Dylan James Bowker

Bowks Talking Bouts #31: Ana Julaton

I spoke with Bellator fighter and multi-time Boxing world champion Ana Julaton who was appreciative that I pronounced her name correctly.
 
We discussed why she made her return to mma after a bit of a hiatus, the benefits of Bellator offering deals where fighters may concurrently compete in boxing and MMA (3:06), the learning curve of starting from scratch as a wrestler after winning world titles in boxing (3:37), creating fluidity between dsciplines [ie/ shifting from a boxing approach to a wrestling attack on the fly] (6:08), the benefits of having a decorated amateur career as she entered the pro ranks (8:06), thoughts on her upcoming fight at Bellator 185 against Lisa Blaine (11:33), 2017 marking a new era for boxing (14:55), writing an essay in fifth grade about her favorite taekwondo kata (17:10), goals that she has mapped out beyond getting the Heather Hardy fight (18:04), attending the TUF 26 tryouts (18:52), and more!

Bowks Talking Bouts #30: Jordan Young

I had a great conversation with Bellator's Jordan Young. Myself and the undefeated ATT product discussed quite a few topics. 
 
Thoughts on his opponent Alec Hooben at Bellator 185 (1:42) and (7:35), a possible move from Middleweight to 205 down the line (2:27), how he used to make the cut to Welterweight(3:01), the positive gym vibes at ATT optimizing his performance (5:15), international martial artists coming through the gym to give different looks for the American Top Team fighters (6:03), the coaching advice Mike Thomas Brown and Din Thomas give (6:42), Looking to get a (T)KO in this fight after multiple submission finishes (8:27), beefing with Chris Honeycutt on social media (10:05), the state of the 185 lb division/ his place among the top Middleweights (11:41), training to Kevin Gates and Lil Uzi Vert (12:53), others hating on some of the newer artists in hip hop and the odd dynamic of old head vs young head in rap (14:55), and more!

Bowks Talking Bouts #29: The Saurus

I spoke with battle rap legend The Saurus and we discussed quite a few things.
 
How did Saurus get into battling off of freestyling, early influences like Gift of Gab and Big Pun (2:02), the local hip hop record store spots growing up (3:06), his history making Grind Time battle with Madness at the first Battle of the Bay (4:59), trolling Mad Illz with his hot air balloon battle with Laugh n' Stalk (7:42), the situation behind why he isn't booked on World Domination this year (11:19), getting offered P nut for World Dom and the accompanying issues with that (14:17), hitting up Montreal soon for Loe vs Krome (19:37), his efforts in BOTZ against TOPR and Reverse Live (20:55), prepping the Missy Elliot singalong against Reverse Live (21:40), the story behind The Bunker closing (23:08), battling QP after a long day of filming for his role in Bodied (24:57), the reaction to Bodied and how non-battle rap fans are being drawn into the culture (26:05), the future of monetizing battle rap being in subscription services (29:27), using WWE references in battles and how WWE is doing rap battles these days (31:28), thoughts on the Scott Hall and T-Top beef (33:23), if he's going to put out another album of original recorded music (34:10), recording music with Chase Moore and the two being featured on the Ruin Your Day Watch series (35:26), having around three years left as a battler (36:45), Future battle plans (40:53), and more!

Bowks Talking Bouts #27: Cody Krahn

I had a great talk with MFC, XFFC, and KOTC veteran Cody Krahn ahead of his Unified MMA 32 fight with Jeff Porter.
 
We discussed the importance of body shots in this September 29th fight with Porter, returning to mma after almost two years of boxing and kickboxing (3:48), the excitement of performing for the Edmonton fans (5:11), his first bout with Unified MMA since June 2010 (5:52), rematching opponenets vs facing a brand new competitor (6:58), training with Cowboy Cerrone and Yair Rodriguez before this fight (8:07), Deciding between Thy Art is Murder and Run The Jewels for his walk out song (9:21), how teaching martial arts has informed his own approach (11:30), how analyzing fights as a commentator informs his perspectives about fighting (12:40), Bas Rutten inspiring Cody's new nickname (15:16), and so much more!

Bowks Talking Bouts/ Liberty Music Co-Feature: Rob Duckworth

For this episode of Bowks Talking Bouts, I spoke to elite camera man/ film maverick/ swag wizard Rob Duckworth. We talked about Bad Rap on Netflix and Bodied at TIFF, the competitive openess to battle rap, Rob bodying a battle rapper at a house party, the freestyles myself and Rob have dropped over the years, B Man's rap career, my desire to partake in a battle, the GGG/ Canelo controversy, Canelo looking like our old roommate Joel, All the personalities that Joel looks like, If Canelo can become the next top level draw for this generation of boxing, the MayMac ring girls that didn't blink while standing next to Floyd in the post-fight interview, what McGregor meant by saying he made Floyd fight like a mexican, Conor's fighting future, GSP and Conor being the kind of stars that draw in big groups, GSP's upcoming fight with Bisping, the discussions around brain damage in physical sports, New Vampire Weekend projects both solo and with the full band, Vampire Weekend planning to do lengthier versions of their tunes live ala Grateful Dead, missing out on seeing METZ at a Weezer/ Passion Pit show, Action Bronsons' new mixtape, Action's Ancient Aliens show and how similar it was to our college group hangouts, Rob calls out Sam Roberts at No Mercy, and so much more!

Bowks Talking Bouts #25: Chris Honeycutt

On the latest BTB, I spoke with Bellator middleweight and welterweight competitor Chris Honeycutt. We covered quite a few topics:
 
Thoughts on his Bellator 182 bout at 185lbs with Kevin Casey, the mma learning curve after being a lifelong wrestler (3:45), working with guys like Koscheck, Cain, DC, and Rockhold (5:46)....
 
 
Turning in his best performances in intense pressure situations (8:01), bellator's grooming process of elite wrestlers turning into blue chip mma prospects ie, Ruth, fortune, etc (8:47), thoughts on bellator's middleweight division (11:13), trying to get a fight in Japan and the quandary of soccer kicking someone with wrestling shoes (13:31).......
 
Having playlists set at a certain bpm depending on what exercise he's doing at that moment (15:25), being announced for that one night Battleground tournament and why the performance didn't end up happening (17:36), and more! 

Bowks Talking Bouts #24: Henry Corrales

I spoke to Bellator featherweight competitor and former KOTC champion Henry Corrales.
 
We talked about his upcoming fight with Noad Lahat, respecting Noad's judo and jiu jitsu acumen heading into their Bellator 182 fight, thoughts on a rematch with Emmanuel Sanchez (1:45), breaking from his three fight losing skid recently to get his first Bellator W (2:44), shouting out James lynch as I ask him about his self described YouTube/ bro science diet (4:23), working at mma lab with benson Henderson and the tight knit community of training partners there (5:30), a possible AJ McKee fight after their prior match up was scrapped (8:12), how martial arts got him out of a hectic street fight-heavy lifestyle (9:44), using reading and cryotherapy to optimize performance (11:22), both of us getting fired up for Jedi Mind Tricks (12:17), I do a mediocre Vinnie Paz impression (13:24), if he is excited or hesitatant to compete in New York (13:40), and more. 

Bowks Taking Bouts #23: Georgi Karakhanyan

I spoke with Bellator featherweight Georgi Karakhanyan and we got into quite a few topics: 
 
 
His fight with Daniel Pineda at Bellator 182, thoughts on his last fight (1:50), where he sees himself in the Bellator featherweight picture (3:13), thinking James Gallagher is a chump (3:47), not having much love for mma presentation in 2017 ie/ him being on the Bellator 182 prelims and Dillon Danis being a clown (4:16),
 
 
 
excitement vs apprehension about competing in New York (5:45), time as a top level soccer player since he was a boy (6:50), seeing Bellator's tremendous growth since being with them during the tournament days (7:15), wanting to fight in Japan again (7:55), thoughts on May mac as someone with pro boxing experience/ has sparred with GGG (9:22),
 
 
 
working with Perfecting Athletes and being vegetarian (10:39), the benefits of cannabis.....CBD and THC....appearing on smoke box with B Real (11:42), being at a Metallica show after hanging out and burning with Deftones (13:05), and more!