Lei of the Land: Bellator Hawaii
My boyfriend-turned-fiancé was in desperate need of a vacation. We talked about revisiting Hawaii, and his vacation lined up perfectly with Bellator 213, scheduled to take place in beautiful Honolulu. I secured some decent event tickets on SeatGeek, he secured some decent airline tickets on Expedia. And the vacation was on.
The Waikiki hotel we stayed in last September was the perfect mix of kitsch and chill, so we opted to stay there once again. And determined to get home in better shape than we left, we hit the gym on our first morning in Honolulu.
My fiancé always gets right to work when it’s time to “lift,” while I prefer to contemplate all of my life choices for about ten minutes before really digging in. During that ten minute mental departure, I noticed a familiar face, a serious-looking man that resembled someone I had just seen on the Bellator 213 countdown series.
I creepily whispered the sighting into my fiancé’s ear, and he shooed me away. Then I saw another man, a real-life fighter, that I’d also just seen on the countdown video. The rest of the workout was a blur. I subtly creeped on these fine gentleman while they toiled away on their workout. I slyly stared at them in between whatever my fiancé was forcing me to do: squat this, bench that, curl this, lift that.
At the end, I respectfully approached the fighter, told him I was a fan, and shook his hand. That’s it. I figured that after all of my ogling, a simple greeting was enough. I’m not a fanboy jerk, just a fanboy creep, but always respectful. I hope.
Still high from that surprise encounter, my fiancé and I continued on our vacation. A few hours later, and a few new MMA sightings more, it finally hit us - we were staying at the very same hotel hosting most, if not all, Bellator 212 and 213 fighters, along with all pre-fight events!
Holy moly. This was the first time in my life that I had walked ass-backwards into something truly amazing. The entire week was a treat for the eyes, the mind, and the soul. MMA fighters, coaches, journalists, everywhere, every day.
Sunning poolside next to Frank Mir, crossing the street with Michael Chandler, having dinner next to Henri Hooft, passing Brent Primus while he hydrated, eating breakfast where Ilimia-Lei Macfarlane ate breakfast, entering an elevator that Lyoto Machida just exited.
Forgive my cringing, fanboy excitement over these simple encounters, but to me, they were thrilling. Liken them to Lucy Ricardo at the Brown Derby and you might understand my enthusiasm.
But of course, the one day that I opted to chill at the beach instead of the hotel lagoon, which is the main reason we re-picked this hotel anyway, I missed the entire open workout event for both cards. I was basically 200 feet away and I had no idea that I could have watched Machida, Chandler, Macfarlane, Mir, and Valerie Letourneau in extreme close up, displaying their art.
If you watch the videos of their open workouts you can see scatterings of random tourists stopping by to see what the strange show is all about, mostly having no idea what they were witnessing. But at least they were frickin’ there!
Meanwhile, I was on Waikiki beach under an overpriced rented umbrella, stupidly watching an alpha pigeon perform some kind of mating dance for a lady pigeon. And for all of his groovy efforts, he never even got to lay it down. That bummed me out for a whole night. Missing the open workout bummed me out too.
My fiancé was super annoyed that I couldn’t get over this. He repeatedly reminded me that if I were a true fan I would have known about all of the week’s events in advance. Fair enough, I guess. But still, didn’t he understand my post-FOMO?
Alas, I finally overcame my melancholy and gleefully prepared to watch the ceremonial weigh-ins for Bellator 213 which were being held at one of our hotel ballrooms. What a rush. And all of the MMA journalists you see at the scrums and press conferences were there too, a lot of them, anyway.
Then came the night of the big show. Bellator 213 was otherworldly. The crowd, all of whom greeted each other like family, the raucous receptions for all local fighters, the pure love of sport; I’ve never witnessed anything like it.
As Macfarlane predicted, the “mana,” or spirt/energy, was astronomically high. Her entrance, her victory, it’s something for the MMA record books. I hate to sound like those people who gloat about the book being better than the movie, but for this instance, and this instance alone, I will declare that the live experience of Bellator 213 had to be 100% better than the living room experience.
The next day, our last day on the magical island, my fiancé and I decided to hit up the Moana Surfrider hotel bar before heading to the airport. The Surfrider bar delivers a beautiful ocean view and mixes killer mai tais. Five drinks later, we stumbled outside to meet our Uber.
And that’s when I saw her, the mighty Valerie “Trouble” Letourneau. Confession time, despite being in Hawaii for Macfarlane’s title defense, I was actually rooting for Letourneau. Not wanting to get booed out of the arena, I of course, kept this to myself, but it’s the damned truth.
I respect her as a fighter, and as a martial artist, and really wanted to see “Trouble” get that strap. The fight didn’t end her way, but Letourneau fought a heck of a battle. She’s tough as hell, and a true badass.
I greeted her as “Ms. Letourneau” and babbled foolishly about being a big fan and enjoying her fight. Not exactly the right words to share with someone who just lost a fight. I enjoyed the fight that you lost? What heck does that mean? Lord help me.
Sorry, Ms. Letourneau! What I really wanted to say is that I was honored to meet you and watch you go to war. I rooted for you and will root for you always. Onward and upward, the next challenge awaits.
Four days after getting back home I came down with a terrible chest cold and a gnarly cough. An old lady on the flight to Honolulu was coughing like a maniac. Despite my declarations of invincibility, her germs must have gotten to me. I’m just glad my body held out long enough to allow me to enjoy the best vacation I never dreamed.
Forgive me again for my cringeworthy emotion, I don’t usually gush like a schoolgirl on thestraightpunch but I genuinely want to thank Scott Coker and everyone at Bellator for putting together two supremely awesome fights in Hawaii.
And of course, all of the warriors who battled for two straight nights. You guys knocked it out of the park. And being right there for all of it is something I will treasure always.