Before going to Brazil, I had a call from one of my friends who told me that Denis Kang won his fight against Marvin Eastman by TKO in the first minute of the fight. It made me a feel good because it brings a good vibe to the team, and like Tseng Tsu says in the Art of War, battles are won by momentum. I'm also very happy because I also learned he'll soon be fighting in the UFC, so for the first time since we started training together, we'll be able to fight in the same organization.

I flew to Brazil Sunday night, and after a long flight I got into Rio de Janeiro. But after the flight I was very tired because I cannot sleep on the plane, so I had to take the morning off from training to take a nap of a couple of hours. I started my training Monday night after my nap, and I quickly found out that even though I just earned my black belt in BJJ, there are still a lot of guys better than me in this sport at Gracie Barra Academy. I got tapped so many times during my training there and I learned so many new tools that just for that alone, this trip was worth it. I met a bunch of new training partners and good friends as well in Brazil. My friend Cleo from Montreal went with me and was teaching a wrestling class during the day where were training a lot of takedowns and takedown defense, plus MMA sparring as well. At night I was also doing BJJ with the gi to improve my ground skill and knowledge.

During the week, one of the valets at the hotel was very nice with me it was nice to meet someone who spoke French very well. Every time a pretty woman was passing by him, he was making a comment in French about how beautiful and sexy she was. Another guy who works at the front desk was a big fan of MMA and recognized me as soon as I stepped in the hotel. He was a gentleman, too, and gave me advice on things only locals would know. I really appreciated his help. I was treated so well at this hotel that for sure the next time I come back I'll stay at the same spot.

I came back to Montreal after a week and already after two days, I miss Acai so much it's become my favorite fruit. I got back to my normal routine at home as soon as I started back training on last Monday. This past weekend, I got to help out some of my friends who were going to fight at a local show at Xtreme MMA. With great pride, I can tell you that they all did amazing this past Saturday. Even one of my friends, Steve Claveau, that I was cornering, did so well but before the fight, I didn't want to tell him that I thought he was going to lose because he was fighting a guy on paper that was way better than him. He gave him his first loss by TKO referee stoppage. Then yesterday I slept so much after a night of exhaustion because I had so much emotion believe it or not, I am more nervous when I coach people than when I fight myself.

I still have a lot to do settling in to my new condo, so this week will be very busy because I want to get everything done before I get into serious training before my next fight. Talk to you soon

Two weeks ago I was in Montreal a class with Bruno Fernandes, who's my BJJ from Gracie Barra. He doesn't live in Montreal anymore, he's living in Toronto for a year doing a special class that's only in Toronto (he's got a PhD as an opthalmalogist). When he comes to Montreal once/month, I always make sure I'm in town because he always has new moves to show me that can apply in my fights. I was very surprised because at the end of the class, he started with a beautiful speech and he took the black belt out of a bag and put it around my waist and he said "well-deserved". For me, it's a huge achievement, just as much as receiving my black belt in karate when I was twelve years old and also winning the UFC World title. It is very gratifying, and coming from him it's even more honorific.

I've been very busy during the last couple of weeks because I moved from South Shore to Ile-des-soeurs, from a house to a condominium (less maintenance). I decided to move from my house in South Shore because I was spending too much time in traffic crossing the bridge going back and forth to the island. Most fighters train in one or maybe two, gyms, but I'm different - I train in 5 different places on Montreal island, so I spend a lot time in the car from gym to gym. Normally, I have a training in the late morning and another one later in the evening, so I go home in between. That's why I decided to move closer to my training. I think it will be a big plus and I think I will come out stronger from that change in my life.

One of the things that goes along with being a UFC champion is the promotional activities. This past week I was honored to be asked to appear on the cover Men's Fitness magazine the February issue that comes out in January. It was good because they shot in one of the gyms where I train in New York, The Wat, so I also had the opportunity to train a little bit at the same time. Sometime people think that it's easy to shoot photos, but it was an all-day process because you need to shoot approximately 50 pictures just to find one good shot. It was very exhausting, but it was also a lot of fun.

When I got back from New York, I got back on a plane and went to Toronto for a charity event organized by Bell Canada. The dinner was very good, and the show was very entertaining. I saw some of my friends, Georges Strombolopous, Michael Lansberg, and Georges Laraque. We were all there supporting a good cause, but enjoying ourselves at the same time.

I'm on my way to Brazil, but I stopped off in Chicago to see my training partner Patrick Cote fight for the world middleweight title against Anderson Silva. While I believe he was the first fighter to make it into the 3rd round against Anderson, it's sad to see him lose the way that he did, because of a knee injury. Patrick has a loose ACL even before, and he had been able to fight 3 fights with it, but unfortunately this one was too much for his knee. I think he was doing pretty well against Anderson, and it was a smart strategy for him to bring the fight into the later rounds. I was very impressed by the performance of Thiago Alves he showed everybody why he belongs in the top fighters in the welterweight division. Of course, it's up to the UFC, but I think he will be one of my next opponents pretty soon.

I'm going to Brazil for training with my friends at Barra I will get back to you when I come back.

First I want to thank everybody for their get well wishes -- I feel way better right now than I felt when I came back from L.A. It took me 3 days to recuperate and get back 100%. I didn't take any medication - I just slept better and trained to sweat it out. After I felt better, I went to New York to see my trainer Phil Nurse and train with 4 of his students who had an upcoming fight at The Wat - Brett, Sean, Nicholas & Stan. It seems to me that every time I go to New York, those guys get better & better all the time. I also saw my old friends Eric Owing & Andre Gusmao - we went to dinner and then out together for a great night.

Then I came back in Montreal with new tricks and more tools than I had before I went to New York. It's very important for me to help my friends and training partners when they need it because they were there for me when I prepare for my fights. When I came back to Montreal, I kept training with Patrick Cote & Denis Kang, who are both fighting on October 25th. Kang is fighting in Calgary, and Patrick Cote is fighting Anderson Silva for the UFC World Middleweight Championship. Patrick looks better than I have ever seen -- even though the odds are not in his favor, I would not be surprised to see him shock the world. It would be great to have world champions in Quebec!

Georges Laraque, one of my friends who also plays for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, gave me two tickets to go see their game Saturday night. Even though it was an off-season game, it was very fun and then after I went to see EliteXC at a friend's house.

Gina did a nice performance and I'm glad for her because she also represents the sport very well. The main event was obviously a tough situation because Ken had to pull out because of a cut... and I have a lot of respect for Seth & Kimbo to still go out and put on the fight for the fans.

I know a lot of people have been seeing on the internet that I signed with CAA -- I think it is a very smart move from my manager to get me on board with CAA because they represent some of the greatest athletes in sports and in the entertainment industry. I'm glad and honored to be the first MMA fighter that they represent.

After a quick trip to L.A. for a personal appearance, I'm now in Albuquerque for training with Keith Jardine, Joey Villasenor & some other guys in Team Jackson to help them out for their upcoming fights. But I can't wait until this weekend -- my mentor, Krystoff Midoux, is coming in Montreal from France to see me. It has been a while that I haven't seen him -- we've been talking on the phone every week to keep in touch, but I'm very excited to see him back in Montreal. He's such a crazy character and he's the guy who started me in the sport when I was a nobody. So even though I'm a world champion right now, for me, Krystoff will always be higher than me in the hierarchy because he's my first teacher of MMA.

I saw Krystoff fight the first time in Kanhawake when I was a teenager -- at this time, I hadn't started my amateur career in MMA. Krystoff was my idol because he was coming from a Kyokushin karate background like me, and he used to knock out all his opponents in less than 30 seconds. At this time, everybody told me that I would never be able to be a UFC fighter, because I was not strong & not big and not good enough. Believe it or not, but I met Krystoff in the street one day by pure coincidence. I stopped him and he was very gentle with me because he took the time to talk to me. So after a couple of weeks, by pure coincidence again, I saw him in a jiu jitsu school with one of my friends, Stephane Potvin, who was also a friend of Krystoff's. Krystoff remembered seeing me in the street a couple of weeks before that, and he saw that I was doing very well in training, even though I was younger than all the other guys. He came to talk to me, and he told me that if I was interested, I could start training with him and he would start teaching me how to train and change my routine for a more appropriate MMA training. I right away jumped on the opportunity and that's how I began to be the fighter that I am. I fought 4 times in amateur fights, all wins, before I started my professional career. Actually, you could see Krystoff in my corner during my fights against Frank Trigg & Sean Sherk. I can't wait to see him this weekend -- we have a lot to catch up together and I look forward to having a good time with him. For me, it's very important to always remember where you come from, and who are the people who helped you in the beginning before you reach success.

Last week I was invited to appear on the show Inside MMA, hosted by Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice, as a guest with Gina Carano & Scott Casber. Bas made me laugh as always because of his crazy personality, that, by the way, I love so much. There were a lot of conversations talking about other fights and other organizations, but because I don't really watch MMA so much in my time off after training, I was not able to stay on the conversation. Even though I'm an MMA fighter, when I'm not training I like to do other things than just MMA stuff. But my favorite part was when they acted like they put a GPS on me and showed my travels on a map.

Later I went in Hollywood, CA to shoot a movie, which was pretty cool. I didn't realize how much work filming a scene was - it took me an entire day to film four scenes. The director of the movie, Hector Echavarria, has been a great mentor and a huge help for me because it was the first time that I was doing something like this. He explained to me that acting was like fighting you need to focus on your role and what you need to do and forget about everything else around you being "in the zone". Even though I believe I'm a way better fighter than I am as an actor, I really enjoyed my experience and look forward to do it again.

During the filming of the movie I shot a scene where I'm fighting again Fabiano Iha, a former UFC veteran. It was not his first experience on the filming of a movie, so both he and Hector showed me how to throw a punch and a kick for the camera. It is totally different than what you learn at a dojo. If I would use the same technique in a fight, I would never be world champion it would telegraph too much. But in front of the camera, it looks great.

While there, I got a taste of the L.A. when I went to a launch party for a new single about to be released. It was pretty entertaining and different from what I'm used to in Montreal. The only bad news about this trip is that I came back home with a bad cold, probably because of my lack of sleep. Sorry for the short entry, but I'm sure after a good night of sleep, tomorrow I will feel better.

This past weekend it was very special for me, not only because I had two friends from Brazil who came up from Rio de Janeiro, but because also I was working as a cornerman at the Xtreme MMA event. I was cornering Aloizo Barros & Steve Claveau, who are two of my good friends and training partners. Aloizo started the fight very well, but unfortunately got disqualified because he kneed his opponent to the head when he was on the ground (which is illegal in North America). I personally think that the referee made a huge mistake by disqualifying him and not giving him any warning.

Another of my good friends, Steve Claveau, fought a UFC veteran, Aaron Riley, who's a true gentleman, by the way. It was a great fight, back and forth, but in the end, Aaron Riley was the victor. After the first round, Steve had a huge cut on his forehead, and it was the first time in my life that I was working in the corner and I had to work on a cut. It was pretty disgusting, but I think I did a good job because I stopped the bleeding.

Then at the end, of the night during the main event my good friend and training partner, David Loiseau, fought for the middleweight title. Even though he dislocated his shoulder during the fight, he knocked out his opponent in the fifth round. It shows how big heart is and how persistent he is. I just hope the UFC has some looks at what happened that night in Montreal, because it might open the door not just for David, but also for many guys - there was a lot of talent on the card that night.

Sunday night I finally had the time to hand out with some of my friends who had gone to Beijing to represent Canada in wrestling. We went to the Club Opera all together and we had a great time (a lot of beautiful women hahaha). I flew to L.A. Monday afternoon after a very hardcore training with my strength & conditioning coach. Jonathan was so devastated that I have to leave for 1 week, that it seems to me that he put all of the training that I do in 1 month into a day's session. I was so tired at the end that I could barely stand on my feet and I almost needed someone to drag me to the airport to catch my flight. I finally arrived in L.A. at night and went to eat on Sunset Boulevard at one of the best Thai food restaurants that I've eaten at in my life.

I have a very busy schedule this week with a lot of meetings, but I try to find 2 hours in my day to go train somewhere so I don't go crazy. One of the highlights of my week was Tuesday night, when I was invited to go to a little town close to L.A. & meet some kids and teenagers who are training MMA in a garage. A lot of these kids didn't have any resources or any person who can help them, so sometimes their only choice is to turn to a gang. I'm really impressed with Coach Koon for taking care of all these young men. Even though I went to talk to them & encourage them to stay on the right path, in the end, I think this experience actually benefited me more than them. They reminded me of myself when I was younger, when it would have been very easy for me to choose a different road in my life. I want to thank Scott Casber who invite me to join him and giving me this experience, this group inspired me and now I'm even more motivated me to win my fight and to do well.

Thanks to everybody for leaving comments on my blog entries - I'm really glad to know I have such support! I want to answer a few questions from fans who have e-mailed me, but I decided to answer here so I could share with everybody (these questions are from jhb1994).

How important is high school wrestling in MMA?

Wrestling is a very important sport and it's probably the sport that helps me the most in MMA. But I didn't start wrestling in high school - I started when I was 19 years old with some of the best wrestlers in the world and one of the best coaches as well. Wrestling is not a sport where you're going to learn how to hurt someone or how to finish him - it's a sport that allows you to control the fight - and that's why it's so important and not enough people give wrestling credit.

What is your favorite sport other than MMA?

I am a fan of every kind of sport, but I really love ice hockey, basketball & chess.

Who is your favorite fighter?

My favorite fighter to watch was Kazushi Sakuraba when he was at his best because he had a very unorthodox style and he was very unpredictable.

MORE TRAVEL WOES: I was going to Brazil, but unfortunately my plane was delayed until the next morning and I had to spend the night in Toronto. So I called my friend Steven Wong, who is the craziest Asian guy that I know, by the way. He came to pick me up & we went to eat at The Keg, which is one of my favorite steakhouses because their quality/price is good and their waitresses are normally beautiful. So after another of my friends came to meet us at the restaurant - he's a club promoter and I asked him where was the best places to go out on a Tuesday night in Toronto. We finally ended up somewhere pretty good. I also called my friend and BJJ instructor from Montreal who now lives in Toronto, Bruno Hernandez, to come reach me. I had a very fun night and I came back in my hotel not too late because I didn't want to be tired the next morning when I catch my flight to Brazil. The next morning, I woke up at 6am and I went to the airport. I really looked like a zombie that morning. Because the flight was carrying many of the passengers from the previous night's cancelled flight, the plane was packed. So unfortunately, I spent 10 hours on a plane stuck between 2 Canadian heavyweights it was probably the longest & most boring flight of my life. However, my flight from Sao Paolo to Rio was a bit more interesting, as the Brazilian Olympic team was also on the plane and I made new friends.

IRON SHARPENS IRON - PART A: I started training immediately the next day, because that's the purpose of my trip - training. The classes at Gracie Barra Academy were under the supervision of Jefferson, a former world champion in BJJ, who is an excellent instructor, by the way. Jefferson taught me a lot of new tricks and he helped me change a lot of bad habits that I was doing in the past on the ground. It was my 2nd time at Gracie Barra & my 2nd visit to Brazil - this time I came alone with no friends from Canada - it was actually very good for my Portugese because I was forced to speak the language of the country. I was training also with my friend Gustavo Machado and Aloiso Barros, who is supposed to fight 9/13 in Montreal. I also had the chance one of my friends from my last trip to Brazil, Master Roberto Leiton, who came from a background of luta livre. Luta Livre is a martial art similar to jiu jitsu, but without the gi/kimono. I met with Mr. Leiton one night and for a couple of hours, he showed me some really great grappling techniques that will make me a better fighter, without a doubt. He told me he's coming out with a book that has all this stuff in it, and I plan to buy a copy when it's available. This trip was definitely worthwhile - I had an amazing time once again and I look forward to getting back there soon. I apologize to everybody for not being able to blog on my trip - thank you for understanding.

IRON SHARPENS IRON - PART B: Before I finish, I just want to mention the three great performances of my good friends and training partners, who all won their fights by first-round knockouts - Denis Kang, Nathan Marquardt, and Rashad Evans. I'm very blessed and honored to be training with those kinds of fighters, who are not only elite athletes, but they are great human beings as well.

Thanks for the fans who have been showing me support regarding my blogs. They are something really special for me because it's way different than interviews because I can truly talk about things that are going on in my life and that matter to me. Everybody make me feel very welcome in 'the Yard' I'm happy to be part of it and I'm also glad that people are showing me support that I'm not the only one eating fast food. (HaHa) I'm born with very lucky genetics believe it or not, when I was 10 years old, I used to have a six pack of ab muscles. So I can eat pretty much what I want and I'm not getting fat and I stay in shape. However, when I'm going to get older, according to Jonathan Chaimberg, my strength & conditioning trainer, I will probably have to change the way I eat, which makes me sad when I think about it.

After all my celebration in Montreal with my friends, I needed to get out of my neighborhood a little bit to get back in training. So I went to New York and spent four days there. I learned so many new stuff in Muay Thai with my trainer Phil Nurse at The Wat that I'm already a better fighter than I was before I came to New York. To my greatest surprise, I found out that my manager, Shari Spencer, and also my good friend, Steven Friend, were in town for one night during my stay. So I took them out for dinner with Phil & his wife, Crystal, along with two other friends in New York. I ate very good Japanese food at Nobu and also drank Cognac XO Hennessey with my friends, which is my favorite drink. I like to drink Hennessey because it's a good quality of alcohol and if you drink water with it, it won't affect your training the next day. (Well, if you don't overdo it like I did that night. HaHa) Anyway, it didn't really matter because Phil made me sweat it out the next day in training. As you can tell, I really train hard, but I play hard too. Like my old karate teacher used to say be a man at night, but you need to be a man in the morning. So that's why no matter how hard I party, I'm always in the gym the next day. Constancy is the key to be champion and to stay there.

I came back to Montreal for three days before my trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Actually, today I really made a fool of myself. After training muay thai pads & jiu jitsu drills with Firas Zahabi, I jumped in my car, packed my stuff for my trip and I got stuck in the traffic so I thought I was going to be late for my flight. So when I parked my car, I sprinted to the ticket counter and when I got there I was really sweaty and breathing hard with my three big suitcases and I looked like a marathon runner who just finished the race. When I showed up to the counter, the lady couldn't find my name on the list for the flight and everybody in the airport was staring at me. So I called the lady at the travel agency who booked my flight and asked her if there was a problem with the computer or something. To my big surprise, she told me I was not leaving today but I was leaving tomorrow at the same time. So I became so shy & so embarrassed that if I was able, I would have jumped inside and hid inside my suitcase. But like an idiot, I had to go back, walk next to the big line of people and go back to my car and come back the next day. Then I got stuck in really bad traffic on my way back home once again. Me I'm a real professional when it's time to make a fool of myself. I wanted to share it with my friends online so we could all laugh about it and it would make me feel better.

This is my favorite time of training because I'm not training for a specific opponent right now. I'm training to get better at fighting and to add more skill to my game. That's why I've been working with Phil in New York and why I'm going to Brazil to train with some of the best jiu jitsu trainers in the world at Gracie Barra. I'm also going to have the chance to meet some of my friends there. While I'm there I'm going to try to keep you guys posted on what I'm doing thanks, as always, for the support.

After the party in my room Saturday night, when everybody left the room I didn't go to bed right away because I couldn't sleep. My heart was still beating fast from all the adrenaline. I watched the Olympic games for a couple of hours after everyone left and I still couldn't go to sleep. I had constantly highlights from fight running through my head and I was trying to remember the whole fight scenario and I was trying to figure out why I wasn't able to finish him. After approximately 3 hours of sleep, I woke up with a big American breakfast scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, sausage, potatoes and orange juice. After I went to the airport, and I had one of the worst flights ever in my life. The plane was going up and down during half an hour, and God knows how afraid I am to fly.

When I got into Montreal, when I passed the customs, the lady must have thought I was a criminal or a street fighter because of the bruise & stitches over my eye, so she sent me to the search place. When I was through the search, the moment I turned on my Canadian phone, it started ringing. I must have had 100 text messages waiting for me.

I wanted to help Denis Kang, David Loiseau, Rashad Evans and Nate Marquardt for their upcoming fights, but unfortunately, I got stitches over my left eye and I won't be able to spar or roll for three weeks.

I'm watching the Olympic games closely because I have two of my friends and training partners who will compete in Beijing in wrestling. I was amazed by how easy Osaim Colt won the 100 meter and beat the world record. So far, that's the athlete who's surprised me the most in the Olympic games. Even though Michael Phelps beat the record for the most medals, which is something amazing as well.

I was very happy to come back home and to be able to have a good rest in my own bed. Well, it was not a good rest because some of my friends knocked at my door and forced me to go celebrate my victory in the club. I think during the first three days home I probably only slept a total of 3 hours because I've been partying a lot with my friends.

I have also eaten a lot of McDonald's this week I'm catching up for not eating any McDonald's for one month prior to the fight. But after three days of partying, no sleep, and eating McDonald's, I felt so guilty I went to train with John Chaimberg, my strength and conditioning coach, who was more than happy to make me suffer for an hour and a half. Next week I'll start some light training - some pad work, conditioning and drilling techniques. It's important for me to get back to training as fast as I can, because what makes a champion a champion is constancy.

Yesterday, even though everyone was making fun of Denis Kang and me for going to see cartoons, we enjoyed watching Star Wars I'm a big fan.

Welcome everybody to my official & only blog. You can know about what I'm doing by following me here. Last week I met some great people in Minnesota. One of them was Chef John working at Murray's restaurant, a place where they have the best steak that I have eaten in my life. By the way I want to wish him all my wishes for his marriage. I actually ate at Murray's every meal that I could because John was there to cook for us a special meal without sodium or carbs. This helped me have one of the easiest weight cuts I've ever had in my life.

The press conference was very special for me because it was in the biggest mall in North America, and it impressed me a lot. I thought it was a good idea for the UFC to make it happen there. It was awesome because the fans could see it live, which is not possible normally because it's someplace close for just the reporters. I would like to say thanks to all the fans in Minneapolis because I was very well received as if I was one of their hometown fighters.

When I finished losing all my weight, I realized I dropped too much. Normally I like to hit 170 on the nose, and this time I actually went too far because my scale was off. It didn't hurt me at all. When I realized I was actually 169, my trainer Firas Zahabi gave me a small packet of sugar to start putting carbs back in my body. After the weigh-ins, I headed straight to Bellanote's for a big plate of pasta. I was joined by all my friends who came to see me fight, and also my trainers & my manager. It was the last meal before my fight where I allowed myself to be with people outside of my cornermen.

During the fight at one point they were chanting GSP, and it touched me and gave me more drive to beat Jon Fitch. I even have more respect for Jon Fitch right now, I knew he was tough, but not as tough as he proved to be. I know he's got a heart of a champion and I'm sure we'll have the opportunity to meet another time in the Octagon.

I'm glad that I have been able to succeed where I failed last year by my first title defense. After the fight I was so tired that I didn't even go out, I just wanted to hang out with my friends that came down to watch me fight, and also, with my team and manager.

I'm glad that I went 5 rounds with Jon Fitch because it gave me a lot of Octagon experience and a lot of confidence in myself. Next time I'm in a war, I will know without a doubt that I can push myself for 5 5-minute rounds.

A lot of people are surprised because I'm at BJ Penn for coming inside the Octagon during my little moment of glory after the fight. But I'm a fighter, and it comes with the job of fighting and I know BJ wanted to have a shot at the title and as a matter of fact I'm not angry at him to have that. I actually like him.

I do realize what I got in my hands. I'm the UFC World Welterweight Champion and I plan to stay there for a long time.