Another former professional wrestler is gearing up to jump into the mixed martial arts (MMA) cage. That wrestler being former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger (real name Jake Hager). Hager will be fighting at tomorrow’s (Sat. January 26, 2019) Bellator 214 event from The Forum in Inglewood, California. He’ll face J.W. Kiser on the […]
Another former professional wrestler is gearing up to jump into the mixed martial arts (MMA) cage.
That wrestler being former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger (real name Jake Hager). Hager will be fighting at tomorrow’s (Sat. January 26, 2019) Bellator 214 event from The Forum in Inglewood, California. He’ll face J.W. Kiser on the main card. Speaking to media recently, Hager discussed his upcoming debut.
He spoke about fellow professional wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio, Roman Reigns, and Vince McMahon all having shown support recently. More specifically, McMahon – the billionaire behind the WWE operation – had some good advice for Swagger ahead of his fight:
“Don’t lose.”
Hager joins the likes of fellow professional wrestlers like CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, and Bobby Lashley who have tried their hand at MMA. However, Hager is one of the few to have a legitimate athletic background. He is a former NCAA Division I wrestling competitor. This will certainly serve him well in MMA.
Hopefully Hager sees more success than Punk did in his UFC venture. Punk was defeated in both his UFC fights via lopsided fashion. As for Lesnar, he is a former UFC heavyweight champion who has been very successful in the sport. His return has even been teased as recently as this past summer.
Bobby Lashley hasn’t fought since October of 2016. However, he is currently on an eight-fight win streak. Lashely is back with the WWE for now, so don’t expect him to be fighting anytime soon. If he does, perhaps he’s matched up with Hager for a fun WWE star vs. WWE star fight.
Another former professional wrestling star is about to try their hand at mixed martial arts (MMA). Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger (real name Jake Hager) will make his first walk to the cage this weekend (Sat. January 26, 2019) for B…
Another former professional wrestling star is about to try their hand at mixed martial arts (MMA). Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger (real name Jake Hager) will make his first walk to the cage this weekend (Sat. January 26, 2019) for Bellator MMA. Hager has a legitimate background as a former NCAA Division I competitive wrestler, […]
We all tend to take for granted that the UFC makes MMA a bit more serious than it is at its core. With the stars and titles and big pay-per-views, you’d almost forget what the game is in actuality.
It’s a carnival sport, a more real cousin of professio…
We all tend to take for granted that the UFC makes MMA a bit more serious than it is at its core. With the stars and titles and big pay-per-views, you’d almost forget what the game is in actuality.
It’s a carnival sport, a more real cousin of professional wrestling where scripted outcomes are missing but loudmouths who are willing to live their gimmick have increasingly gotten ahead. To that end, Vince McMahon and his band of merry entertainers could surely relate to it.
If you don’t agree, consider Exhibit A: a classic Ric Flair faceplant following a low blow in a recent Indonesian MMA bout, held by One Pride MMA.
Following a relatively low-impact lead leg kick that struck the groin area, the fighter throwing the kick stops. He knows he’s in the wrong, and though he’s willing to continue the fight, he halts and considers the situation.
If there’s more fight to be had, he’ll have it, but in the name of sportsmanship, he leaves the next move to his counterpart in the red corner.
That move?
Comically grab his cup, adjust it a few times, take a single step and faceplant hard on the mat. Flair himself—the subject of the most recent 30 for 30 and suddenly resurgent popular culture icon as a result—couldn’t have done it better.
The referee steps in, presumably to give our Flair Lite the five minutes he needs to recover, and the clip is over. We don’t know what happened in the immediate aftermath, but what we have is easily one of the more memorable reactions to a low blow in recent MMA history.
Thank the heavens for this wonderful, bizarre sport.
Ronda Rousey has lost two in a row, but her career is far from over.
The former longtime women’s bantamweight champion is back in the news. It’s WrestleMania week, the biggest of WWE’s year, and the UFC star’s long engagement with pro…
Ronda Rousey has lost two in a row, but her career is far from over.
The former longtime women’s bantamweight champion is back in the news. It’s WrestleMania week, the biggest of WWE’s year, and the UFC star’s long engagement with professional wrestling has driven her into the headlines once again.
Paul Heyman, the longtime advocate for former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and old hand in the world of pro wrestling, talked extensively about Rousey in an interview with the Fight Societypodcast.
“I think the WWE audience would embrace Ronda Rousey with open arms,” Heyman said. “Just her name recognition alone is huge. It doesn’t matter, her past two experiences in the UFC. All that matters is if she got involved in a story that people could relate to and sink their teeth into and get excited about.”
It’s not just Heyman, either: Stephanie McMahon, daughter of Vince and chief brand officer of WWE, was likewise bullish about the possibility of having Rousey in her organization. As she told ESPN’s His & Hers, “I would love to add Ronda Rousey! I know that she loves WWE and we certainly love her, so it would be a match, no pun intended, made in heaven. So hopefully one day we’ll have that opportunity.”
With her career in the UFC up in the air after a pair of losses and her acting career seemingly on hold, Rousey’s next move is a mystery. Bleacher Report’s Steven Rondina and Patrick Wyman discuss and debate what her future might hold and whether pro wrestling is really the right fit for her.
Steven: I’m sure you know that the MMA news cycle can get really strange, Patrick. Possibly the only thing stranger is the pro wrestling news cycle. In both of those circles, there has been a noticeable uptick in chatter about the subject of Rousey getting into the world of professional wrestling.
This isn’t necessarily a new thing. Rousey famously appeared in the crowd at SummerSlam 2014 and appeared in-ring at WrestleMania 31 alongside McMahon and top stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Triple H. The WWE has been smitten by Rousey ever since and has publicly courted her through executives and talent alike.
While a lot has changed for all involved parties since that 2015 segment, all those changes have worked in favor of a potential longer-term relationship between the WWE and Rousey.
The WWE has been doing generally solid work rebuilding, legitimizing and highlighting its women’s matches. Meanwhile, it has reintroduced the brand split (which assigns separate rosters to its Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live shows), offering up many different ways for Rousey to be introduced and utilized.
On Rousey’s end? There’s nothing really tethering her to MMA at this point. She doesn’t have a title, and the mainstream sports world isn’t buzzing about her return anymore. On top of that, we see WME-IMG and the UFC at the very least entertaining the idea of ConorMcGregor entering the boxing ring, potentially opening the door for a similarly bright star to take a much less risky leap.
Unless Rousey is suddenly disinterested in making a go of it in the ring, I don’t see anything getting in the way of this arrangement. Do you?
Patrick: No, I don’t see any real impediments; on the contrary, I see a ton of upside for everybody involved here.
The best-case scenario for Rousey, the UFC and the WWE involves all three parties working out a deal similar to the one that brought Brock Lesnar back to the UFC for his UFC 200 bout against Mark Hunt.
At this point, Rousey’s time as the best women’s bantamweight on the planet is over barring a major switch in trainers and approach. She would need to fundamentally change a great many things about her game in order to compete with the fighters who are emerging at the top of the division she used to rule with an iron fist.
Can you see her finding a way to beat Amanda Nunes, or even Valentina Shevchenko, with her current skill sets? I can’t, and I doubt I’m alone in that regard.
What Rousey can do, however, is turn herself into a special attraction.
She still has enormous star power outstripping everyone else on the UFC roster (with the exception of McGregor) by orders of magnitude. If she wants to fight, people will tune in, but there’s no reason to slot her into difficult matchups with the very elite of the division. Her opponent is irrelevant: Rousey is the draw.
This is just as true for the WWE as it is for the UFC. There’s no reason to put Rousey front and center on every Raw or SmackDown broadcast, but she’s an incredibly compelling piece for them to use in small doses. That’s how the WWE has used Lesnar since his return, and while you’re the expert, Steven, my understanding is that has proven quite effective for them.
This works out for everybody. Rousey has the time to work on her acting career, but she’s also in the limelight regularly for the WWE and perhaps once a year for the UFC. There’s money in it, the schedule fits and so too does the broad category of attraction. She maintains her public profile while raking in cash from several sources and the WWE and UFC benefit from the full measure of her star power.
Was WWE impresario Paul Heyman correct, Steven, in thinking that the industry would welcome her warmly? Do you see that being an impediment in any way?
Steven: It was silly that people scoffed when Heyman stated that Rousey would be warmly received by WWE fans. There’s certainly no question that Rousey’s standing with the general population has suffered after back-to-back losses in the cage, but that doesn’t invalidate her prior wins, and it certainly doesn’t disqualify her from playing a tough gal on TV.
There’s plenty of precedent to go on here. Lesnar received one of the biggest and longest ovations in recent WWE history when he returned to the WWE in 2012 just four months after having his diverticulitis kicked in by Alistair Overeem.
When Ken Shamrock was a special guest referee for a match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart, fans didn’t chant “Royce Gracie” at him. The NWA Invasion angle didn’t fall apart because Dan Severn was tapped by Mark Coleman a year prior.
Those aren’t apples-to-apples comparison, but they’re also not apples-to-oranges.
Rousey is a known commodity to the general population, and even in 2017, she is defined by her ability to assassinate opponents in MMA fights. Add to that her legitimate intensity and on-camera presence, and you have somebody that, in my mind, works as a plug-and-play option for pro wrestling. The only question for me is how deep they can throw her into the pool.
Even with a guy like AJ Styles, who was 17 years and dozens of titles deep into his wrestling career at that point, the WWE kept the training wheels on for his first six months by having the Miz and Chris Jericho carry him through feuds. Rousey can make her way through a few squashes with just a bit of training, but the big concern for me would be her mic work.
I haven’t seen any of the flicks involving Rousey, but how good is she as an actress? She did fine delivering a one-liner at ‘Mania 31, but do you think she could get in the ring in front of a live crowd and make it work?
Patrick: Well, I don’t think Rousey will be a favorite to pick up an Oscar anytime soon, but in the right circumstances, she can hold her own in limited action. Her raw charisma is real and always has been. More importantly, there’s no reason to think she can’t improve given time and practice.
With that said, I think the best option is the Lesnar route: Let Rousey be a force of nature, an unstoppable steamroller who runs through her opponents in the ring, and have Heyman or someone else with the right skills take care of the mic work for now.
That fits with the “small doses” approach I outlined before. One of the real risks with Rousey, something we saw with her time as the champion in the UFC, is the risk of burnout both from her personally and in terms of fans’ reactions to her. Rousey is a natural heel, and villains work best when they get to pick and choose their spots. Overexposure limits their effectiveness.
A couple of appearances per month is more than enough Rousey. She’s special. Outside of Lesnar and John Cena, there’s nobody else even close to her level of stardom, and her presence needs to be sparing in order to have its full effect.
The same goes for her future in MMA. There’s no reason to bring her in to headline a random April pay-per-view; she should be there for the big Fourth of July or New Year’s events, nothing more, to add a half-million or more buys and some mainstream media exposure through softball segments on the major talk shows.
To do otherwise, even to force her to carry all the promotional weight, is to misunderstand her appeal and limit her value.
What do you think, Steven? Is this splitting of time even viable? How would you approach her career?
Steven: We keep bringing up Brock, and to answer your question I’ll do it once again.
Lesnar had a very active 2016 in the WWE (by Lesnar standards), working in the main events of the Royal Rumble, Fastlane and WrestleMania. He returned at SummerSlam for a feud with Randy Orton and then started his ongoing feud with Goldberg at Survivor Series, which had a layover in this year’s Royal Rumble. Snuggled in there were more than a few RAW appearances and even a couple of house show matches.
Even with all that, he found the time to beat up a ranked heavyweight in a major UFC show.
While it may have stunted her growth as a fighter, we’ve seen Rousey juggle Hollywood and MMA before. Part-time wrestling doesn’t eat up entire months the way filming a movie does. There is very little doubt in my mind that Rousey could find a way to wrestle a handful of big matches and sneak in an occasional return to the cage.
And I would agree with you that this is basically how Rousey’s combat sports career should go from this point.
If I’m the all-powerful god of combat sports, I would roll out Rousey around SummerSlam in August and have her get in a match before the end of 2017 (Survivor Series being the most obvious landing spot). Let her grow some roots and find her place in the roster for a big appearance at WrestleMania 34. By July 2018? Have Rousey sharpen her teeth and reestablish her in-cage legitimacy at the expense of a fighter like Paige VanZant.
Obviously, it’s not nearly that simple, but in my mind, it works. Hopefully Vince McMahon and Dana White end up agreeing with me.
For the first time since 2012, a new voice will call the action at a North American UFC event when Todd Grisham takes over the play-by-play duties for the UFC on Fox Sports 1, Sunday in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
A veteran of the WWE and ESPN, Grish…
For the first time since 2012, a new voice will call the action at a North American UFC event when Todd Grisham takes over the play-by-play duties for the UFC on Fox Sports 1, Sunday in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
A veteran of the WWE and ESPN, Grisham will partner with retired middleweight Brian Stann to provide live, blow-by-blow coverage of the event, headlined by heavyweights Travis Browne and Derrick Lewis.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden sat down with Grisham days before his debut to talk about his career, the inimitable Vince McMahon and the unique challenges MMA presents to even the most experienced broadcaster.
Bleacher Report:A month or so ago, you changed Twitter handles and launched a new life. For people on the outside, a move like this appears so sudden. Did this happen out of the blue or had it been in the works for some time?
Todd Grisham: I’d been covering UFC for ESPN for five years. I’d done tons of UFC pay-per-views and some Fight Nights. So, I was familiar with the product and they were familiar with me. When my contract came up with ESPN two years ago, we had some preliminary conversations and I met with them. We almost came to an agreement then, but it didn’t work out.
My deal came up again and I reached out to them to fire talks back up. And here I am.
B/R: I know you’ve called Glory World Series kickboxing matches recently and filled in on play-by-play for the beloved, dearly departed Friday Night Fights. But MMA is such a complex beast. Did you have to try out or anything before they decided to bring you on board?
Grisham: I went out to Vegas and called some fights with Dominick Cruz and Daniel Cormier and met with the executive producer and (producer) Zach Candito. And I went out a second time and called some fights with Brian Stann. And, thanks to MMA Live, I’ve done work with Chael Sonnen and they’ve seen me interact with their athletes dozens of times.
B/R: It’s an interesting time to be joining the UFC team. Not only is there new ownership, but your signing came in the wake of longtime announcer Mike Goldberg’s departure. Has that timing been awkward in any way, with fans attaching your arrival with his departure?
Grisham: No, because I’m not replacing Mike Goldberg. He mostly called the big shows, the pay-per-views, and that’s the stuff Jon Anik is doing. If anything, I’m replacing what Jon did and doing the things he did before Goldberg left. So there hasn’t really been any backlash directed at me.
B/R: I’m going to out myself now as a longtime fan of professional wrestling, where you had your first big break as a commentator for WWE. How did you make that leap, from a local sports show in Tucson, Arizona, to a national brand seen all over the world?
Grisham: Like every single male, I was a huge fan of WWF when I was a kid. Saturday Night’s Main Event, all that stuff? I loved it. I had been the local sports guy in Tucson, covering the University of Arizona. That was our big beat. One day a viewer sent me an email that said WWE had an opening for on-air talent and that I’d be perfect for it, because I had been doing all these goofy high school football skits on Friday nights. So I took a shot and sent them a resume tape on VHS.
B/R: Wow. And they found your tape on what must have been quite a pile of auditions?
Grisham: I didn’t hear anything for a couple of months. Next thing you know, they call me out of the blue on a Friday and ask me to fly up to New York City for an audition on Monday. Went up there, did the audition and didn’t hear anything for a couple of months, and assumed I didn’t get the gig. Then, out of nowhere again, they called and made me an offer. I ended up being there for eight years.
B/R: WWE has quite an operation. That must have been quite an experience. What did you learn there that you’ve kept with you at ESPN and will bring with you to UFC?
Grisham: You’ve got to be entertaining. That was Vince McMahon’s big thing. (Does a McMahon impression) “Entertain me.”
There were times when a match would end early and I’d be at the Gorilla position, which is where Vince sits and the wrestlers gather before they go out to the ring. I remember him saying “Three minutes. We need three minutes from you. Go entertain the crowd.” I’d have to walk out in front of 18,000 people and figure out how to entertain them for a couple of minutes. It was crazy.
You learned from the best. I remember sitting there drinking coffee with Ric Flair and talking with Jerry “The King” Lawler. It was surreal. Having a beer with Harley Race. It was like being in the circus. I was on the road for eight years, 51 weeks a year. When you have a family, it’s hard and you start thinking about settling down a little bit.
B/R: When you read the wrestling media, the opposition party, in the parlance of our times, is a guy named Kevin Dunn.
Grisham: (Laughs)
B/R: He’s blamed for every decision hardcore fans don’t like and he’s kind of vilified. But when I look at WWE under his tenure as the producer of Monday Night Raw, I see a promotion and a television show on the cutting edge. The gold standards, in combat sports television, have always been HBO Boxing and WWE wrestling. Did you learn a lot under his wing as a broadcaster?
Grisham: WWE hires the best. The camera guys there have done Monday Night Football. They’ve done Super Bowls. They’ve done the Olympics. Kevin Dunn is probably the best producer I’ve ever worked with and I’ve been at ESPN for the last five years. So I don’t say that lightly.
At WWE, you’ve got to know what you’re talking about and you need to know how to do what you’re supposed to do. If you do your job, you’ll be fine. But it’s high-level work. The truck they have there is on par with Monday Night Football‘s truck. WWE was shooting in HD before Major League Baseball or the NHL.
They are always on the forefront of the latest technology and trends. WWE is on it. Even social media. Just look at the numbers. It’s insane. Everything they do, production-wise, is second-to-none. It’s actually very similar to UFC that way.
B/R: When you were an announcer for WWE, you weren’t in a journalist’s role. You were part of the show.
At ESPN, it was different. With Teddy Atlas there, giving his unvarnished opinions, there was always going to be a separation between the broadcaster and the promotion. He wasn’t shy about leveling criticism or praise as warranted. That was journalism.
This role with the UFC is kind of a hybrid. Fox Sports is the broadcaster, but the UFC produces its own shows. Do you have a feel yet for whether your role is more like WWE or more like ESPN boxing?
Grisham: This is my first show, so I don’t really know what’s going to come out of my mouth yet. No one has really told me what to say or what not to say, which was certainly how it worked at WWE. I’m just going to go out there and do what I do. Obviously UFC is the promoter and they do air the fights. I don’t actually know what to expect in that regard.
I’m a fan first and foremost. I went to UFC 14 in 1997 in Birmingham, Alabama, to watch Mark Coleman fight Maurice Smith. When I’m calling fights, no matter what it is, it’s my job to make the guys look as good as they can, tell their stories and make people care about them. Whether it’s WWE, football, boxing or UFC, that’s the main job of the “play-by-play guy.”
B/R: When you were getting your reps, calling these practice fights with Dominick Cruz and Brian Stann, what did you find was different about MMA? In boxing, to me, it seems like there’s usually time to settle in and tell the stories you want to tell. If the fight is well-matched, you’re going to be there a while. In MMA, things happen so quickly. Did you find yourself in a rush to use your material before it was all over?
Grisham: It was interesting, because when I’m calling a fight with Dominick Cruz, what am I going to say about what the fighters are doing on the ground that will be better than what Cruz has to say? So, especially when the action is on the ground, I’m going to sit back in my chair and maybe light up a cigarette and let him do his thing.
B/R: (Laughs)
Grisham: In kickboxing, anyone can see that one guy kicked the other guy in the leg. In boxing, even with Teddy Atlas, I would sometimes give my opinion about what was happening. He’d shut me down half the time, but I don’t think I’ll be trying that in UFC, especially when the fight is on the ground. There may be things happening on the ground that the regular fan doesn’t see. Things that are being set up that anyone who isn’t a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt doesn’t see. Whoever is in there with me, I don’t want to step on their toes.
B/R: What advice have the producers for Sunday’s show given you to help make this a smooth transition?
Grisham: Michael La Plante, Zach Candito and Craig Borsari have all been in touch. It’s such a difficult sport to broadcast. If you’re calling a football game, it’s a football game. With UFC, anybody can do all the prep work and get their backgrounds and their statistics. To me, the most difficult stuff are the things that happen in between. Stretching for 20 seconds when they need it before a break, making sure you read the promos at the right time. All the minute details you have to script out and plan so carefully. That’s where you can really shine or crash and burn.
B/R: And no one may even know if you’re doing well.
Grisham: If you’re shining, the average fan doesn’t even notice. You’re just reading a promo. But if you mess up and don’t talk about MetroPCS when you’re supposed to, the people in the truck notice. And there will be hell to pay.
B/R: Is it best if you call these fights in Halifax and no one even thinks about the fact there is a new guy in the booth? Is that a victory?
Grisham: Not quite at a referee level. They say with a good referee, you don’t even know he or she is there.
To me, the blow-by-blow announcer has to be there for that magic moment, that “Holy s–t” moment. That’s when people notice whether you’re good or not. If someone gets knocked cold, like to the frozen tundra, you can’t just say “a headkick knockout.” You have to show up for that. That doesn’t cut it. At least for me. That’s where you shine.
I’ll have to find that chemistry with whoever I’m working with. Sunday, it’s Brian Stann. And Brian has told me point blank, “If I feel a finish coming, I’m going to lay out and let you do your thing.”
In the wrestling business, they call it “getting your s–t in.” Brian’s going to get his s–t in, his People’s Elbow, which is breaking down the complex action. That’s what he does well. And he’s going to let me call the finish, which hypothetically I do well.
I don’t really have a catchphrase. I just need to get excited at the right times and not say anything stupid. That’s the low bar I’ve set for myself. Don’t f–k it up. That’s my goal.
Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.
Never one to shy away from offering his opinion on anything that crosses his mind, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently spoke on a wide variety of topics.
With WrestleMania 33 approaching April 2, McGregor left the door open for a possible …
Never one to shy away from offering his opinion on anything that crosses his mind, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently spoke on a wide variety of topics.
With WrestleMania 33 approaching April 2, McGregor left the door open for a possible WWE appearance at some point.
“Never say never,” he said, per MMA Fighting. “I’ll love to go into that WWE and have a real knock. Let one of them have a real knock and see what’s what. But we’ll see. There’s conversations ongoing. I’ve turned down some things, the conversation’s still ongoing.”
WWE and the UFC have agreed to share talent in the past. Brock Lesnar returned to the Octagon in July at UFC 200. Ronda Rousey had a memorable appearance with The Rock, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 31 in 2015.
McGregor also had some choice words for WWE chairman Vince McMahon, particularly regarding the unique walk McMahon has on WWE television, which McGregor used following his victory over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November.
“I’m thinking Vince McMahon must be pissed,” McGregor said. “I don’t give a f–k about Vince McMahon. I stole that walk, and that walk is now mine. And not Vince, or any of those p—ies over at the WWE will do anything about it. That’s my walk. I created that walk. I made that walk.”
On a more genuine note, McGregor was appreciative of the many athletes in other sports he’s seen adopt elements of his swagger and style.
“All different cultures, all different sports, all the NFL players, all the NBA players, all the football players over here,” he said. “Look, fighting is everywhere. American football is over there. Soccer, or football as we call it, is over here. Fighting is f–king everywhere, and we’re finally seeing that. So I’m very happy and very proud of that.”
McGregor has turned himself into one of the biggest sports stars in the world as well as a box-office hero for the UFC.
His brash attitude can rub some people the wrong way, but he’s proved to be one of the world’s best fighters time and again. And there’s no reason to think he will slow down anytime soon.
