Jake Bostwick checked in with us yesterday ahead of Ashleigh Grimshaw‘s headline fight at Art of War 17 today. A link to watch the show live and free is at the bottom of the page.
Yo, Jake! Do you want to come to China?”
This all started with a phone call on Monday from Ash, asking that! So of course I said yes! I had to send copies of my passport to his manager to sort out the visas and flights, so I had to rush home from work to sort that out.
I woke up at 6.30am on Tuesday to six missed called from Ashleigh telling me what I had to print out to take to the Chinese Embassy. So I had to get up and get over to my mum’s to use her printer, and get into town to go to the embassy! I handed over all the paperwork and was in and out within seven minutes – quickest hook up ever!
After that, I went home to pack, and had to be back at the embassy for 3.30pm. We met up, got our visas and then were straight on the tube to Heathrow. And before we know it, we’re landing in Beijing.
There’s a guy standing there with a sign waiting for us to take us to our hotel. The matchmaker and a runner met us there and really took care of us. They made sure we had everything we needed and gave us the lowdown. So, this is how it’s going to play out…
Olympic sized ring, five ropes.
Ten minute round, two minute break, another five minute round.
Soccer kicks, head stomps, elbows to the head on the ground – full Pride rules.
This could work in our favour! Apparently they like it when you’re really aggressive out here! They can give out bonuses for extra aggression, good takedowns etc. But they don’t like to see blood… Aggression, good. Blood, bad.
They also explained some rules and the weight situation. Because of the recent death of ??? in One FC, they’re taking steps to make the weight cutting safer. So competitors have to weigh in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8am, and you have an hour to make weight if you’re not quite there. They want people to fight closer to their natural weight so they’re not cutting crazy amounts. Ash is actually a kilo under, cos he’s moved up weight classes, so he’s fine!
Today, his opponent wasn’t looking too great and was struggling to cut weight, so he asked if he could weigh in 2kg heavier, and lose $1200 from his purse. As Ash is already underweight, it would be stupid to agree to let someone weigh in huge amounts more than him, but we set the terms at max 2kg and $1000 per kg, and he agreed. So they’re supposed to weigh in at 77kg but his opponent can weigh in now at up to 80kg (including the 1kg allowance).
We settled in a bit and went for a walk to see what Beijing is like. It’s a bit rough in some parts, but I wanted to see everything! People actually do walk around with masks on their faces because the pollution is really bad from the factories. There’s grot in the air, on the cars there’s dirty black muck. If you’re outside for more than an hour, you start coughing. There’s not many Westerners around where we’re staying – just me, Ash and a lot of Chinese people!
Yesterday was a bit of a media day, we did some rolling and training for the cameras, then came back to the hotel and trained properly. Just some pads and drills to sharpen Ash up.
We’ve both been sleeping well because we’re still a bit jet lagged, and we’ve also been eating well too! There are noodles and stuff available at breakfast, but i’ve been sticking to bacon and eggs! Lunch and dinner is typically noodles, rice and curry. Today we had steak – Ash can eat pretty much whatever he wants!
After weigh ins today, Ash had to go for a CT scan – another safety measure they have in place here. We were in and out in 20 minutes – these guys must have a hook up! Came back from that, chilled out, trained more, sat in the jacuzzi. The cut men arrived today, so we hung out with them for a while, then turned in for the night.
Tomorrow is show day – Ash is here to smash it up! Exciting times.
Click HERE to watch Ashleigh Grimshaw vs. Waylon Lowe at Art of War 17.
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