The day before the weigh ins for BAMMA 7 at Braulio Estima’s Gracie Barra Gym

What a trip it’s been so far…coming back to the city where I started my training in Martial Arts and a trip down memory lane. However, the city I remember – the rough, dirty, horrible Birmingham is gone and a nice city has evolved. I had warned the team how horrible Birmingham was and almost 15 years can do a lot to a city – even Birmingham! The biggest shock was the (in)famous Bullring, which used to be horrible, which has now been turned into a nice shopping mall.

After a light morning workout, where even MMANytt‘s CEO, Don and O.G. Mazdak Cavian partook (somewhat), we got a chance to see the city some and then we continued to Braulio Estima’s Gracie Barra gym, which is by far the nicest MMA gym I’ve seen in England. This is where we got our last workout in for Frank Trigg before weigh ins tomorrow at 3 pm at the National Indoor Arena. It might not mean a lot to Americans but the NIA comes with a lot of history: The NIA has been the home to the Eurovision Song Contest; Judo World Championships; the home of the Gladiators; WWE (formerly known as WWF); and UFC 89.

It’s always something special about the last workout before a fight. It’s the “all ends tied together” type of thing. Almost like a zen-like peace; this is what it was all about. However, it was nothing peaceful about Frank Trigg‘s training, as can be seen from my forearms, that show (through pads!) Trigg‘s vicious ground and pound.

We were met at the gym by a very inviting Braulio Estima, who is fighting no other than the legend Jacare‘ (Ronaldo Souza) at the 2011 ADCC (aka Abu Dabi‘s) in a couple of weeks in Nottingham.

During the workout, I got a surprise I didn’t expect to see: two legends in British Kickboxing, Dev Barrett and Barrington “Zulu Warrior” Patterson came in to watch Trigg‘s final preparations.

Dev was my kickboxing coach well over 10 years ago and is still in charge of E.C.K.A (English Contact Karate Association). Barrington was always trained by Dev and was one of the guys I looked up to and wanted to fight like when I started of my fighting career. However, as nice as the guy is, don’t let it twisted: Barrington is by many considered England’s most dangerous man, earning a reputation both inside and outside the ring. Barrington fearsome reputation led to a full hour on “Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men“, which I’ve included a short clip from:

Tomorrow, I’m helping Frank Trigg with his weight cut (should be a walk in the park) and then I was invited by Braulio Estima to go train with him, his brother Victor Estima and Pablo Popovich, also competing in the ADCC 2011.

Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to visit old Solihull, the Solihull and the search for Kurt Irvine continues!