MMA Gospel Radio is rapidly emerging as the leader in MMA podcasts and the final word in all things MMA. From the UFC to shows near your hometown, MMA Gospel brings you up-to-the-minute news, rumors, live fighter interviews, fight results, and breakdowns of upcoming fights.

MMA Gospel Radio is hosted by Reverend Turk Vangel with co-hosts Drew Hall and Gary Friedman. Columnist Josh Turner also contributes editorials and opinions.

MMA Gospel Radio founder Reverend Turk Vangel started many years ago as a wrestler in junior high. This led him to the world of freestyle wrestling, which he loved due to the slams and the generally more aggressive style it presented.  He was lucky enough to compete in the AAU Junior Olympics, the Pan Am Games, and the freestyle nationals.  In 1993 he was introduced to the UFC with a video tape.  He watched everything he could get his hands on and became a fan of Royce Gracie (14-3-3) and “El Guapo” Bas Rutten (28-4-1) over the years.

Eventually, the Reverend began to train in mixed martial arts to get a better understanding of the sport. He began training at Beavercreek Martial Arts, a Jorge Gurgel (13-5) affiliate school under professional fighter Michael Patt (12-4). There Turk studied Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai.  His love for the ground game grew from there.

Reverend Turk would scour the Internet looking for MMA news and listen to podcasts until he decided that he needed to bring a show to the fans, something that was pure MMA and not comedy with some MMA thrown in to the show.  He started by doing small segments on Bengalsworld News Radio. This led to the birth of MMA Gospel Radio and the MMA Gospel Blog.  MMA Gospel Radio is now the top ranked MMA podcast online as voted on by the fans and the Reverend is looking to keep moving forward and giving the fans what they want.

Reverend Turk is married to a gorgeous wife, Mackenzie, and has a beautiful daughter named Lotus. When not covering mixed martial arts and interviewing fighters, he is a machinist and a welder that has worked for custom motorcycle companies such as Led Sled Customs and 138 Cycle Fabrication.  Now he spends his time working for the Air Force building prototypes for the Air Force Institute of Technology.  His loves, other than MMA, are his family, custom built bikes, and rat rods.

Drew has been an MMA fan since 2001 and has been training for a year-and-a-half in the arts of Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai underneath Nathan Fitch (1-1) at Son of Siam.  He is going back to school for his broadcasting degree and has written articles on popular MMA websites. His favorite MMA fighter is “Mayhem” Jason Miller (22-5).

Gary Friedman began his combat sports writing career in college at State University of New York at Fredonia where he wrote a boxing column called “In the Ring with Gary Friedman.”   Gary is a lifelong boxing fan who has become a huge MMA fan.

After attending UFC 1 in 1993, columnist Josh Turner knew he was hooked on the sport and began following MMA fighters and promotions.  Turner began training in Muay Thai in February 1997. In 2000, Turner began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Turner has trained at gyms including Hybrid Academy and Linxx Academy.

Although MMA is his great passion, Josh’s proudest accomplishment is his family.  As a proud father, Josh enjoys spending time with his daughter and attending her sporting events.  Josh is also a successful business owner and does consulting work as a business development coordinator.

Welcome Reverend Turk Vangel, Drew Hall, Gary Friedman, and Josh Turner to Fighters.com:

Reverend Turk: turk@fighters.com
Drew: drew@fighters.com
Gary: gary@fighters.com
Josh: josh@fighters.com

And tune-in here at Fighters.com on Saturday, October 31 at 5:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT for MMA Gospel’s debut as the official voice of Fighters.com.  MMA Gospel encourages listeners to call in to the show or join us in the live chat room at www.blogtalkradio.com/mmagospel.

“I had a lot of doubts going in here,” Baroni said after losing three straight and spending his entire career at 185-pounds, “but I erased them with that right hand.”

The usually brash “Bad Ass” lost a bit of bravado with the 15 pounds of inflated muscle, graciously admitting, “I feel really lucky to have this opportunity.”

In an unfortunate scene of MMA hooliganism, a friend of Jansen’s attacked Baroni in the cage after the knockout; but, order was quickly restored.

A reinvigorated Baroni asked after the fight, “Who’s next?”

CageRage is owned by ProElite, which also owns EliteXC and Icon and has a working relationship with Strikeforce, leaving open a lot of options for Baroni in his new weight class.

Heavyweight Neil Grove (6-1) knocked out “Buzz” Robert Berry (12-8) at 1:29 of round two, ending any leftover controversy from a Grove corner stoppage “W” over Berry last December.

Mustapha al Turk (6-3) earned the CageRage British Heavyweight Championship in two minutes of G’n'P on James McSweeney’s (1-2) head.

“Kong” Tom Watson (6-3) won a unanimous decision over John Phillips (6-2).

Heavyweight “Crazy Bear” Stav Economou (7-0) stayed undefeated with a unanimous decision over Piotr Kusmierz (1-1).

CageRage British Featherweight Champion “The Flame” Robbie Olivier (15-8–1) defended his belt from “Ash Cream Man” Ashleigh Grimshaw (5-4-1) with a second round rear naked choke.

Featherweight “One Punch” Brad Pickett (14-4) used a guillotine to choke out Italian Cristian Binda (4-5).

Irish Jason Young (4-1) pounded Francis Heagney (4-3) to earn the vacant CageRage British Lightweight Championship by unanimous decision.

Freeman, a former UFC fighter, dominated the mat match with G’n'P to take a unanimous decision.

The Cage Rage welterweight title was also wrapped around a new waist.

Che Mills (6-1) forced a doctor’s stoppage TKO of Marius Zaromskis (7-2) after cutting the Lithuanian’s eyelid.

Mills will likely defend first versus “Semtex” Paul Daley (17-6-2), who will end his short retirement to return to the cage.

“Messenger” James Zikic (16-5-2) submitted light heavyweight Rodney Faverus (24-16-3) at :29 of the third round.  It was Faverus’s fifth straight “L”.

TUF205-pounder “Gladiator” Ross Pointon (6-10) submitted “Boss” Ross Mason (12-9) in a heel hook in the first round.

“Hardest” Matt Ewin (20-9-1) won a unanimous decision over “Beast” Mark Epstein (14-11).

“Chocolate” Henrique Nogueira (6-4-1) of the Wolfslair Academy and Team Supreme’s Marc Goddard (7-6-1) fought to a draw.

Featherweight “One Punch” Brad Pickett (13-4) won a majority decision over Paul Reed (7-2).

Rookie Popek Rak (2-0) knocked out Kevin Simms (1-6) in just 1:12.

Middleweight Chris Rice (12-5) TKO’d Edgeleson Lue (2-2) in the third round.

Kickboxer Harvey Harra (5-3) showed his ground game by submitting Gary Kelly (2-1) in the first round.

“When I can’t beat mid-level guys.  I’m not going to let myself get beat by mediocre fighters,” Shamrock confided.

Saturday at CageRage 25 in London, “Buzz” Robert Berry (12-7) knocked out Shamrock at 3:26 of round one.

“He comes to fight,” Shamrock had described Berry; and, it’s likely this loss won’t convince the king of the Lion’s Den to retire.

Shamrock is 3-8 since his Y2K return to MMA.  He’s lost five consecutive fights by first round stoppage since TKOing Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 48 in 2004.

Ken won’t retire because he’s a fighter with fight left in him.  He won’t retire because, even after four consecutive losses, he still headlines a card; and, after five straight losses, his next fight will be a main event too.  He won’t retire because we still pay to watch him fight, because our memory of Shamrock at his best continues to eclipse Shamrock at this, his worst.

The “Ashikan Judan” Masakazu Imanari (14-5-1) earned his stage name by twisting “White Bear” Jean Silva‘s (15-8-3) foot in a heel hook at 2:30 of round one for the CageRage World Featherweight Championship.

British heavyweight Rob Broughton (7-3-1) dealt undefeated Neil Grove (5-1) his first “L” in a majority decision.

Middleweight “Kong” Tom Watson beat Pierre Guillet to a TKO at 2:05 of round one.

Heavyweight Mustapha al Turk (5-3) submitted kickboxer Gary Turner (4-1) on strikes at 3:19 of round one.

Heavyweight Ivan Serati (8-2) stopped Roman Webber (4-4) at :48 of round one.

Brazilian “Lagartixa” Henrique Santana (5-3) won a unanimous decision over England’s Michael Johnson (5-5).

Giorgio Andrews (3-0) made it a tough night for the Shamrocks by winning a TKO over Ken’s son Ryan Shamrock (1-1) after Ryan broke his hand in the first round.

Undefeated John Hathaway remained so with a TKO of Marvin Arnold Bleau at 1:32 of round one.

Finally, John Phillips (7-1) opened the night with a TKO of Jake Bostwick at 4:10 of round one.

Shamrock is no longer “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”, as he’s billed in his CageRage debut versus “Buzz” Robert Berry (12-7) Saturday.

But, there was a time he damn well may have been.

“[In 1993] a student of mine brought me a flier [calling for fighters for UFC 1],” Shamrock remembers.

At the time, Shamrock was wrestling in Japan’s Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, mentored by wrestling legends Masakatsu Funaki, Karl Gotch, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

Wrestling in Japan had avoided most of the kitsch of American pro wrestling.  His mentors taught Shamrock shoot wrestling, very real and effective submission techniques.

In 1993, Funaki founded a hybrid wrestling promotion called Pancrase.

“It wasn’t MMA,” Shamrock emphasizes.  “We used open-hand strikes and shin guards when kicking.”

In Pancrase’s first event in September 1993, Shamrock submitted Funaki in six minutes.  It was a testament to how far the former Tough Man competitor had come.

“What we did at UFC 1 was what you see today,” Shamrock traces MMA’s lineage.  “That was the beginning.

“Every time I had seen a no holds barred tournament, it was just for entertainment, you know?  In wrestling, it meant you could bring chairs in the ring.  It was ridiculous.  So, I was skeptical,” Shamrock explains.  “But, reality fighting, that’s what attracted me to the tournament.”

“We didn’t know until three days before that it was definitely happening.”

In the first round of UFC 1, the wrestler easily submitted kickboxer Patrick Smith (14-13) in a heel hook at 1:49.

After the fight, Shamrock was asked to compare UFC 1 to what he had been doing every month in Pancrase.

“This is easier,” he proclaimed brashly.  “This guy doesn’t know submissions.”

His confidence may have been his downfall in his second fight of the tournament.

“I didn’t know who Royce Gracie was,” Shamrock admits.  “When I saw him in his gi, I thought he was some karate guy.”

The eventual tournament winner, Gracie (14-3-3), submitted Shamrock in a rear naked choke in 57 seconds.

“It was setup for him to win,” Shamrock complains.  “I wasn’t allowed to wear my wrestling shoes, but he was allowed to wear his gi.

“You can watch it and see that I slip going for a leg lock and [Royce Gracie] wraps his gi around my neck for the choke.”

Shamrock went on after UFC 1 to bag wins versus a pantheon of fighters including Matt Hume (5-5), “El Guapo” Bas Rutten (28-4-1), and “Mo” Maurice Smith (12-10).

At UFC 5 in 1995, he’d get his revenge versus Gracie in a “Superfight”, this time knowing fully what to expect from the BJJ and MMA legend.  After 36:06, the fight was declared a draw.

The world’s most dangerous man?  Gracie had no answer for the wrestler after twice as long as any other MMA fight Gracie had previously participated in.

If Shamrock wasn’t the most dangerous man in the world, at that point he was at least as dangerous as Gracie, considered then to be the top reality fighter in the world.

Saturday, Shamrock makes his British debut.  A victory over Berry leads Shamrock to another accomplishment: MMA’s first American network television main event on CBS versus Kimbo Slice.