There are three specific moments in history that I vividly remember. The first of which being the obvious: September 11th. Sort of a sad point, so I’m going to skip over that one. The second was when OJ Simpson’s white Ford Bronco traversed the streets of Orange County, California. I remember this because I was watching a recap of Game 3 of the Houston Rockets vs. New York Knicks series in the 1994 playoffs and my program was rudely interrupted by OJ fleeing the scene of a crime he allegedly didn’t commit. The third moment was at WEC 53 on December 16, 2010 when I saw Anthony Pettis defy the laws of gravity and pull off what is now known as the ‘Showtime Kick.’
@LayzieTheSavage and I met up at a bar on Hollywood blvd. called Dillion’s Irish Pub. We met up specifically to watch WEC 53, so we were quarantined off to a section of the bar for ‘MMA people’ and given one small TV. For those new MMA fans out there, WEC used to hold events directly in the middle of the week and it aired on this channel, ‘Versus Network’ (which is now NBC Sports). Back in those days, WEC competed with organizations like EliteXC, IFL, Affliction, Strikeforce, BoDog fights — essentially there was a hodgepodge of MMA available at all times, and it was friggin’ fantastic.
We sat at this table, I’m pretty sure I ordered LayzieTheSavage a vodka and soda in an attempt to reduce the amount of calories the dude ingested that day. The bouncer at Dillion’s was also an MMA fan so he sort of hung around our table whenever the rounds would get interesting. The guy looks exactly like a taller version of Herb Dean, and if you see him working the door and mention this story, he will 100% remember this night. When Anthony Pettis pulled off the Showtime kick, we both immediately rose from our seats, held our hands near our mouth in a fist and simultaneously screamed ‘Oh sh*t!’ — including the bouncer. The entire bar turned around and saw us standing their motionless — in complete disbelief as to what we witnessed. When the TV showed the replay of the kick, people from the bar starting getting out of their chairs and approached the TV, almost as if they needed to verify what their eyes saw actually took place in this reality. The round eventually ended and Pettis was crowned the WEC lightweight champion.
Before any of you beat me to it, cool story bro.
I can’t be the only one that remembers that night in intricate detail. Here’s a bag of virtual marshmallows, so let’s sit around the MiddleEasy campfire and tell tales of where you were when Anthony Pettis pulled off the ‘Showtime Kick.’
