OK - at your encouragement, I'm going to try to start sharing what I'm up to - sort of a 'day in the life' of an MMA fighter's manager (or at least Georges' manager). Tonight I'm writing from my hotel room in Montreal - I'm beginning to lose track of what city I'm in. Last weekend I was in Palm Desert for the US Tennis Association's annual meeting - I am currently serving a 2-year term as my Section's delegate (Intermountain Section), where I'm representing the approximately 40,000 members in our Section in matters of governance for our organization.
In stark contrast to the existing infrastructure of tennis' governing body in this country is the state of MMA - I drove back to Vegas Monday night for the NSAC meeting Tuesday, then had to unpack, do laundry, and repack for this trip. Wednesday I flew to Toronto to join Georges and shoot our 2nd movie, and in between the rehearsal & the shoot date we squeezed in filming a commercial for Gatorade. Georges was so excited to be a part of that campaign - I think it's really precious to see him when he really doesn't realize how big he's become. I also sent an e-mail to Dana with a link to the press release entitled "It's not a Wheaties box"...
What really impressed me about our time in Toronto was the media interest, especially from 'mainstream' shows. Between Thursday and Friday, we met with the Canadian Press, Rogers Sportsnet, TSN (both SportsCenter & Off The Record (gotta love the Vaseline-tossing Michael Landsberg!), The Score (I finally got to meet Mauro Ranallo in person - I could hardly contain myself!), The Fight Network & MMACanada.net - but for the first time, we also met with CTV's eTalk (akin to Access Hollywook in the U.S.) and CTV's Canada AM (similar to Good Morning, America) - it struck me that the counterparts to these shows in the U.S. are not yet covering MMA fighters, so one might draw the conclusion that MMA is gaining mainstream acceptance faster in Canada in the U.S. I have my own theories as to why - but I'd love to hear some of your opinions as well.
The movie shoot was a REALLY long day - we were picked up around 10am and returned to the hotel after midnight - Georges was a real trooper - in between scenes I had scheduled numerous interviews - it was the only way to grant their requests with our tight schedule, and they were all so accommodating to leave their studios and come to us to make it work. We were also joined on set briefly by Keith Jardine, who has a role in the same movie (Death Warrior). I hope some of you were able to log onto MovieSet.com and watch us live - what a great concept to provide streaming video of the set. They also did a super job of casting the stunt double (ok - I'll let you in on a little secret - it's not really Georges that goes flying through a glass window). But everyone on the set was fabulous - Sean & Joel the producers, Bill the director, and of course, Hector, who's single-handedly responsible for getting all these great MMA athletes involved in his projects. I can't wait to see the first one (Never Surrender) come out on DVD in late April.
Georges decided to stay the weekend and train with Bruno Fernandes - he was joined by his longtime friend Rodolphe, who remains extremely competive with him, if not in skill (he's not an MMA fighter full-time), at least in spirit. While they were training, I met with our web designer & documentarian, Steven Wong, and shared with him some exciting updates we have planned for Georges' website.
Georges & I flew back to Montreal today, then trained with Jonathan Chaimberg - when we went to dinner afterward, I could hardly walk down the stairs, my legs were so weak. No doubt I'll be quite sore in the a.m. - but with all this traveling and very little time to train or workout, I really needed and appreciated the workout!
Tomorrow & Tuesday we'll be working with our partners in the UFC's PR department to help promote the launch of their content on French-speaking TV here in Quebec. Rachel Trontel & I always enjoy our time together in Montreal. Not all managers accompany their fighters on these types of promotions - but I have a philosophy that I'm not going to ask Georges to do anything I wouldn't do myself. Fortunately I have a very understanding 'roommate' in Steven Friend (a.k.a. the "Witch Doctor") who suffers patiently through my travels, feeds the dogs, etc. and calls me every day I'm away for support.
So there you have it - my first 'day in the life' blog entry for your reading pleasure. Not exactly like hearing from Georges directly, but I'm happy to share with my fellow Yardbarkers a little behind-the-scenes stuff if anyone's interested.
In stark contrast to the existing infrastructure of tennis' governing body in this country is the state of MMA - I drove back to Vegas Monday night for the NSAC meeting Tuesday, then had to unpack, do laundry, and repack for this trip. Wednesday I flew to Toronto to join Georges and shoot our 2nd movie, and in between the rehearsal & the shoot date we squeezed in filming a commercial for Gatorade. Georges was so excited to be a part of that campaign - I think it's really precious to see him when he really doesn't realize how big he's become. I also sent an e-mail to Dana with a link to the press release entitled "It's not a Wheaties box"...
What really impressed me about our time in Toronto was the media interest, especially from 'mainstream' shows. Between Thursday and Friday, we met with the Canadian Press, Rogers Sportsnet, TSN (both SportsCenter & Off The Record (gotta love the Vaseline-tossing Michael Landsberg!), The Score (I finally got to meet Mauro Ranallo in person - I could hardly contain myself!), The Fight Network & MMACanada.net - but for the first time, we also met with CTV's eTalk (akin to Access Hollywook in the U.S.) and CTV's Canada AM (similar to Good Morning, America) - it struck me that the counterparts to these shows in the U.S. are not yet covering MMA fighters, so one might draw the conclusion that MMA is gaining mainstream acceptance faster in Canada in the U.S. I have my own theories as to why - but I'd love to hear some of your opinions as well.
The movie shoot was a REALLY long day - we were picked up around 10am and returned to the hotel after midnight - Georges was a real trooper - in between scenes I had scheduled numerous interviews - it was the only way to grant their requests with our tight schedule, and they were all so accommodating to leave their studios and come to us to make it work. We were also joined on set briefly by Keith Jardine, who has a role in the same movie (Death Warrior). I hope some of you were able to log onto MovieSet.com and watch us live - what a great concept to provide streaming video of the set. They also did a super job of casting the stunt double (ok - I'll let you in on a little secret - it's not really Georges that goes flying through a glass window). But everyone on the set was fabulous - Sean & Joel the producers, Bill the director, and of course, Hector, who's single-handedly responsible for getting all these great MMA athletes involved in his projects. I can't wait to see the first one (Never Surrender) come out on DVD in late April.
Georges decided to stay the weekend and train with Bruno Fernandes - he was joined by his longtime friend Rodolphe, who remains extremely competive with him, if not in skill (he's not an MMA fighter full-time), at least in spirit. While they were training, I met with our web designer & documentarian, Steven Wong, and shared with him some exciting updates we have planned for Georges' website.
Georges & I flew back to Montreal today, then trained with Jonathan Chaimberg - when we went to dinner afterward, I could hardly walk down the stairs, my legs were so weak. No doubt I'll be quite sore in the a.m. - but with all this traveling and very little time to train or workout, I really needed and appreciated the workout!
Tomorrow & Tuesday we'll be working with our partners in the UFC's PR department to help promote the launch of their content on French-speaking TV here in Quebec. Rachel Trontel & I always enjoy our time together in Montreal. Not all managers accompany their fighters on these types of promotions - but I have a philosophy that I'm not going to ask Georges to do anything I wouldn't do myself. Fortunately I have a very understanding 'roommate' in Steven Friend (a.k.a. the "Witch Doctor") who suffers patiently through my travels, feeds the dogs, etc. and calls me every day I'm away for support.
So there you have it - my first 'day in the life' blog entry for your reading pleasure. Not exactly like hearing from Georges directly, but I'm happy to share with my fellow Yardbarkers a little behind-the-scenes stuff if anyone's interested.
