Urijah Faber and Jon “Bones” Jones are two of the great forces in mixed martial arts. When K-Swiss had their four-day shoot to restart their awesome Kenny Powers “MFCEO” campaign, With Leather’s Josh Zerkle was invited to check it out and spend time with the athletes supporting the California-based shoe brand. Faber and Jones sat down seperately with Zerkle, among others, in a roundtable discussion last month to share their thoughts on their sport and being part of the K-Swiss campaign.  Portions of this Q&A were edited for clarity and space.

Bones, You took a fight for UFC 87 with just two weeks to prepare. I’d imagine you cut a few corners in your preparation there.

JONES: Yeah, it was a big move, but it was a big opportunity.

What do you cut out of your regimen at that point?

JONES: For the two weeks, I just did all cardio. I knew I had the technique, but I wanted to focus on not making cardio be an issue. At the time, my opponent had so many tricks with experience and technique, black belt in jujitsu. I said, “You know, if I lose, it’ll be because he’s just flat out better.” I wasn’t gonna lose because of my cardio.

So counterattacking…trying to match styles?

JONES: Yeah, he trained with some high-level coaches. I figured he’d be a better combatant, but I just wanted to make sure that my heart could get me through.

Are you the best pound-for-pound right now?

JONES: In my weight class.

In the world?

JONES: No, not in the world. There are so many great fighters.

If you could change one thing in MMA, what would it be?

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Josh Cox is one of the great American runners, but it wasn’t that long ago when he was dirt poor with awful hair. When K-Swiss had their four-day shoot to restart their awesome Kenny Powers “MFCEO” campaign, With Leather’s Josh Zerkle was invited to check it out and spend time with the athletes supporting the California-based shoe brand. Among those was ultramarathon runner and reality show alum Josh Cox, who discussed some of the tools of his trade with Zerkle in a roundtable discussion last month. While you may never set the American record for the 50K or run a marathon in 2:15:01, you might try after reading this inspiring discussion. Portions of this Q&A were edited for clarity and space.

With Leather: So how long can you actually run on a single pair of shoes?

Josh Cox: That’s an interesting question. I was on the standard athlete shipment, so I assume I was getting these shoes like all the triathletes are getting and everyone else, and I’m like, “I need more shoes, man!” [laughs] Shoes will typically last up to 500 miles. That’s the rule of thumb, but now the way that they’re made, the treads don’t wear out as fast. I look at the bottoms and I think, “My shoes look great.” But what you want to look at is the cushioning system. Look at the side of the shoe, and when you start to see a breakdown through the sole, that’s the cushioning system breaking down. You won’t realize it until you put on the fresh pair and go, “Whoa! These feel awesome!”

In your peak training, is that a new pair every two weeks or so?

Yeah. But I like them new and I get them for free. I like to get new shoes after every 350 miles or so.

Did you ever use those barefoot-simulating shoes? The ones with the toes in them?

Oh yeah. So…[long pause]…I have a large social network, and I get guys on Twitter and Facebook and they’re always asking me, “What do you think about these?” These are guys that identify themselves as barefoot runners. “Barefoot Runner Mike,” like that’s literally his screenname. Whatever. But I’ll tell you this: I thank barefoot running for learning how to run properly. It’s a great tool and we actually do some of that. You want to strike you foot in the middle of your foot. You don’t want a heel strike. Heel striking is breaking.

A lot more stress goes into the leg when you’re heel striking. It’s a shock. When you strike on the mid-foot, the shock happens underneath the body. When you’re out on your heel, it’s too much. Lots of injuries happen that way.

I’ve been to Africa. I’ve trained with the Kenyans in their camps. And I’ve been out there with them, and yeah, the schoolchildren are chasing us while they’re carrying their books and yelling “Mazunga! Mazunga!” That’s Swahili for “white man!” They would come up to me and say, “Why are you running? Europeans don’t run.” And I’d say, I’m not European. But they’ve been doing this since they were four years old, and they’re built…they’re Kenyan. They weigh 120 pounds and they’re running on dirt.

I wish I had a nickel for every Barefoot Runner Mike who reached out to me in the last year, saying he was dedicated to barefoot running and later said, “I’m injured.” People want to go out and run 20 miles barefoot and I know it’s cool or whatever but you’re gonna get hurt. And to each his own, but…

Would you recommend doing that once a week? Or–

Yeah. In small doses, I think it’s fine, it’s actually a good idea. If you can start by walking around the house, the mall in your bare feet [Editor's Note: Ew.], there are a lot of muscles in your feet you don’t use because we have shoes. Then, when you start running with those things, stay on soft surfaces. There’s nothing worse as a runner than being injured. When you want to get out the door, and you can’t, it’s horrible. You need to start slow. That would be my advice.

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Terry Porter knows his way about the NBA, having played for four teams and having coaching for two others. Porter scored over 15,000 points in his 14-year career (ten of those in Portland), and his J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award from 1993 proves that he could make a few off the court as well. Porter jumped on the phone with Samer to talk about what he’s doing right now and offer some of his opinions on NBA’s playoff contenders and his own future in pro basketball.

WL: What do you think of all the injuries that have happened to the Trail Blazers so far?

TP: Unfortunately this franchise two or three years ago was the new up-and coming-franchise. It had all those areas you need: center with Greg Oden, power forward with LaMarcus [Aldridge] and point guard with Brandon Roy. There’s a lot of still unknown in the organization. They have been unbelievable along with the players to overcome so much adversity and resiliency. They’ve shown that now closing out the first half of the season with five wins.

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Img Credit: Walter Iooss, Jr. for Sports Illustrated

Alyssa Miller was in Las Vegas doing press for the SI Swimsuit Issue when I caught up with her yesterday afternoon. Miller, who turns 22 on the fourth of July, told me about the independence she enjoyed while working on her first swimsuit issue, how that job differs from her other modeling work, and why she’s one of the few supermodels that actually will pose in the buff. This interview was transcribed and edited for clarity. Click on images to embiggen.

This your first swimsuit issue, isn’t it?

Yeah, I’m a rookie! It’s my first year. It’s really exciting for me! Everyone keeps saying that the excitement’s going to wear off, I’m really jaded about the whole experience. I’m exhausted, but it doesn’t even matter. I’m having so much fun.

Is the SI Swimsuit Issue the Super Bowl for models? Is there such a thing? I know this is a major achievement, but how major?

There is no other magazine like SI. It’s one of a kind. It’s one of the only big American magazines that really feature the girls and their personalities. You really do become a household name after being featured in SI. It’s a huge, huge deal. It’s such a big deal to me as an American girl. My brother and my dad read it, so for me it’s especially exciting. It’s a big deal. >>

It might be an understatement to say that Grant Wahl is one of the more accomplished writers at the Sports Illustrated franchise. For their weekly magazine, Wahl has written 31 SI cover stories and more than 200 articles since his arrival in 1996. His soccer book, The Beckham Experiment, was a New York Times bestseller. Online, he’s writing and editing a soccer blog, Grant Wahl At The World Cup. Earlier this week, he spoke to Josh Zerkle about the upcoming men’s World Cup in South Africa. We bring you a transcribed excerpt of that interview below.

Josh Zerkle: So this World Cup…I understand it’s a soccer tournament.

Grant Wahl: [laughs]

JZ: Was this World Cup blog something that you got suckered into doing?

GW: No, I wanted to do it. My first World Cup was in 1998 in France, and I think I wrote maybe one or two pieces the entire time. That has changed a lot, obviously. Now, the priority is slightly more for the website than for our magazine, but I like that. I like keeping busy. I have avenues that I can use to get all of my stuff out to the public immediately. For me, it’s been fun having that instant feedback and news-breaking capabilities.

JZ: Has that shift toward the online realm been company-wide? Is there more emphasis on the content online than the weekly periodical that comes in the mailbox each week?

GW: We still have a lot of resources that we put toward the magazine. It’s still very profitable, and it’s still a very good magazine. The cool thing is that [SI.com] is like this other thing now. And we can put a lot of that same quality of stuff out there, a lot of unique content. When you look at SI.com, the quality there and the writers there are really, really good.

JZ: Do you think it’s a good idea to be holding this thing right in the middle of the WNBA season?

GW: [laughs] Yeah, it really comes at a good time of the year. There’s not a heck of a lot going on in the sports world, and by the time we get toward the final in the second week of July, There really isn’t much going on. It’s just baseball, and kinda the dog days of baseball at that.

JZ: The Champions League final didn’t meet ratings expectations for FOX. Will ESPN do any better?

GW: ESPN is really pushing the World Cup more than ever before. I think they want to try and find out what happens when you “max out” the ratings. Plus, FOX got a little unlucky in that the marquee final would have been a Manchester United-Barcalona final, and that didn’t happen. And I don’t really know how much they promoted it. It was a pretty big step just to see it being shown on network TV.

JZ: Will this generate any excitement for soccer in the US, either for MLS or the Premiere League?

GW: We could see a surge in popularity for the English Premiere League. ESPN seems like they want to put more and more of that on their networks, and they also have the rights to the Spanish league. MLS is in an interesting spot; they really need to compete for TV viewers with these other leagues now.

JZ: Your book is about David Beckham, who was paid $250 million to come to America. Now, it seems that he can’t wait to go back to Europe. Was that transaction a win for MLS? Read the rest of this entry »