Luke Thomas Live Chat & Podcasts

At Bellator 175, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson dropped a decision loss to 'King' Mo Lawal, Emmanuel Sanchez earned another decision victory, Sergei Kharitonov scored a nice knockout win over Chase Gormley, Steve Kozola showed promise with a vicious stoppage win and more. We'll go over these results and more on the Monday Morning Analyst.

Team-based mixed martial arts (MMA) represents the future of combative athletics to its supporters. It's dangerous spectacle to its detractors. In this discussion with Casey Oxendine, the leading American promoter of team-based MMA, we explore what team MMA is, where it comes from and whether it can even be called MMA at all. We delve into the evolution of mixed martial arts, why those within the MMA community are the most vocal critics of team MMA and more.

Bellator MMA held their Bellator NYC: Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva press conference at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. We'll react to that plus go over the recent spate of UFC news including Paige VanZant's next move. We'll also talk briefly about Bellator 175: Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson vs. 'King' Mo Lawal and more. This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat.

Bellator announced they're headed to Madison Square Garden in New York City for Bellator 180. Not only that, but the show will air on pay-per-view (PPV). Is that a good idea? We'll explore. Plus, we'll talk about the latest in the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor saga, look ahead of Bellator 175: Rampage Jackson vs. King Mo Lawal 2 and more. This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat.

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.