MMA Det Mike Davis and Herb Dean’s Dog Sitter Joey Venti being you incredibly researched subjects that will give you information that will surprise the hardest of OG’s
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Edwin “Babyface” Dewees: Fighting at 17 in Arizona’s Wild West | MMA History Podcast 355
Season 1 · Episode 355
Monday, November 2, 2026 • Duration 01:41:04
In episode 355 of the MMA History Podcast, hosts Joey Venti and Mike Davis sit down with Arizona pioneer and former Rage in the Cage light heavyweight champion Edwin “Babyface” Dewees. A UFC veteran, The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 contestant, and 50 Fight Club member, Dewees began his pro career at just 17 years old in the unregulated Wild West of early Arizona MMA, where his mother signed the waiver and he stepped into the cage with almost no formal training.
He recounts the surreal atmosphere of Roland Sarria’s Rage in the Cage shows—high school kids fighting multiple times a month, selling tickets, teaching classes for free, and chasing the dream of the UFC while rarely seeing real money. The conversation covers his rapid rise against names like Bill Cameron, David Harris, Antonio McKee, Alan “A-Dog” Sullivan, Joe Stevenson, and Drew Fickett, the intense loyalty and control inside Sarria’s gym, and the complicated relationship with a promoter who doubled as a father figure.
Dewees also opens up about training alongside Joe Riggs, the Lions Den years, a brutal post-career attack that nearly cost him his life, and the long road that finally landed him in the UFC after more than 30 fights.
It’s a raw, unfiltered look at one of the most unique and overlooked chapters in early American MMA. If you love the real stories behind the sport, this is essential listening.
Subscribe to the MMA History Podcast for more interviews with the men who built the sport.
0:00 start
0:35 MMA History Podcast intro
1:07 Joey Venti’s guest introduction
1:32 interview start
2:15 first pro fight at 17 years old
4:37 high school wrestling career
5:21 Richard Hamilton
6:13 Lions Den in Arizona
7:42 meeting Frank Trigg
7:49 experience with Homer Moore
8:44 dealings with Rick Roufus
9:31 training with Mauricio Zingano
9:38 Victor Estrada
10:13 training at Roland Sarria’s gym
11:36 meeting Don Frye
12:20 Edwin Dewees vs Bill Cameron
15:58 moms opinion on fight with Bill Cameron
16:39 Roland Sarria fallout with Rickson Gracie
17:30 receiving support from a Marine Corps recruiter
18:35 taking helicopter to hospital after beating
25:30 Edwin Dewees vs Chris Meyers
28:51 Edwin Dewees vs Davis Harris
31:20 Roland Sarria working as a male dancer
32:13 payment for Rage in the Cage
32:53 Edwin Dewees vs Antonio McKee
35:24 payment for winning tournament
38:57 Edwin Dewees vs Trinity Boykin 2x in one night
40:11 Roland Sarria running shows simultaneously
40:42 goal of making it to the UFC
42:00 teaching MMA for free
44:18 being taken advantage of in early career
45:55 dark money entering the sport
46:45 Edwin Dewees vs Sean Williams
47:28 Edwin Dewees vs Allan Sullivan
49:54 unable to cross train at other gyms
51:31 tension from training with Bob Karmel
53:55 Ryan Bader and Jamie Varner
56:10 Joe Riggs vs Alex Stiebling
57:24 Edwin Dewees vs Christophe Leininger
1:00:30 Roland Sarria receiving help from students
1:01:23 Edwin Dewees vs Jeremy Edwards
1:03:08 Edwin Dewees vs Joe Stevenson
1:05:29 Edwin Dewees vs George Lockhart
1:06:25 altercation with Drew Fickett
1:07:58 Edwin Dewees vs Drew Fickett
1:08:49 Drew Fickett crashing car into restaurant
1:09:49 rematch with Drew Fickett
1:12:22 declining any sponsors
1:13:37 Edwin Dewees vs Shannon Ritch
1:16:47 Edwin Dewees vs Sam Adkins
1:17:28 Edwin Dewees vs Todd Medina
1:19:52 Edwin Dewees vs Homer Moore
1:26:29 Edwin Dewees vs Auggie Padeken
1:27:06 experience fighting in Hawaii
1:29:16 Roland Sarria issues with Santino DeFranco
1:30:42 Dominick Cruz in the training room
1:31:15 Edwin Dewees vs Chappo Montijo
1:33:15 getting a call from the UFC
1:35:19 Matt Hughes and Joe Riggs training camp
1:36:01 Joe Riggs weight cut story
1:38:09 sneak peak for part 2
1:40:36 outro
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TJay Thompson: How a Nightclub Oil Wrestling Show Launched Hawaiian MMA | Episode 354
Season 1 · Episode 354
Monday, October 26, 2026 • Duration 01:23:16
TJay Thompson, the architect of SuperBrawl and Icon Sport and a foundational figure in early Hawaiian MMA, joins the MMA History Podcast to detail how a Boston native managing female oil wrestling at Gussie L’Amour’s nightclub near Honolulu Airport fell into promoting fights in 1996. With no prior combat sports background, he ran packed monthly no-holds-barred events in the roughly 400-capacity bar using a homemade steel, cable, and plywood ring before partnering with Norwegian strongman and World’s Gym owner Ode Haugen to move the shows to Blaisdell Arena under the SuperBrawl banner.
Thompson recounts the early financial losses that nearly ended the promotion, the turnaround to profitability on the road in Guam, and key cards including SuperBrawl 2’s Vitor Belfort versus Jon Hess main event—promoted as Victor Gracie and held under true no-holds-barred rules—that drew Shaquille O’Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers. He covers Jay R. Palmer’s rapid rise as an untrained street fighter and his notorious head-stomp finish of Maurice Corty, the brutal 30-minute John Lober versus Frank Shamrock war that turned the Blaisdell crowd against the Lion’s Den, Matt Hume’s early influence on matchmaking and rules, Dan Severn’s willingness to take half his purse after a poorly attended El Paso show, and the creative workaround of staging SuperBrawl 7 as an ancient pankration-style “Pain Creation Tournament” to navigate Hawaii’s ban on extreme and ultimate fighting.
The conversation also touches the tense Relson Gracie–Egan and Enson Inoue rivalry that dominated the local scene in the late 1990s. This episode captures the chaotic, high-risk origins of one of MMA’s most influential regional promotions and the characters who built Hawaiian MMA from the ground up.
0:00 start
0:48 MMA History Podcast Intro
1:19 Joey Venti’s guest introduction
1:35 interview start
1:52 start in MMA promoting
Joe Brammer: From Chubby Preacher’s Kid to UFC Lightweight via the Wildest Midwest Circuit
Season 1 · Episode 353
Monday, October 19, 2026 • Duration 01:48:30
Joe Brammer, known as The South Side Strangler, joins the MMA History Podcast to recount his journey from a chubby son of a preacher man in Des Moines, Iowa, to a Midwest submission specialist who ground out a path to the UFC.
He details the raw early 2000s Iowa scene built around Toad Holler bar fights and promotions like Midwest Cage Championships, sharing stories of training and fighting alongside Josh Neer, Houston Alexander, and Jeremy Stevens in an era of minimal oversight, high fight volume, and wild characters.
Brammer walks through his early pro bouts, including a lights-out moment during an XKK Trials fight, his guillotine choke win over Michael Johnson that helped launch his UFC run, and his Octagon appearances against Mark Bocek and Aaron Riley after short-notice call-ups and brutal weight cuts.
He also covers training stints with Ivan Salaverry in Seattle, time at Throwdown Training Center in San Diego around fighters like Dean Lister and Jocko Willink, plus the injuries and close calls that shaped his career before he returned home to run gyms in Waukee and Ankeny, Iowa.
This episode captures the unique, under-the-radar Midwest pipeline that produced far more UFC talent than its size suggested.
0:00 start
0:27 MMA History Podcast intro
0:59 Joey Venti’s guest introduction
1:19 interview start
1:24 staying off of social media
3:19 plugs/ promotions
3:52 fighters coming out of Iowa
7:00 starting off with Jeet Kune Do
Ant Evans: Cursed UFC 108, Chael Sonnen's Belt Stunt & UFC’s Record Year of 2010
Season 1 · Episode 352
Monday, October 12, 2026 • Duration 01:58:10
The MMA History Podcast welcomes Ant Evans for his third appearance in episode 352. The former head of UFC media relations for the UK and continental Europe revisits 2010 as Zuffa’s international expansion accelerated. Evans covers the UK fighter wave led by Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy, the “cursed” UFC 108 card with multiple major pullouts including Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort, and the office culture of the early Las Vegas years.
He details Chael Sonnen’s Ric Flair-inspired belt stunt, press access battles of the era, and landmark shows such as the sold-out UFC 110 Australian debut with Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones’ first main event against Brandon Vera, Georges St-Pierre vs. Dan Hardy at UFC 111 (including Hardy’s storage-unit training camp), UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi with Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia and Frankie Edgar’s upset of B.J. Penn, Randy Couture’s submission of James Toney at UFC 118, and Brock Lesnar’s comeback win over Shane Carwin at UFC 116.
The conversation contrasts the lean, record-breaking Zuffa period with the later corporate era while teasing a Cro Cop Canada story for the next instalment.
0:00 start
0:37 MMA History Podcast Intro
1:08 Joey Venti’s guest introduction
1:21 interview start
1:24 head of PR in the UK for the UFC
3:48 UFC 108 disaster
6:43 Joe Silva issues with Gerald Harris
7:27 UFC 109 helping Chael Sonnen with bad guy image
12:17 interactions with Doug Crosby
13:34 Chael Sonnen Dark side of the cage
15:24 Joey Venti’s studio set up
16:59 camaraderie in the UFC
Egan Inoue: My WAR with Relson Gracie
Season 1 · Episode 351
Monday, October 5, 2026 • Duration 01:39:13
Egan Inoue sits down with the MMA History Podcast and opens a Hawaiian career that ran from racquetball world titles straight into the chaos of the early fight scene. Younger brother of Enson Inoue, he talks training with Rickson Gracie before the UFC existed, learning jiu-jitsu from Enson, and a Space Needle street fight that finally pulled him in.
His pro debut came at Lumax Cup: Tournament of J ’95 on October 13, 1995. Armbars over Alexander Otsuka and Akihiro Gono put him in the final, where Tsuyoshi Kosaka stopped the run. From there he covers a 1996 Shooto win over Gordon Dehdman, a Lumax Cup loss to Sanae Kikuta, a Rings disqualification against Masayuki Naruse, and a Pride 5 TKO of Minoru Toyonaga.
Inoue is widely credited as the first non-Brazilian IBJJF world champion, blue belt in 1996 and purple belt in 1997. He also breaks down the footlock game that got him booed in Brazil.
The Relson Gracie feud started on the mats and never really cooled off. Opening Grappling Unlimited in Honolulu, and his ties to kickboxer Dennis Alexio, poured fuel on it. The bad blood spilled into a Hawaii Pan American, a ban from the Florida Pan Ams, and a hired opponent at SuperBrawl 12 on June 1, 1999: Marcelo Dantas, known as Tigre. He also talks weekends at the gym with a young BJ Penn.
At ADCC 1999 he submitted Robbie Kilpatrick, outpointed Renzo Gracie, and dropped the bronze match to Ricardo Libório.
Mike Davis and Joey Venty keep the tape rolling!
0:00 start
0:29 MMA History Podcast intro
1:01 Joey Venti’s guest introduction
1:16 interview start
1:40 first time hearing about MMA
Pete Rodley: Building UCC, Booking GSP & The Wild Birth of Canadian MMA
Season 1 · Episode 350
Monday, September 28, 2026 • Duration 02:14:03
Pete Rodley was co-owner and vice president of Universal Combat Challenge, the Montreal promotion that helped launch sanctioned Canadian MMA and gave early platforms to Georges St-Pierre, David Loiseau, Ivan Menjivar, Mark Hominick and Patrick Côté.
In this MMA History Podcast interview he traces his path from a traditional karate family and godson of UFC 3’s Harold Howard through IFC work on the reserves, the Combat List era, and the first UCC cards with Stéphane Patry.
Rodley covers the last-minute UCC 1 main-event scramble after Kimo Leopoldo pulled out, Elvis Sinosic versus Dave Beneteau, Wagnney Fabiano, Sean Sherk against Claudionor Fontinelle, the rain-out show, GSP’s debut against Menjivar, Full Contact Fighter ranking UCC among the world’s biggest promotions, and why he walked away before later returning with Freedom Fight.
A detailed look at the names and chaos that built MMA north of the border.
Subscribe to the MMA History Podcast for interviews and stories from the people who lived the early days of mixed martial arts.
0:00 start
0:29 MMA History Podcast intro
1:01 Joey Venti’s guest introduction
1:20 interview start
1:31 beginnings in MMA
4:24 meeting Harold Howard
8:00 attending IFC events
9:10 Battlecade Extreme Fighting 2
9:47 introduction to promoting
10:43 legalities for Battlecade Extreme Fighting 2
12:54 the Bikers in Canada
Andy Geer: The Fall of Cage Rage
Season 1 · Episode 349
Monday, September 21, 2026 • Duration 01:55:20
In this episode of the MMA History Podcast, Cage Rage co-founder Andy Geer returns to cover the promotion’s final chapter. Elite XC and parent company ProElite arrived with cash and television promises, American names poured in, and a run of Wembley Arena cards mixed British regulars with imported stars before the brand collapsed after ProElite failed in 2008.
Geer talks through Kimo Leopoldo’s British debut at Cage Rage 18, where the Pride and UFC veteran lost by guillotine to Dave Legeno, and addresses the talk that followed that fight. He also tells the Cage Rage 21 story in full: Bob Sapp was booked, recorded promos and did the usual cage walk, then pulled out midweek after claiming threats tied to his earlier walkout in Holland; Tank Abbott took the main event on a few days’ notice, flew in, drank the night before, promised a short burst of chaos, and was stopped by Gary Turner.
Also discussed are the UFC dispute over the eight-sided cage and the phrase “ultimate fighting,” the deal Geer says was worth ten million dollars with four million paid in cash, Sky Sports live television, last-minute replacements, and the budget cuts and culture clash that followed the sale.
Cage Rage shut its doors but left a lasting mark on European MMA.
Subscribe for more first-hand interviews with the people who built the sport.
0:00 start
0:37 MMA History Podcast Intro
1:10 Joey Venti’s guest introductions
1:21 interview start
1:34 brawl at the mall 2
3:12 Dan Hardy trained by the Shaolin monks
4:00 Robbie Olivier vs Brad Pickett
5:34 Alexandru Lungu vs Mark Buchanan
Mac Danzig’s Last UFC Run, Training Knockouts & Walking Out “Not For Sale” - feat. Gray Maynard
Season 1 · Episode 348
Monday, September 14, 2026 • Duration 01:59:32
This week on the MMA History Podcast we close the book on Friend of the Show Mac Danzig’s UFC career. Title challenger Gray Maynard also joins Mike Davis and Joey Venti to walk through Danzig’s final run against Takanori Gomi, Melvin Guillard and Joe Lauzon, the camps at AKA and Extreme Couture, the grind of training while raising a young daughter, the Joe Silva relationship, the sponsorship machine, and the decision to walk out one last time with “Not For Sale” on his shorts.
Gray also talks Primed Combat in Michigan and life after the octagon. Mac looks back on the knockouts in camp, the Rico Chiapparelli chapter, and the six-hour nasal surgery that followed his final fight.
Support the Rafiel Torre documentary: a $10 donation gets you the window sticker and yellow card. Link in the description.
0:00 start
0:34 MMA History Podcast intro
1:07 Joey Venti’s guest introduction
1:24 interview start
1:26 Gray Maynard current life/ plugs
3:06 Mac Danzig plugs/ promotions
5:46 Mac Danzig meeting Gray Maynard
7:16 relationship with Shawn Tompkins
9:40 leaving Vegas for California
12:00 reaction to Jim Miller UFC longevity
13:29 Mac Danzig’s relationship with Joe Silva
15:30 Gray Maynard’s relationship with Joe Silva
18:09 Mac Danzig vs Takanori Gomi
24:16 Gray Maynard training at AKA
32:21 issues with Bob Cook as a coach
Matt Grice: UFC Fight of the Night Vet Who Survived Two Car Wrecks and a Coma
Season 1 · Episode 347
Monday, September 7, 2026 • Duration 01:39:32
Matt “The Real One” Grice was supposed to be unbreakable. A four-time Oklahoma state wrestling champion at Harrah High School, three-time Outstanding Wrestler, and the most recruited wrestler in his weight class, a car wreck threw him through a windshield and stole the college career everyone saw coming. He clawed his way back, made it to the UFC, earned Fight of the Night honors against Jason Black and Dennis Bermudez, then a second crash in Shawnee shattered his skull and ended his fighting career.
Most men would have stayed down. Grice didn’t. He rebuilt his life as an Oklahoma City police officer, coach, and gym owner.
On episode 347 of the MMA History Podcast, Matt Grice sits down with Mike Davis and Joey Venti to recount his legendary high school career, the wreck that cost him his years at Oklahoma, the promise he kept to his parents before his first fight, his UFC run, the 2013 accident that put him in a coma, and how he came back to coach the next generation at American Elite MMA.
0:00 start
0:44 MMA History Podcast intro
1:16 Joey Venti’s guest introductions
1:31 interview start
1:47 current life/ career
2:23 4 time state champ in Oklahoma
4:12 recruiting process for wrestling
7:30 getting hurt in a car crash
8:54 wrestling while injured
11:47 taking a season off wrestling
13:05 meeting MMA coach Jason Merrill
14:46 competing in BJJ after 1 day or practice
17:57 taking first amateur fight
19:32 relationship with Ron Tripp
Anthony “Mad Dog” Macias: I Weighed 160lbs at UFC 4 and Padded the Scale to Face Dan Severn
Season 1 · Episode 346
Monday, August 31, 2026 • Duration 01:39:25
Anthony “Mad Dog” Macias finally sits down with the MMA History Podcast after years of pursuit. At UFC 4 he was billed at 190 pounds, weighed closer to 160, and drew Dan Severn in the tournament. He went on to win multiple eight-man tournaments in Oklahoma and the IFC, then met Kazushi Sakuraba at Pride 7. Macias tells the unfiltered story of the headbutt era, promoter Buddy Albin, the controversial nine-second UFC 6 meeting with Oleg Taktarov, and the early fights that never made official records. He also discusses two decades as an Oklahoma referee and raising sons who now compete.
The only podcast dedicated 100% to preserving mixed martial arts history through interviews with the men who lived it.
