One more thing from Fighters Only

Jeez, are we in the future or what?

Personally I’m waiting until the magazine can be directly downloaded into my eyeballs but if you can’t wait that long, Fighters Only is now available online with all kinds of Web 2.0 integrated goodness.

Perhaps best of all you can download an entire issue of the magazine (Issue 34 to be exact) FOR NONE OF YOUR ENGLISH PENNIES… that means for free.

I think this link will take you there.

It’s a great issue, I got it sent to me from England. It’s got BJ Penn, Dana White, a training travel guide, and a whole bunch of other stuff in it. What are you waiting for? Quality online MMA journalism with pretty pictures and lots of things to click on! Go! Go!

The official blurb:

Fighters Only, The World’s Leading Mixed Martial Arts and Lifestyle Magazine, launches a digital version of it’s magazine, expanding it’s already massive coverage and giving it a larger international reach than any other publication in it’s sector.

Fighters Only, which is now in its forth year as a publication, has grown from being a UK publication to being on sale in 13 countries worldwide including the USA and Australia. The launch of a digital edition now means that wherever you can get online in the world, you can get Fighters Only.

Using leading technology the full magazine is reproduced with relevant video added to enhance the experience for readers. Other features include the ability to search text for key words, click through to links, both within the magazine and on the internet, and the access to an online library of the readers back issues which can be accessed at the click of a button.

Fighters Only Managing Director Rob Hewitt:

“Fighters Only has always embodied the pioneering spirit – we were the first monthly Mixed Martial Arts magazine in the world, we are the first to launch fan led awards with the World Mixed Martial Arts Awards and are now the first Mixed Martial Arts publisher to offer this digital version of the magazine to our readers sending Fighters Only truly World Wide.”

“The growth of Mixed Martial Arts has been an international phenomenon. To fulfil the global need for high quality features, interviews, coverage and insight as well as supplementing existing readers enjoyment of our magazine we felt that the digital edition was ideal. The digital format allows us to reach readers all over the world instantly, allowing them to enjoy the new issue as soon as it’s available in the stores in the UK.”

Fighters Only are also offering affiliate schemes to online retailers who wish to sell the publication to their customers. A sample edition of Fighters Only Issue 34 is online for people to try out the software at:  https://www.magtank.com/secure/sites/fightersonly/

World MMA Awards

Headed up by Martial Farts commentator (important title, that) Hywel Teague, Fighters Only Magazine is pretty much the coolest MMA magazine I’ve ever read. And I’m not just saying that because they have published two of my articles.

They have organised something that every MMA fan should check out…

The World MMA Awards.

In their words:

Fighters Only announce first World MMA Awards

Fighters Only, The UK’s Only Mixed Martial Arts and Lifestyle Magazine, is proud to announce plans for the first World Mixed Martial Arts Awards.

In a move that reflects the development and growth of the Sport and the Magazine, Fighters Only will organise and host an event that acknowledges outstanding achievements and efforts in MMA worldwide. Fighters, promoters and industry individuals will be eligible to win in a variety of categories that reflect their accomplishments in the sport.

The first World MMA Awards will be held in December 2008 with winners being nominated and chosen by fans throughout the year online. Using state of the art software Fighters Only will accept open nominations from May 2008 and the top 5 nominations in each category will be short listed for fans to choose from when nominations end on 31^st July 2008. Fans who nominated will then be asked to vote for their winner from the shortlist.

Fighters Only Managing Director Rob Hewitt:

“The last 12 months have seen huge developments in MMA on a global level. We feel that now is the right time to launch an annual award ceremony which focuses on all that is great in this sport. Fighters Only have been innovators in terms of the feature and coverage that we provide to our readers, traditionally in our magazine and now on our website, and it is only natural that we should continue to blaze a trail by organising what is another first in the industry.”

“MMA fans are the best in the world and we feel that these Awards will give those fans a voice in the industry by allowing them to directly show their appreciation for the men and women who make this sport the best in the world.”

The World Mixed Martial Arts Awards website can be found at:

http://www.onlineawards.co.uk/fightersonly/home.asp

For further information contact:

Jim Burman

(+44) 7970 868333

Jb.i2media@gmail.com

Fighters Only Website:

www.fightersonlymag.com

Now that’s something I can get behind.

Get out there and vote, snotfaces…

Shweeet!

Got a package from me mam, with the last two issues of Fighters Only. Not only do I now have hours of reading material for the toilet (don’t be offended, Hywel. I reserve only the finest literature for the throne!), but I also have a hard copy of the second article I wrote and had published in this fantastic MMA magazine.

Editor of Fighters Only Mag starts a blog.

Hywel Teague, editor of Fighters Only magazine, has started his own blog, Notes from Ringside. There’s all kinds of MMA and BJJ related goodness in there, as well as the odd scoop that he is able to scoop with his well-connected scooping devices.

I’m lucky enough to count Hywel as a reader of my humble scribblings, and so I direct you to his blog to return the favour.

Coincidentally, if you see Fighters Only on the shelf at your local magazine store, pick it up, it’s a great read. I especially like the guest editorials, especially when they’re written by me.

Balls!

My good buddy Hywel Teague over at Fighters Only sent me this link.

It’s him performing some nice solo grappling drills on a balance ball. I just got my hands on one of these things at the start of the year, and let me tell you it’s a great tool for working out on your own.

There are a whole bunch of things you can do with a stability ball to help your grappling.

1) Improve your balance
2) Improve your “flow” on the smooth / round surface
3) Improve your constant downwards pressure; Make your transitions between positions seemless, leaving no gaps for escape

I haven’t done anything more exciting on mine than some funky pushups and stability drills, but that’s partly because my home “workout room” is 1) Japanese-sized and 2) also the laundry room , meaning if I sprawl out on the ball my nose is in my drying underpants and my toes are hanging out the window. But still, I can feel it doing good.

Anyway, on with the drill, with an explanation from Hywel himself. I always wondered how to pronounce his name… Lucky I saw this or else I would have called him “Hyoowul”.

A freestyle solo drill for BJJ players, submission grapplers or MMA fighters.

Stability ball training is very useful for grapplers in that it allows you to develop core strength, flexibility, balance and spacial awareness while working with an unpredictable piece of equipment. You can replicate moves you would usually perform when rolling as well as have fun. This is a drill when done as a warm up but is also beneficial to those are limited to solo training or are sidelined with injury and are unable to grapple.

Video by Hywel Teague, BJJ purple belt, coach certified with Straight Blast Gym International and editor of Fighters Only magazine.

Filmed at Caged Steel gym in Dewsbury, UK.
Music: Probot, ‘The Emerald Law’

Straight Blast Gym UK
Fighters Only Magazine
Caged Steel

Got an article published.

I wrote an article on the demise of Pride, and what a darn shame it was. It was accepted for publication by Fighters Only Magazine, and appears in the December issue, out in the UK now.

Whoopedy doo!

Extract:

Don’t Look Back in Anger

Pride Never Die. Except, of course, when the current American owners telephone the head office in Tokyo and fire everybody, as they did in October. That would pretty much do it. With that sombre thought in mind, I felt it was time to reminisce about some of my most enjoyable experiences with the greatest of all times.
First, my real introduction to Pride: Pride 10. I had heard only rumours about this far off promotion in Japan, having been raised on bootlegged copies of UFC 1 and 2 at college. I decided to seek out a DVD, and after much virtual-rummaging on the internet, ordered a second-hand copy of Pride 10. I’d psyched myself up to watch it, and when it finally arrived, I think I remember tearing the plastic wrapper off with my teeth while it was still in the postman’s hand. The event didn’t disappoint. I sat open-mouthed, heart beating, and after seeing Wanderlei Silva savage Guy Mezger, Gilbert Yvel K.O. Gary Goodridge with the first strike of the fight, and Enson Inoue get turned into human hamburger patty by the relentless Igor Vovchanchyn, I was hooked. Sakuraba bending Renzo Gracie’s arm completely the wrong direction was just the icing on the cake.

More great MMA photography

Flickr: Photos from Hywel Teague

Click on the link to see some great photos from a Mr. Hywel Teague, who also happens to be the editor of Fighters Only, one of the best MMA magazines out there (whose November edition also includes an article I wrote!)