The MMA Vivisection & 6th Round Podcasts

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 294 had quite a few shakeups along its journey to Abu Dhabi, but the card was solid, even if punctuated by some weird moments. The physician in attendance was responsible for questionable ringside manner as well as numerous raised eyebrows. The way he handled Victor Henry’s low blow and Johnny Walker’s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com The undercard for UFC 294 is pretty robust, like the main card, and features some intriguing pairings. The one that’s really got our attention, though, is Mokaev vs. Elliot. Elliot is a savvy veteran grappler who depends on split-second adjustments and scrappiness. Mokaev is the exact opposite, often demon...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 294 might have lost two of its key players, but we still think it looks great. There’s some definite action fights, two titles on the line and some shakeups leading up to the event in the last few weeks that saw opponent changes and some injury dropoffs—all leading to possibly a better card than the or...

A few weeks back, we told you all a rumor that Showtime Sports would be closing its doors for good by the time 2024 rolled around. Unfortunately, that rumor proved to be true, with confirmation hitting the community today. All 38 employees, including Stephen Espinoza, will have their positions terminated. Dan Rafael reports that contractors and freelancers (including Luke Thomas and Shakiel Mahjou...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com We’re just coming from a damn good card that should have been given an audience in an arena not named the Apex. What an absolute downer it was to not hear a crowd going bonkers over the action fest that was Edson Barboza vs. Sodiq Yusuff. There were other great moments on the card, as well. Terrance McKinn...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com An actual good card at the Apex?! It DOES happen, just not very often. We’re not here to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. We’re here to celebrate the great things about the event. Let’s start with the obvious: There are three ranked fights AND a seventh ranked fighter—seven fighters ranked on a sing...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com As with the main card, there is some name value to be noted on the prelims, too. But what made us scratch our heads was that Darren Elkins is riding in the featured prelim spot. Okay, but are we to ignore that Darren has only won three fights in his last nine? We actually have a ranked fighter on the preli...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com For the last few days, “pundits” from all over the MMA and boxing communities have been weighing in on the lawsuit against Dillon Danis, launched by Logan Paul’s fiancee. Every one of them seems to think it’s Logan himself that’s initiated the suit, but it is indeed Miss Agdal responsible for the litigatio...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 80 is officially in the books and what a quick end to Grant Dawson! Bobby Green needed less than a minute to put Grant Dawson away before attempting to bring his dog into the cage for the post-fight interview. Daniel Cormier had to talk him down as he was summoning his corner to bring the pooch i...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com That’s right, folks, there’s just a single ranked fighter on the prelims. Karolina Kowalkiewicz will be doing all the heavy lifting Saturday night. There was another ranked fighter on the prelims, Chris Gutierrez, but his opponent, Montel Jackson, withdrew with an illness, so the fight was scrapped from th...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 80 isn’t a completely terrible card. It’s got reasonable fights on it, even if there are only two ranked fighters across the whole of it. Bearing that in mind, we are left to wonder where the main event is. Surely it can’t be Grant Dawson vs. Bobby Green. That’s hardly the stuff headliners are ma...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com This week’s UFC card is quite possibly the most APEX card we’ve ever seen and that’s saying something. It started with just three ranked fighters (not fights) out of 12 fights. Then the unfortunate news came that one of those three was having their fight scrapped thanks to his opponent’s sudden illness. So...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com Over the years, John Nash has reviewed contracts from all the major MMA promotions and several big boxing contracts, as well. We’ve been able to see just how restrictive, and at times, draconian, most of the MMA agreements between promotions and athletes truly are. The UFC set the standard with their boile...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com “A young man trapped in his apartment with a swarm of creatures outside his door must find a way to survive the night and escape from apartment 213.” That’s the synopsis IMDB gave this movie starring Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Watch along with us as we try to make heads or tails of whatever this movie is try...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com That’s right, folks, Showtime Boxing is rumored to be shutting down after their 2024 schedule. Reports of everything from dwindling viewership and rising costs to online streaming have surfaced as contributors to their reasoning for the closure. Here are some of the other headlines we discussed: Bloody Elb...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the world of MMA business and finance, but we tried to cover all the most pertinent topics. Front and center is the new filings that came out last week on the UFC’s first half of the year. We also discuss the latest rumblings of a Bellator buyout by the PFL and what that...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 79 saw a spate of decisions on the prelims with just one official finish (vintage Tim Means!) and a DQ stoppage as the most notable moments. The main card, on the other hand, saw all fights end in a finish with the exception of the co-main event, which was a good fight. The headliner would end ea...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com We’re kind of having a hard time believing this is even an Apex card. We have three ranked fights and tons of recognizable names on the bout sheet—even across the prelims. This is the exact opposite of what we’ve been getting. Is this the beginning of a new era? One where the matchmakers show that they app...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 79 isn’t too bad. No, really, we mean it. Let’s start with the fact that we got THREE ranked fights on an Apex show. They aren’t fights that are going to set the world on fire, but they’re solid and more importantly, they’re inside the Top 15. It’s also an event that seems to not have been ravage...

This is FREE episode week! California’s athletic commission is experiencing what appears to be a slow death. Fight Opinion’s Zach Arnold wrote extensively about it on Bloody Elbow and the word he used was “atrophy”. That seems like a perfect word to describe what happens when higher taxes, mergers, attempts to force sanctioning for promotions like Power Slap and a spate of other factors create the...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com Listen, that main event was a really good fight—maybe the best of Valentina’s career, but it should not have been a draw . We felt Grasso took three rounds but we’re fine if you scored it the other way. How one judge scored round 5 a 10-8 is beyond the realm of comprehension. Bloody Elbow is fighting for t...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com Now before you get upset, we want to preface this with the fact that this card was positively ravaged with cancellations and late replacements, hence the title. And to be fair, there are still some interesting bouts at play here. Tracy Cortez vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius is an amazing matchup between two tough...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com That’s right, folks, a UFC title will be contested on TV with no PPV purchase required. Valentina Shevchenko will attempt to reclaim her belt from Mexico’s Alexa Grasso this Saturday night and we are pumped! Even Connor has begrudgingly admitted an admiration for Valentina aka the object of his ire and dis...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com Now that the UFC-WWE merger is complete, the new company, TKO Holdings has been creating a stir since the move was first announced. With a joint valuation of more than $21B, far exceeding that of any other sports property, the venture has the potential to see even more dominance across the sports entertain...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com A lot has happened in the last two weeks. The court gave a date in the antitrust suit, the defendants requested an appeal, the plaintiffs responded and we’ve got all the pertinent details. Spectrum and Disney have been in a battle over rising rates to broadcast Disney’s content—specifically ESPN. John opin...