Josh Hedges' blog

Finally arrived at my hotel in Abu Dhabi, the Rotana Yas Island. We’re just down the street from Ferrari World, so perhaps I’ll be able to get down there at some point this week. The trip was fairly pleasant. I was a bit surprised with how cramped economy was on Etihad. I guess for a normal size person, it would be nice, but I was quite uncomfortable. Seat in front of me was resting on my knees and my tray table was broken so I couldn’t lay it down.  Ended up flying over both Afghanistan and Iran and lived to tell about it. Gonna crash for a few hours and then it’s time to get to work.

I felt really strange yesterday as we packed up from Atlanta and headed off to the airport.  Something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what.  Then, at the airport, this huge thunderstorm bursted out of nowhere.  First time I had ever seen something like that in my life.  As we finally boarded the plane and took off, I still felt very uneasy.  But it was not because of the flight, it was something else, I just didn’t know what.  Then, when we landed, I found out what was wrong.  The text messages of condolences started rolling in.  I frantically started calling people till I got the answer I did not want to hear.  My good friend, my idol, my mentor Evan Tanner has passed away.

I’m still very numb and confused.  No one is ever prepared to deal with death, but it’s so much harder with Evan.  His life was an open book.  He documented every day in his life.  I could go 2 months without seeing him or even speaking to him, but I always felt like I was right there beside him when I read his blog.

I first met Evan in the late 90′s at a USWF event.  He went on to fight Darrel Gholar at UFC 18 and I had my first chance to see him fight live on ppv in a real NHB fight.  From that moment on, I was Evan’s #1 fan.  We grew close over the years through our mutual love for MMA.  I helped him out in the final days of the USWF when he was the owner/promoter.  He took some time off in 1999-2000 to do some soul searching.  We lost contact for a while.  But then, he came back for two fights in the last two USWF events and then his return to the UFC at UFC 29.

Our lives were re-connected when Zuffa bought the UFC and I came on staff full time.  Since then, we’ve always been around each other or in touch with each other.  Evan was very much a loaner, but I always felt like I was one of the few people he could relate to.  Because I knew where he came from.  I knew what he had been through.  And I was still his #1 fan through all of that.  Anytime he called me to ask a favor, I dropped what I was doing to help.  And likewise for me, anytime I need his help with something, he put everything else on hold to make it happen.

It had been a few weeks since I had seen him at the TUF finale, but like I said, reading his blogs always made me feel like I was right there with him.  The last thing I ever said to him was how courageous and tough he was for the performance he gave against Kendall at the Finale and that’s why he’s my favorite fighter and hero.  In his typically modest fashion, he cracked a tiny smile through the full beard, patted me on the shoulder, and said “Thanks Josh”.

He was misunderstood by so many people, but he also touched so many people.  For every person who disagreed with the way he lived his life, there were 100 of us who respected it and wished we shared the same outlook and approach to life.  He lived every day for the moment.  Never having a plan.  Just living.  And he had so many great experiences along the way.  If I only experience a fraction of what Evan Tanner did in his lifetime, I will have led a wonderful life.

So Evan, as you ride your Harley off into the sunset…  May you rest in peace.  You will be missed.  I’ll see you again my friend.

A reader asked me to post about how I got started in photography, so here’s the story.

I’ve always been shooting photos for as long as I can remember.  As a kid, maybe 6-8 years old, I was into BMX freestyle bikes and such.  We went to all the competitions that were within a few hours of home.  I got a little Kodak camera for Christmas one year and I took that thing with me everywhere.  I really liked going to the BMX competitions and taking photos of my favorite riders in action.  As I grew up and pursued other interests, photography took a back seat for  awhile.  But, in high school, my brother got really involved in photography.  He took a couple classes and bought a shitload of equipment with the hopes of eventually building his own dark room and studio.  That got me back into it.

When I discovered the UFC, I got into it hardcore immediately.  Once the internet came along to our area, about 3 or 4 years after the first UFC, I was online constantly trying to learn all I could about the UFC and the sport we called NHB back then.  I made a lot of friends and started going to small shows like the USWF in Amarillo and Lubbock.  I realized that the coverage of those types of shows was shit at best.  So, I started taking my crappy camera along and taking photos and writing reports of the shows.  I kept a generic website/blog back then of my adventures (http://members.xoom.com/jhedges).  As the readership grew, I slowly upgraded my camera equipment and started traveling more to cover shows.  Eventually, ufighting.com was born and I was being hired by promoters to photograph their events and clothing companies to shoot their products.

I was going through college at Texas Tech during the hayday of ufighting.com (1999-2001).  In mid-1999, I hooked up with some people at SEG (former owners of the UFC) who had watched me build ufighting slowly from the ground up and they asked me to help them out.  I went to a few UFC events and shot photos.  I helped out with the website, marketing, and stuff.  Ufighting.com even was featured in one of the old UFC barker shows on DirecTV prior to UFC 26 (if anyone still has a tape of this by any chance, I’d love to get a copy of it).

After UFC 26, I went out to LA for a few weeks and met a lot of great people.  I built some relationships that would lay the groundwork for my future and formed some great friendships.  A few of those people are still involved in my life today, nearly 10 years later.  Some of them, I wish were, but sadly we lost contact years ago.

Fast forward to December 2000, just before UFC 29 in Japan.  I heard some rumors from my friends on the West Coast that some big money guys in Vegas were going to buy the UFC.  At first, I thought “Yeah right.  Who the hell would pay anything for the UFC?”  John Perretti was also supposedly trying to line up investors to purchase the dying company so that he could bring back all his guys from Extreme Fighting.  That obviously never materialized.  Then, just a few days after Christmas, I got a call from my friend in California.  He tells me “Dude, the UFC has been sold.  You need to call this guy Dana and tell him what you’ve been doing.  He runs the shit now.”

So, I call up this guy Dana on his cell phone and introduce myself.  He was baffled at what I told him I did, because apparently there were other people from the old company who supposedly handled all that.  We talked for a couple hours that first time and really got to know each other.  He invited me out to their first show in New Jersey (UFC 30), but I had prior commitments that would not allow me to be there.  I already had flights booked to LA to spend Christmas and the first part of the year with my girl out in California.  So, we decided on UFC 31 instead, which also turned out to be in New Jersey.

I flew out to Philadelphia in late April for UFC 31 and was super stoked.  I had several meetings setup with Dana and others and I was really excited about the direction they were taking the new UFC.  So, on Wednesday of fight week, I had a meeting with Dana and Joe Silva to talk about what I wanted from the UFC.  That’s the point I guess where I officially asked for a job.  They were still such a young company that they had to come up with a plan to fit me in.  So, we all agreed to go to the drawing board and figure something out.  We decided to meet again at UFC 32, just a few weeks later in the meadowlands.  I still had a few weeks of school anyways, so I wasn’t going anywhere soon.

Come time for UFC 32 in north Jersey.  This time, I met with Dana, Joe, and Lorenzo Fertitta himself.  This was my formal job interview.  And I think to this day, I’m still the only guy in the company who had a job interview with Lorenzo.  It lasted about 2 hours and went really well.  Dana said he’d give me a call soon after the show and let me know all the details.  I was still skeptical at that point, but was just excited to be involved with the UFC.  So, UFC 32 came and went and I left New Jersey for LA because I had 3 guys fighting in the inaugural WEC event a few days later in Lemoore, CA.  From there, I flew straight to Dallas to meet up with my brother for our annual pilgrimage to Ozzfest.  After attending the concert, we drove home the next day to Big Spring.  About an hour into the drive on Wednesday morning, I get a call from Dana.  He’s like “Dude, do you want to move to Vegas?”  I’m like “Yeah, sure.  When do you want me there.”  He says “We need you to start on Monday.”  I’m like “Cool, I’ll be there.”

So, we got back home asap and packed all my shit into a small uhaul and my mom’s blazer and departed for Vegas on Thursday morning.  We pulled into Vegas around 4pm Saturday afternoon, checked into the hotel, and started looking at apartments.  Nothing was available for like a month, so I spent the first few weeks of life on my own at Palace Station Hotel.

In the early days, I was working mostly in PR and dealing with the ppv providers for UFC.  After about a year, I convinced Dana to give me a shot at doing the photos and all is history from there.  I’ve been the head/primary photographer for every UFC and WEC event under Zuffa’s ownership since UFC 38, as well as all the seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.
So, hope that helps shed some light on how I got to where I am.

So, I’m sitting here at nearly 3:30 am waiting for some photos to export, so I thought I’d compile my thoughts here in one place.

It was a good night of fights, overall. Couple slow ones, but a couple surprisingly good ones too. My pick for fight of the night was a toss-up between Hazelett/Burkman and Sanchez/Fioravanti. I believe the official award went to Hazelett/Burkman.

Brown/Arroyo was a another good fight. Brown’s heart and composure sealed the deal for him. Arroyo was in a good position to finish the fight in round 1 and his confidence was high. Round 2 was a totally different story and Brown dominated, finally ending it with a TKO by brutal elbows and punches from the guard.

I was very surprised the Lister submitted Horn. Not because I doubt Lister’s ability, everyone knows he’s one of the best on the ground. But, because he hasn’t looked the greatest in his last few UFC bouts, and he was already thoroughly dominated by Horn once. This time looked to be no different. Horn landed some good punches and kicks standing, and Lister flopped to guard a few times. But almost out of nowhere, Lister lands a 3-shot combo that gave him the opening to secure a takedown. Lister landed a couple weak punches from the guard and Horn sat up to look for the sweep from spider guard. Before you could blink, Lister secured the neck and rolled to his side for the tap.

McFedries absolutely destroyed Marvin Eastman. I tell you what, when Drew is healthy and his head’s screwed on right, he’s got a shot to beat anyone in the world. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that hits as hard as he does or with the pace that he throws.

Riddle/Rivera wasn’t much to get excited about, and I thought it should have been on the undercard in favor of Hazelett/Burkman or McFedries/Eastman. That said, Riddle showed a lot of promise for the future. He’s a tough kid and he absolutely loves what he does. That attitude is a rare find these days. Given some time, he should turn out to be a pretty tough fighter. As for Dante… Nicest guy in the world. He’s never shown nothing but respect and professionalism. I’ve just never been impressed with his performances. When he came onto the show, all I heard was how he was the next big thing and he would steamroll to the title. I had high hopes for him, but have thus far been let down. Maybe it’s mental? You can see he’s got some skills. He just seems to freeze up in the Octagon. And frankly, for fighting a guy in his pro debut, someone with his credentials should’ve made quick work of his opponent.

Stephens/Fisher was a really fun fight for me. Not the barn burner type of fun, but just a really interesting and fun matchup. Stephens is cut from the same mold as Fisher, but perhaps a little more well-rounded, though younger and not as experienced. I think Jeremy Stephens will go on to big things in this sport and I really don’t see this loss hurting his standing at all. Both guys are super cool outside the cage and are two you can point to when making an example of the kindness and respect shown by people in this sport.

Sanchez/Fioravanti went about the way I expected. I knew Luigi would bring a very tough fight to Diego and I knew Diego wouldn’t back down. Nothing at all surprised me about this fight and I hope people start to realize now that Luigi is a tough dude. He gets some shit for his “look”, but not everyone can be (or wants to be) a bodybuilder. He has it where it really counts and he gets the job done. His cardio was much better in this fight, and he had a solid gameplan. He’s still quite young and can still make some noise in the welterweight division. I don’t see him ever cutting to lightweight. I think it would just take too much out of him. At 170, he can make the cut and still be quick and more powerful than most guys at his weight.

Amir/CB also went how I expected it, though a little quicker than I thought. How can you not love Amir? He’s a likeable guy. Has great talent standing and on the ground. He’s got a great personality. And best of all, he’s very humble. The genuine emotion he showed after receiving the trophy was a breathe of fresh air. Not bad for his first pro fight.

Grove/Tanner was hard to watch for me because of my history dating back 8-10 years with Tanner. He’s been the underdog throughout most of his career and has always achieved way more than he ever should have. I think he’s lost a step from his early days in the game. Understandable with all the wars he’s been through. I think he’s found a really good camp that, if he were 4-5 years younger, could help him improve leaps and bounds. At this point in his career, I’m not sure how much room there is for improvement. After losing 4 of his last 5, it’s hard to imagine where his place would be in the UFC. But at the same time, it’s hard to imagine him not being involved with the UFC. Perhaps the twice-canceled bout with Jeremy Horn could be on tap? No matter what Evan decides to do, I will be there to cheer him on.

Grove, on the other hand, ended the slump in a big way. He notched a solid win against a former champion, and did it in dominating fashion. He showed great maturity and crisp standup. His cardio was excellent, as always. He could’ve gone another 5 rounds and not tired. That tool, along with his size, will be his two key strengths as his career progresses. Quite a few interesting matchups on the horizon for him. Perhaps a bout with TUF 3 castmate Michael Bisping? He’d also match up pretty well against Nate Marquardt or Martin Kampmann.

Ok, all joking aside. The “big announcement” has finally come and gone. In case you’ve been living under a rock in a hole in the middle of the sahara, you’ve heard that Lorenzo Fertitta has relinquished his duties at Station Casinos to take a more active role in the day-to-day operations. There had been talk of this for some time, so I was mildly surprised that this was announced to all the staff yesterday afternoon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with the news. It’s just that there won’t be much change. Lorenzo has always been an integral part of the operation of the company and many decisions on a daily basis go through him. So, other than the location of his office, things will pretty much remain the same.

Aside from that, it’s business as usual this week. It’s just another fight week. Late nights, early mornings, many hours of holding the heavy camera and bending my aching knees. Today is more of the same, except that as of this posting, I haven’t slept yet and probably won’t. We also have to work in some time today to hang a remote camera inside the Pearl Theater, as well as shooting a TUF fight at the gym. With some luck, I’ll be in bed by midnight and hopefully asleep soon after.

Didn’t get around to doing this last night because I got sick from lunch and fell asleep pretty early. I’ve been up since about 4am now. We head over to the arena in about 4 hours to prep for the event. First bout is (I think) around 5pm local time.

I don’t really have too much to say about the weigh-ins themselves. Thiago missing weight was a huge disappointment. From what I heard, it was known ahead of time that he wasn’t close and they decided it was best he not continue to try to make it. I’m not sure what penalties have been levied on him, though I’m sure it’s at least the standard required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. I’ve seen a lot of people concerned with how skinny Mike Swick is, and they all think he sucked out 30 pounds to make the weight. This is certainly not true. I saw Mike the morning of the weigh-ins smiling and happy. He wasn’t wearing double slicks and frantically running around trying to shed water weight. I really don’t think he cut much at all. He’s simply busted his ass to get his bodyweight down to a manageable level so that he can easily make the 170-pound limit for welterweight.

Here are a few scenic shots of the drive over to the O2 Arena from the hotel. Nothing spectacular, I’m afraid.

We made it safely to London on Tuesday morning. This was by far one of the longest days of my life.

To start, I didn’t make it to bed after WEC until about 5am. Then, had to get up at 6am to head to the airport. We checked in our bags and paid the fees in Sacramento for the Southwest flight down to LA, then went to the gate to sit and wait. A few hours later, we landed in LA. From there, we had to collect our bags at terminal 1 and then hop on the bus to head down to the Bradley terminal to sort out the customs issues. It took about 45 minutes in the customs office, and then we went upstairs to the British Airways desk to check in and pay the baggage fees. Only then, around 1:30 pm, did we finally get our first meal of the day at the Daily Grill. By then, I had been awake for about 28 hours, minus the one our nap I had after the fight. We took off for London somewhere around 4pm.

The flight was long and uneventful. I slept for maybe an hour total on the nearly 11-hour flight. Once we landed, it took about 2 hours to get our bags and clear customs, and then another 2-hour drive to the hotel. We finally got checked in and up to the room around 2pm. I managed to stay awake until about 6pm, but only took an hour or so nap. We went to grab something to eat and then tried to load in the photo room. The room was still occupied though, so I just went back to bed. Wednesday morning, I woke up around 4:30 am, wide awake as usual. I spent about an hour answering emails and then went downstairs.

One of my favorite things about being in the UK is the traditional English breakfast. It’s always a nice way to start the day. Once we finished breakfast, I headed up to the photo room to get started setting up. My assistant had a late night with his buddy in the city, so I was on my own for most of the setup. We only had 6 guys to shoot on day 1, so it wasn’t a really stressful day. Most everyone was on time, so it went by pretty quick.

Once we finished shooting for the day, I packed up the cameras and took a shower before hopping on the train down to Canary Wharf for dinner. Like typical yanks, we decided to eat at Chili’s. LOL… The choice was purely an economical one, as most of the other restaurants in the area were ridiculously expensive. We also hit the Tesco (supermarket) in Cabot Place before heading back to the hotel.

After getting settled back in the room, I got back to work processing photos from the day and uploading them for media and our website guys back home. All was said and done around 1am and I crashed, only to be awoken by my wife around 3am. I managed to get back to sleep for a bit, but was back up for good about 5am. We went down for breakfast again at the hotel restaurant and now I’m back in my room working until the press conference begins at noon.

Haven’t really taken any touristy pictures yet as there’s not much to see down in the Docklands. Tomorrow, we’ll make the first visit to the O2 for the weigh-ins, which will be fun. This arena is one of the nicest I’ve ever been too.

I lucked out and was able to get booked on a 9:30 pm flight tonight back from Sacramento to Vegas. So, I won’t get home until almost midnight, but at least I’ll be able to sleep in a comfortable bed and not have to wake up at 6:00 am. I leave to come back to Sacramento at 4:30 pm tomorrow, so I won’t even be there for 24 hours. I hope the weather is as nice as it has been here in Sacramento. I’m not looking forward to the 120-degree summers of wonderful Vegas.

Tonight, I leave on the next journey. I’ll be in Sacramento for 5 days (with a quick hop back to Vegas for a few hours on Saturday), then straight on to London for 7 days. Traveling is always stressful for me. I end up working until it’s time to go to the airport, and then pick up where I left off as soon as I get settled at my destination. If I recall correctly, the internet at the hotel in Sacramento is pretty slow, which will make my long nights even longer. Oh well, it’s all fun I suppose.

For now, I leave you with one of my favorite shots from UFC 84. Wanderlei Silva was overcome with emotion after getting back on the winning track with a devastating KO of Keith Jardine.