Josh Hedges' blog

Got a new A/C unit for the bedroom upstairs and I finally know what it feels like to be cool at night in bed.  It’s a nice 72-degrees up here now and boy does it feel good.  Sadly, it hasn’t helped me sleep any better.  I went back to work for a couple hours after installing the unit and am now back home and wide awake.  Luckily, the weekend is approaching and my work hours become even more lax.  I still have to work, but it doesn’t matter at all when I come in.  So, I’ll probably head in around 2pm or so on Saturday, after I take a drive up north to go shooting.

I really wish I could be done with this insomnia bullshit.  Aside from one night last week when I was up for 38 hours straight, I have not been to sleep before 5am since returning from London.  I’ve tried sleeping pills.  I’ve tried booze.  I don’t know what else to do.  It really sucks.  I’m supposed to be at work by 8:30 am every day, which usually turns into about 10:30 am if not later.  That in itself is no big deal, because I don’t punch a clock and still often work 12-14 hours, if not more.  The only thing I can attribute the lack of sleep to is the tremendous amount of stress I’m under.  I have never felt pressure like this from so many different sides, both personal and professional, all at once.  It’s unbearable at times, but I have no choice.  Too many people depend on me, so it’s not like I can just pack it in and take a week off or anything.  Not that I could ever afford to anyways.  I never intended for this blog to be a bulletin board for personal ramblings, but this is just what’s on my mind right now as I lay here in bed at 5:20 am watching the sun rise over the smokey horizon.

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.

My body still hasn’t adjusted since returning from London a week ago. As I write this, I’m watching the sun come up. I’ve done this same thing every day since I got home. Unfortunately, I have a meeting in 5 hours that I can’t miss, so I probably won’t be going to sleep at all. At this point, it’ll do me more harm than good to only get 3 hours of sleep. I really wish I could back on my somewhat normal schedule of showing up for work at 10am (ish). For the last week, it’s been closer to noon every day, although I’ve been making it up on the other end, often not leaving until 5am or later.

I feel like I’m starting to lose a handle on my life. Lots of things are spiraling out of control and feel like they’ve flown too far away to reel them in. The only consistent thing in my life right now is my work, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. A man can only take so much. I’ve been burned out in the past, and it’s only a matter of time before it happens again.

Today marks the nine-month mark since the loss of Shinobi. Still think of him all the time. He was one of the few things in life that was sure to bring me happiness no matter how shitty I felt. And he still does when I see pictures of him or remember the goofy things he used to do to get my attention.

Was hit with another blow to the gut yesterday when I found out work is forcing me to cancel my trip to NY in July with my brother. It was something I was really looking forward to, not to mention the money that’s already been spent on non-refundable tickets. But, that’s all part of the territory. No matter how certain it seems, nothing is ever a sure thing.

Still no news on the stimulus check that was supposed to be deposited on May 2. That really blows. We’ve been needing that money for a while, but the longer summer draws on and the hotter it gets, the more we will need it. Our bedroom is like a sauna at night and I know our electric bill will soon be in the $400 range again.

I really could use some more tattoo work, but until said stimulus arrives, that’s not even a thought. I’ve got about 5-6 hours left to do on my left arm and about 16-20 hours left on my right arm. I can’t wait until the day I look down and see both complete. I love them now, but it just doesn’t feel “right”.

I’ve been catching up on TV shows over the past couple months. I never realized how great a show Prison Break is. I’m halfway through season 2 and totally hooked. I copied the DVD’s onto my PSP and watch the episodes in the background as I work. Helps get me through the day a little easier too. I’ve also been rewatching old episodes of Sliders. It’s funny how back when it was on TV, it was considered to be fairly advanced CGI. Compared to the stuff these days, it’s a fucking joke. But still and interesting show to watch again. Reminds me of high school, when it first started airing. Two of my favorite shows – The Closer and Saving Grace – are starting back up with new seasons in July, so I can’t wait for that. Maybe someone will be really nice and buy me an Archos 705 media player so I can take more movies and tv shows with me on the road.

Well, I guess it’s about time to get up and hit the shower so I can head back to the office.

We arrived back in Vegas last night just before midnight, making our travel just a little under 24 hours from start to finish. I caught a few naps of 20-30 minutes on the plane from Heathrow to LA, but nothing I would call “sleep” or “rest”. Once we landed in LA, it took over an hour to get our bags and get all my shit cleared through customs. It’s never fun traveling with that much gear, but it’s especially bad when you face long delays in customs and have a connecting flight to catch. Once we cleared customs, we had to walk a quarter mile or so from the Bradley Terminal down to Terminal 1 and then re-checked our bags (and paid more fees) at Southwest.

Took 15 minutes to eat my first meal of the day at the snack bar and then headed to our gate. It was like a ghost town. The flight was delayed, so I figured it would eventually fill up and there would be a bunch of through passengers on the plane. We’re never lucky enough anymore on Southwest to get an exit row or even an empty middle seat in our row. To my surprise, when we finally boarded, there were only about 25 people total on our flight.

We taxied out to runway 24L and took off right away, albeit about 45 minutes late from our original scheduled departure time. I finished watching the last episode of The Closer from last season. One good thing about all the travel is that I get caught up on all the TV shows that I miss throughout the year.

Once we got to Vegas, we had to walk all the way to the baggage claim from the end of Terminal C because all the trams were down for maintenance. I normally choose to walk instead of riding the tram anyways, but at midnight after the day we had, I was in no mood for it. By the time we got there, the bags were starting to come out and we got on the road pretty quick after paying the ridiculously overpriced parking bill ($164 yikes!).

I thought I’d crash pretty soon after getting home, but no such luck. It wasn’t until about 6:00 am that I finally started nodding off. After that, I woke up every 30-45 minutes, thanks to the fucking Las Vegas heat and the fact that our upstairs bedroom will not stay cool no matter how low we turn down the A/C. Time for the redneck solution – a window unit.

Sitting in the departure lounge now at London Heathrow, inside the brand new Terminal 5. The driver over from the hotel took a little under 2 hours, and we needed 2 vans to get us and all our stuff here. Spent about 30-40 minutes in customs and then had a bite to eat and a Strongbow. Then, we checked in our bags and blew through security. Here are a few last photos of the journey across London from the hotel.

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.