UnderGround Forum >> Interesting Encounter w/fighter/MMA personality?

melendez - 

Ok Ill throw one in. Ive always wanted to meet BJ Penn and finally this year, I was able to make that happen. I had been to 3 fan expos before this year and could he wasn't there. Then, he came to Afghanistan a few years ago with Urijah Faber to visit troops and I missed him there. Finally, I caught up to him in Vegas this year. I had been watching BJ since I saw him fight Caol Uno like 50 years ago.

It went down like this.

2 nights before the actual Fan Expo, BJ and the Zombie (Fuck yes!) were both downtown in Vegas in the Fremont District (if thats what you call it) signing autos and taking pix. I made my way down there and jumped in the huge ass line waiting for my chance to meet BJ. Two hours had passed and I was getting antsy. I had all my shit out ready to get signed etc. Brian Rhee, Zombie's manager even recognized me from a few other events and said whats up. He took my shit that I had for the Zombie to sign, walked it over to the front, had Zombie sign it and then brought it back to me. I digress. Anyways, to my dismay, BJ's time was up right while I was in the line and he had to go. His mother, Ms. Lorraine Shin kept commenting on how terrible she felt and saying that she was sorry. I explained to her that I had missed BJ in Afghanistan, and then again at the expos. She was genuinely upset that I didn't get a chance to meet her kid. She passed me her business card, and told me to mail her anything I wanted signed in Hawaii...and that she promised to mail it back to me. Thought that was awesome.

The next day BJ was scheduled to appear at some hotel downtown for what the UFC  was calling their "Pub Crawl" A whole gang of guys were doing this. So, I figured why not try again to meet Baby Jay. Got to the place and I was like number 6 in line! I was so excited to finally get a chance to meet the guy (gay moment I know). Finally BJ comes in with his mother and manager. Bonnar was supposed to be there but was late. His mom immediately recognized me and told BJ right away, "this is the guy I told you about." So my turn came up and BJ told me to sit down. I sat down on a stool next to him and he basically just brought the line to a halt talking to me. I explained to him that Soldiers and service members are extremely grateful that he and Faber had come to Afghanistan and put themselves in danger just to support us. As I was talking to BJ, I noticed that he started to get a bit choked up and got goosebumps on his arms. Ill never forget this because he said "Brah...hearing this right here...its giving me chicken skin.." I had never heard that term before and started cracking the hell up...Ill end it here but meeting BJ was hands down one of the most awesome experiences Ive had with a fighter. Ive looked up to him for a long time, but even more so when he put his ass out there to visit Soldiers in a combat zone. All he did was keep talking about how much he admired Soldiers which I thought was awesome. When I looked up...the people in the line were all staring at me like Jesus Christ where do these two know eachother from? Sorry for longest post ever...

 

What an awesome fucking story bro. Thank you for your service. WAR PENN!!!!

I have too many to write them all.  All I can say is that every fighter I've ever met, hung out with, or have been fortunate enough to become friends with have all been amazing.  MMA fighters are probably the most humble proffessional athletes today and their interaction with fans is unbelievable.

UGCTT_ Lay'n'PrayNINJA - 

melendez - 

Ok Ill throw one in. Ive always wanted to meet BJ Penn and finally this year, I was able to make that happen. I had been to 3 fan expos before this year and could he wasn't there. Then, he came to Afghanistan a few years ago with Urijah Faber to visit troops and I missed him there. Finally, I caught up to him in Vegas this year. I had been watching BJ since I saw him fight Caol Uno like 50 years ago.

It went down like this.

2 nights before the actual Fan Expo, BJ and the Zombie (Fuck yes!) were both downtown in Vegas in the Fremont District (if thats what you call it) signing autos and taking pix. I made my way down there and jumped in the huge ass line waiting for my chance to meet BJ. Two hours had passed and I was getting antsy. I had all my shit out ready to get signed etc. Brian Rhee, Zombie's manager even recognized me from a few other events and said whats up. He took my shit that I had for the Zombie to sign, walked it over to the front, had Zombie sign it and then brought it back to me. I digress. Anyways, to my dismay, BJ's time was up right while I was in the line and he had to go. His mother, Ms. Lorraine Shin kept commenting on how terrible she felt and saying that she was sorry. I explained to her that I had missed BJ in Afghanistan, and then again at the expos. She was genuinely upset that I didn't get a chance to meet her kid. She passed me her business card, and told me to mail her anything I wanted signed in Hawaii...and that she promised to mail it back to me. Thought that was awesome.

The next day BJ was scheduled to appear at some hotel downtown for what the UFC  was calling their "Pub Crawl" A whole gang of guys were doing this. So, I figured why not try again to meet Baby Jay. Got to the place and I was like number 6 in line! I was so excited to finally get a chance to meet the guy (gay moment I know). Finally BJ comes in with his mother and manager. Bonnar was supposed to be there but was late. His mom immediately recognized me and told BJ right away, "this is the guy I told you about." So my turn came up and BJ told me to sit down. I sat down on a stool next to him and he basically just brought the line to a halt talking to me. I explained to him that Soldiers and service members are extremely grateful that he and Faber had come to Afghanistan and put themselves in danger just to support us. As I was talking to BJ, I noticed that he started to get a bit choked up and got goosebumps on his arms. Ill never forget this because he said "Brah...hearing this right here...its giving me chicken skin.." I had never heard that term before and started cracking the hell up...Ill end it here but meeting BJ was hands down one of the most awesome experiences Ive had with a fighter. Ive looked up to him for a long time, but even more so when he put his ass out there to visit Soldiers in a combat zone. All he did was keep talking about how much he admired Soldiers which I thought was awesome. When I looked up...the people in the line were all staring at me like Jesus Christ where do these two know eachother from? Sorry for longest post ever...

 

 

What an awesome fucking story bro. Thank you for your service. WAR PENN!!!!

 

Hey thanks dude. Meeting BJ was def. the highlight of my fan expo experience. Even his mama was super cool man which I thought was funny. When she handed me her card and said just mail me all the stuff you want signed and Ill send it back i was like.....ARE YOU CEREAL???

mmavixen - 

I have too many to write them all.  All I can say is that every fighter I've ever met, hung out with, or have been fortunate enough to become friends with have all been amazing.  MMA fighters are probably the most humble proffessional athletes today and their interaction with fans is unbelievable.

CMONNN Vixen...share at least one funny or interesting one please? Then Ill tell you about the time I met Arianny at a Panda Express and her Ex-boyfriend nearly kickd my ass for asking him to take a pic of us togther...Ya...that one that beat her up in Vegas over the summer...

octowussy - Had dinner with Jason Chambers, Ian Freeman and Fedor. And Fedor's translator. Fedor was dressed in head-to-toe denim, ordered a salad and a Pepsi (through his translator), and went back to his room early. Some random dude thought Ian Freeman was Bas Rutten.

The end.

head to toe denim..THATS FEDOR alright! haha my main man from the nice part of Philly...how the hell did this happen?

Immaculata - The best story I have is when a group of my main training partners and I went to UFC 24. We all saw Kevin Randleman and got introduced. We talked w/ Kevin for a while and wished him luck. The next day, some of the fighters were warming up, and Kevin was the last one. Well, after he gets done, he starts heading down the isle to the back of the Arena, and all of us say "Heyyy Kev"!! He sees us and screams out "Hheeyyyy!!!!", rightt after he disappears behind the curtains. The next thing we hear is TTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHUUUUUDDDDDDDDD! Kevin slipped on some pipes that were randomly laying on the floor and got knocked out!! Therefore the Main Event got cancelled.

wow...shit like this is why i started this thread. Hearing this kind of thing is crazy. I met Kev in Vegas...he was out with his wife at the time. I think this was right after he had recovered from horrible staf infection. He showed us the scars and my friend and I both were like holy shit! Kevs wife stepped away for a second...my friend pulled out some tobacco (stinky wintergreen shit). Kev sees the can of dip and says "hey man gimme a fuckin dip before my wife comes back over here!" Takes a huge wad of dip and puts it in his face, then continues talking to us.

melendez - 

mmavixen - 

I have too many to write them all.  All I can say is that every fighter I've ever met, hung out with, or have been fortunate enough to become friends with have all been amazing.  MMA fighters are probably the most humble proffessional athletes today and their interaction with fans is unbelievable.

CMONNN Vixen...share at least one funny or interesting one please? Then Ill tell you about the time I met Arianny at a Panda Express and her Ex-boyfriend nearly kickd my ass for asking him to take a pic of us togther...Ya...that one that beat her up in Vegas over the summer...

FRAT (but you asked for it)

Is that true about Arianny?  That's funny.

Okay, I thought this was kind of funny.  My friend and I were outside some UFC event (don't remember which one) and Chuck Liddell was in a black SUV and he drove by us.  I screamed "Chuck" and next thing I know the black car stops and he ran towards us and was like "Hey".  So we took a picture with him and then he had to be somewhere so he ran, really fast all the way back to the car he was in. It was pretty funny to see Chuck running through traffic.  There were UFC fans in cars looking at him and yelling his name. He's a standup guy, for sure. BTW: The pic came out kind of blurry, not one of my best ones.

For some reason, this one sticks in my mind,too.  I was backstage at the UFC Expo and I was talking to Junior (I have the pic, I've posted it before) and he was the sweetest guy ever.  All of a sudden, I look next to me and Shane Carwin is seated on the other side of me.  So, I am in between them and I am thinking "holy shit, I am in between Carwin and Junior."  The funny thing is they had already fought.  And I ended up teaching Junior some Spanish.  He was really good.

Oh, and memorable.  I was having a really hard time this past August.  A lot of crap was going on in my personal life and Chael called me the minute the clock turned midnight on my birthday.  That was an awesome thing to do and shows you he's an amazing person.

I have a lot of other good ones but I'll save those for when I know you better.

Really enjoying everyone's posts.  Great thread.  Voted up

Deuce77 - Toyota Center Houston: I was wearing a football jersey and approached Renzo Gracie. He said something like, "oh, football player I take you down" and proceeded to pretend to take me down. Cool shit.

That same night I saw Stitch Duran in the hallway of the hotel and he said something like, "man, I've seen alot of scary guys but you look really scary." I used to be a fucking loser thug when I was younger and although I've changed, the look hasn't.

Bro, didn't you find that Renzo was like one of the coolest guys you've ever met? A few months ago was at the BJJ expo in Long Beach and met Renzo there. I explained to him that I had a brother who was a huge fan of his. My bro is in the Army too stationed in GA. I told him that my bro is brand new to the army and has been really depressed and homesick. I asked Renzo if I could record him on my phone saying a personal message to my brother Jerry...to which Renzo said "HELL YAA!" So I taped him for like 20 seconds telling my brother to keep his chin up and stay motivated. Sent my brother the video and he nearly shit himself! One of my favorite encounters.

melendez - 

Immaculata - The best story I have is when a group of my main training partners and I went to UFC 24. We all saw Kevin Randleman and got introduced. We talked w/ Kevin for a while and wished him luck. The next day, some of the fighters were warming up, and Kevin was the last one. Well, after he gets done, he starts heading down the isle to the back of the Arena, and all of us say "Heyyy Kev"!! He sees us and screams out "Hheeyyyy!!!!", rightt after he disappears behind the curtains. The next thing we hear is TTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHUUUUUDDDDDDDDD! Kevin slipped on some pipes that were randomly laying on the floor and got knocked out!! Therefore the Main Event got cancelled.

wow...shit like this is why i started this thread. Hearing this kind of thing is crazy. I met Kev in Vegas...he was out with his wife at the time. I think this was right after he had recovered from horrible staf infection. He showed us the scars and my friend and I both were like holy shit! Kevs wife stepped away for a second...my friend pulled out some tobacco (stinky wintergreen shit). Kev sees the can of dip and says "hey man gimme a fuckin dip before my wife comes back over here!" Takes a huge wad of dip and puts it in his face, then continues talking to us.

torquemada -  I met Renzo when he was cleaning up his diet for the Hughes fight. I sort of bragged that I ate clean most the time.
The next day, my wife and I are at a local candy store in Charlotte. I'm figuring I'll relax because I'm on vacation. I'm eating some big piece of fudge when someone slaps my back and yells "Hey, man! What the fuck are you eating? "


Yep, Renzo.

Awesome.

melendez - 

octowussy - Had dinner with Jason Chambers, Ian Freeman and Fedor. And Fedor's translator. Fedor was dressed in head-to-toe denim, ordered a salad and a Pepsi (through his translator), and went back to his room early. Some random dude thought Ian Freeman was Bas Rutten.

The end.

head to toe denim..THATS FEDOR alright! haha my main man from the nice part of Philly...how the hell did this happen?

mmavixen - 

melendez - 

mmavixen - 

I have too many to write them all.  All I can say is that every fighter I've ever met, hung out with, or have been fortunate enough to become friends with have all been amazing.  MMA fighters are probably the most humble proffessional athletes today and their interaction with fans is unbelievable.

CMONNN Vixen...share at least one funny or interesting one please? Then Ill tell you about the time I met Arianny at a Panda Express and her Ex-boyfriend nearly kickd my ass for asking him to take a pic of us togther...Ya...that one that beat her up in Vegas over the summer...

FRAT (but you asked for it)

Is that true about Arianny?  That's funny.

Okay, I thought this was kind of funny.  My friend and I were outside some UFC event (don't remember which one) and Chuck Liddell was in a black SUV and he drove by us.  I screamed "Chuck" and next thing I know the black car stops and he ran towards us and was like "Hey".  So we took a picture with him and then he had to be somewhere so he ran, really fast all the way back to the car he was in. It was pretty funny to see Chuck running through traffic.  There were UFC fans in cars looking at him and yelling his name. He's a standup guy, for sure. BTW: The pic came out kind of blurry, not one of my best ones.

For some reason, this one sticks in my mind,too.  I was backstage at the UFC Expo and I was talking to Junior (I have the pic, I've posted it before) and he was the sweetest guy ever.  All of a sudden, I look next to me and Shane Carwin is seated on the other side of me.  So, I am in between them and I am thinking "holy shit, I am in between Carwin and Junior."  The funny thing is they had already fought.  And I ended up teaching Junior some Spanish.  He was really good.

Oh, and memorable.  I was having a really hard time this past August.  A lot of crap was going on in my personal life and Chael called me the minute the clock turned midnight on my birthday.  That was an awesome thing to do and shows you he's an amazing person.

I have a lot of other good ones but I'll save those for when I know you better.

Hahaha! AWWWESSOOMMME!

Hell yes it TRUE! I was doing some military business in Barstow California. Its a shit hole town between LA in Vegas but tons of people stop there because its pretty much that last place you can take a piss or eat before getting to either city. This was last December. I see a white Range Rover pull into the parking lot of the Panda Express...This was some hilarious shit and Ill tell you why...a few weeks prior, I had seen some bullshit story on the UG about how Ariany just bought a new Range. Im thinking...who the HELL cares? Why is this on the UG? Well...sure enough, Im in panda express and guess who jumps out of the truck? Ariany out the passenger side, and what I thought was a hispanic guy (looked like a shitty used car salesman out the front) They get inside and I look at Arianny and she looks at me with that kind of look you give someone when you know they know who you are. I was like Arianny I didn't think you eat this garbage, you're gona get a belly like me (as i rubbed my tummy like roy nelson). She laughed, but her papi chulo was seriuosly not amused. He looked at me like I just gave his cat a bath. So anyways, I asked her if she would take a pic (which i thought was nice because she had ZERO makeup on and her image is her lifeline). I tried to pass teh dude my blackberry and he just stared at me. So I said "hey man would you mind to take a pic?" She looked at him...he rolled his eyes at her...and took my phone and snapped the pic...fucking awesome :)  Find out a few months later he likes to practice his Gangnam Style Karate on 110 pound women...

Immaculata - 

melendez - 

Immaculata - The best story I have is when a group of my main training partners and I went to UFC 24. We all saw Kevin Randleman and got introduced. We talked w/ Kevin for a while and wished him luck. The next day, some of the fighters were warming up, and Kevin was the last one. Well, after he gets done, he starts heading down the isle to the back of the Arena, and all of us say "Heyyy Kev"!! He sees us and screams out "Hheeyyyy!!!!", rightt after he disappears behind the curtains. The next thing we hear is TTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHUUUUUDDDDDDDDD! Kevin slipped on some pipes that were randomly laying on the floor and got knocked out!! Therefore the Main Event got cancelled.

wow...shit like this is why i started this thread. Hearing this kind of thing is crazy. I met Kev in Vegas...he was out with his wife at the time. I think this was right after he had recovered from horrible staf infection. He showed us the scars and my friend and I both were like holy shit! Kevs wife stepped away for a second...my friend pulled out some tobacco (stinky wintergreen shit). Kev sees the can of dip and says "hey man gimme a fuckin dip before my wife comes back over here!" Takes a huge wad of dip and puts it in his face, then continues talking to us.

Lol. That's awesome. I've met some really friendly, DTE Fighters over all my years in this Sport, but, Kevin Randleman truly was really, really cool.

Dude once we told him we were SOldiers he went batshit and started telling "you guys are heroes send me all your shit and ill SIGN IT!!!" I was like Kev I dont have any of your Pride dolls bro...he rolled his eyes haha

octowussy - 

melendez - 

octowussy - Had dinner with Jason Chambers, Ian Freeman and Fedor. And Fedor's translator. Fedor was dressed in head-to-toe denim, ordered a salad and a Pepsi (through his translator), and went back to his room early. Some random dude thought Ian Freeman was Bas Rutten.

The end.

head to toe denim..THATS FEDOR alright! haha my main man from the nice part of Philly...how the hell did this happen?

Dude loves denim so much.

This was at the M-1 Breakthrough event in Kansas City. I was there cornering one of the undercard fighters and they put us all up in a local hotel. So we all met in the hotel bar/restaurant after the fights and drank/ate. Gegard Mousasi and Karl Amoussou also showed up at one point. Shit was wild.

I wish I had a Fedor story *jealous*

mmavixen - 

melendez - 

mmavixen - 

I have too many to write them all.  All I can say is that every fighter I've ever met, hung out with, or have been fortunate enough to become friends with have all been amazing.  MMA fighters are probably the most humble proffessional athletes today and their interaction with fans is unbelievable.

CMONNN Vixen...share at least one funny or interesting one please? Then Ill tell you about the time I met Arianny at a Panda Express and her Ex-boyfriend nearly kickd my ass for asking him to take a pic of us togther...Ya...that one that beat her up in Vegas over the summer...

FRAT (but you asked for it)

Is that true about Arianny?  That's funny.

Okay, I thought this was kind of funny.  My friend and I were outside some UFC event (don't remember which one) and Chuck Liddell was in a black SUV and he drove by us.  I screamed "Chuck" and next thing I know the black car stops and he ran towards us and was like "Hey".  So we took a picture with him and then he had to be somewhere so he ran, really fast all the way back to the car he was in. It was pretty funny to see Chuck running through traffic.  There were UFC fans in cars looking at him and yelling his name. He's a standup guy, for sure. BTW: The pic came out kind of blurry, not one of my best ones.

For some reason, this one sticks in my mind,too.  I was backstage at the UFC Expo and I was talking to Junior (I have the pic, I've posted it before) and he was the sweetest guy ever.  All of a sudden, I look next to me and Shane Carwin is seated on the other side of me.  So, I am in between them and I am thinking "holy shit, I am in between Carwin and Junior."  The funny thing is they had already fought.  And I ended up teaching Junior some Spanish.  He was really good.

Oh, and memorable.  I was having a really hard time this past August.  A lot of crap was going on in my personal life and Chael called me the minute the clock turned midnight on my birthday.  That was an awesome thing to do and shows you he's an amazing person.

I have a lot of other good ones but I'll save those for when I know you better.

Vixen thats an awesome few stories you told. I got to meet JDS during the 09 expo like 4 times. Some reason, I kept bumping into him all over the place...The fighters seemed to like the T-Shirt that I was wearing at the time (epsecially the Brasilian fighters) for the message I had written on it in portuguese. I kept thinking in my head that JDS was such as class act and nice guy. That was long before the fame. Met him again last July or June (before the Mir fight) and guess what? NOTHING HAS CHANGED. He seems like the same exact nice guy that I met when nobody knew his name. Him saying whats up in the restroom while we were both taking a piss kinda caught me off guard hahaha

melendez - 

mmavixen - 

melendez - 

mmavixen - 

I have too many to write them all.  All I can say is that every fighter I've ever met, hung out with, or have been fortunate enough to become friends with have all been amazing.  MMA fighters are probably the most humble proffessional athletes today and their interaction with fans is unbelievable.

CMONNN Vixen...share at least one funny or interesting one please? Then Ill tell you about the time I met Arianny at a Panda Express and her Ex-boyfriend nearly kickd my ass for asking him to take a pic of us togther...Ya...that one that beat her up in Vegas over the summer...

FRAT (but you asked for it)

Is that true about Arianny?  That's funny.

Okay, I thought this was kind of funny.  My friend and I were outside some UFC event (don't remember which one) and Chuck Liddell was in a black SUV and he drove by us.  I screamed "Chuck" and next thing I know the black car stops and he ran towards us and was like "Hey".  So we took a picture with him and then he had to be somewhere so he ran, really fast all the way back to the car he was in. It was pretty funny to see Chuck running through traffic.  There were UFC fans in cars looking at him and yelling his name. He's a standup guy, for sure. BTW: The pic came out kind of blurry, not one of my best ones.

For some reason, this one sticks in my mind,too.  I was backstage at the UFC Expo and I was talking to Junior (I have the pic, I've posted it before) and he was the sweetest guy ever.  All of a sudden, I look next to me and Shane Carwin is seated on the other side of me.  So, I am in between them and I am thinking "holy shit, I am in between Carwin and Junior."  The funny thing is they had already fought.  And I ended up teaching Junior some Spanish.  He was really good.

Oh, and memorable.  I was having a really hard time this past August.  A lot of crap was going on in my personal life and Chael called me the minute the clock turned midnight on my birthday.  That was an awesome thing to do and shows you he's an amazing person.

I have a lot of other good ones but I'll save those for when I know you better.

Hahaha! AWWWESSOOMMME!

Hell yes it TRUE! I was doing some military business in Barstow California. Its a shit hole town between LA in Vegas but tons of people stop there because its pretty much that last place you can take a piss or eat before getting to either city. This was last December. I see a white Range Rover pull into the parking lot of the Panda Express...This was some hilarious shit and Ill tell you why...a few weeks prior, I had seen some bullshit story on the UG about how Ariany just bought a new Range. Im thinking...who the HELL cares? Why is this on the UG? Well...sure enough, Im in panda express and guess who jumps out of the truck? Ariany out the passenger side, and what I thought was a hispanic guy (looked like a shitty used car salesman out the front) They get inside and I look at Arianny and she looks at me with that kind of look you give someone when you know they know who you are. I was like Arianny I didn't think you eat this garbage, you're gona get a belly like me (as i rubbed my tummy like roy nelson). She laughed, but her papi chulo was seriuosly not amused. He looked at me like I just gave his cat a bath. So anyways, I asked her if she would take a pic (which i thought was nice because she had ZERO makeup on and her image is her lifeline). I tried to pass teh dude my blackberry and he just stared at me. So I said "hey man would you mind to take a pic?" She looked at him...he rolled his eyes at her...and took my phone and snapped the pic...fucking awesome :)  Find out a few months later he likes to practice his Gangnam Style Karate on 110 pound women...

That is a great story.  And yeah, isn't that the guy she got arrested for hitting? LOL

I didn't meet her.  I was in the elevator after UFC 148 MGM Grand and she and Brittany were in there with us.  I just thought to myself  "wow, they're really short." But brittany's body looked really good.  

octowussy - 

melendez - 

octowussy - Had dinner with Jason Chambers, Ian Freeman and Fedor. And Fedor's translator. Fedor was dressed in head-to-toe denim, ordered a salad and a Pepsi (through his translator), and went back to his room early. Some random dude thought Ian Freeman was Bas Rutten.

The end.

head to toe denim..THATS FEDOR alright! haha my main man from the nice part of Philly...how the hell did this happen?

Dude loves denim so much.

This was at the M-1 Breakthrough event in Kansas City. I was there cornering one of the undercard fighters and they put us all up in a local hotel. So we all met in the hotel bar/restaurant after the fights and drank/ate. Gegard Mousasi and Karl Amoussou also showed up at one point. Shit was wild.

Haha I think Russian people love their denim in general dont you? Ive always wanted to meet Fedor man. Hes the only guy in MMA that ive not met yet that Ive wanted to meet. Him and Frank Shamrock I think..oh and Sakuraba..ummm and Royce...shit im lying there are a ton id still like to meet. Not Joe Son tho...he maybe try to take my virginity...i no like...