My Week in Words: July 1-7, 2023
International Fight Week resulted in some of my favourite things I've written so far this year
You know that saying, “Do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life?”
Yeah, I fucking hate, because it’s such complete bullshit; pure, unadulterated bullshit.
I absolutely love what I do — even the bits that I hate some times — and I work hard, and quite literally every day. Even if there isn’t something posted on this site on a given day (which isn’t often), you best believe I’ve penned something for the UFC website or OSDB or done a couple interviews or researched the hell out of some story I have to put together.
This past week was a perfect example of how much and how hard I work, and the fact that I love what I do, because I think it comes across in a bunch of these pieces, including one that currently ranks as my favourite thing I’ve written so far this year.
Here are the goods.
Have a great weekend!
ESK
TUF 31, Episode 6 Recap: Team McGregor lost, again, and you could see McGregor starting to come apart at the seams. It’s riveting to watch, quite frankly, because it’s a study in how people that are virtuosic at their pursuits can’t comprehend or deal with those that do the same thing but at a much lower level.
It’s also that he’s a bespoke douchebag that doesn’t actually coach his fighters and knows this makes him look terrible, but it’s at least a little bit of the other thing too.
UFC Vegas 76 Recaps: half the fights ended in finishes, I turned a profit with my betting selections, and a good time was had by all… except for the people that lost their fights… and their bets.
So all I can say with any real certainty is that a good time was had by me.
UFC Vegas 76, About Saturday’s Action: I take great pride in delivering quality fight night coverage — being able to not only convey what happened, but also have some in the moment, “what it all means” ideas to share with the audience as well.
If you ever can’t watch the fights, but still want to know what happened and the big notes from the night inside the Octagon, Keyboard Kimura should be your Saturday night destination of choice. I’m biased, but I’m also really good at this stuff.
The Next Day Takeaways: still working on the rhythm on doing the show solo and trying to find the best way to present the things I want to say about each card, but I continue to enjoy the process of podcasting on a Sunday after taking a little more time to think about the previous day’s event.
Keyboard Kimura Podcast, Episode 28: as much as I understand the lure of rankings and debates, I also don’t want to get caught up in winnowing down years of greatness or a collection of exceptional talents until one singular fighter is left standing, March Madness style.
We really have to spend more time praising folks and less time arguing about why A is better than B when they’re both really damn good.
UFC Monthly Report, June 2023: this has been really fun to do at the end of each month because it serves as a snapshot of what transpired over the previous set of Saturdays.
Maybe it’s because I’m a colossal nerd, but there is something enjoyable to me about combing through the results from the past month, putting this together, and thinking about how everything lines up in terms of the half-year and year-end awards.
I just read that back to myself aloud, and yeah, it’s because I’m a nerd.
The 10, July 2023: I don’t even know how long I have been doing this series now, but it never gets old, and July is always a weird month to put together because there are usually two loaded pay-per-views and fights every Saturday, which means there is plenty to choose from.
The fact that we get this weekend’s twin title fights and Poirier-Gaethje II this month is amazing, and I legitimately can’t wait for every fight mentioned in this piece.
A couple weeks ago, I got an email titled “Saturday & More Work” that told me who I needed to file the recaps to that weekend, and asked if I wanted to write two UFC Hall of Fame pieces — one on Anderson Silva, the other on Jose Aldo.
It’s took four seconds to say yes.
The Greatness of Anderson Silva: I worry that Silva’s brilliance is going to be lost on future generations because — in my opinion — we don’t really do a good job of chronicling our history and passing it down to newcomers. Instead, people kind of get angry and judge folks for not getting on board sooner, calling them names and generally being inhospitable.
So I wrote about how the end of Silva’s career doesn’t change that for seven years (give or take) he was the best fighter on the planet and an absolute master at his craft.
The ‘King of Rio’ Earns Enshrinement in the UFC Hall of Fame: Jose Aldo was so good, and if at any time you feel like bringing up 13 seconds, understand two things:
(1) I was there to see it live and will never forget that moment, ever, and
(2) One loss doesn’t change how goddamn awesome Aldo was at featherweight for the better part of a decade.
“Run This Town” is still my favourite walkout just because he debuted it in Sacramento when he was fighting Urijah Faber and we laughed about that together one time. Plus, seeing him get emotional walking out to give his speech when it was playing got me all misty-eyed this morning.
UFC 290 Fight-By-Fight Preview: this fight card is goddamn ridiculous.
This that card that all them folks that hated everything else that has happened this year shouldn’t be allowed to watch because they piss and moan about everything and then look at this loaded joint and be all, “See? This is what UFC cards should look like!”
Have I ever mentioned that I generally hate people? Yeah.
UFC 290 Fighters on the Rise: I like this collection of emerging athletes for Saturday’s show because they represent a little bit of everything.
Bo Nickal is the dude everybody has heard of and some folks talk wild about even though he’s made one UFC appearance. Yazmin Jauregui is on the cusp of the Top 15 and a critical darling, but not someone with any recognition outside of the hardcore set. And Cameron Saaiman is a 22-year-old South African bantamweight that only people that get excited about early prelims and DWCS grads like me are really hyped about right now; everyone else is still trying to figure out how to pronounce his last name. (BTW: it’s pronounced Simon)
The Biggest Show of the Year is Here: previewing UFC 290 at OSDB Sports means getting to highlight a bunch of fighters people should pay close attention to on Saturday (Nickal, Jauregui, Tatsuro Taira) and explain what makes the two title fights so fascinating.
If you’ll allow it, I want to say that I think it’s tough to toggle between writing for serious MMA fans and people that know all these men and women reasonably well and then jumping over to a more mainstream outlet and laying things out in a way that will allow more casual fans to connect with the athletes and events as well.
Coach Conversation has been such an amazing series for me because it means at least once a month, I get to sit down with a couple of my favourite coaches in the sport and have a discussion about an upcoming title fight or two.
As simple as that sounds, there isn’t much better than breaking things down with people you respect, and who are open to having actual conversations about this thing we all love.
If I wrote the series as a word-for-word of the conversations we have, each instalment would be 10,000 words and like three people (other than me) would think they’re awesome; everyone else would be exhausted by how dorky we get.
For the UFC 290 title fights, I chopped it up with Eric Nicksick from Xtreme Couture and Tyson Chartier of the New England Cartel, and it was dope, as always.
Moreno-Pantoja II: we’re all fascinated to find out if the history between these two men factors into how things play out later this evening, but we’re also all in agreement that Brandon Moreno has really come into his own as of late.
Volkanovski-Rodriguez: like most people, we all see Volk as one of the absolute best fighters on the planet, but can also recognize that Rodriguez is a chaos agent that could absolutely win this fight.
Really curious to see how each man approaches this one and if we see things we talked about impact the fight.
Alexander and The Mountain: I feel incredibly fortunate to have built a rapport with the featherweight champ over the years, and believe the way he approaches his craft is second-to-none.
Sitting down and talking about adversity, motivation, and constantly challenging yourself with Volkanovski earlier this week was incredible, and I think the resulting piece is a great snapshot at who he is and what makes him great.
Relaxed Yair Rodriguez Sees Victory on Saturday: while Rodriguez pushed back on my suggesting he’s matured in recent years, I still think that’s the right word for the growth we’ve seen and the results he’s earned in the last year.
Now he turns up ready to go, happy to handle his obligations and eager to get into the Octagon, without hyping things up too much. It makes him even more dangerous than he already was, which is why the main event this weekend is so fascinating.
Well Earned: it was fun to detail the twisting road Alexandre Pantoja took to his UFC 290 clash with Brandon Moreno, and speak to the flyweight title challenger about missed opportunities, statements made, and the impact their history has on how he looks at Saturday’s penultimate bout.