MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat w/ Urijah Faber

Episode Date: July 24, 2019

On this episode of The A-Side Live Chat, José Youngs is joined by UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber as they look ahead to UFC 240, discuss the state of the bantamweight & featherweights divisions, react to Henry Cejudo's callout while also talk T.J. Dillashaw, Cody Garbrandt, Dominick Cruz, Frankie Edgar, Max Holloway and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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may help take care of aches and pains, as well as relieve anxiety and sleeplessness. Healthnetics products are all natural, THC-free, made in the USA, and undergo third-party lab testing to ensure quality and purity. All CBD is not the same. Order today with a money-back guarantee at healthnetics.com and use promo code sports for 20% off. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What is Up? Fighting Universe, Jose Yonge with M.A.Fighting.com with another episode of the A-Sty We've been teasing this all morning, and I'm really excited to bring in my co-host. U.S.C. Hall of Famer, Uriah of favor.

Recently came back, had a big knockout win over Ricky Cimon at U.S.C. Sacramento. Uriah, welcome to the A-side. Thanks, brother. Thanks for having me. And this is live, of course, so people can tune in. And if you do have questions for myself or obviously you have questions for Uri, you can use hashtag the A-side or leave a comment in the comment section on the channel. But I've already looked through.

There are a lot of questions. obviously because this is a Hall of Famer is a co-host. I've narrowed it down to a few specifically for Uriah. But we're going to jump right in the questions. The first one from Eduardo Bueno. Mr. Faber, what's next for Cody Gargant and Sage? Are they coming back soon also? Did the UFC contact you about what's next after the Simone bout?

Cheers. You know, UFC didn't contact me about what's next after the Simone fight. Dana and I went back and forth just on text message, messing around, talking crap to each other, and he congratulated me, and we just chit-chatted, but not about the future necessarily. As far as Sage and Cody goes, Cody is about healed up. Sage has little ways to go. Sage can't work out right now because of the surgery he had. His face is still healing. I mean, you can't really tell. He looks fine, but there's just a bunch of stuff that needs to be healed.

there so he's he's waiting for now and um cody's been looking good in practice he's been in uh as of late especially he's all healed up he had a uh wrist injury that was bugging him and and uh so now he's back in the mix and i'm not sure what's up next for him he said whatever it takes whoever is standing the way of getting this belt that's what he said does he have a a fight card in mind i know they have that big new c san francisco card i'm sure he'd rather to fight in the NorCal area. I think, I think, you know, Cody likes to go big. I think Madison Square Garden would be a good one.

You know, he always likes the biggest opportunities. And so, you know, that one's a little ways off. But I think he should be ready. Right on, right on. Well, we're going to move on. From another person that leaves many a comment every episode, but life is kicking my butt. Mr. Faber, given that a single eye poke could render a fighter

crippled for life via nail cut puncture, etc. Do you think MMA promotions and or athletic commissions should enforce a rule that nails must be cut smooth before an MMA bout with open gloves? I'd love to hear your thoughts. They actually do. They check your nails. They check your nails before every fight. That's like the last thing they do.

They check your mouthpiece, your cup, and they feel your nails. Like when you see a referee right before you walk in the octagon, grab your hands, they are checking your nails. So it is a rule and the best officials always do it. So moving on, I think this is another question. I think you'll have a lot of thoughts on from Milo of Crowe and I'm again, sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. He asked a lot of questions about, hi guys. Is Sohudo versus Amanda Nunes one of the biggest fights the UFC could possibly put on?

And would the novelty of a male versus female cage fight make it the biggest fight in UFC history? Thanks. I mean, this obviously isn't going to happen. But what do you think about all of these hypothetical situations about Henry Sehudo, man? You've had some words with on Twitter and possibly fighting UFC Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. I doubt a Nunes would mind. She's kind of a gangster. And I mean, there are some differences in men and women. That's why they don't usually compete together. But, you know, if anyone were the, the one that would do it.

I bet Amanda could hang. Now, Suhudo is a very rare animal, Olympic gold medalist, two-time division champion as well. So, I mean, definitely Henry would have, would be the favorite. But Amanda doesn't strike me as a type of person would back down from my Henry Sehudo. So what did you make of? I think the last time we heard a lot of this male versus female comparison was when Rhonda was running through the division. and everyone wanted her to fight either. They wanted her to fight Flynn-made with it

or they wanted her to fight another bansom weight. So as a fighter, when you hear all these fans calling for this, what goes through your head? Well, you know, first off, you want to get some negative press for our sport, have guys and girls beating each other up. That's what I thought, first and foremost. And then secondly, you know, I wouldn't want to mess with a girl.

Girls can definitely beat up guys. it's no question. Girls are the toughest people on the planet, birthing children and putting up with all the crap they put up with. We must jerks. I won't want to mess with a chick. We're way outmatched. Especially Amanda Nunes, who's headkicking everybody.

But moving on. What we got, man, we have a lot of questions coming through. All right. Okay. All right. Zaku Kokegi, Uriya, training versus parenting. What is it like training at a high class level and also being a parent to a newborn? Congrats on the great comeback.

Hope to see you soon. You know, training's definitely a different kind of animal than parenting. I haven't gotten to the real tough part yet. Our baby's been super easy as far as the sleeping goes. So that was the big worry. But, you know, training at the highest level is super. super demanding. You're getting beat up. You're having to train when you don't want to. You're always a little bit injured. You're hungry. You're sore all the time. You know, being a parent

is demanding, absolutely, but it's kind of the same kind of thing. It's about passion. You have passion for the sport. That's why you do it. You have passion for the next generation and your little baby. So there are some similarities there. You know, they can pay me just to make a bunch of kids. I might do that, you know. So obviously a lot of your teammates seem alpha male guys have had kids in the past. Cody, like TJ has a kid. I believe Chad Mendez also had a kid. Did they tell you anything? Or when you're watching them go through this new parenting experience, did that prepare you for when you had your child?

Well, I've seen this play out enough times. I may not know firsthand what to expect, but you've seen it play out with your teammates. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, you just see the level of joy and commitment it brings to the guys. And, yeah, Danny Castillo just had his baby boy, and Chad had his girl, and Cody, of course. And, you know, we've got guys, Angela Trevino and Joseph Morales, guys that start me with me, and they're little kids who basically, you know, started the family before I did. So it was cool to see the progression with everyone having kids. And, you know, you learn a little bit, but you don't really. I know until you're right in front of a baby and how you're going to feel and everything else.

And it's been awesome. Are you going to be one of the parents that allows their kids to go to fights? I know some fighters don't want their kids to go. Either A, it would be past their bedtime or B, they wouldn't want to see their kid, watch them, maybe fight another human being inside of an Octagon. I'll cross that bridge when we get there. I mean, we definitely didn't have her come to my fight at this time. I'm not against it necessarily.

I'm not like for it. I didn't really thought about it. But I think our baby girl is going to be pretty exposed to the sport. She comes in and watches boxing and, you know, boxing sparring in the gym or, you know, comes in and watches this role of jihitsu. So when I'm at home watching fights, she'll be sitting there with me. So it's not going to be a strange thing for her. I think it'll be something that she's probably super used to.

So maybe, maybe not. Sure. Well, another technique question from our friend, SJY, flying knees. We saw another flying knee KO last night on Dana White's Tuesday, our contender series, is the flying knee, the technique du jour. Is the great equalizer to the double-leg takedown? Could Dustin hit Habib with one and end Habib's reign as champ? Cheers, thanks from SJY. So, yes, a lot of flying knees are in the highlight reels lately.

We famously saw Corey Mazve, we score that five-second K over Ben Asgren. And is this, is, could that be a possibility in the Dustin Habit fight? And is that really the great equalizer for the double up takedown like our friend SJY is asking? Well, flying knees have always been an awesome, awesome tool. I think, you know, properly set up to takedowns is kind of the, the anti-flying knee. You know, we see a lot of guys getting desperate for a takedown. That's when you're in super, super danger of the, those kind of tools,

uppercuts, flying knees, up kicks, just a pure level change in general can help snuff a double leg, but Abib is getting good with his hands too, and he's got to be

continually working on that, I would think. You saw him Rock Connor when they fought, which was just a small part of the beating that he gave, but you know i i don't think kabb is going to be just be fall into getting desperate for a takedown he's

going to be putting super pressure with his hands and just with his face and um i predicted it won't be a flying knee that that finishes that fight and and uh you know the the sport is always seen the flying knees it is a great tool against double legs but a properly set up double leg or uh you know different attack might be the key to fight the flying knee. Sure. And sticking with this theme of wrestlers going into the Ben Ashgren, another question. Good afternoon, Jose, and good morning, you're right, if you are in California. Rumor has it, Ben Ascran versus Damien Maia is being discussed.

At first I thought Damien was too low in the rankings for Ben to fight, but I'm not sure if a fight versus other top welterweids coming off losses like RDA or Wonderboy would be a good match with Ben stylistically. Do you think Damien Maia is the right fight for Ben Ascran, and is this a must win for both fighters? Damien Maia is a super specialized guy when it comes to Jitsu and Askin's super, super specialized in wrestling. I think that would be a super, like for me, that would be a really interesting match. I'd love to see that.

And I don't think, you know, a guy like Maya has been around so long, anything that you give that guy he's deserving of. I don't care about rankings or anything else. He's a warrior. He's put in his time. He's, he's, uh, he's a guy that's earned every opportunity. So, you can put him against anyone in the world right now and, and I wouldn't have a call on with saying he's deserved it. So, uh, yeah, I'd like to see that matchup. I think it'd be a good, a good, uh, matchup also for, for Ascran to get his head straight. I mean, you get, you get rock like you did. That, that's, that's a jarring. hit to the brain. I'd like to see him do a strategic matchup against two masters of the crafts.

I'd love to see it, and I don't think the rankings has anything to do with that matchup. Now, if that fight does happen and say it's a five-round fight, who would you favor in a five-round as opposed to a three-round? The grappler, like you said, Damien Maher, or the elite-level wrestler, like Ben Aspen. You know, I've got to go back and watch Asken's fights and see his finishing moves. you know, I'm not sure how he's progressed as a jih Tzu player. I know he has a great, a great jiu-jitsu instructor out there with Duke Rufus, Daniel Vandale.

He's my boy, big dog, they call him. So I know he'll be prepared, absolutely. And, you know, the wrestling is more of, you know, is more of a control thing. If Ashton can find a way to do damage in that situation. and that would be the question. But, you know, Jiu-Jitsu can either noify wrestling or get wrestlers in trouble that haven't done their homework.

So if Ben isn't taking it serious, I think there's a better chance of him getting caught than him catching Maya. Right. And, I mean, I just want to watch that fight as a stylistic matchup. I can't agree with you enough. But another interesting question from our friend Lodovic.

I don't know if you watch the UFC San Antonio fights, but the Francisco Trinaldo versus Alexander Hernandez was a little controversial in the eyes of the fans. Alexander Hernandez got the decision win, but Francisco Trinaldo was very adamant that he won, and I think a lot of people agreed with him. So someone is asking how we scored the fight. I personally thought Francisco Chernaldo won, but part of the question is, but even more interesting to me is that Francisco Trinaldo asked the UFC to get his win bonus even though he lost. I wonder, does the UFC actually do that?

paying a fighter his win bonus after a controversial decision. I think Shogun got his win money after his first fight against Machita, but I thought that was an exception. Any chance that Francisco Charnaldo could see this money? Also, thanks to your eye for joining our community. We haven't seen that coming in a million years. So are you talking about the final bite on the contender series, right? No, this was the UFC San Antonio.

Francisco Chirnoldo lost to Alexander Hernandez. and a lot of people believe Francisco Trinaldo won, and he's now asking for his win bonus, even though he didn't pick up the W. Basically, he's asking, is that something the UFC could possibly do or have you heard anything like that happening? You know, Dana is actually a really good guy,

and he'll do that kind of stuff out of the kindness of his heart sometimes. It's funny because you have mixed reviews on Dana throughout the years, but somebody that's worked with him for a lot of years, I just know he's a real fair guy. And if he thinks something himself, he'll probably do it. Now, going and asking for it is a different animal. He doesn't like to be held up, that's for sure. So it'll all come.

I didn't see the fight. I don't know how big of a rip-off it was. If it was like a blatant, blatant miscall. And Dana was like, man, I can't believe that. I thought so-and-so-one. He'll probably end up hooking the guy up. asking for it is not necessarily the best way with these guys and what I've seen. I've always tried to ask for my guys to get the fight-in-night bonus or everything else.

It might backfire, actually. So regardless, I bet he gets some sort of check in the mail. His win bonus, probably not his win bonus, but he'll probably get some sort of bonus. Dana is the type of dude that will reward a good fight and will reward guys that put it all out there. So don't take to Twitter and ask for your win bonus is what you're saying. Yes. Maybe have your manager mention it on the DL, but don't, because you know what's going to happen. This guy goes out and calls people, says it on social media.

If he gets it, then he thinks Dana or whatever. Then you're going to have every guy that thinks he want to fight knocking on Dana's door and asking him for his money and then get mad if he doesn't do it. it's like a little kindness can can backfire sometimes. So, you know, do that stuff on the deal. Right. Well, moving on. Another question from our friend, Life is kicking my butt.

This is a long-term birds-eye view question, but do you think there will be any mergers between MMA promotions in the next two years? If you think yes, do you think any MMA promotions, which MMA promotions do you think will merge or which ones do you think should merge? I think famously, LFA was a merger, correct? or I think it was like RFA and LFC kind of merged into LFA, but do you see any MMA promotions merging down the road? It just kind of depends.

You know, there's a lot of things going on politically with the OLLI Act. If you guys don't know what that is, it's basically an act that went in. I think early 2000s that made every boxing match a bidding war in some way, shape or form something to that tune. But I think it'll kind of depend on what happens. in that regard, because I know that they've been fighting with the UFC for a lot of years on the Allie Act and that kind of, you know, stuff stops monopolies. You know, there's a time where UFC bought pride.

They brought WC. They bought Strike Force. They bought, like, all these organizations and then either folding them up or promoted them for a little bit. So as far as mergers go, it's possible. I feel like World Series of Fighting that is now professional fighters league, PFL, has a really good relationship with the UFC. I don't know if they're merged or have this a good relationship. I know they're also on ESPN.

So I wouldn't put it past some mergers happening or at least some cross promotions, but I don't know which organizations it would be. Right. Well, I can't, I think I know Risen does a lot cross promotion, but I believe they've been on record. saying they're more of a federation, but I know they want to work with KSW and they want to work with Belator. I hear there's a rumor of them doing this big Belator versus rising card, maybe at the end of the year where they do champion versus champion. Would you be interested in the UFC ever doing that?

I know we spoke to KSW president, Martin Levin Daski, and he doesn't see it ever happening, and Scott Coker doesn't see co-promotion with you if you ever happening, not because they don't want to, but because they just said the UFC doesn't need. They just understand the UFC will probably say no. Yeah, but you never know. You never count anything out when you're looking at the UFC. You know, Dana, although they have a massive company behind them, they've been bought and everything else,

Dana still has a lot of leeway to make exciting things happen. And as you saw with Floyd, he's not afraid to make a buck and get outside the box with a Floyd-Connor fight. Also, if you look back to the Pride era, Dana took Chuck Liddell over and was like, all right, let's do this. And he had, I think Dana was even maybe in the corner. I can't remember, but he had him fight Al-Sar over him and a couple other guys over there in pride. So, you know, it's not out of the question in this day and age and this climate, most likely not going to happen.

But you never say never in this sport. It's a crazy sport. Yeah, I think that was the first loss too. rampage Jackson during he he entered one of the grand prix and chuck lost and they actually they interviewed dana white sitting ringside and he was like well chucked in a stick to the game plan and this and that so he was pretty embedded into that uh into that fight camp but moving on um uh right we have a lot of questions coming in for you uh frankie this seems for uc 240 is obviously saturday so we we should talk about that frankie edger this seems like a horrible matchup for

frankie because of max's reach but what are the keys to victory for frankie this week And if he gets the win, do you think it's a crazy idea for him to either go down and fight Henry Suhudo? No offense, Jariah, or go back up to fight Habib. His wrestling could nullify the takedowns of Habib and Henry, making it a boxing match, or I think he might have the advantage despite age and mileage. So Frank Edgar is fighting Saturday against Max Holloway in a fight that's Van Brung for a long time here in Edmonton. Henry Suhudo, he talks a lot about Frankie Edgar whenever we interview him. He doesn't bring on Max Holloway, but he brings up.

Frankie Edgar. So what are the keys for Frankie and who would you like should he go up or down if he does one? Well, first off, Frankie is such a vet, man. I went up just because I was bored before I retired and went and fought him in the Philippines at 145 pounds and we had a good fight. I think the key for for Frankie is he needs to be elusive against Max. Max is a much bigger guy than Frankie. I know because I know Max outside of his fight camps how big he gets, 180, you know, close to 190,

I'll bet. As a 45-pounder at his heaviest and he's got that Simone blood. He's also just an output machine. I mean, his output's crazy and Frankie's kind of in the same boat. So Frankie has to strategically land

some takedowns and then use some real control. And which I think he can do, you know, he's not he's a much more accomplished wrestler than Max. I'm not sure on the jih Tijuana how they match up, but Frankie needs to do clinch work. He needs to be super fast and elusive on the outside. He needs to be all the way out or all the way in

because that boxing know-how of Max and high output, along with the reach and the size, they're all going to be factors for him. So, I mean, he's definitely an underdog. I'd love to see Frankie get that, of course, because, you know, he's got such a history and he's such a tough kid. But at the end of the day, you know, time and abuse on the brain through training and fighting and everything else, I still think that that's on the side of Max. He's the younger, fresher guy.

and if that were to happen, I think Suhudo wants to go up. I mean, Sehudo's a great matchup for Frankie, to be honest. That high-calibur wrestling and he keeps a high pace, he can take a punch. And Seharto wants to do big things. You know, he's being smart about this. If he could go get three, be the first ever, the youngest ever Olympic gold medalist, get two belts, or 25, 35, then get up to 45. I mean, that's, that's, you couldn't ask for anything more.

So I would say, don't even let Frankie go down, let, you know, make Henry go up, let Henry go up, I should say. Well, sticking to that theme, we had a question that came in and says, please give your top three, the top three lineup, possible matchups for Uriah. So I think they're asking who would you like to see these fighters fight when they, for their next fight? It's T.J., Dominic Cruz, and Henry Sehudo. So which three fighters would you like to see those three fight?

I think I can guess who you want, Henry, or Hudado, to fight. Yeah, I like to get my hands on Henry. I mean, to be honest, he called me out. I answered. I mean, I first answered with action and then voicing. I didn't say anything when he called me out because I wasn't necessarily in a position to do so. But I am on a two-fight win streak, undefeated for over four years, maybe, three years. Right.

A big layoff helped out in that. Sure. No, I'd like to see that with Henry. I'd also like to see a Frankie fight with Henry. That'd be cool. For Dominant Cruz, you know, I think Dominic Cruz needs to school some of these young guys. You know, someone was just, Al Jemaine Sterling was just talking about how could I fathom going up and fighting Henry when I lost to it's Frankie Rivera or Jimmy Rivera whatever his name is by ankle kicks and he beat him and I'm like dude

Marlon knocked you out then Henry just got his got got a massive win over him you know the MMA math doesn't doesn't stack up so Dominic Cruz is a great match up against Al Jamein's stand up is still not where it needs to be Dominic is a great wrestler and super elusive I think an Al Jemaine dominant cruise fight would be good. And then for T.J., I'd like them to fight a lie detector test because that guy's a pathological liar. And get the real story of what he's been doing over these years. You know, that'd be the fight for him.

That'll be a few years away, though, so after his suspension. But a name no one's really throwing around is Peter Jan still out there. I know he wants to fight Al Jermaine possibly for an inch. If Henry goes back down to fight Joseph Benavitas, your former teammate, Peter Young has been calling for an interim title fight against Altramaine Sterling. What do you think of another interim belt possibly being added to the Bantamate Division? Where do you think his path lies if this situation that you've laid out goes down? Peter Yan, man, he's a savage, great boxing.

I think his biggest attribute is he's had years and years and years of combat in boxing, but that can also add up. You know, those guys that have had years of boxing experience, they also, the chins go quicker. They're harder hit because they're so accustomed to battle. So it takes a good guy to really land one on an experienced guy like that. I'm still curious to see how he was grappling. I think him and Al Jermaine, with the grappling exchange,

Al Jamein has got to have a massive advantage. And Peter Yan has a massive advantage. on the feet, I would say. So, and as far as athleticism goes, you know, I'd lean towards Al Jamein. And as far as just being a gritty fighter, I'd stay young. So that's an interesting matchup, but that guy's not going anywhere. He's still young in the sport. He's got plenty of time.

You know, I can see in the future of the fight against Song Yadong in Peter Yon, song is also a savage with his hands, and he's a big fighter for the weight class, and his athleticism and skill set is unbelievable. People don't have him in the rankings, aren't talking much about him right now, but believe me, that Song Yadong is going to be a force in this weight class, and you've seen it.

He's got four fights in the O.C, $350,000 bonuses, massive knockout power. And people haven't even seen his grappling yet. His grappling is high, high level. So, you know, no one's calling out Song Yadong, that's for sure. I haven't heard one person call him out, and that's wise. Be smart, my friends. And we spoke to him back stage at UC 239,

and he said that you call him the future champion all the time in training camp. Those were his words. And they reminded me of you said the same thing about TJ, and you said the same thing about Cody Garbrandt, and they both became champion. So where does Song Yadong compare those two when they were at this state? You know, as the sport goes on, you're getting younger and younger guys that are more, you know, well-rounded in mixed martial arts.

So, you know, Cody is still, I'm still calling out Cody as a champion. Cody is, he's just got to have a good night, a good camp, and stay healthy and decide that he wants to go right now. And that's completely up to him. So, you know, you've got to see Song and Cody, it's, it's, they, they just need to take a break after going with each other. It's nasty. But as far as skill set goes, song is 22. He is a kid that basically has gone wherever he can, trying to get an advantage in his training.

He'd go and save his money and go to Singapore and go to a seminar. He'd go to, you know, he came to us when he was maybe three years ago, came to our train with Tam program, just showed up, didn't speak any English, and, spent time with us and got a feel for okay, like where he needed to be, left, came back. But his history is he's been a lifetime mixed martial artist. So he was in one of those big schools where he had to ask his parents, I think probably had to pay for him to be in an eight, eight hour a day, like training facility where they line up all the kids and they have dukas and all that and they spar all day and all this stuff. that was when he was 10, 11 years old.

I mean, he's a lifetime martial artist, and he's really good at all aspects of it. And, yeah, I told T.J. the same thing. I told Cody the same thing. And, I mean, I call it how I see it. If I see other champions, there's a kid in our gym, Calaio Romero. He works harder than anyone, man.

I have to kick him out of the gym. He's four-in-one right now. He's a guy that's really got some great potential. and we've got another guy, Alexander Munoz, that he beat Nick Newell on the contender series. He's another guy that's in that. But, you know, I take these guys that already know that they're champions and their mindset, and I reinforce it by saying, I see the same thing, man. And me and Cody had some great talks when I just said, bro, you got the best.

You know, when he first came, I'm like, man, your hands have got to be the best in the division right now. Like right when he first started. You know, he's been working with his uncle, boss. since he was a little kid and he's, you know, been perfecting the power and all that kind of stuff. But Song is a dangerous guy. And, yeah, I tell him he's a champion because he needs to believe that. He needs to be thinking there, along with anyone else that's in this sport. How much do you have to pull the reins back on these young fighters?

Because you said you've had to tell people to go away. Is overtraining or like a legitimate thing you have to talk to these guys this early in the career? Because I imagine them being so young, they don't feel the aches and pains from the garage. minds over the years. So, yeah, how much do you have to pull them back when they're that young? A lot. And I remember first off, and I tell the story to the team all the time when when song was coming out, I think it was probably a second and a third time coming out. And he was in every single practice. And we offer a lot at our gym. It's like a university. So you could get there at 7 a a.m. and go with Slava Borshov, who's a world champion kickboxer. Then you can do a drill session with

myself, Lee Kemp and Mike, Michael Malat at 745. Then you have practice at 930. Then you have a midday session of some sort of striking boxing or moitzae. Then you have jih Tzu at night. And so guys, you have to make shift a schedule for them. You don't want every person in every single practice. You got to say, okay, what do they need to work on? Everybody's different.

Some guys need to get stronger. Some guys need to get in better shape. some guys need better jihitsu boxing everything so song was doing everything and i told his his wife daisy i said she was translating for me i said hey you need to tell song that he can't he shouldn't be doing all these practices he needs to like rest some and uh and song that she told them and his response was well he doesn't want to he doesn't want to miss the practice because he feels like he's learning too much oh wow that he doesn't want to miss anything and so I respect that and that's why he's where he's where he is now you know but at this point

I mean he'll get in and he'll he'll see a boxer that's a high level boxer is trained for boxing and he'll go extra rounds with that guy and get a sparring in and do and so that's what I've had to calm down I had to explain to these guys this is prize fighting the thing that you're selling is your body and your brain you know you don't want to give that away for free you got to watch your brain and practice you have to learn skills to make sure you're mitigating damage you're not getting you're beat up on. And so that's the biggest thing is reminding these guys not to kill each other in practice. And that's a daily thing because, you know, pride, ego, tempers, escalate, and it can be dangerous in there, especially if you're doing it for years and years and years,

before you even get your real big opportunity. Right. And we're going to jump over to Twitter. We have a lot of questions, mostly about you and Henry, so we'll save those for the very end so you have more time. But do you, from our friend, I, Yul, Yacomoto, I apologize if I mispronounce that, Yul. Do you reckon Korean Zombie can get a title shot soon? He looks pretty good now that he's finished his military service. So yeah, Korean Zombie coming off another knockout win over Hannaato Moikano. The featherweight division is, is obviously stacked, especially after this big fight on Saturday with Max and Frankie. But he was scheduled to fight Frankie before. He did lose to I am on my scorecard he was winning that fight and if he had survived that last second he probably

would have got a unanimous decision so where would you like to see the korean god zombie go from here and what do you make of the your former division the featherweight division has all a sudden has a lot of activity at the top of the 145 pound weight class yeah i think korean zombies right there a couple of good wins it's almost like a pourier situation where he's you know porre had the loss of notorious McGregor and just kept grinding and I know that

Korean zombie is the same kind of guy he's a grinder he's somebody that that literally loves this sport so much you can't keep away from it he actually came out and chained with us a little bit back in the day also I've got a great video on my YouTube channel

of me interviewing him teaching him some English pickup lines which is really funny but uh you know he's a stud, man, and he's such a talented guy. He's just a couple good wins away like a lot of guys, like an Andre Feeley

kind of guy, where they're continuing to get better, they're continuing to love the sport, they continue to work hard, and it can pay off or it cannot. So he's right there. I think he just needs to keep doing his thing, and Andre Fili is another one of those guys that has been right there. He had

a great fight with Max Holloway back in the day, and Max caught him with the body. shot and then ended it with a choke. But he was doing really well against Max. And so he's got a resurgence and a refocus that is going to see him in the title mix here soon. And people aren't giving him credit, but it's hard to see a guy that's knocking out, you know, that caliber of guys that he's fighting and not get the recognition eventually.

Well, we spoke to him after his win at USC Phoenix. And he said by the end of 2019, I'll be the 145-pound champion. It might not happen because 2019, I think the 100. and 45-pound division. There's a lot of stuff that might. Not because he can't do it because there's a lot of fights that have to happen, but when does he want to get back in? I know he had a really impressive win,

but he wasn't in the octagon that long for that victory. When is Andre hoping to get back? Obviously, I think when people say Team Alpha-Mail, they're expecting a lot of you guys of that San Francisco card just because it's NorCal. But does he have a time table for when he wants to fight again? Yeah, he wants to be on that San Francisco card. and, you know,

Feeley is a, you know, we do our end of the year banquet each year and give away awards to the guys and everything. And, you know, Josh Emmett was the first ever, you know, to get the award, we have this big wood club where, you know, walks quietly but carries a big stick. Sure. That kind of guy.

And Feeley is like, is like a manifestor of big things. You know, he's where he comes from and where he's at now, where he wants to be and where he's going to be is just exciting for him, exciting for everyone around him. He, you know, he visualizes, he speaks about it, he verbalizes. He wants to be a world champion. He wants to do a lot of big things, you know, with his clothing line, with his music, with everything else. But first thing is getting that strap. So, you know, he just wants to keep lining him up and knocking him down until, you know, People can't deny him.

And so getting back in there is the next step. That's when is the date on the San Francisco card? I'm not 100%, but I think it's fourth quarter, 2019. Yeah. So that's common. And that's where he's got his eye. Same with Benito Lopez. He wants the same thing.

Well, I know when I spoke to Andre Fili in Arizona, he wants to fight Max on an eventual UFC Hawaii card because obviously Max represents Hawaii more than anyone else. And Andre Fili also has ties. So he said, me versus Max Holloway, sounds like a good main event for UFC Hawaii. And I can't say I disagree. Yeah, that would be a great one, man. And they have a little history before.

You know, it's funny. Michael Nakagawa is a former teammate of ours and a good friend to our team. He trains with Max Holloway now also. And he was training with Max. And Max was talking about coming out, I think, before he was even in the UFC to train with us. and he caught Feeley with the guillotine which I know

Nakagawa knew very well and so I'm curious if there is you know Nagawa showed him the series that they ended up getting one of our guys but they they've got a history

I'd love to see that fight again and Hawaii would be amazing I'll be there for sure that would be fun and that's near Francisco card I believe is October 12th so that's it's coming up But we got one or two more questions, then we're getting a lot of questions about you and Henry. So I'll have one or two more.

But what do you think RDA should do next? Clearly he can hold his ground on the welterweight, but there are a lot of big wrestlers in the weight class. I believe he has more to offer at lightweight. So Hafei El Desaños came up short to Leon Edwards at the main event in U.C. San Antonio. But if you look at his record, the last few people that beat him were Colby Covington, who then went on to win the interim champion, Kamaro Uzman, who's now the reigning champion, And now Leon Edwards, who hasn't lost since his loss to his first fight against Kamaro Uzman. So what do you think of Hafei El Sano's future?

And I know a lot of people him specifically would like to see a 165 pound division because he thinks that would fit his body way more because he might be – he said I believe he might have passed out, cutting weight before his fight against Eddie Alvarez. And then 170 you see he might be too small. So where would you like to see Hafei al-Sanios go from here? and do you think there should be a 165 pound division? I'd love to see a lot more weight classes. You know, 135 and 145 is a big stretch for me too.

Right. 40 pound weight class would be perfect or, you know, somewhere in there. But at the end of the day, the UFC knows what they're doing and they have reasons why they do things. Most of the reasons are around business and creating a whole other division. what does that do to their current model, who knows. But yeah, that's a big difference. 155 to 170, that's 15 pounds.

So I would love to see more weight classes. I know that Sage was interested in a 165-pound weight class, and there's a lot of guys that could probably do well with a 165-pound weight class. But at the end of the day, you know, it would probably take someone like, Connor forcing it to happen. And I don't really think there's anyone in that position other than Connor right now. They could like hold the UFC by the, you know, they're asked to the fire and say, hey, this is another division.

So unless it makes dollars, it doesn't make sense. So that's probably the answer. And I spoke to Luke Rockhold and Chris Wyman. They actually want a 195 pound division. Not a lot of people talk about that because they said similar, 185 to 205 is a huge jump. So I know they really want 195. Yeah.

And, you know, it makes sense. That's a big, big jump. Absolutely. And even from 205 to heavyweight, that's 205 to 265. Right. You know, and then guys are dropping from 300 to get to 265. And then some guys are, you know, 220. So, I mean, there's a lot of things that you can do in that remark.

in that regard. And Luke, man, Luke is such a talented guy. And I've had a chance to talk to him after his fight. It's unfortunate. Like in this sport, the way it's like the school of hard knocks, you know, guys can swing in one direction or another one,

be on top of the world, then be in the dumps. I think Luke is another guy that is going to have a resurgence, and you're going to see a lot of things from him still. And it's always crappy to see people counting guys out because of going out and fighting like a warrior and being on the bad side of the truth of the sport, which is anybody's day, man, with the right punch.

So I'm looking forward to seeing Luke come back and prove the naysayers wrong and get back on track. What did you think of Dana White's thing? He'd rather see Luke Rock hold his tire. Well, Dana Dana is I mean he speaks from the heart And when you see guys get knocked out

You don't know the back end of it You don't know what their camp was like You don't know I mean one move the opposite way Rockwood has the ability to put guys out also Rockwood could have knocked him out And then Dana might want to see him for a title fight So

Dana is talking as a guy that is like trying to protect himself on the front of not getting guys hurt. He also told me that he thought Sage Norkut after his loss, he was higher, you know, and he said that publicly. But at the end of the day, Sage went and fought at 185 pounds when he was a 55 pounder in the UFC for most of his career. Because he thought that no one was cutting weight, and he fought against a world champion, Muay Thai fighter, his first time in a ring, massive layoff with a bunch of injuries

and he didn't see his best performance. Now, is it fair for Dana to say, hey, he should retire? Yeah, it's fair because he made a valid point. He said, Sage could do a lot of things. He's a smart kid. He's a good-looking guy. He's got some fame.

He can capitalize on that, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But it doesn't take away from the fighting spirit or the fact that you don't know the whole story of what went into that. I mean, put Sage back at 165 pound weight class without injuries and proper training. He's a world champ. So, you know, Dana doesn't know everything. What was Sage's reaction when he heard Dana White say wanted to retire?

I can't imagine, like, when we, from the outside looking in, Sage is always a positive, happy person. But when he hears his old boss say he should probably retire, how did he take that? He said, oh, man, heck no. Heck no. It checks out. All right. We have a question for you specifically on Twitter. So I'll preface this by saying this person is ranking T.J.

The greatest bantam weight ever in the eyes in his mind. If your eye is able to fight for the title and win, does he surpass T.J. in the bantamweight goat discussion, in my opinion, most definitely. Say one more time. Just read the exact thing. He says, if Uri is able to fight for the Bantamweight title and win, does he surpass T.J. Dillishaw in the Bantamweight Goat discussion, in my opinion, most definitely.

So this person is basically asking, if you win the Bantamweight title, do you surpass T.J. Dillishaw is the greatest Bantam who's ever lived? Who cares? I don't care. I mean, I was surprised they put me in the Hall of Fame. When you're fighting, you don't stop and see how you rank in the history of this or that. especially when the history is so small. And Dominant Cruz could be in that conversation. You know, Cody comes back and gets a win.

Cody comes back and beats Henry or whoever's got the bell at that time. He's in that conversation. T.J. could be in that conversation unless you know, you know, count the cheating stuff against him. But I don't think people tend to do that because a lot of guys that have been in the best, you know, pound for pound list have been caught for cheating unfortunately right so i mean i don't really care uh that'd be cool i plan on uh i plan on getting that that fight with henry and and uh i think it's a great matchup for me so um you know we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there and and i probably won't cross that bridge until i'm maybe 70 when i want to go back and relive

the glory days so then you said it so There's a lot of questions asking about you and Henry Sohudo and the trash talk on Twitter and the callouts and everything. So I'll just put it out there. What's going on with you and Henry Sehudo? Is that the fight you're trying to get? I know you said you haven't spoken to Dana, but is there any interest from the UFC? Yeah. What's going on with you and Henry?

Well, Henry called me out the conversation that Dana said afterwards. I didn't hear it, but somebody said that Dana said, Yerai is old. which age is is very personal thing compared to how you live your life, et cetera. I'm a young guy, absolutely. And so I didn't say anything in response. I just went out there and I won my fight against a 26 year old. By doing that, I took his age, so I'm now 26. Or for those that want to argue that, I'll do the halfway.

I'm halfway between 40 and 26. You do the math. So age is no longer a factor. I think it's a good. good matchup for me. You know, and I don't have to fight. I mean, it's a great business. The margins in fighting are awesome.

You know, the sport's always getting better. And, of course, that's a big part of fighting as you get paid for it. And I love that aspect of it. But I don't have to fight. I could find a way to make a living outside, which I have and I'm okay with. But that being said, I want fights that matter. but I needed to get myself back in and show that I'm still the same guy before I sit and pick and choose. So that fight's a big fight.

But really the big fight that people want to see is the TJ fight, I'm sure. It's just the story behind it. I didn't want that fight for a long time because I just didn't want to deal with the drama. But at this point, I don't really have a relationship with anyone in TJ's circle at all. There's a time where I felt like I was kind of close with his family. And at this point, the guy just keeps lying about me. Just one little lie, which is that I kicked him off the team when he really just, you know, went off the team. And so that gets on my nerves.

Stop lying about me. Those are the two fights that are the big fights for me. So if they offered you a title fight or T.J., which one would you want? Title fight. Absolutely. I really don't want to fight T.J. I mean, I really don't. I mean, especially, you know, odds are in his favor.

He's like a scientist when it comes to, you know, what he puts in his body. I know that. I know, I've heard, you know, whatever he's doing. I've heard about it for years, and I never really delved into it. But he's also younger than I am, and he's been training his butt off. But I'll love a good fight and the grit and the intensity and the focus and, the back story is good on that one. But I'd rather test myself for the best,

a guy that's a fair competitor, a guy that's accomplished a lot in the sport, a guy that, you know, has done what a lot, I mean, no one has actually done what Henry's ever done. He's the youngest guy from America to get the gold medal. He beat some of the best fighters ever in, and Demetrius Johnson and T.J. Dillashaw, he also has a win against Joseph Benavides, who, in my opinion, is one of the uncrowned champions.

That's a guy that I know for sure has never done any PEDs and has fought, you know, who knows who's been doing what throughout this time. So, you know, Henry's beat some very tough guys, and what an opportunity to go test yourself against a historic dude and vice versa and that's why he's called me out now algermann stirling has also said this thing you would have no issues like say he was next for a title shot he would have no issue if the uc skipped over him to give joseph benavides the next flyaway shot and he would wait are you in that same boat where say the ufc wants to give you the next title shot but they say after this benavita's fight you wouldn't have a problem with joseph

basically getting a shot at henry first hell no joseph's my boy man i mean i i i i've I've been with Joseph since the very beginning. He lives the warrior life. He's focused. He goes to bed early. He gets up early. He lives this life and he's dedicated to it. And truthfully, look, I'm a guy that's trying to save the division also.

I love the 125-pound division. And it was killing me that they're talking about taking that division out. I mean, especially with a guy like Demetius Johnson, who is such a kind-hearted, fun guy, who also can beat up everyone in the world at the head of it. I'd love to see the division state. Now, that being said, you can't make Henry do something. He's the champ, champ, champ, the triple C. Right.

You don't get to tell him what to do. So I imagine he would have something to say about where he fights next. And if he wants to stay at 135, throw me in there. And Al Jemaine's MMA math, he's like a second grade level MMA math guy. When I saw his statement, I'm like, you need to step up to trigonomics. With MMA math, you can't do MMA math. Right. Cody beat Dominic, Dominic be TJ,

TJ beat this guy, Dodson beat TJ, you know, this person beat Dodson, Uriah beat this person, they beat that person. It's like, bro, that's MMA math. You don't know until you're standing in front of somebody, breathing their air,

taking their punches, seeing their speed. That's how you know if you're going to beat somebody up. Don't do MMA math. Go back to elementary school with the one plus one equals two. This is a complicated thing, the MMA math and mixed martial arts. And I'm a guy that likes to figure it out by fist the cuffs.

Sure. I'm an educated guy, but I'd rather figure it out by throwing down. Well, we've hit literally every question. There's a lot, pretty much all the rest of them are about you and Henry. We're also running up on time. So if there's anything else you want to say or plug or call out, the floor is yours, Mr. Favory. No, you know, I'm just happy. to see there's excitement in the lighterweight

divisions. I want to give credit to Demetrius Johnson that gets a bum wrap. He's a guy that held it down for a long time. Give props to Henry for stepping up and not being afraid to be himself. Cringy. And I'm excited for all this stuff coming up, man. I'm excited for Cody to get back in the mix.

I'm excited for Philly to manifest his dreams. and Josh Emmett, I mean, Josh Emma's been knocking dudes out. It's getting nasty. And guy doesn't speak, right? He walks, walks quietly, carries a big stick. I'm excited for all the energy that's going on with our team. Launched the clothing shop alphamail.com. You want to go get some cool alpha mail email email stuff.

And looking forward to performing again, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. Anytime you want to come on, you're more. than welcome to come on. And with that, we are out of time. So this has been the A-side live chat on MMAfighting.com. We've had more questions coming than any other episode that I posted. So this was a rousing success. But stick around on the YouTube page. We are in, I am in Edmonton right now for the fights U.S.C. 240 on Saturday.

We're going to have the open workouts later today, Max, Frankie, Cyborg, police Spencer. We're all going to have all those. But next weekend, I don't know who the host is going to be, but same time next weekend for the A-side and for Jose. That's UFC Hall of Fame or your eye of favor. See you next week, guys.