LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Ultimate Fighting Championship tag-teamed with the Air Force Reserve Recruiting Service to present the 2015 UFC Fitness Tour at the Bryant Fitness Center here March 21.
Former and current service members and their families participated in events including a visit by UFC members, a UFC memorabilia display, a video game console with the latest version of UFC and a Haymaker punching machine to measure punching power.
UFC fighter Ryan "Darth" Bader and UFC fit coach Mike Dolce offered health tips for diet and exercise and answered questions from the audience.
"We work out here three times a week and saw the flyer," said Daniel Peabody, retired Navy Chief. "My family and I are big UFC fans and we were pleased to be a part of the event."
Bader has a record of 20-4-0 and is currently ranked number five in the UFC. He attended Arizona State University and was an All-American wrestler with the Sun Devils. He currently fights out of Tempe, Arizona, and is scheduled to fight Daniel Cormier June 6.
Dolce, is a fit coach for a number of UFC and professional boxing athletes. One of his more notable fighters is "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey, the current UFC Women Bantamweight Champion.
"My passion for health and fitness stems from a life-long experience," said Dolce. "My father had a stroke when I was eight years old which made me very aware of health, fitness, diet and exercise."
Dolce expressed the message he wanted everyone to take from the event.
"Start now, life is too short to wait. Often times people spend the bulk of their life waiting to start or waiting to be something," continued Dolce. "Time is precious. Eat well now, work out now, set goals now and start moving forward to achieve them, because after that, anything is possible."
Tech. Sgt. Tamika Culpepper, Air Force Reserve Command recruiter with the with the 944th Fighter Wing, organized the event with fitness center managers Ansel Bingham and Antonia Espinosa-Bazan