Don't Be A Dick

I am pretty excited for Saturday's Mayweather fight. Not really because I think it will be a good fight (I expected Money Mayweather to dominate) but because I met him a couple years ago and he was a really cool guy in person. I know he comes off like a total asshole on television but I have to say that our encounter with him was really awesome and a bit awkward. When he came out of the Encore hotel this bum looking guy rushed him saying he owed him money... He was quickly escorted to his car and bodyguards surrounded the vehicle. I motioned for him to come out of the car and get a photo with us. He looked around to make sure the crazy guy was gone and he came out of the car... his bodyguards kept telling him to stay in the car but he kept on coming twords us and asked what our names were, where we were from, and what we did for a living. I told him I went by the nickname ShoeMoney. Which prompted him to say, "Well, if you ever decide to go by the nickname Money then we are going to have a problem". We laughed it off and he went back to his car and took off. What a cool guy and he earned fans for life. Because of that encounter I have purchased all of his fights on PPV since that encounter. ADD SIDENOTE: I just read he will take home over 60 million dollars from last nights fight - purse + PPV cut... wowza I have been very fortunate in my life to have met a lot of interesting people. Some I already was a fan of and some not so much. Almost all of these people had no clue who I was and treated me the same way they would treat any Joe Shmoe. Now keep in mind positive or negative its just my experience and it should not be considered as typical behavior. Robert Scoble - I met Robert Scoble at SXSW. He was a total prick. He was standing around talking to a bunch of a-listers and I waited until he was walking away and I asked him for a photo. He acted like a total prick. He never even looked at me until the flash went off. He looked around like "you don't matter who else should i be talking to right now". What a asshole. Kevin Rose (digg.com founder) - I have met Kevin Rose several times at various Silicon Valley events. He has always been a super cool guy. He is amazingly approachable and just a regular guy. He has a aura of confidence about him. That probably comes from his previous television experience and being in the lime light since a very young age. Mark Zuckerburg (facebook founder) - Just like Kevin I have ran into Mark several times at several places. I only asked Mark for a photo one time and he looked instantly to his asian female companion who gave me a firm "NO". It was a very awkward situation. I apologized and went on my way. About a hour later I was in the restroom doing my business and Mark pulled up to the urinal next to me to do his thing. He looked over and saw it was me... and said "Hey sorry about earlier I would love to do a photo with you if you still want to?" I said cool man sorry about earlier... he said it was no big deal and his people are very protective of him. So outside the bathroom he asked someone to take a couple pictures of us. I thought that was really cool of him to go out of his way. Unlike Kevin Rose , Zuckerburg comes off pretty uncomfortable in social situations. OR atleast that was the initial impression I got. Since then I have ran into him a couple different places and surprisingly he remembered me and was like mr confident. Either way I think he is a pretty cool guy. I have also had the fortune to meet a LOT of UFC fighters. All of them have been very very cool in person and after meeting them in person swayed me on some as to what I think of them. Its funny how TV and the media can really make a guy come off one way or another and the UFC does a lot of shaping fighter personalities. Kenny Florian - Awesome guy. I spent about 2 hours talking to him at a pre-fight party in Cincinnati. I have traded emails with him a lot and so has others from my staff after we hung out with him. He always emails right back. Sean Sherk (former lw UFC Champion) - really quiet guy but nice. Legendary UFC Ref Big John McCarthy - I actually got so wasted at this party I fell down. Big John came over and helped me up and sat with me for a bit to make sure I was ok. Little embarrassing for me but what a nice dude! Houston Alexander - Complete ASSHOLE - I originally met him when he was an up coming fighter and he was a nice guy... then I saw him again a couple times after he won a couple fights and he turned into a complete prick. Total jerk. Frank Trigg (former middleweight champ) - Trigg is my boy. I like him a lot. I have gone out drinking with him a couple times... even passed out once at his house. Trigg is very outspoken and is one of those guys that sizes you up pretty fast. Fortunately for me he likes me... I guess... I usually run into Frank every time I goto Couture's gym in Vegas and he always gives me shit about passing out at his house. Trigg is a great guy. Matt Hughes (5 time ufc champion)- We hosted Matt Hughes website for a LONG time and helped him and many of his friend fighters for free. He has always been a jerk to us in person. His management has been nice but he has always been a dick. We really regret all the work we did for him. The media an UFC make him out to be this nice farmboy who is all christian. Trust me unless you are some super hot chick he is a total asshole in person. Josh Koscheck - Josh invited us to his afterparty at PURE in las vegas following UFC 66 in vegas. We first went back to his hotel room at the MGM and hung out for about 2 hours with him then went to the party. I have talked to Josh a lot in the years since. Really nice kid. Chuck Liddell - Ive ran into Chuck Liddell at several UFC events and also at some places here in Lincoln, Nebraska. YUP Chuck owns 2 bars here in Lincoln and comes in town to check on them. This would probably surprise a lot of people but Chuck is a very smart investor and owns over 30 clubs nation wide. Most in California but he picked up 2 in Lincoln. Whenever he comes in town he shoots me a text cause they usually have a promo for something. I enjoy talking to Chuck cause he tells you the truth behind the stories on a lot of things. Really awesome guy. Dana White (UFC President) - I have met Dana several times both at huge events and very small 20 people gatherings. He has always been a very nice guy. I somehow over the years gave him my cell phone and he called me last year for some help with his twitter account. To my surprise he followed my advice (I told him to switch his twitter name from danawhiteblog to danawhite (someone else squatted on it at the time) I gave him all the contacts at twitter to get it done and also gave him a few more tips. He told me if I ever needed any tickets or anything to call him. I don't like really to be that guy but I do like it that he owes me ;). Anyway he has always been a really nice guy. He comes off very shrewd in press conferences and in interviews but he is a no bullshit businessman and a very very good one at that. Joe Rogan - Met him at a couple UFC events. Always been a really nice guy. Had some interesting conversations with Joe. He is a BIGTIME conspiracy theorist and also a huge fan of doing drugs that expand your mind. He is pretty open about both on his blog. I am not so much into the drug part but interesting topic of discussion. Paris HIlton - I met Paris a LOOONG time ago. My wife and I were coming out of our suite at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and she was also leaving hers. She was being escorted by 5 large body guards. While we were waiting for the elevator she looked at me for a second and I asked her if I could get a photo with her. She said yes and my wife took the picture (she did not want to be in it). She saw my Nextel phone and asked me how I got a picture of my dog on it. I told her I had a site called NextPimp that formatted pictures for phones and she should use it. She said she would then took the elevator down. She was really nice in person. I have also met a lot of other interesting people but here is my point. While you may do the same shit every day meeting people its probably their only time meeting you. As much as I would like to say everyone I meet walks away talking about what a nice guy I am in person I dunno that it always happens. But I will let you be the judge of that if/when we someday meet at an industry event.