Brennan Ward Speaks On Going to Hell And Back Prior To His Triumphant Bellator Comeback (Plus Barstool MMA Show Announcement)

If you've been an MMA fan for a while, you're probably familiar with Brennan Ward as a hometown hero in Connecticut known for putting on exciting fights and delivering explosive finishes back in the day. What you may not know is that he went to hell and back in the past few years, struggling with a brutal opioid/heroin addiction that took him to death's door more than once. 

Even while fighting in his final few years before his comeback two weeks ago, he was using heavily, trying to find dope in the worst areas of Japan, and just sending his personal life into a tailspin.

Facing the harsh reality of losing his daughter/girlfriend when given an ultimatum got him to clean up over a year ago, and he's been sober ever since. He's got a union job he loves (shoutout Jersey Jerry) now, and just this month, he made his return to the cage and picked up an awesome win in front of his home state yet again....

I was fortunate enough to sit down with Brennan and get his first interview post-fight last week, and here it is. There's two or three moments where his WiFi got choppy, but you won't really miss much - all the content is there and it's pretty great.

Now for the Barstool MMA Show Announcement….

I've seen people asking for more Barstool MMA content, especially now that I'm not the literal only fan in the company, and I hear ya.

Starting THIS THURSDAY, after The Yak (probably sometime around 3pm EST), we will be doing a weekly live show from the radio room talking about all of the weekly storylines in the mixed martial arts world, giving our thoughts/picks on the upcoming weekend's card, and chatting with some of the fascinating personalities that this sport has to offer. Thursday's show will have Megan Olivi joining us.

Additionally, we'll do a recap show on MONDAY talking about the fights that we watched and how things should/will play out. It'll be an open/revolving door to anyone in the office with myself and Big Ev hosting, and I'll aim to get guests constantly. We'll have it on the blog/all Spinnin Backfist socials/our new YouTube page, so look out for it on Thursday. 

I think Big Ev offers a perspective a LOT of MMA fans have in 2022, that of someone who got heavily invested into the sport over the pandemic and dove head first into the deep end ever since. He's also a pretty damn good gambler, and knows some interesting gamblers in this space as well. 

When it comes to expert opinions/analysis, we're going to rely on the fighters and experts themselves - so don't worry; we know we're idiots. We're idiots who love this shit, though, so instead of talking about it for hours amongst ourselves at our desks, we're gonna do it in front of some mics now. Hopefully you're into it and you'll give it a shot. We're all ears on suggestions if not.

If you're interested in reading a much more detailed account of Brennan's struggles, Nolan King did a phenomenal story on him I've linked below…..