Tag: JNPO Classic

JNPO Classic: Bjorn Rebney and forecasting the big 2011 MMA TV moves

Posted on by Josh Nason

On my continued unearthing of the WGMA MMA Show archives, we head back to June 23, 2011, for a show that talked a lot about the future of TV for the sport.

If you’re new to these shows, the WGAM MMA Show was a weekly show that ran on a New Hampshire ESPN affiliate, co-hosted by myself and producer PJ Huot. 

On the docket back on June 23:

– We previewed the upcoming UFC on Versus card headlined by Nate Marquardt vs. Rick Story and how Spike decided to counterprogram the event with…a Marquardt marathon.

– We lauded the efforts of young Matt Mitrione and how UFC was bringing him along in his early MMA career.

– Before we were joined by Bjorn Rebney, we talked about impending TV deals and the potential shifts that were happening with everyone (UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, etc)

– Then-Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney stopped by to talk about the Summer Series on MTV2, the tournament format, the rumors of his promotion moving to Spike if UFC left, the rumor of Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler, and his philosophy on signing free agents.

– We were then joined by then-UFC welterweight John Howard who was prepping for a fight against Matt Brown. This wasn’t the best interview, but we eventually got to some interesting topics like his friendship with then-Boston Celtics forward “Big Baby” Davis and training kickboxing with him.

Click below and jump back in the time machine for 45 minutes:

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JNPO Classic: How a local MMA fighter learned to promote himself

Posted on by Josh Nason

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.

Click below to listen:

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JNPO Classic: Kenny Florian interview, big UFC announcements

Posted on by Josh Nason

Our run through the archives of my old radio show — The WGAM MMA Show — continues with the June 9, 2011, edition of the program, hosted by yours truly and producer PJ Huot.

On this edition, we discussed a slew of announcements made by UFC president Dana White prior to UFC 131 including the signing of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson, the creation of the flyweight division, non-title main events going to five rounds, and Nick Diaz dropping the Strikeforce welterweight title.

Yes, that was all in one day.

We then did an in-depth interview with Kenny Florian prior to his co-main event against Diego Nunes at UFC 131, Florian’s debut at featherweight. 

We then previewed UFC 131, headlined by Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin and also featuring the UFC debut of Donald Cerrone and a guy I called Chris WEED-man.

The time machine is here, so jump in and head back to six years ago in the world of MMA.

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JNPO Classic: UFC 130 preview, extended Rick Story interview

Posted on by Josh Nason

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!

Listen below:

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