Debut episode of 'Sports Illustrated' magazine show to feature UFC, Strikeforce fighters

"Sports Illustrated," a new monthly TV show based on the magazine, will debut Tuesday night on the NBC Sports Network.

The first episode, which airs at 9 p.m. ET, will feature a segment on MMA, focusing on the fighters and coaches at the Jackson/Winkeljohn gym in Albuquerque, N.M. L. Jon Wertheim, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, does the reporting from Albuquerque.

Fighters and coaches in the segment inclue Clay Guida, Tim Kennedy, Julie Kedzie, Keith Jardine, Cub Swanson, Josh Ferguson, Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.

"I think the knee-jerk reaction to the rise of the rise of MMA is that 'society is in the express lane to hell – this is just another example of the coarsening of society,'" Wertheim said in a video previewing tonight's segment. "I think a lot of this growth is people realizing what this sport is and what it isn't, and what they're seeing is that there's values and conduct and spirit among the fighters that, frankly, other sports would do well to emulate."

Wertheim will be a guest on Tuesday's edition of MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) to discuss tonight's segment and what he took away from the story.

NBC Sports Group and Time Inc. Sports Group announced the "Sports Illustrated" show earlier this month, saying the new program will feature original reporting and commentary from the journalists at Sports Illustrated. Future episodes of the show will air on NBC Sports Network, as well as NBC.

Replays of tonight's premiere episode will air throughout the week at NBC Sports Network.
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