The (Not So) Foxy Lady: My Take on Fallon Fox

March 27th, 2013 by Tony Reid

By now most everyone has heard about transgendered fighter Fallon Fox attempting to forge a career in Womens’ MMA. My general thought is this…I personally don’t care what anyone decides to or with their own body in their personal life. It’s their business, do you, more power to you in whatever choices you make. You have the right to live your life your way and you have to live with said choices. But it becomes an issue when actions and choices start to affect other people.

First and foremost Fox spent over 3 decades as a man. Let me repeat that…Fox spend over 30 years as a man. I can relate, as I’m a 34 year old dude myself. The musculature and bone density, bone structure and all the physicality, the power, the strength, you gain spending 30 plus years in a vessel as a man can’t be changed after taking estrogen or other hormones for a few years. Its not that easy of a thing to change.

As an interesting sidenote, Fox was in the Navy for a period of time and also worked as a truck driver for some time. That’s some manly shit! More manly than what I do for a living, that’s for sure.

All joking aside, my main concern is for the safety of the women, the born women, Fox has faced and will continue to face fighting as a woman. Again, it’s their (the other ladies) right to take or not take a fight but look at Fox’s first opponent Alyssa Vasquez’s quotes after the fight with Fox. That tells the whole story. She speaks how how incredibly strong Fox was, how overpowering she was, things of that nature. And in watching Fox’s first few fights it looks, to some degree, like a man fighting a woman. Not good.

With MMA being but a small child and Womens’ MMA being in its infancy there is alot of room for growth, maybe someday transgendered people will fight transgendered people. I would pay to see that. I just feel the playing field is not level, actually far from level, in this particular case.

All of the facts I’ve covered so far don’t even touch on the fact that Fox somehow conveniently forgot to disclose the fact that she spent much of her life as a man before taking a fight against a woman. The lie, the coverup, the lack of disclosure prior to competing in a fight against a woman is what upsets me as much as anything.

The cold hard truth is that certain life choices can affect future earnings or career paths. It’s not as if she had a sex change and now wants to run for congress or senate or be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company living as a woman. Hell, more power to her if she did! She can run for president for all I care but Fox, born a man, wants to kick, punch, choke and impose her will on women. That’s in a whole different stratosphere away from just wanting to live life as a woman after being born a man. If you were born with testicles and had them attached to your body for three decades you don’t get to fight women. That’s the one career path at which we must draw the line.

1st Annual Rattling the Cage MMA Awards

January 10th, 2013 by Tony Reid

Fighter of the Year

Benson Henderson- Bendo went 3-0 over the 2012 calendar year with all three of his fights being title fights in the Lightweight Division. His first fight of the year he won the Lightweight championship from Frankie Edgar at UFC 144 in February. At UFC 150 in August he defended his title against Edgar in a rematch. He finished the year strong with a dominant performance in his second title defense against an always game Nathan Diaz on UFC on FOX 5 in December. He completely manhandled and outclassed Diaz in every way imaginable. He seems to get better and better (and bigger and bigger) each fight. With his performance in the Octagon as well as how he handles himself outside of it you could be looking at the next (really) big thing in MMA, toothpick or not. Three title fights, three main events, three wins this year.


Female Fighter of the Year

Ronda Rousey-This may be the most obvious choice of an award winner in the history of mankind (or womankind). What Rousey did for the sport of MMA and Womens’ MMA specifically this year is something that has not been seen before. It has been compared to what the Gracies did for the sport in the States in the early 90’s. She has been called the Muhammad Ali of Womens’ MMA, among other verbal accolades. She is a true crossover star as evidenced by her ESPN the Magazine appearance, the endorsements, commercials and most importantly her UFC championship and her upcoming main event status at a UFC event (UFC 157), the first in the company’s history. As far as her in cage exploits, she was basically untouchable, collecting arm after arm (six for six over the course of her career) from unsuspecting ladies within her division. In March she nearly ripped Miesha Tate’s arm off to win the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight championship and in August she did the same to the always tough Sarah Kaufman in under a minute. Two headline fights, two armbars, one championship, one newly minted icon.

Fight of the Year

Winner- Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (UFC 139)-There is nothing better for fight fans than when a highly anticipated fight between two legends of the sport lives up to the hype. Well my fellow fight fans, there is one thing better than a fight living up to expectations and that would be a fight that exceeds expectations and this fight exceeded all expectations. This fight is not only fight of the year but in the conversation for the best fight in MMA history. It had it all. Hendo came out and put in on Shogun to start. Shogun like the true warrior he is (and like every great fight needs) came back and dropped Hendo (a virtual impossibility). The two warriors went five full rounds and even a usually quick booing MMA crowd gave the guys a break when the action slowed toward the end of this instant classic. The fight had it all, two legends going toe to toe, near knockouts, near submissions, blood and an obvious show of guts and testicular fortitude by both legends.

Knockout of the Year

Winner-Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim (UFC 142)-Whenever I watch a fight that ends in such a way that I couldn’t even make it happen with a video game controller in my hand I know that’s the one, the highlight KO of the year. Barboza’s spinning wheel kick knockout was poetry in motion…for everyone except Etim. Etim moved forward and Barboza planted his right leg and spun his left leg 360 degrees like a human machete and connected perfectly on poor Terry. The UFC was already adding this to their event opening highlight reel before Etim hit the canvas.

Submission of the Year

Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 140)-Trying not to be so prone to hyperbole but the submission of the year could also be in the convo for best submission in the history of our great sport. Look at the level and caliber of the event (UFC 140), the combatants (the two greatest heavyweight submission artists ever), the submission itself (a hold-it-till-the-bitter-end and listen-and-watch-as-it-breaks kimura) and the drama of the fight itself (Mir was almost out on his feet before coming back to secure the submission) and you might have the best submission ever but you have the best submission of the year for sure.

Breakout Fighter of the Year

Alexander Gustafsson- The Swedes love Gustafsson just as much as Germans love Davis Hasselhoff. And the rest of the MMA world really began to take notice of “The Mauler” in 2012. He went from a virtually unknown up and coming 205er to being in the conversation for a title shot against arguably the best fighter in MMA today in Jon Jones. At the somewhat tender age of 25, Gustafsson had a career-defining year, earning a pair of decisions over top Brazilian contenders Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Thiago Silva. Don’t count him out when he does finally get that shot against Jones.

Coach of the Year

Javier Mendez-With the roster Mendez and Bob Cook have fostered and cultivated over the years and especially the year those great fighters had, Mendez was the choice as our coach of the year. AKA houses Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion and future mega star Daniel Cormier, Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and now after UFC 155 in December the newly minted UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez. If that isn’t enough take a closer look at a camp that includes Todd Duffee, Jon Fitch, Mo Lawal, Mike Swick, Josh Thomson and even former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker.Whatever drama may have surfaced at AKA this year the overwhelming results of the team in the cage and ring stand above everything else. Mendez and AKA are so hot they even had to turn away BJ Penn, who wanted to come train there.

Referee of the Year

Herb Dean-Dean is the most consistent and most knowledgeable third man (or woman) in the game. He is the referee of choice of Dana White himself and most fans and fighters around the globe. In addition he is the referee who least makes me want to yell at my television when he’s in the Octagon.

Now that we have covered the real, legitimate awards of the year, let’s move on and get to the First Annual Ratty’s, a far less serious set of awards…

The “Fighter That Most Resembles and Action Figure” Award

Phil Davis

 

The “Vlogger of the Year” Award- Bloodstain Lane

The “Twitter Tweeter of the Year” Award- Front Row Brian

The “Fighter You Would Most Like To Kick or Punch” Award - Michael Bisping and John Dodson (Tie)

The “Most Entertaining Fighter” Award- Chael Sonnen

The “Mr. (Lack of) Personality” Award- Grey Maynard

The “Fighter with Most Effective Use of His/Her Body Hair”Award- Brian Ebersole

The “Fighter Most Likely Sexually Attracted to His Opponent” Award- Nick Ring

The “Walking Mugshot” Award- Cody McKenzie

The “Wake Me When it’s Over” Award- Jake Shields

The “Getting Hit in the Face is a Cosmetic Improvement” Award- Pablo Garza

The “Tan in a Can” Award-Stephan Bonnar and Yoshihiro Akiyama (Tie)

The “Alan Belcher Worst Tattoo of the Year” Award- Adrian Perez and Melvin Costa (tie)

The ”He Eatin’ the Most Horse Meat” Award - Stephan Bonnar

The “Brock Lesnar Don’t Quit Your Day Job” Award- The entire Strikeforce Roster

The “Starve Yourself into a Lower Weight Class” Award- Thiago Alves

UFC 155 Review Rattling the Cage Style

January 3rd, 2013 by Tony Reid

Our trip started early Thursday morning in lovely Northumberland, PA and by lovely I mean a snow- sleet and freezing rain-snow sandwich. We hit the dark and windy road at about 2am after a restful night of sleep (read: 2 hours). Instead of me driving my usual pedal to the medal style I was forced to drive between 40 and 50 mph the entire trip. To me, this in and of itself was a small form of torture. We made it to Harrisburg International Airport with no issues and in plenty of time. The connecting flight to Chicago was on time. We were in business. While waiting for the connecting flight our buddy and Barbarian supporter Ryan Matter showed up and it turns out was flying on the same flight we were. Ryan is a nutritionist and strength and conditioning guru and one of Tim’s right hand men, so it is always nice to talk to people that really know what they are doing in any given field. We sat for a good bit of time sharing stories and comparing notes.

We fill up the puddle jumper of a plane and head for Chicago. We touch down and I see a warm and welcoming sight. Chicago Bears tees, sweatshirts, jackets, hats, you name it. Man, I love Chicago. Even though the east coast was getting smashed with snow and ice the usually shitty travel out of Chicago this time of year was actually a dream. Not a drop of snow, ice or any precipitation. Off to Vegas, it was time to get to sinnin’ in Sin City.

We land in Vegas, hit the airport filled with slot machines grab the bags and make our way to pick up the rental car. We hop in the luxurious Ford Focus and make our way to The Strip. Actually, it’s much nicer than my everyday car so win for me! We hit the strip, drive by the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign and all the new brides and grooms outside the Little Wedding Chapel and make our way to our hotel.

We took a minute, literally, to unpack and get comfy in our castle for the week. At that point I reached out to Tim and we headed over to his room at the MGM. We hung out there for a while. He was in good spirits yet, as he said, his head was a little off from being in the process of the weight cut. He was scheduled to take care of a few media obligations downstairs so we let him go do his thing and we went to do ours.

At this point I reached out to all of the people I had confirmed interviews with in the weeks leading up to the trip. Guys like UFC Photographer Josh Hedges, UFC VP of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner, Alan Belcher, Mike Constantino and Jim Miller, Brad Pickett, Mike Brown, Glover Teixeira and…well you get the idea.  We strolled around the MGM, taking in the sights, the elementary school children and kids in strollers mixed in with the hookers, the drinking, the smoking and gambling. I had no idea Las Vegas became such a family friendly vacation destination. Great job parents!

I personally love Las Vegas. I don’t know if it’s the lights, the fact that there is always something going on or if it’s just the fact that it is the MMA capital of the world. It’s probably a combination of all those things and more. I keep telling anyone that will listen that I eventually would like to move here, only half joking. Michelle and I finally sat down to grab a bite to eat as we waited to finalize my interview plans for the day.

The MGM was the unofficial official fighter and team hotel so went spent a good amount of our time there. As a fan if you camped out by the fountain in the elevator area in the hotel you would have bumped into a number of, if not every single fighter and personality in attendance that weekend. In our time there we saw various fighters and team members. Big Nog, Greg Jackson, Daniel Cormier, hell even Cecil Peoples himself rolled through. I actually spoke to Mr. Peoples for a few minutes and how do I say this nicely…I’m not sure if you put a hole in the ground and his rear end next to each other that he could determine which one was which. I don’t know if he was disoriented for some reason or if he had been on a drinking binge but wow, just wow. One of the highlights for me was running into Anthony Bourdain. I stopped him and in full fan mode asked for a picture. He took one, with an extreme look of pain and agony on his face.

Friday got off to a good start. I met up with top bantamweight contender Brad Pickett and former WEC Champion Mike Brown in their room and got a great interview with each guy. They were the best. They joked that we “delivered” by coming right up to the room for the interview. I said we would bring pizza next time. Shortly after that we ran into another Bantamweight contender in Michael McDonald, who is fighting Renan Barao for the Bantamweight Championship soon. We sat down and had a very interesting, in-depth conversation about his religion, his childhood, his comparison to Tim Tebow and a number of other topics. We also saw him in passing a few more times over the course of the weekend, stopping to say “Hi” each time. He was another great guy to talk to. We went to weigh ins in the early afternoon and as we entered the MGM my wife noticed Jacob “Stitch” Duran standing at a distance talking to a few friends. I had interviewed him months prior and our interview finally printed in Ultimate MMA Magazine this month. I actually brought a few copies just in case I happened to run into him. I went over introduced myself (again) and handed him a copy of the magazine. He gave my wife a big hug and kiss and gave me a big hug. He was legitimately excited and happy to see the interview. He commented about how great it turned out, how much he liked the pictures, everything. He introduced me to the guys he was with, who turned out to be his best friends. I bumped into him probably three or four more times over the course of the weekend and he stopped each time to thank me. I was the first media person to have my hands wrapped by him and he even asked where the hand wraps are. I told him that they are in a shadowbox in my office. Once I got home I tweeted him a picture of them. It was a really nice experience. Those are the kind of people in this crazy sport that I really enjoy speaking to.

Also during our travels Friday afternoon we stopped by Randy Couture’s Charity Poker Tournament and spoke to him for a minute. He is my favorite fighter of all time. We met him a few years ago in Denver but it’s still always great to stop and talk to him. I, of course, was attempting to set up an interview for the weekend and he told me who to contact but it just never panned out. It will soon though! Michelle had to get a picture so we did just that and went on our merry way.

Shortly after that we were headed to Tim’s room to meet up with him and head out to our favorite spot (in any city) Bucca Di Beppo.  During our jaunt to the room we ran into my good buddy, the former editor of TapouT Magazine and current Sirius Radio Host and writer for FIGHT! and UFC Magazine Mr. RJ Clifford. We have emailed, called, texted and every other form of communication over the past four years but we had never actually met. I ran up to him and gave him a big hug and we chatted like old friends. About this time the Tim Boetsch entourage rolled through and we headed over for some good old Italian food. The table has some pretty big names sitting at it Tim, of course, along with super trainer Matt Hume, Joel Jamieson, Ryan Matter and a few Swole representatives. Dinner included plates of Chicken Parm, piles of Lasagna, Ziti and the like. I was in heaven.

Just like well known bad ass Elton John said Saturday night is a night for fighting. I still can’t get used to heading to the arena for an event in broad daylight but it is what it is. We went over early to make the rounds as I say. We stopped and talked to Skrape for awhile. He is such a nice guy. We were talking about the magazine, its origins, just taking a trip down memory lane. It’s always great to catch up with someone who is so well respected and such a pioneer in this game. Big Black of Rob and Big fame came over to talk to Skrape and at one point after we were all walking away my wife asked if she could take a picture with Big Black. He refused, saying “Right now I’m only taking pictures with kids. Its kids only right now.” Really, kids only in Las Vegas at a casino right before a UFC event? Maybe that’s why no one was taking pictures with him. I did see kids running around everywhere in other parts of Vegas but none were at the fights clamoring for a picture with Big Black.

The early part of the card wasn’t overly exciting, but Tim’s fight had special importance to us, of course. We know how it played out. I won’t go into the gory details here. Needless to say we where extremely disappointed and more than that, feeling for Tim and the family. The co-main event and main event saved the otherwise lackluster card. The Jim Miller vs. Joe Lauzon fight would be a great late addition to any fight of the year award category. The main event between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos was an exciting one that had the crowd split 50/50. At times I felt like we were in Mexico watching the fight. The support for Cain (in our particular section of the building) was overwhelming.  People were literally going fucking crazy; waving flags screaming obscenities in other languages…it was great.

Sunday was a tough day. We went to Tim’s room about 8am because he was flying out around 10am. He looked as you would expect someone to look who had been in a fist fight mere hours earlier and one in which he was eye poked, head butted, nose broken and had cartilage torn right off his ribs. He and Drew were telling us about how at the hospital the night before they ran into Junior Dos Santos. Tim was getting stitched up in one room when he heard someone calling his name from the other room. It was JDS, who was told that Tim was right next to him. Can you imagine these two talking from room to room as they were getting stitched up after the fights? Of course by now you have probably seen the pictures of them posing together after the handy work done at the hospital. Tim, Drew, Michelle and I sat and talked for awhile and before we knew it was time to go. They needed help getting the bags downstairs and to the awaiting van so we helped them out to the ride, going through the maze of hallways and elevators and side, back and front exits. We said our goodbyes and went back to enjoy our last day in Sin City as much as we could considering the circumstances.

We hit up Pawn Stars and a few other touristy spots and headed home ourselves. The weekend had officially come to an end. The trip home was a smooth one and we walked in the door about 15 minutes before midnight to celebrate the New Year with our kids, just happy to be home and to be able to give them a weeks worth of hugs and kisses, even if they were only semi conscious that late at night. Until next time America.