Post End of Year video Debrief!

Before we begin, I'd just like to express my eternal gratitude to Anthony Joshua. Until now I didn't know there was a level of Schadenfreude that exists above Holm v Rousey, but now i know there is.

I mean really just take it all in. The majesty contained within this image. 5 years of torment, of watching Paul take victory laps after beating arthritic MMA fighters and literal old age pensioners, it all led to singular, stunning moment. If there is a finer image to close out the year on, I don't think it exi-

OH MY GOD. You wait for these things for so long, and then two come at once. So lets quickly recap:

1. Jake Paul get his jaw broken in 2 places by AJ

2. Andrew "Top G" Tate gets the shit smacked out him by one of the worst boxers I've ever seen in a professional setting

3. Tony Ferguson wins another boxing match, goes undefeated in 2025

4. Anderson Silva KOs Tyron Woodley

   all in the same fucking weekend

It's kinda sad in a way that some of the best news to come out of the world of combat sports this year was all centered around the world of carnival shit, but hey whatever. I'll take these wins where we can find them. 2025 could genuinely not have gone out on a better high than this.

ANYWAY!

Time to get ranting.

Well here we are. EOY video is done and dusted and it's time to recap on the, well, everything.
It's definitely been a busy few months, I went immediately from the Fight club video into the End of Year video with no rest, which pretty much means non stop writing and editing since about September. I really did want to hold out for this weekends events to play out so i could add them into the EOY video, but it would've meant having to rush write/record/edit a December segment. I had reached the end of the video around December 7th or so, and then it was final editing and polishing to get on Patreon by the 13th. And honestly by that point i was DONE. I had cut and recut the ending segment about 5 or 6 times at that point and the idea of spending another week waiting for Paul v AJ, and more writing and editing was just a bit too much.

I'm happy with how it worked out in the end, its done relatively well over on YT, id by lying if i said i wasn't hoping it might kinda blow up a bit bigger given that its an EOY wrap up and people eat this shit up at this time of year, but the algorithm weaves as the algorithm wills and this video it deemed unworthy of a boost.

Nevertheless, It's probably one of my favourite recap videos I've done, and the majority of that is down to DJ Diamond Dave the GOAT. I found the compilation video of him a couple of months ago, buried in my YT favourites from like, 2012 or 2013, and instantly knew: This man needed to be in the video.

Just for posterity, here's the original version of the end segment. I used different music in this version, (...Trail of Dead - Aged Dolls) so its got a totally different tone. Much like Diamond Dave, I stumbled across the Mara Carlyle track (the track i used in the final version) in my YT favourites and for fun, swopped it in for the Trail of Dead song. I loved how much it changed the tone, from an upbeat hype reel vibe, to an altogether more depressing vibe. And after the Valentina vs Fiorot edit had a hard hitting, synth metal soundtrack, I figured people would be expecting something similar for the Weili fight, so I pulled a switcheroo. Never let it be said that i cant bring the vibes of any given situation down.

One part of the video that did have to get rush-recorded, was a part that was done so late it wasn't even in the Patreon version, was the Rizin sponsorship segment. Holy shit that was an ordeal! I got a DM from Rizin in late November, and it took from about the 27th of Nov, up til Tuesday the 16th Dec to actually get it sorted out. We had spent weeks sending DMs trying to arrange a time to talk, and they were so slow to respond to every message that it would genuinely take about 4 or 5 days to get a reply from them. We finally had a video call on the 16th, and it was great! The guy I spoke to was super cool, and we mostly just talked about our love of Pride, and he was actually a long term fan of the channel which kinda blew my mind. Technically, they aren't actually sponsoring me, in fact, they didn't even pay me lol. They gave me a years free pass for all their 2026 PPVs, which is fine, as I would've bought them anyway, so its saved me a bit of money. To be honest, getting recognition from not just a legitimate MMA org, but one that I've essentially been stanning for for the last few years meant I probably would've done it for nothing but the chance to say "I did a team up with Rizin". While its been amazing to get a sponsorship from stuff like JCW Wrestling, to finally get a co-sign from Rizin genuinely meant a lot to me even with no money being involved. My videos are weird, and probably too long with too many inside jokes, and ive got a strange voice, and I never thought I'd reach a point where I'd have any kind of success like half of what I have now, so to finally, after 5 years or so of grafting, have the spiritual successor to Pride reach out to me was honestly the high point of the year for me. It sounds stupid, because at the end of the day it was just me doing advertising for them, but yeah not gonna lie this shit had me emotional.

Just to break up the wall of text, Rizin NYE event poster. These mf's dont miss with the poster game

For anyone wondering where the live action segments of the video were recorded, here you go! https://maps.app.goo.gl/GdZdoJyiDEvwiqb88

I took my camera here on a beautiful, drizzly morning to really try and capture the Christmas vibes one can expect of a December in Dublin. The graveyard i filmed in isn't far from here too, but I cant think of the name of it and I'm too tired to look it up lol. Fun fact, one of the most important battles in Irish history took place here in the year 1014, when Brian Boru fought and defeated the Vikings. Some history for yo ass right there.

So whats coming next! Uhh mostly rest, videogames, and drinking fancy beers I only buy at Christmas. But after that, yeah you all know whats coming. Its the end of the Line....eal saga. This thing is getting finished in 2026 come hell or high fuckin water. Tho full transparency, I will likely just be resting up from now til like, Mid-late January. It has been a HECTIC few months and I'll need some time to decompress, and work on Lineal 5 ideas before fully settling into writing mode.

There is another surprise in store though before I go. As a very, very, very fucking cool Patron sent me an unbelievable find. This guy worked as a cameraman for Pride, and discovered a box of tapes that had been left to gather dust in his garage. The footage was from Pride Final Conflict 2004, and had, until now, never been seen. He very kindly transferred all of the footage from tape to digital, and uploaded it for me. The tapes contain footage recorded up close at ringside, so while you have probably seen these fights before, you've never seen them this up close and personal. I honestly got giddy seeing the Rampage slam on Ricardo Arona so close to the camera! Seriously I had to clip this for you guys, holy fuck its so cool:

It honestly feels about as close as possible to being there as you can get without actually being there. Its all commentary free too so you can hear everything, from fighters talking to each other, to corners barking orders at them. Theres B-roll footage of Coleman and Randleman just drilling moves in an empty Saitama Super arena before the show starts, Bas and Mauro backstage just chilling, etc etc. My goal is to take the footage and try and edit it into one long video. Trim out the unusable stuff and make it a cohesive whole. So it wont be like a standard Blownapart video, I wont be talking over it or anything, it's more a preservation thing. This footage is something any true Pride fan would absolutely love, and as the Fight Pass versions of the Pride events are butchered and even just poor transfers from DVD in some cases, preserving and uploading this footage is pretty important.

But yeah, with that, I'm gonna sign off for now. Before I go I just wanted to say thank you again to all of you guys. It's not been an easy year, in a lot of ways, and YouTube has been tough too. I've done relatively well this year, but nothing has been like, hugely successful. Videos I really poured everything I had into like the Dante video, a video that I am massively proud of for the work myself, and LCQP put into it, still hasn't even even cracked 300k views in almost a year. Bastards of Heaven is still sub 300K too. It's is a bit disheartening. But, having said that, I've also seen creators I really respect struggle to hit even 1/10th of the success that Dante or BOH got, so this isn't me whining, Its just me saying that while the algorithm may ignore me for the most part, I am truly grateful for every single Patron who did find me, and every single view you spent on me this year.

I never, and will never, take any of you for granted. And while it may take me a few weeks to reply to a DM, they are always open to you guys, and once again, thank you.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New years, and I'll catch you in 2026!

Love,

Nap

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