MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Matt Brown Reacts to Ronda Rousey’s Latest Comments, Dana White Saying UFC White House Isn’t Political

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

On the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, UFC legend Matt Brown and Damon martin react to the latest from Ronda Rousey as she continues bashing the UFC and now even decided to take aim at reigning champion Kayla Harrison. Is Rousey making a mistake by just focusing on everybody but Gina Carano when it comes to promoting her return to action? Plus we discuss Dana White claiming that there’s nothing political about the UFC White House card and Brown gives his thoughts on Jiri Prochzaka saying he showed mercy to Carlos Ulberg in their title fight at UFC 327. All this and more on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer! Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Local news is in decline across Canada, and this is bad news for all of us. With less local news, noise, rumors, and misinformation fill the void, and it gets harder to separate truth from fiction. That's why CBC News is putting more journalists in more places across Canada, reporting on the ground from where you live, telling the stories that matter to all of us, because local news is big news. Choose news, not noise. CBC News. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Back to the fighter versus the writer. I am Damon Martin. He is UFC legend Matt Brown.

And Matt, we are back for the attack after a week off as you were traveling in Thailand. Your guy got a spinning back fist knockout, sick knockout. So how was Thailand? Well, I mean, that made the whole trip right there, right? What, 38 second knockout, I think it was. And, you know, what a great relief. I mean, he came off of a year. layoff torn ACL.

So the only downside is he's had about two minutes of ring experience in the last year now because he tore his ACL in like one minute in the last fight and, you know, not from anything happening. He just, you know, stepped wrong and it happened. And yeah, so, but yeah, that made the trip,

man. And, you know, he was elated. And, yeah, so, I said, I made a trip. But then, as you probably seen on my Instagram account, the fight circus brought me to Piquet. for Songkrom, which is the Thai New Year, and Fight Circus did what Fight Circus does, and they make a shit show out of every holiday in Thailand and everything.

And, man, what a wild thing. So what they do, most people probably don't know this, and I didn't know it, but on their new year, what they do is everybody in the country gets squirt guns and sprays each other all day, everywhere you go. Or they'll take buckets of water and throw them on, each other and so yeah we were in a patong which is like party central of Thailand and

Thailand itself is kind of you know known for its parties and that's like with the central spot for it so it was so wild man like I'd never see anything like in my life and I guess maybe I'm maybe getting a little old for that shit because after about an hour of like every single person spray him it's like okay guys I get it I'm wet I don't need this no more. But Fight Circus was a great time, man. And, you know, I did a little bit of wheelchair boxing. I saw that. Yeah, so that was fun. And yeah, man, I mean, Thailand's awesome. Still getting over the jet lag. That's the only downside. But got a little bit of Muay Thai training while I was there, as always. And, man, what a beautiful place it is. Yeah, it sounds like a good time.

Yeah, I saw the wheelchair boxing. I was like, I was like, oh, Matt and Fight Circus goes together, like, like, peanut better than jelly. I mean, it's fun, man. Like, you know, the cool thing about fight circus is, like, we all take fighting so serious. And, you know, when you watch a UFC event, like, I mean, it's dead serious, right? Of course. And as it should be. And they just make a shit show out of it.

They're like, you know, with everybody, so with everybody spray and water everywhere, right? You know, they're walking by the ring, throwing water in the ring, spraying everybody. And so they're like, okay, well, let's get a vinyl canvas, throw it over a not vinyl. canvas like a vinyl top for the the canvas throw it in there and like let's do some slippery boxing those guys do a slippery boxing so you know they just have fun with him and they just make a make fighting fun and it's cool to be a part of and uh the head guy john nut you know he's a great guy he's such a charismatic just he's citric guy i guess is a way to describe him just a character man he should be in a movie but yeah so we just have a lot of fun that's all there is to it he hit me like i noticed

like i don't remember it was like i don't remember it was like a month ago i noticed like somebody responded me on twitter and it was him and i didn't realize it was him at first and i was like oh that's cool like i knew he was of course but like he had he probably said something off the wall i can't remember it wasn't too off the wall but like i saw the name i was like why do i know that name and i clicked i was like oh that's why and so like i thought that's pretty cool but yeah they do a they do like a plus for creativity man like they put on some wild stuff and it's so much, like, so dumb, but yet so fun. And, like, you get some guy, I got no rampages done it and other guys.

Like, it just seems like, you know, like, why not, you know, why not make it ridiculous and have fun with it, you know what I mean? Exactly. Actually, I take it back when they did the slippery boxing. They didn't even just do slippery boxing. They did the Siamese boxing on a slippery surface. Yeah, they have fun over there. It seems like, sometimes you just need to, like, chill out, relax, and watch some fights,

and that's the kind of fighting you want to do when that happens. Yeah, yeah. It's great, man. They put on a great show, and I'd love to see them expand and get bigger. I know they did a show in Vegas earlier this year, and hopefully somebody picks them up, like Netflix or something, man. I mean, I think it'd be everybody. It's funny that before I, Fight Circus ever hit me up to come over,

which was kind of surprising they hit me up, but I got, you know, kind of some backdoor connections. But like my son knew who Fight Circus was. Like when I told him I'm going to Thailand to do Fight Circus. He was like, what? He's like, I see that on Instagram, you know? So, like, I mean, they're making waves. They're doing good things.

And, like, he knew who Blob Tang was. Like, he loves Blobting. So funny. It's like the new age of influencers. Like, I remember a couple years ago, I can't remember some, I think it was some Jake Paul fight or something, the influencer named I Show Speed showed up. And everyone freaked out. Like, oh, he's there.

I was like, who's this? I have no idea. And one of my coworkers has, like, a 12-year-old son or 13-year-old son. And he's like, he was freaking out. He's, oh, my God, biggest star ever at a UFC or boxing, whatever. it was and I was like who the fuck who is this guy I have no idea now I actually know who he is because I've seen him pop up a bunch but like back there's like two years ago I have no idea this guy is and boy one of our guys kids was like way excited that I show speed show up at a boxing

event so hey it's a brand new world yeah apparently that guy is like one of the biggest streamers in the world right yeah I know he is now but like when I first saw only two years like yeah I had no idea who it was like now like you're almost forced to these people are so I still don't know who he is if he walked right by me on the street I wouldn't know who he was. I know he is now because he did a he did like a flag football thing and I saw him on that like you know I saw him like do a couple things like that but yeah good for you man whatever whatever makes your money man you're not hurting the people. I mean realistically it's pretty cool right like that you can you know I mean how many people had had talent I don't know if he's influencers

or these famous people like I share speed of whatever have talent but you know that obviously like people are drawn to them whether it's kids or whatever demographic it is but like I think it's a pretty cool day and age where like you don't have to make a trip move your life to Hollywood and and suffer through auditions and suck Brett Weinstein's dick to get into a movie, right? Like you can just film yourself and show what you do and show your personality and if people are drawn to it, they're drawn to it. If not, then you know, you try something different, right? But I think it's a pretty cool world, man. I don't, I've never understood the appeal of watching other people play video games. Like that's never, but I'm not. But I'm

I'm not a big gamer myself, but like, hey, dude, like, if somebody's into it and they're having fun watching it, you're not hurting anybody. Like, you know what I mean? Like, they're willing to pay you to do it, and you can be on the stream for like five hours and make it a 10 grand or whatever you're doing. Good for you, man. Like, I'm not going to knock anybody's hustle. They're not hurting anybody. You know, it's like they're out, you know. Well, I don't know how much it's helping society.

Yeah, but I mean, like, you know, they're not like, you know, now there are controversial ones who say some pretty crazy shit. And you're like, dude, you really don't want to put that out in the world. But, like, generally speaking, you're playing video games where people are just enjoying that you're kind of making fun, having fun doing it, whatever. Like, I mean, I'm not even a gamer. Like, I remember talking to Jen's Pulver years ago, and, like, during his training camps,

he would do, like, these giant, he was big into World of Warcraft. And, like, I've never played World of Warcraft. I know what it is, but I never played it. But he talked about, like, after a day of training, he would be working his ass all, breaking his back to work, get ready for a fight. And he's like, when I go home, the best way I can relax is just play my games.

And he'd play for, like, six hours. or whatever. And he's like, it was just his best way to decompress for a really hard day of training. And so to each other, man, that's what, that's, well, I'll tell you with with gin's pulver, I don't know if this is factual or not, but I had kind of heard through the grapevine that like his gaming was kind of maybe even a little bit out of control where it wasn't like just a decompression anymore. He was actually like staying up all night and wasn't getting in good training and getting injured and stuff because his body's shot and you know so there's like a everything and all things in moderation right yeah yeah i used to have a friend who would play you remember halo he would play halo for like

14 hours you play halo for like 14 hours i was like dude like like i would go to bed and i'd wake up the next morning he's still playing halo i was like what are you doing man like yeah so hey tish play i said tisho not my thing but yeah i went through that a little phase of that myself when my kids were born, my twins, because it was basically like me and my wife were going, you know, taking breaks and doing shifts and stuff. And I would just sit there and like they don't do anything when they're, you know, a month old. So like when they're sleeping, I sat there and played battlefield. That was my game. Like I did so much battle for she was she was so happy because she's like, I can just sleep all day. And I'm like, oh yeah, go ahead. It's fine. I can sit there. I can sit there.

and play video games for like 15 hours a day. The only games I ever got obsessed with were Madden. I played Madden football obsessed with for a year. Yeah, that was good. Yeah, back in day. And then, uh, and I used play Resident Evil. The first, like, first couple of Resident Evil's, I played those a lot because I love you.

I'm a big horror guy, so I like those. But, yeah, like, Madden was the one, man. I could play Madden for, like, days on it. I had to literally, like, shut my... That's why I don't, like, I don't own a video game system now for the pure reason. Like, I would still probably obsessively play Madden. Like, I love football. So, like, I know me.

I would get drawn. now you can do it online and stuff and like no that would end badly for me I don't dude that's literally why I don't have a gaming system anymore because of all games like when Rocket League when I started playing that oh if you've heard of Rocket League

dude that's the most addictive game in history magazine it's kind of like a kid's game really but man it is like you know it's one of those where like you could just play it all day and never you there's always like a new skill to get right like it's like

a martial art or something, you could do it for life and always be getting better. And just like Madden, just like most video games, I guess. But yeah, it drive me crazy. I'd stay up until 4 in the morning and just, like, force myself to go to sleep finally. That was in college, me and all my friends used to play Mario Kart. We'd get like four or five person Mario. And like we'd all be studying for finals, getting ready for testing. And then like on a Friday night after the week was over, we would sit in one of our rooms.

And one of our guys had a big screen and in the dorms. And we would play Mario Kart for like nine hours. It was like four, you know, four and, and like, we'd play, you win, you stay, you lose, you get out. Like, we'd play in, like, tournaments. And they'd play battle Mario Kart. It was so much fun. And, like, we would play for so long.

And, like, we were just, like, that was our way to relax after a week of, like, hard school. We would just, like, go on a Friday night and play, like, Saturday night. It was crazy. I guess it kept you out of the bars, right? Like, most people through college is just a big frat party. Right? So, get you away from that, I guess.

We still did that on Saturday night. But Friday nights for, yeah, I definitely still got some drinking and stuff going on. But yeah, so like I said, T's through him, man. Like I said, it's a brave new world. And if it's something you're into, dude, I'm not going to knock the hustle, dude. It's like, whatever, you know what I mean? Like I'm cool with it. You know, like, I work remotely from home now.

I used to travel to events all the time. I don't really travel anymore. And be like, oh, why don't you come to EFCs anymore? I was like, I don't really need to. Like, I get just as much work done at home. I don't really need to go everywhere anymore. And everyone's like, oh, aren't you coming this? Why don't you come to this?

I'm like, not really. going to be traveling soon though you never know which i don't know if we can talk about it or not but we'll see we'll see what's happening there's there's a potential trip for me and matt that could be coming up could be pretty freaking cool we'll hold on to it until we know for sure but once we know it could be pretty awesome so uh while you're over in thailand did you like did you watch any fights or were you just i assume you're probably just relaxing no the nice thing over there is the fights come on like in the morning it's a 12 hour difference so you know they start at like 8 a.m or whatever and, you know, the main card's like 10 a.m.

So it's perfect. You go eat breakfast and watch the main card. It's beautiful, actually. So, yeah, I do watch, yeah. We are a little bit removed from it, but I wanted to one quick thing before we move on to, like, kind of current what's going on. But you, I remember I always bring this up.

We talked about many times on the show throughout many iterations of our podcast, like your fight with Pete Sell, when you're just absolutely killing this guy and Eve Levine's not stopping it. Like, still such a famous moment where you're like, dude, like, I don't want to hurt this guy anymore. And, like, basically it was like one of the worst stoppages ever.

And I'm sure you saw the whole Yuri Parasca thing. You know, I showed mercy. I shouldn't have showed mercy. And Olberg's like, Carlos Olberg's like, bullshit, man, come on, you lost. Like, just take it where it is. Because he blew his ACL already had surgery. He's going to be out for, you know, pride to bed part of the next year. But congrats on him winning.

But I'm curious, Matt, as a guy who tried to actually show mercy. Now, you're in a different situation. You're literally the guy's just, like, laying on the ground. And you knocked him down, like, four times or whatever ridiculous number it was. And you're basically like, dude, I don't want to hurt this guy. What are you buying to like the whole mercy comment? Because Prohash has been taking it on the chin about that whole comment.

Like he only lost because he showed mercy. Yeah. Well, first off, I didn't show mercy. Yeah, you didn't. You know, my situation was a little different because, you know, my issue during that fight was that the ref had stopped it. You remember this. Like the ref actually stopped it and then had his fight again.

So then I'm pissed off the whole time, right? Because I got to beat him again. And then it started to become a late stoppage. And I'm like, are you not going to stop it now? So whatever. That was a little bit of a different situation. But yeah, I don't buy that either, to be honest. I mean, you're in a championship fight and you're fighting for all the glory right there, man.

And I thought he fought a great fight until he didn't, you know. And look, I don't want to shoot my own horn. Like I kind of called it, you know what I mean? Like when you fight you fight? recklessly the way that he does, you know, those types of things are going to happen. Like, that's just what it is. And, you know, I'm not trying to like Tup Moon Horn or act like I'm a Mystic Mac or whatever, but, you know, that's, that's literally what happens when you fight that way. And it happens to, like, you're fighting the best in the world. You know, you're fighting very good, well-seasoned fighters, you know, and that's just the way that the ball follows. I don't know, the way the ball rolls.

I never heard that one. No, that's just the way that things go, man. That's the fight game. And, you know, and he puts himself in the situations where it becomes a real fight on a regular basis. You know, that's not the first time that he's put himself in a situation where maybe he could have won earlier. I mean, it wasn't maybe as clear in other times. but this isn't like an uncommon thing for Yuri to do, where he takes big risks.

And, you know, when he wins, like, it's usually a great finish and it's beautiful. And it's a risk reward thing, you know? And when he loses, like, that's kind of what happens. You, I know when we did the article on the podcast, you took a lot of shit, and you're like, oh, Yuri's awesome. And you're like, listen, I like Yuri, but the reality is, like, it's a big risk, big reward or go bigger, go home,

kind of moment. I mean, not to toot your own horn and say it, but you did. You kind of called it. Like you said, that's the risk of having that style when you don't evolve and have like a, you know, stick to the fundamentals. And when you watch that, I don't think that he showed mercy. I think he kind of thought, I have him. Let me figure out how I'm going to put him away. And then here comes Carlos with that perfectly time check left hook.

And boom, hits him and puts him out. And that's what you cannot do. You cannot play around. Even on one leg, that guy's dangerous. And so I never bought the mercy common either. I think ultimately I bought more of what you said. Like he played, he kind of plays with fire

and he got burnt. That's what happened. Exactly. And I think in his head, this is where I'll kind of give him a little bit of crap. Like in his head, like there's a lot of things

that go through your head in a fight and you don't remember clearly exactly what you were thinking. But to him, he was, it probably wasn't a mercy thing, but he's like, I'm going to do this.

He had a certain way that he wanted to go about getting the finish. Right. And he's seen blood in the water and was like, okay, I can do this kind of

how I want. And then it didn't work out that way. So when in his head saying that I showed mercy was actually saying, you know, I could choose my own path from here on out. And it just didn't work out that way. Again, because of the, you know, we could say because lack of fundamentals or, you know, his high risk, high reward style. But ultimately, I mean, it was just a mental lapse. You know, that's all it comes down to, right? Like it was just a mental lapse. And, and I mean, it's not like you can prepare for that either. I mean, how many times do you train for a guy, you know, tearing his AC out while you're fighting when you're training, right? It doesn't happen or how does it even happen in fights? It's, you know, it's a one a million things. So

I don't, you know, I don't fault year at all for even kind of feeling the way that he feels about the fight. And this is something, I think, only a fighter, some insight only a fighter would be able to give you. It's like when you, when you fight, like there are many things that that you kind of feel like you remember thinking. And a lot of times, at least with my personal experience, a lot of times, you know, it'll take maybe a couple weeks or a couple months. I'll be like, yeah, maybe that wasn't exactly what I was saying.

Or you watch it back. And you say, okay, there's no way that I was thinking what I think I was thinking, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, like I said, and credit to Carlos Alberg, man, because you know, like he said, like, I would have gone to the corner. It would have been over. Like, they would have stopped it.

There's no way. And, you know, because in that moment, like, adrenaline can get you through a lot. And then, like, at some point, it does even just, like, that one minute between rounds, you're going to calm down. And then, boom, it hits you. So, like, for him to pull it out, one of the craziest knockouts. Like, I was watching, I was like, I was in mind. I was just a matter of time, man.

His leg's going to buckle and he's going to go down here. He's just going to finish him. And he hits him. And I was like, oh, my God. And he finished him. I was like, what a crazy. And, by the way, Dana White said last night, you know, Carlos has already had the surgery. he's going to rehab in Vegas and everyone's like,

are you going to strip him? Are you going to do it? You know, we're not even thinking about that. You know, ACLs can recover a lot quickly, a lot quicker than they used to. I'm not going to put a timeline up, but I appreciate- it's still going to be minimum of six to nine months.

Yeah, but I appreciate Dana's like, oh yeah, we're just going to strip him. Like, give the guy some time, you know, see how his recovery is going. Maybe he comes back. And, you know, because it's been literally, I mean, in a weird way, best case scenario,

it happened in the fight. He had surgery like days later. Now he's only recovery. I mean, he could be back. it's April. He could easily be back early next year. And that's not even a year being out of action. Got lots of guys be out for a year. So, you know, I think it's cool day and it didn't be like,

oh, yeah, we're just going to strip, we're just going to crown some interim champion, which they may still. But for right now, they're kind of just giving them time to recover. So I guess the question is, though, okay, they do an interim title. Do they give Yuri that shot? I mean, I don't know how you can. I mean, that's three title fight losses in the row. I love Yuri, and I hope he does bounce back.

And he's an incredibly good dude and all that. And he obviously just had a kid. Congratulations to him and his great. girl, but yeah, I mean, Paulo Costel looked great, man. He got that knockout. He took out as a member. I would rather see him against,

I don't know who's out there. Like, heavyweight. There would be a contender or whatever. But like, get two guys on wins and then that way, like, because I love Yeri, man, but that's three title fight losses in a really.

He's got to build back, you know. He's got to get a couple good wins, a couple more impressive wins, and then maybe we'll talk about again because that division is not very deep. But, yeah, you can't, you can't put him back in there after that. I was wondering what you would think on that

because I wasn't sure because realistically, though, say, okay, well, you're good enough to fight for the title. And he had a good fight until he didn't. And then you'd lose it. It's like, well, if you were that good, then you should be good enough to be the interim champ, right? And earn your rematch. And, but interestingly enough, I mean, I thought Paulo Costa would be the perfect guy, whether it's for an interim title or not. Like, like, Paulo and Yuri, that's a fucking great fight. right there.

Dude, Costa looks like, Costa's always been a big middleweight. He looked gigantic at light heavy weight. Like, I was like, my God, this dude's insanely huge. I think you should stay at light heavy weight. Like, dude, don't even think about going back to middleweight. Like, you're probably killing yourself with that way cut. He's in his 30s now.

Like, don't do that to yourself, man. Stick at that. Like, we saw Vicente Lucke, ball up that huge win. I talked to him after the fight. And he's like, I know I'm not the biggest middle weight, but he's like, I'm just so much healthier. Like, I was just, I was killing myself. Which, by the way, shout up to Vicente.

He got another finish. and they're like, oh, he tied Matt Brown's record. No, he didn't. He was fighting in middleweight, so that record is still Matt Browns for the most finishing of the Welterweight history. Because that's the welterweight record, yeah. I thanked him when I talked to.

I was like, Vicente, thank you for going up. You didn't break my boy Matt Brown's record. So he laughed. They said in the record, I said, oh, he tied Matt Brown. No, he didn't. He was at middleweight, so it worked out. Yeah, I should tweet him or something to say. I appreciate that, bro.

But, like, good for Polo, man. He did look great, though. He did look great. So, you know, good for him. I mean, he's going to be undersized. So was Robert Whitaker. Robert Whitaker was undersized in every fight, and he was a freaking great champion. So, you know what I mean?

And I don't, he didn't, I didn't think he looked that small. Like, not like crazy undersized. I mean. Well, people were, people were comparing him next to Gregory Rodriguez, but Gregor Rodriguez is like one of the biggest middleweights ever. Yeah, he's not, he's a guy, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes to 205 at some point. Yeah, I mean, and their team is obviously about older too, though, right? Isn't Gregory a little bit late 30s?

mid-30s, I think, right around mid-30s, like 35, 36, I think, some around there are. But, I mean, their teammates, they're not going to fight. Everyone's like, oh, my God. But I was like, dude, Gregory Rodriguez is gigantic. Like, he's not, he's not like the guy you, he is not the median of the middleweight division. No, no, that is a big dude, yeah. Matt, every time I bring up a subject like this, I feel like I'm throwing dynamite into a bucket of gasoline

because I think everyone knows in the show, you're not, you don't hold a bias. You don't want to bias, but I know you're not the biggest Ronda Rousey fan in the history of sport, we can go back to the legitmanship podcast to talk about that. But I'm sure you saw you know, Rhonda, they did their press... I just want to see your titties. They did their

press conference last week and Ronan, Gina, and Diaz and Perry and Francis was there. And it was a really like lackluster like lackluster presser for the biggest part. Like Diaz and Perry, like Perry tried to start a little bit, but Diaz just wasn't having it. And, you know, and Gano and

Linz, there's no real heat there. And I get it. and Rhonda and Gina are like painfully friendly with each other. Now I said on Twitter, I was like, look, I don't want them to create some fake beach just to try to sell a fight. Clearly they don't dislike each other. We've seen that before. It just doesn't work out very well, or it just seems so disingenuous. But at one point, Rhonda did bring up Kayla Harrison, because Kayla Harrison kind of went off

on Rhonda a little bit and talked about it. She had lied about some training session they did together and how Rhonda is calling her fight against Gina the biggest or best women's fight of all time. and Ronda, or Kayla kind of scoffed at that, and said, not really now. And Rhonda went off and, you know, basically, you know, called her names and said, I bought your groceries, just eat your groceries.

I, whatever. You know, it just went off. And I said my tweet was, I'm fine that you don't create a fake beef with Gina, but it's a weird promotion that your entire way to sell this fight card is bashing the UFC and now bashing Kayla Harrison. Like, I don't know how much. Now, let me be clear, I've said this on the show before, Matt,

and you know this. I think that fight's going to do Monster numbers because it's Netflix. 325 million subscribers. People are going to accidentally tune into that fight and be like, you know what? It's a Saturday night, let's watch. And they're going to do good numbers.

But bigger does not mean better. Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, maybe the biggest, most watched boxing match of all the time. It was dog shit. It was a terrible fight, and I kind of wish I never had to go through that again. Can I ask what you thought, though, about the comments about Kayla?

Because I'm like, I don't know if that's really the fight you want to pick, Rhonda? Like, you're not going to fight her for one, but even if you did, I don't know that's the fight you want to pick right now. Good old Rhonda. Always give her something to talk about, right? Like, she just cracks me up at this point, man. I just think it's kind of comical. Like, I don't know if anybody actually takes her seriously. I mean, she seems like so angry about nothing sometimes, and you're just like, like, can you just chill? Like, you need to smoke some weed or something. Like, apparently she smells a lot of weeds.

she was talking about that recently. She smokes a lot of weeds. So maybe she needs more weed. I don't know. More potent weed. Maybe she's Indica instead of some team nurse. I don't know. Just maybe she's Xanax instead of weed.

I don't know. It's like, I don't know. She just needs to take a chill pill, man. It's just, I don't think anybody's really buying the schick, you know? It's not, well, like, nobody believes that she's going to fuck with Kayla Harrison if somehow that ever was to come to fruition. Like, like no one's buying into this shit. I mean, again, it'll do big numbers, but like, who actually is going to care?

And how many times are we going to do, how many times are we going to walk away from a fight? Like, you were just talking about with Jake Paul and Mike Tyson and kind of feel icky and wish that we didn't watch it. And I think we're going to feel the same thing with this fight, feel like we wasted our time, maybe not feel like achy or whatever, but we're going to feel like we wasted our time. And it's like, how many times are we going to do that? I mean, at some point, like, it's going to play itself out, I think. Right. Like, at some point, like, this influencer thing, the, like, at some point, it's going to come back to, like, it's probably, if anything, it's probably all going to help the UFC, right? Because they're going to, people are going to become fight fans, but, okay, well, I'm sick of this shit.

Can I just watch a real goddamn fight? Oh, yeah, we have a place that does that that does all the best fights in the world. What do you know? The UFC. So we're just going to watch that. and that and maybe that's where they you know i think they're fucking up the most is like they're doing more to bring fans into mama maybe than the ufc is right like ufc doesn't seem to be doing much of anything these days in that sense but why should they they got ronda doing it for him they got

jake paul doing it for him and then when people are like hey i want to watch a real fight there you go there's the there's the there's the fucking ufc right over there I mean, the reality is, because I saw Nikisa Badarian, the other guy from maybe beat up on an MMA reporter, Twitter, you know, complaining about this fight. And here's the reality. I'm backing up what I'm saying. Like, they are going to do good numbers. It's going to probably do monster numbers by being honest. It's probably going to get a lot of viewers, and they can ride it on that and say, we killed it.

Absolutely. Good for you. And Netflix is paying the bill. Good for you. The problem is, is like, how high level are we talking about those finals, the three fights that people really truly care about? There's some actually really good fights in the undercar. Marlon Marius and Adriana Mariah. That's a good fight.

There's some good fights on there. But, Mohammed Mikhail, not Marlon Marius, Muhammad and Adirana Marais, really good fight. Like, that's a good fight. I have a hell of a good fight. Yeah, hell of a good fight. Saladin Parnaas, making a, you know, coming over and fighting the U.S.

That's a good fight. But the final three fights are what everyone's keying up for. Now, I'll be the first of it to what I'm most looking forward to is Mike Perry, Nick Diaz. Absolutely. But the reality is that one guy's four. the other guy, and neither guy's fought MMA in five years. We could potentially get an ugly fight. It may not be as great as we think it is,

but I think that's the fight I'm most excited about. No offense to Philippe Lins. Reality is, we all expect InGonner to go out there in New Kim in a minute because Philippe Blins has never, and he's not even, like he's barely big enough heavy. I think he was dropping the light heavyweight, and then he left EEOC. And Ingano is still one of those dudes, even at 38 or whatever.

He'll still knock your head in the third row. So, yeah, it'd be a cool knockout, but what do we really learn? And then Rhonda and Gina, like it or not, Nikita said Jake Ball, they can all bitch you complain about what I'm saying here. The reality is we got one person who hasn't fought in a decade and another person doesn't fought in 17 years. And she's 43. Gina, by the way, looks incredible for 43. I wish I looked that good in my 40s. I really do.

You never look that good at your life. I know. But that reality is, is like, what are we expecting from her? She hasn't fought in 17 years. And I've talked to her coach. And I know John Wood very well. John's a great coach. And he said, dude, we're putting everything into this.

and I'm sure he is, and he's preparing to make it the best Gina Crown ever. But the reality is 17 years, and she's 43. I don't know what we're expecting, and Ronda has been out for 10 years, and it seemed like at the end of Ronda's run. And, you know, she lost to Holly Holman and Amanda Nunes. Neither are bad losses, but it felt like the sport had passed her by at that point. In 2016, it felt like she had her. Now, again, she's fighting somebody who's been out even longer.

So I think this is, like my opinion is I think Ronda should win this. She will probably grab Gina, chuck her to the ground, and bar in a minute, two minutes. I don't even know if it'll last that long. That's just the reality of when Rhonda has that much of an advantage over people, that's what she does. And guess what? She did that, the early part of her career.

And then people started to catch up with her. And that's what happened with Holly Holm when she shut down their takedowns and kicked her head off. Amanda Nunes did this just ran through her, just steamrolled over her. And it felt like the sport passed her by. So I don't know what we're expecting here. Like, I think Rhonda is probably going to win in a minute flat and it's going to be over and she's going to celebrate and she's going to declare she's the best ever by beating a fighter who hasn't fought in 17 years.

But she doesn't want any part of Kayla Harrison. She doesn't want any part of Amanda Nunes. And I admit, the women's band-to-weight division is exactly thriving right now. But I don't think she wants Juliana Paine. I don't think she wants any of those top girls right now because they have passed her by. Like it or not. Rhonda was at her peak in like 2014, 2015. It's 2026.

The sport has evolved. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you hit the nail on the head. But. again the only thing that this is going to do really is bringing people to the UFC

if Mike Perry and Nick Diaz got there and put on the greatest fight we talked about it before what did they do next right how many times do Mike Perry and Nick Diaz or Nate Diaz fight and Gano goes out there and knocks the shit out of Felipe lens

and and let's say everybody loves those two fights or and maybe they even love the Ronda fight okay now you turned you know this grandma who who was scrolling through Netflix and happened to come across a fight that watched now you turn her into a fight fan and she's like oh I want to see the real fights now now she goes to the UFC like she's not going to be sitting around clamming for the next Netflix card that they don't know when's going to happen yeah like it's a problem right and and again I think I think when you're UFC you sit there and

you're like, cool, like bring all the fans to us. Like, we're all about it. And I kind of hypothesized. That's why Dana didn't really, you know, push to get Rhonda and Gina on the UFC. He's like, yeah, do it over there. And then, you know, anybody that's actually turns into a fight fan, they'll come to us. You know, that's kind of my hypothesis. Also, why he didn't really, I mean, I think there's other factors involved, which we've talked

about at nauseam. You know, I think there's other factors of all, but it's like same when Nate Diaz. It's like, it's like if you want to follow Nate Diaz's career, you're, you're a, you know, you become a fan when he fights Mike Perry. Say he goes in and beats Mike Perry. And now you're a Nate Diaz fan. You want to follow his career. You don't know where to follow. You don't know what to follow, right?

But you just turned into a fan. You became, you know, maybe you follow him on Twitter or whatever. Like he's not giving you updates every day as to what his next car. You don't know what the fuck he's going to talk about, right? but now you became a fight fan. You're like, okay, well, I'm going to find some fighter to attach myself to. And you'll find that in the UFC in a heartbeat. Yeah, I mean, when you look at this card, like Rhonda built her name in the UFC.

Francis built his name in the UFC. Nick Diaz, or Nate Diaz built his name in the UFC. Mike Perry, to his credit, UFC built him, but then he became a bit of a superstar in BKFC. That's credit to him in BKFC. Gina was one of the rarity. She became a star in Elite XC and then Strike Force and clearly didn't end very well. But then she became a movie star, she had TV and stuff. So she's continued to build her own career outside.

But she was like one of the rarities who never fought in the UFC, kind of a little bit of like the Fador thing, never fought the UFC but had a career and was very popular. Philippe Lins, UFC. Like there's only so many of those guys or girls available. Like I said, if Rhonda wins, and I know Rhonda said, like this is won and done, she's not doing it again. Literally the only other option out there is the Holly homering match, and I still don't think she wants that because Holly even now still looks like she would lock Rhonda's head off. Holly's never slowed down.

She's now boxing. She's never slowed down. Who else is there? What else you're going to do? I mean, are you hoping that Misha Tate gets released from the EOC and you do that for a fourth time or whatever? Like, what are we getting, you know, what are we really learning there? And same to me with Perry and Diaz.

Let's say they put on a barn burner. It's an incredible fight and Perry guts it out and wins a split decision or knocks out Nate, which would be a huge for him. Well, he goes back to Barronocle. He's still starting. If he'd dare until, that Darren Till's time of BKFC, that's still a massive fight. But if Nate Diaz wins, your, like, your biggest fight is. to go back and fight Connor.

Who else are you going to fight? Like, Jorge Mazelel is under contract to the EOC. You can't do that again. Who else are you going to fight? Like, there's not that many people out there. Remember affliction? When affliction came in, guns blazed and spent all this money and they signed every person who was not on the EOC roster

and whatever was 2008 or whatever that happened. And they lasted for two shows. Because, A, they spent way too much money. And B, there just wasn't enough talent out there to sustain it. And I appreciate, like, I know DeKis has said, Like, if this works out with Ronda and Gina, we're going to get into MMA, you know, we're going to commit resources to MMA. And I hope they do because we need more outlets. We need more places for fighters to go.

But there's only so many top names. Like, you signed Francis. You signed Francis. Okay, Francis is under contract. Who are you? Like, Francis has never been a star. Who are you going to sign this going to get people to tune into Netflix after that? You know what I mean?

And I'll be maybe devil's advocate or not total disagree. but because you could totally be on point there. But where I would argue a little bit is like all these guys that are not with the UFC, they are able to find fights somehow, right? There's like always some way, somebody like whether it's versus an influencer or, or, you know, somebody gets cut from the UFC, you know, whatever. Like, wild things happen. Like we would have never expected Nate Diaz, Mike Perry.

Like we might have said this exact same thing six months ago and then, oh, they, okay, now they make Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, right? So I kind of don't really buy it that, right? Like I'm like, there will always be a fight to make, right? But the bigger issue, and this is where, you know, I think that we're the UFC at Gimmler, they have the monopoly, they have the control, they have the power. Like an analogy would be like this, right? If an NFL player, you know, say he's your favorite player.

Oh, actually, I remember Kurt Warner, right? He was like he was winning Super Bowls and doing that was great shit. And then I don't know if he had bad seats. I can't remember because I don't follow NFL at well. And then he went and played for the CFL, right, in Canada. Like how many people followed him and now became fans of the CFL? No, they're like, I want to watch the NFL.

Like, they just watch the next quarterback. Right? They kept following, I think it was the Rams that he was on, right? And they just kept following the Rams, right? They're still fans of the Rams and the NFL. And it's the same with the UFC, right? Like these guys, they can go do all these other things. But until another promotion has something steady, consistent, and powerful that people can attach to and follow,

like it's always going to be this one-off thing. It's always going to be kind of meaningless. And that's kind of just the situation that it's in. And like people are watching this because of Ronda Rousey and Netflix really pushing it up but like it has no staying power because there's no brand there. Yeah, and the thing with Ronda, and I said this when we talked about when she was taking aim at the EOC, and you actually defended Ronda and said like the point she's making her valid, I don't disagree with you, but, you know, someone was like when I talked about like the way she's

promoting this fight by basically bashing the EOC and now bashing Kayla Harrison, which is kind of an odd choice when really people are supposed to watch her fight, Gina Carrano, and someone's like, oh, come on, you know, there's more than that. She's taking aim and, you know, standing up for the fight. Like, where the fuck was she a 10 years ago? Yeah, exactly. And also like... Where was she five years ago?

Like, after she got at WWE, I didn't hear her just like... She had a huge platform then. She had Instagram. She has YouTube. Like, where the fuck was she done? And say, man, UFC's sucking right now. Where... You're doing it to promote your fight.

And if she wins... For sure. And fucks off till the end of time again. We're never going to... I don't think she's got... Like, she's not starting unions. She's not like... You know what I mean?

Like, this is... I think this is all promotional. And just like the Kayla Harrison... It's totally promotional, but on top of that, it's like, again, I do think she's right on a lot of things that she said. Do you think it's going to detract a single person from watching the next UFC? No. Because they got the brand. Like, no one, I mean, I guess like a lot of people kind of give a fuck, but we don't give a fuck so much that we're just going to boycott the UFC.

Like they put on the best fights. Like, you're fucked, bro. They put on the best fights. Well, I mean, and like, the reason I said this is like, I feel like, like, Rhonda, Rhonda's promoting her five-by-bashing her foreign organization. And by the way, she continuously blushed as Hunter Campbell, not Dana White. And Dana is like, stayed out of this whole thing and just like, whatever. Because I think he knows, like, this is a flash in a pan.

They're going to have this fight May 16 to by May 20, and everyone's going to be focusing on I'll get him. Not to catch you up. But look, I believe that very strong. That is what Dana knows. And Dana probably feels exactly the way I do. any new fans that come into the sport because of Rhonda that are subscribed to Netflix

because people subscribe Netflix anyway but they come in because of that they're just going to move over to the UFC because they have a staying power they have a brand they're not going to like suddenly follow Rhonda Rousey everything she does which is probably not even going to do anything after this

they're not going to start following everything Mike Perry and Nate Diaz do they're going to follow where the fights are which is UFC but go ahead but yeah like I don't know like it's just weird promotion to like I understand you don't have any personal beef with Gina

I get it but it can be about the fight like you don't have to make it personal you don't have to take like you know just like I've yet to hear I've yet to hear either one of them say anything about the actual fight like I'm not heard Ron to say she can't deal with my judo that's not trash talking

you were a freaking bronze medalist in limas of course you should say that Gina could say I was an elite striker and I'm going to knock round out she got knocked out twice in a row and she's talked about concussions and head injuries that her career was over. I hit her once. She's going down. That's not trash talking.

That's just talking skills. And, you know, maybe you get a little more fired up about that. But, like, they haven't even talked about that. Like, they haven't even mentioned the fight. They're like, I love Gina. I love Ronda. And then when the Kayla Harrison thing came up, Gina's defending Rhonda. And I'm like, how is this building your fight?

Like, because A, you're just bringing attention to somebody else who's not even involved in your fight. And the reality is, sorry to say this to Gina and Ronda, Kayla Harrison would throw both of you in one night. Like she would literally throw Rhonda and demolish her and then the Gena fight would last maybe 28 seconds. Like Kayla is on another level.

Like Kayla is like Rhonda 3.0. Like she's actually developed other skills. She's bigger. She's a two-time gold medalist where Rhonda was a bronze medalist. So I don't like, why pick that fight? A, you're never going to fight her because it's just, you're not. Like they're just, I mean maybe, you know, maybe she wins. And Dana's like, okay, here's a bunch of money.

come fight Kayla and then watch Kayla just absolutely demolish her and that's how they send her out again or be like you're just picking a fight you're not going to get because she doesn't want that fight. Matt, come on. She doesn't want to fight Kayla Harrison. She really doesn't. Yeah, I mean, I don't think any girl really wants to fight Kayla Harrison, you know, but I haven't, I don't know if Gina even really cares. You know what I mean?

She's like, like, she hasn't fought for 17 years. Like, clearly she was done fighting and had no intention to fight again. And then she gets a call and she, and it probably offered her enough money. She was like, okay, well, I'll do that. You know? Yeah. And we always talk about prize fighting. Every fighter should think about that when they're in their career.

Like, think about making the most money, things like that. But is that really the best motivation for someone who's been retired for 17 years since 43? Like, do you really want to fight or are you just fighting for a paycheck? Because I feel like Gene is fighting for a paycheck. I mean, it's hard to believe that it's anything other than a paycheck, right? And I think it's two parts for Rhonda. One, she wants to get paid and good for her. She's going to get $20,000, whatever the number is.

And two, I don't think she likes that her career ended with two knockout losses in a row. She wants to come back because let's be honest. She's heavily favored to beat Gina, and she should. Rhonda was at her peak was the best woman in the world. Zero doubt about that. And she is still one of the greatest women's fighters of all time. But I think there's a two-part thing for one. She looks at Gina and says this is a win, and two, I'm going to get paid a boatload of money for it.

And by the way, good for her. But DeKela Harrison confounds me because I'm just like, what are you going to do with this? Like, how is that building your fight? How are people like now, there's probably more people interested in, ooh, Rhonda and Kayla. No one's talking about Gina. Like, you know what I mean? It's just a weird way to try to promote your fight. Yeah, I'm not sure what she's even trying to accomplish with that.

You know, like what's your goal? Like, what are you even trying to get out of all this shit? you know so i don't know it's awkward and weird but you know i mean we're sitting here talking about it right so you know she's accomplished something i mean i seen it all over social media when she was saying all that shit so i i guess in that sense yeah she's accomplishing her goal but it's just like you know what what is it it doesn't carry like any meaning or any weight right i don't think anybody's buying into it either like i don't think you know even mainstream people are like oh you know you just look at the two of them right the face maybe they never heard of kela

Harrison and then they're like oh Ron is talking shit about this Kayla Harrison girl let's look her up and then they're like oh she's talking shit about her like wait a minute this doesn't make sense it's kind of like when Ronna was talking shit about cyborg you know and then you know

you just look at pictures of them and you're like wait a minute that's not the girl talks shit about like that's not the one you want to see in the back alley after a night of drinking like yeah I just like I just don't get I just don't I think the fights, I keep saying this, the fight's going to do big,

if it's going to do good numbers, but it's going to do numbers because Rhonda's a star, Gina is a bit of a star, and it's on Netflix. It's not because people are just super hyped about the fight. I don't think people are super hyped about Mike Tyson fighting, but they're like, Mike Tyson's coming back, we've got to see it. And then like you said, when it was over, you felt kind of dirty for watching.

You're like, oh, God, I don't feel good about myself for watching this, but we all tuned in. I agree, I don't think it's going to be that. I don't think we're in Mike Tyson. To be fair, I only tuned in because I was in Thailand, at the time and every bar had it on where's we was in the bar

I was having a meeting with the fight circus people talking about some different things and it was on the screen I did not my point is I did not do anything purposefully to watch that fight because I did not want to watch

that fight yeah but like this one I think it's better than that I mean I definitely think it's better than that one of the they're not I mean yes Gina's been out forever but she's not 58 and like yeah at least like neither one was a senior citizen yeah but still like when it's over i just don't like i just it's a weird way to build a fight when your entire purpose of promotion is bashing your former promotion and bashing now bashing another fighter in that promotion at no point have they said anything that makes me like actually interested in g like i'm not even saying i'd

be more interested if they were like trash talking and you know going after each other having you know face off sort of pushing each other doing shit like that but like it or not people People hate to admit it, but that adds elements to the, that absolutely adds an element of intrigue to fights when that happens, when there's a real natural rivalry, even if it's just like that intensity, like they stare each other down. You're like, oh, God, these guys are, like, when Poetan stares anybody down or, or Izzy or, like, they don't have personal to me, but just watch them, you're,

oh, this is going to be good. Like, they just had that intensity. They're like shaking hands and hugging, and I'm glad you brought me back to the sport. And, like, it was like when Connor just suddenly went nice to Dust a Porre before they fought that one time. And they're like, oh, I'm like, this is weird. This is a weird way to promote a fight. And then, you know, Conner got knocked out. Then he went really nasty, which I didn't like that going after Dustin's wife and stuff.

But, like, that's when Connor stopped being funny. But, yeah, like, be honest. Like, you get fired up for Connor and Khabib. You get fired up for Connor and Diaz because they had that personal rivalry. I have zero interest in, like, the actual fight between Gene and Rhonda. I just don't. Like, I don't have any actual interest in that fight. Yeah, is there anything that would get you interested, though, to keep it real?

I mean, even if they were at each other's throats and talking all this shit and tacky chose families and throwing chairs at the press conference, you'd still be like you two like aren't really going to give us that grade of a fight. Yeah. Like you can cat fight about shit all you want.

Like nobody like this is there's nothing exciting about this. Yeah and the reality is a week before that we're going to get Hamzot and Sean Strickland which I'm really excited about that. It may be it may end up being a five round you know lay and pray from Hamz

But it could end up being a lot. And the buildup to that one's going to be great. It could be a five-round jab phase from Sean Strickland. Yeah, but you know the build-up's going to be fun. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch those two go out all week. And then they fight, you know, Rhonda and Gina fight the next week. And then a month later, we got the White House card. And you can bitch you can play.

Oh, it's not the superstar card. I agree. They built it up way too much for what it ended up being. But I am looking forward to Ilya and Justin Gagee. I am looking forward to Poetton and Cyril Gagne. I am looking forward to Steve Garcia, Diego Lopez. and, you know, Marisi Rufi and Michael Chelle, now you've got Derek Lewis and Josh Hokit.

I don't like Josh Hokit, but it'll be interesting. And if Derek Lewis is even half of what he used to be, one shot can still put anybody out. So that's interesting at least. And also it's a seven-fight card. They're just keeping it. You know, it's basically a main card plus like two extra fights. And let's be honest, like it or not,

that's going to draw a lot of eyeballs. But by the way, Dana White said it's not political. Dana, please stop this bullshit. You're holding a fucking card to White House. Of course it's political. Like, come on now. We've all been there. The watch party finally makes it out of the group chat,

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makes it political but it's like It's your buddy Like you spoke with R&C You know what I mean? Or whatever you call it thing Like it's political Like you can you can Just own it like you're political

Like you know you're a Republican You support your boy like it's cool Yeah Like I don't get that I don't get that part like why why don't you just own it? And I don't think anybody's buying that like you're not a political person

at all. You know, like who's buying that? It's like you walked out with the president. Like that is supporting him, buddy. When you walk out at USC 327 and you give the president his own walkout song, like he plays the kid rock song and he walks out and

you know, high-fiving and you know, go over meeting the commentary team. He's front row. Every fighter's jumping over the cage. You know, shake hands with your... And by the way, listen, I don't care what your politics are, you know, whatever. But, like, I'm sure, like, just being respectful, you got to meet a president, you'd be respectful. Like, it's just a thing to do, rather you would not walk up to the president's pit in his face. Like, you'd shake his hand, you know, like, Joe Burrow did.

And it was like, oh, Joe Burroughs was a Trump for. No, he was being respectful to the President of the United States. You're not going to walk up and be, like, you know, F you or whatever, but, like, the idea, like, it's not political. Dude, you give him a freaking walk out of your, you know, like, you literally cut the... I can't remember if it was. Maybe it was Aaron Pico or the one. But they cut the fighter entrance or interview short so they could walk Trump to the cage. It's political.

Just own it. Well, I would digress it. You know, if I ever meet a president, like, I will spit in their fucking face. And I don't care if it's Trump or Biden or Obama or whoever the fuck. I don't like none of them cock suckers. Maybe I won't spit in their face, right? Because I don't go to jail or whatever. it, but I would certainly feel like it.

I do not support a single president that we have had in a very, very long time. So, you know, we'll try not to get political, but, you know. But the idea that it's not political is just, it's hilarious. I understand what he's trying to do. He's doing the Jordan thing where he's like, Michael Jordan never made political statements. He's like, because Republicans buy sneakers too. He's trying to keep his fan base in checks.

Like, everyone. And I get it. Like, when you're a business, you don't want to draw dividing lines because you want everyone to come to your business. You want everyone to buy at your restaurant, everyone to buy at your store, whatever the case would be. I'm sure at a moral martial arts, you probably have people from all over the spectrum coming in there, black, white, Asian, whatever, and they probably, some of them are super liberal, some of them are probably super conservative, but you get in the gym and it's all about learning and being part of the martial arts.

But it would be different if you had a giant Trump flag outside your gym and your match to say Trump 2024 or whatever, and then you're like, oh no, I'm not political. Like, that's literally what they're doing. They're just like, here's the president who comes to our event. He's set up this White House card, but it's not political. Come on, guys. Right, right. Well, I said, the fact that it's a White House card to me, that does not make it political, right?

Like, if you're a business, like, you know, my immoral martial arts, if they asked me to come to the White House and do a demonstration, like, I don't give a fuck who's in office. Yeah, I'm taking that opportunity, right?

But, yeah, but if I bring the president into my gym and pump him up and say how great he is and then I go speak for him. It's like, this is clearly becoming political. And what I was going to say is like, I wouldn't know what if I have liberals or Republicans in my gym because we don't talk about it. I'm sure people do, right? I do not. Like I don't, when I'm at the gym, my interest is training and martial arts. And we have, I know for certain we have Muslims there, you know, even like during Ramadan, like we have people that come train at nighttime. We open the gym specifically for them to train at nighttime.

We have police officers. We have criminals, right? Like on the same match, like training together, right? That's kind of like the brother. I remember I interviewed a guy who had been in prison for 19 years. And he was in prison. He became a fan of UFC and Jiu-Jitsu. and he trained, you know, as much you can train in prison, and was a huge fan.

Like, they had access to TVs, like, when you have setting at that point, you obviously was on Fox, so they could watch the cards on Fox. And he became a huge fan. He got out of prison, turned his life around, really clean things up. It seems like he's doing really, really well. But he got to do J-Jitsu after that, like, started training. And he would go to, like, the early morning class, and one of the guys who trained him, every day was a cop.

Every day, and they worked together. There was no being, and they knew who they were. Like, he knew he was a cop. He knew he had been a convict. But, like, they were totally cool. and he's like, actually, it's one of my best training partners. So, like, that's kind of the point. Like, I don't want to freak out about the whole FBI thing

when they sent UFC fighters. They're, oh, it's, you know, who wouldn't? Like, that's kind of, like, what's wrong with, like, I think all armed, are, all police, military, they could probably all use some martial arts training. That's not a bad thing. Like, I don't think that's terrible at all. Like, I talked to Minnell Cobb who did it.

And he's like, dude, it was awesome. He's like, they were really, like, curious. And, like, they were better than I thought they were going to be. And we taught. And, like, it was a great. per two-day experience, whatever, really cool. I have no problem with that. I don't see why that has to be like a dividing line,

but it became a dividing line because it was a UFC because the UFC are buddy-buddy with Trump. And that's where you said, you can't say it's not political because it is. Like you said, when you're literally showing up for the president at three different Republican conventions and speaking to him, you literally were there on inauguration night on stage. He brought you up to Dana White and he talked.

It's political. Yeah, yeah, I could agree more. And my only kind of issue that I had with the whole FBI thing was the guys that they sent. Like, like, Justin Gagey, like, what's he going to teach you? I mean, not that he doesn't know shit, you know, like, but like he's not known for his technical fighting skills. Like, now, if you send Damien Maya, right, I'd be like, wow, like, great call. Like, you send Dave, like, he's got a really big teaching. They did send Henzo Gracie.

They sent, like, legit people to. Like, Hino-Gracie was there. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. Yeah, HINZO is obviously, you know, incredibly high level. So, yeah, they said HINZO. They said, they said, but, you know, but I agree. I was like, that's kind of an odd choice, but, you know, too sure.

Yeah, okay. Well, I didn't know that they say Hinozzo, but yeah. If it helps them, cool, if not, whatever, you know. But, I mean, the FBI, like, ever since I never even heard of the FBI until Trump took office. And where it was, like, Trump and Hillary and, like, Cohen, I think was his name, James Cohen or something. like, or Comey, right, and all this shit. And like, I never knew who any of those people were. I don't even know what the fuck they did.

I thought they just got like pedophiles and shit or something. And then, but I feel like since Trump, like the FBI became very political. And I think that's where the issue that people have when they see UFC fighters going there, right? Because like you've said a thousand times, like UFC has clearly gotten political. And Dana can deny it all he wants. just a silly denial, but they've got political. The FBI has clearly gotten political. And now everybody's everybody's like, okay, well, you know, if you're on that side of the politics, you're like, great, this is awesome. And you're going to defend it and back it up. If you're on

the other side, you know, I got some bullshit, right? So, you know, that's just the world we live in now, right? It's like everything. And that's like, like, the blessing and the curse of Trump. Again, it's a blessing if you're for him, right? Because, you know, he's the most powerful guy in the world right now. against him, you know, it's a big fucking issue, right? Because I think he's like really polarized things, you know, like people love them or hate him is what it seems like. And, you know, I always hate every president.

So. And my thing isn't like liking or disliking any politician or liking dislike what it's like something, it's like when I go to the movies, unless I'm going to watch a political thriller, which obviously you're buying tickets, you know what you're stepping into. I like to just watch a movie and just kind of like fade out. I wouldn't watch the mummy movie a couple days ago. I just wanted to watch a movie for a couple hours. Just kind of fade out and enjoy it, whatever, you know, like.

But I don't like, and I do get like when someone will be like, I just want to watch some fights. I don't want to see people like, you know, glad hand in Trump and like treating him like he's like the biggest fighter on the card. He's like, I don't, it's not that I like or dislike anybody. It's just more like I just want to watch some fights. Like, I don't want to watch the American badass walkout for Trump. Like, it doesn't do anything for me.

100% get it, but also get why Dana does it too, right? I mean, if you have, if you own a business and you have the opportunity to have the president come sit beside you, like, you're probably going to fucking do it, you know? So I mean, I don't, I don't hate Dana for doing it. It's just, you know, I can get where people would not feel, not, not, not be comfortable with that. And by the way, like, it's his boy. And to this credit, they have been friends for a lot of years. This is different. just a guy who supported Trump

getting president. They were legitimately friends. He talked about Trump years and years ago. And I remember I was at one of the UFC's in Atlantic City when Trump was there. I remember him walking out and everyone cheered him because he was still Donald Trump.

He was still a star at that point. And I'm fine. Do whatever you're going to do. I don't really, like, it doesn't do anything for me just because I'm just like, let me just see some fights. I don't want to see Aaron Pico fight, Patricia Pitbull. And I don't really care about you walking out the president,

whoever it was, whether it was Obama, Trump, whoever. But like I said, just own it, man. Like just own it like that's your guy There's a reason why they're pushing through the Ali Act revival thing because they got a full Republican Congress and Trump's going to sign in like there's a reason you're not it's not by accident

This happened The shitty part on that is even the fucking Democrats have been signed in this shit It's been very bipartisan which is Blows my fucking mind Yeah but like just I'm just saying just own it like you know what I mean Like don't don't now say oh it's no it dude It's political it's always been political you don't walk out with the

president in the middle of the show. And, you know, like, because like, the president should. Even, even if Dana himself totally is apolitical, which I don't think he is. But let's just, you know, give him benefit of the doubt and say he totally is. Like, you are making it political when you do that, right? Like, that is what the perception on the outside is going to be. So, you know, if you're going to do that, you have to understand that. So he gets to there to say it's not political all he wants and it may not feel political to

him, which I don't think that's the true. truth, but, you know, even if it doesn't, he's completely apolitical. He's not full enough to not recognize that it is political to the outside world looking in. Now, maybe I'll have a different opinion of like, you know, obviously Trump, well, in theory, he's only going to have this last term, but who knows with the way this country's going, but if in 2028, we elect a Democrat president and Dana's like, you got to come to a UFC show and he walks out whoever the Democratic president is, maybe I'll change my tune

a little bit, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think, you know, it's a special, and like I said, he's loyal to his guy. I get being loyal to your guy. That's fine. But just don't lie. Like, don't, come on. Just own it, man. Like you said, just own it.

Like, don't, you know, you have to spout his talking points online or anything, but just say, oh, you know, we're doing a White House car. It's really cool. And by the way, I'm sure if the NFL got a chance to do a game at the White House or I'm sure they jump in it. What a cool, unique opportunity. I would, too. But don't say it's not political just because you don't want to piss.

I saw everybody on the other side or people are like, fuck Trump or whatever. Like, dude, you're his boy, he's your boy. Cool. Like, you know what I mean? And by the way, clearly the vast majority of fighters love him. So good for them. Like, whatever. Doesn't do anything for me.

Like, I'm, I'm looking forward to the White House cards. It's going to be kind of interesting to see an outdoor card. You know, it's going to be kind of a cool spectacle to see what it looks like. And, you know, the actual, like being in the White House. Like, I've been to the White House one time. It's, you know, it's going to be cool. Like, it's going to be a cool experience. Yeah.

But, yeah, like, I just own it, man. Like you're, you're his guy. It's cool to be his guy. Just be his guy. Don't suddenly now, oh, no, no, it's not, it's political, Dana. It's definitely political. Yeah. I guess, I mean, that's just the world we live in, right?

I kind of miss the days when everyone had their head in the sand and we were just like, whoever, whatever. Like, everyone knew the president, but you definitely didn't know the fucking speaker of the house. You didn't know the head of the FBI. Like, there were definitely, like, time on times where you're just like, whatever, you know. Like, now, like, you know, everybody. because you can't not absorb the ever... That's one of those things I always wondered, like, where, you know, we were young, right? When we say, I remember those days when, you know, you didn't know any, if anybody was Republican or Democrat or whatever.

And, you know, we were young, right? So we just didn't really pay attention. So I wonder if our parents kind of had, would have been having these same kind of conversations at this age. I don't feel like that was the case, though, you know? Like I feel like it was more private and it was more, it was more like less divided where, or look, no matter who became present, like you just accept it. You're like, okay, well, it's not what I wanted, but, you know, it'll be okay. And it's starting to feel like it's not going to be okay, right?

Like one side is going to fuck it up really dramatically. And I don't know which side that is because, you know, I'm very, neither side-ish right like I really despise both sides despise government period and but it feels like one of them's could because it's going so extreme on both sides like it's like one-em's gonna fuck it up they're gonna like really fuck something it might be Trump with this fucking war right now and you know I mean we don't mean to make this like a political podcast today but but you know that like he might fuck it up before he gets out of office the next guy might but but feels like one of the side's going to fuck it up to an extreme.

But I remember when I was a kid, like, and I know, like, I didn't have a great relationship with my dad. He passed away several years ago. We didn't have a great relationship. But I remember growing up, my dad had no clue what his political affiliation was, no clue whatsoever. He watched news all the time, but he didn't, it wasn't like Fox News. I don't remember.

He just, like, watch, he was a big news person, watch local news or whatever. Usually with a 24 pack of beer at night, whatever. That's whole other story. But, like, I knew he would like the news and stuff like that, but I never heard. He never talked about politics. brought up to me, never tried to color how my opinion was. I remember I think when I was like 18, I registered to vote and I, and they asked

you like, do you want to register as Republican, Democrat, or independent? And I remember, I think maybe at that point I'd ask my dad what he registered asked, because I was just curious and he told me. But like, to that point in my life, didn't have any clue. And he never, like, he didn't walk around the house, but oh, fuck the Democrats or fuck the, he wasn't that dude. Like, he just, whatever. Like, I had no

idea what he was. Like, I remember little things, like, you know, military, like when there was military operations, like, because I had brothers in the Army, so I remember that kind of stuff. But like, like I said, I don't think I would ever know what is, what his actual, like, political affiliation was until I turned. I was just curious.

And I was like, hey, what are you registered? I was like, you know, making a decision. So, but that's not the case anymore, man. The fucking people are wearing like a flag on their fucking head. Like, oh, you're not this. So the world has definitely changed, man, because we're basically the same age. And it's like, I remember. I don't remember.

I know for effect my dad never like spouted about, oh, I'm this. I'm sure there were definitely. like that, but like mine wasn't. Mine wasn't like, oh yeah, you have to be this way. I had no fucking clue what he was into until I was much older. Yeah, I mean, it sucks when politics gets brought into this shit.

I think that's what the frustration is, right? Like, we're fucking fight fans. We just want to see fights. I don't want to see politics. I don't care if you love Trump or hate him. Like, I don't think, you know, this shit needs to be in the sport. Like, just like I said at my gym,

I don't even know what these people are. right you know you can I think in this day and age I don't know if this was the case back in the day day, but I feel like in this day and age you can usually tell right you can beat someone and usually in about five or ten minutes to speak it to them you kind of know where they're at on yeah for the most part some people surprise you too right and you know they're kind of you know not what you would expect right but for the most part like I don't even know and don't care And that's what we what we like that's the beauty of sport Is that we we get away from that shit like we don't we don't have I don't want to fucking hear about

I mean people you hear it all the time when Celebrities and actors athletes when they talk about their political beliefs everybody's like but I'm fucking care Like throw the ball that's all that's what I want to see you do throw the fuck catch the ball and That's what I don't want to say I don't want to to see this shit in the sport. I don't know. You saw it like a couple of, before we get Iowa one, it was like a couple weeks ago, Kevin Lee was

talking about, like when he knocked out Gregor Gillespie, that New York car, when Trump was there and he said he snubbed him, he didn't want to meet him because he was like a big Bernie Sanders guy. And he went spoke to Bernie Sanders, rather, like, two weeks later. And he said he felt like his relationship with the U.S. he was never the same. Now, that could just be perception. Like, he just

perceived it that way or whatever, I don't know. But like, the fact that he brought up, I'm like, who knows? Like, maybe they're like, you know what? You didn't want to meet our guy? Because he's like, no, I don't want to meet this dude. Like, I'm not a fan of this. And so he's just like, nope, passed and walked with. And then, like, you know, a week later he's doing a Bernie Sanders rally or whatever.

Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. They actually held it against him. He felt like they maybe did. And if that's the way he feels, that's the way he feels. But who knows. And then you can't, but my point is you can't sit and say it's not political.

If a fighter who clearly expressed he doesn't like Trump, you know, remember remember, remember at one point Rhonda did too? And Trump did, too, and Trump, like, 2016. Ronald Trump, like, celebrated when she got knocked out. And I was like, oh, Jesus, like, you can't say it's not political. We'll end it there. I don't want to get, you know, we don't need to get in the whole political spectrum here. But pretend it's not political.

It's just stupid. Just lean into it, man. You've already leaned into it. You've already leaned way into it. Just stick with it. Like, don't now. I feel you on that. Like, I prefer you kind of tell the truth on it.

And I don't think he's being totally truth on. But at the same time, I'm like, I kind of like that answer too, right? Because he's trying to at least publicly. have the perception that we're not bringing politics into this. I mean, if that's going to... We don't want that. We don't want it, right? If that's going to stop them doing fucking elaborate walkouts for the fucking president

in the middle of a car when I'd much rather hear from Aaron Pico or whoever's fighting, like, good. If that ends that good. And by the way, that's not a Trump thing. I don't care who it was. I don't need to see a 13-minute intro for the president. Like, give me the fights I came to see. So if that ends that, sure, I'm all for it.

But yeah, it's just a fun. It's one of the funniest comments I've ever heard. say, oh, this is a political. It is a little bit comical. Yeah. I agree on that point. What do you got coming up next? Obviously, you're always busy.

You got things going on the gym and you just go back for Thailand. So trying to get your sleep schedule back on track. But what else you got going on? Yeah, well, I'll be doing my own podcast. I think we'll be recording tomorrow or Tuesday. And, you know, other than that, man, I don't have any guys with fights coming up right now. Unfortunately, we got a lot of grappling tournaments, kickboxing matches, you know, kind of regional fights, stuff like that.

But no major fights. So we've got to get our boys some fights going, man. I want to get back into camp with these guys, get back to the grind, man. That's a, you know, I'm kind of living through these guys now, man. I need it. Yeah, well, obviously, we always want to support your guy, Josh Perey. Got the big knockout in one championship and obviously got more martial arts going on. So obviously we want to show support there.

And always want to say a big thank you to everyone that tunes into our podcast. Make sure check us out on all your favorite podcast platforms, Apple Podcast, Spotify. And, of course, over on the best website in the world, MMAfighting.com. For Matt Brown, I'm Damon Martin. We will see you guys next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the Rider. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you then. Most Network.

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