Before I get started, I just wanted to offer big thank you to the MMAjunkie.com staff for inviting me to be a guest blogger for season 11 of "The Ultimate Fighter."

I also want to thank the readers of MMAjunkie.com for checking out my blog. I hope I can provide you with a little behind-the-scenes insight of things as they progress this year. I can tell you first-hand that it's going to be a great season, and I definitely recommend you check it out.

Also, as the season goes along, please feel free to leave questions for me in the comments section of the blogs. If there are things you want to know, I'll do my best to address them in the following week's blog.

As you may have read in my bio published earlier today, this season was my second time trying out for "The Ultimate Fighter." I made it onto the 10th season, but the UFC decided to go with all heavyweights, so I was cut at the last minute. I didn't have to try out again, but I wanted to make damn sure that I made it on to the show, so I went to Los Angeles and did the open tryouts a second time. Fortunately, the gamble paid off, and I made it into the 11th season.

The UFC gave me the call about three weeks before filming started that I would be on this season of "TUF." Now imagine you get the biggest news of your life, but you can't tell anyone for three weeks. That's tough to do! Fortunately, I don't have as many friends in Las Vegas, where I live now, as I do back home in Hawaii. Most of the people I know in Las Vegas are my trainers, so they knew what was going on and had to keep the same secret. If I was in Hawaii, it would have been way harder because I know more people that would have been asking me a ton of questions.

As you can imagine, I got very excited to hear I would be on the show. As soon as I got off the phone, I felt like I stepped up my training intensity immediately. I really believe in myself, and I had a feeling I would make it on – especially since I was supposed to be on season 10 – so I was training hard anyway, but getting that call, it was awesome. There was so much anticipation up until then.

Now, I had moved to Las Vegas, where "The Ultimate Fighter" is filmed, several months before the show because I wanted to pursue my dream of fighting professionally. I work as a customer service representative for Hawaiian Airlines to support myself, and I train with Team Tompkins at the TapouT Gym in my free time, and I also spend time working out at Xtreme Couture.

Because I didn't have to travel for the filming, a lot of the fighters coming into town for the show said they thought I had an advantage because I didn't have to sit on a plane and cut weight. But the bottom line is that in this sport, so many people want it. If you're not going to work hard for it, someone else will. So for those guys – and I don't think any of them used it as an excuse – you need to come prepared no matter what. If you have to go out of state, out of country, whatever it may be, you've just got to be prepared in this sport.

The fighters arrive

Everyone got to Las Vegas on a Thursday. That day, we all just checked into a hotel and sat in our hotel rooms the whole day. We had been told before filming began to make sure to come in on weight because we would be expected to fight right away. Upon arrival, we were expected to be within 10 pounds of our weight.

They checked our weight the first day, and for the most part, everyone was within that 10 pounds. A couple of guys were maybe a pound or two over, but it wasn't anything major. I made sure I was real close to weight when I got there, about 192 pounds, because I wasn't sure how much time we would have to cut down for the fight. We've all seen the previous experiences where guys don't make weight, and that's just embarrassing for both the person and the organization. You're a professional. This is a big deal, and if you're going to show up and not make weight, that's just sad.

We went to the UFC Training Center and met our coaches, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, the next day, which was Friday, and we officially weighed in that day. I woke up that day at about 189 pounds, so I didn't have much weight to cut, and that made it an enjoyable day.

The updated gym is really nice. I mean, the TapouT gym where I work out is probably two or three times bigger with a lot more stuff in it, but to be in THE UFC gym, and looking up on the walls, that's what really got to me. You see all these pictures of former "TUF" winners and UFC champions like B.J. Penn. My idol, Wanderlei Silva, is up there. I'm looking at all this, and it's like taking one step closer. Here I am, and I'm living my dream. I'm getting that much closer to it. I can taste it. That was the big thing for me walking in there.

Later that day, they pulled us all on the mat and they paired us up. I was the second name called, so I was actually in the very first fight of the season, even though they aired it second on the show. The fight that aired first was actually fourth or fifth, so they didn't actually go in that order.

I didn't know anything about my opponent, Jordan Smith, but I really didn't care. I knew everyone was going to be tough. Obviously once we're there, we don't have access to any computers or electronics where we could research our opponent. I knew some of the guys on the show, but I had never seen Jordan before. But I didn't want to be scrambling around all nervous, trying to find out what I could. I just wanted to be more focused on me and what I was going to do.

Finally, it was Saturday – fight day.

Elimination fights

Fighting at the training center was definitely different. I like to think that I'm mentally strong, and I did well blocking out all the things that I needed to, like my corner not being there, working with coaches that I just met the day before and fighting a guy that I know nothing about with the stakes being what they are. But I overcame it all way before the fight. I thought about it all and blocked it out mentally.

I don't usually get nervous before a fight, and when I stepped in the cage, I wasn't worried. I was excited. I love fighting, and I was happy to see a guy across from me. I was happy that we were going to go at it.

I was also really happy that we were the first fight. I was so amped for the fight because I hadn't fought since March. When I got in there, I saw him, and he was stretching his jaw and stuff. I kind of smirked a little bit like, "OK, it's on now." It was just excitement.

I came out, and I threw that front leg kick just to feel him out and see what his reactions to it were. Some guys, you throw punches at them, and if they're not comfortable striking, they'll flinch, and you'll see that. I kind of wanted to throw some things out there and see how he reacted, but he came back kind of strong. He started to fire back.

I slipped his punches, then he threw a kick, and I caught it. I threw a right hand, and I ran him to the fence and hit him with another knee to the body. I like putting guys against the fence and working for the takedown. I figured I'd take him down and try and ground and pound him out. But he was defending the takedown well, and I felt like he was about to slip out. As he slipped out, I switched from an over-under grip to a loose Thai plum, and I went for that knee.

I hit him with that knee to the jaw, and immediately after, I followed up with that right hand. I was going to follow up with another right hand on the ground, but I saw that he was out, and there's no reason to hit somebody when they're already knocked out, so that was the end of the fight.

It wasn't until after we fought, actually, that I spoke to Jordan, and I found out that he's a really tough guy. He fought some good guys, and he has an amazing record. Court McGee and Kyacey Uscola came up to me and said, 'Wow, you took out a really tough guy. We thought for sure he would be in the house.'

I felt bad that I put a stop to Jordan's dreams for the time being, but I have to follow my dreams, too, so I was very excited.

Welcome to the house

I think no one really knew anything about me. I have the least number of pro fights, and I've been competing in Hawaii, where these guys have all been in the continental U.S. and kind of know about each other. Nobody knew who I was or what I was about, so I think it was a shock to them.

I'm also the youngest guy in the house, but I actually fed off of it. I enjoyed being the youngest guy there. They're looking at me like, "Wow, I don't want to lose to this guy. He's a kid. I can't lose to him." They're beating themselves mentally. I looked at it as, "You guys are older than me and more experienced than me, yet here we are in the same place at the same time fighting for the same thing. What does that say?"

After being the first winner, I got to sit back and enjoy the rest of the day. I was relieved, and watching everyone else, you can see the tension building throughout the day. This is a big deal, and here I am sitting pretty in 40 seconds. I just sat back and cheered for the rest of the guys.

The other advantage is that you get to sit back and watch everybody else. I got to see a little bit of everybody that I could potentially fight down the line. Some guys didn't get to watch all of the other guys compete, but I got to see every single fight.

Of course, I was so excited after the win, I didn't know what to do. I usually want to run to my corner or tell my fans, "Thank you," but there's nobody there to talk to after the fight. There's no family, no friends, no girlfriend there to hug. It's kind of awkward, but I was just happy.

After all of the fights, we knew it would quickly be time to pick the teams. Stylistically, I like Chuck's style better. I like Tito, too, but both times they fought, I was on Chuck's side, and I put my money on Chuck. When they fight a third time, I'm going to bet on Chuck.

But from past experience Tito has been a great coach on "TUF." So I was thinking that Chuck is a standup fighter, and that's what I am already, so what do I need to work on more? I need to work on wrestling, jiu-jitsu and ground control type stuff. That's Tito's strengths.

So I didn't really care. They're both great fighters, and whatever team I go to is fine. The only thing is, I just didn't want to be the last pick. That's all I was thinking: "Please do not be the last pick. Please, please, please, don't be the guy that is forced by default to be on a team."