paigevanzant

Austin Vanderford takes on Fabian Edwards at Bellator 259. This battle between ranked middleweights goes down on Friday, May 21st and broadcasts on Showtime.

Vanderford came on BTB to discuss several subjects including: -the Alaska/ Canada connection
-the journey of his transitioning from Alaska wrestling to Portland for MMA training purposes
-his amateur wrestling efforts being mindful of an eventual crossover into MMA
-Chael Sonnen playing a big role in jumpstarting his fight career on multiple levels
-going from the Portland circuit to Florida and training with American Top Team
-whether or not this Edwards contest is a title eliminator and thoughts on the rankings
-having thick skin with social media trolls and being a light-hearted guy with trash talk
-leaving the bare-knuckle boxing to his wife Paige Vanzant and the BKFC experience
-the mutual growth with Bellator MMA and his individual fighter efforts
-his run on the Submission Underground circuit and the confidence it gives his grappling skills

On the Friday January 18 edition of BangTheBook Radio, host Adam Burke was joined by Christian Pina of the Sports Gambling Podcast, who is also a new UFC contributor to BangTheBook.com, for a breakdown of UFC Fight Night 143. This UFC Brooklyn fight card is the first on ESPN and has a main event of Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw.

Adam and Christian looked at the main card fights to find some betting value and discussed some of Christian’s favorite betting opportunities up and down the card, including the Paige VanZant vs. Rachael Ostovich fight and also a very live underdog on the preliminary card.

This episode we talk about Owens vacation in Seneca Falls and our trip to Las Vegas for the UFC fan expo and TUF finale.

This week, Steve talks about Ramona Shelburne's feature piece for ESPN The Magazine on Ronda Rousey following her loss to Holly Holm, and talks with both UFC women's strawweight contender Paige VanZant and UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman prior to their fights this weekend in Las Vegas!