JNPO: MMA year in review – The Nate Diaz UFC circus comes to a fitting end
The MMA year in review series on Josh Nason’s Punch-Out continues with a stop in July, August and September — a raucous three months that saw big title changes and a crazy lead-up to UFC 279.
Joining me as always is Wrestling Observer ratings writer and Fight Game Media podcaster Paul Fontaine.
The big story of this three months was the bizarre situation around UFC 279 which originally was set to have Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev in the main event. That was, until Chimaev missed weight and there was a day-long effort to shuffle three fights around that actually made for a better show.
We also talk about one of the feel-good stories of the year when Leon Edwards knocked Kamaru Usman out cold with a head kick at the last minute to both win the welterweight title and end Usman’s epic winning streak.
Over 1200 headlines were scanned for this show, so we hit up plenty of other stories as well.
If you have missed any of this or the pro wrestling year in review series, check out the archives. You can also subscribe to our free show RSS feed and get them in your podcast app of choice.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.