Host Daniel Austin shares what is perhaps the most unusual story ever told on The FightBox Podcast - the night he had an out of body experience (OBE) during a wrestling match.

Dr. Melanie Joy is a Harvard Educated psychologist and author of several books. Austin Aries is a professional wrestler who has competed for WWE, Impact Wrestling and many other top wrestling promotions. They discuss the issue of "carnism".

Austin Aries is a professional wrestler that has performed in nearly all of the top wrestling organizations in the world including WWE, Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling and many more. However, since his departure from Impact Wrestling last fall, he has been very low key. With the pro wrestling landscape rapidly changing and Aries not currently signed to any long-term contract, many options are currently available to him.

After quite a long hiatus, The FightBox Podcast is back with this exclusive interview with the first ever two-time RoH Champion. “A Double” discusses his thoughts on the one topic that has captivated fans around the world - the creation of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and the potential that this new pro wrestling promotion brings to the table. Aries is certainly excited to see how a WWE competitor such as AEW will develop, saying:

“I’m going to sit back and watch this, because this is a changing in the way that I think the wrestling industry can be done and we’re going to see how the model runs and is successful.”

Aries goes on to discuss other subjects such as potential dream opponents that he has yet to work with, naming two individuals from AEW. He also talks about how he is feeling physically after nearly 20 years as a pro wrestler, how much longer he thinks he can be active in the ring and what he has planned for the near future.

This clip is part of a longer full-length interview with Austin that will appear as part of a new series of podcasts produced by The FightBox Podcast entitled “The Other Side of the Ropes”. Stay tuned for more details.

Mike Wesemann and Harvye Hodja of sumotalk.com join host Daniel Austin to discuss all the latest news in the world of pro sumo.

To listen, left click on the link below. To download, right click and choose "save link as".

► FBP 153: Sumotalk Worldwide Vol. 9

Host Daniel Austin tells the amazing story of driving from Rzeszów, Poland to Sarkoy, Turkey to do commentary for King of Kings kickboxing which was live on Fightbox HD 11.08.2018.

Number of kilometers driven: 4,000

Number of countries visited: 6

Hours spent in the car driving: 70

Number of fans who attended KOK in Turkey: 25,000

To listen, left click on the link below. To download, right click and choose "save file as".

► FBP 152: Crazy KOK Road Trip

Arek Pawłowski joins host Daniel Austin to review WrestleMania 34, which happened on 08.04.2018 in front of over 78,000 people. Plus, Daniel discusses the future of The FightBox Podcast. To listen, left click on the link below. To download, right click and choose "save file as".

► FBP 151: WrestleMania 34 Review with Arek Pawłowski

Bob Sapp - he’s sort of like the Donald Trump of combat sports, either you love him or you hate him. He’s a very polarizing individual. The haters will say he has no business being a fighter, seeing as how he has obviously been taking dives for the past 12 years or so. His fans will say that, back in the day, he had more heart than any fighter they’ve ever seen and is incredibly entertaining.

Regardless of which side of the spectrum you fall on regarding “The Beast”, one thing is for sure, and that is that the show is still going on. Bob Sapp continues to be booked around the world in kickboxing and MMA fights, despite everyone knowing what the inevitable outcome will be. In fact, it was back in August of 2017 that I last spoke to Sapp before a kickboxing fight he had with Gregory Tony in France at St. Tropez Fight Night. The interviewed aired on episode 135 of The FightBox Podcast where he explained why he does this.

His most recent rendezvous was in Izmir, Turkey for Mix Fight Championship 24 where, once again, he was scheduled to face another local star in what would surely end up in another clear first round victory for the local Turkish fighter.

It was hard to miss Bob as I walked into the weigh-ins. He was the only 6’ 5’’, 350 lbs dude wearing white rimmed glasses in a room full of Turkish middleweights. I greeted him and explained that we had done an interview before and I that I would be calling his fight tomorrow. When he shook my hand it completely enveloped it. It was like shaking hands with a bear. My hand completely disappeared inside of his.

We started talking about all the stuff he has been through in the last few months including being extorted in Uganda, where they hotel gave his companion food poisoning and forced him to pay a bill that wasn’t his (click here for the full story). We also talked about Bob’s eventful New Year’s Eve where he not only had a sumo wrestling match against former yokozuna Asashoryu, but also wrestled a BEAR (yes, a real bear) on Japanese television. I found Bob to be a very well spoken and intelligent individual.

As the weigh-ins started, I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that something interesting was about to happen. The whole place started buzzing before they were brought onto the stage and nearly every fighter on hand had gathered on either side of the scales to make sure they’d be able to pull them apart should something happen.

The next day I found myself waiting for Bob in the lobby of the Hilton hotel in Izmir and managed to get a pre fight interview out of him.

That’s what I love about Bob Sapp. A lot of fighters, when you stick a camera in their face, they freeze up or have no idea what to say. Other guys just do the typical “I’ve been training really hard. I expect a good fight” deal which is about as exciting as watching paint dry. But Bob was able to, off the top of his head, come up with that “snap, crackle, pop” line which will definitely generate a lot more excitement for the fight than almost anyone else on the card.

But what about his opponent? What could possibly be going through his mind? I mean, he must know who Bob Sapp is and how he “fights”, right? What’s he thinking before the fight? Did he even bother to train? Is he okay with what the inevitable outcome is sure to be? I also managed to get a pre fight interview with Selcuk Ustabasi, his opponent, to try to find the answers to these questions. Viktor Bogutzki is translating for him, another top heavyweight fighter in MFC.

Well, it’s seems clear to me that Selcuk really doesn’t care one way or the other what Sapp does in the fight. Will he come out fighting hard like in 2005? Will he take a few shots and then drop like he normally does? For Selcuk, it doesn’t matter. He’s just happy to be getting a high profile fight and takes solace in the fact that he’s prepared for anything that might come his way. To see what actually happened in the fight, click on the video below.

Big surprise, right? Well, what did you expect? But I’ll tell you something - if it wasn’t for Bob Sapp would that place be sold out? Maybe. Maybe not. At the beginning of the main card, before the fights, they had all the fighters on the ramp which leads to the ring. As the fighters were walking to the ramp through the crowd, guess which guy was getting mobbed by the fans, all wanting selfies and pictures? Was it Peter Aerts? No. Was it Atakan Arslan? No. Was it Selcuk Ustabasi? No. It was Bob Sapp.

You can go ahead and say what you want about the fight. Yeah, Bob was obviously being overly-dramatic about the whole ordeal and refused to get up after taking very little damage, but he just may be the reason why everyone was staying in a four star hotel (some of the fighters were even staying at the Hilton). He may also be the reason why the promoter even had the money to fly nearly half the roster to Turkey to begin with. Bob Sapp attracts mobs of interested onlookers wherever he goes and I got to see that first hand when I was around him all weekend. It’s a lesson I learned a long time ago in professional wrestling - don’t be jealous of the guy in the main event, be happy you’re on the same card as him because when he’s on the card, everyone’s making more money.

So how did Bob feel about what he had just done? Was he ashamed of himself?  Was he embarrassed? Was he just glad it was over? Was he laughing all the way to the bank? Check out this post fight interview and see for yourself.

So in the end, it was exactly what everyone knew it was going to be. But for a lot of those people in Izmir, Turkey, it was a once in a lifetime experience to see, in person, a larger than life individual and be a part of something special.

One thing that I learned through talking to Bob that weekend was that there’s a whole different side to him that most people don’t know about, because he doesn’t make a big public showing of it. He’s actually a very charitable person. He’s probably made millions in his lifetime and he’s not that kind of person that goes spending it on unnecessary things like Rolls Royce cars and Gucci loafers. He likes to give back to people and help those in need. Check it out for yourself what Bob Sapp had to say about, not only being extorted in Uganda, but WHY he was even in Uganda in the first place and some of the other great charity work he’s done for other groups and individuals. I think you’ll come away with a whole different outlook on this man.

- Daniel Austin

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Known primarily as an MMA fighter, James “The Sledgehammer” McSweeney has fought in all of the major mixed martial arts promotions around the world including the UFC (where he was a participant and the first pick of Team Rashad on season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter), KSW, ONE FC, Legacy FC and many others. However, what some people tend to overlook is the fact that James is also extremely well versed in stand up fighting, having competed in Thai boxing since he was a teenager.

On January 27th in Izmir, Turkey, McSweeney made not only his return to professional fighting after a lengthy lay off due to an injury, but also his return to stand up fighting at Mix Fight Championship 24 against Iran’s Firouz Fakhri. Just after the weigh-ins I was able to track down James to get his thoughts on his upcoming fight. Here is what he had to say.

James, as always, is a great fighter to talk to. He’s one of the guys who “gets it”. If you didn’t hear my interview with him on episode 142, you definitely have to check it out. McSweeney is in rare form and absolutely gives Mariusz Pudzianowski a verbal dissection. But if I’m honest, as much as I do think it’s necessary for fighters to generate interest about their fights, I also think there’s a line between giving an interesting interview and becoming a cartoon character. What James does well is express himself and his personality in a very compelling way without stooping to the level of the “MayMac World Tour”.

At any rate, he seemed very confident and perhaps rightfully so. As you heard in the interview he absolutely does have a remarkable experience advantage and for someone approaching his 40’s, he looked to be in incredible physical condition. I was unable to find very much video footage of Fakhri’s fights online before MFC 24, so I was expecting an easy night at the office for McSweeney. So what was the result? To see the full fight between McSweeney and Fakhri, click the video below.

Well, I hate to say “I told you so” … , but I told you so. As you can see, McSweeney was obviously on another level than his opponent. Maybe this will serve as a tune up fight before he goes on to bigger and better things. Much respect for Fakhri for stepping into the MFC ring and for giving it his all against the Sledgehammer.

Having won the fight, James wasn’t about to call it a night just yet. Later on in the evening he returned to ringside and joined the Turkish broadcast team for commentary. I’m not sure why. You’d think they would rather have him on English commentary with me, since he … doesn’t …  speak … Turkish.

Mix Fight Championship promoter Sefer Göktepe was up to his old tricks again too. I absolutely love him for this. It’s something he likes to do at these events and sometimes it materializes and sometimes it doesn’t. But what he did, was get McSweeney in the ring and announce that his next opponent would be none other than decorated heavyweight kickboxer Zabit Samedov!! For those not in the know Samedov holds wins over some of the biggest names in the sport such as Badr Hari, Catalin Morosanu, Melvin Manhoef and most recently, Errol Zimmerman. Whether or not we’ll actually get this fight in MFC remains to be seen, but it’s definitely something I’d love to see! Check out the video of the confrontation below.

It’s still not clear when the exact date of the next MFC event is, but I have heard rumors that they plan on having at least three more events this year and perhaps even doing some of these events in different countries besides Germany, where they are based. Keep an eye on their official Facebook page for the latest updates.

- Daniel Austin (Don Roid)

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Kane Roberts is the former lead guitarist for Alice Cooper and Mike Wesemann is the creator of www.sumotalk.com. On this episode of Sumotalk Worldwide they join host Daniel Austin to discuss the recent sumo scandal which forced yokozuna Harumafuji to retire as well as preview the upcoming Hatsu basho (January sumo tournament). To listen, left click on the link below. To download, right click and choose "save link as".

► FBP 148: Sumotalk Worldwide

Why Fight by the Rules?

What really is the difference between a kickboxing match and a street fight? I mean, it’s obvious if you Youtube “street fight” and “kickboxing” you’ll get loads of different examples and it’s easy to tell, but what really is the difference?

For me, one of the most obvious differences is the lack of rules in a street fight; anything goes including pulling hair, eye poking, head butting and kicks to the family jewels. In pro kickboxing, however, there is a very strict set of rules that is agreed upon by both fighters before the fight and is enforced by a governing body of referees and judges. That’s the whole point of having a referee in the ring, right?

The reason seems clear for all of this - at the level of pro kickboxing such as in promotions like Mix Fight Championship, we’re talking about trained killers, some of the most dangerous fighters in the world. The rules HAVE to be enforced for the safety of both fighters. Both fighters are taught to respect their opponents, fight by the rules and no matter what happens, respect the other fighter after the fight. Therefore, it would be a pretty crappy thing to do, for example, to elbow somebody in the face when the other fighter would not expect this to happen, seeing as how both fighters shook hands before the bout, agreeing that elbows would not be allowed.

Emiev Takes Matters into His Own Hands (or elbows …)

Somebody evidently forgot to give Arbi Emiev the memo about all of this. In his co-main event bout (under kickboxing rules) of Mix Fight Championship 23 Emiev suddenly went off the deep end in the second round unloading illegal elbows on an expecting Enriko Kehl, even opening him up with blood freely flowing from under his chin as a result. But that wasn’t it. There was a plethora of other unsportsmanlike behavior from Emiev that shined a light on his blatant disregard for the rules.

Before the fight at the weigh-ins, completely unaware of what was to happen the next day, I very innocently interviewed Enriko Kehl who was originally scheduled to fight journeyman lightweight fighter Warren Stevelmans at this event. To listen to his pre-fight thoughts, left click on the link below. To save the file as an MP3, right click and choose “save link as”.

► FBP 147: Enriko Kehl Pre-Fight Interview

The full fight can be seen below. The fireworks really start to happen at the end of round one when Emiev refuses to touch gloves with Kehl and stares him down on his way back to his corner. Then, as round two opens up, Emiev unloads with two blatantly illegal elbows. As the fight goes on, it becomes obvious that Emiev has absolutely no sportsmanship, no class and no respect for the rules.

After the event, I left the ringside commentary position and headed backstage to see if I could get an interview with Enriko. I found him in his locker room with his coach and a bandage on his chin. Click on the link below to hear the interview.

► FBP 147: Enriko Kehl Post-Fight Interview

The Other Side of the Story

After the show I also found Emiev’s coach and tried to get an interview out of him, since Arbi doesn’t speak English, but he just blew me off saying “I don’t do interviews”. I found this strange seeing as how just the day before I heard him boasting about how important of a person he is and how he’s the president of this federation and that federation and so on. You’d think that such a VIP would be giving interviews all the time.

I did, however, manage to get a few remarks out of him ‘off the record’, so to speak. When I asked him about the illegal elbows he again not only tried to just brush me off, but tried to embarrass me as well by saying that because I’m not a pro fighter, I probably don’t know the difference between an elbow and a push and that Emiev was not elbowing Kehl, but just pushing him. Sheesh, this guy has some nerve, right? Well hell, I may not be Col. Sanders either but I sure as hell know the difference between chicken salad and chicken sh*t.

Completely unsatisfied, I continued to probe this man for more insight on the fight. I then asked him what he was telling Emiev during the fight and between rounds. He simply responded by telling me that Emiev was doing exactly what he was telling him to do. Now that statement can certainly be taken a number of ways! Either that means that he was telling Emiev to elbow Kehl and he listened to him or it simply means that Emiev was doing everything else he was being told and that the elbows were only his idea (Emiev’s idea). I’ll let you make your own judgment.

Speculation

One has to wonder why all of this happened. In my research before the event I watched several of Emiev’s fights and I never saw him fighting like this before. In fact, I have a lot of respect for Eviev as a fighter. He’s powerful, quick, has great timing and reflexes and is very self confident. So, why would he resort to tactics like this in such an important fight?

There are two theories I have about this and I’ll save the juicier one for last, but first of all, I’ll say this. I don’t think Emiev was happy about the knockdown in the first round. Maybe he started thinking that he has absolutely no chance now, seeing as how he’s already lost the first round 10 : 8 and on top of that he’s fighting in Kehl’s country in front of Kehl’s fans and the promoter of the event is Kehl’s manager! Maybe he just said “screw it” and just wanted to burn the whole place to the ground. At some point, who cares, right?

My second theory I can’t get into too much detail about publicly, but I was also witness to a very … let’s say … “heated” situation involving Emiev’s coach at the hotel just prior to the event. Taking that into account, not to mention the complete lack of concern from his coach after the event about the actions of his fighter, it would lead me believe that perhaps Emiev was instructed to rough up Kehl a little bit. But that’s just pure speculation on my behalf.

What’s Next?

If I were the match maker at Mix Fight Championship, I’d immediately try to get a rematch between these two signed, but this time under Muay Thai rules. The reasoning is simple - elbows are illegal in kickboxing and Emiev tried to blatantly brake the rules to purposefully hurt, anger and embarrass an unsuspecting Enriko Kehl. If elbows are legal under Muay Thai rules and Kehl knows they are coming, then Emiev has no reasons left to think that he’s the better fighter if Kehl wins again. And why not do the fight somewhere else this time? Why not do it outside of Germany? I know MFC has a show coming up on January 27th in Izmir, Turkey. Why not do it there? Then Emiev can’t say that Kehl has the deck stacked his favor either.

That’s a Wrap

At any rate, I think the actions of Emiev during that fight were inexcusable. Big respect to Enriko Kehl for playing it cool and not lowering himself to Emiev’s level. He continued to fight hard and play by the rules and in the end he won the fight, so good for him.

As I said, the next Mix Fight Championship event is on January 27th from Izmir, Turkey and it will be live on FightBox. If you don’t have FightBox on your TV you can watch it streaming online at www.fightboxlive.com for only €3.99.

- Daniel Austin (Don Roid)

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