This week’s broadcast features recaps and previews of MMA and boxing events around the world. Tony, Tom and Rich also discuss politics and go off on a couple tangents here and there. We make it the whole episode this week without mentioning MacGregor vs. Mayweather even once.
We do break down some huge upcoming fights with Andre Berto taking on Shawn Porter in the main event on Showtime this week and a fourth MMA fight between Daniel Straus and Patricio “Pitbull” Friere at Bellator 178 on Friday night. We also have another UFC fight night to discuss and last week’s MMA results to go over.
Rabble Rousin’ Rich Bergeron, “Psychic” Tom Padgett and Tony “The Tornado” Penecale discuss the news and events of the last two weeks in combat sports. From Rampage Jackson’s rough final fight in Bellator to Chris Weidman’s controversial loss to Gegard Mousasi we cover all the major MMA happenings. We also discuss the upcoming week’s boxing schedule and look back at some events in boxing from the last two weeks. We wrap up with a discussion about NASCAR and Bellator taking advantage of their common partnership with Monster energy drink. The two sports giants announced recently that Bellator will host fight cards at future racing events.
Tom, Rich and Tony break down last week’s big fights and preview the upcoming week’s combat sports cards. The main focus is Bellator 175 in MMA this week. We also discuss some of the latest news, such as a claim made by Bob Arum that the UFC wants to take half of Conor MacGregor’s purse when and if he fights Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match. We also have a good laugh about Rampage Jackson being mad at King Mo Lawal for “fat shaming” him.. Rampage’s defense is vintage Cartman from South Park: “I’m not fat, I’m just big boned.”
Tom, Tony and Rich discuss the world of combat sports. Conor MacGregor will fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr. if you believe Dana White. We also chat about UFC Fight Night events featuring Jimi Manuwa and Kelvin Gastelum notching huge career wins. We look back at Golovkin vs. Jacobs and the unlikelihood of Canelo taking the fight with Golovkin now. We also preview King Mo Lawal vs. Rampage Jackson next Friday.
Tony Penecale (left) and Lou Duva (right) at the Brockton, Massachusetts dedication of the Rocky Marciano statue.
Our show this week was dedicated to Lou Duva (above right with our co-host Tony Penecale). Lou died earlier this week at the ripe old age of 1994. He was a great friend to Rocky Marciano, a promoter of 19 world champions, and a man who had all his irons in the one fire that lit his life: boxing. The promoter/trainer/manager/legend appeared on the FNU Combat Sports show years back, but unfortunately the audio is grainy and spotty. If you listen closely the gems our talk contains outweigh the difficult spots to hear.
I’m also posting a couple specific remastered clips here:
Tom, Tony and Rich also recap Garcia vs. Thurman, The latest on Mayweather vs. McGregor, UFC 209 and the many controversies attached, GSP’s dark warning about weight cutting, and Tony Bellew’s shocking upset of David Haye.
Tom, Rich and Tony recap the major combat sports events from last week, including a major heavyweight showdown between Deontay Wilder and Gerald Washington, a successful title defense by Liam McGeary last Friday at a Dublin, Ireland Bellator show, and a superb comeback by Jarrett Hurd over Tony Harrison. We also look forward to the inaugural women’s featherweight title bout in Bellator tomorrow night and a star-studded UFC 209 fight card including two of the most anticipated co-main events in recent UFC history. Stephen Thompson gets his rematch with UFC Welterweight Champ Tyron Woodley in the main event while Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson fight for a shot to face Conor McGregor for the lightweight title in the co-main event. We also discuss GSP’s comeback fight against Michael Bisping, a transgender female on her way to becoming a male winning a Texas women’s wrestling title, and Muhammad Ali’s son being detained at a Florida airport in early February. Check out our first Full FNU Combat Sports Show hosted on YouTube:
Ivan “The Beast” Baranchyk (15-0, 10 KOs) joins the broadcast tonight to talk about his recent war on ShoBox with Abel Ramos (17-2-2, 12 KOs). Baranchyk launched an incredible effort in the later rounds to hand Ramos his second professional loss and establish himself as a spirited, tough-as-nails brawler. Some experts claimed the fight was one of the most entertaining bouts in the 17-year history of the ShoBox series. Tom, Tony and Rich discuss the fight, other highlights of Ivan’s career, and get Baranchyk to explain how his early start in Jiu Jitsu eventually led him to the Sweet Science. The 24-year-old is already solidifying his legend, which explains why he points to “Iron” Mike Tyson as one of his role models in the sport of boxing.
Tom, Tony and Rich also discuss the latest Mayweather/MacGregor news, an odd suspension of an MMA fighter for going after his opponent’s corner man, the calling off of Chris Brown vs. Soulja Boy, and Roy Jones Jr. re-establishing his goal of fighting Anderson Silva in a boxing match (he now wants it to be on the Mayweather/MacGregor undercard).
We also recap last week’s combat sports events and preview Bellator 173 and this week’s upcoming boxing matches.
Tony, Rich and Tom come back from a week off with a ton of stuff to talk about. From the controversy of Holly Holm’s UFC 208 main event title fight with Germaine De Randamie to the upcoming battle between Matt Mitrione and Fedor Emelianenko, we cover a wide range of past and upcoming MMA events. We also look back at Ivan Barnchyk’s masterful comeback last weekend against Abel Ramos in a thrilling boxing match. We also go over the upcoming week’s boxing schedule. We also update the Mayweather vs. MacGregor negotiations with a big surprise: The UFC is the big stumbling block at this point. Additionally we discuss the recent study showing soccer players can suffer the same damage as heavyweight boxers after long careers in the sport where heading soccer balls repeatedly can bring on CTE in retired players. We also spend time discussing Brock Lesnar’s retirement and GSP’s imminent return.
Hosts Tom, Tony and Rich of The Fight News Unlimited Combat Sports show had the awesome experience of catching up with President Donald Trump for an exclusive interview contained in tonight’s broadcast. We ask “The Donald” about everything from Mayweather vs. McGregor to Iran and China. The interview starts about 23 minutes into the full show tape, but we will also place the interview alone in another audio file below the main show file on this post. We also discuss some MMA labor union issues, Aisling Daly retiring young from the UFC, Conor McGregor claiming his next bout will be in a boxing ring and Dana White saying Ronda Rousey is all done with fighting professionally. We also recap the first big UFC and Bellator events of the year from last week and look forward to UFC Fight Night 104 in Houston on Saturday night. We take time at the end of the broadcast to talk boxing with a recap of last week’s stunning rematch between Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton. We also talk about the Thursday night bouts on FS1 tonight. Here is our full show:
And here is the Trump interview by itself:
And if you didn’t catch why Rich gave a shout out to the movie “Good Morning Vietnam” you can listen to Rich’s first interview with Trump from 2008 here:
This week on the Fight News Unlimited Combat Sports Show we discuss Tito Ortiz winning his way into retirement over arch rival Chael Sonnen, and we also preview upcoming MMA and boxing events. Tom, Tony and Rich provide in depth analysis and commentary after a week off from the show. 2017 is off to a slow start in the combat sports world, but this weekend gets things started in a huge way with dueling HBO and Showtime boxing cards and both Bellator and UFC events slated for the coming days. Join us as we discuss all things combat sports.
