UFC 241 Fight Week

UFC 241

Possibly Daniel Cormier’s last fight of his Hall of Fame Career

I got invited back to take photos of the current UFC Heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, as he prepares for, what could be his last, title defense in the UFC Heavyweight division. The last time I shot for DC, I was living in New York. My jiujitsu professor’s professor, Leandro Vieira, is DC’s jiutjitsu coach. He also happens to be 1/3 of the co-founders of Checkmat - one of the most well known competition teams of all of jiujitsu. This relationship dated back to the middle of 2017 as Leandro stopped by A-Team (my school) to do a seminar. Instead of taking the seminar, I opted to take pictures and video. Immediately after the seminar, I sent him the pictures and we became acquaintances. I was super intimidated. Why? This is one of the brothers that started Checkmat. One of the best in the world at this sport. Who am I? I’m just a kid that happened to be taking photos. Anyway, a few months pass and I end up moving to New York in September of 2018. UFC 230 was set to take place in November of 2018. Out of the blue, Leandro hits me up and asks me if I want to stop by and watch Daniel Cormier prepare for his fight against #1 contender, Derrick Lewis, set for the Madison Square Garden. Mind you, I had zero friends in New York. I was working sun up to sun down, eating one meal a day. I needed an escape. So I jumped on the opportunity. We met up at Renzo Gracie’s (another well known jiujitsu school a few streets down from Madison Square Garden) and I remember thinking “Is this really happening? Am I really in the room with Leandro Vieira and Daniel Cormier?” And there they were. Upstairs in a practice octagon, with Leandro holding the cage locked with a towel. UFC Embedded, the original production team of the UFC was filming. This was crazy. As I sit there and watch the champ at work, I was just amazed to see the many different heads come together to make DC as well rounded as can be. “Crazy” Bob Cook, head coach of American Kickboxing Academy - one of the most prestigious MMA schools in the world. Home to UFC champions Cain Velasquez (first Mexican UFC heavyweight champion), Khabib Nurmagomedov (UFC Lightweight Champion), etc. Javier Mendez, head striking coach of AKA. Leandro. Rosendo Sanchez, DC’s boxing coach. Chef Ian, DC’s nutritionist. Christopher Camacho, DC’s strength and conditioning coach. It takes a village. I was honored to be welcomed into this village. I had a lot of fun and made a lot of connections, took a bunch of photos and just sent them to his team. His team loved it and Leandro kept me in mind. Fast forward to August 2019, DC is set to face to Stipe Miocic in a rematch in Anaheim, California. Since moving back to California, I’ve been focusing my attention more towards MMA and BJJ content and Leandro asked me if I wanted to come by and photograph DC again. You already know my answer. The point of this story is and confirms what I’ve said before. You never know what is going to happen. You put your best foot forward and hope that the stars align. I would have never had this opportunity to photograph one of the best UFC fighters in the history of the sport had I not decided to take photos during Leandro’s seminar. We can even take this back even further, I wouldn’t even be in the same room as Leandro had I not decide to sign up for jiujitsu. And even further, I wouldn’t even know about A-Team if it wasn’t for my friend telling me about it. You see? These things and these events that take place right now could catapult you to somewhere you didn’t even know where you need to be 10 years from now. So take opportunities as they come. Do right by the people who put you on. Work hard. And it’ll pay off.