At UFC 223, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title. To get there, he’ll have to make weight. Helping Holloway and five other fighters on the card is George Lockhart, expert nutritionist. In this interview from my radio show, Lockhart says Holloway is muchRead More →
At UFC 223, Max Holloway is going to try to become a two-weight world champion when he faces Khabib Nurmagomedov. Can he get the job done on short notice? We’ll discuss. Plus, Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin (GGG) has been cancelled as well as Matt Brown vs. Carlos Condit. What’s going on? We’ll also dig into Bellator 196’s Benson Henderson vs. Roger Huerta. This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat with Luke Thomas.Read More →
Max Holloway faces Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 223. It is a virtual certainty Nurmagomedov is going to get Holloway down, but that wouldn’t be an accurate reflection of Holloway’s takedown defense. By any sober and informed assessment, ‘Blessed’ has excellent takedown defense. Yet…Read More →
Tony Ferguson is out of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. UFC President Dana White made the news official on Sunday. In Ferguson’s place, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will step in. What does this mean for both divisions? Does this set up a showdown with Conor McGregor? Why is thisRead More →
Tony Ferguson is out against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 and UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is in. There are lots of factors to consider in this fight, including how healthy Holloway is or how he’ll perform on six days notice. Nevertheless, he’s competing and understanding how he’ll handle the takedown pressure of Nurmagomedov is key to the fight. So, what can we say about Holloway’s takedown defense and how it measures up to Nurmagomedov’s style of takedowns? We’ll explore that question on this episode of the Monday Morning Analyst.Read More →
In light of the Australian cricket scandal, I wondered: what are the most memorable moments in sports cheating, particularly those caught on television? Mike Tyson biting Evander Holyfield’s ears? Yoel Romero sitting on the stool too long during the Tim Kennedy fight? In this segment from my radio show, we discuss the topic and take calls.Read More →
Ronda Rousey – the former UFC women’s bantamweight champ and current WWE wrestler – had a series of disastrous interviews with Max Kellerman and Mike Golic on ESPN this week. However, she also sat down with MMA reporter Brett Okamoto and the result was a much more pleasant, understandable Rousey.Read More →
On today’s podcast, we’ll discuss Ronda Rousey’s ESPN media tour where she bizarrely answered questions from Max Kellerman and Mike Golic. What do fighters owe media and what does media owe fighters? We’ll discuss. We’ll also get into welterweight fights finally being made between Gunni Nelson and Neil Magny. Is the division finally moving along? We’ll get into that plus more. This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat with Luke Thomas.Read More →
On today’s podcast, we’ll discuss why the recent surge in interest in boxers vs. MMA fighters has picked up steam, what to make of the results from UFC London: Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Volkov, smaller news like Darren Till and Kamaru Usman on Twitter going back and forth, Canelo stillRead More →
At UFC London, Alexander Volkov earned the best win of his career by defeating former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum via strikes in the fourth round. However, it wasn’t just the strikes that helped him gain the victory. In fact, it was the Russian’s grappling defense that enabled him to keep the jiu-jitsu world champion at bay, find his moment and finish the fight. Specifically, Volkov showed good guard retention and deep half escapes. In this episode of the podcast, I explain why those were key to his victory. It’s the Monday Morning Analyst with Luke Thomas.Read More →
At UFC London, Jimi Manuwa and Jan Blachowicz fought in the co-main event of the fight card. In this video from my UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Volkov Post-Fight Special, I break down the results, what they mean for the division, for both the winners and losers and much more.Read More →
At UFC London, Fabricio Werdum and Alexander fought in a heavyweight main event on Fight Pass.Read More →
Duke Roufus, head coach of Roufusport, joined me on Thursday to discuss his UFC 223 fighters Anthony Pettis and Paul Felder as they get ready for their fights. He also discussed Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson, who would fare better against Conor McGregor, Ben Askren vs. Georges St-Pierre (GSP), CM Punk’s improvements and much more.Read More →
A United Airlines flight from Houston to New York saw a passenger forced by a flight attendant to put her dog – who was in a TSA-approved carrying case – in the overhead compartment. During the course of the three-hour flight, the dog died, leaving the owners horrified and despondent. While this story itself is unbearably tragic, combined with other notably horrific incidents, it also underscores how there’s not enough competition in the airline industry, Americans have grown accustomed to being abused and over policed and why reform of the industry is so desperately needed.Read More →
Having worked the door in several bars, I’ve seen some reasonably crazy things. Having been a waiter, I’ve dealt with some wild people. I tell some of my stories on the air as well as take calls from listeners who share their perspectives. The Luke Thomas Show airs weekdays, 3Read More →
Would Georges St-Pierre vs. Conor McGregor be a bigger pay-per-view success than the boxing-MMA crossover fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor? GSP’s coach Firas Zahabi believes it might be possible. In this clip from my radio show, I explain why the data likely doesn’t support that idea. The LukeRead More →
At UFC 222, UFC featherweights Brian Ortega and Frankie Edgar will face off in the co-main event. In this clip from an interview in studio on my radio show, Brendan Schaub tells a story about how Ortega got into jiu-jitsu, but nearly had to quit if it wasn’t for RenerRead More →
After Nick Newell, a congenital amputee, came out of retirement and defeated Sonny Luque at LFA 35, questions are swirling again if he’s worthy of an opportunity to fight in the UFC.Read More →
Why hasn’t the NBA ever had a performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) scandal? Individual players have occasionally been caught for various small infractions, but there’s never been a major BALCO-type scandal. How is that possible? Spencer Lund, a writer for Complex magazine, explored the topic. In his estimation, a big reason isRead More →
Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub stopped by on Thursday to discuss his new Showtime program ‘Below the Belt’. We discussed how he got the show, how it might evolve, his podcasts (The Fighter and the Kid, Below the Belt), working with E! Entertainment, his stand-up comedy tour and more. TheRead More →
Today on the podcast, we’ll recap the results from UFC 222 including Cris Cyborg’s win, Brian Ortega defeating Frankie Edgar, Mackenzie Dern’s UFC debut and more. We’ll get into boxer Canelo Alvarez’s run in with a PED infraction for clenbuterol. We’ll also talk about Georges St-Pierre’s (GSP) potential return toRead More →
Brendan Schaub – former UFC heavyweight, podcaster (The Fighter and the Kid, Below the Belt), stand-up comedian – stopped by my radio show on Thursday. In this clip, we discuss the lightweight triangle of Conor McGregor vs. Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov and who is the worst match-up for eachRead More →
Olympian, strongman, powerlifter and former WWE wrestler Mark Henry joined me on Thursday to preview the Arnold Classic 2018 Strongman competition. This year’s battle won’t feature Eddie Hall, but Thor Bjornsson (‘The Mountain’ from Game of Thrones) and Brian Shaw are back and likely to be the top two contenders.Read More →