The Blogboard Jungle

These aren’t instructionals or “how to” books on MMA, these are books about the sport’s history and culture that I have read over the years as a fan and covering the sport. I had the pleasure of meeting, training with, and interviewing some of the authors and I always recommend the books to folks in conversation. With the holidays coming, I figured I would compile a list for folks looking for something a bit deeper than an MMA DVD or tee shirt.

I have been pretty lucky when it comes to martial arts and the people I have met through my passion for it. I happened to figure out my own experiences training for over 20 years could add some insight to covering the sport of mixed martial arts and the fighters. When I started, I saw it was more than analysis on technique, previews, announcements, and interviews. Every fighter has a story to tell, but not all of their stories are told well. That’s where Duane Finley comes in to do what he does better than anyone. His book, In The Cold Distance , includes a lot of fighters and their stories but it is more than a journey through MMA history. It is a roadmap for those that want to cover MMA and a look at the man known as Ol’ Bo (Finley) and how he became the best story-teller in the game. There’s a lot of MMA news out there that folks can read, mention in conversation and forget about, but Finley is not a guy that produces those “click-bait” type of articles. He made his name in the...