MMA: Exclusive Interview With Jeff Dotseth Of Clinch Gear Radio

Recently, I caught up with Jeff Dotseth of Clinch Gear Radio to learn about this fast-rising MMA show and how he feels about working with a icon like Dan Henderson. 

Would you mind telling us a little about your background?

Yeah, I was a host of a show called “The Drive” on Extra Sports 1360 in San Diego and I also hosted the San Diego Chargers post-game Show. I have done work for ESPN, Fox Sports Radio, Sporting News Radio, and have hosted in San Diego for 12 years.

The way it worked was about a year ago I was talking to the guys at Clinch Gear and saying “hey, why don’t we do some things with Dan leading into the Jake Shields fight?" We’ll do video blogs and they said “yeah, you know, that’s kind of interesting.” And so we started to follow Dan and I would go up and would do these little video interviews for YouTube starting about six weeks out from the Shields fight.

I’d go see him and we’d talk about it, then I was with him in Nashville, and I think both parties were really happy about the way it turned out. Dan and Aaron at Clinch Gear made an opportunity for me to go work for them full-time, so I left Extra in September and went to work full time for Dan and Aaron, then we started Clinch Gear Radio in October.

Tell me a little bit about what some of your responsibilities are for Clinch Radio?

We do a weekly podcast on Thursdays, and that’s probably a little deeper. That gets a little deeper into maybe what’s going on in Japan, a little deeper into the fight roster. That’s usually a little deeper than the Saturday show. We’ll usually do an interview. This past Saturday we had Dan in the Chargers’ locker room, so we try and do things a little bit different.

We hooked him up with Antoine Cason from the Chargers, who I didn’t know had been in the crowd at UFC 100 when Dan knocked out (Michael) Bisping. It was really kind of fun to hear a guy who’s one of the up and coming young defensive backs in the NFL not have to talk football.

The nice thing was they said you have to be independent. "You’re a Clinch Gear guy, but write independent.” So blogs are independent, podcasts are independent, radio shows are independent and it’s just great and been really enjoyable for me and really as much fun as anything I’ve done in 20 years of sports media.

What first attracted you to Mixed Martial Arts?

I bought the first UFC pay-per–view like a lot of people did. I grew up as a boxing fan and I’ve covered probably 75 world title fights in my days as a sports talk show host. So I've always been a fight fan, but there was something about MMA that I liked. My uncle was a high school wrestling coach, so I’ve always been around amateur wrestling and I liked it. I liked the idea of guys from different backgrounds figuring out who was the better man, but as the sport has evolved I became even more of a fan.

I understand that you have twin boys, are they allowed to watch any of the fights?

They are only three, but they understand that dad goes to St. Louis or San Jose and my wife will flip over to the TV on that particular card and then when I come home they'll go, "You were in St. Louis? You were in San Jose? You were in Nashville?" So they understand that dad travels a little bit, but they don't quite understand the whole sport yet.  

How does it feel with to work with a legend like Dan Henderson?

I'm so glad you asked because my entire 20 years in sports talk radio has been interviewing guys. Number one, I don't think people realize how good Dan's sense of humor is. Dan's a very funny guy.

But the other thing that I don't think people realize is how easy he is to work with, and that's part of his appeal in that he is just as easygoing as anybody you would ever meet. 

With all the MMA brands out there, how do you feel that Clinch Gear differs from rest?

I'll tell you what I like about being a Clinch Gear employee. What makes me proud is the guys we seek out from Dan, Herschel Walker, Tyrone Woodley, these are all guys that we're proud to be associated with both in the cage and out. 

I've been really impressed with how the Clinch Gear athletes handle themselves. 

How does covering MMA differ from some of the other sports you have covered?

The thing about MMA that really stands out is how accommodating everybody is to the media, these guys get it. These guys are stand-up guys win or lose with well thought-out answers. Incredibly easy to deal with, and it's really, really refreshing.  

I think that there are parts of this sport that really aren't covered as much. Sometimes with these smaller promotions, guys don't get paid. That is just amazing to me that maybe you budget for a certain period of time to pay your bills, and you fight, and the promoter doesn't have the money to pay you.

To have the intestinal fortitude that it takes to go back and start training and do it again, they're an incredible group of athletes.   

Do you feel like the sport has surpassed boxing yet as the new combat sport? If not, what do you think needs to happen?

I don't think it has to. I think there's room for both, but I think where boxing needs to look at what the UFC has done, and the UFC has done it better than anybody, is giving people full value for their dollar. 

What are some of the challenges that you face as both a radio host and journalist covering the sport?

The biggest problem is the misconception about the sport. People think MMA today is no holds barred glorified bar fighting, and I think that's what is still the biggest battle, getting people to come over and appreciate the beauty of the sport. 

2011 is already off to a great start for MMA, do you have any predictions you would like to share?

I'm really excited about the year. When I look at the next three months for both promotions, oh, I can't wait. 

Where do you see the sport going in the next few years?

I think the sport's going in the right direction. I'm noticing it from from my friends in the regular sports media, guys that didn't talk UFC or Strikeforce with me are now starting to know a few of the names. All of a sudden they're asking about GSP, they wanna know about the Diaz brothers and I think that's what's gonna need to happen. 

I think what we're seeing in 2011 is going to go a long way to bringing those guys over. 

Jeff, I thank you for your time today. 

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk about Clinch Gear Radio. 

Be sure to tune in Saturdays at 11am PST for Clinch Gear Radio with hosts Jeff Dotseth and "The Fight Doctor" Stephen Quadros.