MMA Fighting - Curtis Blaydes Talks Tom Aspinall Fight at UFC 304, Jones Waiting For Miocic, Gane Turning Down Title Fight

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

Ahead of UFC 304 in July, Curtis Blaydes previews his rematch against Tom Aspinall after their first fight ended in just 15 seconds and now the interim heavyweight title is on the line. Blaydes also addresses Jon Jones picking Stipe Miocic has his next opponent and his expectations that the winner of that fight will almost certainly retire afterwards. He also discusses Ciryl Gane allegedly turning down the title fight against Aspinall in July as well as the dangers that come along with competing in the heavyweight division, especially when it comes to the idea that he somehow has a glass jaw plus much more. Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine,

available now, only from Audible. ...to the Vox Media Podcast Network. C-304, he will finally, finally get the chance to fight for a UFC title. We talked about it before, and I can't wait to talk to him about it today. It is always my pleasure to speak to Curtis Blades. Curtis, how are you?

I'm good sir how are you I'm fantastic man Thank you for taking time for me as always Of course the big news dropped Literally like a day ago When did you find outley When did you get the news That you were going to be fighting

For the interim title in July Friday So basically like a week ago Oh yeah I guess yeah Today is Friday Yeah a week ago How hard was it to keep it a secret

Because come on be honest I know you've been waiting for this We've talked about this Like, was it hard to keep it a secret for a week? No. I think, I don't know, maybe because I'm just getting older. I don't really care about Instagram and who's talking about me. I'm just ready to go to work.

Absolutely. We talked after the winner with Jalton Almeida, and we both agreed, yeah, Tom Aspinall, interim title should be next, but you told me very, very pointedly, you said, hey, I'm not betting on anything because for all I know, they're going to re-sign Brock Lezden, he's going to get the shot, so I can't be shocked at what would happen. I might be upset, but I can't get shocked by it. So when you finally got the call, was there excitement, relief?

Like, what was it, I mean, or is it just like, hey, I got to get to work? Like, what is the reaction when you finally get the call that you're getting the title shot? I mean, it was a little bit of the former excitement, obviously. It's a big deal. It's a title fight. It's big. But mostly the latter is just trying to get a way. work. It's a fight. I'm not going to

get out of my schedule, get out of my routine, and start doing a bunch of, like, got to do special stuff. I'm going to do exactly what I did to get ready the last time. We didn't actually get the fight, but I felt ready. So I'm going to do the exact same thing I always do.

Yeah, it's a weird one, right? Like, I say congrats, because I'm happy for you. But at the same time, it's like saying, congrats to getting signed to the UFC. You're happy you're got in the UFC, but the job isn't to get the UFC, it's to win. So, like, you're happy, but obviously the goal is to win the title, now fight for the title. That's a great analogy. I don't want to be like, oh, I expected it. No, obviously, I didn't expect it. But, like you said, just because you get signing the UFC, that's not, like,

you can be happy about it, but you got to go to work now. And that's, that's where I've been since I found out about the fight. Yeah. So now I'm sure, I don't know how much you heard about this after the fact. I know Tom Aspinall did a video and he said that they had tried originally maybe to do the Cyril gone fight and Cyril turned it down which was kind of ironic because we talked about the whole Cyril gone situation after

the gelton out made a fight. Listen, I don't know what actually happened. I have no idea and you know how rumors get started but if that's true, if he turned down a title fight are you surprised or are you just like, well, kind of expected because that seems to be you know, I know you had an opinion about that

the last time we spoke. I'm not surprised I mean He's From his perspective He's already received Two interim title shots

So he's like hey The The answer is a high That I'll get another one He's right They'll probably offer him another one Like he's right So

I I can't blame I mean I wouldn't do it But From his perspective He knows he'll get another one And I guess I'm hearing

He's like doing a movie, which is you still make him money. I don't think they're going to pay you what you would have made for a fight and for the belt, but it's not like he just said, no, I don't want to do it. I guess he had a reason. And like I said, he most likely expects to get another offer within a year. Yes, they seem to love to give him title shots. So maybe that's right.

Like I said, maybe that'll be your next fight after Tom Aspinall. Who knows? With that being said, Curtis, like this has been a long time coming, of course. And I know there's been so much like distraction. Not for you because we talked about this before. Like you weren't sitting there thinking, man, I'm getting this title shot. I'm going to put my whole, but every egg in my basket that I'm getting this title shot. You never said that.

But I'm curious, like with all this stuff going on, like how much did you pay attention to the whole Aspinall and John Jones going back and forth? Like we kind of had this conversation before. Like we all agreed. John was going to fight Steepay. He was never going to fight Tom Aspinall. but they just kept going back and forth with Charlie. Did you pay attention to any of that? I mean, obviously people are tagging in it,

but I knew John, we know John wants the money fight. The money fight is steep, and old disrespect to steepe, but he's also older. He's not as, like, fast as he once was. It, on paper, it feels like an easier fight. Again, I don't want to disrespect. like Stepe, but he's also

43 years old, something like that. A decade from now, I won't be the guy I am right now. So, oh, disrespect. But yeah, I knew John wasn't going to fight anybody else except for Steepa. Even when he was talking about Alex Perea, I knew that wasn't happening either. Like, I hear about the stuff, but I don't like,

like, it doesn't stick in my head like that because I don't believe it's going to happen. Like, if it had happened, I'd have been shocked. but no, I didn't really believe any of the rumors. Yeah, and I know what you're saying about Steepa, and I understand. I totally get that. And you're right, though, but at the same time, if it is a less risky fight, but it is a bigger fight,

I like Tom Aspinall, and I think Tom's a great guy. But no one's going to deny that Steepa is a bigger name, like in terms of what people are going to tune in and buy a pay-per-view for. That is higher, lower risk, higher reward, I guess is the best way to say, right? Exactly. From a business perspective or like think about it in terms of like war, if you could take over this base that has a huge name and it's not as heavily guarded versus this other base that's a little smaller, but you know it's heavily, heavily guarded.

And you'll get the same respect, almost the same respect for taking each, each other, either or the bases, you go for the easier base. Why not? Yeah, absolutely. Now, and I know, listen, you're not getting lost in the weeds about this, and I know we've kind of mentioned this before, but I know John's talked a lot, and he said, had a lot to say lately on Twitter and things like that.

Of course, he's more than welcome to say whatever he wants. I think he's the greatest M.M.A fighter of all time, but I think we agreed when we spoke to the last time. Like, we both believe, and again, I want to speak for you now that time has passed, but I truly believe John's going to fight steep end and retire. I just, that's the way. I know there's a lot of talk, but I think that's the path for him.

Am I, do you still agree with me on that? I fully believe it. Like, he'll have to prove us wrong because that's what I believe. That's what a lot of guys think. Obviously, we talk about these things at the gym. I have the perspective of other fighters,

other coaches, other people in the MMA world. And I haven't heard anyone who's like, who really believes that he isn't going to retire. because why wouldn't he? What else does he have to prove? He's rich. He's got the status.

Like you said, he's the goat. That's not deniable. He's on the Mount Rushmore for anybody. Yeah, I just don't see what brings him back into the octagon after the steep fights. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I totally agree. So now, would that be said, and again, I think from what I've heard, you probably heard the same thing because John kind of announced it by,

by accident and deleted the tweet, but it looks like him and Steve B are going to be in November in Madison Square Garden. I know he kind of hinted at that. You and Tom are fighting in July. So can I ask, how do you view the interim title? Because it is an interim for now, but I truly believe after November 18th, whatever the date that fight, it's like two days later, that's going to be the real title as the way I view it, because I agree.

I think he's going to retire. Now, again, maybe he's going to prove me wrong, and that's totally fine. But I'm with you. I don't think John has anything left to prove, so I'd totally be okay with that. So how do you view the interim titles? It's kind of weird. Like, you're fighting for an interim title, but six months later, it can be the real title. I mean, I view it as a title.

Like, when I told my dad, I'm fighting for the belt. I didn't say interim belt. Because to most people, and let's be honest, the casual fan is, that's the opinion that matters right now. It's not the opinion that should matter, but that's the opinion that matters. the casual fan, the Uber driver, the guy who works at McDonald's, I'm fighting for the belt. I bet you a lot of casuals,

they don't even understand. Like, how does Aswan have a belt and John Jones? They don't know, because they're not educated fans, and that's all right. That's on them. They can do the research or not,

but their opinion is the one that sways the UFC. They're the opinion. They're the ones who decide who gets to fight for belts. It's not the rank. rankings. It's the people's opinion. And I believe the majority of people are going to view their fight exactly how you do, exactly how I do. This is the real belt. Yeah, absolutely. So now you prepared, even though the fight with Tom Aspinall lasted 15 seconds, and we talked

about this before, that you don't even really view that as a fight, much less a win, but you did go through an entire training camp to get ready for him. So it's not like, you, even though the fight kind of didn't happen, you did go ready and get it. Now you're going through a second camp for him. Can I ask him? I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm I can ask you to give away a lot of big secrets, but when you fight him in July, it'll be almost literally exactly two years since you fought him the last time or since you were supposed to fight him the last time. He's had two fights since then, of course, both big wins. Can I ask, without giving away anything, is Tom Aspinall that much of a different fighter now than he was when you got ready for him two years ago? No, and that's, again, no disrespect.

Why would he evolve? It's been working. You usually evolve when it's forced upon you, and that usually happens when you lose. You're like, oh, I lost, need to adjust. He hasn't had an ill. Like I said, I'm sure he doesn't view our fight as, oh, I lost, I need to grow. He got hurt. So, no, I think he's exactly the same.

He's looking to box, looking to be in and out, looking to use his hand speed, and that's what he does. It's heavyweight. It's not overly complicated. is who hits first. Like that exchange, he knocked out Sergei with at Antoinway at 45 at 55. That's not a knockout. That's a good hit.

It's not knockout. We watched the Gaichi Holloway fight. They had 15 exchanges that if that was heavyweights, you go to sleep. The margin of error is razor rate. Again, I always say this, but it's razor thin. It's just who gets there. first and that's his game plan. He's going to sprint in and look to knock me out.

Yeah, absolutely. Now, with that being said, Tom, and I know there's no bad blood, to be clear about that, like, there's no ill will. I know you like Tom. Tom's never said a bad word about you, but there's two things that I am, I'm just bringing up because I got to be honest about him, Curtis. One is he's fighting at home, which I just talked to Sean Woodson who fought at home in St. Louis, and he's like, he told me he's like, never again. I never want to do it again. It's the nerve-racking experience. And so he's like, I never want to do it again. And then, too, and again, I don't think it's disrespectful, but, like, he's been so, like,

enamored with John Jones. Like, he just keeps talking about John. And I get it. It's hype. I understand it. But you talked about this with me before that you got so hyper fixated on the title at one point. You just had to forget about it because it was just, it was bothering you.

Like, it was just, like, everyone was asking about it. You talk about it. And so you're just like, I got to stop doing this. So I'm curious, again, you're not getting in his head. but those two factors, can they, I'm not saying they are, can they play a factor in how he approaches this fight? If he's distracted by the time,

by the John Jones thing and fighting at home. If you allow it, because that goes for anybody. Like, that goes for NFL guys and you get a DUI before week, week one. Is that going to affect them? Some guys it does. Some guys are in and out of jail like John Jones.

It doesn't affect them. So, I, Like I said, it can, but I don't expect, I'm not like, yeah, he's going to be distracted. I'm expecting him to be locked in. That's how I would approach it. I would be locked in. Nothing else matters. Nothing in the past matters.

Nothing in the future beyond July 27th matters. And that's how I'm approaching it. And I would assume that's how he would approach it because you don't get to the where he's, I being easily distracted. So I would wager he won't be distracted. Yeah. I know, like, because it's funny because there's guys like me in this sport. And I'm not saying this because I'm interviewing you.

You know I've said this publicly many times. I've said many times throughout your career, Curtis Blaze is going to be a UFC heavyweight champion. But going into this fight, Tom is quote unquote, the favorite, but he's also got a lot of talk behind him right now. He's fighting at home. You know, we know. him and Leon Edwards. They're going to get the headlines because they're fighting at home. He is the current champion. Everyone is saying John scared him, which I think is ridiculous,

but it is what it is. In a weird way, do you just get to go in there and fight? Like, the pressure's not really on you in a way. Like, the spotlight's going to be on Tom because he's the current champ, but he's also fighting at home. The John Jones conversation is going to happen no matter what, you know that. He's going to get a million questions about John Jones, and everyone's saying John scared him, whatever it is. You kind of just get to go in there and fight your fight in a weird way. Like, is this almost like the perfect. scenario to get a title fight because they're not like the spotlight's not necessarily on you this isn't this isn't um you know Alex Pereira fighting Israel at asania is a contender this is a guy going

into his hometown he's the chair like in a way like you get to go in there in a weird way like no pressure on you right in a way in a way in a way no um a little bit there's always going to be pressure because I put the pressure on myself I don't want to embarrass myself I don't want to embarrass my coaches I don't want to I want to win obviously we all want to win I think just as a professional athlete, it's always going to be pressure. But to what you said, he is at home. He does have the belt. Everyone is going to be asking about the John Jones.

They won't be asking me as any things that they'll be asking him. So, yeah, I do prefer that. Like, yeah, I don't mind doing interviews with you and, like, or other people, but I really don't like interviews. So, yeah, I do like that. And he'll be getting the bulk of the spotlight. I can't say whether or not that'll be to his disadvantage, but I do believe it is an advantage of mine.

And just because it's an advantage for me doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a disadvantage for him. I can't speak on how he, maybe he loves it. Maybe this is hypes them up, just gives them gas. I know guys like that who like they feed off the energy of everyone's like, yeah, man. You're going to do this. You're going to be great. You might be one of those guys. I don't know.

But, yeah, I am happy that I'm not at home. Because I did that with Alex, we weren't even on pay-per-view. We were the last of the prelims. And I had to go to ABC earlier that week, did a bunch of interviews at my dad's house. Like, yeah, it gets a little stressful. I'd rather just work out, relax, work out, relax the week of the fight. And I know you told me, like, you have no person. problem going into his backyard. You embraced

that the last time. You embraced it this time. So I know, like, you don't care about the booze. You don't care about the crowd. You, you told me openly, like, sure, I'll fight him there. You don't care. I wanted to go to Brazil. I would have loved... I know it's not about Aspinall, but I don't mind one of the people's backyards.

I went to Australia for Hunt. We went to England already with Aspinall. I wanted to go... Originally, I was going to Brazil for my last opponent and it just didn't happen but it wasn't an issue for me. I don't care about that stuff

because they can't help you. They can't influence, like when I was in Chicago. I know everybody was doing Alastair, but that didn't help me win. Like, it's nice if they were doing that but that doesn't influence the fight. I don't think it does.

Yeah. Now, I know that the UFC just recently announced they're going to Denver, which is where you train, but you're from Chicago. Can I assume, like, in a perfect world, like you win the title, you're not like the guy banging the drum to say, let me fight in Chicago again? No, no, I won't be.

And the taxes in Chicago, well, Illinois are higher than the average. I'd rather fighting Vegas, Florida's nice, Texas, like, places like that. I like, I like that mentality because everyone's like, man, I want to fight Madison Square Garden. I'm like, have you seen the taxes in New York? Are you sure you want to fight Madison Square Garden? I did that once. I was on 2-17, and yeah, taxes are great.

I didn't know you could do that. I didn't know that was legal to be. It's the same thing when you try. I know guys who travel and fight Canada. They're like, oh, my gosh, now you've got to be double taxes. You have to pay Canada and you have to be U.S. So, like, little things like that. They're like, oh, man, I can't wait to go fight such and such place.

And I'm like, just being out. It's like maybe think about that a little bit because the money you're going to get taken from you, just be aware. I don't blame guys for wanting to do it like early on because when you don't make as much, you don't get tax as much. Like when I went to New York, I was making 25 and 25 when I went to Chicago. That was a big one. That was when I just got a raise. So that was like 100 in the 100. I did hurt a little more than normal.

Yeah, absolutely. So now, Curtis, I'm just telling you ahead of time. because, you know, I know you said you only do a few interviews here and there. You win the belt. The attention's going to come on you and there's going to be a lot more required. But I'm just letting you know, you're still going to come back and talk to me no matter what. You got it. I'm just telling you that ahead of time.

You're good. It's a lot of the other ones who just ask like, so are you going to wrestle? I don't know. Man, it's a fight. I might not. I don't know. I hate those questions. It's funny.

We were talking about like the whole like distractions and all that kind of stuff. At the end of the day, like, I like, I love talking. to you, but the reality is like you said in heavyweight. You could have the worst camp in the world. You can feel like crap. You could go in there and still one random shot and it's over because that's what heavyweight is. It's almost a different sport when you compare it to other weight classes. Like the things you can get away with, you can flick out a lazy inside leg.

And if you get hit with a hook, it's not the end of the world. Not a heavyweight. That's what happened to Volkov. He flicked out a lazy, you know, a lazy. he went with Derek at the end of the fight he gets knocked out. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like I said, that's the nature of the beast. Like I said, going into

Sergei and Tom, you think, well, Sergey's been on a great run. He's been knocking people out left and right, and guess what? He got knocked out in like 60 seconds. That's just the nature of heavyweight. And I wish people would take that into account when they judge or critique heavyweight. Like, oh,

he got knocked out, he's a bum. No, it's heavyweight. If you watch O'Malley versus Vera on 299, if that was heavyweight, it wouldn't have went five rounds. I promise you. The way O'Malley was hitting Vera

as not going past two rounds, but just because they don't hit us hard. It's not that we're not as skilled, is that we have to be a little more skilled, I think, in order to, like, to strike. That's why I like to wrestle because it's a dangerous game at heavyweight. Yeah, absolutely.

I know I've said this to you, and I mean absolutely no offense. This is not a knock on him, but if you fought Derek Lewis 100 times, I think you win 99 of them. But that's the problem. Like that one shot, that changes. You were winning the fight. That's heavyweight. That's the nature of the beast.

And I still, and people at home probably like blazers, bomb. His hands were ass. I'm like, bro, did you watch the first round? I was teasing him up. And yeah, he called me. He knew, he knew, hey, this guy's way too fast. I'm just going to stand here. And if I get him, I get him, I get him, and he got me.

But I don't want, I hate that. Like, people probably view him as a better shrieker than me, just because he got me with an uppercut. It wasn't the most skillful thing in the world. I almost view it as I knocked my self out because I shot in with an uppercut, which only makes it worse. So, yeah, I mean, I was at your fight. I was at your fight with, here in Columbus with Chris Dawkins,

and I saw the strikingly, I was, I was blown away by how much improved your striking was. Because, again, like, I come from wrestling and I loved it, you're a wrestler, but seeing that improvement in that fight, I was like, man, like, you've really been working on your hands. Like, that showed the extreme improvement. You had so much confidence in your hands. So, yeah, you have great hands. But that's heavyweight. Like I said, the best heavyweight fighter, the best heavyweight strikers in the world.

Again, I tell this story all the time. I was the biggest Mirko Krocob fan ever coming out of pride. If you would have bet me a million dollars, he was going to get headcounted. knocked out by Gabriel Gonzag. I would have said, you're absolutely insane. That's heavyweight. How old was he when that happened?

Yeah, he was in his 30s. I don't know where he was in his 30s, but he was in his upper 30s at that point, yeah. It's also a actor. Like when the jaw is gone and heavyweight, it's gone. It's gone, gone. You remember that back of the day.

Everyone said there was no way anyone could ever knock out Roy Nelson, and then Mark Hunt did it. And then after that, Roy didn't have the same chin anymore. once it gets split once it just opens and that people are like oh blades has a glass jaw I got knocked out by Eric Lewis Sergei called me but I wasn't sleep and then Ingano again wasn't sleep

three heavy heavy hitters and I ate one from Mark Hunt like a real one like a real overhand I ate that I don't think I got a glass jaw I just think it's heavyweight and we all hit hard. You could argue that your three knockouts are the three heaviest punchers in the division. Like honestly, like we know in Ghana, that's no joke. We know Derek Lucey has the most knockouts in UFC history.

And Sergey hits like a truck too. That's why I picked, again, originally I picked Sergey to beat Tom. I think Tom's coming on a short notice. Sergei's just wrecking people. I picked him to win. Credit to Tom for proving me wrong. But again, that's heavyweight. You could have arguably gotten knocked out by the three hardest punchers in the heavyweight

in the entire heavyweight division. It's like that And I wear it like a badge of honor A lot of people Want to talk smack He wants to wrestle You get in there You stand in there

With a heavy hitting heavy weight And you know you only get one You zig when you should have zag It's over Let me see if you wrestle or not At least for a little Yeah that's like when Steve Bay was wrestling with Alistur

It's like well what's the path at least resistance Is it standing with Alistair over him are taking him down to the ground. Smart. It's nothing wrong with being a smart fighter. I know we all want to see the Holloway versus Gachie. Those are lightweights that don't happen in the heavyweight, unless you're on the sauce, which I'm not.

So that's not going to happen to heavyweight. You're never going to get a war like that. It's just, it's not going to happen. Yeah. So now you found out, like we said, you found out a week ago. Again, we talked about this right after the jail. to Almeida fight. We had already, I think we even talked about July.

That was the rumor. It wasn't official at that point. So we were in May. So we're basically literally two months out from the fight. Had you already kind of, I mean, you never really step out of the gym. But like now do you just kind of ramp things up knowing it's a five-round title fight? Or had you already kind of had an idea? Or what was your, like, in terms of like getting ready, has it already started, I assume?

Yeah. It's already started. I was back in the gym in April. I took off for like two weeks. And yeah, I've been back in the gym. I haven't been going like crazy, crazy hard because we didn't have an opponent. But how we do?

Yeah, well, I started to ramp it up. I won't have as many rest days, a little more drill days. But overall, it's pretty much the same. S&C, drilling, sparring, live jiu-jitsu roles, live wrestling. Yeah. Do you, like when you're getting ready,

because you've done a lot of five-round fights, do you reinvent the will when you're doing five-round fights? Do you add extra into the fight, or do you not try to change it too much? No. I mean, because that's the beauty of my strategy. It's all about economic and just believing in the conditioning

that I put in the work I put into my conditioning, believing that if I'm a little tired, I expect the other guy to be, like, smoked. and that's what I believe and if that doesn't happen oh well but that's that's why I'm putting the work in right now to have that belief in my conditioning

yeah I don't know and I'm not saying this like a knock or anything I don't know there's anyone that's going to outwork you in a title like I remember you telling me like the like I think the hardest you said you ever went was the Volkov fight because he surprised you at how tough he was but even that like that was still incredible conditioning I don't know that there would be a better heavyweight in terms of condition than you

because you've been a wrestler, this is what you do. So again, like, that's always been a weapon for you anyways. People use that Volkov fight against me, and the more I think about it, I'm like, bro, I got hired two minutes into the fourth round. You know how many other guys would have been able to last that long? At that pace, none. Because Al-Mita, he tried to do my game plan against the Volkov against me. did it for one round didn't hit me not once at least i was also attempting to hit

folk off was also as to the fatigue he he tried just to ragdoll me for one round he did i guess and then he was smoked it's hard to do that it's people don't get it you don't get it unless you end in the jiu jih Tzu um workout an hour into it and you're on bottom and you have to like how do i get up it is the most a teething thing in the world, especially a heavyweight. Absolutely, absolutely. Real quick before I let you go, Curtis, because last time we talked, I think it was before the draft.

Now it's after the draft. Are you allowing yourself to get a little excited about the Bears? Because, man, they're putting together a squad this year. I'm excited. I'm not even going to lie. I'm excited. I bought my jersey. I got a Caleb jersey, and I might get Woolse, see how the rookie does,

O'Donzee, if he becomes a guy early on. get his jersey also. And I fully expect to be at the week one home opener against the Titans. Nice, nice. Yeah, I got my tickets. I'm going to Bingles Commander's Monday Night Football. I got my tickets the other day for that one. So I got to see Borough against Jane Daniels.

You guys should win that. As long as he's healthy. I want him to be healthy. I don't want him to be one of those guys like an Andrew Luck who doesn't get to reach his full. potential because of injuries. Yeah. Well, I'm looking forward to it, man. I think the Bears got a squad, man. I'm excited.

When I was a kid growing up, I had a couple of friends who were big Bears fans. They were from Chicago. And so I've always kind of kept an eye on the Bears. And so, like, I think now, like, I think you've got a legit reason to be excited. I think this team, man, they build a good team in the offseason. So I think Bears fans actually have a real reason to be excited this year. Yeah. Like I said, I already got my tickets. And depending on how they do, who knows, I might go to four. or five games. If they make a playoff,

wherever that's at, I'm going to that game. A lot of the NFL guys, I know Joe Burroughs a big U.S. fan. I don't know if Caleb is or not, but you defend your title. You win the title in July. You defend your title. You've got to get Caleb Williams out to your fight. That would be cool. I would be. I didn't even think about that, but yeah, that's something I dream about.

I love it. I love it. Well, Curtis, man, I appreciate the time, as always. Obviously, have a safe training camp, man. Safe travels over to Manchester. Best luck in the fight, not that you need it. And expect a call for me a couple days after to talk about the title win, all right? I definitely expect it. No worries. All right, Chris.

We'll talk soon, all right? Thank you. You too. Bye-bye. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one.

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