Behind the scenes of a live MMA event
My hands were sweaty, my face was red but I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.
“Dana, could you tell me where you see Jose (Aldo) on your pound-for-pound list.”
The question was simple enough. I mean I ran it through my head a million times in a little over two minutes. The wording, the timing, the tone all needed to sound just right. After all, this question was directed at Dana White, President of the UFC and WEC.
Following Saturday’s WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber pay-per-view event, which was sponsored by AMP Energy, White and select fighters addressed the media. And there I was, covering my first MMA live event thanks to the people at AMP Energy.
At 27, I have been a dedicated MMA fan for seven years. Having seen the early days of Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, I was re-introduced to the UFC with Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture at UFC 43 and have been hooked since.
But I am not just a fan, I am a sports writer, and have been for about 10 years now.
I knew that the opportunity of covering MMA for Bullz-Eye.com and The Scores Report was one I wanted to be a part of because I knew that I could do it objectively and with the respect and knowledge that MMA fans want from their writers. I’m not just a fan. Still, even having interviewed some of the top athletes in the world, my eyes were locked in with White’s as he awaited my question.
As any MMA fan knows, if White thinks you asked him a stupid question, he will let you know and he will probably sprinkle in a few expletives to describe his feelings.
So I asked my question.
Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom.
Posted in: Mixed Martial Arts, UFC
Tags: AMP Energy, Ben Henderson, Chael Sonnen, Chan Sung Jung, Chuck Liddell, Dana White, Danny Castillo, Donald Cerrone, Jake Shields, Jose Aldo, Joseph Benavidez, Justin Buchholz, Ken Shamrock, Leonard Garcia, Mark Munoz, Nate Diaz, Pepsi, Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Urijah Faber, WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber, World Extreme Cagefighting