Davies explains how relationships with fighters work

Our @JonathanShrager talks to British journalist and broadcaster Gareth A Davies about his place in MMA journalism and how his relationship with fighters works.?

Jonathan Shrager: I spotted an interesting Twitter exchange of yours the other day; someone had criticised you for fraternising with fighters, suggesting that you should actually separate work and leisure. You quite rightly responded that it’s paramount to foster trust with the fighters in order for you to secure the best interviews etc.

Gareth A Davies: My role now has developed; one’s role develops in one’s life, in one’s job. I do a monthly boxing show on national radio, I do a weekly podcast, and I co-host a weekly MMA show on TV, and it’s entertainment, as well as journalism. And then there’s writing. So, some of my work is reporting, some is journalism, and some is entertainment. I have to entertain as well as disseminate information. We often have as many personalities as people who know us. Everyone judges us in a different way, which is fine. No one knows what I do better than I do, and I know what I’m doing. 

I do have to foster relations with fighters, and I’ve learnt, during the long time I’ve been covering combat sports, that I get more out of people, and I give more of myself to them, if I am open and spend quality time with people. It might be over dinner. I’ve learnt a lot about Chael Sonnen by having dinner with him. You can talk to the best sportswriters in history, and they’ll tell you that the best stories you ever heard from fighters, you probably never printed, because you can’t tell them.