So where do I start my crazy UFC 69 adventure? When my plane lands in houston? No, I think this adventure starts before that. I definitely have to include Fight Night at the Palms on Wednesday and Thursday. ***DISCLAIMER*** I don't pretend to know a ton about the technical aspect of fighting; I just happen to be friends with a lot of fighters. I learn more about the sport with every fight I attend.

WEDNESDAY..

It was a dark and stormy night.. No no, thats all wrong.. It was a bright and sunny day. Wednesday afternoon, and I knew I had the weigh in's pending in a few hours at the Palms.

2:45pm... I get in my car and head to the Palms for weigh in; It was pretty uneventful unless you call Melvin Guillard's antics interesting. He got up to weigh in and said, "Now don't all you ladies rush the stage!" As I looked around the room and counted, I knew that Melvin was safe from the wild and crazy female fans that were out to get him. Joe Stevenson was much more humble; opting not to muscle guy pose after Bruce announced his weight. It was somewhat of a reunion as I hugged and chatted with some people and fighters I hadn't seen in a while; Kit Cope, Kevin Randallman, Spritwolf, Justin Mccully, Tito Ortiz, Pav, and Bruce Buffer. Then it was home to get some work done for the night.

THURSDAY

I spent the morning trying to get all my ducks in a row for the UFC weekend ahead. I knew that my telephoto lens was not focusing correctly. I figured this out somehow in the middle of shooting UFC 68 in Columbus, OH. Somehow it really sucks that the best UFC that I ever went to, was the same one that I wasn't able to shoot very well. On the bright side, I was with my girl, Brittney Skye, and we ended up sitting 2 rows back from the floor in the same section as a lot of fighters (Shonie Carter, Phil Baroni, Razor Rob, Eddie Sanchez, and Kenny Florian to name a few) and had prime seating to watch Randy wipe the floor with Tim Sylvia. Pretty good bright side, no? I digress..

So my lens isn't working and I have a couple hours in which to locate one in Las Vegas so that I can shoot Ultimate Fight night at the Pearl (located inside the Palms), and then take off to Houston for UFC 69. I stop at 3 stores on the way to Best Buy (I knew I would pay an arm and a leg for it, but I needed the lens!) and none of them carried anything that I would need. I get to BB, get the lens wrapped up and ready to go, only to have my credit card denied. "Run it again!" I demanded to no avail. Pissed, I stomp out of the Best Buy to my car, wondering if I made a mistake in my financial calculations. I drive off, and call the bank to find out that they had suspended my card for suspisious activity. Maybe my $100 computer store purchase and my $500 custome key chain purchase alerted them to my terroristic promotions angle. Card released, it was back to Best Buy to get the lens and then head to the Palms.

I get to the Palms and run into Alissa from the PR company. Thank god I did, because the clueless chick behind the counter couldn't find my Press Credentials. She went back 3 times and then finally found it, handed it to me and said, "Oops.". I stared at the fine print to read "Octagon side seat". What??? Wow, I had never been that close during a fight! And I had just bought the longest lens that I could find on short notice to shoot from what I thought would be an overhead position. No complaints here though! My "seat" was next to a photographer named Dave. He didn't seem to take me too seriously and gave me somewhat of a cold shoulder. lol... I knew I would change that and by the end of the fight, we would be best buddies. Or at least coffee companions? Shoulders to cry on? Who knows.

The fight started and I attempted to adjust to a position that I had never shot before. Overall, I think I did a pretty ok job, and going forward in the future, know what it is that I have to do to successfully get the shots I want. I was shooting close up and through the cage which was all a new experience for me.

In between fights, I wandered around the area, chatting with some of the people I saw around. Dave the photographer had warmed up to me and I think it had to do with the fact that we had some mutual friends. I was thrilled to see the outcome of the fights as Justin Mccully took Antoni Hardonk in a fight that Frank Mir was originally supposed to be in, and Joe Stevenson took Melvin in just under 30 seconds with a guillotine. Ok, here's my first secret- I had to ask my new buddy Dave the name of the submission. I know, I know, I'm learning, ok?!?! All the excitement was making me hungry so a group of us including Pav, Phil Baroni and his hottie girlfriend, Anglea decided it was time for sushi. But the walk leaving the fight was typical and it took us at least 45 minutes to get through the fans at the front door who were all clamoring for pictures of Phil, Kevin, and Shonie. Stomachs grumbling, we made it to Little Buddha for dinner.

It's somewhere around 8pm by the time we were done, and I had to go pick up my sister from the Hard Rock. The guys from Skinnie Magazine were in town and had left me some mags and swag at the bell desk so I made it a top priority to pick those up. Car loaded up, I hit my house and changed real fast then headed to Aces to meet Phil, Pav and their girlies for TUF 5 viewing party. We got there and found Randy and Kim Couture heading out the door, and Gray Maynard, Mike Pyle and Tyson Griffin quite a bit tipsy. We had missed most of the party, so we decided it was time to go to the Fight Night afterparties and headed to the Palms to meet up with Justin Mccully, Tito, Jenna, and Freddy. This was Melvin's afterparty and we saw him right when we walked in hanging with John Alessio and Jake Hattan. I stuck around for about 30 minutes before convincing myself I had to make an appearance at Joe's afterparty and dragged my girl's Tasha and Rachel with me.

2:30... We walked into Tao and I was afraid that all the fighters would have left, but who was I kidding? We had just seen John Alessio and crew in the elevator at the Palms. Somehow he managed to beat us there and was already dancing with 3 hotties at Joe Stevenson's table. He had also picked up Jay Hieron and Tyson Griffin somewhere along the way. Joe and his wife were there celebrating and Shonie was standing on the back of the couch above them with some female attached as an arm charm for the moment. I also spotted Dean Lister with some of his fighters in the vip area. I didn't have to ask anyone to pose for photos because as soon as I arrived people started moving into formations that could mean only one thing; take our damn picture! I had to escape. The photos and the people started getting crazy and it was only a few more hours till I had to be at the airport. As I was leaving Justin Mccully showed up with Tito, Jenna and freddy in tow.. Snap snap! And I was out the door.

FRIDAY?

Now I stop to ask myself, where should I put the break in the story to change to the next day? I figure this is as good as any because had I not stayed out all night, it would probably be the point in the story where I would have gotten up to go to the airport.

I got home from the club, and started to pack. It's never too hard for me to do this because I am a professional traveler. More important was trying to get through all the Fight Night pics and get them up on the site. Between packing and getting some work done, I somehow didn't get the UFN pics done. I mean, it was 330am by the time I got home and I had to leave the house no later than 630. Somehow I got out the door at 640, but still made my flight. I was afraid because of checking in late that I was going to lose my bags; Southwest and I have a love hate relationship. 3 hour flight that I completely slept through (this is all the sleep I got for 2 days), and it was in a cab (with all my bags) to the Hilton Americas. I texted Kendall, Where are yoU? Response, Hotel room.

So I called, "You at the Hilton Americas?"Kendall: Yeah, we're in the hotel room; I just woke up and am soooo hungry. Me: Well wait for me to eat, I'm on my way.Kendall: I'm cranky, I need to eat, and I can't, I have to go to weighins. I'll see you at the hotel.

Oops.. Now I feel like a dumbass. How the hell did the weigh ins slip my mind? I was pretty hungry so all I was thinking was food.

I got to the hotel and checked in and the place was teeming with fight people; fans, fighters, trainers, and coachs. I found Kendall and his crew in the lobby about to head to the park for the weigh ins. I dropped off my bags in the room, changed, and then sat down with Eddie Bravo and Ed from Sinister Clothing to have lunch in the cafe. They were almost finished, so I ordered fast. Bruce Buffer walked up and said hello and asked directions to the weighins. I think I gave him the wrong ones, but it wasn't hard to find so I don't feel TOO bad. Joe Rogan came and sat down and expressed the need to leave and get over to the park as soon as possible so they all took off and I was left by myself to my very yummy cranberry and chicken breast sandwich.

I strolled over to the weigh ins at the park next to the toyota Center (which was nicely situated RIGHT next door to the hotel) hoping that my press credentials would be there. See, they always are every fight, but this time I received no confirmation of them from the UFC. So going on faith, I took the flight to Houston in the hopes that it would be there. It was and moments later I was sitting in the press section of the weigh ins, snapping away. Highlights of this weigh in had to be the eskimo kiss between Kendall and Alan, and then Diego attempting to push Josh off the stage. Whoa! I ran around and snapped photos of some of the fighters milling around after the weigh ins were done, ran into my new friend Dave (see thursday at Ultimate Fight Night), and came across my buddy, Chad from Toe to Toe Clothing.

He walked me back to the hotel and then kept me company as I worked on the Fight Night pictures. As I was doing that, we blew up Brittney's phone. She was originally supposed to fly out to vegas for Fight Night, then fly with me to Houston but she never made it. We managed to convince her that she HAD to be there so she finally agreed and booked a flight to arrive at 330 Saturday afternoon. We then grabbed Chad's friend Nick and had a nice steak dinner at my hotel. Their luggage had not arrived as of yet, so Nick was wearing a shirt that he bought that stated: Don't mess with texas! They went to meet up with the Affliction to get something to wear out to the clubs that night, so I got ready and grabbed a cab over to Crome for the Fight Girl Fashion show.

I made my trip to Crome a short one because my final destination for the evening was to be Rich's for the Tito and Jenna afterparty. I got to Crome just before the fashion show started. The fashion show consisted of approximately 10 cute to hot girls prancing around in tanks, tee's, and booty shorts with the Fight Girl logo on them. Tough to see what was fight girl and what wasn't with all the accessories the girls were wearing, but it made for good pictures. I grabbed a photo of Mike "Joker" Guymon and friends, and then I was out the door to Rich's.

When I got to Rich's, I found a bunch of guys from Kendall's crew waiting for the owner to come out and get them. A quick phone call and we were all in, strapped with our VIP wristbands. Zach (the owner) was stressing because Tito and Jenna hadn't arrived yet, but by this time I was receiving play by play's on their status from Freddy who flew in from Vegas with them; I forwarded them to Zach to help keep him calm. They arrived straight from the airport to the club, looking incredible as if they had had hours to get ready. A massive crowd of people were mobbed around the VIP area to catch glimpses of these two legends; while security tried their hardest to keep order. I got my photos, said good bye to Jenna, Tito, and Freddy, and headed back to the Hilton to get my first real sleep in 2 days. It was about 5am.

SATURDAY

11am.. I had slept in, at least in my standards.. I distinctly remember setting my alarm for something like 7am. I couldn't recall WHY I had done that, I just know I slept in a lot later than I originally wanted to. I got up, checked myspace, then went downstairs to try and get a yummy cranberry and chicken breast sandwich again. Of course I ran into Kendall and Company (I can't believe how many times I ran into this crew!) in the cafe having lunch. He had a nervous energy to him, and said to me, "I don't know what time I'm getting to my afterparty cause I know I'm going to the hospital tonight." Thankfully, he was wrong about that one. As we all left the cafe, Kendall was mobbed for autographs and pictures. I headed back up to the room to get some work done, took a nap (obviously getting up at 7am would have been a bad thing) and then got ready for the fight. I made a TON of calls to make sure I was set up for all the fight afterparties. A big thank you to my boy, Omar for helping out on that end of things! A text from Britt: "I never made it! Have fun!" What a bummer! She's my roll dog to all the fights and now have 2 without her in about as many days. My girl Michelle came and brought me the lower level tickets she had for me and Britt; ones that sadly went to waste because I sat in the press box.

7pm.. I got to the arena, grabbed my laminate (the UFC ones are always my favorite!) and went to the media room to grab a bite to eat courtesy of the UFC. I always feel like I get sized up by the rest of the media when I walk into the room (not too many female photographers around), but I try not to let it bother me, and just do my thing. Maybe I'm just imagining things? The first fight was well under way before I made my way down to section 120 where the press box was. Again, all guys around me, but this time I knew a couple of them. I put my long lens on my camera (thank god for Best Buy!) and started shooting the fight.

Section 120 was the suite section, so in between fights I would head back into the bar area. Almost everytime found a UFC fighter or two hanging out. Of course I snapped some photos, and then headed back to my seat for the next card. I wish shooting UFC was always that easy. Each arena is different, so I never know quite what to expect.

9 pm.. Pay per view starts off with the fight, Kendall Grove vs Alan Belcher. I'm sure you already know who I wanted to win, so I couldn't contain my excitement through the fight as Kendall took the victory! I was jumping up and down, cheering loudly; as unprofessional as it was, the other photographers around me were all smiling and amused by my antics. I was sadly disappointed as was most of the crowd by Mike Swick's loss to Yushin Okami. Roger Huerta and Leonard Garcia went three grueling rounds where Huerta won by unanimous decision. It was one of the better fights of the night, in my opinion.

After that fight I went out to the suite to see who I might find, and I was approached by Monstah Lobster from TUF 5. Since the new season just started Thursday night, he was surprised at how many people recognized him. I missed the show, so I unfortunately I wasn't one of those people. A photo, an introduction of Monstah to Shonie, another photo, and then it was back to my seat to watch Diego Sanchez and Josh Koscheck.

I could hardly wait! this seemed to be the fight of that everyone was looking forward to, including myself! And sadly we were all disappointed as the two fighters danced around for 3 rounds straight; Koscheck taking calcutlated jabs at Diego, and Diego running defense the whole time. It was a boxing match for pretty much the entire fight and I know that the crowd hoping it would go to the mat. Boo's from the audience showed their disappointment as very little action came out of the cage, and Josh Koscheck took the win by unanimous decision.

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The final fight of the night, Georges St Pierre Vs Matt Serra. Everyone expected GSP to win hands down. Those same people were shocked when 3.5 minutes into the first round, Serra rocked GSP with a punch that dazed him and caused him to go down a total of 6 times before Matt took the fight. Congratulations to Matt Serra for causing a huge upset in the UFC!

I ran out the arena and back to the hotel through the cold rain ("wasn't it ridiculously hot and sunny at the weigh ins yesterday?" I thought to myself) and got some of the photos loading off my camera. I was picked by Michelle and Sheri, where we promptly got lost in downtown looking for the Double Tree in an effort to pick up Chad and Nick, and then proceeded to get lost again heading to Crome where GSP's afterparty was being held. Thank god for google maps on my Crackberry! We got to the club around 12:30 and hoped that Georges would have made it there too. With 4 more destinations, we didnt have time to wait for him. A Text from Freddy "go to rich's" and my response "be there later!" We heard that Vintage (Diego's party) was dead so we went back downtown to Milan. Apparently GSP showed up within 15 minutes after we left, and Diego's party started going off around 2..

2:00.. We arrived at Milan only to be told they're not letting anyone else in. With the help of a local Houstonian, I got in to shoot as the rest of the group went to the Xyience party around the corner at Shadow. The party at Milan was hosted by Kendall, Drago, Chris Leben, Melvin Guillard, and Josh Haynes. I grabbed photos of these guys as they got wasted and celebrated, and then ran to Shadow to catch up with my crew of the evening.

3:15.. I caught Forest Griffin for a solo shot, and then one with me on his way out the door. Found Tom from Affliction happily drunk in the back of the club hanging out with Jake Hattan from Xyience, UFC Fighter, Jason Lambert, and fighter Manny Rodriguez. By this time, all were so intoxicated that the photos were getting ridiculous. My stomach was growling (I hadn't eaten since 7) and I needed food. I got everyone to leave to get food, only to find myself walking into Rich's for afterhours (seems like this is where everyone had ended their evening).

We were 7 or 8 deep by this time. I called Zach to get in with no response so I walked up to the front and talked our way in. We strolled up into VIP in time to see Jenna, Tito, and Freddy saying their goodbyes. Everyone was crazy by this point and I was firing off candid shots of their antics. People came and went the rest of the evening, including Diego at the very end of the night. It was pouring down rain so we called a cab to carry 3 of us to try and find food; Michelle followed in her BMW with 4 of the crew.

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The cab driver was ornery from the moment Chad, Jake and I got in. He stated that there was no food open in the area (I found out later there was a late night vietnamese spot located almost around the corner from Rich's) and attempted to purposely lose Michelle who was following him. I called and gave her directions to get back to the Hilton America's and then we changed our minds and told the cab driver to go to the Marriot where Jake, Michelle and Sheri were all staying.

At this point, things got crazy.. It was like a scene out of a movie! The cab driver hit the brakes in the middle of the street, and turned around in his seat to start cussing at us: "I'm tired of you guys changing your mind!" Jake and the cab driver started yelling at each other and the cab driver says,"Get out!" before we can even move, he locks the doors, throws it in reverse, and then says, "give me my money!" Most cabs have the lock knobs broken off so that you can't unlock the door yourself. I noticed that on chad's side it wasn't broken off and pressed him to unlock the door. Fearful that the cabbie was going to hit the gas as we were departing, I jumped out as fast as I could and saw the guy take a swing at Jake out of the corner of my eye. Jake and the driver both jumped out at the same time; the car still in reverse, so back in went the lunatic to throw it in park. He then turned to face off with Jake in middle of the street in the pouring down rain. I made a call the Michelle to come back to get us. Then, as they were screaming at each other in the middle of the street, I ran to the driver's side in the hopes to force the cab into gear without having to step on the brake and get stuck in the car as the cab driver would most certainly come running after me. Sure enough, he ran at me and started chasing me, with Jake not far behind yelling, "Don't you fucking touch her!". He gave up the chase and continued to yell at us. Jake was waiting for the guy to take a swing at him, one that never came. I was on the phone with the cab company to let them know about the incident, and they put me on hold, and then hung up on me. I had long since made note of the cab number.. 664- Two short of the devil's number..

Michelle arrived with her already full car, and we managed to pile all 7 of us in. This was not before the cab had swung around the block and almost run Nick over in the street. He followed us around downtown as I made a call to 911 and gave them a play by play of the route we were taking. We finally just went back to the hotel, called security and they kept the cab driver off property. I stayed, and the rest of the crew left. For whatever reason, the cab driver stayed out front of the hotel for at least another hour and then attempted to walk in. Security kept him out, but not before he said, "Wait! Did someone call a cab?" WHAT??? Like they're going to put one of their guests in HIS vehicle. Apparently it was not the first time they had problems with him. Side note: The cops never showed up.

6 am.. I still hadn't eaten, and I was down to a crew of 1. I went to the cafe and ordered myself an egg white omlette with peppers, onions, and mushrooms. This was almost exactly what I told everyone all night I was craving; minus the chicken I was hoping for. As I waited for my food, Kendall and Co. came by to say farewell to his dad. "Don't let him get in cab 664!" They came back to hear my story but were so wasted I am sure they had no comprehension of what I was talking about. Randy Couture and his wife, Kim came by at this moment as well, and I gave them a cliff notes version of the incident. Story told, stomach full, it was time to call it a night. I started the rest of the pictures loading from my camera, set my wakeup call for 11:30, and crashed out.

The wake up call came, and I was so tempted to just fall back to sleep. A grumbling stomach and desire to go through the pictures from the night before got me up and moving. I called Monstah and headed to the cafe to have breakfast with him and his friend. I packed my bags, checked out of the hotel, and waited for my friend from Houston to pick me up. The adventures I had after that point (6 clubs over the course of sunday funday until 4 am, including a Diego Sanchez spotting at the last one) are a story for another day..