In the ever growing mixed martial arts community there are tons of places for fans to find the latest and breaking news about the sport’s top athletes whether it’s their favorite MMA news site or simply scanning thru Twitter. However, few can rival what one man has done with a simple cartoon character, a comedic approach, and YouTube. For the past two years fans have tuned in to watch The Tommy Toe Hold Show in great numbers and after watching a few episodes, it’s easy to see why.

Tommy is a loud mouthed, no holds barred character that has no problems making fun of anyone in the sport. Now Tommy may not be the best source for your MMA news but without a doubt he is one of the most entertaining and has become a staple in the sport for fighters and fans alike.  On the evening before his 100^th episode posted to YouTube, Matt Homeyer of USCS had the opportunity to sit down with the creator and talk about how it all started and what the future has in store for The Tommy Toe Hold Show. ALRIGHT FIGHT FANS … LET’S DO THIS $@%#!!!!

How did the concept for the show come about?       

Well it was a bit by accident, I really didn’t have the intention of making the show how I made it. What happened was I was going to make a video blog like a lot of people do and my video equipment wasn’t very good. So I decided well I have a decent microphone maybe I’ll do like a podcast. Well I didn’t know how to put a podcast together so I was like huh what can I do? I had been messing around with photoshop and was like I’ll make a little cartoon. Then I decided well it’s a cartoon it can’t really be serious so it has to be funny and it kind of went from there. The first episodes didn’t have interviews and then I did a fake interview, people liked it and it just sort of took off from there. It wasn’t something that I had envisioned in my head, it just sort of happened along the way. I wish I could say I was some kind of mastermind but that’s not true.

How did you become interested in MMA?

The earliest I can remember being interested in it was the really early UFC’s. When I was a kid my dad would bring home the VHS of pre Zuffa involvement stuff and then when I was in high school, a buddy of mine, who ended up fighting in the UFC for a little bit he was a huge,huge UFC fan, a huge Tito Ortiz fan. This was around 2000-2001 and he just got me into it. So I started watching it casually, and then got a little bit more into it and by college I was keeping up with everything. When I got out of college I was an MMA guy never missing an event and when I started making the show that’s when I went head first into the hardcore MMA fan group. Where I am watching every single event not just UFC but small shows and I’m on the Underground and forums and all these other things so it’s kind of been a progression over the years but I would say where I really first got into it was high school

Before creating TTTHS did you have any involvement in MMA or was your show your first outlet?

Absolutely, I have never trained MMA or anything I was an English teacher and possibly if the school hadn’t made budget cuts there wouldn’t be a Tommy Toe Hold. I was a young teacher just getting in and the school I was at had to cut lots of teachers because the budget was bad so they got rid of the young teachers. In my search for work I did this for fun on the side and it turned out that it ended up being my career. But that was my first involvement I was just a really big fan of the sport.

Did you ever expect it to take off and become as successful as it has?

That was pure luck, I had absolutely no idea it was going to take off, I didn’t think anyone would ever see it. It was one of those things that I kind of just threw together to entertain myself when I wasn’t searching for jobs and being miserable, I had no idea. If I could go back in a time machine and tell myself ten years ago where I would be now I would be like there’s no way, that doesn’t even make sense. But, I’m more shocked than anyone that this has done so well believe me.

When did you first realize that you had created a successful show?

When I first started getting messages from people in MMA, that when things were like Whoa. I remember the first time Joe Rogan tweeted out one of my shows. He sent me a direct message saying that it was really funny and I was just like wow this is crazy. Then other people that were involved in the sport would message me or things like that. To hear from people that are involved in the sport thinking it was funny, that was mind blowing, I couldn’t really even fathom it. That was a pretty big moment. Getting on FOX was a pretty big moment where I was like ok this is just nuts, now I’m on national TV. There have been a lot of moment here and there where I’m just like wow, there is no way this happened I cannot even believe that I am doing what I’m doing right now.

What made you change the format of the show from a once a week show to a daily show?

There were a couple of different reasons actually; one I felt like it would keep me more organized. It started out that the show was coming out every Wednesday when I first started doing the show but the first shows if you look back they were really short. They were three minutes, four minutes, then it became five minutes then it became seven minutes then it became 12 minutes then it became eighteen minutes. Suddenly I’m doing twenty minute shows almost, and to try and do those in one run, which is what I was doing, was making it really challenging. I would sit there for twenty plus hours in one run to try and get something done. I was really struggling with it for a while so I figured what if I changed the format of the show and still worked straight thru to do an episode but just release the episodes in chunks. The response has been incredible, not only have my numbers doubled, basically tripled but it’s been easier on me, it’s been better for the fans because they are getting content more often. It’s one of those things where I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier and I’m definitely going to keep doing it.

How long does it generally take you to make an episode from the thought process to completion?

Well, honestly it all depends how elaborate an episode is but the new way I’m doing it takes me about eight to ten hour to do an episode. I have a schedule now which something I’ve never had before. I wake up at around six in the morning doing my morning routine and then the first thing is what story am I going to do? So I go on the Underground or MMAFighting.com whatever, look stuff up, figure out what story best suits me for that day, then I write the script which is usually the biggest chunk. Writing the scripts can be really tough, once that’s done, depending how elaborate the art needs to be, if I have to do a lot of motions things like that can take a little longer. The rest of the steps after the creative part are pretty automated I can do those without tons of focus but the writing really takes a lot to put together. So would say about eight to ten hours for the new format.

We touched base on this before but do you find that making the daily episodes makes it easier put a show together or that it gives you less time to procrastinate?

It honestly does both, it is what it is, when I decided to start doing the daily show it set me up where I had to start doing the show daily. It helps me get them done better and it helps me get them up quicker because I’m not dealing with fourteen different concepts I’m dealing with one concept. Personally I feel it made the show better. Before I was doing twelve different things and it was just a lot to think about at one time, whereas now I can really hone in and focus on one thing, one topic and push those out there.

Do you ever find it difficult to keep up with all the MMA news that goes on daily when preparing to make a show?

Yeah, definitely especially with the new format because before I would spend a few days reading and figuring out what was going on but now it’s everyday I’m working and then I’m also researching for the next day. I’m pretty inundated with MMA I’m constantly, it’s pretty much my whole day every day. When I’m not working on the show I’m reading about MMA so it’s definitely tough but now that I’m really doing this full time constantly keeping up on MMA I’m handling it ok but there is a ton of news every day. Which is good and bad, bad, because there is a lot to look at a lot to read a lot to figure out but good, because there’s tons of material. When I was looking at the daily format people kept asking how are you going to come up with ideas for a show every day? But honestly there are probably seven or eight more ideas I could do each week that I just haven’t done.

When it comes to viewers how do you feel about their comments, especially the negative ones?

Yeah I love it. The fan interaction is incredible. The viewer comment is a segment that I do on the show where I use a comment that’s always really horrible. I think that kind of trained the audience or the expectation is to say the absolute worst thing you can to Tommy and I think it’s hilarious. I love reading thru all the YouTube comments, the emails, reading all the Facebook. Anytime I post anything to Facebook there are tons of hilarious comments. The relationship that I have with the fans is just the best thing ever. I really, really like it. I can tell which ones are being funny and which ones are being serious so I don’t mind. I’m not one to have much of an ego. I don’t think I’m really anything important or special so if someone doesn’t like the show it’s not a big deal. But all the interaction that’s just awesome. The fans, that’s the coolest part of this whole thing.

Have you had fighters get mad at you for your representation of them on the show? If so, who and what was said?

By large it has been very positive. I really haven’t had too many instances where fighters were upset with me over whatever. I can only actually think of one off the top of my head and it wasn’t even directly. Tito Ortiz I have done a portrayal of him kind of flubbing up his words which you know he’s done in interviews here and there but somebody sent it to him on Twitter. I didn’t send it to him I’m not a jackass; I’m not going to be like, “Hey, look I made fun of you”. But somebody sent it to him and he ended up blocking me on Twitter. So that was it. There wasn’t anything said to me it was kind of an indirect thing. But other than Tito I really don’t think there’s been anybody. Everybody has been really good about it. Surprisingly even in person I’ve met a few fighters in person and they loved it. They were excited to talk about the show. It’s cool, fighters have a great sense of humor and they get it. It doesn’t come from a place that’s really that disrespectful, I’m just kind of poking fun. I try not to take things to a personal spot where people are like whoa that’s pretty messed up that you said that. As long as I keep it tongue and cheek and light like I am and still show the fighters the respect that I really have for them I think I’ll be ok with the fighters.

Are there any personalities that you particularly enjoy doing or any one you like making fun of?

Yeah, right now I really like doing Vitor, it wasn’t even one of those things it’s just as the show evolves with stories you have to end up doing characters more and more because they’re making headlines and Vitor right now is my favorite. He wasn’t even anything I did in the first year at all I don’t think. So there’s Vitor. And then, Ray Longo and Matt Serra, I love doing their little bits together anytime I can put them on the show it’s just the best. I got my old favorites obviously I love doing Nick and Nate Diaz, I love doing Chael Sonnen, I love doing Anderson Silva. Those have all been ones that have been staples of the show. As far as new impressions go, Vitor and Longo/Serra are at the top of my list.

Are there any fighters that have asked to be featured on the show or any fighters or personalities who have asked to be kept off the show?

Not any have asked me to keep them off of it but I have had people ask if they could be on it. I’ve had fighters send me messages or their managers will send me messages saying, “Hey, could you feature my fighter or could you make fun of my fighter”, which is kind of funny. Or “Hey, could you make fun of me?” Now that I have built up a little bit of an audience, I’m trying to build up another show where I do an actual interview. I haven’t really done it much yet, I did it with Phil Baroni and it went really well I thought. So I think from now on when fighters want to be on the show I’m going to have a special show that I do with them where it’s an actual interview that they do with Tommy and that will be kind of cool. It’s kind of in the works it’s not really set in stone yet but that’s something I’m kind of looking into doing.

Do you think TTTHS has reached its full potential yet or do you think it will continue to grow in popularity?

It’s had a really steady growth these first two years, actually expediential ly grown quite a bit, in the first year I reached a million views and by the second year that just came up about a month ago I was at 3.5 million so it more than doubled in the second year. At the current rate that I am at I should be at eight or nine million by the end of this year. It’s definitely growing still I don’t know when it’s going to stop I mean all trends end. I would personally like to do this forever, I love doing this and with FOX and everything else I really think I could have some longevity with it. There’s a lot of ideas and a lot of stuff in the tank that I feel I could pull off and still be relevant. But we’ll see I think the key is to evolve with how things go and with time and I don’t want to get stagnant. As trends change and as things change with Tommy hopefully I can keep evolving the show and keep it relevant. I look at like SouthPark as a really big inspiration in terms of how they were able to adapt with the times. If you watch the first SouthPark compared to SouthPark last Wednesday or something it’s like not even the same show but it’s that same idea and people still like it. That’s the idea hopefully I can keep doing it and hopefully people don’t get tired of me too soon.

What are your current goals for TTTHS and what do you see in store for the future? With the growing popularity of MMA and your show do you ever think a network would pick up the show and running it as a weekly half hour show as an MMA cartoon?

I’m not 100 percent sure, I have done some TV stuff I’ve done UFC Tonight I’ve done some episodes with them and I love doing it. I think that is going to continue to happen I think in the next few years that will be something that happens where Tommy does segments. I think he’ll always live on the web 100 percent just because the nature of the show it’s a little bit raw and being able to that stuff on television is not as easy. I really picture him living on the internet. As far as short term goals I really want to get this new format down I want to get the shows out a little bit earlier in the day. I want to build that up, I want to build up the merchandise, I have shirts and stuff like that I want to do more with that. I want to build the website up; I’m thinking about doing some podcasts, there’s a lot in the works even in the short term. Then in the long term , I would like longevity really that’s all I care about I think that if I can keep doing what I’m doing and keep providing entertainment year after year that would be good for me and honestly keep building the audience. If I can keep building the YouTube audience that would be tremendous.

From the first episode to your most recent episode we have seen Tommy go thru some changes is the current version the final product or do you foresee another revamp in the future?

It’s one of those things where the first Tommy wasn’t me I didn’t create that Tommy. The very first Tommy, the little tiny guy, that was a website where you could build your own avatar so I built a little character and I pulled it off the website and used that. Then when I decided that the show was going to be something that I maybe wanted to do, I was like well I better make my own character and that’s when we see the Tommy that we’ve seen and I didn’t know what I was doing I didn’t know how to draw, I didn’t know how to use photoshop and I kept that Tommy for so long, I think it was episode 96 where I switched him up again. So what happened is as I have been doing this over the last two years I got better at photoshop, I got better at all these editing tools and I started looking at Tommy and noticing all these inconsistencies. His eyes weren’t even, his shoulder dipped he looked just terrible in my eyes because I had already grown so much in creating these king of things so I sat down and I took maybe three to four hours and I redid Tommy. I smoothed all the edges and now he looks really slick and a lot better than he used to look. But I think as I evolve in terms of my knowledge of these types of thing I think the character will keep evolving. Now I don’t think he’ll ever get to realistic like veins popping out of Tommy, I really don’t think he’ll ever move very much, but as I get better at the little things the little things will change more and overall production will look just a little bit slicker. I go back to SouthPark again, you look at early SouthPark compared to know it’s still the same art style but it’s done so much better in the more recent episodes than it was in the past. I think that’s what’s going to be happening with me. Hopefully, I’ll keep getting better at this and I’ll be able to create better versions of Tommy and of everything in the show even the interview segment.

Is Tommy roughly based off of anyone or is he totally made up?

I know it doesn’t sound like it talking to me right now but Tommy is kind of me, if there weren’t any rules. If I could say whatever I wanted to say and be as loud as I ever wanted to be, that’s what Tommy is. The voice was based on the name, the character honestly was originally called Tommy Tough Nuts, so I wanted to sound like a fake tough guy and immediately I thought of Vin Diesel’s voice, that’s kind of where his voice originally came from. If you notice in the early stuff he kind of has an accent like he’s from New York area and over time it gradually went away. I would say that what he says that if there is anyone that he is loosely based on it’s just my own thoughts it’s my own way to express ideas in the MMA community. So, yeah I’d say Tommy is me.

Is there anyone that you would like to thank for the success you have had?

  There are so many that have been involved with getting me where I’m at to this point, Stephie Daniels from BloddyElbow has been huge. I would be absolutely no where without Stephie Daniels. Chael Sonnen has helped me quite a bit, Bruce Buffer has helped me, Dana, Lorenzo, the UFC, FOX sports, all these people who have helped me tweet out the videos Joe Rogan, Ronda Rousey. Gosh there have been a lot of people who have helped. Definitely want to thank Kountermove.com for sponsoring the show, that’s awesome. And thank the fans the most because I wouldn’t be doing this at all if there weren’t people watching so I want to thank them for keeping me honest and keeping me going.