Kev Watches Bellator 97

People ask us all the time (us being myself and my slightly Mexican-ier Verbal Tap cohort, Raf) what it's like for us when a guest and a friend of the podcast fights?  As some of you may know, David Rickels was a guest on the show recently and talked with us about this very fight on our podcast.  And as a subjectively unobjective viewer, I decided to show you what that viewing process looks like. So here, for your viewing pleasure, is a complete GIF and Photo Review of me (Kevin) watching fellow Kansan, David "The Caveman" Rickels take on Michael "I'm drawing a blank right now... what's his fight nickname again?" Chandler at #Bellator97.

In case I wasn't clear enough earlier, I think it's easy to tell who I'm rooting for here just based on nickname recognition. (And spoiler alert: things didn't go great).

Enjoy.

And the night begins... First fight I watch: King Mo vs. Jake Noe. Or "MoNoe" as I like to call it.

Fight over.  King Mo makes Noe... NoeMo' (get it?). 

As in: This fight ends when King Mo hits Noe so hard, he can't take "NoeMo!"

Pun work aside, time to restock for Rampage's announcement.

And now, a glimpse into my mind: What was I thinking when Rampage Jackson made his "special announcement?"

“Rampage has to be high right now!  But I can appreciate this pro-wrestling style call out.  Oh wait, he's literally CALLING OUT his opponent.  So we all have to wait and see!  Who is it, who is it?!  I hope I’ve heard of him!  AHHHH, I can't see shit—maybe I need to get my eye's checked, it has been two years—HOLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BALLLLLLSSSS ITS FUCKING, wait, is that Tito?! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLY BALLS it is Tito Ortiz!!! GO BELLATOR!.....Must.  Call.  Raf!”

(...and Scene!)

NEXT FIGHT! Lets go Askren! I'd like to ASKren if you can end this quickly, please, so we can get to the main event!  

[Seven Minutes Later]: Well, the fight is technically still going on....

"Please end this fight" Said EVERYONE WATCHING! "No" said the Referee, "he's intelligently defending the floor!"

UHH! FINALLY this thing over.  Now bring on the Beast!

Caveman!!!!

Time for a little double fisting good luck ritual! ("Double Fisting" is hard to write with a straight face)

and.... here we go!

oh uh...

wait...

now please be respectful as Kevin goes through the five stages of grief....

1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression Not quite ready for acceptance.... 5. Back to Depression 6. Acceptance

On a serious note: Congrats to Michael Chandler.  That was a really amazing performance.  And I have no doubt Caveman will be back.  And so will I.  Until next time, fight fans.

Welcome to Verbal Tap Cast

Hear ye, hear ye, everyone.  Quiet down for just a sec, your friends at VERBAL TAP have a quick announcement we'd like to make. At the risk of aliening those used to our normal goofball nature, we hope you'll allow us a moment to get serious on you guys.

What you see before your eyes today is the fruition of our creative efforts. After six months of tinkering with the podcast and accumulating a devoted set of listeners, Kev and I have decided it was time to up the ante.  Which is why we are proud to welcome you today to the official website for the VERBAL TAP podcast (VerbalTapCast.com).

That's right.  We are now more than just a Twitter page.  A lifeless Buzzsprout website.  Or a Facebook status letting you know how badly you need to listen to our latest installment.  We finally a space to call our own where you can comment, snicker, jeer, cheer, and yell at us.  And, to be quite honest, we couldn't be more excited about it.

With the new website, we now have a permanent online presence that allows us to continue conversations about a sport that we all know and love so much.  Which means: more jokes, more content, and maybe even an occasional video or two.  It’s really gonna depend on all of you and the community we create here.

It's a big day for us and the moment is not lost upon either one of us, as we've had dozens of people who have helped to bring us to this moment.

First and foremost, we’d like to thank all of the VERBAL TAP fans.  Many of you have brought such passion and enthusiasm to our podcast, it’s become infectious and has helped bring an energy to the show that we never knew could exist.

I mean, for damn sure, Kev and I never thought legitimate MMA fighters and personalities would get such a kick out of the show.  But we'd like to thank all of those who have appeared on the podcast or have sent well wishes for being such good sports about the roast-like nature of the show and getting exactly what it is we're trying to do.

Because at our core, the two of us are MMA enthusiasts who share many of the same highs and lows that come with being avid MMA fans.

We spend our hard earned cash month in and month out to go to bars and watch these PPVs.  We both have extremely patient significant others, family members, and friends we regularly put on hold to put this together or live comment during events.  We are not full-time journalists who use the podcast as an extension of their articles or make a living reporting on MMA (as it stands Kev and I balance several non-MMA related jobs with our other creative pursuits on the side).

We dedicate our free time and efforts to this podcast because we love the sport, we love the fans, and we've always felt the genre, frankly, lacks the type of voice that we provide.

Our philosophy has always been: if the kind of show that you wish doesn’t exist, you have go out there and make it.  There are thousands of podcasts out there.  Some good, others not so much.  We’ve put in our time and listened to other MMA and sports podcasts only to realize: there isn’t a single one that speaks the same unique language that we do.  It’s that can-do philosophy that has wonderfully guided our little show and helped us to build a growing audience.

We’re not gonna bore you with exhaustive recaps of every single punch or takedown, or regurgitate the same news stories and analysis that you can read from literally every other form of social media before your eyes.

We’re gonna make things lively.  We’re gonna make stupid jokes.  We’re occasionally going to be silly.  Most importantly, we're gonna make it our own.   Chances are, if you like us (and most people do), you'll probably like a great deal of the podcast—even if MMA isn't exactly your cup of tea.  And as long as you guys continue to be passionate about it and spread the word, then  we will continue striving to give you the best podcast in existence(tm).

We are keenly aware that there are tons of other things you can be doing, podcasts you can be listening to in your free time, but we will do our damnedest to make sure the podcast feels like a blast—as we are committed to doing this thing as long as it feels fun to all parties involved.

So why not make us a regular fixture on your website viewing habits, won’t you?

Ok, that'll do it for the serious stuff.  Back to the normal stuff:  Raf's awesome and Kevin's awful.  Thanks much, everyone, nothing else to see here, people.