REAR NAKED CHOKE RADIO on JoeTed.com

Benji Radach offered his professional insight into the Affliction Reckoning and WEC 38 cards, predicting the outcomes with Joe.

Listen To The Show – Brad Blackburn and LC Davis as Guests

“Bad” Brad Blackburn announced his upcoming UFC fight exclusively on The Rear Naked Choke, Featuring Joe & Ted  www.JoeTed.com), and it’s going to be an intriguing matchup.

Bad Brad will be joining Joe & Ted in the co-host seat as the guys converge on South Florida for the EliteXC on CBS card, featuring Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock, Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobald, Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy “Big Country” Nelson, and Benji Radach vs. Ninja Rua.

This coverage with Joe & Ted’s unique angle is something you get only from The Rear Naked Choke radio show!

Also on the show, featherweight LC Davis gave his first interview since landing a three-fight deal with Affliction.  LC is a friend of the show and a real up-and-comer in MMA.  He is one of the most exciting fighters out there.  He also talked about potential opponents with Joe & Ted.

Email us with suggestions, comments or thoughts at TheRNC@JoeTed.com.

 Loading …

Rory Markham, Mark Miller and Bart Palaszewski talked about their upcoming appearances in the Adrenaline MMA card at the Sears Center outside of Chicago on June 14 on the latest installment of The Rear Naked Choke, Featuring Joe & Ted.

Listen to the Show!

Bart kicked off things by singing the theme from The Wonder Pets cartoon. No joke. A talented artist inside the ring and cage, Bartimus also proved to be a top-flight crooner of childrens’ songs. Yes, he also talked about his upcoming fight with Adrenaline MMA and is looking to rebound off a three-fight losing streak.

This is a big step for Bart after 12 straight fights in the IFL. Bart, Mark and Rory all were thankful that the IFL gave them an opportunity to fight with Adrenaline MMA – that was before the news that the promotion has canceled the August 15 event.

Mark was not willing to venture out into singing the Wonder Pets song, but said Bart had recently introduced him to the popular cartoon. Rather than sing, Mark immediately declared his favorite Wonder Pet, but you’re going to have to check out the show to find out who it is. We cant give away everything right here, but we will at least tell you that the guys introduced him to The Backyardigans!

Rory gave his take on the news in MMA the past couple of weeks, with Gina Carano and Thiago Alves missing weight and then winning their respective fights, and Scott Smith getting stopped by Robbie Lawler’s errant finger-poke to the eye at the NJ EliteXC event.

A long-time teammate and friend of Matt Hughes and Lawler, Rory not only revealed the late change to his Adrenaline opponent, but also did The Choke Out in one of Ted’s best efforts yet on our favorite segment!

All three show guests have been on The RNC before and were nice enough to come back mere days before their fights. Everyone (not just Rory) was asked to “weigh in” about the recent missed weigh-ins (it’s always best to get the fighters’ take compared to the media’s outlook).

IFL CANCELS AUGUST 15 EVENT On Tuesday afternoon, the day after the latest installment of The RNC, the IFL announced the cancellation of its August 15 show at the Izod Center in New Jersey.

Unless an investor comes in to infuse money and/or buy the IFL, unless other promotions strike a deal to co-promote, things are bleak. Boss Jay Larkin made that very clear on a conference call with reporters.

There is another round of layoffs within the staff, allowing the company to operate for as long as possible in the hopes that some deal can be made to breathe life into the IFL.

Should it not come to fruition, the IFL likely will file for bankruptcy, thus marking the official end.

Of course, this news is particularly hard on The RNC crew, which has intricately worked with the tremendous IFL staff for quite some time. If it was not for the opportunity and cooperation afford us by the IFL, we would not even have a show to bring you.

With the help of key people in the IFL, most notably Jerry Milani, we were able to forge into MMA. Others who deserve special kudos are Greg DeSanctis, Katie Eskin, Josh Anderson, Joe Favorito, Shannon Knapp and Kurt Otto. Please count this as a sincere and heart-felt thanks.

It is a sad and difficult week for MMA. The IFL has been a serious promotion with many innovative ideas and creative people willing to put themselves on the line. Although not perfect, they succeeded (and may again down the road) in putting together consistently excellent and exciting fight cards, top-to-bottom. The focus always was on the quality of the fights and fighters.

Ask just about anyone who paid to go to an IFL show and they’ll respond that the fights were very entertaining and the matchups were of high quality.

Down the line, these are the aspects that will carry the day for a successful MMA promotion. But it’s apparently not enough right now. It remains to be seen which promotion will push the competition over the top to actually compete with the UFC and create a shift in the dynamic of MMA.

Let’s face it: Right now, the UFC still does not have real competition because it is able to dictate. That will be the thing that has to change before the MMA market really opens up. WHAT’S NEXT? The RNC will forge ahead. We recently made the adjustment to broaden our horizons in our MMA coverage, bringing our unique approach with us. While we hope things change and the IFL rebounds to become the next Apple, we’ll keep getting bigger and better.

And we’re always looking for your input. TELL US WHO YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE ON THE SHOW! As you read this, Producer Debbie is working on the next show. No one is confirmed yet, but let’s just say that we’re looking a lot more at the athletes in Women’s MMA! FULL MOUNT – STAY ON TOP JUMP ON THE TRAIN! – GET SOME REAR NAKED LOVE and sign up for our Rear Naked Choke Update to get alerts about live-event shows, special subscriber content, breaking news, guest-list updates and more. Sign up now! The Rear Naked Choke, Featuring Joe & Ted is the best MMA entertainment outside of the ring and the cage! Watch/listen here every Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET, 6:30 PT for the best of MMA!

We’re often imitated, but never duplicated.

JUMP ON THE TRAIN! <—pass it down—>

LISTEN HERE!

 

 Matt Horwich & Brad Imes kick off IFL Fight Week!: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Matt “Suave” Horwich and Brad “The Hillbilly Heartthrob” Imes kick off IFL Fight Week, joining Joe & Ted tonight as the get ready for their IFL fights on the Mohegan Sun card Friday, May 16.

Matt will battle an old friend, Joey “Coyote” Guel, at middleweight, while Brad was a late replacement for Branden Lee Hinkle and gets a heavyweight title shot against Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

This was our last studio show before the in-person throwdowns in Connecticut.

Matt is making his first appearance back in the ring (and on The RNC) since losing his IFL middleweight title Feb. 29 to Ryan McGivern in Las Vegas. That means it’s also his first go-round at both since becoming a married man – he tied the knot the day after his defeat.

Hillbilly Heartthrob Brad pushed his MMA to the next level when he was a finalist in the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter 2 in 2005, dropping a split decision to Rashad Evans. Although he stuggled in going 0-3 in the UFC, Brad has rebounded nicely and has been winning consistently. He trains at Miletich Fighting Systems with the likes of Ben Rothwell and Tim Sylvia.

The Rear Naked Choke, Featuring Joe & Ted is the best MMA entertainment outside of the ring and the cage! Listen here every Monday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, 6:30 Pacific for the best of the IFL and MMA!

HUGE

JUMP ON THE TRAIN! – GET SOME REAR NAKED LOVE and sign up for our “Rear Naked Choke Update” to get updates about live event shows, special subscriber content, breaking news, guest list updates and more. Sign up now!

The Rear Naked Choke, Featuring Joe & Ted is the best MMA entertainment outside of the ring and the cage! Listen here every Monday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, 6:30 Pacific for the best of the IFL and MMA! We’re often imitated, but never duplicated.

JUMP ON THE TRAIN! (again)

<—pass it down—>

Bad Brad Blackburn gave The Rear Naked Choke and exclusive announcement – what a way to follow IFL heavyweight champ Roy Nelson – and there was controversy about Xtreme Couture and the IFL uncovered on Monday’s show on www.joeted.com.

Bad Brad revealed on the air to Joe & Ted and The RNC nation that he will be fighting again in the IFL, with his next match to be against Delson Heleno of Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu on April 4 at the Meadowlands in NJ.

Brad was his usual self, making easy conversation and keeping Joe & Ted in stitches with his endearing sarcasm. Because his announcement was breaking news, the guys did not reveal Blackburn was even coming on the show until they brought him on the air.

By the time the show was finishing, he was running out the door to practice his jiu jitsu!

Maybe he should train with “Big Country”, whose game has no weakness right now.

Coming off his dominating knockout of Fabiano Scherner in the IFL’s 2008 opener Feb. 29, Roy was in top form in his showdown with Joe & Ted.

Roy gave a quick recap of his fight, then offered fans of The RNC a free T-shirt at his web site, www.bigcountry.tv.

But it is Roy’s insights into the business and political sides of MMA that set him apart. The discussion turned to the issue in the IFL in which Xtreme Couture abruptly switched its camp name to Team Tompkins due to the ongoing legal battle between Randy Couture and Zuffa, which operates the UFC.

Just two days before the IFL card was to take place, the Xtreme Couture camp entity asked the IFL to let it out of the naming commitment, which the promotion did, scrambling immediately in an obvious show of good faith. Within minutes of the request, the name Xtreme Couture was wiped clean of the www.IFL.tv site and all references were adjusted to read “Team Tompkins”.

Because Shawn Tompkins has fronted the core group of fighters associated with Xtreme Couture (the Anacondas), it was a logical and simple solution to make the name adjustment to Team Tompkins.

That should have been the end of the story.

What was not an issue at the time was that the fighters on the card representing Xtreme Couture/Team Tompkins were, with the exception of 145-pounder Dennis Davis, not regular training members in the Las Vegas-based establishment.

However, when Santino DeFranco and Lew Polley, members of American Top Team, were submission losers in the Feb. 29 card, it seemed to suddenly become a point of contention that the pair were not affiliated with Xtreme Couture, which contends it was forced by the IFL to have DeFranco and Polley fight under its banner.

Here is the camp’s statement, taken from the Xtreme Couture blog. Note the date of March 1, the day after the IFL card was contested:

Statement on Team Name Change from Xtreme Couture to Team Tompkins

March 1, 2008 ·

Yesterday our lawyers appeared in Judge Togliatti’s Las Vegas courtroom to address the previously continued preliminary injunction hearing. After many hours of argument, the judge agreed to fashion a remedy (without any admission or waiver or affect on any date and event other than the February 29th IFL event) based upon what Randy Couture had already advised the court he was doing and /or more than willing to do (and had already taken steps to do): (i) That he had not planned to attend the February 29th IFL event in Las Vegas; (ii) that, given the foregoing, he was not cornering at the IFL event on the 29th; and (iii) that the team name “Xtreme Couture” would not be used in the February 29th event (for the reasons discussed below). We don’t believe that anyone with full-knowledge of the facts could consider this a victory. In fact, it is a non-event.

However, the background story is a little more interesting. Simply put, the IFL was attempting to use the ”Xtreme Couture” name without properly representing the gym by using its own fighters.

On January 8 we submitted a list of seven (7) fighters to the IFL that would be available to fight in the IFL event from the Xtreme Couture gym. The fighters were: Dennis Davis 145lbs (16-8), Jay White Heavyweight (2-5), Phil Friedman Heavyweight (1-0), Eric Uresk 155lbs (2-3), Josh Haynes 185lbs (8-8), Johnny Hendricks 170lbs (3-0), and Karina Taylor 135lbs (0-1).

The IFL informed us that Dennis Davis would be booked to fight a prelim bout against Ian Loveland and that none of our other fighters would be utilized. According to the IFL none of our fighters were a proper matchup for Mario Sperry’s team of Brazilian fighters. The IFL intended to field a team of Benji Radach (who due to injury was replaced by Josh Haynes), Santino DeFranco and Lew Polley. Radach had been a member of Shawn Tompkins’ Anacondas team, while DeFranco and Polley are from American Top Team.

Lew Polley and Santino DeFranco are tremendous athletes and excellent fighters. However, they are members of American Top Team not Xtreme Couture. American Top Team is a great squad and by all means seem to be deserving of having their own team in the IFL. We have 35 athletes that train in our Las Vegas gym and proudly wear the Xtreme Couture patch on their shorts during fights. Yet the IFL decided to field a team called “Xtreme Couture” without putting any Xtreme Couture athletes on the team. The Patriots didn’t show up in the Super Bowl with a bunch of players from the Packers. Why would the Xtreme Couture name be put on the line and not be represented by Xtreme Couture fighters.

It is because of this that the team name was changed to ”Team Tompkins”.

The IFL may have been misguided in putting fighters under another camp’s banner, but this did not seem to be an issue until all of a sudden DeFranco and Polley were victims of first-round submissions.

The IFL has been doing the same thing since its inception and no one made an issue of it.

For instance, Jake Ellenberger, who had an impressive win over Pat Healy on the Feb. 29 card, is a member of Matt Lindland’s Team Quest. But Ellenberger fought in the IFL Team Finals in September for Pat Miletich’s Silverbacks when Rory Markham was injured.

Miletich had another Team Quest fighter, Gerald Harris (a member of the cast of The Ultimate Fighter 7, incidentally), join his Silverbacks for the team semifinals against Tompkins’ Anacondas, and he was knocked out by Radach.

Radach originally was supposed to fight under the Xtreme Couture banner for the card in question Feb. 29, but because he broke bones in his neck during training was replaced by Josh Haynes. Although Radach has trained in Florida with American Top Team for years, no one seemed to have a problem with the star being associated with the Anacondas, Xtreme Couture or Team Tompkins.

While valid, the timing of the Xtreme Couture statement seems curious at best, sour grapes at worst. There had been plenty of time for them to step in and either ask for the name association to be removed or demand the IFL utilize true members of the camp for all events in which it was participating.

It was a subpar move by an otherwise top-flight outfit with some of the most respected people in the business.

On The Rear Naked Choke, both Nelson and Blackburn assessed the situation and added special insight. Give it a listen and comment through the site or via email at TheRNC@joeted.com.

Also, do not forget to visit Fightchix. When you make your order, drop them a line on info@fightchix.com and mention The Rear Naked Choke to get 15% off!

JUMP ON THE TRAIN!

<—pass it down—>

It’s time for Vegas.

The Rear Naked Choke will be there to give you all the special insight into the IFL season-opening event at The Orleans on Leap Day!  Listen live for shows on Wednesday, Feb. 27, Thursday, Feb. 28 and, of course, for the ringside live stream before the throwdown on Friday, Feb. 29.

As always, the guest list will be fluid.  Because of the time difference in Vegas, we’ll not be on our usual Eastern time schedule, but we’ll at least try to keep it close for the live participants.  If you have the chance to log on while the show is live, jump into the interactive chat room and enjoy an extra-special show experience.

You can always catch the shows at your convenience, because they’re available for listening or downloading 24/7.  There is an interative show player right here on the www.joeted.com site or you can go to the Talkshoe page.  Do not forget at add us to your myspace and give us top-friends love!

HISTORY LESSON 

The last time we went onsite, it was at Mohegan Sun in Conn. for the last IFL event.  This is how the guest lists from those shows panned out:

First night: We had Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Antoine Jaoude, who were two days from squaring off for the IFL heavyweight belt, in addition to Benji Radach, who was readying to fight Matt Horwich for the middleweight title.

Second day/night: For the first time, we streamed live from the weigh-in, showing our great versatility.  At the weigh-in, we sat down with Ken Shamrock, Ian “The Machine” Freeman, and Pat Miletich!  Not content with one show, we did another one later from the hotel, and had the IFL’s famed ring announcer, Tim Hughes, co-host with Joe & Ted and had an incredible sit-down with Shawn Tompkins and IFL co-founder Kurt Otto.  Yes, this guest list was all in the same day.  Not a misprint.

Fight night: Streaming live from ringside, Kurt Otto could not resist coming on again, this time with a different posture – to talk about the card and take Joe & Ted’s predictions (Joe finally beat Ted!).  Then Carlos Newton sat down before Randy Couture came in, made a huge crowd gather ’round, and made his second appearance on The RNC!

WHAT TO EXPECT

Expect Joe & Ted to be prepared to take on whomever is ready to sit down with them.  A lot is being worked on behind the scenes.  There is a new movie coming out called “Never Back Down, starring Sean Faris, who is expected to be around the event.  We’ll see if Sean will sit down.  What about Elisabeth Nuesser from FightChix?  Then there are the usual suspects – your favorites.  And we’ll always find some new wrinkle to make it exciting. 

JUMP ON THE TRAIN!

 <—pass it down—>

Shad Lierley’s toe is fine. Fine enough to allow him to fight for the IFL featherweight belt.

Matt Horwich has the IFL’s middleweight belt and cauliflower ear.

Mario Sperry is the “Zen Machine”.

The three were guests of Joe & Ted on the Rear Naked Choke over the past couple of weeks. Shad and Matt were on the week after Mario.

Shad will battle Wagnney Fabiano on April 4 in the Meadowlands for the featherweight title. Matt puts his middleweight title in the line Feb. 29 at the Orelans in Las Vegas against Tim Kennedy. That same night, Mario’s camp will make its IFL debut against Xtreme Couture, mentored by Shawn Tompkins.

Shad is coming off a now-famous broken toe – the toe broke through the skin. He talked about the injury and how his buddy (and ours), Bad Brad Blackburn, was nowehre to be found when the blood was spewing all over the place. OK, so we might be embellishing a bit, but we did push Shad to bring Bad Brad back east to corner him for the title fight.

Shad also talked about the famed fight of the year of 2007 with Chris Horodecki and said he still would love a rematch, even at 155 pounds, so our thoughts that Shad’s move to featherweight would shelve such a potential rematch might be premature, and hope springs eternal!

Just before we left Shad, he threw the phone over to Reese Andy. Reese’s gym houses just about all of the former Seattle TigerSharks. Get an update on what Reese is doing to get Shad ready!

Matt then came on and Ted hit him right away (not literally). He wanted to know what Matt thought of himself against Anderson Silva. Matt broke it down in his own way after he adjusted the phone (and sent Joe into hysterical laughter) so he could hear the guys. He said in his first appearance on The RNC that his goal was to eventually be at the level to fight Silva. Politics and contracts between promotions will prevent that, though.

The spiritual Horwich, who was reached at Matt Lindland’s Team Quest, recently was a star at the Portland TrailBlazers game, along with teammate Ryan “The Lion” Schultz. While he did not get into too much detail about that, Matt did talk about his hair styles, gave his thoughts on some secrets as to why he has never been knocked out despite taking some massive blows, and his social networking. We asked him to add us on mySpace and make us a top friend, and he did it! THANKS MATT!!!

note: The same offer remains open to all. We’re at www.myspace.com/rncjoeted and we love being in your top friends! It helps the show grow!

Mario sized up his camp entry. The Zen Machine talked about how he got to the IFL. He gave his thoughts about the system, and the MMA world in general.

Mario has been traveling constantly in the months since arriving in the USA from Brazil. It was exceptionally nice of him to take the time to join Joe & Ted. Mario was so concerned that the battery on his cell phone was going to run out during the interview that he made them call him back on a different line! That’s class, ladies and gentlemen!

SWITCHING GEARS

If you have not seen the show “Fight Science” on the National Geographic channel, then stop what you’re doing and make a point to set the DVR for it RIGHT NOW.

Bas Rutten, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Dean Lister are run through a series of experimental scientific tests, and the results stunned the compilers of empirical data.

The only down side was that if you knew nothing about MMA organizations, you would think the UFC was the only one in existence. This was an observation made by Ted and confirmed by Joe.

We have seen in the past that the UFC is not above leveraging their footage and general access to mainstream and other media under the conditions that the written or televised piece keep exclusive mention to their promotion. No one from The RNC has checked into confirming that was the case for this episode of “Fight Science” because we really do not care that much, other than to just levy our positive and negative criticism of the show.

Speaking of Bas Rutten, a hearty RNC congratulations goes out to “El Guapo” for being named the VP for fighter relations at the IFL (from “Fight Science” you can see he’s still in fighting shape!). Fear not, he’ll still be bringing his top-notch analysis to the IFL’s telecasts. Now Bas gets to use those endless connections to help bring talent into the IFL and help create sensible and exciting fighter and camp matchups.

Additionally, Kurt Otto will be able to focus more on the ring-related aspects. As the new head of the business side, Jay Larkin, said last week, the team concept changing to the camp vs. camp setup means we’re not so much talking about a league except in official name. Without a league, there is no sense of having a commissioner. The good thing is, you’ll still be able to hear Kurt, Bas and everyone involved in the IFL inside and and outside of the ring right here on The Rear Naked Choke!

More big news this week was the announcement that the April 4 card will include a total of three title matches:

Featherweight (145 pounds): Wagnney Fabiano defends vs. Shad Lierley

Welterweight (170 pounds): Jay Hieron defends vs. Mark Miller

Light Heavyweight (205 pounds): Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko defends vs. Jamal Patterson

We already have had on Jay (“Nice playa, nice!”), and we’ll eventually have on everyone on that list. We’ll also keep focusing on the Feb. 29 card and will continue to have guests from that lineup!

JUMP ON THE TRAIN!

<—pass it down—>

Ho-hum.  Another live ring-side show at an IFL event, another sick job by The RNC crew.  

First and foremost, congratulations to the IFL belt winners:

Featherweight: Wagnney Fabiano
Lightweight: Ryan Schultz
Welterweight: Jay Hieron
Middleweight: Matt Horwich
Light Heavyweight: Vladmir Matyushenko
Heavyweight: Roy “Big Country” Nelson

We got Randy again!  Randy Couture!  The Natural! 

Randy talked about the crap that he went through in the second half of 2007 and looked ahead to 2008, giving an explantion of all things Couture.  We’re not going to spoil the surprise — click the badge over there on the right and start listening to the show right now!

Joe & Ted welcomed Carlos Newton to the show once again.  Carlos kicked it off and talked about Wagnney, Canadian MMA and his new house, not to mention what he is looking forward to in the new year.  He’s going to start training all over the place, so get excited!

 IFL Commissioner Kurt Otto then sat in for some quality time.  Rather than focusing on the peripherals, Kurt talked about the fights and forced Joe & Ted into their predictions.  Hear the Commish relaxing and talking about MMA as a fan.  It’s quality stuff, and it will help you get to know Kurt a little bit better.

The ringside live show — a concept invented here — was the culmination of a four-shows-in-three-days bonanza.  Joe & Ted also broke new ground by going live from the weigh-in!

 Here is a recap of the three – yes, THREE – shows the guys did on Dec. 27-28:

The first night, Joe & Ted arrived on the scene and sat down with heavyweight combatants ”Big Country” and Antoine Jaoude.  Oh yeah, in the mean time, our pal Benji Radach stopped by, ahead of his 185-pound title match with Horwich.

On Friday afternoon, the guys went live from the weigh-in at Mohegan Sun and had (get this): Ken Shamrock, Ian Freeman and Pat Miletich!  Unbelievable! 

Ken gave the intel on his fight plans for 2008, and they are big plans!  Check out the show to find out what the MMA legend has planned for the coming months and hear him talk about his brother, Frank Shamrock.  Get the latest on Shamrock vs. Shamrock!

Ian recalled his days as a brawling doorman in the UK, and told the story about what made him switch from being just a boxer to essentially bringing MMA to its newest hotbed.  He also revealed which football (American word: “soccer”) team he supports (American words: “roots for”).   

 Pat’s appearance on the show was a long-awaited highlight for Joe & Ted, to whom he refers as ”Those Lawyer Guys From New York”.  Mr. Miletich wants to take the “Naked” out of Rear Naked Choke – hear why, and email us on TheRNC@joeted.com to tell us what you think (tell us you want to keep it).  We might even put up a poll, so vote to keep it in there (sorry, Pat!).  

On Friday night, Tim Hughes, the awesome IFL Ring Announcer, took on co-hosting duties for a huge show that featured Shawn Tompkins, who is Randy’s right-hand man at Xtreme Couture, and Commissioner Kurt.

Tim is such a polished pro, and Joe & Ted always are especially honored when he joins them.  He also knows a heck of a lot about MMA and the people involved in it.  Hear about what Tim is doing with HDNet Fights and get some background about his incredible history in the industry.  You’ll have immediate voice recognition, “THAT’S TIM HUGHES?!  I KNOW THAT GUY!”

Shawn joined us to talk about the Xtreme Couture guys: Chris Horodecki and Jay Hieron, and a little bit about Benji Radach.  His relationship with Chris is special and unique.   Shawn’s involvement in Xtreme Couture has been a huge key to its astounding rise to prominence, and Team Tompkins is not too shabby, either!

 These shows are must-listens for even the casual fan, not to mention the hard-core enthusiasts. 

 JUMP ON THE TRAIN!

November has been the best month ever for The Rear Naked Choke!

Thanks to you, the fans, we’ve already set a new single-month high for traffic just halfway though November. Here’s a quick chronological recap of how we got here this month:

The first show of the month was on the first day of the month, when Joe hosted solo from the IFL hotel and had on Matt Horwich and Antoine Jaoude, both of whom were getting set to fight two days later, and came out winners to advance to battle for the respective IFL middleweight and heavyweight belts.

The next night, Bad Brad Blackburn sat in for Ted next to Joe. They had unbeaten (but injured) stud Reese Andy in first (Reese did Ted’s part of the opening intro). Carlos Newton stepped in and made a bold prediction about the John Gunderson-WaggneyFabiano match, and then Horwich grabbed the floor for a minute to explain why he was overweight at the weigh-in a few hours earlier. Bad Brad wasn’t buying his excuse.

Gunderson then joined the show and was none too pleased by Newton’s remarks when Joe & Bad Brad passed them along. Shortly after Guns sat down, Jay Hieron joined the fray, and could not get over the fact that Bad Brad was co-hosting.

Ted made it into the mix for the Saturday show from ringside at the Sears Centre outside Chicago. This amazing show was kicked off by the unmistakable voice of IFL ring announcer Tim Hughes, and kept rolling with IFL CEO and co-founder Gareb Shamus.

It kicked into another gear when the electric Renzo Gracie joined Joe & Ted and then went over the top when, to everyone’s shock, Randy Couture sat down for a few minutes at ringside! On hand to corner Hieron, this was either the first or one of the first exclusive interviews Couture had given since he recent departure from the UFC!

Marco Ruas, the King of the Streets, gave the guys some time, and then one of the First Ladies of MMA, Shannon Knapp, sat down. Newton also joined the show for a second straight day.

After a travel day, Joe & Ted were back at it again Monday, Nov. 5. Fresh off his quick knockout win, middleweight Benji Radach stepped aside from a family function to give his thoughts about beating Brent Beauparlant, and looking ahead to his belt showdown with the enigmatic Horwich.

Once again, thanks Benji, and here is an official “Happy Birthday” to your bro from The RNC!

As if things could not get better, on the Nov. 12 show, news was just hours from becoming official that Shad Lierly would be fighting Chris Horodecki for the IFL lightweight belt Dec. 29 at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. All over the rumor, Joe & Ted were the first to get Lierly to talk about the rematch of what most MMA fans considered the fight of the year.

The witty Tim Kennedy, who will be on the preliminary bout card that night against Elias Rivera, gave the guys some time.

Elisabeth Nuesser, the founder of the awesome and smoking-hot FightChix clothing line, lit it up at the end! Ted has Elisabeth pegged as a sultry celebrity lookalike – find out whom!

Thanks for listening, and keep checking back for improvements to the site. You can use the links to comment or give suggestions. And do not forget to get your FightChix stuff. Mention The Rear Naked Choke in your email to info@fightchix.com and receive some discount or freebie mini-gift luv from the Fight Chic herself!

Our mySpace page is coming, too. Keep on the lookout for more info!

In our next show on October 22nd, we’ll look at the upcoming IFL World Grand Prix Semifinals! Here’s the fight card we’ll be discussing:

IFL World Grand Prix Semi-Finals
Saturday, Nov. 3
Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Lightweight
Wagnney Fabiano vs. John Gunderson
Chris Horodecki vs. Bart Palaszewski

Welterweight
Delson Heleno vs. Brad Blackburn
Pat Healy vs. Jay Hieron

Middleweight
Benji Radach vs. Brent Beauparlant
Matt Horwich vs. Brian Foster

Light Heavyweight
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alex Schoenauer

Heavyweight
Roy Nelson vs. Reese Andy
Antoine Jaoude vs. Bryan Vetell

Just about all of these guys have been on the show so you can always catch up with past shows here.

And, as always, we welcome your participation in the live show.