Today is Valentine’s Day, one of the few holidays coopted from Christians instead of by Christians! Hey, cool! Instead of the usual column on the big MMA story of the week, I put together a list of things I love about the sport. Get it? Things I love, on Valentine’s Day, about MMA! All right, I’m trying too hard with this intro so let’s just get right to it!
Carlos Condit
Carlos Condit fought just once in 2014 thanks to a torn ACL/partially torn meniscus that he suffered during his fight with Tyron Woodley in March. This is sad because Carlos Condit is both a man who revels in violence and a handsome son of a gun who cleans up nicely. Condit recently announced he was targeting May 23rd for a return date. Someone fan me down.
Esther Lin and E. Casey Leydon
Esther and Casey are MMA’s resident multimedia power couple. If you are not familiar with their work then you have being doing MMA wrong. But what I really love about Esther and Casey is how sweet they seem and how much fun they seem to have traveling the country documenting grown men and women punching and kicking each other in the face. They also seem to have a good taste in music.
@GFKonMMA
Speaking of doing MMA wrong, are you following @GFKonMMA on Twitter? No? Rectify that right now. In a world where Adam Hunter and Tommy Toe Hold are held up as the sport’s comedic standards, @GFKonMMA is the true king, blending a pitch-perfect celebrity parody with scathing MMA commentary. Shout out to Wallabee Top Team and Dagestani Knucklegame Cartel.
Big Fights
Follow the sport closely for a long period of time and you’ll eventually burn out. Bulks of fights start blending together, the cynicism of the sport starts creeping up on you, and you start asking questions about whether watching grown adults give each other brand damage is an ethical thing to do. But then you find a brief reprieve when a fight like Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier or Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz shows up. Coming off their worst year in a long while, the UFC’s been desperately putting together the biggest fights it can, and we have another one on the horizon with Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor.
UFC Embedded
Sometime over the summer, the UFC stopped producing Dana White video blogs and started producing the Embedded series (though the first couple were more like trumped up Dana vlogs than anything else). Since then, the Embedded series has grown into its own, and I’d argue is just as compelling as HBO’s 24/7. There’s no host, no narrator; just 5-8 minute chunks of the featured fighters published throughout the week. It’s quietly become one of the best things about the UFC’s marketing push.
Donald Cerrone’s fight schedule
No one can say Donald Cerrone isn’t willing to fight anyone, anywhere, anytime. The man’s fought six times within a year, and seven times within 14.5 months. In ten years, Donald may regret the pace he’s putting himself through, and I may regret celebrating it, but it’s been a net positive for fighter and fans so far.
Jon Jones being himself
I don’t know if Jon Jones has fully embraced the villain role, but he certainly seems more comfortable being himself. Just compare his interview with Jimmy Kimmel in August to his 2011 interview with Luke Thomas. This also means Jones showing up to fight week with exotic cats, telling Daniel Cormier he’ll kill him, and popping for cocaine a month out from the fight. Keep doing you, Jon Jones.
Patrick Wyman
Patrick Wyman does 500 podcasts, including my own. What separates Patrick from the pack is a tireless work ethic combined with one of the few analytical minds in the media. If you ever find yourself falling out of love with MMA, listen to Patrick sing the praises of young prospects like Aljamain Sterling, Marlon Moraes, and Mirsad Bektic. Follow him on Twitter.
All the bad
It’s almost March, which means the MMA Tournament of Bad is coming! This is my celebration of the worst aspects of MMA, synthesized in a 64-entry tournament. This is honestly one of my favorite things I do all year and brings a huge smile to my face. Keep an eye out on my Twitter for more information.
Georges St-Pierre not fighting
It’s been fifteen months since Georges St-Pierre escaped Las Vegas with his welterweight title reign intact. A month later, despite Dana White’s assurances to the contrary, he non-retired retired. Every month that goes by decreases the odds of a return, which hopefully sets an example for other fighters (at least the ones that can afford it). Few things would make me happier than a healthy 50-year-old St-Pierre still rolling around on the mat and studying dinosaurs and alien life in his free time.
