Sport and Life

Leigh Alliss is a Gloucestershire-based actor who has appeared in This County and Casualty among other programs. He also played the role of his father, Tony in a short film, Cowardice - which chronicled his father being shot dead in 1990. Leigh (then 14) was also shot in the incident. Leigh was a professional boxer (challenging for an English title) and a professional MMA fighter before pursuing a...

Discuss suggestions for the hypothetical scenario below, which was posted on my twitter account - @eddraper81 - November 9th.  "Picture a player whipping a cross into 'the corridor of uncertainty.'  Who'd you see?"

Pedro Carvalho (11-3) challenges a legend of MMA, Pitbull for the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix on Thursay night (Friday morning in the UK). The clash is live on Sky Sports in the UK, CBS Sports in the US.

Mark Halliwell has been a sports journalist for more than 30 years and for nearly a quarter of a century he's been covering Gloucestershire sport - including football clubs Cheltenham Town FC and Forest Green Rovers. Mark has changed roles regularly in recent years as the effect of the internet has taken its toll on local papers' turnover and profit.  Here we discuss what measures papers coul...

Running through answers to my football scenario posted Nov 2 2020 on my Twitter account @edddraper81. " Picture a player riding a tackle and accelerating away.  Who'd you see?  For me, it's Diego Maradona. And I'd also throw Marta in there too."

Spencer Fearon is a former boxer, a former promoter, a trainer, and current Boxing historian and analyst. Here Spencer talks about the life and times of  American boxer Jack Johnson (1878-1946) - who became the first black Heavyweight Champion of the World (in 1908). Johnson was the son of slaves and remains a seismic figure in boxing history and American society. 

Corey Anderson is a former UFC fighter at light-heavyweight who makes his Bellator debut this week against Melvin Manhoef.

Scott Lindsey is a former professional football player for a long list of clubs including Gillingham, He's now working as a coach/manager. As Assistant Manager at Forest Green Rovers, Scott helped steer the club into the football league. He had to leave the job and return home to Kent when his wife, Hayley became terminally ill. He is now manager of Chatham Town, but is also caring for his three d...

Leah McCourt is a rising featherweight in Bellator MMA. She lives in Belfast and trains in Dublin. She's also a mother to Isabella.  Here she reviews Gegard Mousasi's win over Douglas Lima to claim Bellator's Middleweight title and updates me on her situation. Full Youtube video of conversation at Sky Sports Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppoQOQTTQek

Douglas Lima is a Brazilian MMA fighter, based in Georgia, USA. He is Bellator's Welterweight Champion and fights Gegard Mousasi for the vacant Middleweight title early Friday morning (UK time) on Sky Sports. 

Gegard Mousasi is a five-time mixed martial arts champion across different organisations. He goes up against Douglas Lima this Thursday night in Connecticut for the vacant Bellator Middleweight Title. The show is broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports in the early hours of Friday morning. 

Former UFC fighter reviews Khabib's victory and retirement from MMA with a 29-0 record. Is he the greatest MMA/UFC fighter of al time? Video of chat available on Sky Sports Youtube channel.

Franny Benali played for Southampton Football Club between 1998 and 2004, making 389 appearances for the club - and scored one goal! A Premier League icon. He grew up a Southampton fan and remains one today. He has completed formidable tests of endurance for the club's foundation and other charities. Franny currently works as an analyst for Sky Sports and other media outlets and works as a keynote...

Mark, former UFC fighter and current MMA coach (based in Gloucester, England) previews Khabib Nurmagomedov's Lightweight Title defence against Justin Gaethje. Preview video can be seen on Sky Sports Youtube page along with other MMA content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7-pYEPOwPU

Frank Smith rise from 'tea boy' at 16 to CEO of Matchroom Boxing Global is, for me, one of the most inspiring stories in British boxing - and business. He's still only 28. Frank's rise has coincided with Matchroom's stratospheric acceleration in boxing promotion over the past decade - the company (even in the pandemic) organises boxing shows around the world. Here, we have a chat about Frank and t...

Ash Loveridge is the former sports editor of the Stroud News and Journal and has covered sport in Gloucestershire for more than two decades. In particular, he's long covered football team Forest Green Rovers. He can currently be heard on BBC Gloucestershire commentating on FGR's games and his match reports for the Press Association are published across national press and online, including Sky Spor...

Jon Pitman runs the boxing gym, The Fight Factory in Gloucester, England. Jon is the long-time trainer of Commonwealth and British Super Lightweight Champion Riiddy Riiddy Riival (aka Akeem Ennis-Brown). Jon also trains a plethora of amateur and professional boxers and runs boxing-based fitness classes for members of the public of all ages.

Remembering the life and times of Charles L. (Sonny) Liston, former World Heavyweight Champion with former Cruiserweight World Champion Johnny Nelson. Also talk about how Johnny (and his doctors) believe he's recovering from Covd-19 - despite negative test results - and how unwell he has felt with it. Talk about Johnny's new boxing-based fitness programme too, 'Get On It.' More details: https://ge...

Run through social media suggestions for 'forgotten Premier League player.' Discussion held on my twitter - @eddraper81 - on September 5 2020. 

Born Cristiane Justino Venâncio, but known professionally as Cris 'Cyborg'. The Brazilian fighter has world world titles across four MMA organisations, including The UFC and is currently Bellator's Featherweight Champion. We talk up about her upcoming fight with Arlene Blencowe (live on Sky Sports in The UK) and longer term plans to try professional boxing - possibly against Ireland's two-weight W...

Cath Bishop is a three-time Olympian, a World Champion and Olympic silver medalist in rowing. She's also worked as a diplomat, and a coach and a consultant. She teaches on Executive Education programmes at the Judge Business School, Cambridge University. Here we discuss Cath's new book: The Long Win: The search for a better way to succeed.

MVP is a professional English MMA fighter with a record of 17-1. He has also competed in Boxing and Kickboxing. He headlines the first ever major MMA event this week to take place in France, taking on Scotland's Ross Houston. We also follow up on a conversation we had on Black Lives Matter in the summer and explore Michael's sense that maybe the push for equality has lost momentum. This interview...

Paul Godfrey is a director, Club Secretary and historian of Cheltenham Town Football Club. Here we talk about the financial pressures on the club and others in the lower leagues with the ongoing ban on supporters attending matches.

Tom McDermott covers Manchester United for newspapers, online and has his own podcast. For more information on Tom's work check out of his Twitter account - @MrTomMcDermott. Off the back of Manchester United's 6-1 home loss to Tottenham, we discuss - on Deadline Day - whether transfer signings are the answer or whether deeper holistic and structural work needs to be done to restore the club to one...

Dr Ranulf Crooke is a GP in Gloucestershire and co-founder of the Cotswold Optimal Health Clinic in Cheltenham. Craig Paterson is a PHD researcher and Physiologist, a Sports Science expert, at The University of Gloucestershire. Here the Ran and Craig put me through a VO2 Max test and metabolite analysis and we discuss the importance of cardiovascular health  - in the context of the COVID-19 p...