As most people viewing Balls Channel here in the Philippines know, I was one of the winners selected for the UFC Macau Ultimate Fan Experience. It was an online contest where on just had to answer a simple question and get a chance to fly to Macau and watch a UFC event live. The news itself that I won was overwhelming, but it would not compare to what was in-store for me and my brother when we finally arrived in Macau.
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| Balls Channel Ultimate Fan Experience Macau |
At the NAIA terminal 2 we met up with the representatives from Balls Channel and Boom Gonzales the host of Game Day. (Side note, hanging out with Boom was awesome, it was really great hanging with a guy who you could talk about any sport with).
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| Arrived at Cotai Central where the Holiday Inn was located. |
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| Bumped into Chuck "The Iceman" Liddel at the food court. |
Upon arriving at the Macau Airport at around 10 in the morning, we we're greeted by our tour guide and brought to the Holiday Inn at the Cotai Central. We weren't able to do an early check-in so we decided to get some lunch instead. Then, when we were looking for some grub at the foodcourt we bump into the legendary "Iceman" Chuck Lidell.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel to check-in and freshen up a bit before attending the autograph signing and the weigh-ins for the fights.
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| Chuck signing my UFC Encyclopedia |
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| With the "California Kid". |
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| Kenny "Kenflo" Florian at the weigh-ins. |
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| Me and my bro with Uriah Faber. |
At the weigh-ins, we were treated not only to the entire weigh-in program, but also we were brought backstage to check out the OCTAGON and take more pictures.
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| With Chuck inside the Octagon |
It was a great first day in Macau, and even though we were a bit sleepy due to the trip the "MMA High" kept us strong and awake as we really wanted to take the entire experience in and make the most of our time there.
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| Stuff I got signed the first day |
On the second day we went on a tour of Macau. We were brought to the well know tourist spots in Macau, like the Macau tower, the Golden Lotus Square, St. Paul Ruins, and the Ama Temple among other places. It was also, our chance to buy "pasalubong" at our tour guide led us to the place where we could buy such items. We even bumped into Alex "Bruce Leeroy" Caceres during our visit to the St. Paul Ruins.
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| With the group at the Golden Lotus Square |
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| Checking out the Macau Tower |
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| With Bruce Leeroy |
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| Me and my bro at the Ama Temple |
After the tour, we once again retreated to our hotel rooms to rest and relax so we can be ready to watch the fight later that evening. Then finally, it was time to catch the fights.
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| It's Time!!! |
Fight time has arrived and all I can say is it was just how I imaged it plus more. From hearing Bruce Buffer live to hearing the roar of the crowd and the thunderous leg kicks, it was overwhelming and at time is still could not believe I was there. My brother and I were both rooting for Rich Franklin as he has been one of our favorite fighters ever since we started watching the UFC and MMA, so you would have seen our behest when he was knocked out by Cung Le in the first round.
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| With my bro at the fight. |
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| With Game Day host Boom Gonzales |
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| With the Balls channel pips and the other winners. |
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| The winner Jon Tuck, been watching him in the PXC. |
After the fights, there was an after party, we went by and checked it out but there wasn't much going on during that time, so instead my brother and I headed to the Cotai Arena entrance where the fights took place and saw if we could by chance meet some of the fighters, which we actually did as we got some pictures with the fighters and I was also able to get Dong Jung Kim, Tiago Silva and Alex Caceres to sign my UFC Encyclopedia. We also saw the ring girls and Bruce Buffer but unfortunately the were in too much of a hurry to indulge us. We waited until 3am in what might be a chance to see Rich Franklin but concluded that he must have been brought to the hospital due to the devistating knock out he suffered in the main event.
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| The Stun Gun |
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| With Jon Tuck |
The next day we had a free day and spent most of the day at the Venecian hoping to still bump into some fighters, (still hoping to bump into Rich Franklin and possbily Jon Fitch as he cornered Riki Fukuda) but to no avail.
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| Just making the most out of our trip. |
The entire experience was amazing and I cannot begin to express how much it means to me that I was one of the ultimate fans that Balls Channel to go to through this journey. I really soaked it all up and wouldn't have traded anything for it. So again, thank you Balls Channel, you've made an impression in me in a very big way, more power to you and you've not only brought the UFC to the Philippines but continue to bring much more.
