BBQ and famous guys...

The fireball kid...

Yesterday night I realised only too late that using a lighter to light a barbeque that has been doused with highly flameable alcohol is not a good idea.

Basically I was over at the Connection Rio house because we were going to have a bbq. Only when I arrived the fire hadn't been started yet, which took a while and another trip to the shops by Jeremy to get more fire starters and lighting fluid/alcohol. After using the firestarters and a few goes of pouring on lighter fluid to get a little of the charcoal burning (which it did... slowly) we decided a 'little' more lighter fluid would be all good. Because whenever a man lights a fire, it's gotta be big.

Jared squirts maybe a little under half a litre on the charcoal which had gone red but no flames. And it was Jared, Thomas and I standing in front of the bbq when I reached out with my hand to light it up with a lighter. I know what you're gonna say. "What the f*ck were you thinking?" Well obviously I wasn't. The thought had briefly flicked through my mind for 0.5 secs that it could be dangerous but I thought what the hell. And the next thing I know that's kind of what I saw. I heard a big "WHOOOF" and just saw flames. I think I managed to lean back or turn away and the first thing I checked was if my eyebrows were still there. From Jeremy's perspective he said the fireball looked like something out of the movie Backdraft. That must've been pretty damn impressive.

Because how stupid would I look if I went to training with no eyebrows then have to explain that. While checking my eyebrows I noticed there was some dirt on my forehead, which turned out to be parts of my fringe that had been synged and my lips felt like they were burning a bit like when you eat REALLY hot chilli and any part of your skin the chilli touches it just burns. Only now that I think of it, they were burning because I just kissed a freaking fireball.

Anyways long story short no one got hurt and it was a hell of a laugh. But today I noticed my nose had started peeling and the top and a bit of the bottom part of my lips. I also got scratched near the eye tonight in training so my face has been taking a bit of a beating.

You can slightly notice the red tip of my nose and my lips... and an updated one after getting it all rubbed on everyone's gi's at training

Awesome training today...

Now to thing I really wanted to talk about in this post. Today's training (no-gi) was awesome. If only for the fact that Zé Mario was back AND also Vitor Belfort was there today. It's funny because I didn't realize it was him at first. I saw a guy shook his hand and thought in my head "hey that guy looks heaps like Vitor Belfort," except he wasn't as ripped and muscley looking as Vitor. So I wasn't 100% sure until I noticed the GOD tattoo on his tricep and some other guys from Florida were like "Hey is that Vitor Belfort?"

Didn't get to roll with either of them today but got to roll with Rafael again. He beat my ass, but nicely, as per usual. It's nice to roll with guys that control you but give you a bit of room to roll. Because sometimes getting tapped consistently gets demoralising. But other times I get tapped and I think "I'll get you the next one." Then I get tapped again and think, "close, I made a mistake but I'll get you the next one." etc. etc. and I feel I'm getting closer to finding a sub (although I'm probably not) but then it's time and the rounds over. If only I could have that attitude every time.

Now below are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Vitor and Zé Mario taking a rest... Vitor rolling and Rafael looking on in the background.

Couple shots of the No-Gi class after training... and one with Gordo in it

Zé Mario... what a tank!

with Vitor Belfort... bad hair day for me, hopefully he comes again so I could get a better pic with him.

I'm also glad to see that the renovations at Gordo's are almost finished. The constructions guys have been really quick (and hopefully good), it's probably been a little over two weeks since they started. Just look at all that extra mat space we'll have. Nice! Hopefully that'll mean less chances of getting kicked in the head by other guys while rolling (but doubt it).