Mike’s first segment with Knockout Radio, right here.
Mike Straka is an American television and radio host, author and producer. He is the co-host and producer on Fighting Words with Mike Straka and Mike Madlab Iurata on TheMadLabMMa.com Previously Straka hosted The Straka and Krempel Show on WWBA Big 8 Radio, Sportstalkflorida.com, and the MMAVERICKS podcast on BLEAV networks, He is the author of Rowdy Rousey, and was host of the "MMA Noise" YouTube channel. Straka was co-host and producer on Spike TV's primetime MMA news magazine show, MMA Uncensored Live and he was the creator and the host of "TapouT Radio" on Sirius XM Sports. He served as the in-cage post fight interview correspondent for World Series of Fighting and as UFC correspondent for Fight Now TV. Straka also hosted Fighting Words with Mike Straka on Mark Cuban's HDNet which featured interviews with mixed martial arts athletes and was the creator and host of Fox Fight Game, one of the first mainstream news programs covering Mixed Martial Arts on Fox News.
Straka is a regular contributor to FIGHT! Magazine, and wrote a book on MMA, based on interviews from his television show, Fighting Words, which was published by Triumph Books. Straka was also a senior producer for FUSE TV'S "Fuse News" and has interviewed and produced several television pieces on well-known artists, including Sinead O'Connor, Zedd, Sam Smith, Naughty Boy, Wiz Khalifa, R Kelly, Lou Reed, Armin Van Buuren, Jeff Bhasker and more.
Straka was a vice president and executive producer at FOX News Digital, and also served as an on-air commentator on Hollywood and celebrity topics, as well as sports, for the cable net and on FOXNews.com. He created and produced Strategy Room. Straka hosted and was executive producer of FOX Fight Game, a mixed martial arts (MMA) features and news program, and was a columnist on FOXNews.com. Mike has interviewed some of the world's most famous artists in film and television.
Tapout Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures sports clothing, casual apparel, and accessories headquartered in Grand Terrace, California. It was the largest distributor of MMA merchandise in the world by 2007, and became one of the dominant brands in activewear and fitness culture.
Tapout was registered in 1997 in San Bernardino County, California, by Charles Lewis, Jr. and Dan Caldwell. Selling the merchandise during a period where MMA solely reached a niche market, Lewis and Caldwell branded the company around the sport, distributing the merchandise in cities where the sport was prevalent. However, following the growing popularity of mixed martial arts in the United States, and its later nationwide mainstream acceptance, the company became the largest MMA-related merchandise company in the world, accruing revenues of over $22.5 million in 2007.
In March 2015, the company was relaunched following its joint-ventured acquisition by pro-wrestling company WWE, and development firm Authentic Brands Group. The venture saw the former MMA-related brand transformed into a more general "lifestyle fitness" one. The apparel, for men and women was released in spring of 2016. Throughout 2015, WWE marketed the brand through various products, including beverages, supplements and gyms. WWE will hold a 50% stake in the brand, and so will advertise it regularly across all its platforms, hoping to give it one billion impressions a month, and attempting to rival sports-clothing giant, Under Armour. All employees and students of the WWE Performance Center will also wear the clothing.
Tapout was founded by Charles Lewis, Jr. and Dan Caldwell in 1997 in San Bernardino. The idea for the company occurred when both men noticed the lack of mixed martial arts merchandise.[citation needed] Later that year, Lewis took on some new partners in, Tim Katz and Bobby Razak who founded Tapout Films and the media portion of the company.[citation needed] The majority of their initial sales were made at underground MMA fights, and their revenue reached about $29,000 in 1999. Lewis and Fields later began to distribute merchandise in other cities where the then-niche sport was prevalent. However, due to the growth of popularity and acceptance of mixed martial arts in the United States in the following years, the company would continue to grow. Due to this rapid rise, Tapout, officially sponsor various high-profile fighters, including Rashad Evans, Dan Hardy, Thiago Alves and Chael Sonnen. This rapid growth led company becoming the largest distributor of MMA merchandise in the world, recording revenue of about $200 million 2009.
On June 3, 2007, Lewis created and produced the reality television series Tapout. The show followed him as he searched the United States for up-and-coming mixed martial arts fighters. It aired for two seasons on cable channel Versus,It also gave birth to a short-lived radio show, official apparel brand.
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