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iTunes mania

By Zach Arnold | January 29, 2006

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By Zach Arnold

With our Fight Opinion radio show now added to the iTunes directory, I started browsing through the various podcasts available for download/subscription through the service. While the MMA & Pro-wrestling categories seem somewhat limited (in terms of organization), I found a few MMA podcasts that I had not heard of and decided to go ahead and listen to them.

The podcasts that I chose to listen to were: MMA Report (Not in the Face #3) by Mike Lawrence of MMA Report, Sherdog’s Beatdown radio show by TJ De Santis & Josh Gross, and The Ultimate Podcast by Gary Alexander.

I listened to the MMA Report podcast first. It was about 16 minutes long. It’s basically two guys talking on a microphone and recording their thoughts about the MMA industry. Nothing formal, but nothing embarassing at all. The two commentators spent their time discussing the upcoming PRIDE Open-Weight tournament (which starts on 5/5 at the Osaka Dome). MMA Report seemed very positive about the tournament format. One of the gentlemen suggested that the first round of fights would feature fighters facing rivals in their same weightclass and then seeing different weight-class fights in July and September. The MMA Report team proposed a 32-man tournament instead of a 16-man tournament. Their idea is that 16 of the 32 men in the tournament would be heavyweights, with rival promotions (such as UFC, K-1, Rumble on the Rock, King of the Cage, etc.) having representatives entered into the tournament. They suggested an idea of having 4 UFC representatives (Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Frank Mir, & Paul Buentello).

The podcast was what you would expect from two MMA fans who are sharing their thoughts and doing it in a comfortable setting.

The second podcast I listened to was the Beatdown radio show hosted on Sherdog and produced by TJ De Santis & Josh Gross. TJ works in the radio business in Minneapolis and Josh Gross is based out of Los Angeles. If you are a Sherdog fan, the show fits the exact style of the site. If you are not a Sherdog fan, this show probably will drive you nuts. TJ is very talented and it’s clear that his background in radio carries through here in terms of production values. That stated, it comes off more as a morning-zoo style show with some MMA content.

I think they may have the right formula, but the show is not for everyone.

The third podcast I listened to was a show called The Ultimate Podcast, which is a short radio show based entirely on the UFC. It’s hosted by Gary Alexander, who is based out of Las Vegas. I’m sad to say that I don’t know who Gary is or if he has a web site or what his background is, so I apologize. I listened to the 7th edition of the show, in which Gary covers the highlights of the Ultimate Fight Night 3 (1/16) show from the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas. Gary was live at the show (and also at the weigh-ins), so he gives his personal comments about being there and what the atmosphere was like. His show clearly is designed (based on tone) to appeal to a younger demographic. Gary received press credentials by Dana & UFC to interview fighters, so that alone gives the show an advantage in terms of listening to what is delivered.

It’s aimed more towards younger listeners, but it’s not hard, intensive listening if you are an older MMA fan.

If you have any MMA or pro-wrestling podcasts on iTunes that you want to point out to me to subscribe, feel free to post a link (or links) in the comments section of this article.

Topics: All Topics, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

9 Responses to “iTunes mania”

  1. Ryan says:

    Thanks for the heads up. I listen to the sherdog show, but never heard of the mma report. For the record, I love your show the best 🙂

    Another podcast to check out is Brian Alvarez @ http://f4wonline.com – he deals mainly with wrestling but will touch on MMA here and there.

  2. Ryan says:

    I also forgot to add Pro Karate Weekly (They talk 100% MMA) @ http://www.sportstalknetwork.com/archives/index2.htm

    They are a guest centric show which I hate to death. Once you hear one MMA/Wrestling interview you pretty much have heard them all. I love just a few guys talking about current events, opinions, and predictions for upcoming fights.

    And for your question on the last show about boxing. I used to be a massive boxing fan for many years, but the more and more I got into MMA the less I was passionate about boxing. I still follow and would love a little boxing talk here and there, but I’d hope it wouldn’t dominate the MMA talk.

  3. caleb says:

    Hey everyone.

    FightWorks has been producing a podcast here since Sept 2005. We focus on BJJ and MMA. It can be found in iTunes. If the link I’ve pasted in doesn’t work due to html not being allowed in replies here, u can go to the Itunes podcast directory and do a seach on “BJJ” and it’ll come up.

    We interviewed Royce on Saturday; check it out!
    Caleb

  4. Halcyon says:

    Fight Opinion is a great podcast! I’m glad they are now podcasted on iTunes. Thanks for the good review guys! Hey Zach, send me your iTunes URL and I will put it in my links.

    Mike Lawrence

  5. Zach Arnold says:

    Mike – the iTunes URL is on the sidebar of the front page of Fight Opinion. Use it freely!

  6. Halcyon says:

    You know, I agree on the Beatdown review, not that I dislike that show but it is very FM morning show like. People either like it or not. Some of the other ‘casts even at smaller budgets are more entertaining. The interviews on Beatdown very good though.

  7. TJ De Santis says:

    Thanks for the kind words on the show. I really appreciate the input. It’s funny that you refer to it as a morning-zoo style show. I guess that’s all I know being in radio. If you guys have anymore input feel free to email me at [email protected] We do the show for the fans and it’s your show more than it is mine.

    TJ De Santis

  8. |TongPo| says:

    I for one really appreciate the high production values of beatdown radio. The do a great job of covering the sport wide range of promotions, and also have top notch and timely interviews. I think JT and Josh put on the best mma podcast out there.

  9. jyoseph says:

    I listen to the beatdown and never miss a show. I think it’s the most informative show out there. The Ultimate podcast never really seemed to run on a consistent schedule, as a matter of fact now I think it’s on hiatus. I’ll have to check out the other one that you mentioned, but I honestly don’t know if any of them can compete with the insight and hilarity of the beatdown.

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