First, I would like to thank some of the people who made this possible. Andy Zerger, Peter Olszowka, Lukasz Wiercinski, and the promoters of the Wenglorz Fight Cup thank you for the opportunity. Second, I would like to recognize my brothers in fighting who trained, travelled, and fought with me. Dustin Blake, Jake Lindsey, Manny Meraz, again Andy Zerger, and all my training partners at JMTK and Fox Fitness. Thank you for your time and talents preparing for this fight.
On 24 October, we left Wichita to travel to Olsztyn, Poland. This included flying to Chicago, Munich, and Warsaw. Then drive by car from Warsaw to Olsztyn. In all it was about 18 hours of transit. The country of Poland is home to some of the most gracious hosts a visitor could hope for.
On 26 October, we were taken to see various parts of the town of Olsztyn. This included the old town, which housed the old city gates, a castle, an old cathedral, and a bronze statue of Mikolaj Kopernik, or Copernicus by the more common spelling. Apparently, the heliocentrist had an observatory in the town.
Later that evening, the team was taken to the mall where weigh-ins were conducted for media and fans. It was a mixture of excitement and boredom. Exciting in the sense, it was in front of a large, curious crowd and it was the first time we got to meet our opponents. Boring in the sense, well, I do not speak Polish so we just patiently sat there while all the interviews were conducted.
27 October was fight day. Each fighter has his own rituals for fight day. But one thing we all have in common is rest. We slept most of the day. It was a combination of nerves and jet lag because we slept until the late afternoon. At that point it was time to start preparing to go to the venue.
The arena in Olsztyn was moderately sized, seating approximately 2000 people. The atmosphere was electric. The deejay was able to download
Cinderella Manby Eminem for my walk out music. I had everything I needed to fight. Our only problem was all 5 of us American fighters were scheduled back to back in the line up. It was a definite logistics problem wrapping hands and warming up. But we overcame it and were ready to go to war.
For those who know me, know, I am a proud American but not overtly so. But during the fighter presentation the
Star Spangled Bannerwas played for the introduction of the U.S. team. It overwhelmed me with emotion to hear that song so far from home. It was one of two highlights of the trip.
The Polish fighters were good taking some close and some questionable decisions. I unfortunately was knocked out in the second round of my fight. I play to win so this was disappointing, but I am a BJJ player not a Muay Thai fighter. Although I scrap pretty alright.
28 October The day after the fight included sight seeing of one of Hitler's bunkers that was used for important meetings between him and his command staff. Being a history nerd, it was a unique experience seeing that it was the same camp where an assassination attempt was made on Hitler. If you are familiar with the movie Valkyrie, then you would know of the conspiracy by a small group of officers to assassinate the Fuhrer.
This was followed by a tour of an old castle that had been remodeled into a five star hotel. Beautiful, would be an understatement to describe this place.
Our final event for the trip was a traditional Polish dinner cooked by the family of Luk's girlfriend. Of all the things Poland had to offer, food was ridiculously delicious. The different types of flavors used in their cooking gave my palate something to be pleased about after eight weeks of dieting. To top off that meal was the hospitality this family and all of the people showed us as visitors to their community. That meal was the second of the two highlights of the trip.
29 October We returned to the states. Happy to see our loved ones and grateful for the chance to compete in international competition. The memories of the trip and my travel mates will outlast the memories of the fight.
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