the saddest story from a ufc fighter is easily chael's. His dad barely made 100k a year. The maid only came over twice a week. truly horrific

The Josh Samman story gets me every time. He was the first Facebook live video I watched and he seemed like such a genuine and good guy. Drug addiction is the saddest thing ever.

I never knew about Josh Samman. As someone who battles his demons every day, this was so close to the bone. Classy work, mate. You're a wonderfully engaging storyteller. RIP Josh & Hailey 💔

Rest in peace, Evan Tanner. I had only watched his fights. I didn't know the struggles he went through in life. That's an incredibly heart-wrenching story. I'm sure he didn't want to die, but dying in nature is a beautiful way to pass on for those of us who feel a disconnect with society.

I met Evan Tanner about two weeks prior to his death. He was a big dude, and he was really nice to me and my friends.

Evan was a modern day warrior/philosoher. I trained w/ a few guys from Team Quest in the early 2000s, and the stories they had of him were always interesting. He was a guy who read everything he could find, studied every subject he stumbled across and really just wanted to find his purpose. He easily constantly searching for his “tribe”, but he was a good dude by every account I’ve ever heard. Chael once said that he wasn’t the most naturally talented guy, but he was always the hardest worker in the room. It’s a shame that he went in the way that he did, yet at the same time I can’t help but feel that it was kind of fitting. He went out doing his own thing, alone, searching for something he felt missing. Rest easy, Evan.

As someone who's dealing with strong depression and love martial arts, these stories touched my rotting heart.

Ugh the Josh Samman story is so damn tragic. He was so full of life on TUF, and you can clearly see a completely different person when doing the book interview. Heartbreaking stuff.

Can’t begin to imagine the pain Josh was going thru, may he rest in peace and be reunited with Hailey

Perfectly pitched as usual mate. Insightful, respectful & moving. The quality of your content is undeniable.

Josh's story made me literally tear apart. I know how it is to battle addiction and lose everything you love. Rest in peace Hailey, Josh.

I have no idea how each video keeps getting better. The construction keeps getting better and better and the editing is on point each time.

Just did a video on Josh Samman recently. Yesterday was the 7 year anniversary of his passing. Such a sad story. Everyone I’ve talked to that knew him said he was such a cool dude too. RIP

I dont like how its called the "fight game". Its just life. A bunch of flawed men, fighting, and surviving. These stories are dark, but I think most of us know that feeling well. Astounding work.

Rest in peace to all of these people Evan Tanner, Josh Samman, Hailey Bevis, Josh and Hailey's dog Juice, and Hailey's mother Susan Bevis and condolences to their families and friends. May they never be forgotten. 🙏❤️🙏

Great video! Damn, Josh’s story weighed on my mind so heavy, hard not to put yourself in his shoes and be overwhelmed by the thought of his circumstances. Subscribed!!!

This is going to be a Masterpiece

Man this channel is destined to be successful, you have great quality,effort, and thought put into these and always keep it classy and respectful. Great video

What a beautiful documentary, mad props for you to make this. So much heart and soul was put into this, almost felt like a netflix special, mad respects dude, great job. Definitely subscribed!!

My dearest brother, this is both intriguing and so heart-wrenching. It goes to show that behind the macho virility, lethal virulence, and unabashed display of sheer toughness in the octagonal cage are people who use their suffering and pain to constantly empower themselves and have the best fight against their opponents. However, it is not really against their opponents that they are trying to one-up with the strength of ten million men and the sharp focus of a condor, but it is really themselves that they are fighting against. Kimbo Slice declared it perfectly when the true enemy is the "inner me", and this is what mixed martial artists constantly had to endure both physically and mentally.

RIP Josh Samman. This is one of the most tragic in all of MMA history. I felt so much joy when he won his fight after his GF passed. it made it hurt so much more when i heard the news about Josh. I though he was passed that worst part.

Literally have tears in my eyes. Beautifully made video bro. Rip Evan. Rip Josh. 🙏

Your videos are without exception incredible man. You really hit the lives and stories of these fighters and the wild wild world of MMA on the button. Fantastic work. You can be really proud of the work you do.

I already knew these stories as a long time MMA fan and fan of team Quest. Thanks for posting as it’s always nice to go back and remember the ones we’ve lost along the way. Also to let the newer fans learn their stories. Was a good watch, very nostalgic.

I had no knowledge about Samman's history, seriously soul crushing has someone who also lost a SO with whom plans for life were made, brings a lot of familiar feelings. Great job with the video

Academic, you sick, twisted man. This is great.

A very very well done, well thought out, and very respectful video. Thank you, your work stands alone. I knew both of these stories but a lot of the details I was unaware of and this was done perfectly.👍

Excellent video! You really made both these great men real + their struggles in both their lives in a way that most of us can, each in our own way, identify with. How I wish both their lives had changed somehow for the better + that they both were still with us. Once again a great docu -vid!!!

great job on this video, you did such an amazing job of capturing the essence of what these 2 guys were like outside the cage. such sad stories but beautiful the way you told them.

Took me a whole ass work day to finally find the time to watch this video, but I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing to unwind than watching the Academic work his magic. Great video, as expected! Not an uplifting watch, but deeply impactful and entertaining despite the dark subject matter, just as the title promised.

Two absolutely tragic stories told absolutely masterfully. Incredible video sir, thank you!

Great video man. It’s obvious you are passionate about your work and it shows. RIP to these two legends ❤

An amazing video, detailing not just well known stories of ego filled superstars like Jon’s for example. But this video tells the story not heard by many but truly illustrate the unique animal that fighting is, it offered some of the only refuge these broken men could ever receive. This is a beautiful sport and a beautiful video.

You did a great job with Evan’s story. Far too often I see it told solely from the empathetic perspective given how difficult it is to also be mindful of how avoidable some tragic deaths can be. The was a fair balancing of the two IMO. Ive read a lot of what he wrote at the time including that “into the wild” comment which was highly alarming. At first glance you’d think he’d know the lesson from that tale but even someone far from a voracious reader knows for all his faults, McCandless managed to survive in an equally harsh environment albeit polar opposite for over 100 days. Tanners supposed plan was to be in the desert no more than a few weeks. He couldn’t have thought he knew more about the desert than Chris did about the land even with the evidence showing how unprepared he was for Alaska. I wish he had read about McCandless instead of just a cynical comment off hand and out of pocket . He may still be around. Much like Chris, I suspect there was a lot more going on and he would have done his best to mask that so logical decision making isn’t the only culprit here. It’s a story atleast partly about his own struggles as much the danger of the wild. But imo it’s dissimilar from Chris as Evan I don’t think lost himself. I genuinely think he lost his way, in the literal sense. If you haven’t seen Bobby Razak’s reporting on this, check it out. I think there’s a write up free on the Athletic. Retracing his steps, Evan actually displayed some phenomenal strength if the investigation is to be believed after they retraced his gps while fighting for his life battling dehydration. It’s presumed he made a navigation error that led him down a deadly chase back to camp - something he was miraculously close to accomplishing. Anyways, cheers as always for telling the difficult stories. It’s not easy despite you seemingly making it appear so.

Absolutely beautiful video, Josh sammon always gets me teared up your story telling made me steady looking at my phone impatiently trying to skip ads

This video was so well put together, keep it up man

Josh's story really spoke to me. Can completely understand the pain that man went through.

You have a way of telling some truly incredible stories. More than one's made me cry too, not least of which was this. Well done. May they rest in peace ❤

i love this nexpo style video. great work handling such a dark topic. rest in peace to all who have sacrificed their lives for something they love and the ones who couldn't take the pain anymore. i pray their families can find healing. much love ya'll.

AMAZING piece of work, thank you for giving these stories new breath.

That Evan Tanner story is crazy, it's unreal that someone so talented died that way. 💯

You really are an excellent storyteller. I hope your channel blows up like it deserves.

Very well done mate, lovely production - glad I listened to Josh quoting BIG lyrics at the end - as an addict/ alcoholic both these stories have hit hard

I love your feel-good videos like this! Now I'm motivated to tackle my week! /s Great work though, for real 👍

Wasnt expecting to cry tonight, but god damn. If Joshs story doesnt get you, I hope you can heal and find peace

Evan Tanner is truly a fucked up and sad story.

Well done man, you are a very vivid story teller. Makes the listener feel his pain. Keep it up.

Never seen your channel before but as soon as I heard what you named the first story (the last pilgrimage of Evan tanner), I knew this was bout to be 🔥

Rare to witness such a love like the one they shared. Man, this tore my heart out. RIP to both Josh & Hailey. Together again for eternity. Rip Evan!

I've never heard about Josh, but the whole entire had me in tears throughout the whole story.

Bro this is a phenomenal video. Keep them up!

Fantastic video. I did not know the story of Josh's passing even though I'm an avid follower of the sport. Thank you for sharing his and Evan's story

“Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Rest in peace, Josh. You are no longer in pain and you are with Hailey for eternity. 🕊️

Hi Academic I hope your knee issues have been resolved. Keep up the good work! This video is real dark. Perfect for a long session of heavy bag work. Fight the shadow to step into the light.

Bro this is so well done! 👍 Great job 🌟

Beautiful work ❤ this was great

Just Sammans story really broke my heart. I am currently reading his book and this guy had one hell of a strugglesome life. But he worked so heart to conquer it, regardless. So sad he passed.

Great video. I never knew about Josh Samman story and you did a great job describing it.

Josh was a talented guy. Ferocious fighter. That jump round kick was insane. To play guitar and sing is incredibly difficult. Not all musicians can so for him to do it pretty well says alot. Nice touch with him singing California dreamin at the end.

Nexpo is amazing and this was put together well, definitely resembled his editing style. The ambient background music was a nice touch.

This was really done mate. Hope you do more 👍🏻

These are so well produced. Amazing work telling these stories.

What a talented guy Josh was, weird how sometimes the ones with amazing natural gifts have to battle such demons. Anyway, banger of a vid!

How is connor in the thumbnail ? I honestly was expecting him to come out in the video because of that sigh

Your work is art. Truly beautiful things you are creating sir

You are a great storyteller. Please keep giving us these wonderful stories! Ty

I've only just heard of these 2 fighters through this video and I feel the need to pay my respects to the both of them. Evan Tanner had gotten so far by himself, it really is impressive. He seems to be a very thoughtful and considerate guy and as a fighter he was ruthless. He's like a modern day Ronin. Unfortunately, no man can do everything by himself. And if you managed to get that far in life like Evan did on your own, then I wouldn't blame you if you didn't believe that. Life was truly vicious to Josh Sammam. Losing your girlfriend, your mother figure and your dog in quick succession like that would definitely break any man. Props for him to be able to pick himself up again, even if for a brief time, so that he could honour Hailey's memory. That warrants so much respect from me. I hope these two warriors find the peace in death that they were searching for in life. Thank you Mixed Martial Academic for bringing these two to my attention. I've been watching your videos for some time now and the quality of each never ceases to amaze me. You've earned this sub.

I love Nexpo and MMA and so this is an amazing surprise.

The outro to this video was so good. Always top tier content from you

This is very well done. Great job

100k is just not enough, the effort, thought, respect in these documentaries are second to none, beautiful representation of both fighters lives yet enough to show the tragedy, incredible work man should be proud of yourself

"I killed the thing I loved the most." Not gonna lie, that brought me to tears. I can't imagine the pain he must have been in.

Quite the piece of work you keep on getting smoother and smoother! Bravo sir you have a gift

Very well put together documentary. Sad stories, both of them. Life is so fleeting and easy to take for granted. May God have Mercy on all of our confused souls ❤

Great video bro but why’d you make that clickbate ass thumbnail with Conor in the back looking like a demon 😂

Great video, but why is Conor in the thumbnail?

Great vlog of 2 very poignant stories. So sad I ended up in tears.😢.RIP to all.❤

Thanks for sharing 🙏🏾 Prayers out for those trying to recover from the passing of their loved ones 🕊️

This one gets very very emotional...be prepared!

31:33 Amidst the tragedies so thoroughly documented in this excellent video, can we just take a minute to appreciate the fact that the beautiful Octagon girl Brittney Palmer is STILL working in the same capacity for the UFC, nearly 10 years since this footage was shot? Amazing how little she has aged during that time. That said, RIP Evan and Josh.

This is the best MMA channel on KZfaq, seriously. MixedMollyWhoppery and you guys rule MMA KZfaq. I love how you diversify the content too

Incredible video. It was just so engadging. I really hoped ut wasnt over or there was another part to follow when the credits began to roll. This was truly feature quality stuff. Thank you for all the wirk put into honoring the stories/lives of these iconic men. The way they were painted as complete human beings with both strengths as well weaknesses, joy as well as pain. Just such good work here.

Kinda weird to have conor mcgregor in the thumbnail

Damn I feel for Josh 😢

Very well put together. I enjoyed it a lot , pulled my heart strings.

Thank you man actually love you best KZfaq channel greatest channel 🔥

Thanks for watching guys, means a lot! Help Support the Channel by Joining Patreon for early access and other rewards: www.patreon.com/MMAacademic Or Grab Some Merch: www.mixedmartialacademic.shop

Why is Conor McGregor the center of the thumbnail? Attempt at clickbait?

Great video! so sad , very sad ...but great video ! Congrats mate!

Great episode! I hope you make more like this!

When the hell is this airing?

This is outstanding, keep making content

Great stuff dude I really enjoy these long videos

Reporting for duty

Good channel particularly the Evan Tanner story ..i was a fan of his back when the UFC got going ...it was a great insight in to his life rather than a plain story of an accident in the desert ...

Dang dude... best MMA docs in the game right now; amazing subject choices, composition, direction and just overall great, great stuff

Terrible video doesn't even bring up the horrors chael sonnen had to live through in his early life

Just stopping by to say the thumbnail is absolutely in bad taste, please don't paint the dead as creepy pasta characters for clickbait. Ite, thanks

great content and biographies of 2 guys i watched and respected...u earned my new sub