We caught up with the former Cage Warriors lightweight champion to discuss his plans for 2019 as well as the MMA Culture in gyms, including ones in his hometown of Liverpool.

Danty: So tell me, where is your head at following your win in Prague?

Chris Fishgold: I just want to get straight back in to be honest. The win was amazing, you know? I’ve never been finished before, prior to me loss against Kattar. So I had a lot of nerves coming into this fight to be fair. While I’m still in everyone’s face and everyone is still speaking about the win I thought let’s get back in. Let’s keep the ball rolling.

D: What’s the MMA culture in Liverpool like?

CF: You know what? To be fair, It’s massive. I started in 2007. Back then, and I think everyone knows, MMA wasn’t as massive as it is now. I was fighting in little sports tours. I was 15 or 16 when I started. The guys back then who were coming up from the city were tough guys. There was already a lot of people that were known from MMA, like Paul Cahoon. He fought some big shows. Terry Etim, he was in the UFC. Jason Tan, he’s been in the UFC. I think from there we’ve always been a fighting city. Boxing has always been massive. We pride ourselves in our boxing, in our combat sports. MMA sort of took its place from there. I’ve seen it grow and grow. When McGregor came, not just for the UK but in the world in general, he got people that may have seen the sport as brutal to be interested in it, to get involved. The class has grown from when he started to what it is now. Every other person in the city is training MMA,  fighting in MMA, or know somebody who’s fighting in MMA. It’s good that we have a fighting city; we’re never short of training partners or sparring partners or people on the mat in the city.

D: Do you see fighters today coming up to compete in the UFC like you did, or with the same fire?

CF: Yeah, straight up. Not just here, I trained all over the world. Done a little bit of training in the states. I went to Thailand and train there, I went to Australia to train there. Everywhere I go, I see hungry kids training. Where I started, it becomes obsessive. They come once, the next thing you know they’re in the gym as often as you are. They’re learning, taking stuff in. When you start, you’re kind of like a nail, not like a bullying type, but because it’s so technical you’re always the nail; You are going to get tapped. Everyone learns that way by doing that and I see these kids get tapped a few times from a couple of things. You see how they move. You wait a couple of months and they still come back every day. And, I see them doing stuff differently, rolling. It’s good to watch. I see that all around the world. Whether it’s kids or adults, when they come in you see that personality. There’s only a few left to have that addictive personality, that want to do it more. It’s just really great to see. I just hope that they stay at it. The sky’s the limit when you stay at it with repetition. As long as people stay focused they’ll go all the way.

D: There’s quite a bit of activity in the featherweight rankings. What’s your assessment of the division?

CF: I think the  featherweight division is stacked. Aldo beat Jeremy [Stephens] so he’s still in the mix. You got Zabit, you still have Jeremy Stephens; he’s a hard match for anyone. Still got Alex Volkanovski, you got Brian Ortega who just fought for the title. Featherweight’s one of those stacked divisions because everyone’s still got that knockout power but you’re really quick as well. It’s so fast. That was a transition when I dropped down to featherweight. I forgot how fast these guys were when I had to do that. I think my fight with Kattar was a bit of ring rust. Like I said, it was an eye-opener. You can dominate the fight all the way through but it takes that one shot. People are a lot more composed and stuff. From my personal opinion, I think it’s a stacked division. But that’s also great because you never stop to show your skills set. My plan is fight by fight, taking my time. By the end of 2019 I’ll be in the top 10. I think I’d get me ring rust out of me. The last fight was a bit chaotic. Due to me being nervous I feel like I should have finished them within the first round. He just got the better of me I was thinking “Shit, if I lose this…” Nevertheless, I got the win I want to take one fight at a time. I just want to climb the rankings and see where I end up.

D: So, it will be slow, steady climb through the rankings then?

CF: No, no. I figured I’d be making some noise on the along the way. Like I said when I got Kattar he was a top 15 featherweight in the division. I got caught by a lucky shot but I feel I could stand equal against him. I felt like I dominated up until I got caught. I think nine times out of ten I beat Kattar. I feel was just like a lucky shot like I said I do want one more fight but then I’ll start I start climbing up. I’ll see who my next fight is. If I get a top 15 for the weekend or if you give me someone who’s not ranked again but I think the fights after that I’ll start calling people out. Nevertheless, I’m grateful for whoever they get me. It’s my dream to be fighting in the UFC but you do want to be progressing, you know?

D: How is the recuperation going? I recall you saying you wanted to get the London card but you have a 1 month medical suspension?

CF: Oh, yeah. Actually, what I read was they said it was 180 days. If you can look at my finger.

After the fight I don’t know if it was from a grab or a bad angle. If you can see it, I still need to get that sorted but apart from that it feels so-so. Now, I can still make a fist with it. I don’t know if I went for a guillotine or whatever. They said one month but I read up again and it said a hundred eighty days. I’m going to get this sorted this week and as soon as they let me fight, I want to fight again. I spoke to Sean[Shelby] after the fight. I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to fight once again in the UFC. “We’ll get you back fighting as soon as possible,” he said. And, I’m grateful I’m living the dream I just want to stay active keep the ball rolling. I said it enough times: It’s the entertainment business, so it took me a long time. But, I learned you’re only worth as much as the amount of people that want to see you fight, so I’ll keep going. I want to go at a hundred miles an hour and have these entertaining fights.

Chris Fishgold will face Makwan Amirkhani when the UFC heads to Stockholm, Sweeden for UFC on ESPN+ 10 on 1st June 2019.

Since his showstopping win over Conor McGregor, the Eagle has made a decision to pause his activity in MMA in protest to the severity of charges placed on him because of the post-fight brawl at UFC 229, in comparison to Conor’s, by the Nevada Athletic State Commission.

During the UFC 229 melee post win, corner mates Zubaira and Abubakar were caught in the scrap inside of the cage after Khabib jumped outside of the cage to attack Dillon Danis. Both have received fines and suspension sentences for their part in the altercation as well.

The 30-year-old’s voluntary absence resulted in a stall in the lightweight, at which point the UFC president Dana White along with matchmakers decided to create an interim fight between the #3 ranked lightweight Poirier and The featherweight champion Max Holloway.

For the time being, Nurmagomedov is still in Dagestan taking this time interacting with the citizens of his country, waiting out the sentence.

Danty: Before we get into Bare Knuckle and Artem, how’s fight camp going?

Jason Knight: Going great, Man. Started training in Mobile with a guy named Blake Singley. He’s one of my good buddies; he’s a great boxer. He used to train  with a guy named Johnny Smith. Mr. Johnny is the best boxing coach I think I have ever seen, in my opinion. The thing is Blake was one of Mr. Johnny’s best students. Well, Mr. Johnny’s retired now and I got Blake working with me. Now, I’m getting a little bit of Johnny, and I think that’s all I need to smash Artem up, ya know?

D:How did the fight with Artem Lobov come to fruition?

JK: I got a message from Bare Knuckle at least a month or so ago. A guy was asking me if I’d be interested in the fight. That was a message coming from the middleman. They kinda threw out a little shitty number at me n’ stuff and I told him, “You don’t have to convince me. Talk to my coach and my manager Mike Sanford and Alan Belcher.” I said, “If you can talk them into it, you can talk me into it. Whatever they decide, that’s what I’ll do”. A couple weeks go by, I see a  bunch of posts about the Bare Knuckle shit comin’ up. I posted that night and said something about:

I go to sleep that night and  I wake up the next morning, and I see Ariel Helwani announcing that Artem Lobov is fighting Jason Knight.

I call Mike and say “What’s up, man? Are we fighting Lobov in Bare Knuckle?”. He’s like, “Yeah, man. I told  him yesterday saying we’d take it”. I’m like,”fuckin’ right let’s do it.”

D: I was reading the twitter exchange in real time. As entertaining as it was, it made me wonder. Did the Artem dig come from genuine malice or just poking fun?

JK: I don’t really have any problems with Artem. That’s just me being truthful: I feel like I’m finna’ put knuckles all up side his head and cut his face up. I’m gonna try and beat him up and make him battered n’ bruised standing across from me. That was just me  having fun, ya know? I was seeing what he was gonna say back. It got out of me a little with the shit talking, but I think it was funny, man. I’ll worry about him with the hands, and that’s all that matters.

D: Without giving too much away from your game plan, what are your expectations from Lobov come fight night?

JK: I believe he’s gonna come in and he’s gonna fight hard like he always does. He’s gonna try his best to knock me out. He’s gonna try to march me down and fuckin’ never give me any kind of breath. He’s gonna try to knock me out with every single punch, but he’s not gonna think about *how* to knock me out. In the mean time, while he’s coming forward with his hands down throwing these big bombs, I’m gonna be right there in the pocket. I’m gonna bomb on him. I’m not gonna hit him hard. but  I’m just gonna just pick my shots: Pop-pop-pop, move! Pop-pop-pop, move! Hit my shots, hit my angles and were gonna see if he’s ready for it.

D:We see former UFC fighters proving their worth recently in this surging promotion. What attracted you to fight at BKFC?

JK: To be honest with you, the only thing that really attracted me to it was the fact that they’re having a fight at the Bolixi Coliseum; this is my hometown. All of my people are there, ya know? It’s gonna be my fans supporting me. I can’t wait to go out there and do it in front of everyone who got me to the bigger shows. I just ask them can I fight the one time? I just wanna fight the one time here in Bolixi. and it’s something that’s not MMA; so, it doesn’t go toward my own MMA record, and it keeps me active. When I get done with this I’m gonna go back to the drawing board and see whats next.

D: Where do you see bare knuckle fighting going as it evolves and expands?

For what I can see, David Feldman puttin’ in work. From what he said, it took 9 years to get it started. If he’s been working his ass off that long, I don’t see the guy stopping, know what I mean? He look s like he’s pushing like hell to promote the fight. He’s trying to get good fighters. So, I think it should do good, man. It just depends on who he can get in there, and what kind of names he can get out there. look at just a few of the exciting guys that used to be UFC fighters and stuff like that. people are gonna slowly but surely start watching the sport and they’ll be fans of that sport alone, you know? I believe that they’ll get big.

D: What was the reception of MMA and combat sports like around your neighborhood?

JK: I just opened my own gym right here in Lucedale. It’s the the very first thing of its kind around my own town.  As far as like the small town scene, nobody ever really made it anywhere  until *I* did. Everybody’s like seeing “Hey, I can do it too.” Now, a lot of people are liking it. As far as down there on the coast, down at Alan Belcher’s gym, everybody’s loving it. We gonna get  personal, new promotions started up.

I just started my fight promotion with me and a couple of my buddies –we’re having some fights March 30– called Empire FC, and we got all the best pros and amateurs around on our card, we’re trying to get Mississippi and these southern states on the map. Nobody knows about all the southern states, but they’re starting to slowly and surely find out.

D: Did the attraction of BKFC and UFC/MMA bring energy and people to your gym?

JK:  I got about 60 members, about half of them are kids. Every adult male that’s there, at least 10 of them are wanting to be fighters; they are really taking it seriously. They’re pushing themselves to get better at Jiu-Jitsu, to get better at wrestling, and we a lot of potential. And, I think all of that stems from these guys that watch me do it so they know its possible. I started this at 14. I wasn’t good. When I started fighting, I made myself get better, I made myself learn stuff, and I think these guys see that as well.

D:What is the next chapter in your career in combat sports?

JK: What I wanna do for myself, first off, is as soon as this Bare Knuckle’s over with, I’m gonna try and get into like EBI, something like that.I wanna try to get in these submission only grappling tournaments, like even some Combat Jiu-Jitsu. I’m a one stripe brown belt under Alan Belcher. and I wanna work on getting that black belt. that’s the first step for me. gonna slowly but surely work on  get my black belt. Imma get back to Uriah Faber and try to work on my wrestling as much as possible, get out to Donald Cerrone — work on my wrestling out there,stand up, everything —  just surely but slowly fix all the flaws that are in my game, and  maybe later take another MMA fight. With the Empire FC I hope I can get on Fight Pass. We’re gonna have submission- only grappling fights, Toughman competitions, like slug fests, we’re gonna have Muay Thai fights, K1 style fights and Boxing. We’re gonna do a different promotion than nobody has ever done and try to mix it up a little bit.

Catch Jason Knight at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on April 6th as he takes on Artem Lobov. Tickets are still available.

A lot has happened recently in women’s MMA: new champions have been crowned, former champions have gotten back into the win column and new stars have risen to stake their claim for a shot at UFC gold.

Last weekend was no exception with the Czech Republic’s first ever UFC event. Coming off a dominant win in the main card of UFC Prague, American Top Team’s rising flyweight star Gillian Robertson is full of fire and is determined to make her mark at 125lbs.

I caught up with Gillian this week to discuss her latest win and her future plans for life at flyweight.

Danty: After the win at Prague, now that everything has calmed down, where’s your head at?

Gillian Robertson: I’m still on top of the world from my victory last weekend. This is all I worked for, so I am just happy I was able to come out successful, and I’m ready to get back to work.

I’ve talked to Gillian about her fighting style. Grappling has been a reliable art for many fighters nowadays, including notable fighters, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tyron Woodley, and the newest prospect at featherweight, Kron Gracie. Combining that with forward pressure makes for a dangerous fighter. Whether such an approach is something natural to them or is something developed in training varies from person to person. I asked Gillian where she is in that regard.

GR: I feel like it is something that is unique to me, and unique to my coach in general. My jiu-jitsu style is always attacking; I’m always trying to get submission, trying to finish the fight. A lot of people are like ” I want to put on a war”, which is stupid because you get paid the same no matter how long the fight is. As long as you go in there and out and take as little damage as possible, then that’s the goal.

D: How was the student-teacher relationship where a coach was able to work with your fighting style and help you hone your craft?

GR: I feel like every coach is different. It’s just how our brains work. There’s some coaches where they’re not my style. Luckily, Din [Thomas] is the one I started with. I started with Din when I was 16 years old. He 100% molded me into the fighter I am today, so his style is 100% my own style. I feel like he is the one who is gonna be able to improve me as fighter the most because, we’re so similar; he gets what I like, ya know?

D: How’s the group dynamic in your gym? Is it a clique, a 1 on 1 affair, or is there such phenomenon where a fighter trains on their own?

GR: I feel like we have such a  strong girl team. So, we got a big group of girls, so we stay together a lot. We probably have, I’d say, 10-15 girls who all fight professionally. You don’t see that a lot in gyms. We are lucky to have that, but my main training partner was [in] my corner last weekend, Caitlyn Rocco. She is always in the room with me, doing the boring drill with me. She’s there year around with me. She’s with me and Din. That’s the main team, right there.

As far as the future is concerned, Gillian plans to take on strong competition and big, recognizable names. One name on her mind is Paige Van Zant, who is coming off a victory over Rachael Ostovich.

D: Other than Paige VanZant being a big name, what drew you towards picking her?

GR: Like you said, a lot of it is just that she is a big name in the division. I feel like she is someone who you know for a fact that I’ll be able to finish that fight. its something that [would have] a lot of publicity behind [it], and something I want to get my name out there with. If I don’t get that match up, I am ok with that, I’m down for anything. Whoever they put in front of me, I’m ready to fight, always.

D: What is your read on the competitiveness of the women’s flyweight division?

GR: I feel like any of the girls in the division, just because of my fighting style, I have the potential to take out any girl out. I feel like I have such a dangerous submission game and it’s just a unique style. I feel that not a lot of girls in there constantly attacking. Even there are good jiu-jitsu girls, they don’t have my same pace to finish a fight.

D: Do you see grappling as a trend that can hold up, or something that will pass by?

GR: I feel like it’s 100% a trend that can hold up, because especially being like, we’re smaller girls, you know. It’s hard to develop that KO power. Whereas a heavyweight guy can throw a fist and lightly touch the guy and the guy will drop. We don’t have the weight, so to develop that kind of power is going to be hard. Even girls who are top strikers you don’t really see [them] putting girls out like that. So I just feel like being  a smaller girl, it’s smarter to be a grappler. 

D: What are your plans for 2019?

GR: I guess it’s just seeing where the road takes me. Like you said, I’m ready to get back in. There’s a couple cards coming up. I’d love to get on Miami. I know there’s an Ottawa card in Canada which would be awesome to be on. There’s a card in Glasgow, Scotland where both my parents are from so it’d be awesome to be on that one, too.

“Anything that comes up I’m ready for and I just wanna be the most active fighter in the flyweight division, so I am ready to get back in here as soon as possible.”

D: What is the origin of your moniker “Savage”?

GR: When I had my first amateur fight I was 18 years old, and my coach Din Thomas wrote a letter to my team right after. He was talking about “she’s as quiet as a mouse, but when she walks in the cage, she turns into a savage”. Just some of  my teammates they’re like “he called you a savage” and it just stuck after that,

D: What fighters influence your fighting style and attitude, if any?

GR: I feel like I take little bites and pieces from a lot of  fighters’ careers that I admire. Having Amanda Nunes, and Joanna Jedrezjcyzk around me, both of them, being around them you understand why they’re world champions: just their mentality and their pace they put in the gym. It’s absolutely inspiring, so definitely those two girls and a lot of  the fighting styles I take bits and pieces of. As you said, Jon Jones, like he’s probably the best mixed martial artist I know and I love to watch. Even though our body types are different, i can take bits and pieces of his game that I like and implement it to mine.

D: Considering the influence, and sharing of techniques from one fighter to another, What do you think the future trend will be in MMA culture?

GR: I feel like you seen it in the last couple of years, the sport evolving. You see people are more MMA artists. I started with everything, even though I’m not great on my feet, I’m still familiar with it. This sport is still young, it’s only 25 years old. You see a kickboxer with a little BJJ, now you see a lot of MMA artists coming up.

D: Do you see the division as up-to-date technique wise as any other division or are there aspects missing?

GR: I feel it’s 100% the same. The women’s division is obviously a couple years behind we just were allowed to be in the UFC, I believe it was 5 years ago. So that’s kinda crazy in itself, but I feel like the women’s division is definitely evolving. If you look at Amanda Nunes, she’s a terrifying striker. She’s a black belt in Jiu Jitsu, black belt in judo, her wrestling’s amazing, like, she’s one of the most well rounded female fighters out there right now and there’s definitely a lot of us coming up.

D: For people who may be new to MMA, or any kind of martial artist, what do you feel would be the best way to approach the sport?

GR: I feel that especially jiu-jitsu for self-defense is something that everybody should get into. Just knowing almost how incapable you are at defending yourself. I feel that so many people are like “Oh, i can take anyone”. But when a little 135 pound girl can man handle you, it kinda opens your mind up to something new. And like you said, It’s for everybody. If you ask anybody who knew me in middle school, or elementary school they’re like “Oh, you were the quiet little girl in the back of the class. What happened?” Like, all I did was volunteer with animals before I started doing this. I never played any kind of sport. My parents put me in soccer a couple of times, and I quit within a couple of weeks because I just hated it. I was never athletic or anything like that, but jiu jitsu is a sport where you can use your mind over anything else. I can manhandle 180 pound guys. They look me with disbelief but its all technique.”

The co-main is a heavyweight co-main event against the Skyscraper Stefan Struve and Brazilian powerhouse Marcos Rogerio de Lima.

The Main Card starts at 2:00pm EST on ESPN+. Prelim card will be live on ESPN 2 at 11:00am EST.

Live tweets and play-by-play will be by @thedantyman  on the MMA_Motion twitter account.

Main Card(ESPN+ at 2:00pmEST):

 Thiago Santos def. Jan Blachowicz via Third Round TKO
Stefan Struve def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via Second Round Submission (Arm Triangle)
Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Gian Villante via First Round KO
Liz Carmouche def. Lucie Pudilova via Unanimous Decision (30-27 , 29-28 x2)
Petr Yan def. John Dodson via Unanimous Decision  (30-27 x3 )
Magomed Ankalaev def. Klidson Abreu via Unanimous Decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)

Prelim Card(ESPN 2 at 11:00amEST:

Dwight Grant  def. Carlo Pedersoli Jr. via First Round TKO
Chris Fishgold  def. Daniel Teymur via Second Round submission(RNC)
Gillian Robertson def. Veronica Macedo via Second Round Submission (RNC)
Damir Hadzovic def. Marco Polo Reyes by Second Round TKO
Ismail Naurdiev  def. Michel Prazeres via Unanimous Decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Diego Ferreira def. Rustam Khabilov via Unanimous Decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)
Damir Ismagulov def. Joel Alvarez via Unanimous Decision (30-27 x3)

Gastelum explained that he received the news about Whittaker pulling out of the scheduled championship fight at UFC 234 this morning via a knock on his hotel room dor. A UFC staff  member informed him about the cancellation of the match. Whittaker suffered a hernia and had to be sent to a nearby hospital to conduct surgery immediately. He discloses his own health update on an  internal staph infection.

Further into the interview, Gastleum proclaims that as far as his status as champion, he has “earned it”. He goes on to say, due to Whittaker being unable to compete tonight, the decision is declared as a forfeit, thus gifting the championship belt to Kelvin.

Gastelum assures the press that he will give Whittaker a chance to fight him as soon as he has recovered and continues to inform the press Gastelum how he has his eye on the new main event between Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva, keeping his word to defend against the winner of that fight as well.

No official word from neither the UFC or Robert Whittaker in light these recent events.

Also coming up is the explosive co-main between Aaron Pico and Henry Corrales.

 Prelims are 6:30pm EST/3:30pmPST exclusively on DAZN.

Follow MMAMotion @MMA_Motion on twitter for live tweets, tweeted by @mrdantyman. 

Main Card is 9pm on Paramount and DAZN.

Main Card Results:

• Ryan Bader def. Fedor Emelianenko via First Round KO (Left Hook)
• Henry Corrales def. Aaron Pico via First Round KO (Right Hook)
• Jake Hager def. J.W. Kiser via First Round Submission (Arm Triangle)
• Ricky Bandejas def. Juan Archuleta via Unanimous Decision (29-28 x3)
• Adel Altamimi def. Brandon McMahan via First Round Submission (Armbar)

Preliminary Card results:

• Osman Diaz vs. Christopher Reyes
• Jorge Juarez vs. David Pacheco
• Thor Skancke def. Jesse Merrit via First Round Submission (Monson Choke)
• Jesse Roberts def. A.J. Agazarm via Split Decision (29-28 x2)
• Chris Gonzalez vs. Henry Mendez
• Weber Almeida def. Odan Chinchilla via First Round KO (Combination)
• Ryan Lilley def. James Barnes via First Round KO (High Kick)
• Craig Plaskett def. Ian Butler via Unanimous Decision (30-27 x3)
• Desmond Torres def. Steve Ramirez via First Round Submission (Arm-Triangle)

His request was for anyone in the top five of the UFC lightweight division, specifically Conor McGregor. Subsequently, the “Notorious One” fired back at Cerrone via Twitter in the moments after the post fight interview:

With the win over Hernandez, a hungry Donald Cerrone completes his 40th fight under Zuffa and 22nd win by stoppage as he picks up some momentum in the rankings. With such milestones and momentum from his victories in two divisions, time will tell if this call out to the first ever Champ Champ yields results with the UFC brass.

However, it appears there may be some cross of opinion between Abdelaziz and Khabib. As per the Team Dagestan Twitter account, when Khabib was questioned by a slightly disappointed fan, he seems to suggest the breakdown in the match up with Ferguson was a choice Abdelaziz rather than his own:

Although brief, the Tweet seems to suggest that Khabib may not be 100% happy with the decision to avoid the fight with “El Cucuy” and was more so a choice of Abdelaziz.

In the lead up to UFC 229, the UFC’s lightweight division had regained hope in respect to potential fights after a previous year of injuries and hiatus’. With the unfortunate turn of events post-fight after Khabib’s win and the subsequent pending trial with the NSAC, the wheels have again grinded to a halt in the 155lb division.

Now, discussions about who fights next after the trial and who deserves it more are aplenty in the MMA community. This development from Khabib adds further ambiguity in matchmaking at the top of the division.

Before his time at the UFC, Smith spent a good amount of his career announcing, interviewing, analyzing, and providing play-by-play in Bellator MMA. This vast extensive knowledge of MMA and presence in analysis made him an asset whether it was his color commentary on UFC 223, or his continued work as an analyst on FOX cards.

His welcome to the UFC was reassuring considering the good terms of his departure, described on an interview with Ariel Helwani right after the move from Bellator.

He was given abundant praise by UFC’s Joe Rogan on his podcast ahead of his eventual acceptance into the fold.

No word from Rogan or any of the Analyst team during the minutes of this news.

MMAJunkie later found out that the 41 year old has no immediate plans but will want to soon commentate. As for right now Jimmy Smith is free-agent.