Bill Mahood talks about how he was supposed to be on the inaugural Ultimate Fighter, partying with Vladimir Putin as well as Jean Claude Van Damme in Russia, and more

On this BTB installment, I welcomed influential Canadian MMA veteran Bill Mahood…...Bowks Talking Bouts #69

 

We talked about his experiences recently coaching at UFC London for Kajan Johnson, his pro debut in 1999 and the growth of the sport (2:37), fighting Forrest Griffin in UFC (5:00), how Bill was supposed to be on the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter (6:13), Bill's past gym wars with Denis Kang (7:35), how some of his trainees at Champion Gym performed at XFFC 17 (9:40), how his coaching role has informed his martial artist mindset (11:39), being a blackbelt under Bibiano Fernandes and what it's like training with him (12:55), the evolution of amateur MMA and Bill's role in it growing (15:36), Amateur MMA Nationals in Lethbridge ahead of the IMMAF's (18:47), Bill's experience as a promoter and matchmaker (20:58), Bill's thoughts on Edmonton's short lived combat sports moratorium (24:21), production and distribution being the hardest aspects of growing a fight promotion (25:54), Bill's Boxing experience and the crossover with MMA (32:03), taking fights overseas and the great memories from the trips (34:19), partying with Vladimir Putin as well as Jean Claude Van Damme in Russia (35:22), and more!