A&E

[Life Is Beautiful 2014]

Life Is Beautiful: ‘Overcoming it All’ with the flyweight champ and the pregnant man

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The UFC’s Demetrious Johnson was a featured speaker at Life Is Beautiful on Sunday. He did not accept session host Scott Nery’s challenge to a contort-off.

“Please don’t talk. It’s not attractive,” Scott Nery told the audience, just before he broke into a set of recommended stretches to limber you up for an inspirational speech. There was the spider and something called “The Push,” which Nery admitted is a poop joke. Someone yelled that he should be careful not to rip his pants when he popped into a handstand. “You’ll love it if I do, sir. You’ll love it if I do.”

That was the tone the comedian/juggler/contortionist host set for the final speaker session of Life Is Beautiful, the 6 p.m. Sunday “Overcoming it All,” featuring UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson, photographer Sue Bryce, honorary NBA draft pick Isaiah Austin and “expectant parents gone viral” Justin and Meghan Sylvester.

Nery and Johnson chatted about his rise in the UFC. Johnson shared about growing up without his real father and with an abusive stepfather, finding success without a built-in role model by looking within himself and to solid individuals along the way. “How do you find these men in your life, and can I be one?” Nery said. During a Q&A at the end, someone asked what Johnson hopes for his life, and he mentioned having an 8-pack when he’s 45. Someone else asked what he does with his fear right before a match, and he explained that you train like you’re right on the edge of hell, where it’s uncomfortable, so that when you fight you stride into real hell without flinching.

This happened.

This happened.

Disappointed that Johnson wouldn’t participate in a contort-off, Nery moved on to the Sylvesters. For the first few minutes, the crowd seemed baffled as to why these average-seeming people were onstage, showing pictures of their dog’s under-bite and talking about dressing up for their daughter’s birthday party. And then, Justin said that when Meghan was about a week from giving birth to their second child, he decided to surprise her with some pregnancy glamour shots. Not of her. Of him. The story goes that he had already gained 20 pounds in sympathy weight, and he stuffed his belly with obscene amounts of breakfast to get it camera-ready. Then he posed in his undies—peeking around a door, with ice cream in hand (and on face, and on leg), silhouetted against French doors, grinning down at the bun in the oven.

He posted the photos to social media, and the viral storm rolled in from there. Justin read some of the choicest comments aloud, ranging from really mean to “I laughed, I cried, I gagged a little.” The audience laughed along, but then Meghan explained that ugly personal comments about her husband and about her were pretty traumatizing. The incident became an opportunity for them to teach their children about toughness in the face of blind Internet hate, building your sense of self to overcome the mob’s need to tear you down. Especially if you’re in a photo rocking Superman undies while another man touches his nose to your belly.

I didn’t stay for the next speakers, because I already had this weird, warm feeling. While the session wasn’t exactly what I imagined, both in format and the looseness of the theme, it was a thoughtful, enjoyable detour.

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