Lee and I talked for nearly forty minutes, touching on several topics:
– The inspiration for writing the book
– Who was the most helpful interview of all the people he talked to and what fighter(s) he wished he had been able to talk to
– Why he decided to crowdsource the funding for the project
– What fights he’d recommend to a PRIDE newbie and what his favorite fight is of all time
Also, we discuss this weekend’s UFC China event featuring Curtis Blaydes vs. Francis Ngannou II and Alistair Overeem, and the weekend’s biggest event: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz III. We also touch on UFC Argentina from this past weekend.
After four years, it appears that Nick Diaz may be making a return to the octagon next year.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN is reporting that Diaz is close to finalizing to return to the UFC at UFC 235, which is scheduled for March 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. If both sides agree, Diaz will face Jorge Masvidal in a welterweight bout. The report says that Masvidal told ESPN this week that he had been offered the fight, but wasn’t sure if Diaz would accept.
Diaz last fought for the UFC back at UFC 183 in January of 2015, losing to Anderson Silva by unanimous decision. The result was overturned after Silva tested positive for drostanolone and androsterone. Diaz also tested positive for marijuana and suspended Diaz for 18 months. He was again suspended after missing three drug tests out-of-competition.
Masvidal also hasn’t fought in a while. He’s been out due to injuries as well as taking part in a Spanish-language reality show.
Daniel Cormier had words for Brock Lesnar after successfully defending the UFC heavyweight title at tonight’s UFC 230.
Cormier submitted Derrick Lewis at 2:14 of the second round via rear naked choke tonight at Madison Square Garden, making his first defense of the heavyweight championship. He is also the current UFC light heavyweight champion. In the post-fight interview following the bout, Cormier called out Lesnar, noting that he had recently won the WWE Universal title.
“Brock Lesnar! When you come, bring that brand new WWE title too,” he said. “I feel like being a WWE champion too. Let’s go! Let’s go, Brock! Bring that belt with you if you come to my house.”
Lesnar and Cormier had an altercation after Cormier won the heavyweight title at UFC 226. When the acutal fight between the two will take place is anyone’s guess. Cormier has noted in past interviews that he would like to retire by his 40th birthday, which is on March 20.
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, who for years was considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and was a major crossover star in Japan, passed away on Tuesday in Japan. He was 41.
Yamamoto had announced on 8/26 that he was battling cancer.
Yamamoto was part of a famous wrestling family in Japan. His father, Ikuei Yamamoto represented Japan in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. His two older sisters, Miyu and Seiko, were multi-time world champions. Miyu, who is 44, is a regular star with Rizin. Miyu’s son Arsen, was an age group champion in wrestling and also fights with Rizin.
He was recruited into fighting by Enson Inoue, a well known Hawaiian fighter who at the time was married to Miyu. Kid, as he was known, was considered one of the best fighters in the world from 2004 to 2007. Even though his natural body weight was 141, so by today’s standards he was roughly the same size as the top flyweights but was competing against lightweights. He captured the Hero’s lightweight Grand Prix tournament in 2005.
At the time, Yamamoto vs. Urijah Faber was considered the dream fight at 145, but due to political differences, with Yamamoto under contract to K-1 while Faber was to Zuffa, such a match wasn’t possible.
He had a 17-1 record in 2007 at the time he retired to fulfill his father’s dream and attempt to wrestle in the 2008 Olympics. He was injured in the qualifying tournament and failed to make the team. He was never the same as a fighter when he returned.
By the time UFC signed Yamamoto in 2011, knee and elbow injuries saw him a shell of himself and he went 0-3 with 1 no contest in UFC competition, with his last fight coming in 2015.
Yamamoto was a huge television ratings draw during that period, and the December 31, 2014, fight with Yamamoto vs. Masato in kickboxing rules did a 31.6 rating and about 33 million viewers.
For the third time this year, Max Holloway has been pulled from a UFC card.
Ariel Helwani reported tonight that Holloway is off Saturday’s UFC 226 pay-per-view due to what his management team described as concussion-like symptoms after not appearing normal in the last week.
“He was showing concussion like symptoms before he even started his weight cut and was rushed to the ER on Monday where they admitted him over night,” Holloway’s management team wrote in a statement to ESPN. “Initial scans seemed okay and he was released Tuesday afternoon but symptoms still continued.
“Max fought with his team to continue with the fight. He showed some improvement over the next day but was still showing obvious symptoms. After open workouts he crashed and was very hard to wake up, when he did he had flashing vision and slurred speech.”
They noted that Holloway is now back in the ER for further tests.
Holloway was scheduled to defend his featherweight title against Brian Ortega in the semi-main event of Saturday’s PPV in Las Vegas before having to be pulled. Ortega’s status for the show hasn’t been made clear as of this writing.
UFC 226 will be headlined by Daniel Cormier challenging for Stipe Miocic’s heavyweight title.
Holloway this year has had to pull out of fights against Frankie Edgar and Khabib Nurmagomedov, the latter of which was for the UFC lightweight championship. Holloway took the bout with Nurmagomedov on short notice and was pulled during his weight-cut, while a leg injury kept him from facing Edgar.
Despite both men retiring, the lure of one more go in MMA was enough to bring both Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz out of retirement one more time.
In a fight that had been rumored for quite some time, the former UFC light heavyweight champions will battle for a third time, but the battleground won’t be the UFC, Bellator, or even Japan. Rather, it will be the main event for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions’ first MMA pay-per-view event.
The date and venue were not announced, but is expected to be announced soon for later this year. When announcing his intentions to return to MMA, Liddell speculated California would the location if they could get a deal done. The fight will be held inside a cage and is expected to be at light heavyweight.
The 48-year-old Liddell last fought in June 2010 in a knockout loss to Rich Franklin, his third straight defeat and final MMA/UFC fight. He retired at the urging of Dana White and worked for the organization, but was released following WME-IMG’s purchase of the company.
This will be the second time the 43-year-old Ortiz has come out of retirement. After leaving the UFC in 2012, he returned two years later for Bellator and went 3-1 before calling it quits in January 2017 after a submission over Chael Sonnen.
The two former teammates first fought in April 2004, a fight Liddell won via second round KO. They rematched in December 2006, a fight Liddell won by third round TKO in a defense of his light heavyweight title.
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will become the latest fighter to attempt to retire, announcing his intentions on his podcast Monday.
Bisping said that health is a driving factor as he started seeing flashes in his left eye after a knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum late last year. He was diagnosed with a vitreous detachment which he said puts him at risk for a detached retina, the same injury he suffered in his right eye.
He said he was still planning on fighting Rashad Evans in London this month, but after watching a movie about a fighter who suffers major injuries and health declines when he refuses to stop fighting, he decided to call it a career.
Best known for being a great promo and essentially an MMA heel during the boom period of the UFC, the 39-year-old finally reached the mountaintop in June 2016 by knocking out then-champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 to capture his first and only UFC title.
That fight came in a stretch in which he defeated Anderson Silva, Rockhold, and Dan Henderson before losing the belt to the returning Georges St. Pierre at UFC 217 last November. He made an ill-advised return just three weeks later against Gastelum in Shanghai and lost via first round knockout.
He finishes up his pro career at 30-9, having started in 2004. He made it to the UFC in 2006 as part of the TUF 3 cast and moved to middleweight after a handful of fights at light heavyweight. Including the names above, Bisping fought a who’s who including Evans, Wanderlei Silva, Brian Stann, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, and Chris Leben.
From the first week of September through the first week of March, the UFC ran 24 shows in 26 weeks, a dizzying pace that saw new champions crowned, young fighters emerging, and a few veterans still holding on for dear life.
In this two parter, your fearless host is joined by Spencer Kyte (The Province, UFC.com, Sporting News) to go through each show and pick out one thing that stood out: a fight, a storyline, a loss, or simply a moment. If you’re an MMA geek like us, you’ll enjoy this refresher on some of the things you might have forgotten about already.
This first show covers UFC Rotterdam (September 2nd) through UFC 219 (December 30th). A preview of what happened in that stretch:
– Demetrious Johnson’s ridiculous submission on Ray Borg
– The memorable Jessica Andrade vs. Claudia Gadelha brawl
– The Brian Ortega victory that set him up for bigger things
‘I Left My Wallet In Greg Polanco’ is back with my friend, teammate, and former training partner “Notorious” Nick Newell!
Nick is fresh off his victorious return to the cage in last Friday’s Legacy Fighting show and he’s here to talk his return, the improvements he’s made, his doubters, and what the last two and a half years have been like for him.
He is also a huge pro wrestling fan and got into amateur wrestling, and eventually MMA, because of it. He tells about his friendship with college teammate Brian Meyers (aka Curt Hawkins), his WrestleMania 11 moment with Pamela Anderson, his top three pro wrestlers of all time, thoughts on Ronda Rousey in WWE, CM Punk in the UFC, and so much more. We even talk a little rodeo! It’s a different side of Nick that you may not know and get to hear about about in this candid chat.
Before Nick, we do some football talk our very own Producer Rob from the video version of the Bryan, Vinny, and Craig show. NFL free agency is here and Rob is a diehard Cleveland Browns fan who talks about what the future holds for the Dawg Pound. Rob discusses who he thinks they’ll draft, the recent moves they made, and why he knows that this is the year they’ll win more games than the the last three seasons combined.
He also throws a challenge out to former guest of the show, James Ellsworth, with regards to the division rival Baltimore Ravens. You get to see Rob’s video work on the B& V video show, so now hear him talk about his beloved Browns and other happenings around the NFL.
It’s a little bit of MMA, a little bit of NFL, a little bit of hip hop, and a little bit of pro wrestling in this episode that has a little something for everyone.
While the first half of MMA’s 2017 was relatively dull, the second half of the year was full of intrigue — mainly due to a boxing match featuring the UFC’s biggest star.
On a new edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out, The Fight Network’s Cody Saftic returns to talk about July through September 2017 which featured:
– The build-up to the biggest fight of the year money-wise in Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor including the fight itself.
– Jon Jones’ triumphant return to the UFC in winning back his light heavyweight title and then the crushing news he was flagged by USADA yet again.
– The UFC struggled with main events falling through on fight week due to issues like sinusitis and bad weight cuts
– Lots of free agent signings, fight announcements, event results, Dana White guarantees that were later rescinded, and more.
If you want to listen in to the first two episodes in the year in review series, head to the JNPO vault now.
I asked our two intrepid MMA writers — Paul Fontaine and Ryan Frederick — to jot down some thoughts on 2017 while looking ahead to 2018. With the MMA year kicking off this weekend with UFC in St. Louis, MO, let’s take a gander back at the year that was.
When you think about 2017 in MMA, what comes to mind?
Paul:
I think of ‘What could have been?’ UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor didn’t fight in the Octagon. Jon Jones did what Jon Jones does and blew a potential mega-fight with Brock Lesnar. Ronda Rousey proved she still had drawing power at the end of 2016 with a million plus buy PPV and then proceeded to not fight in 2017. The only currently somewhat active person in UFC who is a big draw is Georges St Pierre and he will be out with an injury for the foreseeable future.
Ryan:
I see this as a year of missed opportunities, both when it comes to the UFC and the fighters. The UFC missed out on Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Nate Diaz, and Brock Lesnar fighting. In the case of Conor, they made the business decision to let him box Floyd Mayweather which made them big money. You can’t fault them for that, but that meant UFC fans missed out on enjoying him in the Octagon.
With the case of Rousey, she appears gone for good. With Diaz, it was simply a matter of money as they tried and failed to get him to fight. With Lesnar, the drug test failure still looms. When it comes to the fighters, weight issues with Khabib Nurmagomedov plagued a fight between him and Tony Ferguson, which had the potential to be great. Demetrious Johnson turned down his biggest payday and the biggest fight of his career with TJ Dillashaw, opting to fight Ray Borg. The middleweight championship was in flux all year, with a lot of good potential title fights being stalled. There were opportunities to have a more action-packed year, but things just couldn’t come to fruition.
Josh:
One word comes to mind: dull. After a completely awesome 2016, the first few months of the year sputtered and every time we thought we were ready to turn a corner, we got more misfires. I think of the bad UFC PPV in Brooklyn where Germaine de Randamie edged out Holly Holm to win a title no one asked for, only to later drop it because she didn’t want to fight Cyborg. I think of a lot of injured champions and good fights that fell through. I think of the word ‘interim’. There were some great moments, but it was a 12 months where more of the fringe fans got shaved off due to boredom.
What was your favorite fight?
Ryan:
I have to go with the non-stop brawl that was Justin Gaethje against Michael Johnson at The Ultimate Fighter Finale in July. Both men landed big punches that likely would have knocked any other opponent out, and yet, they kept coming at each other. Gaethje showed why he was one of the most exciting UFC signings in a long time and one of the most exciting fighters at 155 pounds. Violence was expected, and violence was brought.
Paul:
It wasn’t necessarily the best fight, but my favorite was the Jose Aldo-Max Holloway rematch at December’s UFC 218. Holloway has always been one of my favorite fighters and on that night, he proved that he was the top featherweight in the sport and maybe one of the best of all time with a dismantling of the former dominant champion. Aldo still has it in him to beat just about anyone in the division, as evidenced by his one sided win over Frankie Edgar, but Holloway looked like he was in another league in Detroit.
Josh:
This one is easy: Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson II! Just kidding, everyone. I’m going to go with one that probably isn’t popular due to what happened afterward, but I still loved Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier II. It was the biggest fight of the summer and we got a lot of questions temporarily answered about Jones in his decimation of Cormier. Between the build, the result, and the post fight interviews, Jones appeared to have arrived back on the main attraction stage and we were dreaming about Jones-Gustafsson II and even a Brock Lesnar fight in 2018. Then, USADA checked in and everything went to hell.
What was your favorite event?
Paul:
UFC 217 that featured the return of GSP as he beat Michael Bisping and won the middleweight title. It also featured two other title fights, both with upset title changes, including what may have been the upset of the year with Rose Namajunas stopping Joanna Jedrzejczyk. You can’t ask for much more from a big show.
Ryan:
Honestly, it’s UFC 217, but I wanted to shine a light on the pay-per-view offering that followed it: UFC 218. You had two of the best fights of the year in Yancy Medeiros against Alex Oliveira, and the violence between Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje. You had Max Holloway systematically tearing Jose Aldo apart to declare himself the true king at 145 pounds. Last, but certainly not least, you had the most vicious (and one of the greatest) knockouts of all time when Francis Ngannou earned his shot at championship gold when he took out Alistair Overeem. There were a lot of memorable moments all around.
Josh:
I’m going to stick with UFC 214, headlined by Jones vs. Cormier II. Other than the Woodley-Maia co-main event which wasn’t the most thrilling, this show featured Cyborg Justino winning the women’s featherweight title over Tonya Evinger, the much-anticipated Robbie Lawler-Donald Cerrone fight, and another Volkan Oezdemir first round KO to open the PPV. The prelims were good with some interesting names picking up wins (Brian Ortega, Ricardo Lamas, Aljamain Sterling). There were a few standout candidates (UFC 217, UFC 218, but this was it for me.
Who was your Fighter of the Year?
Josh:
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going with flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and perhaps not for a reason that you might think. Yes, he picked up wins over Wilson Reis and Ray Borg, but the way in which he beat Borg was my finish of the year. A German suplex into an armbar for the finish at the end of a fight? Get outta here.
But the big reason was what he did in June by publicly airing his grievances against Dana White and his attempts to make a fight with TJ Dillashaw that he didn’t want. He discussed how White threatened to eliminate the whole division and was open about his contract and other issues. It was refreshing to hear someone clearly bothered by the head of the UFC finally come out and discuss it. He really turned the corner for me after that, helping round out the character for the most dominant champion in the sport right now.
Paul:
I’m going with Francis Ngannou. With two first round KOs over two bonafide MMA legends, he went from obscure prelim fighter to the top heavyweight title contender in just over a year. I give honorable mentions to welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and strawweight champ Rose Namajunas.
Ryan:
It is a tough field as Robert Whittaker, Rose Namajunas, and Tyron Woodley could all earn the nod, but I’m going with Demetrious Johnson for this one. I was cageside for both of his fights this year, and as great as he comes off when viewing on television, he is just another level live. He is the best fighter in the sport, and the way he just outworked both Wilson Reis and Ray Borg on his way to submitting both was world class. Not to mention, he had the most incredible submission of all-time, throwing Borg in the air and locking in an armbar in mid-air. Myself, along with many other media members, lost our minds and were astonished by this cageside. It’s a moment I won’t soon forget.
What was the most disappointing (fighter, trend, event, news story) that happened in 2017?
Paul:
This has to be Jon Jones. He returns from a one year drug failure suspension and beats Daniel Cormier for the title he never lost, promptly fails another PED test, and is now facing a possible four year suspension. Not only did he single handedly destroy the credibility of the light heavyweight title, once the marquee belt in the UFC, he also messed up a potential record-breaking fight in terms of buys with WWE Universal champion Brock Lesnar.
Ryan:
Without question, it is the Jon Jones situation. When he was involved at the press conference for all of the summer fights in May, I was amongst those he talked to backstage. I truly gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was coming back for redemption. He defeated Daniel Cormier, reclaimed gold, and had it all taken away just weeks later in the same situation he has found himself in for the last several years. He could have gone down as the greatest of all-time, but the drug test failures, if they already hadn’t tarnished his legacy, they certainly have now.
Josh:
I’m going a little higher level and say the UFC in general was my most disappointing thing of 2017. We still don’t know what Endeavor (the former WME-IMG) is all about and what they hope to do with the sport. We got two new titles introduced to little to no fanfare. Interim title fights were abound. Head-scratching main events were made. Cards were thin while events were plentiful. Conor McGregor was allowed to box in a strictly financial move. For a group that is supposed to be the stewards of the sport, UFC leadership was often derelict in that duty last year.
What’s your biggest question(s) for the MMA year ahead?
Ryan:
I think, maybe not the biggest question, but one of the most important ones is how the new television deal is going to impact the future. They will announce a new deal this year, but how much they get and for what amount of content, is a big question mark. It is certainly going to have an effect on their business model, whether it’s positive or negative, and it may change how things are run, and how often we get fight cards, and what types of fights are booked. It is an interesting situation that needs to be followed.
Paul:
Can anyone break away from the pack of really good fighters to become a bigger than life star that people will flock to in droves to see fight on PPV? UFC has always had 2-3 such fighters since their business exploded in popularity in 2005. The biggest possibility would seem to be Francis NGannou should he beat Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title. Other contenders would be Rose Namajunas or Sage Northcutt if the latter could string a series of wins together.
Josh:
I really wonder where the sport will be at a year from now. It feels like 2016 was an anomaly and 2017 was the norm with what Endeavor’s vision is: a few loaded PPVs a year, some PPVs reliant on one or two fights, a lot of thin cards on free TV and Fight Pass, and “we gotta fill out a show” booking. I hope we are in a better place a year from now, but we’re going to need a few lucky breaks and some real forward thinking (less events in the new TV deal) in order to get there.
Yours truly continues his look back at the year in MMA one quarter at a time and was joined by two guests to help look back at a fun and historic three month stretch in the sport.
Bleacher Report lead MMA writer, Co-Main Event Podcast co-host and author Chad Dundas dropped by to discuss all the happenings in April which included:
Light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier retiring Anthony Johnson at UFC 210 in Buffalo to set up a rematch with Jon Jones
Demetrious Johnson retaining his UFC flyweight gold for the 10th straight time
The continued will they/won’t they surrounding Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor
Dana White going retro with public comments against a slew of foes, and lots more.
Then for May and June, combat sports commentator Sean Wheelock steps for a 90-minute chat about the following and much more:
The announcement that Mayweather vs. McGregor was signed and all of the questions we wanted answered
Demetrious Johnson going public with his grievances against the UFC
An eventful UFC 211 headlined by Stipe Miocic retaining his heavyweight gold
Bellator’s return to PPV with a mix of old stars and emerging talents
A slew of interesting results and newsbits
Just in time for your holiday shopping, enjoy this giant-sized two hour edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out now as well as the January-March recap with Paul Fontaine now.
At one point, Travis Browne was surging in the UFC heavyweight division and was closing in on what seemed like big things. On the September 22, 2011, WGAM MMA Show, yours truly and co-host/producer PJ Huot talked to him as he prepared to fight at UFC 135 against Rob Broughton.
We began the show by previewing UFC 135, headlined by then-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson in Denver, CO. This is where the Jones train began to come off the tracks as he famously griped about having to autograph a replica title belt and the fans that once adored him began to turn on him.
We also discussed Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck and I regrettably poked fun at Mark Hunt.
We then talked to Browne for a solid 15 minutes about his SportsCenter highlight of knocking out Stefan Struve, his upbringing in Hawaii, and how he was a self-admitted Blink182 groupie. This was such a difference between the angry guy I listened to at a press conference years later after the UFC’s last visit to Boston.
We wrapped up by previewing the Michael Bisping-Mayhem Miller season of TUF and discussing Kimbo Slice vs. DADA 5000 — a fight that wouldn’t happen until years later.
On the September 1st, 2011, edition of the WGAM MMA Show, yours truly and co-host producer PJ Huot talked with “Big” John McCarthy about his first book and the controversy known as RampageGate.
We kicked off the show talking about the allegations that UFC light heavyweight ttle challenger Rampage Jackson was lobbying against the champion Jon Jones. We then speculated on who Dana White was going to announce for the promotion’s debut on Fox before discussing the rumors of Brock Lesnar retiring from MMA.
We also quickly ran down UFC 134 and Anderson Silva’s middleweight title defense dominance of Yushin Okami.
McCarthy was our special guest, doing an extended interview about his first book. Six years later, this interview still holds up, especially his thoughts on what Joe Rogan sees as a broadcaster as opposed to what he sees while reffing inside the cage.
We closed things up with doing a fantasy MMA draft, an idea that will be brought back to JNPO proper soon.
On the August 25, 2011, edition of the WGAM MMA Show, we were preparing for Hurricane Irene and for UFC heading to Brazil for the first time in 13 years.
Yours truly and co-host/producer PJ Huot did an extensive look at UFC 134 from Rio, headlined by then-middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs. the recently re-signed Yushin Okami. We then talked about Fox’s announcement of a one-hour debut show and the fights that I thought should be on the show. (Spoiler alert: I was right!)
We then did a long interview with Jon Anik, now of the UFC and then of ESPN as the co-host of MMA Live. We discussed his career and how he got into the business of MMA, what event days were like at Bristol, the MMA vs. boxing debate, and even his difficulty in tweeting and watching fights at the same time.
We then finished up the show with a review of the movie Warrior.
