DOUBLE COVERAGE PODCAST - Urijah Faber on Josh Hokit, Nate Diaz, UFC White House & Adin Ross Fight Offer

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

Urijah Faber talks about Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry, Josh Hokit’s UFC future, the UFC White House card, and breaks down the mindset, toughness, and experience needed to compete at the highest level of MMA. In this episode of Double Coverage, UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber opens up about Sacramento fight culture, Team Alpha Male, and how MMA evolved from fighting in small casinos into one of the biggest sports in the world. He explains why Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry is the “people’s main event,” shares behind-the-scenes stories about the Diaz brothers, and talks about why Nate Diaz turned down the Conor McGregor trilogy. Faber also shares his thoughts on Josh Hokit becoming a future UFC star, the rise of Real American Freestyle wrestling, and the impact of social media, streaming, and influencer boxing on combat sports. From Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah stories to Adin Ross offering him a fight, Urijah gives a raw, unfiltered perspective on fighting, business, legacy, and what separates champions from everyone else. This is one of Urijah Faber’s most honest conversations about MMA, wrestling, Nate Diaz, the UFC, and the future of combat sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up? Yeah, and Zach, you see where it's at. Come to me on the All of Famer, the Crosin' Get you a Sack. What's up, guys? Mystic Zach here.

Welcome back to episode 20 of double coverage. Today I'm joined by UFC All of Famer, the California Kid, Mr. Yariah Faber. What's up, brother? Thanks for having me. Thanks for hanging out. Thanks for letting me into your city,

my first time in Sacramento. Yeah, I mean, this is, we're right on the busy street. There's probably some. some funky folks walking around, but we'll take a look at the rest of Sacramento after this. Yeah, no, there was some potential, like, World Star moments out there. I was checking out the scene before we got here,

but I think we'll have more fun tonight. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we got to battle at the hive tonight, so this is the first ever combat program out of university, and they're going to have a bunch of colleges fighting each other. It's right up your alley. It is. We have Mike Tyson on.

and he's really fighting to get the youth into boxing and talked about, we talked about how much you gain out of, I know, because I was boxing as a kid, I mean, in terms of respect, confidence, everything, getting into combat. What can getting MMA has a potential chance for college scholarship do for kids? I mean, it's big, especially at the college level, there's never been anything like this. Luckily, President Luke Wood came in like hot,

with a passion for boxing, a passion for mixed martial arts. My gym, as you guys will see later, is like literally right across the street from the university. You can walk on campus. And he was like, you know, there's already a relationship here. There's people that are coming from all over the U.S., all over the world to Sacramento to be a part of my gym. And a couple of the students reached out to him. And he was like, bro, let's make a thing, a thing. And we instantly kind of clicked and threw this thing into fruition.

and it's been two years now. We got guys and girls that are traveling from all over the world, getting assistance with visas and getting help with school and like a real path to mixed martial arts. So it's been big, man. I mean, it's been literally something that is hopefully going to change the game, period. You, Shaq, Mike Vibby? Yeah, SACC state's no joke, man.

We're just like making headlines and, you know, getting some big names involved. and it's the first time for SAC State. Like, we need a little clout in the, in the sack area. It's like, we get no love, you know, and that's changing, so I'm pumped for that. No, me too. It's always been, like, a hotspot for MMA. Yeah.

Especially with you and what you do, Team Alpha Man, and then the Diaz brothers and Stockton, 209. Yeah, I just talked to Nate this morning. He was going to try to come join us, but he said he's jam-packed until the fight. It's a big fight. Yeah, it's a huge fight. I mean, Netflix getting into mixed martial arts team,

teaming up with MVP and Jake Paul. What do you think of that? Do you think they have a real shot at making an imprint in MMA? I mean, first off, absolutely, without getting in the details of why, just the answer is yes to anybody that believes in themselves. And they're doing the right recipe. They've got experts involved. They're taking talent that's super established and exciting.

The fights are going to be great. You've got the rousy Gina Carrano fight. and you got, you know, Nate, Nate representing. He looks huge, by the way. That's why I told him, I was like, man, he got his old man strength. Like, he's literally, like, filled out. He used to be so super skinny. I mean, I'm ashamed with that guy for years.

But these guys are, you know, they understand about getting attention. Promotion is all about getting attention, making sure that people are, you know, putting their eyes on it, willing to tune in, and they're going to, you know, start in the right direction with some big, money, some big players, and that's really what needs to happen, is a little competition. Yeah, I mean, you got Nate Diaz versus Mike Perry, which is the people's main event. Yeah.

I mean, you don't do better than that from entertainment, violence. You talk about BMF, those are two BMFs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Co-main event, the lineal heavyweight champ and Gondu, I mean, that's, he might, he's a potential someone whenever he gets in there. Yeah, yeah, he's a dangerous dude. And the main event, Rousey making a return, one of the biggest stars in history of the sport.

You got an action star in Gina Carrano. people have been wanting to see it back in there. Yeah. They did their thing. Gina, I mean, for those that don't know about Gina, she was a real pioneer in the female sport. Her and I were actually in a documentary on MSNBC that kicked off both of our careers, like way back,

like maybe 2006 or so, called Warrior Nation. And, you know, her dad was like an NFL quarterback. They own the Carano wineries and they have casinos out in Reno. She's got a very unique background to be an attractive female that decided to take this path for a career. So that history alongside rousing what she brings to the table. I mean, I'm excited for that fight, but like you said, the people's fight is the two bad ones. And they're going to be yelling at each other. They're going to be yelling at each other.

off, hopefully see some big knockdowns and a fight that's all over the place. I'm pumped for that. Yeah, Perry's favored. Is he? Yeah, he is. He's hitting love. You know, Perry's like, he's like, if you find your purpose in life, him and gritty, like, tough situations are like, is like his calling. He's, you know, even the fact he took out Luke Rockhold and bare knuckle, he became, like, the bare knuckle guy.

I wouldn't have thought that somebody could be made for that sport specifically because he was a pretty good MMA fighter and he's pretty good at everything else but that like speaks his, you know, speaks to his soul, the bare knuckle, you know, teeth getting knocked out and this and that. But Diaz is, he's very, very well-rounded, very savvy. He's unassuming because the way he fights is like, it's like an energy zapping style. It's like in your face.

It's going to be like touch. It's volume. It's never compounding energy. So he's never going to get like jump into a big shot. He's going to always roll with the punches. So I think I think Nate's going to be the favorite. Yeah. In my, I mean, this is the guy who spar with Andre Ward and is a legit Gracie black belt.

Yeah. And I mean, and he loves the fight. Yeah. I mean, Perry has that in his in his back pocket that he actually loves to get punched. into punch people like not everyone's I wasn't that guy I was like I'm gonna hit you you're not gonna hit me yeah you know and and he he'll like bite down and get after it and it's the same way so you know these guys both love to fight and they're both gonna bring a different element of competition here because they're both kind of like you know

make it personal in the moment so I'm excited for that fight but I think Nate I think Nate will get this one for sure. Me too. And Nate was like, said the UFC offered him the McGregor trilogy and he chose this. Yeah. Well, that's because of the money.

And that's what you have to do to compete. Like, I wish Nate was here today with us because we've had some hilarious conversations throughout the years. But my favorite conversation I ever had with Nate was about his comprehension of finances,

which was Zip Zero. him and his brother, like growing up. He's like, we lived with our mom. We never paid for anything. We just were just kids, you know. And he said he went on the Ultimate Fighter Show, and he won like $15,000. And he, we're sitting at the airport.

Like, we just happen to be there together. And so we're in the lounge just chilling, like, BSing. And he says, he goes, yeah, I'm looking at Dana. And Dana's like, you know, hey, congratulations, check for $15,000. And Nate's like, I'm rich. You know, he thinks he's rich. He has no idea what $15,000 is. So he's like, I'm going to get my mom a house.

I'm going to get my, I'm getting a car. I'm getting my mom a house. Yeah. And this and that. And he says his buddy owned a car dealership. And he like shows up to the dealership. And he's like looking around. And his dad's, his friend's like, what are you looking at?

He's like, I want that. And he points to like a badass car. And he's like, well, how much you work with? He's like, I got 15,000 bucks. And the guy was like, let me show you. here. And he quickly got like a reality check. I'm like, what the fuck going on?

And then he said, he said, I went to my brother. I said, man, we're dumb. We? That's what he said, bro. But these guys have leveled up their life skills. They've leveled up, you know, what money means to them. What's a lot? What's a little?

Just, you know, through the school of hard knocks and being in the business. So they're going to take the bigger payday. and for those guys the doors always open, you know. It's because they're real, you know. When he fought Jake, I was, like, Team Jake, and I was back there, and we have a friend, D-Cut. He likes to, like, rattle the other team, whatever, and he was trying that with the D.S. camp.

Yeah. I'll say, I hear screaming and yelling. I'm like, what is that? Like, it's D-Cut with the D-S brothers. Like, I'm not going out there. I just sat down away from the comeback. I'm good. I'm good.

After they fought, he's got some. He's not a rough crew. Yeah. They were like, I guess some of Jay says, his guys getting into it. I have like this friend. He's like a car dealer. He's not trying to fight anyone. One of them, Bear Nuckle, I was like, I'm gonna fuck go up.

He's like, ah, he started running. Yeah. I was with Zab, Judah. Nate comes up. He comes up. He's like, Zad, my favorite fighter ever, man. I love you. He was super cool.

But there's levels to the game of, you know, you know. Those guys are not, like, they described it well. Nick was like, like, school didn't work out. for him he's like like I was fighting all the time and they're like why don't you just you know not fight he's like well in where we're from you either fought or you're going to be the you're going to get picked on every single day yeah and I kept saying you know he didn't want to fight but it's like you got to stand up for yourselves and so they're they're they're good guys like like Nate's a family man he's you know their grandfather was the track coach at their their high school

um but they're in a rough place and they're not going to be you know No, definitely not. Don't accuse them of that. So it's, yeah, it's an interesting dynamic for sure. No, they're MMA royalty. So, I mean, getting to see him back is awesome. I saw Nick, he was like grappling with Tyson Fury in my. That was crazy.

Yeah, he was grappling with Tyson Fury in the ring. That's funny. He was super nice to everyone. What's up guys, Mystic Zach here, aka your host's double coverage, aka the biggest sports fan in the world. There's no company that lets you rep sports better than Fathead. They've got you.

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I support this product and I personally endorse their stuff because I love it. Did you say you were with Zab Judah? Yeah, I was. Dude, I had the best experience with Zab Judah. Zab Judah, I think, wrestled a little bit in high school and his dad's a kickboxer. Yes. Right? And so back when I first started fighting, I did, I was like 2005 or so, 2004.

I was in Vegas for like a long stint. and I was actually with my buddy who was dating a stripper and I went out there to stay with I was with Randy Couture and I brought my high school girlfriend at the time and we all shared a room with Randy. Randy had like nine people in his little double bed room in Mandalay Bay and Chuck Liddell fought Tito Ortiz

and so we started out with staying with Randy for the fight week which was cool and then my buddy wanted to stay with his girlfriend and her girlfriend and slowly our living conditions got worse and worse and we're hanging out with this next thing you know it's like five days in

and I hadn't like seen the light of day in a couple days I'm like what's the on so we're going to 24 hour fitness in the middle of the night and Zab Judah and Floyd Mayweather like were there at the same time as us

like 10 30 11 at night and they have a one-on-one basketball game and we're like in the locker room with Zab Zab was cool and Floyd's talking third person and it must have been a long time ago because he was saying i get three million dollars every time i lace them up and blah blah and then they had their whole cruise there and they had this one-on-one basketball game and i just happened to be there like midnight at 24-hour fitness

no one knew who i was because i was new in my career and and uh looking back i'm like man that was like some forest gum you know like that's crazy so that's crazy so i grew up with zab he's from brownsville like shannon yeah yeah my dad was super cool with him one time my dad dad's really fast for a white guy. Yeah. Running or running? Running. It's like a very good sprinter for a white guy. And, uh, dude. And Zab's like, I was going to say there's some fast white guys out there. Well, just, you know, I don't have to Judah. Yeah. Yeah. So Zab's like, you can't ever mess with me. My dad's like, all right, let me get a 10 yard head start. So they went and like, you know,

a little street, whatever. And they, boom. Zab blew by him. And I was like, holy, never seen someone run that fast. Yeah. That's funny. Zab's blazing. but I love Zab Yeah we went to the Jake fight Taylor I love Zab and Floyd's always been super cool too Yeah he was cool he was always cool to me I ran and that's how he talks Yeah yeah he's in third person

He's hyping himself up Well what was happening was that it was at the same time As the national wrestling tournament So there was like Floyd's pretty ripped But he's not ripped like the world class wrestlers that are cutting weight Like professionally cutting weight So we're in there with all these ripped dudes

and he was like sizing everyone up and he was saying i'm i'm hubbed up like a like a wrestler two differences i get three million dollars when i strap them up so he was like you know talking himself up but also a little intimidated probably and uh yeah it was it was it was a freaking hilarious hilarious interaction that i'll never forget and i met him in another time and he was you know his his uncles like to watch me fight because i had the cornrows and whatnot so he said something about that yeah he's i saw avoiding the heat time and he was you know he's his Boy in the heat tunnel like a few years ago. He was like, I'm the best ever.

No one to ever with me. And it was like, we're just all chilling. I'm like, you're good. We believe you. 50 and O, we get it. Oh, he was going on and on. I was like, okay, all right. A.B. was there.

Oh, Jesus. It's a crazy crew. But that's funny. Both those guys. It's crazy. So are you going to go to the MVP fights? I'm going. Are you going?

I haven't got tickets yet. I haven't thought about it yet. When is it? It's coming Saturday. It's May 16th. Oh, no. It's soon. I'm marrying my brother. My brother's getting married.

Oh, congrats. Yeah, thanks. Yeah. But I'm going tonight. You coming tonight, too? I'm coming tonight. Yeah, maybe I'll bring Zab next week. Yeah, oh, I'd love to see Zab.

Yeah, I'll face time after. Yeah, that'd be cool, man. Literally, he was such a humble dude back in the day. And was he an Olympic? Was he an Olympic boxer, too? I don't know if he box. A six-time world champion. Yeah.

And he just talked about how he and Floyd were friends, and they still fought. Yeah. And these boxers. today like Shakur and Kichan Day was like oh we're friends we're never going to fight he's like oh that's not real boxing man we were friends but I thought I was the best he thought he was the best and we got it on yeah yeah yeah that's right that's the way it should be yeah yeah you've had some experiences like that yeah a couple I fought a lot I fight quite a few of my friends mostly no I fought him as as I've been friends I fought a guy Scotty jorgensen it was a really good

friend of mine Eddie wineland I fought uh you know Brian Bowles and Charlie Valencia uh uh all really good friends of mine. He's with Dom now, you know? Yeah. We always had kind of a... Frememone. Yeah, a frenemite relationship. We had some weird interactions at times, but...

He's the fight. We're talking about Rampage, killing it with streaming. Dom's killing it with podcasts. Yeah, he's doing well. Yeah, it was his first guest, which was like... He kept hounding me, and he was like, bro, it's just fitting you're the first guest, and we had a great podcast, and it was... You know, who else was there at the same time?

Travis Barker. was there at the same time and Travis and Dom and I and Dom and I have history from way back in the day because Travis sponsored me first and then I was going to do my own thing and then uh and they started sponsored Dom and this is back at like I don't know is my space or what the social media was at that time of me and Dom were talking back and forth and Travis chimed in I'm like this is so funny like 20 years later or whatnot you know doing the uh doing the podcast and we're all in the same room. It was fun reliving that.

What a trio. Yeah. Yeah, 18, 20 years later. Yeah, it was nuts. Yeah, we were talking about where we started, the history of MMA promotions and kind of the minutia of that. Talking about WEC, now that was the premier organization for the lighter way classes. Yeah, so the way it works.

And for those that don't know the history of our sport, I think it wasn't until around 2005 or so where mixed martial arts was even legal in the state of California. Before then, and that's why Dana have such a great relationship. Donald was one of the first guys that was letting Dana have UFC shows in big venues in states where it was legal. But there was a lot of places, states that weren't okay with mixed martial arts and took a lot of politics and everything else.

So Dana and Lorenzo bought the UFC, I think around 2000, maybe 2004 or so. They did the ultimate fighter around that time, 2005. But before then, it was pride in Japan. And, you know, it was like three events a year for the UFC. And since then, the UFC has, like, you know, dominated the space. They got a billionaire family that are business savvy that have a passion for mixed martial arts, a guy like Dana White that's, you know, all in on the sport and knows business, is street savvy.

but there's been a lot of different organizations, and the WC was one that UFC bought early on. So I was at a time where they didn't have my weight class in the UFC. The lightest weight class was 170 pounds. So if I wanted to fight, I was fighting on Indian Reservations, King of the Cage, Gladiary Challenge, TKO. I was doing one-off fights wherever I could and just trying to claim that I was the best lightweight fighter on the planet.

one of the organizations I fought for was the WC and I fought for them at the Tachi Palace out in Northern California and that's the only place they have it it was on it was on HDTV which was Mark Cuban Station so Cuban was early in on the MMA sport

and so the WC was bought by Zufai the UFC and that's anybody that saw me on TV with the with the WC was under the UFC. So they had two opportunities to, to, you know, employ fighters.

They had two sets of sponsors for drinks, two sets of TV deals. They employed, you know, all the lightweight fighters, 125s, 1.35s, 1.45s, 1.45s, 1.45s. And at first, they had a couple other weight classes like Chale Sonin was originally the champion and the WC, and they eventually took away all the common weight classes and just had the WC

as the lightweights until they merged in 2011. So all the fights that happened on TV was the UFC running the WC as the lightweight division. Yeah, like people, there's a short list of incredible fighters who never got to be UFC champions. Yeah. And your name's always like one of the first ones part up, Chale as well. Yeah. And Chelle's talking about like, when I beat Palo Filo, I was the best. in the planet.

Yeah. It just wasn't the UFC championship, you know? And obviously, we know Hendo, got knocked out Fador. I mean, it was a middleweight, so obviously. Dude, Hendo's the best, man. I love freaking Hendo. And an Olympic wrestler.

Yeah, Olympic guy, Olympic wrestler that never wrestled. That never wrestled and just had FU power, the Hendo bomb, like, oh my God. Yeah, so the WC before we actually merged with the UFC officially was actually the UFC still. So Demetrius Johnson's Dominic Cruz, Jose Aldo, Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis, Cowboy Soroni. You know, the list goes on of all the fighters that were the WC kind of royalty that eventually came over. And I had four attempts at the UFC title, but I didn't get into the UFC.

They didn't merge until I was in my early 30s. Yeah. So in my early 30s is finally when I was able to get into the, to the, to the UFC name, and they just first took the WC name off of Jose Aldo versus Jariah Faber as a pay-per-view. It was the first WC pay-per-view. And then the next fight was Eddie, was it? I forget, Eddie, Eddie guy I fought for the first fight in the 135 pounds was in the UFC in New Jersey. And then Dominic and I fought for the first 135-pound title, which was a rematch.

So I beat him at 145 pounds. He went down and won the 35-pound belt. And then we had the first title fight for the 135-pound division in the UFC, even though we'd already fought in the WC. Even though you'd already fought for a title in the WEC. Yeah. So it's almost like a technicality at that point. Yeah, it's a technicality.

But it doesn't matter because people don't know what the FI'm talking. Yeah. And for me, I just can hang my hat on, you know, I'm a professional fighter that was the best in the world, period. And I, and I'm proud of all the attempts that I took for, for years and years and years at being the very best. I was in the top, top two for 11 years of my division, which was awesome. You fought Peter Yan your last fight. Yeah, 40. You were crazy. That's so big. I mean, he's the champ now for a reason. Like, yeah. It's funny. When I met, when I met, when I, when I met, when I, I met Peter Jan, I was cornering in Singapore, I think, somewhere in China, and we like walk past each other and he stopped me and he's like, oh, he was like a fan and wanted to take a picture. He told me a story, how he was supposed to come train with us, but it didn't work out. And this and that. When I met him, I was still, I think I was 37 at the time.

I still had that like, and I was already retired. I had that like, when you meet another like guy that you want to. to test like I just wanted to test him I could tell he wanted to test me like I'm like that still like somebody comes in my gym um like I'm I'm I'm I'm grappling him I'm putting hands we're gonna we're gonna see like where he's at even though I'm much older now and I when I first met him I was like I want to fight this guy you know you're crazy bro it didn't happen until three years later yeah but like it's just like an animal thing I don't know like it just a alpha thing I guess and I wish I would have fought him when I was 26 because I was 40 and he was 26. I was doing pretty well, but I got too

relaxed and caught me once and then he caught me twice. I mean, he's tough to fight if you're 26. 40 is like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I fought and I came out of retirement just prior to that. Simone. Yeah, Ricky Simone. That was like coming out of retirement because I was just bored. Was that your favorite moment in your career? That wasn't my favorite moment, my career because it didn't, it didn't mean as much to me. I was purely doing that for fun. Like, when I retired, I did one real estate transaction that made more money for me than than my whole career fighting.

And so I was able just to fight because I wanted to fight and I just felt like, you know, like it was something I just was bored and I wanted to do it and I was excited to do it. And that's the same reason I retired. So it wasn't my greatest moment, but it was one of them. And I think most of my big moments were fights that were in California for sure or in my hometown. And so I fought a lot of fights. I fought Jen's Pulver. That was a great one.

I fought Hafeel Sunsao. I fought Jose Aldo. I fought Mike Brown where I broke my hands and dislocated my thumb. And, you know, I fought Michael McDonald on Fox. That was a big one. Those are all in Sacramento. You know, those are my most exciting fights. The Ricky Simone fight was another one in Sacramento, so that's up there.

The pop was so loud. Yeah, it was crazy. Like when it hit California Love, it went ballistic. And when you finish him, it was like even louder. Yeah, yeah, that was crazy. I had a lot of great fan moments. That's what I would say, like, as a retired athlete, those moments are the things that you kind of miss, you know. like the actual moments where you're like like you're a star at that time you know and like rock

stars they're doing that shit all the time but for for fighters i did it 46 fights and most of them were on a smaller you know smaller scale i had not most of them the the the beginning of them were like at indian casinos where like people could spill beer on you yeah while you're fighting a few of those yeah so those are those are the greatest man but uh yeah those moments pretty epic. Yeah, that was a good one. It's addicting, right? It is addicting, yeah. It's addictive. There's a lot of things addicting about our sport.

And I'm still in it. You're still a crazy SOB. Because you're taking the toughest guys in R.A.M. You're going against a limbical medalist. You're getting guys way bigger and younger than you. And then he's when Armin slammed you off the stage, I was pissed. You know, I'm a bigger fan of you. I mean, I like Army's current, but I'd still like to stick up for the OGs.

And you were like, ah, it's part of it. Yeah, that's all good, man. You didn't care. We're tough guys. I honestly, you know, that was definitely foul play, and it is what it is. But I didn't think anything other than like just boys being boys, you know. We were mad for you. We're rolling off the, we're rolling off the mat onto the cement, like happened before.

You know, it's like, you know, chose a tough life. You wake up sore the next day? He fixed my back. I wasn't joking. I posted a video. And for these wrestling matches, first off, R.A.F. Those that don't know R.A.F. It's real American freestyle. And it's the most successful attempt thus far to make conventional Olympic-style wrestling mainstream.

And they're doing an amazing job. My buddy Chad and Izzy Martinez and Lance Palmer, you know, the guy's kind of pushing this thing. Chad Bronstein. And so I'm game to grow the sport. I'm game to participate. I love a challenge. I mean, odds big time stacked against me. I'll be 47 next month.

And I'm going against Henry Suhudo, who's 10 years younger and the first ever Olympic champion and just retired fighting world championship level fights. But it's frigging wrestling, man. I can wrestle six minutes in my sleep. I'm good at wrestling. I've gotten better at wrestling. and it's for the sport and you're getting paid.

So, you know, I love what Real American Freestyle is all about. And I'm like, yeah, let's do it, you know. Let's throw caution in the win. Armand's two eight classes above me, the current number one contender, 20 years younger than I am, and I'm all, yeah, let's roll. And honestly, the first takedown, I'm not used to wearing shoes, so I slipped and put them up by eight, otherwise it would have been a much better match, much closer match.

Can you get you got your age, though? Yeah, I'm not, I'm young. That's right here, man. It's like they're setting you up every time. Yeah. No, we need to get a, yeah. Maybe an influencer or something. Like, I, let's just get.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I told Chad, I had originally an opponent that was 25 pounds lighter than Armand. And so I had agreed to him and they announced that match. And then I get a call. I went to, I was doing some business stuff out in Georgia, like a two-day trip. I'm at a layover in Arizona, and my phone starts getting blown up from Chad, Bronstein, and then Lance, and they're like, hey, man, would you go against Armand? He needs an opponent.

I was like, bro, he's two-eight classes above me. Yeah, yeah, but you can do it. And I'm like, this and that. And I said, you know, then we start negotiating. And I'm like, all right, let's talk about it. Yeah. No, hang up, call back, this and that. then we decided yeah let's do it yeah i know it was yeah no i love raf and what they do and it's you're

right it is the best attempt thus far yeah well and and for for wrestling um there's no real there's no real pathway to a career as a professional um never has been they've tried it a couple times failed miserably even with real money behind it and real like you know some some real prowess when it comes to people that know how to promote but this is different it has a different feeling it's a different time they're doing the right mix of of you know social media influencers high level world class wrestlers which has its own um puts a spotlight on them yeah it does but it also it's its own subculture like wrestling has a very very strong cult like following um a lot of participants and right now the wrestlers

follow their favorite wrestler into mixed martial arts if they decide they want to go and be fighters but not all wrestlers want to go that route of getting punched in the face and everything else. That's been the only option is like go coach college wrestling or be a fighter. That's it.

Yeah. Yeah. And so now you've got Chad Bronstein's a great business guy and loves a sport of wrestling. Izzy Martinez that don't know, the guys that don't know Izzy, um,

Izzy is like, uh, he's like, larger-than-life character in the wrestling world. He coached, you know, some of the best fighters on the planet, like John Jones and all the guys out in Chicago and New Mexico. And he's like, doesn't take a real colorful dude. A lot like Dana White, Chad Bronson, a lot like the Fortita brothers.

So they're doing a right mix of taking the social media prowess, the established wrestling. community, the UFC stars that have been built that have this wrestling background that love the sport and want to give back like me. And then they're paying real money. I mean, and it's six-minute matches. They're doing these fan experiences. The guys that are running the events ran the W.W.E type of stuff in the past, like as far as production goes, they're doing like spotlights in the in the crowd for like fans to engage. and it's like a real experience for these young wrestlers

and now they can go up there and be like, I can someday be on the big stage. Like that's what needs to happen. It's not even a year old, so I'm excited for a real American freestyle. I promise my guy to ask you about this. I don't know if you've seen Aidan Ross's brander's promotions. They stream it on kick.

They get like 500,000 viewers. So they're doing it at the apex. May 23rd. Dana White's promoting it. Oh, is he? Yes. Dana's like in the mixed because he's, The main event fighter is like his friend of me, this guy, Bob Menry.

Oh, yeah, I know Bob. That's his boy. But they're all, so I told Bob. He does the commentary. Yeah, so I was with him yesterday. He's doing an MMA match against Johnny Mansell. Oh, wow. What are your thoughts on that?

Bob's getting some training in. He's getting there, but he's 37. And he said he's got a street fighter mentality. I talked to Bob not too long ago at, I think one of the slap events. Yeah. And he was like, came up and like, like, we knew each other and we were talking. Then I figured out I follow him and everything else. But who's he fighting?

Johnny Mansell. Heisman trophy winner. Heisman trophy winner. Yeah. NFL quarterback. Yeah. He's got the size and the athleticism. Yeah.

Hey. Bob made it happen. You only live once, man. So Bob's been talking about it. Dana bet 10,000 he won't show up. I think he'll show up. I think I'll show up. But there's a big size difference.

There's a big size difference. They're doing an MMA fight. It's MMA. Yeah. My money's on the... Bob's is a wrestler. Is he wrestled? He said he wrestled in high school at 106 pounds.

Well, I have to look deeper into what that means exactly if he's a legit... I don't know either. So I don't know either. I love Bob. I was with him in my training. I was like, I'm going to get his thoughts. Yeah. So Aiden just hit me up like a couple days ago.

And then he's like, I said, hey, didn't we meet in like the middle of the night at the same hotel in the lobby? Or no, in the hotel room and the Red Rock. And he was just walking like stumbling with a stack of cash and we exchanged numbers, I thought. And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. And then I don't think they're paying enough for me. That kind of, I would do it if it was like real money. But for me, it's not real money. To fight or commentate?

Oh, to fight. Okay. I thought they wanted you to commentate it. Oh, no, he wanted me to fight. Oh, wow. He wanted me to fight Anderson Silva's son or something like that? Oh, Gabe Silva? Yeah, Gabe Silva.

Yeah, an MMA or boxing? I don't even know. We didn't get that far. I said, what kind of money you guys talking about? And then it died there. Yeah, no, I get it. I thought you're going to say, like, commentary or something. Oh, I didn't know if he wanted me to commentate.

And then he hooked me up with somebody else who talked to me about, like, you know, who would be a good match. I said, bro, I'm not boxing anybody unless it's real money. Yeah, of course. You know, wrestling is different. Wrestling, I've been wrestling for 31 years and I'm, you know, it's two-minute rounds or 30 minutes, you know, it's different. But I'm not going to, I mean, I'll box, but for real money, you know. Yeah, of course. So that, that is, did Aden tell you to ask me that?

No, no. I just told Bob I was going to be with you and I just wanted to. Oh, okay. I wanted to get the clip. No, I haven't spoken to Aiden. I don't, I'm cool in neon stuff. We did those streams. Maybe we can do a stream with you.

Yeah. You know, hit the gym, grapple with the robot. Yeah, yeah. We'll get you on the robot. Yeah, the robot might kick neon's ass. Yeah, yeah. He'll probably hurt himself. He might hurt himself for sure.

He looks like he might have a rare ability to hurt himself doing anything. Yeah, he has a knack for it. He's got a couple diseases and afflictions that affect him. I don't want to deep dive into that. There's going to be more, the more famous he gets. They're going to keep creating. Yeah, the robot might submit him in the first. That is too funny.

We'll play some B-roll of the robot. You were showing me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's legit. I've never seen anything like that, so that's... Yeah, my partner, Sam, who will be there, he's a crazy genius. We've had another business together years ago called Optical Panacea.

We were doing these really cool, like, art photography pictures with, like, Chale and Anderson and Vanderlay and BJ and, you know, all sorts of... high level world champions and then um he's just a creative dude got in his jitzu he gets obsessed with stuff and then he's been building this thing for like seven eight years and it's it's next level it's been uh it's been taken off and you know we're just about to launch the kids version which is great we get neon one of the kids version yeah that might more speed yeah that's a tough fight yeah yeah that's a pick um yeah yeah it's a pick um yeah it's go either way. But, um, no, yeah, that, it's, it's, it's pretty sweet. And then, uh, I was going to ask you, man, what do you think is? Because I'm not on the cutting edge of what I was happening. It seems like

there's always this, this Twitch stuff. It's like, you know, it went from like Facebook to my space to what is the vine to Twitter to, you know, it's just, it's constantly going. What do you think is the next phase of things? You know, who's going to be making the most money in what, what, what Is it still going to be Instagram, YouTube? What's happened in that whole world, the content creation world? I think we've moved from the short form stuff to now the long form. Okay. Like I think it's kind of doing a reverse.

Like people's attention spans are so short. So if you can get someone to really tune into you for 30 plus minutes, I think you're, that's what brands want. Yeah. You know, that's the long form winning content. So I would say stuff like this. Yeah, YouTube. It's going to be able to get. Yeah.

YouTube is king. YouTube is king. Yeah. Facebook is starting to do. Reels and stuff too now. Facebook is growing and they've got like they've got some smart people behind it and Yeah. They might end up doing a creator program to incentivize people to post more.

You can make a lot of money on Snapchat. Really? Yeah, a lot of money. I was, uh, forced to get off Snapchat a long time ago, right? When I was having kids. Oh. Yeah. Just like get off there.

I was like, all right. I can happen to anyone. Yeah. Yeah. I'm off. The streamers. Say no more. There's different strategies.

Some guys just want to be seen. much as possible so they pay people to clip their stuff. Yeah. So they pay them a certain amount for the views that they get clipping their face. Huh. How does Twitch work? So that's where you get the content from. So people watch you doing stuff live.

Let's say we're streaming this. And then I would pay people to take clips of this and post them on TikTok or X or Instagram or YouTube. Huh. It's a crazy of the world. I mean, AI is changing everything. Social media is changing everything. smartphones. Before we go, we got to talk about UFC

White House. This is the talk of the town. I just had a buddy call me. He's never watched a fight. He's like, are you taking me to the White House card? Like, not how that works. But this is a stack card. We just saw the press conference. Josh Hokie, Alex Pereira, Ilya, they're barbing

back and forth. Sean O'Malley, too, right? Sean O'Malley, who's like, one of the biggest stars in the sport. He's just chilling. He's like the calm one. Yeah, that's crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy. Justin Gachie is like a killer compared to these guys. Yeah, yeah. Off the chain, though, in front of the, though.

I mean, could you ever imagine something like this happening in the sport when you were first starting out? It's pretty crazy how tied in mixed martial arts is to world. Which makes sense. Like, you go over to Russia. It's like everything's a gang. Like, there's the boxers that wrestlers are. You know what I mean?

It's like your crew, you know? So that's kind of been like that in other countries and whatnot. but now mixed martial arts is like a prominent piece of like the the you know landscape which is crazy and really cool and it puts things in perspective like how close everything is but um yeah I would never have thought that it'd be at this state right now and I'm pumped for it and I think that congrats to Dana and the crew for putting this together and and Trump's crazy he'll do any I mean, he's just, like, does whatever he wants. He's one of the boys.

Yeah, he's like, he's like, yeah, fights outside at my work. Yeah, let's have fights at work. He's walking him out. Doing his thing. Oh, my gosh, man. It's crazy, bro. I mean, it is wild. And, yeah, I'm pumped for it, man.

Anything to keep blowing the shit. I'm excited for all the guys on the card. Big fan of everyone that's fighting. and yeah, I'm not sure. I don't think I'm going. I don't think I have anyone on the card. I tend to, like, if I've got someone I'm cornering, I'm going to fights, other than that, I want to chill.

I've got two kids and they don't want to kick it. But I do have my guys, Song Yadong and Sumajari that are fighting in Macau at the end of this month. Songs the main event. Songs of Savage. Yeah, he's fighting. Who's he fighting?

He's fighting. Davidson Figuero. Figgy. So they're the main event. Yeah, he may be over at the gym when we go over there. But, yeah, it's been fun. I've got my event, the A1 combat fights. Yeah, so it's your promotion, right?

That's my promotion. We actually, we're also running the SAC State Battle at the Hive tonight. We're doing that. So, you know, we're holding a bunch of events. We're like the promotion in California, trying to find top talent, sending, you know, future stars to the UFC. We've been, you know, feeding the guys. We're on UFC fightbass, so that's been pretty fun.

That's dope. Yeah. Can I ask you about this guy. We want him on the podcast. Josh Hokit. Oh, yeah. He was at UFC Miami. I just was watching the clips as you walked in.

What do you think of this guy? Because he's kind of an enigma. Dude, he's great. He's awesome. I mean, he was a high level. I think he wrestled. At Fresno State. Yeah, at Fresno State.

Played in the NFL. Played in the NFL. Personality. over the moon and and uh and he's a dog we saw that last fight dude can fight man he's knocks knocks him down you know gets back up you know he's he's a he's a real fighter so um he's gonna be a big star man he's got like you know the wwee kind of or about him and but then he can back it up so i'm excited for him i'm a fan for sure dude he's like light heavyweight size too yeah he's not big at all and he's going right at curtis blaze he's in like oh

Yeah, he's a beast. Yeah. And he's, you know, he's not afraid to speak up. Not quite as outspoken as Strickland. He's not quite. Who is? Yeah, Strickland's on his own level. But, no, he's going to be a star, man.

Yeah. If they can get him to the belt, that's going to be a lot of money for the UFC and for that, dude. They said, Hunter Campbell. This is my new favorite fighter. Yeah, yeah, I believe that. Yeah. Yeah, they're about the same size, too, I think. Yeah, they're about the same size.

They can go at it. Yeah. Maybe an AI. They asked him if you wanted to fight Derek Lewis on the White House card while they were stretching him in. Yeah. Dude. There aren't guys like that anymore.

You know, there's a few. Armand's one of them, too. Yeah, yeah. It's like anyone, anytime, any place. I don't care. Yeah, yeah. Pull up. That's it.

Yeah. Yeah, Armand, what's up with Armand? He's the going to have him? So he's the backup. Oh, he's the backup on the card. He is. Yeah. Okay.

But still, like, it's... I mean, he's one of the best in the sport, and he's been dominating for years and years and years. Yeah. You'd like to see him get a shot. I think he's doing the right thing. He's been... I mean, he's been strategic,

hired the right people, done his part, stayed relevant. He's got a nice little... little schlick that's his thing, you know? Yeah. He's the king of wasting food and... Renting people's cars and stuff. Yeah, no, he's very rich.

We understand that. How did he feel grappling him? Was he? He's tough. And he's strong. I'm, uh, you know, I'm not quite as agile as I used to be, but I'm strong as shit too. So I didn't feel like outpowered by the guy. But, um, you know, he's young and agile.

And he's been, you know, taking wrestling serious. Uh, he was, he was tough. Yeah, it felt good. And I think he, like I said, the first take down, I'm not used to wearing those shoes. I hate wearing shoes. I pretty much like to be barefooted all times. So I slipped on my first takedown, which was anti-climatic, and then he scored a bunch of points.

And then I think, you know, at that point, we had some moments that, you know, that made it last a little longer. But he's good, man. He's exciting. He's smart. Understands what he's doing. He's doing the right things.

I think he'll be a champion. Yeah, absolutely. And the UFC now, that he's gone and made a name for himself, the UFC's on board. He did his part. Yeah, no, because we knew he had the skills, but now he's got the name to back it up.

Yeah. That's the California kid. Your eye of favor. Thank you for watching double coverage.