This week, Fanbyte Editor at Large John Warren joins LB and Danielle in the fun! Our pride-inspired month continues with a pro wrestling match and MMA fight that give us lots of powerful queer vibes, from some of our favorite powerful queer athletes. First, we watched Nyla Rose and Hikaru Shida go toe to toe in a bombastic, casino-themed championship match from AEW’s Memorial day weekend card. Then, Danielle gushes about Amanda Nunes: who successfully defended her featherweight belt against a very game Felicia Spencer this weekend, to become the first person (no matter their gender) to successfully defend two current championship belts in the UFC. Also, she’s openly queer, and basically one of the best fighters to ever do it.

We’re in a bizarre time, dear podcast listeners. But we are also interested in both celebrating pride month with a beautiful match between two openly queer pro wrestlers, and highlighting one of the shining moments in MMA from the last five years — that is, when big MAGA-promoter Colby Covington got his shit-talking jaw broken by UFC champion Kamaru Usman in their welterweight title fight last December. There are still some wonderful things in this universe, after all.

(Season Finale) SportsMiddle is going on hiatus but not before we discuss returning sports and Colin Kaepernick

Content warning for discussion of self-harm, death by suicide, and related topics.

This week, we’re doing something a bit different on our pro wrestling and MMA show. Hana Kimura, a rising star in Japan’s World of Stardom promotion, died by apparent suicide last week, and we’ve chosen to honor her in this episode, with a look at her match with Kagetsu from October 2018. We chat about her career, her incredible charisma and talent, and a bit about her tragic death.

Danielle, Dillon, and John explore the themes, heroes, villains, and missing moments from ESPN's Michael Jordan docuseries, The Last Dance.

Note that this episode has a content warning for a discussion of weight and dangerous weight-cutting.

Every week on Fanfyte, we watch a pro wrestling match and an MMA fight, and delight in the exchange of blows and bodies across the canvas. This week, we dive into comedy wrestling, with the very slapstick New Japan Pro matchup between cheating trickster Toru Yano and a very motivated Jon Moxley. Then, we switch gears and watch Cris “Cyborg’s” 2018 featherweight title defense against Yana Kunitskaya, in LB’s first view of a brutal Cyborg performance.

The crew finds Dillon in 2012, where they discuss Ronda Rousey/MieshaTate, Bountygate, and the NFL referee lockout.

Content warning for a brief mention of domestic violence.

Every week on Fanfyte, we watch a pro wrestling match and an MMA fight, and glory in our shared passion for fisticuffs. This time around, Elby brought Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli) vs. Sara Del Rey, an inter-gender pro wrestling scrap from the accessible Chikara promotion. Danielle brought the January matchup between Angela “Overkill” Hill and Hannah Cifers, one of Hill’s historic six matches inside of a year (an unheard-of feat in the UFC). 

We got serious in this one, and we had fun. It’s the Fanfyte way!

Danielle, Niki, and John time travel to 2008 to watch Super Bowl 42 and to give field reports on sports from this year. Also Dillon is lost in time.

On every Fanfyte episode, we watch a pro wrestling match and an MMA fight, in order to share the joy of our respective passions. This week was a real treat, with a high-flying, positively acrobatic lucha match between Laredo Kid and El Hijo Del Vikingo. We followed that up with one of the most-hyped MMA fights of last year, Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz in the UFC’s “Baddest Motherfucker” championship. That belt… that ending… that cut!