I directed the Evan Tanner documentary fresh out of film school and got robbed blind by a shady Hollywood distributor named Echo Bridget Entertainment. They released the movie everywhere and never paid my producers or me a penny. Welcome to Hollywood, kid.
Regardless, it made my career in combat sports.
I’ve worked on The Ultimate Fighter, DWCS: Next Level, Inside MMA, Year of the Fighter, and UFC Chronicles, among many others. UFC Chronicles is by far my favorite work.
I directed the episodes that are up on the UFC’s YouTube channel about two of my close friends:
Kamaru Usman: A Tree is Known by Its Fruit
Josh Samman: Love, Death & Prizefighting (I also story-edited Josh Samman’s book).
Anyhow, I decided to release Once I Was a Champion on my old YouTube channel, and it’s actually starting to get some views. This prompted the idea to do an AMA.
[quote=“BJ_Penn_Forever, post:4, topic:3869244, full:true”] Enjoyed watching Once I Was A Champion.
Thanks! Appreciate it!
I always thought UFC Chronicles were great so thanks.
I can’t take all the credit. I only did two of them, there were some talented folks working on the other episodes.
If you could direct five or ten more documentaries about any MMA fighters, who would you select?
I’ve actually been filming a docuseries for the last two years about a regional promotion called Combat Night based out of Florida. I followed half a dozen fighters as they tried to make it to the big leagues. Three of them ended up getting to the UFC while we were shooting. I feel like I’ve got a great show in the can so I have to find a home for it. I’m sort of one track minded, so I don’t know who I’d like to do after this one.
As MMA continues to grow around the world do you see the MMA documentary space having a bright future?
There’s always going to be incredible stories to pull from and thereby great movies, so I’m hopeful.
Any chance a really in depth and well done PRIDE or K1 documentary gets made?
Funny you should say that, my buddy RJ Clifford pitched me a podcast idea called “Pride before the Fall” - Could be even better as a documentary. Might have to pitch it to the UFC given they own all the archival. I’d love to do that. I’m a massive fan of all those old school fighters.
I’ve always wanted to see more great documentaries come as a lot of great biographies are out there.
Feels like Choke and The Smashing Machine kicked things off.
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The Smashing Machine is what got me interested in being a filmmaker. One of the coolest moments of my career was getting to work with Mark Coleman on an episode of Next Level. What a legend.
