Tag: Michael Schiavello

Video: “The Voice” Interviews “The Prodigy”

If you’re like me, when you see that Joe Rogan or Mike Goldberg are about to launch into one of their interview segments during the Spike prelims, you likely use the opportunity to grab a beer, take a piss, or switch over to Comedy Central to re-watch the end of last week’s Workaholics episode (the exception to this is of course,when Jason Mamoa is around). Because let’s be honest, who wants to listen to Dana White scream over a blaring DMX song about how great the upcoming card that you can’t afford is going to be?

But in the case of last weekend’s ProElite 2-Big Guns event, Michael Schiavello’s interview with B.J. Penn felt like the first breath after awakening from a seven year coma. Penn, who has apparently mastered the technology behind Wolverine’s healing powers, showed few signs of the damage Nick Diaz inflicted upon him just over a week ago. At the event to support his brother Reagan, “The Prodigy” discussed how retiring had been on his mind for some time:

If you’re like me, when you see that Joe Rogan or Mike Goldberg are about to launch into one of their interview segments during the Spike prelims, you likely use the opportunity to grab a beer, take a piss, or switch over to Comedy Central to re-watch the end of last week’s Workaholics episode (the exception to this is of course,when Jason Mamoa is around). Because let’s be honest, who wants to listen to Dana White scream over a blaring DMX song about how great the upcoming card that you can’t afford is going to be?

But in the case of last weekend’s ProElite 2-Big Guns event, Michael Schiavello’s interview with B.J. Penn felt like the first breath after awakening from a seven year coma. Penn, who has apparently mastered the technology behind Wolverine’s healing powers, showed few signs of the damage Nick Diaz inflicted upon him just over a week ago. At the event to support his brother Reagan, “The Prodigy” discussed how retiring had been on his mind for some time:

I think this is something I should’ve did after the first Frankie Edgar fight…a bunch of my coaches pleaded with me to step away from the sport, take some time off. I was just in the mix…trying to push myself. I don’t really like the results I’ve been getting. If I ever feel it again, I’ll come back, if [a fight] interests me, it excites me…I don’t want to be sitting in the locker room saying ‘I can’t believe I’m still doing this.’ 

Let’s just hope a fight doesn’t pop up on a regional circuit somewhere that forces Penn to go back on his word.

“The Voice” also picked Penn’s brain on the upcoming Diaz/GSP bout, now that Penn has fought them both. His analysis seemed pretty spot on:

I think it’s gonna be very, very tough for Nick Diaz to defend Georges St. Pierre’s takedowns, and if [GSP] wants to turn this into a takedown type fight, I think he’s definitely gonna have an advantage. 

When asked on what kind of game-plan Diaz would need to beat GSP, Penn stated that “People get broken mentally in fights…if Nick Diaz can make GSP break somehow than the fight’s his. But, other than that, it’s gonna be a long night.”

Doesn’t he know that GSP said he really wants to finish this fight? For reals this time.

-Danga 

Watch Badr Hari’s Documentary and Then Decide Whether Or Not He’s a Crazy Motherf*cker

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Undubately)

If you’re unfamiliar with who Badr Hari is, watch this documentary and familiarize yourself with kickboxing’s answer to Mike Tyson.

“The Golden Boy” is candid and honest about his issues with anger inside and outside of the ring in the short doc that aired last week on Dutch TV. I don’t know what makes a crazy, out of control person who stomps on downed opponents and knocks people who piss him off out in the street so polarizing, but it’s stories like these that I’d read about or watch any day of the week.

If you’re like me and the show left you wanting to hear more from Hari about himself, you’re in luck. Michael Schiavello announced during the HDNet broadcast of last weekend’s Titan Fighting event that he recently sat down with the beleagured Dutch-born Morroccan fighter to shoot an episode of  his acclaimed “The Voice vs.” series and that it was the most intense interview he’s ever done. The Voice vs. Badr Hari will air June 24 at 10 pm ET on HDNet.

Check out parts 2 and 3 of the documentary after the jump.


(Video courtesy of YouTube/Undubately)

If you’re unfamiliar with who Badr Hari is, watch this documentary and familiarize yourself with kickboxing’s answer to Mike Tyson.

“The Golden Boy” is candid and honest about his issues with anger inside and outside of the ring in the short doc that aired last week on Dutch TV. I don’t know what makes a crazy, out of control person who stomps on downed opponents and knocks people who piss him off out in the street so polarizing, but it’s stories like these that I’d read about or watch any day of the week.

If you’re like me and the show left you wanting to hear more from Hari about himself, you’re in luck. Michael Schiavello announced during the HDNet broadcast of last weekend’s Titan Fighting event that he recently sat down with the beleagured Dutch-born Morroccan fighter to shoot an episode of  his acclaimed “The Voice vs.” series and that it was the most intense interview he’s ever done. The Voice vs. Badr Hari will air June 24 at 10 pm ET on HDNet.

Check out parts 2 and 3 of the documentary below.

Part 2


(Video courtesy of YouTube/Undubately)

Part 3


(Video courtesy of YouTube/Undubately)


(Video courtesy of YouTube/ZP420MMA)

HDNet Offers an Honest Assessment of Bobby Lashley

Filed under: MMA Media Watch, HDNet

The worst thing a TV announcer can do is lie to the audience. That’s true in any sport, but mixed martial arts has a particularly egregious history of announcers hyping up fighters at the expense of the truth: When …

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The worst thing a TV announcer can do is lie to the audience. That’s true in any sport, but mixed martial arts has a particularly egregious history of announcers hyping up fighters at the expense of the truth: When a promoter wants to make one fighter or another into its next star, there are far too many announcers willing to overstate the fighter’s abilities and mislead the viewers into thinking they’re watching a better fighter than they are.

So it was refreshing on Friday night to hear the HDNet announcing team of Michael Schiavello and Frank Trigg tell the audience the truth about Bobby Lashley, who was fighting in the main event of a Titan Fighting card: Although the easy thing to do would have been to hype up Lashley as Titan Fighting’s biggest star, Schiavello and Trigg instead offered a frank assessment of Lashley and told the audience the truth about who he is: A big, muscular former wrestler whose physique looks impressive but whose MMA skills are limited and whose cardiovascular conditioning is atrocious.

Wanderlei Silva Likes Knees on the Ground, Dana White Doesn’t

Filed under: UFC, HDNetOne of the longstanding goals of the UFC is to implement the unified rules of mixed martial arts, as sanctioned by the athletic commissions in North America, everywhere that MMA takes place. That’s why the UFC uses the unified ru…

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One of the longstanding goals of the UFC is to implement the unified rules of mixed martial arts, as sanctioned by the athletic commissions in North America, everywhere that MMA takes place. That’s why the UFC uses the unified rules even in places where there is no sanctioning body, it’s why the UFC imposed the unified rules on Strikeforce and it’s why the UFC didn’t adopt any of the old Pride rules when it purchased Pride.

Implementing one set of rules everywhere is a worthy goal and a positive step toward mainstream acceptance of MMA around the world. But while the UFC is set in its ways of using the unified rules, some folks in MMA think the unified rules should look a little more like the rules used in Pride.

That includes Wanderlei Silva, who fought most of his career using Pride or Brazilian vale tudo rules but has spent the last three years in the UFC. Michael Schiavello asks the “Axe Murderer” on the upcoming HDNet show The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva which rules from Pride he’d like to see in the UFC, and Silva said he’d love to be able to use knees to the head on the ground inside the Octagon.

Wanderlei Silva Discusses ‘Terrible Photo’

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In this exclusive clip from The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva, the UFC star discusses an infamous Internet photo, why his parents haven’t watched him fight live and much more. Check out The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva on March 25 at 8 p.m. ET on HDNet.

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In this exclusive clip from The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva, the UFC star discusses an infamous Internet photo, why his parents haven’t watched him fight live and much more. Check out The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva on March 25 at 8 p.m. ET on HDNet.

Afternoon Video Dump: Jon Jones’s Funkiness, Penis Cobbler + More

(Props: Cyberplex)
"Ryan’s mentioning that he thinks that I’ll cut down on my flashiness? That’s what he’s afraid of. So that’s exactly what I’ll probably give him the most, is a lot of weird, unorthodox techniques that he’s never seen, even …

(Props: Cyberplex)

"Ryan’s mentioning that he thinks that I’ll cut down on my flashiness? That’s what he’s afraid of. So that’s exactly what I’ll probably give him the most, is a lot of weird, unorthodox techniques that he’s never seen, even in wrestling."

So says light-heavyweight contender Jon Jones, who’s set to face off against Ryan Bader in a high-profile matchup at UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort on Super Bowl weekend. In his most recent fights against Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera, and Matt Hamill, Jones simplified his gameplan so that he was pretty much just taking guys down with his Greco throws then smashing them with elbows and punches until the ref pulled him off. Bader will be expecting that, which may be why Jones is promising brand-new techniques. But what can he throw that he hasn’t shown us already? Is there such a thing as a spinning-flying-knee?  

After the jump: Chuck Liddell‘s guest-spot on Blue Mountain State (damn right it’s horrible!), Michael Schiavello repeats his catch-phrase over and over again, and MMA makes it onto Comedy Central’s brand-new Sportsdome series. Sort of.

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