Luke Thomas Live Chat & Podcasts

Phil Daru is a strength and conditioning coach at American Top Team (ATT), an elite mixed martial arts (MMA) team. I decided to speak to Daru about his work with premier athletes for two reasons. First, he has competitive experience in MMA, bodybuilding and powerlifting, three very different sports that physically require hugely varied athletic needs. Second, in a sport like MMA where cardio is king, cardio training does nothing to prevent injury. Strength training does. As it turns out, training to prevent injury in MMA has lead to improved training overall. In this conversation, we discuss those developments, where strength and conditioning is headed and more.

At UFC 212, Anderson Silva will face Kelvin Gastelum at middleweight. We'll talk about what this means for both fighters plus take a look at the UFC Fight Night: Jimi Manuwa vs. Corey Anderson fight card in London, discuss Ryan Bader's inevitable matriculation to Bellator, touch on WSOF 35 and more. This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat.

At UFC Fight Night (106): Vitor Belfort succumbed to the surging Kelvin Gastelum, Shogun Rua showed he's still not done yet against Gian Villante, Kevin Lee rebounded against Francisco Trinaldo and Edson Barboza scored one of the most knockouts ever against Beneil Dariush and more. This is the Monday Morning Analyst.

At UFC 209, Tyron Woodley kept his welterweight title against Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, Alistair Overeem knocked out Mark Hunt and more. We'll go over those results plus discuss Nick and Nate Diaz's recent comments about how they're treated. We'll also take a look at UFC Fight Night: Vitor Belfort vs. Kelvin Gastelum in Fortaleza, Brazil. This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat.

At UFC 209, Tyron Woodley defended his title against Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, albeit controversially. We'll discuss that plus Darren Elkins' comeback against Mirsad Bektic, David Teymur vs. Lando Vannata, Alistair Overeem's knockout of Mark Hunt and more. We'll pay special attention to Iuri Alcantara's kneebar of Luke Sanders and Cynthia Calvillo's back take of Amanda Cooper. This is the Monday Morning Analyst with Luke Thomas.

In this edition of the series, UFC commentator and former middleweight Brian Stann helps explain why UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson's self belief, mental focus and physical gifts have powered him to the top of the division and a title fight at UFC 209 against Khabib Nurmagomedov.

UFC 209 fight week is here and the MMA community is buzzing about Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson and Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson 2. As of an hour ago, UFC President Dana White also made Georges St-Pierre vs. Michael Bisping official for the middleweight title. We'll discuss these and much more on this edition of the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat.

In the first part of this two-part series ahead of UFC 209, we focus on the what makes UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov special and unique ahead of his interim title showdown with Tony Ferguson. In this edition, ONE welterweight champion and U.S. Olympian Ben Askren helps explain the method behind Nurmagomedov's success, what it means that he comes from Dagestan, Russia, what he needs to do against Ferguson, how he'd fare against Conor McGregor and more. In part two, we'll do the same for Ferguson by exploring his strengths and unique approach to mixed martial arts.

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (GSP) is looking to make a return to the UFC against either Conor McGregor or Michael Bisping. We'll weigh the merits of both fights and try to figure out which once makes sense. We'll also go over the results from UFC Halifax and Bellator 172, including the futures of Derrick Lewis, Travis Browne, Paul Felder, Sara McMann, Josh Koscheck and Josh Thomson. We'll also dig into sundry news and notes in mixed martial arts. This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat.

At UFC Halifax, Derrick Lewis finished off Travis Browne and Johny Hendricks got to work at middleweight against Hector Lombard. We'll talk about that card plus the standout performances of Paul Felder and Sara McMann. Plus we'll dig into Bellator 172, including the losses of Josh Thomson and Josh Koscheck, why no Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione and more. This is the Monday Morning Analyst.