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​Cormac McCarthy is my spirit animal (yes or no). Solitude suits me (yes or no). I prefer: overcast skies ​or ​sunshine (circle one) I've worked for everything in this life (yes or no). I prefer a: wild night on the town ​or the third sweaty workout of the day (circle one)


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Cub Swanson narrows his gaze. His lips tighten, and he's quiet--eerily quiet.His beady eyes focus, darting side to side ever so slightly before locking into place. Target acquired. Honed in, his right hand cocks back and shoots forward in one smooth, meticulous motion.Gutter ball.The UFC featherweight contender chuckles and shrugs, returning to his seat and wondering where his delivery failed him. Between turns, Cub breaks his seriousness, but the competitor inside can't stay silent for long.Two frames in, and "Killer Cub" needs to change the rules on us."OK, this time, we're going between the legs. You have to," he declares.FloCombat Senior Editor Duane Finley and I are taking on Cub and his girlfriend in an intense game of two-on-two pin-pummelin', and so far, things look good for Team Bo & Glow. While Cub's rule change comes off as pure and fun on the surface, we see right to its core."That's convenient, man. You see you're getting spanked so you switch up the rules on us?" I joke, my cockiness hailing from the land of liquid courage.Cub smiles but never denies the tactic. We're his opponents, and so long as he's on the other side of the lane, we must be destroyed.Six days earlier, the FloCombat Road Trip kicked off from Albuquerque, New Mexico.[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BQbD5eHFCSv/?taken-by=flocombat" hide_caption="0"]If you, like me before the #FCRoadTrip, have never been to Albuquerque, please complete the following questionnaire:If you answered "yes," "overcast skies," and/or "the third sweaty workout of the day," I know just the place for you, and you can find it a mile above sea level in the heart of America's Southwest.Albuquerque is a grim beast, its air thin, its people hardened through generations of fighting, if not literally then certainly figuratively. The temperature swings like a pendulum. In just two-and-one-half days in Duke City, we experienced sunshine and 65 degrees, six inches of snow , and 45 degrees with winds and rains. Good thing I packed my coat.Where the climate is bipolar, however, the streets bleed consistency. Albuquerque boasts its longstanding heritage proudly, Zia Sun Symbols dotting seemingly every overpass and storefront from its International Sunport to the outskirts of Sandia Heights. Foggy mountains are a glance in any direction away, and a sea of adobe fills the metropolitan bowl like cereal. ​[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BQdJcK7gmGw/?taken-by=hunterahomistek" hide_caption="0"]It's here the greatest fight gym on earth, JacksonWink MMA Academy, resides, a fact that should surprise precisely no one. Lauded for their conditioning (that elevation, though), their heart (those gritty streets, though), and their game planning (those coaches, though), JacksonWink fighters are less cagefighters and more tactical demolition machines, their physical and mental skills melding under this roof to create the finest combatants inside the eight-walled cage and beyond.UFC bantamweight Iuri Alcantara gives an impromptu lesson in anaconda chokes while UFC strawweight contender Michelle Waterson showcases some remarkable balance in a kicking drill with Head Coach Mike Winkeljohn. Jose "Shorty" Torres, Diego Brandao, Joby and Diego Sanchez, Donald Cerrone, and dozens of others fill the immense mat space.Now, however, our mission takes us to rising UFC lightweight Lando Vannata, who is suiting up for a private session with striking coach Brandon "Six Gun" Gibson. They form a wholly unassuming pair on the surface, Vannata with his way-too-chill-to-ever-punch-somebody demeanor and Gibson with his boyish charm (sorry, dude. But it's true.).Presently, Vannata, sporting some fancy, flowy pants more in place at Woodstock than inside the cage and two oil-slicked gloves embroidered with his nickname, Groovy, stretches and apologizes for what apparently will be a lackluster performance."I woke up