pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
writer,
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
historian of
combat sport
A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the oppon ...
; most notable as a
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
(MMA)
striking
Strike may refer to:
People
*Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
analyst, writing detailed, analytical breakdowns of fighters, fighting techniques and strategies, using videos, photos and animated GIFs.
Slack formerly wrote regularly for BloodyElbow.com,
Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London.
Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...
,
Vice Sports
Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...
and
Unibet
Unibet provides a platform for sports betting, online casino, bingo and online poker to over 11 million customers in over 100 countries. Unibet is a part of Kindred Group–an online gambling operator which consists of 11 brands along with Maria Ca ...
. Due to successful
Patreon
Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...
support, he independently writes on his blog ''FightPrimer.com'' and bi-weekly broadcasts ''Jack Slack Podcast'' (formerly named ''Fights Gone By'' (FGB) podcast) on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
Background
Slack describes himself as “a martial arts fanatic from the U.K. who got involved in karate very young, then boxing, then most recently jiu-jitsu". Initially he started researching and writing for his own training improvement in order to compensate for his "shortcomings in his own physicality", and later, by motivation to showcase to the casual fan and the mainstream media how MMA is a highly skillful art form.
In a 2012 AMA, Slack wrote "I've been analysing techniques since I realised that coaches couldn't or wouldn't tell me everything they knew or even what they most liked doing themselves. I knew there had to be more to it than just the same basic techniques performed at the opponent so I started watching boxing. When I started in boxing in my early teens I loved scrapping but I couldn't stand watching a boxing match - watching guys like
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...
,
Sugar Ray Robinson
Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...
and Jersey Joe Walcott soon improved me so much that I couldn't stop watching old fights."
Slack's pen name is a reference to Jack Slack the "Norfolk Butcher", the 1743
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
boxing champion who defeated famed English boxing champion Jack Broughton in 1750 as a heavy
underdog
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
and remained undefeated as champion until
1760
Events
January–March
* January 9 – Battle of Barari Ghat: Afghan forces defeat the Marathas.
* January 22 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Wandiwash, India: British general Sir Eyre Coote is victorious over the Fr ...
. Slack has said that he does not particularly admire the man, whose life was "more than a little shady", but that the name has "a ring to it".
Anonymity
In a post on ''mixedmartialarts.com'' forum in June 2013, Slack explained his reason for his anonymity: "Only reason I haven't done any video podcasts or anything is because I like being able to train without the pressure of being that guy from the internet. I wouldn't want to do an instructional video - all my content is about what great fighters do! I'm absolutely nothing special in personal ability".
Historical European martial arts
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
While there is limited surviving documentation of the martia ...
(HEMA) writer Peter Smallridge wrote in June 2016 "and while Slack explains his anonymity as the result of his personal lack of athleticism and competitive record tarnishing his analytic reputation, his understanding is top notch."
Career
Slack's first public contribution to analysing striking came in the form of sharing passages from published authors from his book collection. The first one posted on ''MMASHARE'' forum August 2011 titled ''Jimmy Wilde - The Art of Boxing''. From January 2012 onwards he started to write and publish his analytical breakdown on his newly opened blog ''FightsGoneBy'', while promoting his articles on major MMA forums and gaining popularity.
In January 2012 he started using the pen name ''Jack Slack'', submitting ''Fanposts'' regularly to
SB Nation
''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2005. The blog from which the network ...
's websites Bloodyelbow.com (MMA) and the now defunct HeadKickLegend.com (kickboxing), and also writing an article for CagePotato. In April 2012, Slack's article was first published on ''BloodyElbow'' front page, and soon he became a
stipend
A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...
author for the website. In that same month he was interviewed by sports announcer and commentator
Mauro Ranallo
Mauro Domenico Ranallo (born December 21, 1969) is a Canadian sports announcer, commentator and mental health advocate. He is currently signed as a play-by-play announcer with MMA organization Bellator, and also performs play-by-play duties for bo ...
on ''The MMA Show'' radio podcast. From July 2012 onwards he focused his writing on more popular fighters in order to increase his readership.
In March 2013 Slack was hired to write regularly for
Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London.
Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...
; initially as a featured columnist and later as "Lead MMA Analyst".https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/jack-slack/88/796/568
The editor of
Fightland
Fightland is a website covering mixed martial arts (MMA). Launched in September 2012, it is part of Vice Media, Inc. network channels. Vice Media states that ''Fightland'' is a joint venture with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). ''The Ne ...
contacted Slack and offered him a position as a writer. Though Slack's initial intention was to write two articles a month for ''Fightland'' while continuing writing regularly for Bleacher Report, which he started doing from November 2013, on March 31, 2014, Slack left Bleacher Report and was writing eight articles a month only for ''Fightland''. Though a regular writer, Slack was not exclusive to ''Fightland'', and wrote articles for ''Fighters Only'' magazine and
Unibet
Unibet provides a platform for sports betting, online casino, bingo and online poker to over 11 million customers in over 100 countries. Unibet is a part of Kindred Group–an online gambling operator which consists of 11 brands along with Maria Ca ...
UK blog. Slack is known for his use of animated GIFs in his articles. Moving to ''Fightland'' allowed Slack to embed UFC parent company
Zuffa
Zuffa, LLC () is an American sports promotion company specializing in mixed martial arts. It was founded in January 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Station Casinos executives Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta to be the parent entity of the ...
's copyrighted fight footage in his articles.
In February 2019, Slack left ''Fightland'' and Vice Sport, and wrote regularly for
Unibet
Unibet provides a platform for sports betting, online casino, bingo and online poker to over 11 million customers in over 100 countries. Unibet is a part of Kindred Group–an online gambling operator which consists of 11 brands along with Maria Ca ...
.
Since July 2020, due to successful
Patreon
Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...
support, Slack writes independently on his blog ''Fightprimer.com''.
Podcaster
Since August 2016, Slack is the host of ''Fights Gone By'' (FGB)
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
, which he independently finances via
Patreon
Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...
.
Book author
Slack has written and self-published four
ebooks
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
:
* ''Elementary Striking: Strategies for Boxing, Kickboxing and MMA'' (2012)
* ''Advanced Striking: Tactics of Kickboxing, Boxing and MMA Masters'' (2012)
* ''Fighting Karate'' (2014)
* ''Finding the Art: Essays on the Principles, Tactics and Techniques Which Govern Combat Sports'' (2015)
And one printed book (published by John Blake Books):
* ''Notorious: The Life and Fights of Conor McGregor'' (2017)
Striking analysis
While Slack is known for analyzing MMA fighters, he has also published articles on
professional boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...
such as ''Pulling Back the Curtain on Muhammad Ali'', on
Kickboxing
Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...
such as ''The Finest Striker on the Planet: Giorgio Petrosyan'', on
Muay Thai
Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...
such as ''Eight Limbs: The Masters of Each Strike in MMA'', on
Karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...
such as ''Glory 19: Why Karate Doesn't Work in the Ring'', on
Wing Chun
Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is ...
such as ''Wing Chun and MMA: Controlling the Center'', articles on the
history of martial arts
Although the earliest evidence of martial arts goes back millennia, the true roots are difficult to reconstruct. Inherent patterns of human aggression which inspire practice of mock combat (in particular wrestling) and optimization of serious close ...
such as ''Interpreting the Bubishi: One Thousand Pounds Falls to the Ground''. and critical articles such as ''Wushu Watch: Lessons to learn from Aikido''. He has also published semi
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
articles such as ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
: The illogical fighting style of James T. Kirk'' and ''
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...
in the UFC: Hadoukens and Izuna drops''. Slack also published articles about fighting techniques in the Animal Kingdom such as ''Jack Slack: Street Fighting Roos''.
Slack has stated in his July 2014 article ''Jack Slack: Four Strikers That Every MMA Fan Should Be Watching'': "Top level grappling, boxing and Muay Thai are light years ahead technically of what we see in mixed martial arts competition, but progress in MMA is shockingly rapid."
On ''FGB'' podcast #212 (July 2020) Slack has criticised the current state of
Women's MMA
While mixed martial arts is primarily a male dominated sport, it does have female athletes. For instance, Female competition in Japan includes promotions such as DEEP Jewels. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Valkyrie, an ...
(WMMA) on the following points:
* Most WMMA is missing an “alive element” that a fight should have because they fight like they’re hitting pads and not actually in a fight, meaning both women punching like they’re hitting pads while disregarding any strikes coming back at them.
* Most WMMA striking involves a series of repetitive combinations that don’t change or evolve as the fight goes on.
* They throw multi punch combinations head first, not thinking about counter strikes.
* Just because you can pump hands doesn’t mean you’re a good puncher/striker for example
Ronda Rousey
Ronda Jean Rousey (; born February 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler, actress, former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand and is the current SmackDown Women’s ...
movement
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
is key in a fight, and if they just stand in front of each other, it’s gonna be the same exchange over and over again.
Slack stated that good striking comes from not only hitting pads, but also faking out the opponent, anticipation and expectations of the opponent, going high and low, body language, trickery, etc. As good examples, Slack praised
Rose Namajunas
Rose Gertrude Namajunas (born June 29, 1992) is an American mixed martial artist. She is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she competes in the women's strawweight division and is the former two-time UFC Women's Strawweig ...
and
Valentina Shevchenko
Valentina Anatolievna Shevchenko (russian: Валентина Анатольевна Шевченко;
born ) is a Kyrgyz and Peruvian professional Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and former Muay Thai, Muay Thai fighter. She currentl ...
because they understand movement and building combinations is key to good striking.
Slack's popular series of articles titled ''Killing the King'', which break down the current UFC champions weaknesses, and how they could potentially be beat, have spanned through four different MMA websites during his career: ''BloodyElbow.com'', ''Bleacher Report, Fightland'' and ''FightPrimer.com''
Slack lists former MMA Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko as the top striker on the feet and
on the ground
"On the Ground" is the debut solo single by Korean-New Zealand singer and Blackpink member Rosé. It was released on 12 March 2021 by YG Entertainment as the lead single from her debut single album, '' R''. It was written by Rosé alongside Amy ...
, in MMA history. He has published a three part article series titled ''Analyzing Fedor''.
Slack has stated that to him the "striking bible" is the 1940 book ''Boxing'' by boxing coach Edwin L. Haislet and that the "grappling bible" is the 2008 book ''Jiu-jitsu University'' by
Saulo Ribeiro
Saulo Mendonça Ribeiro Filho (born July 2, 1974), brother of the equally famed Xande Ribeiro, is a 6th-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). After earning a black belt in Judo, he began his training of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Rio de J ...
. Slack's favourite book of all time is the 1975 book The Fight by Norman Mailer. All in all, between 2016-2017 on ''FGB'' podcast, Slack has recommended 41 various books to read which have been compiled by his fans as a list named "Jack Slack's reading list" on
Goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...
Tony Jaa
Tatchakorn Yeerum ( th, ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์, , ; formerly Phanom Yeerum ( th, พนม ยีรัมย์, ); born 5 February 1976), better known internationally as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom ( th, จา ...
; "is perhaps the finest martial arts movie of this generation", and that Tony Jaa's multiple attackers scene in the 2005 film
Tom-Yum-Goong
''Tom-Yum-Goong'' (Thai: ต้มยำกุ้ง, ) is a 2005 Thai martial arts action film starring Tony Jaa. The film was directed by Prachya Pinkaew, who also directed Jaa's prior breakout film ''Ong-Bak''. As with ''Ong-Bak'', the fights ...
(The Protector); " sthe best fight in movie history".
Reception
Matt Saccaro of CagePotato describes Slack as "by far the greatest assessor of in-cage techniques that has graced the keyboard", and Ben Fowlkes of
MMAjunkie
MMA Junkie is a news website that covers the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). It was founded in 2006, and is owned by Gannett Company since 2011. The site and its content have been featured in ''Time'' magazine'', ''ESPN The Magazine'', ''The N ...
describes Slack's work as existing "in that rare sports writing space where the reader comes away with a better understanding of the sport itself, rather than merely the people in it". Mike Johnston of
Sportsnet
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then ...
wrote "There aren’t many people on the planet better capable of analyzing a fighter’s strengths, weaknesses and evolution than Jack Slack".
Joel Snape
Joel Snape (born 28 February 1979) is an English author. He is the author of the Dylan Douglas series, described by the Daily Telegraph as having the "flavour of a junior Martin Amis."''Men's Fitness'' magazine, wrote "He’s a scholar of the fight game, an excellent technician, and I fully recommend checking out his books and blog – even if you aren’t interested in improving your own striking, it’ll give you a huge understanding and appreciation of the fight game." Graham Barlow of ''The
Tai Chi
Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an neijia, internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and medita ...
Notebook'' wrote "I’d go as far to say that he’s totally changed my appreciation of the depth of the technicalities of Mixed Martial Arts".
Mark Serrels of
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
(Australia) describes Slack as a "peerless" writer who is "so on the ball it is unbelievable — to the point where fighters will often approach him for help with strategy or read his articles in an attempt to improve". Former UFC bantamweight champion
TJ Dillashaw
Tyler Jeffrey Dillashaw (born February 7, 1986) is an American retired professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion.
Dillashaw competed on ...
stated that he used Slack's article ''Killing the King: Renan Barao'' in preparation for his fight against then title holder Barao. MMA coaches, fighters and UFC color commentator
Joe Rogan
Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American UFC
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly ...
have been reading Slack's articles and have found them to be educational.The Joe Rogan Experience (hour 1.06) /ref> Tristar owner Firas Zahabi stated "He's an expert at what he does and I recommend his material".
George Mills of BT Sport in reference to Slack's 2016 article ''
Justin Gaethje
Justin Ray Gaethje (; born November 14, 1988) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former Interim UFC Lightweight Champion. As o ...
thriving amid chaos'', wrote "Looking back in 2020, those words are almost prophetic in describing Gaethje’s ascent through the UFC ranks".
Pundit Arena
Pundit Arena (styled as PUNDIT ARENA) with url punditarena.com, is an Irish sports website focusing on association football, rugby union, gaelic sports, mixed martial arts and golf. It was co-founded by University College Cork graduates, Richard ...
describe Slack as a "brilliant technical analyst". John Franklin of ''Combat Press'' has listed Slack as one of the five best MMA analysts, and stated that "Slack has made ''Fightland'' relevant as a place for analysis".
Singapore Evolve daily has listed Slack's podcast ''Fights Gone By'' #1 on its ''4 Of The Best Martial Arts Podcasts You Need To Start Listening To Immediately'' article. Following 3 podcasts included
Ariel Helwani
Ariel Helwani (born July 8, 1982) is a Canadian-American sports journalist, known for his coverage of mixed martial arts (MMA). He is best known for his work at ''MMA Fighting'', but has also worked for Fox and ESPN. Helwani is widely considered ...
's MMA Hour,
The Joe Rogan Experience
''The Joe Rogan Experience'' is a podcast hosted by American comedian, presenter, and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. It launched on December 24, 2009, on YouTube by Rogan and comedian Brian Redban, who was its sole co-host and producer until ...
and
MMAjunkie
MMA Junkie is a news website that covers the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). It was founded in 2006, and is owned by Gannett Company since 2011. The site and its content have been featured in ''Time'' magazine'', ''ESPN The Magazine'', ''The N ...
Radio. They describe Slack as knowledgeable, writing: Jeremy Brand of ''MMASucka.com'' has recommended following Slack's
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account on his top 10 ''MMA Twitter Accounts You Should Follow list, stating "If you don’t follow Jack Slack, then you may not want to know about MMA on a deeper level. This guy is a wealth of knowledge. His 20.4k followers are treated to some great fight breakdowns and more."''
Awards
Slack was a
World MMA Awards
The World MMA Awards are awards presented by ''Fighters Only'' magazine to honor exceptional performance in various aspects of mixed martial arts. Winners are presented with the ''Fighters Only silver statuette''. The World MMA Awards are divided ...
nominee for ''MMA Journalist Of The Year'' 2014 award.