Guys the BLANCO caps are finally in make sure you jump onto bennyblanco.weebly.com to grab one, two or a few. The AUSSIEGANgStER caps will be in as soon as next week.

Back home after a couple days of travelling from the UFC Indianapolis via Dallas and I was greeted by my wife and a sick son with a middle ear infection. Not the perfect welcome home as we had the drive home from the airport straight to the hospital to make sure he was ok.

Fight night 27 didn't go to plan and at the end of the day it's about results in the fight game and this is the 2 time in a row I havnt come up with the right one. Credit to my opponent he did a great job shutting down my game and the way I like to fight which in turn has me heading back to the drawing board.

Evolving is something that's imperative at the top level in mma and changes have to be made for me to progress so you can bet I'll make the right adjustments and return a much better fighter.

Apologies to my fans and followers and coaches and training partners for the past few fights it's time to time to put this train back on the old tracks and head the right way

#aussiegangster

With zack at the track

1st Sunday here in Colorado  springs And after the bar trail work out yesterday we r all a bit sore and happy to have a  full day off training, sleep in and are out at the track while zack is on his bike practicing.

He's been riding for a couple years now and is getting quite good.  Only racing once since he's been out here and taking that race out.  There's a couple of dozen guys on the track today including a few little kids tearing it up on their tiny bikes which makes it a pretty cool scene out in the sun.

So after a few hours in the sun watching these guys I only witnessed a few crashes and one guy who appeared to break his wrist or arm. Was thinking about getting a dirt bike until today. Moto X = broken bones

After a couple of connecting flights lasting around 30 hrs,an hour car drive and minimal sleep I arrived in Peyton Colorado. We walked through coach Fiore's front door around 4pm local time and it felt good to know that our travelling had come to an end.... For an hour or so.

Wasn't long before we were back in the car and headed out to practice at Altitude mma to get a workout out in and I was hoping I wouldn't fall asleep during the practice. They defiantly have a good set up there and the owner Zak is a very cool guy and really has passion for the fight sports. Both a boxing ring and cage with large mat area as well as a bag section and lifting area has this gym catering for anything.

Fiore put us through a steady warm up and being up here 7ooo ft above sea level had me thinking practice could have been over then as it was horribly hard to breathe. It wasn't hard to fall asleep that night and judging by my alarm not waking me up this morning my body really needed the sleep.

It's good to be here training and I'm sure this altitude will be a huge help come August 28 when I head back to sea level for the fight. Until then it's altitude training at Altitude MMA :)

Tonight we r here at fightworldcup cup 15 for my training partners title fight, Shane has had a great camp and really done the hard work mentally and physically for this fight and as a team we think he is set to become the new welterweight champ.

He has a tough fight ahead in Brendan Mumford which is shaping up to be a great fight. From the pic above u can see we are ready to get this done .....booooom! #aussiegangsta

Living down on the NSW border now means that traveling is a lot more common these days when I need to workout. That combined with having a new son only 8 months old means I need to have things a lot more planned out. I first walked through the doors at Axis jiu jitsu academy in Southport mid 2011 and have made it my home when it comes to learning how to fight on the ground.

For me this gym somehow has a way of basically killing and bad thoughts or feeling I have once I walk through the single sliding glass door at the entrance tucked away in the far corner of the Pinter dr building complex. Owner, mentor and friend Professor Jason Roebig has really had a strong influence on how I fight and the way I go about it.

I'm lucky enough to be able to still be apart of what happens up there and with now sometimes a 45min - 1 hr drive to workout I don't even consider heading anywhere else even though it may be closer. Mma in Australia is still growing and when you get a hold of a world class coach like I have you try and spend as much time with them as possible

ARTICLE FROM MMA JUNKIE

On saturday the 15th of december at around 10am I accomplished a goal I had set 2 years and 10 months ago.  With my son being born only a few weeks ago my wife agreed it would be the wise thing to do so I packed my bags and my manager into the car and  headed to the UFC hotel in Surfers Paradise 30 minutes north of my home in Coolangatta.  Being my first UFC and being in my hometown was a dream come true and honestly I should have been a lot more nervous than i was but having close friend/manager/head trainer/one of the most accomplished coaches in UFC history really made me feel anything but nerves.  After coming out of the TUF house and spending the last few months preparing for ultimately 15 minutes that was really  going to define my career and me as a person I honestly didn’t believe the fight would end any other way apart from my hand being raised.

After chasing around the ghost of James Autery at the gold coast airport coach Fiore and I headed to PUMMA gym to meet up with Vince Perry for our final workout.  After arriving back at the Hilton we discover James has already found his way into the room and made himself at home.  Now staying in a hotel full of UFC fighters has always been exciting for me and I had to remind myself a few times that now I was a UFC fighter not just a fan

With the UFC coming to my home town for the first time ever and myself making my debut,  I’m not sure how or why but everything ran as smooth as it could.  Im talking about everything from training sessions to beating coach Fiore on Maddern 12 :) it was like i could do a thing wrong with my prep for this fight and I have to thank everyone close to me in and out of the gym for that.

Sat morning was fight day and man it started early, a 5:45am wake up call, breakfast at 6:00am and then on the bus at 6:30am to head to the venue.  Truly a blessing for me because of the short time from being awake to walking out in to the cage.  This day will hang with me for a long long time, not because it was my UFC debut in my hometown, not because I won by KO in my first UFC fight and not because I had completed the first phase of my MMA journey.  This day will sit with me forever because I got to share it with my family whom i love so much and also everyone that had shared sweat, blood, black eyes and stitches in the gym with was there to live the moment with me and that means more to me than anything else in the world.

Soooooo Manny came back from the doctor and has a fracture in his leg, I wasn't sure if it come from the leg kick that dropped him in the fight or from hobbling around on it after the fight.  This was a huge shock for the team and a very sad moment.  It was hard to come to terms with at first and made me personally realize that this opportunity could be taken away at ay given time.

After our goodbyes we all went back to the house and the team was a little bit down and it would be the first night that there would be an empty bed in the Aussie room.  Around midnight I thought I heard the voice of the replacement but when he came in to give me a hug it turned out to be RUSEEL BAN-DINGO and man what I sight to see in the middle of the night.  I didn't get long to spend with him and as I woke the next morning I wondered if I’d ever see him again.

Young Pat Iodice was next in the LW’s and he was up again Brendan from Manchester.  Didn't know too much about him as he was a replacement they brought in after one of the original LW’s was sent home form the UK with the bicep tear.  Patty seemed to have a frustrating time at training while preparing for this fight and even broke down in tears part way through the practice session.  The Kid is good and apart from being the youngest ever to be on TUF has some serious skills and every chance of winning this fight.

After starting the fight strongly with a great double leg and landing some good ground and pound Brendan managed to get top position at the end of the round and in my eyes Pat edged out the first round.  Second round Brendan cam out real strong and basically had Patty fighting off his back.  After the second round concluded we were waiting for the third round when the ref called the two fighters to the middle and awarded a decision win the team UK with Brendan being victorious.  Another huge shock for team OZ, as we couldn't work out how the judges had scored the fight two round to none in favor of UK.  

I guess it just wasn't our day losing Manny and then Patty going out in that way.   A massive waste of food and some late night noise await the house soon!

Saturdays have turned into a fun session down at PUMMA and today I had invited Legend Fighting Championship fighter  Damien  ‘down town’ Brown down to the gold coast for some MMA sparring.  For those who don’t know this kid from IMA he is one of the most  talented and modest light weights making his mark in Australia and now has a steady gig on Legend FC.  Today was the first time we have actually worked out together and as his official record of 8-3 suggests he is a very solid and impressive mixed martial artist.  Shane Gregory also worked out with us today and since I’ve been back on the gold coast he has been a regular training partner and is making outrageous improvements week to week and today was the same as always.  

The best thing about these to guys is the EGO is left in the car park and after 90 mins of punching, kicking and throwing each other on our heads theres no love lost and it’s all smiles after we are done.  A wise man once said  ‘iron sharpens iron’ and these to guys are pretty sharp so how can I go wrong mixing it up with these two. Im not sure what the future will bring to me fight wise but with the ability to train with guys like this regularly I’m always going to be fight ready.