Episode 54 discussion: UFC 246 fallout, Dana rationalizes giving Romero and Aldo title shots, Maycee Barber has a complete ACL tear, Alexa Grasso moves up to flyweight, Werdum provided “substantial assistance” to get redu…
June M. Williams
Episode 54 discussion: UFC 246 fallout, Dana rationalizes giving Romero and Aldo title shots, Maycee Barber has a complete ACL tear, Alexa Grasso moves up to flyweight, Werdum provided “substantial assistance” to get reduced USADA ban
Here is a summary of the topics discussed or questions asked, complete with the time stamps for when each interview or special segment begins. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to the show as much as we enjoyed recording it.
Episode 54
UFC 246 fallout: McGregor kicks Cowboy’s ass, Diego Ferreira dominates Showtime, Roxy shuts down the Maycee Barber hype train – 4:35
Maycee Barber suffered complete ACL tear, father says – 25:30
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Darrion Caldwell MMA News Bellator 238 Ádám Borics | Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
It’s quite the unique privilege to have a Wikipedia sub-category dedicated entirely to one’s backflip-related incidents. Darrion Caldwell is a lot of thing…
Darrion Caldwell MMA News Bellator 238 Ádám Borics | Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
It’s quite the unique privilege to have a Wikipedia sub-category dedicated entirely to one’s backflip-related incidents.
Darrion Caldwell is a lot of things: a former Bellator champion, a submission-record holder, and an NCAA Division I Champion. He is also one of few, if not the only, mixed martial artist with a Wikipedia entry dedicated to his “celebratory backflip incidents.”
The first incident occurred in the closing seconds of his 2009 NCAA championship match against Brent Metcalf. Caldwell attempted an early celebratory handspring and backflip. Metcalf rushed Caldwell mid-backflip and shoved him through the air. In 2015, Caldwell performed a backflip off the cage after beating Shawn Bunch at Bellator 143 and landed on a camerawoman in the process.
#MMA fighter Darrion Caldwell celebrates with back flip directly into the camera woman. https://t.co/tsR0zJhJPK
Bloody Elbow caught up with Caldwell (13-3) ahead of his fight with Ádám Borics (14-0) at Bellator 238.
When asked about the Wikipedia category, Caldwell immediately bust into laughter.
“Why do you want to talk about my backflips, bro?” he asked. “I’m trying to be a stunt double… I’m pretty athletic and pretty durable. I know I can make a check being a stunt double.”
He assured the backflips were going nowhere anytime soon: “Not at all. I’m gonna keep sticking to it…”
“I think it goes to show that he doesn’t really want to fight me. If I had the choice, I’d pick the smallest guy. The one that’s coming up. He knows the type of threats he’d get involved in if he fights me. Honestly, it’s pretty dope that Scott wants us to fight. I think that’s a fight that is going to happen, just not on “Pitbull”’s terms. If he has the choice, he’s not fighting that fight. We’ll give him no choice,” Caldwell assured. “I’ll see him in the finals.”
Bellator 238 takes place on Saturday, Jan. 25. The event is headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight between Julia Budd and the debuting Cris Cyborg.
Adam Borics is entering his fight at Bellator 238 against Darrion Caldwell as confident as you can get. Borics, who is 14-0, is coming off a TKO win over Pat Curran to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix. There, …
Adam Borics is entering his fight at Bellator 238 against Darrion Caldwell as confident as you can get. Borics, who is 14-0, is coming off a TKO win over Pat Curran to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix. There, he was fine with fighting anyone, but he says Caldwell purposely […]
With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC 246, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone in a welterweight showdown headli…
With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC 246, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone in a welterweight showdown headlined the show that saw McGregor win by TKO. In the co-headliner, Holly Holm vs. […]
Working out of Vancouver, Day stays busy as a stuntman and actor, but he’ll always have one foot in the Octagon It is hard for a fighter to retire. It is hard to know when to say when, to p…
Photo by: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Working out of Vancouver, Day stays busy as a stuntman and actor, but he’ll always have one foot in the Octagon
It is hard for a fighter to retire. It is hard to know when to say when, to pick the right moment to put the gloves down and walk away for good.
For Jason William Day, the decision was made for him, by a driver rushing through a yellow light.
Day was riding his bike when the Range Rover crashed into him. Although he somehow escaped the accident with no broken bones, the soft tissue damage was extensive, particularly in his ankles. And while it would take some time for him to come to terms with just how significant the injuries were, Day’s career as a professional fighter was over. To make matters worse, the insurance company, ICBC, refused to compensate Day for his lost wages.
Anyone with enough grit, talent, and heart to make it to the professional ranks must truly transform themselves into a fighter. As Day says, “It is a passionate thing, you have to be all in.”
Once transformed into a fighter, it can be a struggle to morph back into something else.
When it became apparent that Day’s injuries were insurmountable, he took time away from the sport altogether. No coaching, no time in the gym, no UFC on the TV—Day left it all behind and spent a year managing a tavern in Calgary. He was then promoted to managing a night club, but as the night club was frequented by gangs, the promotion wasn’t exactly a step up.
But he is a fighter, so he fought to get his life back.
Returning to Vancouver, Day got back into the gym and continued to fight the insurance company. Just prior to going to trial, and after fighting Day for three years, ICBC lowballed him with an offer of $25,000. Then $50,000. Then $100,000. But the former UFC fighter was going to have his day in court. He won, with the jury awarding him $375,000.
However, because the accident was ruled 10% his fault, Day would receive $340,000. ICBC then appealed the ruling. In the end, Day had to settle for $225,000.
He then pursued another long held dream: acting. Acting had always fascinated him, so much so he took acting classes while he was an active fighter. Even then he had a notion acting skills might benefit him upon retirement. At the time, the path toward acting success made more sense than stunts.
“I didn’t really consider stunts…it seemed like such a hard thing to get into,” he says. But then Day began to train with veteran stuntman and former MMA fighter Dan Rizzuto, who encouraged Day to look into stunt work.
Soon, Day found himself a member of the Vancouver stunt community, and jobs quickly followed.
Day finds a lot of commonalities between the MMA and stunt communities. The camaraderie is similar and good work ethics are rewarded. “The bad attitudes get weeded out quickly. It’s hard to be fake and be a good stuntman. And it’s hard to be fake and be a good fighter, for that matter,” Day says.
In a world dominated by smaller, acrobatic types, Day found his niche. “I’m known as a fighter, and a big guy, and there’s not a ton of big guys in this industry.”
In the last six years, Day has secured 150 stunt jobs. His bread and butter are the action shows the CW films in Vancouver, but he has racked up credits in feature films as well, such as Deadpool (2016), Okja (2017), The Predator (2018), and Shazam (2019).
While Day has more than earned his stripes as a stunt performer, he is also getting acting roles. Most famously, Day was in Skyscraper (2018) with the Rock, and he has upcoming roles in the G.I. Joe movie, as well as Bruce Lee’s Warrior.
The filming of Warrior took Day to South Africa, and he looks forward to seeing what happens as the Cinemax series gains in popularity. Day can also be seen in television shows Arrow,Batwoman, and Snowpiercer.
The stunt team for Warrior. Photo credit: Jason Day
When asked to compare the nature of performing as a fighter verses as a stunt man, Day recalls the complete tunnel vision of the Octagon. Once inside, nothing but the fight exists, and, as he says, “My best fights I don’t even really remember.”
While Day the actor sometimes enters a state of flow on set, the nature of the work prohibits performers from getting lost in the world. Takes are short. “Cut” closely follows “action.” The big action sequences come closest to duplicating the feeling. When a giant set piece is pulled off perfectly in the first take, and the production crew breaks out in applause, there is something like the feeling of winning fight. “But it doesn’t have the crescendo,” he says, the build up to the fight that lasts for weeks or months, only to be decided in a few short minutes.
In addition to his work on set, Day has added another line to his resume—inventor. Ten years ago, Day found himself frustrated in his mobility training in the gym. He began working on an agility ladder, developing various prototypes until he arrived at a final product. The Webby Agility Ladder went out on the market last June.
When asked if he considers moving to Los Angeles, he says he would if the opportunity was right. But as it is, Vancouver offers a lot of work, his family is there, and he lives in an idyllic spot, “in the trees next to the ocean.”
Day has managed to fight his way from that tavern in Calgary to the kind of life many people can only dream of. And yet, a part of him will always be in Octagon.
“A part of me still believes I am going to fight again,” he says. “My brain knows that’s a pipe dream, but my heart doesn’t.”
Jason Day enjoying life in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and 28 month old twins. Photo credit: Jason Day
UFC 246 featured the promotion’s highest-paid fighter competing on the same card as the promotion’s lowest-paid fighter, which is so very “Sin City,” where you can find homeless people sleepi…
Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
UFC 246 featured the promotion’s highest-paid fighter competing on the same card as the promotion’s lowest-paid fighter, which is so very “Sin City,” where you can find homeless people sleeping in the parking garage of Steve Wynn’s Las Vegas hotel.
“Notorious” banked a flat $3 million for less than a minute of work against fellow welterweight, Donald Cerrone. “Cowboy” made $200,000 for his technical knockout loss, which is the same amount Holly Holm pulled for her hug-and-slug opposite Raquel Pennington.
Elsewhere on the card, “Contender Series” standout Ode Osbourne banked a measly $10,000 for his Octagon debut. Askar Askarov and Aleksa Camur joined “Oddity” in the $10k “show” club, while Sabina Mazo drew $12,000 to appear alongside J.J. Aldrich.
Final UFC 246 payouts and salaries below:
Conor McGregor: $3,000,000 Donald Cerrone: $200,000 McGregor def. Cerrone by TKO
Holly Holm: $200,000 ($150,000 to show, $50,000 to win) Raquel Pennington: $63,000 Holm def. Pennington by unanimous decision
Aleskei Oleinik: $150,000 ($75,000 to show, $75,000 to win) Maurice Greene: $30,000 Oleinik def. Greene by submission
Brian Kelleher: $46,000 ($23,000 to show, $23,000 to win) Ode Osbourne: $10,000 Kelleher def. Osbourne by submission
Carlos Diego Ferreira: $100,000 ($50,000 to show, $50,000 to win) Anthony Pettis: $155,000 Ferreira def. Pettis by submission
Roxanne Modafferi: $62,000 ($31,000 to show, $31,000 to win) Maycee Barber: $29,000 Modafferi def. Barber by unanimous decision
Sodiq Yusuff: $54,000 ($27,000 to show, $27,000 to win) Andre Fili: $55,000 Yusuff def. Fili by unanimous decision
Askar Askarov: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win) Tim Elliott: $31,000 Askarov def. Elliott by unanimous decision
Drew Dober: $110,000 ($55,000 to show, $55,000 to win) Nasrat Haqparast: $25,000 Dober def. Haqparast by TKO
Aleksa Camur: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win) Justin Ledet: $20,000 Camur def. Ledet by unanimous decision
Sabina Mazo: $24,000 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 to win) JJ Aldrich: $30,000 Mazo def. Aldrich by split decision
Claudia Gadelha: $54,000 to show (bout canceled)
Keep in mind the salaries listed above do not include fight bonuses, Reebok sponsorships, percentages and other unofficial payments. It also does not include deductions for expenses such as insurance, taxes, etc.
For example, the promotion often hands out extra cash for “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” bonuses, as well as the occasional (and undisclosed) locker room bonuses (sample here).
For complete UFC 246: “McGregor vs. Cowboy” results and play-by-play, click HERE!
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