From the Fields to the Garden: The Life of Stitch Duran
I got to the Mandalay and headed through the luxurious lobby. Even though it was the middle of the night…
I got to the Mandalay and headed through the luxurious lobby. Even though it was the middle of the night the place was packed and the slot machines were ringing. As I crossed toward the hotel elevators I bumped into some familiar faces, my daughters Carla and Angela. They were out partying after the fights. Dad what are you doing here? Angela said.
I told them about the phone call. It was funny seeing them out and they were shocked to see me. But I was working, not drinking red bull and Vodka’s.
I got up to Rich’s room and he was in pretty good spirits for a guy who’d just lost his belt and in brutal fashion. His doctor was there, as was Donna Marconi and Rich’s wife Beth. They’d already worked on his nose and it had what looked like duct tape over it. He had a couple small cuts that nobody had addressed. They weren’t that big of deal and I took care of them and then put a butterfly on them to keep them closed, no permabond necessary.
So I learned a bit on that night. It isn’t so good to cut a guy who’s going to spend much of the fight on top of you, Anderson Silva was a complete badass, and I’ll make house calls if you are as nice as Rich Franklin…
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Moments later everyone was in the Monastery changing back into our clothes. Mr. Pe came up to me with a worried look on his face. Hey there’s a bunch of people outside pissed off at you, he said.
What are you talking about? I said. Why?
When you broke that brick a piece flew off and hit a baby on the head and scratched it. They are mad because you didn’t acknowledge it and say sorry.
Man, I didn’t have my glasses on. I couldn’t even see. I guess I should go apologize to them now.
No, it’s too late, Mr. Pe said, they won’t understand. We just need to get out of here!
I considered it. I didn’t know how these villagers would respond and after all I was in the middle of the jungle. I agreed to just hit the road and we piled into the baht bus. With the trees closing in around us and as we rumbled along the bumpy road, we saw lights behind us. Shit man, they’re coming after me, I said.
I beat on the back window and in Thai asked Mr. Wanna to step on the gas. Mr. Wanna didn’t quite understand and Mr. Kit hastily relayed the message. Mr. Wanna glanced in the rear view mirror and pushed on the pedal. The bus lurched as it gained speed. Everyone held on as we were thrown around in the back.
The mood was tense. Nobody knew exactly what to expect if we were caught, and although we could take care of ourselves, we didn’t want to fight our way out of the jungle against a bunch of angry machete-wielding villagers…
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I was cageside at UFC 69 in Houston and Burt Watson came up to me. Serra wants you to wrap his hands, he said.
Burt, I’m working this fight. I can’t, I said.
A lot of times I’ll go back and forth, but when I’m already in the middle of working a fight I think it is best that I stay with it. Burt could appreciate that, but Matt could not.
A few minutes later Burt was back by my side. Look, Serra says he wants you to wrap his hands. He’s not gonna come out until you wrap his hands!
I had a flashback to the time when I wrapped Ray Lovato’s hands and Trinidad wouldn’t come out because of the tape. This was definitely different circumstances though. Alright, I said, but who is gonna take my place?
About that time Don House came hustling up to the cage so I headed back to wrap Matt so we could have a welterweight title fight. He saw me and thrust his hands in the air with his palms up. Stitch, come on man. You know you’re like my good luck charm. I depend on you!