MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 166

Episode Date: August 14, 2014

Featuring Tito Ortiz, Joseph Benavidez, Cung Le, Jacob Volkmann, Jimmy Smith, and Mike Chiappetta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for the show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other. Introducing O-DU. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier.

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It is cold. It is snowy, a little bit rainy outside, so I'm very happy to be, should we look at what's going on outside? Or did I just throw you for a loop? Yeah. Let's look what's going on outside. Oh, come on. They showed it to me earlier.

We had the amazing outside cam, and I love that outside cam. And right before we went to, we went live here, they asked me, do you want the outside cam? I said, no. But then right then and there, I said, why not? Why not show people what it's like outside in New York City? Oh, here it is. There it is. New York City.

Live in living color, a block away from the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Look at that. It's a little wet on the ground, as you can see. Not snowing right now. We'll check in in a little bit, see how the weather is doing. So we've got a great show lined up for all of you. We'll be here for the next two plus hours doing what we'd like to do on Monday afternoons here in New York City in the back. Joined as always by Isaac Buzzkill Brendan and New York Rick.

You will hear from New York Rick in the third hour of the show. How is Rick's Picks Challenge doing? Two weeks in, eight events to go. Well, we'll save that for the third hour. We'll talk UFC on Fox 6. We'll talk UFC 156, which goes down this Saturday night from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Finally, we get the super fight. We've all been talking about Jose Aldo versus Frankie Edgar for the UFC featherweight title.

Also, Alster Overeign returns. We shot Evans returns. Fitch, Maya, it's a very good card. One of the best UFC pay-per-views in a while, and amazingly no injuries have affected the main card. It's a beautiful thing. So we'll talk about that in the third hour. hour at around 2.45, we'll talk to Kung Lee. Kung Lee's name has come up in the news as of late because all of a sudden, Anderson Silva,'s manager, Ed Soros, said, Kung Lee should be the guy

to fight Anderson Silva next. Well, we'll talk to him about that. And we'll also talk to him about his big win over Rich Franklin. Back in November, UFC Macau, he knocked out Rich Franklin, one of the best knockouts of the year. We'll talk to Kung about that in the second hour. Now, I've got to be honest with you, as I was telling the guys before the show, I don't know, you know, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm always panicking. I've said this on the show before. I always panic late in the week. How am I going to top the previous week?

Who am I going to book? I don't know what to do. Last week, I never, in a million years, thought that we would have Titor Ortiz, my frenemy on the show, the legend. The man who thinks I have a beef with him, who has a beef with me, never thought he would come on the show. And now here he is. 220 p.m. Eastern Time.

Tito Ortiz will be on this show, hopefully to settle our, our, our differences and to look ahead and make peace. Talk about his new career as a manager. Talk about the end of his MMA career. Very much looking forward to having Tito on the show. At 2 o'clock, we've got Jacob Vokeman on the show. And as I mention, I like to, obviously, I book the guests and whatnot, and I like to check in with them from time to time, you know, whether it's Friday, then Sunday, then Monday morning,

just to remind them because I don't want to have to ban anyone. So I've done this, maybe three times with Jacob, to remind him to come on the show. So a minute before we go live, he texts me. Stop texting me. I'm not stupid. And I just, that to me is just Jacob Vokeman in a nutshell, and it made me laugh very much. So he will be coming up at 2 o'clock.

At 140, we'll be talking to MMAfighting.com's own Mike Chiapetta about the Eddie Alvarez case. He was in New Jersey for that on Friday. We'll talk to him about UFC on Fox 6, UFC 156, and some other news. At around 2, 120, we'll talk to Jimmy Smith. one of the best color analysts in MMA. He is the color analyst for Belator MMA. They had a nice show on Thursday. They returned this Thursday as well. So we'll talk to Jimmy about that. And I want to remind you that also in the third hour, we will be taking your questions and comments. And the best question asker, whether it's, well, it has to be, the prize has to go to Twitter. But ask us via the website as well. I know you're very active there. And I keep telling Eric to go back to the website more often. Anyway, the best one gets this, Anthony Showtime Petis, Round 5 figurine.

Showtime looked amazing on Saturday through the Showtime knee, and he is the number one contender in the lightweight division, in my opinion. That's what you're getting if you ask a good question. So, fire away. But first, let us go to the phone lines. Let us go to Sacramento, California, where, in my opinion, one of the best flyweight in the world is standing by. He faces Uncle Creepy Ian McCall Saturday, UFC 156 on pay-per-view. He is Mr. Jojitsu, Joseph Benevitas. Joseph, how are you?

Doing great, man. Thanks for having me on. You seem a little underwhelmed. You don't seem very excited to be on the show. I just woke up. Oh, my bad. The first thing I'm done. Great way to start my day.

You wake up at 10 a.m.? That's amazing. Usually later, actually, during flight week, especially. which it is now. So, you know, I try to sleep in that way. You know, by the time I get in the ring, I haven't been up, you know, all day. I just kind of wake up, eat, and do it. So you kind of, like, turn your body clock into what it's going to be like on Saturday.

Is that what you're saying? Yeah, kind of, well, you know, during fight camp, I'm always waking up early for morning practices and everything. But fight week when I don't have to train all day when you really just train, you know, kind of one time at night. and you kind of slow things down. You start to sleep in, get more sleep, and I train at night. But honestly, I'm not going to even lie. Like, if I don't have a fight,

I can sleep until noon, no problem. Wow. That is amazing. I envy you. That is a great skill. I'm a low life. I'm a low life. You know, the flywits are very much in the news these days

coming off Saturday night. Demetrius Johnson, retaining his belt against John Dodson. I know you watched the fight. What did you think? Was that an entertaining fight in your opinion? Oh, yeah, I loved it. I was happy.

Both guys, you know, went out and put on a show and were definitely impressive. You know, DJ fought like a real champion out there, you know, dominated the championship rounds, you know, wasn't shook in there at all, you know, even after he got dropped and faced the little adversity. So they went out there and showed he was a real champion. And it was an entertaining fight on both guys' parts. So I was really pleased with it. And the whole card, Petits probably put on the best performance I've seen anyone do, like, ever.

Like, it was just flawless, especially against an opponent like Cowboy. And I thought everything was good, so it was awesome for the Fox card and, you know, my weight class and everything. So it was good. Can you throw a Showtime knee like he did? We call it the Showtime Knee, but, you know, jumping up the cage and landing a knee or a kick like that. Are you able to do something like that? probably not on an opponent as good as cowboy like live right there in the moment but in practice sure I can do it and try it it's just amazing to me that no one else really I know Belcher tried it once

but also a Rufus sport guy no one else does this is it that hard to do in a fight it's insane like honestly you can think of so many things like that to do it like I just mentioned like in practice and stuff but just to have like the mindset and just to be you know just to be composed enough to do it right there in the cage live when someone else is trying to meet you up and like he did the showtime kick and a championship fight against Ben Henderson he wasn't like killing the guy and was like I'm going to try something crazy like you know he did it you know in like the biggest fight of his life so

that's what's most that's what's most impressive and that's the hardest part you know is I mean honestly just being composed enough to do stuff like that and they're being that comfortable so you know that's just him man the nickname is just perfect, you know. Who did you score the main event for? Mighty Mouse, for sure. 100%. Well, would you have it?

First two rounds for Dotson, last three for Mighty Mouse? I had it like that. I even thought the first round could have gone to DJ. Okay. But I was kind of like, and, you know, let's just give it to Dotson because it was close. So, yeah, I mean, three, two, for sure, and possibly four one. So I'm wondering about that illegal knee, right? You remember that point in the fight, right?

Where Dotson had his hand on the ground, and it's controversial for two reasons. One, Big John didn't take away a point. And two, there are a lot of people think that's kind of, you're kind of playing around with the rule there. It's really more if you have your knee on the ground or something, you're a downed opponent. It's illegal to hit someone in the head. A, do you feel like a point should have been taken away? and B, how do you feel about the hand on the ground alteration of the rule? Yeah.

I don't think a point should have been taken away, and it's for the reason, you know, kind of intertwining the question, for the reason about the rule kind of, it's kind of silly like that, and like, I don't believe you should take away a point if the guy is kind of playing the game there, and there's like a, you know, yes and no and yes and no. Like, you should be warned and like, hey, you messed up. His hand was actually on the ground. you know like when it's you know blatant the guys on his all fours

you know go ahead and take away a point but when you don't know and then you kind of make the mistake at the old guys fall it's kind of like it's kind of like the rule of the guy um you know like you can slam on his head if he's in control or whatever you know like you can't just slam on the head but if he has an arm bar and he's not letting go you know it's kind

of the same thing like the guy that's getting neat in the head is controlling it you know and you know the other guy just just kind of kind of messed up. So, you know, definitely born them and everything, but I think taking away the point is silly if the guy is playing the game like Dawson was for a while there. When the fly weights were introduced when you were thinking about your future as a 125, or did you think Demetrius Johnson would be as good as he has turned out to be?

You know what? I mean, I knew who was going to be awesome, and I knew that was going to be my hardest challenge at the flyweight division. But, you know, I obviously pictured my self-winning, so no, I didn't think he was going to be that good. But, man, he's awesome, man, and, like, the weight class is just perfect for him. You know, he's gotten to fight at it now, you know, a few times, so he's really, you know, improving just in the weight class, and his body's just adjusting to it. You know, he's been really in wars at the weight class, you know, like, now two, five-round fights and then three, and then two, three-round fights.

So you just improve so much as a fighter there. So, you know, he's definitely hitting his stride, you know, and taking advantage of it. So, you know, I knew he was going to be, you know, the toughest guy in there, and he is. So there's no difference. But I'm just working to get back there and get back at him because I don't think I've been my best that I could be a flyweight. You know, the division is wide open. I'm wondering if anyone has told you or do you think that if you win on Saturday, if you beat Uncle Creepy, you are the number one contender, and you should be the guy to fight him next?

You know, no one's told me that besides fans and people on Twitter and everything, which is cool. But, you know, if you do look at it, it is kind of, you know, it's kind of like, oh, who else would they really take? You know, me and Ian both gave Monty Mouse such good fights. And, you know, in reality, we're the next biggest names and probably the next best guys, you know, in the division. So it makes sense that, especially with the division, so new, you know, to give us a title shot. But, you know, it's tough. You know, that's why I was surprised that they put this fight, you know, this early, you know, right after both of us lost, you know, because really the only other two contenders in the division with it being so small.

So, you know, if I go out there and do what I think I'm going to do to Ian on Saturday, then, you know, I can see why they want to give me a title shot. But, you know, also, no matter how bad I beat him, I wouldn't mind, you know, get another fighting. becoming better and just keeping improving, you know, before I get another title shot because you can't just keep having those. I just want to be the best fighter I can be, you know,

before I do get one. So do you think it was a mistake to match you guys up this early? You and Ian? Not necessarily a mistake. I mean, I would never doubt, you know, the matchmakers, you know, the best guys in the business and the business as a whole and everything and how they run. I mean, it's not a mistake

putting two guys as a guy as a guy. exciting as me and McCall in there like no doubt about that I mean it's it's awesome I mean that that can't be a mistake you know it's going to be an awesome fight it's just uh you know the only sense it does make is for one of us to win and do that so I'm just saying I wouldn't mind you know fighting as many times as they can it's pretty amazing because if memory serves me correctly your fight against Demetrius was the first flyweight fight on pay-per-view and this is the first non-title flyweight fight on pay-per-view so that's it that's a that's a That's a huge vote of confidence from the UFC to you.

You've been involved in both of those. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I didn't notice that. But that's what you're here for. Yeah. That's me cool. Yeah, that's awesome, man. I mean, I try to go out there and have a good relationship with the UFC and with my fans.

And, you know, always put on the show. You know, I hang it all out there, you know, every single time and, you know, fight with everything I have. So, you know, hopefully, you know, I guess they take notice. and, you know, I got the same, McCall is the same way. You know, he's an awesome fighter out there. And, you know, it is somewhat, you know, not official, but like a number one contender fight. So, yeah, I think that's awesome. Obviously, I remember UFC 152, tough night for you.

You were very emotional. You were very kind to speak with us for a couple minutes for the fuel broadcast. How long did it take for you to get over the disappointment of that loss? Oh, yeah. man, that was tough, man. I couldn't believe it on it. I remember doing the interview, and I was like, I just couldn't believe what was going on. I was like, wow, you know, like it was, it was tough.

Definitely my toughest loss I've had to get over. And it was a learning, you know, it was a learning experience for sure. And, you know, it took me a while. It was harder than any other thing, just honestly come into the realization that, you know, everything I had trained for and worked for. and everything, that moment that I waited for that I knew was going to go one way, didn't go that way. And it was just weird, you know, I'd be at home. And I'd, you know, look at the picture on my belt.

And it was still a picture. It wasn't the real belt. And I'd be like, wow, that part that I waited for, that moment is over and it passed me by. So, you know, I mean, you know, good came from it, too, like I said, just learn. I mean, I wrote a poem out of it. I don't know if anyone caught that. Do you have the poem or do you know it off by heart? Well, I have it on, yeah, I have it.

I mean, I've posted it on Twitter and Facebook. Can you read it to us? I would like to hear it. I would like to hear it very much. You haven't read it? I have not read it. I missed it, I guess. Dang, how did you miss that?

I'm not doing your job. Well, maybe I did read it, and I just want for you to share it with everyone else. How about that? Yeah, I can do that. Let me get some water. You got to get the pipes. Okay. Yeah, but everything was, you know, that was good.

And that kind of like, honestly, that's this part of, you know, the loss and me doing this, like, this actually, like, helped me hill and getting it out there, letting people know stuff. I'll talk about it after. But let's hear it. All that stuff. So it was hard. All right. Hold on.

Let me pull it up, like, quick. All right. So Joseph Benavides is getting the poem that he wrote after his UFC 152 loss. us to Demetrius Johnson, and he returns. This is a great setup for his return fight this Saturday. The opening fight on pay-per-view, it's a stack card, and they're going with the flywates. Stop hating on the flywates, main eventing UFC on Fox 6. Now the opening act on pay-per-view, UFC 156.

They are here. They are not going anywhere. Okay, I'm ready. I was just wasting time. All right, this is kind of weird now because this is such a feeling that, you know, I felt, you know, weeks and months after the fight, but now I'm in a totally different space, and it's fight week for another fight, but it'll make sense at the end. Okay.

All right. The poem is called The Entertainer. Yeah, I'm ready. Blood and sweat, sometimes tears, battered hands, countless fears. Highest tides, lowest lows, shattered dreams, the hurt just grows. Your smile shields, the pain you hide. All the while, you're dead. inside. Your faith is absent. Your will gives out. Now clear your mind. Erased the doubt. Everything you

have you gave. You feel self-worth. That's all you crave. The world is stage. This is your role. You break your heart. You sell your soul. Stay the course. Ender the pain. You were born to entertain. Wow. If I could stand up if the studio wasn't so small, I would stand up. That was great. I actually got goosebumps listening to that. Oh, thanks. Thanks. Yeah. Was that the first one you ever wrote? Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. Wow. And did it feel better after writing it? Did you feel better?

I did. After writing it, I felt good, and it was like, it was like, I mean, it was more like, oh, wow, that was, that's like pretty good. But you know what felt good is once I actually posted on Twitter and Facebook and, like, showed it to like, you know, a few of my friends and you know obviously fellow fighters and stuff and just knowing that people relate um you know that was huge and like getting it out there like it wasn't hard for me like everyone's like dang man that's like that's like some real stuff is that like how you feel and I'm like yeah you know that's like we commend you for getting it out there and showing that like you're hurt and everything but it's like dude I get beat like all of us get beat up on national TV you know

I just had my dreams crushed in front of millions of people like it's not that hard to let people know now, you know, how I really feel, because after they see me lose, they don't know, you know, they might see me do an interview with you or walk out of the cage sad, and that's the end, you know, they don't really know how much it goes into it and how much, like, emotions I feel about it. So, you know, that actually felt good. And, you know, it was only at that point, really, where I was like, you know what? Like, it was weird. It was like, I felt like a real artist. I was like, like, it was only at that point, like, you know, I wrote it and it was done. It's like, you know, stay the course

endure the pain you were born to entertain that it was like it was like man this is what I was made to do you know like I got knocked down pick yourself up like this is what you're meant to do like keep going and like I said it was at that point you know getting it out there and reading it that was able to just kind of get back in so I loved it was a tough loss it's inspiring to hear that it's it's awesome to see a fighter you know the the alpha males if you will pardon the pun see someone so in touch with their emotions. When's the last time you read that? When was the last time I read it?

Because I'm wondering if, as you mentioned, now, after reading it, is it weird to put yourself back in that position as you are so focused on Saturday night and a whole new task? Was that a weird feeling for you? You know, not really. Because the end, like I said, kind of like, you know, brings me back up like you were born to entertain. It was good.

But going through it, I was kind of like, wow, I remember that. I remember feeling that, you know. It's kind of weird, but yeah, so it's been a while. It's not something I do all the time, but, you know, people mentioned to me all the time. I had to read it a few times. I think I read it on, like, on another radio show and to a few people. Oh, I thought this was an exclusive. Well, you were late on it, so, I mean, what can we do?

People get to it. All right. Sorry. Yeah, but it was awesome. Well, I appreciate you. I will send it to you as well. Please. I will send it to, so, you know, in case you didn't catch.

it all at first. You can read it yourself. Awesome. Always great to talk to you, Joseph. Continue the great work, especially online, the Jiu-Jitsu Awards. I wish I had time to talk about that. That's a whole other interview for a different day. It's very entertaining. You're one of the most entertaining fighters out there and social media.

Great to talk to is always the poems and whatnot. I didn't expect that. And good luck on Saturday. I know this is a big deal for you, both for you and Ian, and for the flywights in general, as you guys continue to build momentum. Very much looking forward to it and we'll see you in Las Vegas in a couple of days.

Yeah, it's going to be huge, man. I can't wait, and I'm just happy to do it, and that's what I've got to beat a fight. It's pumped up and happy, and it's like, like, like I said, I'm just, this is just another fight again, and that's how it should be, and I'm ready to get back and get to that title. So it's going to be awesome fight.

Thanks for having me. Enjoy the ride, my friend. Bye, Ariel. Appreciate it. There he is. Joseph Benavita is stopping by. One of the top contenders in the flyweight division has a huge fight against Ian McCall this Saturday on pay-per-view.

All right, let's transition now into the world of Bellator, MMA. They had another big event. Their second event on Saturday, excuse me, on Thursday night. That was headlined by Ben Asgren, defeating Carl Amusu, perhaps his most dominant win in Belator thus far, and the debut of King Mo Llewal. Also, he was victorious in the light heavyweight tournament. We welcome in now the color analyst, one of the best in the business, as I said, said at the top.

And his first time joining us on this very show, he is Jimmy Smith. Jimmy, how are you? Doing great, man. Thanks for having you, buddy. Oh, it is a pleasure, and it's so great to have you on the show for the first time. It's about time you stop ducking us. I know, man. Well, you know, I wasn't big enough.

That was the big deal. MTV 2, just not big enough, man. Now we're on Spike. I called me agent and said get me on Area Hawani. It worked out. That was amazing. Well, it's great to have you on the show. Let's start with Ben Ascgren.

Obviously, I've been a little critical of him. I don't think I've been as critical as he may think. think, but others have as well, not entertaining enough, not going for the finishes. He gets the finish on Thursday. Were you impressed with his performance? I was stunned. I think I was more impressed, more than impressed I was stunned. He looked, I would say, better against Douglas Lima in his ground and pounds.

It was improving a little bit, but, man, it was leaps and bounds better in his last fight. And against Carl Amosu, so it's done a lot of us, how dominant he was on top. top. Is this more a product of Carl Amosu just not being at his level and not being at the level of a Jay Haran or Douglas Lima, or do you think Ben Ascran has improved as a fighter and is now trying to finish fights? Well, if you look at the way he attacked, I think it's Ben Ascran. I mean, he was turning over his elbows really, really sharp, landing ground and pound better than he ever had.

He didn't really try and pass guard at all, which he had done quite a bit in his other He passed guard. He spent a little time grappling, and then a little ground and found. He was focused almost exclusively on the ground and pound. And kind of a while to level-wise, I don't think he's cut from the same mold as the other guys who fought him, like Douglas Lima, and even Dan Hornbuckle, you know, explosive strikers with decent groundwork and not a lot of wrestling. He was kind of, you know, in that same mold. I don't think he was necessarily a level below the other guy who had fought. I think Ben just got a hell of a lot better.

Do you see anyone in the Beltor Welterweight Division who can actually It's kind of like it reminds me a bit of the GSP problem That they have in the UFC Although things are changing a little bit Is there anyone right now In your opinion that can You know give them some kind of test

That's a hard question And I get a lot because The thing is that the tournament system That Belator has You need at least Division 1 Wrestling experience Like Jay Haram did To even have a chance to get

Ben Askin's take down. And a tournament full of wrestlers is pretty boring. So the problem is the guys that make a great tournament, the guys that are really exciting under Korskov, of course, great knockouts, and, you know, the real dynamic explosive exciting guys are a bad match for Ben Askron because he eats him up with the takedown. So that's the problem. I think Belator has is a tournament full of guys that could beat Ben Ascran is a pretty boring tournament.

You know, a lot of guys with, you know, a lot of wrestling background and stuff like that, but so a great tournament, like the call obviously would look great in the tournament, and then he gets to Ben Asking. He just gets smoked because he just doesn't have that. You need at least, I would say Division I, solid Division I wrestling experience to you with Ben Askenon. I don't see anyone on the horizon with that kind of ability. So it's an uphill battle for everybody at 170. Despite our differences, I actually think Ben Asking is good for the sport in the sense that I like his attitude. I like his, I don't care what you say about me, I don't care what you think about me, I'm going to go out, do my things,

thing and not be swayed by what people say about me and his sort of, I don't give an F, attitude. Do you like his attitude? As a fighter, is that acceptable, or do you need to have a little bit of a more, I don't know, open mind as far as what the fans and critics are saying? Hey, that's the role you have, and that's his, the guy's a natural heel. He's a natural heel, and personally, I mean, it's great because, you know, when I interviewed him for Belltor 360, he called Carl Amstil a one-minute man. He can't go more than one minute with me.

you know, he's got no, you know, he's explosive, but that's about it. That kind of smarmy attitude is great, man. You know, like if you're going to be the heel, man, play it up. And that's what he does. So kind of his, I don't give an F attitude, if people want to watch to see him get knocked out, great, as long as they're watching. You know what I mean? So I don't really, and who knows what he really thinks?

So this is obviously what he's projecting. Sure. You know, what he really thinks, I mean, who knows? But as far as projecting that attitude, works great for us. and especially as he becomes more of a finisher, I don't think people care about his attitude as much. It's kind of like they talk about his attitude so much because his fights one is entertaining.

Well, now he's finishing guys, he can say whatever he wants. You know, he backed it up. That was the first time we saw King Moe in over a year. Did we learn anything about the new King Moe, or was his opponent just not up to par? I don't think his opponent was up to par enough to answer the questions we really need answered. You know, the problem was,

Mastrala didn't push him, didn't go after him, didn't, you know, put him on the defensive at all because those are the things that the questions we had, is his timing still good? Is that knee going to hold up? Is he going to deal well with somebody coming after him when he hasn't, when he's had some severe ring rust? Those questions just weren't answered. So, yeah, I think he needs to take on somebody who's going to push the pace a little bit more. You know, next round he takes on Emmanuel Newton who not a knockout guy.

but a volume puncher, a guy who really throws a lot of strikes and is really, really busy and active. And I think that fight will answer a lot more of the questions than his last performance did. What is it like being one of the faces for Bellator now in the Spike TV era? You've had two shows, both doing over 800,000 viewers. You walk around town. Do you get noticed more? Are you sensing more people recognizing you, talking about Bellator now that you're off MTV 2? What's it been like?

Or is it too early? Well, no, there's a lot more buzz. What I used to do, I generally don't read people's comments online about anything. You know, it's like there's usually not a lot of negativity out there, and I don't like, you know, I just stay away from it. But I notice that people do comment. Like if there's a story online about Belta or always spend to the bottom and just see if people are talking about it. And when we were on TV 2, there was virtually nothing. Now people are at least commenting.

People have an opinion, whether it's good or bad, people are paying attention. and I've noticed that a lot more when I'm looking at stories about Bellator online, and people at the shows are way more excited to be there, strangely enough. It seems like it's gotten kind of a bigger feel when we're actually at the live show. When I'm walking around in general, I'm going to remember I'm on the road like five days out of the week. So usually when I'm around people, it's near a Bellator show, and the people that are so much more excited to be there. They feel like they're part of something much bigger, and that's important.

That actually brings up my next question. You know, you're on the road so many days out of the year because you guys go back to back to back to back. You go maybe 13 or so straight weeks. Is that model sustainable? I'm not here to criticize the tournament and all that. That's your thing. That's the toughest tournament in sports. It's a good gimmick, if you will.

But back to back to back, my concern is that you don't have enough time to tell the stories to get people amped up, to give them some time to breathe and think about these matchups. How do you feel about it? Yeah, that, I mean, you've hit it right on the head, and that's the problem that Bellator is very much dealing with. As far as features go, as far as the packages about the fighters, I think the guys we have in Bellator do an amazing job of telling these fighters stories. They do a great job production-wise. And a great story I have is Travis Bufu fought when Attila Vey knocked him out. And my wife was there at the show.

And after the end of the United States, you got knocked out in like 25 seconds. and my wife came up to me and she goes God, I really wanted that guy to win. She doesn't care about M.A. She's not an M.A. fan. She's only there because she loves me and she can appreciate M.A. She's been in a lot of fights, but she doesn't care about Travis View, but that piece with him and his kids

and they're in the backyard plan and she got into it and wanted him to win. And I went, wow, that's a good piece. Because my wife doesn't care at all who wins and she was into it. And so we have to tell that story in a very, you have to get into the format. And it's like the NFL.

you want to tune in every week. We kind of appeal to that kind of, you've got to get into the story of the fighters. And if you don't, just random people fighting every week isn't enough. You're to turn in every Thursday. So, yeah, we kind of appeal to the people who want that seasonal,

I want to see how this story plays out. It's a very different kind of MMAP. In your opinion, how badly does Bellator need Eddie Alvarez? In other words, is he worth all this trouble, in your opinion? That's a tough question. Because at the end of the day, we got the guy who beat him. Right. At the end of the day, we got Michael Chandler and Michael Chamber beat him.

So Eddie coming back, is it a necessity? No. Well, I think it will lead to a fantastic fight? Yes. Personally, speaking as Jimmy Smith, the one fear I have is that a judge hammers his gavel and says, you have to fight for Bellator. I would hate to see Eddie come to us because he has to. because he's being forced to because you know

behind the scenes fighters go through a lot of stuff for us feature interviews and radio stuff and press and blah blah blah blah blah and if they're not excited about what they're doing if they're not happy about it it's just bad for everybody so that's my number one fear I don't want to get in an interview somebody after a fight and he's pissed and he doesn't want to be there you know and that would suck

so hopefully you know they come to an accommodation because you I was a fight fan and a fighter before I was a commentator, and I don't like to see a fighter unhappy, period. I don't like to see it. So hopefully that gets worked out before Eddie ever, if he comes back to Belor, ever comes back to Belator. Is Belator, in your opinion, ready for pay-per-view? It has to do with what you were talking about,

in terms of can we get people invested enough in the stars of Belator to warrant a pay-per-view. And I think the numbers on Spike are going to tell us that over the next few weeks. weeks because, you know, people don't shell out, you know, $60 or whatever it is to see people they don't care about or they're not invested in. You'll turn into free TV because there's MMA on because I want to see fights. That's easy. But to get people really invest enough to pay for it, yet to care a lot about the stars and our stars have to really shine and stand out.

And the good news is they have so far. I mean, Michael Chandler looked great. Packer had a great fight with Pitbull. Been asking looked dominant. So our champs are starting to get a lot of traction. but the next few weeks will tell us if the attraction is really there. If you've been watching MMA the last couple of years as a fan, you obviously know Jimmy Smith as, you know,

obviously one of the color analysts for Bellator, the color analyst, I should say you did M1 Global Work, Affliction, you're on FightQuest. You look at your record, you Google you, 5 and 1 as an MMA fighter, some interesting names that you beat and fought. Why did you retire? Because, I get that question a lot. The thing is That you know

Six years ago Last time I fought I fought Jason Chambers At the main event of a show Called Pangia Here in Hollywood And I won that fight

And I got paid $1,200 bucks And The next week Discovery Channel calls me And says You know I got this audition

I got this gig And you have to understand And it's really important Being around the local scene In fighting Most of the MAA fans See the M&A fans see the end product. They see the guys that have

quote-unquote made it. The guys, you know, see you guys in Belvoir, the main card guys. If you came up in the local scene like I did, you were struggling to do anything. It was really hard to make money. I was never a big ticket seller on the local scene.

So it was kind of like, you know, I'm six and one. There's a fight that the fallout of there. It's decent, but you know, I got into the entertainment aspect, and then I was on the road for, I've been on the road ever since November 2006, I've been on the road. So I just didn't have the time once I made that choice of going to Discovery Channel to do

Fight Quest. I didn't have the time anymore to put in the eight weeks. I haven't been at home for eight weeks in a row in six years, something like that. So I didn't have the time to fight anymore. I didn't have the time to put into it. And I got an offer one time to fight in Michigan, and I trained for the six weeks and put it all in, and they pulled the card for the show. And that's the only time I'd been home that long in that many weeks in a row.

So it was like I just didn't have the time to put into it anymore. And could I make money fighting some guy, some bum, which I'm sure they'd throw at me if I asked him to, to make some money, I'm sure I could. But I can't put in the time to be the bex mix martial arts I felt I could be at the time. And I won't disrespect the sport by having some stupid comeback fight because to make a little money, I'm not going to do that. That's, to me, disrespecting the sport. So if I can't put in the time that I need to be great, I won't do it.

And that's where I am right now. I don't have the time to put in to be great. For fun, did you ever think about entering a Belator tournament? It's funny. I have rolled and trained with some of the guys that are in Belator. I've grappled with a lot of them, and they'll joke about how I would do in a tournament sometimes. And, like, the commentators will joke about it. Absolutely no way.

I fought at 170 pounds back when I fought. I am tiny for 170 pounds now. That's something that's really changed in the fight game. The people don't understand its fighters are way bigger now than they were, six, seven years ago. Now that they have a nutritionist, you know, there's so many people involved now in the process, guys like Dan Hornbuckle, Douglas Lehman.

Those guys are giants. They're huge. I would have to go down to 155 pounds where I'd be a big 55er and be miserable and, you know, do nothing but train and fight for six months. It would be rough on me. And I'm doing fine commentating. I've got to tell you. Speaking of commentating, when did you even get an itch to do this?

And when did you realize that, wow, I can actually make a career out of this? You know what? A strange story. I was doing Fight Quest. And then Jerry Millen, who was former VP of Pride, gave me, threw me an email and said, I saw a show Fight Quest. I have an M1 Global show next week in Holland. Would you mind being the commentator?

And I went, yeah, sure. I can do that. And I went out and had a passport, flew to Holland the next week, sat down with Sean Wheelock and did commentary the first time in my life. Wow. Just like that. Literally, I'm telling you the entire story. There's nothing else.

And I got an email out of the blue. Their commentator had dropped out. They had had a contact problem. And they said, we're kind of an alert here. Are you free next Wednesday? And I went, yeah, I'm free. They hadn't heard me. They'd only seen me on TV.

I flew out there, did commentary for the first time. And they went, man, you're really good at this. Could you be our commentator? And I went, yeah, sure. You didn't one global for three years, and then here I am. That's exactly how it started. I didn't seek this out. I didn't try to be a commentator.

I just got an opportunity, and I took it. That's what happened. And you are beloved in the MMA community. Everyone speaks very highly of you, the fans. Oh, thank you. You really don't. I mean, for me, as someone, you know, maybe on the outside looking in, whatever you want to say, you, militants.

You know, obviously people talk about Rogan and Kenny and stuff like that, but from the guys who aren't part of the UFC machine, you and Militich seem to get the most love, and everyone really enjoys your calls. And you get a lot of love from Joe Rogan. I know you were recently on his podcast. What was it like when you started? And I know him from the fight game and all that, but to get that sort of vote of confidence from the guy who is, you know,

most synonymous with this position, that had to build your confidence, right? That was huge. The first time I ever heard from Joe personally is he, sent me a message when I was having a contract problem with Bellator two years ago and he sent me

a message saying, I hope everything works out, I think you're the best in the business. Wow. And I went, I had no idea. I mean, I, you know, we don't run in the same circles and we both grapple in Southern California, but we had never really crossed past. And I kind of went,

wow, thank you. I really appreciate that. It didn't, you know, he didn't have to do that. And it wasn't prompted by anybody he just wrote me and said i think you're the best in the business i really hope everything works out and so from then on uh he's been nothing but gracious and he doesn't have to be that's the funny part is you know he's the big dog and and he was you know he's on the biggest promotion everything he's shown me a lot of love that that he didn't have to show and uh it's great his support has been awesome he's a great guy so having him on the having me on the show and

we're talking about him and a made for three hours that people i had a million people tweeting you telling me how much it was a show and how much of an MMA fan was such so great to hear us both talking about MMA together was huge so yeah his support's meant a lot and you know you mentioned your contract issue a couple years ago I remember Neil Grove stepping in there

for a second and it didn't feel right and it was great to have you back by the way just you know because I'm nosy like that when is your contract up I signed an extension God when was it a couple months ago okay And the thing is that we went to spike, and so it was, you know, the excitement of going to spike part was, okay, everybody makes sure they're happy.

Let's kind of get our house in order. And that was a big part of getting into spike with that deal. So, you know, I'll be doing Belator for the foreseeable future. We shall be. That is great to hear now. On Thursday, the Belltor returns. It's Beltoe 87, although we aren't really using the numbers these days, Belter MMMA and whatnot. The main event is David Rickles versus Lloyd Woodward.

Mr. Cupcake is back. It's part of the lightweight tournament. You also got a guy who trains out of Montreal, DeLorence v. Pitbull, and then you got a bunch of other interesting fights. Which fight of these should we be looking out for? Oh, my God. Will Brooks, too, which I'm looking forward to. Right.

Will Brooks undefeated 8-0. It's harder to find a bad fight at 155. And what's so funny is we were talking last week. I was talking to one of the Spike producers, and they said, yeah, this isn't our, you know, the last few weeks we have these marquee names, a lot of championship fights, and they said, we don't have that big championship name, and I go, this is an exciting week. I go, this is a week for fans that really want to see fighting, that aren't really caught up in, oh, there's the champ, you know, this is for the hardcore fans, this is the week you want to tune in.

Tiago Michelle versus Tiger Sarnocki, that's going to be awesome. Tiger's not going to be 20 and 1, but he's got to live up to the hype, and Chagin Michelle is a great kickboxer. I love watching that guy fight. And Lloyd Woodard versus Caveman. I mean, these guys fight like Cavemen. They come out like it's a bar brawl. Both of them do.

And so Cave Man's coming down to 155. He's a successful at 170. So there really isn't a bad fight on this week. And for the hardcore fans, they listen to Ariel Hawani. This is the week to tune in, in my opinion. Well, thank you very much for stopping by. Thank you so much for time.

It was great to have you on the show for the first time. Always look for it your call. Really enjoyed it. As a guy who kind of prides himself on being a sort of TV nerd, if you will, and always kind of looked up to the broadcasters and dissected them and studied them. I think you do a fantastic job from the calls to the interviews in the cage,

just your overall presence and enthusiasm is very much appreciated on this side of the table. So keep up the great work. Thank you so much for coming on and very much hope to have you on in the future. Hey, anytime you want me, just let me know. And I appreciate everything, the fans, all the feedback from the fans,

and it's the true MMAP fans that I care about, man. Thanks a lot, man. All right, there he is. Jimmy Smith, color analyst for Bell, MMA, they have a show that kicks off at 10 p.m. Eastern on Spike TV, also 10 p.m. Pacific. This Thursday, you can catch the prelims on SpikeTV.com. As we mentioned, the lightweight tournament kicks off this Thursday. So check that out on Spike right after TNA Impact Wrestling. Now, speaking of Belator MMA, we've got a lot to talk about. We spoke a bit about Eddie Alvarez.

That's what we're going to be talking about with our next guest, among other things. We go now to the Skype Machine. We have to say goodbye to our beautiful Live shot here, but we'll be back. People crossing the street. Don't you worry. Is he there? Oh, he's not there? Okay.

Well, in a second, we'll be joined by MMAfighting.com's own Mike Chiapeta. He joins us from his home in Connecticut. He will also be in Las Vegas for UFC 156, providing coverage for MMAfighting.com. Let us go to the Skype machine right now. And there he is. Mike Chiapetta. the heel Mike Chiopeta growing some facial hair. I like it.

Hello, Mike. How you doing, Ariel? I'm having a hard time hearing you a little bit, so we may have to go to the phone here. Can you hear me now? Hello, hello? Uh, kind of catching every other word. Let's go to the phones. All right?

We're going to call you right now. Yeah, I think it's probably better I do. Okay, let's go to the phones. We're going to call him right now. New York Rick will get to do something back there. call it Mike. We want to talk to Mike, in particular about the Eddie Alvarez case. He was in New Jersey on Friday as Eddie Alvarez. It seems to me like he wants to go over to the UFC. I mean, based on his tweets, based on what he says, it seems to me like his desire is to take the UFC deal

and test himself against some of the UFC best. And Mike, I believe, was the only MMA journalist in attendance in a court in New Jersey on. Friday covering this case and he can explain it a whole lot better than I can. Is he on the line? Mike, are you there? I am here. All right. So, welcome to the show. As I said, it's the heel version of Mike Jepenna. Now it's great because we get our live shot back.

Let's talk about this case on Friday. You were there. You were the only MMA journalist there, right? I was, yeah. Now, what was it like? Explain to the people who aren't big into legal stuff who don't really understand this. They like seeing men punch each other in the face or women, and they don't really understand what the heck is going on and where we stand now. Explain what unfolded on Friday.

Well, on Friday, Eddie Alvarez had a hearing with a judge at the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey. And basically the point of it was to determine whether the court would grant an injunction that would have allowed Eddie to fight at UFC 159 in April. So the hearing lasted about an hour and 20 minutes overall, and in the end, the judge decided that he had not met the requirement that he would have faced irreparable harm by missing out on this event. So the judge decided not to grant him the injunction. So essentially he's still in the same position he was last week where he's embroiled in this lawsuit with Bellator. He feels as though Delator did not match the contract that the UFC offered him, and eventually a court of law will determine whether they did or didn't.

The judge on Friday did not make that determination all he was deciding is whether Eddie would have suffered irreparable harm by missing out on UFC 159, and his decision was no, that he would not. Do you agree with that decision? You know what? I'm not a legal mind, so I'm probably, I don't know, I probably should recuse myself from giving that answer. Certainly it was a great opportunity for him to, he was fighting as a co-main event he would have been. Obviously, he's, you know, he's from Philadelphia, which is very close by. I'm sure he would have had quite a contingent turnout for him. It would certainly help as far as, you know, gaining, increasing his level of fame in the spring. sport. And, you know, those are some of the things his side brought up during the course of the hearing that when they were saying he would suffer irreparable harm, you know,

that there are certain things that come from being famous that, you know, he would never be able to make up if he didn't get this opportunity. I tend to agree with some of the things that he said. On the other hand, I could sort of understand, you know, his side kind of contented, you know, give us this opportunity, and if eventually a court or a jury decides that Bellator did match, then I will go back to Bellator, and my value will have increased for them, which I thought was a little bit strange, you know, that, I don't even, I feel like, you know, would UFC have really taken the flyer and put ready on a UFC show knowing that he could potentially be going back to Bellator anyway? It is a very complicated issue, and I know a lot of

people have very one-sided thoughts on it of whether Eddie should deserve his shot to fight in the UFC or he should stay where he was because Belter-Metcher. Everyone has a definite opinion on it, but hearing both sides, you know, it is a fairly complicated issue. So, you know, I kind of understand why it needs to kind of continue a legal process. So what's the next step? Where do we go from here? Well, you know, he's just going to have to wait and get a new court date. I mean, that's the hardest part of it. You know, I think a lot of people would like to see a fast resolution to this. You know, at the end of the day, the guy's 29 years old.

He's in his prime as an athlete. And, you know, essentially he's just got to sit around waiting for the legal process to play out. And as we know, you know, that can take a long time. So, you know, who knows, it might come to a situation where Eddie says, I don't want to, you know, pursue this any longer because I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines. Because really, you know, we have no idea how long this will take. You know, a lot of people have asked me, you know, can't he just sit out, you know, whatever the matching period is and then be free agent?

No, he is kind of beholden to this contract. He had one opportunity to bring Bellator the best deal that he can get, and then they can match or not. So essentially, if he wanted to sit out, he would have to sit out the terms of this entire contract that he signed, which is 40 months. So, you know, there's no question that he's not going to do that. It's just a matter of, it's almost a battle of wills at this point to see if he can hold out and really fight for his rights or if he'll say, you know what, I'm going to just, you

know, bite the bullet and go back to Bellator and accept the offer that, you know, was somewhat close to what UFC was given him. they were in court on Friday, why didn't they just come to some sort of resolution there? Why didn't the judge rule it's a match or it's not a match? Well, like I said, I mean, the purpose of this hearing, the only reason that the judge granted this hearing in the first place is because essentially the UFC told Eddie Alvarez, if you can get us permission from the court that you're free to fight with us on this April 27th event, we will put you on the event,

but you have to tell us by January 27th, which was exactly three months before U.S.C. 159. So obviously, that would have been yesterday, Sunday. Obviously, they can't have court on Sunday, so the judge was granted him that hearing the weekend before what was essentially the deadline for him to give the U.S. an answer. And so that's kind of why it happened. But like I said, he was only kind of deciding that one

particular issue, not the larger issues surrounding, you know, where he's going to end up eventually for good. So what's your prediction? Where do we go from here? I mean, where do you think the next time we see Eddie Aver's fight, where will it be? Whose cage? Boy, that's such a tough question. Because, you know, I didn't hear everything involved in their cases.

Like I said, it was only about an hour and 20 minutes long on this whole thing. I'm sure there's a lot more both sides can present in a hearing, which, you know, who knows, in a court case, you know, it might take a few days to get to all the evidence as opposed to 80 minutes we were there. I will say the one thing that kind of stuck out to me is the judge seemed to, some of the questions that he was asking seemed to go against any side a little bit, but it was hard for me to tell whether he was just probing that issue or he was playing devil's advocate, or he just was kind of getting trying to look for more clarity of the same.

situation. For me as a non-legal mind, it was hard for me to be sure. Now, one thing I did, I certainly gleaned from it with some certainty was that he felt that the one issue that could prove to be Eddie's best hope to where he can say Bellator did not match is where Belator, the UFC promised Eddie Alvarez a chance to fight on network television with Fox. That's guarantee. in his contract. And when Bellator matched, they crossed that out and they put, you know, that he would fight on Spike. Obviously, you know, a very big difference between network television and cable.

So that, to me, seems like it might ultimately be the most important battleground in this lawsuit and whether they truly matched or didn't. Mike, there was a medium-sized media turnout on Saturday night for UFC on Fox 6, particularly when we talk about the MMA media, the guys who follow the sport week to week and all the events. And at the traditional Dana White Post-Fights Scrum, he dropped what I thought was the bombshell of all bombshells that he was oh so close to signing Fyodor Arminenko

to fight Brock Lesner at Cowboys Stadium at some point end of last year, early this year, except at the last minute after what he says, you know, they came to terms with Fyodor, Fyodor's father passed away, and he pulled out and said, I'm retiring, I'm done. And then Brock pulls out and says, I'm done if he's done. I was blown away. I don't even think I have completely digested this news even today. And to be honest, and he thinks that he told us the story. He never told us the story, obviously. To be honest, the reaction, I thought people would

lose their minds online. I thought this, I mean, they came to terms with Feta. What? It was, you know, people watched the video, got some comments, but it wasn't as big of a deal. as I thought it would be. Where do you sit on this one? I mean, were you blown away when you heard this? Or at this point, are you like, it's like four years too late? I was more blown away by your perfect pronunciation of Fyodor's name.

Oh, Fyodor, yeah, of course. The Russian, that's pretty impressive, dude. Thank you. I guess I get it. You know, like, yeah, I think that was a fight that was maybe, you know, a couple years too late. No, it's a fight that Dana tried to make several times, I know. It's one that, you know, he did talk about in the past.

I think, you know, I remember writing a long time ago that the USC was looking, that was hoping to book Cowboy Stadium for a Brock versus Fador fight. I mean, this was a few years ago. This was the more recent version where they came to terms and everything. I don't think they ever came particularly close back then. But I guess that's why. I mean, I think back then there was more of a sort of mythical status to Fador, and Brock was this, you know, real transcendent figure.

in MMA where he was getting a lot of mainstream attention. You know, I think it was a fight that really captured a lot of people's imaginations back then as a result of it. And, you know, going, seeing where they came, what happened to their careers after that, where Fador lost three times in a row, obviously he seemed a lot more human, and we knew he was beatable, and Brock obviously had his problems with his health and everything else. it really didn't have the same like panache to it the same it was still

you know I think it would have been interesting to see but I kind of get it why it wasn't like you know this this huge deal this weekend where people were like oh my god we came that close well

you know it was them but it was not them at their very best which is what people always wanted to see you know Brock was at UFC 146 in May and then he had that meeting with Dana and Dana told us a few times the meeting went horribly he told me this on fuel, he told me this, he told me the media, I mean, he said it a bunch of times,

the meeting went horribly. And then on Saturday, he says the meeting went very well. And, you know, it ended on a, it went nothing like he had told us. And I asked him, well, why did you say it went horribly? He said, you know, I don't have to tell you guys everything. I don't have to tell you the truth all the time. And a few fans asked me that. Like, can you even believe what he says now that he admitted to lying to you?

How do you feel about this? As a veteran reporter to the sport, is that, you know, is that part of the game? you can do whatever he wants, or does that bug you? Well, it's not the greatest thing. I think certainly, you know, because it's not even just you're lying to the media, you're lying to the fans, because obviously we, you know, the fans filtered their information through us a lot of the time. So I think that's the bigger issue here.

But, you know, I could understand why he wants to keep certain things close to the best, but in those instances it's probably better not to talk about it at all instead of lying. I know obviously he's going to be asked things where he doesn't necessarily want to answer, but maybe offer no comment, Dana, you know, he's always done things his own way, so I'm sure that's going to continue. I said earlier in the show that UFC 156 is one of the best pay-per-view main cards in recent memories. No injuries. You know, it's what was advertised, and it reminds me of a UFC pay-per-view for maybe two or three years ago when they really felt stacked. Of course, you've got Jose Aldo versus Frankie Edgar.

Rashad is on the card, Alistair, going down to the flyweight fight, Fitch, Maya, et cetera, et cetera. Of those five fights, which are you most looking forward to? There's no question. I'm most excited about the main event. I mean, you know, like many people, I was felt like, gosh, imagine how good Frankie Edgar would be as a featherweight. And he was a great lightweight. So, you know, now that's happening, I'm like, you know, who knows how good it would be is a featherweight. Who knows how, you know, he's only cutting a little bit of weight, but he's not.

not, you know, he's not used to doing this. So it's different. Jose Aldo is a great fighter. He'd probably be a great lightweight. So I almost feel like this is a fight that could have happened either at 145 or 155 if Aldo had moved up when Frankie was still the champion. It does feel, to me, like a super fight, even though Frankie's coming off a couple of losses. I mean, to me it feels like, you know, two guys who are just excellent fighters and super well-rounded.

They both fought in multiple tunnel fights before. You know five rounds is going to be a problem for them. To me, it just feels like a fight that anything could happen in. And that's really my favorite kind of fight. And a fight that I'm sure, you know, I feel like the crowd will be split 50-50, you know, that there will be a lot of people there. A lot of Brazilians travel well, you know, a lot of Brazilians in Las Vegas rooting for Aldo. And I'm sure a lot of people for Frankie, you know,

for all the great fights he's had over the year. that's, to me, is always my favorite kind of event to be at where the crowd is split, and, you know, any time it's the momentum change, you know, that, the other side of the crowd gets to explode. And it's just so, you know, it's just to me, it's just really a fascinating fight in terms of styles and everything else. So to me, that's by far and away my number one fight I'm looking forward to this weekend, but, yes, a stack card for sure.

Who's winning? I think at the end of the day, I probably, you'll pick Aldo. I have, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of hedging on my pick here because I haven't done my total breakdown. Oh, come on. You know, I don't know. You know, I will say, in watching Demetius Johnson versus John Dodson this past weekend, I was kind of wondering if we're, if we were kind of getting a preview of what we're going to see here, because it's a little bit similar. Obviously, Aldo has fought five rounds before where Dodson didn't. But Aldo was sort of a, you know,

he's a very powerful striker for a smaller weight guy. But he has faded in late rounds in the past, notably against Mark Komenick, and Frankie Edgar never runs out of energy, kind of like Demetius Johnson. So you kind of wonder, you know, as long as Frankie can hang around those first couple rounds, can he take over late?

I think that's certainly a possibility. You know, I kind of feel like Aldo has to get out to a bit, if he doesn't finish, which, obviously it's very, very difficult to finish Frankie Eager, but if he doesn't finish I kind of feel like he has to get out to an early big lead winning the first two or three rounds and then

kind of hoping that he can he can just hold on for the last two rounds because Frankie he turns it on late. He's always there. He never goes away. But I feel like Aldo probably can do that, probably can build an early

lead. If he doesn't start slow, you know, piling up the points with the kicks. Obviously, we saw Ben Henderson do that against Frankie. I'm sure, you know, Aldo's always had a kick-heavy offense. So I'm sure that's something he's going to implement quite a bit. And I think it's going to go all five rounds up picking Aldo by decision.

You know how I know this is a big event? Mike Chiapetta is getting off his butt. He's going to Las Vegas and he's covering it. You know it's a big event when Mike Chiapetta is in the house reporting on it. Looking forward to seeing you. looking forward to the event. It's Saturday night. Manley Bay Events Center. Great job on Friday. That was your time to shine, and everyone was talking about how great of a job you were doing. So kudos for doing what you're supposed to do, being a great reporter and being on the scene

and letting us know what was going on there. Because if you weren't there, we wouldn't know what the heck was going on with Adi Alvarez. Thanks for clearing it up. See you on Wednesday and safe travels to Las Vegas. Yes, same to you, sir. I'll see you out there. There he is. Mike Chiapetta of MMAFighting.com, one of the best in the business, clearing up as much as he can. the Eddie Alvarez situation talking a little UFC 156 as well. Speaking of UFC 156, we've been talking about the main card, mostly, all show long. Well, our next guest is one of the top fighters on the undercard, the FX prelims. What am I going to say?

Bobby Green is making his UFC debut, and he meets our next guest on the MMA hour, our long-time pal, our very good friend, the one and only. Mr. Charismatic himself, Jacob Vokeman. Jacob, how are you? I'm doing all right. How are you doing? Jacob, you know, I was a little thrown off by the text message you sent me. You sent me three times to remind me that I had an interview today at 1 o'clock. Well, you know, Jacob, I deal with fighters on a daily basis,

and a lot of you, and I don't want to paint you all with the same brush, a lot of you are very forgetful. So I'd like to remind you, just in case. Were you offended by my repeated text? Oh, no. I don't get a pen of that much. It was great. It was actually pretty good because I was changing a poopie diaper at 1 o'clock. It reminded me.

Very good. Do you always change poopie diapers at 1 o'clock? Is that like a daily thing for you guys? No. How many kids do you have? I have three kids, six or four and a two-year-old. Wow. Look at you.

I didn't know you were such a family man. Yeah, life's over. Well, I'm looking forward to this fight very much, and thank you for joining us. Always good to have you on the show. And by the way, last week, I can't remember his name, but a fan asked you on Twitter, why aren't you on Ariel Hawani's show? And you said, Ariel doesn't like my political beliefs.

You don't really believe that, do you? I have no idea. I just said that. Just to get to stop harassing me. You were just trying to nudge your way onto the show. Yeah, I don't know. Well, you know... I really don't know your political views.

You really never express them to me. Isn't that a good politician, right? Isn't that what a good politician does? I'm not a politician, so... Well, you know what? You know what Michael Jordan once famously said? Someone asked him, why don't you ever talk politics, endorse anyone? He said, well, Republicans buy sneakers too, right?

You know that line? Uh-huh. Well, I'll say to you, Republicans watch MMA interviews as well. Oh. You don't have to tell me on air. You can tell me afterwards. That's true. But we never really had a chance to sit down and have coffee.

The bottom line is, Jacob, you look at this card, Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar, Roshav. John Evans, Overeem Fitch. I mean, it is stacked. Who's who? Yet right here right now, we are talking to Jacob Vokeman. That has to be the ultimate vote of confidence from us to you, right? Yeah, I guess. How am I supposed to take it?

It's an interview. Yeah, I know. I see how it goes. Yes. Well, it's going right now. What do you know about Bobby Green? I walked a little bit on him. His strike force guy coming over.

He's four and he won his last four fights. So he's decent. He's got heavy hands. He's a punk, be honest. What? He was adding me on Twitter. Yeah. And I kind of harassing me a little bit.

I'm like, just leave me alone, you Twitter bully. What was he saying? I don't remember exactly what he was saying about me coming in. He's going to knock me out. He actually added you on Twitter to say this to you and started tweeting your way? Yeah. Wow. It was really annoying, to be honest.

Were you aware of him before getting this fight against him? No, no, I don't really know a bunch of guys I fight until I find out, until I find out and watch a little video on them. Who I fought? I haven't fought anybody on the main cards, but I haven't really watched anybody. So, I don't know anybody who I fight so far. His fighting style, he describes it as hood. What is that? I mean, how do you describe that? He's just throwing crazy punches. He's chaotic. That's hood.

He's a street fighter. He's a street fighter. Watch street fights. That's what it's going to look like. Do you have respect for that fighting style? Yeah, dangerous. Very dangerous. So I've got to time the punches when I see the weight on the foot.

I know he's going to be thrown a heavy punch. So I know to get in and take him down. I'm not going to mess wrong with this guy. Are you going into this fight with some animosity? Do you have a chip on your shoulder for the tweets and all that stuff? I was a little irritating. We're just going in at the after-fight interview. What do you mean?

You're going to save it for the post-fight interview? Well, I'm going to save what I want to. The main thing, the main juice for the post-fight interview, yeah. What do you want to say? I got some stuff on my mind. Really? It's bothering me for a while, yeah. With regards to what?

Well, we'll find out. Well, you know, you had the famous one that landed both of us on the Tonight Show. Ever since then, I feel like you're trying to recreate the magic. yet it's not working. Are you going to go in a different direction here? Are you still going to go with the political stuff? Different. Oh. Are you going to call someone out? Oh, we'll see.

So you're that confident that you're going to be Bobby Green that you've already started to think about your post-fight interview? Well, you've got to have confidence when you're going to those fights. Sure. But I already know what I'm going to say. It's been bugging me before this fight. Really? I was planning on saying before I got to fight with Bobby Green.

Is it MMA-related? Yeah. Whoa. Now, can you do me favor? Can you not say it in your interview with Joe Rogan and save it for when I interview you? Who has more press? I think I do. To be honest, I think.

I mean, it's the least you could do. I got you on the Tonight Show. Yeah. I guess that wasn't too hard, though. Why? That's pretty damn hard. Have you ever been on the Tonight Show since then? No.

And you were surely never on before then, so I'd say it's pretty damn hard. Now, okay, you got me. Speaking of Twitter, Jacob, I follow you on Twitter. And last couple of months, you've been tweeting some weird pictures. I want to start first with the Movember one. We got that one, Isaac? Let's put it up on the big screen here. You supported Movember, great cause.

There it is. There's your mustache. We're looking at it right now. You said, it looks like I have three mustaches. Were you referring to your hairline, your eyebrows, and then the real mustache? No, my eyebrows and my chest hair sticking out probably Oh yes, I do see it there

But why do you have to make such a creepy look Like why can't you just It looks like you're trying to really Accentuate the mustache with this look You look a bit like a sex offender here I'm not going to lie Fun, right? It's just meant to be fun

Okay You know what I'm trying I'm being a sex offender, no Oh, okay, all right Let's go to the next picture here There it is, You're wearing a tutu. Why are you wearing a tutu?

It was my daughter's birthday party. My had family over, so I just wore a tutu. So why, though? Are you trying to scare the guess? It's family. Oh, it's fast. I can understand if your daughter asked you to wear the tutu, you got to do what she wants on her birthday, or was this your idea?

This is my idea. Did you like how it felt? No, it was just a singlet. It was a singlet, and I put my daughter's little... Oh, I see. I don't know what that thing is. Is this your way of trying to get the Twitter bonus from the UFC? Because they're very entertaining.

I mean, I thought you sported the Movember mustache better than anyone. Well, the reason I did the Movember mustache, I started doing that because Ariani was doing a fundraiser on her website, or not have a website on Facebook, and she said, if you donate, you get a free-autographed picture, personalized autographed picture. She never even sent it. That pissed me off. What? Can I say that work?

Yeah, she didn't even send me the autograph, personalized autograph picture of her. Wait a second. Wait, it was in conjunction with Movember? Yeah, yeah. Ariani. She was doing some kind of fundraiser, yeah. Are you sure it wasn't me? Did you get us confused again?

Nope, no. So it was Ariani. We're friends on Facebook. I don't really. It's probably not even her. Yeah, probably not. So she was doing a contest, and she was sending the autograph picture, why? If you donated?

I got a free autographed, personalized autographed pick. How much? And she was doing it. I don't know. It doesn't matter the amount. Wow. So if you donate a dollar or $300, you get the pick? Yep.

And you donate it? Uh-huh. Because you want... I figure, why not it's tax deductible anyway? Sure. But was it more because you wanted the pick? Yeah. Now you see her all the time.

Why don't just ask her for her pick at the events? I don't know. I don't really talk to her. Yeah. He's not really a personal person. Not approachable at all. Why? What do you mean?

I think she's very approachable. She is. You don't think she's... Have you approached her before? Oh, yeah, we're good pals. I actually have... Well, Eric didn't put it on the desk today. Good job, Eric.

First time. I actually have a signed picture of her that we put on the desk right next to your t-shirt. Do you still have that t-shirt? It's right on my desk right here. I thought you... I thought Sown... Or not Sownin, but...

What's his name? Took it? Mayhem. Yeah, mayhem. I'm a little. offended right now because clearly you don't watch my show. He gave it back to me, but he defaced it. He wrote mayhem for president, and he cut it up a little bit, but he did give it back.

Well, I got another one I was going to bring for you anyway. Oh, yeah, what is it? No, the same one. Oh, well, I appreciate that. I'll take a new one. Were you upset when he took my t-shirt? You saw that. You were very concerned.

First time you ever showed a bit of concern for me? No, he said he wanted to debate. I met him one time, and he said he wanted to debate me on this political stuff. And I said, all right, whatever, you set it up, we can get it going. Wow, that's a great idea. Can I set that up, you versus Mayhem political debate on this show? Yeah, sure. So is he a Democrat?

I think he's Democratic, yeah. I'm pretty sure he is. I don't know if he is or not. He probably doesn't even know what he is. I think he is. Are you a fan of his? I haven't seen him. I've only watched him fight that one time, and you got beat up.

Which one time? I think it was 46. Oh, in the UFC, yeah. Yeah, yeah, against CB Dalloway. Yeah. But what about his antics? You know, the whole Lucky Patrick and all that, what he did on the show. Does that bother you, or do you think that stuff is fun?

You haven't seen it, so how did you know he took my shirt? He told me, and people said it on Twitter. Oh, yeah, that's right. They were very concerned. Clear. Back to the Ariani thing for a second. So do you feel maybe Brittany is more approachable than her? I have an approach her.

Oh. I heard she was. Really? I heard from a lot of the fans that they asked her for autographs, and she just kind of snub them off. Whoa. I'm not a fan of mine. Wow.

She's not a fan of yours personally, or you're not a fan of her? I'm not a fan of her. Wow. Just because of that. I don't really, I've never met her. Right. So then why do you want the autograph picture? Why not?

I was going to sell it for a raffle Oh, okay I thought you wanted For youth wrestling I don't need all my stuff I get from the USC And I Oh really

Rafflet off Even like your gloves Your shorts, everything Yep Huh So you weren't getting the picture Because you're a fan of hers You just wanted more stuff to raffle

Yep Oh that's it Well now that makes a lot more sense I thought you were like a big time fan You really wanted the autograph You're upset that she wasn't approachable Etc cetera etc Oh

No. Do you want me to get one for you? Is that what you're getting at? Sure, yeah, if you can. Okay. I'm on it. Anything for you. I ever write it to Mr. President.

Last time I saw you, Jacob, was in Minnesota, in October. You picked up a huge win. Probably your most impressive thus far. I mean, to finally get a finish, to do it in your home state, greatest moment of your career? Yeah. Well, in my anime career, I would say yes, for sure. In your what?

MMA career. Oh, MMA career. Fighting career. What's the greatest moment personally? Oh, there's a bunch. I have a bunch from wrestling. Three-time state champion wrestling and three-time All-American. There's one that's one cell with the All-American.

The only team that ever had 10 All-American, which is everybody on the team was an All-American. I don't know if you know what that means or not. Sure. It's only been done one time. Do you think I'm stupid or what? I don't know if you follow wrestling. I follow everything.

Come on, I'm a sports nut. It's repeating what I said on my text, aren't you? What do you mean? You said, oh, yes, that's what I'm throwing it back your way. But all that better than that moment, UFC and your home stake, getting a win after a loss, I mean, that was pretty huge. Yeah, it was pretty huge.

Plus, I have three kids, so you can't beat that. That's true. I can agree with that. I agree 100%. How much pressure did you feel going into that fight? Did you think you were fighting for your job? because I remember talking to you after the SaaS loss, you thought you were going to get fired.

Yeah, every time I fight, I feel like I'm going to fight for my career. Wow. I don't know why it is, because people on Twitter keep on saying, and once I lose, I'm going to get cut, and be like, someone actually tweeted me, mhmafreet.com or whatever it is. I don't remember the website. They said that after my next loss, I would be just like Bromney and forgot it for three months.

Whoa. So I banned him on Twitter I'll find it I'll find it on Twitter And I think it's MMA free I'm not really sure though You know you could have done the same to Bobby Green When he was pissing you off

X-Nam? Yeah, block him I might have actually I don't know Okay Oh I haven't heard anything Wow Well now things are very interesting here

We should have got him on the phone To stop by as well Maybe next time Or maybe in Las Vegas So Okay so you pick up the wind You're fighting Bobby Green. You think a win over Bobby Green really puts you in the title hunt at 155?

Well, you'd think that would be 7-101 at 155? Yeah. I don't know. I think there's no guarantees. I think you need to finish. Yeah. Yeah. Finish knockouts.

That's all the U.S. you want. More knockouts than finishes. Well, I think they were very excited about your submission win. We'll see. We'll see. I don't know. How do you predict it ends on Saturday? All right, submission.

I'm not going to play around this guy. Submission first round. Submission first round, really? Wow. You have that little respect for his skills? Well, for a street dog. Right. As he calls himself.

You know, he also calls himself the king. So it's the president versus the king. And he slams. That's a specialty, slams. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a president versus a king on FX. When are you going to get on pay-per-view, by the way? I was on pay-per-view once, wasn't I?

Yeah, but I mean back on pay-per-view. I don't know. You tell me, you asked me to that. Why are you asking me then? I don't know. Okay, he's... I'm not in charge of this thing. He's a fan of yours. Don't ever forget. I asked him at the scrum after your loss of Sass. I said, what's happening to Vokeman?

He says he loves Vokman. And I texted you that. You didn't believe me, but here you are still fighting the UFC. Quite frankly, I don't want to take credit for it, but I think I'm a big reason why you're still in the UFC. Well, thank you. Well, appreciate it. Thank you. Jacob, always a pleasure Looking forward to the fight

Can't wait for it I look forward to the T-shirt you're going to give me And I'm going to try to set up you and Ariani for a little Ted at TED if you will All right, good luck And we'll see you in Las Vegas

Sounds good There he is Jacob Christmas Vokeman stops by always a pleasure To talk to him on the show All right In a matter of moments We are going to

Speak to the man himself The Huntington Beach Bad Boy The Legend Tito Ortiz, he is stopping by our first interview in a very long time. I want to play a quick clip here before we get to Tito because I want to bring you up to speed where this whole thing started. It started on this very show. It was Matt Matrione doing the Mitriot minute. He made a joke about Tito, more specifically about his partner, Jenna Jameson. And that, I guess, led to a long-standing issue that he had with me, which hopefully we will settle in a matter of moments. Here's the clip.

Do we have it? Matt Matrione on a very early edition of the MMA out. I think it's awesome, awesome that the U.S.U.C. is finally starting to do this. I think it's a great promotion that, you know, they're finally letting women fight for their man's honor. You know, I think that's a great thing. Just come on, what are you talking about, Matt? What do you mean, Matt? Well, we all know that Tito was going to give some kind of excuse and back out. So Jenna's going to have to step in and fight Bader for Tito's honor.

But Bader, be really careful because this is a trap fight. We all know that she's awesome. off her back and that she's got phenomenal top control. But remember that she doesn't choke easily. With his daughter in his hand there. I had to take her out of frame for that way, man. Just to let the record show. Wow. Fantastic. So you found out about that fight. You're not going to get a chance to fight, Tito. Are you upset? You know, I think that's probably a great thing because I would really feel bad if I retired Tito. So Bader, you know, please finish him up and send him on his way. So there you have it. That was Matt Mitreone on the show many moons ago. Part of his Mitreone

minute segment and you saw him feeding his daughter making the joke. As you saw, I'd even want to do the back and forth part, but Tito was mad about it. And understandably so. And I actually apologize many times for my involvement in that because he was offended. And we never wanted to offend anyone. We never wanted to make fun of anyone or disrespect anyone, especially loved one, et cetera, and he didn't want to talk to me for a very long time. And then on Thursday, a fan tweeted to him, isn't it time to end the beef with Ariel Hawani? Is the time now? You've retired.

You're a manager now. Squash it. And he said, I think so. And I wrote back, I've always had a lot of respect for Tito, really one of the first big names to give me the time of day, one of the first big names to talk to me, do interviews with me, in the jarringpark.com days. I always appreciated that, always respected that, and it meant a lot to me. And we spoke on the phone very briefly. We talked very briefly.

And I said, I'd love to have you on the show to move past this, to settle our differences, and to talk about what's ahead. Managing, Cyborg, all this stuff. A lot of exciting things happening in the world of Titori's, and he agreed. He was in Las Vegas over the weekend celebrating his birthday, which was last week. and he said he would love to come on the show and that to me was the highlight of my week and now proud, very proud, to welcome in the Huntington Beach Bad Boy,

one of the true legends of mixed martial arts UFC Hall of Famer, Tito Ortiz. Is he really there? Tito, is that you? I'm doing great. Your audio is a little weird though. Is it okay? Can you talk again?

Yeah, I can hear me. I can hear you now. It was a little muffled there. Great to have you on the show, Tito. I really appreciate you stopping by. I guess the question I'll ask off the top is, why are you talking to me now? You were very vocal in the past. Why am I cool with you now?

You know, I guess life's too short. And I think one of my buddies died and ended up to kill themselves. And, you know, I made up a couple of my friends that I actually haven't been getting along with. And, you know, like I said, life's too short. Well, I appreciate that. And again, I will say it off the top with you here. Apologize if I ever offended you. Apologize if I ever disrespected you or your family. It was all part of a sort of skit. I didn't write it. I had nothing to do with it. But again, I will say I apologize for disrespecting you or your family in any way.

Great. I accept apology. And can we be honest? I have apologized to you many times in the past, face-to-face off-camera. it appeared had a deep hatred for me. You wouldn't even look at me in the eye, wouldn't even respond to me. Why were you so mad at me? Can you explain to me why you hated me so much for those, you know, one plus years?

Someone sits there and tried to dig into my girl at the time, you know, and because it brings something out of somebody else to talk smack on my girl and saying disrespect and things. I didn't see that cool. I remember the time when you didn't really have a, huge job. And I was going through

negotiation with UFC and we talked right after the Mache da fight and I went out of my way to help you and then all of a sudden a little bit of time goes by and you started to get a bigger job that you

had a way to kind of disrespect me. I didn't think that was cool. I hold grudges. That's, you know, what's one of my downfalls, but I do hold grudges. The one thing I was always confused about was you cleared the air with Matt a long time ago, yet you were still mad at me. Why? Because you kept digging at it, and you kept digging at the time, and like I say, it was just the way I felt, man.

So you felt I was the... I never, I really have never even talked about Jenna on this show, never really said anything about her, but you felt like... No, not the show, you did it. It was one-on-one with Metrium. back when it happened, and I just felt like I said, I was just like, this guy right here, and he makes his job of talking to those fighters, but then he turned around and talk smack on his fighters. I didn't really understand it.

But with time, you know, it counts forgiveness. Well, I appreciate that. And you don't mind me sort of airing this out here, right? No, that's cool. You know, one of the things, I've always thought that you were one of the true pioneers of the sport because you got the promotional side of it. You know, you marketed yourself very well.

everything with Ken and with Chuck. I mean, you got it. You brought a little pro wrestling into it and whatnot. And of course, I'll never, ever put myself on that level and compare myself to those fuse. But in the back of my mind, I kind of hope that when you wouldn't answer my questions at the press conferences and whatnot,

it was part of the show. Deep down, you really didn't hate me, but it was kind of, you know, it was some conflict, and conflict, you know, is usually good in our world. Was there any truth to that? Maybe a little, no. I mean, like I say, I'm a very stubborn person.

When someone says something to me, I take it to heart. You know, I defend my family always. I defend my friends always, and it's sometimes hard for me to forget and forgive. Lately I say as I get older, I get a little more mature and just the way things are. I guess I'm looking at both of our sides, that I was able to be a little mature about this now. and put it behind me. Was it that one fan? Because I've been racking my brain and thinking,

why now? Why all of a sudden? That one fan who tweeted both of us, was he the reason, or was this going to happen at some point you were just waiting for the right moment? I think it was going to happen at some time the right moment. Like I said, one of my friends passed away. During that week, you know, I just started thinking about it.

Like I said, no, I was too short. Why I keep hating people? and start living out, you know. And I'm going to be on myself by doing that. And I'm getting my mature. Well, maybe the bad boy isn't there anymore. That's why they change is the people's champ. Right, exactly.

And obviously, very sorry to hear about your friend and my condolences to you and his family as well. I thought, you know, you were on UFC tonight, which is another show that I worked for. I thought maybe then we would be able to squash the beef. But here we are on this show, just two weeks later. It's amazing how it works out.

and do it more about you now so it's better huh no that's not true hey if anyone can appreciate that it would be you right yeah for sure you know you're a manager now and other people have have thrown this idea my way and I won't lie I thought about it as well you know you're a manager you're involved in this this intense public negotiation

you know with the UFC about cyborg and ronda biggest fight in women's MMA history is it good for you now to squash the beef to come on my show you know, this kind of forum, et cetera. Is it more of a business thing, or are we really personally cool with each other? No, I think we're a person to cool with each other.

It has nothing to do with business at all. I can find other mainstream ways to get publicity if I want to do. It's not, that has nothing to do with it at all, that's for sure. But let's be honest, the people's champ on the people's forum. It just kind of works, right? Of course. How do you like life as a manager? Is this a natural fit for you?

I think so. It is challenging sometimes. You know, work with sidewalks is challenging. The girl wants to fight, of course, but it's just a question of her is getting down to 135. She really feels it's impossible. She walks around, you know, 160, 165, and to make 145 for all the years she's done it,

she's like, you know, it would really take the last energy just for me to make 145. Now they want me to cut down to 145, give me 1.35, it's going to be really, really almost impossible. So I battled back and apart with her calendar, how the U.S. is going to take care of her, and this and that. We're still just, we're at the end of the rope, I think. I'm not sure if she wants to do it.

And me and my partner, George Prasian, we sit there and we just try to talk to it over and over again. So I don't know. Maybe this next week we're convinced her, but it's kind of hard to convince her that know that they can't make the weight that a promotion want them to make. Do you get the sense, at least from the UFC's end? If she doesn't take this fight, there isn't a home for her in the UFC? I feel like that.

The way they talk to us, I feel that's the way. They're just having one-way class, and promotions kind of didn't make much sense when all the other promotions have three or four-way classes. So I don't know either put my other bet, on, you know, it Ronda to win the fight, and that's how they're going to make their money?

I would think so. So I guess time will tell. What do you think when you hear Dana say they're in the Ronda Rousey business? This is the Ronda Rousey show. It's not so much about women's MMA. They're fans of her. They believe she's a great draw,

and that's what this is all about. Is that right? Or have we seen this story unfold before, and usually it doesn't end well? usually definitely well exactly um i don't know can you put all your chickens in one basket no bizarre maybe maybe not we'll see um all about the women's division in general than have about one person but you know we're on this spot what maybe five times now or only five times now pro yeah to do that to somebody it just shows disrespect towards all the other

women fighters that are that way class but for cyborgs there is no 145 pound division in the UFC. So it's almost like, you know, if you're a super heavyweight, you can't fight in the UFC. If you're a 115 pounder, you can't fight you've got to figure it out. So isn't it more on her to figure it out now? Yeah, it really does. And like I say, I'm going back and forth to try to always make the try.

You know, and I think that's what it's come down. So you're going to have to try to make the weight good and make it happen. What's your gut telling you? will it happen? Will she make 135? Yeah. As a person to cut away for 22 years, no. I don't think it's going to happen.

It's hard for women to cut that much weight. For a woman to be 3% of body fat, that's not healthy. I mean, she talks about that she wants to have kids in there, things like that can damage her for not having kids. And a lot of people got to understand that. This is not a man you're talking about. It's a woman we're talking about, you know, on her to cut down the weight. I mean, yeah, she had an extra rate on her. She cut down.

She started out fighting at 155, she was at 145. I mean, she ran 154 at the Olympics. But she just was able to kick cut the weight, keep cut the weight, and it was easy for her. Cyborg has been fighting at 145 for such a long time. It's hard for her to make the way to 1.45. What does she walk around at? She walks around about 160, 165.

She, go ahead, sir. with maybe 8% of body fat, 9% of her body fat. Wow. And for a woman, I mean, an average, just would be walking around at 12% body fat, so she doesn't have much harder. Would you advise her to maybe lose a little muscle mass? I mean, she is a very muscular woman, right?

Maybe that could help her. Yeah, and like I said, she used to walk around 170, and she lost some muscle mass just to try to see if she can get lower on this weight to do it. And is it going well? So far, so good. Yeah, I mean, she's, I say she's 160, 165. She bounced the back to her on there.

She said she's stopped with the way to the way she does and really just focused on her jit-to. She's been training, putting her time. You said on UFC tonight that you watched Ronda Rousey at the World MMA Awards and you feel like she has changed, maybe because of the attention, the promotion, etc. What specifically about her do you feel has changed? I think she's believing the hype a little too much, and she hasn't proved anything yet.

That's just my opinion. I mean, that's no more men. I think Rwanda's an awesome fighter. I have nothing against the woman at all. I think she's great for the sport, and I'm glad that she's able to bring the UFC to an idea of making a woman's sport a part of the UFC. And I'm happy for her doing that. That could be a dangerous game, right? You know all about that.

A lot of attention could affect you the wrong way, right? Of course it can. I think the worst possible things you have to go through with the UFC and the best possible things you could with the UFC, and I've seen other fighters do it too, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What's your relationship like now with the UFC? Oh, good.

Just talk in terms. You still see that day or still is maybe hurt by the things I said in the past and can't forgive. He says, we're cool. He says no problem in everything. But as I look and never been invited to the UFC at all, I used to a long time ago. There's just a lot of little small things, but I don't take it personal. It's business, strictly business, no more than that. But I understand that.

It's cool. When you speak about the Ronda situation, who are you talking with? Are you speaking with Dana White or are you talking to someone else in the UFC? Actually, my partner, George Praetian, as Ms. Welk, speaking with the UFC, I'll get the deal done. I probably just been talking to Cybeck more than anything trying to get her to say yes. That's been my job more than anything. And, of course, I know it's been hard.

So right now, I mean, you're obviously a manager. I've seen you kind of hint at coming back. Are you really considering coming back, or is that just kind of all people? No, I'm not going. No, I'm not coming back, man. Next surgery I just got through five weeks ago. I'm still recovering from it. It's difficult.

It's hard. The pain hurts still, you know, not like it was before, of course. So now I'm just kind of waiting for it. for UFC insurance to take care of it. First they said yes, then they denied it. And so I don't know. I'm kind of just waiting for them on a bill that was supposed to take care of.

I thought UFC insurance took care of us fighters. If we fought, we got injured during the fight, and all this comes to find out, but not. So I don't know. I'm second guessing and going, wow, this really happened right now. hopefully it's a dream. How much is it for the bill?

I'm not 100% sure. I think it's something like 90,000. Whoa. 90,000? And they don't want to pay for any of it? Well, it would be denied claims. So I'm just waiting, and I don't know they'll take care of it.

So there's a matter of word, and hopefully just going to take a little time for them to make it happen. So I'm just waiting. Just waiting. I always thought when you retired, you would obviously go into, I knew you were going to stick around in the sport. you would go to either, you know, management, which you're doing now,

or maybe try to spearhead some kind of union in MMA. Does that interest you at all? No, not at all. No, not at the time. I really don't think so, just because U.S.C. doesn't want to happen. You know, Dana does want to happen, and if I do it, then it would be going to go, there you go to try to destroy the U.S.C. again. And at no time, I never ever try to do anything like that.

I really don't see that happen in the future. Do you think it will ever happen in the sport? And do we even need it? A bunch of fighters come together, possibly. Do the fighters need it? A bunch of fighters got to take a chance and make it happen. Do you think the fighters need it? Yes.

Why? Don't worry about the lie claim on our insurance. Right. It would be different. It would be like in other sports, right? That's just maybe just the tip of some of the things. There's a lot of things that fighters go through right now. you know, they're afraid to say something.

But it is what it is. But if it's ever going to happen, it's going to happen because guys like you, you know, names like you, Chuck, Frank Scha. You know, this is the era now, right, because the major stars of a couple years ago have retired, BJ, etc., etc. If it's not going to happen now, probably it's never going to happen, right? It's never going to happen. When we're all in the highest part of our careers, we could have did it. And I was the only one person saying something. BJ Penn was the only person saying something,

and everybody else just kept my shush. And just curious, I mean, Chuck got a job, Matt Hughes just got a job with the UFC. How come Titor-Tis didn't get a job? That's a great question. I don't know. Maybe there's still hatred. I don't know. Like I say, man, life is too short to hate to think about things that could have,

should have happened. And I think I could give a great side of a fighter, a promotion side of it, help for the UFC. And they don't give me enough respect to even give me a call. And it's fine. As I say, I'll do have the other means to make money and support my family, and I had a problem to that. Did you want a job?

Of course. Who would want a job with the U.S. The best person in the world. what would you like to do for them? I think I could do a wonderful job doing it. What would you like to do for them? I don't know. Helping the fighters with marketing.

You know, a lot of the fighters don't understand it. They come and they fight and don't forgot about. There's a lot of things that could be done to make fighters more interesting for the fans to, you know, fall in love with them and really follow their careers closely. You know, Dana was once your manager. Did you learn anything from him as far as negotiating, representing fighters, et cetera, et cetera? Of course, I did. I learned a lot from him.

He taught me a lot. You know, there was a time when SECU in the company and sat with me, and, you know, we negotiated pay-per-view a bigger chunk of money. And he was like, this is the way it is. If you don't want it, we'll go somewhere else and on the phone up and turn it, looked at me, it goes, I hope I make a right decision for the future. At the time I go, Dana, I trust you. And I think he did. And I stand by you.

And then all of a sudden, you got appointed to be president. All of a sudden, I found myself in the same shoes as Dana because I didn't have a badger. I was making my own decisions. And I got hated on because of it. I got talked down upon. I mean, there's so many different things that made me look bad at the ultimate fighter, time for time again.

There's just so much of this stuff just came up. about that I think we're even, I think he got me back. So it is what it is. You think he got you back? Is that what you said? Yeah, of course. Got you back for what? For the things that I said about him, but I probably shouldn't have said.

Oh, got you. I wear the shirt I did. Right. I want to wear him that probably shouldn't have did. Do you regret that? I'm an emotional guy. I wear my heart by sleeve, man. Do you regret those decisions, at least some of them?

Yeah, of course I do. I wish I would have handled myself a little different. And do you feel like at this point, I mean, you know, Dana's a good. He seems like the kind of guy you sit down. I mean, maybe both of you are kind of fiery, so you clash in some way. But did you ever have when your career was over a sit down with him and kind of air all this out and tell him what you just said to us and probably a lot more? Yeah, a bunch of times.

I mean, I said the bunch of times I apologize. I said, don't worry about it to you. It's behind us down. And he said that to me. Right. Now, other than Cyborg, who else do you represent these days? Actually, Robert Oversonid in Season 5, the Uplogriter. He cut down to 1-45, he's been out of 5-0-Win streak right now.

I'm a guy from Brazil, Ricardo O'Brien at 185. And it's impossible to get up a fight. I think I've had seven fights for him, and all seven guys pulled out because it realized who it was, and the money was a good enough. So it is about fighting. So hopefully here in the next couple months, I'll be able to get them a fighting Bellator. Or if UFC means that 1-85 pounds to get a fight in UFC,

and those kids are ready for it, that's for sure. What do you think of Belator? Do you think they are a viable number two promotion in our sport? I believe that I've seen what they have presented on Spike. Yes, for sure. What do you think of the whole tournament, the format week-to-week, all that stuff? Can that, you know, is that sustainable?

For now, I mean, that's how you make great champions. I mean, that's how you use to let me, who's the best fighter, and they're doing it. They're doing the smart way. I mean, I watch, and I see some pretty good fighters. I've been to an event, but production is good. You know, the fighters are tough as hell, so I really think they have a future.

One of the big things in our sport, not just our sport, combat sports in general, fighters, they don't know when to walk away. What's going to happen in three, four years? Do you think you'll get the itch? Do you think you will be tempted to come back and fight? No, me? No.

I don't think so. You're done? I mean, I've got to get done a surgery. It's not to get that a knee surgery, you know, before I fought for us. My next to four, I went and they did meniscus. It took up 50% of my meniscus. And then during the fight, either hit the double or defend the shot. I think it was when I hit a double.

I retorn my ACL. So I'll have to get my ACL redone on my right knee. I'm just sick again surgeries, man. All my fans always wonder why they're like, you know, man, why'd retire? Why don't you kill them back? When I have kids and have a chance of going paralyzed and have a back surgery, two neck surgeries, two knee surgeries,

I'm sick of making sure that I do the right things to want to fight but have a chance to get injured. I'm sick of getting injured and being paralyzed in a great idea at all. No way. And it's not worth a million. dollars. How much it would piss you up that he kind of stole your last moment inside the octagon? I was pissed. I was just pissed for my fans too. I just, I was very disrespectful. But drugs he was on and the stories a lot of the time, maybe it just made him back wacky,

and that's why he did what he did. But I really think that it just shows, you know, I've sent a bad message out to our use that want to become. I'm UFC fighters to say that it's okay to use testosterone if your levels are a little low. I didn't understand that. Did you ever use TRT? Nope. Never. Did you ever use any kind of steroid, PED, anything like that?

Never. I tested negative every single time they test me. They test me randomly. They test me before my fights, a month before my fights, two months before my fights. They've always tested me. And I never thought that it was something that I needed. You know, I watched a lot of other guys, like Mark Coleman, have a gas so damn quick, and I thought that,

well, I would I want to death to my body? Why would I want to eat my body up? Or, you know, I end up destroying my muscles. And I didn't want that to happen. How big of a problem do you think that is in our sport right now? It's starting to become a bigger, a bigger problem, I think. And you start noticing on fighters that are a lot more shredded than they ever been in a career. So do you think guys are using this, who shouldn't be using this?

this, like mainly, or I guess what I'm trying to say is, they're saying, oh, testosterone, all that stuff, but it's really because of other reasons. A, either they, you know, took steroids in the past and needed or are just kind of, you know, using it as something to give them an edge, a PED, if you will? Of course, it's going to give them an edge. I mean, how would you like to be 35 years old? You feel like a 24-year-old, like when you have no more pain, soreness, and achiness, and you're able to push yourself over the limits.

because something wrong. I just do it all the time they can do that. I mean, there's times I would be challenged that I can only get two days to train in for the week because I was injured, and I had just sat in bed going to do the way to get through this fight. I hope I can. I mean, you have C. 106, I can remember. I would take five days off.

Train two days, take five days off, train two days, take five days off. Because I had a ruptured disc of my neck and had a fracture over my face. I still took it because I had to support my family. That was my number one to support my kids. Does it bother you when people kind of make light of this, where they say you know, you complain about your injuries and things like that? Does that get to you? No, not at all.

Just because all these people have never fought with injuries or had put their lives on the line no matter what and still perform. And I still did. And everything, I performed well with the injuries I had. and like I say I keep saying the truth every time I thought

you know if I was injured I was going to say it yeah I was hurt but I still came around and I thought I put on a good fight I put it on a show and I did what I wanted to do and I think that's my fans respect me so much how was your birthday in Las Vegas this weekend I was wonderful man excess is the world's best club

by far and Jesse Waits took care of you very well I had a lot of fun a few of my friends out there my brother came out It was a good time It was a good time to kind of Just release

See, I follow you I follow you now And you keep tweeting this Jesse Waits guy Who is this? No, he's actually the owner of Excess Oh, okay You're showing him a lot of love He's a really close friend of mine

He's a really good dude I noticed you started following me as well Oh I appreciate it And guess what Right before I started this show Like a minute before I checked my emails And guess who's following me too

Uh Jenna Then I got a little nervous I was like what's going Is this? Yeah, we get really nervous too, get nervous What do you mean?

Just get nervous Not for me You're what? I said not for me You ain't got to worry about Okay good Because I was looking at your feed What's going on?

Are you guys not together anymore? No Well that's why I got nervous Yeah What happened if you don't mind me asking Or do you? Nah, it's personal, man. I don't need my family of my personal business.

It is what it is, man. Is this, I mean, is this, I know you have kids together and whatnot. You've had a couple of... We've got kids together, and everything. It is what it is. But is this it, or is it just like a little bump in the road? No, I'm not who does want to be able. That's all I can say.

I just saw you guys at the MMA Awards. Exactly. You look very happy. Like I say, it was one of those things. But you try to wish for something and can't lead the horse to water. I'll make them drink. So why do you think she's following me? Should I be nervous?

Um, my name. You're media. You can just say what you want. You get away with it. No, you see, I never said anything. I respect family. I'm a family man myself. I'm a father now.

So this stuff is personal for me, you know? Yeah, for sure. If you got mad at me like someone else because I said your fights were born, I can understand, but family is on a whole other level, and that's why it always kind of bothered me at the end of the day, because I hated the fact that you thought I disrespected your family. You know what I'm saying? For sure.

All right. So we're cool now. Yeah, of course. I'm sitting there on the show at D.F., right? I know, but I just want to make sure because it was like a black cloud. You remember after UFC 132, like you kind of chewed me out backstage? You hurt my feelings. Do I get an apology to, or is it only one way?

Can we both admit we were wrong? Yeah. I'll go beyond that. And was I 100% wrong now? I was a little bit wrong and took a little too personally. I do that when I'm with the relationship with a woman. I'm very protective of my family, like no other. I mean, I'm good.

Alpha Mel did. I protect my family like no other, like I said. Sure. And I was going to defend it. And maybe I should not take it to the levels I did. Okay, I apologize to you. I'll be the bigger man and not be ignorant. and, you know, do the right thing.

That's great, but not the bigger man than me, because I apologize as well. Bigger man than just the FML. Yeah, I know. Exactly. I'm not. I'm saying just for myself. Right, right. And by the way, you coming on the show, Jenna following me, your issue right now with her, that has nothing to do with each other, right?

You're not only coming on now because you guys are not speaking, right? You would have come on regardless. I just need to know that for my own. No, like I say, well, my partner has passed away, and life's too damn short. All right. There's two other friends who I'd never spoke to for a while. over the last five years, but I'm not going to talk to them, too,

so this has nothing to do with it now. I'm a very neurotic guy, you know, I'm Jewish and whatnot. I have to over-analyze things. So you can imagine how much this affected me over the last year or so. Right. Well, Tito, I appreciate it.

This made my day. This made my week. I'm happy this is behind us. I wish you nothing but the best with your new role as a manager, getting that cyborg ronda fight. I think it should happen. I would love to see it happen

if it can't for health reasons. Obviously, we understand. and we'd love to have you back on the show in the future. All right, sounds great, man. Yeah, I hope I could put this fight together, man. I'm trying my hardest. I hope being understood and I understand, and I'm trying to get this thing together,

and things get just difficult sometimes. Now I know why I never had managers. That's why I always want to do it myself. We've got to go through a lot of stuff with our fighters, and I'm just trying to do the right thing for the UFC, for the Willis Division, and both like a big app. We appreciate it. Best of luck to talk to you soon, too.

Thank you, Ben. There he is. The legend himself, Tito Ortiz, stopping by. Finally, it is over. Let us celebrate. No? Okay. It's still a great moment. I'm happy it is over. I'm happy the beef is over. I'm happy we settled our differences. And I even think he apologized to me. To be honest, I think he apologized to me. It was a half apology. It was kind of a not 100% apology, but it was an apology. And that's what I was looking for. And I apologize. And I apologize. I apologize to him. Quite frankly, I don't really think I did anything wrong, but, hey, if he feels I disrespected him or his family, I apologize for that. And I want to say hello to my new Twitter follower, Jenna Jameson. How awesome is that? Follow me on Twitter. Got it at 1252. Is it a spam? No, it's not. It's a big moment. Big moment. Beefs are being squashed, left, right, and center. Next up, Ben Asgren, I'm not quite sure if we're ready for that just yet. Thank you very much, Tito Ortiz, for stopping by. Thank you so much for settling his differences with me. And now let's move along. Let us go to Kung Lee in a matter of moments, who has entered the news cycle as of late because Ed Soros, the manager of Anderson Silva,

said that he wants to fight, or at least he wants Anderson Silva to fight, Kung Lee next. Of course, Anderson Silva's next fight very much a topic in the MMA news world these days. People talking Chris Wyman, some other people talking Luke Rockhold, although it seems like he's fighting Vitor Belfort next. Others mentioning Kung Lee. So we wanted to have him on the show to find out why he deserves to fight Anderson Silva next. And we have him right now going to line one. The great Kung Lee is standing by. Kung, how are you? I'm doing good. Can you hear me? I can hear you. Oh, there he is.

Can you hear me? Hello. I could hear you. Well, it's great to have you on the show. We haven't talked to you since your big knockout win over Rich Franklin and Macau. Are you off the high of that win? Because that was something else, my friend. Yes, I'm back down to earth now. Was that the greatest moment of your career? That was one of the greatest moments of my career, yes.

One of? What was better than that? Frank Shammrock? Yeah, Frank Shamrock. Yeah, that was pretty good. It was second. Yeah. How long did you celebrate for the knockout? Actually, I just got home and enjoyed spending time with my kids and my wife and just took them to Disneyland and Universal Studios. That's awesome.

That sounds like the best celebration possible. Yes, it was. How was Macau? Did it treat you well? Did you like it over there? You know, I didn't really get a chance to do it. thing except, you know, make weight and, you know, be focused for the fight. So next time I go back, I'll definitely, you know, take my little tour in Hong Kong and, and, you know, enjoy a little bit.

Now, honestly, how close, and you could tell us honestly, because the fight's over, you looked amazing, you scored a knockout, how close to 100% were you? Because just watching you, it didn't feel like you were anywhere close to 100%. Well, you know, like I say about a month before, the fight, I was sparring and I kick one of my fighters in the head and my foot swirled up. But then six weeks before the fight, I was having some, like, elbow issues

where a bone sperm must have fell into a crease and it locked up my elbow and I had, I got surgery six weeks before the fight. But it worked out great. Just because I trained so hard and the time that I had to take off after the surgery, it

actually helped out, you know, for my recovery and just let my body rest. so I don't over-trained for the fight. So now, late last week, Ed Soros, the manager of Anderson Silva, said that he thinks the fight that makes the most sense for Anderson next is you. Were you surprised by this? I was definitely surprised by it. And, you know, I'm honored by it.

And, you know, that's why, you know, I'm, I guess, answering these questions, right? Yeah. So do you think there's a chance of this fight happening? You know, if the UFC wants me to fight, then, you know, I think, you know, after our discussion, you know, I'm totally open for it. Are you ready to fight someone like Anderson? Do you feel like you are healthy enough, like you are, you know, in the right kind of shape, mindset, et cetera? I mean, he is the champion. He's the greatest of all time, many people believe. Well, I wouldn't be ready for him tomorrow or next couple weeks. But, you know, if I have the proper amount of time to train and, you know, and getting the right mind,

set, then, you know, let's do it. It seems like this is campaign season to see who will get the Anderson Silva fight. I mean, I saw Scott Coker, who never goes on Twitter, tweeting on your behalf last night trying to get you the fight. Will you try, or at least your managers,

try to call up the UFC and say, hey, I mean, we want this fight. He doesn't have anyone. Give it to us. You know what? Actually, you know, I didn't do any campaigning. You know, my name got thrown in that, you know, into the mix and

you know I'm like I said I'm honored by it but you know whatever happens from here you know it's gonna be up to you know Anderson's going to be up to the UFC and you know for me I'm just

you know I'm I'm open to it and I'm excited to hear that you know my name's you know in the mix there's you know like there's there's things that a martial artist you know for me being a martial artist, you know, I still would like to do.

And, you know, one is, you know, coach on a season of tough. If this all worked out like this, it was like the, you know, what I would want is like coach on a season because I love to teach. And, you know, I still teach today at my gym. And then having a fight with Anderson would be awesome. But if it doesn't happen, you know, there's, you know, I'm okay with that. I mean, I never threw my name in the mix. So, but I'm open to it.

So we asked Dana White about this on Saturday after UFC on Fox 6. I want to read you what he said, okay? Okay. He said, this is typical Anderson Silva Ed Soros craziness. Every effing time there's a fight, he wants to fight, I don't know, Demetrius Mighty Mouse Johnson. Then he wants to f f and fight this guy and that guy. This is always the same deal.

It always happens. I absolutely will not fight Chelsunin. He doesn't deserve the title and I'm not doing this and that. and I'm not doing this and that. This is what we do. We're waiting on something. We'll see if it pans out. When we're ready to announce it, we'll announce it.

He will defend the title. It won't be a super fight. That was in response to Ed calling you out. Does that make you feel like you're not getting this fight? You know what? I don't know. I actually don't keep up with all the media because it's too crazy. You know, plus, you know, with three crazy boys, you know,

I'm running around, you know, keeping them from, hurting each other so it is what it is will you be disappointed now if you won't get if you don't get this fight you know uh you know for for me i i i i don't mind either way i you know i'm just happy that you know i'm in the mix you know there's a lot you know a lot of great fighters out there chris you know chris and luke rock hold is like another name that you know people should watch out for and, you know, it's I, you know, I'm, I'm open for whatever, you know, whether it's

you know, fighting, coaching, or doing movies. Why does it seem like everyone who's in the mix to fight Anderson is the nicest guy in the world? You, Chris, Luke, no one wants to come out and say, I will beat this guy, I want this guy, you know, like Chale did, and he got two fights against him. Why can't anyone do that? well maybe that's you know our personality you know and like you know you know for me i think

people know me good enough to be you know i don't you don't talk smack and you know if i had to i would probably have to hire chale to help me out with that but uh you know i i leave all my talking you know and i leave it inside the octagon and you know and you know if the fight would ever happened i wouldn't be you know scared because he's you know pound for pound the best, you know, fighter in the world, I actually would be excited and, you know, I would want to see, you know, how I do, whether I get, you know, beat up or, you know, it doesn't matter. That's why we compete. That's why we challenge ourselves.

That's what makes us who we are and, you know, and I love the challenge and it's awesome to be in this conversation with you. Wow. It's awesome to be in this conversation with you as well. How do you beat Anderson Silva? How does Kung Lee beat Anderson Silva? Stick and move and go after him. Look for, you know, don't fight to survive, fight to, you know, fight to win.

Now, how many more years on your career did the Rich Franklin knockout give you? Because it seems like now, maybe after the Vandale Silva fight, we were talking about, oh, Kung, you know, maybe a couple fights left. You're 40 years old. You just knocked out Rich Franklin. I mean, are you sticking around like Randy Tric. did well into his 40s? I don't think not as long as Randy Couture.

I think his last fight was 45, right? 46, correct me about wrong? Yeah, I think it was like 47 off the top of my head. Oh, 47. Yeah, I'm 40, but, you know, I don't know at this point. You know, I definitely, after a win like this, I, you know, I'm, you know, I still feel like I have some fight left in me, and, and, and, but I'm taking it one day at a time, and, you know, there's, there's a lot of other things happening too.

I got some big movie projects lining up. And I'm at that point where I'm going to continue training and being prepared for a big fight. And if it doesn't work out, then I have movies to fall back on. What big movie plans are we talking about? Anything you can share? I can't share anything yet. But there's like three of them. Oh, wow.

Three. So if you want, I mean, you know what's interesting? Like Gina Carrano, she retired essentially, not unofficially because she went into the movie world. You do both. Why do you need to get punched in the face and get her and all that? Why did you just go do the movies? Well, look, I enjoy competing. I don't enjoy getting punched in the face, but, you know, it's, this is where, you know, it's like my route.

You know, I started out as martial artist, so I'm a martial artist first, and I just love to compete. and if I walk away from it, I feel like I've accomplished a lot, but I feel like, you know, if there's an opportunity for a big fight or to coach a, like, you know, a tough show, and, you know, then I would totally be all over it. But, you know, in the meantime, I'm able to do both.

I had my movie, The Man with the Iron Fist, opened the week before the fight, and I was, you know, helped promoting it up until, up until like two weeks before my fight. So I feel blessed that I'm able to do both. And now I'm actually getting into producing some of my own movies. And I got some backing. I got a great team around me.

And then I'll be able to do the things that I want to do in the film without having the handcuffs of a different producer or a studio making things difficult on me. So there's a lot of opportunities for me. But at the same time, if I can do them all, I'll do them all. And I'll keep going that way until, you know, one has to give. So are you saying that if you don't get a big fight, you may not fight again?

No, I didn't say that. I just said I'll be able to do both until something gives. Sure. Okay. Well, that's good to hear. Now, give us, well, why don't you, you know, we have this forum here, give us the pitch. Why should you be the man to fight Anderson-Nex? Why, why you not Chris Wyman?

Why you not Luke Rockhold, Vitor Belfort? Why Kung Lee? Well, I think, you know, one, like, I know Vitor's name was thrown in there, but, you know, like Anderson, I think in the top ten has beaten, you know, three or four of the guys. And, you know, there's fresh, you know, opponents to pick from. There's a Chris. There's a Luke. And, you know, there's me, which all of our names been thrown in the hat.

and it's up to him to decide. So whoever he chooses and if it can be worked out with UFC, then great. If it isn't, then, you know, I wish to other competitors the best against Anderson. And I believe that Chris or Luke will definitely give Anderson a run for his money. And I feel like if I'm in there, because I believe it in myself, I can give him a run too. So that's my, I don't really have a pitch. You know, just my name was thrown in the hat And if the UFC wants to see it

Then, you know, they'll see like a pretty Awesome stand-up fight And that's all I can offer You know, it's not like I'm gonna try to take Anderson down And, you know, give them some, you know, like Uma Plata's and stuff So, you know I was kind of looking forward to them Were you sad to see Strike Force go away?

I was definitely, you know, a little bit sad but life goes on and maybe just a little bit All right well good luck getting the fight Hung good luck You know I know this kind of came out of the blue Dana kind of squashed it But who knows

Maybe the people get behind you And he is a man of the people Maybe you get the fight You know I think yeah It's in the UFC's hands And God's hands And whatever happens I'm okay with

And by the way Good luck with the Grandmaster Oh thank you Yeah I think you'll enjoy Yeah, you see, you know, sometimes I pretend like I don't know, but I really know. Yeah, I'm sure you've got a closet full of Shawbrother movies too, huh? Of course. I mean, who doesn't?

Kung, always a pleasure. Congratulations, first time talking to you since the Rich Franklin win. So congratulations on that. It's a little late, I know, but it's definitely coming from a good place nonetheless. And good luck getting the fight, looking forward to seeing what you do next. Inside the Cage. outside the cage. Thank you very much. There he is. The man himself, Cungley, joining us, giving us his pitch, sort of, why he deserves the

Anderson Silva fight. All right. That does it for the interviews today, but we got plenty more show left. We've got to get to Rick's picks. We've got to get to questions. But first, it has been brought to my attention, gentlemen in the back, that we had a bit of a tech issue during our Tito Ortiz interview, which is great timing. You know, maybe one of our most anticipated interviews of all time.

What exactly happened? Internet went down. Unavoidable. But we will have replays of the interview up. How long was it down for? Maybe five minutes. Whoa. Which portion?

Was it while we were squashing the beef or was it while we were talking Ronda and all that? Yeah, your beef was sufficiently squashed. Okay. Why does it sound like you are in a, cave right now. We had the speakers on back here. Oh, okay. Now they're down.

It's a real, it's not a real well-oiled machine back there today. I've been getting a lot of complaints about the internet, all, or at least the stream, all show long. Why is that? I'm just trying to keep you guys on your toes, keep you honest, as they say. That's it. No response? I feel like Buzzkill wants to chime in here.

I mean, essentially I am calling him out, but he's nowhere to be found. Hey there. Oh. So yeah, we had an unfortunate internet outage. We're trying to investigate the root cause right now, but actually on Twitter, we're seeing a lot of people with internet outages. So it could, in fact, be a time-water issue. I'd love to toss the blame on them, but it also could be something related to our network. We are in the – we're dealing with shared broadband, which is not the best internet at this studio.

But good news is, ladies and gentlemen, we're moving to a new studio. Oh. And we're going to have dedicated internet there. We're going to be streaming in HD, so there are good things on the horizon for sure. So sorry about the issues today, and we're going to work to improve them, and we'll be streaming an amazing HD in about a month, I would say. And there's also good news. If you missed any portion of the show, there will be a replay, right?

The replay wasn't affected. Yeah, the replay was affected because of the stream. So we're working, we're going to have a two-part. replay coming up. Oh, interesting. One of the second part of the show and one of the first part of the show, which we're actually cutting right now. So we actually have to probably upload the first replay. So we might have the second part of the show available right away, and then the first part of the show will come shortly after. Why can't it just be one long clip like usual?

Because actually the replay recording happens on the server. So because of the internet issue, the data wasn't getting to the server to be recorded. So we weren't sending out the stream to the public and it wasn't getting recorded on live streams and unfortunately. But you don't lose any portion. It's just cut into two interviews. Right. Like no portion of the show will be lost.

You just have to click on two videos. Exactly. Is that what you're saying? Exactly. And we have everything recorded. so we didn't lose anything. Just the first part of it is likely going to be slower than usual in making it up to the... Gotcha.

Well, that's weird to put the second part up before the first part, no? It is a little weird, but the alternative is to wait for... It's going to be... The cut point is probably going to be in the middle of the Tito interview. Yeah, so we could trim it after the Tito interview if we wanted to clean... Oh, interesting. Yeah, I guess we could discuss that off air. What do you think?

It's probably a good idea. I don't know how... Interesting. Okay. Okay. Well, listen, if you guys, if someone didn't mess it up, we wouldn't be having this discussion, right? Can we blame it on time Warner? Sure, that's fair.

That's fair. For all of us. People are asking, can Buzzkill be any more lively? They want to know if you can just step it up. Buzzkill sounds a bit like Nate Diaz. That's why I'm named Buzzkill. I got the monotone voice. I'm constantly just trying to rain on everyone's parade.

That is true. And it's actually my fault that the internet went out if I were to admit that. Man. Sorry, guys. How boring is Buzzkill Brendan? Holy cow. It's time to get rid of Buzzkill. He's making too many excuses.

You know what, guys? You're saying, I mean, listen, you know, you have a longstanding feud with someone for, you know, a two-year period. It's promoted heavily. You do what you try to do. And then kaput. Middle of the interview. I'm distracted. that everyone's distracted.

Someone else says he sounds like the clear eyes guy. I don't know who that is. The Ben Stein. Oh, yes. Clear eyes. All right, well, I guess that's that. Shall we move along, or is the stream down and there's no point in continuing the show? No, the stream's up and running.

Oh, perfect. It's time for Rick's picks. Just in time for Rick's picks. Wow. Well, I got a boat to pick with Rick as well. Rick, how did you do after UFC on Fox 6? UFC on Fox 6 How about we start with

Bellator? Because I made one bet on Belator. That's right. I forgot. I forgot. Wow. That was a big week. I felt like you were really

gun slinging last week. Yeah, I was throwing money out there. Yeah. A whole $10 was bet on Bellator. Entering the week, I had 9826. I put down 10 on Bellator on a parlay of Ben Saunders,

King Moe, and Ascran. which paid out 580. So that put me back in the black right before Fox 6. So I was riding high right then. And by the way, just on a side note, getting some tweets that the stream went down again,

for some people at least. But anyway, probably nothing to do with Rick's picks. Definitely not. Unless too powerful. Right. Maybe too powerful. So then we got to Fox 6

and my picks for that. The first one I won, I parlayed Clay Guida and Sappo Natal. That one came through. then I rode way too heavy on Eric Koch. I lost 15 there, which is what I bet. I won on Pettis.

I lost $10 on Rampage. I thought was good value, even though I definitely would have picked Glover in a 50-50, but I do not regret that bet at all. I thought that 3-1 was outrageous, and Rampage proved that he was closer than a 3-to-1 dog, but that doesn't win you any money. And I also threw down $5.

on Dodson by K or TKO, which I thought I was like, oh, it's going to happen. And then it didn't happen. Yeah, it didn't happen. So what does that leave us now? So I lost $10.63 on that event, and we're at 93.43. Thank God you'll only bet 10 cents a fight because maybe you would have lost some real money. So, I mean, we're two weeks in. Here's, I'll say it again, just so if anybody missed it the last time I said it.

If you want to multiply what I have and what I'm betting and what I'm winning and what I'm winning by a thousand, 10,000, 100,000, whatever will make you feel comfortable and feel like, oh, there's a lot of money at risk because this is completely fake money, then be my guest. Here's the thing. I continue to get complaints from your fans. I don't even know if we can call them that, but you do almost have 3,000 followers, which is rather impressive. I continue to get tweets saying that this, this contest, this challenge is unfair. Well, here's the...

Are you telling them to do this or what? No, no, no. It's unfair for like normal betting is the thing. It's getting four times your money is... If you could do that on a consistent basis, then you'd have no reason to have another job. That would be way more than anybody can humanly do for a consistent basis and over a certain period of time.

And there would be no reason to do anything but bet on fights. if you could successfully quadruple your money every single time. So the number is a little high. And the other thing is you have to be riskier because there's a goal that you have to reach. Normally, if I'm betting, I'm going to bet to win a small amount, safer bets. But since there is a goal that I have to attain, I have to bet more, I have to take more risks than I'm normally going to do. For example, I probably wouldn't have bet on the Coke fight if I didn't have a number, number that I had to reach personally, but, you know, since I have to make that number,

that's what I'm going to do. And it's unfair in the sense that for under normal circumstances, it's, it's not something that somebody would advise. So, I mean, I'll, I didn't say that this was a possibility at the beginning, but do you want out? No, no, no, no, I'm in. You're sure. Oh, I'm in. How do you expect to overcome these, here's the thing. seemingly insurmountable odds. It's not a, I'm going to have to do things that I normally wouldn't do and that I normally wouldn't recommend. Okay. That's, you know, that's a challenge, right?

You're putting yourself out there. Exactly. I have no problem with the contest as it structured. I'm glad that people acknowledge, there are smart people out there that acknowledge that this is not something you should probably be doing on your own. And. But the point is not to see you win 20 bucks. The point is to see you reach a goal. Right.

Sometimes you've got to take risks. Yeah, I don't want out. I'm in. Listen, if you don't want to be on the MMA beat, just tell me, and we'll go back to the old Rick's picks, where you're going six and four, you're going 500, and there's no real. Well, I mean, that record wasn't 500 by the end of it. What was it? It was, I believe, 32, no, 38 and 16, something like that.

It's pretty respectable. I mean, if you're happy with 16 losses, as a better. As a better, I'm perfectly happy as long as those 38 wins pay out. Right. Well, they ain't paying out right now. Can't disagree with you there. Rough night of fights. Do you feel like the pressure is getting to the point where you're doing things that you usually wouldn't be doing? Well, I have to.

Well, no, but in terms of making picks like Rampage over Glover. No, Rampage. See, the only one I regret is Coke. That's the only one I regret. Rampage, the value was there. Three to one was completely outrageous. There's no reason for Glover to be that big a favorite and Rampage to be that. big a dog and I think that was evident in the fight um it was a it wasn't you know per se a close fight it

wasn't like rampage could have won but he wasn't a three to one dog um dotson i bet five to win like 25 on the ko that's a that's a good value it almost happened um and if it had happened it would have paid out so things like that coke i he was a favorite and he probably should have been closer to even and i was pretty confident in him that's the one i regret um so no i i i don't regret the rampage Petis I had a pretty good feeling on and that one came through. So it's not like I'm doing things that are completely out of the ordinary, just a little step up. Rudy Basso on Twitter says every bet should be like you're down on the scorecards going into the third.

Swing for the fences. And he writes this in all cap, so he's very serious. And another guy named Cazellas on Twitter says, OMG, he has no idea how to bet. My grandmother can win faster than him. He has to make combinations. and this is all caps of fights in a single bet. Yeah, parleyes.

Those are, those are... A.k.a. Parleys? Yes, I know what those are. I've hit on those, including Foxx6 and Bellator. Oh, this guy's really smart. Rick's picks made me five bucks. I had 20 on bets. I just eliminated his bad picks like Coke, Doughton, and Rampage.

Not a bad strategy. Betting on favorites. But, yeah. All right. That's where we're at. Okay, so that's where we're at. We're going into week three here. It's UFC 156 and Bellator if you want.

Well, I haven't taken a look at the Bellator lines yet. I actually don't think they're posted because, you know, it's not quite as big names on the card. What I'll say about last event was there were a lot of fights that were very close. Maybe not reflected necessarily on the betting lines, but there were a lot of fights that it was a mixed bad. I saw a lot of different predictions, and I saw a lot of different combinations of who was going to win. For this upcoming card for 156, I think that there's much clearer favorites,

and the lines are much easier to read. Okay. So that's just, you know, like a disclaimer to say, this one might be one that the picks are going to be less varied, and the steps you have to take are going to be more obvious. All right. What are you looking at? Let's start with the main event.

Okay. Work our way down. We've got Frankie Edgar versus. Josie Aldo. I like Aldo a lot in this one. Chiapetta touched on something that I was going to touch on earlier, which was the leg kicks of Benson Henderson seemed to be very, very effective for him against Edgar. And he eventually did abandon them in both fights, which I think made the fight closer

than it needed to be. But when he was landing them, it was clear that he was getting the better of Frankie Edgar with those. And Josie Aldo, obviously, superior kick. A guy who really mixes it in well, he'll throw a combination and then end it with a leg kick, which is something you see out of a lot of guys who execute that style. Whereas Benson was throwing leg kick and then resetting, Jose Aldo will throw a combination and throw a leg kick. So I think that that's going to be effective against Edgar if he doesn't check them. But I think he's smart enough to have looked at the tape from the Benson-Henderson fight and try to check those a little bit more.

I don't think that's going to be the major difference. I think that will be one factor. The other thing I'd say is, Frankie Edgar, at 155, he had the speed over everybody. That was one of his main advantages. He was smaller, but he was faster. And he was able to catch people with, you know, different angles and use his speed to his advantage.

And I think that at 145, that kind of disappears a little bit. I'm not saying he's going to be slow, per se, but I'm saying that Jose Aldo's used to seeing guys who are fast. This is not going to be something that catches him off guard. It's not going to be a change of pace. So I think that that's going to be a detriment to Frankie Eager from the drop. I thought that 155 was actually better for him, in my opinion. It'll be seen when he fights Aldo.

That's interesting. What happens. But I thought that Frankie Eggers' size was a disadvantage in certain ways, but an advantage in others. And I think that at 145, that disappears a little bit. So I'm very confident in Jose Aldo. Only thing I'd say is the ring rust. But as I've said before on the show, I'm not a big proponent of that. I don't think that that's a real thing.

I think Pettis proved that you can come back and look fantastic after taking some time off. No big deal. Yep. And the last time he fought was in January of last year. Frankie Edgar, and that's Jose Aldo. He beat Chad Mendes. Frank Edgar fought in August of last year losing to Benson Henderson.

I believe the first guy to get, this is third straight title fight coming off two straight losses in title fight. So interesting time for Frankie Edgar. And do you think he gets finished, Frankie? I think it's possible, honestly. I have the utmost respect for Josie Aldo's skills. I think he's... I'm not alone in this, so it's not like this is some kind of earth-shattering thing,

but he's one of the top fighters on the planet, easily, one of the top pound-for-fow fighters on the planet, and I think that he has the potential to finish Edgar. Crazy. All right. What is the culminate event officially? I think it's... I forgot to give the line on that one.

Oh, okay. Aldo's minus 240, Edgar's... plus 200. So you'd get two to one back if you bet on Edgar. I'm probably going to put a little bit down on Jose Aldo, but he's definitely my pick going forward. When you say a little bit, are we talking like a buck or two? Or are we talking like 20? No, unfortunately, I can't put a buck or two. That would be what I would do under normal circumstances. Why? Who would bet a buck? Here's how I'll justify it to you. I explain this one. It's so fun. If you have a hundred, a buck or two is one or two percent of your bankroll. If you want to bet more than that, you're entering territory.

where it's not worth the risk. I'm not going to put 50 or 50%, in this case, 50 is 50% of the $100 down on one single fight because if I lose, let's say he gets disqualified or something outlandish. There's no reason to take that risk.

If I lose that, I have only $50 left. You don't want to bet more than 1, 2%, unless you're absolutely sure on certain things. Like if the max I do is maybe 3 to 5, You don't want to be betting too much of your bank roll. So, yeah, that would be $1, $3, $4, $5 out of $100. Let's say you have more. Let's save $1,000, $1, $1, $13, $14, $15.

It's all percentages. All right, all right, whatever. Either you want to win or you don't want to win. I will be betting more than 1 or 2% because I have to. 20% to use your percentages. 20% is gone already. So you better... Actually, 7%.

Well, is it 7%? Yes. Of 100, I have 93. No, no, no. I mean as far of events, as far as events go. But you have Beltor too, which you bet on. You can bet on whatever you want. No one's stopping you.

Yep. All right. So let's talk about the co-meant event, Rashad Evans, Little Nog. Another one where I think that the favorite is a, is a, pretty heavy favorite and rightfully so. Rashad Evans is minus 485, little Nogis plus 385. Wow. This one I'm probably going to stay away from betting-wise, although I might put it in a parlay,

but Rashad Evans is going to win this fight. No. The thing about this fight is that I don't know why it really makes sense for Rashad. I feel like this is maybe a tune-up fight. I'm not sure what the, I'm not sure what the reason for this fight happening is, but I don't think that there's anywhere that Little Nog has an advantage over Rashad. I think that Rashad is still two, three, somewhere in there in the division. And I think that Little Nog simply isn't.

I think that he's not ready for that fight yet. And I think that Rashad's going to make it pretty clear. He's going to take him down. He's going to box him up on the feet, although Little Nog's boxing is obviously very good. I think that Rashad's combination, his ability to mix in the takedowns with the boxing, is just going to keep Little Nog on his toes. and it's going to be a pretty one-sided fight for Rashad. That's a pretty big line.

He's a big favorite, but quite honestly, I think he should be a bigger favorite. Does anyone ask me about Glover or Rashad in the questions? Glover versus Rashad? No, just Glover or Rashad in the questions. What's next? I think so. Okay, I don't want to take away someone's question. I wanted to weigh in on what you were just saying.

So should I save it? Yeah, I think it comes up. Okay. I can't be sure, but I believe it does. Who picked the questions? I picked them, but... Oh, wait. All right, so you're picking Rashad Evans.

Rashad, and I'll probably put him in a parlay. Oh. Later. Okay. I think parlay is where you're going to win this thing. Well, you have to parlay big favorites like that. Like, you can't... If you bet on Rashad, it doesn't pay enough for you to make that risk.

So you have to put him with something maybe a little more risky. You combine them together. So... You don't know what that is. You're going to do the whole Friday thing, right? I got to take some time. Prop bets will come out, for example. Oh, yeah.

I was able to get Dodson by K.O. or T.K.O., that would pay 5 to 1, which was a great value. So something like that might come out for Rashad, like a finish inside the distance, something like that. All right. Overeem Bigfoot. Another one. I think that this one's people are going to be pretty sure on who's going to win this one. Overeem is minus 360, silvas plus 300. I actually think that this one's pretty good value.

I think that the line should be bigger. There's no reason to think that Silva. What I said, for Rashad and Nag, I think applies here. I don't see one area where, you know, Bigfoot's going to be able to exploit Overeem's weaknesses. So I think that he's going to be completely in control this fight. I think there's going to be an early finish. So maybe if a line comes out on that, I'm going to press on that one, press on Overeemes. finishing. So yeah,

Overim's the pick. I think there's value there at minus 360 because I think the line should be longer. I think that there's nothing that Bigfoot has that Overim can't counter. My friend Matthew Polly says, can you just forward New York Rick the freaking money so he can stop explaining

percentages? I don't understand. Well, maybe he thinks you need the money and you've explained yourself enough. I've asked you the question enough. There's also another guy A. Foss says seems to me that New York, Rick, is playing it safe in point-fighting. I think that's accurate.

I guess. I don't understand the correlation. Yeah, I am not taking unnecessary risk. Correct. Someone else says, tell Rick, I put 100% of my bankroll on a parlay of Krauss and Bader this Saturday, and that worked out. Yes. I get that a lot as well. Yeah, congratulations. That's all I can say.

I mean, that doesn't mean it's a smart thing. I walked into the middle of the street without looking both ways, and I didn't get hit by a car. Someone else says, why is New York Rick giving us his life story? I love it. It's just great. Oh, let me just see something. I think we got a real, the internet's not working.

All right. Oh, wow, look at this. Someone, my friend Aliso, if you look him up on Twitter, made a Photoshop of Buzzkill Brendan, but put Benstein's face on Brendan's body. It's great. Check it out. All right.

So you're picking Overeem. Yes, Overeem, and there will be a bet on Overeem for sure. Oh, nice. Fitch, Maya. This one is the closest fight in the odds. Fitch is minus 175. Maya is plus 155. I think there's value on Fitch.

I'm going to pick Fitch. I think that he's going to be able to stay inside Maya's guard without putting himself in too much risk. Fitch is notoriously. impossible to submit. I don't think that Maya's going to be able to stand with him on the feet. Not that either of these guys are world-class strikers or anything. I just think that Fitch is a little better in mixing up his kicks and his punches. I think that if it stays on the feet, Fitch will have a slight advantage. If it stays on the ground, Fitch is going to be the one on top. Maya is not going

to submit him. That's how I see it playing out. He could submit him, but I think that the values on Fitch grinding out another decision. You're getting a lot of people very much disagreeing with your Frankie Edgar pick. That's good. I think that... You've got to go with the dog, no? No, I don't see that one happening. And I'm a big proponent of Frankie Edgar.

I picked him against Benson, and I think he won the second fight, in my opinion. I don't think he won the first one, even though some people make that argument. But against Aldo, I think his advantages aren't as defined as they were against Henderson. How great is Rick's picks with the B-roll, the footage, the UFC footage?

We thank the UFC very much for that. It just makes it so much more exciting. It does. It does. All right, last fight on the main card. You've got Joseph Benevitas versus Ian McCall. We just had Joseph on it. What did you think of his poem, by the way?

It was when I first heard he was about to read it, I was like, oh, boy, this could be bad. But it was actually really good. Yeah, I liked it. So a shout out to him. That was great. New York Rick is the GSP of Beddick. I'll take it. I'll take it.

But yeah, that's true. Who are you picking in this one? I've got Joey B. He's at minus 265. McCall's at plus 225. I think that that's pretty accurate. I don't think it's a bad line. I don't think it's a great line. I think that that accurately reflects how much of a favorite I think he should be.

Joey B is just a little more well-rounded, has the power, and I think that he's going to be able to either stay on the feet or grind out the wrestling. McCall's wrestling is good, but I think that. at Joey B's is better, his striking is better, and this is another one where I don't see where Ian's going to have the advantage, and I like Joey B. I'll probably make a small bet.

Maybe this would be one that I would parlay with Rashad. Oh, really? Interesting. Yeah. And a parlay, can you just, you could just do like a two-person parlay. You can do any number greater than one, because otherwise it's just a straight bet. New York Rick has no clue what he's doing. He's better off just flipping a coin.

No, that's everybody else would be better off flipping a coin. I've never heard Buzzkill before, but I'm assuming he's less painful to listen to than Rick explaining his terrible bets. Brendan enjoyed that one. I bet 20 on Johnson, Salas. I don't know who Salas is. Who's Salas? Salas. I bet 20 on Johnson, Salas, Pettus, and Bader.

No pain, no gain, Mr. Rick. Congrats. Again. Congrats again for a winning bet. All right. So are those the only fights that you want? to touch on here? I was just going to keep an eye on Woodley Heron, but...

Oh, that's an interesting fight. The line isn't out on that one, so I really don't, you know, have any place to come from on that one. But Woodley's going to win that fight. So, depending on how the line is, that one might see a bet as well. And by the way, you do have some fans. Tell them to leave New York Rick alone. He's too cerebral for these chumps to understand. This is from Cole and Nicole.

Weird. Cole and Nicole. smart people out there does new york rick know anything about gambling there is such a thing as inside betting and parleyes take some risks man i've never heard of parleyes before can you ask that person to tweet

and explain it to me please the parleys are the way to go i go with the hl m m mb a two of each m a two 40 last weekend it seems like a lot of people if they were doing our thing our challenge would would probably i mean we'd be doing mb with them right now yeah it's it sounds that way It sounds like everybody who's put down $5 on seven different fighters

just happen to hit them off. A lot of smart people. I know. We have a lot of good fans. Well, that's Rick's Picks Challenge. You can follow him on Twitter. Twitter.com slash New York Rick. RIC is the Rick part.

New York is New York and then the Rick part. New York, Rick, he's going for the gusto. He wants to be on the MMA beat. He's been talking about it. He says he's a better analyst than, Luke Thomas. False Luke. Mike Chiapetta.

False Mike. Don't even get me started on Chuck Mindenhall. He says that he can't even hold a candle to what he brings to the table, Chuck to Rick. So he wants to be on the MMA beat. This is what's at stake. And I remind you, if he doesn't get to 400 by April 28th, one of you will go head to head with him. So come March or so, if it looks like this thing is not going well, start to pitch me, why you should be the one going head to head.

And then we're playing a bit of king of the court. You also get to pick my earring. Oh, yes. You also get to pick his earring. Are you wearing one right now? I'm not. Okay. Took it out for the basketball game.

Oh. Left it out. Which basketball game? I had one on Saturday. Oh. No big deal. You haven't put it back in the last two days. All right.

So that's what's at stake. Now let's go to the questions before we get out of here. This is what's at stake here. Anthony Pettis, courtesy of round five. Look how great this one is. One of their better ones. Anthony Pettis had an amazing night on Saturday. The star of the show through a showtime knee,

crazy kicks all over the place, finishes Donald Cerone. And let me give you a stat, courtesy of our friends at Fight Metric. Anthony Pettus became the first fighter to finish Donald Cerone with strikes in Soroni's 25-fight career. Pettus also became just the fourth UFC fighter to finish two opponents with a single roundhouse kick to either the head or the body of the others, Eve Edwards, Anthony Johnson, and Paul Taylor. Pretty amazing stats. Curse of FightMetric. Let me give you a couple others because they were so nice to give me these stats.

Clay Guida now has 51 career takedowns in the UFC. The fifth most of all time, he just passed Rashad Evans and Sean Shirk on Saturday night. Ryan Bader's 52nd submission of Vladimir Matushenko is the fastest in light heavyweight history. The previous record belonged to? Any guesses? Any guesses? No clue. Alan Belcher, who scored a 53-second tap-out of Jason Lambert at UFC 71.

Some have pointed to this record belonging to Frank Shamrock, but Frank Shamrock fought at 199 pounds in his middleweight division, or when he fought in the middle-weight division. Two more for you, Demetri's Johnson's 127 significant strikes landed against John Dodson. Ties for the third most ever landed by a fighter in a championship. fight. He ties Rich Franklin's mark at UFC 58 versus David Loazzo and the most significant strikes landed by fighter and a title fight is 151 by

this is easy. Any guesses? Happened in the last year. Most significant strikes landed in a title fight was Carlos Condit versus Nick Diaz, UFC 143, 151. Exactly a year ago, Super Bowl weekend. One more for you. Pascal Krause He landed 163 significant strikes versus Mike Stump on Saturday night, and that is the second most ever landed by a welterweight in a single fight. Nick Diaz holds the welterweight record with 178 versus B.J. Penn. Dynamite. Does that make you sad?

A little bit. All right, here we go. Question time. We have a caller. Oh, let's start with that one. Is it Jenna Jameson? I don't think so. All right. Who's on the line? Mario from Albuquerque.

Oh, Mario, in the ABQ. How are you? How's it going, Ariel? Sorry I wasn't Jenna Jamison. No, it's okay. I'd rather talk to you right now. Well, first off, I want to ask you, how about Ben Ascran? How about him? Did I not speak about it? Well, we talked about him with Jimmy Smith. As I tweeted on Thursday night, credit, where credit is due, looked very dominant, impressive. finished Carl Amuuu talked a big game going into that fight

look I saw him by the way I saw him in Chicago I said hello to him I wished him congratulations on his performance he kind of gave me the old like

he wanted nothing to do with me I guess he's still upset and I can guarantee you Ben Asker never even saw the show where I spoke about him I can guarantee you he never heard what I said just some people on Twitter wrote to him he got his panties in a bunch

and now he's all offended Big Whop. Congratulations to him. Nice performance. Well, right on. Well, you're being a good sport about it anyways. I mean, come on. I learned from Tito.

You know, you've got to squash the beep. Well, I haven't listened yet, so don't ruin it for me. Okay, okay. Sorry, sorry, sorry. No, it's all right. My big thing is, though, I have a problem with a bunch of things that just went, I saw this week alone. First off is the stand-up.

Maybe I'm biased because I come from a wrestling background, but it just bothers me. I was watching Bellator the Ben Saunders fight on Thursday, and I was really intrigued by what Ben was doing on the floor. He was working a rubber guard. He almost had a triangle like twice in two different positions. And I don't know if it was the referee hearing the fans boo or whatever it was, but that bug me when they stood Ben Saunders up because he came close to finishing the guy once or twice, and he was still working and really actually. him on the floor. And I wanted to see what you thought about that,

because I don't agree with that. With that, I mean, if there's absolutely no action at all, sure sign him up. But, I mean, especially when he was working and everything, I just didn't agree with him. It kind of pissed me off, and I wanted to get your opinion on that. And I don't know if you watched the whole card, but in the Ben Saunders fight, also some weird stand-ups.

Did you notice that? I'm sorry? In the Ben Saunders fight, the first fight of the night on the TV portion of the card, there were some weird stand-ups. Basically, yeah, I mean, I did notice. And the refereeing in MMA, once again, beating a dead horse here, very inconsistent. I think it's a bigger problem than judging because the judging is so ridiculous. Sometimes it's, you know, okay, a guy loses a fight if you're in the UFC and if you deserve to win, they'll give you your money.

It sucks on your record, your momentum, all that stuff. but if a guy is stopping you from doing what you train to do, like you're on the ground, you're doing something, you're working, and then you get stood up, or if he's putting you in harm's way, to me, refereeing is a bigger issue because they're in there. They can prevent injuries, they can stop you from getting hurt, seriously. They can stop you from, you know, getting a victory, and then something crazy happens, you lose, et cetera, et cetera.

So refereeing is a big problem. And I know, you know, this was a big topic. last week. Steve Mazagati, he's reffing the Aldo Edgar fight. To me, the craziest thing right now, as far as refereeing is concerned, of course, we know that it's not evolving and they're not getting any new ones and no one coming up the ranks is blowing us away. The fact that John McCarthy, I know about the politics, you know, people are asking me

about this, and he said some things about the commission when he left to do his TV work a few years ago, whatever. The fact that John McCarthy is not licensed to be a referee in the state of Nevada, the supposed fight capital of the world is is blasphemy, is shocking, is horrible for our sport. And Keith Kaiser says that, you know, he needs to apply or he's at the bottom of the list. There's too many people ahead of him. When you're big John McCarthy and you are the godfather of this whole thing, and in many ways if it wasn't for you, there wouldn't be these other referees, you go to the top of the list.

You bring him back. Bygones, bygones, cellular differences and move on because we need him there. We need guys like him. We need to clone him. Absolutely. I liked what he did this weekend, too. And I said it before on your show about the rule reform, and I think we should do it again. But, like, when he was helping, not really helping, but, like, instructing when DJ could hit Dodson on the floor.

I like that. I mean, especially when he was correcting Dodson, like, hey, either you stay there or you stay standing up or you stay on the floor, but don't go between both. I like that. I think that was really professional of him to do. Some people disagree, but I don't know. That's just my opinion. Yeah, well, I appreciate your opinion. As always, good to have you call into the show and call in any time you want. Okay. I had a question. Maybe I'll just talk to Rick if I could talk to him afterwards for a little bit. Oh, you want a private conversation with Rick? Is that what's happening? Just real quick. Just real quick. Okay. Do you want to say it on the air right now or you want it to be private?

it. You know what? I would like to try to get yours and Rick's and the entire cruise autograph or something. Oh, you don't want the entire crew. You certainly don't want Isaac's autograph. I want everyone's autograph. I've been listening to this show for like two and a half years and you guys are what make my Monday's exciting. Well, I appreciate that.

Rick will make that happen for you. He may forge all of them, but you'll get something. Cool, right on. Okay, cool. So, So, Rick. Thanks for the Mark Hund doll. Thanks for the Marcon.

Oh, you got it, that's right. Mark Coleman. I remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You were at the doctor's office, right? Yeah, sir. Yeah, everything okay, good? Everything, well, no, I got a broken neck and, and bowling discs.

Yeah, it's old wrestling accidents and everything. That's one of those situations. You know, when you see someone, you're like, how are you? And you're just expecting them to say, good, you? You're like, you don't really want it. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Well, I hope you feel.

better. That sucks to hear. And we will definitely hook you up. You'll talk to New York, Rick, here in just a second, okay? Cool. Thanks. I appreciate it. There he is. Mario and the ABQ talking to us on the MMA hour. All right. We don't have any other calls. I know Rick is going to speak to him in a second. But I will tell you that the Showtime Pettis is on the line. Oh, yep. You got the info already? Put him on hold. We'll get to it. Oh, all right. Okay, let's go with some questions here.

Yep. The first one from the website. What's the weather like outside, by the way? Let's take a look, Isaac. Oh, we get to it whenever you want. Let's take the Skype out. All right, tell me the question. Okay, our first question comes from the website, as I said. It's about Rampage.

What are your thoughts on Rampage possibly being lured into a King Mo-like deal with Bellator TNA? Seems highly beneficial for all three parties. Belator gets their big money draw. TNA hits a home run and Rampage gets that paper. I'm not sure if he wants, you know, Rampage is a little beat up. You know, he's older than King Mo. I'm not sure if he really wants to do the pro wrestling thing. I know he likes it.

I don't know. I can certainly see Belator offering him something. I don't know if they're going to offer him as much as they would have had he won on Saturday. Dana White said something very interesting at the post-fight press conference. He said when he woke up on Saturday, he had a little more of a pep in a step. He felt like he was about to engage in a high-stakes poker game. He liked the fact that Rampage was about to become a free agent, was fighting on Fox against Glover Tashara, who's riding a 17-fight winning streak at the time.

He loved that. It is very dark outside right now and looks a little rainy. That's the update. So anyway, back to Rampage. And we can keep it up there. It's okay. Back to Rampage, I obviously don't think he's going to get as much as he would have had he done something spectacular on Fox. I can see Beltor throwing out a feeler.

It certainly doesn't sound like the UFC is going to do anything. Interesting to note the UFC can match. I don't really see them kind of playing the Eddie Alvarez game. But I could see him fighting, doing something. Maybe not right away, by the way. Eight, nine, ten, eleven months. I mean, look at the last time he fought. He was supposed to fight in October.

He fought in February before that, so eight or so months. Let's see. Bellator would obviously be great for him. They could use some light heavyweights. By the way, he's losing to top guys in the UFC. I think he could beat the guys in Belator, maybe build up the King Mo fight. Too bad they're friends now.

Not as much juice as when they weren't friends, but I think there'll be a home somewhere for Rampage. He mentioned Gary Goodrich in his post-fight interview with me on Fuel. I don't think he meant what has become of Gary Goodrich. He doesn't want to obviously have head injuries and whatnot. I think he meant going out there, entertaining the fans and just having fun with it. And I think he was emotional at the time. And I think he was a bit nostalgic.

So I know a lot of people have been giving him crap for that, not defending him in any way. But I don't think he meant he wants to end up like Gary Goodridge. He wants to do what Gary Goodrich sort of taught him to do in the ring. We'll see Rampage. I just don't think he'll be in the UFC. Our next one. The first four from the website. So this is the second one.

Cool. Personally, I think Guida lost that fight, but where do you rate Hioki in the featherweight class, top five, top ten? Well, you know, he lost to Ricardo Lama's, which obviously is, there's no shame in that. He looked very good on Saturday. This goes down as a loss. I'm pretty sure the UFC considers it a win

because, you know, the stats and everyone, most people thought he won. I mean, he's up there. You know, names, I don't know if he'll get a dent. a Seaver type because, you know, I think Seaver is someone that they're going to give a big fight to. Maybe, you know what? Maybe the loser of Swanson Poirier. I think that makes sense.

I don't think you should fall down the ladder too much. I definitely agree with that. Yeah. I mean, as you said, most people are not going to consider this a loss when they look back at his record. So, I mean, if just losing to Lamas is, you know, hardly something that would drive. you all the way down. Do you think Guida looked better at 145 or worse? It's hard to say.

One thing that Guida said, which I agree with, is Hatsu just makes people look bad when you fight against them, win or lose. He's just one of those fighters. He's super tough. He's really good at countering. He's really good at going on the offensive, mixing it up. He's a really hard fighter to look good against. So I agree with what Clay said after the fight about that.

So I'm going to wait till the next one Before I weigh in on Guida at 155 or 145 All right, that's fair Moving along This one's a bit lengthy Oh Dana has been promoting Aldoverse Edgar as a super fight Does the fight actually deserve to be

The title super fight since Edgar is coming off two losses in a row Albeit controversial decisions To Henderson which forced his hand to drop down to 145 I'm beyond excited for this matchup but since Dana is calling it a super fight, it seems to me a cover-up for not actually producing that super fight he promised what happened between GSP and Silva. I don't think it means anything.

I mean, it's just promotion. It's like when they say this guy's fighting to be the number one contender. You know, that's what promoters do. They promote. A lot of people consider this a super fight, whatever the heck that means, because people like Rick think that Edgar won back in August, they may even think Edgar won in February.

They think he's still the lightweight, champion. Now he's going down to 145 to fight the 145 champion. If Frankie Edgar wins on Saturday night, he becomes just the third man in UFC history to hold a title in two different weight classes. The others, Randy Gattour, BJ Penn. That puts him in amazing category. So, and that's something that Aldo wants to do, right? He wants to go up to 155. So it's a big deal. It's the most high profile 145 pound bout since Faber Aldo. And in my opinion, it's bigger than that. It's a former champion going down, who a lot of people think should still be the champion to fight the current champion. We haven't seen them in a while. I mean, there's a lot of intriguing aspects to this

fight. Stylistically, it's intriguing. Everything about it is intriguing. And we're getting it after we thought we were going to get in October. So superfight, is it a real superfight like Anderson, GSP, both champions coming together? Maybe not, but I have no problem with it. Our last question from the website, what made you wear the Jeremy Sky Adidas for Chicago. Did anyone like them? I personally own them and salute you for wearing them. Well, I appreciate you coming out and saying that. It was a mixed bag. Some love them. Some people like you who know what they're talking about, who have fashion sense, who have swag, as they say, came up to me and gave me props, just like you're doing. Others didn't really quite get it. Others thought that I was trying to make some sort of statement that I was trying to make it all about me.

no. These shoes are available to the general public. This man, Chris 722-687, he has them as well. Is it all about him? No. They're nice shoes. I like the colors. I like the way that they are put together. The wings are interesting and they're just different. And they're very comfortable, by the way. Fuzzy, very nice in the Chicago weather. So that's all. I like them and I wanted to wear them just like I like this shirt and I wanted to wear it today. So I wasn't trying to make any statement. I wasn't trying to do anything. And yes, I did buy them, thinking in mind that I'd wear them for the Rampage, uh, tete-a-tete on Wednesday and beyond the fight week, because I know, you know, fashion has been a big part of our interviews. And I thought I would wow him in what would be his last UFC fight. Nothing more, nothing less. All right, we're moving on to the Twitter questions. Interesting question here. Will John Dodson's happy to be here attitude prevent him from being able to make the next step to champion? And this is coming from the captain. And this is coming from the Captain 15, Eric Johnson.

I don't think so. You know, I spoke to him on Saturday after his loss, and while he did have a smiley face, and, you know, he had a great attitude, and it was, as I mentioned, kind of inspiring to see a guy go five rounds on Fox, lose the title fight, and still have that demeanor. It was amazing. But, you know, his lip was quivering a little bit. He seemed down, deep, deep down inside, and I think there's nothing wrong with having that kind of attitude.

I don't think he was faking it. I don't think he was putting on a front, but that's who he is. And I don't think John Dodson is happy to be here. Look at the way he beat people on tough. Look at his fights in the UFC prior to this fight. And he did really well in the early portion of the fight. Got caught in the championship rounds.

Clinch wasn't working out for him. Johnson just poured it on like a champion should in the championship rounds. So I don't think he has one of those, oh, I'm just okay being a bridesmaid attitude. I think he'll be back, and I think what helps him is the fact that the flyway division is rather thin right now, a win or two in your back in the mix. So I don't think this is the last we've seen of John Doughton. I think you can make the case for the immediate rematch. You know, if you take that point away, that illegal knee, it's a majority draw.

So I think one or two wins, and he's right back in there. And I disagree with this happy to be here sentiment. Our next question. Is T.J. Grant getting the recognition he deserves? there wasn't much love for him at the post-fight presser. Where does he stand? You know, I think he should get the attention that he deserves. He's won four in a row, which gives him the second longest winning streak in the division

behind the champion Benson Henderson. I mean, if that doesn't tell you something, when you talk about a very loaded division in the lightweight division, in the UFC's lightweight division, I mean, it's really stacked. And for him to win four in a row against tough guys, I mean, he just beat Evan Dunham, comes in here and beats Matt Wytheon. who has looked very good at 155 as of late. He deserves a step up. He's a top 10er, in my opinion.

I was thinking on the way here who I'd like to see him fight next. Obviously, I think Showtime should fight the winner of Gilbert versus Benson. I think I'd like to see Jim Miller fight Gray-Maynor next. As far as the rankings go, I think that makes most sense. For T.J. Grant, you know it would have been fun, and it's not going to happen, but I think it would have been the perfect fight for both guys, truthfully. And I know it's not going to happen. But T.J. Grant versus Eddie Alvarez. Hear me out.

Why I think this would make sense. If Eddie Alvers can't beat T.J. Grant, he's not worth the praise that he's getting. And if T.J. beats him, that's a big win over a former champion in another division. It's a major step up. So I think that would have been a cool first fight based on what T.J. Grant has done as of light. But again, I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. So when you look at the rest of the division, I wonder. I mean, could they do Nate Diaz?

Dana White said they have something in store for Nate Diaz at the Post-Five Press Conference wouldn't say what? It's a T.J. Grant. You know? I don't know. That could make sense. It's either Nate Diaz or Habib Nur Mugamadev. Those are the only two guys not named Gray Maynard and Jim Miller, who I think makes sense.

T.J. mentioned Jim Miller. Not sure if he's going to get him. Our next question. Should Showtime Petis wait to fight for the title or take a fight? He should 1,000 percent wait. 1,000% wait. He deserves it. You can make a case that he deserves it more than Gilbert.

He's been promised it before. Wait, take the fight. Not that he's going to lose to someone else. I think he's better than the guy who fought Clay Guida. But it's less than three months away. Be a part of that buildup on Fox. Whenever that guy wins on April 20th, you're sitting there waiting. Get your title fight in August or so.

And, you know, get the rematch or fight Gilbert. So if I were him, I would 1,000% wait without a doubt. I'm so impressed with Anthony Pettis. I think he is one of the true breakout stars in the UFC if he hasn't broken out already, and I think he deserves a title shot. With this probably being rampages last time in the UFC, what is your most memorable moment in or out of the octagon? So in the UFC, I mean, you have to go with the Chuck Ladell win,

knocking him out, UFC 71. It was an amazing moment. And to me, that was one of the turning points for the UFC. There was a lot of buzz going into that fight. It felt like it was one of the first fights that ESPN was covering and giving the attention that it deserved. I remember Joe Rogan and Lou DeBella on the Friday Night Sports Center. They're famous back and forth. If you've never seen that, go on YouTube after this show and watch it.

It's an amazing back and forth, and Rogan smokes him. Pardon the pun. And then Chuck, who's coming off the entourage appearance, he's coming off ESPN the magazine. Chuck fights, Rampage, Rampage, knocks him out in a rematch in a little over a minute. It was a great moment. And Rampage felt like he had finally arrived, people who had watched him for a while. I mean, he was finally getting that respect. You know, fights Dan Henderson beats him.

He's the undisputed champion now. And it just led to a lot. And if you talk to Rampage, as we did in New York in our walk-and-talk, he says he thinks it happened a little too early. the fans didn't know him regardless, that was his best moment, without a doubt. And it really kind of made me a little sad when he said that Dana said that he saw him on his way to the press conference. Rampage was leaving, and Rampage said to him, you'll miss me. And Dana said, I miss you already, buddy. And I thought that that was, you know, they've had their issues like Tito and Dana and other fighters.

But I thought that was, I think Rampage is one of the true superstars in our sport right now. At the workouts, people like Coke and Pettus are taking pictures of him. You never see that at workouts. And he may not be the fighter that he once was. He may not even be the draw that he once was, but he has brought a lot to our sport. I know some hate him, some love him, whatever, but in the cage, always a very exciting fighter.

And yeah, maybe his complaints as of late have annoyed fans and they're getting tired of it. Could be true. But you can't deny the entertainment that he brought to us for a lot of years. And I think the Chuck Lade knockout was his best moment. It's got to be that one or the Vanderley knockout, finally getting over the two-fight domination and then getting that knockout and just howling like he's never wanted to howl before.

And by the way, that was after his arrest where, if you recall, a lot of people thought that could be it for him. He loses to Vandolet he's done. Our next question. What's the biggest fight for Rampage outside of the UFC? Two that they suggest are Spong in the World Series of Fighting or King Moe and Bellator? Wow. Tyrone Spung in WorldS.

I didn't think of that. That's a fun fight. Holy moly. Wow. That would be something, right? No takedowns in that fight. What do you think? I think that that's a great fight.

Can World Series of Fighting? Wow, that kind of blew my mind there for a second. Can World Series of Fighting afford him, A, and you know, you don't want them to break the bank? World Series of Fighting, you know, there are rumors about their future and whatnot. They're signing guys. So clearly they're not going to be.

anywhere. We'd love to know when they're fighting or when they're putting on an event again. But spawning in World Series of Fighting is pretty awesome. And yeah, it has to be King Moe and Belltor. Yeah, I agree. These are the two fights, which would get the most attention, probably King Moe and Beltor because Spike is right now, you know, they're doing their thing and people haven't quite caught on to World Series of Fighting. They were on NBC Sports Network. Who knows what's next? But I would say King Mo would be the biggest fight for me, and I think he would probably make it to the finals if he's motivated and healthy enough.

Our next question. Does Llamas carry enough star power for the UFC to give him a title shot? Seems like that's the new requirement. It certainly is, especially in the featherweight division. You've got, obviously, Aldo Edgar. Let's see what happens on Saturday. You know, Edgar, there are always immediate rematches involved. So let's see what happens before we talk about the future in the 145-pound division.

But I think it seems to me, like, if there's a clean finish and, and, and, you know, and the issue is resolved, it seems like the Korean zombie is getting the title shot. And I think he deserves it. He is a big name. He is a guy who has star power. He's coming off the Porier win, which was in May, so he may have lost the momentum. But I think Korean zombie versus either Edgar Aldo gets the fans, juices flowing. Lama has looked great in the UFC.

He's four-n-o as a featherweight and four-n-n-o in the UFC. and he had a big win on Fox, a dominant win, you know, a dominant finish. That was a brutal finish against Eric Koch, a guy who was once the number one contender. I think maybe one more win if Korean Zombie gets the shot. Maybe against a Dennis Seaver type really puts him over the hump. And Seaver just pulled out of a fight, so maybe when he's ready to come back, that could really solidify his place as the number one contender. So he's there.

He's one or two fights away. And yes, Star Power is a big part of it. but at some point you can't deny. I mean, Okami wasn't a star, but he got the title shot because you couldn't deny him anymore. They didn't label this in a number one contender fight for Lamas. I think he gets one more fight and then has to fight for the title if he wins. Will the UFC Code of Conduct help give a better image to the sport, which is still viewed negatively by many? I mean, I'd like to see how this thing shapes up.

You know, it's Matt Hughes involved. he's the new UFC VP of athlete development and government relations. What is he really going to do? How involved is he going to be? I want to see what happens. In theory, it's a great idea. In theory, it helps fighters out. It just sort of cleans things up a little bit.

So in theory, it's a great idea. I'd like to see how it's executed. And I wonder if Matt Hughes, who is a guy who has rubbed some people, excuse me, the wrong way, like a Dan Hardy. et cetera, et cetera, not a big fan of women's MMA. He said in the past, is he the right guy? We'll find out. But yes, in theory, I think it is very good for the sport.

Ben Ascran added strong ground to pound to his ground game this week. Where do you rank him in the current Walterweight division, future GSP Challenger? You know, I'm the kind of guy who feels like you may be doing great things, but you're only as good as your opponents, right? And if you're not beating top guys, it's hard to really put you top five, whatever. So I haven't looked at my welterweight rankings in a bit. but he may be i put him in the top 15 i don't know if i make him a top 10 or just yet there are a lot of good guys in the ufc i mean who do you put him ahead of um you know he's just not

fighting top 10 guys and that's why i never had you know gilbert at number two or eddie at number two because you need to fight top 10 guys in my opinion to be in the top 10 certainly you can push it because you're just wrecking everyone but you know do you put him over attack saffodine You know, after Safedian beat Nate Marquart, I don't know. Has he beat anyone on the level of Nate Marquart? Jay Haran, I don't know. You know, do you put him on the level of Aurora or Fitch or Amaya or Ellenberger? You know, do you put him on a level of even Mike Pierce?

He hasn't fought those guys, so you don't really know. Certainly in the top 15, I think if he fought GSP, GSP has more weapons, but he's evolving. He's younger. And I'd like to see where he goes from here. I think he showed killer instinct. And that was all I was saying. It was not an exciting fight because it didn't seem like he was trying to finish the fight.

It didn't seem like he was trying to get out of there. He was content getting the decision. That's what it felt like to me. On Thursday, it didn't feel that way. And I give him props. Where does the winner of Evans Nogera sit at 205? Higher or lower than the winner of Musassi Gustafson? Well, I'll tell you, if Evans or even Nogara wins,

well, Nogero will make it dicey. But if Evans wins, I'd like to say, see him fight Glover. I think that that's a fight that makes sense for both guys. Glover says he doesn't want a title shot. He doesn't think he wants to wait for it or even deserves it. Evans kind of in that weird spot. Again, I said last week, I don't want to see him fight Anderson Silva. I know Dana said in the post-fight press conference that they're waiting for something to happen. I, you know, I'd be surprised if I wouldn't be surprised, but I don't think it should be Evans. I'd like to see him stay at 205. I think what he's waiting for is Hector Lombard.

personally. That's just a total total guess. So if Evans wins, I'd like to see him fight Glover, who won on Saturday. And Musassi Gustafson, it depends. I think if Gustafson wins, he may be a little bit up there. Musassi, it's hard to say higher or lower. I mean, obviously, the winner Machita Hendo, it sounds like they'll get a title shot, so they'll be there. And who knows where Anderson plays in all this against Jones.

It's all very weird, but they're all in the sort of same category. so that's, you know, and also, I don't think Global World Fight, Nogera, you know, he's managed by the same guys, you know, Edsores and George Gumire's Blackhouse and all that. There are different camps, but I just don't see it happening. Do you think the UFC and Russia will be enough for Fador to come out of retirement, or is he done? Well, again, I was blown away by this story that Dana dropped. If you missed the video, check it out on M.AFighting.com where he just tells us nonchalantly that he was very close to coming to terms with Fader. I was blown away by it, and I thought more people would have been as well. And I asked him that.

If you are going to Russia this year, how do you not go back to that well? You know, he said he wanted to retire after the passing of his father. Well, time has passed, and who knows? I think they 100% go to that well, and it'll just be up to them if they can come to terms. If they were going to do it back then, how do you not have Fado on the card? Honestly, how do you not? If he was good enough then, why isn't he good enough now, especially in his home country. So yeah, I don't know if it'll happen, but I definitely think they go back and

talk to them about it. Our last one. When are you going to have John Pollock on the M.M.A. Hour. Wow. Joe Poe. Well, if you're a longtime fan of this show, you will know that in the early days, we did have John Pollock on the M.A. Hour. In fact, we had him in studio. Way back when, in the first ever studio of ours in the AOL days. And, you know, you know, and, you know, you know, And of course, John Pollock is a big fan of New York Rick, and I'm sure that's why he chose this question, because they've developed a bit of a bromance on Twitter if you follow them. And I love John Pollock. I think he's great. He hosts the MMA Report show, which you can get on iTunes.

I think it's the only other MMA show that is, well, I shouldn't say that. But he does a very good job. And also is the producer of live audio wrestling, which is a great podcast about pro wrestling and a bit of MMA. So he does great work. He works for the Fight Network. and was the first guy to recognize me and put him on Mario Rinala show. So I got much love for John Pollock. If you want him on the show, I will put him on the show.

I'm a man of the people. Is that the only reason why you brought up this question? Very credible journalists. Great insight. Yeah. I think it's about time. And you're going to say that Min 316 deserves the Anthony Pettus Prize. Unfortunately not.

I'm thinking how about Spong World Series? series and Mo Bellator. You really got excited. I got excited about that. And I always think about what's next. And that one excited me because I didn't think of it. So yeah, I'm going with that. Done deal.

There it is. What series is this? 11. 11. Anthony Pettis, showtime, it's going to you. Look at that. Showtime tattoo. It's great.

So that's the prize of the day. And that is it for us. Again, if you missed any portion of the show due to technical issues, I want to remind you that the replay or replays will be up later today. If you're listening to this on Monday, if you're listening to this later in the week, they'll definitely be up. And you can get the audio on iTunes, the video also on iTunes in segments. You can get the video on MMAFunding.com.

And you can also go on Stitcher and tune in, the tune-in radio app or something like that. Isaac, you can hit my music. Well, that was fun. Three plus hours on this episode of the MMA hour. Came home from Chicago yesterday, going to Las Vegas on Wednesday. Got a fun little video, if it all works out, planned for Wednesday. So stay tuned for that. UFC 156 on Saturday, Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Typical, usual MMAfighting.com coverage coming at you all week long. Hope you enjoyed our coverage in Chicago last week, including our big sit-down with the now former WW champion. His CM Punk was robbed yesterday at the Royal Rumble, but really appreciate his time, his insight. You have no idea how big of an MMA fan this guy is. Not faking it, massive fan, so I appreciate his time very much.

I want to thank Joseph Benavides for stopping by. Good luck to him against Ian McCall on Saturday and really enjoyed that poem that he shared with us. Cung Lee, good luck to him in getting the Anderson Silva fight and his upcoming movie career. Jacob Bokeman, always a pleasure. I'll try to hook you up with Ariani over the weekend. Jimmy Smith, one of the best in the business. Thank you so much to him.

Thank you for stopping by. Good luck, Bellator, this Thursday on Spike TV, 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. And Mike Chiapetta, thank you so much to him. And of course, how can I forget, Tito Ortiz. Finally, finally squashing the beef with the longtime veteran of this sport, the Hall of famer, the legend, what an honor it was. Great to have them on. Really enjoyed discussion. Miss Danny Vitt, check out the replays all week long

mafring.com, I do stitch and all that's a good stuff. We'll be back. Same time, same place. Next week. Peace. I am out of here. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, why not make it a limited edition Grooney Smith apple vitamin snack pack from Grooons? This isn't a multivitamin, a greens gummy or a prebiotic.

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