MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Aljamain Sterling Talks Bantamweight Future, Gilbert Burns & Belal Muhammad On Short-Notice Fight

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

With UFC 288 just days away, reigning bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and co-main event fighters Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad join The Fighter vs. The Writer. Sterling will address his upcoming fight against Henry Cejudo while revealing that he is “very likely” done at bantamweight with two more fights as he plans to move up to 145 pounds with hopes that his friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili will get a shot at the bantamweight title once he’s gone. Meanwhile, Burns and Muhammad will document how they ended up in the co-main event on less than two weeks’ notice after UFC 288 lost the fight between Beneil Dariush and Charles Oliveira. Burns details his decision to fight again after just recently stating that he was only interested in a title shot for his next bout while Muhammad talks Colby Covington and his hope to earn his own opportunity to compete for UFC gold with a win on Saturday. All this and much more on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify Read More: MMA Fighting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. 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 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. 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. Welcome back to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Welcome back to the Fighter versus the Rider. I am your host as always, Damon Martin, and we are back with another big event coming up this Saturday with UFC 288.

Now, just a matter of days away. Of course, my usual co-host, Matt Brown, is shifted into fight mode. He has his own fight coming up next weekend on May 13th in Charlotte, North Carolina. So he is taking this weekend next week off in his final preparation for the fight. He will return the Monday following his fight against Court McGee, which we just learned this past week. We'll headline the prelims at U.C. Charlotte on May 13.

So, of course, our best wishes go out to the man himself, Matthew of Mortal Brown. He'll be back in a couple weeks. In his place this week, we have a trio of interviews with some of the biggest names. fighting at UFC 288 this weekend. We're going to talk in just a few moments. I had a pretty wide-ranging interview with UFC bantamweight champion, Al Jermaine Sterling. He obviously is fighting Henry Sehudo in the main event. I had a chance to catch up with Al Jem.

We talked about the Suharto fight. We, of course, talked about his future of bantamweight. And he had a lot of interesting things to say about, you know, where his future takes him at 145 pounds, especially with his good friend and teammate Marab de Walshvili, kind of knocking on the door, a title contention to 135 pounds and doubling down on the fact that they're not going to fight. And I respect that.

I respect that they are sticking to their guns on that. And, you know, UFC be damned. They're not fighting each other. So really interesting conversation with Al Jermaine when it came to this fight with Hinder Sihudo and his future as the Bantanomte champion of UFC. It's going to be interesting with Sehudo coming back from three years away. Of course, you know, at his peak, at his prime, Henry Sehudo, one of the greatest combat sports athletes and his history, accomplishing what he accomplished in the Olympics and then coming in and becoming a two-division champ in the UFC.

Three years is a long time, though, and it will be interesting to see how does Henry Sehudo look. I know that Al Jermaine posted a little video on his Instagram, and I think Twitter as well, of him running into Henry as they both arrived at the hotel in New Jersey to get ready for the fight at the Prudential Center this weekend. And you can see, like, Henry Sehudo is a significantly shorter guy. Now, does that mean he's going to lose simply because he's shorter than Al Jemaine Sterling? Of course not.

But it is going to be interesting because when Henry Sudo left the division, he hadn't fought any of the kind of up-and-coming guys that were knocking on the door. I mean, he beat Dominic Cruz like a month before Al Jermaine choked out Corey Sanhagen to kind of become the number one contender. He got out before he fought Piotr Yan. He got out before he fought Corey Sanhagen. He got out before guys like Chito Avera were right there and guys like, guys like, Sean O'Malley were rising up the rank. So I am curious to see how Henry Sudo is going to adapt because, listen, he beat Marlon Marius, incredible performance.

Marlon, you know, had his moments in that fight early, and then he, you know, he definitely gassed out and Sudo took over late. He beat Dominant Cruz. And listen, Dominic Cruz is a legend. The guy may be the greatest band to wait of all time, but I don't think, I don't think Henry Sudo fought the dominant cruise that was, you know, the dominant cruise of five, six years ago, who was the best bantamanteweight in the sport? I don't think Dominant Cruz is that guy anymore.

Dominic Cruz is not a bad fighter by any stretch of any stretching imagination. But I would define Dominic Cruz right now as a top 15 fighter, whereas five, six years ago, I would have said he's number one, number two, number three in the world of bantamate. So we still are, in my opinion, we still don't really know who Henry Sudo is going to be as a bantamate. He is definitely going to be giving up size, probably going to be giving up some power, depending on who he fights. It will be interesting because this is a very intriguing match with Algeman. Aljuman is a big, long, strong bansomweight with good striking. People really underrated his striking.

Go back and watch the fight with Pedro Munoz, if you don't believe me on that one. And then, of course, he has the fights with Piotr-Yon, who, you know, listen, despite what happened in his last fight losing to Marab Duoloshevili, Piotr, Piotr Yon is still one of the best bantam weights in the world without a doubt. I think Peyodor Yan and Henry Sehudo would actually be a pretty fascinating fight because Peirreryon is also a shorter, you know, a little stockier as far as Banned away goes. He's not one of the longer, taller guys. So that would be interesting down the road. But yeah, a lot of questions about where these two guys are coming into this fight. Al J.

Al J.man has been on a role, but Al J. He comes out to fight with T.J. Dillishaw, of course, had the shoulder injuries. No excuses there. That's on T.J. That's not on Al Jermaine. Al Jem. Al Jameen went out there and handled business and defeated him and defended his title. But this is a different beast, you know.

Henry Suhudo is a monster. And it will be interesting to see if he comes back and he looks as good or is not better than he did three years ago. This is a really, really tough fight for anybody, much less just Al Jermaine Sterling. But again, three years away, he went from being 33 in the prime of his career to now being 36 coming back from retirement. It's just a lot of questions that have to be answered this weekend. So obviously this past weekend, everyone knows, of course, the big talk of the town was BKFC. We had our big BKFC preview show last week. We had guys like Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry on the show as well as Chad Mendes, who retired.

My best wishes go out to Chad Mendes. He kind of mentioned it in the interview with me last week that this is a good chance. His next fight with Eddie Alvarez would be his last fight turned out that way. So best wishes to him. Obviously, without Matt on the show, we won't have a chance talking about BKFC today. I got a lot of interviews to get to today, so I want to get those going. But we will talk to KFC again in the future. Matt will be back in a couple weeks.

I'm sure we'll talk about that, catching up with him after his fight as well as this. Also, we will have a breakdown of UFC 288 next week. I will have a special guest host joining me for that next week. More on that next week. But for now, let's get to my interview with the UFC Bantamweight champion Al Jermaine Sterling. Again, this is a wide-ranging interview talking about the fight, talking about his recovery from injury, talking about his future at featherweight as well as Marab de Wilesh Vile

coming for that title at 135 pounds. He is the reigning defending UFC Bantanweight Champion of the World and he will defend his title in a matter of days now at UFC 288 against Henry Sehudo. I am always happy to speak to the great Al Jermaine, Sterling. Aljo, how are you?

Very good. Just taking things one day at a time. The countdown has begun so you can officially punch Henry Sehudo in the face. How is training and everything going? Are you out in Vegas right now? Where are you at? No, I'm back in New York.

Going to finish up out here on the East Coast. It just makes more sense. More practical. Especially with the fight being here on the East Coast, you know. Back in my... That's true. That's true. And also, you know, listen, it's only a three-hour time difference.

But, you know, I'm sure you're getting your training in tune because you're going to be fighting at, you know, midnight, you know what I mean? So it's like a later, it's a much later time for your fight. Yeah, the good thing is there's only one title fight. So what I'm thinking is maybe we will fight a little bit earlier than midnight, which would be really nice. Because there's something, you got to be able to get up for that, you know? I'm very good at being able to take a nap and sleep before the fight.

And it's been something I've been doing since my very first pro fight. Actually, my amateur days, like sleeping beforehand, it almost like I do my morning shake. out, which is like kind of going through the fight, simulating what's going to happen, get a sweat in or run, whatever it is that I would do. I kind of changed that over the years. But then I would take a nap after eating and everything, stretch. And then when I wake up, it almost feels like I just woke up again in the first thing in the morning.

And I just have a lot more energy. For me, in the morning, I always crash around the afternoon time. Then it's hard to get up for that next workout. So when I take a nap, it just makes it so much easier. and it almost feels like I got a, I don't want to say second win, but in the sense of like having fresh energy for the actual fight,

it almost feels like that. So that's been the recipe. And the one time I wasn't able to sleep because I felt like shit was the Yon fight, the first one. So yeah, so hopefully things go my way again. And we have a good approach to the fight

and I think we'll be off to the races. Absolutely. I know you, we've talked about fighting in New York and all that kind of stuff. I know this is kind of like the second best thing, even though I've been to both many times New Jersey feels like a whole different world compared to New York, but is there a little excitement fighting closer to home?

Like, I'm sure you're going to have, you always have a lot of friends and family, but I'm sure it's going to be a little easier for them to travel down to Jersey versus, you know, flying to Vegas or Abu Dhabi in some cases. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, on the very beginning, if I'm being completely honest, I was a little reluctant about it because I always wanted to fight in Las Vegas, but I want to fight at the T-Mobile. I have not had the opportunity to fight there yet.

And the one time I was in the fight got moved, that's when I was supposed to fight TJ, and they pushed it to Abu Dhabi. I'm like, so to go from being excited about fighting at the team over two different times and then getting it pushed. And then I kind of thought about it. And then all my friends were hitting me up there. Yeah, well, you're fighting on the East Coast.

And I was like, you know what? This actually is not a bad thing. I think I'm actually the first champion from Long Island or even the East Coast with that said. fighting in their hometown kind of thing. So this is going to be a great opportunity for everyone to come out, very affordable. It's a short drive over the bridge or a train ride and then a drive over if you want, depending on how you want to get there.

So it's going to be almost like a high school reunion slash college reunion. I'm super excited about it, man. I did a lot of my fighting on the regional circuit in New Jersey. I did a couple of fights on the Native American. I'll try to be a PC here. The reservations as an amateur. So having been able to fight there as a pro in New York, but at least as an amateur, I fought on the reservation before.

So it's been cool. This is going to be a great one, man. And I think having everyone out there, I'm going to be able to kind of just as I'm walking through the crowd, you know, doing the entrance walk. I'm going to like, yeah, I know you. I know that guy. I know her. Hey, what's up?

Long time. No, see how long is it. You know, so it's going to be kind of cool in that regards. I think that's what it's all about, man. It's going to be a very sentimental and special moment for me. Even just thinking about it, thinking about it gets me excited. And it's not very often you have these opportunities, you know. So thank you to the UFC for setting this up.

And now I just got to go out there and whip this man's ass. I love it. I don't want to be any spoilers out there, Aljo, because it's always a cool moment. But any New York themed songs for your walkout maybe? Like, there's a lot of them, obviously. Any chance we get one of those, a walkout? You know, I haven't had time to sit and pick out the choices of songs I want to use.

I was thinking to do a collage of like two or three different songs and kind of have it switching. I think that would be kind of cool to have. And maybe it'll touch on some very iconic, I don't know. And then at the same time, I kind of want to keep the same things I've been rocking with that everyone kind of already knows me for. and I think that would be kind of dope too so it's I don't know I kind of I haven't had a time to like really sit down and think about it

either way I think it's going to be the roof is going to get blown off of that place regardless one way or the other even if I come out to my own song so I don't know we'll see what we're going to do I was going to ask you I was going to ask you about that I was going to say one of the chances maybe we get the Al Jameen Sterling original because I know you got a career now a little music career on the side so I loved it

it's funny because Roy Jones of course legendary boxer he did his song and now, like, a ton of people use this song to walk out. Robert Whitaker uses it every time he walks out now. So maybe you do, like, the Algeman Sterling walkout. That's a possibility. It's definitely a possibility. If anything, I'm going to at least have some of it play

and then kind of switch it out, kind of like that collage I was talking about. And then the remix into something else. So we'll see. There's definitely some cool ideas. And there's only one time, you know, you really get to make this walk. It's not very often you could do it as a champ, you know?

So I'm just thinking like everything for me, this is just, oh, icing on the cake, man. I get to fight someone that people consider one of the greatest combat athletes of all time, someone that, you know, lost, came back, something I've been able to do and then become the champion of two different divisions and something that I would like to try to achieve. So there's a lot of value in this fight for me that I don't take for granted. and I've been doing a good job of leaving no stones on turn. I love it.

Going back, Aljo, a couple of years, we've talked to, I think we talked before almost every fight you've had over the last five or ten years. But over this, I remember going back to the first Peter Yan fight and deal with the neck injury. And, you know, listen, I'm not making excuses.

You're not making excuses, but you knew you were not 100% going into that fight. And you've kind of learned from that lesson of saying, listen, you can't go in there fully compromise. Like, it's just not worth it to go in there. on such an important huge stage. And we saw the differences between the first Yon fight

and the second Yon fight. It was, I won't say night and day, but it was close to that. You looked incredibly different, and we know that. You went out there and went and dominated the largest portion of that fight and beat Peter Yon.

I know you had an injury with the bicep. You got the treatment and everything in this fight. I know they talked about April, gets pushed back into May. Can I ask, obviously, now a couple weeks out, like, how is it feeling

and how important was it for you to learn that lesson? Like, listen, every fighter goes into a fight a little banged up. We know that, right? like you're never going to go in there 100%, but you fought compromised and it didn't work out.

Like you've admitted that. Like it was a bad move to do it. Now you got healthy and was like night and day. So did you kind of learn a lesson from that first yon fight? Like not allowing yourself to get pressured and to going in when you're not, as close to 100% as probably. You're never going to be 100%.

You know what I mean. Yeah. Well, just for clarity, the first yon fight, the compromise state that I was in was the lack of nutrition and rehydrating the right way. And in regards to my neck, I mean, I fought with the neck injury since my first UFC fight, you know,

and it just got progressively worse as the time went on. And I got a long history of going in and getting x-rays and MRIs done and kind of kicking a can down the road. That might have had something to do with it, because I had to get the cortisone shot right before the fight. I want to say about three weeks before our first fight that was scheduled for December

that Jan pulled out of. And then that actually was a blessing in disguise for me because I got to take time off and heal up my neck a little bit more with the cortisone shot. And then I tweaked it again right before the fight. So it is one of those things.

And then I had the partially tore bicep going into that fight as well. Well, this is the, we're talking the first fight. So yeah, so I hurt my neck. So it was the neck and the rehydration portion of it. So that was really it. It wasn't like I haven't fought with the injury before. it is what it is, you know.

And again, I try not to make excuses, but when people ask me, I just tell them, you know, the reality of the situation. I'm sure he had some stuff he had to deal with. He pulled out of the first fight for some reason. I don't know what it is. Still don't know what it is. But I did learn not to fight, compromise,

kicking the can down the road with the bicep injury. And part of me kind of wishes I actually went and got the surgery from being completely honest to have the second fight with Peotor and then to have the TJ fight like this. And then to do the stem cells, like, yeah, the stem cells were great. But at the same time, I still feel, I'm not going to sit here and lie, you know. And I know some people, they say, oh, I feel great. I feel amazing.

It's like, you know, no, you know. No, you don't. You know, so for me, I feel way better. Let me say that. But I definitely do feel it from time to time. It's not as bad as it was before. Part of me does, like, wonder if, like, what would have been like if I just, got the surgery because I know when I got this one done,

it's so much stronger. And maybe that would have been the difference if I just got the left one done as well. But it is what it is, man. I'm having good training sessions, and that's all that matters. At the end of the day, if you're going to step into that octagon,

you have to have good training sessions to give you the confidence going into there. And for me, I have been having those great training sessions. So if I'm doing it to these guys in the room, there's no reason why I can't do it under those lights to Henry Cito. Yes, Henry Cito is not the same as my training partners. he's probably on paper a level above. But with that being said, these guys just haven't had their opportunity to showcase to the world that they're in that same category as well.

And that gives him confidence going into this one that this bicep, I'm going to smack Sayyuta in the face with it. Let me ask you about Suhudo because there's a lot of unknowns and not unknowns in terms of what he does well, but, you know, he's been out for so long. I know everyone debates, you know, his ring rust real, his ring rest not. I really think it's real sometimes. Like some guys come back and they do show it other guys don't. I don't think it's a black and white issue where it's just right or wrong. I think some guys do show ring rust. Other guys don't.

Also, when Henry was at Bantamweight, he had a couple of wins. Obviously, I had to fight with Marlin and he got the win. He got, you know, kind of beat up early and then came back in one, and he had a fight with Dominic Cruz. I don't know that the dominant cruise he fought was the same dominant cruise that was champion five, six, seven years ago, but it is what it is. And then he left. Like, he didn't really have to go through the murderer's row of Bantamway.

like he didn't have to go through you or Sandhagen or or or shorter yawn or you know all the guys who are there now he kind of got out before those guys were the fights so we know what he's good at and so I'm not going to get in like the tech blast but like I know you're expecting the absolute best but like is there some question like what you're going to get out of Henry because I feel like we still don't really know who is a bansom weight like we kind of know but again he didn't have to he got out before he had to go through the murder's road to say man he really is a great bansom weights in my opinion that's My opinion as well. Honestly, I do my homework and not taking anything away from Henry. He beat the guys that they put in front of him, the same thing I've been able to do. And that's the fight game. That's all you can control. But I will say he definitely dodged a bullet by leaving when he left because there would have been killer after killer coming after him and guys twice his height, almost.

And that's a big difference, man. And I really do think that I don't want to say he's untested, but we don't know what he can really do at this division yet. And I think I'm going to be the true, the true, what would you call it, I guess the rubric to see where he's at. And we're going to see, because if I do the things that I think it can do to him, I think he might contemplate going back down to 125 or just really retiring again and this time for good.

So I plan on going out there and showing him that ring rust is a real thing. And father time is undefeated. You know, you can't sit there and take three years off and come off the couch and think that everybody's going to be like John Jones and has this spectacular athletic curve. And the difference between him and John Jones and him and GSP are the guys that they're fighting when they came back. You know what I mean? And no disrespect to any of those gone. Cyril Gahn is very athletic. but the guy can't wrestle. Let's just call it what it is.

Bisbing versus GSP, those guys train with each other. There's a reason why GSP was okay with taking that fight against Michael Bisbing opposed to any other well-to-middleweight out there. And he kind of showed that the grappling and even with the striking, like Bisping is good, but there's a little bit of a difference there. And I don't want to be like disrespectful to Bisbee because I'm not. I'm just calling what it is. These guys train together is a reason why GSP would be comfortable accepting that fight,

knowing that he's the bigger guy coming in to try to chase double champ champ status. And now you have Seudo trying to come back and trying to do the same thing. The difference is he's not fighting someone who can't wrestle. He's not fighting someone who can't strike. He's fighting a well-rounded guy who's going to be probably the most dangerous guy to come back to try to do that against in a sense of all those guys who tried it. he's going to have the toughest road ahead of him. And we'll see if he's ready for it, man. You know, made a better man win,

but I truly do think and believe that I'm going to show that I'm here for a reason and I'm the better guy at this point in time. Well, it's funny you said that because I talked to Marlon Marius about it because he fought both of you, obviously, and he said he had no doubt whatsoever. He picked you to win. He said, Aljamaan's too big.

He's too long. His wrestling's too good. He's like, I just think he's got too many advantages for Henry. And I agree. And a lot of what he said, because Henry's not a big Bantamweight. He was never a big Bantanweight. He was a very short guy.

And also at the wrestling point, obviously he's an Olympic gold medalist. There's no doubt he's an incredible wrestler. But Henry's never, he's used his wrestling. He used against Sergio Pettus, he used against a couple guys. But we never really got to see him use it that much in Bantamweight. You know, in the fight with Marlin,

like Marlin got exhausted. Like that's really what happened. Like Marlon got tired and credit to Henry. He outlasted him and beat him. Good for him. And again, I don't know that. Dominic Cruz was the same dominant cruise of, you know, six, seven years ago when they fought. So it feels like you do have a lot of physical advantage.

Beyond the skill level, you do have a lot of physical advantages over him also. Yeah, 100%. And I think with Dom, I think if I'm not mistaken, he took that fight on five and a half weeks notice coming off of the couch and I think also coming off of an injury. So yeah, that's not the same dominant cruise who would dance circles around you and the same Dominic Cruz that actually has the durability to take those big shots. Obviously, the knee that he caught Dominic Cruz with was a big knee, and I think anyone who runs into that will probably get put away or definitely get really, really hurt. And it's the same thing I had said about the Cheeto fight with his last few performances before fighting somebody adorable, someone who's not going to get tired.

Now, Henry Cuyo is in that same position. He's going to fight someone who's adorable, not going to get tired, not going to who's not taking a short notice fight, someone who's going to be in just as good of a shape as he's in. and who's a lot bigger. He had a hard time hitting crews. All he was able to really do is chop down his legs. And even in the Marlon Maris fight, he had a very difficult time in that first round doing anything offensively.

And I think he just bit down on his mouthpiece. It was kind of like enough is enough and just went after Marlon. So I'll give him that. But Marlon got tired. And at the end of that second round, Marlon called him with the right hand that stumbled to Yudo,

to the point where the ref was actually holding him to like kind of making sure like, okay, like it almost looked like he was about to fall face first. So I want people to go back and watch that and see what I'm talking about. And yeah, you exchange them all and bad things will happen to you, especially if you sit there and he gets a clean shot. So I don't know what his approach is to try to win this fight. It can't be to out-wrestle me.

And it can't be to, like, I think his only way of really winning is he needs a knockout. You know what I mean? So he ain't going to submit me. I can't see some unless he got me really, really hurt. and then he just jumped on my neck and I just decided to be a pussy and just say he's going. That's the only way I can really see this fight going. Other than that, he would need to put a 25-minute beat down on me because I'm not going to quit. I'm going to be there the whole time in this guy's face.

And that's what gets me excited about this because this guy says all this shit that he says. And let's see him put his money where his mouth is and go out there and prove it to the world. Because one of us is going to be really right and one of us is going to be really wrong. And I can't wait to go out there and prove it. Yeah, I thought of you recently watching Pedro Muno's fight, you know, seeing, you know, the way that guy cracks and it kind of reminded me of you going out there and out striking Pedro. People kind of forget about that for some reason, like when you went out there and just used your striking for an entire fight and beat him. That, to me, was one of the most impressive performances of your entire career. And everyone wants to talk about the wrestling here.

Listen, Henry, again, he's an Olympic gold medalist. There's no doubting that. But MMA wrestling is different than college or Olympic level wrestling. and the way you grapple and the way you do that, it's like, listen, I'm not going to sit here and say he's not an incredible wrestler. He is an incredible wrestler. I'd be lying if I sit there and try to discredit him. He's not.

But that wrestling is not MMA wrestling and MMA grappling, and that's what you do very, very well. Like, you didn't win an NCAA championship, but you've out-wrestled guys who were wrestlers, you know what I mean? So, like, the idea that he's just going to come out and negate your wrestling if you want to wrestle or whatever. It's kind of, I don't know. That's an interesting chess match in that aspect.

But, again, it's been MMA, and we have seen you go out. and strike with people before too. So there's a lot of different ways you can approach this fight. Yeah, I predict that I take Henry down three or four times in this fight. I really do. And I think once I get my hands on him,

he's going to realize that what people say about me is actually true. I'm a bigger guy. I got the longer reach, the longer limbs. And all I need to do is lock my hands. If I lock my hands, that is a bad situation at the end. So I can't wait to go out there. and take that gold medal and shove it up his ass

and hit him a nice L for his efforts. So there's no animosity, so I don't want that to come off that way. Like I'm not trying to force anything. I'm not trying to fake anything. The guy talks a lot, sat on the sidelines, and talked so much shit and criticized everybody. It's almost like, it's almost,

and no disrespect to this guy, but it's almost like what Khabi did. When Khabi retired, He started to become a lot more vocal. And it wasn't vocal in like a very humble or respectful way, I feel like. And I don't know if he did that intentionally or he didn't realize the way it was coming off. Henry's doing that. But I think it's very intentional and deliberate.

And someone needs to smack him in the face. And thankfully, he's actually coming back. So I get to be the guy who gets to smack him in the face. Unfortunately, Kabim's never coming back. So the criticism that he does give people. you know, he's never going to have to, he's never going to compete again. So that is what it is for that. So that's completely separate.

I'm just saying there's a way you could kind of go about it. But don't sit on the sideline and bash fighters. That's never going to be cool. You know what I mean? Unless you're going to write a check that you're asking cash kind of thing. So Henry's now in that situation and all the shit he said, like, you're this YouTube guy now, right? Let's see whose YouTube breakdown and analysis are better. Let's see who's the real mastermind of MM.

and see who's going to win this chess match because I think this physical chest match is going to come down to a lot of grit. It's going to come down to this size. And I think it's going to come down to activity. I think at the end of the day, I've been more active, and I think that's going to be the difference coming into this one. It's funny because we always talk about like mental strength in this fight.

And I would argue, Aljo, I don't think there's a mentally stronger fighter in mixed martial arts than yourself because everything you went through to get here and then dealing with that first yon fight in the aftermath. and we talk many times about that, just the bombardment of criticism you took, unfair criticism to this day, and then to go back out there, beat him convincingly,

then you had TJ just chatting, chatting, chatting, talking, talking, talking, I'm this, I'm that, and you got to beat him. I know everyone calls Henry the King of Cringe, but like it almost feels like after everything you've gone through, there's nothing Henry could really do to actually get under your skin. I'm like, dude, Al Jermaine's already gone through the ringer

of stuff like that, like whatever Henry's going to say is probably going to bounce right off you at this point because you've already dealt with far worse than that. Yeah, it's even when we did our little ESPN thing and he's saying stuff, I'm like, I feel like you just say stuff just to say stuff. That's what I really feel like. And then I have to ask, like I have to wonder if he thinks like I'm these other guys that he's competed against.

Like words don't bother me. It really doesn't. If anything, it motivates me and it makes me want to take the words and shove it up. Like, it's more about bragging rights for me than anything. It's just like, okay, we'll see. oh you think I can't strike okay we'll see you think I can't take you down okay we'll see and it's just one of those things it's not like I need to hate you to kind of get up for the fight the end of the day you're trying to do something bad to me and I can't allow that to happen and the only way I can do that

is to go out there and beat your ass first so um henry can say whatever he wants uh I think I've shown that even if the world is against me I'm still going to fight back I'll chirp back and nothing's going to get inside my head and deter me from doing and believing what I I believe in. You mentioned it earlier, so I'll ask you real quicker. I'll tell you said that, you know, Henry came back. He got this immediate title shot. Deserved it or not, doesn't matter. He got it. He's getting it. But is there a part of you of the things you go out there and beat him at UFC 288? That's probably it for him. Like, he'll probably walk away again. Because I can't imagine him losing and then saying, oh, man, I can't wait to climb back up the

ranks again. Like, he had already walked away. We all know why. Maybe he thought he was going to get a bigger offer from the UFC. They didn't really come calling. So he came back now. Is there part of you that thinks like you beat him, he may just be gone again? I think Henry Seudo disappears into the darkness again, gone into the abyss, depending on how bad he gets his ass with. That's what I really do think.

If it's a close fight, I think maybe he thinks I can still make a run at this. And again, styles make fights, you know? So even if he doesn't get an absolute annihilation from me, Like, say I can't take him down. This is the way I really look at the fights. If I can't take him down and I just outstrike them, but it's like a close striking fight, okay, I can see him being like,

I can stick around and compete with these guys. But now he goes out there and fights a guy who can actually strike predominantly, and that's more of their strength versus my strength being predominantly more grappling base, ground and pound. I think it's a different game and a different scenario. He has to ask himself, does he really want to be in there with someone who could piece him up from the outside and that's going to be hard to close the distance on a San Hagan. Even O'Malley, I think O'Malley is a tough fight for him.

He might not believe it, but O'Malley's got those kicks. He's got those stepping knees and he's hard to hit. He's got very accurate shots and he's got great lateral footwork. Sayudo's a guy who primarily goes forward and back. You get a guy who's good at going laterally and could kind of hit you with juke moves. It's a very difficult puzzle to figure out. You get a guy like Pedro who kind of stands. in front of you looking to land that big shot.

That's more of a fight that I think Henry will have more success with. The guys like a Jan who will stand right in front of you. Guys like myself, I'm a Rob, an Umar, um, a Ricky Simone. Those type of guys that are going to move can actually wrestle. Sanhagen who's long and lanky. Those are going to be problematic fights for him. I truly do believe that. I think the size difference, like at 125 he's comparable in his frame.

at 135, he's going to be fighting guys who are a lot bigger and ranger. What's his reach? 64, 63? I don't know. My reach is 71. So good luck getting past the jab and good luck trying to kick my calf from the outside

the entire fight. Like, if that's your game plan, bro, it's going to be a rough night for Henry. That's all I can say. That's your game plan. It's going to be a rough night. Yeah, absolutely. Real quick, I'll do it before I get you out of here, I got to, you know, obviously, we've talked before about, you know, your future.

Your focus right now is 100% on Henry Sehudo. We know Sean O'Malley is next. And again, it seems like he's going to wait and try to get the title fight. That makes sense. And that's a big fight. But you've said very honestly that your time is limited at Bant'sway. You know you're eventually going to go up. Is there a chance?

It's Suhudo and O'Malley and then it's featherweight title. Is there a possibility that's the path for you? Oh, very, very likely that's the path. But I'm just going to see how this fight goes, see how the weight cut goes. there could be a chance. And I don't want to put this in the air because then people start to say stupid things like, oh, that's the wrong mindset to have.

I'm like, really because you've done it so many times? Please explain to me what your mindset has been in your fights beforehand or afterwards. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, depending on how this goes and the difficulty, I think I did a better job so far of managing my weight. This can maybe even be the last one.

And I think it just depends on how everything, runs, man. Making 135 is not easy. I do it. It pays the bills. It's my job. And we'll see what happens. It's, yeah, it's not easy, man. I'm getting older, man. 33 years old, cut down from about 68 pounds. Sometimes I'm 65, 65 to 68, sometimes 70, cutting down from all, like, when I'm not training, that's what I walk around at. That's my natural state. And I'm not, like, fat or out of shape looking from a fighter profile, I guess. But to cut down, man, I feel like I lose a lot getting down to his weight. And I feel like my body has been, it's become more difficult to make the weight class.

So we'll see. I'm just taking it day by day, fight by fight. And then we can make a decision. And I would love to see my guy, Marab, get a crack at the title. I want to make sure that the UFC actually grants him, like, guarantees him like, you are the next. guy. You know what I mean? Because right now, I feel like what's going on is people are saying, oh, you're holding your friend back or, or Rob can't fight for the title if he won't fight you. I'm like, well, he hasn't had a number one contender fight technically in the UFC. UFC eyes. So what we need

to happen is that he has his guarantee like, you win this, you are next for the title shot. And if you don't fight for the title, you get passed. So now when you're in that situation, now it's a real thing. Not, hey, you might be fighting for the title, but you got to fight your friend. I'm like, well, you guys are trying to make something that's hypothetical that's never even been offered. If it's been offered, now it's a real thing.

Right now it's not a real thing. I think people are just trying to just say that to kind of get under our skins and thinking that they could ruffle our feathers. But Rob's like my brother, man. Like, I don't know, people are crazy. Like, do you think we want to fight for? It's, it's, no, you know, so that's my answer,

my long-winded answer. Like, I'm going to go up. I want to keep fighting. This is how I make my money. This is how I make my living. And, you know, obviously, I haven't been getting banged up too bad to the point where it's just like, yeah, this job is hard. So it's hard. The training is harder than the fights, usually.

But I think at 45, it would be a lot of new blood for me to compete with and to challenge myself and to see if I can truly compete with those guys. but to actually do it right, took a few months to get myself bigger, muscular and strong enough, explosive enough to compete with those guys who are going to now be taller than me and kind of go from it like that. That's the way I'm kind of approaching this.

Can I imagine though everything goes well and you do make that move? You got to go up as champion to do the champ versus champ fight. Hold under the belt long enough to do that though, right? Like you got to do champ versus champ. Because you and Volcanowski, incredible fight.

Volcanowski, we know how good he is and that's, I mean, come on, that's the selling point, right? So you got a hold on the belt that long, right? I'm just saying, if Islam got to his back, I know he's a bigger guy, but listen, man, you don't want me on your back, brother. You don't want me on your back.

And it's not even just the back. I think my game from Islam is a lot different. I don't, like, I only take the back because that's what people give me. But I want to be in the top position. I want to be in the guard or half guard or mounted position because that's where I do my most. damaging work. And even from the guard, man, I've beaten some guys up pretty bad to the point where they either stick their neck out and just let me get the choke or not let me let me get it,

but I take the choke instead. But I think that's the difference with my style and his is more of a hybrid. And I think even when I fought Jan the second time, he did a good job of just keeping me on his back and freezing my hands because if there was any moment where he tried to get out like T. T.J. did. You let me get to him out. That's a bad night. I, don't care who you are. You let me get to that position where I can start landing these elbows. It's a bad position to be in. And that's in my honest, humble opinion. So we'll see what happens. Right now I'm not trying to count my chickens before they hatch. You know, I want to make sure I take care of this in front of me and then go about it like that. Yeah, well, I do love your

attitude. And I know I had said to you and Marab, I said, I'm no longer going to ask either one of you about fighting each other because you've been very, you know, very adamant about that. And I respect you about that, but it's funny. I've talked to a couple other guys, Matt Brown, who does my podcast with me normally, and he's like, I respect Aljo. I respect him not wanting to fight his friend. Like, there's a lot there, and I think a lot of people have come around on that. And I know Dana's got to say what Dana's got to say, and I get it. There's business there. But I respect the hell out of you guys sticking to it and being like, hey, our friendship matters more than, you know, money and titles. And he'll get there. He's going to get,

I mean, look what he did to Peter Young. What an incredible performance man. Marab's a monster. and I know there is no bigger fan of Marab de Walsh Vile than Al Jemey Stirling, and I know there's no bigger Al Jemaine Sterling fan than Marab de Wailishvili. So I respect that. Like you said numerous times, hey, I will eventually go up and he can get the title. And he said, I know Al Jolla will eventually go up and I can get the title. Like I respect the hell out of you guys from sticking that because you know, we've seen it. Like this sport can chip away at you, man.

And then people can chip away at you and say, oh, you got to fight. Come on. Come on. You got to do it. And, you know, things happen. I respect the hell out of you guys. into your guns and say, we're not going to fight. His day will come and my day will come to move on.

Yeah, 100%. You know, we both came from literally a very similar situation. And, man, we both worked so hard to get this position. Who would think two guys from the same gym could ever even be in this conversation? It's not easy to do. I know there's another one with Chris Gutierrez and Jonathan Martinez. I know, although Chris Gutierrez just lost, but that's like it's a very difficult thing to accomplish two guys the same weight from the same gym from the very beginning,

working their way up and then both of them in a position where they can fight for a title. It's not very often you see that. And I know most people would be super eager to be like, yeah, I'll fight that motherfucker. It's like with no hesitation. But I think those are people who are kind of just floating in the rooms in and out and they're not really friends. They're not really training. They're just more so like, I'm here to do a job and that's it.

Like we're not really as cool as you might think. You know, so and that to me is kind of fake and phony. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't former Rob. And I think I would like to think vice versa for him as well in terms of being training partners and in terms of structuring workouts with each other where, you know, we got our head coaches, but for the most part, we run our own practices, at least for me. I know for me 100%. I structure my training weeks.

I structure my practices. And I've been doing that since what, 20, since. almost since the beginning of my fighting career. Maybe not the beginning, because I don't want to take, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to come off like it's discrediting people. Like there, like there has definitely been people helping out,

but structuring my workouts and things like that and game planning and breaking down film. That's been pretty much me and my entire career, you know, so. And, you know, I help Mara about with a lot of stuff. I watch film, I break it down, I show them some stuff, and I, we go over stuff. and at the end of the day he puts into work. And that's it, man.

So it's good, I like to see him succeed. That's, that's all it is. And we're neighbors. We actually are literally neighbors in Los Vegas, you know, so. Yeah. Fighting my neighbor. That's what, it's funny. The quote I thought of from Matt when he said, he's like, Matt, Matt, Matt Brown said,

I fought teammates and I fought training partners, but I would never fight a friend. And I thought that was a great way to say it. Like, yeah, that's true. Like, he's not just a teammate and a training partner. He's a friend. And that's what Matt said, and it kind of struck home with me. He's like, I would fight a teammate. I fought for, I fought for, I fought.

out training partners, I would never fight a friend. Yes. And it's very different, man. I can tell you that. It's very, very different. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I love that. And like I said, I love the relationship you guys had.

Man, how awesome was that performance against Peter Yan, man? What an eye-opening performance from Rabbo now? I think he put a lot of people, I think he convinced a lot of people how good he was with that fight. Yeah, I think a lot of people thought it was all talk. I'm like, no, you guys don't get it. Like, this guy will spar three rounds and then go sparring two, three other people, three more rounds each. So that's a total of like nine rounds of that same pace,

that same intensity. And he's not like the greatest at holding people down, but he doesn't care. He'll take you down, throw you on the ground. And then he'll turn his back and just stand up and he's bouncing around waiting. It's the funniest thing because we're all just sitting there laughing. He's like, I wonder when this guy's going to be like enough is enough for the day. Not for him, his practice partners. You know, so it's always fun to watch Marab's Spark. he's just going to go man he's the energize bunny yeah is i'm gonna be in your corner for this one i assume yeah him uh ally quinta i believe ray longo and um i think we got matt sarah back okay how can you not have the loudest man in mhma history in your corner come on now

there's no better that's it's so funny one of the first things i remember from earlier ufc career uh was when i learned your nickname as aljo because early on you know whatever it is it was it was in your corner shouting, Aljo, Aljo, go here. Aljo do this. It was so funny. That's how I learned the Aljo nickname was from Matt Saird screaming it in the corner. Yeah, yeah. It's, I know that whole little thing that we had and, you know, we spoke.

And I think now that some time has passed, it's kind of, I don't want to say water under the bridge, but I think there's more of an understanding of what actually happened between us, between us. So we're all good, man. after that, like we spoke, but I think it was still a kind of an open wound to just jump right back in. But I think now that some time has passed and, you know, more training sessions and things like that, I think it's, it just feels right, you know, especially title fight, East Coast, New Jersey, where all of us have fought multiple times, where he's cornered me, where these guys have cornered me, it'd be good to have the old band back together. So,

I think people are going to be, I think a lot of people who know us from the very beginning are going to be excited for this. You know, just not even just for the fight, but just to see all of us together again. Yeah, that's like the crew right there,

right? Like, that's the original crew. So it's, and you're fighting in Jersey, so it kind of makes sense. So I love it. Matt's a great guy, man.

I know he's been there from the very beginning. So it'd be cool to see him back in your corner. Al Jermaine, I appreciate you always taking the time. You're one of the busiest guys in the world. So I always appreciate you doing this with me. Obviously, safe training the rest of the way. I don't know if you're driving or taking the train down to Jersey, but safe travels down to Jersey.

It's a quick trip for you, I'm sure. So safe travels down there. Best of luck in the fight with Henry Cudor, not that you need it. And thank you as always for the time. You know, I really do appreciate it. Thank you, Damon. I appreciate it. We'll talk soon, okay?

All right. Bye-bye. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats.

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Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Big thanks, as always to Al Jermaine Sterling. Always a fun conversation. I really appreciate him taking the time, especially this close to the fight, and also for a very wide range of topics we tackled in a pretty lengthy interview there.

So I look forward to him fighting on Saturday night against Henderson and the main event. Now, the co-main event came together on extremely short notice. Now, I already did a story on this about a week ago with Gilbert Burns and Bilal Muhammad, both taking this fight after UFC 2, 88 lost, but Neil Darius and Charles Olivera. These two got the call.

They stepped in, they stepped up, and now they're going to be fighting not only in a co-main event, but a five-round co-main event. I did a story where they talked about how this all came together, how it became five rounds, how they both asked for Colby Covington, all those kind of things. So now here's the actual interviews with both guys. This was recorded literally a couple days after the fight got announced, so about a week ago. They talk about how the fight happened, how they got the overall.

offer or who made the offer, how it got to five rounds, and of course the expectation that this fight will potentially determine a number one contender in the division. I don't think it's going to jump either of them over Colby Covington. For some reason, the UFC is obsessed with booking Colby Covington against Leon Edwards. I'm not really sure why, but that appears to be the fight we're going to get later this year. So I would say Gilbert versus Below is the number one contenders fight beyond that fight. The winner would then fight the winner of Colby Covington and Leon Edwards. Again, I'm just guessing, but it seems like that's the direction. the UFC is heading right now.

So let me kick things off first with Bilau Muhammad. Of course, he has taken this fight on short notice after his last appearance in October, 2022 when he beat Sean Brady by knockout. Seemed like he was the number one guy. Seemed like he was probably next in line. And then again, out of nowhere, here comes Colby Covington. So we're going to talk to Bilau about that and about his approach for this fight. And of course, his future as he looks to build on, I believe, a nine-fight undefeated streak.

So here is my interview with Bilal Muhammad. short notice fights or short notice interviews this man does not blink when the call comes to him he is one of the top welterweights of the world and now he will co-main event ufc 288 in a co in a five-round fight against gilbert burns and a fight that i think we have to imagine will determine a number one contender in that division i am always happy to speak to below mahomet below how are you my friend good my brother no it's our holiday right now so perfect timing uh less month is over with now it's time for war I was going to say, Ibnabaric, I know, of course, Ramadan, of course, just came to an end. Man, this last, I mean, listen, this last week or so has been kind of wild. I wish I could, I wish I could ask you a better question, but let me just ask you, how did this all happen? How did this all come about? Yeah, you know, it's funny. I was, I forgot what it was.

Like, last week I was in Canada, and I was doing like a charity work out there, working with organization. mission and I just saw that the Benio Dar Rouge fight got canceled and I was like oh crap so then I hit up uh you know my manager and I was like yo where's Kobe at let's try to get Kobe on the card and he hit me up back like the next day and he was like um Kobe's not going to do it but Gilbert will and I was like oh okay let's go and I was still out there you know just sitting there talking and then you know it's going back and forth on Twitter with Gilbert having fun with that. But yeah, I was just going.

They were saying, oh, man, it's going to happen. Then the next day they'll be like, I don't think it's happening. Then they were like another fight maybe coming up. So then I was like, bro, I need to know this right now because my family's planning a vacation trip for the holiday. And I was like, am I going with them or am I not going to be in the gym? So I need to know this right now. And, you know, the deal just got done yesterday.

So what was it? So I know that I know Gilbert had put out like he, you. again, this is all Twitter talk. So again, I understand what's actually going on behind the scenes. It may not be what's going on Twitter. But was there talk about a weight, like a catchweight or a different way? Because I know you posted videos. Like you were getting down in weight.

You were comfortable with the way. But I know you said, now this guy can't make weight. So what was going on there? For me, I was like I said, I was in Canada and I was sitting there at a holiday. I saw, you know, I wanted to try some Canada Puccini. So I was like, bro, man. Let me see if I can get this at a catchway. So I could have some of this free gift fries with gravy on.

there and you know he wasn't budgeted so i was like all right you know what he's gonna make me work that much extra harder it's fine it's not even a hard wake up for me anyway and uh i was like all right i'm just gonna make a pay for it now because i can't have the fries i'm in canon and i can't touch the prize it's gonna be annoying now what about the five rounds because taking a short notice fight is one thing although this is nothing new to you you did it with leon edwards of course but uh how did the five rounds because this is this is a little more unusual because typically co-main events unless it's a title fighter or not five rounds. So was that your suggestion, his suggestion, UFC's suggestion?

Who came up with that? I wanted it five rounds. Honestly, for me, it's like, you know, when you look back and you see the, like, the legendary stories, some of the biggest legendary stories with a guy stepping up on short notice and Michael Bisnick was one of the guys that I always love to watch. And, you know, his story was kind of similar to mine. And then, you know, when he took that Luke Rockhold's fight on short notice, it was his title fight, this big fight for me.

this is my title fight. This is my, I know I beat him. I'm fighting for the title. This is my biggest moment. So I wanted it to be five rounds so I could feel like that big moment. It's all on the line for this one for me. It's all or nothing. And I'm going all in. So I was like, I want this fight to be five rounders because the winner that's going to be fighting for the title anyway. And I don't want none of my next fights. I didn't want nothing but a championship rounds because I'm a champion. And I needed it to be five rounds. I love it. I love that attitude. Now, Bela just being honest, of course, Gilbert is just coming off a fight a matter of weeks ago.

I talked to him like a couple of days after the fight. He got a big one over Jorge Mazadol. I know, of course, you know, when you get out of a fight, you're not training right away, but I know, typically he's a guy who trains a lot. But, again, he just had a fight a couple weeks ago. You haven't. You haven't fought since last October. So in reality, and I know, again, you've done this before with Leon Edwards.

How ready were you in terms of preparation? I know you never really leave the gym, but training for the gym. And also, of course, you know, you were going through Ramadan and then getting ready to her fight are two different things. So, like, how confident were you when you got that call, or I guess you made the call, that you wanted to fight on short notice? I mean, for me, sometimes it's not even about being ready. I think it just comes down to who has the guts and who wants the glory, and I want all the glory. And I'm a guy that's always in the gym no matter what.

And for me, it's not looking at it and saying, oh, man, let me see if I could jog this real quick or let me see where my cardio level is at. It's like, if I'm going to war right now and I'm going for a fight and we're fighting to the death, I'm not going to sit there and check my heart rate or anything like that right now. I'm going to just step up and I'm going to fight. So it had nothing to do with me. It's not about even being in shape or not in shape. I'm always ready to fight. I'm always ready to throw it on.

My teammate was just fighting Ignacio Bonnandez. He got a huge win last week. So I've been in the gym with them training, helping him for his whole camp. And like you said, I'm always in the gym regardless. And sometimes it's not about in shape or not in shape. Sometimes it's about, yo, who has the biggest heart and who has the most will? And I have all of that. And I, even for right now during Ramadan, training during, and pushing myself through it, my mental state is at a whole new level.

And I always feel the strongest mentally during Ramadan. So as long as my mental's right, my body's right, the fight's going to be right. You probably remember a couple years ago, you know, we did a story where you talked about, you know, you were one of the guys who would fight during Ramadan. And listen, I totally understood when guys like Habib or Islam guys said, you know, we want to not fight during that time, not have a training camp during. that time and fight later in the year. And I totally understood, but you were one of the guys who said, no, I do it, and you explain why you did it. It's kind of funny, like, this is literally coming up the last day of Ramadan

last night. It's like, the timing is crazy because, again, you were one of those guys who spoke out and said you don't care, like, you understand why guys don't do it, but you've always made it a conscious choice to do it. And here you are getting this short notice fight, right? Yeah, yeah, it's funny. I tell myself, but I was like, all right, well, that was the last one during Ramadan. That was the last one.

And then I was like, but they always offered me something during Ramadan. So it happens every year. And then I was like, man, oh, a good thing. They never offered me anything this year yet. So it was like funny. But then I was like, you know, it had to come to fruition, right? They always had to do it. And it ended up being the last week.

So that was a funny part about the whole thing. Yeah. So we're going to get to Gilbert in a second. We had a really good interview a few weeks ago talking about Colby Covington, the whole situation there. And I'm sure you saw I did the interview with Leon Edwards and Leon Samp. that, you know, he's not coming back until October. He's not going to fight in July.

It's too soon. And I understand he did have a five-run fight in March. It is a quick turnaround and things like that. He said October. And even he's like, he's like, I still understand the Colby of it. He's like, I think, you know, he should fight one more time. If he wins, then fine, give him a title shot. So we know he's not coming back.

So when you say Colby, I was like, yeah, that makes sense. Colby's been out for over a year. He's going to now have to wait until October if he's still getting the title shot. You probably knew in the back of your head when you asked for him. It wasn't going to happen. But like, I don't know, I got to get your reaction to that because it seems like now we know Leon's not coming back to October. Colby fighting now would kind of make the most sense. Yeah, for me, you know, nowadays, now I got an opponent, now I got a name, and it's a, it's a ranked guy, and it's a big opportunity, a huge opportunity for me.

So, like, I don't even want to give Kobe any call any attention. So his name doesn't even matter. Right now, the two best welterweights and the division, the two number one ranked guys that think are fighting each other on May 6th. and we're the only ones that are willing to step up and fight the next best guy always. We're the ones that are always willing to go in there and put on a show. So I think that for the UFC, for the fans, they know what the real number one contender fight is. Whether they give it to him next or whatever, it doesn't matter to me anymore. It's like, I know if I win this fight, my next fight's going to be for the title regardless.

Yeah, absolutely. I know you don't want to talk about it, but I got to ask about it, Blalow, where's the T-shirt? Because the Colby T-shirt was pretty brilliant. I did love the T-shirt. By the way, he didn't go to the event. Unless I missed it, he didn't actually show up. The King of Miami didn't go to the Miami card. Yeah, exactly.

He saw me with the T-shirt on. He's like, oh, man, I can't show my picture right now. But I was like getting so many people are like messaging me like, hey, bro, I'm in the crowd. I'm going to record it when he comes to in. Don't worry. I'll let you know. And I was just like, I don't think he's going to show up. But, man, the event was just good.

The event was great. You know, I had a, my teammate won. The fights were great. The main event was amazing. And just the energy over there was good. So, like, just being there, being there. being a part of the crowd, being a fan, it just, like, hype me up to where I wanted to get a fight going.

I wanted to get something going, and, you know, it all worked out in the end. Yeah, absolutely. Well, again, brilliant idea on the T-shirt. I loved it. I thought it was a fantastic idea. Even though it's not the fight you ended up getting, I loved a T-shirt. I don't know what you're going to do with it. Maybe auctioned it off for charity one day and to do something like that.

I think it would be really funny. Yeah, I was there. I was ready. I think somebody would be put them on sale. I was like, my brother's like, man, he should be able to work fast. Somebody, like, put him on sale on. on some website and I was like bro I need a freaking piece of that uh that pie absolutely absolutely so now Gilbert Burns you know you guys share the same manager but you don't train together you know

obviously you know him very well is this like this opportunity to fight him I imagine there's a lot of respect between you guys I mean Gilbert's an incredibly nice guy and actually spoke to Gilbert after his fight you know when he apologized to Mazadol making the whole greasing allegation he's like basically told me I don't want to be that guy I want to be I want my children to be proud of me want to be the guy putting kind of negative things out in the air and I wanted to apologize for that. He seems that he's a very honorable guy, very good dude. Do you take that fight this way? I mean, everything's a little personal because the guy's trying to take your dream away from you, but like, does this feel different than maybe Leon or even like, you know, Sean Brady when he was

kind of talking a little bit of trash? Like, does this feel just like, it's just a fight? There's, there's really no personal bad blood here. Yeah, I mean, there's no bad blood at all. But like you said, every single opponent I have, they're trying to take what I want. They're trying to take what I have. So it gets personal on that level, but it's not like, there's no hater or anything there.

We have a lot of the same friends. When we were there in Miami last week, we were in the same training room with his team. Henry Hoof's the man. So it's like, Jared Gordon is his boy. So it's all good for me. There's nothing.

I don't think there will be any, like, I hate Brazil or, me stay in Brazil. sucks like philly sucks uh but you know it's all good man um it's all business for me yeah did you what did you obviously you were there what did you think of gilbert's fight with horre um that way i mean it wasn't really much to to see off that i think hori looked old i don't think i think hori like had it in his mind before the fight that he was probably going to retire and you know he's the old g of the game he's the guy that you know i've been watching since i was younger

and things like that. So it was cool to see his final fight in Miami. But for Gilbert, it wasn't really, there was really nothing crazy that happened in the fight. Like, if you would have got to finish or something, I was worried that maybe he'll skip the line in front of me. But the fact that he won just a decision, I was just glad that they kept me in the rankings ahead of him

because I don't think it deserved that much of hype or anything like that. You know I don't get a ton into game planning and things like that, Blow. We know what you do well. We know what he does well. But just stylistically, Can you just give me a sense of how you think this fight matches up? Because, again, you know, I mean, you know Gilbert very well. We know what you do well.

You know, obviously you're not going to have a full training camp, but again, you never really leave the gym, so I know you're training and getting ready. Can you just give me a sense of, without giving away game playing, like a sense of what you think of this matchup in terms of styles? Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where I've already been so many styles in the UFC. You know, I'd be in the best grappler in the UFC and Damien and Maya. I'd be in the great, the best striker and Wonderboy.

I'd be in a guy who trains with him, Lucke, who's good everywhere like that. I just beat this last guy who's supposed to be the strongest guy in the UFC and John Brady. So I'm universal with everything I do. And I know that I'm the best all-around fighter in the Welchway Division. So for me, it's going in there and just keep proving myself. It's going in there and just showing the world that, all right, well, you have an excuse for this, excuse for this.

this guy lost because of this, this guy lost because of that. Now, I'm the one getting off the college in two weeks. I'm the one stepping up in two week notice. I'm the one that didn't just have a full of camp. There is no excuse after I went this fight. There's nothing else you can say. There's nothing that you could come up or bring up or lie about. Like, I went this fight.

If you don't give my respect, you're just a hater. Absolutely, absolutely. And again, the fact that you wanted this five rounds on short notes, I know you're a five-round fighter. You're the guy, you're like the Energizer Bunny. you don't slow down. You just keep going. It feels like in a way a five-round fight is always going to be advantageous for your style

because the way you push the pace, you kind of break the will of your opponents by pushing them harder than they can push back. And that gives you more time. But do you feel like the cardio or the condition that's always going to be a weapon, whether it's this fight, another fight, any fight? But especially on short notice, because even though he was, I mean, he was training for a three-round fight, you're a guy who I feel like you're always training for five rounds. Like, that's what you do. That's who you are. Yeah, exactly.

For me, I'm always a five-round fighter. That's what I do. I'm a championship fighter. I'm a championship round fighter. So I needed to be five rounds with whoever I'm fighting because I love taking guys in the deep end of the pool. I love drowning these guys. And when they're in the cage with me,

a million of these guys will underestimate me. They'll underestimate my strength. They'll underestimate my grappling. They'll underestimate my striking. And all they think is, oh, this guy has cardio. So when they go in there and they're getting punched in the face for three, rounds, it's hurt in them. But now you've got to get punched in the face for five rounds.

Now you've got to see me in your face for five full rounds. Now you've got to sit there and think like, man, I should have just went on this victory tour and, you know, have both and celebrate with family to fight. Because you're taking a fight with somebody that wants it more than you. You're taking a fight with somebody that you don't know how bad that I want to be this champion. You don't know how bad or what I'm willing to do because there ain't no other fighter in this world that's willing to do what I'm willing to do. And what I'm willing to put my body through is way more than what you're willing to put your body through.

So on that date, I made six when it gets to the fourth and fifth round, you're going to realize that you made a mistake. I love it. I love it. Now, Belaw, when we came out of the UFC 286 guard and Dana announced Colby as the number one contender, we kept hearing, Colby stepped up. He stepped up. He flew to London. He weighed in. He did all this, man.

It was great. And, you know, we're giving the title show. He stepped up. Belal, you're stepping up in a bigger way. You're stepping up on less than two weeks notice, a co-main event and a five-round fight, in a lot of ways helping to save this card. Obviously, all due respect, of course, to Al Jermaine and Hinder Sohudo, incredible main event.

But in terms of like, you know, building the card. This card took a major hit losing Benile and Charles Olivaire. You guys are helping that, and you're going to help sell the pay-per-view. Can I wonder, like, when it's all over, you get your hand raised. Is there any chance you might send that little message back to Dana White and say, Remember, Dana, I stepped up. I mean, honestly, for me, it's not even really stepping up for the UFC. It's like, for me, it's when I was a younger and I was a fan,

and we went to, we were at the, I think it was D.C. against John Jones Part 2. And I think the fight just got canceled the day before or the week of that fight, it was supposed to happen. I was like so mad because we bought tickets. We were going to Vegas. And the whole card that that Manny Bank got canceled. like, oh, what the heck. But I was always the fan of the fights,

all the fighters regardless, but like the people that I was with, they only wanted to go for the John Jones DC fight. And then just like seeing how bad they got, I was sitting there thinking about this card, like, man, imagine this is your first fight in the UFC. You're a kid, you're going to your first event. And the co-main event just got canceled.

You're like, oh, what the heck? I wanted to see Oliveira. I wanted to see Benile. And I was like, I've been there. And I know what that feels like to be a fan and to have that taken away from you a big fight. So I was like, I'm doing it basically.

I want them to remember me. I want them to be like, man, this guy stepped up on that day. He's a legend, and he did it without asking for anything else. But without asking for anything extra, I don't need the flower. I want to just do it because at the end of the day, you want to be remembered as a legend. And I think coming out there, winning this fight, that's what legends are made of. You say that, like I said, it just makes me respect you that much more, Bala. You're saying you're doing this without any promises.

because you said, we know this is the number one contenders fight. It is. It just is. I talked to Leon, and he said exactly that. He's like, I just want these guys to have one more fight, one more win. And again, he said about Gilbert. He said about you. He said about Colby.

He's like, one more win. I'm not coming back to October. Makes the most sense. Like, one guy get one more win, and then they fight me in October when I come back. And I asked Leon about it. And, you know, he kind of said, yeah, he feels bad for you. Because, like, you know, you're the guy on the win streak. you're kind of getting passed over for no particular reason.

Not to bring you full circle to this, though, blah, but this is a number one contenders. I know they haven't promised you that. I know you're not asking for that, but this is, it is a number one contenders. This is the fight that's going to get you a title show. I have no doubt in my mind. I don't know how it can't.

Yeah, exactly. I don't need to sit there and say this is the fight that the fans will say it for me. Like, I had so many people that would come out to my defense. and say, oh, how the heck you're going to pass it up this guy? How are you going to pass up him? And, you know, I'm always appreciative of all the fans and the people that always got my back. But I was sitting there and I was like,

I'm not going to sit here to my ranking and wait for something to happen. I was calling for the next best guy. I'm calling for Mara Oussman. I'm waiting to see if that fight would happen. I'm calling to see if Gilbert wants to fight again. I'm calling to see if Kobe wants to fight. And I knew that my road would be the hardest road. I knew that nothing would ever be given to me.

I knew that I wasn't going to be the guy that they were going to give me one fight and I'm fighting for the title. I knew that I was going to have to climb this ladder and claw my way to the top and even still claw my way to the top freaking bleeding fingernails. They're still not going to give it to me. So I had to go out there and take it. And I think this is the moment, my moment where I go out there and I take it and I prove to them that I am the man.

I am the guy that you guys can call your champion. I'm the guy that you can promote as your champion. I'm the guy that once I had the belt around my waist, I'll basically be in 90% of these ranked fighters in the division and then you'll be looking at me like, oh man, should this guy move up to 185 and be a double champ right now? I love it. I love it. It's funny. There was this old pro wrestling storyline years ago, and Vince McMahon, you know, your business partner, Vince McMahon,

now that the UFC and WW are together, he said something. It was a storyline. He said Brett Hart, it was involving Brett Hart. And he goes, Brett screwed Brett. And it was an old storyline that popped in my head when you said you tried to get Colby. I was like, Colby just screwed Colby. Because if Colby would have taken this fight, it would have been a natural number one contenders fight. Now, again, not to bring it back to Colby,

but just saying the winner of this fight has legitimately earned a title shot, and with Leon not coming back to October, seems to make a lot of us, I'm just, I'm saying this, Below, I'm saying that this seems like, in a way, it's like Colby school, Colby screwed Colby in this one. Yeah, I mean, exactly.

He wants to come back in October instead of Abu Dhabi. and imagine me fighting in al-Badabia for a title that would be the biggest event that you could make, the biggest event that you could bring to Abu Dhabi, I think, and especially being a Muslim, being Arab, I'm them. That's what I am. Yeah, you know, you can sit there and say this guy or that guy or that guy would be a bigger name,

but there's nobody that's going to go to Abu Dhabi and bring them as much attention as me fighting there would be. Yeah, I don't know if you believe in fate, but you said to me when we spoke before, you said you hope Leon sticks to his guns and he and he's you know you sticks by what he says sure seems like he is I'm not fighting in July I'm not getting rushed into a fight and I respect him for that and he says I'm not did Colby's not the guy he's just not uh I don't know if you believe in fate but it sure seems like fate's shining on you today below because yes this is a short notice

fight and yes it's not the best circumstances but if you go out there and win and do what you've been doing for the last 10 fights uh sure seems like Leon Edwards has got your back so I don't know I'm just saying, like, I don't know if you believe in faith, but it sure seems like fate's shining down on you right now. Yeah, for sure, man. You know, in our religion, we call it the what God's plan is bigger than your plan, no matter what. And when I'm looking at the way that stuff is panning out, the way that story is being written

right now, it's like, it's all meant to be. And it's all, I'm put here for this reason. I was ready for this reason. I was in shape for this reason. So on May 6th, I'm going to show you what that reason really is. Below, you're a legend, man, just doing this, saving this, card helping to step up. I know you're the guy who always does this. I know the UFC appreciates, but more than anything, and I sincerely mean this, the fact that you're doing this without any

promises, you didn't say, well, I'll do it if you give me this, or I'll do it if you promise me a title, shall, these kind of things. You just did it because that's who you are. That says a lot. And we know you're the man. I think you've gained a lot of fans by your perspective and your attitude over these last few weeks. And, you know, I'm always tuning in to watch you every single time, but I cannot wait for May 6th. This is a massive fight. Gilbert's a great fighter, great dude. You're a great fighter to a great dude. I just think this is going to be a phenomenal matchup, man, five rounds, Jersey.

I can't wait, you can't wait. And sincerely, when I say this, thank you for doing this. You got a million things going on right now. The fact that you spare 20 minutes for me does mean the world, so I really do appreciate it. Thank you, always, man. Appreciate you. Always appreciate the support, bro. Absolutely, we'll talk after another big win.

Yes, sir. My brother. Talk soon. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is huge. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs, with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress.

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Tremendous, tremendous respect for a guy like Valaf. Mohammed, risking it all, you know, really, risking it all on short notice to help save this event, give this event a big co-main event. Because let's be honest, I mean, Bilau is taking the bigger risk here. He wasn't training for a fight. He's always training, but Gilbert Burns is a couple of weeks removed from fighting Jorge Mazadol at USC 287. Now, to be clear, when you go through a three-round fight like that and then you leave,

you know, you're not focused on fighting. You're shifting into vacation and family moments. So, you know, it's not like Gilbert has just, you know, he just was going through a training camp, didn't fight, and he's still just training. He went through a fight. He kind of decompressed afterwards, and now he has to rebuild back up. So this is not totally advantageous to Gilbert Burns either. But for Gila Muhammad, you know, last fought in October, had nothing on the books. He had no fight book, nothing coming up, no offers made nothing, to then jump in and fight Gilbert Burns in a five-round fight in a co-main event spot, where it's basically do or die.

He wins. He probably defines himself as the true number one contender in the division. He loses that undefeated street goes away. The chances of him fighting, you know, any of those, you know, chances of fighting for a title goes away for probably quite a while. Because, you know, sadly, even though he had accomplished a lot, people weren't necessarily banging on the drum for him to get that title shot. I mean, Colby Covington on a one-fight win streak jumped ahead of him for some inexplicable reason, but it happened. So this is do or die for him. Now, for Gilbert Burns, again, tons of respect.

But Burns is probably one of the most willing fighters on the entire UFC roster. What I mean by willing fighters is he's willing to fight anybody. He fought Hamzaa Chamaev when there really wasn't much to gain from it. I mean, yes, Hamzat was a name. He was building himself up. He had all the hype in the world. But he wasn't an established star yet. He wasn't an established contender yet.

He was a star already, but he wasn't an established contender yet. And to take that kind of risk and step in there and find a guy like Hamzat Chamaeif, who is now, you know, we all know, going to middleweight, that's a huge risk. But, you know, Gilbert Burns said, bring it on. You know, he wanted the Jorge Mazelal fight. He wanted to fight Jorge in Miami. He had no problem doing that, going to Jorge's backyard and fighting him there.

He wanted to fight in January. He didn't want to sit around and wait too long. So he went to Brazil, and he said, give me whoever you got. The UFC said Neil Magny. Gilbert said, sure, give me Neil Magny. And you'll hear it in this interview, and I don't want to spoil the interview, but you'll hear in this interview. I just want to lay this out for anyone listening.

the fight UFC 288 is May 6th of America May 6th of Saturday this will be Gilbert's third fight this year he fought in January he beat Neil Magny

he fought in April he fought Horri Mazadol he's fighting in May against Bilal Muhammad in a five round co-main event three fights in five months that's unprecedented

I mean I understand when you talk about guys like Cala Wusaroni they did it Neil Magny did it five fights of the year but to do it at this level in five in five months to fight three

top 10 level fighters? That's that's ridiculous and this just says this says a lot about who Gilbert Burns is as a person I think you know when this fight is over assuming he can get a win there should be a lot of chatter about Gilbert Burns basically changing his entire

fortune in five months I mean he was coming out that loss to Chimae it was a fight of the year in my opinion it was the fight of the year for 2022 he sits for months waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting waiting for a fight. He wanted to fight Mazvedal. They had the whole legal situation going on, so Mazvedal couldn't fight. And then he finally gets to return in January, fights in Brazil, then he fights Mazvedal in Miami, and now he's fighting Bilal Muhammad in Jersey.

In three fights in five months, Gilbert Burns can totally change his trajectory in this division and potentially become the number one contender at 170 pounds. We're going to talk about that, how this fight came together on his side, and of course his expectations for the fight with Balaah Muhammad at UFC 288. It never ceases to amaze me the way this guy steps into fights when he doesn't need to. Last time we spoke, a matter of days ago,

he's probably sick to hear about me at this point, but a matter of days ago, he was zeroing in on being the backup to a title fight, looking for that championship. A week later, he's got another fightbooked to UFC 288 in the co-main event. It is always my pleasure to speak to the great. Gilbert Burns, Gilbert, are you sick of me yet?

Because I think this is like the third time we've talked it like three weeks. No, he's all good, my brother. He's always a good time with you. So, Gilbert, of course, we all know the news. UFC 288 co-main event, five rounds against Bilal Muhammad. How did this all come about? How did this happen from your side?

One week after the fight, I had a crazy week after the fight. Sunday I went to Universal with the kids. We spent all day there, I got back. I'm shaking. I just did the ice bath. Still, Tuesday, Monday night,

we got back home, Tuesday, when I went to Mexico and my wife, just for three days, we relaxed a little bit in Toulon. Saturday, we went back,

and I had a delay on my flyback. And then that was the news that Charles of the Veda pulled out. And then I talked to my manager. I said, what's up? He said, I want to fight?

I said, yeah, she tweeted out. Tweet it out. I'm going to put the water with the guys. And then when I saw, we were trying to get the Kobe fight. But then I talked to Hunter and they said, no, Kobe's fighting for the title. But I have Balam Mohammed. He was another one that was to fight. I said, shit, I fired him.

I don't care. And then that's how the negotiator started. And then on the beginning, it was. He said he couldn't make weight. And then he asked me to catch a weight. And I say, hell no, you're not that big. And like, and the way I see, we're going to a war, right? We're going to try to knock each other out.

Why I'm going to give you any advantage? Any, no, bro. That's going to be my third week cutting like 30 months and a half. It's not healthy. That's not good. You do, I know you in Ramadan. I don't give a shit. You do whatever you want.

If you really want to fight, if you really put your name out there to fight, you got to make weight. You know, so he said, you're not going to make weight. And then back and four, and then he's going to fight. Then Monday, Monday he was going to fight. Monday night, he was making weight. And then like, shit. Tuesday, the fight was off. Tuesday night, he decided he's going to make weight.

And then when is day, I think he wants more money. And then like, man, I don't know. But I kept training. So I got back, when I got back to Mexico on Saturday, I was already, like I said, I changed my whole lifestyle. I was in a very good shape. I didn't eat no crap. I used to eating super, super good. Monday, I was back in training.

Tuesday by when was there? When they announced the Friday? I think it was Friday or Thursday. I think it was Thursday they announced. Yeah. Thursday. Like two hours before, I don't know if I was fighting or not. Was it a lot of back in four.

I was waiting. Then Hunter called me and he said, fight the zone. He said Belau asked for five rounds. And I was just asking for five rounds. So it was going to be five rounds. And we're going to announce you a little bit. So it was a lot of back and four, but finally we're here. Yeah.

I love it. I love it. Can I ask, I mean, listen, you know, you were one of the guys when I talked to you before your fight and even after your fight. Like, we all understood Colby was going to get the title shot. Of course, after we spoke, you know, right after that, Leon, you know, told me, you know, I'm not fighting until October, you know, turning around too quick after March and doing five rounds.

I'd like to have a little bit of time off. And I understand that. Like, I kind of assumed, you know, six months between fights is pretty typical for champions anyways. So he had already said October. They're still saying Colby for the title, but like, he hasn't fought an over a year. My first thought was, like, this would be a great opportunity for. for him to get a fight in against you because I know you asked for him and

Balau told me he asked for him as well, got the same response. Colby's not available. Listen, I know you were one of the few guys who said, listen, I get it. Colby's getting the title shot. Let's just move on. But were you surprised at all given that now we're looking at October for Leon that like Colby didn't because now it's going to be basically, he's going to be out for a year and a half. Yeah. He's a little bit weird.

I don't know if the UFC is really going to make that. I know the winner against me and Belaw is going to be the number on. I don't know if we're going to pass Kobe, if we're going to get a title shot before Kobe or if it's going to be the winner against Kobe and Leon. But it seems like, that's how it seems like it seems like he's going to be Kobe and Leon, and then me or, but I'm going to get the winner. But a little bit weird. I don't know why do you see me make those decisions sometimes sometimes they do.

But I'm not a complaining, you know, it is what it is. And that helped a lot of my decision to take this fight. Whenever I saw Leon say, oh, I'm not going to be ready right now. I'm just going to fight October. And then after my fight, they say I'm next and I'm going to be a backup. But think about it, just for April. I'm not going to wait all the way to October to maybe be next or just to be a backup. You know what?

Bala Muhammad is right there, too. If you get any win, I think he'll make. pass me and get the shot, you know, I got a fight Belal Muhammad, and that's how that came about it. It's funny. When we spoke, you know, at the time we were talking about July, but you said the only way you would come back and fight would be if it was Hamzat or Usman. And then you said, that's the only way that would probably get me back in there, but I got

out, you know, I got the title shot, I got to be the backup. And as soon as soon as Leon told me October, in the back of my head, I was thinking, here comes Gilbert. There's no way he's going to sit and wait six months. It's so funny because when this fight got announced, like it totally made sense because I was like, there's no way Gilbert's going to sit for six months and just wait for something that may not happen.

At that point, you're just a backup still. You don't know that you're going to fight. I was like, there's no way you're going to sit there for six months and just wait. No way. If it was July, if these guys fight in July 22nd, I will wait. But October, no way. No way. I'm going to find my way in.

And like I said, in the beginning of the year, you know, after my fight in Rio. I'm not asking. I'm not complaining. I'm not. Please give me a third shot. No, bro. I want to earn.

I want to earn by hard work. I'm going to outwork all these guys. They might give it to Kobe. It is what it is. I'm not going to be complaining. I'm going to keep working. Three fights, three months and a half.

This guy don't fight for so long. All these guys I'm lapping. I remember called Marius to say I'm lapping everybody. Now it's my wife. Now I'm lapping everybody the whole waterway division the whole UFC and I'm planning to keep doing that you know I'm planning getting a good win after Belah Muhammad very tough opponent but me getting a win then I earn that title shot no one can take that away from me yeah well I listen I listen we understand you as you said the UFC

St. Colby is the guy but we all know how this sport works Gilbert you know everyone get you know we are all prisoners of the moment you go out there and have this five-round fight with Bilal, you go out and finish him, beat him, you know, coming up in May. I mean, it's hard for me to believe that, like, you know, when it comes time, like, they won't consider that. Again, whether it's next or one after that, but, I mean, I think there's a realistic chance here that, you know, Colby may end up getting left out because one of the big things that Dana said about Colby was is he stepped up.

He stepped up to back up. He flew to London. He did all this, blah, blah, blah. Well, you guys just stepped up to save a pay-per-view and say, help build a paper view that lost a big marquee fight. again, I know they're saying Colby, but you know how this sport works. You go out there and have a phenomenal fight with Bilau. Suddenly, they're like, man, we might have to give it to Gilbert.

So, again, I'm just saying, like, we know how the sport works. That's the goal. That's the goal. The goal is being that since I got a fight with my father-diff, that was to make it out. But my dad was very crafty. The guy was there the whole fight. You know, got to give it up to him.

I couldn't I couldn't get a finish I think I finished he would impress a lot more but with a dominant win but that's the same goal just changed the guy his goal all there

finish Belal Mohammed impressively and put it out you know put it out of Dana and the fans and the media and everybody

try to earn the title shot that's going to be the goal absolutely I know like I don't want to say there's ever been any bad blood's the wrong word I don't think there's any bad blood between you and Bilal. I know there's a lot of respect there.

But I know when he got ahead of you in the rankings, it bugged you a little bit. Because, like, you know, he hadn't fought you and he jumped you in the rankings. It seems like this is a natural number one contingent. So can you give me your thoughts on Below? I mean, obviously over this week, you had to go through a little bit of drama with the fights on, the fights off, things like that. You end up getting the fight. What is your opinion of Bilal Muhammad? I think he's a very tough.

He's a tough opponent. And that bugged me a little bit that he passed me on the ranks because he never beat me. He beat the number 7, 8, that was true Brady. Very tough guy, too. Great performance by Belal in the last fight. But that's my opinion.

You know, he's not a fact. It's only my opinion. I don't think he should pass me in the ranks. But he did. They passed. He's all good. I'm not complaining about that anymore. I did it a little bit, but it is what it is.

That ranks doesn't mean shit. So, but Blah Moham is a very tough opponent, very craft, you know, he adjusts. He fought the one way against Logan. He fought the other way against Sean Brady. He fought different way against Demermiya. He fought a different way against Warner Boys. So he can adjust very good. He can fight very well.

He has good cardio, great volume. I don't have no problems with him, you know, like. I kind of squash up the things that I was saying because like I said, I don't want to push no one down to elevate myself. I kind of being saying that, but with him, I have that little thing because he passed me in the ranks. I didn't think it was worth either. I didn't think he should pass me. He beat my guy, he sent to the Lucas, so I had a little thing with him.

When I fought my doubt, I came and I talked to him and I kind of like, bro, I don't, I don't think I'm doing that right. right you know I don't want to push no one that I'm doing that we have a good conversation and everything was done and I say we might fight don't don't get me wrong I'm not like trying to I'm just the things that I've been saying kind of bad about you I'm not gonna say anymore you know I'm gonna keep respecting you and then we were all good and then but now we're fighting so I'm happy that that we're gonna fight each other but I have a lot of respect to all these top 10 guys ever most of the guys in the UFC have tremendous

Andrew respect, that doesn't mean, he's my friend, that doesn't mean I like the guy very much. As a person, I don't know him so much, a little bit that I know I don't, I don't like very much. It's not like my favorite guy, a guy that I like, I think he's a little, it's different. He's a little annoying. He tried to be too cool. It's just not my favorite people. You know what I mean? Like, a lot of guys are like for free.

Like Robert Whitaker, I just like the personality. I don't even know the guy. Like a lot of other fighters, I just like the personality, you know, who the guy is, who represents. But now I don't like that much, but I respect the guy very much. He's a great fighter. He's building a race to the title shot. Good win streak. So I have a lot of respect to the guy.

Yeah. Were you surprised at all? I mean, I know when we talked about the Mazdadol fight, you were very strong. You wanted five rounds. You wanted to be in main event fights. and Bilau had told me when I spoke to him, he said, you know, he asked for the five rounds. Now, I respect both of you guys for doing it. This is one of those rare instances, though, where I would have said it's okay to be three rounds

because you're really not doing this in a perfect situation. You know, you're just coming off a fight. You weren't expecting to fight again right away, so you're just in your mindset. You know, you're probably having a little food. You know, you're enjoying it. You're going to Mexico, the Waibele. You're actually enjoying yourself, and that's totally understandable. Below had no idea when he was fighting.

I think he said he was in Canada with this. family doing vacation, you know, eating. And I get it. I understand all that. So were you surprised that that was a request? Because any other time, like, just this fight being booked, five rounds is amazing. But on less than two weeks notice, I'm like, that seemed a little crazy to me. I love it. I love it.

Because the guy has the right mentality, you know, to ask five rounds. He was in Ramadan. I know he's training. I know he's never. I know he's never. He's always training. He has a good cardio. He was running over there in Miami when he was there at the event.

He was training. When I was doing the wake cut, he was training. We're in the same room. I was cutting away. He was training there. So, yeah, he's not on a crazy back shape for a fight, but the guy has a good side of him. He fights.

And I'm happy that he asked for five rounds because I ask against him. I have. they say no I ask against new magnet they say no I ask again Magidav they say no this one when I ask they say oh he asked you I say okay let's get it done okay finally five rounds and to be honest the math is not the best for five rounds you know what I mean like financially it's not the best because if I do two two five rounds fights that and I don't get a finish and go 10 rounds

if I got two wins four paychecks show money win money show money win money right you with me 10 rounds four checks but if I'm just doing three rounds I have three fights nine rounds

two pay checks two pay checks two pay checks and I still only you know what I mean six pay checks and nine rounds So the math is not the best, but I like the mentality. I want to finish him. He want to finish me.

We're fighting for something bigger, you know, to be the number one contender. I want to become a champion. I want to represent Brazil, Jiu-Jitsu, you know, a lot of things. He does, too. I think it's going to be a great fight. Yeah. You were with Vicente helping him get ready when he fought Blau, correct? A little bit because he was in Brazil.

I was, I fought Shimaev, one week before there. I fought Shemayev on April 9. And a week after, April 16, he fought Bilal Muhammad. I was there in Vegas. I didn't corner him because I was getting ready for Shimaev. But, yeah, I was there. Yeah. So you know, Bilau, and you know me, I don't get a ton into like style questions or

anything like that. And you mentioned, Bilau does adapt very well. He's fought different against different guys. I think the Sean Brady fight was super impressive because a lot of people are riding high on Sean Brady, super good prospect, great grappler. And for Balow to go out and knock him out in the second round, I think that opened a lot of eyes because, you know, people kind of thought of Bilau was a guy who would kind of grind you to a decision, not a guy who would go out there and knock out.

I think that opened a lot of eyes about him. So can I just ask in a general sense? Like, have you been impressed by him, what you've seen out of this run when you think about Wonderboy, a guy you fought, obviously, Damien Maya, you know, guy you fought and legend in the sport. And, of course, Vicente, one of your best friends, your brother, you know, you know him very well and then of course this last fight with mouchon bray have you been impressed by what you've seen out of below yes yes not wow not that impressive but like wow these guys doing better you know

i thought i thought he was going to beat damien maria the way he kind of did he texts me after he beat water boy and they said oh thank you for the for the blueprint but but i saw he didn't have a lot of answer i was able to do a little bit more because he kind of used to the way. Vicente, I thought Vicente's going to beat him, but Vicente didn't have a good night that night. He wasn't the best. We even talked about many times.

But Belau had a great night. He looked good against him. Against Sean Brady, yeah, I was, I was impressive. That was the most impressive. I don't bet. It's not even because that thing that happened with James Cross, but I don't bet. but if I was betting that fight I was barely betting in Below I knew Belaw was

going to win Sean Brady's kind of just now getting to fighting high-level guys for sure he came undefeated a lot of wins great guy I'm not throwing the guy down great guy great opponent but I was I thought Belaw was going to win not not by TKO like he did not by a knocker so yeah he looked impressive with that fight yeah well I think this is a fantastic fight. You guys were both on a great run. And Gilbert, I just, I know, not that you need me to say this, but when you said that to me a little bit ago, you said three fights

in basically this short span of time. I mean, you fought in January, you fought in April. Now you're fighting in May. I mean, that's a savage move right there. We know there's not a lot of guys. Listen, there are guys who have done it. Cowboy Soroni fought a lot. You know, he fought four five times in here. I know Neil Magni did it. Yeah, guys who've done it. But to do it at this

level, you know, generally speaking, you don't see guys inside the top five do this, right? Like, this is just not normal. And guess what? I wouldn't blame them. Like, I don't blame anyone for a kind of P. You know, when you get to that point, you know, you're a fight away from a title shot. I understand being, you know, strategic with the way you pick your fights and the timing and things like that. You're just a savage, man.

Like, again, I told you, like, after the Gilbert, after I talked to Leon, he said October, it's like, there is no way Gilbert's sitting out. He's going to fight somebody else. And here we are. Like, maybe you're coming up right off this fight. Now, can I ask, like, in all seriousness, like, how are you feeling? Because you did just go through a real hard training camp. you beat Mazadol in the three-round fight and in your mind

I'd have to imagine in your mind because I know we talked before when you said you were going to be the backup in July you're like I'm going to take a little time off you know spend some time with the family do my vacation and then get back into training to get ready for July like mind-wise mentally wise how how ready are you for this fight knowing I mean basically you're going to fly out in basically a week from now more or less yeah he's not easy work you know so For me, to get mentally ready to a fight, it's a process, you know, taking me a couple of weeks. It's not even physically, technically, I think that that's easier.

But I got to go to such a kind of deep place to kind of accept that I might get hurt to win the fight. You know, I might bleed and my... It's not something that I say it, and then I'm ready. I need to kind of visualization. I need to stand. That's the hardest part because I need to spend a lot of time by myself kind of doing my visualization. I think in me on the fight, fighting Belau.

For example, now it's Below and then I'm fighting, then things are not going my way. And I cannot get frustrated. I need to adapt. You can need to find a way. is a lot of, it's a little deep, you know, so I got to kind of dig deep and visualize and see and get answers.

And eventually I get on that place and then I go to a fight. But then I get stuck for a while on this place. So Sunday night after the fight, I close my eyes, I'm no freaking octagon. And I hope shit, I need to relax. And then sometimes I'm talking. to the kids and then I boom and then we're having fun boom and then I got back to the fight you know

I laid down I got back to the fight I'm like shit it's not easy to get out of that so that's why I try to be a little bit active to do a little vacation real quick right after the fight so Monday we went to universal then my mind started cleaning a little bit because it was a lot of fun with the kids I had a friend of my going and then I went to do too loo with my wife and then we get good views, ocean, walking the ocean, so my mind start clearing it. Then I go back and then I'm fighting and then I'm shit. Now I got to go back. So physically, I'm ready.

Technically, I'm ready. Still adjusting a little bit to his style. But mentally now I'm coming back from where I left. You know, now I'm coming back doing my visualizations, especially in these five rounds. I got to spend more time with my. myself. But yeah, not easy, not easy to fight January. One week, I remember I fought in January 21st on Wednesday, 20, I don't know, 5th. I got a call. Fight was done. They announced a little be after. Now, if I was done, they announced it so I got a little hurry. Physically,

I felt great, you know, I do feel good. Like I said, I changed my whole life side. I'm not eating adding sugar. I'm doing the cold plunge. I'm doing a lot of things to get my body in shape and good and ready to go. But mentally now, I'm back to the visualizations

to get ready for Blah Mohamian. I think that's... Mentally is the hardest part. It's not... A lot of guys, they just get ready. It's just getting shaped and fight. That's on the beginning. You're getting shaping and fight.

But now it's all mentally, you know, 100% mentally. I need to be ready to... things not going on my way, you know, to adapt, to adjust. That's the hardest part. Yeah. You've been one of the top welterweights in the sport for a while now,

you know, and when you went on that original run leading into the title fight, you know, beating Tyron Woodley and the performances you're putting on. And we talked many times about the errors made in the Ustman fight, just little things that went wrong and the emotion and all this kind of things. You came out of that fight. You know, obviously you had the Hamzat fight. I remember talking to you after the Hamzah fight,

and it felt like something changed in you after that fight. There was just like this switch that got flipped in you. And obviously, we've talked a lot over this last year. You know, we talked before and after the Neil Magni fight, before and after the Mazvedal fight, and here we are now before the Balal-Mahman fight. And I'm sorry, Gilbert, you're not getting rid of me because we're going to talk after the fight with Bilal Muhammad as well.

But it feels like this is the best Gilbert Burns we've ever seen. You're mentally on point to a stage you've never been before. You've always been an incredible athlete. You've been a top welterweight for several years. But is it safe to assume I'm correct in thinking that this is the best you've ever been? Just mentally and physically, you're hitting all the switches right now. I think so, and I hope I'm right. That's what I think.

I think so. I hope I'm right. We'll see May 6th, if it is. I think it is. But May 6 is going to be the answer. If I get out there in my zone, execute where I'm training, that's the thing. Get there on my zone. don't let nothing get in my way.

Sometimes we get a lot of distraction, a lot of things that comes, but I'm trying to cover all that mentally. And I do believe if I get there, May 6th, have my good warm up, peel, go on the right mindset of the fight, be on my zone in my moment, I'll dominate and finish Balam-Mohamed.

And then I'll keep. then I can, like, say that, yeah, that's my best. You know, after the fight on our next interview, I think I'll be ready to kind of say that. But I think I am, you know, because I, but I change a lot of bad habits, you know. A lot of experiencing going to a title fight, losing the way I lost,

then going to a crazy war with Hamza. I think the experience, that people, sometimes there's a lot of guys get there twisted. It's not just the experience, it's the lessons that I'm learning losing these fights, you know, because I lost a couple of fights, but I lost to the best, bro. I lost to Camaro, number one pound for pound.

I lost to freaking Hamza. There's no one who wants to fight the guy. After the fight, yeah, Bilal called him out after Paulo Costa. A couple guys called him out after my fight. Before my fight, no one called him out. I just knew Megany, but they don't want to make this fight, but that was the only guy, knew Magnet,

but the guy that signed the thing, didn't ask for Waker, didn't ask for more money, didn't ask for catch away, it was me. So, yeah, I think I'm learning those lessons in my journey. So the last thing I'll ask you on this, Gilbert, you know,

you mentioned with the Mazvizal fight, you know, a big part of that going in was you wanted five rounds because, you know, A, you're a championship fighter, and B, you said, with five rounds, I know I'll finish him. And I believe in my, and I have a ton of respect for Mazadol. Legend, we all know this.

But I truly, truly believe in my heart of hearts. If you would have had one more round, I don't think he would have survived. Because you had him hurt, had him dinged up pretty. But that third round was your best round. You had him hurt badly. Badly, we know. Dact against the cage, all those kind of things. You had one more round.

I don't know that he would have made it. Is there any way Bilal Muhammad survives five rounds with you on May 6th? Maybe. The guy, he's craft, you know, I got to give a cry to the guy. I don't think he will, but he may be, you know. So, but that's the goal that goes to finish this guy. You know, we got 25 minutes is a lot. Inside the cage, the cage lock, it just me and him.

25 minutes, a lot of time. It might go is to finish this guy. You know, I think, Matthew that was danger. You know, we know that left hook could come at any time. The knees could come at every time. On the opera cut, I was listening to his coach. I don't think Belal Mohamed possess the power and the ability on the shark that Mathdal has, but he has good kicks, he has good hooks, you know, Val Muhammad has a lot of

high volume, but the keys to finish this guy didn't. And people kind of using that saying, like, any means necessary, but they don't mean it. I really want to finish this guy. I'm going to dig deep. I'm going to push him. I'm going to do whatever it takes to finish. Blah Mohamed. Sometimes you don't get what we want.

Sometimes he's a freaking domination fight. But I'm going to work very hard to finish him. Belah Mohammed and earn the title shot. I love it. Gilbert, not do you need me to tell you this, but in all sincerity, man, you're a legend for stepping up and doing this. We know a lot of guys wouldn't. And listen, I always say this.

You know, no one should ever be, no one should ever be insulted for not accepting a short notice fight. This is a hard sport. You have to put weeks and months into preparation. I understand that. I never fault anyone for not accepting a short notice fight. But I also praise guys like you who are willing to do this. You know, you talk to talk and you walk the walk. And again, you're the kind of guy.

I know you're the one who's going to step up. So I know the UFC appreciates that. And now we have a phenomenal co-main event to go along with Henry Sehudo and Al Jermaine Sterling. I thank you as always for the time, my man. You know, I appreciate it. Have a good week of training, because that's basically all you're going to get is this last week of training here in Florida.

And then safe travels out to New Jersey, and thank you as always for the time. And as I said, don't go too far away, Gilbert, because like three days after your fight, we'll probably talk again. Thank you for having me. There was always a good time, my brother. Have a good one.

Hey, we'll talk soon, all right? All right, for sure. USC 288 is sneakily going to be a good card. And a big thanks, of course, to Gilbert Burns for joining me for an interview ahead of his fight with Bilal Muhammad. Of course, a thanks to Bilal Muhammad as well. And also a thanks to the EEOC Bantamie champion of the world, Al Jermaine Sterling, who, of course, fights in the main event against Henry Sehudo. This event is slipping under the radar a little bit. You know, when you come off EOC-287, you had the big rivalry fight with Israel Adesania and Alice Pereira.

Of course, everything else is going to pale in comparison a little bit. But these next two pay-per-views, I'll be honest. I'm not a massive fan of the June card. I love Benile Daryush and Charles Oliver. That's a tremendous fight. I don't know that I really care a whole lot about Amanda Nunes and Juliana Pena 3. That's just me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't really have a lot of interest in that fight.

But that's the next pay-per-view. So UFC 280 is much better, in my opinion, when you look at Sterling Suddo is a fascinating matchup. Bilal Mohamed and Gilbert Burns is a tremendous fight, even on short notice. Mosar Evlou have taken. on Bryce Mitchell, that's a tremendous fight. That's really a kind of a do-or-die moment for those guys. One guy is going to elevate to top six, seven

in the world of featherware in the division and the other guy is going to fall back much deeper in the top 15. I mean, you know, Evel is a high-level wrestler, undefeated, looks incredible, but he's struggled to get big fights and obviously dealing with injuries and things like that. You got Bryce Mitchell coming off the loss to Ilya.

Where does he come? How does he come back? Can he go out there and out grapple, you know, a tremendous wrestler. I mean, Ebloev's brother won a freaking gold medal at the Olympics in 2021. So this is a tremendous matchup. That's it. And then the prelims, in my opinion, might have the fight of the night on it, which is

Drew Dober against Matt Frivola. That fight is amazing. Like, that is, that, to me, that's the fight you kick off the pay-per-view with, because that is going to be a barn burner. It may last two minutes. It may go all 15. That's going to be a barn burner. is the kind of fight you sell a pay-per-view, which I guess that's kind of what they're doing

by putting it on the prelims, the final fight leading into the pay-per-view card, so you get people kind of psyched up and excited and hopefully buying the pay-per-view, I suppose. But that might be the best, like, fight. It is not the one of the biggest stakes, obviously, but the fight actually looks on paper like it's going to pay off in the biggest way. How could Drew Dober and Matt Provol would not be awesome? So I'm really looking forward to that. It's low-key, a really solid card on Saturday.

So I'm looking forward to that. Make sure you stick to the best website in the world, MMAfighting.com, for all your coverage. We'll have you covered for Media Day on Wednesday. There's a press comments on Thursday, so stay tuned for all of that. And, of course, next week we'll be back with another edition of the Fighter versus the Writer with a guest host,

joining me to break down everything that happened at UFC 288 and leading into UFC Charlotte, where our guy. My co-host, of course, Matt Brown, makes his triumphant return against Courtney McGee. So stay tuned for that next week. Again, a big thank you to Gilbert Burns, Bilal Muhammad, and, of course, UFC champ, Al Jermaine Sterling for coming on the show.

Check us out on all your favorite podcast platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and of course, the best website in the world, MMAFighting.com. Keep it locked there for all of your UFC 288 coverage. Thanks so much for turning into another edition of the Fighter versus the Rider. We'll see you next week. Thanks for tuning in. Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything. Like packing a spare stick.

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