3 Piece With The Soda

-- TRANSCRIPT -- Episode 002 - Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone Welcome to Three Piece With The Soda, Mixed Martial Arts opinion and commentary presented to you in 3 quick shots and 1 longer, more substantial serving. I'm your host, Max Respect. There are few mixed martial artists who embody the warrior spirit as well as does Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. One could argue convincingly that this podcast would be just as aptly titled if it were named, "I know a guy" JAB: That go-to quote of Cerrone's perfectly expresses his unflaggingly enthusiastic gameness. Anyone, any time, anywhere is not just posturing bro-speak for Cowboy, but the motto by which he absolutely lives. He has an established track record of taking on top-tier opponents on short notice, and has been successful under those conditions far more often than would be reasonable to expect. This ethic of taking on all comers has made him a living legend in the sport, a crowd favorite, and a UFC record holder many times over, but the one thing it has not made him is a title-holder. Winning a title in the UFC requires a much safer strategic approach to accepting fights than Donald Cerrone has ever shown the patience to employ in his Mixed Martial Arts career. HOOK: Go back to UFC 238 and watch the end of round 1 again. An extremely competitive round is concluding as Cerrone bloodies Tony Ferguson's right eye and eats a couple of kicks to the body. As soon as the buzzer sounds, Cerrone breaks into a huge grin, clasps hands with Ferguson, and makes an exuberant exclamation to tony while smiling and nodding his head enthusiastically. Despite being widely recognized as one of the weirdest and most idiosyncratic personalities in Mixed Martial Arts, Ferguson seems dumbfounded by Cowboy's enthusiasm. While perhaps nothing more than confusion, it's the closest thing to fear that's ever crossed Tony Ferguson's face while in the octagon. Donald Cerrone may very well be the only man to have ever vexed El Cucuy, and he did it not with trash talk or posturing, but with the simple joy of violence. STRAIGHT: The most dangerous foe Donald has faced throughout his career has been himself. Seemingly incapable of turning down a fight, Cowboy is ever willing to risk it all not for glory, money, or even success, but for the sheer thrill of facing off one-on-one against another man and seeing who is the best in that place and on that day. Despite that eternal willingness to take a fight, it's not always the best Donald Cerrone that is available to show up on a given night. Notorious for not studying tape on his opponents, a lack of strategy has been his downfall during numerous contests. As has been his inability to take time off from the sport he loves unless forced to do so by a doctor or an athletic commission. But at UFC 238, Cerrone made perhaps his most blatant display to date of self-sabotage: blowing his broken nose just before the starting bell of round three, immediately swelling closed his right eye and warranting a doctor's stoppage. Why Cowboy blew his nose, bucking not only the collective conventional wisdom of all combat sports but his own deep and varied experience, we will never know. And how his tilt against Tony Ferguson might have played out had he not is equally unknowable. Yes, Ferguson had very convincingly won the second round. Yes, Cowboy already had a broken eye orbit at that point. And, yes, Cerrone had faded substantially throughout the second round. But if there's one man who might have overcome all of that to stop El Cucuy for the first time in twelve fights, that man is the man we call "Cowboy". Haterade: Cerrone has been a complete Mixed Martial Artist since before that was even a thing. Because of this he has amassed and astoundingly well-rounded record of wins, including seven 7 wins by head kick, 3 wins due to other strikes, 8 wins by Triangle choke, 5 wins by rear naked choke, 4 wins by armbar, and 9 wins via unanimous decision. While any and all methods of finishing a match are available to Cerrone, the one thing he seems incapable of delivering is a boring fight. At UFC 238, Fergusson was an extremely dangerous fight for Cerrone to take, which seems to be his favorite kind. When I heard he would be fighting Tony Fergusson, my first thought was, "Why, Cowboy, why?!?" But the answer is obvious: Donald Cerrone feels most alive when he is putting it all on the line: his body, his mind, his career, his future, his legacy, his very life ... the more skin he has in the game the better. When Conor McGregor appeared to agree to fight Cerrone on Instagram, I don't think there's an MMA fan whose heart didn't soar at the prospect of such a lucrative and well-deserved opportunity for the future UFC hall of famer. But we all knew it was too good to be true. There's an incredible amount of B.S. that comes part and parcel with fighting Conor McGregor, and nobody who has followed Cerrone's career for more than a few minutes would expect him to be willing to jump...

-- TRANSCRIPT -- Episode 001 - Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal Welcome to Three Piece With The Soda, Mixed Martial Arts opinion and commentary presented to you in 3 quick shots and 1 longer, more substantial serving. I'm your host, Max Respect. It's only fitting to launch this podcast with the man who created the stunning media moment to which we owe our name, Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal JAB: Jorge Masvidal is one of the legends of the second wave of Mixed Martial Artists, and it's impressive that he is still competing and performing at such an elite level. Masvidal has been fighting MMA for so long that his record boasts three fights in the Bodog promotion. To give you an idea of how much the game has evolved in that time frame, in the Bodog days Chael Sonnen had not yet been convicted of money laundering, had not yet been popped for performance enhancing drugs, and was using not-so-subtle homophobic insinuations to disparage jiu-jitsu players. Fast forward to 2019 and Chael, the eternal shameless hypocrit, now holds a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu blackbelt and has founded his own submission grappling promotion. THAT's how long Jorge Masvidal has been competing professionally as a Mixed Martial Artist. HOOK: Leon Edwards, of course Masvidal is not going to fight you. Why would he fight so far down the rankings when he just knocked out Darrent Till and TKO'd YOU in the same night? Gamebred needs a challenge. YOU're the one who needs the do-over. And, historically, guys with the last name Edwards don't fare too well against Masvidal. STRAIGHT: Coming up at UFC 239 Jorge Masvidal takes on dubiously undefeated UFC newcomer Ben Askren, who is coming off a questionable and unconvincing win over beloved-but-fading journeyman Robby Lawler. Despite the flukey nature of Askren's win over Lawler, this is in no way a safe fight for Masvidal. At a quick glance this looks like the UFC trying to feed Askren another stylistic-matchup slam-dunk like Lawler was supposed to be. But despite his love of throwing hands and gangster fight ethic, Masvidal is far from being the undisciplined brawler that is Lawler. In barely more than a minute Askren was badly beaten, bloodied, and damn-near finished by Lawler. Masvidal is a far more prolific and technical striker who hasn't been finished in over a decade. Considering Askren was BARELY able to survive against Lawler, early betting lines showing Funky as the favorite are unconvincing. Masvidal has the tools, the patience, and the experience to be the first to wipe that goofy lop-sided smirk off the face of Askren, and in so doing he would bag an impressive win that would carry a lot of cache in the current welterweight ecosystem. Haterade: There are three types of people who compete in a cage for a living: athletes, martial artists, and fighters. While Jorge Masvidal has all the attributes of a top-tier athlete, as well as the skills and discipline of a martial artist, "Fighter" is the term that truly defines his mindset and philosophy. If Kimbo Slice's Street Fights could be considered a farm league for professional Mixed Martial Artists, Masvidal would be the all time top prospect. And when you come up facing off one-on-one against another man in a backyard with no gloves, no medical personal, and no governing body, you simply have a different frame of mind. Watch the Edwards video again. Tactically, as a martial artist, Masvidal makes a terrible choice stepping up to Edwards' entire entourage solo. As an athlete it's an equally poor strategic choice, brawling bakestage bare-knuckle immediately after a fight from which he emerged largely, but not entirely, unscathed. As a Fighter, however, he took the only path that was true to his heart. Masvidal has stated publicly over and over that he is not about the drama and the manufactured hype that the UFC and its more notorious primadonnas use to promote fights. For Jorge, this is 100% real. So if you get in his face and talk trash, you can't presume that it will be saved to be settled as some later date. Gamebred can fit it into his schedule right now. If you're going to open your mouth to Jorge Masvidal, either be ready to back up your talk, or be prepared to have your mouth shut for you. And having your crew cry, "Assault" afterwards just makes you look like exactly the JV Beta that Masvidal says you are. That's the bottom of the Big Gulp for this episode. Join us next time for a look at Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone here on Three Piece with the Soda.