MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat: The coronavirus’ hold on the MMA world, UFC, Bellator & Brave CF postponements, more

Episode Date: March 19, 2020

For this episode, UFC flyweight Ashlee Evans-Smith, Brave CF flyweight Jose Torres join José Youngs and Peter Carroll as they break down some of the top storylines in the world of MMA. Some of the topics on deck include Smith and Torres’ recent fights falling out due to the coronavirus chaos, the future of UFC, Bellator, Cage Warriors and Brave CF events amid the pandemic, fighters’ reaction to the sweeping changes to their fight schedules, and more. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Petesy Carroll: @PetesyCarroll Follow Jose Torres: @ShortyTorresMMA Follow Ashlee Evans-Smith: @AshleeMMA 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What is up, guys, Jose Youngster the M.Afighting.com here for another episode of the A-side Live chat. We are all hunkered down and quarantined amid this chaotic time across planet Earth. We're still trying to get a hold of Ashley Evan Smith. If she calls in, we will toss her into the chat while we're going to get her perspective on what's happening. But of course, with me, as always, is P.C. Carroll, the man of the beanie. And apparently this is Beanie Weather, Beanie season, because Shorty-Torke. Torres calls in. He's also wearing a beanie.

I'm the odd man left out. What a loser. Hey, man. We got a team beanie forever. We got two beanies. We got two hosays. I think the only logical solution is pizza, you have to change your name to Jose. I'm not putting a beanie on.

Yeah, okay. I'll do it. No problem. I'm not attached to Peter anyway. It's fine. Sure. But for those of you just tuning in, we're still trying to get a hold of Ashley. If she does call in, we'll toss her into the live chat. But Shorty, the last time we saw you, I said, good luck in your next fight if we don't see, if we don't talk by then. And since then, some things have happened. You no longer have a fight lined up right now. So what's life been like now that the coronavirus has forced brave to

cancer or quote unquote postpone your scheduled fight? I don't want to talk about it. Why do you have to bring it up? No, man, it sucks. I haven't fought this April. And there's so many people on this part plus there is a fly wing tournament where it's completely scheduled so if the schedule is still going in line where there might be another event june july and then another event in november man i'm trying to think possibly the soonest fight would maybe be in may so then if i fight in june july i'm rushing right back into the cage with possible injuries or you know not being able to live in life too you know so it's just right back in the training it does suck but we're all people here we're all international except for myself.

So we're all quarantined in the dorms. ATT is pretty much shut down the entire gym to the public. The professionals can still train, but everything has to be scheduled as like per appointment, to go personal training with a coach and stuff like that. The big classes are pretty much canceled. And they're playing, you know, Florida here is different counties in different cities.

They're shutting down businesses, shutting down bars, restaurants. So everything has to be takeout. You can't even sit down in a regular Starbucks and do homework anymore. You have to take the coffee and get out. Right. So it is getting pretty crazy. I think Las Vegas shutting down their strip, which is huge. You know, that's everything for Vegas.

But no, man, it gets pretty hectic. I'm not the only one that's had their fights canceled or postponed. I know obviously UFC fighters, Belvoir fighters, hell against the Bahamasi, which we talked about last week. He was already there, and they canceled the event the day of. You know, so it does suck given they got show money because they were already there. And I believe they received win bonuses as well just for the day of the day of the day. the generosity of Velotor, which I think is freaking amazing.

But overall, we don't get paid until we fight. You know, so for me, I haven't fought this April, no money's to April. So it's like, who needs their long mode or, you know, Bush's strength? I got you. There you go. Pizzi. What's life been like over on your side of the ponds during amid this chaotic time? I know you've been on the Cage Warriors beat and the UFC London beat.

U.S. London's obviously no longer happening. so apparently cage warriors still happened they just moved the entire event and trying to toss on a couple of those UFC fights so uh what's life been like overseas yeah the cage warrior story is insane it seems like every block has been put in the way of that event but grain boiling is adamant that it will go on um you know uh shardy just mentioned belator paying guys which was brilliant but cage warriors is a much smaller entity than a belator or a ufc they don't have the wallet of these guys So if the event doesn't happen, as shortly said, these fighters aren't going to get paid. So Boylan was taking upon himself to really make sure this event is happening. Even when AEG pulled their venues from London just yesterday,

he moved the event in the blink of annoy to a different city. It went from London to Manchester at the 11th hour. It's completely insane. It's very MMA. Don't get me wrong. But it's just a wild situation. In terms of Ireland, we cancelled St. Patrick's Day. We had no pubs open yesterday.

We had no parades, absolutely nothing. Our T-shock, our Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, addressed the nation at 9pm to underline how we need to keep quarantining, etc. As you guys know, Europe is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. So, yeah, it's very serious. It's very tense. And, yeah, I just hope everyone's being safe. I'm sure we're all going to encounter a lot of difficulties over the next month or so, two months, three months, perhaps. Well, you guys in Florida and Ireland seem to have your heads on straight about this.

Here in America, here in Arizona, we had Irish pubs actually promoting, hey, we're staying open, come hang out with all the coronavirus people. I'm just like, you're all are dumb. Y'all are dumb. They're not really shut that down. That's true. That shut that down right quick. But yeah, it's- Spring break is happening down in Florida.

All the beaches are packed. Unless the town has, you know, close the beach. just every single beach here is packed Miami, Fort Lauderdale. I have people who at the gym work at some nightclubs in Fort Lauderdale. This is like the best business they've ever received. You know, so like nothing has changed for them. So and that's the crazy thing is people that don't have symptoms, there could be asymptomatic. Like again, you see all these celebrities right now coming out with, oh, I have the coronavirus, Tom Hanks, I think it was Kevin Durant, a couple other people. Yeah, and they're just like, I feel fine, but they tested positive. It's the same thing with these

teenagers and young adults, they're going to these clubs and that's how fast it could possibly be spreading. They have no symptoms. That's insane. It's crazy. To be honest, I know, I know Irish have a big reputation for drinking and stuff like that, but the pubs that have been really shamed and lambasted by the public because we're aware of how contagious it is now. Like, I mean, there was clips coming out on Friday night in Temple Bar where, you know, the pubs are completely out the door. People are packed up like Saradians and I mean, those businesses are, been, you know, really shamed and attacked by the Irish people because of the fact that they're doing this in such contagious environments, I'd say.

Well, I'm sure we're going to have a lot of questions from our fans based on the one, the handful that I've actually, have already seen. But of course, this is not our podcast. This is your all podcast. I usually start off like that. We have, this is a chaotic time. We weren't prepared for this. America wasn't prepared.

The world wasn't fair to this, let alone the A-side Life, Jeff. So you can go on Twitter hashtag the A-Side. You can leave your comment in the comment section. Casey, our wonderful producer and directors behind the scenes, along with Esther Lynn running the show. So shout out to them. They are not seen, but they are felt. But first and foremost, Casey, what's our first question on this odd episode of the A-Side Live chat? From Hefe-O-1, longtime commenter.

Possible solution if fights were to continue. How would you feel about taking these three fight cards that are postponed and running two fights a night in a closed outsider's venue. Four fighters, two cornermen per fighter. A ref judges can either watch live or on CCTV if that makes too many people in one place. With this in place, we could have an hour-long broadcast five days a week and still have fights even with the gathering limits. So I don't know if you guys followed that question at all.

This individual, FAA1, I don't know if that is a male or female, I apologize, but is basically suggesting if you take all of these canceled fights and do basically two fights, you a night every day of the week. Two cornermen, a ref, judges can watch in a closed area with the television. So we could have theoretically four MMA fights a day for the foreseeable future in a closed area, maybe an apex type place. Shorty, I'll start with you since you're a fighter. What would you, as a fighter, would you want to, would you like that to happen? As a fighter, yes, because I don't get paid until I fight. So I can care less of a family. is watching. I can care less if my mother is watching. As long as I can fight and get paid,

win or lose, perfect. As a fan and even as a promoter, I just don't believe it makes sense. You have to reserve a venue, reserve something every single day, which is money and consuming. It's being able to get these fighters to happen and these fights that happen every single day, at least for one hour a day. So that's two fights, four fighters. What if one backs out? Cool. Now we either have to find a last minute fight or change the fights completely in a different order. and when you have so many fights every single day, it just becomes really unorganized and hectic. I mean, I get an hour-long special,

but as a fight fan, I want to sit there for hours and really enjoy something, especially if I'm busy, cool, I'll catch it later on and as the fights progress and get better. But having two fights, especially, how are you going to organize it? Are you going to do a prelim and a higher-up card? Or are you going to do two random fighters

and slowly move up as like, you'll see fight past pre-limbs ESPN Plus, the regular prelims, and then the main events on Friday. You know, so it depends on how you organize it. Pse, what are your thoughts if we get a, of course, I don't have to tell you, you're the biggest baseball fan on the entire site. But we have baseball every day in America. We have the prime time.

We have Sunday night baseball. We even have Monday night football for those marquee games. What would you think of an MMA schedule where it's similar to other sports where it's not just Saturday nights and you get one or two fights a night for the foreseeable future? Um, yeah, like, I mean, I feel like, like, I mean, we're miles away from this happening, you know, I mean, like, it's so far in the future. Like, I mean, I think right now, the, the biggest obstacles to any MMA event are travel. Um, you know, I feel like for, like, if we're going to see any MMA, it's going to be, you know, an American against an American. It's going to be an English man against an English man or an Irish man against an Irish man because the travel restrictions that are in place are just, that's, that's what's really killing all. these things. I mean, you know, I feel like we're going to be a lot worse off as well. I feel like it's going to get to the stage where people can't travel at all for a little while just to keep people conform to their countries. But if all of this wasn't happening and there was some way

to do it, I'm sure Dana Hoyt's already thinking of ways you can do it. But yeah, I don't know if it's a good idea, but you'd certainly watch them if they were on, I have to say. and I see we are joined by Miss Ashley Evans on the phone. What's up? How are you doing? How's the chaos surrounding the coronavirus treating you now that your fight is no longer happening? We heard from Shorty Torres. His fight with Brave CF was also postponed, but he didn't fly all the way to where he was supposed to fight yet.

So how are you feeling after the ordeal you went through? Can you guys hear me okay? Oh, we can hear you perfect. Oh, hi, Ashley. Can you turn your phone sideways? Is that possible? There we go. Thank you very much.

Wow. There's like 47 people on this phone. Is that good? Perfect. So you can see me. Yeah. I think your question was, how was it traveling all the way over there and not getting to fight?

Yeah, exactly. Well, we heard from Shorty, but his fight was also postponed in Bray, but he didn't have to travel all the way yet. Yeah. I don't even know where to start. You know, we went over there Friday, landed. Basically, we watched the UFC fights, and then we're trying to get, you know, on that time zone.

So we went straight to bed after the fights. And then I woke up to a phone call from the UFC, and I'm thinking, oh, I'm going to sign some posters, you know, media week, fight week. And they're like, hey, come down to the lobby. I could tell by this guy's body language. I was like, oh, this is not good. And he's like, we've got to get you on a plane now.

back to the States, things are closing down. And I'm like, so no fight? And he's like, it's postponed. We don't know when. And so we literally, like, within the hour, I was at the airport, back on a flight, was in London for less than 24 hours in the air for, you know, probably a full day. It was a roller coaster of emotion, you know, because going over there, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if I was going to fight.

I didn't know if I was going to get quarantined, you know, still cutting weight. So obviously when you're, and I'm a big girl for $1.25. So, you know, I'm hangary at this point. I'm like, what the hell's going on in the world? And, yeah, and, you know, I was on the plane basically, like, crying because I don't know, I'm a girl, I'm emotional. I love my sport. I wanted to compete. I need to make money, put food on the table, all that.

And, yeah, it's just, you know. But now it's like kind of take a breath. And I've realized it's like this whole thing is so much bigger than me and my fight and sports like worldwide people are dying so yeah i was upset at the time but i'm just kind of trying to be grateful for like i'm healthy you know like no one i know is sick knock on wood you know actually is it is it have you been um paid we're speaking to jack shore uh just yesterday on your obash and he was kind of saying he's confident that it will happen but he hasn't had any direct correspondence at that stage anyway he didn't have you heard anything from the ufc in terms of

being compensated in some way, shape, or form for this? I don't know why he's confident, because I have from the UFC. And, you know, the UFC, as much money as they have, they're not giving out money left and right to, you know, for nothing. So I know the Bellator fighters that got compensated, they weighed in. And I'm just really hoping that the UFC doesn't do some trickery and say, oh, well, you didn't make weight or did weigh in or something like that. I'm not saying they're going to do that, but I'm also not going to get my hopes up.

I think we deserve that money to say the least. You know, I personally was willing to go over there and risk my personal health. I was willing to risk getting quarantined to fight, to perform, to do my job for them. So I really hope that they compensate us. Can I just ask one more question, actually, about that? Some of the fights have been moved from to the Cage Warriors card. Well, one was and it was taken off. but fighters who are meant to compete on London

like Darren Stewart and Bartos Fubinski, they've been matched together so they can kind of, you know, complete one of the fights on their UFC contract. I believe UFC will be paying them for them. Like, was there ever an offer because you were in the UK and Molly was obviously in the UK, she lives there? Was there ever a possibility of you two maybe

duking it out on the Cage Warriors card instead? That would have been so cool. You know, I honestly would have done that in a heartbeat, but like I said, landed Friday, watched the fights, didn't get any contact from the UFC, woke up to that phone call, they said get on the flight. And then while I was driving, actually, this is kind of sad, but I was driving to the airport and I see something my opponent has posted a video and someone tagged me. And she was saying, hey, that she just watched my story on Instagram.

I guess she was following me. And that's how she found out. And so the UFC didn't even contact her. So I thought it would be nice of me to contact my opponent and say, look, I hear you don't know anything. I'm going to tell you what I know. That's the least I can do. I think you deserve to know what I know. And she was like, you know, thanks mate, you know, and I was like the problem.

And she's a cool girl, you know, like we talk back and forth about how crappy this is. We both still want to fight each other. We trained our asses off, you know. Like, you know, it's sportsmanship. It's like we will fight someday. But in the meantime, let's get healthy and safe. and get paid for the work that we put in so far. So there was no offer to relocate.

Like the first press release that UFC put out about this was the whole card is relocating. Jack Shaw said he never heard anything about relocation. I mean, did you hear anything about that? Yes, but not until not until I had got to the airport and ate a whole bunch of carbs. So that was a little stressful. I was like, oh, the fight might still be on. That's exactly what I did. So what happened was, you know, we went to the airport, boom, we're checking in, airport's madness.

And then on the flight, and my manager, I'm literally about to take off. And my manager's like, just stay ready. And I'm like, ready, like, don't eat. And he's like, yeah, you might, they might reschedule the fight in California. I'm like, how? Like, there's all this commission. He's like, maybe Vegas. I'm like, how?

You know, Vegas is crazy. And he's like, I don't know. They don't know where. But they're finding, they're looking for an opponent for you right now. I'm like, are you serious? And I'm like already eating. He's like, hey, we might do a catch weight. So just don't worry, don't stress.

And I'm like, that's like saying fucking don't breathe right now. Don't stress. Don't stress. So like, you don't know who I'm going to fight, where I'm going to fight. Like, maybe I fight Saturday. So yeah, there was talks, but it was like so ridiculous. We didn't know if the world was like shutting down. So like my fight was like, I don't know.

It was so crazy. But yeah, there was a small, small chance. So when I got home, I landed that night at 8 o'clock at night. That was Sunday night. I woke up Monday. All of Monday I was waiting around. And I think Monday or Tuesday at 2 o'clock, I forget what day it was.

So for 36 hours, I thought I still might fight on Saturday. And everyone was like, you're dumb, wishful thinking. But what could I do besides listen to my boss, the UFC that said, you might fight? And so I'm like, okay, I'll wait around. I contacted Marvin Vittori because he's the only other UFC. fighter that actually flew over there. And I was like, did you hear about this? And he's like, yeah, they told me to stay ready too.

So we just waited around and talked about how bullshit this is. That's crazy thing because a bunch of fighters here were messaging me like, hey, because I'm the weight cutting guy who's cut a ton of weight before and last minute things. They're like, hey, do you think I can make, you know, 125 or 135 at this? You think I should do a catchway for these last minute fights? There's guys in the contender series there, Dana White's live. looking for a fight or even, you know, fighters that already contracted saying, hey, I might have a last-minute fight next week in Vegas or this place. And that was the same thing where she's like,

I don't know where, or like people are like, I don't know where I'm fighting. I don't know who I'm fighting. But I might have a fight in there telling me to get ready. So I'm going to put the slice of pizza down. That's the crazy thing. I mean, honestly, for me, when I found out, I was watching the fights, pretty much same thing as you. I was watching the fights. And we're saying this off air, I'm, I was really close to wait. I was only like 12, So I'm like 12 over two weeks, perfect. You know, I'm great. So I was like, all right, I'll eat a little bit.

And then I was like, man, this home cooked food is actually pretty good. All right, I'll eat a little bit more. And then by the time, I was like, all right, cool, I'm full. They're bringing like donuts and cake. And I was like, ah, you know, I don't think I'm gonna fight. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be cancer. I mean, it'd be really bad if we have a fight now. Yeah, you know, I'm gonna eat a little bit.

And then after I ate all the food, I was like, I really hope this fight is canceled. As much as I want to fight, I hope this fight's canceled. and Sunday. Like, hey, man, your fights canceled. I'm like, oh, God,

thank you. I mean, I really want to fight, but oh, thank you. So it's, it's getting hectic, man. I think it's an absolute

disgrace. That, you know, these guys don't know if they're going to get paid yet. I mean, I think that's absolutely deplorable.

I think when you look at the likes of the backing as well, and one has an idea with the weight already. But straight away, those fighters knew, we're getting paid show and win.

You know, we're going to get home. That's in a crisis situation. I think that's the least you can expect. Like, look, in Ireland, we're a bit further along here. We're nearly on, we're on the verge of locked as far as most people are concerned. But insurance companies are given, like, payment holidays to people with car insurance, people with mortgages are given holidays. Like, people understand the financial strain.

This is going to put it on the universe. And for this company that was recently sold for $4.4 billion to not be paying their fighters is absolutely disgraceful, I feel. I know, like, I mean, I'm sure you guys agree as fighters, but, you know, I'll say it if the fighters don't want to say it, that's absolutely ridiculous. Like, you got to come out, you got to speak to these fighters and let them know that they're getting paid because they've put in two months worth of work and this bullshit's happening. That's crazy. It's absolutely crazy. Four months. Four months worth. Yeah. More than two more than two months. I have smaller camps, actually, sorry, I only have a short camp myself, you know.

especially if you're already there. It's like if, you know, for example, myself, you're two weeks out. You're nowhere near the country, inside the country. Quo, hey man, the fight's canceled. Sorry, we're going to postpone it as soon as possible. But they flew you out all the way there. Again, all the guys in Connecticut with the belliger card. You yourself all the way in London, it's like, why aren't you getting paid at least show money?

Hell, my pro debut, Titan FC that was supposed to happen like four years ago in 20th or five years ago, 2015. My fight ended up getting canceled two weeks before, but it had nothing to do with the fighters. It was like the CEO's problem of health issues. They were like, you know what? We know you guys are working hard. We're going to at least give you quarter of your paychecks, your show money. Just to be like, I know it's still two weeks out, but you guys have been working hard.

Here you go. So it's one of those things. Even my fighter, when I was close to fight in November, we didn't even weigh in, but we were both in Bahrain. I backed out for my, you know, my reasons. They still paid him show money because he was there. He was already set to fight. You know, so it's the right thing to do. Of course.

It's the only the right thing to do. You're on a plane as well. Your immune system has been weakened. You know, you're on a plane, which is like a disease factory. You're just circulating air all around the place. You've done that twice. I mean, if this is a PR nightmare for them if they don't pay for it as far as I'm concerned,

especially when your biggest rival has paid them show and win. I mean, that's a massive disparity between the world's flagship MMA promotion, which is the UFC. There's no doubt about it. But their main competitor are paying an even bigger card, show and win. And granted, some of those fighters might not be on the same amount of the money as you guys are on. But that for me, the disparity between those two situations makes the UFC look awful here.

Like, I mean, it's- Business-wise makes them look so much better, Bellator. It's crazy. Yeah, absolutely. They shouldn't be allowing Bellator to gain any ground on them. But when it's actual fighters that can see that ground being gained, that is a horrific situation for them, I feel. Look, it's a hard thing to talk about as a fighter because we're so.

happy to be at the level of the UFC. You know, it's the apex of our sport. But, and I think we all, as fighters, follow the code, don't bite the hand that feeds you. But what happens when they're not feeding you? Do you know what I mean? Like, come on, like, feed us. We work for you. We bleed.

We sweat. You know, I cry for you. Like, please, please feed us. You know, like, you know, yeah, like. Now you're right. Like, I mean, like, I put my health on the line. You know what I mean? like I was willing to be quarantined.

I was willing to do all that, you know, and I know a lot of other fighters were, just because they didn't get the opportunity, I know a lot of other fighters. I forget his name, but he's fighting. He's originally from Texas, fighting out of Ontario. He was on the car, a California fighter. And he's like, hey, I'm coming there at hell or high water. We're willing to fucking, you know, put ourselves in harm's way, you know, with this virus just to, like, perform like a dancing monkey, you know, like that, that, like, for you,

please like you know ding ding yeah I'm sorry ding ding ding what that's lucky you know what's going through you guys's head when when like it seems like you're Dana Hoyts is the biggest promoter in the sport and he is like adamant to put on these events and he's saying you know we're going to do this um in spite of all these situations where there's quarantine levels there's people afraid to leave their houses and he's going to get you guys in there and and you know skin on skin fight each basically. Like, is there any kind of, was there any concern at all? Like, from either of you guys, when you hear a promoter talking like that, does that make you feel as though, you know, user nearly secondary to the business option rather than him coming to the fighters first and say, listen, guys, will you guys fight? Or did that in fact happen? Would you imagine that he asked these people, did they want to fight still? I mean, I can only say my own personal situation. I was not given an option. You know what I mean? It's like, you want to make money. You do this thing, you know, and I don't have another job, you know, fighting is my only job. So

literally, it's like I'm between a rock and a hard place. I'm between a rock and a virus. You know, I'm, I'm over here. Like, you either go here and do all these crazy, everyone's like, man, she's crazy. I'm like, really? What other option do I have? You know, like, it's just me, like my own little story. It's like, I take her myself. It's just me. Like, I'm, you know, I am the sole provider for my family. And so it's like, you know, I don't have a million kids. but I'm the one that's see you later, by you. No, they didn't give me the option to not do it. So I did, I posted something on my Instagram and it was like all other sports canceled.

And then at the bottom, it's like UFC and it's like Drago from Rocky. And it's like, if he dies, he dies. You know, it's like data why it was like, bug it, you know? And yeah, it makes us feel like our health is the last care because if they're willing, to play with our, you know, our well-being and our health like that, it's, it's sucky. It really suck. You want to feel like some sort of job security, some sort of love and care from your employer. But, yeah, it was just, you know, it's something we had to do.

We weren't giving any other option. Yeah, and that's a crazy thing when you hear about it. It's like they're telling you you're going to fight, you're going to fight, okay, cool, you're not going to fight, or it's travel restrictions or whatever the case may be. But then you also have to, like she's saying, no one really cares about the health of the fighters. They're just trying to, you know, get these shows that happen for the fans. Which, hey, cool, like the fans make us and break us,

we also have to understand without the fighters, there is no show. You know, without us being healthy, there is no show. And they're trying to make us, you know, do these actual weight classes or catch weights or whatever. And they're like, oh, you can't do it. Cool. We're going to find somebody else. And that's why, like I was saying earlier, people here at ATT, they're not even sign with the UFC. They're like, I might have a last minute fight.

Oh, my God, this is going to be awesome. and they're putting their lives in the line, too, to fight in the biggest promotion in the world and then possibly not be able to perform at their best because they're cutting all this way, making it cash or whatever the case may be, and not having a training camp for these fights. So you also have to look at it from that perspective as well.

You know, for me, when I fall Jared Brooks, nine days, 26 pounds, I put my life on the line literally to make my USA debut. But now that's just weight. This is weight plus a virus and possibly going somewhere where there might be a quarantine or a fight might be shut down. And then you show up like she did in London,

and not get paid. Is it really worth to do it? No. It's crazy because I noticed this just earlier in the week. They obviously canceled a lot of sports, NFL, you know, baseball, basketball and soccer in England. And they interviewed a very famous football player about it, Wayne Rooney. And his comment was just so far away from the comments I'm hearing from fighters.

Like even when I suggested that UFC London should probably be canceled given the state of affairs, like, you know, fighters were getting upset. set with me. And I understand that because that's how you guys earn money, right? But like, then you look at Wayne Rooney, he's probably on, you know, a few hundred thousand a week. And he's saying, we're not going to play again until we know it's absolutely safe. It's dangerous for us to play. It's dangerous for people to come and watch us play. Why would we want to play? And then I'm thinking, would UFC fighters have that same line of thought if they were paid, the correct amount of money? If they were paid, like they should be paid, you know, if there was more money being gained for the fighters,

would they be thinking exactly the same way? Yes, I would love to have that luxury. That's a luxury that I just can't afford. Literally cannot afford that luxury, you know. I don't want to die. I don't want to get sick. I don't want to spread the virus. You know what I mean?

I don't want to do that, you know? And I got a lot of backlash from my initial statement to Brett Okamoto on ESPN when I was flying there because I said, you know, I'm aware that I'm going to a foreign land to get into a fight and I might be quarantined. And a lot of people took that as me saying, like, I don't care. I'll come back with that virus and spread it everywhere. I'm like, no, that is not what I said. I said I'm willing to go to fight. And if I get quarantined, which rightfully so, that means that I have a symptom.

I'll get quarantine. I'll do my time. You know what I mean? I'll get healthy and I'll come back. And it's just, that's not the ideal situation. If I could say, no, UFC, I will not fight until it's safe. I would for sure say that because I'm thinking of the health and the well-being of others. well Ashley I was going to ask you about something along those lines you haven't fought since

February I believe I was it was the Phoenix card I was at and Shorty was saying he hasn't fought since April so you guys really haven't had a paycheck like you've been more than a year and Shorty hasn't had a paycheck in almost a year so and you're on you're saying like you're finding out your fight is falling out and all this stuff through social media all of a sudden Dana's going on ESPN saying like oh we tried to book this in an Indian reservation like We'll make Habib Tony happen. It's not going to help in the United States, but it'll happen. So you guys aren't collecting a paycheck and you're seeing Dana White's out there.

You're basically learning the same way we're all learning, right? Oh, no, you know what the sad thing is? And it's not my manager's fault because, you know, word of mouth spreads fast and the internet is fucking undefeated. But I found out about my fight getting postponed an hour, about 45 minutes before my manager called me. But I was like, no, no, I'm going to be positive. And, you know, and until he gives me the word, I'm not eating pizza. And then he called me. And I was like, all right, I kind of already knew this.

But, yeah. I got a frozen pizza waiting for me, by the way. But I do want to put in there. So, like, us fighters have been talking about, like, where is it going to happen? Indian Reservation, this place, that place. Julian Robinson brought up a really nice idea of having a fight boat and just going to international waters and just having a big fight on international waters. So I'm going to plug her in there because that was actually genius Bermuda Triangle right there.

Let's just do it. Yeah. Funny. I mean, we got to have emergency services, you know, because you always got to have people on hand if someone gets injured. And then like the production crew and the fighters and the, you know what I mean? The rest and all that. And I think, you know, if someone wants to go out there and risk their lives on a boat, you know,

because if one person gets sick on a boat, I'm pretty sure everyone's getting sick, you know? Yeah. then that person deserves fighter of the fucking year. Like, holy shit. I think I'll put my foot down for the boat fights. I'm like, no, no. But there's definitely people that want to do it. Let's get it.

Let's get it to happen. Come on, Dana. Dana, I want 10%. Ashley, you haven't been tested, right? I mean, a lot of people were saying, like, Dana White, how come Dana White's not coming out and saying we're going to test all the, like, you're seeing NBA players. They're all getting tested.

And now people are saying, Dana White, how come you're not asking your fighters to get tested or how come you guys aren't testing your fighters? Like that hasn't come up either, right? Because you guys like basketball and baseball and football is one thing, but like in MMA, you get about as close as you possibly can than any other sports. So like, what if your opponent is sick and you don't even know? Yeah, and I didn't know this, but I just heard that the symptoms take seven days to show up. So I was like, I guess I could be sick. I went and gave blood the other day. And before I went to give blood, it was about a, you know, an hour after I realized it wasn't fighting. So I was like, I'm not going to mess up anything. I'm not going to.

to get winded or have to take some time off and went to give blood because it's an emergency situation and, you know, in a basically powerless situation, it makes me feel just a little bit like I'm helping out, I guess. And I went there and I'm like, look, I just got back from London. I'm not trying to spread the disease and all that. And they're like, no, don't worry. First, they take your temperature before you walk in the door. Your temperature, I guess, is the number one, like, you know, red flag indicator. Indicator, yeah. And then they do all these other tests that are, you know, blood pressure, this, that, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know. So it's like, sorry, it's loud.

I think I should get tested. I was traveling to another country. I was in airports, you know, traveling for 24 hours, you know, multiple plane rides. Like, I should get tested. But, I mean, I don't know. Like, where do you go? Do you just go to the hospital say, you know, like, and is that selfish? Because there are people who are really sick at the hospital.

I don't have any signs and symptoms. You know, I'm working out in an empty gym. lifting weights to stay healthy and not go crazy. So I don't. Sorry, guys. No, we can hear you. Keep going, Ashley. It's all good.

Oh, I can barely hear myself. But yeah, I think you're so right. And not only should we all be getting tested, the UFC should be paying for that. You know, show us how much you care about our health and our well-being. Pay us and pay us to get tested. And that's a crazy thing. So Braves sent on an email a,

a month before this fighting was going down because of, you know, the small spread at the time before everything became chaotic right now. The email title was hashtag Brave Combat's COVID-19. They were pretty much telling us before we go to Brazil, five days before we go, we have to be tested for the COVID-19 virus, the coronavirus. The only crazy thing was, as fighters, we have to pay for all medicals, which really, really sucks. But as, as, it really is.

But as we're doing these medicals, I'm going to the urgent. care. I even talk to the hospital. I'm like, hey, how do I get tested for the coronavirus? So, like, we don't do testing kits, and we only test you if you have symptoms. So it's like, okay, well, what if I have like a small fever or this or my throat hurts? So, like, you might have strep throat or you might have bronchitis or something else. So we're going to look at the other options first and then last the coronavirus, which is crazy because basically I have to test. I have to pay the test for everything else. I have to pay hospital money. I'm not insured. So I have to pay hospital money, which is.

just 500 plus. I was going to say, just to get my ear drained last year was $800 with no insurance. Jesus Christ. I couldn't buy a needle anyways. America. So you couldn't take a test. And then I'm looking at my Snapchat the other day

when my fight finally got canceled. And one of my really good friends back at home who trains at a really, really big gym in Chicago ended up testing positive for the coronavirus. I was like, dude, why are you in the hospital? He goes, I got COVID-9. I don't know. I felt fine. I had a small cough. I came here and I got tested because I guess I showed symptoms and yeah, he was now I'm being charged. He's like, now I'm here for two weeks doing nothing, but I feel fine. That's incredible. Ashley, what was it like getting off the plane from London? You hear a lot of like, oh, we're doing everything we can to screen this and that. Did anyone stop you and ask you like in the airport like or check on you at all? Because I've heard people come from like Mexico to Canada and they're like, I just. I just. I just. You know, I just. You know. I just. You know. I just. just walked through the airport.

No one stopped me at all. So this apparently isn't a big deal. No, I mean, so mine was a few days ago when shit was hitting the fan, like, kind of. And as you know, hour by hour, especially like day by day, it's like, you know, increases, increases, things are shut down. And so at this time, you know, a few days ago, it was getting serious, you know, travel was beginning. The talks were almost, like travel bands were just starting.

It wasn't like, oh, things are shut down. So on the way back, I'm walking through the airport with my boyfriend, and we have to do these sheets. And it's basically like, where have you traveled, are you experiencing any symptoms of this, this, that, you know? And it's like, you know, of course, no one, everyone's going to lie. No one wants to be stopped. Like, yeah, I've had a scratchy throat, you know, like. So, you know, it's like, no, no, no. And so we have these.

And it's like a 10 questionnaire. It's nothing really. And I'm like, man, there's no way they can screen everybody that would take. so long and the line was kind of long you know but uh i'm like they have to be doing random and my boyfriend's like no they're probably doing everybody you know because how else could they contain it i'm like so we both go we get separated he goes in one line i go in another and they let me through they just looked at my paper they're like all right you're good and then he gets he gets uh stopped and they screen him and they take him in aside and they take his temperature with one of those little like guns

you know what i'm talking about yeah and so they'd use the gun on him a little red dot and then they ask them all these questions and, you know, whatever. And then that's it. And so, I mean, if you could have a poker face and keep your cough in, you could totally get through that shit. Well, I mean, Boris Johnson's trying to get all of the English people infected as far as I know. That's his approach to it. He wants to have immunity for the, he wants 60% of the people to get it. So collectively they are all immune to it, I think.

So no surprise is that there was no checks coming off the planes in the UK. And apparently Dana White was on ESPN saying they're going to have like body temperature screeners before events and stuff like that. Like that's what he was all saying. He's turning to Steve Jobs. Pretty much. Like pretty much. Like what did you would have like shorty said he didn't care if they were fans or not. Like you wouldn't care about fighting an empty arena, I would imagine.

Right, Ashley? No. I was watching those Brazil fights. And of course, like, I mean, in my own personal opinion, the energy walking out, the fans, you know, screaming your name and all. all that like oh it's like you know natural drugs you know it's the best feeling and no one's ever going to feel that feeling unless maybe you're you know actually a professional fighter or a boxer you know like not even on a sports team just you walking out everyone's screaming for just you or or like a movie star or like a singer you know but at the same time that is not my favorite part that's not

that's not why i do the sport you know and it's just a tiny tiny um benefit of of what we do So, of course, I don't need fans. And then I'm watching the Brazil fights, and it's like so creepy. And it's like, you know, oh, Jose Shorty, Torah. And Bruce is saying it like, you know, for an arena of people. Yes. Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp. And then McMain is the only one, like, screaming out stuff.

He's like, Shorty, you suck. I'm like, I appreciate it. Like Michael Bisbing, like, goes up to interview someone. He's like, make some noise. And then he just. just like stops and goes, ah, shit, there's no fans in here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He just said, Rhonda, this is the mic.

Yeah. Okay, I didn't see that little clip of Mick Maynard going, clap, clap, who, clap, who, like until last night. It's hilarious. That's so good. Like, Mick Maderd, VIP, you know, like, holding it down for the fans. But, no, to answer your question, I was like, I was ready for every possibility. You know, no fans, you know, I didn't know if my opponent was going to

I was just trying to stay ready and such a weird situation, but the worst case scenario happened. Fly all the way over there. You know, I'm all ready with bells on, you know, and they're like, go back, go home. Damn it. Crazy. I'd say it's hard.

Like, you guys are two elite fighters. I'd say it's very hard to feel that way in this situation. You know, like, I mean, you guys wouldn't be in the positions you're in if you weren't elite fighters. And, you know, when this stuff happens, I'd say it's hard to, acknowledge that in yourself, you know? I definitely don't feel like an elite fighter after all the pizza I ate. But, yeah, depends on the day.

I just want to say, if you knew it again, last week, this eye was black. This week, this eye is black. So I took two ass kickies for no reason. I just want to point that out there. And I didn't get paid.

Just want to put that out there. You almost have quick healing power, Shorty. You're like Wolverine. That other row looks perfect. No. Yeah, the only the only reason it looks perfect is because the rest of my face is puffy from all the salt

and sugar that it just makes everything even. Are you sure it's not puffy from all the tears you've been crying? I'm over. That was me in the sauna before, you know, the fight got canceled. It was like, I don't want to make way. Then I'm like, damn, I wish this fight was happening

while I eat a pizza, you know? So, you know, it's, it's, I'm emotionally unstable when I'm getting close to the fight. Yeah. Well, apparently Dana is still trying to make the Habib Tony Ferguson fight. Ashley, you were on UFC 223, right? If I'm not mistaken, that was the last time they were actually scheduled to fight on that Brooklyn card. Oh, yeah, I was down when the dolly went through the bus and all that.

Like, you know, this is such a mad sport. Like, it's crazy. Like, yeah, like, sometimes I'm like, is this really what I do for a living? Like, is this real life? This is my job? Basically, the party is around you. I got to hang out with you more. All right.

This is crazy stuff happening. I don't know. I don't know if you have any more questions, but we actually have fans sent us in questions for you guys if you have time to answer a few of them. Is that what the show is about? No, man. Casey, our director, apparently has some questions

that our fans wanted to ask you guys. So shoot them all right, Casey. Bring it on. We already got the, So Nathan Timlin says, when will Dana White come to his sentence and just accept the Habib Ferguson fight isn't happening until the coronavirus is sorted? He's adamant to make it happen, but we all know it won't currently. Yes, I'm on record saying this fight is cursed. But Ashley, I'll start with you as a UFC fighter.

What do you make of Dana White going so hard in the pain over this one particular? He canceled three fights, but this one specific fight, he is so adamant is going to happen. I mean, I would be lying if I said it sounded like anything beside a money-driven motive. You know, it's the number one fight that the world wants to see. And all the prior postponements and all that have only made it more desirable and, you know, the fan and more build-up. And this is making it more desire, more build-up, you know? And so, you know, he's lost so much money. The UFC in general have lost so much money on, you know, all these other fight cards.

But this one, I think he knows if this one doesn't happen again, that's even more money. So I think he's kind of prioritizing, you know, the financial loss and gain, you know. And so he's like, look, if I can only save one fight, it's got to be this one. You know, like, and yeah, you know, smart move. But like, you know, does it make all the other fight? feel like we're expendable. Yeah, but what's new, you know? Shorty, you're not in the UFC,

but I would imagine you want to watch this fight. So what do you make Dana White saying, like, it's probably not going to happen in the United States, but he is so adamant that he wants to put this fight on. I was going to say, thanks for putting that question in that format.

I appreciate that. But, you know, it's, I want to see the fight. Is this the fifth time it's scheduled? Yeah, number five. It's going to, there's going to be a six. This fight has to happen. All the fighters in general, especially for those two, you want them to be as healthy as possible.

I know they want the fight to happen. I know overall money is involved with everyone all the above, especially with the U.S. again, being bought off. What, boy, the $4.6 billion. Like, I get it. They're trying to make their money back. But if this fight's not going to happen, especially with this virus and both of them being from completely different countries and travel bands and stuff like that, then just listen to the

governments, relax a little bit. we've already waited what two three years of this fight i think we could wait a few more months if not a year that is fine and ashley we talked to shorty answered this question before you called on but one of the questions from our fans is what if the ufc took all of the postponed fights and maybe like brought them to like an apex style location and just did two fights a night every day of the week and just spread them all out so basically you get like a baseball basketball type thing where you have, oh, it's six o'clock, time to watch fights. What would you, as a fighter,

what would you make of basically two fights a night for the foreseeable future? At this point, you know, I keep making, like, jokes with my friends and people I'm talking to, I'm like, well, it's the apocalypse, the world is ending, you know? And I just, we don't know what's going to happen. So my mindset has to be like any fights in the future is a good thing, you know? We don't know if this thing is going to last because I'm here in Orange County, California, and yesterday, everything is now on lockdown, meaning businesses, you're not allowed to basically go anywhere unless it's to pick up food or to get medical supplies.

All businesses are closed, no personal public gatherings or personal gatherings over like, I think it's like, you know, five, ten people, whatever it is. and that's for two weeks until April. Now, I don't know if in April they're going to say another 30 days or another 30 days. So any fights in the future, I'm down. I don't care if I have to go to Las Vegas. I mean, send me back to London. You know, I don't care. I would love to fight because I have the mentality of like, you know, I love my sport,

but I kind of, I want something to look forward to, you know. I don't know about you guys, but like, you know, straining conditioning is something that, you know, you do to get ready for your fight. I'm not like, oh, I just love running, you know. So if they're like, look, Ashley, you're gonna fight just you and Molly in one month or two months. I would love that and I would look forward to that date with all my heart, my little heart, just that date, you know?

So something, give me something to hold on to. It's really hard for us because as fighters, we don't have schedules. Again, you see with this last minute stuff of, hey, do you wanna fight next week? You wanna fight in two weeks? want to fight in this place, that place, what's going to happen tomorrow? This is the first time because of this tournament that I had three fights planned,

so I had at least a month in between to plan out my life. And again, running's great now, but if I don't have a fight plan, I don't want to do it. So right now, my fight is postponed. So eventually I will have a fight, so I'll run and still have some pizza. But if I have a month to relax, it's great. Again, even for my backstory last year, my father passed away. And I didn't fight for pretty much six months in that span, and I had fights that just sadly backed out last minute.

If I would have known I wasn't going to fight in November, that would have been six more months to spend more time with my family or my father, especially before he passed away. So for us fighters, I don't have a schedule and have finally something set up, even if it's a week notice, it's a huge thing. So our lives getting very, very hectic. We don't get paid until we fight. We don't get to spend time with family if we have to travel for training camps.

And it's just one of those things where, again, I don't want to run every day or do strength and condition if I don't have anything planned. Well, Casey says we got a good question up next. So, Casey, what's our next fan question? Oh, good. From Jed Michoud. How incomprehensibly dumb is it for USADA to continue their testing in the current environment? So, Ashley, I imagine this one for you.

Usada is still going to be testing during this. So to answer Jedd's questions, is just a dumb idea for them to continue. doing what they're doing. I do not think they're still going to be testing. Are you kidding me? People, like, they say that, probably to keep the fighters, like, you know, like on their best behavior or some crap. But, you know, people are being told to, you know, they can't go to their jobs and all

of this. Like, why would they put Usada workers in danger going to houses of people that are potentially infected? That seems so stupid, not only to, like, test and, like, waste resources, but to put the Usada workers in danger of coming in contact with potentially infected individuals. Stupid. So stupid. You know?

And I mean, I partake in medicinal, you know, things and all that. And so the only good thing about my fight getting canceled when I was like, woo-hoo! You know, like, bring it on, Usada. I don't even care. Bring it on. Well, what if you're a fighter who doesn't want to answer the door? because you're afraid of germs. Like, would that be a failed test?

Oh, that's crazy. I mean, I definitely, as someone who performs clean, I don't want unclean fighters to use this as an advantage to take their naughty drugs, you know, their bad drugs. And, you know, but I think that, I didn't even know that was still happening. I mean, I don't have anything to worry about, so I'm like, plug it, who cares? But I don't think that's true. I think that the Usada is not going to send out individuals,

especially because they know how dangerous and contagious certain things are, you know, especially being in that kind of a business and industry. That's not going to happen. I doubt it. I highly doubt it. They're collecting body fluids, for God's sake. Like, I mean, if there's one thing you shouldn't be doing, like, fuck. And come here, can you actually still piss hot for smoking weed?

So wherever you, there's in competition testing and out of competition testing. Now, right now, since I'm not fighting, in competition testing is 24 hours before your fight. So I'm good right now. That's why I said. I was like, yeah, the only benefit

of my fight being off was like, whoo, that. We thought they got rid of that completely. That's crazy. Everyone should be allowed to smoke a few joints when they're in isolation for Christ's sake. That's crazy. It's crazy. And each,

each, let's say, country and state, when I was in New York, they were very, like, very strict with medical marijuana limits. Like, I think the, what is it called, not picogram, but milligrams of how much you're allowed in your system, it changes. So London, London was different than New York. You know what I mean? Oh, that's so confusing. Yeah.

Yeah. And so to be safe, you know, I think it's like 21 days or a month. you should just stop smoking, you know, or eating marijuana, whatever you, you know, or taking drops, whatever you use, you should just be safe and stop, you know, a little bit before your fight, you know, with enough time. But some fighters who've gotten popped, I think it's because they just love their marijuana, you know. That's crazy. Casey, we got any more. Apparently, we're getting a lot of questions for, we've never had two fighters on. We've never had two fighters dealing with the same situation.

Very exciting. are rolling. Ooh, a question from Sean Denny. That's true. Question from Sean Denny. What are some isolation tips to avoid going crazier than you would normally? P.S., I missed the video deadline to submit video questions. But yes, so Ashley and Shorty, any tips for our fans out there who might be going stir crazy

during this isolation period? Do you want me go first? Well, I kind of, I'm breaking the rules a little bit over here. I'm just getting it in as long as I can. I'm at a friend's gym that's a small gym, just me and like two other people, and we're working out. So if you happen to know a place or a garage or you have your own kettlebells at home, I advise you to not take this as a time to rest.

I mean, if you have injuries, yes, don't go hard in the paint in your home gym. But make a routine, you know, make some goals. I already said, okay, I can do this many. pushups, you know, you know, like regular non-girl push-ups. Let's see how many I can do by the end of the quarantine. I suck at pull-ups. I got my pull-up bar. I want to be like, dude, by the end of this quarantine, I'm going to bust pull-ups out. So I gave myself a few little fitness goals to work on. And, you know, yeah, I hate running, but I can't, I can't eat, you know, I can't get all crazy fat because if all of a sudden the UFC does say, the reservation fights are on, the crazy

fights are on, I want to be ready. You know, we are in a sport with an organization that will call you like that and you've got to be ready. So I'm going to keep my fitness level as high as I can. In addition, I love the fact that all these fucking memes are everywhere. And they're so funny. And a lot of people are like, this is a serious, serious virus. Yeah, it is. Okay. But the thing about comedy is trying comedy is here to make you laugh and laughter you know boost the soul and it's such an intense time so i'm watching tons of stand-up comedy i'm looking at all these memes and i'm trying to just be lighthearted about it because if you get so crazy and you dive into the fear and the hysteria you're going to go mad so those are the two tips i would give all right i'm doing

I'm doing the exact opposite. So as much, like, all honesty, I'm doing the exact opposite. As much as I want to be like, you know, really, like, for real, I worked out an hour before this. I did a full hour workout. And then I came up with cereal while rushing. And I told you guys off air, I bought $100 worth of just junk food yesterday. Like, I went there, honestly, I was going to be like, I got on the milk, two boxes of cereal, I'm cool. While walking through every hour, which was my mistake.

I walked through every single aisle with the big car. I should just walk through the hand car. I was like, damn, that looks good. Damn, that looks good. I haven't that in a while. I just started doing this. You know, like, just started chucking things in there, except for toilet paper because there's no toilet paper.

And then I'm like, all right, cool. All the healthy stuff was there. I'm like, why don't I want a healthy stuff? So I'm in my dorm quarantined myself, which is kind of the natural thing I do here, where I train and I'm in my room, eat healthy, and sleep because I'm so exhausted from training, but now I'm not training as much.

I'm actually taking this time to really fully recover. Again, I had a black guy this one last week and now this one this week. I'm just going to fully recover, but in that time, I'm still working out, given to not my fullest extent, but I'm not a good idea. I'm definitely being a fat shit and I'm definitely overdoing it. But, hey, that gets to prove and show people how well my weight manager specialist is. If I get that fat and I have to lose so much weight and he makes me make weight, the dude, I praise you, like, good job.

I'm actually testing his skill. This stuff is actually for him. Shout out nutrition. I fully support that. I fully support that. I know we're running up on time, but Casey, if you have any more questions from fans? Oh, we got more questions from fans.

She's trying hard. She's in the soda. I'm in the kitchen. From another question from HF-A-O-1. I guess Dana White didn't stockpile enough toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I understand wanting to keep people entertained in these dark times. I understand it's a business that wants and needs to make money, and I understand they will stick it to the man and continue fighting. With that being said, I personally think for the safety of the fighters and staff, this was the right call.

Do you guys agree? Just so you know, the concern isn't necessarily that the fighters will get sick and die. It's that these things spread quickly and quickly will overwhelm already full hospitals and medical professionals. The key here is to slow the spread to a manageable level. So preventing people who are often injured, sick, afflicted so and so forth is my. is my opinion on this thing thought. So yes, I'll sorry with you, Ashley's. You kind of touched on a palm, but was postponing these fights the right call?

Yes, you didn't get a paycheck. Yes, it is, you went through all this training camp and Shorty was cutting all this weight as you were. But in the long grand scheme of things, was postponing these fights the right decision by the UFC? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think You know our health As fighters and you know

Even the workers like you know The production crew I talked to a couple people I talked to Heidi In the UFC if you if anyone Yeah If you know the behind the scenes people of the UFC There are a few people that are behind the scenes

That don't get enough credit Heidi is amazing There's so many so many people people. But anyway, the people that run the UFC, the fighters, our health should be the number one priority. And yeah, you're right. It sucks to not get paid. But at the end of the day, I'm not trying to spread the virus. I want this thing to end as soon as possible. Do I think that I should still be compensated because I put in a lot of work? And most importantly, the UFC can afford it? Yes. I'm not working at a diner at a mom and pop shop and it's going to break the bank for

them to pay me my paycheck that I earned. It's not like that. It's the opposite. So, yeah, the fights should have been postponed and just attack it on there. Most definitely give us our money. I think it's crazy that you've

even up to say that. No, I feel it. It's a huge thing. Yeah, it's the health and safety of the fighters and especially people behind the scenes. Without the people behind the scenes, without the fighters, there is no show. I don't care how well you promote a fight. If we're not able to compete, if, for example, this Tony Ferguson compete fight still happens,

and Khabibu so happens to pull out a day before, for whatever reason, that fight does not happen. You don't just randomly put in somebody, you know, back in there. So it's the health and safety of the fighters and that's what people have to understand. And even though, again, like, we both didn't get paid. Boo-hoo, trust me, it really sucks and it doesn't advance us in our career. Look at Kabe versus, and this is something I watched the other day because they're putting out the free fights, is Kabev versus Michael Johnson. He didn't fight for two years.

and then he comes and destroys Michael Johnson, and then almost a year and a half later, he gets the belt and becomes a champion. So it's the fact of if I have to wait a few more months, if I have to wait another year, if Khab did it, why can't I? And look at him now, he's one of the most famous,

most popular UFC fighters in the world making bank. So if I so happen to have to wait three more months or a year or two more years to get another opportunity, and so be it as long as everyone's safe and healthy. Awesome. Plus, I have a 92-year-old grandmother at my house right now. If I came home with something, she living in 93 and one of our coaches here is not even coming to practice anymore because he's taking this 100% serious not because he's overreacting because one of his family members has an autoimmune disease so it's like if he comes home with any type of cough even the cold she's screwed you know so it's one of those things it's like you'd rather be safe than sorry and you have to look at other people's behind the scene stories as well and if you don't understand it then you know sorry but without us there is no show so and 100% if you can pay us perfect we're not a mom and pop

shop. But if you can't, then so be it. We're still going to fight eventually. Casey says we have one final question for you. Let you guys go. So Casey, what do we got? From Gustavo Quintanilla or Quintano. With USC 249 cancellation, intimate, I blame Jose Young's for everything that's happening. He knew Habit Pohny wasn't going to happen. What did he know that we didn't? So yes, I take the blame for that one. I've been saying for this fight is true. It's absolutely his fault. That's not a question, Casey. But yes, it's 100% my fault. But if there's not any more questions, thank you so much, Ashley, for taking this time to join us.

We had a lot of fans saying a lot of questions for you. A lot of people were asking about the UFC London card cancellations. I'm really happy that you could clear up a lot of the questions that fans had. And of course, Shorty Torres, who's been on the show before. Ashley, we'd love to have you back on in the future. I think you had a lot of great insight. But yeah, pizza, anything else? Oh, and before we go, Ashley, as is custom, if you'd love,

And if you want to say anything about anything, the floor is yours. You know, I think I have to say thank you so much to the fans that are still like no matter what happens, just backing the fighters. And, you know, there's been a lot of fans that are kind of giving me shit or, you know, like, you're never going to make anyone happy. But I just am really, really grateful because a lot of people. have been reaching out to me saying, wow, thank you so much for, you know, like going all the way over there or, or, you know, hey, stay safe or, or I heard about this, like, you know, the travel restrictions. A couple of fans told me about the travel restrictions before I, before anyone knew, and they worked for like, you know, the airlines. And, and I feel so much love, not only like when

I'm fighting, but like in a time of need, you know, like, so I'm just, I have to say thank you so much to anyone who's reached out to me or showed me any kind of love. I've been feeling a lot of it lately. And so, yeah, I just want to say thank you to the fans. That's all. And short, any other you want to say? The promo floor is yours.

No, I appreciate everyone with support, and I appreciate all these promotions around the world trying to get these fights to happen again. You know, for my promotion, Brave even changed the main event because of travel restrictions changed like three fights in the card and we're still trying their best to cooperate with the Brazilian government to make this fight

happen and then found out that I'd rather be safer than sorry. And so I appreciate brave. I appreciate everyone trying to make these fights happen. I don't know how the cage word event is going to happen and then still go on. But hey, kudos to you guys for making the invite happen. But what's that? Oh, sorry. I will do one selfish thing right now with this quarantine and all the time that's going to be our free time. I'm going to be proactive and it's MMA related. I've got acting background and all this stuff. So I'm starting. a podcast. It's an MMA podcast, but it's about dating, dating, sex, and relationships. So if you've ever wondered, it's going to be fighter interviews, UFC, Bellator, high-level

fighters talking about how their MMA careers have been affected by or their current status and dating and opinions on relationships, sex, dating, love, all that kind of stuff. So if you're interested in that kind of a thing, sex and violence with Rebel Girl is the Instagram handle. you can look it up just all one word sex and violence with rebel girl I mean you said I can't respond making note of that right now but as always you can find this podcast on Spotify Apple Podcasts

Google Play YouTube and all that stuff and I'm going to say one final thing support local businesses a lot of restaurants and supermarkets and local supermarkets are suffering mightily a lot of them are now turning to delivery and curbside pickup So if you're hungry, support local businesses because they might not be able to open again after this chaotic time. So it's not just us.

It is everyone around the world. But for Jose, that's Pizzi, that's Sori Torres. That's Ashley M. Smith. Thank you guys so much. We're out. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.