MMA Nation Rewind: Roy Jones Jr., Mumbling, Bobby Lashley and More WAMMA

by Luke Thomas on Mar 16, 2009 12:20 PM EDT in News Comment 17 comments

For those that missed the show this past Saturday:

Bobby Lashley calls in and defends the idea that Ken Shamrock was a reasonable opponent.

I ramble endlessly about the next level of critics and criticism MMA has to overcome.

I fail to understand what Roy Jones Jr. is saying here.

Amidst technical FAILZ, I open the show here.

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I don't want this to be an accusation but....

While listening to this interview Bobby’s take on Ken taking steroids and it being all about the training aspect and it not being about improving performance gave me an uneasy feeling. Somewhat like he was defending it. To me though I can’t rationalize that thought. I mean if it helps the person in training then it is ultimately helping their performance in the fight.

Why would he try to defend taking steroids and pass it off as non-performance enhancing?

More to the point how can any athlete convince themselves that if it helps them in training it isn’t a performance enhancer?

Or did I misinterpret his take on it only helping in training but not in a fight?

by mattman73 on Mar 16, 2009 12:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I for one...

am glad that Luke, to a very appropriate extent, called him out on the "guys should be able to fight as long as they want. But yeah, I think there is a bit of truth to the fact that Lashley’s background formed a comfort level with PEDs. You look at a guy like Lesnar and while I believe he did do steroids or HGH at some point in his pro wrestling career, he was always a huge guy. Lashley on the otherhand is about twice as big as he ever was in his amateur career and a lot of times being in locker rooms with guys who are all doing PEDs develops a comfort level.

I’ll be honest that I found it kind of disgusting that Bobby would take the stance of “I’ll fight him in Japan if he still wants to do it” because the last thing a fighter should be doing is trying to duck sanctioning penalties by chasing fights in other countries. We’re seeing it with Bob Arum trying to get Margarito a fight in Mexico after being hit with as heavy a penalty as possible for the glove loading scandal.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Mar 16, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I heard that WJFK is flipping formats

I just signed up for the podcast and hope this isn’t true. Have you heard this?

by Patrick79x on Mar 16, 2009 1:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Could be true, could be total bullshit

The truth is we don’t know. I talked to the PD and all I’ve been told to do is continue as normal. As soon as I hear anything, I’ll let you know.

by Luke Thomas on Mar 16, 2009 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

...your mom's box?

by Patrick79x on Mar 16, 2009 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m glad I Googled this particular phrase before banning you. :P

Contributor Emeritus - BloodyElbow.com

by Chris Nelson on Mar 16, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think I’ll be around for a while, but it’s radio. Nothing is ever certain in that market.

by Luke Thomas on Mar 16, 2009 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

flip

Recently, WJFK has added more Fox Sports programming. So if WJFK flips, it will probably be a sports station. Hopefully, this sports station will decide to keep Luke and MMA Nation.

by lom4usa on Mar 16, 2009 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

That’s another possibility. Even if they do flip, I’m not necessarily out. I think they’ll keep me if they flip to sports, but fingers crossed obviously.

by Luke Thomas on Mar 16, 2009 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Radio is such a strange business. Big O and Dukes have a new job every year because the station flips. I remember they were on in Baltimore…and then they weren’t….strange episode of MMA nation.

by MattTil on Mar 16, 2009 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

For sure man, best of luck

by Patrick79x on Mar 16, 2009 4:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

luke

lol @ the roy jones interview. yes he talks like that all the time. i understood him b/c iv’e followed him throught his whole career(greatest lhw imo) and have gotten used to it. hell, you should have heard some of his post-fight interviews when he was in his prime, he talked even faster, believe it or not. good show. i liked being able to listen to the individual interviews, and commentaries. you were spot on about the critisism that mma has to overcome. some sports writers are never gonna like the sport b/c of the violence, but should at least educate themselves and actually watch whole events before pasing judgement. it does seem some of these guys are stuck in the past, probably only seeing highlights of old tank abbot fights in the ufc and thinking that mma hasn’t changed.

by bdw on Mar 16, 2009 1:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As a fellow RJJ fan...

yeah, he’s always either talking REALLY slow and mumbling. Or talking REALLY fast and mumbling. He’s just country like that.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Mar 16, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't want to talk about...

my own appearance. But something that I said has really been bothering me. and it’s the whole “This is like Friday Night Fights letting the WBC chairman give their own rankings on air”

because the problem here is the ability to alter perception to make the bouts WAMMA finds most “promotable” seem legitimate. I know someone is going to come along and say “that’s what the UFC does” but the UFC is a promotion…it is their job to pass along an image and promote a perception that benefits them directly. WAMMA is supposed to be above any sort of promotional boundaries and be totally above board. If WAMMA somehow says “hey, Jake Shields is fighting Robbie Lawler, lets make this for the WAMMA Undisputed Middleweight Title.” They’ll be able to go on ESPN and try to alter perception to make it seem more legitimate than it really is.

I just don’t get the move by ESPN.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Mar 16, 2009 6:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

well, they were not on last weeks show, so we’ll wait and see this week. doesn’t make sense that they would use wamma over sherdog who’s rankings they use when reporting fight results on the ticker.

by bdw on Mar 16, 2009 6:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs