Life with Tommy

Thanksgiving week had arrived and with it, Tommy’s fight in Baltimore. The event was called Rubicon and was billed as ‘the greatest collection of MMA fighters the world had ever seen’. Their hook was that they were holding 30 fights over a 3 day period, giving fans a chance to OD on leg kicks and submission holds as they enjoyed their holiday meals. Since Tommy’s name still carried a lot of cache from Sparta, he was one of the marquis fights on Saturday night. He was fighting a guy named James Lang from Chicago. Lang was an up and comer in the MMA scene and apparently had a large mouth to go along with a Mohawk and a bad attitude. I learned all of this during our 4 hour drive from Pittsburgh. Given the time of year, plane tickets were astronomically expensive so we turned it into a nice, romantic road trip: just Tommy and I and his trainer Frank. Its not that Frank didn't like me, but more that he disapproved of my constant tempting of Tommy with sex and carbs during his training.

Unfortunately my presence wasn’t really noted during this road trip as Tommy and Frank spent most of the time going over their strategy. In addition to nervousness about the fight (which he would never admit to but I knew he was feeling), Tommy was also super on-edge due to lack of calories. He was fighting as a light heavyweight, which had a weight limit of 205 pounds. As of 5:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, Tommy weighed 208 pounds which meant he had to lose 3 pounds by the weigh in at 8:00 that night. I think the last thing he ate was a salad at about 5:00 on Tuesday evening. I had heard stories before about fighters cutting weight, but hadn’t ever seen it up close. If Tommy had been a female friend instead of my boyfriend, we might have had a conversation about eating disorders. After about 2 hours, I decided to interrupt the strategy session from my position in the back seat.

“Any chance we could make a quick bathroom and coffee stop?” I asked sheepishly. I was greeted by silence and a couple audible exhales. “Just a quick stop. No more than 10 minutes” I promised.

“Hagerstown is in about 20 miles. Can you wait til then?” Frank replied.

“Yeah. That’s fine. Thanks.” Thanks? I was thanking him for letting me get some refreshment and use the restroom? I took some deep breaths and tried to quell the anger that was starting to bubble in my stomach. This trip was about Tommy, not about me. Obviously he and Frank were focused on the fight and didn’t have time to exchange pleasantries with me. I was fine with it. Or at least I would be when I had some coffee in me.
____________________________________

We pulled into the valet at the hotel just before 10:00 a.m. and made our way to the participants’ check-in area set up in one of the conference rooms. Tommy was guiding me gently with his hand on the small of my back.

“Babe, you can just wait over there while Frank and I check in and get all of our passes and stuff. Shouldn’t take too long”.

I suddenly felt cool air as his hand pulled away and instantly wanted his warmth back, but I took my place at the rear of the room near one of the exits. People were milling about all over and I took a moment to get a good look at the crowd. It seemed to be a requirement for all of the men to be wearing at least one piece of Tap Out logo wear and the women’s attire ranged from club night in New Jersey to t-shirts and jeans to a trio wearing Playboy bunny costumes. I saw Tommy and Frank walking back towards me and they were instantly surrounded by a group of teenage boys who appeared to be asking for pictures. Tommy obliged with a grimace but the sight only attracted more fans clamoring for a photo op, including the aforementioned bunny trio. As they draped themselves over Tommy, his eyes sought mine from across the room. I mouthed ‘It’s OK’ and gave him my most supportive grin. Why would I have a problem with this? He had no control over the poor wardrobe choice of those girls, probably brought on by low self-esteem and relationship issues (perhaps I was feeling just a tad bitter) and I absolutely refused to be one of those girlfriends who got angry over things completely beyond their boyfriend’s control. I decided to deflate the tension with some humor, pulled out my phone, and texted Tommy--

I left my bunny costume at home but I’m sure I can find one by Saturday night ;)

The incoming message gave him a reason to walk away from his group of fans and I saw him smirk as he read the text. He then looked down as he typed out the reply I received a second later.

Hahaha you better not be wearing anything when I see you after the fight

As soon as I looked up from my phone, Tommy was in front of me placing my Rubicon all-access pass around my neck. He quickly enveloped me in a hug and whispered in my ear “a woman like you doesn’t need to hide behind a costume. Now let’s go check into our room”.
____________________________________

Rooms would have been more accurate. Tommy and I would be maintaining our separate quarters until after his fight, so that meant he was shacking up with Frank and I had a room to myself. About 20 minutes after I got into my room, the phone rang.

“Hey babe. Umm, I have to go down to do some interviews and stuff and then we’re going to get a bit of a workout in before the weigh in.”

“No problem.” Tommy hesitated before continuing and I could tell that he was trying to figure out how to say something. I jumped right in and asked “Do you want me to come with you or just meet you later?”

“It’s probably best if we just meet up later. I’ll text you before the weigh in.”

“Of course. I’ll grab some lunch and maybe check out Baltimore a bit. Don’t worry about it. Oh, and Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“I've seen a couple of these weigh-ins on TV and I have a very important question. Will you be doing this weigh-in in just boxer briefs?” This definitely broke the tension a bit and garnered a little chuckle from him.

“Yeah we will.”

“Then you know I’ll be there. It’s been a long two weeks.”

“For me too babe.”

“I love you Tommy.”

“Love you too.”