UFC FANATIC!

Those of you who know Shawn know this about him...he is a very passionate person. There are many things I've found out about him since we've been married...this being one of them. When he finds something he loves he becomes very passionate about it...hunting (even though he can never go anymore he still keeps up to date on all the forums over the internet:), volleyball (obviously), books (if he finds one he likes he never puts it down), yerba mate (duh!), surfing (like hunting, can't do it much these days but is obsessed with Fuel TV) and more. Well he has discovered a new passion.....UFC. See, the best thing about this passionate person I live with is he kind of sucks me in to all his passions. For example, I used to hate watching this bloody, brutal, battle between humans. But its a whole different ball game when you sit down with Shawn and watch it. He knows all the rules, terminology, holds, strategies, etc....defending the brutality of it all through intense debate! We were in Carp this last Christmas and while we were there the "biggest fight ever" (as Shawn puts it every time he wants to order a fight) was on and somehow he got everyone, including sweet little ol' grandma Trudy, to sit around the TV like it was family home evening. Shawn was pretty much sweating before the event started...and then during the fights, if you take your eyes off the TV and zero in on Shawn, you'll get a good look at the true passion. He fidgets and jumps and sticks his tongue out as if in the fight himself...dead serious! Well, now that I've explained in great detail his love of the game, I will explain the pictures. Jeremy Horn is a long time fighter from Salt Lake who has a win over Chuck Liddell and current champion Forrest Griffin on his record (the 2 faces of UFC). To help promote his organization, Jens Pulver (who is a former champion) and Joe Riggs came to Salt Lake. When Shawn heard of this and told me about it...it was a done deal. We drove up to Salt Lake and met them. Shawn just casually walked up to them and struck up a conversation like he would with his good friends. Star struck? NOPE! Just shootin' the breeze. It was pretty impressive actually. I was silent and had no idea what to say to these guys, but I guess thats one of the big reasons I married Shawn...let him do the talkin'. So we took pictures and hung around for a bit...we even got autographs which Shawn didn't really care for (probably made him feel like a little kid). Anyways, it was pretty neat. PS...one more thing...about these fighters. When you take a good look at them, it looks like you could take a steel bar and whack em over the head and it wouldn't even phase them...tough tough guys. But, they were so so so nice. They didn't act tough, or awesome, they were really down to earth and nice. Makes watching so much more enjoyable:)