Combat Chronicles

Bonus Episode: Yadong vs. Simon review / Sterling vs. Cejudo preview

But so much more as well as we start the episode off with a round-up from some major news and rumours from the past weeks of combat sports!

First, my opinion on if there's any legs to the rumour that PFL might be on the brink of buying out Bellator (and whether I think it would matter all that much if they did) before two HUGE bits of ONE Championship-related news! 

Then it's back to the UFC for a look at why Song Yadong was so darn effective against fellow hot banta...

Bonus Episode: Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia / Bellator Bantamweight Final / UFC Big Boyz and Haggerty shocks the world!

As the  overly wordy title alludes to bloody loads to talk about on this bonus episode!

There will be another Patreon-only episode this coming weekend! Details are found somewhere in this episode. I won't tell you where so it'll be a surprise.

Adesanya vs. Pereira II (or is that IV?) and LOADS more!

And when I say loads I mean loads as I go into the second mixed martial arts bout between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. Obviously there's a shed load to discuss there, but the rest of UFC 287 gets a look-in too, before I jump into boxing with a deep dive on Tenshin Nasukawa's pro debut, Kenshiro overcoming a surprisingly plucky challenger, and some excellent lightweights from America.

Loooooooong sentence that...about as long as Sebastian Fundora, who was unfortuna...

Bonus Episode: March Kickboxing round-up / Cory vs. Chito / A.J funeral procession

So a bonus episode to start off April with a bang and it's a stacked one! First, a little news round-up, then into a load of kickboxing coverage from March that I missed at the time. 

After that it's the promised look at Sandhagen vs. Vera (spoiler alert: I was very impressed) before I bang another nail into the coffin of Anthony Joshua hot on the heels of his win over Jermaine Franklin.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support, it is much appreciated.&...

Anyone having an issue with audio?

Hi guys, it’s been brought to my attention that despite my best efforts the audio mix for the most recent episode of ‘Closet Classics’ may have made it difficult to hear what I was saying.

Your immediate feedback would be much appreciated! EDIT: Thanks everyone so far for your feedback. If anyone does have any issues please do reply to this or hit me up on Twitter and I’ll be happy to hear any concerns. 

Closet Classics #5

A mini 'audio documentary' of sorts as we return to the Closet Classics series! This fight is absolute carnage, so let me talk you through it before you check it out. It's one of those fights that after you watch it you'll go, 'how do people not talk about this one all the time"! 

As promised in the episode, you can watch the fight here  and as always I'd love to hear your fee...

The Petr Yan problem

A deep-dive on what made Merab Dvalishvili's performance against Petr Yan so great, what it means for the absolutely stacked bantamweight division and a whole stream of consciousness rant about Yan, his place in MMA and why I was so darn wrong about him. Spoiler alert: I'm still not sure but there's SOMETHING missing. 

Bonus Episode: MMA and Puroresu History w/ Michael Betz

Similar to yesterday's bonus episode but MUCH more extensive, as I talk about Pancrase, RINGS, and lots of topics pertaining to early MMA and its connection with Japanese pro wrestling.

The guest is a great one: Michael Betz of the peerless Kakutogi Road, which is surely the best combat sports history source on the internet! There is a WEALTH of combat sports footage and writing on there, going into so much depth I can't believe I don't hear more of you guys talking about it! If you can...

Bonus Episode: Rickson vs. Sakuraba (kinda'?)

Well, that's how this bonus episode kicks off anyway, as I present a portion of the discussion I had with BJJ & Judo black belt (and former Fight Site analyst) Tommy Elliot that ended up on the cutting room floor as I was editing 'The Guide to Pride 1' (a process which I'm sorry to say is still ongoing!)

Hope you guys enjoy this as we go off on a tangent here and there: felt this lively and interesting discussion shouldn't go to waste and hopefully it gives you a taste of the high-l...

UFC 284 / Alexander The GOAT?

Only talking about three fights from this card in varying amounts of depth but OBVIOUSLY the bulk of the episode is diving into the main event from this past weekend's UFC card.

Bit controversial but I've come away having a much lower opinion of Islam Makhachev. Fair? Let me know your thoughts once you've listened to the episode!

13th February Update

No, this is not to preempt Valentine’s Day but this is to show my love to all of you! I am using my valuable vacation time to finish The Guide to Pride 1 so hopefully next week I will near completion of it.

As for this week, I will be dropping a podcast covering UFC 284 later today! So look out for that! 

Beterbiev vs. Yarde: Instant classic?

Really intriguing fight this, as Anthony Yarde puts on the best performance of his career but ultimately comes up short against the marauding monster that is Artur Beterbiev. Fight of the year, or too soon to say? I go into who these guys are, why this fight was intriguing going in and why it played out like it did.

Also, should Beterbiev fight mandatory challenger Callum Smith next? And who would win if Beterbiev fought fellow light-heavyweight champ and pound-for-pounder Dmitry Bivol,...

Fights I Missed in 2022 / Smith vs. Eubank Jr / UFC 283

As promised I go over a handful of significant bouts I failed to podcast about in 2022. But I decided to cover more today and so much happened this past couple of days, so I look to see where I went SO wrong on Liam Smith vs. Chris Eubank Jr and then go into some highlights from UFC 283. 

Goodbye Francis, Hello Chingiz

The two HUGE stories this weekend in combat sports are the topic of today's episode: the releasing of UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou and the subsequent booking of Jon Jones versus Ciryl Gane for the vacant title, and Chingiz Allazov's destructive performance against pound-for-pound number one Superbon.

January 2023 updates!

Hello to you all and happy new year!

For those that are still patrons in a brand new year: thank you! 

Thought I’d give you all an update on what you can expect from the podcast this month.

On the general feed: I’ll probably just drop a pod after the pay-per-view and MAYBE if anything of any interest happens elsewhere (unlikely given the cards we have coming up) 

But this month will be focused on this here Patreon feed: as I have said before, I’m going ...

RIZIN 40 / Bellator MMA vs. RIZIN FF

Another year of combat sports is in the books, and Japanese combat sports has blessed us once again on New Years Eve! 

Thoughts on pretty much everything from the RIZIN 40 card including prelims and the star-studded crossover card! Manny Pacquiao! Patricio Pitbull! The Pride FC theme! Me...um...taking a poo. And much, much more! Hope you enjoy this episode and thanks to you all for you support in 2022 and hopefully your continued support in 2023!

The Drew Dober Experience

Drew Dober continues to have a place in my heart as one the most beloved action fighters around, but as usual Bobby Green played his part in an absolute barn-burner. I take a look at why these style clashes are so great as well as the adjustments Dober made to pull off one of the best knockouts of the year. 

In other news, Arman Tsarukyan deserves more love from MMA hipsters, as he vanquished their favourite Damir Ismagulov. But Damir still deserves more love from the general popul...

The Top 10 Greatest Boxing Bouts of All-Time

At least, my opinion on that very question. Here, I look back at my 2013 list of the 'Top 10 Fights' as published in Boxing News' special edition magazine '100 Greatest Fights of all-time' and explain what I think makes a fight truly great. I then weigh up that list with my own thoughts today, and finally go over some contenders from yesteryear and great modern bouts that have taken place since I wrote the list, that might deserve a place in my top ten. Was I being a hipster...

The Fight to Make

A cheeky little bonus episode as a random hypothetical fight came to mind today that the UFC could still feasibly make and would make complete and utter sense from a business, narrative and matchmaking standpoint! Let me know if you agree in the comments below, let me know your predictions if it A) Were to happen a couple of events down the line B) Had happened in 2016 bang in the middle of their primes.

What fight am I talking about? Give this bonus episode a listen and find o...

Martial Arts Legends Magazine Presents: The Ultimate Fighting Championship

I think this might be one of the most interesting and important MMA finds for me. Finding contemporary opinions and articles on early UFC events is tough: sure, we now have plenty of documentaries, podcasts and articles that feature the main players regurgitating the same old stories, but actual written content is hard to come by outside of a handful of small features in Black Belt magazine and the like. 

So to find a magazine from 1994 that features a wealth of features, interview...

Coming in December!

Just an update on what I’ve been working on! 

December should be a fun one! Next week I will drop a bonus podcast episode on my first experience with MMA and will also upload some articles from a VERY rare UFC magazine from back in 1994 that should make for very interesting reading! 

I won’t upload ALL of it though as some of the articles will be used for the ongoing production of The Guide to Pride 1. Will that be ready for Christmas? Maybe, but if not I’m also wo...

Right? Or Robbery? Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes

So it's pretty darn obvious that Dominick Reyes beat Jon Jones, right? Well, maybe not, as Texas has a slightly different outlook when it comes to MMA scoring, one that is unfortunately vague when it comes to its wording. Vague enough that we can squint and somehow see a win for Jon Jones? Well, watch along as I commentate over the fight as we decide once and for all whether (as of uploading) Jon Jones' last fight was truly right or robbery. 

Also, it's a great time to loo...

Alex Pereira does it! (And other UFC 281 thoughts)

You know a fight has everything that makes a fight great when you can talk about just that fight for over thirty minutes, and that is what we had with Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya III. Crazily enough, the MMA installment of a rivalry between two kickboxers wound up being the absolute best. 

I don't talk about all the card in much depth at all (which you would discover when you listen to this episode) but I still offer some thoughts on the event, which...

Jake Paul beats Anderson Silva / Is it time to say goodbye to Vasyl Lomachenko?

As promised I follow up the preview I posted regarding the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva fight with a postmortem: what did I get wrong, and why? Is Jake Paul actually good? Did Anderson Silva throw the fight? 

After that, a small segment on why I'm not as high on modern great Vasyl Lomachenko's chances to beat unified lightweight champ Devin Haney as I was a year ago. 

Pride 1 - Official On-Site Programme

This is the official on-site brochure that was sold at the first Pride event, which was 25 years ago on THIS VERY DAY! Sorry for the lack of translations--I prioritised translating other media-but I hope the bright and cool images take you back and prime you for The Guide to Pride 1, production of which is still ongoing!

Take a look at Rickson and Takada, Kimo, Renzo, Dan 'The Beast' Severn, some very '90s ads AND MORE!

Combat, Chronicled: The First Great Bantamweight

'Combat, Chronicled' is the new PATREON-ONLY series for standalone documentaries, and the first episode is all about Miguel Angel Torres, the great 135lb mixed martial artist. This 45-minute documentary looks at Torres' starts in club fights, to reaching his peak as one of the most renowned pound-for-pound operators in MMA, to his eventual fall, and tells the story using primary sources, tape study, and tries to best contextualise Torres' career within his era.  

If you enjoy this ...

22/09/2022 UPDATE

Hi guys, just to let you know the script for the Torres documentary is nearly finished. About 75% of the way there and completely sure of where it’s going with the end in sight. Pretty great story of a pretty great fighter to be honest!

A little mini-announcement about it is that it’s going to be the first episode of ‘Combat, Chronicled’ which will be the series of one-off documentaries that don’t slot into an existing series. To be honest, the earlier Thurman-Prouder doc...

Update 14th September 2022

The Guide to Pride 1 is a HUMONGOUS undertaking but is still due to be released in October. Currently waiting on a load of Japanese-language material to be translated. I meant what I said when I told you it was going to be comprehensive! As well as the audio documentary I will upload images from the pre-event magazine and the on-site programme. 

For the rest of this week I will be working on the Miguel Torres audio documentary. What was originally going to be me chatting against To...

Mayweather vs. McGregor: Five Years On

Wait just a sec', don't go! This is not a joke, this shit is serious. Yes, the special podcast I was referring to yesterday is indeed this one, a retrospective on the much-maligned Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor 'super fight'. 

But this is a bumper edition of the Patreon podcast that hopes to put the bout in its proper context. And for a show such as this which covers many different combat sports and the history of those sports, how could I leave out perhaps the biggest crosso...

I almost forgot…

Well, I DID forget…there will be TWO bonus episodes this week! A very special fight anniversary happened this week so I am digging through the archives to bring you guys another bonus episode, with new updated intro, outro and the odd aside here and there I’m sure. Hope to bring you this one TOMORROW! Any guesses as to what fight I’m talking about? Drop your best shouts in the comments below 👇