. Smith got rocked by a couple of lefts and was just about done. At this point Smith was landing everything and Smith wasn’t answering with anything. The round ended and Smith is hurt bad. 10-9 for Radach easily, although the case could be made for 10-8. 

I was stunned to see Smith come out for round 3. He was beaten all to Hell and needed a home run. Radach came out throwing combos as Smith backed away. Smith got a standing guillotine and then was promptly dumped on his head. Benji was working for a guilotinguillotinemith had a single leg. The ref stood them up and Smith landed a killer right that folded Benji. Another comeback win for Smith. This seems to be his MO. Get pounded on, get hurt, land a huge punch out of nowhere. A bloodied and swollen Smith has his two kids in the cage with him, celebrating. Awww. I was completely entertained by this fight. 

Next up we had the ever important “INTERIM” lightweight title match. Gilbert Melendez was making it clear to anyone who would listen that he wasn’t please about having to fight Rodrigo Damm, and his actions in the cage made this even more apparent. Melendez got the early take down and did whatever he wanted with the BJJ expert on the ground. Damm initially tried to moving his legs up while having Melendez in his guard, but wasn’t able to do anything with it. Melendez landed some nice shots and the rounded ended with him in full control. 10-9 Gil. 

Round two opened with Gilbert shooting and getting stuffed initially. A nice right by Melendez setup a take down. Melendez was trying to work to Damm’s back when the dude sitting next to Varner said “It looks like Gilbert wants to try and beat Damm at his own game” to which Varner replied “Are you kidding me? Gilbert’s a wrestler. He’s one dimensional as FUCK.” Right then Gilbert Melendez, the one dimensional wrestler, landed a huge right and ended the fight at 2:02 in the second round. 

Main Event time! I was stunned to see the crowd about 60-40 in favor of Nick Diaz. Nick makes his way to the cage and a huge DIAZ chant breaks out. This is amazing. Shamrock came out to a rather loud mixture of boos with some cheering sprinkled in. Opposite day! Frank smiled during the pre-fight instructions as Nick talked shit and got up in his face. Round one featured Frank trying to close the distance and Nick taunting him. Frank couldn’t land anything so he pulled guard. Frank tried escaping to his feet only to have Nick pull him back down into half guard. Nick worked to side control and went for a Kimura. Frank got out and back to his feet. Nice left by Nick. More taunting. Combo by Frank. Left by Nick. More taunting. Nice right by Frank. Left hook put Frank down. Diaz went from side control to mount and began raining down punches. Frank tried to roll out as the round ended. More mad dogging by Nick as he heads back to his corner. 10-9 Diaz. He was in total control the entire fight. 

Diaz came out for round 2 and landed a nice combo. More taunting. Another combo. Diaz was landing everything he threw at this point. Frank couldn’t get close enough to do anything. Huge body shot by Nick and EVERYONE in the arena let out a simultaneous The look on Frank’s face when that shot landed said everything. Frank was backing up the whole time and bleeding from the mouth and nose. More taunting. Frank was done. Huge left put Frank against the cage and Nick started teeing off. Big John ends the bout. Nick Diaz wins! Hispanics are dancing in the aisles! Everyone else looks as if their dog has been hit by a car! The atmosphere in the building is INCENDIARY! Up to this point I had maintained professional decorum, but once the last fight was over I realized that I would likely never get another opportunity to do something like this again and said SCREW IT and got pics with a bunch of people more famous than me. I made my way backstage to the room where the press conference was being held and made small talk with a bunch of other people more famous than me. I got some more pics. Then I met Royce Gracie, got a pic with him, and realized that nothing that happened at the press conference could possibly top that so I left on the highest of notes. An amazing ending to an amazing weekend. Strikeforce put on a great show and I honestly believe this is a sign of things to come. It’s great to know that there is a solid MMA promotion only 2 hours down the road from me. It’s even better to know that for one night I got to live a dream that reality and other circumstances made me abandon long ago. Fuck reality. Dreams are way more fun.