[buzzsprout episode='122349' player='true']
Raf's Recollection | Sometimes the UFC hype machine jumps the gun and overuses the phrase "must see" fight.
We get it, promoting fights is a tough business. And when you promote hundreds of fights a year, you sometimes run out of ways to get people to tune in, sometimes saying the same things over and over again.
For example, fans of The Ultimate Fighter are no strangers to the phrase "you won't want to miss the _______ fight of the season."
Most intense. Craziest. Most controversial. You name the cliche, they've done it. Thousands of times.
However, in the case of Jessamyn Duke and Raquel Pennington, you had a fight that was truly worthy of the UFC hype machine. And we here at Verbal Tap were lucky enough to get Jessamyn to drop by the podcast to talk about the instant classic fight between her and Raquel. But that's not all, Jessamyn shares some inside scoops about The Ultimate Fighter house, discusses if she has any regrets missing out on the pre-fight pool party, and listens in on the 1 Minute Review of her episode (letting us know exactly what she thinks of my impression of her).
Moments later, we backtrack and do the episode of The Ultimate Fighter (Episode 5) that Kev pathetically tried to review on the last podcast. BJJ black belt and TUF cast member Chris Holdsworth drops in to listen to the second 1 Minute Review, describe his fight against Chris Beal, and even takes a moment to critique the season premiere of The Walking Dead(?). And while you're listening to the podcast, do us a solid and check out the great stuff Holdsworth has over at his personal website ChrisHoldsworthMMA.com (otherwise he's going to beat me up a whole bunch). The dude is very funny and has already promised to start putting up some awesome videos on his page (we've got some solid BJJ-themed video short ideas if you're up for 'em Holdsworth).
But What About Phil Harris?
Calm down. It wouldn't be a true MMA podcast if we didn't cover the controversy surrounding Rousimar Palhares and the "screaming tap" heard all around the world. Our resident go-to BJJ Expert, BJJ Breakdown's JOHN EVANS, drops by to weigh in on the controversy and tries to explain what the hell happened when when Toquinho caught Mike Pierce in a nasty looking heel hook.
I Trained at Some Guy Named Marcelo Garcia's Academy
In our shout outs, I describe my training session over at Marcelo's in New York. I can't say enough good things about the wonderful people over at Marcelo's and the patience they displayed in teaching me techniques that were far beyond my capabilities. As a complete stranger, they truly treated me like one of their own and were committed to making sure I got the most out of my experience. I just want to say "thank you" to all of them for being so cool.
It was a nice in a lifetime experience and I truly hope I can return back there some day when I'm somewhat less terrible at jiu-jitsu.
"The Goose"
While we crack wise about the gi I received from BJJHQ in the video above, I can't thank the good people over there enough for sending me the "The Goose" here after hearing me talk about the crack-like addiction I have to purchasing stuff from their website (it's taking in my being not to buy every thing going up on the rolling deals sale right now). For the last year and a half, I've been rolling with the same (boring) white, judo gi. And while I love this stupid gi, every time I train, I have to race home to immediately put it in the wash so that I can train again the next day. And now, I am happy to report that I can now alternate gis and (finally) walk into my jiu-jitsu classes like one of the cool kids with this awesome looking gi. Serious props to them and Kev and I are going to be filming a video in the near future to show our appreciation.
All I got for now. Give the podcast a listen folks. I don't think you'll be disappointed!!!