10th Planet Watch – 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Van Nuys Blog

Hello gang, 10th Planet Burbank’s Alder Hampel checking in here. I arrived here today in Newark, NJ with Dan Hardy and striking coach, Steve Papp. We checked in with the UFC, and now the official countdown to UFC 111 begins! It’s been an amazing 2 weeks on the eastcoast, and I’d assume it’s only going to get crazier!

The trip began with my seminar in Christiansburg, VA at Henry’s TKD where I got to hang out with a who’s who of current and future 10th Planet affiliates. It’s always a pleasure to hang out with James, Jessica, Gwen and the rest of the gang. Good luck on the affiliation, I’m sure it’s coming soon. I expect to see some killers coming out if that school in the near future.

After leaving Christiansburg, I flew into New York’s JFK airport where I was picked up by Hardy and Papp. The gameplan was to finish up the last 3 weeks of Dan’s training camp in Saddle River, NJ before moving to Newark for the fight. We were also being followed by a camera crew 24/7 for the filming of the UFC’s Primetime show which airs on Spike T.V. The last of which will air Wednesday the 24th of March.

Dan’s reason for choosing to come out NJ early was to one to get acclimated to the time zone before the fight. The other reason was to come out and train with world famous strength and conditioning coach, Joe DeFranco. His reputation for creating absolute monsters and for pushing professional atheletes to their maximum potential is demonstrated in the documentary “Strong.”

Everything was set until rumors we were going to be training with former UFC welter weight champion, Matt Serra, started circulating. This was news to us, but when UFC president Dana White called, things changed. Mr. White had contacted Serra and a new gameplan was set into place. We were now going to split our time between NJ, and Long Island where GSP destroyer, Matt Serra, calls home.

For the last two weeks Hardy has been sharpening the blade into a razor. You haven’t seen a bigger, stronger, faster, slicker, more explosive and more focused Dan Hardy ever! It’s my professional unbiased opinion that come March 28th, we will see the welter weight championship belt change hands.