My arrival in Los Angeles, California was met with mixed emotions.
First, there was the honour and pleasure of being able to attend the media workout for Lyoto Machida at The Black House Gym.
The bad news was that the best referee in the sport, Big John McCarthy, will not be working UFC 104.
After seeing Henry Winkler at the airport in Toronto, our smooth flight got us to L.A. early enough that we were able to hit the ground running at make the 20-minute drive to Machida's training facility, where a large entourage of media assembled to speak with the UFC's Light Heavyweight Champion.
Lyoto, his two brothers, Father and others lined up for the press to ask questions of the champ, ranging from his preparation for his first title defence vs. Shogun Rua, set for Saturday night, to one strange question, where "The Dragon" was asked if he was interested in following in the footsteps of UFC Hall of Famers Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn, and one day move over to the world of professional wrestling.
Machida smiled his way through many of the questions, as manager Ed Soares translated the majority of them, but it was definitely great to see (and hear) Lyoto's growing command of the English language.
He's really coming a long way and his dedication to being a true ambassador to the sport is paying dividends. He is beginning to remind me of GSP - all class and always working his charm for the media.
Lyoto is not only acting like a seasoned veteran of the sport, but he granted yours truly some extra time while he was doing some basic sparring with one of his brothers.
We were first told that Machida would do some more sparring on the mats, where we would then record my stand-ups for our Connected feature that will air on Wednesday. Then we found it that the only sparring he would do was in the cage, and that he was getting ready to close shop. We rushed over to find a spot to quickly shoot, and as Machida was shutting it down, I asked if he minded doing one more round, and he immediately obliged.
"The Dragon" looks very smooth with his combinations and appears very calm prior to his first title defence. When I asked him about the consistent backlash karate practitioners take for doing "katas" and how karate is perceived as a waste of time to infuse into one's MMA training, he smiled and wanted to inform his critics that "karate was back."
I also discussed Machida's attacking strategy and ground game with UFC middleweight Mark Munoz, who also teaches wrestling at The Black House Gym.
Munoz, who will be fighting Ryan Jensen at UFC 108, and I mutually agreed that trying to defend Machida's attacks are extremely difficult, based on his stance, footwork, range and unorthodox striking combinations.
In essence, he basically throws punches and kicks that are simply not taught at your regular boxing, Muay Thai and MMA gyms.
I also caught up with Chase Gormley, who will be making his UFC debut on Saturday night vs. heavyweight striker Stefan Struve.
Gormley is a very intelligent wrestler who is undefeated and someone who has the skills to really make some noise in the UFC's heavyweight division.
Also in attendance was someone I have respected and looked up to for a very long time - Josh Gross, who currently writes for Sports Illustrated, and was formerly with Sherdog. Gross is arguably the gold standard in MMA journalism, and one of only a handful of my peers who has been around the sport for over a decade, long before what many of us call "The Ultimate Fighter" generation.
Before there was a TUF reality show, before there was Dana White and the current UFC, there were only a handful of fans and analysts working through the dark days of the UFC, when it was banned on Pay Per View.
Gross is one of those pioneers, and also one who understands the sport from a fighter's mind, their perspective, strategies and especially the business of the sport.
Finally, when I got the news that Big John McCarthy would not be working UFC 104, part of me was torn while the other simply knew it was just wishful thinking.
Big John was not surprised that he did not get the assignment, but I am.
I was hoping this would be the opening of a new chapter for the best referee in the sport, but alas, it will not happen this time around. Hopefully, soon enough, all the commissions, and the big show will come to terms that BJM deserves to not only be in there, but for the sake of the sport and the safety of the fighters, it's just simply better to have him in there than to have someone else officiating a bout who simply does not have the knowledge that McCarthy has.
