If you're reading these words, chances are that you, like me, are a fan of the great sport we call MMA.
And if you're a fan, then you probably recognize my face.
Yeah, that's right-I'm that guy you see at every UFC match, spinning around and roaring into the microphone and getting up in fighters' grills.
Okay, so I might not be the most subtle or refined announcer in the business. But I hope I communicate my passion for the sport in a way no other announcer does.
I'll say it again: Passion. Because that's what this book is about.
In these pages, I want to tell you about the passion that first led me to bet everything on this sport of ours, way back when MMA was outlawed in half the country and there wasn't a dime to be made on it. I want to tell you how that passion all started, with my larger-than-life father, a former Marine Drill Sergeant who, by the time I was ten, had taught me to play poker and blackjack, field-strip a Luger pistol blindfolded, and recite poetry. He was a man who thought nothing of confronting a group of thugs armed with nothing but his fists-and who expected the same strength and honor from his sons.
I want to take you inside the incredible brotherhood that makes up the UFC as nobody ever has before, to tell you about the bond we all share and the crazy times I've had over the years with guys like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn, and Jon "Bones" Jones. I want to give you my Octagon-side insights on many of the big fights you remember, and just maybe, to tell you about a few memorable fights that took place outside of the octagon, too-from my own sparring match with a youngster named Royce Gracie back before the phrase "Mixed Martial Arts" even existed, to some other brawls you might've heard about.
And I want to tell you about the remarkable, late-life meeting with the celebrity brother I never knew I had-a brother whose existence my parents had never once breathed a word about!-that helped inspire me to chase my own dreams of standing up in the Octagon.
Surprising stuff from the guy in the fancy tux, right? And that's just the start. There's a lot you don't know about me yet.
And now... IT'S TIME! I told you.
