TUF 8 Sherblog: More Than a Tinkle
Krzysztof Soszynski Oct 16, 2008
Hey guys. Sorry for the delay of my blog, as I am in Birmingham,
England with Rameau
Thierry Sokoudjou and Dan
Henderson here to help Thierry get ready for his big fight
versus Luis Arthur
Cane, and the series airs just a few hours behind here.
It was really great to have some of the world's top fighters come in to teach and train with us. Most of us do not get to train with fighters at the top level unless you are a part of a big name team like ATT, BTT, Quest, Xtreme Couture and others.
Frank
Mir's team did not get a chance to train with Spider; we did
have a few other top fighters come in to teach and train with us,
but it was great to hear from team Noguiera about their experience.
They all came back from their training session in absolute awe of
Anderson
Silva's skill level. We were all very fortunate to see
firsthand what it takes to become a champion and the level of skill
one has to possess to be a champion. The best part about TUF is
having the opportunity to work with some of the best fighters. This
whole experience was worth it on that fact alone.
The itching powder prank and freezing Efrain's underwear was done before Efrain fought, so this episode was a bit inaccurate in its chronology. I would pull off a prank usually once a week, sometimes twice, depending on how boring it was in the house. It got boring pretty quickly. It's amazing how quickly we take what we have for granted -- I would have done anything for a phone call or an hour of TV.
Why did I go after the guys’ underwear? I have an underwear fetish! No, we could not bring anything into the house except for clothing that had no logos on it, so our underwear was our prized possession. It was pretty much the only thing that distinguished us from one another. We all had the same stuff from Tapout and UFC. Every three days or so we would have a bag waiting for us with Tapout or UFC gear in it. I did not want to go after pictures or things with sentimental value as I thought that would be wrong -- it was all about harmless pranks.
Why did I pull off the pranks in the first place? That’s a very simple answer. Boredom. It just made some of the time go by faster and it caused a little drama in the house, which was entertaining -- like watching TV, which we all missed very much.
I was not happy when we returned from a training session and walked into my room, which stunk of dead fish. It was not the retaliation I was hoping for but at least that meant I got a rise out of the red team. There was fish juice on the walls, on my bed, in my clothes, towels and sauna suit. Even cans of sardines were put under the bed and in my closet. I tried scrubbing the bed and wall to no avail. I took my mattress outside, sprayed it down with Febreze and let it sit for a whole day. I slept on the patio couch outside that night; the smell did not leave my room for a couple of days.
I was very disappointed about three things; the first was team Nogueira being tattletales and running to their coach rather than just talking it out. Like I said, it was all harmless fun for me and if they thought otherwise we could have sat down and worked it out. I even apologized to Kingsbury for the itching powder, as I did not want to have anyone mad at me. It was all about having some fun.
Secondly, I don't understand why team Noguiera put fish juice in Vinny's bed. All Vinny does is sleep all the time and eat. That's it. His food list was the biggest of all of us every day and if you needed Vinny you just had to walk to his room and find him in his bed. Why they thought he had anything to do with my pranks is beyond me, and by now I am sure everyone knew that I was the one pulling the pranks. I was also disappointed in Vinny for his "more than a tinkle" all over Efrain's bed. To me, that was stepping over the line.
I was not trying to be disrespectful towards Nogueira when he came to speak to us about the pranks. I would not do that, especially to a world champion and one of the pioneers of the sport and a true legend. I look up to Noguiera and have a lot of respect for him. I took what he said to heart and apologized to his team for the itching powder prank. I do think the whole situation was blown out of proportion.
I will not say anything about Junie -- I still think it was all a show. Frank lost a lot of respect for Junie after that incident and I am sure most of us lost all remaining respect we had for him, if there was any left.
Why didn't I fight first? We wanted to give my hand as much time as possible to heal. It was swollen, black and blue and there would have been no way I could fight at that time. I did not even train that much except for conditioning drills. Any time I would roll or spar I would experience excruciating pain. It was a very bad injury. Our goal was for me to fight last.
Great props to my boy Eliot in his bout --domination from start to finish. There was no doubt in my mind that we had the stronger 205-pound team. Aside from Bader, I did not think their team had another very good 205er.
It was really interesting to see how others deal with the pre-fight stuff. I get a lot of opportunities to corner guys in their fights and get to watch how they act during their fight prep. It was very interesting to be in the locker room wile Eliot was getting ready. I think this sport is more mental than physical and Eliot definitely showed me that. Great job, my friend.
It was really great to have some of the world's top fighters come in to teach and train with us. Most of us do not get to train with fighters at the top level unless you are a part of a big name team like ATT, BTT, Quest, Xtreme Couture and others.
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The itching powder prank and freezing Efrain's underwear was done before Efrain fought, so this episode was a bit inaccurate in its chronology. I would pull off a prank usually once a week, sometimes twice, depending on how boring it was in the house. It got boring pretty quickly. It's amazing how quickly we take what we have for granted -- I would have done anything for a phone call or an hour of TV.
It really sucked in the house. You can only play so much basketball
or pool or watch the buff guys tan (lol). We made a chess board out
of cardboard and bottle caps and played chess all day to keep some
of us occupied. We even had a chess tournament, that's how bored we
were. Chess was our fun. Yay!
Why did I go after the guys’ underwear? I have an underwear fetish! No, we could not bring anything into the house except for clothing that had no logos on it, so our underwear was our prized possession. It was pretty much the only thing that distinguished us from one another. We all had the same stuff from Tapout and UFC. Every three days or so we would have a bag waiting for us with Tapout or UFC gear in it. I did not want to go after pictures or things with sentimental value as I thought that would be wrong -- it was all about harmless pranks.
Why did I pull off the pranks in the first place? That’s a very simple answer. Boredom. It just made some of the time go by faster and it caused a little drama in the house, which was entertaining -- like watching TV, which we all missed very much.
I was not happy when we returned from a training session and walked into my room, which stunk of dead fish. It was not the retaliation I was hoping for but at least that meant I got a rise out of the red team. There was fish juice on the walls, on my bed, in my clothes, towels and sauna suit. Even cans of sardines were put under the bed and in my closet. I tried scrubbing the bed and wall to no avail. I took my mattress outside, sprayed it down with Febreze and let it sit for a whole day. I slept on the patio couch outside that night; the smell did not leave my room for a couple of days.
I was very disappointed about three things; the first was team Nogueira being tattletales and running to their coach rather than just talking it out. Like I said, it was all harmless fun for me and if they thought otherwise we could have sat down and worked it out. I even apologized to Kingsbury for the itching powder, as I did not want to have anyone mad at me. It was all about having some fun.
Secondly, I don't understand why team Noguiera put fish juice in Vinny's bed. All Vinny does is sleep all the time and eat. That's it. His food list was the biggest of all of us every day and if you needed Vinny you just had to walk to his room and find him in his bed. Why they thought he had anything to do with my pranks is beyond me, and by now I am sure everyone knew that I was the one pulling the pranks. I was also disappointed in Vinny for his "more than a tinkle" all over Efrain's bed. To me, that was stepping over the line.
I was not trying to be disrespectful towards Nogueira when he came to speak to us about the pranks. I would not do that, especially to a world champion and one of the pioneers of the sport and a true legend. I look up to Noguiera and have a lot of respect for him. I took what he said to heart and apologized to his team for the itching powder prank. I do think the whole situation was blown out of proportion.
I will not say anything about Junie -- I still think it was all a show. Frank lost a lot of respect for Junie after that incident and I am sure most of us lost all remaining respect we had for him, if there was any left.
Why didn't I fight first? We wanted to give my hand as much time as possible to heal. It was swollen, black and blue and there would have been no way I could fight at that time. I did not even train that much except for conditioning drills. Any time I would roll or spar I would experience excruciating pain. It was a very bad injury. Our goal was for me to fight last.
Great props to my boy Eliot in his bout --domination from start to finish. There was no doubt in my mind that we had the stronger 205-pound team. Aside from Bader, I did not think their team had another very good 205er.
It was really interesting to see how others deal with the pre-fight stuff. I get a lot of opportunities to corner guys in their fights and get to watch how they act during their fight prep. It was very interesting to be in the locker room wile Eliot was getting ready. I think this sport is more mental than physical and Eliot definitely showed me that. Great job, my friend.
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