What's this?
Yup, Dan Rather is on AXS TV. Why? To talk mixed martial arts (MMA), of course, with "Inside MMA" host Kenny Rice, who also gets into head injuries and the rise of combat sports in the few short minutes he spends with the legendary journalist and former CBS News anchor.
Here's a taste:
"When it started, when it began to bloom, I thought, 'This is gonna get big.' I am surprised how big it has gotten and how quickly it has happened. When I think about it, none of us should be surprised. Television, the fuel for this rise of mixed martial arts, lends itself always to drama. Good drama plays well on television and gets a mass audience. Mixed martial arts, whether you like it or don't like it, whether you agree with it or you don't, it's real drama, because in the ring, it matters. That's what draws people in."
The man knows his onions.
Rather is a former amateur boxer -- a trade he learned back when they taught the "sweet science" in high school (yes. really) -- and even entered the Golden Gloves tournament as a "stick-and-run" pugilist who by his own admission, was not very good.
Fortunately, he didn't quit his day job.