Luis Fights Again!

This past Sunday, Luis had his 5th Pro MMA fight at Soboba Casino and he won by Unanimous Decision! YAY!!! His opponent was a tough guy (who also weighed in 5 lbs overweight and was WAY bigger than Luis on fight day) but Luis used leg kicks and take downs to win the fight.  Here are a few pics of the fight, we have a ton more coming too!

Love this one!

♥So proud of you babe ♥

He's my Rocky and I'm his Adrian

I have to admit, I haven't seen all the Rocky movies, but I have seen bits and pieces of most of them thanks to Luis and *SHH don't tell him* I actually kind of like them.  But, I used to hate Adrian, really hate her.  She seemed so weak and frail and I just couldn't relate to her.  But then, over the course of a few more Rocky movies, I realized her timidness was more like quietness.  She wasn't boisterous or demanding, she was just more reserved than someone like me. Last night, as I was watching a part of Rocky III, I really fell in love with her and kind of saw a piece of me.  In the scene, Rocky is set to fight Mr.T's character Clubber Lang.  Apparently the two had fought before and Rocky took a beating from him.  Adrian sees something is off with Rocky in his training leading up to the fight.  He's training half assed and is off in la-la land (a little more than he usually is) and she knows it.  She asks him whats wrong and hes totally brushing her off and giving her vague answers, but knowing her man better than anyone she knows hes holding back.  She keeps pressing and pressing him, she tells him that he's never quit anything since she's known him and finally he yells "I'm afraid!"

GULP *TEARS*SNIFFLE

Seeing Adrian stand up to her man and call his bullshit, not in a demeaning way, but in the most loving way is so endearing and makes me like her so much more.  As a fighters fiancé, I know what it's like to never be able to falter from confidence.  Sure there are times where Luis has a bad day training, or I feel like this road is just too hard but then I remember that if I don't support my man, who will?  If he's not feeling confident, I have to be.  If he's worried, I have to be brave.  There is never a time where I cannot be 100% behind him because when these moments arise, when he is afraid, unsure, and ready to quit, I have to be his Adrian.  I have to remind him who he is and what he is fighting for.

The best line in the whole scene
Rocky: "How'd you get so tough?"
Adrian: "I live with a fighter"

Must be nice....

This is the bowl of pasta Luis gets to eat every night... I put it next to a regular dinner plate to compare the size... And, he's having a tough time gaining weight! Must be nice...

Some of my favorite pics

Here are some of my favorite pics from Luis' fight, courtesy of Rebecca Lee who has taken pics of the last few fights Luis has had... She's awesome!  She took a ton of pics but these are a handful of my favorite ones:

I love the emotion in his face

Luis Fights!

On Sunday, February 21, 2010 Luis had his 4th fight and his first representing Team Quest.  This fight was very important to him because he really had to win and he had been training so hard for this.  The few days  before the fight are usually the most stressful.  We spent a whole day driving around selling tickets to people and getting all the necessary things for Luis' weigh in and fight night.  Saturday, we woke up early and headed to the gym so Luis could cut the last 8 lbs that he was over for his weigh in.  Thank goodness it only took him a little over an hour because it was hard to watch.  Wearing a sauna suit and sweats and running on a treadmill looks horribly painful, especially when you can't even drink any water.  By the end of it, Luis kinda looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Cutting Weight 

After the weigh in we spent a little time with the Team Quest family where the boys signed autographs for people who came by the gym.  It was nice because Luis was able to take his mind off of the fight and just relax.  We headed home early and went to bed.  The crappy thing was we both were sick and we woke up even more sick than the night before.  Not a good way to start of fight day =( But the show must go on right?  We ran a few more errands, met up with Luis' teammates and corner men and headed out to Soboba Casino.  The closer we got to the venue the more worried I got.  It was super cold and cloudy and looked like it would start pouring rain at any moment.  Not good for an outdoor venue!  So I prayed every chance I got that it would not rain.

About a mile from the casino

Like I said, I was super sick and spent most of my night in the locker room with Luis.  We didn't speak at all or even really look at each other other than a few stolen glances here and there and the occasional air kiss, but it was nice to spend that time with him.  I was kind of worried that he wouldn't like that but I was not feeling like mingling and talking with everyone, especially because I was VERY nervous on top of being sick.  The great part was, after the fight, Luis told me that he loved me being back there with him =)

I love this picture 

I stayed back there with him until he got his hands wrapped and then left as soon as it was time for him to warm up.  Thank goodness one of Luis' corner men Corey brought his girlfriend Wendy!  I had someone to stress with who actually understood what its like!  I don't think I would have made it through the night without her!  We ended up waiting a long time for Luis' fight (he was the 18th on the card) which he loved because 1. He had more time to get ready and didn't feel rushed and 2. He was on the main card =).  So finally it was his turn to fight.  His opponent was a Japanese Muay Thai fighter who had had 33 amateur and pro fights and he was tough.  I didn't get any pictures of the actual fight but I will have some in a few days to post.

After the fight, waiting for the judges decision

The fight lasted 3 rounds and Luis won by unanimous decision!  Luis used wrestling and ground and pound to dominate his opponent.  I was SOOOO proud of him! He has worked so hard for this win and he earned it!

Luis after his win with Aaron, Corey and Isaias

We are so lucky that Luis had so many friends and family there to support him!  He couldn't do it without them!

Just some of Luis' friends and family

Some of Luis' teammates 

♥I couldn't be more proud of him ♥

It was a great night! Luis was beaming from ear to ear and as if it couldn't get any better, Luis' fight was put on the Team Quest website!  

I love watching Luis train

I have blogged before about how inspiring Luis' passion for MMA is and I think that is why I love watching him train so much.  I try to go in and watch him at least once a week, mostly because I want him to know that I support him 100% and I also know how much he loves it when I go.  I also try to take video every once in a while so we can always remember these awesome times in his life.  Here are a few videos of Luis training:

Luis grappling with Tarec Saffiedine who is fighting for Strikeforce this month.. please disregard me teasing JT in the background =) Luis is in the grey shirt and red shorts:



This is Luis sparring.  I can't remember the name of the guy he's sparring.  Luis is in the red shirt... oh and on the left hand side check out the girls.. they are awesome! (One of them is wearing a white tanktop)

Friday night in the ER

Soooo, Friday night Luis went to train at a gym in Hemet that he sometimes goes to if he's out there working late and can't make it to Team Quest.  It was a pretty typical day for me.  I worked, went to the gym and was looking forward to my 4 day weekend and absolutely nothing to do.  I'm laying in my bed and I hear a bunch of male voices in my house and my dogs bark, a sure sign that someone out of the ordinary is here.  And then my mom says "Aye, Luis te que paso?"

I ran out of bed and saw Luis holding his back and walking like an 89 year old man.  He told me he pulled something in his back and was in A LOT of pain.  Apparently, they guys at the gym had to pick Luis up and carry him out of the cage and they even drove him home from Hemet!  (I'm bringing them cookies today to thank them).

We were worried that he could have slipped a disk or pinched his sciatica so we decided that it was worth a trip to the ER, especially since he has a fight in 5 weeks.  He could barely move and I had to put his shoes and socks on and put his sweatshirt on for him.  Poor guy couldn't even get in the car without help.  I packed up my usual ER necessities (I'm used to this remember?) like a few magazines (thank goodness I had just gotten my new Glamour), water bottle, cell phone and a warm sweatshirt (the hospital is always freezing!) and we headed to Inland Valley.

We pretty much know the routine there but when we pulled up they were extremely busy and had someone taking vitals (temp, blood pressure, etc) pretty much right in the lobby in front of everyone.  So when this hilarious little Philipino woman who had way to much energy told Luis to take his sweatshirt off so she could take his blood pressure, Luis quietly told her that he didn't have a shirt on underneath it.  For those of you who don't know Luis, he is very self counscuious about his body (which is amazing IMO) but he doesn't like to "show it off" as he puts it.  Well, this woman laughed and maybe even shreaked a little and said very loudly "WHOOHOOO, we get to see those six pack abs now!" OMG poor Luis was mortified! But I was laughing sooo much, as was everyone else in the waiting room.  Luckily for Luis, she pulled out a blood pressure monitor designed to go over clothes =) Here is Luis just waiting....

So after maybe 2 hours of waiting for x-rays to come back, they moved us into this room with about 8 other patients and an amazing nurse named Aaron.  If you ever have to go to Inland Valley, this guy is the best!  He took the time with each patient and really got to know them and he made the additional 3 hours there fly by.  He gave Luis some muscle relaxers and and injection of dilaudid which Aaron referred to as "morphines big brother".  I think Luis was out before Aaron even left the room and he slept for 2 of the 3 hours we were there.

He woke up just in time to hear that his disks and nerves were fine and that he had a severe lumbar strain in his lower back, similar to an injury that occurs from a car accident.  So they sent us home with some prescriptions for muscle relaxers and pain medication, and instructions to do nothing physical for at least a few days. We never even filled the prescriptions because Luis said he was gonna tough it out, and hes at the gym swimming (no impact on the back) as we speak.  When will that boy ever learn???

The Last Injury of 2009

The year wouldn't be complete without some kind of injury from Luis' training.  The other day he came home with a cut on his lip from biting himself while training.  Apparently he was training without his mouthpiece in (he already got scolded for this) and he bit himself.  But it wasn't until he got home that we realized he had bitten entirely through his lip!  The cut on the inside went clear through to the outside and this is what it looked like when he got home.

Its healing pretty good now and no stitches were needed =)

It's always something

Luis came home with a black eye last night..... It looks worse in real life..

He's still cute though =)

Here We Go Again

The last two and a half years of Luis fighting have been interesting.  We've had several trips to Urgent Care and more bumps and bruises than I care to even try to count.  But, like I always tell everyone, he just loves MMA so I try to hide my frustration when we have to make yet another late night trip to get stitched up.  Last night, he came home with that same look on his face, like the cat that ate the mouse.

I said "UGH, not again" (like I always do) and he said "Eh, its not that bad" (Like he always does).

Except this time, it wasn't that bad.  Just a cut under the chin from getting kneed.  Not that deep but just split wide.  For some reason, the cuts on the chin (this is his second there in about 4 months) seem to split very wide.  Probably because the skin there is pulled tight? Who knows, but nevertheless it didn't warrant a visit to our local Urgent Care.  Just a little super glue (yes you heard that right) and some butterfly bandages fixed this boo boo right up =).  Thank goodness I have the stomach to handle some blood, but I'm hoping I don't have to see it for a very long time (knock on wood!)