Issue 084
January 2012
The popular MMAjunkie.com radio host reflects on his role as a voice for the fans and his love of all things MMA
It was April 11th 2007, and ‘Gorgeous’ George Garcia suddenly realized he wasn’t exactly certain he had made the right decision. Replacing the legendary Ryan Bennett – who had passed away nearly one year earlier in a tragic automobile accident – to host an internet radio show alongside MMA veteran Frank Trigg originally sounded like a good idea. But now, he wasn’t so sure.
“What really pushed me over the edge was I missed my morning radio show,” Garcia tells Fighters Only. “At first, when I was suggesting to Trigg who he could possibly co-host with, we exhausted different possibilities. Some couldn’t work with the time that he was doing or they only wanted to do three days a week or once a week. But when it didn’t work out, my brother was the one that suggested, ‘Why not you?’ I guess a little bit of his push and the fact that we couldn’t find another co-host, I just figured, ‘Hey, let’s do this, man.’”
Garcia’s brother, Brian (better known as ‘Goze’ to his listening faithful), took over production duties, and TAGG Radio was born. Well, almost. First there were a few shots of vodka to calm the nerves.
Today, Garcia and his brother have presided over more than 1,000 radio shows, first under the TAGG Radio banner and later as MMAjunkie.com Radio. And while Garcia regularly interviews mixed martial arts’ top fighters, he never forgets that original show.
“I definitely still have that feeling from time to time – ‘What the hell am I doing here?’” Garcia says. “But rather than try and be a professional broadcaster or be anyone else, I just said, ‘I’m going to be myself and be a fan – a fan that asks fan questions.’
“I stay confident, and I just do the job. But I still get nervous before certain interviews. I remember Jose Canseco was one of them. I wasn’t expecting that one. MC Hammer was another one. Maybe it’s because it’s a different level of celebrity and popularity, but I have to get used to it still.”
And boy, have there been changes along the way. An initial attempt to advertise with MMAjunkie.com (then still known as UFCjunkie.com) eventually lead to a content partnership deal and ultimately a buyout by the popular website. Trigg’s 2009 return to the UFC meant he had to walk away from the show, but not before the crew moved into the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, where Garcia hosts MMAjunkie.com Radio fives time each week.
“We started off as a man-show wrapped around MMA,” Garcia says. “I felt like Frank Trigg was a polarizing type of figure who could really, really carry a show. He had a lot of controversy around him. He was successful. He was very polished as a radio host, but he could really turn it on, and I felt like we could stray away from MMA and entertain. That’s really what a morning show is all about, I think: being informative and entertaining. That nucleus was broke up after awhile, and when MMA really, really started to take off, I feel like we had to forge an identity in mixed martial arts.
“Now we’ve become more of an MMA show that will once in a while go back to its roots of screwing off, having fun, busting balls and entertaining. I’m happy with where we are now because I think that’s what the whole point of it was: to promote mixed martial arts, talk about mixed martial arts and inform everybody about mixed martial arts.”
I’ve personally watched the show develop from the chair next to Garcia, and I’ve seen his style as a host develop over the years. In 2008, I also relocated to Las Vegas, and I make it into the radio studio as often as possible when not on the road covering live MMA events. Unbeknownst to many, I believe, Garcia alone is responsible for the booking of MMAjunkie.com’s guests, scheduling of segments and handling of interviews.
MMAjunkie.com Radio’s devoted legion of fans proves he must be doing something right. “You try and think of a few of the most memorable moments, but you know you’re leaving some out,” Garcia says. “I guess some of the guests I worked really hard to get, which when it happens gives you a lot of satisfaction, were guys that are hard to pin down like Wanderlei Silva, BJ Penn, Georges St Pierre and even (professional wrestling legend) ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper.
“The weekend of our 1,000th show was really, really huge because we had a lot of our friends and family there. Just meeting people from literally all over the world and seeing them and hearing the nice things they said was really, really moving for me – and I believe the whole team, as well.”
MMAjunkie.com recently partnered with media giant USA Today, leaving Garcia a number of options for potential show changes. In the end, he hopes to always improve the product, but he never wants to get too far from where he started.
“We want the quality of the show to always improve – for us to have a tight show and for it to run smoothly,” Garcia says. “But at the same time, we always will be fans, and I believe that’s part of the appeal of the show. We don’t try too hard to be your typical radio show. We’re just ourselves, and I believe that’s why it works.”
