On the August 4, 2011, edition of ESPN NH’s WGAM MMA Show, yours truly was ready to hit the road to UFC 133 in Philadelphia, PA.
After hearing of co-host/producer PJ Huot’s nose hair trimmer incident, we did a full preview of the card which includes my continued mispronounciation of names like Alexander Gustafsson.
We then talked to now-retired UFC middleweight Jorge Rivera, getting the true story about how I helped him charge his iPhone at UFC Boston, his thoughts on three planned fights with Alessio Sakara falling through, and how the gameplan had changed for his UFC 133 opponent Costa Phillipou. He told us about his relationship with Ranger Up and thoughts on a possible retirement.
We wrapped up the show with a review of the big Strikeforce show that was puncutated by Dan Henderson’s memorable knockout of Fedor Emelianenko.
Step back in history with us on the latest edition of JNPO Classic:
The July 14, 2011, edition of the WGAM MMA Show was a fun one, thanks to a great talk with former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten.
Yours truly and co-host/producer PJ Huot began the show by talking about the strange circumstances around the UFC 133 main event and how Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis changed to Evans vs. Lyoto Machida and then Evans vs. Tito Ortiz. That led to a discussion about whether guys like Evans should wait for title shots or stay competing until they get the call.
We went over the top stories from the first half of 2011 which we thought was the UFC buying Strikeforce.
We then did a fun 15-minute interview with Bas Rutten who was on to promote Inside MMA on HDNet (now AXStv) getting on cable systems in New Hampshire. He talked about Ortiz getting the opportunity against Evans, why he moved from Thai boxing to MMA, why he decided to leave active competition, his run on the FX series Lights Out, and more.
Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor is finally in the rear view mirror, but before we wave farewell to one of the biggest nights in sports this year, let’s spend another few minutes discussing what happens next with friend of the site, longtime boxing writer, and UFC editorial director Tom Gerbasi.
Tom and yours truly chatted it up for an hour plus, hitting on a variety of May-Mac related topics and then some:
We get into how Tom became a boxing writer and how he found his way to the hallowed halls of the UFC
We discuss how pro wrestling got into the mix and why he enjoys the indies so much, doing features like this one on the former Pentagon Jr.
We then get into the main event of our discussion: the Mayweather vs. McGregor result from all angles
Tom goes into a great rant against the old school boxing media…and more.
As part of my continuing deep dive into the WGAM MMA Show archives, we head back to June 16, 2011 — a show where yours truly and co-host/producer P.J. Huot learned a few key lessons.
If you’re new here, the WGAM MMA Show was a weekly ESPN NH radio show I did for nearly a year in 2011-12 featuring talk and interviews from around the MMA landscape. The show would eventually come to an abrupt end, but we’ll eventually get to that story.
On this edition of the show:
– A full recap of UFC 131 and a look at how the Vancouver police had to deal with a UFC crowd vs. an NHL crowd
– We discussed some MMA and NHL tie-ins including my Fight Magazine interview with Boston Bruins’ goalie Tim Thomas
– We did an interesting interview with regional MMA fighter Noah Weisman who was set fo face Dan Lauzon at a local event. Noah went into details about how he had to learn about promoting himself, looking for sponsors, and more.
– I then did my best sales pitch to PJ on watching the Strikeforce Grand Prix featuring heavyweight prospect Daniel Cormier.
It’s been a little quiet over the past few weeks when it came to promoting the August 26th boxing match between all-time great Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
That ends starting Tuesday.
The two men expected to generate $500 million in business for their super welterweight fight at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena began their tour de force press conferences this week, starting on Tuesday in Los Angeles, Wednesday in Toronto, Thursday in New York, and Friday in London.
Courtesy of Showtime, we’ll stream all four pressers here. Just bookmark and you’ll be good to go:
TUESDAY, JULY 11 – Los Angeles 5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT from Staples Center
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12 – Toronto 5:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. PT from Budweiser Stage
THURSDAY, JULY 13 – New York 6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT from Barclays Center In Brooklyn
FRIDAY, JULY 14 – London 7 p.m. BST / 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT from The SSE Arena, Wembley
For years, UFC president Dana White has wanted a show similar to USA’s long-canceled series Tuesday Night Fights: a weekly fight show featuring a variety of prospects and veterans looking to achieve/get back to prominence and big paychecks.
His dream became a reality Tuesday as Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Seriesdebuted on UFC Fight Pass with five fights airing live from the TUF gym in Las Vegas, NV.
You might be asking why you need more MMA in your life given the current output of the UFC, Bellator, etc. In The Content Era, however, there is no such thing as too much of anything. Hence, we get five more fights every Tuesday this summer.
If you’re deciding on whether to add DWTNCS to your MMA viewing diet, may this look at the first episode be a helpful friend in your decision.
The Production
The show featured former NFL Network host Dan Hellie making his UFC play-by-play debut alongside retired fighter Yves Edwards while Snoop Dogg and Urijah Faber provided gin and juice fueld commentary on an alternate feed called Snoopcast.
For their first outing, Hellie and Edwards were average, but you could tell they hadn’t spent that much broadcasting time together, so it’s tough to be that harsh on them. While insightful at times, Edwards needs to be a little more vocal at higher volumes and less promotional in some of his thoughts, while Hellie is a relative MMA newbie that simply needs more reps. There will be some different pairings throughout the summer, so perhaps UFC is using this as a training ground for future big show backups.
The production of the show is toned down, right down to the lack of the UFC logo on the gloves or the mat, save for the UFC Fight Pass logo. There’s no entrance music, nor a ring announcer. There’s video packages, but no in-cage post fight interviews, just quick backstage interviews after the fight is over. After years of a certain format, it’s a little disarming at first but you get used to it.
If you’re into no frills MMA production, this show is for you.
This opened the show and was kind of a blah fight. Sanchez is a fairly forgettable former UFC fighter who hasn’t been in the Octagon since late-2015 while Vasquez is a prospect from Illinois. Vasquez looked decent in the first, but Sanchez turned it on the 2nd/3rd in relatively unspectacular fashion, taking advantage of an energy-sapped Vasquez. I scored this 29-28 for Sanchez, but I have no idea what the scores were because they didn’t read them.
– Charles Byrd (8-4) def. Jamie Pickett (7-3) by first round submission Middleweights
The 33-year-old Byrd survived a stretch of Pickett pressing him up against the cage, rocking him with a spinning back elbow. He reversed a Pickett takedown attempt, leading to a head and arm choke in the round’s waning seconds for a tap and win. This was quick, but nothing to write home about.
– Boston Salmon (6-1) def. Ricky Turcios (8-1) by unanimous decision Bantamweights
Turcios is a character, a Team Alpha Male guy who was shown jumping off trees in the lead-in package and ran out to the cage screaming. Salmon is Hawaiian and is the exact opposite of Turcios.
Salmon’s steadiness was the key here, leveraging his amateur boxing background to rip up Turcios’ face and body. He was just too much for the game Turcios who had no answer. This was an entertaining fight that would have some implications later on in the night.
Zu Anyanwu (14-4) def. Greg Rebello (22-7) by 2nd round KO Heavyweights
After a plodding first round in which there was a lot of circling and not much action, Anyanwu hit an overhand right in the second round that dropped Rebello, hitting hammer fists that knocked Rebello out. Both guys looked to be carrying some additional weight in the midsection and not the type of heavyweight that is ruling the top 10 of the UFC.
Kurt Holobaugh (18-4) def. Matt Bessette (22-8) by 1st round KO Featherweights
This was the night’s featured fight (not called a main event, mind you). Holobaugh performed like it was a main event though, ripping through Bessette like he wasn’t even there. The ex-UFC vet bloodied up Bessette early on in the first and was unrelenenting, finally dropping Bessette with a right hook that caused ref John McCarthy to call it.
In an appropriately non-descript manner, White told the backstage interviewer that both Hollobaugh and Salmon were being offered contracts. And in 2 hours and 10 minutes, we were done. I would have liked to see the announcement played up a bit more, maybe in the middle of the cage with all of the winners there, but there’s time to improve.
*********
In general, this wasn’t the worst MMA show I’ve seen but it’s essentially a weekly regional main card with a potential big reward for the winner(s). Since it’s on Fight Pass, it’s playing to the hardest of the hardcores so big numbers aren’t really the game here. What it does give UFC is the ability to essentially do tryouts for young fighters and veterans without having them actually compete in the UFC or TUF.
If you have a FP subscription and just feel like watching fights while doing other things this summer, there are worse directions to point you to. The full impact and relevance won’t truly be felt from the show until the guys that get contracts make waves in the UFC. If they truly get behind this as a developmental group of sorts and not just a summer time filler, the importance could, and hopefully will, grow.
And hey, maybe they could run out CM Punk on one of these someday. He’s certainly not doing anything on the main roster these days.
April 20, 2006 Figure Four Daily: A throwback Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer talking the MMA boom, indie talent like Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli, JBL bullying Palmer Cannon until he quit WWE, plus tons more.
On the latest JNPO Classic, my unearthing of the WGAM MMA Show archives continues with our Memorial Day 2011 weekend show, previewing what would be a dud of a UFC card and featuring a long interview with welterweight Rick Story.
(Backstory: The WGAM MMA Show ran on ESPN NH for just under a year before being unceremoniously canceled. I found a folder of the shows when cleaning up an old hard drive and are running them every week on the original week they aired six years ago.)
On the 5-26-11 edition, yours truly and PJ Huot had the following on the topic board:
– A preview of UFC 130 and frustrations over Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, and Rampage Jackson all not willing to promote to sell the show.
– We did a long interview with Story prior to his fight with Thiago Alves. The interview features a lot of generic questions, questions about the Las Vegas pool scene, and some insights into Story’s experiences on the first UFC card in Germany. This wasn’t our best interview but that wasn’t Rick’s fault.
– We recapped our trip to Worcester, MA, to see Dan Severn go for win 100 only to see that quest come to a violent end.
– We wrapped up with a TUF recap of an episode we loved featuring a Chuck O’Neil fight, a retirement, and Tony Ferguson turning heel!
Six years ago, yours truly and trusty co-host PJ Huot launched a weekly MMA show on a New Hampshire ESPN Radio affiliate. Recently, those digital tapes were unearthed and are being uploaded weekly for your listening pleasure.
On the 5/19/11 edition of the WGAM MMA Show:
I stopped calling PJ “King of the Office Octagon”
We discussed NY State reportedly preparing to vote on the legalization of MMA (again, this was six years ago)
We discussed Chael Sonnen being suspended by the NSAC for two years and what potential options he might have
PJ did a 10-minute interview with Phil Davis who had got the call to take Jon Jones’ place against Rashad Evans at UFC 133
We discussed why Jones was out of the fight
We talked Bellator ratings, Dan Severn’s run for his 100th win, TUF, PJ heading to a bachelor party and the term “thwapping your junk around”.
On May 12, 2011, a one-hour show launched on a small ESPN affiliate in Nashua, NH — one that would revolutionize MMA audio and shape the podcasting industry for everyone.
(Well, maybe not, but we did have fun.)
Co-hosted by yours truly and PJ Huot, The WGAM MMA Show aired for nearly a year before coming to an abrupt and surprising end, but the audio will live on here.
Uploaded every week, the WGAM MMA Show will take you back six years to what was happening in the MMA world in a much different time but with a new intro giving some background into what was happening.
Here’s what was on the board for our debut:
A 15-minute interview with then-Bellator welterweight Rick Hawn after his close split decision tournament final loss to Jay Hieron
Brock Lesnar’s announced second round of diverticulitis & where that left the UFC heavyweight division and his future
My prophecy on Lesnar breaking the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak
The cancellation of a UFC lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, and how Anthony Pettis vs. Maynard almost happened
The UFC adding insurance for fighters and why we thought that gave UFC a big leg up on the competition
Some regional MMA talk, my trip to Portland, ME, and Dan Severn’s impending visit to Worcester, MA
Jump in the time machine and head back to May 12, 2011, for the debut edition of the WGAM MMA Show.
It’s a weekend of big personalities on big stages here in the United States and MMA wasn’t about to be left in the dust on this inauguration weekend.
Former UFC superstars Chael Sonnen and Tito Ortiz will do battle in Los Angeles, CA, Saturday at Bellator 170, and who better to talk about that show than the man who will be calling the action cageside?
Bellator MMA & Boston Celtics play-by-play man Sean Grande dropped by Josh Nason’s Punch-Out for a 45-minute conversation that hit on the following topics and more:
– The nostalgic feel of Ortiz vs. Sonnen, and how this fight is different than other “fun” fights the promotion has had
– Sean’s first 18 months in the promotion and what he’s learned
– Some surprises that are in store for those watching Saturday, exclusive to JNPO listeners
– Sean’s thoughts on Jimmy Snuka, the Royal Rumble, and more.
With the most newsworthy and eventful year in MMA history now a wrap, Josh Nason continues his annual year in review process one quarter at a time.
After looking at the table-setting Q1 with Paul Fontaine, Josh is joined by Bloody Elbow’s John Nash to reconstruct an eventful April-June, tackling the following:
– The incredible UFC 199 that featured a big title change upset, the announcement of both Brock Lesnar’s return and Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz II, and Ariel Helwani’s MMA Fighting crew being put on the banned list for several days afterward
– The drama surrounding Conor McGregor being pulled from UFC 200, his “retirement” on Twitter, the new headliner of Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, and the circumstances that led to Jones vs. Cormier II being pulled from UFC 197 to begin with
– Benson Henderson’s rough welcome into Bellator
– The UFC’s new morning weigh-in policy and how it’s affected the game
– The UFC 198 Brazilian megashow and why UFC hasn’t been back to the country for a PPV since then
– The impact of the deaths of Kimbo Slice and Muhammad Ali…and more!
You know it’s an incredible year in MMA when you have several fighters over several promotions making a real case to cement their status as Fighter Of The Year.
While many had the resume to make the cut, narrowing it down to just five will leave some overlooked. From Joanna Jedrzejczyk to Michael Chandler to Tyron Woodley to Donald Cerron and so many more, there were plenty of contenders to make this year’s list.
Regardless, here are my top five MMA fighters for the year that was 2016 — all of which happen to reside in the UFC.
5) Michael Bisping
The Count had an incredible 2016 as the UFC veteran finally captured gold when he won the middleweight title in June at UFC 199 when he knocked out Luke Rockhold in less than one round.
It was the middle of three wins this year, putting Bisping at the top of a tough division. He started the year off by taking on arguably the greatest fighter in the history of the sport, Anderson Silva, in a fight many fans had been anticipating for years. It was a great back-and-forth battle, but one that was not without controversy. In the end, Bisping took home the unanimous decision.
The win over Rockhold was the most impressive as not only did he avenge an earlier loss in his career, but he did it on just two weeks notice. Bisping ended the year with a unanimous decision win in his first title defense, avenging another loss on his record when he defeated Dan Henderson in October.
Bisping had a great year, but the two decision wins over opponents who have seen their best days go by keep him from making him #1.
4) Amanda Nunes
Nunes capped off an incredible 2016 last Friday with the biggest win of her career.
Nunes began her fight year in March as she defeated Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 196 to earn a bantamweight title shot, a shot in what turned out to be the main event of July’s UFC 200 in July against then-champion Miesha Tate. Nunes made it look easy as she ran right through Tate, submitting her in the first round to become the new champ.
She then defended the title for the first time in one of the biggest fights of the year as she welcomed Ronda Rousey back to the Octagon at UFC 207. In wasn’t really as much of an upset as some people thought, Nunes made quick work of Rousey, dispatching the former champion in just 48 seconds with a barrage of strikes.
Nunes went 3-0 in 2016, capped with two first-round finishes, and enters 2017 with the entire division gunning for her.
3) Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor is the only man to make my top five who suffered a loss, but he also was the first fighter to consecutively hold two UFC titles at the same time.
Then-featherweight champion, McGregor expected to challenge Rafael Dos Anjos for the lightweight belt in March, but an injury forced Dos Anjos out. In stepped Nate Diaz on 12 days notice, and they agreed to fight at welterweight. McGregor was moving up two weight classes at the time, and it didn’t work out all that well as Diaz submitted him in the second round at UFC 196.
Obsessed with wanting a rematch, the two squared off again at UFC 202 in August, and again at 170 pounds. In one of the best fights of 2016, McGregor and Diaz went to war again, and McGregor escaped with a close majority decision.
McGregor then set his sights back on the lightweight title and challenged Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November. He made it look easy, scoring a TKO in the second round to become the new champion, becoming the first fighter to hold championships in two weight classes at the same time.
All three of the events headlined by McGregor ended up in the top four of most-purchased UFC pay-per-view events for the year.
While McGregor ended the year only holding one title after “relinquishing” the featherweight title, there is no doubt that 2016 was truly a transcendent year for the biggest star in mixed martial arts.
2) Stipe Miocic
Stipe Miocic started his 2016 fighting on the first event of the year in search of an elusive title shot, and ended the year as the most dominant heavyweight in the world.
Miocic earned his title shot at UFC 195 in January as he knocked out former champion Andrei Arlovski in just 54 seconds.
Miocic would head into enemy territory in Brazil to challenge UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198 in May. It was a successful night in Curitiba as Miocic scored another first-round knockout to win the gold and establish himself as the man to beat in the heavyweight division.
Miocic followed that up with his first title defense as the Octagon debuted in his hometown of Cleveland. He defended against Alistair Overeem, and after weathering an early storm from Overeem, he came back to win again by first-round knockout.
Miocic ends the year with three first-round knockouts over top-five opponents, and he goes into 2017 as the man at heavyweight.
1) Cody Garbrandt
Garbrandt locked himself as the 2016’s best fighter with an incredible performance at Friday’s UFC 207 and heads into 2017 as an undefeated UFC bantamweight champion — incredible to see considering Garbrandt came into the year unranked.
He started his climb up the ladder in February with a first-round knockout of Augusto Mendes. That led Garbrandt to his first main event in May as he took on another undefeated prospect in Thomas Almeida. That fight ended with Garbrandt scoring another first-round knockout, cementing his prospect status.
With another first-round knockout win, this time over veteran Takeya Mizugaki, Garbrandt went from prospect to title challenger and got the nod to face Dominick Cruz for the belt at UFC 207.
Garbrandt beat Cruz at his own game, and had a star-making peformance in winning the title by unanimous decision, handing Cruz his first loss since 2007.
With three first-round knockouts and going from unranked to champion in just over ten months, Garbrandt has established himself as a force at 135 pounds, capping off an incredible 2016.
2016 was a great year of action in the world of MMA. With a full schedule from promotions such as the UFC, Bellator, ONE Fighting Championships and so on, there were fights all around the world nearly every weekend with many weekends seeing multiple shows –even on the same day.
With thousands of fights capturing a range of emotions, narrowing down a list of the top five fights was going to be a challenge because there were at least twenty fights deserving of recognition.
Despite all of the action around the world, when you look at the five best fights, they all took place in the leading promotion, the UFC, inside their famous Octagon.
Here’s my top five fights of the year.
5) Steve Bosse vs. Sean O’Connell (UFC Fight Night 89 – June 18)
What was supposed to be just a light heavyweight fight to fill out a television main card in Canada turned into one of the best fights of the year. Bosse and O’Connell had a brawl in Ottawa with each man delivering big punch after big punch, and neither refusing to go down. O’Connell nearly had Bosse finished in the first round, knocking him stiff to the mat.
Bosse somehow not only survived, but got stronger as the fight went on. He nearly finished O’Connell in the second round, landing hammerfist after hammerfist. O’Connell somehow survived. Both men started swinging in the third, eating big punch after big punch, and the final seconds of the fight was one of the most action-packed sequences of the year.
In the end, Bosse took home a decision in a wild fight that will be remembered for some time.
4) Polo Reyes vs. Dong Hyun “Maestro” Kim (UFC 199 – June 4)
The opening fight of UFC 199 set the stage for what ended up being one of the best UFC events of 2016. Reyes and Kim went to war early with both men landing big shots. They were firing away and Kim nearly finished Reyes early before Reyes then dropped Kim.
This kept happening for the remainder of the fight, and whenever momentum started to shift, they just decided to stand and trade. After just over eleven minutes of continued brawling, Reyes cracked Kim with a right hand that dropped him to the mat, and a follow-up punch from Reyes sealed the victory.
There was no question it would end up being Fight Of The Night on June 4, and it remained as one of the best fights of the year.
3) Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor 2 (UFC 202 – August 20)
It was the biggest fight in UFC history as the biggest star in the sport was looking to right a wrong in his career. Diaz had submitted McGregor in March, and McGregor was seeking revenge. It was filled with drama both inside and outside the Octagon. When they stepped in, they delivered.
McGregor made Diaz look bad early, dropping him multiple times en route to what was looking like a decisive win. However, as McGregor started to fade, Diaz came on strong, nearly finishing McGregor at one point. They were bloodied and they were tired, but they went the full 25 minutes in a war of attrition.
In the end, it was the Irish superstar evening the score, taking a majority decision that left fans eager in anticipation of a rubber match.
2) Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi (UFC 206 – December 10)
This is the most recent bout on the list, but it was an instant classic. This was supposed to be Choi’s big coming out party, and Swanson was there looking to spoil it. In the end, both men became bigger stars as they had one of the best fights in UFC history.
It was three full rounds of action with both men landing big shots that nearly finished the other. It was flurry after flurry, and it was amazing how both men were able to survive. It was also one of those fights that got better the longer it went, and the second round was a classic.
Swanson wasn’t ready to let the hot prospect score that big win over him, and it showed in the way he fought as he took home an upset decision. This was a battle for the ages.
1) Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit (UFC 195 – January 2)
It was the first main event of 2016 with two of the most exciting fighters in the history of the sport battling for the UFC welterweight championship. They were expected to deliver a show which they did and more.
Lawler and Condit both knocked each other down early in the fight, and there were times that it looked like it could be stopped. However, both men just kept coming and getting stronger with a close first four rounds that set the stage for a fifth round to decide who would walk away as champion.
What happened in that fifth round is one for the ages, and one of the best rounds in the sport’s history. Both men turned up the volume with Lawler hurting Condit early in the round. It knocked Condit to life as he began firing back with heavy punches of his own. They went on a wild flurry at the end of the round with both men doing their best to win that belt.
With the stakes at their highest, it was Lawler who earned a razor-thin split decision win.
It was the most electrifying fight of the year, an instant classic, and one fight fans should watch multiple times for pure enjoyment. It was the embodiment of the best fight of the year.
In the most newsworthy and eventful year in MMA history coming to a close, it’s time to begin the MMA year in review process one quarter at a time.
A year that featured Conor McGregor climbing to new heights, Brock Lesnar returning, Jon Jones doing Jon Jones things, and the near year-long absence of Ronda Rousey, things kicked off strong in the first three months with a Fight of the Year candidate, a big Bellator free agent signee, and one of the biggest events in the sport’s history coming together in less than two weeks.
Helping Josh Nason assess January-March is fellow site writer and MMADraws.com founder Paul Fontaine.
Among the topics:
– The Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit classic at UFC 195
– CM Punk’s first opponent is found
– Conor McGregor’s quest for two titles hits a roadblock, but runs into a financial mountain that was UFC 196
– The return of Dominick Cruz to bantamweight glory in thrilling fashion
– Benson Henderson, Alistair Overeem, and Matt Mitrione testing free agency
– Ronda Rousey admitting she contemplated suicide after losing to Holly Holm
– The 50 car pileup that was Bellator’s Kimbo Slice/Dada 5000 and Royce Gracie/Ken Shamrock III double main event
– Michael Bisping facing and beating Anderson Silva
– The awesomeness of UFC 196
– MMA’s run to legalization in New York State reaches its conclusion
– A date for Cris Cyborg’s UFC debut…and plenty more!
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