Jay Glazer is a great ambassador for MMA. There is no more mainstream sport than that of the National Football League & the NFL is how Glazer earns his wage. He was on our show last week to update us on Fat Albert Haynesworth. I had a chance to not only ask him if mixed martial arts training would benefit Haynesworth & his failed physicals, but get some skinnny on Randy Couture’s upcoming bout with the constantly obnoxious James Toney. That was a run on sentence.

Anderson Silva should be proud of himself. Being a sports fan for my whole life and covering various sports professionally on and off again for nearly 7 years, he accomplished something that I have never seen. He disrespected every aspect of this sport and profession in one night. Sure there have been tons of guys that have tested positive for PED’s, guys that have flipped off fans & guys the have gotten arrested. Very few instances include prolonged disrespect for 25 minutes while the sporting event is occuring. Combine that with Silva’s belief that he owes no one an apology for these actions & his assertion that his opponent Demian Maia disrespected HIM in someway, makes this a doozy.

To start with, there is the line of thinking that Anderson Silva is being paid to fight. He signed a contract to fight Maia for which he will be rewarded handsomely. A title belt is on the line in the best organization in the world for his craft. He owes it to his employers who invested capital in him to go out there and ply his trade. I think most of us have had jobs that were not to our liking at some point in our lives. If that check keeps coming, we keep showing up and keeping our mouths shut. Or you get a different job. You don’t urinate on your bosses desk and curse out your customers on the phone. At bare minimum, Silva owes the UFC that. Do your job to the best of your abilities and clearly that dog and pony show we saw on Saturday was not the best The Spider had to offer.

Then there’s the disrespect to people like me. People that forked over 50 dollars to watch this thing in HD. To see a title fight where both parties gave it their all. I despise people that steal PPV’s on the internet. They are scum that lack the balls to walk into a 7-11 with a ski mask on, but will STEAL a tremendous production like a UFC pay per view. They have no right to be upset by ANYTHING that happens during one of these cards, much as a jewel thief can’t curse imperfections in the diamonds he lifted. But people like me got the shaft from Anderson Silva. I work hard for my money and I chose to spend a good chunk of it on mixed martial arts and the UFC specifically. Why? Because they have proven themselves time and time again. I don’t blame the UFC at all for that crappy main event. I blame the freakishly talented, weirdo that wasted 2 minutes or so of my time, and thunderously applaud Maia for making the last round viewable.

Speaking of applauding people, respect needs to be given to the crowd in Abu Dhabi. I spend a lot of time trashing Mixed Marital Arts fans and for good reason. Booing, cursing and general lewdness seems to plague most MMA crowds, but that was not the case in Abu Dhabi. Kudos to them for getting overtly behind Demian Maia as that abortion of a fight progressed. That was the right thing to to in a very embarrassing and awkward situation for everyone watching.

Finally, the person Anderson Silva boned more than anyone in this debacle is New Jersey’s own Frankie Edgar. I met Frankie when the UFC was here for their fight night at the Patriot Center. You couldn’t ask for a nicer, more humble person to dethrone the greatest lightweight of a generation. Edgar’s speed, combinations and elusiveness against the much larger and more decorated Penn was a pleasure to watch. As a fan, I couldn’t wait to delve into twitter & the blogosphere to read people’s takes on how monumental an upset that fight truly was. Unfortunately, that fervor was short lived as “SpiderGate” was about to unfold in front of my very eyes. Silva’s bullshit dwarfed what was one of the better stories in 2010 in Edgar, and one of the more entertaining come from behind victories in the Munoz/Grove fight earlier in the card.

Silva screwed over his boss, his profession, the fans and his co-workers. Short of sodomizing my mother on Thanksgiving day or feeding my dog a ground up lightbulb, I can’t think of much more he could have done wrong. My solution is give this egomaniac what he wants. Competition and pay-per-view buys (which he can’t seem to generate himself.) How to do that? Give him Brock Lesnar. I am not learned enough in the ways off MMA match making to figure out how that would work, but it would solve three issues. I advocated cutting The Spider the moment the match ended. I think he’s a headache the UFC doesn’t need and cutting him would not only free up their middleweight division, but most likely bankrupt Strikeforce. They would throw a pile of money at Silva, who doesn’t bring eyes to the sport and doesn’t try very hard so would not reward the acquisition with revenue.   Apparently that isn’t plausible as he might be the pound for pound best fighter in the world. So what’s left? In professional wrestling terms, I think a squash match is next.

You would see Lesnar close the distance on Silva, pin his chest to the mat and hammerfist his bald head into unconsciousness. Reap the benefits of humbling this boob in front of what would most likely be the largest MMA pay per viewership ever. Hold the thing in Jerry Jones Strip Club/football stadium that Dana seems to love so much. It doesn’t matter if Lesnar defeates Shane Carwin or not to retain his title, Brock and Silva fighting each other is work a million buys alone.  You kill all birds with one stone.  You give Silva “competition,” you most likely humble his arrogant ass, you fatten your own pockets and you punish this brazilian rube for making you look bad.  Do it Dana, for all of us that were shit on by this clown this past Saturday.  Put him in the cage with the monster and see how much dancing around he does with 290 pounds on top of his chest

A lot is being made about these comments by HBO’s Mark Taffet in regards to the overlap of Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts fans. Steve Cofield from the Cagewriter blog on Yahoo seems to think Mark is wrong. I know that Luke Thomas from Bloody Elbow is a HUGE fan of the “Sweet Science,” but he is what I would call a combat sports zealot.  Does the average MMA fan like boxing & vice versa?  My answer is unequivocally no. Not just because I love MMA and find boxing to be dull and monotonous.  Not just because I personally know dozens of people that are fans of one or the other, but not both.  I draw on my experience of planning out afternoon drive sports talk radio programs in both Baltimore and Washington DC and another show in Phoenix.  Humor me…

Hockey is a violent sport.  It’s played at high speeds with plenty of action, hitting,  & athleticism.  Those adjectives can be used to describe NFL football but is there massive crossover for those two sports?  Not judging by the callers to my various radio programs.   That’s a pretty large sample, maybe even larger than the one HBO used for their comparison.  We have hockey callers & football callers.  It is VERY rare to have both.  These are your average fans, not your hard-cores/maniacs.  Is it really so hard to believe that run of the mill MMA fans would be bored by boxing?

Take the corruption, big ego fighters and slow, dull decisions that dominate that sport out of the equation. Most MMA fans start booing if fighters inside the cage circle for more than 20 seconds or if the fight is taken to the mat for longer than a minute.  These ADHD animals are going to sit through 2 arrogant millionaires jabbing one another for 12 rounds?  Of course there are exceptions (Manny Pacquiao being a great one) but that doesn’t make up for what I like to call the “Zab Judah effect.”  I don’t like pricks & the pricks in MMA tend to be more exciting in my opinion.

The argument that I have used in the pass to defend my obvious disdain for boxing in regards to MMA is that by watching MMA, you get boxing.  Why would I watch a Field Goal kicking contest?  Field Goals are a part of football.  I imagine if field goal kicking was it’s own sport the kicking would be of a MUCH higher caliber than the kicking in actual football.  Much like the hand throwing in Boxing is generally thought of as much better that it’s counterpart in MMA.  That alone does not a sport make.  I love all the “mixed” parts of mixed martial arts.  Boxing, takedowns, jiu-jitsu, grappling, wrestling, kickboxing, the works.  Why would I sacrafice “The Works” on my burger for a burger with really good mustard?  I wouldn’t.

I’ll leave you with a few words from Steve Austin. A man that knows a thing or selling pay per views  He tweeted this yesterday in regards to the most recent boxing PPV:

“my respect goes out to all fighters on the card. wasnt worth the price of the ppv.”

Agreed Stone Cold.  These athletes get all of my respect, but none of my dollars.  I’ll stick with the sport that has phenomenal athletes and more often than not manages to put on an entertaining show as well.

Our buddy Blue Dick had his first couple of interviews today for Blue Shorts radio. One was his favorite fighter: Joseph Benavidez. Have a listen as our own limpdicked, radio neophyte takes his first wobbly steps towards a real life podcast. Good Luck Shorts.

Click HERE to download it.

Big weekend for The RodKast and for afternoon show. We had our HUGE event at Afterlife 360 for the WEC fight. A shitload of fighters showed up and we packed the joint. Shaky knee put together a little video (featured below) of reactions from people that were in attendance if you were not able to make it out. Keep in mind, the only promotion this event got was on this very site. Goes to show the drawing power of the Fukerton and how badass RodKast listeners are.

The video above is from the interview Lavar and I did with UFC president Dana White. I included it because it was such an amazing experience. I say this with all humility, I have interviewed a lot of famous people in lots of different walks of life. Dana is tied for the biggest thrill thus far in my life. Jim Norton is the other. There is something very different about having the man sitting across from you when you are speaking to him as opposed to on the phone. Dana was beyond accommodating and a tremendous interview. It was a very special day. Thanks to everyone that came out and helped out.

Creepy Justin was able to get an interview with The Natural. They not only discussed fighting, but Randy’s roll in the “The Expendables.” Special thanks to Legend Cage Fighting for helping set it up.

***UPDATE!!! Seth Petruzelli (The man who knocked out Kimbo) and Tom Lawlor (The man that choked out CB Dollaway) are both coming out for the RodKast WEC viewing party.  Lawlor is fighting the next night at UFC FIght Night in Fairfax, Petruzelli is fighting Ken Shamrock in a few weeks.  Both will be at Afterlife 360.  Creepy justin is a juggernaut!***

Let’s be honest, Direct TV and Versus had kind of boned a lot of people.  Not to worry.  Our friends at Afterlife 360 in Manassas have stepped up again! This Sunday night, January 10th. Come out and watch the fight for free with the Kast of the RodKast. We had a blast on Monday night. The place has great service and unreal specials. Bartie Lang had three meals by himself last time.

Henderson vs Varner should be a war and also our boy Urijah Faber returns to the cage as well. We will have prizes and shit to give away and drinks will be flowing.   Here at The Fukerton we do free radio shows, free kick ass events and give away free shit.  All we ask YOU for is your company.   See you there Sunday night, try and get there early!

Afterlife 360 is located at 8090 Sudley Road, Manassas Virginia, 20109. To follow them on twitter (as you should, they are good people) click HERE.

*UPDATE*
Team Ranger Up will be on site with gear give aways. Check out their sweet as gear on their site by clicking HERE.

Gotta give an extra plug to the bar that stepped up to the plate.  January 2nd, 2010.  The first appearance of the new decade.  Join Ol’ Thad out at Grevey’s in Falls Church Virginia for UFC 108: Evans vs Silva. This joint is perfect for our needs. They have good food, no cover and reasonably priced drinks. It’s the perfect place for us to watch the fights.

I’m gonna be very honest though. We have to make it worth their while to have us back. Come out and watch the fights for free and show Grevey’s that Ol’ Thad and his friendos come out to watch the UFC.  We all know what we have been through trying to find a place to watch these fights together.  This is a GREAT opportunity to find a home base to watch the UFC.

We will have tickets to give away to the UFC Fight Night in Fairfax that is taking place January 11th at the Patriot Center. Just another reason for you to saunter your silly ass down to Grevey’s.

Peyton Manning edition. Bartie Lang and I cut into Ryan, Beau, and even Rob Vendrell! We also discuss a bad decision by the infallible one: Dana White. There is filthy dirty language as always, so make sure you use headphones if you are actually working this week like we are. Thanks for downloading as always!

Click HERE to download the RodKast.

Sure, BJ Penn was dismantling Diego Sanchez. Sure, Frank Mir was making Cheick Kongo black out quicker than local coverage of a Jacksonville Jaguars game. Sure, Kenny Florian was choking out Clay Guida. Those were all great things for the UFC. But they weren’t the only great things going on.

Earlier in the evening on Spike TV, The 2009 Video Game Awards (VGA’s) were taking place. It’s a fairly entertaining show for the fastest growing entertainment medium in the world. The plight of gamers and MMA fans are very similar. Both are growing in popularity and very profitable, but are still fighting for seats at the table in the mainstream. The UFC took another small step towards that on Saturday night.

To start, they had good presence at the event. Kimbo Slice was there to present the trailer for “UFC Undisputed 2010″ which is featured above what you are reading now. He received a very good reaction from the crowd and was instantly recognizable. Forrest Griffen was also in attendance as “UFC Undisputed 2009″ was up for Best Individual Sports Game. There was stiff competition from some very established franchises. “Tiger Woods PGA Tour” by gaming juggernaut EA was nominated.  EA also had “Fight Night Round 4″ (draw your own MMA vs Boxing parallels here) nominated while Nintendo offered the wildly popular “Wii Sports Resort.”

Keep in mind this was the very first “Undisputed” title and really the first all encompassing MMA game of it’s kind.  It ended up winning the category.  This is a much larger deal than most people realize.  The gaming universe is very stratified.  Sports gamers are usually a very different breed than your traditional nerd gamer.  It is very rare when one game can motivate both to make a purchase.  ”Madden” has that.  ”Modern Warfare” seems to have it.  ”Undisputed” looks to be following in that mold.

You don’t have to be a geeky gamer or mixed martial arts fan to be drawn to the game’s  deceptive simplicity. You want to button mash your opponent to death?  Ok, you can do that.  Say you are a more seasoned fan and you want to try your hand at the takedowns and submissions?  You can do that too.  The key is “Undisputed” harkens back to the golden years of “Street Fighter 2″ and “Mortal Kombat.”  It has something that those games didn’t have though.  Credibility with sports fans.

Guys that just but “Madden,” “NBA 2K” and “Tiger Woods” are more likely to give “Undisputed” a try than, lets say “Dragon Age”.  Nerdy gamers don’t have to be put off by their aversion sports sims though because of the similarities the UFC game has to “Tekken,” “Marvel vs Capcom” or “Soul Caliber.”  It’s a tremendous opportunity to bridge the gap between the two factions of gamers and it could be a very profitable bridge that THQ and the UFC have built.  Video game developers and Zuffa are going after the same demographics in potential fans and customers.  It’s good to see they appear to be aware of that and are working together.