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Apex Slop means Questions for the Pod?! (Patreon)

Published:
2025-04-06 11:59:38
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Just got back from a week away, so don't ask me about Moreno vs Erceg card or Rizin.

Comments

Matthew Staples

How many of the middleweight top 15 does Torez Finney beat if he just fights like he did Saturday? I'm saying at least 7/15

Anmar Abdul Jawad

Danaher mentioned Khabib’s team including Islam trained at Renzo’s once, with Nicky Ryan apparently surprising them. How do you think the highest level no-gi competitors would do in a match against Khabib and his team?

Malcolm La Prairie

Why do you think some gyms produce one fantastic fighter and can't replicate it? Thinking of Tristar with GSP for example. What makes it difficult to build on that success? Are some fighters just really built that different? Are coaches useless?

Chris H

Ideal style/game plan to defeat Ilia Topuria?

Francesco Carboni

Jackie, what are your favorite combat sports movies or series? I’m asking this because I’ve never found any, all of the rocky movies and the creed and all of the alike are more akin to a story of self improvement growth more than movies with actually good and realistic combat, of course I’ve already watched hajime no ippo!

Absolute Pest

Is there a historical period you think doesn't get the attention it deserves? Looking forward to your next historical pod, love the British in China (podcast, that is)

Jakob

Who is one fighter that you don't talk about that much that you feel deserves some attention? Could be a hidden legend or someone doing some cool shit at the moment that isn't a big name

Matthias Lim

Given the dire state of Heavyweight (HW) in modern MMA, how well would the fighters from the previous eras of HW such as CroCop, Fedor, Big Nog, Josh Barnett and Randy Couture, fare in the current division? The Martin Buday of punching the body in the clinch and kneeing the thighs bless.

Rian

Advice on switching mma teams when you have a good personal relationship with the coaches

Rian

Thoughts on crackdown in mma

Rauno Lipsanen

With Pat Sabatini's recent dominant grappling display against Joanderson Brito, do you think his style has the potential for long-term success in the evolving MMA landscape? Or will he need to diversify his striking and wrestling to reach the top of the featherweight division?

Alessio

What do you think about Steve Morris? I think he has interesting concepts but it seems he is not well known in MMA circles

Hussain Mohamed

Oleinik just hit kod really bad in bkfc. What are some of your favorite moments of his if any?

George Quinn

More of a request then a question Jack, please talk about about Randy Turpin the Leamington licker

Nathanael Suzuki

No question, but I appreciate the pods and the breakdowns.

Big Blungus

There are a lot of guys who I would consider technically sharp and clever strikers who still lose to worse technical fighters because they can't control the fight. What do you think are the keys to controlling things like initiative, exchanges, and pace?

Miguel Miro Castillo

Who do you think are good finishers in combat sports that didn't rely solely on power (people that when their opponent is hurt or when the opportunity to finish them presents itself they don't fuck around and get the job done without overcomplicating it)?

Alessio

Some concepts about entering striking range, hitting and transitioning to "wrestling" and or exiting going back to a safe range?

Jack Howard

Favourite no-gi takedowns? I know it's very broad but I'd be curious to get your thoughts

Harry Lewis

Any new book recommendations. Going on a holiday so could use some

Patrick

Who's the best heaviest fighter you think Pantoja would have at least a 50% chance of beating?

Cantthinkofaname

Why are people so quick to forgive sport athletes even if they have done terrible things? Tyson is a convicted rapist but people still want to act like he was a saint back in the day

Harry Lewis
>>170131750

Particularly any looking at the intersection of history and sport. Big fan of inverting the pyramid as an example which uses tactics as a way of discussing the history of football as bother an on the field sport and off the field insight to the culture of the countries involved. I’d say the same for your pieces on historic black boxers giving insight into the viewpoint’s of the time

John Redmond

Advice on where to learn about sumo techniques, strategy etc? Just had my first class, haven't found many good resources online

Tyler J VanSyckle

Hey there Jack, i appreciate the work you're doing more than the actual fights at this point. Do you have any advice for getting the interest spark back? I find myself not as interested watching the fights anymore, partially because they are on very late at night and i have small children who wake up early, but also because they just aren't grabbing my attention the way they did when i was in college or my mid 20s. Or am i just old now?

James Dylan

Why do you think it is that muay thai promotions like ONE (who barely do MMA) and RWS are able to deliver banger cards weekly, with less money than the UFC, and presumably a smaller pool of fighters than the much more popular sport of MMA? Surely there's enough talent for the world's biggest MMA promotion to have the same banger rate as smaller muay thai promotions?

Jack Mckee

Hello mr Jack love your work, this is maybe obvious but I would love to hear your thoughts, do you think fighting style is influenced by your personality and characteristics? Also what’s your style? Thanks.

John Tobin

In the movie Enter the Dragon, the martial arts tournament participants begin each round by crossing each other’s arms. It seems to follow a similar rule to putting your fist on the ground in sumo - once both competitors do it, the round begins. The motion itself is obviously less awkward to do from open stance than from closed stance, but would it have any other effects as a start to a MMA fight? That is, compared to jogging out from opposite sides of the cage. Seems like it could either lead to a brief moment of tension (like sumo) followed by a panicky first exchange, a clinch, or maybe one/both of the fighters rapidly backing off to get space. Or do you think it really wouldn’t matter besides aesthetics?

Rory Donnelly

Is the biggest issue with WMMA low participation rates which reduces the skill level required to succeed?

Tom

Hi Jack, Why do you think the foreman/saddler long guard is less common in boxing than other styles of guard? Is it simply that it leaves the body too open? Thanks, and loved your Foreman piece last week.

Hank Scorpio

Alright Jack, have you watched the Chris Eubank watch along for the first Nigel Benn fight on his YouTube channel? If so what are your thoughts on it? He uses a few familiar sayings, keep them on the end of your jab etc etc. What are your thoughts on him as a fighter, and that period of super middleweight boxing in the UK in general?

Dominick Lee
>>170131836

People do try to do this thing where they pretend hes some deep thinking tortured soul instead of a low life ass who could hit really hard. And most people once labeled as rapists are completley treated as pariahs forever, whereas it does seem tyson has escaped this somehow.

J Damsel

Explanation of cage cutting in MMA vs boxing

Dominick Lee

Is there a way to stop the malkoun single after he already got one of your legs? I never figured out how to stop it

Gian

hi slack! long time fan but relatively new boy!! I was wondering what do you think are the reasons for the shitty state of current mma journalism and what can be done to bring mma journalism into a more legitimate era? Also do you think there was ever an mma journalism golden age, and if yes what timespan would it have been? Chase Hooper finally hitting puberty bless

Gee

Is Rizin’s Ren Hiramoto legit or a hype job? Rizin’s Last Man Standing title looks even less valuable than the BMF belt. Hiramoto has flashes of greatness but then again is it because of the match ups, I wonder.

Drakes Cakes
>>170132617

Just wanted to add some context as a JKD guy. Sorry if it's unwanted. We call this reference point, you start trapping from here to simulate the situation of one of us punched and the other person parried or blocked. Once you have done the handsets for a while you usually start training off of "crash" where one person throws a punch and the other person crashes into there arm essentially creating the same position. For what it's worth I think there is a very very low level JKD tournament every year somewhere in India that had this as a rule for what otherwise was just a shitty taekwondo match.

Drakes Cakes

Thoughts on Gable Steveson vs Craig Jones?

Arnaud

Why did Robin Van Roosmallen had a great career (he beat Ristie, Petch, Sittichai and Grigorian) despite having a quite shallow and simple kickboxing style ?

Randy Ireland

How do fighters train for the speed of a real fight? I have a fighter I coach that looks great in the gym but when he gets in the cage, he says everything feels so much faster and he feels so much slower. Are there training methods to help with this or does he just need more cage time?

Zach Whitall

Can everyone start calling you the John Stuart Mill of MMA?

Jesse Ball

how about an analysis of n/s choke via monson and garcia

Daniel Lim

Why don't more fighters use their lead leg to kick? Benefits? Drawbacks?

Dylan Knostman

Max holzer just defeated Deniz Ilbay in one of the best fights in OKTAGON history, many calling it Germany’s khabib vs Conor. With so much life, massive sold out arenas, and genuinely talented fighters, what will it take for you to start talking about OKTAGON?

Muhammad Faris

Its common to see people using the threat of the takedown to improve their striking, any examples of people using striking to improve their takedowns?

FH

What do you think is key to analysing and breaking down fights and how do you get good at it. (Asking for DC)

femi

Not MMA related but a while ago you mentioned you might do a history episode on the scramble for africa. Are you still planning on doing it. As a fan of yours and partly African I would love to see it as I loved your stuff on china

FH
>>170136778

Doesn’t talk about PFL or CW, why would he talk about Oktagon which is at a level below those promotion’s in terms of good fights and talent nurturing? The nonsense after the fight is what makes Oktagon tin pot.

Dylan Knostman
>>170136778

That’s just false lad. The Tipsport gamechanger tournament alone deserves more attention than anything PFL or CW does, and the fact that they are actually developing mma and investing into the sport is far better than anyone else currently. As someone who works in the sport of mma, who is very close to many managers and fighters, I can assure you no one is doing as good a job as a promotion as OKTAGON right now.

FH
>>170131836

I find this mad how a convicted rapist is a media darling.

James Kendrick

Why don't we see more knee cut into back step passing in mma like the pass Zhang Weili was trying to do constantly against Tatiana Suarez?

nick

Recently learned about The Thai Tiger King who wore a mask to fight his best warriors in a Muay Thai tournament, are there any other fight legends are as interesting to you? SOURCE: https://youtu.be/MMwTtSX3S14

FH
>>170131068

Maybe be longer and teep him to death? Leg kicks your on one leg punching range, punching with him no one’s survived that too date, we’ve not seen him v a wrestler but he seems competent and again your in punching range. Teeps to take his body away and keep the range and head kicks as it’s another long range weapon? Would be interesting to hear JS opinion

FH
>>170131062

GSP also traveled to JW and to Danahar as well as bringing in Thai legends. Think he was one of a kind and was ahead of the curve. They also produced Rory who was excellent and other UFC level fighters. Hard to tell without being knowing the ins and outs of gyms if coaches have left or the coach has focused of other things or if the fighter would have been world champ anywhere. Not sure of any gym that’s produced multiple would champions from beginners. Great question though.

ocean lindgren

Caught a little tidbit from jo chen on conceptual learning skills he picked up from listening to high level tekken players, you have any general thoughts on that as an alternative/complementary model to the more conventional skill training we see in martial arts?

Zardoz

slacky, when fighters do naked spinning back fists from the outside, why is it that they don't get cracked with a body/high kick? fear of hitting the spine? seems like fighters back away from them too much, but I'm a filthy casual

Louis Choo-Choy

Hey Jack, long time listener here. Why is it that there are so few MMA “analysts” who can actually break down and talk competently and articulately about the technical details of fights? Lots of people whose job it is to do so can barely talk more deeply than saying it’s a “striker vs grappler” or some other vague comment which even I could have said. Sometimes this kind of superficial analysis comes from fighters themselves when they’re on the commentary and it’s always been baffling to me. I know other listeners will know what I’m talking about because it’s why we listen to you! Thanks.

Dylan Cleary

Best grappler you’ve rolled with and best striker you’ve sparred with?

Jake Daniel

What are your 5 favourite fights in MMA history? Can be UFC, Strikeforce, Pride or whatever

AlolanBebop

If it wasn't front kicks to the body, what do you wish would catch on in MMA? I loved the foreman article to, read it in a pub like a proper geezer.

FH
>>170136778

Signing a bunch of journeymen and selling out stadiums KSW already did. Failed to break the UK. Glad they’ve moved away from influencer MMA. As a long time fan the antics are similar to Goatshed and the actual MMA isn’t a level above CW or PFL. Hopefully they have moved away from influencer MMA and can improve on Central European juiced up journeymen for the most part of their roster. Fair play to them they do a lot of things well. I’m maybe overly harsh on the influencer and shit like last night Holzer pulled.

Dylan Knostman
>>170136778

You would understand why what happened last night occurred if you understand who Ilbay’s family is, what was said in the prefight, and and the fact that there was so much build up from fans, promotion, and the fighters. Maybe people are used to seeing emotionless mma because of the UFC these days, but people cared and the fight itself also delivered so I don’t really understand what the issue is.

Dylan Knostman
>>170136778

We talk about apex slop all the time, a promotion finally starts putting real shows together and they get criticized? Like I don’t understand what the fans want. Finally we have a promotion that actually promotes and people would still rather watch contender series bums with less than 10 mma fights fight in a dead soulless warehouse.

Sebastian

Would you rather fight 2 mayce barbers at once or fight one yan blachowicz with his hands tied behind his back?

Brolly

What's the craic Jack? Whats some of your biggest BJJ fan moments? Also what has been your biggest takeaways from Neil Melanson with his grappling for MMA style of practice. Thank you for the content good sir. Couple random ass book recommendations too please

Scott Tong

What are some counters for the double jab? I assume in 2060 they'll become a staple. I want to be ahead of the curve when I'm 70 and the UFC has seniors as the openers for Apex slop

Austing

Could pendulum step spammers be effective in MMA? Or would they just get leg kicked over and over again

Amok.pal

Any thoughts or takeaways on the recent 40m Yuki yoza sparring footage on youtube?

Logan

Are there any instances of "exciting" fighters that stay on the back foot for most of their fights? How do you make a retreating style audience friendly?

Basednoface

I'm transitioning my focus from competing to coaching but still want to train and improve, both for myself and my students. Any recommendations on how to stay sharp as a coach?

Cam

Jack, what are ways to add on volume and capitalize on good cardio. I have very good cardio and hit decently hard but I feel like my cardio gets underutilized in my striking, any tips or recurring things the cardio greats like holloway,volk,Edgar, etc do that would help my game?

Dylan Dacumos

Gordon Ryan just said on the JRE fight companion the best heel hook for MMA is a cross ashi/ honey hole because it prevents the opponent from getting head over head to land strikes. Im paraphrasing but what do you think of this and do you think leg locks/entanglements have any use in mma besides the occasional gimmick tap or a stalling sweeping position like pantojas reap?

Ed Andrews

If you could make any fantasy fights, regardless of time period, weight or sport, what would you make?

The Grizzler

What are the most common habits or patterns exploited in striking arts?

FH
>>170136778

Apex the issue is the venue, in relation to the level of fighter they are more raw than what we saw traditionally in the UFC. With that said the UFC still has the best roster and prospects on their books. Oktagon literally had a comedian fight a pop star last year. Last nights hand bags is as unprofessional as Conor Khabib, Nick Diaz’s team storming an Oktagon, Arman punching a fan. I don’t like that shit personally but it’s the sort of thing modern MMA fans who pay the thousands of dollars to watch shit. Oktagon also allowed Shem to teep a guy at weigh ins and he pulled out, wanliss to fight with Corisanni at the airport, I’d imagine there’s more. I don’t like that or seeing two 9-6 central euro roided guys in there 30’s fight to decision or watch them feed some old fella to one of their legit stars. Your bang on the money I’m not easy to please 😂

Dylan Knostman
>>170136778

You’re acting like OKTAGON hosts celebrity fights every card. They have hosted 3 over the two years, and you’re acting like the ufc is the pinnacle of talent when we have 16 fighters coming off losing streaks fighting on the card last night. I don’t think you’re hard to please, I think you’re frankly just a fucking idiot who isn’t an actual fan of mma, instead just looks to slag off on the sport instead of improvement.

Taylor Steele

Would love your thoughts on the Fighting Nerds “invisible battles” that Pablo mentions in his interview with John Gooden on YT.

Abdiel

If Islam and Ilia fight do you see the hand fighting being an issue for Ilia? You mentioned that Bryce Mitchell had some success with that, thank you Jack!

Tré Vermeulen
>>170137345

Volkanovski early on was all about this. GSP and Chad Mendes. Basically anytime a level change can be mistaken for a strike or a takedown, it's starts to make things difficult. GSP's jab would have him get low enough that it looked like his takedown entry.

Tré Vermeulen

What are some good ways to use the "wide right" in MMA? It's probably my best punch or the one I've dropped people with the most in sparring but if they don't get winded, then I always feel out in no man's land.

FH
>>170139911

Gordon Ryan for grappler rolled with Paul Weir for striker I’ve rolled with 😂

Philip Williams

Dear Mr Slack. How do you go about recording a pod? it sounds like you're just freestyling and talking to the microphone. Are you following notes? How many times do you need to watch each fight to get enough talking points for us? And then how much scripting do you do? Are you looking for specific things to anchor your pod around?

Patrick Lange

What's your thoughts on training kids? My 10 year old son was taking a boxing class, nothing serious just for fun, and the coach wanted him to exercise every day. Then the coach called him lazy for not committing to it. My son is one of those kids who just wants to have fun, punch a bag and mess around. And this isn't the type of gym that is turning out pro athletes but it wasn't for him anymore after that.

Alex Schwartz

Jack Who are your top prospects right now?

Rawp

What’s up Slacky J! Fighters coming from tough regional scenes tend to have a better skill set across the board. I.e. Amateur and regional fighters in Colorado are much more skilled the than their counterparts in Lousiana. Why is that? How can you ensure that fighters have a high level skillset despite the region they’re competing in? How do you grow a regional scene in order to grow the talent base?

Priority Post

interested as to whether you watched Nico Carrillo's first feathweight MT fight in One FC v Sitthichai and what you thought of it and his chances against the top 5 in that division? Cheers!

Shrimpy

Is the only way to successfully use a narrow/tall stance in MMA having a threatening guard that allows you to get up/sweep instantly?

BennyB
>>170134197

In mma perhaps he isnt super legit because his lack of grappling but in k1 he as legit as possible. He KOd kaew fairtex, who was on of the best kickboxers at the time. He is a super slick striker. He is also young so he defo has potential to be actually good in mma too.

Smash Like

Where can I find the 2nd part to the muhammad ali history episodes? and are there any more boxing history episodes coming out in the near future? (a sugar ray robinson one would be awesome). Church of Gaethje bless!

minowamans biggest fan

Do you think the low single is viable in mma? Seems like you basically never see it used succesfully outside of Khabib and Gamrot, even with how prevelant it is in wrestling. Are there any things that would make it inherently worse in mma like stance and etc..?

A Name

Can you speak to the link between modern grappling/mma and pro wrestling, from a technique standpoint? And from a promotional standpoint?

Rob W

What’s the book about boxing written by the Olympic Coach who’s a woman and she really likes the dipping jab and you talk about it frequently?

Philip Williams

Mr Slack another question. Where/how are you watching Rizin etc? Do you watch it without English commentary?

Luke C

Hi Jack. Have you seen the video posted recently by Fight Theory breaking down Tom Aspinalls speed using frame data like it's a fighting video game. Wondering what your thoughts were on this type of analysis and if it has any merit, cheers.

FRO BRO

Would having a BBL give you an advantage in grappling

Tré Vermeulen

I feel like a crack fiend waiting on this episode.

Onta Dojo
>>170167409

I'm really into this too, so I second this one. There's also a video on the Fighting Nerds youtube channel of Sucupira teaching distance management/ "the foot game" (had to use the auto-translate subtitles) which is quite good.

Onta Dojo

How do you defend the left straight in open stance, when you're standing orthodox? It's hard to block (answer the phone style) because your shoulder isn't in the way, like in closed stance, and when I start parrying it or leaning away my opponent throws up the head kick. So how do you defend the southpaw double attack? I struggle with it, and seeing Perreira get repeatedly tagged by Ank made me despair even more. Right now I usually just also switch to southpaw and start calf kicking, because it takes takes them off guard, but I'd love a good open stance strategy.

Onta Dojo
>>170137345

Vintage Team Alpha Male (esp when Ludwig was their striking coach) was good at this. Also Dom Cruz setting up his dart, then darting into knee taps

Onta Dojo
>>170212502

Aldo stood pretty tall, and dealt with shots by pivoting to feed them the single leg, then stiff arming and limp legging out.

Shrimpy
>>170212502

True! So it’s either monstrous wrestling/ wrestling defense or charles guard

Garrett Bucksath
>>170372454

one way to obstruct the rear straight is to ensure your lead foot is outside their lead foot. that makes it much harder to land. to block it you take your lead hand and touch your opposite shoulder, with your elbow facing the opponent. they're also liable to break their hand if they hit your elbow. you can see Dustin poirier and floyd Mayweather do this block

Garrett Bucksath
>>170153981

I don't quite understand the question? Throw more strikes? more bullshit volume so that your opponent cannot rest and reset

Ben Marsden

In a closed stance orthodox vs orthodox match up, what's a good combo for circling to the right?

Cam
>>170153981

Yeah I was just curious if there was any specific techniques he has or a way to constantly keep initiative of a fight

haphap

What's up Jack! Have you seen the ju-jitsu fighting system tournaments uploaded by Ju-jitsu Heroes on YT? I think it's supposed to be japanese ju jitsu point fighting. Thoughts? Also will you ever do an article on Akihiro Kaneko? I think he's a good example of good boxing principles in a kickboxing setting. Nice KO reel too. Always been my favorite podcast. Thanks.

Ming Y

My main man slacky jay! I've been interested in fighters who have strong techniques that are usually illegal in the world of traditional martial arts (muay thai, boxing, judo...). If we focus on the clinch, I think of Gaethje's unothordox low kicks from clinch range. There's also Islam kneeing the opponent - baiting the return knee - and executing harai-goshi. Which other MMA fighters have shown such techniques, in your opinion?

Ming Y

As a follow-up to unothordox techniques, I found your clip of Willie Pep handfighting in old, flexible gloves interesting. Which fighters have exploited the smol MMA glove better? IIRC, Volk and Adesanya have shown more handfighting than most fighters - smothering the opponent's offence by pawing and grabbing their gloves often, and setting up a lot of their offence e.g. with skipping stone jabs. Do you agree? Which other fighters show this talent? Special mention to hooking smol gloves with fingers: glovehook into deashi-harai like Islam vs Arman (very sneaky) and Oliveira glovehooking Poirier to force him to roll (rather blatant).

Ming Y
>>170360161

live your dreams bro just do crack like the rest of us bro

Onta Dojo
>>170132228

Do you train? If so, watch fighters who are good at stuff you're working on, and then play with it in the gym.

minowamans biggest fan

Do you think you could do something on Lomachenko? Or if you could suggest some good articles covering his game?

Lee Mackay

What’s the funniest/weirdest fighter diets you’ve heard of ? And what’s your own diet principles as an elite level podcaster and practitioner yourself Much love from Scotland

Rad3rtt

Can you make an instructional list similar to your good reads book list

teamevilhenchwoman39284

hi jack. given that merabs next title defense is coming up soon i wanted to know what u thought of the idea of using attritive techniques in the clinch as a way to discourage merabs endless onslaught of takedowns. so much of the takedown defense i see from merabs opponents in his fights seems to be focused on just stopping the takedown and breaking connection. But what his opponents defended takedowns by pulling merab into the clinch and working hard to land knees to the body, uppercuts to the body and head, and slicing elbows. Attritive techniques like those must be respected especially by merab who has shown hes not invulnerable to the body. usman used clinchfighting as a big part of discouraging covingtons pressure in fhe first fight and lawler made askren very hesitant to lock up with him with big knees to the body in the clinch before lawler eventually abandoned it. Especially considering that yan is an ace defensive wrestler who is also a murderous clinchfighter and umar is an amazing wrestler all around who is friends with 2 excellent clinchfighters (islam and DJ) it seems like an interesting idea in their potential rematches.