MMA Fighting - #468 – Daniel Cormier, Israel Adesanya, Aljamain Sterling

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

On this episode of The MMA Hour, Luke Thomas speaks to UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier about the lobbying efforts of Stipe Miocic to get a rematch, Cain Velasquez’s return, Ryan Bader becoming champ-champ in Bellator, more; Israel Adesanya about his win over Anderson Silva at UFC 234, comments made about him by Paulo Costa and Chris Weidman, his plans for 2019, more; Aljamain Sterling about his upcoming bout against Jimmie Rivera at UFC on ESPN 1, bantamweight title picture, more. We also take your questions on the latest news in MMA on Sound Off and A Round of Tweets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Monday, February 11th, 2019, and this is the MMA Hour. Welcome, everyone. My name is Luke Thomas, I'm the host of this program. Thank you so much for joining me. It is a star-studded edition of the show today. The winner of the UFC 234 main event, Israel Adasanya, will be here. Following that, it's just the UFC heavyweight champion of the world, Daniel Cormier.

He will be here. Plus, the guy who is on the main event, of the prelims for UFC on ESPN1 this coming week. Al Jermaine Sterling, the Funkmaster's going to be here. Plus, you're going to be here when you're my guest for the soundoff. We take your calls, as always, 844-866-2468, and we'll get to your tweets as well using the hashtag the MMA Hour. I'm told that there was a bunch of both of those this week.

Plus, we'll do the Monday morning analyst. As a note, we have made a change before you guys. I've mentioned this last week. I'll repeat it again. the Monday morning analyst, that is going to be a YouTube exclusive. So if you are listening on the podcast, we cut that out. You can just get it exclusively online. I wanted to make sure you had a seamless audio experience.

I had a nice conversation with Adasanya. I asked him about the comments from Chris Wyden and Paulo Bohasheen-Yacosta. I asked him, are you going to fight Kelvin Gastelam or what's going to happen with that? I asked him about the paper viewpoints that he had brought up. I asked him a lot of things. Here is my discussion with him. All right, I am joined now by the gentleman who was victorious in the UFC 234 main event, Israel, Adasanya, Israel.

Thank you for joining me. I appreciate it. Easy ass. What's up, Luke? All right, man, let's get into it here a little bit. I went back and I watched everything you had to say after the fight, and you actually hadn't even showered at that point. And you told everybody, let me shower, let me download this information.

You want to know how it felt? Your answer was, it felt cool. All right. You had a moment to shower, presumably. You had a moment to download it, at least the last. little bit. And I'm assuming you might have even going back and watch the tape. Now this far out from the fight, how do you feel about how it went? Still cool. Still very cool. Still kind of surreal a little bit. Because when I was watching it

myself, there was certain moments I was like, just for me, they're like special moments for me because they were shit that I kind of like already knew and I've seen before many times happened with other silver's opponents and I never fell victim to. So, yeah, I watched a fight. I wasn't sure about the second round at first because in the second run his only success in that fight was in the second round when he jabbed me. It was like two jabs in a row.

So he jabbed me, then I was like, oh shit. And even before I could like, fuck, he just jabbed me and I, boom, another one just hit me. And I was like, fuck. And then I was blinding one eye and I was on the fence and he knew it and he was trying to close in. Like the way how I handled that,

that was really cool for me. you know, how a lot of people would have just, you know, their mind plays tricks on them and they're like, oh, fuck, and then they, you know, turn their back or whatever, and they fuck them up. Yeah, that was the only problem. Aversity I had in that fight where I felt like, oh, fuck. But, yeah, apart from that, I watched the fight again. I was fast.

I was quick. My timing was on. I was able to flow. And I didn't hesitate too much. So, yeah, I'm happy with the opponents. and, man, I wish I'd just throw more leg kicks because the shit he does, man, even my coach knows. He hides how he's hurt.

He hides it, you know, with, I went out, when I chucked his leg that one time and he squatted down, that buckled him. And I've done this before, but he tried to hide it with that, like, taunt. But, yeah, he's crafty. He's a veteran, and it was cool to share the cage with him and just have fun. I think we both had fun last night.

Do you look at the numbers of your fights at all? You ever check fight metric to see what those tell you? Is that at all a priority for you? That's not a priority, but it's good to look at. It's interesting to look at. Last I heard was 21 leg kicks at the end of the fight. I think John Hanna could dumb crews alluded to that. But yeah, why, what's up?

What does it say? So the second round was pretty competitive. You both actually landed the same number of strikes. Now that doesn't mean the strikes themselves were equal, but for what it's worth numerically, they were the same. so that's going to be a little bit difficult to parse. But what stood out to me was the first and the third round. Not only were you just way ahead of him,

but if you look at his overall average in the fight, is significantly below what he normally throws, significantly below what he normally lands. And I'm wondering, was a part of the game plan to just outwork him so to the point where he was offensively muted a little bit? Not outwork him, but scramble him. outscramble him in the head, outscramble his brain, make him unsure about what we're doing. So definitely, I said it before, he's never fought a striker like me, he's never fought a guy like me,

everyone else he fights or stands in, look stupid. So I was able to get my footwork right. I was able to get my timing right. I was able to, yeah, I was able to outmaneuver him. I was able to be a step ahead in certain situations. And there was certain strikes even that literally just, by the wickers and you know it was cool to succeed but like in real time it looked like they were hitting you know but like they just whizzing past and he was he's still with it man he's quick my

setups were some of them work but not all them worked these one kick i wish i threw in hindsight which one is one i can't tell you i can't tell you it's a change up it's a change up type kick you know one of my changes is my question mark can't because it looks like it's going to the body and stuff, but he was already ready for that. So there's one other one I had in my arsenal that stuff was going down the side or going up the middle.

And I was like, fuck, that would have been perfect. So, yeah, hindsight's a powerful thing, but, yeah, it was just cool just to watch that fight and really, I'm going to watch it again and again and again. This fight I'll probably watch more than the rest of my fights in the UFC. I feel like, oh. Yeah. Excuse me

I really I really want to just Watch that fight Because every time I watch I've watched it twice now And every time I watch it I've taken something away from it For myself

Silver and from just the whole Spectacle itself There was some of the narrative After the fight And at first when I watched it in real time I was like yeah it was more competitive Than I thought it was And again I think the second round

It was pretty competitive For another reason Then numerically the strikes aligned in that way But the first and third rounds Were not competitive If I asked you if you thought it was competitive, what would you say? Competitive to the point that he brought it, yes, but not competitive in the point that he was matching me. The only time he was able to match me was the second round.

That was because he landed a nice jab, you know, good on him, credit to him. He landed that nice jab and it flicked it again straight away. It was well-timed. And the second to follow-up jab was well-timed at all. And he was like, oh, shit, I got to get this guy now. So he started to put the pressure on and put the sauce on. And he brought that energy. I felt that energy.

And I was like, man, this is how a lot of people can wilt under him. They don't know what to do. And, you know, even when he put his hands down, he was kind of like, he was expecting me to throw. It was so tempting. I was like, this is how a lot of guys get caught in his genjutsu. He puts his hands down and says hit my face. And I was so tempted. But I like, nah, fuck you.

the second time he did it in the third round I was like stop doing that I just said that I was like stop doing that because I was like man if my dog's thinking like if I fucking land something crazy or you're going to sleep but you know

he can hit the flow state as well we're both flowing well last night and it's cool I'm still like yeah it's crazy that happened for me let me let me ask you something this might be my

American ignorance I've not traveled to Australia I've been around the world, but I've never been to Australia. I was surprised they were chanting Silva's name. Now, I understand it on one level with the Australian crowd. Silva's a legend. He's, you know, one of the greatest of all time, if not the greatest. I get that they would rally behind him. But I thought, again, forget my ignorance.

You know, you're the reasonably hometown guy, the Kiwi. Were you surprised by that? It didn't bother me. I'm not surprised because, guess what? They want to see me lose. They want to see me fall. But like Rousey did was to Holly Home in Melbourne, the Ette Haas Stadium. So, you know, this is just another one of those things.

And, you know, I think I heard it in the third round. I was like, like, Silva, clap, like, clap, blah, clap. And I was, all, whatever. Just don't let it even, it doesn't faze me at all. Never, ever any interest in my mind. But it was, yeah, it was just normal. At the end of the fight when I was on the mic, they were going, I found out now they weren't booing me.

They were going, what's his name, Kelvin Gasoline? because he was on the big screen. But I didn't see that. When I was on the mic and I was talking and I just started hearing boo, I'm like, don't shut the fuck up. Like a lot of guys, blah, come on, why are you guys booed? I don't need anyone's approval.

I tell him to shut the fuck up. Tell them where to go. And I was like, whatever, fuck out of here. I just, I didn't even care. I was like, so for me, I was like, it was confusing. I was like, did I do something wrong? Well, I don't really care.

It's just, it is what it is. You know, this could have been in Brazil and they'll do, ooh, vamo. Hey, whoo, um, here and wouldn't even make a difference. So, yeah, silver's a big, big, big, big, lame, you know, worldwide. And this is the first time he's actually fought outside of, you know,

the North America and Brazil in a long time or ever. So for people who are big fans of MMA, a lot of them are big fans of MMA because of silver. And, you know, yeah, it's worldwide. He's affected a lot of people worldwide. And he's got a big support over here. And yeah, I do my support crew. It's me and my cornermen and my people that came to watch me.

Now, you can well imagine you get a big win like that on a big pay-per-view, and your contemporaries are going to have something to say about it. Chris Wyatman suggesting on Twitter you were a tad bit overrated. Bojasinia, Paul O'Costa, didn't particularly like the performance. I really hate these sort of cheap questions about like, what do you think about it? But on the other hand, I kind of have to ask, do you pay any mind to that? Yeah, I didn't pay any mind to it, but Chris Wydenman, I'm overrated. Okay, why?

because he beat silver, you know, a little bit more handily than me than I did, you know. Overrated, interesting. I could say the same thing about him heavily. And, yeah, when I get this belt in my next fight, they can all line up and they can find out how overrated I am. And Chris Wyatman, that's his opinion. That's his opinion. And I don't have to pay attention to it. But, yeah, overrated.

That's interesting. What's his name? The Juice Monkey. Paula. Paula. My bitch. What did he say again? He said something I won the last two rounds with him.

He is. See, Silva, that fight might, with me and him was just physical chess from the highest level was striking. It was just like, if you know about footwork, intricacies of footwork, it was beautiful to watch.

Well, a guy like Paula, he's a walking, punching bag, walking, punching bag, juiced up, blown up and throws body shots and heavy, heavy, heavy. Bring that ass over here. I would test him. Your Royal Hall was jabbing him up. Fuck, how the fuck is he going to hit me with those T-Rex arms? Honestly, if I'm behind those jabs, things that follow up would be much, much different. So, yeah, a guy like that, he should just focus on his fight he's got next.

You're all the metal. And, yeah, I'm... Let them talk. Whenever I ever, ever, like, if you ever see me, Luke, talk shit about someone after they fight, like, on Twitter to try. They're trying to just get some shine because I'm the spotlight. You know, I don't give a fuck about what these guys are doing. I just give a fuck about me.

And now I'm living my best life. But anytime I do something, anytime I breathe, these guys tweet, say something stupid. Oh, my opinion. So, yeah, Twitter fingers, sit down and keep doing your thing. Speaking of which, man, we're like literally on the same day a year ago. You made your UFC debut, which you won five fights in, not in 2018, but since that day, obviously, in a 365-day calendar a year. Jesus Christ, dude, that's a ridiculous work schedule.

You've been healthy for all of these. You've made it for all of these. You do media for all of these. On one level, I'm sort of amazed that you're able to do it. On the other hand, is there any way to, like, reflect on what the last year has meant for your career? Yeah, that's what I do like. times like this when I'm alone. My resting coach just left out because, you know,

they have to catch the flight. I'm changing my flight, but, you know, like in the shower, I got some time alone to myself. And now I'm alone in my room and I just get some time alone to myself, you know, or even while he was here, I'm still able to just reflect and just think about everything and just like, well, I'm, it's kind of getting normal now, but like, because I've kind of like gotten over the whole thing of me,

you know, realizing my destiny and living my dream, but sometimes you still have to stop to just smell the rules and like, man, really doing this shit and be grateful because, yeah, gratitude is the attitude. I'm very grateful just to live the life

that I live. You know, a lot of people, they don't get this opportunity. They don't get this opportunity just to, like, do what they want to do. They have to do stuff that don't want to do, which is work a job that don't want to work, you know?

But I get to work in a job where I do want to work, and I enjoy what I do every single day. So I'm grateful. Very, very, very, very, very grateful. Do you worry about burnout? See, now, I said that, like, after my third flight, I have my fourth flight and I've had my fifth flight. But my body is different, man.

I'm like, I train smart. I don't want to pull the, like, pull a gas and just, like, pump the brakes. So, yeah, right now with Rob, you know, healing from surgery, I'm the number one contender. Make no mistake about it. Don't let anyone tell you different.

I fought an unranked fighter because me and Dana had an agreement that I was going to fight for the belt, and he got honey-dicked. And, yeah, if he had won, I'm sure they were to held up their side of the bargain. But what else, me, I'm just going to chill. You know, I've been busy. I get it. You know, so for once, I might actually just relax. I might just chill and just keep just getting better at it.

as a fighter as a martial artist, then, yeah. Calvin and Rup can reschedule the fight, and maybe I'll just fight three times this year. I want to fight five times. You know, maybe I'll just fight three times. I'll just, yeah, I don't want to be that champion of fights twice a year. That's not my thing. Three times a year when I'm champion, that's it.

At least, I want to pump three fights out. So I've had one now. So maybe they're saying April, it might be fine. April, maybe. June. You could do International Fight Week. Yeah, July, or it's the National Fight Week. They fight.

And then I'll fight later on after that. Because, yeah, like you said, I've been busy. Fight Fights are one year. So I could keep racking them up, but what's the point? Or maybe I might even do a super fight in the meantime. Now let me ask you this. What if they decide, what if Rob can't come back

immediately? Obviously, we hope that he does, but let's pause at a scenario where he can. would you fight Gasolum for an interim title? Is that the thing that you care about? Why is interim? Like, Rob was being, this is not the first time this has happened. It's not in his control. Like I said, it's in the control of Player 1.

But, you know, he doesn't, like, look Rockhold as well. Back in, you know, he wouldn't make way. He's unreliable. So, well, maybe it's because of his training. Maybe because of the way, maybe because of the way he, I don't know what his training is like, but I look after myself, you know, I don't know what causes hernia. I've seen, you know, how, I've seen, like, you know, how they happen and whatnot, but I don't know what causes it exactly, but yeah, I look after myself. I show up, and this is not the first time, you know, he's had to pull out to do the injury or something like that, you know, and Dunga Cruz, eventually he goes stripped.

He goes stripped, and so, yeah, I think Rob just gets stripped. when he gets healthy, he can be the number one contender. So me and Calvin fight for the real belt. Fuck the interim. So the strip rub, we fight for the real belt. When he's healthy, he can come see me. By the way, you mentioned something I thought was fascinating at the post-fight presser, which was, what about these points?

Now, the points would be in the champions contract. He did not compete. And you were sort of painting a situation where you were going to pay them out anyway, and why not them go to us? Did you talk to Dana about this? Like, do you think that you should get those dollars since you guys were just all of a sudden thrust into the main event? Well, it's not in my contract yet. So I brought that up because I felt that's a lot of money being left on the table after I've done the work.

Look, the numbers don't fucking lie, Luke. I know that UFC have their ways of looking at the system, the backlog or whatever and seeing what people are really watching. but just go on the countdown show itself, the countdown show, which everyone watches, just to get hype for these fights. Their ones and the official one itself, because there's two of them that's broken up, so the official one itself got like a couple hundred thousand.

Rob and Calvin got a couple hundred thousand. I've crossed a million now, me and Silver. It's not just me alone. If it was me and someone else, I probably wouldn't have maybe would have done, I don't know if it would have done a million, maybe like $800,000 or something. But I know with me and Silver together,

this matchup, it's gone over. a million. So I don't feel like I should get it. I feel that silver should get it. I feel like we should both get it. You know, I don't know what the deal is or what we can sort out, but I sold this fight. I did my job. I hyped this fight up and not like, I'm not saying hype it up like in some bullshit way, but like I did my job. I showed up. I fought. And before that, the fight was already sold with just the fact that of the magnitude of this fight and the story, the value behind this fight. So yeah, I sold this fight. I did my job. And I feel like. come on.

I was already the main event anyway. He just happened to be champion in fighting his number one contender. So we were the fight. People wanted to see the most. And I feel people got, you know, what they wanted.

If they didn't like the fight, they probably was drunk and don't know shit about striking. So, yeah, I feel like, yeah, definitely, you know, the UFC have every right

not to give us those points because it's not in my contract, but it wasn't in the contract. But fair is fair. And it's not always, I mean, we've always had a good working relationship, so I want to keep it that way. So eventually we'll sit down with Dana and just tell that, look,

okay, what can we do? Because that's a lot of money being left on the table for the hard work that me and Anderson Silver put on. You know, so, yeah, yeah, I don't want to leave that money on the table when I feel like it belongs in my pocket. Yeah, to your point, I did see those numbers, and they were along the lines, just as you described.

Just last question, I appreciate your time. Thinking back to your kickboxing days and now reflecting on the journey to this point, like is you know you keep talking about player one and like you're in control you have this sort of control theme generally about the way you describe yourself and it's interesting like when you were in kickboxing thinking about how it would be when you transitioned over did it did it seem so seamless that did it go like this in your mind yeah pretty much i knew i was going to be the superstar in the ufc i knew i knew i was going to be one of the new cash cows i knew i was going to be the guy that everyone wanted to fight everyone's hoping You know, like when fucking, what's the name? What's his name? McGregor jumped on the scene and he started getting some shine and everyone's that I called him out.

I knew that was going to be me. I knew that was going to be me. So watching someone like McGregor's career, you know, gave me a little bit of a peek into the future like, okay, this is going to happen. These guys, you know, like they're going to come for you this way. And even things like the embedded, you know, Alex, who films the embedded, I watching him follow guys around, you know, like Anderson Silva, like Rousey, like John Jones, seeing, it just gave me a peek into like, okay, this is what you have to get ready for.

So a lot of other guys just watched those just to get entertained for fights. But for me coming up, I was watching those preparing myself, like, okay, you're going to have to get ready for this. You're going to have to get ready for 6 a.m. starts. You're going to have to get ready for. So, yeah, that's exactly how I planned. But there's a lot of variables, which I plan. for variables, but I just didn't know what they were because they're going to be random. So

I just know how to adapt and overcome. And like I said, I'm grateful for the way I'm handling all this because a lot of people would not handle this the way I'm handling it. You know, you've seen that a lot. A lot of people rise and then they fall. People want to build them up, watch them rise, and watch them fall.

It's a weird thing about humanity. So that's why you see me when I walk out. I don't pay attention to no one. It's me on my corner against everybody else. And it's not me being an asshole or being me being on a nice guy. I'm just, I know what I'm there to do. Trust me, everyone would have been super happy

if finally, we just want to see the guy who thinks he's the man. We want to see him fall for whatever reason. And I've been part of it. I've tasted that before, the green-eyed monster. So I can understand it when I see it in other people. When it comes to my face and tell me I'm so happy for you, I just, I can smell it.

I can see it. I'm like, you would not be happy for me. You would love it if, if, if Silver had chinned me, you know, if he had caught me at one point. And, yeah. So for me, I'm just, I'm always wary of that. I'm always very aware of that. I never got caught up in all this bullshit because a lot of people get caught up

and then think even Silver told me, don't lose your focus. One of the things he told me in my ear, don't lose your focus. And you can kind of hear it a little bit, like before Herb Dean grab us away. I said, you know, I understand. I've seen a lot of snakes in this game. I've seen how this game is played. And yeah, no everyone is your friend. He's like, yes, yes.

Yes. So he's just letting me know, don't lose my focus. Stay on the path of greatness pretty much. And, yeah, I trust me, I will fall at some point. But the thing about me is whenever I fall in my life personally or professionally, I always bounce back like a trampoline. I can't add much to that. Israel Adasanya. Congrats on the wind.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate you, Luke. You're a man. All right. There he is. There you have it. Israel out of Sanya. What a conversation that was, huh?

Gotta make some noise in that middleweight division. Really appreciate his time. Let me just say something. There are a few fighters at his stature as accommodating with media as he is, and I don't know how long that's going to last. Especially with the time zone difference. Most of the time, these guys are like they do so much media

when they're at his stage, and as they get higher and higher and higher, that gets harder to do and they get a little more selective, understandably, trust me. But I just want to say thank you to Israel for making some time for me yesterday. I know he had done an absolute metric ton of it in the week leading up. I was very confident he was going to win. But I wanted to get him on just the same. All right, so what's the deal?

We got Daly and Cormier on Skype. How's this working? Oh, he's not ready again. Okay, we'll get him in here just a second. We have them on Skype. By the way, I think this is the first time Mr. Cormier has been on Skype with me. We've had him on a couple times, and they've all been on the phone. So this will be a fun little first when we get him on.

And there's lots to talk about with Mr. Cormier, not least of which is that there's the whole Stepe thing looming out there. Dana White telling TMZ sports, he ain't retiring. He's got that injury, apparently, that he revealed on Twitter. And, by the way, Kane Velasquez fights this weekend. So there is a lot to get to there as well. Hopefully we'll get him on here in just a minute. Yes, indeed.

I'm trying to think what else was from that UFC 234 card that stood out to me. Oh, real quickly, people complaining about the Sam Alvey thing. It's like, look, if you're Sam Alvey, I get why you're upset because you're like, oh, I wasn't done, understood. But the referee speaks to the fighter before the fight about what to expect and what they're looking for. I can't imagine any referee is ever like, hey, just keep your thumb up. be great. Like, that's not, that's not a conversation that happens. Oh, you know what? Let me, I'm, I'm gonna know if I'm, we got him now. I actually have a Kelvin Gastilum staff update. I want to

get to a little bit later as well. Let's go to him now. Without any further ado, he is the UFC heavyweight champion of the world, the one and only Daniel Cormier. Look at that. So, sun's out, guns out. Hi, Daniel. There are no more. Hey, Luke, as a heavyweight, there are normal guns. There's just body everywhere. I see you're even wearing a food hoodie. You like Pokey? Yes. It's my restaurant. I own these restaurants. California and Florida, Pokey O.G. When did you start that? That's interesting. In a couple years. Yeah, two years now, two, three years. The one in Calip Anaheim opened like three years ago. The one in Miami opened like last summer. So it's good. Good for you. That's great to hear.

If I'm ever out in those neck of the woods, I'll be sure to stop by and get a pokey bowl. All right, man. And you give me some love. All right, I definitely will. I'll put it on Instagram and the whole bit. All right, man, there's a lot to talk to you about. So let's get right into it. First of all, I want to talk about the Stepe stuff, but you did mention in the course of that on Twitter that you were still injured.

When we spoke to you last in New York, you were kind of dealing with the thumb. Is it still the thumb? What's the status? No, man, I had some stuff. remember I hurt my back in New York City when I sneezed. This was no joke, you know, and it just, it's just still trying to rehab, rehab it and get better. It was just me hurting my back. I put a lot of, I put a lot of miles on myself in my life with the wrestling, but then last year was a big year.

And like I said, man, you don't get to have that type of year at my age and not really feel the effects of it. And I'm still going through that right now. But the thumb is better? Yeah, the thumbs fine. I mean, I think a lot of times you're hurt in so many ways, but then when one thing overtakes the other one, you almost forget about it. And then you start to focus on the back

and getting the back better and the hand. You know, obviously I still have a, my doctor said I've got arthritis in my wrist. That's why my wrist bothers me all the time. So there's nothing I'm really going to be able to do about that. You know, that's just something I have to deal with. But the back has been the first. focus lately. Now, what has been the timetable for return? Obviously, there's no fight right now

booked for you. Let's say that there was, and they said, what's the earliest you could do it while being healthy? What would you say? I just don't know if I'm going to do what I did in New York, you know, again, where I have to fight where I'm not 110 percent, because I truly do feel like the reason my back went out was because I went from zero to like trying to prepare for a fight in three weeks and I can't really do that because I need those first four weeks of a pre-training camp just to prepare my body to go through a full eight-week camp. So I usually do 12 weeks. I did all that in four and that's why my body started like falling apart on me. So I mean 12 weeks and I'm not at 100 percent. So say I don't know, spring, summer, I don't know, not exactly sure yet.

Yeah, so nothing eminent. Okay. Good to hear that. It's. I know I was going to be done by March, but that's been pushed because of the injuries and the recovery. Yeah, I was just going to ask, so that means the official 40th birthday. You and me are both 39, by the way. I'm not super athlete, but my back hurts when I sneeze too. But you are going to push that into the summer now.

It looks like probably just as you mentioned, as a consequence of the injury. As a consequence of any injury, you know. I mean, I got offered an opportunity to fight March 2nd, but I just couldn't do it. You know, so I had to kind of, they tried to accommodate that day, trying to get me that fight before my birthday, but I wasn't able to do it.

Did they want you to fight Steepa on March 2nd? I hadn't even gotten an opponent yet, so I don't know who I was going to fight. All right, let's talk about Stepe. Let me just say something kind of in his defense. You know, if you're Stepe and you're thinking about it, it, you can kind of understand why he is the way he is about this, where he would want a rematch so bad, how it must bother him. Like, on all those levels, I get it. It's just, and I saw the video

he put out where he had nice things to say about you and your kids. Like, I've got nothing bad to say about Steve-A in any capacity whatsoever other than, and you mentioned this, I just don't understand the O thing at all. What do you make of it? You kind of addressed it on Twitter, but when you saw that, did it bother you that he said you owed him? That's the one issue that made me respond, because lately I've just kind of been ignored it. Because as you said, I do think that he is not, I understand where he's coming from because I've been there with Jones twice,

and I'm like, God, I know I can beat him if I could just get another opportunity to do it. I know I can beat him. him and it burns at you and it eats at you especially in the way that he lost the fight you know it's you know it you know but i don't have to really owe anything i've said that too before i've said he deserves it right i've said that he deserves a rematch if i don't get to fight brock i've always stood by that but you can't just go well you owe it to me you know and i don't want i don't want to sit here and talk bad about stepe because i like stepe i think he's a good guy he's a fantastic father and he's a pillar of the community.

He's a great fighter. I think he's great. But you can't sit there and say he owes me. Because when I lost to Jones the first time, I thought, man, if I can just get another opportunity, I didn't just sit and wait. I went right back to work at trying to re-earn the opportunity if they weren't going to give it to me. I wasn't a champion, obviously, so the circumstances were different.

but I right away scheduled a fight to try to get my way back to that fight and it's almost like he hasn't really taken that approach that kind of like that's one of the things where I'm kind of like what's going on you know like why hasn't he fought yet still if you were his friend or his cornerman is that your advice like okay I know it's sucked that you lost

maybe lobby for the rematch but if it appears like it's not going to happen immediately get back out there and take a fight just go beat somebody up you know like then you can't ignore it. You know, he can go knock somebody out again and it's like, well, you got to fight him. You know, like the last memory of him in the octagon

is not him getting knocked out. It's like, this game is a dirty game. I mean, we saw Jose Aldo have that belt for so many years and Connor just was gone. It was like, I'm not looking back, you know. And when Chris Wyden knocked out Anderson Silva, you know, it was like a year or something before he fought again, right?

Was it Anderson's next final? I think so, yeah. Chris fought again. You know what I'm saying? So it was like, but it was Anderson Silva. He had the belt for 10 years. It's like when we talk about the longest reigning heavyweight champ, it's like the heavyweight division is so like explosive that you don't get super long rains.

And if somebody fought Wyman before Anderson fought again, I mean, and Jose Aldo never got to fight Conner. again like there this game that we play is not the most fair thing in the world and the only way to truly make a statement is to go beat somebody

I just don't like that I fought again and he still hasn't fought. Let me ask a candid question here in the absence of a fighter's union is the best way to get ahead in the UFC to accommodate them to accommodate their schedule where they just constantly have to churn

out events? I think the best way to the best way to get along with the organization and also for yourself is to just be busy be busy as you can I mean I fought I think now I fought the UFC

more than I've fought in any other organization and I mean I've only been in the UFC for five years I fought the strike force for five years like I just fight and fight and fight like I fight so much that when they call me if I'm healthy I go fight

And there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's good favor in that. And, and I believe that you can build, not only with Steve, but like, just with people, people want to see you compete. So let's talk about your next step. You're going to have to delay retirement. It doesn't, it's not clear for exactly how long. I'm sure it's obviously still looming in some. Listen to this. Listen to this.

This is some crazy shit right here. Okay. Steve Pay hasn't fought in so long that John. Jones will have fought twice since he last got to the octagon was the last time that's happened Jones will have had two fights and at the rate

that he's fighting maybe three by the time Steve A fights again if he waits and he like fights me in the summer that's crazy because Jones doesn't fight very often he that's crazy that I hadn't even thought of it that way but you're right Jesus

okay well with that in mind we don't know exactly when your retirement is, but it is obviously still a real end point. It's going to happen. Keeping Stepe in mind, Dana White told TMZ sports, he's like, Cormier retiring,

we got three more fights for him. Did he tell you that, or is he just telling TMZ that? Telling you guys that, you know, like he's a very powerful man and he can wish things into existence and then talk,

speak things into existence. You know, those are conversations that we will have fight by fight, You know, we got to watch Anderson's Civil Fight last weekend at an advanced age and do well. But he, I don't want to be fighting to the point that I'm judged by just being competitive. That's not enough for me. Interesting.

Well, I mean, you're a lot more than competitive. You're the heavyweight champion, so there is a pretty clear difference. So long that I'm getting praised for being competitive. that's not good for me. I don't like that. And honestly, Anderson fought good, but when he looks back, he's going to go, man, I should have won that fight,

because that's the mentality that a guy that's so legendary carries. And whereas the general public's giving him praise for just being doing good, that won't be enough for Anderson either. When he gets back home, he'll be like, man, I should have won. And that's going to really kind of dig at him.

So let's talk about this. I mean, is there any way to map out the next step in the future because you don't know when you're coming back? Steepa may or may not take a fight between then. I suspect if it's not Kane Velazquez, he'll beat anybody else, right? Because he is that good. So, like, if you're thinking about your next fight, is it Steepa?

Is it Brock? Like, when you're really beginning to consider what the next step's going to be, is there still too many unknown variables? I think maybe less than next. would be the fight. And again, as I've always said, if it's not him, yeah, I'll fight Steepa again.

It's just the same exact thing. And it's not me. We're not waiting for Brock Lesnar. It's like because of my injuries, I'm just not available to fight. If I was available to fight, I probably would have fought Steepa already. But I'm just not available to fight right now.

So we'll see what happens with Lesnar. And then we'll address puts after that but um if we talk about dana's schedule of fights he said lesnar stepey jones i i guess that last one at 205 would probably be the best because i don't want to be going down the 205 back up to heavyweight so it would be lesner milchich and jones if i had three fights if i had three fights if i had two it may be lesner back to 205 to fight jones you know but uh it's not going to be be, it'll be on my terms.

Moment of truth, Daniel. How heavy are you right now? Right now I weigh like 255 pounds, 255. Well, not solid, no, 255 full beer cake, full beer cake.

I'm in the mirror like, ugh, that's just disgusting. I can't believe people called me fat before. All right, Let me move this along. Your teammate, Cain Velasquez, is coming back, which is just so exciting, so exciting that he's back. I really got, I'm just, I can't, the buzz is going to build for this in such a way by Friday.

I am so excited for the way-ins, just to see him back out there stairs. One of the best mean mugs in all of MMA. All right. Were you always confident he was going to come back? Was it ever for you a question of, I don't know if Cain's coming back or not? I think I always was hopeful that he would come back. I'm a massive Canva Lasquez fan. If you haven't learned that over the last 10 years that I've been here, you know,

he's just he's just everything you want in the fight of, man. He's got great cardio. He can really, every single aspect of mixed martial arts, he's efficient and he's good at. And I just was like, man, I just want to get to watch him fight again and compete again. So, yeah, as you're excited, I'm excited. Not as a teammate, but also as a fan of the sport, dude's just, he's a buzzsaw, and I can't wait to watch him where he belongs.

You know, he belongs in that octagon, and I'm excited that he gets an opportunity to go and put his skill on display again. What has the time off done to him? You know, age is still a thing you have to consider. Not as much at heavyweight. It's not as much of a problem there, but he is older. Yeah. Nevertheless, you know, he has time to get better as a fighter, let those injuries heal. What are we in for on Saturday?

You're going to see vintage, like the best, nothing's changed. He's still as good. He still as fast. He still can wrestle as well. Because you've got to remember this whole time that he's been out. He's been just helping me the whole time. He's been helping me. And that's what makes me so sad is that I've only been able to be there for him only on a few occasions

because I can train and then I'm like hurt for a week because of, you know, right now. So I haven't been able to be there as consistently as I want to, but he's just been helping me. And think about what I've done since the last time Kane fought. You know, I've defended the light heavyweight title like two or three times and won the heavyweight title, defended the heavyweight title. So he's been just pushing me to heights that I never thought that I could reach. So no, you won't see. see a difference in Kane Velazquez.

He's still as good as he ever was. Is there any doubt in your mind that he won't be champion again? He'll be the champ very, very soon. As soon as I'm out of there, he'll be the champion. As soon as I'm out of there, he'll be the champion. You know, the only issue with that is

like the UFC has to know that now Kane is healthy and they can trust him because he'll be around for a while. Right. You know what's interesting? I was thinking about this. You know what one of the most incredible achievements of AKA is? One is that you had Luke Rockhold champion, you champion, two different weight classes,

Kane champion, Habib, Nirmigameh, Kamadov, champion. By itself, that's pretty impressive or very impressive. Here's what's even more impressive. When Luke wanted to go on his own path for a little while, nobody cried about it. And I'm sure there's been problems behind the scenes, but publicly there didn't seem to be much of an issue with it. When Kane took a back seat, you got a chance to shine and have you. weight. Now that he's coming back, everyone's altering. What is so impressive about

AKA is not really the level of achievement, but the managing of careers with elite fighters in the same weight class at the same time. Dude, have you guys ever thought about that? That is unheard of for a gym. Well, people usually, it's the ego, right? The ego is normally the issue. The ego is normally the issue. And what I believe Javier Mendez and Bob could do so tremendously is they control egos. And we as fighters are men, you know, and people always ask me stuff like, can you beat Habib? Nope. Can you beat Luke?

Nope. Can you beat Kaine? Nope. Because the moment you start spewing that negativity in the world, people run away with it. We're all brothers. And all we want is for the other one to be successful. It's just the, you check your ego at the door, man, because nobody's in there every day as the very best. And it's not even just us for.

It's like other guys in the gym can take it to you on any given day. You know, you can go in there as a heavyweight and Justin Willis can put it on you. You know, it's just, it's just you have to be open to learn and know that no one part is bigger than the machine, AKA is going to be around forever. That's why it's sustained a test of time. So many gyms have come and gone since those guys open the doors of the American kickboxing. Academy. And it has long stayed at the top of the game. And it's going to be there long after we're going. You know, what's interesting is you have Habib who has blown up as this star to the

Muslim world, certainly into Russia, obviously his native Dagestan, which is part of it, but also there's a special community there as well. He might sit out for a year and they might create an interim title. There's some mild talk of him being stripped. Look, man, I thought that $500,000 fine by the Nevada Commission was outrageous. I said so publicly. I get that he's bitter about the whole thing. Nevertheless, I would not like to see him stripped. I would not like to see an interim title introduced. What is your thought about the best way for him to handle that, knowing that you're a friend and training partner? I think that Habib is doing the most honorable thing I've ever seen in my life. Not many guys will pay the fine, the 500 grand, also pay the fines of your

teammates and brothers. He's paying their money, too. Whatever they find Manop, whatever they find Dubai, he's going to pay it too. Those are his brothers. They were, they're acting in to help him i guess and um they're suspended longer he will sit with them that's one thing about those guys man and their their their their lifestyle and their community is that they are family at the highest level and what he's doing is just so honorable not many people will do that and he's doing it with the idea that even if they take his title it does not mean more to him than standing next to his uh his brothers i mean doesn't get any better than that and I appreciate it.

You know, I do think the fine was steep, whatever. He also said he's not going to fight there anymore. So he's very firm in his approach and very firm and what he wants to convey to the world. And I'm very proud of him. I'm proud of the man that Habib has become. From the moment he walked into A.K. to who he is today, I'm very proud of him.

Well, we'll end on this. I don't know if you saw it, but, well, I'm sure you saw Bader become the champion. champ over at Bellator's always been a good guy to me. I really appreciate that he's had an opportunity to advance his career in that way. Nevertheless, his coach wants to see a champ champ super fight, which we know is not possible. But I will ask you to weigh in on Bader's championship run there. They literally couldn't land a glove on him.

And I know that there were fighters not necessarily under prime, but he is a pretty competitive fighter. Do you miss the opportunity to have potentially tangled with him? I think, first off, I think Ryan's done tremendous for himself. I've known Ryan since he was in college. He's always been a hard worker and very committed to his family and everything else. I think he's great. It is exciting to watch him gain a level of success that he never truly had gotten to in the UFC

and the chances that he did get to get there. He had kind of faltered. With that being said, he just really dominated those guys. And it was crazy because King Moe, I watched Tech him in wrestling, like maybe he scored like 10 takedowns. And he just truly, truly had to reset his mind to even compete against him knowing that his best skill is axed off, right? He can't use it against a guy like Mo.

So he went out there and knocked him out. Yeah, it's been nice. You know, it's been good. Tard watching guys like Fador Man get knocked out like that. that and he dominated Mitrione, knocked out Mo. It's just, it's just, it's been good to watch him, do what he's done. But he wouldn't be able to fight me. I like the guy, but, you know, it's just different.

You know, it's just a little bit of a different approach to. Look, man, at the end of the day, I'm just a nasty old boy. You know, I learned that from Josh Barnett. You know, you get in there, you rub your elbow in their face, you kind of run your hand over their mouth. You know, I'm of the old school like Josh Barnett, you know, just hurt them even when you're not doing much. And people don't really like that. So even when I'm hugging them, you know what it looks like I'm just hugging them? I'm not just hugging them.

I'm just kind of really driving my knuckles into their body. I'm driving like even when I'm on top and I've got my elbow just in the middle of the solar plex, I'm putting at the point of that elbow as deep in there as I can. There's always pain. And I learned that when Josh Burnett was putting pain on me whenever we fought in strike force. It's just a different type of mentality that most guys can't match.

You've got to be a dog if you're going to beat Daniel Corbyn. I don't know if he has that dog in it. Well, I can't wait to see you return as the dog, as the champ, and so much more. Do me a favor, Daniel. Have some Claritin, have some Allegra. No sneezing to hurt the back again, okay? Hey, I'm all beat up right now.

This wrestling season's weighing on me. Luke. The high school wrestling season is tough as any training camp I've ever been in my entire life. I mean, I am just, it is beating me down, but I love every moment of it. I mean, holding on to my marriage by strength. To think that my wife goes to 24 training camps and one wrestling season, she's like, oh, could you watch this so much? But, um, Haiti ups, the downs, everything has just been perfect.

The Gilroy High School Mustangs go to the conference this week and state next week. I'm loving it. Luke, boy, it is a grind. Season's over in two weeks, and I'm excited about it. Well, get through it the best you can. It's always a thrill to have the UFC heavyweight champion. You're one of the good guys, Daniel. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Luke. Appreciate it. There he goes, the heavyweight champ. How great is that? We go from that to one of the rising stars of MMA. He competes, by the way, on that card, where Kane Velasquez is headlining. I believe he's on Skype, if I'm not mistaken.

So we go back to that. It is the Funkmaster. himself. Oh, look at him. Al Jermaine Sterling. What's up, man? No, much, man. Just enjoying the grind and joined these last few days before Showtime. Where did you get the brass knuckles? My boy, with my best friends, E.N. Maurice, we wrestled together. He's the reason I actually started wrestling in high school. I didn't want to do it because,

honestly, I thought it was not for me. Let's just say that. I use the PC term. It just wasn't for me. But I eventually came out. came out and look where I am today. Looking great. And you have the gold rope back. Am I wrong that it's gone away for a little while, but you're bringing it back now, right? Nah, I've been, I wear it for every single fight. It's just outside of those fights.

Yeah, outside of the fight events, I try not to use it too much, you know, so call them Bubba. I bring Bubba out for the big, for the big show. Well, Bubba looks nice on you. Thank you for making some time for us. Let's just sort of jump right into this one. Jimmy Rivera, boy, what a tough challenge. You know, you two guys from relatively similar necks of the woods,

the tri-state area, I guess, might be the best way to describe it. You know, this is important because the winner will probably get, if not more, into the top five of the Bansomweight Division. But be honest, aren't there regional bragging rights on this one, too? 100%. And honestly, there's a lot more than just winning the UFC fight. It's we're going to unify the CFFC champion with this matchup. And, you know, he's been talking a whole lot of shit from about five years ago,

just ragging on me, talking about my stand-up, and he could be me, and he's better than me. I'm like, dude, I know I got bigger muscles than you, but just let it go. I'm already in the UFC. Just let me do my thing. Let me get my shot. All right. Let's talk about Jimmy Rivera. Let's size him up as an opponent.

When you think about the best. biggest threats. What are they? I think he's very well trained, very well schooled. He's got good timing with his combinations. I think he brings, he's well-rounded. I'll say that. He can wrestle. I don't think his jiu-jitsu is anywhere near mine.

But outside of that, I think he does really well. Whenever someone makes an initial movement, he does really well with just timing it with his counters that slip the jab right to his right hand, left hook, right cross, or he'll double up on the body and come up and finish towards the head.

I don't think he's fought anyone who really kicks the way I kick and who can wrestle the way I wrestle. So I think that's going to be the X factor in his fight. Do you agree that, actually, let me state it differently, true or false, it's better for you that this is three rounds versus five or no? What do you come down on that? I think if it was five rounds, it would be even better 100%. I when I fought for Kay's Fury, all the title fights were five-round fights, even though my last three opponents, I finished them. But the first one I had went the distance full 25 minutes. And I know I got the gas thing to go for days.

It's just kind of, it's a little unfortunate that this one wasn't the main event, but who could be mad at Francis Ngano and Kaye Velasquez coming back and taking the spot? So I can't help on that too much. But I do wish it was a five-rounder. How would it massively change your strategic approach? I think with more time, I have more time to break him down with the three rounds. I think as a professional, when you get to the levels that we're at, to be at Jimmy Rivera, to be Aljima Sterling in the positions that we're into. To be in the top five, you have to have a gas tank to go all three rounds,

especially at the light of weight classes. And I think that's the difference. I think he's comfortable with those three rounds. I think if I had more time to push the pace, I tend to crack guys, and I really feel it when I'm in there. So if the fight was a little longer, I think it benefits me, no doubt,

especially with the grappling exchanges. To go from grappling to striking is not an easy thing to do. And to go back and forth between the two for 25 minutes, that would have been my edge right there, but 15 minutes should be enough to get the job done. I took out my last opponent and Cody Stammon. He thought the D2 wrestling was graded in D3 wrestling. I had to shut that shit down.

and I'm going to have to bring back that wrestling arsenal to the table and go out there and beat a human backpack once again. You know, what's interesting is your grappling has always been on point, although obviously it's gotten better, and your striking has just incrementally come along, but now it's seriously formidable. Here's the deal, though. We had Ryan Hall on the MMA hour,

and he was like, I love Al Jemaine Sterling's grappling, which is to say, in a good way, you have a reputation as a grappler, a very good one. But I wonder if it's an outdated reputation. It's not to say you're a good way. not one, but now maybe that's still your best skill set, but you're well-rounded enough

now where I don't know that that's a complete picture. Yeah, I would definitely 100% agree with that. And when I call Rivera out after I lost my two fights to Carraway and Sunsouth back to back and I called them out, I was now on the down swing when I was right on the cusp of

fighting for a world title had I gotten through Carraway. And Jimmy Rivera was still working his way up, And then when I called him out, he didn't want to take the fight with me. I think it would have been smart if he had taken that fight with me back then while I was still growing and still developing my striking. I think now I could do anything I want. It's just a matter of my comfortability is always going to be favoring the grappling side.

And if that's the path of least resistance, I'm going to take it. But I don't necessarily need to force the takedowns like I used to before when I first got to the UFC. I just learned how to really throw a punch almost getting to the UFC if we're going to be honest here, I didn't really learn how to punch the proper way, sitting down on punches, being comfortable in those pocket exchanges and getting out of there and just setting everything out the right way. So I think you look at the Al Jermain back then and Al Jemerts Stirling now is just night and day in comparison. So I, like I said, wherever this fight goes, I'm 100% comfortable no matter where it goes. But the wrestling dictates where the fight ends up.

You both have a loss to Marlon Marais. You've been on a two-fight win streak since then him won. I think you beat Stamen and who is the other gentleman you beat Brett Johns. Brett Johns. Yeah. Is there, both of your fights with Marais were short, yours and his. Is there anything to read into either of them in your mind? No, his was faster so that I guess that means I do. I don't know, there's nothing you can really take from that.

Well, one thing I will say, every single fight Rivera's been in so far within the UFC, he has been kicked in the head. Pedro Munoz, Uriacontra, except for Marcus Brimidge, but that was kind of a gimmie fight. Let's be honest here. And no disrespect to Marcus, but he's been knocked out a bunch of times at that point. So it made Jimmy look like he was this big, powerful Bannerway. But really, all his fights before that were decisions, hugging decisions against the cage or taking you down a lane in your guard.

And that's just being brutally honest. I respect Rivera. At the end of the day, I know he's gotten so much better. but I'm calling it how I see it from his development. I've been watching him for a very, very long time because I always knew this pinnacle, this point would eventually happen. And yeah, that's the one thing I will say. And who's the other one?

Obviously, Marlon. And there was one more, well, not Thomas Almeda, but Amata did put him down, I think, twice clipped him, and his eyes rolled back in the back of his head a few times. I'm just saying that's typically not a good sign. And I think if I can land one good one with the shin, or even with my hands, I think it could be a short night for him.

So I think there's the balls in my court. I know I might be the underdog, but screw Vegas, fuck those guys. I never count myself. I always bet on myself, and I'm going to double down on this one. Winners should be a top five fighter, right? Top five ranked fighter, excuse me.

100%. But Jimmy's already number five. He thinks the win over me does nothing for him, but I beg to defer. I think my last two wins have been, Probably more exciting than his last, his last one. I mean, I don't know. You guys beat a judge.

I'm just a fighter. Yeah, I mean, I don't rank either, but it would seem to me that two serious contenders. This is an important fight. Let me ask you about the top of that division, man, because it's all up in the air. You know, Marlin's done good work. I think he should get a title shot.

T.J. goes down. Let's go piece by piece here. Is it a bit of a disaster for Bansomweight that Dill Shaw went down and lost the way? way he did? Yeah, yes and no. I mean, it doesn't affect the Bainway Division, but it did slow us down. And now we've got to have this immediate rematch.

Granted, if T.J. lost, if he just lost, like, a decision or something, we probably won't be in this argument or this predicament now. But the way he lost, I can only imagine I know what that feels like. I know what it feels like to go out there and put in all those weeks, those training weeks and go out there and just make a mistake and get caught. And granted, the ref could have let that go a little bit longer, but that probably went. they have changed the outcome of the fight, but to lose like that, as the champion, you're going to want to get that loss.

Just get that taste out of your mouth. So I get that. But you have tough competitors at this weight, worthy contenders, malamorized, this 100% deserves the next shot. He took out everyone in front of them for the most part. And the rematch, he won decisively. And you've got to give it to Mr. One Punch Man. So I don't know, it just kind of sucks.

But hopefully they push that. Sayyudo fight because he doesn't want to fight to July. And I know T.J. wants to fight sooner than that. So hopefully he can get in there and fight Marais or something, just mix it up. And if he wants to go get a rematch with Sayudo or something later down the line, then that's completely fine. So here's the thing. If they, I mean, God knows what they're going to do. Your guess is as good as mine on this one.

If they do the rematch, if they make Marlon wait, I don't know. Do you care if the fight happens at Bansomweight or Flyweight, the rematch between Sehudo and Dillishaw? I guess Bannonway so that we can have some clarity. But then that really doesn't help us because then Marlon is still waiting. And honestly, you know, granted everything goes my way and, you know, come out, get the win, you know, against Rivera. I would 100% like to run that back with Marlon. I know he doesn't need to take the fight with me.

It does nothing for him. But I would love to get that back. I look past them, you know, whatever. dab KO, most infamous thing for me, but whatever, I would love to run that one back because I think I, obviously, I know I have much more to offer than that. Certainly you've shown it as well, which leads me to this part of the question. Here's the top of that division. Now, Garbrand's got a fight coming up against Pedro Munoz.

He's currently the number one contender for whatever that's worth. Dominic Cruz is two, but he's out, right? Sonsau just lost. Marais is at four, and then Rivera's at five. So here's a question. If you beat Rivera, how far away from a title shot are you? I would probably one more. If not, the next guy.

I mean, let's just say in a perfect world, TJ beats Seudo. Then he beats Marlon. I can't see how I wouldn't beat the next guy over Cody Garbrand. But you never know, I see crazy things have happened. And it's just got to be the right time, the right place. And if things fall into place for me, then so be it. But if not, I think after this one, I definitely have to fight one more for sure just to solidify that number one contender spot. And, you know, I want to string together a couple wins anyway.

Keep growing, keep developing as a fighter. And I think when my title shot finally comes, I'll be more than ready. That's interesting because, you know, Cody's in this position where he's number one contender. He's obviously very, very, very talented fighter. but he's lost twice to the current champ. So as long as TJ holds that belt, promotionally, it's going to be a tough spot for him. So what you said, though,

that caught my attention, which is, look, if they give you a title shot next, you're not going to say no, but you wouldn't mind getting a little more competition experience, huh? That's interesting. You usually don't hear that from fighters. Why would you say that? I see, time, you, this is,

it's like history. History repeats itself over and over again. How many of these guys, they jump into a title shot before they're ready, before they should, be in that mix and they end up falling short and I want to make sure when my opportunity comes man I'm able to seize the moment I don't want no outside randomness crazy shenanigans happening and then I got to just kind of jump into it and we've seen it you never know when life hands are an

opportunity you got to take it I'm not saying if it was given to me that wouldn't take it I would 100% because you never know when that title shot is going to come and it might not ever come some people we've seen some of the best guys Jeremy Stevens we've seen the cowboy seronis those guys who fought so many times and it just those title shots allude them but Cowboys obviously had a shot, his two shots but you just never know

what's going to happen so when life presents an opportunity sometimes you just got to kick that motherfucking door and just take that shit but I would like to make sure I put myself in a position to be ready and have the coaching staff behind me, my teammates, Al Wyman, all these guys pushing me and make sure

I'm well prepared to go out there and seize the moment And then let me get your prediction for the main event. Kane Velasquez coming back. You noted it would be great that these two of the best bantamates in the world would be on the main card. You're still on ESPN, which is great, obviously, and you're the main event of those prelims. So it does count for something, but your prediction for the main events are I would love to pick your brain on that. Well, there's not much to break down with Kane Velasquez besides his last fight, which was, God knows how long ago.

What was that two years ago at this point? Yeah. I mean, he's always going to have the cardio. He's going to be cardio cane. He's got the great wrestling. We've seen what Steve A did to him. I think Kane is the better wrestler than Steepay. So with that being said, if he does not get clipped,

if he can avoid an Agonu big shot right out of the gate, because that's one he's most dangerous right out of the gate, I think Kane is going to have his way with him for five rounds. Man. Or less. Yeah. His ground to pound is serious. But like I said,

we haven't seen that in such a long time. So we just don't know how much and Gano's been working on his grappling. Some people say they're working on a grappling. They're going to take time off. And they do absolutely nothing. And it drives me nuts. You should be in a wrestling room,

learning the basics, ground up. Because if you don't put yourself in that learning mindset, you would never be able to catch up to what a wrestler has been doing his entire life, all college career. It's just night and day. And it's these little small, intricate details about wrestling that translate over into a fight that even though you're doing all these MMA wrestling, it's not exactly the same as wrestling for wrestling.

If that makes sense. It makes absolute sense. Well, I got to tell you, I can't wait to see your fight. UFC on ESPN1, the main event of the prelims when you take on Jimmy Rivera for big, big doings in the end. Funkmaster, there he is. He's got Bubba with him. He's got the brass knuckles.

Thank you so much for your time, Al Jermaine. Can't wait to see you guys out there in Phoenix. Thank you, buddy. Tune in. We will. February 17th. Let's go. There he is.

There he is. One of the best in the world. All right. Let's do this now. It is time for the sound off. Let's go to my friend. He is the ahi to my empanada. He is the queso blanco to my chocolate.

Stanley Sigora in the back. All right. We'll do the tweets afterwards. But let's get to these calls. Set him up, son. What do we got? We got good stuff today? We do, man.

some real good stuff. Let's see. Well, let's just get started. Let's just see what happened. Yeah, thank you. Hey, guys, it's Corey out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada again. Last night was a great night of fights. There were so many that I'd like to talk about,

but I just want to kind of focus on Adasanya versus Silva. Do you guys think that Israel's performance was enough to skip Gasson for that title shot? I don't really think that it was. I felt like Adasania needed to get that finish in the first to make that happen. But anyways, I let me know your thoughts. And yeah, one more thing is I thought it was a great job, I guess. I'm coming out with the hood was spelled and trying to secure his title shot. I just thought it was brilliant.

Anyways, take care, guys. Thanks. All right, so a couple of things to tackle here. First of all, do you, I mean, with the UFC, like, we know that rankings and, you know, we saw Colby Colington an interim champ getting skipped over. Is there a chance for Adasanya to step in and be a next challenger to Robert Whitaker? It is highly possible, but based on what he said in the interview here, if they wanted to run it back between Whitaker and Gastilum, he would let them, let them, you know, I mean, it's obviously the U.S.C.'s called, but he wouldn't, he wouldn't object. And then he would step in after that. He doesn't really care about the interim. You know, he seemed to find that idea absurd to begin with. So, yeah, I mean, I agree. I think, look, if you brought Gasplum to the point where he was at Fight Week for a title shot, there are no. There are no. rules governing this, as I mentioned,

only may be, but the right thing to do is to honor that. Yeah. It's to honor that. So I think that they should do that. By the way, I have an update on Gastilum and the staff thing in a second, but go ahead to what you want to say. I think it's totally a possibility, but I don't think they'll go that route because, you know,

if Adasanya was making a claim to be the next in line, you know, regardless, I think there would be an issue there. I'd be like, okay, maybe the UFC could possibly, you know, think about booking that fight. But given the fact that he's like, hey, you know, like, I can wait for those two. and he's been pretty busy. I think that fight will likely happen, the Gasolum Robert Whitaker, but, hey, you never know, right?

Yes, by the way, I, this is from a somebody who is a ringside physician. Wait, do you want to, okay, no, never mind. Go for it. Because on tweet, somebody asked you about the staff. Oh, then I will wait. Yeah, then I will wait. Yeah, hold on to that, yeah.

Okay, okay. All right, so the next part about that question, what did you think about Gasolam with the belt situation? Look, it didn't work for me. Not your cup of tea. No, not my cup of tea, but a lot of things aren't my cup of tea that are everyone else's cup of tea. Really? Yeah, I'm hardly...

It's like my life is niche sports and death metal. It's like, I wonder why I have no friends. But look, here's the point. It's not that I care or don't care. That's irrelevant. What matters is fighters who have no guarantees will do a lot to rally the public or management on their behalf because they have no guarantees. that's what that was.

So in that sense, it's completely understandable. Whether it worked, ask somebody else. Yeah. I kind of liked it, but I definitely see where Gasolum's coming from. And, dude, he was on the headlines, you know, because of that. I'm sure he would have been anyways because, you know, it was relevant to talk about his withdrawal. Well, Whitaker's withdrawal and his canceled fight. But, man, that was popping a little bit whether you like it or not.

So definitely a nice little insurance there to get that title shot, I thought. Fair enough. Yeah. All right, with that, that leads us to another question. Let's just, you know, we don't have to spend a lot of time in this one. Let's just clarify things. Okay. Because some people are confused.

Hey, Luke. This is Reggie from the MMA hotbed that is New Jersey. Can you just explain this Robert Whitaker thing to me? Isn't the rule it's a forfeit once you weigh in? Isn't that some sort of hard and fedest rule that after the way in the about it's officially on than anything from that to the fight counts as a forfeit? Or is it just whatever, you know, day? away and the commission.

Thanks a lot. Love the show. No, there is... Basically, is Kelvin Gasselm, the UFC medalweight champion? No, there is no forfeit rule. I know, he was like... Yeah, I had some people, some people were asking me that. No, there is...

I mean, if you enter the cage and you say I quit before the first punch is thrown, that's forfeit. But there's no forfeit rule by virtue of medical emergency. Yeah. And Kelvin's thing was like, you know, I come from wrestling, and that's not how they do it. I'm like, right, but this is not wrestling. So it's like, you know... It's like, I...

I come from land down under, and here we eat vegetarian sandwiches. Right. Well, here in Loso Stadis needles, we don't. So there you go. Yeah. All right. Well, let's talk about Adisania. He was definitely the biggest winner out of that card.

So let's see what's next for it. All right. Hey, this is Richard from Las Vegas, Nevada. Richard. I just want to say thank you for all your content that's on YouTube. We got you, honey. It really helped me get through work. My question is, Adisania versus Jacari Solis

How do you see that match going? I think that's the way that U.S. should go after Adasania versus Silva. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Hey, I think that'd be a fun fight, but is that the way the U.S.C. should go about things?

Or should they put them on ice? That's what I thought they were going to do after UFC 230 because you've got one of the best strikers in MMA versus a guy who was obviously still quite the lethal threat. Now, he would have to get Adasanya down, but Jacaray is athletic and even at an advanced age. A very good wrestler has always been one of the jihadists. guys who could wrestle even from his early days in MMA.

So look, if you ask Adasania, he's passed it. If you ask Jacques-Arey, he's past that. I would not mind seeing it. I think it's an important test of Adasania, and I think it's an important test of Jacaray. Plus, you know, look, if Jacques-Rae wins, he would deserve a title shot at that point. So it all depends on the timeline of the title, if you ask me, though.

Yeah, let's see what happens with Robert Whitaker. According to Matt Damon, what's in my four weeks. Amen. You knew that was coming. Yeah. So let's see what happens. But ideally, I would like to see, I think Adasanya did enough. And I think you can't top a win over Silva, main event thing. You know, I would assume wherever they put them, you know, against Jackery. It would probably be a co-main event of a pay-per-view.

Or maybe in a main event, ESPN. But I feel like he already did enough to, like, you know, get a title shot. So I'd like to see him wait. There's a lot of guys who are in really interesting, good, deserving people. positions. Dude, Adasanya, a year ago today, beat Rob Wilkinson. I mean, just think about that. Five fights in a calendar. It's insane. Yeah, also get the guy a break, man. It's insane. Exactly. So it's like, you know, are you telling me, Adasania versus Jacare is a bad fight? No, it's an amazing fight. It's just, there's so many good guys you want to see do well. You got to give it

to Gastlam. You already brought him to the dance. He has owed that. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, let's talk about the other side of the equation, Anderson Silva. By the way, Thanks for acknowledging, you know. You were halfway right. You were more... Halfway, right. You were more than... I was pretty unpointing.

I don't know what you were talking about. You were more... Okay, what was wrong? What was wrong? Here's what I'll give you. You were certainly more right than me. I will give you that. But this idea that it was...

That it was like really competitive in the end. Not really, dude. Not really. He threw 11 strikes in the first and third round. I had it 29, 28. I thought Silva won't run around. Look, it was a very technical battle. It was a masters of...

of, you know, deception. I think it was one round where it was close. And I think it was two rounds where one guy just kind of styled on the other guy, to be honest with you. And the tape kind of shows that. There was tension in the room. And it was closer than I thought it was going to be.

And he probably took the second round. In that sense, you're more right than I am. What I object to is this idea that it was close throughout. No, it was not. It was not close throughout. Sure. But, you know, now looking back, It was definitely a fight to make.

I mean, it felt nice seeing like Anderson. Like, even Anderson, so I don't feel like he was a big loser. But let's just hold on to that idea and let's tackle this next question. Hey, looking, Danny. This is Borough from Edmund, Oklahoma. Big time fan. And I just had a question. What did you make of Anderson's performance yesterday?

For somebody who was like 40-something, he actually, I think he looked pretty good. and I think he and Whiteman three would be a great matchup so let me know you know I hadn't thought about that thank you that's an interesting question a third fight with Wydenman I feel like that would work because I feel like

you know people didn't get much of a much closure in those two fights you know they could say well the leg break well you know he was clowning there's a lot of that still going around Such an interesting question. To do that in Kurichiba, after he's coming off of a devastating loss, wow, that would be interesting. Man, you know, I hadn't thought about that at all.

That is such a great, great question or great point. Do you like that idea? I do, I do. But I think there are, dude, the one that I've always been wanting to see is the GSP fight. And I feel like they're not going to do it. Why not? No, no, you're saying it like it's a good idea and I'm agreeing. I had St. Pierre on my radio show just a couple of months ago, and he was like,

Yeah, no, no, it's not, it's not happening. It's not happening. That'll be forever. I know, a lost, a lost opportunity. Look, I agree. I agree. I certainly agree. It's just, it's just, you know, it's like the Nick Diaz thing.

You just can't count on it, man. You really can't. And that third fight with Wyman, that would be something. That would really be something. Here's the one thing I want to say about Silva. Here's what bothers me about that first and third round, and this is why I object to the competitiveness argument a little bit, a little bit. Again, you were more.

right than I was certainly. But the one thing that kind of bothered me was, I mean, all right, I'll give you your due. I'm not afraid to give you your due. You have good ideas. That's why you're on the show. I like you. You're smart. What bothered me was, what is one of the telltale signs of decline?

It is when someone stops throwing back a lot. And in the second round, you did not see that. That was sort of, and by the way, remember Anderson throws about three strikes a minute, three significant strikes a minute. It was a 15-minute fight. You're expecting about 45. In the second round, he had 20, which put him on pace for 60, right? So that was really, really good Anderson Silva right there.

Not vintage, but pretty close. In the first and third rounds, he just wasn't throwing a lot. So here's my point. I'm not saying, oh, he's washed. It's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is he was so high that he can experience decline and still not get blown out, but not getting blown out. It's not enough.

It's not enough to get that next gear. And that's what kind of bothers me a little bit. I would actually fight back against that argument. I think if you look at Anderson's career, I think this might have been the best striker he's ever fought, ever, maybe. Pure striker, you mean? Yeah, I would agree with that. And we know how to Sanya.

We know how to Sanya likes to disguise things. I mean, you said it best on the Monday morning analyst how, like, you know, he'll do a fake, he'll throw certain punches out there to bait you. Man, you got to be careful out there, you know. So I don't buy too much into Silva's output specifically for this fight. you know, keeping in mind that he was fighting the Yushinokamis and all these guys that perhaps are not as good as striking as

Al-Azania is. So I don't put too much stock into that. To your point, his pace in the Bisping fight, I didn't mention this on the Monday morning analyst was on pace, it was correct. And then I forget who else he fought. Oh, the Brunson fight. Also on the Bistpink's not a one-punch knockout type of guy, you know, he's with volume, so you can't afford to go in there and mix it up with him. As Adasanya, you know,

he really hasn't showed us one-punch knockout, but, I mean, he could damage you real bad if you're not careful. I take your pushback as real, but let's just do this. Let's monitor his output going forward and see if this is the beginning of that or if it was just an aberration. But safe to say, because this has been always my thing, safe to say Anderson still was not washed up, safe to say he's a top 15 middleweight. Do you agree? I think I would give you that. But it's hard to say that in a loss. Like I need to see him beat somebody, not just hang around really good guys, you know? Yeah. I just want to see him in

fun fights, man. At this point, like I said, you were more right. He was not as far gone as I thought. And that's where I was wrong. Cool. Now let's talk about Connor McGregor again popping up and throughout there an interesting idea. How about that? He was going after a gas alone and everything. I actually like this idea better than the Whiteman three, although I would love to see it

down the road. Okay, go ahead. Hey guys, what's going on? It's Ricardo from Toronto. D.DOT. So after this UFC 234 in the post by press conference, Anderson's had stated that he has spoken to Nick D about doing a possible rematch at UFC 237 in Brazil, to which your boy, Connor, on Twitter, responded with Book the fight and said that he would fight Nate on it.

So a Connor Nate trilogy and Nick Diaz and Anderson, too, that's got to be the biggest pay-review of all the time. What do you guys think about that? Thanks, guys. Let me say something first. If anyone in the back can give me a tissue, I would be greatly appreciative of that. Okay. That aside.

Do the old wrestling thing. I'm just kidding. The old, oh, yeah. Here's what I would say. I mean, in the words of Jeremy Botter, why would you wear pants if you're going to have Diaz Silva on the same card as Nate McGregor? Yeah. Are you kidding me? That would be the, just toss it.

Hey Nice guy Still got it with the O'Dell Beckham Jr. Of Kleenex! Huh? All right. In any event, dude,

that would be tremendous. It's just how on earth are you going to get both Diaz brothers to Brazil? Good luck with that one. Yes. That's where I have a different opinion than Carmen Greggers.

I think those fights, dude, I'm down to watch those two fights. Make them in Vegas, though. Hey, heck, make him in New York. Yeah.

But, dude, yeah, those would be great fights. I still want to see the Connor McGregor, Nate Diaz trilogy. I think that has to happen before he retires, hopefully. It's 1-1, man. You know, you got to sort it out. And then the Nick Diaz-Anderson Silva won. I think this time around it would be more fun than the first time. I don't know.

Can I make a point about the Diaz brothers? Yeah. When they were on M.A. uncensored live on Spike TV, we got them both in studio at the same time. a feat that has not been accomplished since 2012. G-O-A-T, your boy, book those two. We got them both in studio. Okay.

I want credit as the greatest of all time. There is no more difficult feat. Bro, you'll find the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot before you find two Diaz brothers together. And we did it. Sean Shelby and the UFC should hit you up, you know, make them fight on the same car. Like I said, dude, I have all these good ideas and no one ever listens.

Okay. But, you know, here we go. I just want to point that out. All right, cool. Do we got time for one more? Do you want to switch your tweets? No, no, no, we have time for a couple more. Okay.

Once again, I'll just scream uptown like I always do. What's new? Yeah. All right. Let's talk about the upcoming card. Pretty good, man. That ESPN card, yeah. Yeah, I would actually argue that it's better than the pay-per-view we just saw.

It's the first one of ESPN. They came correct. For sure. The matchups are really good. Yeah. looking then it's Mike calling from Derefield Beach Florida. I just have two questions. My first one's about Crown Gracie.

What is your expectation for his debut in UFC? You feel that, I feel like he comes in a little too desperate with his clinch game. Try to come in for the grappling exchanges. You think Alex Kassaris has been working on on Moytai or any clinch work in the middle?

And what do you expect coming out of that fight? And then what is your dark horse fight for the fight card? Mine is between Vicente Uke and Brian Barbarino and Ultimate Stirling and Jim Rivera. What are your socks? I think it's game for the answer if you could be the answer. Okay, great question about Crohn.

So let me say this. I have not seen his stand-up, no one's seen his stand-up enough. Obviously, people who train with him have in order to make an accurate judgment about his abilities in that regard. So your guess is as good as mine. And if it's probably on the feet, probably he loses. Let me be very clear as I look into the camera here about the ground. work. Probably no one in the UFC

is as good as Jiu-Jitsu as he is. Now, there's Demi and Maya. He's up there probably as good if not. You know, Maya's probably better or certainly on the same level. And then Jacaree as well. But Crone was the last one of those guys at that level to compete and then make his way into MMA. We are talking about a level of jiu-jitsu or if they get you down, chances are there's just no looking back on that one. Very, very, very, very, very very high level. He is Sue Perb on the ground. As for the rest of it, I don't know. He mentioned

Dark Horse. I'd like to call my Dark Horse on this one, Danny, Jessica Penny versus Jody Eskiebel. I have a long bit of fan of Jessica Penny. I thought that we haven't really seen the best of her in the UFC. She was a different force before that when she was just roughing people up. And she has always had really good ground and pound and good jujitsu that we just haven't really seen in the UFC. I don't know if we're going to see it against Jodi Iskebeau, but she was back from a USA suspension where she cleared her name and still got 18 months. So that's the one I'm looking for. Yeah.

There's so many. The thing about this card is that it doesn't have like a lot of star power, but the matchups are, you can tell, you know, the matchmakers in this one set down and carefully drew it out because every single matchup is just fantastic. I can name a few, but I'm really excited for the Alex Casters' Cron Gracie one. I think Courtney Casey versus Cynthia Calvillo or Calbillo. That might steal a fight of the night. These two girls are very scrappy.

They're very good grapplers. They're good everywhere, really. And they always, they have a high output and high pace. So that should be a fun. You know what's great about this? Courtney Casey and Calvijo, as you pointed out, two ladies who are technical. Yes.

But also, if they got a bite on that mouthpiece a little bit and thug it out, they will, which I kind of like as well. By the way, James Vic, Paul Tholder, that was supposed to be at UFC Nebraska. They rebooked that, Cassarist versus Gracie, Vicente Lucque, the most underrated fighter in the UFC versus Philo Colombiano there, Brian Barberena.

Tough as nails. Andre Feely. By the way, Brian Barberena ran into Pete Rubish. You know who Pete Rubish is? No idea. He is one of the world's best deadlifters and their worlds crossed. Pete Rubish, shouts to Pete Rubish, tagged me in the Instagram post, and felt like a celebrity for once in my life. Nice.

Get them follows. So shouts to Pete Rubish. You want to see a guy whose neck is the size of. his waist and who can deadlift the moon. There you go. Yeah, but overall good cards. Also headlining the prelims, the very early prelims, former UFC champion Henna Barra.

Jesus. I didn't even notice that. Fighting Luke Sanders. By the way, I favored Luke Sanders to win that one anyway. Wow. I'm always fascinated by these type of matchups, you know, like not so long ago, you know, Maynard fighting Ryan Hall, you know, etc., B.J. Penn.

When you get somebody that's really good, that was at the top and, you know, they're looking to get back in there. And it's always interesting to see if they're going to be able to turn things around. Agreed. Yeah. All right. We got time for one more?

Yeah, we got time for two more. I mean, it's fine, dude. I'll just, you know. Okay. My life is a series of scrambles. Yeah. Let's talk about Robert Whitaker and his injuries. Hey, good morning, Luke Thomas.

Danisaguerre. This is Charles Jalen calling out of Atlanta, Georgia. My question about Robert Whitaker. Do you think he has become the most injury-prone champion UFCs ever had? Yes, I understand this last injury was very, very significant. I mean, I, too, have had an inguinal hernia surgery back in December, and I missed the whole month of December pretty much. I was limited to weight lifting for that whole month,

so I understand that injury, but the facts are the facts. I mean, he fought one time in 2018, and prior to that, his last fight was like July of 2017. team. He's has a lot of inactivity. I mean, he's so very scared. I love him to fight, but what do you think his feeling is, or, you know, is he still in his prime? Or has his prime been diminished part?

I get it. Here's the deal. It's great question. He always calls with good stuff. Yeah. The injury prone thing, it's like, you heard Adasanya's theory is maybe it's a way he's training. Here is one thing that there's not much science on, but what science there is kind of tells us

there might be more to dig. not everybody's body is as susceptible or as resistant to injury as everyone else's. And that sounds kind of obvious, but here's my point. Even if you took somebody else of the same physical dimensions as you or me, same weight, same height, same, you know, limb length, all the different things you could measure, same body fat composition, they still might have wildly different ability to resist injury. There's been guys, you've seen the training room. They can go jiu-jitsu six days a week. They can roll two hours a night and they get a little sore and they take. take a day off and they're fine.

And there's other guys, they'll roll two, three days a week and they get messed up doing it. Some people get cauliflower ears. Some people don't. It's this weird thing where my favorite NFL team, the Washington Redskins, their tied in Jordan Reed was going to be one of the best tied ins in the league, except he just constantly gets injured. And then there are other guys, similar body type that just don't. They're iron men.

So he could just be a guy, and I don't know this for a fact, but here's a theory. He could just be a guy who's just injury prone. and there's nothing you can do about it. Is he still in his prime? Guys, people don't understand the prime. Prime is when you're at your peak physical powers and when that intersects with your sort of technical skill maturation. You get out of it around your early to mid-30s.

He's 28. He is so quite clearly in his prime. Yeah. I still feel like he still has a peak Robert Whitaker. We might see, you know, he might just keep improving in the next couple of years. But, you know, to answer this question, it is a little bit concerning just because he's young

And, dude, fighting Yolo Romero for 50 minutes is not good for your health. Oh, messed them up a little bit. That's a fact. Again, these guys leave a piece of themselves in there. But certainly, you know, I feel like other champions you can name King Velasquez, even Dominic Cruz. They've been hindered by injury way more than Robert Werdaker has. The thing about Kane, though, that, again, I don't know this for a fact, but you've seen the infamous videos of his old, old, old training style. I mean, how do you not get injured training that way?

Right. How do you not get injured? So part of it also is training and fatigue management. Yeah. I don't feel like this for Robert Whitaker, I don't feel like it's like a training issue because, you know, for example, it just doesn't come off that way to me.

But, you know, I feel like it's more of a body type thing, as you said. But who knows? All right. All right. Let's talk about, you know, the pay-per-view times. Oh, yes. Yo, this is Oliver at a QS, Florida. Just watching the sound off of episode 467.

I just have to reiterate a point. The quickness of the ESPN card made all of the difference. The extended length of the previous cards drove away so many of my friends from watching the sport. If we could get pay-per-view cards down shorter and over at a more reasonable hour, I think the sport would grow exponentially. Anyway, thanks for the show. How it going, y'all. Dude, the pay-per-view over the weekend, the main event was over a little bit after midnight or something?

Yeah. Something crazy like that. Dude, how awesome was that? That was so fun. I'm assuming you're sharing my sensibilities about this one. Yeah, I thought the time was great. You know, how do you feel about pay-per-views being, for example, because the standard is always five fights, right?

Yes. I think they've added more in the past when there's been like, you know, two, three belts being defended, I think, for the New York one. No, they add three fights. No, no. It's been five for almost as many years as I've been covering the sport. They'll have another one they throw in the air on the broadcast earlier.

there's time or something, but it's been five, yeah. I know the UFC for a while tried starting them at 9 p.m. And I feel like that wasn't working. But again, that was like years ago. I must have been like six, seven years ago, maybe. They tried earlier at 9, which I thought was awesome. But I guess they didn't like the results or what the feedback was on the, or, you know, even pay-per-view buys.

I'll just say this. The paper, the card for this one starts, the main card starts at 9 for UFC and the SPN1. And, you know, they're done in two and a half hours. And folks, someone bit back, they're like, that's only like a half hour, 45. maybe at most an hour shorter. Let's say it's 45. I split the difference.

Dude, 45 minutes of less bullshit. I'll take it. I'll take it. That is so, I mean, that is such a tax off of a burden that has been freed from us. Dude, the FS1, I'm not kidding, man. The way they did that, dude, I'm being dead serious. I know I beat a dead horse with this one. It affected my fandom, dude. It affected my willingness to watch.

I was resentful of having to sit there and watch that. With ESPN, just going like this, it's like manna from heaven. Yeah. Like, essentially, we all came here to watch fights, not commercials. So I understand, you know, it's part of it. But, like, some of the stuff that they were rolling out on FS1 was just filler. It was nothing. So, yeah, I'm really glad ESPN is picking it up. You want to switch over to tweets? Yes, because I'm going to have to get out here. Good job this week. Sounds good. And we'll be back next week and enjoy the fights, my friend. We'll do. All right. Time now for a round of tweets. Five minutes on the clock. It starts when the first tweet goes up that I'll be. I can visibly read. Let's do this. Come on ATL, how you do that?

While I'm still good looking, boys, my drill instructor used to say that. All right, here we go. After watching Spider-Anderson versus Stylebender and reading people's reactions, is there more to be said for Silver's underrated performance rather than Izzy being overrated, especially at the age of 43?

Yeah, I'll be, look, the guy sets traps and Silva, and Stylebender didn't want to give in them. So I think that removed that extra gear he typically goes to to finish him off. That's a credit to Anderson Silva. It was a little bit unsatisfying in terms of what your expectations might have been, but you understand why it happened. Next. Why was Kelvin cleared to fight when he was literally covered and staffed, excuse me, he admitted in an interview backstage saying he took antibiotics, but he still had open source that could pass on to Robert through skin contact. So what apparently he told, either Megynolevi or somebody else was that

the doctors gave him antibiotics and as long as the staff was getting better and going away, it was okay. I guess if it would stay the same or gotten worse, they wouldn't have let him. So I actually asked a ringside physician what they thought of it. Here's what he said. In general, if at the weigh-in there is an active lesion above the waist,

the fighter should not be medically clear. That is a legitimate ringside physician who does work in the state of California and more. I don't know if that matches what those doctors said in Australia where they said, yes, that's true, but if it's going down, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know. Some additional clarification is needed here, but it is a dicey situation.

Next. Which stoppage was more controversial, Alvi or Dilleshaw? Neither of them. Next. Can we talk about Ricky Simone? First of all, shouts to Ricky Simone has some of the best. I mean, people get ironic mullets, and Ricky Simone is like, no, no, no, no. I get real mullets because I believe in America populated by them.

I appreciate that, first of all. Second of all, what I would say is, yeah, man, great performance. Did everything he needed to do to shut down honey, Yaya. You go to the ground once with Yaya, you might not get back up. So a real smart strategic performance from him. Next. Do you think the UFC should cut ties with USADA? Yes.

And implement a more lenient anti-doping program, yes. Not similar to the NFL's, but hold on. so what would be the best way to justify or rationalize that position to someone who is pro Usada? I have made this point before, and people want to ignore it because it is totally inconvenient for the zealotry that they have just mainstreamed and the fiction that they have told themselves that Usada is necessary for MMA. It is totally not.

The reality is the most popular league in the United States by a million miles to the point where the AAF did better numbers than the NBA in their viewership over the weekend. some nubs league filled with guys who are, I mean, they're not truck drivers, but they're not NFL players. The number one league by a million miles also has the highest, not only injury load, but injury load for traumatic brain injuries. And nobody cares at all that they have a PED system in place crafted by the players and the leagues. The broadcasters don't care. The fans don't care. The players want it and the league wants it.

They crafted it together. This idea that if you have some system like, that, cats and dogs will live together and there will be mass hysteria is a problem. It is fiction. It is fiction. You are believing in fiction. It is a consequence of moral panic. You want to do what you can to mitigate risk, but there are medicinal arguments for having these kinds of systems in place. You do not need it. It makes no sense for a professional career where it can be short-lived rather than on an Olympic cycle. That's where those two and four-year punishments come from. This is something done by the organization.

to protect itself. It's got nothing to do with the health and safety of athletes. Next. Which team wins the Champions League this season? You know which team wins the Champions League this season. Probably Man City.

I don't know. Next. He says, Adletti in the back. Why don't you work on beating real next time? Also, what's the next fun winnable fight for Orlando? Man, that's a good question. I don't know, but keep them busy. Next.

I want to get through as many of these as I can. Who do you have winning in the Paul Daily Michael Venom-Pay? fight. Good question. Who do you think we'll win between Czech Congo and Vitali Minikov? And you're going to be watching both Belator cards this weekend. Time permitting, I will. I'm going to go with Paul Daly, but honestly, I don't really know. That's a very, very difficult call. And I'll give Minikov the win over Czech Congo next. What are your thoughts on Connor McGregor's tweets after every UFC event?

Annoying as hell or a clever tactic to keep his name in the mix? Both. P.S. Luke unblock me. Send me his thing. Danny Salt and block him later. Yeah, it's both. It is annoying as hell, but he's smart to do it because, first of all, everyone has a right to weigh in. So does he, and he does. One more, one more, one more. Here we go. Will the UFC ever stop a pay-per-view because the headliner drops out if it were boxing without the headline or the whole thing would be canceled, right? Not necessarily. And by the way, I guarantee you they still probably did enough to even break even or make money, which is why they didn't cancel that. You still had Anderson Silva on the card.

so it would take probably losing your main and co-main, which nobody wants. All right, guys, let me say thank you to Daniel Cormier, thank you to Israel Adasagna, thank you to Al Jemaine Sterling, thank you for the tweets using the hashtag the MMA Hour. Thank you for the calls at 844-866-2468. My name is Luke Thomas for Danny Seguera. We'll be back next week. Until then, stay frosty.