Ultimate Conversations: The Baddest Fighters on the Planet [Hardcover]

Fiaz Rafiq (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2009

In less than a decade The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) went from a novelty spectacle to a worldwide phenomenon where it's outselling Boxing and Pro wrestling. The sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the fastest growing sport in the world. The UFC broke the pay-per-view industry's all time records. This fascinating new book explores the lives and careers of the greatest UFC champions and super stars. For the first time ever, you will discover a compilation of exclusive interviews with the toughest fighters to have ever stepped into the octagon. From the pioneers Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock to legendary champions and super stars Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Georges St Pierre- 25 of the top UFC stars tell their stories in their own words. 'Ultimate Conversations' gives you an incredible and fascinating look into the lives and careers of the toughest combat sports athletes in the most popular, exciting and fastest growing sport in the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A genuine and fascinating insight into the minds of some of the world's greatest fighters...proof that the world's toughest men are also intelligent, interesting and articulate
--Men's Fitness

The most comprehensive insight into the mind of the modern mma fighter so far published
--Fhm

This is without a doubt the best mma book available --Martial Arts Illustrated

Ground-breaking book --Fightsport Magazine

A genuine and fascinating insight into the minds of some of the world's greatest fighters...proof that the world's toughest men are also intelligent, interesting and articulate --Men's Fitness

This is without a doubt the best mma book available --Martial Arts Illustrated

About the Author

Fiaz Rafiq is a major columnist for a leading bestselling martial arts magazine, 'Martial Arts Illustrated' and a contributor to 'Impact- The Global Action Entertainment Magazine'. His work has appeared in combat sports magazines in the US, UK, Australia, Germany and France.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hnl Pub (March 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 095526488X
• ISBN-13: 978-0955264887
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,003,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars ok info...strange writing, October 26, 2010

By 

A Gift For You (Reston, VA, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ultimate Conversations: The Baddest Fighters on the Planet (Hardcover)

My opinion of this book is very mixed. I am a huge MMA fan and especially a huge follower of the UFC, and so when I saw a book just full of interviews with some of my favorite fighters, I just couldn't resist. To it's credit, there was some good information that if you don't know anything about the fighters going in you may not know. For the most part though, the questions were the same ones that you could find for free on any youtube interview of this fighter. The writing was also sort of weird and confusing. It is a British book, so there were some things that could be explained by that, but the copy I had at least seemed to have a lot of literal typos. Overall it had some ok information, and if you know nothing about the fighters you may be interested, but from start to finish I just felt that if given this great opportunity for a book, I could have done better myself with the selection of questions and the transcription of those answers into the book.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Compilation for the MMA fan, June 16, 2009

By 

Mr. J. C. Clubb "byshee" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultimate Conversations: The Baddest Fighters on the Planet (Hardcover)

This book is an interesting compilation of exclusive interviews with some of the leading athletes in the world of MMA. A really good book for any UFC enthusiast of any level who wants to delve deeper into the minds of the toughest fighters on the globe. Many top stars talk about their career highlights, personal lives and what motivates them to fight in the toughest sport in the world. A book which one can go back to from time to time to inject enthusiasm and learn more about the fighters.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars blue belt level book, May 2, 2009

By 

F L "F L" (Southen, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Conversations: The Baddest Fighters on the Planet (Hardcover)

this book is good if your new to the sport of mma and are looking to find out a little more on the sport and the competitors. if your already a hardocre fan and have been for some time i meen going back to the late 90's or before. then this book is mostly pointless. the vast majority of the questions asked in the interveiws are the same old questions you have most likely already read the answers to in other publication and other interviews. for example- tito ortiz is asked to explian his rivalry with ken shamrack. eveyone is aksed what they think of royce gracie. eveyone is asked if they were influenced by bruce lee. these are not bad questions. its just that if your a long time "hardcore" fan like myself you have probably already read the answers in other places. skip this book unles you are a new fan! plus there seemed to be a lot of typos. i dont think ive ever seen a book with so many typos. for example T.U.F. 4 for is refered to the as "the combat show" when it was actualy titled the "the comeback". there are many errors like this. bad bad book, unless you know little about the sport and the fighters. bad!