“…This week the UFC has me out here in Manila, Philippines on a media tour.

So far, so good. I flew from Hilo to Oahu and from Oahu to Seoul, Korea than on to Manila. It was a long trip, and I am having a hard time sleeping, but we are pushing through it.

Cool thing is, I ran into some old friends from back in the day. Casey and Ferman and I was able to get in a nice 45-minute run with them. It was nice to see them, but the run didn’t help me much in the way of tiring me out, so I can sleep as I had hoped it would.

We are getting a lot of love out here in the Philippines though. Everyone is great and they are treating me real nice. I have met a lot of people, a lot of big wigs out here, and they are giving us warm welcomes everywhere I go.

They have me on the biggest TV network out here, playing all my fights for the fans and getting the word out as far as promoting this tour goes. I couldn’t ask for more as far as press and coverage is concerned.

When I first arrived here I was able to sit down and talk to the guys that run the UFC magazine Philippines edition. Jon Jones is on the latest cover, but the guys out here said they wish they would have had more notice for this trip. They said they would have put me on it.

No biggie really, they still gave me a nice spread in the magazine. The article is called “The Prodigy Arrives” and it’s a great feature.

The climax of this tour so far has been today’s open workout at the Mall of Asia. They had me go and workout for the fans, and, man, the Filipino fans are great. I don’t know exactly how many people came out to see me hit pads and work out, but it was a huge mob, several thousands, I couldn’t believe it.

After the workout, I took to the crowd and tried to shake everyone’s hand, give autographs and take pictures, there were too many people to greet everyone, but I hung around as long as I could. It was an honor to represent the UFC out here and give the fans a good show.

That’s about all I have this week guys, I am finally settled back in my room over here at the Shangrila Hotel and I am due some sleep. Tomorrow we are going to go around and check out the local gyms and just finish up with what they have me scheduled to do…”

- Check out the must read, full blog entry HERE at BleacherReport.com.

- Headline image courtesy of Anton Tabuena

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