Mike Straka

Mike Straka (born 10 October 1969) is an American television host, author and journalist. He is the host of Fighting Words with Mike Straka on HDNet which features interviews with mixed martial arts athletes. He is also a regular contributor to FIGHT! Magazine, and has penned an MMA book based on interviews from his television show called "Fightng Words," from Triumph Books. He was a vice president and executive producer of FOX News Digital, and was a commentator on Hollywood and celebrity topics, as well as sports, for the cable net and on FOXNews.com. Straka created and was the executive producer of Strategy Room^[1] on FOXNews.com and was the host and executive producer of FOX Fight Game, a mixed martial arts features and news program. Straka also played the role of Young Minetta in the movie Analyze This and Johnny in the hit play Tony n' Tina's Wedding, and was a star in several television commercials in the 1990s.

Biography

Straka was born in Newark, New Jersey to a Hungarian father who worked for UPS and a Chilean mother who worked as a nurse's aide. He grew up in Barnegat Township, New Jersey and graduated from Monsignor Donovan High School, where he was a member of the wrestling team.^[2] He studied acting at Rutgers University and wrestled for The Scarlet Knights, and moved to New York City to begin his career, where he specialized in commercials, daytime soaps and the Off-Broadway play Tony N' Tina's Wedding while continuing his studies. He was picked up by CBS to work as a page, ushering audiences through the West 57th Street studios to see talk shows like Geraldo and Joan Rivers, and giving tours and answering phones throughout the building. After a year as a page, he was hired by CBS News Radio to be a desk assistant, where he chased news on the overnight shift, working in a newsroom that included journalists like Bill Lynch, Bill Whitney, Mitchell Kraus and esteemed news director Larry McCoy.

Straka moonlighted as an actor during this time, and studied with both Robert Neff Williams of the Juilliard School and Tony Greco of The Actor's Studio, and was represented by Don Buchwald and Associates for TV commercials, eventually booking spots for Healthy Choice Pasta Sauce, Target Stores, the Powerpuff Girls and Papa Gino's Pizza.

Straka joined Fox News Channel just prior to the network launch in 1996, and served as a tape operator, writer, associate producer, producer, and director of operations and special projects for FOXNews.com, and ended his career there in 2010 as Vice President and Executive Producer for FOX News Digital. Straka wore many hats at FNC, and contributed on-air as a regular features reporter on FOX Magazine, hosted by Laurie Dhue. Assignments included the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT, the 78th annual Academy Awards, Super Bowls, American Idol finales, and behind the scenes with The Rolling Stones, as well as various newsmaker and entertainment headliners. Mike also assisted in FNC's coverage of the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks at the World Trade Center as a field producer and reporter.

In 2001 Straka began covering Mixed Martial Arts, and created FOX Fight Game, an MMA news and entertainment digital program that was carried weekly on Foxnews.com, Hulu, Youtube, and Comcast VOD. Today, Straka is amongst the foremost Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) reporters in the mainstream media and has been credited by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as one of the first to give the sport of MMA balanced coverage among major journalists long before the sport gained in popularity.

Straka studies MMA in NJ with trainer Alex Tarrago and holds a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. During the course of his TKD training, he trained with Olympic gold medalist Herb Perez and Olympic team captain Kevin Padilla.

Publications

Mike has one book to date on mixed martial arts fighters and personalities, Fighting Words w/Mike Straka, from Triumph Sports. His first book, "GRRR! Celebs And Other Reasons Why We're All In Trouble, discusses celebrity obsessed culture and the phenomenon of "Oblivions" (people who so oblivious to their surroundings they are rude without knowing) -- ^[3]

References

1. ^ NYT
2. ^ Richani, Fred. "TSC Interviews: HDNet's Mike Straka", TheSportsCourier.com, September 25, 2010. Accessed July 17, 2011. "Q. Where did you grow up? A. I grew up in Barnegat, New Jersey. Q. Did you have a good childhood? A. I had a great childhood. Dad was a UPS man. Mom was a nurse's aid [sic]. I went [to] Monsignor Donovan High School in Toms River (home of UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar), where I wrestled."
3. ^ from his GRRR! Lexicon.

External links

• Chicago Sun Times Review of Fighting Words
• Bloody Elbow Review of Fighting Words
• Big Lead Sports Interview
• Vigilante MMA interview with Straka
• Straka interview on The Sports Courier
• Interview with Mike Straka on MMArecap
• Mike Straka bio on Fox News website
• Mike Straka bio on imdb.com
• NY Times article on Strategy Room
• Parcbench article on Strategy Room

Persondata
Name	Straka, Mike
Alternative names	Strakakhan
Short description	Broadcast journalist covering entertainment and mixed martial arts
Date of birth	October 10, 1969
Place of birth	Newark, NJ
Date of death
Place of death