Fight Professor T-shirts Are HERE!
It is true, the brand spankin’ new “Fight Professor” t-shirts have finally arrived.
They are available in Black and White in the following sizes: Medium, Large, Extra Large.
Pick one up for $19.95 US + $4.95 shipping in the continental US.
Fight Professor T-shirt – 1st Edition (Black)
Design by Atlantis 57 Studios
Printed by Heroics Clothing
Fight Professor T-shirt – 1st Edition (White)
Design by Atlantis 57 Studios
Printed by Heroics Clothing
Special Clinch Gear Radio This Wednesday
We have a very special show this Wednesday, January 25th, on Clinch Gear Radio – MMA super trainer Greg Jackson (Jon Jones, Carlos Condit, etc.) and UFC Undisputed 3 video game audio director Antoine Peltier and THQ senior designer Wes Bunn will join us 1-3pm PST, Sirius 94, XM 208, call-in# 866-522-2846. We’re also on AFN (American Forces Radio) on Saturday. Don’t miss it!
Continuation of A Dream
Years ago, I started pursuing acting…by default. Until then I felt in the pits of my soul that my sole mission in life, my very reason for being was to play drums. Tendonitis threw a pretty big monkey wrench into those plans in 1983. As a matter of fact, it shattered my hopes of being a rock star. It got to the point where I could barely hold onto a drumstick. It was devastating. My band mates at the time, Gar Robertson and Tony Cavazo, (Dangerface) watched helplessly as my body slowly betrayed me. To make matters worse all my friends were getting signed to big recording contracts, wrecking Ferraris and impregnating Playmates, while I had to get my hair cut and get a “real” job.
I stopped frequenting the rock clubs because 1) It was painful for me to watch others do what I once could do, but now could not, and 2) I was embarrassed that I was no longer this big man I had made up in my head. I had fallen from my self-made Mount Olympus of rock and roll and was now just another dude in L.A. I was depressed beyond belief. I was also pretty f#@*in’ angry. So when “Scarface”, starring Al Pacino hit the theaters, I was in; I was going to become an actor.
So let’s fast-forward three decades to now, January 2012. I had basically put my acting career on hold because I was having some fairly good luck as a broadcaster within the world of mixed martial arts (PRIDE Fighting Championships, IFL, etc.). But after four+ great years with Showtime Networks, I suddenly have plenty of time on my hands, due to the new Strikeforce deal with the network, which cut the schedule from 16 Strikeforce events per year down to eight, and eliminated the Strikeforce “Challengers” series altogether, of which I provided commentary for, along with my esteemed colleagues Mauro Ranallo and Pat Miletich. So…time to get back to acting…and music (can you say “SNOW“)!
I’ll end with this quote from Michael Shurtleff’s book, “Audition”:
“To go into acting is like asking for admission into an insane asylum. Anyone may apply, but only the certifiably insane are admitted.”
Hold on, that sounds like the fight game, hahaha – sign me up!
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Just finished (the book) “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo“. AMAZING! Believe the hype! The final 3-4 chapters made it impossibly hard to put it down. Author Steig Larsson (R.I.P.) had to have lived many of the political events in the book in the real world of journalism. I’m sure of that!
I loved the (original) movie too! It’s one of the best films I have ever seen! I haven’t seen the remake yet, with Daniel Craig, who I really enjoy as an actor, playing ‘Michael Blomkvist’. But I will give it a fair shake, even though I had a blunt, negative reaction when I first heard that there would be a “Hollywood” re-make just two years after the release of the original, hahaha.
SQ Interview at MMA Diehards
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed on MMA Beatdown Radio, in association with MMADIEHARDS.com. Below are some of the highpoints, including working with DMX, the return of my band SNOW and lots of MMA tidbits. Enjoy…
http://mmadiehards.com/live/features/stephen-quadros-is-down-with-dmx-quiet-riot-and-mma/
Vengeance
I’m built for revenge, or so my astrological sign says. But…I choose to forgo that impulse for the most part, in terms of smaller, less marginal infractions, because acting on them usually creates more problems than it solves, in the long run. In the past, the times I’ve acted out with vengeful intent, many times extends the mutual ill will, sometimes indefinitely. I’ll quote Robert Duvall, to help me make my point, from the film Colors. Duvall portrays an experienced Los Angeles police officer on the verge of retirement, who tries in vain to impart some wisdom to his younger, reckless partner played by Sean Penn. It goes like this, “In 19 years I’ve learned one thing: if you try to fight every jerk on the street you’ll be one sad, sorry son of a bitch at the end of every day. You’ll never last 20 years. And God forbid if you ever get married and take it out on your wife, she will walk. She will
Bas Rutten On This Week’s Clinch Gear Radio
My old pal and former broadcast partner Bas Rutten (HDNet’s Inside MMA) will be our guest this Wednesday, January 4th on Clinch Gear Radio. Don’t miss this one!
Listen to Clinch Gear Radio every Wednesday, 1-3pm PST, Sirius 94, XM 208!
UPDATE: If you missed our interview with BAS RUTTEN yesterday, no problem. Here it is (click the link below):
http://www.clinchgear.com/blog/2012/01/bas-rutten-clinch-gear-radio-142012/
Exposure
One of the keys to success is letting the world know what you’re doing by “exposing” your talents and gifts. Now understand, not everyone will accept you with open arms. But that doesn’t matter; don’t it that bother you. The strength gained by avoiding negativity, and remaining positive and focused, will help you rise to greater things.
There are some who have problems with promoting themselves because they feel it is an acting of self-centeredness or a negative expression of ego. Not always. It is said that we must love ourselves first before we can love others, and the act of sharing, a talent or otherwise, is an expression of that love. A talented artist who does not pursue the way of being known only have themselves to blame if another artist becomes renown for a similar skill.
The world is competitive so get out there and strut your stuff!
Inspiration
It’s not everyday that I am inspired. Oh, I try to be, but ‘things’ get in the way: making a living, chasing the opposite sex, escaping from the occasional frustration of reality. You know, the usual. But I am on a quest to improve the inner ‘muscle’ that creates inspiration. Focus is one of the qualities that will make this happen. Am I a broadcaster? Am I a musician? Am I an actor? Am I a fight choreographer? The answer that those questions is…yes. My mission in life until 1983 was to ONLY be a drummer. Then that was derailed by tendonitis. I thought it was over forever, that I would never play again. So I began doing theater and taking acting classes, in between working in a bank and then in a stock brokerage. My evolution, like most people was forced on me, unavoidable. Sink of swim.
More VERY soon… In the meantime, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2011 In Reflection
Where to start…
I’ve given up writing blogs scolding myself for not blogging on a “consistent” basis, so there. Maybe the leaving behind of a past procrastination will make it fade in memory. Who knows and who cares…
2011 was an interesting year indeed. It was my 4th year working with Showtime Networks, which has been the most rewarding experience of my broadcasting career. We, Mauro Ranallo, Pat Miletich and I, called the final Strikeforce Challengers event on Friday, November 18, 2011 at The Palms casino. Yes, after two years of programming it seems that the ‘Challengers’ events will in fact be discontinued. I look forward to seeing how this will affect me, since the series was what I had been working on primarily, for two years, with the network. And I must say that I am extremely confident in, and proud of, the team and what we, Mauro, Pat and I, brought to the table, individually and collectively.
The year also marked the one-year anniversary of Clinch Gear Radio, which is the team of San Diego radio dynamo Jeff Dotseth and myself, ranting about, you guessed it: mixed martial arts. We, Clinch Gear Radio, started our journey in October 2010 on Xtra Sports 1360am (San Diego). Then in January 2011 we proudly became the voice of mixed martial arts for AFN, the American Forces Network! Jeff and I were THRILLED about that one! After a fruitful run at 1360am, we moved to XX1090am, also in San Diego. But changes wouldn’t stop there: in August 2011 our show went national when we were asked to join Sirius XM. So nowadays you can listen to Clinch Gear Radio, and our take on MMA, every Wednesday, 1-3pm PST on Sirius 94 and/or XM 208.
Another high point this year was the reconvening of Bas Rutten (host of HDNet’s Inside MMA) and I in a rather unique commentating scenario. If you don’t know, Bas and I provided the commentary for all of the American broadcasts of Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships from 2000 until my departure in 2003. Since then Pride was sold to Zuffa, who also own the UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 2010 and 2011 the UFC has released two versions of their UFC Undisputed video games, 1 and 2 respectively, both of which have been quite successful. Well, the upcoming UFC Undisputed 3 will feature a special “Pride Mode”, where every combatant can also fight in a ring and under Pride rules, including soccer kicks to the head of a downed opponent. And…Bas and I will be doing all the commentary in Pride Mode! So check out UFC Undisputed 3 when it comes out on February 14, 2012!
As you may or may not know I play drums. Yes, I have been playing for a while. And the most successful group I have ever been in was SNOW (Pure Uncut Rock!), which consisted of Carlos Cavazo on guitar, Tony Cavazo on bass (yes, they’re brother!), Doug Ellison on vocals and me on drums. We eventually had a pretty big following on the Sunset Strip (The Whiskey, The Starwood, etc.) in the late 1970s-early 1980s, and then independently released a record in 1980, which received airplay on KROQ and KLOS. As history would have it, when SNOW eventually ran out of steam and couldn’t get arrested by a major record company (because we weren’t “punk enough”), Carlos had an opportunity to join Quiet Riot, who made it to #1 in 1983, while Tony recorded and toured with Hurricane, Doug suffered a terrible accident, recovered, then moved back to the East coast and I had to stop playing drums because of tendonitis. To kill time I started acting and eventually went into commentating on televised martial arts contests (Pride Fighting Championships, K-1, Showtime Networks, etc.).
In 2005-2006, Carlos, Tony and I had been discussing the idea of restarting SNOW (yes, I was able to return to playing drums after being forced to stop back in the 1980s for two years+). And when we finally were able to reconnect with Doug and found out he would have problems traveling because of his prior injury, we hit a snag: we needed a singer! So Tony, started doing gigs with a reformed Hurricane, with a new singer named Andrew Freeman, and Andrew asked Tony one day, “Why don’t we do SNOW?” And the next thing you know we were rehearsing, getting pictures done and then booked our first gig in 30 years (on December 10, 2011) at The Key Club (formerly Gazzari’s), co-headlining with Salty Dog, who came up in the same era that SNOW did. It went extremely well: the band rocked and it was a packed house! More gigs are coming for SNOW, so stay tuned. Visit SNOW at: http://Facebook.com/PureUncutRock
So yes, 2011 was a year of diversity and multi-tasking for me – hey, I didn’t even get into my video gaming (I’m on a PS3) or the fact I still teach 3 kickboxing classes per week (when I am in town!).
Happy New Year EVERYBODY! SQ
UFC On Fox: Velasquez vs. dos Santos
CAIN VELASQUEZ VS. JUNIOR DOS SANTOS
Cain Velasquez: 9-0, UFC Heavyweight Champion, 72% takedown success rate, most of his 8 TKO wins come from G&P, unreal conditioning that allows such a high striking output, by constantly pushing the pace he wears opponents down.
Question: How well has the shoulder recovered (13 month layoff)? Injuries that require surgery usually reduce an athlete from maintaining the highs they previously had. And a shoulder problem not only effects punching but also wrestling.
Junior dos Santos: 13-1, the best boxer in the heavyweight division, strong down the stretch in the later rounds where his punch output has actually improved, exceptional takedown defense/stuffed 83% tries against him, extremely hard to keep on his back.
These two giants are facing their toughest foes in each other. This is the most dangerously competitive heavyweight fight in UFC history, and possibly world fighting history, easily ranking IMHO with Ali/Frazier, Fedor/Nogueira 1, etc. To me, it’s above those two fights. It has the potential to be the greatest fight in history, period.
In Cain’s previous fight history, he can do major damage both standing and on the ground, whereas Junior pretty much needs to be on his feet to win. I predict that dos Santos will have moments and may win a round or two, but I feel that Velasquez will set such a breakneck tempo that he will exhaust the Brazilian in the 4th and 5th, granting Cain Velasquez a unanimous decision win.
BEN HENDERSON VS. CLAY GUIDA
Ben “Smooth” Henderson: 14-2, 2 TKOs, 8 submissions – 1 sub loss, 1 decision loss, 27 years old, 5’9”, wins over Donald Cerone (twice, 1 dec, 1 sub/guillotine 1st round), Jamie Varner, Mark Bocek, Jim Miller (all by decision), loss by decision to Anthony Pettis.
Clay Guida: 29-11, 5 TKOs, 15 submissions, 9 decisions – 6 sub losses, 4 decision losses, 29 years old, 5’7”, Jackson’s Submission Fighting, wins over Nate Diaz (split), Takanori Gomi (guillotine 2nd round), Anthony Pettis (unanimous decision), most of his losses are to top tier fighters: Gilbert Melendez, Diego Sanchez (both by split decision), Kenny Florian (RNC 2nd round).
I don’t envision a lot of brawling in this one because both lads are high paced submission wrestlers for the most part. But I think Henderson has a bit more sting in his punches and that will be key in him staying the healthier fighter during what will be a physically taxing fight. Henderson by decision.
LESNAR/OVEREEM PRESSER
-Friday, Dec 30, 2011, MGM Grand, Las Vegas
-the winner of Lesnar/Overeem will face the winner of Velasuez/dos Santos,
-Overeem says he’s healed up and ready
-Lesnar said it took him “’bout 6 hours” to return to 100% after his surgery
-Lesnar weighing 278 & looking huge
-Overeem happy to train at Xtreme Couture but not sure how long he’ll stay there
-Overeem says his experience is going to overcome Lesnar: “I’m gonna tear this guy apart, piece by piece.”
-Both men pick Velasquez to win (as do I)
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER
-Dennis Bermudez submits Akira Corrasani by guillotine in the 1st after getting the crap beat out of him. Bermudez has a helluva chin and advances to the featherweight finals. Corrasani still has a great style, but needs to work on his ground a tiny bit.
-The best prank ever: Team Bisping showers EVERYONE at the TUF gym with fire extinguishers while a live mariachi band plays on in the background…HAHAHA!
