Josh Rosenblatt
Bloody Detachment
Moments like the Evan Dunham-TJ Grant fight, when an injured fighter leaks blood all over the cage but keeps fighting like nothing happened, are litmus tests for MMA interest. Casual fans will recoil, brutes will be delighted, but deep-down MMA fans...
Necessary Violence
I hate real fighting as much as I love MMA. I believe it's no gladiatorial free-for-all, but a real sport with rules and a value system. But fighters are predisposed toward violence, and sometimes I just want to see good fighters fight.
Being Forgettable Is the Deadliest Sin of All
There’s no fate in this world worse for the enterprising and ambitious MMA fighter than allowing a fight to go to a decision. “Don’t leave it in the hands of the judges” is basically a commandment. No one wants to lose, or to be ignored.
A Bad Ass in Twilight
Trumped-up anger and staged indignation can be found anytime by anyone with a remote control these days, but true self-awareness after years of self-delusion is rare on television, but that's exactly what Phil Baroni, washed-up MMA dude, displays on...
The Write Stuff
On the whole, sports writers are a sedentary lot. Outside of George Plimpton, few football writers play football. But getting in the ring helps to better understand MMA fighters, and it's also strangely relaxing. My mind is never so quiet as when I’m...
Family First?
"My gym is my family” is a classic trope in the world of MMA. It’s one of those lines that affords the hardscrabble fighting life some nobility, but it also means fighters who should be fighting each other don’t, and messes things up worse than an...
Rising Up, Rising Down in MMA
MMA fighters can be on top of the world one minute and in purgatory the next. One bad run can send you to the regional circuit, condemned to toil in feeder promotions like the Titan Fighting Championship, where young fighters learn their trade...
MMA Is Too Brutal for the Olympics and That's Why We Love It
What would casual Olympics fans do the first time they saw an MMA competitor grab an opponent in a Thai clinch? Can you imagine—the stunned looks, the open mouths, the covered eyes, the horrible silence, the scandal?
What It Means to Be a Big Mouth in MMA
Who has time to worry about explaining to SportsCenter why they’re going to fight? Figuring out how to fight is hard enough. Only Chael Sonnen could find the energy to master both combat and marketing. Anderson Silva, meanwhile, just wants to fight...
Fedor Emelianenko Made Me Love MMA
Before I saw Fedor Emelianenko fight, I thought mixed martial arts was a debased and debauched distraction for frat boys and thugs. After, my life was completely rearranged. I started filling my time with sparring sessions and endless hours watching...
MMA Makes Boxing Look Brutal
More and more, in magazines and lockers rooms, boxers are being asked to defend their sport against this growing phenomenon.
New York’s MMA Prude Bob Reilly Finally Retires
Bob Reilly’s reign of old-codger squeamishness is finally coming to an end.