MMA Fighting - Eric Nicksick Talks 'Different' Francis Ngannou For MMA Return, Strickland vs. Du Plessis 2, More

Episode Date: October 12, 2024

Eric Nicksick discusses the final countdown for Francis Ngannou's MMA return at the PFL's upcoming pay-per-view vs. Renan Ferreira, the different spark Ngannou has in preparation, the expectations of an Ngannou knockout, what happened between Roman Dolidze and Kevin Holland backstage at UFC 307, Sean Strickland preparing for a rematch with Dricus du Plessis for the UFC middleweight title, and much more with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. No person should ever have to go through what France, no parent especially, should ever have to go through what he went through. But, you know, this one's for him, man. And I think it just has a different connotation. It really does. It's nothing that I think as a coach you want to overuse. You know, like this one's for, we all know what it's for.

Right. And like I just envision the weight lifted off his shoulders after getting through this one, getting a win. getting his hands raised. I can just, I can feel the emotions coming out of him. All right. Always good to have Eric Nixick on the channel.

A lot going on for this man, the world traveler, including the PFL pay-per-view coming up, October 19th, Saudi Arabia, the MMA return of Francis Inganu against Henan Ferreira, the Battle of the Big Men, 8,000 nicknames for this card,

Eric Nixick. How's it going, sir? It's good, brother. He's going to talk to you, as always, Mike. Absolutely. It's great to have. you here as well. Look, not long from now, Francis and Ghana will walk to a mixed martial

arts cage for the first time since he defended the UFC heavyweight title against Cyril Gun. And we're going to get there in a moment, but you got to travel to beautiful, scenic Salt Lake City over the weekend. Roman DeLise gets a big win at UFC 307 against Kevin Holland. Weird way to end that fight, but a win nonetheless. Yeah, a win nonetheless. You never want to win that way. Like, I get it. It's an injury. But, Again, like I told Roman, like you inflicted the injury. You're the one that took him down. That was the transition that he went to was the arm bar, the rip pop.

It's unfortunate because, you know, I love Kevin, man. He's a good friend of mine. It always sucks when you corner against people that you know and enjoy being around. But that's part of the business. So I told him it's two paychecks and we had on to the next. Yeah. So I saw some reports about things continuing to percolate after the fight. Was that true?

Because I mean, I saw them, but no one was able to kind of like double up on it. But what happened? Well, so I always like bring like an extra hat or some stuff in the bucket and to give to like a kid or somebody out in the crowd. So like we, they went back to medicals. I went out with Aljo and I was like giving a hat away to some kid that I saw. And then when I walked back to medicals, I guess like Kevin and Rome like Kevin was like chirping at Rome the whole time through the medical tent. And then it just escalated. into like, you know, Kevin saying some really not very classy things to Roman, and then Roman

getting pretty pissed off and then that had to get separated. You know, emotions are firing at that moment. It sucks, man, because no one wanted to fight to end that way, you know, it wasn't on our choice either. Kevin made the decision to tell his corner about the rib, made coach Bob Perez make a decision about keeping his fighter in the fight, you know, so we didn't do anything wrong. you know so to take it that route i was pretty disappointed kevin text me and apologized um i told kevin you know i just i wish you didn't go to that extent you know i know emotions are high in that moment but you know shit man it's a it's a fight and um you know i wish you didn't have to turn into like you know saying things that he said they're cool they're

they're cool oh okay i wouldn't say they're cool but um you know hopefully cooler heads will prevail at the end of this and we can move on Yes. Well, you're going to be moving on to, well, you're actually going to be moving on to the apex on Saturday. We'll talk about that in a minute too. But after that, long flight to Saudi for the return of France and Gano. And yes, he's had a couple of boxing matches since the Serogon fights, some pretty massive ones. But just days away from the M. May return, does, does it feel a bit normal again? It's been a while, right? Yeah, it doesn't feel normal to me in the regards of like he's not home. You know, and I think for myself, when we had, like, the Jarzino fight, the Junior de Santa's fight, the Jarzino fight, the Stipe fight, you know, and even the Serragan fight. But during COVID, those first three fights, essentially, well, the, let's see, the Jarzino and the Stipe fight were in the heat of COVID. It was just me and him for a lot of it, you know, like we're just training in the room with Randy and a couple of teammates. So I missed those days, man. And that's kind of what it felt like when I went to Paris, which just a small group of us.

us and we're in Paris training. But it's also hard to install a game plan and do things like when you're not there every day. You know, that's the difference. So we had so much camaraderie when we were together. But I definitely miss like the seeing them every day in the training room and with the teammates and everything else. So that part was a little bit more of an adjustment for me.

So we're just zooming, Skyping, FaceTiming. Yeah. And then, you know, I was there for, I think, 11 or 12 days. So, you know, the game plan has been set. We kind of already knew the fight was going to happen. when he was here in July, we got some training, and then it was reestablishing a lot of that same stuff when I was out there,

you know, just working a lot of the game plan and everything. But the hard part to me was like when we had Steve A and gone, it was like every day, every day, every day, every day. You know, and I was only there for 10 and 11 days, and it's like back home here for two weeks and then back out there. So I just missed like that, that connection that we all have as a team. You know, I wish we were here together full time. Yeah, it's unfortunate when that happens.

but I mean, obviously Saudi Arabia and you're a busy guy. He's getting ready for this fight. So you kind of have to do what you got to do. And when it comes to this, people doubted, and we've talked about this, so many people doubted that whether or not he'd even return to MMA after the boxing match, because he's just making so much money. And for sure. He remains steadfast.

The man is a man of his word. He told PFL he's going to fight for them. So that's an automatic. And you had had conversation with him and you took him at his word. And now here we are. I know you're not there with him. You got to spend some time with him. I'm sure you talked to him.

Is there a different hunger? I mean, I'd ask that there's a difference between this Francis and the one that fought Cyril. And obviously, that was a very stressful time for you guys with the injury and everything. But outside of that, is there a different spark in him? It's very different. This is a very different motivation for him. And we all know why he's fighting this fight.

And, you know, it's to live through his son and fight for Kobe. obviously he's a competitor and he wants to compete within MMA but he spoke about this on his on his pfl breakdown that they did a couple days ago and he said he didn't he didn't want to not fight because of the death of his son he didn't want you know the death of Kobe to be the reason why he stopped fighting he wants to find something else to fight for and that's what he's doing it for

and the motivation is there obviously you know you're fighting one of the best heavyweights in the world you know we have to have the intentions to go out there and and and fights, the best of our abilities, of course. But with that being said, I just think, like, every time you step in the cage, your heart, your motivations, your passions might change for something different. And this is something certainly different than we've ever experienced when it comes to fighting with Francis this time around.

Yeah, 100%. And, you know, one thing that keeps coming up from fans and, like, Q&As that we do when it comes to this fight with Henan is, who's an absolute giant and a monster and very powerful, especially after the anti-Joshua fight is, well, Francis, one of the most durable guys, but he got cracked a couple of times, and his chin might be kind of leaving him at this point, even though the knockout happened several months ago,

that continues to come up. So, you know, if Joshua can do what he did to Francis with boxing gloves on, what can a guy like Henan do with MMA gloves on? And it's heavyweight. These are big, huge dudes. If something lands, something happens. But can you understand that concern after that,

or is that just part of the game? both i mean you understand the concern but it is part of the game you know especially at that division it's a it turns into a coin flip right like these guys these guys touch you with four ounce gloves somebody's going to sleep now what we do have in our favor is i think the fact that francis has been working a lot of his boxing a lot of his footwork and understanding how to roll with those punches how to tie tie his counters into his defense um just the evolution of his striking to me has gotten much more crisper much more pristine over the last couple years and I know that, you know, we weren't able to show that in the Anthony Joshua fight.

But leading up to that Anthony Joshua fight, I mean, he's, he literally, he'd be best ever seen him. You know, unfortunately, Joshua just exposed him a little bit, I think, when the night came. But all that good work that he's put in in the past, I think you're going to be able to see on October 19th. I know you're looking at Ferreira and not much further, but I'm sure as a coach, there's a part of you thinking about the future with PFL and where Francis could go and the types of fights for him. And obviously there's guys like Ryan Bader. I think Bedeem Nemcoff seems like a really

interesting fight for sure to be the most interesting option. Are there any other matchups besides that kind of stand out in your eyes of this roster? Because no offense to PFL, this ain't the UFC. It's not like it's Jones and Steepay and Aspinall and like this whole list of guys. This is a little coverage is a little more bare, at least for right now. Yeah. And you really you literally named them all. And then like Dennis Goldsoff, I think, is another one too that's in the in the division that he's trained here before. And I've seen how good he is. So there's a couple guys that I think definitely stand out. Maybe it's, you know, somebody outside the organization.

They bring somebody over from one FC or maybe risen or something like that to where we can make that fight. But yeah, you're absolutely right, Mike. It's figure out what we can do right now with Henan, get this win. And then, you know, is he going to box again? And we're going to go back over to MMA. You know, so we got a tall task ahead of us. literally yeah he's he's a ginormous individual

what do you think happens here like obviously let's just say hypothetically francis goes out and does the thing and that we've all missed seeing him do over the past few years he goes out there and gets a big win do you think it's another mama fight or do you think we get boxing another shot i think he boxes again you know i think he probably alternates back and forth um you know i just i just know his passion for boxing right now

and and you know obviously the pay days So there's some fights that they can make for him, especially if we can go off and go get a nice win in PFL, springboard them into something nice into boxing. I think he boxes again right away. You like Deante? What are we thinking? I love that. I love that. Yeah, I love that.

I mean, dude, they're all killers up there. But I think a name value boxer, definitely Wilder, I think, is the name that we go and try to fight. Because there's two dudes that are going to wing at each other. You know, they're a bomb. They're told bombs. You know, so they'll just buckled up and watch these guys throw. I know you don't care about any of this because you're focused on Francis, but the promotion for this card has been really interesting because I understand what they're trying to do.

They got the King Kong versus Godzilla thing going on, the Battle of the Giants and all that stuff. I think they're missing the boat here. And I've seen other people say this as well, so I'm not going to take full credit for this. this is for the lineal heavyweight championship of mixed martial arts and yet i'm not hearing that anywhere outside of this space isn't that it's i just feel it's super weird not only dude like not only is it crazy it's like so i would seem like a fine oh my i always like write down like goals and all this stuff and like titles and everything else like just for me to see on my core board every day and like when i'm doing my work i literally forgot we're like let's say

forgot we're fighting for a title But it's like, oh, we get another title fight. You know, you think a five-rounder or whatever else. It's like, that's how much it hasn't been promoted. Like, we know it's a title fight in the back of my mind, but I had to like reassure my, we're trying for a title here. You know, it's like, I feel the same way. It's like, I want to hear that more rather than like these two giants fighting.

This is for the PFL title, you know, this is huge. So I don't know, man. I wish it was promoted a little bit better too. You, we've talked about what Francis is fighting for. and there is a title on the line and this one is for his son. And sure there's legacy and I'm sure Francis wants to win, but this is for him. Yeah. What will a win in this fight mean to Francis compared to other fights since he's fighting

for so much more than just titles and more from a personal level this time around? I just think just the fact that, you know, what this man has been through his entire life and all the trials and tribulations that he's had and the resolve that he's shown, I think it's just for him mentally to know that he can clear another hurdle. No person should ever have to go through what France, no parent especially, should ever have to go through what he went through. But, you know, this one's for him, man.

And I think it just has a different connotation. It really does. It's nothing that I think as a coach you want to overuse. You know, like this one's for, we all know what it's for. Right. And like I just envision the weight lifted off his shoulders after getting through this one getting a win and getting his hands raised. I can just,

I can feel the emotions coming out of him, you know, knowing how much he's been through in the last, you know, six to eight months. So, you know, even back when he fought Joshua,

just just back even from them, from then, you know, there's a lot writing on this. And it's not too much pressure. We're not trying to add any more, um, an additional pressure that we need.

We don't need that. He just needs to go out and perform and does it and do what he does best and he's going to go out and get a knockout. I just know that. I just know Francis that has been through so much shit. this entire life. This is just another little chapter for him. You think this thing,

you don't have to give away the game plan, but true or false, more than 25% of this fight is going to take place in the wrestling department. True. Okay. Yeah.

All right, fair enough. Looking forward to that fight, it's hard to transition from Francis Nagano to Sean Strickland because the man is, he's patiently waiting for his chance, at a rematch with Drickus 2 Plus E for the middleweight title. And there's been some weirdness in the media spaces.

I'm sure you've seen with DDP's coach doing some interviews with submission radio saying that, yeah, DDP's fighting Robert Whitaker in February, which I thought was kind of weird because Robert Whitaker hasn't even fought Hamsat Shemayef yet. Maybe there's just a little bit of confidence on the DDP side, but that made the rounds. And luckily, Data White put that fire out earlier this week on the contender series saying, nah, no, nah, nah, shan is next. What is his mentality right now? Because this has to be the longest he's prepared for a singular opponent in his entire career.

Nothing's changed with him at all. I mean, he's been in the gym. He's been training his ass off. And really, he's kind of has his coaching hat on right now. He's been helping a ton of us. Other fighters get ready within the room. Michelle Paheda's got his big debut or a main event coming up. He went out and helped Alex Paheda get ready for his fight.

So his teammate hat is on. but by doing so, I think it really elevates and raises the game of the rest of the guys in the room. And, you know, he's been training. He's been training his ass off. So he's going to be in the corner with me this week with Sean on the short notice fight. So that's really been his mentality. I'm going to help the rest of the guys get ready for their fights. But in doing so, I'm going to stay sharp and be ready to go when the phone rings for me.

What was it like watching that Alex Pereer versus Kalilil-Roundtree fight? Because it was obviously bonkers. But you being a guy who's been in the gym with Sean, and you're watching Pereir just pepper that jab throughout the fight. It looked a little familiar, right? Like, yeah. It was fun to watch. It was a lot of fun to watch.

You know, it was kind of how I anticipated the fight to break down. I really thought Khalil would have an opportunity in the first couple rounds. The reason why is Alex is a data collector and he looks for the holes. He looks for the flaws. And if you see the way that he kind of took round one and two, not necessarily off. But he used that to kind of figure out what, Khalil was going to do, how he's going to approach him. But Kalil had that opportunity, man, to get him out of those first couple rounds.

And then you saw Alex, really start taking over with the jab. He started doing a really good job of what we call first and third. Alex would go to first. And then the second would be Khalil. He would pull off and then he would add two or three punches to continue his combination. So there was like literally the third round with the entire round was Alex pay at a jab, pull and then two, three, four, right? He would add.

And then you just get out of the way of that one big. like Khalil Roundtree offering and then he would get add in his counters. And then almost in round four is like, dude, stop playing with your food. Because Kalil's always going to be dangerous. You just kept pepper to pepper. I'm like, there's a, just finish him. Playing with your food, man. So, no, it was a good fight.

I was proud of both guys, man. I think Kalil Roundtree really put himself on the map and people understood what he's capable of. And the dude's a killer. And he'll be, you know, within that title contention, I think, for the rest of his career. Yeah, it's great seeing a guy like that. get a big boost despite the loss, getting a standing ovation from that Salt Lake City crowd that was booing everything and everybody.

They were just commercialists out there. But we've talked about the Sean Strickland, Alex Pereira fight at UFC 276 and how crazy was and how it drove you crazy. And we kind of laugh at it now. But seeing how the relationship has evolved from, you know, that press conference and what have you to the knockout to where they're at now, seeing the relationship between Sean and Alex Pereer just. continuously evolved and they become more part of each other's lives, giving each other credit.

Pereira's like, nah, I'm not going to middleweight because Sean's next. I'm not going to get in his way. That's pretty freaking cool. You don't see that that often. No, it's very cool. And they have. They became, well, a big part of our family. Like, you know, and I talk all the time.

Alex has been such a good, like, teammate, if you will, a training partner for, you know, he wants to come out here and get ready for his next fight, spend some time with the gym, at the gym. So it is that silver lining, like you said, man. These guys fought once. Alex got the better of the situation, but we actually get to learn and develop and vice versa, we can help him. So it's been pretty cool to see. Plus having Sean around him, it doesn't hurt to try and snatch some of those Poetan vibes right now because holy shit, man. There have been, there have been rises in this sport and there have been runs.

Like Connor McGregor is probably the most member one in the history of the sport. but I don't know if we're ever going to see anything like this. Like what Alex Pereira is doing right now. It's just ridiculous. And you've been around the game a little bit longer than I have and you've seen a lot of different things. But can you remember seeing anything like this? Not to this level, not to this degree.

And not to the rise of, like, not necessarily start on him. He is a star. But the way that he's winning these fights, the way that he's dismantling his opponents. And these are all for titles, man. And not only other titles, they're two different divisions. If he wants to go back down to 185 and he can't.

Now he's talking about going to heavyweight. And can he compete a heavyweight? Absolutely he can't. So this guy, the sky's the limit, man. And I think, you know, just what he's been doing is pretty remarkable when you think about when he's just really scratched the surface in his career at MMA. When it comes to Sean versus DDP, what sort of different approach do you take here, especially after the Izzy fight, which is fun as hell. And I thought Adasania looked really, really good in that fight. I thought that was actually the best he's looked in a long time.

But DDP is such a brute in that do you just bring in a couple of Raiders linebackers to change Sean around? Like what the hell do you do with this guy? Yeah, no, I'm bringing in Johnny Ebblin for sure. Like I brought Johnny in. We brought Johnny in through, well, we bring him in all the time. But Johnny will fight on the Saudi card. So once he gets healed up and ready to come, we'll have him out here.

But Johnny brings the best out of Sean in in styles. I think Johnny can emulate so many different styles for us. he's he he he's another guy considered a teammate although he's a you know an ATT champion but we cross-trained quite a bit so i'm gonna lean heavy on johnny ebblin this camp and um you know it's hard to emulate what driekus does because i think he's very unorthodox but knows what he's doing with his own style but there's so many things mike that we didn't do right i think we got caught with tunnel vision on on leading with the jab and just running off the jab where um i think there was other things that we got away from that really help us solidify the fight fight on the feet and the floor man there's some other things I think we could have done better so I'm looking forward to this matchup again jrikas run me a couple days ago man he's like yo I'm excited to go against you again bro like you know and I have all the love and respect for dricus and his team but this is our job and then we've got to go out and try to execute and get this title back to America you don't have to reveal because I don't want to get anybody in

trouble but is the fight like not locked and loaded but do we know when it's happening potentially I don't know I don't know any of that stuff I truly don't I don't know when that's going to happen but um you know shit we're hoping it's hoping it's soon like you know beginning early of next year and open it's in america i want to talk i want to go back to ufc 306 because daniel zell huber and estabon rievovich oh yeah good god man what a fight i knew it would be a great fight estabon rivitch officially isn't a human being and i'm starting to question whether or not daniel zell uber is a human being either because that third round was absolutely insane the All fight was insane, but that third round was just grit and heart and chins and fists and feet and elbows.

There's absolutely everything. Zellieubert hurts him. Revit hurts him. Zell Huber runs into the cage and falls over but gets up and his winging punches. It was frigging nuts, man. Like what was that like being in the corner? Because Zell Huber has been one of your big projects, right? Yeah.

I always bring up the story. Zell Huber is like you just went out in your driveway and there's a Lamborghini and it's yours. and you just take it for a ride and you're like, what the hell is this? And then you have to try to figure out how to control it. And that's how you kind of compared Daniel to. But watching that go down, even though it didn't go Daniel's way,

what was that like? I would, okay, so during that chaos of the third round, I remember looking over at Capitio and Hector. And I just, I literally took my hat off because we're screaming, like clinch them up,

grab them, take that, whatever. And, you know, you can't hear, you can't hear shit. The guy is going crazy. There's no way in hell he can hear a fucking thing.

I just take my hat off and just leave back and I'm just like, let's go. I got the best seat in the house. You know what I mean? Like there's no coaching you can do at that moment other than just sit back and watch because you got the best seat in the house, man. But it was an amazing fight. I felt like, you know, Daniel almost kind of, I would say, let him in the fight. We didn't utilize our length to the best of our ability.

early he established it in round two and then what we wanted to do was utilize that car crash that i call that backside elbow and that's what he found in round three when he came through the length of daniel walk him in your elbow he was able to find it but we wanted to try to make that more of a a takedown off that get on top cook the rest of the fight away and you know unfortunately we weren't able to find that takedown and reevevich came back with the nice overhand it was lead uppercut to the right overhand. To their credit, that same camp, you know, we had Christoph Jagoz, and he hit Daniel with a bunch of overhands. I told him, I said, Sean Soriano and these guys that are cornering Riebevich, they're going to go back to that overhand. They landed a bunch of times

when you fought Christos. Christos. So you have to know, same camp, same game plans. They're going to utilize what worked well. And now, again, that overhand came over top of Daniel's shoulder. And that's what kind of started that. So great fight. I mean, I think the scorecard was, I kind of felt that way. It could have been 2 O. Daniel going in a three. Could have been one, one. So we left a little bit out there, and I wish we could have been able to get that fight finished.

Absolutely. How's he doing? He's a lot of damage. I just talked to him like right before I just got on the phone with you. So I literally just talked to him. He's coming to Vegas tomorrow. He's going to do commentary for the UFC on the Spanish channel. So, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So, I mean, he's a star in the making, man. They love him. The way that he fights, they love him. He's a good-looking kid. He's well-spoken. He's just the awesome all-around human being. You know, you're proud to be his coach,

not only because of the type of fighter he is, but the type of person he is. So he makes us all better, man. And it's a joy to have the kid in the gym. Is there part of you, though, was like, Jason Herzog stopped this fight? Nothing. Because you know, Daniel.

I mean, you know him better than anybody. Yeah. Yeah. Man, I was watching him spar, dudes at Capitios, gin, that world-class boxers, you know, and, you know, I've seen him get, you know, put up against the ropes and was able to navigate through some of those, through those, some of those positions where, like, hey, man, like, maybe he's taking a little damage and he was sat in there. And, like, I just think that style that he gets from, from boxing sparring over Capitio's gym was

what we saw there, that Mexican heart and that spirit in that moment. He's like, I'm not going down. You know, he never was knocked down. Right after the fight. He's like, he didn't knock me down. I knocked him down. I should have won the round. I'm like, I don't know, man.

I'm like, fuck, it was close, dude. God love. Unbelievable. Unbelievable stuff. I saw that the new Walterway champion, Bilal Muhammad, was getting a little working over there. Yeah.

What a different cat, man. He is just a monster. Yeah, man. I've known Bilal a long time. He's a good friend of mine. You know,

we give each other shit back and forth all the time about him and Sean. You know, he's like, would you corner against me if I find out of Sean. I'm like, fuck yeah, I would, dude.

Of course I'm going to corner against you. You know, so, but he's, I mean, I consider him a brother, man. He's my family.

So anytime he's in town, we're always getting some working together. I love his fight IQ. I love what he brings to the game. I think that every time we work together, we're teaching each other something or learning something new or different. And, you know, I think Bilau is a great champion. And I think he's a great human being as well. So it's always a joy to spend some time with him.

I hope you give the right answer here. And I think I know where the UFC is going with this. And I hope they make the right choice. But if you were the matchmaker, Are you doing Bilal versus Shafkat or are you doing Bilal versus Ustam? Shafcott. Thank. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the fight they're going to make.

So in speaking with Bilal, I think that's the fight they're looking. They were talking to him about. So I think that's the fight they're going to make. Ballal calls you up and says, look, we just booked this fight. Obviously, I have my team, Lewis Taylor and et cetera. What advice you giving him? Just like if you have like 30 seconds, I know breaking down shopcats gets a lot more than 30 seconds Because like dude, I got 30 seconds and I can't talk to you again until the fight's over.

Yeah, that's actually what we worked on when he was in town. So that was the game plan and Lewis was here. So we ran some routes just some things in. We've been doing this all the way back from the Stephen Thompson fight. So Bilau call me we'll face time. Sometimes he's in town. We'll run some routes. So the Stephen Tom, those Stephen Wonderboy fight was all cage control, cutoffs, how to get, you know, our single egg.

and establish that the luke fight we had a whole different thing we did some stuff for the shan brady camp um then during uh leon edwards fight face times and what do you thinking with this so i'll just give him one or two things conceptually like he likes hey what do you what do you like off of this what's your game plan boom we'll kind of exchange some notes and stuff like that so when he was out there he just said hey if i'm fighting shopcott this is the fight can we run some routes off of that what do you got so myself and louis taylor and blau just sat like two days and did that's and stuff. So it was a lot of fun, man. You're very busy man. You have all these fighters, you're running practices, big glove Mondays, all that fun stuff, you're traveling the world.

And now you're a podcaster on top of that. The First Us podcast, which is very fun, very chill, laid back, B'a law was on there. I know Paul Felder was on there. Sean Strickland was on there and a host of others. When did this happen? How did this happen? Because it just dropped, I got a press release out of nowhere. And I was like, oh, shit. And I think it's like, it's like, it's a day after I talk to you. Yeah, you know, Randy and I were talking about it. We're in Saudi. I think it was even maybe the Tyson Fury camp. We were out in Saudi.

We were roommates or maybe it was the Joshua fight. We just started kicking around these ideas. You know, I don't have a whole lot of time or actually time to get it in, but we sure have a whole lot of fun stories and shit we can talk. And, you know, and that's what I kind of like enjoy, like bring like Aljo on and talking about camps and, you know, Sean or whoever else. And I think there's just an intimate side. between coaches and fighters or teammates that, you know, the fans don't get a sea

and, you know, bring out our personalities a little bit more. So that was the premise of doing it. Right now we just wrapped up with season one. Now I go on the road and travel, so we're going to kind of do it out in season. So now we'll start season two when I get back in November. Nice. You mentioned Sean, and we talked about Strickland, but there's another Sean on the block in the Ultimate Fighting Championship,

debuting this Saturday. Unfortunately, Chris Barnett is stuck in Florida with the hurricane going on. So Sean Sharaff makes his UFC debut. Tell us a little bit about Sean. Heavy power, big overhands, kid out of California. Actually, New Strickland very well. Started coming out and train with us just about a year ago. And, you know, he just fought on the lights out.

Sean Merriman show not so long ago, one via overhand. So, you know, it's that same mentality that a lot of these guys keep in the gym, excuse me, especially when you're on the cusp, it's like a state. ready so you don't have to get ready. And he knew like, hey, that phone rings and this is an opportunity to take. So unfortunately, Chris is out of the fight and, you know, Tafas is the guy that we have to go fight. I told him, bro, this is a great solidistic match up, take this opportunity and let's go run with it. Tataena Tore has got a big fight coming up in December against Birona, John Jeroba. Yep. I don't know how I, like, my first thought when they booked this was,

all right, jog's going to 25. It just, I don't, I don't. I don't understand why she's not getting a title shot, but then they pair those two together because I feel like it's, it's perfectly set up. Tatiana fights Zhang, Verna gets the winner, good to go. Why do you think they did this? And what's your thoughts on it? I don't know.

And like, you know, I feel bad because, you know, Tatiana has been just training and she's ready to go, you know? And dude, she's an absolute killer. Like in this gym, like watching her train, she's unbelievable. So obviously it's about staying healthy and just, getting her into the fight and I think um you know I was waiting I was waiting for them to book a title fight for it's definitely what I thought was going to be before the end of the year so I I remember just actually asking Nate or one of the guys like what's going on with

Tatiana and I was waiting for her the other girl signed the contract you know so I don't think she wanted uh waiting one of that fight oh man so we'll see this is it so she needs to go out and go get a win but dude she's incredibly talented she's super tough and uh watching her in the gym man, she just beats shit out of everybody. She does, man. It's fun. Yeah, she's something else. And you always wonder what the career would look like now if she didn't get hurt.

Yeah, right. Yeah, 100%. It's one of the big MMA what ifs, yet she's still fighting and still winning and could be a chance of a too. Oh, man. Well, I appreciate the time, my man. I know, like I said, you get a lot going on. Sean fighting on Saturday.

You got Francis fighting the following week. It's just one thing after another. We got Thimba. We got Thimba, Brad, Sean on Saturday. Oh, that's right. Yeah. A whole host, the whole slew. Yeah.

The whole back. The whole bag. But I appreciate it, man. All the best to the squad this Saturday. All the best to you and Francis and the rest of the squad next week. And I'm sure we'll talk before some other big fights on the horizon. Yes, sir, Mike. They're going to talk to you, my brother.

We're listening to the Vox Media. Podcast Network. It was the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host rapid cozy cashmere throw from Home Sense for their spouse. Kids toys for $6.99 under the tree. And crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brother Lee. A baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue. And a nice $5.99 candle perfectly priced just for you.

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