MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat w/ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

Episode Date: March 30, 2020

Bellator champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane joins José Youngs and Alexander K. Lee to break down how the coronavirus affected her wedding plans, Bellator MMA's response to the pandemic, possible scenarios for UFC 249, possible replacements for Khabib Nurmagomedov, and more. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Petesy Carroll: @PetesyCarroll Follow  Ilima-Lei Macfarlane: @ilimanator Follow E. Casey Leydon: @EKC 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, everyone, Jose Youngster, the M.A.fighting.com here for another special Monday edition of the A-Side Live chat. Now, I know last Wednesday we had some miscommunication. We were supposed to have Bellator champion Alie Malay McFarlane on the show. But as I said, messages were crossed, wires were crossed, whatever you want to say. But she promised she would be back Monday. And here she is joining me, of course, is our Monday panelists as well, Alexander Kaley, so I'll start with the Lima first.

How's quarantine life been for you during this coronavirus pandemic? Honestly, not much has changed for me, which is very good. I see that from a very privileged place that it really hasn't changed because, you know, I wasn't, I'm not in camp. I wasn't planning on fighting for a while. And if anybody knows me, they know that I like to not go to the gym and train. So it's like our gyms have to close. And I'm like, okay, whatever.

I'm going to stay home anyway. Not much has changed. Do you have any teammates in camp that you know are feeling the effects of this pandemic, maybe the gym show? Like you said you weren't in camp, but I'm sure you know people that are in camp that is affecting. Yeah, totally. You know, my teammate Liz Karmu, she's my main training partner.

She's actually headlining the Pichanga card for Bellator, May 29. And, yeah, it's really difficult for her to train because she has a. toddler at home and her wife is also part of the at-risk population. So Liz is taking this quarantine very seriously. So I mean, the good thing is that her wife is also trained. So she has a training partner in that sense. But otherwise, like, she's not, she's not going outside at all. So Alex, how's quarantine life been with you since we last spoke to you on Monday? Jose, no one cares about me. Look, the champ is here.

Our first reigning MMA world champion is on the show. The champ is here. I'm doing fine. I'm in Canada. It's the land of wine and roses up here. We never have any problems. Canada's a paradise. No, we're doing fine up here.

Staying in as always. I mean, I'm a house mouse as it is, so things are going great. But the champ is here. Who cares on me? You've got to get these questions, man. Well, I'm glad you made the distinction of MMA champ because we have had a professional wrestling champion on this show. So I'll say singles title because we had a single's title because we had a tag team champion i'm casey what's going on with you i noticed you just popped in oh uh yeah you know

quarantining um we did i did the whole social distancing on my front yard yesterday you know brought a couple of chairs out neighbors came by walking their dogs said hi and everything so um just this um new reality we're living in and um yeah just it's um it's um it's still world we live in right now and he's gonna have to have to accept it yeah we were saying before the show even started that last week feels like a month ago. It feels like we just talked to Michael Giaza a long time ago, but that was only three days ago. That's how slow time

is moving right now. But of course, this is not our show. This is the viewer's show. They can leave a comment on our site. They can have a question for the champ or us for whatever reason, but we have a reigning champion on the show. So, of course, you're going to have questions for her. Or you can go on Twitter, use hashtag the Aisad, or just respond on Twitter. None of you guys use

the hashtag anymore these days anyway. But Casey, our mustache director, everyone's, what do we call? what do we call you now? Everyone's favorite cutie boy, soy boy, wimpy, wimpy guy. Wimpy Wimperson of Wimpleton, Wimpsylvania. Sure. Well, our mustache directed, we have any questions for the champ from our loyal listeners.

Let me take a look. What we got here? All right, first question. First question from L-F-M-W-A on the site. O-M-G-L-L-L-E-M-A-Bay. Big fan. I remember back when you, first won the belt, you said you didn't feel like the best in the world. Has that changed at all throughout the year? So excellent question from LFMWA loyal comment. So to answer this individual's question, has that changed since you first won the belt? No. And I think it's a lot due to that.

So I have a wrestling background. And my coach would always tell us he's like, you're never number one. Like he never wanted us to fall into that mentality of like thinking that you're number one. And that was his way of motivating us to keep pushing, keep working harder. So yeah. And I just, I also feel too that my career as a fighter has been so short compared to all these other fighters who have been doing it literally their entire lives. That I just, I'm like, no, I'm not the best in the world. You know, this isn't, this isn't, I kind of joke around and say that I'm a part. part-time professional fighter.

I'm only training, I'm really only training half of the year, which, you know, some people kind of frown upon, but I'm like, that's just how I've done it this whole time. You know, I've never trained year around. I've never, you know, I have my, I do a lot of stuff outside of the cage that takes up a lot of time that I can't dedicate to training.

And so, no, I don't think I'm the best. It still hasn't changed. That's still my mindset. So Elieba, what in your for yourself, what kind of goals do you set for yourself so that someday you can kind of feel like you are either the best or among the very best and kind of say that with confidence? Is it a certain amount of title defenses? Is there a certain opponent that you feel like I have to beat this person or this caliber of person? How do you get to that point where you can say, yeah, I'm the best? So I think it's more so what you've

done for the sport and also like your legacy kind of as opposed to, you know, your record at or amount of fights you've won. So I consider, I consider myself among the best in the world, just not the best, but I consider myself among the best because, you know, in the short five years

that I've been fighting professionally, I was the inaugural, you know, flyweight women's role champion for Bellator. I was able to bring Belator, a big MMA promotion back to Hawaii. There's my roommate. I was able to bring Belator

back to Hawaii, which hadn't had, even though, you know, Hawaii has a huge MMA legacy, you know, history in the sport, this was the first time that a large promotion had gone back for over a decade. And I was able to do that. You know, I was able to headline both cards that were in Hawaii. I think I am like I have a few records with among Bellator even beating out some of the guys you know so I just think that what I was able to accomplish in five years has definitely solidified me as among the best in the world and so I think it yeah and it's more so about your legacy and what I mean by that is just like what have you done for the sport what have you done for you know how I've used your platform for good. And I think if anybody like has followed my career, they've seen that I am very active again outside of the cage. And I'm not fucking up and getting DUIs and like, you know, popping for steroids and tarnishing the sport. I've always been very like straightforward.

And I consider, I consider that as like a solidifying myself again. as among the best in the world. Who would do that? No MMA champions would exhibit that kind of behavior. Right. Well, we had, speaking of your, your, what's what you've done inside the cage, we had Anthony Smith, U.S.C. light heavyweight champion on.

And he said every time he will watch his highlights or his fight, he criticizes everything and thinks he does everything wrong. Even if he wins, like he just, he'll, he can watch him knocking out Shogun in the first round and he'll know what was going through his head in that. and he'll be like, well, these are the 40 things I did wrong. I did nothing right, even though I got the win. Are you in that same vein where you watch your highlights and you only notice what you did wrong?

I fought back and forth, but it's more so when I watch past fights. Then that's when I cringe. I can't even watch those fights because I think I did so terribly, even though I won, I'm just like, oh my gosh, I was so terrible just, you know, two fights ago. But I think that that's really important because it's showing my progress that, you know, the bar is always being raised every single fight and then meeting those expectations. So, yeah, I think it would be dangerous to watch your fight and be like, I did everything. I did everything perfect, you know.

Well, have you ever impressed yourself after watching one of your highlights? Um, I don't know. You know, it's interesting because I see a lot of fighters, they get highlight rules made for them, and I don't have any highlight rules. Wow. Well, I mean, there's a few that just have my finishes and everything, but I'm like, I want to see the times that I actually punch somebody or like hit a combo. But nobody's done it for me, so I don't know. So if anyone wants to, then there's that.

Well, yeah, whoever's listening or will listen to this in the future. Someone make the champ a highlight video of more than just her finishers. Finishes. But Casey, do you have any other questions for Lima? I got a question for Elima. Alima, what is the one fight that fans should never watch a year? Like, that's just an embarrassing fight. I can't, like, it's clearly, but you won the fight, but just go, no, do not watch that fight.

I would say my first fight against Emily Ducody because, so that's the fight that I refer to and I like, I rewatch it and I can't do it. I just, it's, Mikala, you're in the video shot. That's okay. That's okay. That's okay. Okay, okay. I just can't watch that one because it's so sloppy, and it went all three rounds, and it was just, like, sloppy.

So that's the one fight I would say don't watch. And what's the fight that they have to watch? Like, it's just like, that's the limelay I want people to see. Soccer mom's fight. Yeah. It's awesome. Yeah, it's just fighting again. People are like, that's you.

Yeah, I would say soccer mom's it. I see that video pop up every few months, and people are shocked that it's you, she's fighting. People go, all that's the Bellator champ right there. And they go, are you serious? And then they go, and then they find you based off of that. Yeah. So I would say that. That was definitely the fight that kind of catapulted me into, you know, virtual stardom, online, online stardom.

So, yeah, I always, that fight has a special place in my heart. But if you're talking in terms of, like, technicality or like, you know, being a technical, well, fought match, then I actually think all my fights are really boring. But I would say, I would say Valerie LaTerno, the first Hawaii fight was, that was like a really powerful fight. That was probably one of my most emotional moments of my life. So I would say that fight. Well, I got emotional watching Casey Nestor's video they did on you that like that, that, that, that documentary style video. I was in Milwaukee in the bitter cult because it's the same week as the UFC on Fox Milwaukee. So I was sitting there in the snow watching everything happening in Hawaii and be like, I could be like,

that seems like the most emotional thing I've seen since all those videos of like Connor fighting in Ireland. And Casey's like like messing me on Slack. He's like, I am on the verge of tears right now watching this finish right now. Yeah. When everybody asked me for videos to, you know, like if I'm doing a presentation or something, they just need any video of me. I always send them as they're in Casey's one because I'm just like, this is going to blow your guys mind. This explains everything perfectly,

beautifully, makes me cry to this day. It's actually the video that I sent my fiance when we first started talking. I was like, hey, watch this. Wow. Well done, Casey. Nice move.

Alima, nice move. That's a good move. A lot of us don't have that option. That's a good move. Casey, you're muted. Casey, you're muted. People think I'm into MMA because of the violence, but really it's about love,

and I'm just trying to bring beautiful people together, you know. That's what I'm really about. Do you make one for me, man? Can you be? I'm having trouble on the online dating. Next question. Next question before that we fall into that hole. Wait, no, but we sorry, we didn't get any questions on it

because I'm really, I'm kind of surprised you brought up the soccer mom thing because that feels like another lifetime ago, doesn't it? It feels a long time. It doesn't feel like you anymore. Like when you look at that video, does that, do you see, I don't know, is that the same woman or is that just like someone else at this point, Elima? It's the same. It's the same me.

Like, I've always remained the same throughout. It didn't matter if I was fighting on the reservation or if I'm fighting in front of the sold out arena. You know, it's like I was always the same. And in fact, just a couple days ago, I posted a video on my Instagram of, one of my fights on the res. I think it was, it was one of my amateur fights,

but it was for the same promotion that the soccer mom fight happened at. And this fight was actually, I feel like this fight would have gone viral, this footage because, but the promoters at the time had asked us to take it down because it was kind of crazy.

But what had happened was, I'm in full mount on my opponent, and Cecil Peoples is roughing, right? so I'm in full mat on my opponent. Yeah, you guys already know where this is going. Yeah, yeah. She full on, so I'm like ground and pounding her,

and she grabs my hair. My hair was in a ponytail tail. She grabs my hair and just pulls my head down to the, like, I want to say for a good 10 seconds, she had my hair, and it was so obvious that she's pulling my hair, like my head's on the mat,

and I'm still trying to wail on her. And in the process of me hitting her, her weave actually came off and it came off and it just was laying on the ground and Cecil just casually bends over and picks it up and it's just holding it in his hand but he's not like stopping her from pulling my hair

it's like he's not even watching that and then you know everybody's screaming like Cecil her hair so finally he stopped the fight but so he stops the fight and then restarts it in that same position and then, you know, TKO Grandin. But back then, that was before Instagram allowed you to have, you know, longer than 15, 10, 15 seconds. So the video is only 15 seconds.

And I don't know who has the full-length video. But anyway, so I posted the 15-second clip and it was just hilarious when it, when we had first posted it years ago. I think this was like 2014. That was when I had my amateur fights. And yeah, again, the first. promoters asked us take it down because, you know, it's kind of an embarrassing thing for them that a girl's weave came off, but the jokes were freaking hilarious. People were like,

unbelievable or like she had a day. It was so funny. So where was I going? What was the question? Oh, was I the same, am I the same person back then that I am now? Like, yeah. And I also said on a video that even though I fought in the, you know, again, sold out. beautiful arenas. My favorite place to fight was on the res. It was just so gnarly. So the reservation, we called it the chicken coop.

Because they would have shows out there because you didn't have to follow the rules. There was no commission needed. And our team rule was that you could not go to the bathroom without a buddy or a teammate because people would fucking try to shank you. And there were brawls in the audience.

Just everything that could go wrong basically did every fight, but it was so much fun. It was my favorite place to fight up. So Indian reservations where Dana wanted to put U.S. 249 last I heard. I'm surprised. Is he? I haven't been following that whole thing. Oh, man, it is a, well, you might be the only one in MMA,

and I should envy you because it is keeping us up at night, wondering what's happened. What are we going to wake up to next? But Casey, any questions we got? Oh, yeah, let's go to the next question. We've only asked one question from the fans. It's kind of spiraled. All right. Here we go.

Oh, here is a good one. From longtime commenter Trumbo, Bellator versus UFC response to the coronavirus. Spelled coronavirus wrong, by the way. Resubmitting from last time as a Belator champion. My dog's going crazy right now. Well, we love dogs on this chat. So Casey, you took the question away.

it is. As a Bellator champion, what do you think of the UFC's response of the coronavirus as opposed to the Bellator response? Is Bellator doing anything behind the scenes to help take care of fighters financially or health-wise during this time? Thanks. So I'm sure you've heard the news. Dana White, when he, when he postponed the fights, we had Ashley M. Smith on earlier. She said that she wasn't paid. She, and anything, she called for all of that, Scott Coker did the opposite. And when he postponed, I believe, was Belator 241 was the number. He covered some of their expenses, gave him their purse. I don't know the exact monetary details of it. But two completely different ways these promoters handle it.

I know our own Mike Heck spoke with Chris Seiborg, and she said something similar to that. Like when she saw that news, she knew she made the right decision to sign with Bellator after seeing how Dana White responded to this pandemic. So what is your response to how the two sides have handled it? And has Bellator done anything behind the scenes that you can share? to take care of these fighters, health and financially wise. Yeah, so I feel like I haven't, I haven't really publicly talked about the difference between the promotions and how they treat their fighters.

But I think that this is a pretty clear, I mean, if not for all the other thousands of examples of them screwing over their fighters, I think that you can see why I, I'm very happy with Belator. Why more fighters are moving over to Belator. You know, why just overall, I think Belator is a better promotion. They really do put fighters first, and that's always been Uncle Scott's, you know, motto is fighters first. And, yeah, I just know it was the card at Mohegan's son that they, yeah, they paid not only

the fighters, but they paid the staff too, like everyone that was involved in that. in that fight week got paid. And did it want to put everybody's health at risk? So did it make them fight? And some people would make the argument that like, oh, like people, they want to fight. Like, so Dana did the right thing allowing them to fight. And it's like, well, yeah, well, I want to go outside, but I can't because that's morally irresponsible. You know, like, I can't live a normal life, but I can't.

So, yeah, it's definitely health, the health of everyone is first and foremost. most and the fact that Uncle Scott recognized that and still, you know, was able to pay everybody, I think just speaks volumes again of what kind of promotion he runs. I'm not sure what's going to happen with the other cards. I believe there's one in Chicago. I think so. I think that I don't know who's in the car, but they usually... There's a looking up in San Jose in a month.

This is the beta version. Bader and the amazing Musasi versus Lima fight. Yes, that's right. That's right. And then the next and after that would have been Pichanga. Right. Oh, no, it would have been Chicago and then Pichanga, I think. Okay.

Yeah, I'm really not sure what is going on with that. But, yeah, Bellator takes care of the fighters. That's all I can say. Yeah, I believe Ashley said, Ashley Ann Smith said she flew to London and then she found out everything. Like her and her opponent were finding out through social media and then had to fly back. And then so she had to deal with all of that. And she didn't even get tested. They said she was calling for the UFC to even pay for their testing, but we don't know what's going on with that. I mean, supposedly they're still going to have this April card in like 19 or 14 days or whatever it is.

So it's a whole story that Casey, I'm sure, has a lot of thoughts on. And Alex. Alima, how regularly like have Bell Tour officials been updated? I assume that there's people in the office you can kind of ring up whenever you want to if you wanted to. But how much they kind of volunteering information, kind of letting you know? And also, do you know if this kind of interfered with like any kind of fight they were trying to set up for you, given that they have all this other stuff to deal with? I don't know if they're worrying about matchmaking right now. No, I actually, I mean, I talked to, yeah, I just haven't reached out to anybody because, again,

this really didn't affect me professionally. you know, I wasn't, we actually weren't planning on fighting until the fall time. Okay. And so, because we have to, you know, we have to wait for all these other women to fight and, and see what happens. So we were not planning on fighting until we're on the fall. So, yeah, I don't think, I just haven't reached out to them. I'm sure if I did, then they would tell me what's going on.

But also this whole pandemic issue is like a day-by-day case, you know, like shit changes so drastically in a day's time. that I think even Bellator doesn't really know what's going on. I'm sure they have like contingency plans in place. But yeah, again, I think it's just, we just have to wait and see. We just have to wait it out. Yeah, I think you know, this is like you said, it's changing day by day. Some people think that we're still going to be fighting.

I mean, I know our own Guillermo Cruz interviewed a bunch of fighters from USC 250. And a lot of them are like, if I had the option not to fight, I would probably take it. But I need to fight to get paid. I think it was Calan Vietta was like, if I get sick and die, another fighter just steps up and takes my place right away. Like, that's how this works. So that quote kind of stuck out with me

because that is an alarming thing to hear from a potential UFC top five fighter in your, in, at 135. Yeah, it's for all we know in one week, it's going to be a completely different scenario. Yeah. Casey, any other questions we got from our loyal listeners? One moment. Thank you, Trombo, by the way.

I know you always leave your wonderful comments. Okay, let's go to some 249 fun. Great. There's only a matter of time. Two questions. Who could fight Ferguson, if not Habib? And that's from the seaside. And then Amy Wee, if we don't get Habib nor Ferguson,

what other fight could main event UFC 249? So as of today, I know you hadn't been following him much. you said at Lima, but Habib Nirmigamatov supposedly spoke to the UFC and said that they were almost positive. I think it was like 99% that was going to take place in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, I can't quite remember. So he flew to Rup. He tried to fly there. They wouldn't let him land. So he flew to Daghistan where he's from. And now he can't leave Daghistan. So now he's stranded in Russia. The fight with Tony Ferguson's already been canceled, what, five times. This would be the fifth time, I believe, or four times this would be the fifth time. And now supposedly just

in Gagey might fight Habibn, Tony Ferguson. Does Emporia stone his name to the hat. Horre Mazidol offered to fight Kolby Kumar Usman on the card. And now Tyne Woodland and Kobe Covington are trying to fight on the card.

So whoever wants to answer this question first, who should fight Ferguson? And if not, who should headline the card? Alima, go ahead. My answer is going to be flippant and rude. So, good. I don't even know if they're like the same weight class.

this is, what a terrible M.M.A fan I am. I would say Mazvidal. Sure. Oh, I mean, Masvidal Ferguson would be an amazing fight. Tony Ferguson fights a lightweight, but he did win the ultimate fighter as a welterweight, and he always said he was a natural 170-pounder. I would like that fight so very much, but it wouldn't be for a title. I still like that fight.

That would be a bananas fight. But AK, what do you have to say to our listeners who are asking questions surrounding UFC 249. Where's Connor McGregor? Look, let's be honest here. Conner Greger's the fight we all wanted anyway. I know, oh, we're all real fans. We all want to see Tony Ferguson.

What a shirt ride. Come on. We all want to see Connor versus Tony Ferguson. We all just want to see Connor main event, everything. So, you know, let's get the man on the line. I'm sure he's paying us in all the social media. I'm sure he's watching the show right now. And Connor, if you got here, tell the OC to send you the contract.

You know, you tell them to send you a blank check, send you the contract. well obviously that's the fight that everyone wants so yeah just call up connor let's fix this it'll be like we won't even remember that that kabb and ferguson was even scheduled again wait is he wait is he 155 max max i think they're their friends are that i believe they're friends uh or some sort of friendly relationship i know max holloway was going to step in to fight habib at uc 223 before the new yorks a athletic commission vetoed that like mere days before the event was going to happen. But the listeners all blame me because I've been saying for months that this fight is never going to happen. So as soon as this fight, as soon as I see my Twitter notifications blow up, I go, oh, great,

the fight got canceled. And sure enough, Habib gets stranded. Casey, what do you say? I see you're back on screen. What do you say about this event? I know I posted a poll, so I won't tell you what our answer said. Max is a good option. But actually, I feel like Max is one of the few fighters who are 100% taking this.

this pandemic very seriously. And I don't think that Max would put his own health, his family's health at risk. Because there's just not proper testing right now. It's just not there. So about proper testing, everyone fighting right now is taking a serious risk to themselves and to everyone they come in contact with, which is actually much more important. Because, yeah, I get it. You want to fight in the volcano?

Cool. fighting a volcano, that's on you. Well, unfortunately, when you fight that volcano, if you cough on me, then I have that volcano on me. You know, that's how it works. You know, this isn't just about you anymore. It's just so much bigger. And Max is one of the first, definitely prominent fighters to really talk about this, this take this very seriously. But if we are going to throw health out the window and not care about anyone else, the only fight that makes sense, Elima is correct. Tony Ferguson, Masvada, bad motherfucker belt, open weight. Because, yeah, bad motherfuckers don't have, you can't bring Connor. This is true. You can't bring Connor. Because nobody is going to have a proper fight camp right now, absolutely zero. So you might as well have an open weight, whatever they want to come in, fight for a fake belt.

And then cool, we waste our 65, 70 bucks. And then we'll move on. And then we just shut off MMA for the next three months. Well, there you have it, folks. Casey solved the dilemma surrounding UFC 249. Thanks, Casey. What is this? Thumbs up, thumbs down.

Do you like this, Alima? Yes. Yeah, that sounds good, yeah. Because, right, no one, there's not going to be proper camps for this. No one, you know, no one, there's not going to be healthy weight cuts, especially. Do you think whatever happened, though, that there would be an open weight fight or anything? I think a catch weight. I think they could do a catch weight, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. Just. They would have to agree until like 165 or 175 or whatever. So I'm saying like just in general, like would the commission ever allow that, like an open wait? Well, there's not one commission in the United States outside of Florida maybe that would even allow an actual sanctioned fight right now.

So the fight would have to be overseas or in a barge or something. And then all bets are off. Yeah. So or reservation. Yeah, where you fought. Yeah. Listen, I liked I liked Elima's Max Holloway suggestion. You know, Elim, if we could get you to say something like, oh, Max Holloway is not a real Hawaiian if he doesn't take this fight.

We need a good clickbait title. If you could just kind of throw back, it's something we could clip out there, you know, out of context. That would be great. I would love if you could just throw that out there. Well, I'll say, I don't think Max writes his own captions. Oh, blooded. No, I think his captions are really good. And I'm like, well.

That's very, very insightful. Like, is he having help with this? I don't know. It's just, it sounds like, and it's, it's definitely sounds like Max. Like he has a little Max flavor in it. But like, sometimes he just blows my mind with his caption. I'm like, this is really you. This is your PR guy.

It's mini black. Is that quickly enough? Wow. I feel like I just totally like. That was two. That was two. People are going to be paying more attention. People are going to be perruiting.

using his comments more and more now. Yeah, yeah. This doesn't sound like. Oh, she's right. Is this, that's not a phrasing he would use. Yeah. No, but it's real. It's, I didn't even think about that.

I didn't think about that, you know, that Max is one of the fighters taking this really seriously. And this kind of went back to how the pandemic affected me as well because, you know, we're from Hawaii. We're on an island. We have finite resources. And I actually am really thankful that I got stuck up. here in San Diego at my San Diego home.

We literally, so my fiance and I, we had left Hawaii. We were in Hawaii for like two months. And we left Hawaii to come to San Diego. And then we were going to fly out to Jamaica for, to get married. And in the process, like, you know, just our layover in San Diego, that's when we got stuck. And we're like, holy crap, you know, I'm really thankful that we got stuck up here because I think shit can get real crazy on islands.

And that's also part of the reason why we canceled our wedding to Jamaica. Because I'm like, you know, we would be total hypocrites telling people don't go to Hawaii, better share us at home, you know, stop bringing the virus to Hawaii, stop using the island's resources when we were going to do the exact same thing in Jamaica. So, yeah, I think that that's a really good point. That Max is taking this seriously. the Hawaii community is taking this very seriously and rightly. So, you know, they're, again, they're on an island.

They have finite resources. So, yeah, shout out to the 808 state for, you know, fighting through this and Max C-2. So you were on your way to get married when the pandemic kind of hit a high point, and that's why you got stuck in San Diego? Yeah. So we were like in San Diego for a week before flying out to Jamaica. And it was during that week time that we were back in SD that everything just shut down. So we had to make a decision because technically we could have flown out to Jamaica.

You know, the airports weren't shut down yet. We could have out, but I was just like, shit's going to get real crazy. And yeah, like, I was advocating for people to stay home to not go to Hawaii. So I was like, I can't be advocating for that and then be doing the same exact thing, you know, on the other side of the world. world. So yeah, we canceled. So even though the pandemic didn't affect me professionally, it affected me personally. Well, I would say it's a little more important than having a fight. Yeah, I'm not getting married anymore. So I had to cancel, I had to cancel the wedding. We cancel, oh, I'm also turning 30 on Thursday. And so we canceled my, I was doing a dirty 30 rager.

And I was like, you can still do it. It'll just be a sterile 30. So yeah, we had to, I went to cancel that. And there's another thing that we canceled. Oh, my bachelor's party, which I was really looking forward to. He had a drag show, my favorites. That would have been fun.

Have you, are you waiting to find out more information? Or have you kind of, like, set another date down the road that, like, you're hoping to get married or you're just, like, waiting to see, well, like, like we said, like in a week, the world could be completely different. Yeah. Well, so, like, the whole point of getting married. Soon. Well, we had, I wanted to get married on April Fool's Day so that people didn't know if it was serious or not. Such a troll. That was the whole point of it. But now that that's not happening, we're like, all right, maybe we have to wait until next year.

Just for the joke, Alima, just you're going to wait a whole other year just so you can land this gag. Yes. You don't understand. So my birthday is April 2nd. So I've always been like April 1st, April 1st, April Fool's Day. was my thing growing up. I would play pranks on everybody. And so, yeah, I was like, this is going to be the ultimate prank. We can pull it off. But, yeah, it's fine. We'll probably just, like, do a secret wedding.

Our families are so big. That is just, it would be almost impossible to do a wedding with both of our families. What is the best? Sorry, go ahead. I'll go. What is the best prank that you've ever done? So I got my family. So my family actually,

played a prank on me. They were all in it together. This is when I was in high school. They said that one of my, that my letter to the newspaper, they printed it in the newspaper, blah, blah, blah. It was a letter when Aloha Airlines closed down and it was very emotional letter and pictures of us picking up my mom. She was a flight attendant. And, you know, Aloha Airlines had shut down. So I wrote the newspaper. And so everybody in the family, the next day on April full's day was like oh my gosh iliamma your story is beautiful it made it on the front page of the newspaper so the whole day i'm like running around school asking my teachers for the newspaper i'm like you guys said i can't find it and like everyone was in on it even my parents were

and then at the end of the day i find out that they were all joking so i was like freaking pissed and i'm like crying i'm freaking pissed everybody so then in my car i find a pair of crutches and i find my old ACL surgery knee brace because I had got to you know I tore my ACL meniscus and had surgery the year before but I was fully recovered so but I still had everything in my trunk of my car so I put it all on and I like went home and I was like what happened I'm like I retore it well was playing basketball and like everybody was so upset before my knee because sports was life, you know, and they just felt terrible for playing that joke on me. And then I got them back.

Damn. It's cold-blooded. Wow. Instant retribution. Instant retribution. And then everybody just feels bad. That's great. Yeah, I got them back really.

So that was probably my best prank. That people actually fell for. I've tried pranky people and they don't fall for that shit. They know how I work already. But yeah, this wedding was definitely going to be my masterpiece. Damn. cold-blooded. That's a veteran prank prankster right there. Turn the prank around, think they got you, and then make everyone feel terrible. Oh, that's it, man, very vindictive. That's why we like you.

That's why we're happy to have you on the show. Any other questions from our listeners, Casey? One moment. Now we know if you ever return, we should get more prank questions from our listeners. Oh, yeah. Like, yeah, what's everybody else's best prank? All right, we have a lot of 249 interest. So bring it one more, a couple more 249 questions. Ooh, which location should be the next place for the next UFC event? Hashty the A-Side from Phantom Mr. Stationary. Sorry, Pizzi's not on the show. But yes, there's supposed to be in Brooklyn.

Habib Tun was supposed to be in Brooklyn. And now Dana Weiss was trying to narrow everything down. Supposedly he was going to be on like an Indian reservation in Oklahoma. That might not, that went out the door. Supposedly it was going to take place in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. I know a lot of fighters are joking about having the fight on like a barge or like a warship or somewhere out in like in international waters. So if this event does happen, where should it happen? Alima?

I mean, I would say the reservation. So if they can find one, yeah, like what are the? They're supposedly Habib said that when he was told. who was going to take place overseas, he immediately flew there, but now he's hearing it might take place in the United States. So the story changed. Like, we're finding out more and more information every single day. So in two hours, this story could take another turn. I wake up and I'm expecting new news. So our answers are going to be outdated in like 60 minutes. So it's all up in the year. Anything is possible. I think no matter what happened, Habib had to go back

to Russia, Dagestan, last week. Because if he didn't go back right now, say they do do the fight in whatever, Florida, he's not going to be allowed to go back to Russia to see his family for who knows how long. Like, because all the borders, they're not allowing people in or out, especially not allowing people who are in the states

living in this pandemic. Russian citizens are not to go back there. So, I mean, this is a worldwide pandemic. This is just, this is just so much bigger than anyone pay-per-view. So it's kind of, it's kind of funny. It's kind of ridiculous. We're even given a serious thought, but here we are. But, I mean, he had to go back.

Otherwise, he just wouldn't be allowed back in the country for months. And that would be a much bigger situation, much bigger problem for Habib. I believe the president of Belarus is the only one. is saying everything is going on as planned. He's the one saying, I think he said vodka and like ice hockey or exercising will help you like get over the coronavirus. So if it's going to happen in the UK or in Europe, it would have to happen in Belarus because I think that's the only country that's not taking this overly seriously. Well, you know what's crazy is K1 just had that show in Saitama, Japan. They had a, the KFesta event.

And they took all kinds of precautions. I mean, they said they gave masks to everyone. They were kind of testing, you know, testing what they could, testing people's tempers, things like that. I think the local officials told them not to do the event, but they went through it anyway. And apparently it had a pretty good attendance. Now, I'm not saying it was a good idea. As far as we know that we don't know the fallout yet of hopefully there is none, but what could have happened from there? But I don't know if anyone might can look at Japan.

My brother's there and he says the government is telling people kind of to get back to normal life. They feel like they have it under control. Though he's also told me he doesn't believe that. So I don't know. I don't know if Dana Weiss looks at Japan, but maybe that's where a UFC event comes up soon. I have no clue. And Japan just suffered a big, I don't know if he kept up news, outside of MMA news, but a very big celebrity just died in Japan from the coronavirus.

Essentially, they're equivalent to Tom Hanks. That's from what I read. Like, imagine Tom Hanks actually died of coronavirus. Their kind of actor equivalent just died in Japan over there. So it was like a big deal going over there, over there, right? Big deal right now in Japan. A lot of people think Japan's take, because Japan's had kind of restrictions and they're kind of letting back.

But now that the Olympics are definitely postponed, I think they're going to start going much, much more hard line about it to just get it out. But, yeah, so I, maybe, yeah, Japan's a possibility, but I really doubt it to. And this is awesome. April 18th is so far. Like we said, one week feels like a month right now.

April 18th is still three weeks away, almost three weeks away. That feels so far away considering in about a week and a half what the U.S. is going to be like. It's going to be a completely different place. So, I mean, yay, pandemic. And then we still have a downer. Submission Underground just went down yesterday, right? They did. Yeah.

I'll stay. Yeah. I'll still up there. Correct. So I think they did, what did they do? Elbow touch at the beginning of each match. Yeah. So they elbow touch and then grapple to each other.

Yeah. It was held in an empty silo where actually Chelle doing the commentary did it from like across the street because like the just the spacing of everyone. Like it was, it was interesting. But it did feel underground in that sense. Sure. Did you feel successful? I watched it Yeah, I watched how they did

I wonder if their, yeah, viewings went up Oh, that's an intricate because nothing was, nothing is going on so it might be the only thing to watch I mean, I did get a notification for USC Fight Pass so that it was happening So if everyone is like fiending for combat sports And they see that notification

That's an interesting question I'd be curious how many people tuned in Watching it versus paying $70 to watch something is a big difference. Most people already had that fight pass subscription. I don't think people know paid, no signed up for, no yearly deal with them right then. I think they already had it.

But people forget, you still got to pay $70 to watch whatever fight they're going to throw on. So that's a big difference too. Yeah. But I just hope they do not, if they do have the fight, please do not have it anywhere in the United States. do not have in the United States because it's a fight. It's dangerous. And if someone gets injured, that means they're going to have to go to the ER.

And at that point in three weeks, every medical facility in this nation will be just a war zone. That's just going to be a reality in three weeks. And we know this. And to have a fight that could potentially take away medical personnel, medical resources, medical energy for a freaking in prize fight that we're doing by choice seems just very reckless. So unless they have to fight in some country where they just don't have an issue right now,

the country of Antarctica maybe, I don't know. Got to get that last continent. Yeah, I got to get the last one. Check it off. So can you tell me in your opinion, like, why, what would the UFC's argument be for continuing to put these fights on?

Is it to like boost the morale of Yes. Dana says that, well, Dana's been very like, I don't know what's the word. Like, I think one of the quotes was, he goes, in a call, in like a couple months, we're going to look back at this and be shocks that we stopped everything because of this. And then he compared it to like, it's like cancer. You're going to get it like regardless. So like might as well be happy or something like that. And we're like that, you can't get cancer by like shaking hands with someone. Like that's not how it works. But he's basically saying like we have to, we want to bring events to people. because they're stuck inside and depressed,

and we want to bring some sort of entertainment. Correct me if I'm wrong, Casey and Alex. That's the, I mean, that's the mindset I've seen from him. Yeah, that's something to that effect as well as, of course, saying, like, look, I want to pay my fighters and I want to pay my staff, but these people can't get paid unless we run these events, which, of course, again, we know is probably not true. I imagine they have enough money that they could afford to take care of these people,

at least for one event or at least a few events. But I don't know the UFC's exact finances, So I shouldn't say that's speculation, but based on kind of what we know in common sense, it does feel like they could kind of, quote unquote, do the right thing here and look at to the fighters and staff. But as for, again, yeah, I think it's really the entertainment factor. And also, Dana White, look, he's a prideful man. He sees this as a battle that he wants to win.

So if you're saying, how's it's a positive for everyone? I'm not sure. How's it's positive for Dana White? I mean, it'll be another, it'll be another, notion of spell to be against the event going. Yeah. I mean, he's already canceled three events. I mean, he's canceled events already. I don't know what the difference is right now.

For some reason, 249 just has us, I get it. We want to see it. Sorry, Alema. People live. No, like so, and the whole entertainment factor, like Bellator, I believe it was this past weekend. They had showed for free one of their, I forget what card it is, Mitrione was on it. he was a headliner, but they had show, I don't know if it's this weekend or next weekend,

but anyway, they're showing one of their best cards for free to viewers. You know, and they asked me like, oh, would you be able to, you know, just get the word out that we're showing this? So, I mean, like, yeah, they're trying, you know, they're still trying to, like, entertain people who are at home, but they're doing it responsibly. So I don't know. If Dana was really, I guess, honest or like true, if what he said was really true that like, oh, we're doing it to, you know, entertain audiences, we're stuck at home, then he would definitely find other ways to do that that were responsible and safe. Yeah, I know they've been putting a lot of their fights for free on YouTube, like a lot of their big fights and they've been trying to make it some sort of interactive, like vote for the greatest knockout. And then they'll show like knockouts and stuff like that.

But I think Alex kind of hit it on the head where he's like, when someone tells Dana to cancel a big event, it's going to make him just want to put it on even more. We've seen this a thousand times where some people will be like, Dana, you can't do that. And then he goes, watch me. And then he just tries to do it. So I think that Dana's ego plays a big factor into this. Because if this wasn't Habib Tony, we might be talking about a different story. If this was the UFC Oklahoma card or the UFC Lincoln Nebraska card coming up, it might be a, we might. might not be having this argument.

Yeah. Another question from Trumbo. One more, one more weight cuts. If 249 and 250 go forward, UFC 249, UFC 250 go forward. What do you think the odds are the fighters who have tough weight cuts, Habib Aldo, and Aldo, for example, are unable to make weight due to lack of resources and structure? I'd say pretty high. Or are they diminished versions of themselves?

So I'll ask the person on this chat with professional fighting experience. If you're in camp and all of a sudden you can't go to your gym, you've now had your resources like the comments or Trumbo said, like taken away, are you a diminished version of yourself? Considering you don't have your training partners around you, you probably don't have the environment of a gym. You're not cutting weight as usual. You're left to your own devices in your own home or your own garage as we saw Jessica Andrade training. So yes, if you're in camp right now, how diminished are you going into a fight? So I actually think it's not going to affect them because at that level of fighters, we tend to keep our training circles small anyway.

You know, we're not training. I mean, it could, it varies case by case. But I would think that those guys keep their training circles small. And the fact that they're still going through with the fight, I would think that their training partners and whoever they're. working with their coaches probably have that same mentality as they do that like yeah whatever's we're going to do it we're going to go through with it so i actually don't think that it is that it's affected them and you know we were actually um like they still trust me they still have access to their

gyms uh it's just not gyms are just not like they legally have access to their gyms you know gyms are just not supposed to be open for business as to my understanding you know um not open to the public. But they're still going to be able to go inside their gyms and train just as long as it's under 10 people and it's not like things are being regulated at this point. At least in my experience in San Diego, it's not being strictly regulated. So I don't know where these other fighters are training at. But I actually don't think that it's going to affect them. Alayma, what's kind of the worst or like most unorthodox training camp like preparation you've ever had? And do you recall it affecting your performance when you had to go out there?

The most unorthodox. You know, all my training camps have been the same because I have been with the same gym and the same team from my res fights all the way up to, you know, my championship title fights. I've had the same, I've had the same coach. I would say possibly I fought with an injury, so that was probably been my most unorthodox camp.

like we stopped sparring six weeks out from my fight just because of my injury and I was just freaking on the treadmill, you know, just focusing on the weight cut. So it's still doable, you know. And I would say, you know, like in Liz's case, hers is a very special case, Liz Karmouche, because, you know, her family is considered as part of the highest risk demographic of contracting the virus. Yeah, so she's actually, this, this has definitely affected her training. But Liz is also a machine. She's a freaking beastly green who also won't take no for an answer.

So she's, trust me, she's finding a way to still get in her training. I've been watching her stories and like she's literally training in their little living room. But she's getting it in. You know, she's, the coronavirus isn't going to stop her. So I'm not worried. I'm not too worried about her. because again at this point, you know, they know how to fight. They know what they're doing.

And I think that their small circle, their team is still going to be there for them. And they still have access to their training facilities. Now, Limu, we got a more specific Bellator question here. This was from the YouTube comments, always exciting. This is from Random Combat Fan. Would Bellator benefit more if they had a ranking system? And this probably pertains to you specifically because, I mean, you would know, have a better idea of who you might face next.

So what do you think about a ranking system and what kind of info do you guys have now when it comes to that sort of thing? My ego would love a ranking system because I know I would be at the top, but do they really count? Like, does the UFC follow the ranking system in terms of matchups? That is an excellent question that we ask every single week. Doesn't even matter. I really feel like rankings and still don't wish it. So, but I would love to see my name at the top.

But again, that's just my ego. So you don't think it would serve any practical use as far as like you'd see like, oh, to, you know, the top three, at least I know it's going to be from that top three because you're not, I mean, you just don't know if circumstances would dictate who you're actually fighting next. Yeah, I don't think it would be practical use. I mean, unless you consider like me being able to use that status or, you know, better promote myself or like, you know, accolade, sponsorships, whatever. But, yeah, again, I don't think, and it's like, I think ranking systems are. quad anyway so i actually like how bellator does the gront prix and that like you can't argue with it you can't argue with the tournament like i just asked stephen thompson this one like the top five at welterway where all had an argument to fight for the title next i'm like well if you guys had a tournament right now

you can't argue with i win i fight for the title yeah and how did you like the way that they did the collection oh i loved it casey was like Casey was there and he was like slacking me he's like best thing right now. He's like, I'm like, I can't wait for this video and he's like, the UFC has to do this, but they never will. Yeah, no. I was actually doing flight analysis for that card and so I was able to like run off stage and be able to sit in the audience and watch it and it was just like, it was so yeah. So I know that Uncle Scott wants to do a tournament for my division. Yes. Hopefully they follow that format should we go through with it because I thought that was just

freaking awesome I would also get the wild card I would get like the last you know so hopefully like that people or people we had a question like weeks ago like how could you like if the ultimate fighter ever came back

how would you fix it I was like use Bellator's like that style to pick the matchups because that was so just fun to watch because like we didn't know like then the like you said the wild card and everything it just it created more storylines

for the fighters before their fights. Yeah. Yeah. So those were, I know that they also moved to the Mohican Sun card that they had to cancel

what had two of the tournament. Yeah. And so they were, that was the last round of the quarter finals. There were two fights on there. So I know that they moved those fights.

I think they moved it to the Chicago card or something like that. But yeah, those are, so yeah, those are the only fights that were like, crap.

Like, how are they going to move forward in the tournament, you know, without those ones? So, but I, again, I'm not, I haven't really been following everything very closely. So I'm not, you guys probably know more about that than I do. Well, I like the rankings, but I like Grand Prix better if I had a choice. All right. Oh, more questions. Do we have any more cases? We got a special one.

We got a special question, and this will be read by, Mr. Alex Saving. Oh, boy. A dramatic reading. Dramatic reading. There we go. Dramatic reading. This is specifically for a, Lima. They don't really need our answer. This is from

Dakiru Ducks, Buru Buru 2020 from Twitter. Is Alima aware she would probably lose to Jessica I when she pretends to call out Valentina Shavchenko? So Alima, what's your response to that and really kind of trolls in general? What does that even mean?

When I pretend to, wait, is she saying that I'm pretending to call Valentina or Jessica I is? Like the ground is stirring me off? This question is baffling to me, too. I will translate. I will translate. I do speak troll.

Do you, like, when you, when you've, I guess you've mentioned Valentina in interviews before, probably you've been asked about her. When you mention her, I mean, do you even think, why do you even, it's kind of, why do you even mention her when you would probably lose to like Jessica I or one of the other contenders? So like, why? Why? Really, there should be a why in there. Okay, okay.

So why would I mention Valentina? Well, you're right. People ask me about her all the time. She is the UFC flyweight champion. And I think that every time that people have asked me about her, I've answered very honestly. My answer is always like, well, first of all, cross-promotion would never happen.

It's just won't happen. That's not the UFC's business model. It's just not going to happen. So whatever. But when they asked me, like, well, how do you think you would do against her? My answer is always the same. It's always nine out of ten times Valentina would be. me. But all I need is that one chance, like that one out of ten shot that, you know, anything can

happen in a fight. And I say that with like the utmost respect for Valentina. Like she's a freaking monster. She's been doing this her whole life. And she's what I would consider a lifelong year-round mixed martial artists. But we're just two different people. Like I haven't been, I've been doing it for a fraction of the amount of time. I've been fighting for the fraction amount of time that she has. I don't really feel like I need to prove myself against it. Again, I'm like, I don't give a shit about my, I mean, I give a shit about my legacy, but not in the sport. I feel like I've already done a lot for the sport, and I've done a lot for the causes that I care about.

And I think Valentina is an amazing fighter. I think she's one of the best in the world. But I also think that if it weren't for me, she wouldn't be the flyweight champion. And I'm going to explain why. Because Bellator called us in 2015 when I went pro and they said, hey, we want to start up a new flyweight division. Great. At the time, the UFC didn't have the flyweight division at all. But we started a division and I started climbing the ranks.

I started winning every fight. I was like putting myself out there. I was on everybody's radar. All of a sudden, well, Uncle Scott said, okay, by the end of 2017, we're going to crown a flyweight champion for the women. All of a sudden, the UFC cancels the original tough, which was supposed to be what, like 145 girls or something like that,

or like some shit, it was like half girls, half boys. They cancel that. even though fighters had already bought their tickets out, you know, for the tryouts and already made accommodations, they canceled that like a few weeks before it was supposed to happen and said, okay, scratch that. We're doing a flyweight women's, the ultimate fighter, and we're going to crown a champion by December, whatever. You know, that was when the finale was going to be.

So, and again, I say this at the utmost respect, if it weren't for me and if it weren't for Uncle Scott, like, saying like, fuck, we need a crown champion because these girls are freaking, you know, this division is ready for it. Lima's climbing the ranks. Like, she could be the next champion. If it were for me, the UFC wouldn't have tried to, you know, again, Uncle Dana's ego is like, well, no, we want to crown it first, you know? So I think it's pretty obvious that that was what happened. And that's why the UFC started a flyweight division for the women, even though for freaking years, they have been crying. for a flyweight division, but he's like, no, no, it's not going to happen. Oh, but then all of a sudden, Bellator is doing it. Okay, we're going to do it. So I say, yeah, you're welcome, Valentina.

Wow. So we've got a Lima on record. Max Holloway is a fake Hawaiian who doesn't write the own captain. I didn't say that out there. The fake line was our wording, but I'm just saying this is up in here. And Valentina Shepchenko would be nothing without me, I think, something to that effect. So then our first. You do speak troll.

You're very, very trolley. Yeah, I translate it to troll. Yes, it turns it backwards in troll. Our first champion and clearly our most inflammatory guest yet. Wow. Max, I'm so, I feel like that came out totally wrong. It was more of a backhanded compliment that like your captions are very, are very well-written. Did you call her inflammatory, Alex?

I don't think anyone has ever used that to describe a lima in her life. So controversial. Yeah. Well, that was it for questions, right, Case? Yeah, we're up on the hour. Yeah, we're up on the hour. So thanks to everyone for tuning in to watching the special Monday edition. Thanks to Alima for joining us.

I know last week there were some miscommunications. But as always, the guest of the hour gets to plug, promo, say whatever he or she wants before signing off. So Elima, the floor is yours to say whatever you want. Again, Max, I'm really sorry if you... Valentina. I love you. But in all seriousness, you know, I just, I want to offer words of support and aloha to everybody during this crazy-ass time. You know, to be totally honest, I didn't think it was going to get this gnarly.

But I want to also tell everyone to, you know, just try to look at this as a time for self-improvement and healing and spending time with loved ones and we're all going to get through this if we just remain calm and help each other and stick together. We'll all get through this. And shout out to Bellator. I love you guys. I'm your girl. Thank you for taking care of us. That's it. Well, well said. Well, well said. Well, we'll be back for another special, the ordinary regular time on Wednesday, 1 p.m. Eastern 10 a.m. Pacific Alema. I hope you can join us down the road when the future is hopefully a little brighter, and we're not going through a pandemic. But thanks so much for joining us. That's Alex. That's Casey, everyone's favorite soy boy, hipster, cutie boy, whatever you want to call him.

And I'm Jose. We'll see you on Wednesday. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.