MMA Fighting - Jon Anik Recaps Alex Pereira's Late Finish Of Israel Adesanya, UFC 281, Remembers Anthony Johnson

Episode Date: November 17, 2022

UFC commentator Jon Anik sits down with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck to recap Saturday's incredible UFC 281 event, Alex Pereira's stunning comeback finish of Israel Adesanya to win the middleweight title in the main event, Zhang Weili regaining the strawweight title, talks the fan reaction to Carla Esparza throughout the week, Dustin Poirier's third-round submission win against Michael Chandler and how "The Diamond" might be on the short list of fighters who don't need a world title, Renato Moicano's incredible promo, signing a new multi-fight deal with the UFC, and more. Additionally, Anik remembers two-time UFC title challenger Anthony Johnson. 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster, The Downloaded.

It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine,

available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, following a chaotic UFC 281 event in New York, I'm thrilled to welcome back the great John Annik, who got to call the action from start to finish, and a lot to unpack from Saturday, John.

sir. Oh, I'm doing well. I mean, chaotic is one adjective. If you wanted to call it the greatest card in UFC history, I think there's an argument to be made there too. So it was unhistoric night. I hate that little, it's a historic. I hate that little unhistoric, right? Journalistically, that just makes no sense to me. But yeah, as historic a night as we've had at Madison Square Garden, and the building in which UFC titles just continue to change hands, you know. Insane. And I miss you, buddy. It's been a couple of months since we've able to, to shoot the breeze, my man. Yeah, I got to tell you, New York City paper reviews.

New York paper views are just the worst. So I apologize that we couldn't connect on the front end. But here we are. I mean, right? Better to connect on the back end almost of an event that that is this exciting. Right. Like I literally printed out the fight card again before talking to you because I wanted to make sure I had it all in front of me.

And I don't normally have to do that. Yeah. And a lot of this happens since we last spoke, including the UFC making the brilliant and wise decision to lock you down for a while longer, a new multi-year deal to do what you do, at least in my humble opinion, and not just saying this because you're in front of me, better than anybody else in sports, in my opinion, John. So congratulations on that. That is great stuff.

Is it a little bit of a relief knowing that you know what the next several years of your career are going to look like on that end? Thank you, buddy. I appreciate the kind words more than you know. Yeah, it's a relief, right? I mean, let's not sugarcoat it, right? I think when your boss is Dana White, sometimes maybe you don't know exactly where you stand until your contract is up. So thankfully, you know, they still, you know, are charging me with what I think is just a very important job, you know.

And I'm just so thankful for it. We got four more years and, you know, just very excited. You know, the sport has never been in a better place and didn't want to get off the train now. So I'm very excited at, you know, all that lies ahead. and got a lot of big things coming in 2003, and that's not promotional hyperbole. There are a lot of big things. It's a very forward-thinking company.

It's the combat sports leader, not just the MMA leader, and, you know, it's almost like I'll be here as long as they'll have me. So I'm very thankful that we're going to continue the partnership. And, you know, hopefully it's the last play-by-play job I have in a lot of respects. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of all this,

because you mentioned some things that I want to touch on one in particular, we look back on the history of this great sport. And people look to 2016 as like the most memorable year newswise ever in the UFC with the sale and Connor Nate's rivalry and the UFC 200 stuff with John Jones and many other things. It was a big year for the sport in terms of free agency being a big thing. But in terms of actual in cage action and results and how these cards end and being able to

react to them in the aftermath, I can't remember a. crazier year from that standpoint that what we've had in 2022. And now we're adding this past Saturday to the equation and how that all played out. Do you agree that since you've been on the headset for most of these moments that this is just in terms of the in cage action? I can't remember another year like this. No, I mean, you put it well as usual. The UFC is like an avalanche right now. And it's all sort of been building domestically. We've talked about it in the past. The Fox deal laying a foundation for the ESPN deal. And then Dana White and the executive staff brilliance and, you know, just bullishness during a global pandemic.

You combine all of those factors with what you and I believe aesthetically is the greatest sport in the world to watch. Then it goes up another notch live with all these sellouts and then the athletes delivering to your point. It's been the perfect storm for just an absolute UFC explosion. And it's crazy, man. It's crazy how different it is, even just like a navigation for me at the host hotel pre-pandemic versus now. And yeah, man, the fights have been great. The cards have been great. And it seems like

the UFC keeps delivering and topping itself with some of these lineups. And I do believe the matchmakers, you know, Mick and Sean deserve a lot of credit, right? I get very excited when I see those fight announcements come through. And oftentimes it's more a case of why didn't I think of that, you know, then of course they did that. So yeah, we're excited, man. I'm very excited to talk to you. I'm very excited for 2023, even though there's plenty of business to attend to before we even get there. John, Alex Pereira is the new middleweight champion of the world. And much like Leon Edwards and much like Yuri Prahaska earlier this year, he enters the fifth round down on the cards against Israel, Adasania. He's five minutes away from losing the fight. Then he lands a big leg kick, which

clearly had effect. I don't think a lot of people talk about that big leg kick enough. And then he got after. It landed some big shots. That hook he'd been looking for all fight landed full on. Adasania's on the ropes. Pereira's unloading. And Mark Goddard steps in to stop it. what an ending. What goes through your mind several days later, hearing it back, hearing the rundown of it after calling it on Saturday live? Well, I don't plan what I'm going to say, right?

And we've talked about this before, but I'm just trying to provide as unique a call as there can be to that moment while also recognizing the historical context of whatever that moment may be. Only time I've ever thought about what I'm going to say in a moment like that was Demetrius Johnson. I had the word immortality in my head all week

as he was chasing something, right? But I try to sort of let it be organic. And I couldn't get out of my head, excuse me, that Kenny Floreen had said all week that he's picking out of Sanya, but that's the guy that has to be perfect, right? Like, he's not going to pick the underdog Padeta, but Padeta doesn't have to be perfect.

He just needs one moment. But if you look back at the finishing sequence, but it was just brilliant in this finishing sequence and had enough left to just stay fundamentally sound offensively and defensively, and especially offensively, obviously. But brilliance by him late in that fight. I think we all knew he could do it.

He's a very disciplined athlete, cuts a lot of weight. But none of us were scared, really, who know the guy when everybody was freaking out as he was cutting 15 pounds in the tub day of, you know. So just so much respect for Alex Podeda, so much respect for Israel, Adasania, in defeat. And I don't know. I just think that this series is far from finished.

And even if we're Adasania to go down 4-0, I don't think that you'd be wrong to have a fifth meeting, right? Like sometimes people will say, oh, man, you know, he's down three nil. It's like, yeah, well, he was five minutes away from being up one-nill in MMA. And that's what we're talking about against the guy, right? So I think you certainly have a foundation for an immediate rematch. If I'm out of Stani, maybe I lay back a little bit, you know, let Pada fight somebody potentially and see where it goes.

I don't think you have to strike immediately like you do with Leon Edwards and Kamar Usman, per se, but certainly it opens things up a little bit at 85. It's an exciting thing. And I'm excited to see Adasani build himself back up. But what a fight. What a moment for the New Englander slash Brazilian Alex Pidavit. To me, and I don't know how much you want to go into this, I didn't have an issue with the stoppage. What is he have liked to go out into shield?

Certainly. But the body language to me, whether or not it was a defensive strategy, as he'd like to, as he said after the fact, the body language wasn't great. And if you want to argue against that, I'll certainly entertain it and not have an issue at that side either. But four days later, what do you think of the stoppage? I didn't have a big issue with it. So Mark Goddard is the standard. And it takes far more stones to stop a fight early than let it go late.

And we are in an era in which referees who allow fights to go late are celebrated and lauded, right? Because oftentimes in our sport, right, you let it go a little bit longer. You allow for a potential rally or whatever can play. play out, right? Once you stop the fight, you're essentially ending history. And we, there are what else, right? So generally speaking, with a broad stroke, because I'm not a referee, I would sit here and say in a championship setting, I would like to see maybe one more beat there. But I love the fact that Mark Goddard is not worried about people's feelings or social media. He's worried about protecting the fighter in an era in which generally speaking with respect, I think referees are

veering away from that too much and not putting that first because they're ubiquitously, roundly criticized when they stop fights too early. Like you said, Pereira being the champion is just so interesting right now because he's still very raw, right? But he showed a lot of gusto in this fight. He never really wavered.

He knew he needed a finish, got it. Glover Tashara, just A plus cornering heading into the fifth round. But what's so interesting about him, John, to me, is like, I still have so many questions about this guy. Is he actually the best middle way of the world? Or does he just have his ear autosot in his number and I just don't know and by God John I can't wait to get the answers to these questions

with this guy because he just screams being about this life you could see him on the street point him out to someone who doesn't watch the sport that you're walking around with and be like that guy's the UFC champion and that person would believe it he just he just oozes champion and oozes UFC fighter but I still have a million questions that's what makes his reign right now so interesting. Did my colleague R.J. Clifford really suggest that Alex Podeda is the worst middleweight champion in UFC history? I did see that tweet.

Tremendous reach. And Randall is one of my favorite people in the MMA space. I don't know if he's the best middleweight in the world. Certainly one of them. I mean, let's not we forget what he did against Sean Strickland and sustaining over 15 minutes against Bruno Silva. I mean, this man and his team, Plinyo Cruz and everybody else, they spent five five years seeking this fight against Israel Adasania in mixed martial arts and put in the work

over those 1,500 days or whatever to realize this win, which singularly is one of the biggest in UFC history, at least right now, given where Adasanya was as an undisputed middleweight champion who had never lost in MMA at 185 pounds and who had never been finished. So does he run roughshod shot through the Robert Whitaker's of the world? I don't know. Does Robert Whitaker just chain, wrestle, Alex Bidata to death? I don't know the answer to that. either. I do know the Whitaker has a fight against a very dangerous Palo Costa. It's very fascinating to see how this is all going to play out. You know, I think Adasania controls a lot of cards. I also think promotionally they would like to have an active UFC light, UFC middleweight champion, right? So

I would imagine they'd like to turn Alex Podeda around at the very latest by international fight week. So I don't know. It's very exciting to think about all that lies ahead. It's hard to quantify Padeta in this moment. But, you know, let me just play. pluck one mid-of-way champion for you, R.J. Rich Franklin, would a Rich Franklin-electes a potato fight be competitive or not? And we'll leave it at that. Fair enough. And I agree with everything you're saying.

It's just breaking down him and Whitaker and break it. Because, like, we had so many questions heading into this fight. We're going to have so many more. And that's what's so interesting about this guy. Because he could go in there and just melt Whitaker and be like, oh, my God. Now what if he fights this guy? And there's just all these storylines that are attached to this guy. Fresh coat of pain for the division.

in a lot of ways and we still have that Israel fight whenever we wanted in our back pockets. It's just a very fun time for this division as we move on to Zhang Wei Lee, who is the straw weight champion once again, stops Carlos Sparza, who by the way, and I want to say this again, pretty darn competitive in that first round. Many thought she was just going to get dumpedruck in this fight. And yeah, she did get stopped, but she came to fight. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't intimidated by Zhang Wei at all. And you got to respect that about her. This version, though, John of Zhang Wei Lee UFC champion. I just feel like this run could be a lot different than the first one.

I feel like she's just clicking on all cylinders right now. She has a terrifying 115 pounder. Is she not? Yeah, and this is just not a great matchup for Carla Asparza. I can't ever remember looking at a betting line like the total for this fight over under four and a half rounds, slightly juiced to the under at minus 120. And that's suggesting that Carla Asparza in this stylistic match. is going to be able to extend Zhang Wei Li to 22 minutes.

And Jean-Way-Lee is going in there to take risks. And she's going to have a physical strength advantage over the overwhelming majority of straw weights. Now, she's not the perfect grappler nor wrestler, but, you know, hard to do much better than the Hickman brothers as far as your training partners. You know, so she's putting in all the right work. She can lift Francis and Gano in the air, right? And I think that's why people are not wrong to suggest that there's a foundation for

a fight against Valentina Shevchenko right now. Now, of course, Rosamah Unis is the number one contender. She has two head-to-head wins over Zhang Wei Li. So maybe there's something that Aramanda Lemos is the best power threat in this division. I mean, there's a lot of things for Zhang Wei Li to prove right now. But I really like the Carla matchup for her. I do agree with you that Carla fought well in the fight. And as Colin Oiyama said, just made a mistake that John Wei Lee was able to take advantage of.

But I kind of felt like with respect, this outcome was an eventuality inside of 10 or 15 minutes, that it was just going to be too much physical strength one way or the other, either striking or grappling from from Zhang Wei Li, because you know she's fighting like she's double parked outside, like she was not playing the long game whatsoever. So a great champion because of her style and her reach and her just open heart and open mind, you know, just such a crazy appetite for training. I love Jean-Wei Lee.

And I'm really excited to see what they do from a matchmaking standpoint because you got Lemosh, but you also have some other options. I loved everything about the fight week, watching from afar. It just got me fired up. The one thing that just seemed silly to me and I didn't like was and we knew it was a tough stylistic match for Carla and we know the fight with Rose wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing fight of all time. But man, the way she was treated all week, the amount of booze throughout the build and throughout the week, the press conference and ceremonials and stuff, she just, to me, John, she deserved a lot better than what she got last week.

Well, sometimes you just don't know what type of people a certain event is going to attract, right? Who exactly is it at the press conference that was so venomous in booing Carla Sbarza? So much so that the non-American Israel-Ala Sanii turned to me at one point during the press conference and was like, dude, I don't get it. And I don't really get it either. But obviously it was a pro-Jongway Lee crowd. It just was crazy, bro. Like she would pick up her microphone and they would just start fucking railing on her. So certainly she deserves better than that.

But the greatest thing is, is that her peers are what matter. It doesn't even matter what I say, right? It's her peers. And according to all the other fighters, you know, she's a legend, right? She's won the Strawway title twice, right? This is the deepest women's division and the deepest promotion, right? So all hail Carlos Barr. So we try to build her up in the fighter meeting a little bit.

And I read her, her like entire wins list. And, you know, she actually messaged me after the fact that she sort of appreciated some of that positivity. So rest assured, there's a lot of people, you know, out there pulling for Carla that think she'll build back up. Although it sounds like she wants babies, so we'll see. Yeah, she's a hallfamer. When you're a two-time champion, you're a hallfamer. And I'll be very excited. Hopefully she gets the respect and applause she deserves when she gets up on that day as she gives her speech.

But, John, you've gotten to call every banana's Michael Chandler fight since he signed to the UFC. And you've called many of Dusted Porre's crazy fights. and now you put these two crazy fighters together and did they ever deliver? It actually over exceeded the lofty expectations. And to me, this fight will probably be on the short list for fight of the year. I don't think it will win it, but it'll get some noms. But if there's an award for the gnarliest fight of the year, this one wins in a runaway. Good Lord, man.

What a gnarly fight. What a performance from both guys and Dustin Porre. Like I said about Alex Pereira. He's about this life, man. He's about this life. What a finish. I don't even know how to be articulate when talking about Boston Porre. Right.

Like I just want to call him an effing gangster and just say, oh my effing God, this guy, man. You know, durability, focus, boxing fundamentals. Gosh, I mean, if you're in an alley, don't you want that fucking guy, bro? Like, Dustin Porreier is incredible. I don't even think he needs an undisputed UFC lightweight championship at this point in time to prove. any sort of greatness, right? I mean, this is a difficult matchup for Dustin in a lot of respects.

Michael Chandler's explosivity is going to provide problems for a lot of people. And, you know, maybe if Chandler makes a little bit of a different decision at times in this fight, the narrative on this whole thing flips. But Dustin's a poor, Poirier's ability to recognize when he's heard and bite down on the mouthpiece. And then obviously his skill set is such that he's able to submit a guy in this setting, his ability to rise to the occasion. And then just the attitude after the fact to just tell Michael Chandler, however, respectfully or not, that this is his house, the Octagon, where he's competed essentially 30 times. So huge night for Porre in terms of sort of, you know, proving that his UFC body of work counts for a whole lot. And obviously,

I have buckets of respect for Chandler in defeat. And I do believe, as a lot of people do, that Chandler can also be an undisputed UFC lightweight champion with maybe a stylistic tweak here or there, but both athletes just deserve so much respect. And yeah, man, it's crazy calling a fight like that. You can be sure. I don't know. Hopefully we did it justice. Brian Stan was texting me that maybe we could have done that fight more justice with

our commentary. So, you know, best we could do. It's tough to even bring this up, but tough final fight for Frankie Edgar. Chris Gutierrez gets the big spot. He lands the flying knee. and Frankie's legendary career ends, unfortunately, the way that it did. It was a big win for Chris Gutierrez, emotional win for Chris Gutierrez, but what was that like for you to just kind of watch that all unfold?

I know how much Frankie means to you as a commentator and what he means to pretty much everybody that's ever been a fan of this sport and to see it go down that way. It was sad. It was sad. It's bittersweet, right? Because I won't bury the lead, which kind of is Chris Gutierrez. and he's been through a lot. And so his signature moment was almost derailed even for him, right?

Like, he didn't even enjoy it. And that's just crazy. But obviously, he's going to go on and probably be a top five guy and power to him, if not UFC champion. But yeah, man, like, if Frankie Edgar just wanted one thing, it was not to go out like this. And who knows if he thrice hadn't experienced this, you know, like you just don't know if that first time he might have just been satisfied going out with a competitive fight. I still think there's a fire in there, which makes it even more difficult.

But he tried three times, Michael, to not go out like this. So it's very, very sad as far as that that's concerned. And as far as the matchup goes, we all knew it was of the dangerous variety and something you know, catastrophic could happen. So I don't know that anybody was all that surprised as far as that's concerned. But I think for Frankie, it's like you listen to your body in training and you're getting through and you're competing well and your body at 41 gets through that training camp and you're competitive so you're confident going in there. And then this happens again. Just not all the way

he drew it up. We don't have enough time to go through his entire legacy. But I can assure you, I've been going back through some of his old wins. I watched one of the Maynard fights. I watched the Chad Mendez fight a couple days ago, the Uriah Faber fight. A lot of big fights for Frankie. and he won a goddamn lot of him. So I'm happy that he's done and I'm excited to see what he can do. I don't think he's going to come join us on the dark side and TV,

but I'm excited to see what he's going to do. I'd love to see him on the desk. I think he could provide some good analysis on the desk, especially for some of the big Banimoyt fights. I don't know if he's going to be a color guy. One thing I can tell you, Charles Barkley asked for Frankie's number, which I thought was really cool, right?

So, you know, as you think about Frankie Edgar on his couch with a headache, you know, you know, pretty cool that Sir Charles would want to reach out and, you know, try to make Frankie feel good. So I thought that was cool to share as well. 100%. Great win for Dan Hooker. Aaron Blanchfield showed she's everything the hardcore fans, thought she was. Another tough loss for Dominic Reyes, but a great moment for Ryan Span. A lot to love in this card. But if we're talking stocks rising, it's tough to not point Hanato Moikano at the top of that list. Yes. Great fight. Great finish. And then he just goes out

there with a bunch of extra time and just cuts one of the all-time great promos afterwards. Props to your broadcast colleague Joe Rogan for kind of letting him do his thing. But that was the best. That was just the best, wasn't it? People think it's recency bias when I suggest it was the greatest post-fight interview in UFC history. I don't know. For me, nobody's done it better.

And there was actually some fight talk in there, if you recall. At one point he said, I don't know if you know me, Joe Rogan, but I was the number four featherweight in the world. I lost to my idol Jose Aldo. I mean, I just, I love the whole thing. And seeing it live, that's the one time where I'm not looking at a monitor. I've probably got my traffic at that point. I'm just sitting back and enjoying for me.

That was the greatest thing I've seen in a long, long, long time. And I believe in the fighter. You know, my former jihitsu coach Pahupa in his corner, I'm really curious to see what this guy can do. You know, his arms and legs and length and skill set provide a lot of issues. So I'm excited for him. Brad Riddell is a guy. I really like and I think he just

I just think he burnt himself out you know too many MMA and and Moy Thai Miles and I'm glad to see him sort of step away and fix his body in mind but you know sort of sad to see a guy get to maybe number 11, 12th in the world and then just like that three straight losses you know spins you back to reality

but yeah thanks for highlighting Moy Kana what a stud we were doing our live watch party a few miles down the street from the arena and I got to hear the commentary on my earpiece. Obviously, we didn't have the fights on, but I was able to hear what you guys were saying. And you know, you've told me many times over the years that the goal for you with these cards, the motivation for you is to find that perfect show. And while it's close

to impossible to achieve that, you strive for that. And look, I know you do these interviews. You and I've had to talk about this from time to time. And I know it sucks about fans and people kind of dumping on Rogan and Daniel Cormier from time to time. And to me, John, you strive for perfection, like I said, while this may not have been a perfect show, in my eyes, you three were freaking on one on Saturday. Did you feel the same coming out of it?

Like a good old hell yeah, we kicked ass tonight? Because I thought between the three of you guys, this was phenomenal. I thought all of you guys delivered. Thank you. No, I mean, I do think the more the three of us get to work together,

the harder it gets at times when we don't have that pay-per-view dynamic. Joe brings something undeniable to that broadcast booth. that that feels like a void when he's not there. So it's great to have his energy, obviously. No, and I appreciate that. I mean, dude, I was so goddamn sick Saturday morning

that, like, I was just happy to get through the show. So much so that, bro, obviously I'm still hurting right now. But, dude, I left my fighter cards in the arena. I left all my notes in the arena, which has never happened before. So I don't know if that speaks to how discombobulated I was. But, yeah, I mean, I just sort of reference, like Brian Stan always gives me a lot of broadcast feedback. So maybe he thought like there were some holes in the Porreux Chandler commentary, right?

So just as an example, like, yeah, once again, certainly not a perfect show. But, no, I mean, I feel like we pass the ball pretty well, obviously, and try not to step all over each other in those fight-ending moments and everything else. But I can't profess to this audience, to your big audience, how much I enjoy working with those two individuals and all of the guys who I work with. But, you know, just as human beings with Joe and D.C., you know, it's, uh, It's a lot of fun. And, you know, whether I'm a third wheel at times or not,

I'm very grateful to be in that, in that booth with those two gentlemen for, for another four years, you know. Last few things. And obviously changing gears to this. All over the air today. I know, man. It's all right.

It's all right. We appreciate you doing this. I know it's tough, but I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the unfortunate passing of two-time title challenger in the UFC, Anthony Johnson, passes away Sunday at the age of 38. and man, just horrible news.

As ferocious of a fighter, as you'll see in the cage, but one of the nicest, most positive people outside of it. It's always been super good to me over the years and just sitting at LaGuardia Airport, getting something to eat, and I jump on Twitter, and I'm seeing all these tweets and everyone talking about it, and then I unfortunately confirm the news, and this one just stings, man.

What was your reaction on Sunday to finding out this news? So very sad. So sad. I just was writing like, no, this just can't be true. So he had acknowledged that it was scary what he was dealing with, however many months ago publicly. And yet it seemed like maybe one of the diseases he had at least wasn't necessarily fatal, right? But that didn't necessarily dovetail with how scared this larger than life individual, Anthony Rumble Johnson was. right so i was always scared that he was scared but yes i mean this just felt like a just a whole crashing down of everything that had happened the night prior with alexpidata just brought everything back down to earth and um you know yeah i mean i used to say before francis in gano

this was the biggest power threat in ufc history and he will always be on francis's heels right there for me and certainly that's a big part of his ufc legacy just how frightening an individual he was to to fight and yet that flies in the face of everything he was as a human being, you know, to your point, just so gentle and great and gracious with everybody. And,

you know, I'll never forget being at the Patriots Super Bowl against the Rams. And I posted a picture of me and my twin brother and he reached out like, that's crazy that there are two of you. And I was like, dude, imagine if there were two rumbles. And as I said on my podcast this week,

I can't believe we have no rumbles now in the physical sense. It's just an incantifiable loss for the MMA community. it really is and um i don't know it's just it's just very very very sad and i was with dc sort of when it happened not right then but i had just left him about five minutes before the news broke and for him i mean can you imagine you know they're forever linked and um you know my heart goes out to uh the black sillion family and everybody that uh then new rumbled even better than i did any obviously the super bowl story is great but any any great anthony johnson stories a conversation uh one of his fights that you called perhaps a moment you can

remember that sticks out to you from a, you know, whether it be a personal sense or a professional sense? Yeah. So just the graciousness, right? At UFC 142, it was January of 2012, January 14th, I'll never forget because six days later, I called my first show for the UFC in Nashville. But the first official event, I worked for the UFC was UFC 142 when he fought B or Bellford and gave me time after the loss. Remember, it was all the weight issues. I think the fight ended up being at like 197 pounds, whatever it was. But just always enjoyed being in that man's presence, treated our staff like gold, Heidi Dean, and everybody else,

the late Susie Freeton, our makeup artist. You can be sure that, you know, Rumble was posting when she passed away. And, you know, just heart of gold, man, just a huge, huge loss. And thankfully, he made such an impression that we're all going to go out of our way to make sure that he's remembered. Tough to transition from that. but what is next for you, my man? We know obviously 282 is coming up December 10th.

Will we hear your iconic voice before that? Maybe in Orlando, December 3rd. That's a beauty of a fight night car. Will we be hearing you on that broadcast by chance? Well, when you live in West Boca Raton, Florida, you're always happy when they call your number for Orlando. So yes, we have rented a vehicle. We do not have to get on an airplane.

No wheels up, hopefully, unless, you know, with the Toyota previews, somehow has an issue. But no, we're driving to Orlando, December 3rd, 10 p.m. Eastern for the main car. My kids were going to come. And then they threw a 10 p.m. Eastern main card on me. So the kids won't be in the building. But, yes, we got Orlando.

And then we close out the year at UFC 282. And then international flavor, 2023 wheels up like crazy. So a lot of internationals on my slate, you know, between now and this time next year. Well, hopefully I will get to join you in Orlando. it'll be a drive for me as well. A couple hours away. I think it's like four hours. My parents live like 45 minutes away.

So free lodging, M&A fighting. Free lodging. Let's make this happen. Let's make this happen. But the great John Anick joins us. Check them out on the Antic and Florian podcast. You could check them out on different bar stool podcast, just dumping on Mac Jones.

And I get it, man. I'm with you. I'm with you. I don't think he's the dude. I don't think he's the dude either. But that defense, it might not even matter who the dude is at this point. I think I cost myself a future NFL gig with that Mac Jones criticism.

No, but yeah, I mean, so me and my twin brother are so critical of Mac in private circles. So to be on a platform like that and have them ask me about Mac Jones, what's a man to do? I'm nothing, if not a man of veracity. I had to let it rip about how I really feel. He's just simply not the guy. Good leader, good human being, not the guy. Yeah, it's all right. We can't all be all things, John.

We can't all be the guy and everything. and maybe he'll be the guy somewhere else. But I don't know if Foxborough is the place for him. But thank you as always, John. I really appreciate the time, my man. Hopefully I'll get to see you in Orlando. And we'll get to talk about things, MMA and beyond. Let's do it.

Send him down there, MMA fighting. Thanks for having you guys. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.