MMA Fighting - HOAM | What's Next For Robert Whittaker After UFC Paris? Christine Ferea Joins the Show

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori are getting ready to compete in an under the radar co-main event at Saturday's UFC Paris event, but win or lose, what does the future hold for the former middleweight champion? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck fields questions about where Whittaker could go after his bout with Vettori, thoughts on a potential move to 205, and if the result of Saturday's fight will dictate that decision. In addition, listener questions include the MMA media path, the UFC Paris main event between Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa, Tony Ferguson's somewhat quick return to action at UFC 279 following his knockout loss to Michael Chandler, Fight of the Night options for this weekend's UFC card, and much more. Plus, BKFC flyweight champ Christine Ferea (56:44) joins the show to recap her 47 second stoppage win over Taylor Starling at BKFC 28, the trash talk Starling has received since the win, wanting big names and challenges such as former UFC fighters Pearl Gonzalez and Rachael Ostovich, along with Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko — although she's well-aware those are long shots. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Media Podcast Network. Thursday, September 1st, wow. Do you remember the very first day of September? Shout out to Earth, Wind, and Fire. And welcome to another edition of Keck of a Morning live on the M.M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces. The show will be on shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network.

There's a lot of good stuff that is up there now. And there's going to be more stuff coming up there in the coming days that I will be happy to talk about. But thank you for joining us. I am Mike Heck. We are on the eve of the eve of the UFC's first trip to Paris, France. It's going down this Saturday. Early MMA, which I desperately admire and love so much.

Early start time, it's just the best. And we get a hell of the main event. High stakes in the heavyweight division, Cyril Gahn, looking to bounce back from his title loss to Francis and Gano, taking on the surging, ever popular tie to Ivasa. It's a hell of the fight. And then the co-main event, which in my opinion has been one of the more overlooked fights of the year. But it's a good one between Robert Whitaker and Marvin Vittoria. And it would be interesting to see what happens to both individuals after the fight.

Because as of right now, Israel Adasania is still the middleweight champion. Adisani has two wins over both guys. Whitaker's talked about possibly moving up to 205 if he does it the right way. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. And there's a lot of local talent on the card. And it should be a lot of fun. But there's a lot going on in the combat sports world. We found out on Tuesday, Dana White announced.

I confirmed with multiple sources that Sean Strickland is out of his October 15th main event with Jared Canaaner. I'm sure you have all seen the videos or some graphic images of the infection on Sean Strickland's finger. So that fight no longer happening. Jared Canaaner from all indication is not going to be fighting on that card either. There will be no replacement. So I think the plan, at least from what I've been told, is just to reschedule that one for later on down the road. And I think that's the right thing to do. I think that's the right thing. The right thing to do is the right fight to make. I know a lot of people are saying, oh, just throw Paul. Paul Kost in there. Paul Kost is hurt, broken hand. So he's going to be out for a little while, beginning of next year, from what he was saying in his announcement that he broke his hand in the fight with Luke Rockhold. So a lot going on. Apparently, we are very close to getting an announcement about Jake Paul's next fight. He's going to be reportedly fighting Anderson Silva. I mean, we confirm with a couple of different sources that that is the plan.

Penn has not officially gone to paper yet. It has not been officially announced, but that is the direction everybody is going. As of right now, talks are very serious. And it looks like this is the direction everybody wants to go. Now it's just a matter of getting the pen to paper, having the ink dry. I know some reports are saying possibly Phoenix, Arizona for that one, which would be good for us because we get two guys out there.

So there's a lot going on. We can talk about UFC Paris. We can talk about some of the other stuff going on. We can talk about whatever you want. So let's go. Let's open it up to you guys. And we'll start with Abswalia to get us going. Hello, sir.

So, um, are you doing? Good, you? Yeah, so I just want to talk briefly on the upcoming event this Saturday with Robin. I think it's very possible Vittori could win because, you know, also he's not very talented. He has the upside, you know. with his hard work and skills. And, you know, from what I can see, Rob wins based on his experience as a fighter. But I could see, like, a decline happening if he loses because, you know,

Imso is very young and in his prime. He's had a lot more experience and hard battles, whereas Vittori is just, you know, much more younger and getting started. And I think if, let's say, you know, Marvin wins. I think he should fight, you know, the loser of, the Adisania Pereira fight, so then he can get his tie shot next. And as for Rob,

I would say he should fight Jericho, not Jericho, he should fight Bar Polo Costa. Then he can get a towel shot again for a third time. That's all I have to say. Thanks, man. Yeah, that is a very interesting fight on this card, one that's not getting talked about enough. So I'm curious, like I said earlier,

where these guys go, win or lose. I think the Whitaker cost of flight makes a lot of sense, but that's just if he stays at 185 at this point. Rob's not the kind of guy that just says things just for the sake of saying them. So if he says that he's thinking about moving up to 205, but doing it the right way, he doesn't want to be a fat 185 or as he told to the fine folks over at submission radio, I believe him.

I believe that is something he is thinking about. And Marvin's in a really interesting spot too because, yeah, Rob's got a lot of experience. He's had the belt and he's, you know, fought the champ a couple times. But so is Vittori. Tori's been in there with Izzy a couple times. He's had some five-round fights. He's had multiple five-round fights, Adasania, Kevin Holland, the Paul Costa fight was a crazy one. And I love this matchup. This is what I've been calling for for a long time because it just makes sense. To me, and look, Alex Pereira has been on a nice run and we'll see what he could do when he fights Israel Adasanian, if he wins the belt, then this whole narrative changes. But in my eyes, at least

right now, until I see what he does against the top five guy, Whitaker and Vittoria battling for the number two spot. These are the second and third best middleweights in the world right now. And Pereira's been fantastic. And I have Pereira in my top five. I think I have him ranked higher than anybody else on the MMA fighting global rankings panel. But Whitaker, and Vittaker and Vittori are battling the out for who is the number two middleweight in the world. And I love the fight. It's a fight I've wanted to see for a while. It makes perfect sense.

And the stylistic part of the fight is really interesting because Rob can crack. And Vittori is just so damn durable. I mean, this guy could just take shots over and over and over again and doesn't even bother him. It doesn't phase him at all. Vittory is a fantastic wrestler, good grappler. And Whitaker's a good wrestler, too. and he's got pretty solid takedown defense. So this fight is going to be very chess matchy.

My one complaint, and this is not really a complaint, because I understand this card and you don't want to just overload it with five-round fights, but I would love to see these two guys for five rounds to see how that would play out. But hey, listen, we get Whitaker and Vittory in a 15-minute fight. I'm down. I can't wait to see it. It's going to be real good, and we'll see what happens. I like all those ideas.

If Vittori wins and Pereira loses, you can match those two guys up. There's lots you could do. But it is kind of interesting considering the positions they're both in in this division right now, where Adisandia has two wins over each of these guys. And there is a part of me that I'm not all that interested in the Vittori third fight at this point. Not right now. But if Vittori beats Robert Whitaker and maybe gets another win, then sure. I'm certainly down for that.

but I definitely want to live in a world where we see Whitaker-O-Sanya again. Maybe it will be for, it'll be a 205, who knows. But that second fight was really good and it was really close. And there are a lot of people, Rob included, who thought he won that fight. I thought Adasanya won, but it was really, really close. It was a good scrap. Let's go to Four Corner Sports. Hello, Four Corner Sports.

Hey, what's on, Mike? How you doing? I know that Whitaker made the statement, I know you were just talking about him going on to 205, but is that going to be really determined on what's going to be the outcome that happens on November 12th between Adasani versus Pereira? Just because I don't see Whitaker getting another title shot if Adasani retains his title, but I definitely do see him maybe sticking around at 185 if Pereira is able to get the belt just because that's fresh new blood for him to face. and then, you know, Tui Vasa, right? Tuivasa and Sir Ragan.

I know that this fight's in Paris, right? But is there anybody really out there, you know, expecting that this fight isn't at last, you know, the full distance, just because we saw what Sero Gond was able to do against Derek Lewis. And I've always felt that Taito Ivasa is Derek Lewis, a Jace, you know, very similar fight style. but we saw how that fight matchup went with Seraghan and Derek Lewis. How many rounds do you expect this fight to go?

And I know that the fight is no longer on the card. Caitlin Chukagian versus Man in Furrow. I completely forgot what was the reason why they're not longer on the fight on the Paris card. All right. Thanks, Mike. Have a good one. Thank you, sir. Bear with me, everybody. I'm trying to do multiple things at once.

and okay, we'll just go that route. Yeah, I mean, I don't think the Whitaker thing depends on whether he wins or loses. I think even if he wins, he could still make the move up to 205, and maybe that increases his chances of climbing that ladder a little bit quicker if he beats a guy like Barfetori. So we'll see. I don't, we'll have to kind of see where his head is at at this point, but I don't know. the path to a title shot is probably quicker for him at 205, but even right now,

it's kind of logjam because we're still waiting to see what happens with Yeri and Glover. We have Jan Buhovic and Magamette Ancolaev, we got Jamal Hill. So who knows, maybe you throw Whitaker up to 205, he fights a guy like Jamal Hill. I mean, who's going to complain about that? It gives Jamal Hill probably a better opponent than he would get right now,

considering the run he's on. So, I mean, there's, there's fun fights and who knows like if he's going to stay at 185 i just don't know there's maybe maybe the cost idea makes sense if if timelines line up but who knows maybe i know i've talked about this before and i know there's a lot of other people who think that a really interesting fight and i don't know how realistic this this could be but who knows maybe we find ourselves in a in a position where this is what we have to do but i'm really interested to see what a rob woodaker a Hamzaa-Chamaya fight would look like.

That would be a lot of fun. It's a really interesting matchup. You don't have to put a title on the line. Could headline, not a pay-per-view per se. But I mean, that could be interesting, too. Like, what if Hamzac goes out there and beats nay? And he's like, nah, I'm just going to wait. I'm just going to stay active and fight people.

And who knows? Maybe I'll fight for the 185 pound title. If he goes up and beats Robert Whitaker, he's getting a title shot. So I would love to see that fight someday. I don't think we're going to see it right now. but who's going to complain about that? And then I just don't see a world, just to your point, that this made event goes the distance.

But I don't know, maybe it will. Maybe Cyril Gond will. Cyril Gons had some performances where he's very chess matchy, and I'm real interested to see where everything I've heard from Cyril Gond is is pretty spot on. I'm not like all that concerned about where his mental stage. is after the France and Ghanu loss. But who knows, you get back in there, you get a title fight, it's a fight you wanted,

and then you go out and you lose, and we'll see how he bounces back from its first M.MA loss. But, yeah, I don't think this fight goes to distance. I think if it gets extended, we get to three, four, and five. It's Cyril Gans world. But Taitu Yvesa, man, this guy can crack. What a moment that would be if he can go into Paris and beat zero. he'll knock him out.

He'll probably get booed on the way out. He'll get cheered on the way back. And hopefully his next fight will have a championship attached to it because you got a strike where the iron is hot with a guy like that. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrant Sets, our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz Holiday Shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. as we bring in my man Viking MMA. I know he's been waiting patiently. So let's get him in.

Hello, Viking. Viking, are you there? Hello. It's good to hear your voice, mice again. Thank you. Actually, I don't have any UFC question right now because I'm four or six days away from any UFC news or videos or all the list of notifications

all the stuff. Actually, I'm using my hand in YouTube and where I live UFC is not I mean, not even close to bigger whatever.

I just want to use my hand YouTube with another sports and you know, I'm actually not comfortable with it. I mean, I just don't I just don't want lose UFC in the process and I can do better with UFC here and you are so much successful

person at the social media you have been working since way long and my question is no my problem is I just don't want to lose UFC in the process of doing something else on YouTube which I don't even like but I had to do that I have to do that thing the other the other sport. What do you have for me? You have to do what things, you have to do stuff. You want to talk about other sports? I just, my main problem is I just don't want to do things with that,

with that sport, you know, here. But I have to do if you, if I want to, if I want to get successful, UFC is not working here. In the process, I don't want to lose UFC. I mean, it's been four or six days I have not been seeing UFC or any kind of news related to UFC, and that's my main fear. So. Okay, I think I get what you're saying, like, the MMA, so I'm a,

let me respond to that. I think what I'm, what I'm gathering from you is, I mean, listen, it is, it's it's tough to it's tough to follow everything like it really is there's just so much content and then it's not just the UFC it's everybody

like this past weekend like we didn't have a UFC event but we still had a million other things going on we had the one championship event we had BKFC we had freaking KSI boxing twice and that got a lot of attention and there's just so much to try to keep up with we got anything Jake Paul related because he's so entrenched into MMA right now.

That's that's another thing. So like it's a lot, man. And there are times where even me who works in it and loves it so much, like I got to get away. I got to get away from it for for a little while. So like what I have my days off, this week has been different because I'm working on a big feature that's going to drop tomorrow about something that's not UFC related. But, you know, there are times you just got to get away from. me. Take a little breather. And end of this month, I'm taking a breather. I'm taking a week off. I mean, I'll probably still do this show and I'll probably still do BTL. But as far as just like the

day-to-day grind of it all, I'm just, I'm just going to take a week off. I'm just going to take a week off. I'll obviously pay attention to what's going on. But for the, you know, working long shifts and things like that, like you get to a point where you're just like, okay, I need a, I need a little bit of a break. I need to focus on some other things for a couple days and just get that mojo back. It's hard to just stay attached to it all the time. And with this sport, you kind of have to, especially if you're trying to work in the space and make it happen. Like, you just can't, you can't just focus on MMA. And there are times where, like, in my career, it's just like, oh, my gosh, like, I feel like, especially when I had COVID and I was like,

locked in a room for a week essentially. Like, it was tough. Like, I didn't see my family really at all. Like, I would have to text my wife when I'm in the same house as her because I didn't want to go near. But at that point, like, you're just trying to, you don't want to take too much time off. You want to keep trying to work despite everything. And it's tough.

You kind of forget about what's going on around you. And so I like to once or twice a year, I like to just take a few days away to recharge the batteries, so to speak. And when I do that, just it makes it better. And as far as MMA in your part of the world, I think, especially with the UFC, I think they're going to go. Like, I think they're going to go to India. I think they're going to get there at some point. And once they do, I think it's going to be a very big deal.

And I don't think it's a place they're going to visit once or twice. I know there's not a ton of stars from that area. But I think the UFC, Dane has talked about it. Dane has talked about the value of that area of the globe. And it's a growing market. And it's a time where this is where you get in. This is where you get in. And it's like that not just for the territory part of it,

for bringing the UFC and bringing events there. But if you're planning on working in this space, this is one of those types of lessons you've got to learn where it's a grind. And it takes a long time. Like it's not like I woke up one morning. It was like, hey, you know what would be cool? I'm going to just cover MMA. And I'm going to work for the biggest and best website in the world.

I'm just going to call them and maybe they'll hire me. It was a long journey. It took a long time to get here in this room with all of you. It took seven, six years of just grinding away, working two to three jobs. And then like on my downtime putting out MMA contents, like it's a lot, man. Like it's a lot. And this is what you really want to do. I tell people this all the time.

Find your niche. Stick with it. And just know that if you bust your ass. I know a lot of people are like, we'll just work harder than the next guy. And yeah, there's some truth to that. But at the same token, it's just staying consistent and doing the best you can do. And there are going to be days where you're going to be frustrated. And there's going to be days where you don't think anything is going to happen. But then there's going to be a day where you do something that catches people's attention. And when that happens, it's pretty cool.

And you get a little bit of momentum. And I don't even know if I've told this story before, but I'll tell it. it was probably June of 2020 and I left my radio gig. I was on the air for like six years and I liked it. I liked it a lot. But it just wasn't what I truly wanted to do. Like I liked being in front of a microphone and doing all that and everything that radio entails. The radio business is a grind too.

So if you're doing that and then covering MMA, which is an incredible grind in it with itself, it's a lot. It's a lot. And I left one radio job to work for another radio job across the state. Plan was to move. And I knew about three months into this new job that I hated it. I wanted to be back on the air. And then it was just a matter of once I made that decision that the family wasn't going to join me on Cape Cod, it was what are we going to do? So I asked my wife, I told this part of the story, that give me a year, just let me good. go after it. And if I don't get a job at a year or if I'm not making the money I was making before, like I'll just stop. Like, this is it. Let's just go all in and see what happens.

And luckily, I'm married to a wonderful woman who was like, yep, go get it. So that's what I did. I worked some other odd jobs on the side. Like I did PA announcing for minor league baseball teams and did a whole bunch of other stuff, which I actually enjoyed doing that. The money was real good for a short amount of time. But I had, my first conversation with M.A. fighting was like right before I made the decision to go M.A. full time. I had a conversation with Brian Tucker, who is the editor of the site. I told him about interviews. I told him about some of the things I was doing. I told him about BTL. And we kept in communication for several months. Now, as this journey is going

on, a part of me was like, ah, he just waded out. and hopefully they'll call, but that's not what happens. I ended up jumping out with like eight or nine different websites and was just doing interviews and write-ups, and that's all I was doing was just, I would go down in the basement where I was living and I would just bang out eight, nine, ten, one day I did 22 interviews in a day.

It was just boom, boom, boom, boom. And all that was happening. I'm still kind of in communication with M.A. fighting. And then it was probably January of 2021, where I finally, they created, created a job and I interviewed for it and I spoke with Stephen Morocco and they were like, well, we have to interview some more people and then we'll kind of let you know where we're at. So days went by, didn't hear a thing.

More days went by, didn't hear a thing, but I didn't want to be a pest either. And at one point, I actually had a sponsor, a potential sponsor, reach out to me and say, hey, we want you to just do interviews for us. Like you don't have to write anything. We just want you to do video interviews. We sponsor, I don't know, they sponsor like 60 or 70 fighters. We just want you to do interviews and build our YouTube channel. And they were going to pay me really well to do that.

Almost wasn't quite what I was getting, potentially could get at MBA fighting, but it was something I had a way. It was something I had to consider. Do I just do this thing myself and work for this guy and just have kind of carte blanche on a YouTube channel or do I take this opportunity that I've been working my ass for for a long time? So that was a conversation I had had my wife.

And then eventually I reached out to Stephen and I was like, listen, I don't want to be a pest. I was like, I just want to let you know, like another potential opportunity has come my way. I'm making the decision that I'm going to go with you guys. But I need to know pretty soon because I kind of have a deadline on this offer. Like if I'm going to get the job, cool. But if not, like, just tell me. no hard feelings, no big deal. And then Stephen emailed me with, oh, didn't you get the offer?

And I was like, what? I didn't, what are you talking about? I was like, I didn't get an offer. And then he called me on the phone and was like, well, I guess I broke some news for you. And here we are. But it's a grime, man. It's going to be a lot of long days and long nights.

But if you bust your ass and you stick with it, good things will happen. But I don't know why I went off on that tangent, but trying to, to, to motivate, I guess, if I could, because what else are we here for, right? Let's go to, I love this name, cry in belly, a play on Brian Kelly, the head coach of Gorda Dame, former, former New England Patriots, homeboy.

What's up? Crying you there. All right? Don't hear you. Just re-request, I'll get you back in. Let's relax in the combat lounge, shall we? Hello. Good morning.

Hello, I'm from the Combat Lounge via Sightly Sports Network. And that was a great story, by the way. Mine's just kind of similar. I'm here about 15 minutes away from Dana's office. And I am in my first few weeks of now being a, now being part of the media team there. It's just been great, been kind of surreal. Like you said, long nights. almost embarrassing to call it work because I just enjoy it.

So I don't want people to beat me up. I just kind of wanted to talk about a polarizing boxing subject that I've been kind of like trying to rationalize throughout the night. And it seems like there's a loophole that's being found by Canello of Alvarez. And I have cross-checked. with the power rankings and how his fight with Bivel had affected his position. And it's not too much. He's still top three at most pound-for-pound rankings, even number one in a lot of them.

And he is planning on after the Triple G fight, fighting, possibly fighting Yusick and the catchweight. and it's starting to appear as though, let me get back to what I was my note here. Sorry. It appears that he's found a way to where he doesn't have to, he's not being held accountable for the outcome if he loses where it affects his position. But if he wins, he definitely gets that boost in the legacy. And I'm not seeing how it works out any other way, but in his favor. And then with his opponents, they're not getting the credit for getting a win over a great fighter like Canelo. And it's kind of damning in a situation where it's like he's almost like, I'm trying to respect.

respect Canello is, I mean, because he's a tremendous fighter. But it's, I saw the trend with Bivel, and then when he said he was going to fight Yusik, and I saw the fan base already kind of start to already gear up for the narrative, the narrative that, you know, he's taking this, he's taking this big challenge, you know, this is what boxing about and this and that. And that's cool. However, he's able to still protect his position in the rankings this way. And it seems like he's, for his opponents, he's good for business, but bad for legacy. How do you guys feel about that?

Interesting. Thank you, sir. Keep grinding away. I mean, I'm not a, like, I follow boxing. I watch the big fights. I will say I'm not like fully engulfed in boxing, but I am a little bit aware of what's going on here. And we have to understand. And I guess like my initial reaction to all these things, even when they come up, is just like,

boxing is silly in a lot of ways. And it's almost like the community allows the fighters to kind of write their own narratives. But what's important to note, and I think this is important in combat sports and often gets overlooked, and we hear about this in MMA all the time. We talk about this all the time. That's half the reason why this show and other shows like it exists is to give your opinions and to give your thoughts and create your own narratives. And while Canello with the legacy when it comes to the boxing community and the writers and all that is one thing, you have to be able to have a passing grade in some ways in the court of public appeals. And because the fans are the ones that are going to be spending the money, the fans are going to be the ones that are going to be buying.

tickets, paper reviews, and things like that. So if the fans think you're just dumb and they feel like the same way that you're feeling and you have all these questions, like eventually that's going to rear its head. Eventually, they're going to show up to an event and they're going to have to address these questions and do all these different things. And I know the boxing media handles their events and their press conferences and all these things, much different than MMA. I covered the Jake Paul, Tired Woodley fight in December.

I covered the Evander Holyfield Vitor Belfort card and covering a boxing event is way different. It's an eye-opener. Oftentimes, when you go to a UFC press conference or you go to a post-fight scrum

or post-fite press conference or anything like that, they open it up to the media. They let the media do their own thing and ask whatever they want. And oftentimes you go and cover a boxing event and there's a host of the press conference and the media doesn't get to ask any questions. I've been a part of a couple of those

where the media doesn't get to ask any questions at all. Jake Paul Tireworthy is a little bit different, but the triller card was all, and I like Ray Flores a lot, good buddy of mine, great dude, one of my favorite people in the industry, hosted the entire press conference. And I even talked to Ray after the fact. Like we're out in the lounge at the Hard Rock in Florida,

and I'm like, dude, what was that? Why can't we ask questions? He goes, yeah, I know, I brought up same thing and that's how they wanted to do it. So the things are going to get brought up and the fans are going to react to it. I don't think the, at least in boxing, like boxing is just so big. It's been around for so long that they've been able to navigate those waters better than MMA has.

But I still think the court of public opinion matters in boxing and it matters in a sport. And eventually that catches up to us all, loopholes or not. So that's kind of how I view it. I don't know if this Usik-Alvarez fight happens anytime soon, but if both guys continue to win and they run out of opponents, then I mean, sure, people are going to watch, people are going to watch it. It'd just be like one of those kind of freaky, weird fights, but I think people would be interested in watch it,

but I don't think we're there just yet. I hope that doesn't happen right now. There's other ways to go. There's other avenues we can go, which makes sense here. Segway, if you will, to average avenues. Hello. Good, how are you? I'm good, mate. I'm good.

Just a nice and simple one for you. You pick for Friday the night on UFC, Paris. I hope you all, mate. Have a heck of a morning. Cheers. Thank you. This one seems pretty easy. I mean, I was going to say this one seems pretty easy, but it might not be. I think we're all looking at the Charles Jordane Nathaniel Woodfight as the favorite,

because Charles Dordane doesn't get in fights that are not exciting. So that one should be fun. Nazareth Hackpressed and John McDessie should be fun. There's some heat on that one. So that should be fun. I'm going to go, I'm going to get a little weird here. It's not really weird, but I actually think the Nasredine-Emovoff, Joaquin Buckley fight is going to be real fun, too.

I really like what I've seen from Joaquin Buckley. I've been a guy who's gone on many shows talking about Joaquin Buckley, saying that I wasn't sold just yet. That last performance is getting me there. But I really like the evolution. We're seeing fight to fight from Joaquin Buckley. And I'm super high on Nasor Deney. I think he's the dark horse in this middleweight division.

And I really would have been interested to see what his life would look like or who he would be fighting on this card had he fought Calvin Gasselham in Jacksonville. Because I think he would have won that fight. He might even have finished Calvin Gasselham. And that would have been a huge moment for him. But unfortunately, he couldn't fight, and Kelvin didn't fight either. And now we're here. But this is an interesting fight.

This is an interesting fight. Nassanen getting to fight at home, wonder how he'll deal with that pressure. And Joachim Buckley is kind of playing with house money right now. So it's an interesting fight. I think I'm going to go with that. I think Yimov is going to end up finishing him late, but I think it's going to be fun, a fun first eight or nine minutes. and I think Nassadine will end up taking over,

but I've been really impressed with Joaquin Buckley, especially that last fight. He looked phenomenal. So we'll see what happens. But I'll go with that one for now, but there's definitely some bangers. Jordane Wood's going to be great. And then with all the heat,

I have a hard time believing hack Peras, McDessie, is not going to be a lot of fun as well. But those are probably the top three. Woulda Givatori is going to be good? I just don't like it. I think when we're looking back on the card, we're going to be like, It was a good fight, but it wasn't super-duper exciting like these other ones.

Let's go to Cryptocurrency. Hello, Crypto. Hi, Mike. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Yes. So, Mike, yeah, first of all, I completely agree with you. That fight is going to be super interesting.

I think it's going to be a really, really technical fight, and we're going to see a lot of action. But, Mike, my question is, yesterday. some use got released that darren till got arrested here in sweden for a DUI last month so my question to my guess is this is it really feasible to think that darren till will come back i mean it's just getting more and more crazy. I think that him actually meeting Hamzat was something of maybe the worst thing that could have happened to him

because since he has been on this Hamzat fan train and so on you just keep seeing this crazy videos, these crazy clips. It's all about showboating on social media.

Yeah, basically doing everything else but to train and prepare for your comeback. And also these things, you know, he has said about wanting to do two fights this year, which is just basically crazy talk. So I just want your take on the future for Darren Till, which of course is relevant based on the fights this weekend, where Vittori, for example, has made some comments. So I just want your thoughts on that. Thanks, me, Ed. Yeah, I was unfortunate to some unfortunate news.

The DUI stuff really bothers me because you're putting, I mean, you're putting not just your own life at risk, but you're putting other people's lives at risk. Like, you just can't do that. You just can't. I think we've learned enough lessons in sports that it's just a dumb decision.

So seeing that, I was just like, oh, come on, man. I don't know if I necessarily agree with the Hamzat. take there where it was like a bad thing for him because you have, I mean, he is, he was dealing with, with some knee injuries and stuff like that. So we don't know like what he can exactly do and what he can't do physically. But Darren is still, Darren's still a star. And Darren is still a guy who still gets the attention of the champion. Israel out of sound, he still talks about Darren Till all the time. It says that one day he is going to fight Darren Till. I don't know,

man. It's, it's just interesting. Like I talked to, I talked to Eric Nixickick. earlier this week and hopefully that video will be released maybe tomorrow, maybe Saturday, because we did talk about the Paris card, but Eric was telling me that because when Hamzat comes to the U.S., whether he's fighting in Vegas or in the case of the Gil of Burden's fight, even before that, they train it Extreme Couture and they jump on in. Like, Eric's not going to be in the corner of Hamzat Shamiya

next weekend. He's not going to be in the corner of Darren Till when they fight, but I asked him about the, their presence when they come to the gym. And he has said that Darren has been great at the gym. He basically just goes up and says, hey, listen, it's not your coach. Like, what do I owe you? What do you need me to do? How can I help?

And he brings like a very positive energy to the gym. It gives them a little bit of a boost. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know where his head is at right now. I know that interview he did with block assets after he had to withdraw from that fight was really telling about just where his mind is at as a fighter, how frustrated this whole journey has been for him. I mean, it all happened real quick.

It all happened real fast. It goes and knocks out Soroni, has the fight with Wonder Boy that I actually thought he lost that fight, but be that as a May, goes on and gets a title fight with Tired Woodley, and he kind of gets the doors blown off of him by Woodley. And from there, it's just been a rough road for him. The only win he's had since then is that Kelvin Gassel win at UFC 244,

and a lot of people felt like he didn't win that fight either. So we're just... The last taste at our mouths about Darren Till the fighter is the Derek Brunson fight. He got trucked in that one. But we also forget about the Robert Whitaker fight, which is a banger. That was a really good fight. It was a really close fight. I thought Rob won, but it was a really close fight.

And Darren had his moments. and he had Whitaker in some trouble at certain points in that fight. So we know the guy can fight. It's just can we match the mental and the physical? The guy's dealing with some stuff. There's no doubt about it. So I don't know. We'll see what happens.

It's hard for me to gauge whether I think he's going to fight twice this year. But I think we will see him at the end of the year. We'll see how this arrest and everything in that case. I'm sure the UFC being the UFC is, probably not going to do much about it, if we're being honest, but we'll see what happens. He's becoming a,

I don't know, he's becoming an interesting tale, that's for sure, about where he is now, where he could be, what his career would look like if certain things went different ways. It's,

yeah, he's one of those stories, man. And hopefully he can get it together. Let's go to Jay. Hello, Jay. Jay? Try again, Jay. A couple things real quick. One, we'll probably wrap this in like 15 minutes, maybe 20,

just because I got a million things to do. We have BTL today. We're going to be starting at 1 p.m. Eastern, by the way, early start time. And it's going to be Jedbushu versus our old friend. M.M.A. fighting social media dude. You might know him from the M.MA hour and having the greatest theme song in the history of the sport. His name is New York Rick.

So it's going to be Jed versus New York Rick on BTL 1 p.m. Eastern. It should be a lot of fun. Also, for the podcast listeners of this program, it will give you a little extra bonus content. I talked to the BKFC women's flyweight champ, Christine Faria yesterday, and you'll hear that conversation on the tail end of the podcast episode. She had some really interesting insight on the fight with Taylor Starling and who is to blame for how that all played out. It was really interesting stuff.

What she wants to do now, because she's kind of in a position where she has nobody really to fight. So she had some interesting, like respectful callouts, some interesting challenges she had in mine, which I really, which I really dug.

And, you know, things she wants to do in the future. If her star power continues to grow. And, you know, Christine is, at least in my eyes, and I've talked to her many times over the years, she is the antithesis of never judge a book by her by its cover

Christine is just one of those people she is an exceptional human being she is super nice and again and I say it's in combat sports all the time just because someone looks a certain way or acts a certain way in a fight week does not fully represent who they are and Christine is just good people so you'll hear that conversation on the tail end of the podcast if you're listening on the next or if you want to go back, if you're live and you want to go back and listen to that interview, it'll be up later on. And then working on a really cool feature.

You guys have maybe seen the viral video that came out on Saturday. I think we released it on Sunday. A very nasty injury in the MMA sports community. We saw a clip from Cage Titans 55 where Kyle Pavau was fighting Wayne DeW Downer and he had him in an Americana and Downer tried to power out of it and his arm just completely snapped and it's just not a visual thing. It's an audio thing. You could hear this thing echo in the clip everywhere. It's just nasty. But I actually had a conversation, set up a Zoom chat with Kyle, with Mike Pulver, the president of the Cage Titans and

even Wayne Downer himself. They all jumped in. We had a conversation. And I actually got Kyle and Wayne to talk to each other, to give their sides of everything and how it all played out. So they actually got to speak to each other about everything that happened. So there's going to be a feature little 20 minute audio podcast, kind of like a news feature about it. And what these guys had to say,

the reaction that both guys have gotten, which for Kyle has been a lot of negativity, a lot of negativity. This kid is 18 years old. He just graduated from high school, just got his first MMA win in his first MMA fight, and that happened. And the reactions, the comments he's been getting because of it, it's really mind-blowing. So with situations like this, you normally will see the guy who lost take a little bit of criticism, the guy who won gets celebrated in a way.

But in this situation, it's been the complete opposite. it. Everyone has been, you know, reaching out and comforting Wayne Downer. He's gotten all the support that he's never had before. And Kyle Povow, who got the win, is just getting crushed on social media. It's just wild. So did a whole feature write-up we're working on and a podcast should drop tomorrow morning at some point. And it's really interesting stuff. So I just want to throw that out there.

And we'll get back to the peeps. Rips and picks. We'll go to you. and then we're going to go to the AM. Rips the picks, hello. I don't hear you. All right, jump back in. I'll get you in.

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Yes, I got you. I got you. I got you. Hello? I have you. I have you. Okay. I have you. I have you. I have you. I have you. I have you. I have you. I have you. I have you. few questions about the I mean or remarks about the UFC Paris and UFC Abu Dhabi

is it official the start will be only in the morning and if so what for for Paris or Abu Dhabhabo? Both of them yeah I checked and it says the UFC Paris will start in midday I think Eastern time

and UFC Abu Dhabi would be 8 in the morning at least for mountain time. Do you think that affects the pay-per-view buys in the U.S.?

And do you think that also affects the time where people are available on the weekend here in the U.S? Another thing I want to ask you about,

what do you think about Leon Edwards not being celebrated back home after he won the UFC title. And have a good day. Thanks, man. Yeah, according to the UFC website, UFC 280 starts at 2 p.m. Eastern. I don't know if that's like when the main card's going to start, but I have no issue with it.

And I'm curious to see what they're going to do with that. Because if you recall, they did a pay-per-view in October of last year in Abu Dhabi, and they gave it away for free. So I don't know if they're going to, I would be shocked if they did that here. but we also understand that they are making a lot of money putting this card together. They're getting the pay from ESPN. Abu Dhabi pays them a significant amount of money to host cards there. And that's why they load up these cards as much as possible.

That's why they try to get two title fights on there and all this stuff. So they try to build the biggest card possible. So they'll probably put this on pay-per-view, but I don't think a full decision has been made just yet. But with Oliver Islam, I mean, they're going to get a bunch of pay-per-by-bys. I don't think the time is going to affect it too much. Really? I mean, because they don't do it all that often.

Like, sometimes they'll do early start times, which I love, by the way. Like, I love when the London cart start early here. And because I always felt, like, I always felt it was kind of silly. Like what Michael Bisbing fought Dan Henderson, like hosting that card at normal U.S. time is just kind of silly. Like it's good for the U.S. people, but the poor folks who are going to the card are getting there like 2 a.m. or something,

4 a.m. at certain points. Like, that's not fair. That's silly. Why are we doing this? So I like that they're kind of going back to prime time locally in a lot of ways. So, yeah, I don't think it'll affect it too much. I know the Habib, Justin Gaci card, did very well.

And that was an early start time. So this card is going to do fine. mine no matter when they do it, but I am never going to complain about cards that start Eastern time at like noon or 11 a.m. or even earlier than that, I think it's great. I think it's great stuff when they do that. And I wish the UFC would do more of that. I don't think any of these fight night events should ever have a 10 p.m. main card start time. They should never do that. But they do it. And then they put six main card fights on it and 15 fights total. And we're up to like 4 a.m. talking about it and

I'm not trying to be a little whining baby or anything like that but it's nice when we see these early start start times. I ain't gonna complain about it at all. In Paris, there's another one. Noon Eastern prelims and then we're getting to get into the main card and post-fight show, all that stuff,

will be wrapped and packed by like 10 p.m. Eastern. I love that. Let's go to, let's see if we can get rips and picks in here. Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Gotcha. How are you? Good, good. Thank you. you, man. I just want to talk real quick just about Tony Ferguson. Man, I was at the Arizona card when Michael Chandler beat him.

And I just never thought that we would see him fighting again before Michael Chandler. I mean, it blows my mind. So I'm just not sure if you know, like, how long the suspension or requirement time is after a CO. Like, I hear a lot of people say six months. And, you know, now I'm obviously seeing that's not the case. But, I mean, this was May of this year just four months ago. and this was not a TKO. I mean, he's out cold.

And then just last thing about Tony, like, what do you think about the team switch and the weight switch? Just curious to hear how you think Tony will do. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. I've said this since the announcement. It's just a weird fight. It's just a very strange fight.

At first, I was like, maybe this is the backup plan, and I think there still might be a little bit of truth to that because you're dealing with two guys who, although it appears, I know the one concern about Shamaif is the travel, but like I said, I spoke with Eric Nixik earlier this week, and Shemayev is expected to arrive if he's not already there

sometime this week. So, yeah, I think that's going to be fine. And then Nate is just a wild card altogether with this whole situation. So, yeah, maybe Tony's just there mostly as a backup. but I hate this fight. I mean, it just makes no sense. It does nothing.

Like, if Tony wins, like, yeah, he beats a, he beats a guy with the ranking next to him, but are we going to start talking about Tony Ferguson, the Walter Waite title contender? I don't know. And then for Li Jing Liang, like, the guy is a delight. He's smiling. He's so positive, and he's a good fighter. But, like, are they going to be able to build a star in Li Jing Liang if he beats Tony Ferguson? I don't know.

Like, there'll be some appeal overseas, but I just don't know, like, how well that'll translate in North America. I don't know. I don't know. It's just a weird fight. He got, I'm looking at it right now. Tony got 60 days for the K.O.

And it all depends. Like, there are certain, there's certain requirements. Like, they're usually, like, at least 30 days. Sometimes they go 60 days. This case, it was 60 days. And there you go. Because like Justin Gates, you got knocked up by Charles Alibera, and he got 30 days. Ferguson got bolted and got 60.

Cameron Van Camp on that same car got 60 days. But all you need is clearance. Even if you get a six-month suspension, if you get clearance from a doctor that says, like, all right, you're good. Then you're good. Then you can go fight. So that's another weird part of this is that it's not like Ferguson got knocked up by Chandler in November.

He got knocked up by Chandler in May. So by the time this fight happens, I think it's going to be less than four months or right around the four-month mark. So, yeah, it's just a weird one. I don't love the fight. Not a big fan of it. But Tony on the card is a boost. You have to have it because, boy, I like to be as positive as possible. But this card is pretty rough.

I do like the Kevin Holland, Daniel Rodriguez fight. It makes a lot of sense. I spoke to Daniel Rodriguez on Tuesday right before the contender series, so that interview will pop up. I'd like that it's a catch weight. It's at 180, which I think makes a lot of sense. But yeah, it's still kind of rough. Hamzaa Diaz, Lee, Tony Ferguson, Holland, Daniel Rodriguez,

all great fights. But then we're reaching a little bit. Rini Aldana's back, based Chiazon, Johnny Walker, you want Kutalaba. Hopefully that's fun. Norma Dumont, Daniel Wolf, I don't understand that fight. Shameh Abderaheim. Jailton Abbey is just going to have a great performance more than likely against Shameel.

Jimmy Pickett, Dennis Tooleon, Chad and Elyger, Aletang A. Lee, Elise Reed, Melissa Martinez, Super Melly. Good to see her, and Elise's looked pretty good as of late since going over to Fortis. Jay Collier, Chris Barnett's fun. Hakeem Dawadu, Julian Oroz is fun. Weeks. laying ace will be fun but i mean these are this is like a really good fight night card

i mean d s jemiah if is just gonna be a huge fight like we're we're glossing over we're looking at betting odds and we're just like oh come on nates Nate's gonna get run over here like that's the mentality we have but as that week progresses

I think things will get boosted up a little bit it's one of those cards where we look at it now we're just like eh but by the time we get to Saturday between media day and the press conference and all that stuff, I have a feeling that people will be pretty jacked for it. But I mean, the top three fights, I mean, it's Tony Ferguson. People are excited about that. But I really liked Kevin Holland, Daniel Rodriguez fight. I'm glad they were able to get this done. I know it was kind of a weird one last week,

but finally got it done. I don't know if the weight had anything to do with it, but I like the catch-weight style. They could have easily done at 185 too. But I think having them at 180 makes perfect sense. And Daniel Rodriguez wants this fight. He wanted a short-notice fight, so that checks off those boxes. And you know Kevin Holland's always down for a short-notice little banger. So, yeah, good fight. The card needed it.

The card definitely needed it. So we'll see what happens. But right now we're on to UFC Paris, Cyril Gun, Tai Taitouvasa, Robert Woodaker, Marvin Vittori, et cetera. So, all right, I think we're going to get on out of here because I have a million things going on. Let me just look at the comments real quick, see if we have any questions there.

Do we have anything else? I think we're good. I think we are good. All right. So if you're listening on the podcast network, you're going to hear right now my interview with Christine Faria, the BKFC Women's Flyway Chats, after her win over Taylor Starling in 47 seconds at BKFC 28.

So enjoy that. And for those listening live, you can go back and check that out. And we'll be live on the MA Fighting YouTube channel, 1 p.m. Eastern, special start time for BTL, Jed Bishu versus New York, Rick. Can't wait for that. So thank you very much. We'll be back tomorrow. 10 a.m. Eastern, we'll do it again.

We'll react to the UFC Paris weigh-ins, free for all Friday, all that good stuff. So we'll see you then. So enjoy the rest of your day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. All right. Let us say hello to Anne Still, the BKFC women's flyway champion, Christine Ferrea. She dispatches Taylor Starling in a kind of a wacky main event to close the show at BKFC 28. Not only did Christine get the victory, but she also forced a verbal submission under a minute into the fight.

And she retains her title. So Christine, congratulations on the win. How are you? Good. Thank you. I'm just, I just got back from New Mexico yesterday. I drove home. I feel good.

Just coming down pretty much from like the whole, I had like a three-month camp and I was away from home for three months. So it feels really good to be back with my cat and my dog. I guess one of the first questions I have is like, of course you want to go in there and punch the clock and get out of there quickly. But you mentioned this is a really hard camp. You were training for three months for Taylor. and to only fight for 47 seconds.

Was that, in a way, like a little bit of an adrenaline letdown, so to speak? I mean, obviously you're happy with the win, but is there a part of you that wishes it went a little longer? It's like a catch-22 with that because, okay, like, if it goes longer, maybe I break my hands. Maybe I get, you know, get hurt or something. So, but I did want to put a little bit more on for the fans because the buildup was so, you know, it was huge. And we had the competition animosity towards each other.

She really wanted it and I really wanted it. So I just kind of wanted to give the fans what they wanted. That's why I apologize in the post interview. People are like, why aren't you apologizing? I'm just like, because I know how much people want to see like the skill, the art and everything. So but at the same time, I'm extremely happy to show my skill and my hard work because people say it's easy and they say, you know,

that was an easy fight for you and all that. But they don't understand the stuff that I'm doing behind the scenes to make things that easy that night, you know. Yeah, and I was talking to, like, other fighters of the roster. I talked to Britain. I talked to a couple of other people about the fight. They all felt you were just going to go in there and essentially do what you did on Saturday.

You're going to go in there and finish her in the first round. And that's exactly what happened. And while people are telling you, you know, quote unquote, this is an easy fight or whatnot, were you surprised that it went down that way or did you kind of expect it in a way? No, I don't expect. I learned in my career not to underestimate another human being that really wants something, no matter what the skill level is. Like, I studied her fights and she's a super tough girl.

She could take hits and she keeps going forward no matter what, you know, no matter if she was better than the opponent or if the opponent was better than her, she still always pushes through and takes shots, hard shots, and keeps coming forward. So this whole camp, I kept her dangerous. very dangerous in my mind. You know, so I would train. When I'm running and I'm training, I'm imagining that she's doing much more than me. When I'm sparring, I'm imagining she's standing right there watching me.

So I don't want to, you know, that's the kind of things I do to myself mentally to make myself push harder. But I just thought, yeah, it was a bad night for her. You know, she got caught and, you know, I don't think she, I know that she's not getting hit like that. But I think she's going to, she's going to ramp up her training a little bit. I'm sure,

you know, after she feels what it's like where it can be in terms of competition, because there are many girls as strong as me or stronger than me out there that are in, that are fighters. So that's just a little taste of what she has to look to in the future, possibly, you know?

Yeah, it seemed like, I mean, the very first punch you landed, it just changed everything. The momentum, everything shifted, and then the knockdown happens. And you could hear her with the camera angle yelling to her corner that I can't, I can't do this. I can't do this.

And you had your arms up in the air thinking that the fight was going to be stopped, but she ended up going back out there. You hit her again. And then she was like, I'm done. I'm through with all this. Were you surprised that they let her go back out there after saying, I can't, I can't do this. I'm done?

I'm upset with her corner, honestly. I am very upset that if I'm a coach and my fighter's saying, I'm done, I can't. The way she was doing that, they should have stopped it. You know, they should have, they're there to protect her. You know what I mean? And they didn't protect her, you know, and it made it even worse for her because she had to give up twice.

You know what I mean? when it could have been one time. And they don't know what she was feeling in that fight or what kind of hit she took. You know, I just think it was very irresponsible for her corner the way they handled that situation and they need to reevaluate how they handle things. And the ref, maybe, is there any blame on the referee at all? I don't, he didn't see her. He just saw her talking to her corner.

Yeah, her back was turned to the rest. Her back was turned. Dan is very, very competent in his job. And it was. she was turned around, you know, but her corner, they clearly saw what she was saying. They said, get back in there. And, you know, I give her props. She turned around even though she didn't want to. So, you know, I do give a lot of props to her. And I, and she stepped up. Nobody else was stepping up, you know. She ditched out on another, you know, high profile fight just to fight me to prove herself.

So sometimes you have to learn those hard lessons, you know. And I'm older and I'm older. the game so you know um i i've i learned my lessons you know i've learned my lessons and this is a hard this game is all uh you get taught hard lessons you go high what goes up must come down at one time too my day's going to come you know and i'll be ready for it and i'm going to take it i'm going to go out of my sword and i bet you next time she's going to go out on her sword if it ever happens again who who is she supposed to fight i i don't i don't i don't No, I'm just saying I know she had another offer. Okay.

Okay, fair enough, fair enough. She's, I mean, MMA fans, because I'm mostly covering the MMA side of things, but I did cover this event and covered the buildup. And I talked to Taylor ahead of time. And I understand that MMA fans can be very, very difficult to deal with. But I've also learned over the last couple of years that BKFC fans are very tough to deal with too. And when you have MMA fans cross over

to join along with the BKFC fans, it's tough. Like, I'm sure Taylor took a vicious beating and is continuing to do so because of the fight. You're obviously happy to get the win and retain the belt and have the performance that you had, but is there a part of you that feels bad for her at all

because of the backlash and everything? Yeah, yeah. I know, because, I mean, you should see the comments under mind. Like, I've been dealing with this for my whole career though. So like I can have someone bash me all day long but I'm so damn it's been happening to me my whole career

so I'm used to like not on her level I get a little you know what I mean not like in that way but you know for being who I am short hair oh you're a man all this shit I mean you need to fight the man like it's like I don't that's what I told her I was like it doesn't matter

what these people say we're first of all we're here we're entertainers and the MMA it's not even just MMA community it's just we're in there beating each other up. So like the fans that are there, they just want to, some of them are just hateful. They just want to see violence.

Some of them are, you know, they want to see the sport. You know, so there's different kind of fans. And some appreciate it. Some just want to talk shit about us. So we have to understand that, you know. And she's learning a hard lesson on a very large platform, you know, very young in her career. So some people, this, something like this is,

either going to make or break you. And I think, I don't think she's the type that it's going to break her, honestly. Have you had, do you remember that moment for you, sort of the, the make or break moment? I mean, yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah, I do. And I just told myself, like, when I take something on challenging, I'm like, okay, I sit back and I analyze that. I'm like, can I handle this? I think of scenarios. I'm like, okay, it could be good, it could be bad. And I put the scenarios through my head, and I have to accept whatever I'm going to take on. It could be, I go into this fight, I take this fight, I could get knocked out. You know, do I accept that?

Yeah, I accept that. Okay, let's go. I have to accept every scenario that can happen, negative or positive. And I run them all through my head, so I'm prepared for when they happen. It's pretty cool to see, because I remember I covered the card that Paige Van Zan fought Rachel Ostovich on. And I was, I think it was interviewing Jenny Savage, who was fighting on the card. and there were other fighters that were in the room,

and you walk into the hotel, like you walk into the area where you could sit down and eat, and just the way that the women fighters, they were at the hotel, just like, they viewed you as a star, like as a pioneer. You have the respect of pretty much everybody

that fights in that organization. What does that mean to you at this point? Because I'm sure there was times where you, maybe you weren't feeling that respect or getting that admiration, so to speak, that you probably deserved with all the work that you put in, but just seeing the way people look to you,

they wanted to go over and just talk to you and say hi to you like what does that mean to you it means everything you know there's a lot of dark days in my career there's a lot of um times that i that i didn't get my opportunities there's a lot of letdowns there's a lot of failures so to get that it's like whoa hard work does pay off no matter how dark it gets it's just it's just a little relief like it wasn't for nothing you know and it i'm i want to be the example and i want to show a different side of things. I know my persona, or not my persona, but my image is hard,

and people look at me like, holy shit, and like she's probably robbed me or beat me up, or she's just, she's mean and all this. It's just people don't get to know you, you know, they don't understand your background where you come from, why you look the way you do, why you act the way you do, and people put judgment on you, you know, and I think I'm through my action,

I could say all day long, oh, I'm a good person and this and that, but actions speak louder than worse. So that's what I am going to do in my career, and that's what I have done in my career, is people are going to see, I'll be exposed, you know, who I am, what kind of fighter I am, what kind of person I am.

I could, we could all say we're a good person in the background, be a piece of shit, you know, so I'm not saying I'm perfect. I make mistakes all the time, but I do my best to be a great fighter, a great athlete, be an example, and be good to my family and friends and teammates and stuff. So, and that will show. It'll shine through.

Things don't stay in the dark forever, you know. So the admiration and all that, I appreciate. I don't let it get to my head or try to use it in a bad way. It's just like, damn, thank you. And the hard work does pay off. well said and there's good and bad in the position you're in right now because the good is you've got a great win and you're the champion and your star rose a little bit but you mentioned in the post-fight interview who are you going to fight now so you're you're at a very strange position so if you had your druthers

what are we doing here i just i want i want bigger name fights you know i fight anybody i've been fighting tough fights my whole career. I've had a couple, you know, fights that, you know, that were easier and stuff like that. But most of the time, people won't fight me unless they're like the toughest and the, you know, the toughest one. So, you know, I want bigger names with more experience and that's what I want right now. And I could have anyone calling me out and saying this and saying that, but I deserve to build my brand and get my name a little bit out there, you know, a little bit more. And I want to use the platform for a lot of things. So I'm trying to build that in the last few years of my career. Like what? What do you want to use your platform to

help? I like the troubled youth and stuff like that. That's the kind of stuff I'm into. troubled youth I want to do like bully stuff there's so many things like that I wanted to do I've been wanting to do for years but just nobody were giving me the platform or the opportunity because you have to have a certain platform

and respect to be able to get to places to be to do that you know and I just haven't had that platform and I'm two-time world champion now so I'm going to be able to work my way into larger demographics.

I do my stuff locally and through the social media and stuff like that, but I want to get on bigger platforms and cover more demographics through that and spread more positivity in terms of how we're treating each other and hard work, dedication, no matter where you're coming from, you can still make it. You don't have to come from money. You don't have to, you know, you didn't get your education, there's still a way to redeem yourself and succeed.

Those are the kind of things that I want to push. You know, mental health, you know, it doesn't matter if you have a mental health issue. You know, mental health issues, you could still get past it. There's no excuse for you to screw up or stay in prison or jail or drugs. You know, there's so many things I want to cover. What sorts of names do you think can help get you there? So let me paint a little picture for you. If Dave fell in a call you in 10 minutes and said,

Hey, I rubbed the magic lamp at a genie popped out and they said, and said, you can only have one wish, but you have to call Christine and say, Christine, who do you want to fight? You can pick anybody. You can pick anybody you want that can check off those boxes. Who would you pick? Well, I'm just going to keep it.

You know, the people that are in the organization right now, you know, like they have the UFC fighters. They have Rachel Ostevic that's come over. Pearl Gonzalez is here, you know, you know in other organizations when they come out you know if if they're done or they want to come over or we cross over or something I mean Amanda Nunes would be a dope bite you know she's a lot bigger than me

I would want I need to put on a lot of muscle but I would love to fight her out of straight respect Chefchenko you know those are the people that's what I would test me you know what I mean I really I really admire what's um way Lee yeah I mean girls like that at like Rose Namajunis, you know, I know they're 115, but I mean, I know they're cutting, you know, so they're just, those are super high level and they have, they have bigger names, you know, and that would really test me.

I like those. I think that would. Yeah. And Rachel would make sense because she's there. Yeah. And we, and we'll, that would be a rematch. I knocked her out with the head kick, you know, in Invicta. So that would be, you know, and she's a tough girl.

girl. That girl's tough, you know, and I remember I had a hard time with her, and she had me in a rear naked choke for like three and a half minutes. You know what I mean? So I remember I think she got me in the body at one time. I was like, oh, okay, I thought that one. I feel like, and I kind of feel like the sports made for her, because that fight with Paige, like, the dog came out of her. And like, she's always kind of had it, but, you know, the last few fights in the UFC, we didn't really see it really that much. But when she fought Paige, like, it came out. She was, she was all about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, she's great.

Yeah, those are the bigger names. Oh, there's like Amanda Serrano, you know, those, that is, those are huge, like, that would be the biggest challenge of all, you know, those are the people I want to fight. You know, I've done, like, built myself, you know, and I want to, I want to go to the next level now. Yeah. Before I retire, I have a few more years and then these girls could take it. You know, they can have it, you know. But just not now.

It's just not now. Yeah, exactly. And then after I want to coach, I want to coach women. I want to help women. And, you know, women, we understand each other. And I understand what it's like to, what's going on in our head. We're different from a dude, you know. So you could be like, oh, just do it.

You know, sometimes we need to be like, hey, you know, like a different way. You know, I don't know exactly how. But there's a different way to address females sometimes, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Christine, there's great chatting with you once again. It's been a while since you and I have done one of these. And congratulations on the win. It was fantastic.

And hopefully you get one of these big fights because, I mean, you're painting a vivid picture. That would be really fun and interesting if we can get any of those names attached here. I would love it. That would be a dream come true, you know. There you go. Well, enjoy the victory. Enjoy your time in Las Vegas. And we'll see you next time you get back in there.

All right. Thank you, Michael. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.