Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:55 AM 
Today is Thursday, May 20, 2011 which means that after today’s episode of MMAjunkie Radio, there will be only 4 more shows until we reach Show 1000 next Friday! I am excited to be there, and very lucky to be able to fly out to Vegas and hang with Junkie Nation for the 2nd year in a row during Memorial Day weekend. One of the great things about Junkie Nation is the diversity within the community. Whether talking about age, race, sex….Junkie Nation includes all walks of life, which brings me to today’s Ph1sh Bowl focus. Yesterday, I highlighted TIC Bob and talked about how he started watching MMA and how that transitioned to being a hardcore fan and part of Junkie Nation. Today I am going to highlight two different Junkies who are complete opposites in many aspects but share the love for MMA. One is younger in age, 19 to be exact, and the other has kids older than 19 (I won’t publicize his actual age). One is from the east coast, the other from the west but both have just as much in common as their differences. Both share the love for Hip-hop, MMA, and are MMAjunkie Family.
The first MMAjunkie is one who has only been “into” the sport for about 2 years now. When I heard that, I was pretty surprised because he and I talk MMA on a daily basis and the dude knows his stuff. He comes off as an “older soul” than most 19 year olds I have met and he is a pretty mature dude in general who likes to have in-depth conversations about more than just MMA which is very commendable. He does not call into the show, so you may not know of him unless you frequent the Combat Chat. I have not met him in person, but it will be cool to see him in Vegas in one week! Normally, I do a write up on the Ph1sh Bowls, but this time I opened it up to my “subjects” to give their story on how they got into MMA, and how that transitioned into being an MMAjunkie. First, I give you Jonny Rico from Huntington Beach, California:
“My first MMA experience was watching TUF 1 and witnessing the memorable Griffin/Bonnar slugfest. I knew this was something that would interest me a lot but I was 13 at the time and didn't have the attention span to really keep up with the sport. Fast forward to UFC 102, I'm watching TV and stumble upon the countdown show and got extremely intrigued by the Couture/Nougueira fight. I convinced my dad to buy the fights and we witnessed two MMA legends in a fight I will never forget. After that, I wanted learned as much about the sport as possible.
As I was researching online about different fighters and memorable fights I may had missed before I became a fan, I was browsing the UFC forums and found a link to Dana White's interview with MMAJunkie. I really enjoyed the vibe of the interview and wanted to hear more from the Junkie Crew. When listening to the show, I kept hearing Gorgeous George talk about this "Combat Chat" and was excited to hear about a chat room for MMA fans to talk MMA and listen to the show together. My first time in the chat, I had no idea that everyone in the chat seemed to know each other outside the chat and the hosts actually participated in the chat. I was starting to sense that this was more like a family and not just strangers talking MMA, something I wanted to be apart of.
As I was getting to know all of the regular chat members, I was getting to know the Junkie Crew as well. They are laid back, but funny at the same time which just felt like a group of buddies just shooting the shit. GG is always great at interacting with callers and fighters along with the way he handles negative comments towards the show, trolls, and prank callers. Goze and Jenny were the first ones to really make me feel like an accepted member of the MMAJunkie Nation and are probably the coolest couple I know and they are just as cool when I met them in person for the first time during UFC 126.
MMAJunkie has had a tremendous impact on my life. I always felt I had trouble being accepted into a family like atmosphere until I found the show. I didn't have any friends in Huntington Beach that could talk have a in-depth conversation about MMA with, but ever since I started listening to Junkie Radio I have started training BJJ at Kings MMA run by Rafael Cordeiro and met a couple other listeners of the show. I've made so many new friends through this show and I cannot thank MMAJunkie Radio enough for what they have done for me.”
Okay, so now you have heard about a younger listener, Jonny Rico from the West Coast….the next featured MMAjunkie is one who is a little bit older and from the East Coast that everyone who listens to the show should know pretty well, if not personally then you at least have heard his voice a time or two. Even us, who know him, don’t really know “what he is capable of”. I remember hearing his calls not long after Trigg and GG started TAGG Radio and the guy has a ton of passion as well as a strong personality. I had the pleasure of meeting, and spending a lot of time with him last year in Vegas, and now he is a great friend of mine. We talk on the phone about more than just MMA, and I have actually called him up for advice on different aspects of being a father. Many of you are usually used to reading his write-ups on other MMAjunkies, but now I am featuring him, so without further ado, I give you Sammy Perez aka Sam ALL Jam…..here is what Sam had to say:
“When I look back on my introduction to the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, I can literally say I have to go back nearly 18 years to November 1993. That of course was when UFC 1 was held on Pay-Per-View and while I’ve always had an interest in Martial Arts, along with Boxing; it was by chance that I caught this event when it premiered. This was a clear cut case of being in the right place at the right time.
It was a Friday night and I was bar-hopping with some. We eventually bought beer to take back to a friend’s house because he had said there were fights coming on; I assumed he meant boxing. To my surprise, he had ordered this event called ‘The Ultimate Fighting Championship’ and while we all watched collectively, individually I was viewing it differently than they were.
They looked at it and enjoyed it as guys beating each other up, while I, who had always possessed an interest and respect for martial arts, appreciated the technical aspect of what was going on. Suffice it to say, I was blown away and intrigued by what Royce Gracie was doing with this thing called ‘Gracie Jiu-Jitsu’. From that point on I was hooked. While I couldn’t afford every PPV, I found out who was getting it and after that, especially during the dark era, I was renting videos.
I remember when it came back from the dark era in September 2001 with UFC 33, I automatically bought the PPV and have not missed a UFC since. Along with that came a craving for knowing more and wanting more, so as the UFC grew, so did this thing call the internet and with it I was able to discover Pride Fighting Championships, the now defunct Ultimate Athlete Magazine and a daily radio show covering the sport called ‘Soundoff’ with the late great Ryan Bennett.
Luckily at that time, circa 2003, ‘Soundoff’ would come on @ noon here in the east and even though I was at work, I was able to stream the live broadcast on my work computer. It was amazing how I would schedule my lunch break and plans around that 12-1PM time slot, so I wouldn’t miss the show. I also ended up becoming a regular caller, which is how I indirectly became friends, over the phone, with Frank Trigg who ended up co-hosting with Ryan.
Sadly, Ryan passed away in 2006 in a car accident and gone with him was this radio show that had become a huge part of my daily life. It became very depressing and though I tried to replace that void and feeling with other MMA shows that popped up, they all paled in comparison. I eventually noticed that Trigg was starting another show with Gorgeous George and Goze, who were also former listeners of Soundoff, but I pretty much had given up on MMA Radio, so I didn’t bother to tune in.
That was until one day while sitting at work I received a phone call on my cell phone from none other than Frank Trigg; we had exchanged numbers during his stint on Soundoff after I had mailed him some mix CD’s I had made. Surprisingly, Trigg was calling me all the way from South America where had was traveling with Gorgeous George and told me that George was wondering why I, a former listener and caller to Ryan’s show, was not listening to theirs. Trigg pretty much chastised me and told me I needed to start listening.
So, what do you do when a professional MMA fighter tells you to do something? You do it; am I ever glad that I did too. The void and feeling I thought I’d never replace and get back from MMA radio was suddenly there again. George, Trigg and Goze made me feel just like Ryan did when I listened, as though I was right there with them. Then one day I thought, I going to surprise these guys with a call and when I did, they made me feel right at home. It was like ‘The Prodigal Son’ had returned.
From that point forward, my relationship with Junkie was cemented, but little did I know how much. Almost two years ago, I received a surprise phone call from Goze. It was literally three weeks before UFC 100 and he told me that a bunch of listeners were going to Vegas to hang out together and that I should come out as well. Never having been to Vegas previously, I was excited by the invitation, but also realistic. This was three weeks’ notice and I had a family and responsibilities to think about.
In typical Goze fashion, he told me he already had a room booked for the weekend, so I could stay with him and that George could probably find a cheap flight back and forth; suffice it to say, I went. My experience that weekend with the Junkie Crew and extended Junkie Family was so great, that I am going back for my fourth trip to Vegas in less than two years this Memorial Day weekend. Junkie Radio is not just a great show, but they have literally become part of my family. ‘Nuff said!”
Thanks for reading The Ph1sh Bowl. I am hoping to cover some more stories of how other MMAjunkies made their way onto the Junkie Nation scene in the next week leading up to Show 1000. Be Champions!
Reader Comments (11)
Nice work Aaron on giving us junkies some additional insight on Rico and wish everyone that is attending the 1000th show a great time.
Thanks Bro!
You guys should do this once a year, I would really make an effort to get there next year.
I remember Sam from the Soundoff days, he was a legend there.
Cool, another good post, thank brother.
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