JUNEBUG IN VEGAS - UFC 156

Submitted by June

"Mmmm Pedialyte on ice! Weigh-in goodies. Play on playa!"

UFC ON FOX 6 - JUNEBUGGED!

Submitted by June 

CHICAGO...
Not one single Hot Dog Eaten, but STILL my kind of town!

We were staying right downtown at the Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Avenue, which made it a bit difficult to travel to the city's outskirts for those legendary Chicago Dogs and Italian beef sandwiches.  Yes, I know it's a tragedy of epic proportions...however we still ate good, walked away with TWO awesome wins at the UFC, and overall had a fantastic time!

Since we were downtown, most of the places right around us were fancy-shmancy, so it really didn't allow for us to dig into the cool, neighborhoody deli's and stuff that I love in Chicago so much.  We got in late on Monday, and many places were already closed.  The hotel concierge insisted we visit this place called GT's Fish & Oyster Bar.  Never heard of it?  Never had we. She said it was trendy.  Do you hate the word "trendy?"  So do we!  Yet, we pressed on and we were glad we did...the restaurant was FANTASTIC!

It really wasn't trendy by L.A. or Seattle standards, so the atmosphere wasn't too pretentious and the furniture wasn't too weird-looking.  The lighting, ambiance, and crowd were perfect.  The food?  Dee-lish!  We got a little bit of everything... 

Tuna poke with mango, black sesame and cucumber.  Poke in Chicago? Hmmm.  I lived in Hawaii so it's pretty hard to impress me with poke but this was surprisingly good, fresh-tasting and the perfect texture that I like in a poke dish.

Sage gnocci with crab, butternut squash, burrata, and spicy pepitas.

As we happily munched down on this, we looked over to the couple dining next to us and their tasty-looking appetizer.  It was...

Oyster PO-BOY SLIDERS WITH KIMCHEE AND PEANUTS!

Po'Boy Sliders with Kimchee?!!  I was intrigued!  And it turns out that this particular dish had won all kinds of awards, including one from the highly-coveted James Beard Foundation.  Apparently, J.B.'s very own foundation head said it was "one of the best things he's ever eaten in his life."  HAD TO TRY IT.  DID.  LOVED IT SO MUCH, WE GOT TWO ORDERS!

You must try GT's Oyster Po Boy Sliders with kimchee!

Baja shrimp bruschetta with avocado, toasted pistachio, grapefruit and cilantro.  It sounds pretentious to say that it was a "delicate balance of flavors" but that's exactly what it was!  Yummy, light yet flavorful!

All in all GT's Fish & Oysters FAR exceeded our expectations and honestly was the best place I ate during the trip, and probably one of the best I've visited in my life.  The service was excellent, we had a great waiter who was friendly and knowledgable with the food and wine and said that once he had won an Oyster Po-Boy Eating Contest.  I don't blame him....I would enter that too!

Other restaurants that we ate included Volare, a really nice Italian joint.  Pricey but worth it, the food was excellent!!  Bijan's Bistro was another place where we had breakfast; we accidentally kind of stumbled upon it leaving a Whole Foods to pick up Glover's rehydrate goodies but as I sat there eating, a bunch of people ended up texting me that it was a great choice and they were right!! And very affordable, too!

Later that week, weigh-ins took place at the historic, beautiful Chicago Theater.  Which looks like this on the outside...

AND THIS on the inside. Clearly not my photo, and clearly not taken during weigh-ins....BUT

Glover Teixeira made weight for his fight against Rampage just fine!

Even though it was quite cold (between 2 to 8 degrees most of the time I was there) we still had smiles on our faces!  This me and Jorge, who is the co-owner of BlackHouse MMA and who everyone at the UFC calls "The Most Interesting Man in the World" since he is a pretty big celebrity in Brazil and knows just about everyone wherever he goes!

There was also plenty of time for fun and friends!  Caught some great live music at the Hard Rock, played some pool, met some new friends, and had a fun night out at the Public House:

Chris:  "Stop....grrrr..telling the media...grrr...I'm an unknown fighter and let me fight Anderson!"
Ed:   "I never said that! Okay! Okay!!!"
(Many of you are probably reading this, going, "Who is that?")

Gray Maynard and I catching up!

Myself and Sean Shelby, UFC matchmaker.  Incredibly cool guy with a tough job--we had a blast!

FIGHT DAY!!! Great SEATS!

Backstage at the United Center - Glover Texeira getting his hands wrapped by the Pitmaster, John Hackleman!

And you if you were watching on Saturday night, you know that Glover Texeira won a unanimous decision over Quinton "Rampage"Jackson!  Yay!

AND also Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, who is from my neck-of-the-woods in the Great Northwest, defended his 125-lb title on Saturday, too!  DJ is from a great camp out of Kirkland, Washington, and we are so proud of his performance!

All-in-all...this was one of my more favorite UFC trips ever.  Even though it wasn't without its few hiccups (the elevator got stuck at the Hard Rock Hotel with Glover in it, there was no hot water in our hotel rooms one of the days, and at some point one of the places we ate at made us a little sick---I blame McCormick & Schmick's) it was a fun & successful week with great fights, fans, food, and friends!  Can't wait to be back in the Windy City...hopefully closer to the summertime!

UPDATES FROM JUNEBUG!

Submitted by June

Last weekend was a busy one in Vegas -- the RFA (Resurrection Fighting Alliance) on Friday, the 2012 Fight Summit on Saturday morning, and the World Series of Fighting later that night!

All three events were great fun, but the maybe most notable moment came at the WSOF, when Anthony "Rumble" Johnson delivered a wicked KO to his opponent after getting poked in the eye.  It seemed the entire arena was on their feet, with a collective "Holy Sh*t!"  Check out the vid and you'll see!


Very busy week, but there was enough time to come back and carve this bad boy that had was leftover from Halloween...hope it lasts till Thanksgiving!

This was actually our SECOND attempt at a Paka-lantern...the hibiscus was really tricky to do so we left it off this one! hahaha

REIGN IN CANDY

Submitted by June

"I'll wait til Halloween to pour the fake "Reigning Blood" on it!"

ED SOARES & STEVEN SEAGAL - JUNEBUGGED!

 Submitted by June 

Every once in a while, MMA managers do more than handle contracts, negotiate business deals, and yell into their BlackBerrys.  In fact, sometimes they end up doing stuff that's just plain unusual.   Here's last Wednesday's a.m. conversation with Ed Soares:
 
Ed: "What's up?"
Me: "Going through emails and stuff.  You?"
Ed:  "Oh I'm heading to Russia.  With Steven Seagal.  Gonna meet the Russian President."
Me: (long confused pause)  "...ok."
 
Then, I couldn't help but crack up, because the whole thing sounded like the elements of a sketch comedy.   
Ed + the Glimmer Man + Vladimir Putin = WTF?

Turns out, 'Sensei Seagal' is HUGELY famous in Russia, and Ed was accompanying him as a guest of Prez Putin for a private MMA show.  Pictured below is Putin's private 737 in which they flew to Moscow (with a quick stop-off in Iceland to fulfill a Make-A-Wish request). 

Also pictured is Ed and Seagal in front of the emperor's throne in Red Square, which he described as "fucking breathtaking."

He didn't take any pictures of the food there, which didn't surprise me because he said the food in Russia wasn't all that great: "It was okay. Lots of heavy, bloody meat and of course vodka offered with every meal, including breakfast. Of all the places in the world I've traveled to, the food in Russia definitely wasn't my favorite."

UFC 141 BEHIND THE SCENES - JUNEBUGGED!

Submitted by June!

Hey guys! I know, I'm suuuper late on the draw posting up pakajunk updates for UFC 141. But we did get all the results regardless, so I thought I'd just run you through a typical fight week with these guys!


The UFC has been working me like a slave doing media events, press conferences, and the usual so haven't had much time catching up on my paka-ness. Figured I'd at least share with you two with what that weekend entailed.

This is Luiz and Diego Nunes, Diego was fighting the next day and stared at that piece of bread like he either wanted to fight it, or just wanted to shove the whole thing in his mouth, nom nom nom.  Honestly, he actually (creepily) stared at it like some chick he was in love with, but I suppose I can't blame the guy.  Outback "black bread" as they kept referring to it in Portuguese is muito delicio.  I actually love the Outback! haha

Gotta be official! Need corner passes and backstage passes too!!

We had a great time just walking the Vegas Strip and Luiz loved trying on hats.  My good friend literally tried to buy one of the giant M&M figurines from the M&M factory that would never even fit in my apartment in a million years anyway!  Unfortunately, it wasn't for sale....cuz if it was, I'd have the world's most obnoxious hood ornament in Vegas.....and that's tough to pull off!

Ed Soares (manager extroardinare) fighters Diego Nunes, and Felipe Oliviera

We found a killer book on the history of boxing randomly at the MGM, however...

I just shot them looking at Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson who happened to be in that same book.  What can I say?  I love the Crue!

Then we went to go see the killer Jabbawockeez show in which they pulled me on stage for a few weird moments of dancing.  Listen, I'm not a huge "hip-hop" dance crew fan like these boys are, but let me tell you.....they were SIIIIIICKKKK!  I highly recommend watching them if you don't feel like spending $80 on cirque de solei anytime you or your chick wants to watch a show.... they were super funny. And it was honestly a fun show!

pakajunk's own JuneBug trying to act sweet before I have to put the big boys in check!

Following day.  The greatest manager in the world with Diego Nunes, finally he is happy to get food after weighing in! On the elevator, back to Outback!  Diego had made weight perfectly and he's smiling for the first time in days!

Yet, he still can't eat too much of anything....until after the fight....oh the life of a pro fighter!

We had an extra ticket!  Didn't know Nator and Nelson couldn't make it!  Was great fun!

I may be a tomboy, but every girl in a killer dress and Manolo shoes just MUST take the obligatory bathroom self-pic shot. Obnoxious, I know...but it's an unwritten law, somewhere, I know it!  Or at least in Sex & the City, haha.

Checking out the venue before the show.  MGM Grand Arena has never had any problems with lighting, sound, etc since I've been there back in UFC 29.  Looked great!

Back to the SkyLoft for dinner before the show.  You may know my brilliant street artist friend David Choe, who's done a ton of stuff for Vice, RVCA, and painted the Facebook wall offices.  Sweet goofball!  You can check out his work at davidchoe.com. It's siiiiick!  He literally just snuck in, and tagged, Pablo Noreaga's old home with his work. Gnarly but awesome! He's a nut!

Look what stellar rock drummer was in Vegas, too!  Motley Crue will be here for three weeks in February!  Yeahhh!

Artist David Choe at I Ringside after my boy Diego KILLED IT! Fun times!

I swear I wasn't drinking any Jameson's.... 

We all went to celebration dinner at some sushi spot at the MGM.  Fun!  Very proud of Diego most of all....our other boy from Blackhouse (Luiz), unfortunately his fight got cancelled because his opponent had the flu.  Bummed about that, but all in all it was a great night!

UFC 139 - INSANE! JUNBUGGED!

Submitted by June: 

For those of us that watched UFC 139 on Saturday night...

I'm sure we can all pretty much agree we witnessed history in the making.

Legendary light heavyweights Shogun Rua and Dan Henderson slugged it out in an epic 5-round battle that is now being dubbed one of the greatest fights of the century.

And rightfully so! Hendo pretty much dominated the first 3 rounds with that unbelievable right hand we've all come to love since the early Pride days. But things turned around in the last two rounds, when Shogun put the hurtin' on Henderson and ground-and-pounded him for the last 5 minutes. My description here does not do this fight justice...it was one of those matches where you're jumping out of your seat and yelling so loud the neighbors might call the cops.

After 5 mind-blowing rounds, Henderson secured the decision victory...which has become (like in so many good fights that go to the judge's scorecards) a bit of a controversy in the MMA community. Should Henderson have won? Or did Shogun really win? I say....

Who cares? The real winners here were the FANS. To me, this was the PERFECT fight: two tough-as-nails guys going at it, the American versus the Brazilian, the guy walking out to Toby Keith versus the guy walking out to techno, enough technique taking place to keep it from being a total slopfest, enough brawling to keep it scrappy and exciting, and brutal ground-and-pound mixed with vicious standup. Totally satisyfing, like a great meal prepared with the finest ingredients.

I salute you Dan Henderson! You are a real hero that showed tons of grit and heart!

And muito obrigada Shogun...you fulfilled the expectations of what looked like a great fight on paper, and made it even better than we could've imagined!!!

[Mahaloz June!]

AURICULAR HEMATOMA - JUNEBUGGED!

Submitted by June:


For Dustin and his "little brother".
Auricular Hematoma

Also known as....cauliflower ear!  It's practically an unavoidable nuisance for those training in mixed martial arts, boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and other contact sports.

I am very frequently asked...what causes cauliflower ear?  Well, it can happen after one severe blow to the ear or after the culmination of several.  It can also result when the ear constantly rubs and collides against the mats in jiu-jitsu and wrestling.

Basically, a blood clot develops between the skin and the cartilage of the ear. The cartilage, which depends on the outer lying skin for nutrients, may eventually die, folding in upon itself. The fluid hardens and causes the "cauliflower" look. 

For your viewing pleasure, I've compiled a list of what I consider to be the top 10 worst cauliflower ears.  If you're eating, you may want to skip this pictorial completely...particularly if you're having gyoza/potstickers for lunch!  (Or, um, cauliflower for that matter!)

10. Mark Coleman

9. James Thompson


8. Frank Trigg


7. Dan Henderson


6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira


5. Marius Zaromskis


4. Mitsuhiro Ishida


3. Chris Jack (Rugby Player)


2. Kazushi Sakuraba


1. Randy Couture

Honorable Mention:

Moe Szylslak

Did you know that in "The Simpsons" the bartender Moe has often mentioned his cauliflower ears? He used to be a boxer.  True story.

Cauliflower can best be prevented by wearing headgear and draining the swelling right away to prevent permanent damage. Although in the fight/grappling world, getting "cauli" ears may be considered by some to be a trophy or a rite of passage, it's harder to ear, uncomfortable--if not impossible--to put in Ipod headphones, and can be downright gross to potential girlfriends and employers. Just sayin'!

[Mahaloz June!]