He’s used to crashing skateboards. Watching grown men ride and crash motorcycles is just another day at the office.
Sports to the Core
“I was associate publisher for a pretty good publishing house,” said Apple of his career beginnings. All that achievement stuck into so short a period of time can be explained: at the time of his magazine monopoly, he was just 18. Still young and just beginning to stake his claim in the core sport business, he continued on with the publishing house that produced motorcross, wakeboard, bodyboard and most importantly, surfing periodicals.
“Since I knew all the athletes it was kind of a good fit for me to run the magazines,” explained Apple, who began his broadcasting career almost by accident. ESPN and Fox Sports definitely appreciate the accident. His start can be compared to how the legendary Yankee Lou Gehrig first got his start.
As a benchwarmer, Gehrig filled in for first baseman Wally Pip when Pip left the game for a minor injury. He never saw pinstripes again. In Apple’s case, “Somebody asked me if I wanted to announce a [surfing] contest. I did during the [announcer’s] lunch break and they were like, ‘even though the announcer’s coming back, we want you to keep announcing we don’t want him to do it.’”
How do ya like them apples? From there his broadcasting career soared, culminating in coverage of the X-Games. Ironically, it was the severity of the core sports he still participated in that spurred his switch to mixed martial arts.
The Transition
I had an IV in my arm where I had to shoot antibiotics in four times a day for eight weeks,” said Apple, citing an old, obviously frustrating injury.
“I was thinking of something I needed to do that’s safe, and fighting’s the safest thing I’ve ever done. Compared to the other sports I’ve been involved with, there’s a lot better chance of staying healthy.”
Possibly the only fighter ever to take up the trade in order to preserve his body, he’s already 2-0, and plans on trying to nurture the baby win streak into a grown-up.
Even though he’s only had two bouts, according to Apple it wouldn’t matter who he faced so long as the fight had the seal of approval from his trainer, ex-UFC honcho Marco Ruas.
Said Apple: “Fortunately I’m more confident in my coach and my team than I am in myself, per se, to the point where Marco says I’m ready and it’s okay, I believe him.”
The 185-pounder continued, “There’s no fighter that’s going to give me as big of a challenge as Marco is training me. By the time I get to the fight that’s the easy part.”
Apple also expounded on the reputation of Ruas Vale Tudo, dispelling critics who clamor that Ruas and his top student Pedro Rizzo are vapid, plodding fighters.
“It’s a joke to me because so many people are paying big money to have him train them, people who are already successful,” said Apple. Names like Cro-Cop, Kazuyuki Fujita, Don Frye and even Peter Aerts all frequent the camp, and they all, with an emphasis on the two kickboxers, learn something.
“At first if you grabbed their neck they flip out, they’re not used to it,” said Apple, who was broadcasting on ABC’s Wide World of Sports at 22. “But Marco has a great knowledge of submissions as well, so he can help with any aspect of fighting.”
Although it’s the K-1 crew that picks up the most from ground instruction, but even mat rats such as Fujita gain something from Ruas Vale Tudo, and all that’s needed is to ask Imamu Mayfield, Fujita’s most recent victim of a Ruas taught arm triangle.
Combining the Two
“It’s not a knock on anybody that’s doing mixed martial arts on TV right now but all those guys that are doing it, they haven’t really done much other stuff,” began Apple on the MMA broadcasting situation. While there’s an abundance of talent on the gab-staffs of several shows, what Apple brings to the table is a wealth of TV experience and know-how.
“I’ve been doing TV for five years on really big budget shows,” he began. “I know the game as far as television and at the same point, I’m very informed, very knowledgeable about the sport of mixed martial arts.”
Carrying with him the necessary tools for broadcasting success, Apple’s winning traits have brought him, on several occasions, close to the MTV airwaves with his own show. Still working the core sports like motorcross and surfing, he maintained that even though there are ESPN-sized fish to fry, MMA is still his biggest catch.
“To be honest I like doing TV for MMA more than any other type of TV shows that I do because my opinion matters and I talk about what I think and what I feel,” he explained. King of the Cage is arguably one of the best-run shows in America this side of the UFC, however Apple intends to continue his ascent wherever it may take him, whether it be the glitzed casinos of Las Vegas with the UFC and KOTC, or the Land of the Rising Sun, where producers from PRIDE and PRIDE Bushido have already contacted him.
If Apple is working his way to a fighting reputation in the cage, surely he’s a champ outside of it. With roughly 18 months and counting under Marco Ruas and five years of mainstream TV in the bag, Apple is all set to keep up the pace as he enters his prime years. “I just want to continue doing more and more TV,” he said. “I’m not trying to be the number one middleweight in the world but I want to be able to fight and compete with guys who have skill and I want to measure up."