Category: MMA History

The MMA Depressed-us 75: Drew McFedries Career Retrospective

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts

Another non-UFC week in the books means another week with the MMA Depressed-us back in action. The advent of our sudden sub-stack plans may have killed my Patreon idea (it just didn’t feel right), but we did have a few more viewer requests to work with, and one especially struck a chord, watching the UFC career of Drew McFedries.

For those that don’t remember, McFedries was a Miletich Fighting Systems protegé from the team’s glory days in the early 2000s. He may never have risen to the heights of Lawler, Sylvia, Hughes, or Miletich himself, but his 3 year UFC career was a non-stop highlight reel of finishes, whether McFedries was winning or losing.

The MMA Depressed-us is a listener-supported broadcast. To receive new episodes and support our team’s work, consider becoming a paid subscriber at the Bloody Elbow Podcast Substack.

For this week’s MMA Depressed-us we’re watching six fights, in chronological order: McFedries vs. Alessio Sakara, McFedries vs. Martin Kampmann, McFedries vs. Mike Massenzio, McFedries vs. Thales Leites, McFedries vs. Thomasz Drawl, and McFedries vs. Gary Tapusoa (the rare 3-round McFedries fight…that he actually won!).

As is usually the case with the MMA Depressed-us, we’re watching all bouts on UFC Fight Pass. For those that wish to watch along with us, start each video at the beginning when Zane says “go.” If you’re watching these videos on another platform, Connor will try to announce the start of round 1 so you can sync from there.

If you enjoy our variety of shows, please give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, OverCast, PocketCasts, Castro, Castbox, Player FM, imdb, ThisMMALife, Podcast Addict, Podvine, Podchaser, Podbay, Podtail, Owltail, Listennotes, Podcast Republic, MuckRack, Chartable, Podtoppen.se, & now on Substack! Coming soon to Simplecast, Pandora & Sirius XM!

Follow your favorite Bloody Elbow Presents hosts on your preferred apps, such as: Downcast, PodCruncher, iCatcher!, Castaway 2, Podcastapp, Podbean, BeyondPod (Android), & more in your App Store!

For previous episodes, check out our playlists on any of our BE Podcast platforms. To access episodes on Substack you have two weeks as a free subscriber, at that point we would urge you to pledge your support to our efforts to bring you these shows every week and gain access to the full archives and bonus content we will provide 24/7/365.

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The MMA Depressed-us – Roll players: Palhares vs. Henderson

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts

One moment they’re here, the next they’re gone. The UFC returned from their holiday hiatus with a pair of shows to open 2023, and have promptly disappeared again—leaving us out here twisting in the breeze. As a result, we’ve had no other option than to get back on our bullshit.

June M. Williams

This time around, we’re remembering some of MMA’s most famed/notorious/one-dimensional guard grapplers. The men who loved to dive for kneebars and heel hooks and got lit up like a Christmas tree when that didn’t work. To open the show, we’re re-watching Paul Sass and his fight with Danny Castillo at UFC on Fuel TV 7. We’re following that up with a PRIDE classic; Masakazu Imanari’s bout with Luiz Firmino at PRIDE Bushido 5. Finally, we’re closing the show with Rousimar Palhares and one of the few decisions of his career, against Dan Henderson at UFC 88.

As usual, we’re watching all three fights over on Fight Pass. For listeners that would like to follow along with us, just press play at the 0:00 mark of each video, when Zane says “Go.” For those of you not using Fight Pass, Connor will try and announce the start of round 1 for each bout, so that listeners can sync their videos up there.

TIMESTAMPS:

  • 0:00 INTRO
  • 3:23 REVEALING OUR THREE FIGHTS
  • 5:49 SASS VS. CASTILLO INTRO
  • 5:54 ZANE “3… 2… 1… GO!”
  • 5:58 SASS VS CASTILLO
  • 30:33 IMANARI VS FIRMINO INTRO
  • 31:22 ZANE “3… 2… 1… GO!”
  • 31:26 IMANARI VS FIRMINO
  • 51:02 HENDERSON V. PALHARES INTRO
  • 51:17 ZANE “3… 2… 1… GO!”
  • 51:20 HENDERSON VS PALHARES
  • 1:20:05 WRAP UP
  • 1:20:22 NEXT TIME
  • 1:20:45 OUTRO
  • 1:21:52 SUMMARY OF NEW PODCAST PLATFORMS/APPS

If you enjoy our variety of shows, please give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: YouTube, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, OverCast, PocketCasts, Castro, Castbox, Player FM, Podcast Republic. Follow your favorite ‘Bloody Elbow Presents’ hosts on your preferred apps, such as: Downcast, PodCruncher, iCatcher!, Castaway 2, BeyondPod (Android), & more in the App Store! For previous episodes, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

The MMA Depressed-us: Former teammates – Ngannou vs. Gane

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts

The final week of the holiday UFC hiatus is upon us. Which means one more episode of the MMA Depressed-us before the world’s largest MMA promotion launches back into their breakneck schedule. This time around, we’re taking a look at some of the many high profile cases of former teammates and training partners facing off inside the Octagon.

June M. Williams

Our journey starts with one of the most legendary training partner beefs in UFC history, all the way back at UFC 145 in 2012, when recently crowned champion Jon Jones made the third defense of his light heavyweight title against former former champion and Jackson-Wink standout Rashad Evans. We then jump ahead to 2014 and a heavyweight bout between Brendan Schaub and Travis Browne at UFC 181. Before wrapping up with the most recent heavyweight title fight between Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane at UFC 270.

As is usual, we’re watching all three bouts on UFC Fight Pass. For those that want to watch along with us, press play on each video when Zane says “Go.” For those watching the fights via another resource, Connor will try to announce the beginning of round 1 so that videos can be synced up there.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 INTRO
2:23 REVEALING OUR THREE FIGHTS
3:27 JONES VS. EVANS INTRO
4:05 ZANE “3… 2… 1… GO!”
4:09 JONES VS EVANS
53:18 SCHAUB VS BROWNE INTRO
53:26 ZANE “3… 2… 1… GO!”
53:31 SCHAUB VS BROWNE
1:06:46 NGANNOU V. GANE INTRO
1:07:00 ZANE “3… 2… 1… GO!”
1:07:05 NGANNOU VS GANE
1:43:43 WRAP UP
1:44:31 OUTRO

If you enjoy our variety of shows, please give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

Former UFC champ Shogun Rua still holds PRIDE GP as greatest career moment, reveals scrapped Fedor bout

Posted on by Zane Simon in Asian MMA, Front Page, MMA History, MMA News, UFC News

In an MMA career that stretches back 41 fights and 20 years, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua has practically done it all. The former PRIDE Grand Prix champion and former UFC champion has created a combat sports legacy filled with thrilling wars and amazing highlights. An era that appears set to come to a close in 2023, with Rua taking what he claims will be his final MMA bout early next year.

Ahead of that fight, Rua sat down with Sherdog to talk a bit about his legacy, what he holds as his greatest accomplishment, and one of the few opportunities to come his way that he didn’t get a chance to take.

“Without a doubt it was Aug. 28, 2005, the day I won the Pride Grand Prix,” The 41-year-old Kings MMA talent enthused when asked about the best moment of his career. “I entered as underdog and finished as champion in a tournament with 16 fighters, which was considered by many as the toughest Grand Prix ever.”

Starting back in April of 2005, Rua defeated future UFC champ Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson via first round KO in the Grand Prix opener. He then went on to take a decision win over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira two months later, in the quarter final leg—a fight many rank among the best in MMA history. Those wins led to PRIDE Final Conflict on August 28th and back-to-back victories in one night, over future Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem and former RINGS middleweight champion Ricardo Arona to claim the tournament crown.

Off that success, PRIDE matchmakers had hoped to put Rua in a superfight against heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. Unfortunately that bout never materialized. Instead Rua faced off against PRIDE’s 2000 Openweight Grand Prix winner Mark Coleman in February of 2006, losing that bout via a broken arm, just 0:49 into the first round.

“After I won the light heavyweight [grand prix] and he won the heavyweight grand prix, the promoters started to talk about a superfight, but it never happened,” Rua said. “Coincidentally I was probably closer to fighting my idol Wanderlei [Silva before he lost to Ricardo Arona in the seminfinals]. But It would have been an honor to fight Fedor when we both were in our primes. In my opinion, Fedor is among the three best pound-for-pound fighters ever.”

Rua is expected to enter the UFC Octagon for the last time on January 21st at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he’ll face off against Ukraine’s Ihor Potieria. The card is set to be headlined by a bout between Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill for the vacant light heavyweight title. The flyweight quadrilogy title bout between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno is planned for the night’s co-main event.

The MMA Depressed-us: Sakuraba hunted, Gracies win

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts

The UFC is taking their annual holiday hiatus once again, which means we’ve got a whole passel of time on our hands. You know what they say about idle hands? Well, we’re doing the devil’s work.

This time around we’ve chosen a particularly grim chapter in MMA history to focus on, the later-era of MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba’s career. Known as the ‘Gracie Hunter’ Sakuraba rocketed to fame for his victories over MMA’s first family, defeating Royler Gracie, Royce Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, and Gracie proteges Vitor Belfort, Ebenezer Fontes Braga, and Nino Schembri.

Despite all that success, the Gracies eventually got some of their own back, starting with Gracie disciple Ricardo Arona’s victory over Sakuraba at Pride Critical Countdown 2005. Royce Gracie got his chance to even the score two years later, at Dynamite!! USA. And Ralek Gracie was there to pick up the pieces with a 2010 win over Sakuraba at Dream 14. We’re watching Arona vs. Sakuraba over on Fight Pass, while Royce vs. Sakuraba 2 & Ralek vs. Sakuraba — can both be found on YouTube.

TIMESTAMPS —

As always, we’re watching all videos from the beginning. Viewers can follow along with us by pressing play when Zane says “Go.” For those watching other versions of the fights, Connor will try to announce the start of round 1 so they can sync up from there.

If you enjoy our shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

The MMA Depressed-us: Get in the locker, nerd – Hettes vs. Bermudez

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts

The UFC is taking a rare week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, which means we’re giving thanks for all the good fights we get to watch by watching some less than sparkling examples of elite mixed martial arts competition. This week’s episode is centered around MMA’s nerdiest fighters and their horrible, soul crushing moments when they took on guys who were just way better.

June M. Williams

Opening up the festivities is a relatively recent bout. Chase Hooper hit the Octagon for the second time as a pro back in 2020, when he fought Alex Caceres at UFC 250. Unfortunately for ‘The Dream’, ‘Bruce Leeroy’ put a three round whipping on him, and then dumped his books. From there we move to a 2017 bout between Jack Marshman and full-time web developer (part-time fighter) Ryan Janes at UFC Fight Night: Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio. Marshman followed a fairly one-sided three round drubbing by giving Janes a nasty swirly. And finally, to wrap the whole thing up, we went all the way back to 2014 and UFC 171, where Dennis Bermudez put a hurting on crafty grappler Jimy Hettes. A true locker-stuffing if ever there was one.

As is usual, we’re watching all three bouts on UFC Fight Pass. For those that want to watch along with us, press play on each video when Zane says “Go.” For those watching the fights via another resource, Connor will try to announce the beginning of round 1 so that videos can be synced up there.

If you enjoy our shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

The MMA Depressed-us: Other brothers part 2 – Hughes vs. Stiebling

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts

The UFC is on a brief break once again, and that means the Depressed-us is back in action. And we’ve got some make up work to do from our last show, that featured an all-too-fun main event between Luke Rockhold and Paulo Costa. Fortunately we’ve solved that conundrum with another dive into one of our favorite bad MMA genres: other brothers.

June M. Williams

While we had intended to make this an all Alex Stiebling opponent theme week (he’s fought Mark Hughes, Jason Guida, Murilo Rua, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira), only two of those fights ended up being DU worthy. So we’re kicking things off with a bout between Ildemar Alcantara and Leandro Silva from UFC on Fuel TV: Nogueira vs. Werdum, at 6:04. Then we’re jumping to Jason Guida vs. Alex Stiebling at WEC 22, at 32:58. And finally we’re wrapping the whole thing up with Mark Hughes vs. Alex Stiebling at UFC 28, at 57:13.

As is usual, we’re watching all of this week’s fights on UFC Fight Pass. If you’d like to watch along with us, start each video from the beginning when Zane says “go.” If you’re watching these fights on another platform, Connor will try and mark the start of round 1 so you can sync your video up to that.

If you enjoy our shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

‘Sh-t, we’re home free’ – Daniel Cormier admits to grabbing towel at UFC 210 in Buffalo

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, UFC News

“You really think I grabbed that towel?”

That was Daniel Cormier just back in May, responding to a video of his infamous UFC 210 weigh-in in Buffalo—posted by none other than Tony Ferguson—where the former two division champion appeared to have missed weight for his title fight against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson. Minutes later, however, Cormier stepped on the scale again to give making weight another shot, this time, with a little helping hand.

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Cormeir has long denied that he ever intentionally used the towel that extra pound and get to official title weight, instead arguing that he was merely balancing himself and making sure that the towel didn’t fall and leave him exposed. And since the New York State Athletic Commission never seemed interested in taking action (beyond creating a new regulation against future towel grabbing scenarios), he could have gone on denying any nefarious intention forever.

That makes it something of a shock that, during his UFC Hall of Fame induction speech, the former US men’s Olympic team member finally decided to come clean about what happened that day in 2017.

“Guys, I want to tell you something because I feel like right now is the time to be completely transparent,” Cormier admitted to the audience, after receiving his award (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I think I may have grabbed the towel in Buffalo.

“I walked to the back after missing weight by 1.2 pounds. It was 1.2. I tried to give it up, guys. Trust me, I tried to give it up. I had a pound to lose. They even went and called my wife to try and get me back in the tub. I said ‘No way, this sh-t is over.’ She told me ‘Daniel, just take a hot bath.’ I go, ‘It’s not that simple.’

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With his body apparently unwilling to shed any more water weight, it seemed like Cormier was out of options. That’s when his coach offered another, more underhanded route.

“I walk back, [my coach] he goes ‘DC, do you remember the old wrestling trick?’” Cormier continued. “I said, ‘Can you stand behind me?’ Because there’s two—you can put your hands behind you and your person can lift you up. He said, ‘No, it’s the towel one.’

“Do you understand the level of ridiculousness that has to happen in order for that to work?” Cormier said. “I looked down and I could not believe my luck. I am a lucky guy. Even when I would lose, the belt would just somehow come back to me. I was like, I’m a lucky guy.

“So I look down and the commissioner’s on the floor looking at the scale. There’s a second lady and I look down — she’s right next to him, so I grab the towel and I’m like, ‘S*** we’re home free.’ [Marc] Ratner, I know I would never get you like that, but in New York, first time, you know what it is. It is what it is.

“‘Rumble,’ I’m sorry my guy.”

The longtime AKA talent went on to defeat Johnson via second round submission, picking up his second light heavyweight title defense in the process. He followed that victory with a knockout loss to Jon Jones, which was later overturned to a ‘No Contest’ as part of Jones’ own ‘picogram’ scandal. Cormier was reinstated as champ and defended the belt one more time before moving up to heavyweight and capturing the title from Stipe Miocic. He retired from active competition in 2020 with an overall record of 22-3-1, and has since become a constant voice in the UFC broadcast booth.

The MMA Depressed-us: The Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza 2 episode

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts, UFC 274

The UFC has a break in the schedule, but there’s no rest for the wicked. The MMA Depressed-us is back to fill the gap in the calendar with a tour through some of mixed martial arts’ most notorious blunders.

June M. Williams

This time around, however, we had to celebrate the recent emergence of one of the worst fights in MMA history. Carla Esparza vs. Rose Namajunas 2, at UFC 274 earlier this month, was an all time historic bad fight. There’s no way we could pass up dedicating a show to it. So that’s what we did. We’re watching Namajunas vs. Esparza 2 back-to-back-to-back. 3x the inaction, 3x the complete lack of fun. Sit back and enjoy.

As always, we’re watching the fights on ESPN+ & Fight Pass. We start each bout from the beginning of the video. If you want to sync up and watch along with us, just press play when Zane counts down to “go”. If you’re watching the fights on another medium Connor will try and tell you when round 1 begins so you can start your video there.

  • INTRO: 0:26
  • TAKE ONE: 3:54
  • TAKE TWO: 40:12
  • TAKE THREE: 1:13:56
  • FIN: 1:46:37

If you enjoy our shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

The MMA Depressed-us: Other brothers – Serra vs. Makowski

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA History, MMA Podcasts

The UFC’s schedule so far in 2022 is one of non-stop, balls-to-the-wall action. Which unfortunately means opportunities for the MMA Depressed us are few and far between. But, with the promotion taking a rare break this week, we’re back to watch more of the best of the worst of MMA.

June M. Williams

This time around, we’ve decided to tackle “other brothers,” the less notable, less talented, less famous siblings of some of MMA’s favorite fighters. To kick off the show, we’re starting with the longest fight of Valentijn Overeem’s career, his 2003 one-round 15 minute decision loss to Mikko Rupponen at Fight Festival 7. We’re following that bout up with a bout from Dan Lauzon’s brief UFC career, his 2010 loss to Efrain Escudero at UFC 114. And finally we’re wrapping the whole thing up with the final fight of Nick Serra’s MMA journey, a defeat to 2-0 Matt Makowski at Elite XC: Primetime, in 2008.

While the Lauzon and Serra bouts are both available on Fight Pass, for viewers who wish to watch along with us, the Overeem fight can be found for free on YouTube, through this hyperlink. As always, we’re starting each video right at the beginning. So just hit play when Zane says “go.” Or if you’re watching the fights via a different medium, Connor will try and cue listeners for the start of the first round.

  • Overeem vs. Rupponen – At 6:22
  • Lauzon vs. Escudero – At 28:54
  • Serra vs. Makowski – At 53:33

If you enjoy our shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.