Francisco Bueno, like many of my guests, is one of the original pioneers of the early MMA era. He is also one of the few Coral Belts in Jiu-jitsu on the planet. His pupil Carlos Mota Tizil is a Championship Contender in the LFA promotion. He lost a title fight in the last LFA event against Charles Johnson in an early Fight of the Year Candidate. Johnson is likely to move on to the UFC as a result. In the fight both fighters had combined for over 600 strikes through 4 rounds. Johnson went on...

Dave Fretz is a photographer and graphic designer in the MMA community that has been doing amazing work for a number of promotions. In this interview we talk about his inspiring story which led him to leave his regular job during the pandemic and turn his MMA passion into a full-time paying career. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/support

Dylan Smith is the Promoter of the new Martial Combat League event which is holding shows in and around the Oklahoma City Area. He is also the owner of Shah Mat Jiu-jitsu in Enid Oklahoma and a Black Belt in Jiu-jitsu under Piet Wilhelm. In this episode we focused on his new promotion and what he thought of getting into this arena after fighting and opening a gym of his own. This interview was done a week prior to his last event which took place on February 12th. So this discussion is all...

Lydia Des Dolles is an MMA journalist from Ireland that is currently based out of the UK. She is the founder of Fight Connect TV, host of the First Exchange Podcast, Media Director for Empire Fight Store as well as Public Relations and Communications for One Empire Management. In this episode we talked about her origins in covering MMA, her memories of being in Ireland during Conor McGregor's UFC title run and much more. --- Send in a voice message:...

Scott Bessac was Ken Shamrock's first student and fighter on the infamous Lion's Den Fight Team of the early UFC's. He would go on to fight multiple times in both Pancrase and the UFC. In this interview we talk about his memories of the brutal training sessions that the Lion's Den was known for, his memories of Ken and Frank Shamrock as well as how Ken changed once he became famous. This is a look behind both the good and bad that came with training inside the Lion's Den. --- Send in a...

Tony Jackson is a rising fighter out of Greensboro, North Carolina. I was originally introduced to him through an interview I did with his manager Daryl Hatchett.  In this interview we discuss Tony's foundations of technique as a fighter and his plans for the future in turning professional. We also discuss his thoughts on the upcoming Kickboxing Superfight between Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru Segawa in June.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/message Support this...

UFC Creator Art Davie and UFC II Fighter Robert Lucarelli join the show to discuss stories from the early UFC days. Art Davie shares some of his experiences from starting the early UFC events and Robert Lucarelli talks about his experiences leading up to UFC II and his fight with Orlando Wiet.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/support

Enson Inoue of PRIDE FC fame returns with Bob Ostovich to discuss the #OPENUPHAWAIIMMA movement. For the past two years no Mixed Martial Arts events have been allowed to take place on any of the Hawaii islands. Concerts and jiujitsu tournaments are already being allowed to happen but MMA promoters are unable to get a permit from the state. In this episode we discuss some of our thoughts on why this is happening and Bob Ostovich talks about his thoughts for the future with his Trinity Sports...

Sidney Rosa is undefeated professional boxer from Portugal that is current based of Berlin Germany. He has trained in multiple countries along the way and was a sparring partner for Jose Aldo at Nova Uniao. In this episode we discuss his boxing background, training in Germany and memories of being a sparring partner of Jose Aldo.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/support

Bobby Southworth was born in Madison, Wisconsin and was adopted when he was six weeks old. Southworth has three sisters. He grew up in Santa Cruz, California playing football and basketball, surfing and doing track. After graduating from Soquel High School, Bobby continued to Cabrillo College and yet UC Davis, playing basketball in all of them. His initial interest towards martial arts sparked after seeing Royce Gracie at UFC 1 and UFC 2. While Bobby was looking for a sport to stay fit, his...

I was first came across some of Pequeno's fights while I was living on Oahu. A lot of us that were into the MMA scene there had exposure to Shooto because they having professional Shooto fights in T Jay Thompson's Superbrawl event.  There was also a Japanese video store there that rented out VHS tapes of the latest Shooto events and we would take turns renting them.  Pequeno became one of Shooto's early Champions and also one of their most dominant.  He became known for his devastating...

Brian McGrath was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of Western Montana. As a former high school wrestler and Tae Kwon Do practitioner with an interest in Japanese culture, he decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Performance along with a minor in Japanese at the University of Montana. While working on his degree, he competed in Boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Natural Bodybuilding, and Mixed Martial Arts. He completed a study abroad program at Toyo University, during...

Elvin Lozada is a young amateur MMA fighter and kickboxer from Puerto Rico. In this episode he talks about the growing MMA scene in Puerto Rico, his training and fighting in Miami and more. Thamires Vieira joins me to conduct the interview as well. Featuring a brief cameo from Enson Inoue.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/support

Ivan Robinson was introduced to the boxing world on HBO's Boxing After Dark series in 1998. He was part of an incredible war with Arturo Gatti on August 22nd of that year. The fight would be voted as Ring Magazine's Fight of the Year for 1998. Ivan also fought legends such as Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar Delahoya in the Olympics. In the interview we discuss the development of his high volume style, his training with Pernell Whitaker, the two fights with Arturo Gatti and much more over almost...

Thamires Vieria is a long-time follower of my content. Recently I asked if she could help me work on some projects with Brazilian fighters, promoters and journalists. Luckily for me she was willing to help out. In this episode Thamires talks about learning martial arts from a young age through her Father and what is was like growing up around the sport in Brazil during her life.  In future episodes you will be hearing more from her both on my show and others. --- Send in a voice message:...

HONOLULU, Hawaii (Hawaii News Now) - It sounds like the plot of a crime drama: An organized crime boss orders a hit on a man in order to get revenge for the death of his son. But federal prosecutors investigating Mike Miske, the alleged leader of what they describe as a sprawling criminal enterprise, say that’s exactly what happened. And Lindsey Kinney says he was caught in the middle of it. Kinney says in 2016, he was offered $50,000 to kill a young man named Johnathan Fraser but he turned...

I first saw Gilbert Yvel in the RINGS Holland and Japan events. He was one of the most devastating and feared strikers in the world. Gilbert went on to become the RINGS Japan Champion. From there he moved on to the PRIDE GP and later the UFC. In this episode we talk about the early years and what he’s doing now in Holland. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/toddatkinsshow/support

Rudyard Moncayo is a Veteran of the early "No Holds Barred" days of Mixed Martial Arts as we know it today.  He competed in both the UFC and John Perretti's Extreme Fighting promotion.  In this episode we discuss Woodley vs Paul, Delahoya vs Belfort, Rudyard's long battle with Covid and why we both feel John Perretti is the real Godfather of Mixed Martial Arts. Please support my content using the link below https://anchor.fm/todd-atkins8/support --- Send in a voice message:...

Marcelo Tigre was one of the combatants in the biggest MMA fight in Hawaii history along with Egan Inoue. This fight took place in June of 1999 at the Neal Blaisdell Center on Oahu.  This fight was the culmination of a rivalry that was built on the back of the Pan Am riot between Grappling Unlimited and Relson Gracie.  In this episode we talk about that rivalry and how Marcelo ended being the one to take part on the Relson side.  We also talk about his gym on Oahu which he ran for 5 years and...

Eddy Rolon is a long time practitioner of the Martial Arts with extensive experience in both amateur and professional Mixed Martial Arts. In this interview we discuss what it was like coming up in the early years of the sport, the differences in training and the small community within the sport at that time. Eddy shares a number of his experiences training with the likes of Pat Miletich, Randy Couture, Mark Kerr and others. --- Send in a voice message:...

In this episode we break down what happened in the the 3 main fights of UFC 263.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/todd-atkins8/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/todd-atkins8/support

I first heard of Eddy Millis when I saw his fighters competing in some of the early Superbrawl events on Oahu. When it comes to fight teams the Shark Tank was one of the very first to pop up. Eddy's team featured guys like Victor Hunsaker, Brian Warren, Jose Lopez, Tony Covington, John Allesio and Jay Martinez to name a few. In this interview we talk about his origins in Martial Arts, the creation of the Shark Tank, his appearance in the documentary "Fighting in Plain Sight" and his passion...

Cruz Gomez started his "formal" training Feb. 11th of '98. Under the tutelage of Chuck Liddell and Scott Adams, Cruz began his fight career in Aug. of '99. After only 1.5 years of Jiu-Jitsu, Cruz became the grappling instructor of SLO Kickboxing in San Luis Obispo, CA, and was its owner from 2011-2015, where it was known as The PIT SLO. Cruz has had 31 pro fights throughout his career and has since retired and is now only coaching and training. After moving to Boise in 2016 Cruz reopened the...

Miguel Iturrate has been involved in MMA since 1997, and he has been a follower of the sport for much longer. He has served primarily as a matchmaker, licensed in New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, Vancouver BC, and California. Iturrate has matchmade for global events in Asia, Europe, South America, North America and the Middle East. He has also contributed to the growth of MMA by serving as a counselor to the competitors. Many of the top MMA athletes in the world today have expressed thanks...