I’ve tried several times since my first post, but each time I get something down, I read it back and it seems quite negative. I guess I need a little rebalancing, which has come just at the right time with my next trip to Peru around the corner. Sunday afternoon, once the craziness of the show has passed, I get on the first of three flights taking me to Iquitos. It feels like a long time since my last journey there. I think back to the end of 2012, a few months after the trip. I was on a beach on the Gold Coast of Australia with my two best friends, and life couldn’t have been better.
The truth is, I’m not there any more, physically or emotionally. If you are reading this then its likely that you already know a bit about me. As I discussed in my first blog post, much has shifted in the past three years. I found myself at a bit of a loose end, not knowing who I was without the purpose of combat in my life. Now I have a job, and am trying to be a real person. Doing research, writing articles for newspapers and answering emails. At this moment I am sitting in the hotel at the beginning of fight week for UFC London, thinking about the coming days and what must be done.
Fight week is as exhilarating as it is exhausting. I get in research loops where I spend hours watching fights and making notes. The energy in the hotel is quite intense. People are preparing for war, getting their brain in gear and their weight down. There are a lot of nerves, lots of anxious people wandering about in search of something or other. It’s hard not to feel it, and to identify with it on some level. I feel a little pressure with the event, its not like fighting but I remember that feeling well and can definitely identify when I see it around me. We are all watching the clock, patiently waiting for the time to pass.
My last trip to Peru came off my UFC 146 win over my friend Duane. A special night because of the way I won and the fact that it ended that horrendous losing streak I found myself on. It was also bittersweet due to the fact that ‘Bang’ had been a real inspiration to me in my earlier years. The win put me in what felt like a strong position. I knew I had another fight in my future, I had a knockout bonus to share with the taxman, and I was off on an adventure. Within forty-eight hours I was in the jungle, preparing to start the tobacco cleanse before our first ceremony.
As it has played out, this next journey shouldn’t be much different. I’ve had a couple of years of post-fight career melancholy, which in hindsight is actually worse than a losing streak. I’ve had lots of work to do with the UFC and it feels like people are starting to notice, and this weekends show in London is like the fight at the end of a long layoff. I know it will be a great show and I know that fans around the world will be tuning in and enjoying the action, of which there should be plenty!
When the show is over, and I get back to my hotel room. I’ll take my work clothes off, put my notes away and just like after UFC 146, I will shave my head. I have my adventure bag in the back of my car and I’ll be heading straight to the airport on Sunday. Before I leave I will post another short piece about my preparation for the trip. I get as many questions about plant medicines as I do about martial arts. Perhaps with this I can let you in on my process before a ceremony, how I prepare mentally and what I’m hoping to get out of it.
Until then, thanks for reading.
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