Roxanne Modafferi's Blog, page 17

Best fight camp of my career! I’m so ready!

This has been the best fight camp of my career! You know what made it so great?

I started WAY AHEAD OF TIME. I started dieting months in advance, so I didn’t have to stress about being exhausted from calorie deficit during training. I kept my cardio very good, and then just turned on the training hard the final month. That’s why I never really doing get “fight camps.” I built my regular training schedule so that I work as hard as my body can go without breaking and getting sick. The only extra thing I do before a fight is more cardio, and well, shark tanks, too.

Plus the game plan is straight forward, and I have all these moves I can’t WAIT to try!

And thanks to Teri, our resident massage therapist, my body feels great.

No injuries at all!! All my nagging injuries are silent. Just like before my last fight. Man, I owe her so much. It’s amazing. I haven’t felt this good in ages.

I feel like I can’t possibly lose! But of course I’m pushing those thoughts out of my head. Of course I could lose. I could go out there and slip when I should have blocked and she could knock me out with the first punch. That happened to my friend and it will always be in the back of my mind. Man, she was looking so good in training! And I’m not gonna be like “I’m gonna win because I want it more!” Jennifer Maia wants to win, too.

I like her. I really wish she would get more promotion but she doesn’t speak English so I guess it’s hard? :/

I posted this on intragram!



And she replied!

Fightergirl’s BBQ, training, mentality, CM Punk’s fight, “performance”

My week was pretty awesome. I’m really happy with my training. Every session I achieve something.

Honestly, it’s almost been too good. I keep telling myself things over and over again to keep from being overconfident. I’m not “cocky” but I don’t want to feel like I’m gonna cream her and it’ll be easy. Jennifer Maia is really tough, really skilled, she’s gonna hit me hard, I have to keep pushing, I’m not perfect, I’m sure lots of my moves won’t land, I might get tired, my cardio isn’t endless.

I feel really good when I start thinking about how excited I am to be able to face off against the number 1 ranked fighter. I can’t wait to try all my new stuff! The only way I’ll feel pressure is when I start thinking about the significance of everything, like how this fight effects my life. If I just keep it simple, such as “I want to try my Roxycopter on her” everything else melts away.

My kids classes have been a bit small, probably due to back to school stuff, but my students are doing awesome! We’ve been working on arm-bars lately and a few kids have been making others tap.

Last weekend, the fightergirls of Syndicate had a BBQ at Jessica’s apartment complex! Hannah left before we could take the picture and Jamie couldn’t make it. But we had a lot of fun! I’m glad we could welcome Jessy Jess to the team.





Kalecia got a Darth Vader pinata, and we let the kids playing in the pool, plus Jessica’s kids whack at it. Actually, I was a little disappointed because I’ve never actually gotten to hit a pinata in my life. I thought that day might be the day but I was wrong. My disappointment was erased when we shooed the kids away and Serena decapitated it with a roundhouse kick. XD LOL



Today is September 11th. In 2001, I was a freshman in college and had just returned to my dorm room which I shared with two other girls. They were both watching TV and said, “Hey, an airplane just crashed into the World Trade Center!” I was like, “What?” How is that even possible? It was almost like watching a movie….impossible stuff like that don’t just HAPPEN to places I knew and loved!

Killing other people is sad. I wish people would stop. The end. It’s simple. Usually the most difficult, complicated-seeming things are actually the most simple.

SO yesterday I watched the UFC and watched CM Punk fight Mickey Gall. I’ve been curious and watched some pre-fight interviews of both men. I like them both, actually. Mickey seemed pretty down-to-earth and cool. I’ve actually met CM Punk before! It was at an Invicta show, and Shayna Baszler knew him from Pro wrestling.

So my feelings on this matter are…. “Pride never die!” Pride is the name of a Japanese MMA organization that always had “freak shows,” or big mismatches because they were interesting. They sold a lot of tickets and had a TV deal…until they didn’t, and MMA slowly died in popularity in Japan. But we Pride fans are sad so we say “Pride Never Die!” to continually show our support. Anyway, so the “sport” of Mixed martial arts is a combination of “sports” and “entertainment.” We fighters only get paid of people want to see us fight. People want to see us fight if A) we are skilled B) we have interesting, flashy moves C) look interesting, whether it be beautiful, or have big boobs, or are super ugly, or huge and monstrous, or maybe have an interesting personality (prolly why I got chosen for TUF).

CM Punk got his chance in the UFC because of his popularity in his pro wrestling career. A pro baseball player got to fight against an actual fighter in Pride. This is not like a president giving a cushy, well-paying desk job to his son or daughter where they do nothing and collect money. These guys who are not prepared will get beaten down. I have no sympathy if they go in there unprepared. They, or their coaches, should know this and if they they still want to try and show their skills, good luck to them. They trained hard and I can respect that. Losing a fight is traumatizing as hell!

Another thing is, I’ve always found it weird when people talk about a fighters “performance.” When I came back to America after living in Japan for years, it struck me as odd to hear that word, but I figured I was just getting used to English again. lol I’m not really “performing.” I’m fighting. I don’t care what other people think of the beauty of my punches and kicks. I’m going out there to win a fight which could result in broken bones or concussions. I’d rather say “Oh you fought well” rather than “You had a good performance.” Performance my butt! I’m not an actor. The weigh-ins are my performance.

So yeah.

the law of the fight game, shugyou

My week has been pretty great.

I haven’t run stairs in a week and a half because I’m getting plenty of stamina and cardio training from Saturday’s MMA circuit and Wednesday’s shark-tanks. My weight is really low thanks to my good diet, self control, and food poisoning.

Title fight psychology

I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I think it’s daylight savings time nearing it’s end (that always happens to me). It doesn’t help that I have been feeling more anxious over the past two weeks about my fight. Psychology is so interesting. You can know things in your brain but your body reacts a different way despite that.

I wake up at 2 AM, thinking about my fight. Wake up at 2:30 thinking about my fight. Then 3:45.

I have been telling myself that this “title” really is just a title, and a fight is a fight, so I only really care more about the fight than the title. I’ve had a few traumatic experiences where I hadn’t done enough stamina training and my arms and legs felt like heavy lead, so I know that this absolutely can’t happen this time. Since I’ve been at Syndicate, this has never happened, though. Only in Japan and on the Ultimate Fighter.

I’ve been doing my homework, i.e. running stairs and doing burpie sets throughout the week. So before I started my circuit sessions these past two weeks, I was thinking, “I BETTER be able to get through this no problem!” And that thought lead to, “If not, that means my favorite method of cardio isn’t good enough!” And that thought lead to, “I’ll be behind and not able to get in good enough shape.” So there were three worries right there.

But the sessions went very well and proved that everything is fine. Same thing on Wednesday when John and Jess shark-tanked me. I felt anxious before that and awesome and confident afterwards.



http://www.maverickunbranded.com/

I realized that I’ve been imagining training days as how it’s going to come out in the fight, which is not necessarily good. “I better be able to land this punch or else…” “It’ll suck if I can’t last the whole class because blah blah hurts….” If I got taken down by a teammate and try a technique and it failed, I got stressed out. Tuesday, one of my nagging injuries that comes and goes was really bugging me, and I was feeling nervous about being able to perform the techniques I’d been practicing in my private lessons. Usually I just “want” to land the techniques. I don’t worry about “oh what if I can’t.” Two worries. But I did it and it was all fine. I powered through it practice without gassing out and it was alright.

Yep, negative thoughts. I hadn’t even realized I was thinking negative thoughts. I’m usually pretty good about siphoning them out. That’s why they call me The Happy Warrior. With the help of my coach and Mom and friends, sometimes.

Testing myself with the hard rounds this week pretty much confronted and eliminated those anxieties.

I used to drive to training thinking merry thoughts like, “Oh boy, I wonder how many combinations I’ll be able to land today. I can’t wait to try and foil Shawn’s takedowns. I can’t wait to try and escape from Hannah’s guard. I can’t wait to try and take down Jessica off the cage. I’ll see if I can avoid Adam’s lightning combos.”

My mom texted me the following:

“Well, being anxious/stressing out/worrying seems to be fear in disguise. You are not a fearful person. You are not driven by fear. Somehow you have to internalize your confidence in yourself to combat the fear. Know in your heart and soul that you are performing to the best of your ability. You need to search out that thought that is making you anxious and confront that fear.”

That reminds me of what Coach John tells me before fights – you know in your heart that you did your best to prepare to the best of your ability. Have confidence in the techniques.

I am genuinely excited to go to Syndicate every single day. Every day holds new challenges and potential for growth. Potential for pain, too, but I don’t think about that. So yesterday I just let the whole fight thing go and went to the gym to train and get better and try my techniques. I love doing MMA – that’s the bottom line. When the fight day arrives, I will apply those techniques to my opponent. No use stressing out over landing or not landing a take-down at the moment. Just try it, learn from it, get better from it. I’m in great shape already. I already proved that I have the stamina and skills and now I just have to wait for fight day! I have great tools in my tool box. And there will be more by the time the fight rolls around. I have a great, strong, skilled opponent waiting for me. And a strong, caring, supportive team behind me.

I have loving friends and fans around me. Dude, you’ve gotta be a die-hard fan or best friend to dress up like this, right?!

I’m tempted to say, “I can’t possibly lose!” but of course I can lose. That’s why it’s a fight, and I’m so ready.

I walked into the gym excited to try my techniques and it was a really amazing practice with no stress or fear. Chapter 7, “Be Excited about Everything.” Bam!!! Read my book, sold here:

http://roxannemodafferi.net/RSite/node/8

Haha Coach John had once told me, “Go read your own book” one day when I looked down. He’s right. He’s always usually right.

Title fight psychology victory

I’ve been having trouble sleeping. Over the past two weeks, I’ve been feeling anxious at times like on Saturday morning before my MMA cardio circuit, or before Tuesday’s kickboxing class, or before my fight training Wednesday with John and Jessica. I keep waking up like 5 times or more throughout the night. I knew it was because I’m putting pressure on myself because I have a five-round fight coming up. Psychology is so interesting. You can know things in your brain but your body reacts a different way despite that.

I don’t have trouble sleeping before my FIGHTS, so why a training session?

It’s good to have a sensitive mother who’s a psychology buff. I told her that and she texted me the following:

“Well, being anxious/stressing out/worrying seems to be fear in disguise. You are not a fearful person. You are not driven by fear. Somehow you have to internalize your confidence in yourself to combat the fear. Know in your heart and soul that you are performing to the best of your ability. You need to search out that thought that is making you anxious and confront that fear.”

I’m not “afraid” afraid, but I have worries and “concerns.”

That reminds me of what Coach John tells me before fights – you know in your heart that you did your best to prepare to the best of your ability. Have confidence in the techniques.

I’ve been doing my homework, i.e. running stairs and doing lots of cardio. So before I started my circuit session, I was thinking, “I BETTER be able to get through this no problem!” And that thought lead to, “If not, that means my favorite method of cardio isn’t good enough!” And that thought lead to, “I’ll be behind and not able to get in good enough shape.” So there were three worries right there.

I did it two weeks in a row and had NO problems. That knocked out all three worries and I felt way better. Is that “confronting my fear?” I didn’t procrastinate – I knew I’d feel better once I found out how I fared.

Tuesday, one of my nagging injuries that comes and goes was really bugging me, and I was feeling nervous about being able to perform the techniques I’d been practicing in my private lessons. Usually I just “want” to land the techniques. I don’t worry about “oh what if I can’t.” Two worries. But I did it and it was all fine. But still lost sleep beforehand. Wednesday, same thing as circuit. I powered through it without gassing out and it was great.

So there was something different about how I was going to training and I figured it out this morning on my drive to Syndicate today. It’s so ironic because I have been telling myself that this “title” really is just a title, and a fight is a fight, so I only really care more able the fight than the title. HOWEVER, I realized that I’ve been imagining training days as how it’s going to come out in the fight. I used to always drive to training thinking merry thoughts like, “Oh boy, I wonder how many combinations I’ll be able to land today. I can’t wait to try and foil Shawn’s takedowns. I can’t wait to try and escape from Hannah’s guard. I can’t wait to try and take down Jessica off the cage. I’ll see if I can avoid Adam’s lightning combos.”

I am genuinely excited to go to Syndicate every single day. Every day holds new challenges and potential for growth. Potential for pain, too, but I don’t think about that. Until recently. Recently it’s been like “I better be able to land this punch or else…” “It’ll suck if I can’t last the whole class because blah blah hurts….”

Yep, negative thoughts. I hadn’t even realized I was thinking negative thoughts. I’m usually pretty good about siphoning them out. That’s why they call me The Happy Warrior.

So today I just let the whole fight thing go and went to the gym to train and get better and try my techniques. I love doing MMA – that’s the bottom line. When the fight day arrives, I will apply those techniques to my opponent. No use stressing out over landing or not landing a take-down at the moment. Just try it, learn from it, get better from it. I’m in great shape already. I have great tools in my tool box. And there will be more by the time the fight rolls around. I have a great, strong, skilled opponent waiting for me. And a strong, caring, supportive team behind me.

I have loving friends and fans around me. Dude, you’ve gotta be a die-hard fan or best friend to dress up like this, right?!

I’m tempted to say, “I can’t possibly lose!” but of course I can lose. That’s why it’s a fight, and I’m so ready.

I walked into the gym today excited to try my techniques and it was a really amazing practice with no stress or fear. Chapter 7, “Be Excited about Everything.” Bam!!! Read my book, sold here:

http://roxannemodafferi.net/RSite/node/8

Haha Coach John had once told me, “Go read your own book” one day when I looked down. He’s right. He’s always usually right.

My title fight! My kids class! Comedy show!

Hi guys, nothing’s really new here except, oh, I HAVE AN INVICTA TITLE SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY.

I’ve had title shots before in my career, but they’ve never been like this before, where you actually have to fight your way through the ranks and earn it. This is so exciting. Maybe my Strikeforce fight against Sarah Kaufman is comparable…. but I’m trying to think of this just as another fight to take off the pressure, because once I get in there, it’s all the same. I just want to fight skilled people, and Jennifer Maia is awesome. She seems pretty nice, too. (I follow her on social media) so I think I can’t fake-trash talk her. She can’t speak English anyway. Hmmm what should I do to build up the fight?

So excited! Actually, I had thought I might be fighting on the July card, so I lost some weight and upped my cardio. Then in the beginning of July, I suddenly found out it would be the next card three months later. ;_; I decided to move up my trip to Japan to cover my disappointment, so that’s why I went in July rather than September. I gained few pounds and managed to stay in decent cardio shape.

I came back and got food poisoning and lost those few pounds in like 3 days. -_-;;; So now I’m at a relatively low weight where I can finish my diet in two weeks. That means I can have RECOVERY TOSTADAS from Taco Bell, and more ice cream in my diet than I normally would dieting for my fight. Whenever I have ice cream I feel more energetic the next day. Obviously. Calories give you energy. And by “ice cream,” I mean like a mini blizzard, or one of those 150 calorie cups you get at the supermarket, or $2 worth of frozen yogurt at the self-serve place. I never eat too much anyway because I’d get a sugar crash or upset stomach.

Coach John Wood has been teaching me all sorts of new movements and combos.



He’s so good at analyzing fights, and teaching me stuff that works for my natural tendencies and the way I move. I’m so glad I have him. He deserves a medal for teaching the striking dummy how to strike. lol

Speaking of good teachers, my teammate Adam Acquaviva is also super good at explaining techniques- the second best I’ve ever met. (right)

I just have a really hard time understanding moves if every little detail isn’t outlined in a way my brain comprehends. John and Adam are super good at it. Yesterday, I was so frustrated and upset over not being able to get this one move. I asked Adam for his input and he made a suggestion that I think will really work for me. I’m so excited to try it out!

I don’t get upset if I can’t do something but I know what to do. I get upset if I’m forgetting something, missing something, confused, or I think I’m doing it right and it’s not working and I don’t know why. That’s the difference.

Soooo everybody’s next question is “What will your weigh-in costume be?” WELL, can you guess it?

For the Honor of Syndicate, I will be victorious!

So I’ve never actually watched the TV show, I just had the action figures. When I did watch the show two weeks ago on youtube, I laughed so hard at how old and corny it was, but whatever.

Anecdotes of a Happy Warrior – the pen is mightier

Intro: The Pen is mightier….

6th grade. 1994-ish

Social Studies – a relatively interesting class. I think we were talking about something health related, like “don’t-do-drugs.” I was listening to the consequences of smoking with rapt interest: lung disease and nicotine addiction. Who would want horrible things like that?!

A girl named Jackie sat behind me. She was always mean to me for no reason. Well, when I asked her why she was mean, she said, “Because you’re SO annoying!” which baffled me because she couldn’t elaborate. Later I heard that I had ADD tendencies and tended to butt into other people’s conversations around me, so upon learning that, okay, I suppose that counts as annoying. I didn’t mean anything bad by it, though. It’s what you do when you’re lonely and you want to fit in. I didn’t want to wear jeans and cute short tops like the rest of the girls. Maybe it was because I was a goodie-goodie, and I got good grades. Maybe Jackie was annoyed that teachers liked me. She kept putting her feet on the back of my chair. Her feet stuck through the hole in the plastic in the seat of the chair, poking my butt.

So I politely turned around and whispered, “Jackie, your shoes are touching my butt. Could you please stop?” She just stuck her tongue out at me. I turned back around. A few seconds later, she nudged me again. I turned around again. “Could you please stop kicking my butt?” I tried again, nicely. My mom’s advice echoed in my head: “Tell the other kid that he or she is hurting your inside feelings.”

That might have worked in first grade, but not against Jackie. I could never defend myself verbally. If someone called me something mean, or said I looked dumb or my name was dumb or whatever, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t possibly say something mean back. People aren’t supposed to say mean things – it’s very hurtful and continues the cycle of pain, right? So I always ran to the teacher.

Maybe Jackie didn’t like me because I was a tattle-tale. I lost all my battles, but I won most wars, because the teachers punished the offending kids. Haha.

“I’m not TOUCHING your BUTT!” Jackie whispered back, with a smirk.

“Yes, you are!”

“No, I’m not!”

“Is there a problem?” the teacher asked finally, pausing in his efforts to separate the class into mini-groups to do a team activity.

Jackie and I exchanged glances. “No,” we both said.

“Then please be quiet,” the teacher said.

She put her feet down. Peace. A few minutes later, she gave me a very hard nudge on my butt. On purpose.

I turned around. “If you don’t stop, you’ll be sorry!” I threatened. She smirked. I fingered my pen, wondering how I was going to back that up. What could I do? What? Then I thought of something….

I spun around and stuck my pen through the hole in the seat, drawing juicy black lines all over the top of her beautiful, white sneaker.

“HEY!” she shouted, leaping up. I laughed about three good “Hahaha”s before swallowing nervously. The teacher’s voice suddenly boomed, “Roxanne, Jackie, come up here now.”

My classmate’s eyes shot fireballs at me as we both stood in front of the black board.

“Okay, class, continue working quietly in groups,” the teacher instructed. “Okay, girls, what happened?”

“She drew on my shoe!” Jackie screamed.

“She was kicking me in the butt over and over again,” I said, “Even though I asked her very nicely to please stop.”

“Did not!” Jackie retorted.

“Yes, you did!” I retorted back.

“Well, she called me a bitch!” Jackie accused, looking at our teacher.

“What?! I did not! That would be mean!” I protested, also looking at him, with my innocent eyes aghast. I didn’t know exactly what a ‘bitch’ meant, but my mom had told me it was a mean insult and I should never say it. She sometimes taught me things on a need-to-know basis.

“She also called me a whore!” Jackie cried.

I blinked. “What? What’s that?” I said.

Jackie’s jaw dropped straight open.

“I couldn’t have called you that. I don’t even know what it means! What’s a whore?” I asked our teacher, who was shaking his head.

“Go sit down, both of you.” Mr. Smith ran a hand through his hair. “Roxanne, you sit over there. Jackie, you sit over there. No more putting your feet up on the chairs.”

“But! It wasn’t me!” she protested, angrily.

I smiled triumphantly. Yes, I often won the battles. The teachers tended to believe me because I never lied.

“Mr. Smith, what’s a whore?” I asked him after class.

“Go home and ask your mother,” he said firmly.

I shuffled away, discontent. Why wouldn’t he just tell me? It must be something SO bad.

Fast forward a few hours. I burst through my front door.

“Hi, honey!” came my mom’s voice from the kitchen. She was preparing me an after-school snack.

“Hi, Mom! I called back, dumping my backpack off to the side. “What’s a whore?”

Throw Back Thursday blog entry

The year was 2008. I headed to to training at Keishukai Tokyo Headquarters, located in the basement of an office building in Mizo no Kuchi. I’d just taught back to back English lessons from 8:30AM to 5:30PM, scarfed down a rice ball and fish sticks while walking to the train station. They digested as I stood for an hour and 15 minutes, holding onto the hooks hanging from the train ceiling, while reading a Wheel of Time book.

The evening breeze on my walk downhill was nice and I finally entered the dojo around 7. Our sensei, Moriyama-san and my teammate Takayo Hashi, were sitting on the mats looking through papers. I greeted them cheerfully.

“What’s that?” I asked in Japanese.

“Oh, Hashi’s Strikeforce contract arrived,” Moriyama-san said, going back to his shuffling of papers. I froze. My stomach tightened and my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I swallowed it back down. “Oh, I see,” I managed. My manager had told me that he was working on getting me a Strikeforce contract – fights with the top organization in the USA, right below the UFC. Only the UFC didn’t have women so it would be impossible to fight there. Every female was aiming for Strikeforce.

“So…nothing came for me?” I said. Moriyama-san looked at me apologetically. “I’m afraid not, I’m sorry,” he said, and said something to Hashi about some contract detail. I turned away and went into the locker room.

“Don’t feel jealous,” I ordered myself. “It’s great for her. Good for her! It’s not common for Japanese female fighters to have great opportunities outside Japan. I’m happy for her. But….we have the same manager.”

I changed, and stretched until class. I loved Keishukai. I’d been there for three years. Their grappling was such high-level and the biggest Japanese stars trained there. Their “MMA” class was really just grappling class. The teacher, maybe K-Taro, showed some technique, we drilled, and then everyone grapple-sparred. I never stayed until they end because sometimes they finished after 11 PM, which would mean me getting home around 1 AM. About 30 minutes into sparring, the teacher said that anybody who wanted to spar MMA with small gloves (starting from stand-up) could. I called out that I wanted to, and Hashi took me up on my offer. She was one of my favorite sparring partners because we were about the same size. She was a little physically stronger than me, though. We usually sparred to a draw, each occasionally getting something on the other. On a bad day for me, she beat me up. On a good day, I beat her up.

(picture unrelated to this story, but with my friend Dio, myself, and Hashi in Keishukai HQ. I usd to always train in gi pants so my knee pads wouldn’t slip off lol)

“Scramble scramble here! Use your right hand…” her mentor and my teammate Koizimu-san screamed at Hashi. He always coached her from the side. Another guy said, “Nice one!” when she landed something on me. “It’s nice to have a trainer,” I thought to myself wistfully, “somebody who takes the time to pay attention, coach you, give you advice.” Usually no one said anything to me during live sparring. “I wish someone would give me advice during live training. Anyone. Just a word. Or even ‘go Roxanne!'” If somebody had coached BOTH of us, I would have been fine with that. Was it because I was not Japanese? I’m not sure if other people got live coaching either because I wasn’t really paying attention to others, but Hashi always got coached against me. I think it’s nothing against me personally and just not Japanese style, and Hashi was special because she was friends with Koizumi-san.

I always spent a lot of mental energy trying not to be envious, and was depressed for the rest of the week about the contract. Good thing we were all friends. We were in the same weight-class, though. That’s never easy. Just equal coaching- that’s all I wanted, like what I get at syndicate now is perfect..

That’s when I decided to try and find a separate coach. Nobody really gave me guidance, I just kind of thought a pro fighter should have somebody looking after them. lol I’m not sure I have my dates right, but sometime around this time. I shared my feelings with my American friend living in Japan, Ryan Bow, who recommended his friend former Pancrase champ Kiuma Kunioku. He started holding mitts for me on a regular basis, twice a week. He was first person in my life who could motivate me to WANT to do striking, because he was cool and I wanted to impress him. hahaha



I hated striking so much.

So there’s a little excerpt from my life in Japan.

oh yeah sidenote: I ended up getting a Strikeforce offer with a week’s notice to face Marloes Coenen (rematch, I won the first time!) at 145 lbs (a weight class above me) and the winner would fight Cyborg. HAH. I ended up losing by armbar in the first round, but maybe that worked out for the best….?

Food poisoning, One Piece anime, training, fights, kids

This past week was rough. Last Tuesday night I got food poisoning, so I was up most of the night with diarrhea, and I finally forced myself to throw up, hoping I’d feel better, and I did. After like 6 + times throughout the night. I thought by then everything bad would be digested by then, but oh well…..

It sucked so much. I had a temperature. Wednesday I had to cancel an adult private lesson, my kids lesson thankfully canceled on me, and then I managed to make it through my BJJ kids group class. I hope I looked alright since we had two trial students. I was sweating like crazy and water upset my stomach, so I was super dehydrated and dizzy. x_x Obviously I didn’t train on Wednesday or Thursday. Friday…did I train? I think I did no-gi and almost passed out going too hard. I did technique and a few light rounds and lifted weights.



Didn’t have an appetite at all, which is weird – even when I catch a cold, I always want to eat. LOL Saturday I did jiu-jitsu. Sunday I did Yoga and lifted weights. Still no appetite. I saw Star Trek in the theaters by myself. I’ve been wanting to spend more time by myself lately.

Since I was sick, I spent all of my time watching the anime One Piece. This anime is one of my top 3 favorites (along with Dragon Ball Z and Naruto) and I’ve seen A LOT of anime. It’s one of those anime that really resonates with me and inspires me. The character Luffy is an idiot but he’s always true to his heart and does the right thing, no matter how hard or difficult or impossible it seems. It’s all so simple for him – “I just have to beat up XYZ, right?” It’s like, dude, life isn’t that simple.

But it often is. But that simple thing is hard. It’s like, “Oh, you have a drinking problem? Just stop drinking.” We all know it’s hard. But watching that show really makes you want to become stronger, believe in yourself, and just DO IT. You want something? GO GET IT. Is it easy? No. Is it simple? Yes. Often the simpler it seems, the harder it is. That’s why we have to realistically break our goals down into little, achievable steps. But we have to have the will to do it.

I’ve been watching this series for 14 years.

So I marathon-watched like 50 episodes and finished the Dressrosa saga. Doflamingo is tied with Freeza for my number 1 most hated evil villain in all anime. I had been dying to know Trafalgar Law’s back story, so it was so cool I found out. There are very few cases where I’m cheering on the character to kill the bad guy. I wanted him dead. x_x Is that bad? lol He was so evil….

Then in a flashback, Rayleigh said to Luffy, “Your techniques are really coming along!” and Luffy, eating meat over a camp fire said, “Yeah but I couldn’t beat the Kong (huge gorrilla).” and Rayleigh said, “So you’ll have to develop a technique with even more POWER. You need more power to defeat a stronger enemy!” and Luffy improved his punch.

So I went into my private lesson on Monday and Coach John was like, “So your movement is great, and now we’re going to work on improving your power.”

I was like…..YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

It’s really crazy how these three anime relate to my life. I remember just before I had a fight in Japan I was watching the ep where Rock Lee fought Gara in Naruto in the Chuunin exams, and I was SO fired up for my fight. lol I was watching it right before I left for the venue.

I took pics cosplaying Luffy. ;D

Anyway, so I really did learn how to make my punches more powerful and I even skinned my knuckle to prove it. I’m so excited. Not sure how I can practice that in sparring, though, since we’re not supposed to hit our partners as hard as we can. ^^; oh well, I’ll figure it out. I’m think I’m good at controlling my power. Maybe that’s a problem. We’ll see.

Monday I felt good enough to go to MMA practice, but it was still hard and I felt dizzy at the end. Tuesday was also a struggle, but I got through it. The our magical masseuse Teri is sick so I couldn’t get treatment yesterday. My body is ALL jacked up, but I’m gonna try and do well today.

So yeah, I keep hearing rumors that One Piece manga is ending soon, but I checked and there are like 820 something manga volumes, so I’m guessing maybe another 100 eps will come out? I guess I gotta take another year break from watching One Piece because I covered like two years in those 50 eps, since it’s a weekly anime.

Both my good friend Hannah and our jiujitsu coach Capitao lost their fights by decision last week, and I’m sad for them. They both didn’t fight to their full ability! They both have so much amazing skill, it kills me not to see it come out. I guess “next time” as they say. Jessica in Invicta, as well. I want to support them and look forward to training together again soon.

I’m hoping to be able to announce fight news soon. (the story of my life).

I met a Facebook friend Bonny from Montana, and she took me to “Rollercon,” and taught me about Roller derby! That was awesome, to learn about the sport, and to spend time with Bonny! What an awesome person, and we became even better friends!

Japan trip 2016 part 4: Mon & Tues (sparring, cat cafe, sakura)

Monday I woke up, ate, finished Memoirs of a Geisha, which was amazing btw, and went to pro practice at Groundslam. I had been really looking forward to it, and hoped my former coach Kunioku-san would go. He didn’t, and I was reminded of my disillusionment with Japanese MMA. No warmups together except shadow boxing. I grappled with Kaki. Did MMA with Gaku. He’s a fun partner. Landed a few new moves. Sparred with Tokoro-san. Then somebody else. Then chatted with one of the guys and Uno-san. I tried not to butt into their conversation but I was very interested in their talk about holding their hands up. I hate Japanese people’s no-guard and one guy was explaining how he tries to make himself look bigger by opening his hands. Uno-san was saying that Americans all hold their hands up and tight. I told them how my hands hover and guard different areas of my face. I wonder if they were actually interested or pretending, but Uno-san said that my guard has changed since I was last here and I’m a lot less stiff. That’s good, I’ve been working hard enough at my striking! I love Uno-san. *_* He’s one of my top favorite fighters, along with Matt Serra, Joe Lauzon, and Randy Couture.

I then sparred someone who front-kicked me in the gut like 20 times as hard as he possibly could and I couldn’t defend it because he was so fast and accurate. I thought my intestines were gonna rupture! I felt like I was really fighting in the cage…

I watched another match where this one guy was doing jumping knees to the head, elbows, etc. damn, they play rough in Japan. It’s normal. I shouldn’t say more.

After I showered, I went to Ikebukuro and met sakura and we went to a cat cafe! She’s a close friend of mine and former training partner at Keishukai. It was my first time to go to a cat cafe.



The cats TOTALLY ignored us and wouldn’t play with us.



But cats sleep most of the day but in the cafe, people bug them so they can’t, and were probably just wanting to sleep. lol But the atmosphere was quiet and relaxing, and honestly, I was mentally shaken up after that training session, so it was super nice.



This cat had a “Lion hair cut.” lol

Then searched for and found Animate and she bought me an Owari no Seraph folder. lol Then I said, “I want Tako Yaki!” so she found a gindako and we sat and ate some.



The afternoon had passed by then, so I went home and rested and started reading my new Dragonlance book.

Tuesday I went for a walk and got lost LOL so my 15 minute walk turned into an hour. I had to ask three people the way three different times.

Then I met Goto-san for tea from 10:00 AM to 11:30 and he inspired me to write a new book. Then I caught the Narita express at 1 PM from Musashi kosugi and was on my way back to America! Evening flight at 5 PM.