The UFC

One of Tommy's jobs as a church planting resident is to start a ministry from nothing in an area he is passionate about. After brainstorming, praying and discussing with other staff members, they decided the UFC would be a perfect fit for Tommy. Serving the UFC is something that it seems Tommy has been prepared for with his background of the military and training and teaching combatives for so many years. Once that was decided Tommy again was praying about ways to go about this. Well, it just so happened there was a UFC fan expo here in Vegas that coming weekend. He decided to go, not really sure what to expect. The whole family went the first day. It was a cool experience. Lots of people, lots of fighters, lots of everything. We got some cool pics and got to meet Tommy's favorite fighter, Randy Couture. Upon entering the expo, there was a sign, to "twitter" Dana White (the head of the UFC), that you want to win tickets in his VIP section and backstage passes for the fight that weekend. I stopped and told Tommy to do it, as he grumbled that he never wins anything, lol. What was cool about the expo was you got to meet the fighters...they're not these crazy violent animals...they're awesome guys who are thankful for their fans and worked hard to get where they are. Most of them are very gracious and don't mind stopping to take time with you. Tommy went back to the expo the next day. There were even more people and it was even more crazy. He got to meet up with a distant cousin of mine, UFC fighter Matt Brown. Shortly after, as he was ready to head home, he got a text from the UFC asking that he contact them. After being sent around the expo, he finally met up with the right people and was told that he had won the VIP tickets to sit with Dana White and backstage passes at the UCF114 fight that night. Seriously...there were over 125,000 people at the expo and thousandssss who entered to win these tickets. To say we were shocked is an understatement. We knew it was God. Seriously. Tommy was interviewed by Mike Munoz about winning the contest. We quickly set up sitters for the kids and headed to the event that night. It was insane. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience for us. We were very thankful for the opportunity to meet the fighters and people and had the opportunity to share a little bit about Verve and why we moved to Vegas. Wow, thanks God. Tommy and I were sitting with celebrities like Paris Hilton, Mike Tyson, Sam Worthington, Forrest Whitaker, Snoop Dogg, David Spade, and of course Dana White and the fighters, with Kenny Florian next to me. We were escorted back stage and shown all the behind the scenes details and got to meet with Rampage before his big fight. So...I am now a UFC fan...and look forward to opportunities to serve them in the future. :-)

A disclaimer on the pictures...we were not allowed to take our 'professional' camera in so the only pics we have are from our iphone.

This was the view of the cage from our seats! 3rd row :)

Our family with Randy Couture...Tommy's favorite fighter.

Brodie was upset we had to turn in our ticket to see him...he wanted his ticket back. :(

Tommy and I with Dana White at UFC114

Me in a quick pic with fighter Tito Ortiz

Tommy and I backstage with Rampage right before the big fight!

Tommy with fighter Kenny Florian

Tommy and I with "Tapout" owners, "Skyscrape and Punkass"

Me with Sam Worthington (from Avatar and Clash of the Titans)