The stark darkness of rural New Jersey brought unexpected challenges that were made all the more difficult once the rain began.

The tropical storm battering the shores of New England had trickled down to include New York and New Jersey, and since we were in one of those states and driving toward the other that put us directly in the path of the chaos. High winds forced the downfall to come in sideways for a rocky clip, but after riding out a window of tension, the skies settled into a misting of sorts that would remain long into the morning hours.

I know this because insomnia allowed me to lie in bed -- in a room of absolute still and silence -- and listen to the calming lulls and wooshes as they played out. As the depths of night gave way to the opening act of a new day, all I could think about was the current mission at hand and my motivations for diving in.

Questions as to "why" I'd embarked on another road trip took center stage in my cerebral theater. We were three days and 1,300 miles into the journey already, and our janky murder motel settings were not providing much in the comfort department.

I'm notorious for getting spells of homesickness in which I miss my family to the point of becoming anxious, and that is typically the reason for sleep evading me so profoundly. Yet, my beautiful wife and two amazing children weren't the cause of this late-night stand in room 244 of the Travel Lodge Motel. No, it was the road trip and the reason why we embarked on one last go, the run to end all runs that kicked around my mind so frantically.

While traveling and getting the chance to see fighters I'd been working with for the better part of the past decade is a nice touch, it wasn't the driving force behind this expedition. When this route was laid out back in early August it became abundantly clear just how ambitious #FCRoadTrip2 would be. Driving from the Heartland of America to Boston is a tough pull onto itself, but then taking a hard run south to the Miami area and stopping at a dozen places in between to knock out nearly 50 interviews with established names and prospects alike was nothing short of daunting.

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And while those elements were certainly pressing, it was the personal reasons kicking back and forth behind my eyes that continued to hold court. After working enough deductive reasoning to make Sherlock Holmes tap out, I arrived at the answer, and in a moment of clarity realized how this final trip tied into the body of work that has been my career as a storyteller in the mixed martial arts world.

Tackling the most pressing of the two, I dove into why this trip matters to me and should matter to you as well. Since I published my first MMA article in 2009, there has always been an incredible love and excitement for the sport and for the men and women responsible for creating said excitement. The community has remained a vibrant and sometimes hostile force of nature. While Twitter would sometimes suggest otherwise, the MMA realm is filled with intelligent and passionate fans who take a personal sense of pride in their support for this growing thing.

The love of all things face punching and ruckus has been visible and present like the bat signal over Gotham throughout my entire time crushing the keys on the story beat, but lately that signal has been cutting out. Batman has been forced to watch his call to arms flicker and dim, which has led to the dark avenger carrying angst and puzzlement beneath his cowl.

In the humble opinion of one ramblin' man, the sport has reached a state of collective exhaustion, and this has led to a sharp downturn of interest from the perpetually passionate assembly. The hell-on-wheels titan known as Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor blew through combat sports like a category-five storm, leaving an eerie calm in its wake.

Any time there is a big fight with a massive media push the likes of what May/Mac received, there will be a let down of sorts while the community adjusts to getting excited about the next thing. In years past, this turn has been relatively easy to make, as the UFC seemed to have one monster card after the next on the docket. Since Zuffa sold the UFC to WME-IMG last year, this simply hasn't been the case. And that's been a larger-scope problem for quite some time.

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Building excitement for the fight game has been a difficult pull in 2017 as the biggest stars the UFC has to offer remain absent from competing inside the Octagon. Former women's champ and mainstream crossover darling Ronda Rousey is in an unofficial retirement, and the aforementioned McGregor has been out of action since his jump over to boxing to fetch a $100 million payday.

Georges St-Pierre dragged his feet for a six-month period before finally inking a deal that matches him up with middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217, but the former welterweight king turned 185-pound title challenger won't officially enter the cage until November. This leaves only Jon Jones to carry the flag for his promotion and for his fellow superstars, and his return against blood-feud rival Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in late July sparked hope a new day and chapter would arrive.

Jones' rematch with Cormier in Anaheim, CA, quickly became one of the most highly anticipated bouts in the history of the promotion, and when "Bones" rallied back to level D.C. in the third round, a new era appeared stamped, and the new day seemed to be upon us. But it's rare to have nice things in MMA, and the hammer of fate held by the great and powerful Lord of Chaos swung with ferocity in the aftermath of Jones' crowning achievement.

It was a swipe of vicious measure, as news of Jones failing a pre-fight drug test rocked the sport at every level. Emotions swirled across social media platforms -- with disbelief being the most prevalent. With all he'd brought upon himself and seemed to overcome, just how Jones could make such a mistake baffled even the most satirical minds. And while that reality kicked like a mule to the face of the sport, a 1930s-style depression fell across the MMA landscape, where it remains to this day.

But there is hope... and we are driving nearly 5,000 miles to bring that hope right to your door.

Ours is not a mission of mercy but duty. We at FloCombat have felt the pain and detachment of the community we love so much, and what type of heroes would we be if we simply ignored the conditions that are affecting so many? It doesn't take quantum capabilities to decipher the fact fight fans have been battered, bruised, and crushed by the weight that comes with an onslaught of negativity and misfortune. This is simply the current state of affairs, but we'll be damned if we don't give our all to change it.

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Therefore, laying in bed tonight and listening to the spate hit the window pane two feet away, I reached a level of understanding as to why we are out on the road. Granted, I get to travel down the Eastern Seaboard with one of the greatest friends and teammates a person could ever know in Hunter Homistek, but the bigger motivation is to remind fight fans of why they fell in love with this chaotic thing in the first place.

Whether it was watching an undersized scrap artist such as Frankie Edgar wipe away the crimson mask, rally back from a disastrous first round, and cross the finish line with Gray Maynard in what will go down as one of the greatest fights the sport has ever known at UFC 125 back in 2011 or falling in love with the violence Joanna Jedrzejczyk brings to the Octagon, the intangible elements of what make fighters great is what hooks us in.

And it is the explanation and deeper dives into those elements that gets the FloCombat crew fired up and willing to go to extraordinary lengths. Rather than pick up the phone and hope a 15-minute conversation will translate, we'd rather sit face-to-face with the great men and women of this sport from the comfort of their home gyms and let you watch the passion pour out of them as they describe what makes them tick. 

Going out to where they live and train brings down the walls that are usually created by the madness of doing fight-week interviews when they are cutting weight and trying to focus on the upcoming fight rather than answering the same question asked by 20 different media members. It's a method I've been using since these crazy road-trip projects began back in 2014, and it's what keeps me doing them still more than three years since inception.

Therefore, the mission at hand on #FCRoadTrip2 is to remind you of why you originally fell in love with the sport. We are driving all over the East Coast and sitting down with fighters, determined to get to the bottom of who they are and what inspires them to step into a cage that locks behind them to lay it all on the line under the bright lights.

In doing so, we'll have plenty of in-depth, real-talk conversations with your favorite athletes, but rest assured, there will be plenty of funny along the way. After all... life is the greatest comedy ever written, and we are hitting it full steam with our eyes open and our pens at the ready.

The signal is currently in the night sky over Gotham, and this chubby caped crusader and his 6-foot-3 Robin are standing at the ready. We are prepared to answer the call and give this battle everything we have in the tank... even if the cost is more than we can afford from a figurative standpoint.

We are suited up and swinging from the rooftops down into the fray. We are going to meet this villain at every turn, and whether it's the darkened alleys of Gotham, South Carolina, or South Florida... we won't stop until the love has returned.

Join us in the fight, and let's make mixed martial arts great again.

Sincerely,

Ole Bo