TUF Nations: Luke Harris Fighter Blog, Episode 1 BY ON JANUARY 15, 2014
First of all, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Luke Harris, and I’m a Canadian middleweight. I own and operate the Hayabusa Training Centre Ltd. in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. I’m also the founder of Hayabusa Fightwear and hold a master’s degree from Penn State.
My MMA record is 10-2 with all my wins coming by way of first-round submission. I’m a blackbelt in both judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I'd like to thank Bleacher Report and the UFC for giving me the opportunity to share my blog, and I thank you for reading. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it and find that I have a unique perspective on the show. It was an incredible opportunity and so far the pinnacle of my MMA career. Here's how it played out…
I said bye to my wife and dog and flew off to Montreal for the start of the show. Before even getting to the house, I met my team and we headed off to the UFC gym. Walking into that gym was a dream come true. I’ve been working toward this goal for seven years and have had a long road, which hasn’t been a easy one, but I chose fighting because it’s the single most challenging thing I could think of doing.
I’ve been close to being on TUF several times, but it’s finally come to fruition.
From the get-go, I knew we had a very strong team. I knew most of the guys from the Canadian MMA scene, and I can assure you that we have lots of the top guys in the country.
Most of the guys were fighting up a weight class except for Elias Theodorou and myself. At the gym, we met up with Patrick Cote and our coaching staff. It was pretty awesome having Cote as a coach because he’s been fighting in the UFC for a decade. He made his debut against Tito Ortiz and has fought Anderson Silva for the MW strap, showing how accomplished he is. He was also on TUF and made it to the finale.
I’ve known Cote for years, and he even came to my gym for two weeks as part of his last fight camp. He knows my ability well. The other coaches are BJJ black belt FabioHolanda, Olympic wrestler David Zilberman and muay thai Kru Ash. It was a very solid coaching staff.