Wednesday 13 June 2012

The End - but just the beginning

We've made it home safe and sound and reality is kicking in.
Due to privacy disclosures signed by Ross we can't give you too much information about Tuesdays happenings, despite what many people have been posting on the public forum, Facebook.

Text message received at 11:00am, Tues 12th June.
Ross MacLeod
'Well we are finished already. Didn't make it past the second cut. Tough group'

Our humble MacLeod was one of only 20 lightweights in Australia to be chosen to go and try out in Sydney, which is a huge achievement in itself.
Ross was one of the 3 smallest guys in the room who were clearly Featherweights. They all got cut at the same time.

And that's about all the details I can give you.... No one wants to get on the wrong side of the UFC! ; )

We are all very proud to say that MacLeod was part of this experience, and he got some sick training gear put of it which he will be constantly sporting around the gym no doubt.

Needless to say, he will return next year (providing they do it again).
I know that Ross has a lot to say about Australian MMA, so maybe you'll be lucky enough to get an inside update from the man himself.

We are looking forward to getting back into a little routine and bringing you the best god damn gym in Brisbane, hell, let's make that Australia!

Monday 11 June 2012

It's the Final Countdown

Tomorrow is D day and tonight we are spending the night watching Judge Judy in our cosy hotel room.

'I was a little bit nervous this morning' Ross said to me over breakfast.
'but I'm not anymore'

So, I guess for him too its starting to become a bit closer to reality.
That was quickly followed by,
'I have no reason to be nervous, I'm just going to go in there and give it my all. After all, it's a TV show and there are a thousand and one reasons I may not get accepted'.

Which is all very true. Me being the supportive girlfriend (well trying very hard to be) I agreed and reassured.

But, I think that underneath he may be starting to 'think' about it, with the 'snaps' that I expected starting to happen.
All be it over minuscule things, like, going to the gym today and thinking his stomach is 'flabby' (yes even Macleod has these real life paranoias). Me trying very hard not to say the wrong thing, this is a subject that comes up in our household often, from both parties, and one that we both try to tread lightly around, but this particular time I said the wrong thing. Everyone shortly recovered.
As I've said numerous times, Ross doesn't get stressed and when he does, it's reason for concern. Glad to say, there's not one little ounce of stress present.

The dislocated thumb, bruised, infected finger (this doesn't give it justice, it's pretty gross) and the bad knees are not distracting him nor should they be. He knows what he's doing, he's done it a thousand times before and he knows he's good at it. He knows he's got the skills to give him the right to be there.

To finish where we started, he will go in there and just give it his all. The outcome we will know tomorrow.

Good luck Macleod, you got this shit in the bag!
Enjoy the experience and the opportunity and just be thankful you were invited to be a part of it.
Wise words of your young counter part whom you probably don't want advice from but i know everyones thinking the same!

Sunday 10 June 2012

Two outta three ain't bad

Well its not been the most enjoyable start to our little adventure. Our plane ride was less than average, with 3 of possibly the most 'bogan' women sitting behind us. I think it's necessary for me to share their story with you because everyone else on the plane had to endure an hour and a half of it.
'7 in a row, 7 in a row, 7 in a row' said AJ....no, this is not a made up name...instead one that everyone learnt during the trip.
And you guessed it.....state of origin folks, dressed head to toe in their Broncos outfits, discussing players, 'entering enemy territory', plucking their eyebrows and their ages for all to hear. Yep, it was such a relaxing flight, not helped by the fact that we took off during some rain and had a few bumpy spots, so I was FREAKING out! (I don't particularly enjoy flying at the best of times).

We then arrived at our hotel for the night. We found where we thought it should be, stood on the curb outside a bar that was cleaning up last nights mess at 7am in the morning, with 2 old guys wearing leather (pleather I should say) jackets, smoking their cigarettes out the front.
We scratched our heads for a good 10 mins....this couldn't possibly be it!
Mmmm, it was...... And as tired and irritable as we were, weren't able to check in until 2pm, it was 8am.

So we ended up having quite an enjoyable day, wandered about Sydney, in the rain, went to the movies to kill some time, (most expensive movie tickets we've ever bought!).

We did finally check into the hotel, which has turned out to be not too bad, despite the leaking window.... : /

My good friend works at the 'Red Lantern' where he arranged for us to go to dinner. It was a surprise when we got there that it was THE Red Lantern, the one from Masterchef or Ready Steady Cook, or perhaps both not really sure. We like to pretend we know a lot about food, but we don't actually. It was MacLeods brilliant idea to walk the 1.9km in the rain to the restaurant, so we were quite the sight when we arrived.
The food was amazing, and well worth the walk but, being us, there is always something to happen or go wrong....

I lost my credit card.....yep you heard it folks, silly Bamford put it in her pocket and must have dropped it on the walk.
Let's blame Ross seeing as he's the one that made us walk in the first place!
But now that we're home, we've had it cancelled and the world is ok again.
We do however, recommend that if you're ever in Sydney, go to the 'Red Lantern'. It's not a restaurant to go to when you're watching your pennies, but doesn't break the bank either! Would definitely visit again. Oh, and don't risk your only source of money in the pocket of your skinny jeans...

But I suppose you wanna hear about how the main man is doing?
Well nothing too exciting to report. Being very humble, is completely 'normal' and it's just like we're here for a holiday (which I guess we kinda are).
He informed me today that only 30 lightweights were chosen to come down and tryout, which he was very flattered by. This also means competition is harder.
Ross being Ross, he's not really phased.
It's a great opportunity for him and our small little gym.

It has however started to become reality for me....i had a little 'moment' in the ladies at a shopping mall today.

What am I going to do if he gets in?

How will little Murphy and I live without their favourite man for 12 weeks?

What's going to happen with the gym?
(and that one just opens a whole kettle of fish).

It's been a long road to this point and we've been through much harder things than this. Despite all of the above I hope MacLeod gets through to represent his country (be that his real or adopted one), his gym (our gym...) and himself.
I hope he finally gets the chance to live the dream he's worked so hard for.

More on the fighter and less on the holiday soon!

Monday 4 June 2012

Living with MacLeod - The Beginning

For those of you who know Ross well you will know that he sometimes has a short temper (that's the Scotsman in him), can be abrasive, a little bit scary and isn't afraid to speak his mind. Yeah, he's all those things, but he's also very clever, generous, passionate, logical and most of the time....pretty funny.

So why am I telling you this?

On Sunday morning, the 29th June, Ross woke up and grabbed his phone to check his emails and Facebook as he does every morning. This was the morning that he received his acceptance email into the TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) Aus vs UK tryouts.
Humbly, he turns to me and says, 'oh that's good'. My reply unknowingly and with as much enthusiasm as you would have towards washing the dishes, 'what?'.
Only to then be shown the email, YOU'VE BEEN ACCEPTED.

To say that I'm proud would be an understatement. Ever since we first met back in 2009 (or maybe 2008??) fighting has been the crux of Ross' life. Completely living and breathing it. In fact, I have never seen someone so in love with something (jealous much....?)

Injury has unfortunately seen him dormant from competition for a good 3 years now which in turn means I have never actually had the opportunity to see him compete. He still trains it every day and it is the topic of most conversations, even in our personal life.
This is a huge change for me, as, until I met Ross I had never even heard of the sport MMA, now I'm an educated critic, well I like to think so.

Anyway, the whole point of sharing this with you all, our valued members and amazing staff who have now become family and everyone else out there who happens to take 5 mins to read this, is to include you all on the journey (that was a long sentence!) The journey may be short, it may be long, but I want to share it with you so you know the complete guts of what made Phoenix Elite and so you too can have the inside and very intimate scoop on Ross's journey to the UFC.