Our previous Easter holidays together were spent sitting around yik yakking with each other before, during, and after Easter dinner with the occasional whining and nagging thrown in for good fortune. Typically, the whining and nagging involved parents telling children to do the dishes. But not this year! Everyone that arrived early participated in chat time. Dinner and a show was scheduled for 4pm sharp.
What is usually a feast fit for a king, spread out on the dining room table and other surfaces nearby, with serving dishes filled to the brim, was instead a paper plate, plastic fork and knife, buffet style burger line. After we all dressed our burgers and loaded our plates to capacity with everything else, we began jockeying for seating positions in front of Mom and Dad's big screen TV.
It was FIGHT NIGHT!
UFC 81 "Breaking Point" was on deck and ready! (This fight took place in Feb, 2008...but next week...we are renting a fight on pay-per-view and will see a LIVE FIGHT! A first for me!!!)
Let me give you a little insight into Fight Night. Mom rents the DVDs on Netflix, in order of course. She has a very methodical and orderly mindset...and for those who know me well...know that I am the textbook definition of "the apple does not fall far from the tree" when it comes to structure and organization and all things that can often be described as anal retentive, but that's another story for another time.
The Buy In! During our very first fight night, Sister Y and I staged our betting. $1 a fight for preliminary and main card fights...and $5 for the main event. You want to play? You got to pay! To keep all things fair, Sister Y and I alternate who picks first. After prelim fights are over, we flip a coin as to who picks first for the big money, high buy in (LOL) main event. This week I won the flip of the coin! I was ecstatic! I was certain I had a good shot at a main event win and a chance to take the pot of $10. I think we have had three fight nights, and I was coming into the main event with a 1-1 win record.
Everyone else mirrored the betting style developed by the "sisters". Rodeo Drive J bets her boyfriend, NavyX, and now that Ms. Independent's boyfriend, The Shamrock, has joined our fight nights, she too has participated in the betting. But this night...Easter Sunday...Fight Night 81, The Shamrock had to work so Ms. Independent bet her uncle, Montana Man.
The other important item to note is the fight newbies (everyone other than mom and dad and maybe NavyX) do not have any clue as to who anyone is...not yet. Therefore, our betting is conducted immediately upon seeing the fighters...prior to the "tale of the tape". We bet based on picture and name alone. Then after bets are placed, someone usually groans about getting the guy who's making his UFC debut and the groaner is usually me. :)
The money is on the table...let's FIGHT!
The main event before the MAIN EVENT: Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar.
Brock Lesnar came over from the WWE (wrestling - ugh!). This man was a BEAST! The picture does not clearly define how his neck muscles began at the top of his head and extended clear down to his arms. He was a triangular muscle - one big MUSCLE. I didn't get the choice for this one and Sister Y went with Brock Lesnar and I went with former heavyweight UFC champion Frank Mir, with a sigh. He was cute for sure! But not quite the mammoth of a man that Brock is. It was Lesnar's UFC debut...but look at him. Did the fact that it was his debut really matter? In the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) and the UFC, no it did not! Not when you are THAT big!
The fight is on!
We're in the first minute of the fight and Lesnar is pounding Mir. Mir is no longer defending. OMG - the refs are going to call the fight, and then it happened. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...I never ever would have believed it.
Frank Mir put him in a kneebar and it was over! Lesnar tapped out! I won! I couldn't believe it! Dad, Montana Man, and I were yelling with excitement...erupting in thunderous clapter! If I remember correctly, Montana Man jumped out of his chair like an F-16 pilot ejecting from the cockpit before the plane goes down. I think NavyX may have had Frank Mir as well...but at the point Frank Mir won by submission, there is no telling who was yelling and who was swearing! The fight was so unbelievable...over in a minute thirty...it was complete craziness!
The music plays. Each fighter comes out. And now...
Ihhhhhhhhtttttt's Time!
The Main Event:
The Interim Heavyweight Championship Bout!
Tim "The Maniac" Sylvia vs Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira!
In my opinion, Tim Sylvia was winning each round. In others' opinions, Nogueira was winning, including the announcers. Obviously they saw something or a bunch of somethings that I didn't see. His MMA abilities were far less than Sylvia's, but whatever.
It didn't matter in the end. The third round...Sylvia makes a costly mistake. He leaves his neck and head exposed while in a take down move, wrestling on the floor, and Nogueira puts him in a guillotine choke... and a minute twenty eight in the third round...my guy taps out. :( I couldn't believe it. Sylvia looked to be a winner for sure.
But that's the UFC - you never know who is going to win. It's so amazing! Nothing is guaranteed!
And even better than Fight Night, was the reality of how we are changing as a family. We are changing our need for traditional and somewhat repetative holiday foods (the "repetative" is my opinion only). And we are changing how we celebrate our holidays.
I am so grateful for my family whom I love with all my heart. Thank you God. Thank you for giving me my family.
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