U C UFC...in New Mexico

Okay that was a horrible play on words for a title. And this post is long overdue. 


This year I went home to New Mexico to spend time with my family as I missed the Christmas holiday last year. I wasn't going to go two for zero this time. 


That of course left a slight problem. My boyfriend. He recently acquired a new job and he would have to work Christmas Eve AND Christmas morning. His birthday is also on Christmas.


Someone would have to spend Christmas AND their birthday alone....  


But my respite from having to watch UFC was dashed when he showed up at the Plaza in Santa Fe---with my sister who had just come off a three day nursing shift.  :)






My family knows my boyfriend pretty well. They've seen him TWO times in the past two years (now three). Once when we both graduated, he with his master's and me with my bachelor's; and then again for my birthday last year. But they know his interests pretty well and unlike his own parents we don't have to overtly explain to my mom and dad what UFC is or what it stands for. 
They get it. 
My 65 year old parents get UFC.


Well at least when I asked my mom to tell me what she understood it to be, she responded: 
It's martial arts and it's a competition. Right? 


Close enough. I mean, it's not like I am an expert. 


So I chime in, "Yeah, it's mixed martial arts. They also wrestle and stuff."


So as it went, we contemplated finding a place to watch UFC 141 somewhere in New Mexico. Of course the only places that would probably show it were a two hour drive away. Cross that out. 


But my nephew brought his XBOX with him from where he's going to college. He also has a Netflix account. And always the helpful little bugger that he is, suggested that we stream the fight with a UFC app.(????? I don't have Netflix or an XBOX so I'm still a little green on these things.)


Of course on Friday during dinner at La Cocina, in the nearby town, we realize that we forgot about the two hour time difference between the East Coast (where our brains apparently were) and New Mexico.  My nephew kept us abreast of the "traffic jam" with the XBOX UFC app. "First 5,000 users get it free." Damn it! It's still an hour till it starts and the feature is already maxed out. 


I mean it's not like it's the end of the world to get PayPerView but really who prefers that versus "free"? 




Back home, we struggle with the app, just to make sure that we hadn't actually already pushed "yes" the day before and that might have somehow saved our place. Jammed.


Ok, PPV it is then. Searching with the OnDemand feature proves useless since it only demands movies!! I can't remember which service my parents have, it's likely it's the only one available that far out in the boonies but I can safely say that their service is worse than Comcast service here on the East Coast. At least we can switch to FiOS. 


Click, click, click, click. Only missed the first 45 or so minutes. 


Now so far, it's only me, my boyfriend and my nephew in the living room. But after a few minutes I see my dad standing behind the couch, arms crossed, head tilted back slightly to be able to see through his progressive lenses. He seems intently interested. I tell him to come sit down with us and motion to the open seats, as if motioning a guest to sit down on their own couch! But my dad doesn't often watch what other people watch. He usually watches TV in his bedroom or works on the computer. So in a way it was almost unusual for him to be watching TV, not only with us, but UFC!! (While he was in the Navy he trained in Judo so I think that that experience led him to be interested in watching something no one else in our family normally would.)


Meanwhile...where's mom? 
"I'm right here."
I  hear her tiny mom voice from the dining room. It's an open floor plan in their house so she's sitting in one of the high bar chairs at the dining table. Feet dangling off the edge.  Facing the TV so she can see the fights. She's eating a piece of pie. 


So there we were, all of us. Watching UFC 141. Brock's last fight and Overeem's first in the UFC. 


Well except for my Grandma. It's likely she was in her bedroom either watching a Telenovela or quite possibly Lucha libre.