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Author James Hirth

James Hirth

James Hirth

Staff Writer

James Hirth has been covering combat sports in a variety of media formats (magazine, internet and radio) since the late 1990’s. He was first exposed to Mixed Martial Arts (then called No Holds Barred) when a training partner brought in a grainy VHS tape of an event called the Japan Open Vale Tudo ’94. James recalls “I’m the first person I‘m aware of who was familiar with Rickson Gracie’s fights before Royce. I saw a tape of UFC 1 a few weeks later and I was hooked”. Having done everything from in-house play-by-play and judging at live fights, ringside camera work and even cornering a fighter - in addition to previews and interviews - James has witnessed the growth of the sport. James has studied a variety of martial arts for more than 30 years. Growing up in Chicago and the youngest of 8 children, James’ oldest brother would take him Downtown to the theaters of The Loop on Saturday mornings in the late 1970’s to see martial arts films. Like many youth of that day, seeing Bruce Lee on the big screen changed his life. His brother would also introduce him to the arts of Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido where he spent 10 years training and teaching at the same academy. After receiving his Bachelors of Science in Business Operations he spent 5 years in the field of Marketing Research in The Loop. The 9-11 tragedy resulted in significant layoffs in the industry and he would return to teaching martial arts, this time for a non-for-profit organization. He spent more than a decade teaching and developing a variety of martial arts programming in multiple branches of the organization. He not only taught all ages and in more than a dozen Chicago Public Schools, but had the opportunity to train Cook County Juvenile Probation Officers and the children of local FBI agents. Now James is thrilled to bring his years of experience to The MMA Corner and Press Box Insider.

Jon Jones (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

MMA’s Dirtiest Fighters of All-Time Part II

James Hirth
May 3, 2016
News, Spotlight, UFC
So, we continue down the road to number one. Make no mistake; this is no honor. This isn’t like being the #1 pick in the NFL Draft, currently going on in sweet-home Chicago (NO ONE from Chicago calls it...
GoodridgeReax

MMA’s Dirtiest Fighters of All-Time: Part I

James Hirth
May 2, 2016
News, Promotions, Spotlight, UFC
With Jon Jones recent return to the cage an unsettling vision clouded my thoughts prior to the fight; does the return of “Bones” mean we’ll see the return of the eye poke? Though considered by most to be...
RIZIN

RIZIN Sons Part 7: Pancrase

James Hirth
February 20, 2016
Events, News, Previews, Promotions, Spotlight
Today, we’re exploring the Pancrase promotion headquartered in Kameido, Koto, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1993, the promotion is equally as old as the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The organization’s...
RIZIN

The RIZIN Sons Part 6: ROAD FC

James Hirth
February 3, 2016
Events, News, Previews, Spotlight
The RIZIN Sons Part 6: ROAD FC Today, we’re exploring the ROAD FC promotion headquartered in Wonju, South Korea. It is considered Korea’s largest MMA promotion. ROAD FC was founded by former Korean...
RIZIN

RIZIN Sons KSW: Part 5

James Hirth
January 21, 2016
Events, News, Previews, Promotions, Spotlight
Today, we’re exploring the KSW promotion headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. KSW stands for “Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki” or “Martial Arts Confrontation” and it is considered Europe’s largest...
RIZIN

The RIZIN Sons Part 4: Vale Tudo Japan

James Hirth
January 19, 2016
Events, News, Previews, Promotions, Spotlight
Today, we’re reviewing the Vale Tudo Japan promotion. These events - also referred to as Japan Open Vale Tudo - were held annually from 1994 to 1999. The majority of them (5 of the 6) were held in the Tokyo...
RIZIN

The RIZIN Sons Part III: Jungle Fight

James Hirth
January 18, 2016
Events, News, Previews, Promotions, Spotlight
Today, we’re exploring the Jungle Fight organization founded in Amazonas, Northern Brazil. The promotion began holding events in 2003 and have held 84 fight cards in their 13 years of existence. Every event...
RIZIN

Taking A Closer Look At The RIZIN Sons Part 2: DEEP

James Hirth
January 8, 2016
Events, News, Previews, Promotions, Spotlight
Today we’re exploring Japan’s DEEP organization headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. The promotion was originally called DEEP 2001 and as you may suspect, they began holding events in 2001. The name was...
Fedor Emelianenko (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

The RIZIN Sons: Exploring Promotions That Make Up RIZIN FF Family

James Hirth
January 6, 2016
Events, News, Previews, Promotions, Spotlight
If you tuned into Spike TV on New Year’s Eve morning to see Breakfast with Fedor, many of you may have caught your first glimpse of what the legendary PRIDE FC was like. That was a special time in the...
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