I guess since I’ve had this one more than for a few months now, I could have at least added it to this website…

Gotta say thanks again to Randy Reames for being my webmaster and hooking me up with a new theme on this site…Now if I would only put some new stuff on here more frequently than every year…

We see a number of new guys appearing at Sandbox MMA all the time…

Lots of hopes, dreams, and hours spent watching UFC and other MMA events provides the impetus for fellas to come our way…And some come, some go, but all of them leave with the appreciation of how hard it is to train in this sport and put in the requisite time to become successful…

Well, one of our younger guys is a Heritage Hills High School football player named Ethan Coghill…I’ve got nothing but good things to say about this fella…

He shows up regularly for MMA class, he puts in the mat time, keeps his mouth shut (for the most part…haha) and asks a million questions about what he should be doing differently or a particular move that he saw on an event…I’m sure that if the didn’t have school to deal with, he’d be in the gym at noon doing our strength & conditioning classes too…

But more importantly than that, he realizes that this sport will take years of work…So many people that probably have the potential to become very good athletes in MMA simply aren’t willing to believe that they will be logging years of time training to get there…

He realizes that this sport is going to take years of development and I’m betting he’s going to be around, sweating and bleeding with the rest of us rock-headed gym rats…

And I really think that the future of MMA will be guys like Ethan, that start training early with the realization that they are going to have to be in it for the long haul if they really want to succeed…

Now he can quit bugging me to update my blog…hahaha….

And here he is, getting business done…

Saw a trailer the other day for “Don’t Shoot the Pharmacist”, a movie directed by Dave Broitman, who is also a pharmacist and a fan of MMA…Starring Ben Bailey (Cash Cab), Godfrey (Phat Girlz, Soul Plane, 7-up Spokesman), Steve Byrne (Comedy Central) and Ardie Fuqua (VH1, MTV)…

I’ve always said that since there are movies and tv shows about EVERY other area of medicine, why not one about pharmacy??…

It looks hilarious, check it out for yourself below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urzoKcP2Aik

I had a chance to do the announcing for Iron Warrior Fight League (http://www.ironwarriorfights.com/) on 1-17-09 in Muncie, Indiana…I really appreciate that Matt, Missy, & Kassie from IWFL gave me the opportunity to get on the mic and holler a bit…We’ve been up there a few times for their events and they’ve always been incredibly good to us…

They also put me up at Lee’s Inn & Suites in Muncie (www.leesinn.com) which was a very comfortable spot that we’ve stayed in before when we’ve went to fights there…Bad Boy Bail Bonds of Muncie (765-282-BOND) sponsored the ring girls and some of the fighters as well…Heart Fight Gear is also one of their sponsors and I picked up a few shirts from them that I really like…I can’t find a website for them, but they opened a store in the mall in Muncie, so if you happen to be by there, check them out…

I’m hopeful that I get another go at announcing for them since I enjoyed it being the ham that I am…And hopefully when I can, possibly fight on one of their cards as well…

I borrowed a few of the pics from their website and I’m crossing my fingers that they don’t mind…hahaha…Coach Dan took care of the ref duties and as always, did a very professional job of it…Lots of quick finishes that night and plenty of exciting fights for the fans…

The next day, I was a bit gut-shot, but Dan headed back over to Indy to train at Integrated Fighting with Jake O’Brien for his fight last weekend at UFC 94, which he won…Congrats to Jake on that!…

Bad Boy Bail Bonds of Muncie sponsored the ring girls…

I’ve always liked pics of the announcement of the outcome of the fight…Something about seeing the differing emotions of the fighters at that moment when their hand gets raised or when they are not victorious…

Picking the winner of the 50/50 drawing…

The cage blocked this pic of Dan & I unfortunately…

Then at training the night before, we all listen like good little fellas…