Rashad Evans has been on the verge of a title shot for almost a year, and will finally get it, against former teammate Jon Jones. He fought up and comer Phil Davis. Davis was awarded his first loss, and learned he needs some more experience to be able to hang with the best. Evans repeatedly passed his guard, and even put Davis in a mounted crucifix several times, where he was unable to finish the fight. What he should have done, started dropping down elbows, he would have easily ended the fight within seconds. Even though he didn’t finish the fight, he dominated all five rounds, to earn a unanimous judge’s decision.

                In a recent poll, Chael Sonnen was voted the most hated fighter, and Michael Bisping came in second. While neither is a common fan favorite, many wanted Sonnen to win, so there could be the whole grail of rematches: Sonnen against the middle weight champion, Anderson Silva. Bisping exposed the weaknesses of Sonnen, and did enough in the eyes of everyone except the judges to win. Even Sonnen said he thought Bisping won.

                While Chris Weidman might not be known as the best, he is finally proving his worth against middle weights, with his short notice bout with former middle weight contender Demian Maia. Weidman proved that his striking and wrestling is good enough to be able to tussle with anybody in the division. He controlled the fight with takedowns, and he kept the fight in his control the entire time.

                While the main card on FOX resulted in less than stellar fights, the prelims were spectacular. Always thrilling Cub Swanson got his first win in the UFC, and Charles Olivera had a brilliant transition between different leg locks, finally finishing the fight with the rarely seen calf crusher.

                Next week, is the highly anticipated bout between the bad boy from Stockton, Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit, for the welterweight interim championship title.

For those who don’t know, MMA stands for mixed martial arts. It started as a way to see what the ultimate fighting style was. Boxers against wrestlers, judo players against muay thai artists, etc. The first organized MMA competition was the first UFC event, on Nov. 12, 1993. Then, there were no rules, anything and everything was legal. Since then, it became more of a sport than a sideshow act, and adapted the unified rules of MMA, which almost all American organizations use. To be successful, now you have to be able to do everything, unlike before when people could only do one thing. Since then, many other fighting promotions have appeared, the most notable and famous being Pride FC in Japan. Although it wasn’t American, many American fighters fought there, and it was where the best in the world were. Unfortunately, they ran out of money, and almost every fighter went to the UFC. Now, the UFC’s ownership owns almost all competition.

Just so you know that I’m not making it up as I go along, I’ve been watching fights for over a year now. As soon as I first saw them, I fell in love. I spent hours on the internet watching fights, doing research, reading books. I also started training. I love jiu jitsu. Jiu jitsu is all about the ground game, submissions and grappling.

However, when I find the time and I finally get that workout in, I feel so much better. Working out is proven to boost your mood by releasing endorphins. It also helps the brain to focus on tasks. If the thought of a high heart rate, sweat and achy muscles is what’s keeping you from strapping on those jogging shoes, just think of how amazing you will feel afterwards.

Maybe you are just having trouble getting started. Not to worry, I will provide you with some excellent tips on getting started. First, decide what your ultimate goal is. By setting goals for yourself you will have a little motivator to keep you going.

Once you have decided on your goals, set a time frame in which to accomplish them. Make it reasonable, giving yourself too much or too little time could make you feel pressured and you could lose sight of what’s truly important: accomplishing your goal.

Next, get started! Start out small. If you are working to run a 5K, but have never run before, start by running one mile, with walking in between. Then, slowly work towards not walking at all. Eventually you will be able to run multiple miles without stopping.

The important thing to remember is that you will have days where you do not want to do anything and you will just have to push past those times.

A great way to have more energy is to eat healthier and drink a lot of water. By making healthier choices such as an apple rather than a bag of chips, you will notice your energy levels rising. Drinking water rather than a soda is also much better. First of all, with all of the workouts you will be doing it’s important to stay hydrated. Sodas are not a good choice because they dehydrate your body.

By following these tips, you will begin to feel better in no time. It’s hard work, but well worth it.

                  Smith said she is teaching herself to play piano, which she said is going “pretty good considering I play bells and mallets so I already have a start on note names and stuff.” Smith said she draws some of her inspiration from her brother, Jordan Smith, who graduated from CMR in 2011.

“Kind of, he was the first of our family to really get into music. He taught himself guitar, drums, and piano,” Smith said.

Smith is a 2015 class percussionist at C.M. Russell High School. She said she hopes to go to college and study music in Bozeman.

After attending college and earning a degree in music, Smith said she would like to return to her high school and teach music. She would prefer to take over for Dennis Dell, the CMR percussion instructor.

“I wanna come back here and do what Mr. Dell does, but teaching band would be cool,” Smith said.

Smith said that her favorite part of percussion is “the variety, because the instruments create a lot of different sounds and feelings.”

She said there are a lot of changes between elementary, middle, and high school percussion.

“In seventh grade you’re in a percussion class, in eighth grade you’re in a big band, and in high school you’re in a percussion class again, so it’s kind of confusing,” Smith said.

Smith said that she enjoys playing in the Pep Band because “you have an excuse to be crazy.”

“I like it because you’re not only going to the games and cheering on the teams, but you’re getting a musical experience and kind of getting help,” Smith said.

Before she leaves Great Falls, Smith said she wants to do everything a percussionist could possibly do at CMR.

“I definitely want to get into Symphonic Band and all-state. I wanna try out for drum major, and I wanna be drum captain, too. It’s too much!”

“Every time I see a Minnesota plate, I think, ‘Go back to Minnesota this is my home’,” Minnesota native Kern said.

Kern lived in Minnesota for the first 12-13 years of her life up until her sophomore year, when she and her family moved out to the “Last Best Place.”  Her initial impression during her first year of attending school in Montana at CMR was this is “bigger and better” than her school back in Minnesota.

“This is amazing,” Kern said. “People out here are so much better.”

She continues to thoroughly enjoy attending CMR.

“This year I’m actually looking forward to going to school,” she said.

Kern started to pick up on the friendliness of Montana on the drive over.

“We still had our Minnesota plates on and we would get waves from people,” Kern said.

Compared to the students she went to school with in Minnesota, Kern said the kids here aren’t as cliquey, which was a relief coming from the small town Milaca, with a population of around 200.

“The overall mood was doom and gloom,” Kern said.

Growing up with the same kids since kindergarten, Kern said she was more than eager to get out of Milaca.

“If I were to have spent one more year in Minnesota, I would have begged my mom to move,” Kern said.

Living in Montana has proven to be satisfactory for Kern.

“You’re not judged out here,” Kern said. “Every person you meet has a smile on their face.”

                  “I started to play when I was a little champ,” Gliko said.

                  Gliko said he has been fond of music ever since he was a kid, but he didn’t get into music until he was 10. Gliko’s favorite hobby in and outside of school is “just music in general.” Gliko plays drums most of the time, and he also plays guitar and wants to learn piano. He also said it would be cool to have piano in his musical expertise.

Choosing an instrument wasn’t really an option. Drums chose Gliko.

“Because my dad played guitar, I would play drums with him,” Gliko said. “It was hard growing up playing county music and then listening to all this hip-hop and rap music.”

At C.M. Russell High School, Gliko is involved in Symphonic band, Jazz band, Pep band, Drum line, and All-State. After college he wants to be “the next Kellogg,” Gliko said. Russ Kellogg directs the band program at CMR.

His inspiration is Daniel Bukvich, a well-known percussionist.

“He’s taught me most of the valuable lessons I’ve learned in music,” Gliko said. “It’s called playing for a reason. It’s all about playing.”

“It’s hard passing up something you love.”