Title Matrix

Tedd Williams MMA & Gladiator Challenge | MMA History Podcast

Wrestling

Taon2026

Tagal2h 6m

Panoorin Ngayon

7.5

Tedd Williams MMA & Gladiator Challenge Tedd Williams is a UFC veteran, grappling pioneer a national AAU Sambo champion, Gene LeBell black belt, and 7-1 pro fighter and one of the longest tenured promoters in the country. Tedd Williams shares stories from the sport's raw early days: training with Bas Rutten, his UFC 24 main-event elbow KO over Steve Judson, co-founding King of the Cage, launching Gladiator Challenge, and building the regional scene that helped launch fighters like Urijah Faber and Charles Bennett. A deep dive into MMA's Wild West era straight from one of its true architects. 0:00 MMA history podcast intro 0:32 Joey Venti’s guest introduction 0:50 interview start 1:40 learning Sambo early on 3:36 training with Gene LeBell 5:15 training with John Perretti 6:37 interactions with John Lewis 7:28 starting friendship with Oleg Taktarov 8:29 using sambo to become a better wrestler 9:26 starting Victorville Jets program 11:33 Universal above ground fighting 14:10 Antonio McKee vs John Smith 15:27 Antonio McKee gun story 17:15 owning half of KOTC at the beginning 21:09 meeting Terry Trebilcock 22:39 using same venue for KOTC and Gladiator Challenge 25:24 hosting Gladiator Challenge in Colorado 26:41 Tedd Williams vs Robert Burnell 28:06 Empire fighting 29:10 Bas Rutten invitational 30:14 training Bas Rutten 33:00 Tedd Williams vs Joseph Marquez 34:46 Tedd Williams vs Travis Fulton 37:30 experience with Jamie Levine 38:29 Tedd Williams vs Joe Campanella 40:25 Holiday Fight Party 47:20 Phillip Miller split from the UFC 50:45 Phillip Miller vs James Zikic 52:07 Lee Murray and Tito Ortiz street fight 54:26 letter to get into ADCC 2000 56:46 training with Rowdy Roddy Piper 57:44 Tedd Williams vs Steve Judson 1:02:08 false UFC fighter resumes 1:03:13 Tedd Williams fight camp exposed 1:05:17 cancelled bout with Andre Roberts 1:06:27 friendship with Cal Worsham 1:09:37 dealing with Dan Severn 1:10:30 cross training bjj and wrestling 1:11:02 KOTC purchased by EliteXC 1:19:43 Tedd Williams vs Bill Parker 1:21:39 de