That Hokusai tribute looks like a classic, Chip.
Great story Supraman. What documentary did you help produce?
Well, unfortunately the year and a half I worked on that project flying all over the country, following fighters as they train and then going to Vegas for the fights at Mandalay Bay all got wasted. The project was killed because our executive producer who funded the whole thing and was the one that got permission from the very top of UFC got crossed with a very high level management person, which I will not reveal names, after UFC #40. Ortiz vs. Randy. I believe it was no. 40, it's been forever ago now. Anyway, our executive producer is a female who was an ex-model who lived in Paris for a long time making great money for so many years. I will not reveal her name either. She was in her 30's and her modeling career was over so she wanted to fly around and do documentaries the first being UFC because she was fascinated by it and then she wanted to do Polo because she actually owns her own Polo team, both players and horses.
Anyway, she had an affair with a person who was upper level management in UFC and then later that year she had an affair with a fighter. Well things didn't go so well when they found out they were both seeing the same girl and they pulled our rights to sell or show any footage. It was crazy actually. Somehow, someone broke into our suit at Mandalay bay and stole all the contracts we had just resigned earlier that day. They broke in while we were filming at the fight that night. UFC and Mandalay are pretty tight I guess and they are the ones that put us up in our suits. So, it all came down because she fell in love with a fighter that we were following around while she was still having an affair with a UFC exec.
You have to understand that, we were with these guys for long periods of time. We would train with them all day, go with them to eat, get up early and meet them on the track to do running drills, hang out with them at night for dinner, or at bars and clubs. We would do interviews everywhere both in the gym, in hotel rooms, at the fighting events and so forth. These guys eat around the clock. Their alarm goes off at 3 am so they can eat, then go back to bed, and get up to do drills early in the morning.
We had some really cool interviews in their rooms with the vegas city glowing out the window the night before the fights. Talking about how they were going to fuel up after the weigh in and what the fight game plan. Going over technique with their trainers. We also had interviews in our own personal hotel rooms. Late nights, these guys work hard and party hard.
At the time I was surprised it lasted as long as it did. My producing partner and I knew a few months before this wasn't going end well if our exec didn't handle it properly. Which she kept putting off. But, looking back on it now, it does make sense. Having an affair with two different people in two different parts of the country for a year is fairly easy to get away with but when everyone comes together for one big event, it becomes very difficult to keep it hidden. Especially more so when they work together and one is the others boss. So all I can say is it was a lot of craziness, but a lot of fun. No two days were ever the same.
As a side note. If you think being a fan of a particular fighter is exciting after they win a fight, there's a different level of excitement when you've had the opportunity to followed him around for 5 months preparing for it. Watching them suffer and sacrifice, helping him stay honest to himself and his trainers. Helping him try to get a win for all the fighters who train at that gym. Watching him overcome injuries during training, cut down in weight. Becoming friends with their family and girlfriends or wives. You become part of the team and it's just a different feeling. It also makes you realize that when a fighter loses there's a whole network of people he lets down besides his fans and that weight on his shoulders is not easy to carry around.
