Shelby Manning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shelbycobra) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
muserevival2016-11-12 12:20 am
shelbycobra) wrote in muserevival2016-11-12 12:20 am
132.3.3 - diary
The night before
New York is alive with the buzz of impending history. UFC 205 is less than 24 hours away and I'm sitting in a hotel room drinking my Mountain Dew and realizing tomorrow I'll be in the third row. Watching someone I'm friends with get punched in the face.
This has been an interesting experience. I have never seen somebody pick up a chair and threaten to use it at a press conference. If I even so much as looked the wrong way at somebody in one of my press conferences I'd get told off twice; first by my team owner and then again when my father found out. We have an unspoken professional respect that exists. But there is no such thing in the UFC. Here, apparently, it's a lot of mutual animosity.
Unless, of course, you are referring to one David Burton. David gets his first title shot on Saturday and the odds are good he'll be leaving Madison Square Garden a champion. He showed up to the press conference on time in a suit and tie. Sat there quietly while everyone else lost their cool around him. Didn't say a cross word about his opponent. He is a gentleman which then makes it a certain level of ironic that his chosen profession is to get violent with people.
He's been a training partner of mine for the last four months. Peter recommended him to me as soon as I needed someone local to work with after Chris left for San Diego and I completely understand why. Peter always says you play the people not the game, and David is the opposite of me in many respects. He's calm and chill and happy all of the time. Whereas when I walk into the gym I have to just get after it. And especially now, as I'm doing a quick camp to try and whip myself back into shape for the Race of Champions, I'm pushing myself hard and so it helps to have the guy in the room be the one who's always got a smile on his face. Because I sure as hell don't.
Now seeing David on his playing field has been interesting. I went to the official weigh-in this afternoon and he spotted me in the front and waved at me like he was actually excited I was there. That's just such an adorable thing to do. At the same time there's that look in his eyes that I recognize as an athlete. It's that switch that flips and you know that this is your time, the time when you have to step up or step out, and there isn't any place else you'd rather be.
It's an eye-opener to watch as a spectator and not be the person that the onus is on. For the last two years I've lived with the mantle of Verizon IndyCar Series champion and usually when I'm in a situation like this I'm one of the competitors everyone is looking at. And I will be again come January. But this afternoon I got to just hang out and watch, and tomorrow I'll just go down to the Garden, get a drink and a T-shirt, and cheer for my friend. I love competing but it is relaxing to not have to be the one doing it for once. And it gives you an extra sense of appreciation for what you go through when you see it from the outside.
I probably won't see David again unless he throws a victory party. Which knowing him he won't actually do. But I appreciate the opportunity to be here and be a witness to history, and just take in the big city and the big stage. It makes me realize how lucky I am that I get to do what I do for a living. We talk so much about the pressures of the spotlight and of the money in the bank and even now with the offseason and people losing their jobs it's easy to get lost in that. But we should never lose sight of the love that drives us, and the impossible things that we can accomplish if we put our minds to it.
Let's just hope I never have to throw a chair, because then I'm pretty sure something will have gone horribly wrong.
--
Shelby Manning
Need For Speed OC
725 words
New York is alive with the buzz of impending history. UFC 205 is less than 24 hours away and I'm sitting in a hotel room drinking my Mountain Dew and realizing tomorrow I'll be in the third row. Watching someone I'm friends with get punched in the face.
This has been an interesting experience. I have never seen somebody pick up a chair and threaten to use it at a press conference. If I even so much as looked the wrong way at somebody in one of my press conferences I'd get told off twice; first by my team owner and then again when my father found out. We have an unspoken professional respect that exists. But there is no such thing in the UFC. Here, apparently, it's a lot of mutual animosity.
Unless, of course, you are referring to one David Burton. David gets his first title shot on Saturday and the odds are good he'll be leaving Madison Square Garden a champion. He showed up to the press conference on time in a suit and tie. Sat there quietly while everyone else lost their cool around him. Didn't say a cross word about his opponent. He is a gentleman which then makes it a certain level of ironic that his chosen profession is to get violent with people.
He's been a training partner of mine for the last four months. Peter recommended him to me as soon as I needed someone local to work with after Chris left for San Diego and I completely understand why. Peter always says you play the people not the game, and David is the opposite of me in many respects. He's calm and chill and happy all of the time. Whereas when I walk into the gym I have to just get after it. And especially now, as I'm doing a quick camp to try and whip myself back into shape for the Race of Champions, I'm pushing myself hard and so it helps to have the guy in the room be the one who's always got a smile on his face. Because I sure as hell don't.
Now seeing David on his playing field has been interesting. I went to the official weigh-in this afternoon and he spotted me in the front and waved at me like he was actually excited I was there. That's just such an adorable thing to do. At the same time there's that look in his eyes that I recognize as an athlete. It's that switch that flips and you know that this is your time, the time when you have to step up or step out, and there isn't any place else you'd rather be.
It's an eye-opener to watch as a spectator and not be the person that the onus is on. For the last two years I've lived with the mantle of Verizon IndyCar Series champion and usually when I'm in a situation like this I'm one of the competitors everyone is looking at. And I will be again come January. But this afternoon I got to just hang out and watch, and tomorrow I'll just go down to the Garden, get a drink and a T-shirt, and cheer for my friend. I love competing but it is relaxing to not have to be the one doing it for once. And it gives you an extra sense of appreciation for what you go through when you see it from the outside.
I probably won't see David again unless he throws a victory party. Which knowing him he won't actually do. But I appreciate the opportunity to be here and be a witness to history, and just take in the big city and the big stage. It makes me realize how lucky I am that I get to do what I do for a living. We talk so much about the pressures of the spotlight and of the money in the bank and even now with the offseason and people losing their jobs it's easy to get lost in that. But we should never lose sight of the love that drives us, and the impossible things that we can accomplish if we put our minds to it.
Let's just hope I never have to throw a chair, because then I'm pretty sure something will have gone horribly wrong.
--
Shelby Manning
Need For Speed OC
725 words