Combat Chronicles

Coming in June!

Well, needless to say but this coming weekend everyone subscribed to this here feed will get an EXCLUSIVE UFC 302 episode not available anywhere else!

As for the rest of the month? Well June is absolutely stacked with interesting MMA bouts, so we’ll be covering all of them, with the majority of the discussion exclusive to Patreon. But I also hope to drop a bonus episode on ‘The 10 Best Boxing Bouts of the 2010s’ which I hope will be of interest to you all, either to reminis...

Usyk is UNDISPUTED

'Nuff said. Except it's not, because as reward for your kind patronage of this podcast you get to hear my thoughts on not just the fight itself but the legacies of both Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, what could potentially be next for both men, and a quick run through of some highlights from the undercard!

Fury vs. Usyk: The Big Preview

How could I not devote a huge chunk of my waking hours this week to producing a near three-hour podcast all about one fight?!  How could I not enlist some heavy hitters to talk about the biggest fight we will see all year?

Well luckily for you, I did, as Rob Tebbutt of Boxing News and the boys from the 2024-05-15 19:27:35 +0000 UTC View Post

Inoue executes Nery / UFC 301

Plenty of boxing matches and MMA bouts to talk about this week, including (but not limited to!) Naoya Inoue's shellacking of Luis Nery; Canelo's win over Munguia; Alexandre Pantoja's razor-thin win over Steve Erceg (at least based on what we all saw!); and Jose Aldo's triumphant return!

But as you'd expect, some other fights get a look in, and plenty of tangents too...

May is looking STACKED

So many great fights to talk about, starting this coming weekend with UFC 301 and the Cinco de Mayo clash between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Jaime Munguia.

Two weeks later we’ve got what will likely be the most anticipated fight I’ve ever had as a combat sports fan as Fury takes on Usyk on a stacked card billed as ‘Ring of Fire’ (ooh, matron). I’ll be sure to drop both a preview AND a review for that one…squeaky bum time! Don’t even think I’ll be able to do a live co...

Ryan Garcia batters Devin Haney

And oh, how glorious it was! Depending on your thoughts on Ryan Garcia of course (I'm no big fan) but surely we are all happy to see a fight that looked a poor one on paper turn out to be one of the upsets of the year? We all like chaos, right?

Whatever your tastes, Ryan Garcia gave us one of those rare things: an exciting Devin Haney fight! And I try and figure out how he did it, just for the listening benefit of my much-appreciated patrons!

UFC 300

EVERY. SINGLE. FIGHT. COVERED. Including my LIVE reaction to THAT. FUCKIN'. KNOCKOUT. UFC 300 delivered in every way, we saw slobberknockers, meaningful fights between quality contenders, and one of the greatest moments in the history of mixed martial arts. I talk about all of it, and probably some other random shit as well (sorry, I was recording this episode for over seven hours) EXCLUSIVELY for you patrons.

Closet Classics #6

A mini-audio documentary about a classic fight you might not have heard about before!

A little bit of a natter about the new 'super prospect' Curmel Moton and his recent bout, given that it ties in very well for the themes explored in the sixth edition of 'Closet Classics'!

Hope you enjoy this one, you can search the fight on YouTube and find a version that's to your satisfaction but if you want to watch it before you hear me reveal it on the podcast, it's 2024-04-01 12:03:34 +0000 UTC View Post

UFC 299

This past weekend's pay-per-view looked great fun and paper and absolutely delivered from top-to-bottom, providing a load of compelling match-ups that told us lots about the competitors. And the great thing it is was well-balanced in terms of size, with new talents emerging in the heavyweight division, old talents re-emerging in the bantamweight division, and a wonderfully violent co-main at lightweight. Join me as I look at most of the bouts on the card as well as a final segment praising th...

AJ destroys Ngannou in two rounds

Francis Ngannou dared to dream and Anthony Joshua was more than happy to send him to the land of nod so he could continue doing so! The breakdown of the fight (and the main players from the undercard!) is exclusive to you patrons! 

Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou: Preview and Prediction

We're nearly here for the big one between these two big f'n lads! Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou surprised the majority of combat sports fans with a nuanced, smart performance in a near upset for the ages against lineal heavyweight boxing champ Tyson Fury, but can he produce anything like that against former three-belt champ and Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua? 

A.J looked back to his destructive best against the tough and experienced Otto Wallin, and seems to...

The Current State of the UFC Flyweight Division

The UFC flyweight division is so interesting right now, but there's a problem: there's no intermediate difficulty level, and the top and bottom of the division is suffering because of it. I take a look at Royval-Moreno II and seek to find who the best prospect is and how best to move them into a title fight against the king Alexandre Pantoja. It's a tricky discussion to have, with no clear answer. What do you think the UFC should do to give the division a bit more structure than it currently ...

March update!

Been under the weather this week (hence no new episode) but I’ll cover Moreno-Royval II this weekend as part of a greater look at ‘The State of 125’ after Mokaev-Perez. As for PFL Vs. Bellator I’ll run down my thoughts on that too, but generally wasn’t all that interesting was it!

And there will definitely be a ‘Closet Classics’ in March but really with AJ-Ngannou and UFC 299 PLENTY to keep us occupied. And of course, the majority of the content will be EXCLUSIVE to t...

UFC 298: A Star Is Born

Ilia Topuria showed the hype is for real as he bludgeoned the legendary Alexander Volkanovski inside of two rounds. But what does that mean for the division going forward? Will 'The Matador' be a fighting champion or will he annoy MMA fans with an insistence on 'mega fights' that mean little in a sporting sense? That, and the rest of the card, are discussed here for your ears only!

End of an Era: Why Kenshiro vs. Canizales meant so much

...not just to me personally, but to the light-flyweight divsion. Kenshiro and Carlos Canizales put on one of the best fights of the year (and don't be a smart Alec: this WILL be up there at when I come to the 2024 End-of-Year Awards it was that damn good) and also seemed to close the book on this stacked era of the 108lb weight class. 

Kenshiro came out on top but where does he come out in the all-time rankings of a great division? Check this episode out as I loo...

Superlek vs. Takeru and a ONE Championship shit show

The original plan for this episode was to do Superlek versus Takeru and also the light-flyweight boxing match between Kenshiro and Carlos Canizales in a bumper 'Japanese combat sports' edition. But instead, I just had to focus on the 'super-fight' between Superlek and Takeru, not just for the brilliance of the bout but because of all the shitty feelings it inspired in me. Hence the title.

As for Kenshiro, I'll come back to him later this week, as I not only want to cover that scintillat...

UFC 297

And more! But this episode runs the gamut of mixed martial arts from janky 185ers to prodigious 125ers! Hope you enjoy this one. Coming soon the Patreon: boxing and kickboxing featuring kawaii Japanese men. 

Beterbiev batters Smith (but will he batter Bivol?)

Artur Beterbiev remains three-belt champ at 175lbs after a scary beat-down of former 168lb titlist Callum Smith. Despite the one-sided nature of the fight, Smith did enough work of note to give us plenty of interesting things to talk about.

But of course it's the 'super fight' for all four belts at light-heavyweight that we're all looking forward to, so I devote the back-end of the podcast to all things Beterbiev versus Bivol. 

2023 End-of-Year Awards

Warning: There is explicit language in this one! So if kids are in earshot, please make them put in earplugs before listening!

The Combat Chronicles podcast has now been going for over TWO YEARS! If you've been around for the beginning, only just started listening or somewhere in between I can't thank you enough!

But this episode of course is to thank for the fighters for the most awe-inspiring moments of the past year of combat sports. So be sure to let me know which awards you a...

Update on the awards pod

So the end-of-year awards pod isn’t out yet. Should be out in the next couple of days. But this announcement is that there will be two versions of the episode. So as you’re a patron I recommend listening to the episode on THIS feed as you will get an exclusive category only available to you. 

That category is going to be ‘The Combat Chronicles Hall-of-Fame’, which will have ONE fighter that retired in the prior year inducted every year. So for example if in 2024 both Canelo...

Deontay Wilder has his Day of Reckoning and Naoya Inoue proves his brilliance again

A rundown of the entire 'Day of Reckoning' card kicks off the episode, including of course the massive stinker of a performance that Deontay Wilder dropped (as well as Joseph Parker's smart performance to beat him) and Anthony Joshua rolling back the clock to give us his most destructive performance in years. 

After that of course we head further East to take a look at Naoya Inoue's beatdown of Marlon Tapales. But the Filipino played his part in an intriguing fight. 

Unf...

UFC 296...and Beyond!

The main card of this past weekend's UFC pay-per-view gets a thorough look-over, before I look to what MMA's premier product might bring us in 2024, in particular with how their Q1 slate points to how UFC 300 might look. 

That in turn influences me as I try to look at some somewhat 'realistic' fantasy booking for what is sure to be the biggest MMA event next year. Drop your own suggestions in the comments below or share them with me on twitter!

I won't say 'Happy Holidays' ju...

Bam shows Sunny his level and boxing gives us another FOTY contender

Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez and Sunny Edwards gave us a really sweet flyweight title unification bout, but it was the undefeated 23-year old Texan that pulled away and showed off his pound-for-pound credentials. I look at why Edwards still has a lot to be proud of and discuss how I saw the fight going, and why I thought the DAZN broadcast team were so wrong with their assessment of it.

And then, it's a catch-up on what might just be the fight of the year from all of combat sports, as...

Why couldn't GSP finish Dan Hardy?

An MMA technique and history episode this time round, as I'm joined by the brilliant William from Open Note Grappling (who you can and should follow on Twitter right here) to discuss one of Georges St-Pierre's most one-sided UFC welterweight title defences, against the seemingly unsubmittable Dan Hardy! Was it Dan Hardy's toughness and flexibility that saw him survive numerous GSP submission attempts...

Is Subriel Matias the scariest fella in boxing?

As the title suggests, this episode will be a deep-dive into the recent clash between 140lb knockout artists Subriel Matias (the IBF light-welterweight champ, now 20-1, 20KOs) and heavy-handed Uzbek southpaw Shohjahon Ergashev (now 23-1, 20KOs) and why the champ from Puerto Rico is one of the more terrifying fighters in world boxing. If you haven't seen the fight I highly recommend you check it out here  2023-12-07 20:53:35 +0000 UTC View Post

Bye Bye Benny

Arman Tsarukyan really lived up to the promise and athletic ability he's flashed over the last couple of years with a stunning and brutual kayo of Beneil Dariush early on in the fight, in just about a minute of action. But how did he do it and what does it mean the increasingly complicated title picture at 155lbs?

Speaking of 155lbs Jalin Turner wiped out Bobby Green, and the most violent flyweight champ of all time moved up to 135lbs and put on a masterclass. All of that, and more, mak...

Was this the fight of the year?

O'Shaquie Foster (20-2, 12 KOs going into this one) put on a masterful performance against a top quality and game challenger in Eduardo 'Rocky' Hernandez (an intimidating 34-1, 31 KOs prior to this fight) 

But it's when taking the fight as a whole when its class really shines through. So who are these two and why was this fight so great? Round 11 will surely go down as the round of the year in the Combat Chronicles End-of-Year Awards, but do you agree that the fight itself...

Buakaw vs. Saenchai was a really weird fight

All my thoughts on the bizarre bareknuckle Muay Thai bout between two combat sports legends: Buakaw Banchamek and Saenchai Sor Kingstar/P.K Saenchai Muaythaigym etc. 

Weird, wasn't it?

What will the future hold for ONE Championship? And goodbye Bellator

Lots to talk about this week. One of ONE Championship's brightest stars, Jonathan Haggerty first, and his recent fight with kickboxing-mixed martial artist Fabricio Andrade. Then, the bombshell story that ONE Championship might not be long for this world, and my take on that.

And then it's over to Bellator 301 before a dive into the huge news that PFL has acquired the promotion and will fold it into its own operation in 2024. Aside from the news, it's my opinion of what this really ...