9/18/10
Today I leave for Tokyo. I am very excited. Right before I leave for Japan to fight I am always overwhelmed with an emense feeling of greatfulness. Greatful for life, love, family, and friends. My life has been meaningful.
D,
Dream 13 Daily Journal 3/14
3/14
Ok, so today was very fun. I can totally see why Joachim comes to Ibaraki instead of Tokyo now. It’s so less populated and the people tend to be very polite. Since there is less going on you can really take some alone time to focus your mind when you want too. Plus, Mach’s gym has a full weight room, bags, showers, and even a ring.
Starting this morning I first woke up at 5:30am, and then rolled around til about 7:30am. From then til about 9am I was writing emails, jotting down notes, video taping my room, and outlining some workouts for when I get home. Little did I know that Joachim had been up from even earlier. If we had known we would of probably gone for a jog. Once we were up we started looking for a coffee shop. Mach’s father, and brother misunderstood our question and made us some coffee. I have to say it was really damn good.
Then the real quest began. We went in search of breakfast. Unlike Tokyo, Ibaraki doesn’t have a ramen/udon shop on every corner. We walked around for almost 1 hour. It wasn’t that bad since we got to really check things out, but at this point we were pretty hungry. We walked up to a Sushi Resturaunt, and realized that all of the eateries only open at 11am, and we couldn’t wait another 30min so we ate breakfast at 7-11. 7-11 here in Japan has far better food.
I had Chicken Kara-age, and bought some natto to eat with my rice. Natto is fermented soy beans that has many health benefits, and gives good energy. Unfortunately it’s slimey, and smells bad. I think I grossed Joachim and Celina out a bit. I told them they probably wouldn’t like it but they tried it first. Joachim said “It looks like something I crapped out”, as he looked away.
After eating breakfast we went back to the Dojo, and then trained. The three of us basically did a Jiu-Jitsu marathon workout (If you train at FTCC you know what that means). Sean also held mitts for Celina since she is fighting soon. The training went well. I felt a little jet lagged, but felt much better after a hot shower.
After that we went to take some photos of Joachim with his Tokyo Five gear in a traditional Japanese setting for his sponsor. We came back and then headed to lunch. Mach’s wife got us a table at a resturaunt that he frequents before his fights. Since he cuts 18kg he eats a 9 piece sashimi plate, and a large salad with a little miso dressing. That’s exactly what we ordered. It was perfect, and at the sametime we got to experience what Mach goes through when he gets ready to fight.
Then it was off to the grocery store. We got cases of water, fruit, yogurt, and a bunch of house hold things we needed. We got back around 6:45pm. I used the internet, and watched some highlights on my phone with Mach’s dad for about an hour. I also heard a good quote indirectly from Mach’s dad from Sean. He said “if Aoki was my son, i would beat him”. I beleive its in regards to Aoki’s behavior.
Joachim, and I then went to 7-11 for some hot lemon vitamin C drinks. On the way there we got to discuss Bibiano, about life, and about coming up with a plan to get me a fight. It all ended with us saying “let’s train MMA tomorrow!”. Now I’m off to get some sleep for the awesomeness that will happen tomorrow.
Good night!
“to thine own self be true”
What do you do the moment that you realize you’ve made one of the biggest mistakes of your life? You might cry, feel sorry, start drinking, or maybe just start giving up on yourself. There are so many paths you can take, but it comes down to the actions that we make that shape our lives. In a Universe with so many things that we can’t control like time, laws of physics, and forces of nature, the one thing that we can always control is our decisions. We will try to rationalize and make the most logical choices to best suit us, and our need to continue existing. Not necessarily as in life, and death, but as who we are or want to be. Fear is inescapable, and regardless of our own perceived “Badassness” we all fear something.
Over the last few months I’ve been going through one of the hardest times of my life, and regardless of who I’d spoken with I never felt content with the advice or approval of which I received. All of the events that occurred are ones that I knew were very possible and somewhat anticipated. It all started with me initially having a fight in Dream 12, it being cancelled, getting offered another fight in Deep on 12 days noticed, going through contract issues, training for the Jiu-Jitsu World Championships, then stopping when getting offered another fight in Dream 12 on 10 days notice (really 5 because I’d have to leave for Japan early). After the offer came I trained my butt off for 2 days, and realized I wasn’t at the level I wanted to be at, turned down the fight, and ended up with nothing. This was an extremely manic period, and I get stressed just thinking about it. Granted it sucked, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I still wouldn’t change it for anything, because this chain of events made me sit back and ask myself what I really want. I want to be happy, and fighting makes me happy. It’s not winning that matters, but being in the moment both physically and mentally. I gotta get back to that, and back to being myself.
First, I had to be honest with myself and identify what went wrong. Sure the cards that were dealt to me sucked, and I could go on and on about how the world is unfair. But the truth is I could have made better decisions along the way. Short notice or not, I honestly now in clear conscience believe that I should have, and could have taken that fight and won. But I let myself down by not training for MMA the whole time. Secondly, I have to admit my own fear to myself. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to fight as hard for them as I wanted to, and I have a personal fear of letting others down. Third, only after admitting my fear can I overcome it. Even if I decide to compete in just jiu-jitsu or grappling I always have to keep my striking sharp. This will sound selfish, but I have to start fighting for myself again. I can’t allow other people’s expectations affect me. Fourth, I have to do everything possible to avoid making the same mistakes again.
Regardless of whatever curve balls are thrown at me in the future I need to be prepared.
These quotes come to mind when reflecting back on the past few months, and hopefully they will help lead me to a happy future.
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”- William Shakespeare Hamlet
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself”- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Favorite Souvenirs Ever!!!
This is the “Moonwolf” Rumina Sato’s personal Roots Gym/Headfast Collab hat. To be honest I kind of want to put it in a glass case. He also got us the best Dorayaki in the world from a famous Odawara pastry shop. The shop will occassionaly brand the Roots Gym logo on them.
D
My Path to Black Belt Part 3
Ok so I’m writing this from my iPhone on the way to Tokyo.
I think I’ll pick up where I left off. Well it was pretty fun and self gratifying to win the PanAms under those conditions, but I guess it only made me a little more frustrated. I started to feel even more resentment that guys that didn’t win their purple belt division still got promoted to Brown Belt. Later that year I also went to the annual promotion event where I still got passes over, and watched even more people get promoted. This drove me almost insane.
I never admitted this before but a few weeks later while rolling I was in a potentially dangerous position for my knee and out of complete frustration i popped my own LCL. Til this day I don’t know why I did it but I did. I think it was an act of self distruction because somehow I hated myself for either not doing enough, or for possibly not leaving. But looking back this one act lead me in a lot of ways to where I am. But in all honesty I should have shown better self control and not given into anger.
Well this injury time out gave me some time to think and collect my thoughts. At the same time I had to develope a completely new part of my game, my half guard. Plus, my main training partner at the time was Chris Cariaso and I had to help him get ready to fight Andrew Villadarez. This got me in pretty decent shape and back into MMA training which also helped take my mind off of my recent short comings in BJJ. Then the phone rang and Todd Middendorp of Cage Combat asked if FnF had a 135 pound fighter that would fight in 2 weeks against Will Nerbonne, a fighter that had a KO win over high level grappler/wrestler David Yee. My knee was still injured, but in typical fashion I said “f-yeah”. It was my opportunity again to show my capabilty. So I landed a high kick, and choked my opponent unconscious in about 2 min. Two days later on Feburary 19th, 2007 I was awarded my Brown Belt.
I’ll return with Brown to Black soon!
Headed to Tokyo to film MAT CULTURE vol.1
Just wanted to say what’s up. I’m headed to Tokyo to start film the first of many DVD’s. I’m going with Damien(Camera Man), and Ron Carrillo(Training Partner).
My Path to Black Belt – Part 2
Well, I haven’t been able to post lately with my team fighting, kids finishing school and plenty of other stuff. Also, to be honest sometimes blogging about the past brings up a lot of old feeleings.
Well, back to the good. I think I left off with when Denny and I were at Fight and Fitness. So pretty much with his influence from 10th Planet, and my top(position) game from Ralph’s we both became pretty complete. I also studied many other top competitors like Marcelo Garcia, and Leo Viera to name a few. Once understanding their individual movements, I would create drills to develope the athleticism to execute them. A lot of guys will often say “Darren’s not that good, he can just wrestle and get’s lucky in tournaments”. They also say it’s just that I compete in a weak weight class, and if they competed that day, that they could beat me. To be honest there might be some truth to that. If they weren’t too scared to enter, or did the work they just might beat me. But as long as they’re still wussies then I guess we’ll never know.
Back to the story… So to get my, or be accepted as a Purple Belt by Ralph and Kurt I had to win the Purple Belt division at the 2006 Pan Am’s. I was originally told that I had to win the Blue Belt div to get promoted, but when I told them that I’ll only do the Purple Belt div I was told by Kurt ” Well you’re on your own then”. I said cool, but in all reality I was quite disappointed. That’s when Johnny Ramirez(New Breed) really got my back. I was down in LA drinking beer, and eating like shit, and sleeping on a couch. Luckily all the NB Chicago, and Carlson Gracie guys were down there too, so I was helping them prep for the tourny. It was the day before the biggest gi tourney in the US(at the time) when Johnny said “you’re competing”, I said “uh, I don’t think so”. He said “yes you are”, showed me my name on the bracket and said “I paid for you, if you don’t do it you’re a dick”. So we get up early the next morning and head to the tourny, I tried to be relaxed but I knew if I lost that I’d look like a complete idiot making big statements. Long story short, I submitted my first guy in like 30 seconds by RNC, and went to the finals with Sim Go. It was funny cuz Kurt and all the guys were there and kept a distance from me before the first match, and then after that I instantly had a big cheering section for the finals. Sim, and I went at it and had what some claim to be the most exciting match on the 2006 Pan Am DVD. I ended up winning by one advantage. While I was on the podium Kurt said to me “you can keep the purple belt” I replied “, Gee, you think”.
Sorry it took me so long to post this, and I warned u abou grammatical errors. I’ll be posting belt by belt.
Peace,
D
5/7/09 – The Day I get my Black Belt
Here’s a pic of Kyle, Rodney, and myself as they give me a great gift.
just plain awesome...
Nike 10BC’s not 10AC
Ok, so this may sound weird but ever since I went to Tokyo this past March I’ve found a new appreciation for shoes. Not your typical Dunk SB’s or Jordans, but I really like the Nike 10AC line, it’s a collab between Japanese MMA Fighter Caol Uno and Nike. Since 10AC gear isn’t really available in the states I started collecting the standard versions of the shoes that are available here. My first pair is the Nike Trainer Dunk Low(USA). It’s a mix between a Nike Free and a retro Trainer(what I remember as a kid, as the Bo Jackson’s). It’s not that big a deal but it’s what I’ve been into lately. Here’s a pic.
