“I started in a unit in the military training dolphins and sea lions, and I was really good at it. I wanted an animal training career when I got out of the military. Some of the civilian techs who were helping us out were telling me psychology degrees are good for that kind of training,” he said. “Seeing a bunch of really good friends of mine in the military go through TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) furthered my interest in psychology from a human perspective, so I started going to school for it.”

JJ is currently pursuing a doctorate in neuropsychology to offer support that many veterans are not getting.

“With the benefit of being able to understand what was going on with friends of mine that had severe psychological trauma from combat, I decided to pursue a doctorate so that eventually I can open my own clinic. I want to open a non-profit, privately funded, donation funded clinic to treat veterans with PTSD for free as an alternative to the VA. The VA is laughably inconsistent in their care. It takes on average 30 days to get an appointment right now. 22 veterans a day commit suicide. It’s ridiculous.”

Taking care of people who served is something that needs to happen. JJ is out there taking it into his own hands.

JJ is a veteran who leads self-defense and situational awareness seminars in between competitions. He’ll be helping us with instructional video, educational grappling content, and be involved with technical product development.

Started like this and ended with the counter toe hold @Michaelpage247 #Bellator153 pic.twitter.com/wjqnFVoKXY

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) April 23, 2016

That survival skill wasn’t quite enough as Page landed another heavy strike and forced a scramble. Holloway threw some illegal looking kicks off his back to try and defend himself which the ref didn’t call but it didn’t matter. Page leaned in on a toe hold and got the pro-wrestling looking submission at the 2:15 point of round 1.

(VIDEO) @Michaelpage247 finishes Jeremie Holloway by submission (toehold) in the 1st round & then brings the swagger pic.twitter.com/gh5UF3j9al

— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) April 23, 2016

His celebration is pulled straight from the Instagram of Maryland Terrapin’s basketball player Jared Nickens, who has not yet given a name to this very good dance.

A video posted by Jared Nickens (@jnickens_) on Mar 31, 2016 at 11:32am PDT

"I spent eight years in the Marine Corps, four years on active duty with two tours to Somalia and time in the reserves while I was in college after I got out of active duty. So my experiences in Somalia highlighted to me that there was a real need to boost morale. It's been my personal passion, philanthropically, to try to serve the troops and the veterans in any way I can, really since I got out," he told FOX Sports.

A photo posted by Great White Buffalo (@lexmcmahon) on Mar 27, 2016 at 1:42pm PDT

Training with pro fighters and getting a stack of Bad Boy gear is certainly good for morale, but that's not the most important reason to run these seminars. According to McMahon, it can be difference between a successful mission or casualties.

"It can save their lives. The things that they are taught in a four hour grappling session, they could learn one piece, one move that when they are down range and get into a hand-to-hand situation, which happens quite a bit, they could learn something that would save their lives. To me, that's everything."

For more information from Lex McMahon and the Titan fighters who ran the programs read Damon Martin's full piece at FoxSports.com

Ezra got hands on with our development team to create a hybrid short that works wherever he goes. From the 19” outseam to the hip placement of the zipper sealed pockets, Ezra built the ultimate SURF|TRAIN|RELAX shorts.

Tune in on April 22ndfor the action. Until then, #HandsDown.

2010 World MMA Awards for Best Technical Clothing
2011 World MMA Awards for Best Technical Clothing
2012 World MMA Awards for Best Lifestyle Clothing
2013 World MMA Awards for Best Lifestyle Clothing
2013 World MMA Awards for Best Technical Equipment
2014 World MMA Awards for Best Lifestyle Clothing
2015 World MMA Awards for Best Clothing & Equipment

This turned into good fortune for Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, who is slated to take on former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks. Instead of anchoring the co-main of a PPV, they're the five round main event and the card has been moved to Fox Sports 1. Wonderboy could leave the cage on a 6 fight, 3 year winning streak and in position to take on reigning champion Robbie Lawler.

UPDATE: The event has been renamed UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson

The World MMA Awards are back and Bad Boy is nominated for Best MMA Clothing & Equipment Brand. This is the first year Fighters Only has combined clothing and gear into one category, but we've won both in the past.

Alex Gustafsson got a nomination for Fight of the Year after his bout with Daniel Cormier. Gustafsson sent the champ to the mat in the third with a vicious knee, but ultimately the judges gave it to the other man.

Rafael Cordeiro and Kings MMA are up for Coach of the Year and Gym of the Year, respectively. Cordeiro, who works with Kelvin Gastelum, Mauricio Rua, and Giga Chikadze, has previously won the award in 2012.

"It taught me how to be accountable for my actions. When you put on your uniform, you’re held to a different standard." -Brandon Vera

Read the full conversation at GOVX. Brandon fights Chi-Lewis Parry for the inaugural ONE FC heavyweight belt on December 11th.

Wilson Reis is staying busy while waiting for the UFC to get him a fight and getting back on the mats. He’s a 2nd degree black belt under Roberto Godoi. He’s best known for known for his top game and array of guard passes, particularly his use of the tozi/Sao Paulo pass.

Mauricio Ferrandis holds a third degree black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu under Jorge “Macaco” Patino. Macaco was part of the Bad Boy team way back in 1996, and we’re proud to continue supporting a student of his. Mauricio will be in the medium heavy weight class.

Kanan Clarke Jones is the son of big wave surfer Ross Clarke Jones and a purple belt in BJJ. He’s training at Team Alliance in Sao Paulo Brazil and competing this Saturday in the lightweight purple belt division.

After the referee stopped the fight, “Venom” hit the incapacitated Ontiveros with the most devastating blow of all. He hit the dude square in the ego with a meme.

A video posted by Bellator MMA (@bellatormma) on Oct 23, 2015 at 8:21pm PDT

There's no coming back from that.

Watch the full fight at Bellator.com

Filmed by: Jake Marote

Bad Boy: What was the backstory to this whole fiasco?

Jacob “Stitch” Duran: Me and Ray Sefo are friends and go way back. When he put on his first show with World Series of Fighting, he calls me and says “can you get me some cutmen” so I did the show. These fighters get in there and give it their all. I always want to do my job and make sure they’re being looked after as well as they can be. To me, their safety matters.

"I always want to do my job and make sure they’re being looked after as well as they can be. To me, their safety matters." -Stitch Duran

Afterward the UFC says I gave these guys credibility, and I had to tell Ray I couldn’t do it anymore.

When I was asked earlier about my sponsors and how the Reebok deal limited me, I just told the truth of how and why it affected me, and some details like that came out. That didn’t go over too well.

BB: This clearly created a big reaction in the community. What has that been like for you?

Stitch: The fans have been amazing. I’m getting so much support from them and my phone won’t stop buzzing from tweets and texts. It’s really been incredible and I can’t thank them enough.

When I got the call from (Bad Boy CEO) Robin, I was blown away. For your readers who didn’t hear me announce it on MMAjunkie Radio, he called me up and said that the money from sales of Stitch Premium would go direct to me. It choked me up hearing him offer me that, just for the show of loyalty. It’s that you guys stepped forward when someone was trying to step on me. So anybody looking to pick up what I use to keep fighters safe, click Stitch Premium by Bad Boy and use the code SAFETYMATTERS for 20% off.

BB: Moving forward, what are your next steps?

Stitch: I’m not out to bash anyone or create any bad blood, I’m here to rebuild my program. Thankfully there are a lot of things happening quickly. I’ll be at The Palms to work a Premier Boxing show this Saturday. There’s a movie called Monday Nights at Seven that comes out next year with Edward James Olmos and Anderson Silva that I’m taking part in.

In MMA, this all went full circle and comes back to Ray Sefo. I’m coming back to World Series of Fighting for their show on August 1st, and the Bad Boy jacket is coming back too. I’ll also be doing a signing for them that we're announcing soon.

BB: Great! I know you’ve had plenty of media and interviews and don’t want to take up too much of your time. Do you have any closing thoughts?

Stitch: More than anything, I’d like to say thanks again to the fans who have afforded me so much. They’ve really had my back. Also the media who have written and voiced their support and concerns, and of course Bad Boy for supporting me.

"I haven’t been thinking about the belt. I haven’t seen myself in that position because of my loss, but here I am now and I’m very thankful."

The bout isn't attached to a date or event yet, but Alex is targeting a time after the summer while he continues to recover from injuries that forced him out of his original fight with Glover Teixeira. 

It was an unbelievable experience to see how well Coogler and Stallone worked together to make sure the movie has a realistic plot. Knowing my experience in the boxing world, I was often asked my opinion on many of the scenes.

Every morning before we went to the set I would go to Michael's trailer and wrap his hands. The prop team had ordered basic white tape and I wrapped his hands with it the first two days, even though it wasn’t the best way to protect his hands. Knowing that a hand injury could halt production I had to speak up. I showed MBJ the Stitch Premium tape and he loved the feel. So did the director.

There were moments in filming when I literally got goose bumps and chills seeing the emotional relationship between Rocky and Adonis. I still can't believe I was in the middle of all this action and I would be forever part of the Rocky series.

Teaming up with Bad Boy and working together to supply fighters, trainers and gyms with the best tape available, I never would have dreamt that we would go Hollywood!

When rugby season finished I was searching for a summer sport outside of the water. A sign for a new academy offering MMA, muay thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu caught my eye. I decided to start the MMA class once a week, which eventually grew to training three times a week in BJJ.

I really found my passion for jiu-jitsu when I went to live with my dad at Bells beach, one of the best waves in the world. I could have easily focused on surfing but the jiu-jitsu academy was calling to me and before I knew it, I was training 7-8 times a week! It clicked that this is where I wanted to go in life.

After I finished school my mom called me about affordable flights to Brazil during the FIFA World Cup. Less than a month later I returned to the country I was born in!

Despite all the time in gyms, I was still ignorant to the roots and history of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Being in Sao Paulo finally gave me the opportunity to understand the art I was devoted to. I was fortunate enough to have some local connections that got me learning under great instructors and champions like Fabio Gurgel, Demian Maia, Michael Langhi, and Thomas Lisboa.

I fell in love with the lifestyle of jiu-jitsu here in Brazil. Brazilians live, eat, breathe jiu-jitsu. After each tough training session, everyone stays on the mat talking over different techniques and sharing a laugh. It’s a different culture and atmosphere than anywhere in the world. Which as an outcome produces the best fighters in the world and if you want to be above the rest, this is the place to be. 

What originally turned out to be a five-month trip turned into a permanent move. Brazil is my home again.

With that said, congratulations to Chris for defending his title and mostly getting rid of the "fluke" label some put on his first win. He dominated the first round with a heavy right hand leading into strong ground and pound, putting himself up 10-9 before the fight ending injury. There was a clear improvement for him from the previous fight where Anderson landed digging low kicks. The knee block that caused the injury was a new tool for him and once again showed how Weidman ups his game every fight.

Chris Weidman has definitively dethroned Anderson Silva as today's king of middleweights. For the first time since 2006, middleweight challengers are lining up to fight a man who isn't Anderson Silva. This is Weidman's time, and he's going to make the best of it.