Boston Recap Part 1-UFC Fan Expo

I should've posted this right away, but the past week was another busy week for Branded Baron. Good things to come. Anyway, the last weekend in August was awesome from the anniversary to the White Train event to the UFC Fan expo, and chillin in Boston.

 Anthony wanted to head to Boston for the UFC Fan Expo and it was cool to go. Josh from MMAValor.com went to the last one in Vegas and said it was fun. Unfortunately Anthony and I didn't link up until fight time, even though we were in the same facility. Weird, I know. There were some cool games at certain booths like the American Gladiator jousting and this speed punching bag game that Tiff wouldn't play with me. I did that by myself, but you had to punch the target as fast as you can in 30 seconds. Tiff said I had a score of 166, which is okay I guess. See the picture below on what it looked like.

If you wanted to get a picture taken with any fighter, you had fun waiting on line. I didn't care to take a picture with anyone, nor did I want to wait on any line. Anthony got a bunch of pictures with a couple fighters from Roy "Big Country" Nelson to Martin Kampmann. I'll see if I can have him send me some photos, because he's not the fastest person to upload photos. There were a ton of UFC fighters and even the latest Celtic Shaquille O'Neal aka The Big Shamrock were in the building. I watched a Chuck Liddell answer questions from the fans and some from Mike Goldberg. I enjoyed that very much, but some people were asking ridiculous requests. Some guy asked Chuck to sign his bald head and then we found out that Chuck was going to shave his head for charity. His mohawk is part of his persona. Here's a great question and I'll title this video, "What's a Chuck Liddell?" 

It was definitely cool to see everyone having a good time and the fighters showing appreciation to the people that help pay them. I thought it was weird that Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez was signing at one of the clothing line booths. One thing I didn't like, besides it being incredibly packed was the clothing lines weren't that great. They all looked like copies of one another.


That was on the way to go watch the fight.


Tiff and I picked up Anthony, his wifey, and future sister-in-law and headed to watch the fight at a bar that happened to be across the street from Fenway Park. Being that I'm a Yankee fan I had to rock my New York Yankees cap which I matched it with the original "To Live Is To Fight" shirt. You know a picture of Branded Baron and the Yankee had to be taken right in front of Fenway. It's my obligatory duty as a Yankee fan. The fight was great and Jersey's own Frankie Edgar was able to retain the title he won months ago from B.J. Penn. Congrats to him.

Mike Goldberg and Chuck Liddell

Blurry picture of Rashad Evans

Matt Hamill

Tito Ortiz

Anthony & I at the bar watching the fight.

Rockin the original "To live is to fight" t-shirt and Yankee baseball cap in front of Fenway Park.

Boston Recap Part 2 coming shortly.

Stay no less than Stunningly Fresh,
     Joe

Pick the Correct Champion Contest Winner

Alrighty, People! It is time to choose the winner for the "Pick the Correct Champion" contest. Since everyone who e-mailed us did not pick Frankie Edgar over B.J. Penn there will be only one winner. Everyone chose Anderson Silva to win, so the names were placed in a hat and the winner that was picked......was.......Joshua Wood from California. Congratulations to him and thank you to everyone who participated. I don't know when we will have another contest, but do not hesitate to purchase some Branded Baron shirts. We make sure we bring quality from the design to the shirt that you're wearing, plus you never know if any goodies make it to your doorstep as well. http://www.brandedbaron.com


Stay No Less Than Stunningly Fresh,
Joe

Pick the Correct Champion Contest- UFC112 contest

Join our "Pick The Correct Champions Contest"! Pick your way into our free raffle to win one of our tees! Pick the correct winners to Saturday's Championship bouts and we at Branded Baron will throw your name into our free raffle. The lucky winner gets not only the gratification of guessing the correct winners of Saturday's MMA fights, but a Branded Baron Tee. One winner for each bout or a very lucky two shirt winner. All you have to do is send us your Name, Address, Size, and Your Picks for Saturday's MMA bout (Choices are below) to info@brandedbaron.com. The Raffle will take place on Sunday and the winner's will be announced. Good Luck, Everyone!

Middleweight Championship: Anderson Silva(current champ) OR Demian Maia

Lightweight Championship: BJ Penn(current champ) OR Frankie Edgar

No Less Than Stunningly Fresh,
Anthony
Branded Baron Vice-President

UFC Fighters Frankie Edgar & Ricardo Almeida teach seminar for Haiti Relief Fundraiser

For those that do not know, I'm a martial artist, a black belt in Kenpo Karate & currently a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I started training at TCMA in Orangeburg, NY, before I decided to train at Renzo Gracies' academy in Manhattan. It was pretty cool to see every once in awhile to see Professor Ricardo Almeida come by and teach a seminar. But this time it was different, because it was for a better cause than enhancing our training, but trying to be a better person by helping out those who really need it, the people of Haiti. The amount raised was about $8,000 so woohoo for everyone who donated, whether they trained that night or not. So Professor Almeida and Frankie Edgar came up to teach. They taught 2 classes, which I think both were about a hour and a half each, but you could tell everyone was extremely interested in learning. How can you not take your training serious when you have lightweight contender(may I add Jersey native) Frankie Edgar & one of Renzo Gracie's top black belts teaching? Both of these guys have a fight in the next month and the one after, so they should be training, but they decided to teach us some techniques on a silver platter. Plus they had an autograph session, which didn't hurt.
Frankie Edgar is definitely a down to earth guy and I already knew Ricardo Almeida was, so I'm glad they did what they did. I asked Frankie what the worst part of training, while Professor Almeida was teaching the first class during his segment, and he said it was the travelling. Well, he said he had to do some UFC promo at Abu Dhabi and it was 13 hour flight there and 15 hour flight back, so I will agree that does suck. I tried to chat it up with him a bit while he was waiting to sign some autographs and he's a cool guy, I couldn't help it if I was in "fanboy" mode. Whatever. One thing that he mentioned when I asked that it must feel good to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans is that "if it wasn't for the fans, we(the fighters) wouldn't have jobs".
Frankie Edgar taught everyone some takedowns at least for the seminar session I trained at and Ricardo Almeida taught us some nice techniques from the ground. One thing that stood out from the seminar that Professor Almeida said was that every submission position was first a control position. Sometimes we may overlook that, so for those that train don't forget it. Overall the event was a success with people from various dojos on the mat and people donating to the Haiti Relief Fund. It's just great that these two great fighters, took the time out of their busy schedule for a good cause.


Frankie Edgar & I, you could see Ricardo Almeida showing a move in the background. Frankie is a cool guy, I tried busting his chops after the session because there was food and he was persuaded by a little kid to try a piece brownie. I realized that guy could kick my ass easily, luckily he was a good sport. A little piece is okay.


After the seminar. I never took a picture with Professor, so I figure let's get one. He donated a pair of tickets for UFC 111 for a raffle, I didn't win, but I have my tickets for it. He definitely a good guy and I try to learn as much as possible from him whenever he comes by to teach.


Stay No Less Than Stunningly Fresh,
Joe