When I’m doing drills I’ll get my blood pressure up to the low to mid 190s. The highest I’ve ever recorded was 203, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

    I usually jump out of bed and head to the road in front of my Cincinnati home, to get in 3 miles of running before breakfast. On Wednesdays and Sundays I do no running at all. 

    During the fall, on Sundays, I’ll spend some of my time like a lot of American guys. I go to church and then catch some football. 

    We are blessed.

    I’m back in Cincinnati and still trying to sort things out in my head. Many people have asked me how I feel about the fight with Dan Henderson on Saturday night at the O2 in Dublin. 

    This was my second time fighting in Ireland, and the people could not be more gracious. Those wild Irish fans are hungry for the UFC, and their excitement really energizes all the fighters.

    The old truth is that if you let a fight go to the judges you deserve whatever you get. I didn’t end the fight with a knock-out and I have to accept the decision.  When the result was announced by Bruce Buffer, I wasn’t devastated so much as dumbfounded. 

     Dan and I didn’t really talk after I offered my congratulations. I have no bad feelings at all towards Dan. At the same time, I won’t rest well until we have a chance to get better acquainted inside the octagon. I want a rematch. 

    Fighting at 205 is like being on vacation for me. I get to eat so much more. This beats walking around at 185, with the hunger pangs of a famine refugee. And I find that as I get older and deeper into my fight career, the more I enjoy it. After 8-10 weeks of exhausting training, to finally get into the octagon and fight isn’t stressful, but enjoyable.

    Since I won’t be filming Spike channel’s The Ultimate Fighter show, I have time to regroup before my travel and speaking schedule begins to quickly fill. I look forward to moving around the country and I hope to see you some place, some time. 

    Thanks again for being there for me. Your support is my O2.

    It’s amazing how we our brains can tell us to awake at a certain time, as though there’s an alarm clock built in. I generally wake up naturally at about 8am, even on days when I really want to sleep in. 

    Sometimes I resort to begging my brain, the night before, to please not wake me up at my usual time. But usually it wakes me anyway, to say “Get out of bed now and get in your 3 miles of roadwork before breakfast.”

    This is the result of a part of the brain known as the Reticular Activating System. The RAS is located at the base of our brain stem. Computer-like, it records certain bits of information while ignoring others. It filters out distracting sounds and confusion that surround us. We can hear, for example, a particular person’s voice in a room filled with many others talking.

    Each day all of us are overloaded with many distractions. We can be lured from working towards our goals with TV, radio, magazines, video games, all sorts of electronic gadgets, and friends wanting us to go here or there. If a person has really clear objectives, and is passionate about accomplishing them, they can filter everything out.

    Acting as our own RAS requires sustained discipline. We have to program our heads with constant reminders of our goals, determined that nothing-nothing-nothing will get in the way. Cutting through all of life’s noise puts you two-thirds of the way to getting where you want to go.

    Life is constantly dealing us daily stresses and unexpected, difficult situations. Keeping destructive thoughts and feelings from getting into our heads is of paramount importance. Everyone is different, but it is tremendously helpful to have some way of turning inward to some resource which provides strength.

    Each day I spend some time in prayer, and this really helps my mental game. I believe the Lord is watching over me and – win or lose – everything happens according to His plan.

    That doesn’t mean I don’t get nervous – I sure do, because life is hard. And when fight time is not far off, my anxiety increases because I so badly want to win.

    I’m now aware that my wants do not always coincide with my needs. I help keep my perspective by reading the Bible on a regular basis, and this increases as Fight Day approaches.

    Studying the Bible reminds me that my interest is the Lord’s concern, although it may not feel like it at the time.