MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 172

Episode Date: August 14, 2014

Featuring Mark Hunt, Cesar Gracie, Jon Fitch, Stephan Bonnar, Frankie Edgar, Mike Ricci, Colin Fletcher, John Danaher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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On this Monday, March 11, 2013, my friends, this is a big week. This is a big week in our sport. It is UFC 158 week. And I'm not just saying it's a big week because I'm going back home to La Belle Provence. I'm not just saying it's a big week because it is UFC 158 week. Saturday night, Nick Diaz versus J. GSP. I'm saying it's a big week because on Monday morning, my friends, March 11, 2013, we have one of our most stacked episodes ever of the mixed martial arts hour. And we're

going to be here with you for who knows. At this point, we could be here for six hours. I don't know. We've got a lot to talk about. Huge fight on Saturday night at the Bell Center in Montreal. GSP versus Nick Diaz, if you heard that conference call on Thursday, I've now listened to it maybe six times. You are undoubtedly very very very very. excited for this fight. It's the fight we've been talking about for years and years and years. Finally, we're going to get to see it on Saturday night in Canada, in Montreal, welterweight title on the line. We haven't seen Nick Diaz in over a year. February of last year was the last time we saw Nick Diaz, and he came out swinging on the conference call. We'll talk

about that a lot on this show. We'll really dissect UFC 158 in the third hour when we do Rick's picks. Rick's Pick's challenge is back. Rick feeling very good about his betting these days because he came off a very nice performance at UFC on Fuel TV number eight. And we'll talk to him in the third hour about what he's feeling going into UFC 158. We'll also talk to all of you via Twitter, via your questions on the website. Ask us about anything crazy week in MMA, a lot of news, big fights announced, injuries, et cetera. Hit us up using the hashtag the MMMA hour. This week, the prize. at stake, GSP Championship Edition, Round 5, Figureen.

Also, we'll be giving out two tickets to World Series of Fighting Number 2, March 23rd, Revelle Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Same deals last time. I'll tell you when. Hit us up on Twitter. Let either myself or Eric know why you deserve to get these tickets, and you could be one of the lucky ones. All right, let's run down the lineup quickly.

Join in the back, as always, Isaac, New York, Rick, and the returning Buzzkill Brendan. And today I've been getting all these questions, these sort of legal questions from the team. Oh, are we allowed to use this? And then, of course, it makes sense that Buzzco is here, ruining my buzz on a Monday morning. Okay, let's run it down because we've got a stack show, as I said. Three o'clock will be joined by Mark Hunt. Mark Honto, the Super Samoan.

He got his fight against Junio D'O Santos. He's waking up very early in Australia to join us. Very excited to have him on the show. Stefan Bonner. First time we speak to Stefan Bonner since it was announced that he tested positive for a steroid at UFC 153. His very first interview, he breaks the silence on this show. Can't wait to have him on the show. Frankie Edgar, the former UFC lightweight champion coming off the loss to Jose Aldo. What's next for him? We'll talk to the answer at around 220. John Fitch, the newest member of the World Series of

Fighting Team left the UFC a couple weeks ago and now a part of WSOF. We'll talk to him. Mike Reachie will be stopping by. He faces Colin Fletcher this weekend at UFC 158 and we'll also be talking to Colin Fletcher. So we've got a stack show. Much to discuss. Much to get to. let us start first with a guy who I've wanted to have on this show for a very long time, honored that he's joining us on this very special week. He is Jiu-Jitsu Wizard. John Danher. He joins us right now in the M.M.A. Hour.

John, how are you? Very good. Thank you. John? Can you hear me, Ariel? I can hear you just fine, John. Thank you very much for joining us. My apologies. You may hear some distracting noises in the background. We're at a gym right now.

George is getting a sports massage, and if you hear any, metallic clanking and grunts and groans in the background. Don't blame me. It's the gym. Well, I think it's fitting that you're at a gym right now. It's such a big week for you and the team. Are you getting a sports massage right now? No, I'm not. Although I think I was in trouble if I did.

The sports masseuse is bigger than King Kong. I would die if I received a massage from this person. Well, that's not very sexy. You know, sometimes you think of massages to be a little sensual. So obviously this is a big week for you in the team. you're in Montreal already with George. I've got to ask you because I find, and I've said this before on the show, I think that you are one of the more brilliant minds, educated minds,

knowledgeable men in our sport. And I just wanted to get your insight for this huge opportunity and huge moment for a man that you've known for a long time, George St. Pierre. Did you hear what transpired on the conference call last Thursday? I only heard snippets of it. I wasn't aware of the conference call until I arrived at it. in Montreal for training, I believe it was Thursday night. And it just happened that George was talking about what it got on in the conference call.

This was the side of George we have rarely seen. He called Nick an uneducated fool. He was trying to explain to him where he was coming from. He seemed like he was upset. And from someone who is very much a student of the game and who loves the psychology of the game, what did you make of this? and particularly the aftermath. When you talk to George about it, was he rattled?

Was he upset? Did he have a fire that you hadn't seen before? What was he like? Actually, I think that there's something of an overreaction to it. First of all, one thing you should all be aware of is that a large part of the problem associated with conference school was that English is not George's first language. And he was somewhat confused by the language that Nick Diaz was using. Nick often speaks in American street jargon.

And he, the main thing he heard was Nick Diaz calling, am I allowed to curse on your show? Absolutely. Absolutely. Nick was repeatedly using the word motherfucker. And George knows what the term is, but he took it literally. He thought that Nick Diaz was saying that he was someone who literally had sex with his mother. And he became, he was up to.

set at next language. And then when I explained to him afterwards that, in fact, the word motherpox can be used in many different contexts in the United States, especially among street culture, that often it shouldn't be taken literally, it can even be used as to refer

to a human being or a person, then he kind of just laughed and realized that perhaps it was more a mistake of a kind of lost in translation element rather than a direct attempt to insult him and he calmed down a lot. I mean, it wasn't really upset. He sort of just more like an amusing incident.

He thinks Nick Diaz as a character. He wasn't like emotionally upset or anything. He was the third of Nick's choice of language, which he didn't, I don't think he really understood that Nick didn't mean literally the word motherfucker. He was using it in the sense of modern American street jargon. And once that was pointed out to him, he just found that kind of amusing.

In the media, we always get excited or we always try to see if an opponent can get under George's skin because he is so, you know, he's almost stone cold. It's always the same guy. He doesn't show many emotions, and it's been hard for other opponents who have tried to rattle him. They've been all essentially unsuccessful. Do you feel like Nick Diaz has cracked through?

Do you feel like Nick is the lone example of a guy who has really bothered GSP? And as a result, may have gone him off his game? No. A few things to note there. First of all, from the limited amount of the audio transcript, which I heard, it sounded more like Nick got upset rather than George. George kept a relatively monotone voice, and Nick seemed to think that he was wrong more than anyone. So I would say it would go in the other direction.

And secondly, you must remember these are professional athletes. You can talk about emotions, you can talk about words, but ultimately it's a physical fight. once the first punch gets thrown, all those words, all those emotions, they go right out the window. And it comes down to the technique and the preparation of the athletes involved if they do prevail. So how they get to wound up about words and emotions? As I said, both of these guys are highly experienced professional athletes. And ultimately, what the two men is the winner is physical preparation and skill set and knowledge. And it's not about emotion.

Emotions that weren't assigned techniques. to that being said have you talked to george about not fighting with emotion on sardineh because we all sort of assume that at some point in the fight there's going to be trash talking diaz does this he puts his arms up he tries to sort of bait his opponent have you talked to him about dealing with that oh yes of course but that's true for every fight uh the truth is ariel if if if george's had such a low level in terms of emotional control that i had to talk to him about something as mundane is sticking to a game plan and keeping his emotions under control.

He never would have made it to be a world champion in the first place. You don't get the championship level by letting your emotions get the better of your sense of tactics and strategy. It just doesn't happen at that level. Do you get the impression that GSP legitimately hates Nick Diaz? No, not at all. I'll promise. I actually think George sees Nick as a,

a very interesting character, a worthy and dangerous opponent with an impressive skill set, that's a limit of it. I think it would be unhealthy to go into a fight hating your opponent. I think hatred and anger tend to create a kind of a physical tension in fighters which reduces their athletic performance and reduces their physical endurance. It's not something which should be... part of a professional fighter's maker.

A big issue for Nick during the conference call was the line that we've heard George say now, it's been repeated over and over again, that Nick deserves to get beat down. Do you think that that's what he meant? I mean, because this is something that we don't hear from George, like, deserve to get a beat down. That's a big statement from someone like him. What do you think he meant by that? No, I think that was Nick extrapolating from something that Dana White had said earlier at a conference where he said that George had said to him that Nick Diaz deserves to be beaten

down after some public comments that Nick Diaz had made after his fight with Carlos Condor, I believe. But, you know, I don't think, I'd never seen George use that turn of phrase. I'm not sure if that was direct quote by Dana White. I wasn't there, so I can't make... You know, I don't know if that was an accurate quote or not, but I believe Nick Diaz was quoting Dana White there rather than North St. Diaz.

Do you think that Nick Diaz is a good representative for the sport of MMA? It's too much of a blanket statement. I think there are many parts of Nick Diaz, which are positive. I think he has a tremendously well-developed skill set. He puts in a tremendous amount of hours in the gym. He trains as hard as any of the other professional athletes out there. Those are laudable and good attributes. I do think that perhaps some of his public statements

and the way he conducts public statements are not, for example, I don't have a child, but if I did, I wouldn't want my own child speaking and some of the ways that he chooses to speak. But on the other hand, you know, it also makes him a very interesting and memorable character, too. You don't want everyone to be the same and come out of the same cookie cutter. The world isn't built that way. We like to, you know, we tend to remember different characters rather than characters who are all the same as us. As I said, I think there are many things about Nick Diaz that are laudable and good.

I admire his dedication and I admire his work ethic. He trains very, very hard. So you can't say Nick Diaz is all bad for the sport. You can't say he's all good for the sport. He's a polarizing figure who's, like many impressive characters, is very good in some ways and not so good in others. Is he better than GSP in any aspect of MMA, in your opinion? Well, MMA has many, many aspects within it.

And the danger is that people tend to look at those aspects in an oversimplified fashion. Say, for example, many people will say Nick Diaz has better juditsu and George St. Pierre. But that in itself is too simplistic a way of looking at things. I would say there are some things in judicitude that Nick Diaz does better than George, definitely. I'd say his submissions from bottom position are better than George's are. But I would say George's top control position in Garthasian is better than Nick Diaz's. You can't just put blanket statements out, like one guy is better a judic than the other. they're better at different aspects of judic-tizu than each other.

Yes, I would say there are certain parts of Nick Diaz's a judic-tah game that surpassed Georgia. But I would also say that there are aspects of Georgia's Jiu-Di-2 game which surpassed Nick Diaz. Within wrestling, I would say Nick Diaz is very good upper-body wrestling, especially against the fence. But I would say Georgia's wrestling with leg takedowns in the open is decisively superior to necks. within boxing, there are certain elements of Nick's game, which are within the sport of boxing better than George's, but there are certain elements of George's boxing game, which are better than Nick Diaz's. You can't just put out these simplistic blanket statements, like, you know, Diaz is better at Judah 2, Diaz is better at boxing.

There's aspects within those games where one of them are superior to the other, and the one who will be successful is the one who can manage to keep the fight for as long as possible in those niche areas where they feel they have superiority. How do you see this fight playing out? I'm sorry, Ariel. I can't answer that question directly without giving away tactics and strategies. Before you should be to answer that at this time. I'm sorry.

You are a true pro, my friend. I see, that's why we like you. That's why we respect you, because there is no reason for you to answer that question. But you know, I have to ask it, right? Of course. You're a professional of what you do, Ariel. I fully expected the question. I don't mean to be rude and brush it.

question the question of off, but you can see that it would be unprofessional of me to want to you at this time. Absolutely. You know, we saw a GSP return from a long layoff in November. He's coming right back, you know, what, four months later, and here he is fighting back in Montreal against Nick Diaz. Do you like the fact that he's returning quickly because it seemed like in that fight in November, I mean, the layup didn't really seem to affect him. He seemed like he had this killer instinct that maybe he was lacking in some of his other fights.

Getting right back on the horse with no injuries seems like a good idea, right? Yes, I was actually very pleased that he took this fight so soon after the Carlos Condit fight. I can tell you this now that the fight camp for Carlos Condit was one of the trickiest in Georgia's entire professional career because it was coming off a very long layoff, and it had a very rocky start. The beginnings of the fight camp were unimpressive, to say the least, and were definitely not up to the standards of previous fight camps, just because of that layoff. Georgia's edged in a sense like re-learning certain skills.

And so it was refreshing in this fight to see him coming off a peak against Carlos Condit, maintaining it, and just going straight through. And so this fight camp was very, very smooth, extraordinarily well run, and his performances all the way through it were very, very pleasing. So I was very, very happy to see him get back in the saddle. And I know there were some complaints amongst fans

that Georgia's up fighting irregularly, You know, he was too few performances per year. So it was good for him to come back quickly and bounce back. I think it was good for him and good for the fans. We're talking to you on a Monday. You see him today. Is he any different than he is on a Monday going into Condit, Kosteck, Shields?

Does he have a little more pep in his step? Dissect him for me right now as you see him? No, you know, he's been doing this a long time now, so there's an established routine. I'm a big believer in the idea that whenever a person gets into a stressful situation, routine will carry them through in ways which breeds success. There's nothing worse than being thrown into a stressful situation where you have no sense of direction, where everything's new to you and unfamiliar. But when you're in a stressful situation and you go through familiar patterns, familiar routines, it grounds you, it grounds you, it brings you back to a sense of a sense of a lot. I've been here before.

I've done this before. And that's a big part of the preparation during fight week. And as a result, George is always pretty much the same. It goes in day by day by day, step by day, until the big show. George made some headlines over the weekend when he told SportsNED in Canada that he not only thinks a man you know very well, one of your students, Chris Wyatman, will beat Anderson Silva. He will finish Anderson Silva.

I'm guessing you agree with him, right? Yeah. Well, George and Chris, of course, have trained together. They both come down to the Hendrik Gracie Academy on Monday afternoons and do their grappling workouts. And they are both fascinating students. It's been a pleasure to watch their skills develop over time. Weidman is – there's a sense in which you can look at Chris Weidman

and say he's an enormous George St. Pierre. He's George St. Pierre, 35 pounds heavy. There are some obvious similarities in their games. There are also some obvious differences. I would say George is better at top positional control and striking on the ground, whereas Chris Wyatman is better at bottom and top position submission. Their wrestling ability in the legs is pretty much at the same level. Chris is probably a better upper body wrestler than George.

They're striking. George has got a wider range of movement. that Chris obviously hits with more power, being a bigger man. So there's some obvious similarities, some subtle differences, but overall the way they approach fighting it is very similar. Chris Wyden represents basically a very big George St. Pierre. And as such, it would be something of a stylistic problem for Anderson Silver, gifted as Anderson Silver is.

that with many of these problems that people associate with Anderson's game appear to coincide well with Chris Wypman's skill set. I think that's the statement Georgia's making. Of course, that's not the same would be an easy fight. It's Anderson Silver, who is arguably, you know, the finest fighter in the world's been on who you talk to. You know, Anderson's a guy who's got genuine knock-up power in all four limbs, and as such, will always have a chance against anybody.

I believe he would have a chance even against heavyweights in the U.S.C., such as his skill level and strike. But he does have gaps in his skill level, which George was pointing out, and he believes that Chris Wyman is a guy who could definitely take advantage of some of those gaps and therefore would have a chance. He's not someone to be dismissed as many people in the... mixed martial arts community is saying that you know, Wybemadden's untested, he hasn't got enough fights, he's coming off an injury,

he doesn't stand the chance, and I think George was pointing out, in fact, no, stylistically, this is a much tougher fight for Anderson than most people realize. Does that mean that you also think that GSP would beat Anderson Silver? I believe, as I said before, you could never say of anyone fighting Anderson Silver that Anderson doesn't

have a very good chance because Anderson, as I said, is a tremendously gifted mixed martial arts, with, as I said, genuine knockout power on all four limbs. That's something you don't see very often. But I do believe that if George did fight him, he would have an excellent chance of victory. It would be more dangerous in George's case

because it would be considerable size difference. But, yes, I do believe George would have an excellent chance of victory, even against someone as formidable and gifted his hand of silver. I got to ask you this one last question before we let you go, John, because, and by the way, we need to have you in studio. You live in New York. I mean, it's long overdue. We need to talk about your career and how you moved up and just became the man who you are

and got into Jiu-Jitsu at a late age, 28 years old. So it's a very fascinating story. But why do you wear a rash guard wherever you go, including Matt Sarah's wedding? Why is this? Because I am clinically insane. Is that it? Yeah, I basically have. very little interest in clothing.

I don't find it interesting. And I've always had a appalling taste in clothes long before Rashguards. And I'll tell you that before I was wearing rash guards, I was wearing rash guards, I was wearing things or even worse. I simply don't put much stock in my appearance. And so I just had rash guards. People just give me rash guards all the time.

Like, hey, John, wear this. And so I just would wear them home. And then eventually I woke up one morning and realized that my wardrobe consisted entirely of rash guards and track pants. And I haven't really progressed since then. So, yeah, I'm afraid it's... If there's two things that can work out for me, I'm never going to make it in the world of fashion. I'm sorry, Ariel. So are you wearing a rash guard and track pants right now?

Strangely enough, the answer is yes. Wow. Unbelievable. And you wore one to Matt's wedding. What was the reaction when people saw you wearing that? Well, there were two kinds of reactions. The males in the room were horrified, but the females were obviously extremely turned on. They all tried very, very hard to seduce me and sleep with me.

Wow. I figured. I figured as much. I mean, did you have like a tuxedo version of it, or did you just have your typical, you know, rash guard that you wear at the gym? It was a magnificent jet black rash guard, 100%. as Rick Ross would say, triple black. And it was truly magnificent. It was the kind of rash guard you could wait at the White House and be proud.

How many do you have? That's an excellent question. There has never been an inventory on the John Danherer rash guard collection. It is currently unknown, even to the federal government. Do you think over 100? You know, that's a challenging question for me, Ariel. I believe we have to do an audit on my rash guard, but it could be close to 100 and growing by the day.

Unbelievable. Well, you wear it very well, I must say, and I think someone needs to give you like a rash-guard deal of sorts because, I mean, it would make sense. You're wearing them all the time, and that's a good investment, in my opinion. Nevertheless... I'll have a word to Giorgio Amani later today.

I'll see what he says. And I know some high people in high places as far as fashion goes, so let me know if you want me to put in a good word. Nevertheless, I look... Exactly. Yeah, why not? God bless you, Ariel. I look forward to seeing you and your rash guard this week in Montreal,

a Bel Province, UFC 158. It's going to be a fascinating time, and I presume you will be in Georgia's Corner on Saturday, right? Either that or a strip club, one of the two. All right, well, let us know, because we may join you to either or. Who knows? Excellent. Thank you very much, Ariel, and I'll talk to you soon. Best of luck to you, John.

Great to have you on the show. We'd love to have you in studio one of these days, and I'll see you, Montreal this week. Excellent. Thank you very much. There he is. Bye. The Wizard himself. George St. Pierre's

jujitsu coach, John Danaherst, ups by. I'm sure you've seen this man. Now with the bald head, one of these smartest men in MMA. At least he sounds very smart. Always rocking the rash guard and usually right beside GSP as he goes into

every one of his fights and he'll be there this week in Montreal, getting him ready for UFC 158, and I presume in his corner, come Saturday night at the Bell Center. John Danaher, a New Yorker now, originally from New Zealand, I believe, now in New York. But now in Montreal, actually, as far as right now. Sports massage place to be exact. All right, great stuff from John.

Let's move along now. One of the more interesting fights on this card on Saturday night features Mike Ritchie versus our next guest. Colin Fletcher, you know him from Tough Smashes. Australia versus UK made it to the finals in December. One of the more unique characters in our sport. He is called The Freak Show for a Reason. Looking forward to talking to him, he joins us right now in the MMA hour. Colin, how are you?

I'm fine, man. I'm fine. I'm great. I'm great. I'm doing great to have you on the show. When do you head out to Montreal? I actually head out in about six hours. Oh, gosh. Just packing up me bits and pieces, getting me clown bag ready. So do you have an actual clown bag? I do have an actual clown bag. I've got an actual hobo stick as well.

Wow. You know, when I was talking to you on Twitter about getting you on the show, you were kind of reluctant because you said, oh, I'm cutting weight, I'm not going to be in fine form. Is that the case right now? Are you not feeling good right now?

No, this is a week before I fight that never made me best, you know what I mean? I'm like a water balloon full of water and very long. Basically, I've filled a feed. I'm like a whale at the moment. I kind of, you know, the little dust particles you see in the air. How tough is this wake? Is it?

It's not really tough. That's not? I exaggerate a little bit, you know what I mean? It's not. I've never made, I've never struggled to make 155. You know, one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on, and I don't know if you know this, but Mike is coming on right after you. So we'll ask you for a message if you want to give him one as you switch spots.

But I think it's such an interesting, styles clash in many ways, not just in the cage. I mean, all you have to do is look at you and look at him. You two are polar opposites. What do you think of Mike Ritchie in his style, the way he dresses his hair and whatnot? What do you make of this man? Who might kind of judge anybody on their appearance, really?

You know what I mean? I think personally, I've got nothing, no bad feelings against Mike Ritchie. He was one of the standout fighters, if his season are tough. I was rooting for him from the beginning. really I thought he looked very good. I liked this style of fighting, you know what I mean? And that was basically it really.

That's as much as I know of him personally. I didn't really until I was due to fighting. People were kind of saying, oh, he's kind of opposite to you in every way, you know what I mean? But like you say, opposite's the track. So I like this style from before. He's a hometown boy. You know, GSP's on the card.

20,000 plus people expected on. Saturday night. Have you ever fought in a situation like that? No, not really, but to be honest with you, I'm a fighter, you know what I mean? It makes no difference whether I'm fighting in somebody's back off or fighting in front of there. 50,000 people, you know what I mean? There's only the two of us who are going to be fighting. So that's all that is my mind, really. I'm just going to fight him at the crowd. You were, in my opinion, one of the standouts of the Ultimate Fighter smash his season because you were different. You know, you have to.

a look, you know, and people are attracted to that. Yeah. When did this fatuation, infatuation, I should say, with clowns dressing up, et cetera. I mean, if no one's seen you, I'm sure, if they're listening to the show, they've seen you the way you dress up. When did this all start for you? Yeah, I mean, it's kind of just me, you know what I mean? I've always been a little bit quirky for a long, long period of time before I thought I was a DJI used to dress up a little bit silly then, and just, I don't take myself very seriously, you know what I mean? I like to have fun with my life. I've got two young children. We're always kind of cane power

rangers in the front living room and stuff. So I like to have a lot of fun. I like to dress up silly. I like to go on silly. I like to be silly. You know what I mean? That's just kind of my thing. It always has been. People who knows, who knows for being a little bit more extravagant than what some people may have even seen on the TV. You know what I mean? I like to have a lot of fun in my life because basically you only get one so I'm going to live it to what's fullest life. You know, there are different kinds of clowns. What kind of clown are you? Yeah.

I'm a mixture between, too, you know what I mean? Sometimes I'm a bad clown, and then sometimes I'm a good, happy fun-loving clown. You know what I mean? I'm just, I don't put myself in a box. I just, whatever I feel in the moment is, whatever I am in the moment. Do you sometimes, like, just when you go out in night with your family, your wife, etc., do you sometimes just dress up? You know, do you go to parties where people just, yeah, just like that?

You just put on the makeup and all that? Yeah, yeah, sometimes, yeah. I mean, I won a style award in my hometown of Sunday a couple of weeks ago when we went out. There's loads of pictures put on Twitter and things. I just went out to that. Didn't for a moment expect to win it and big some 17-year-old professional dancers

to a style award, which I was the shop at. Who? I just up like a six foot to a city clown. Who puts on your makeup? Me? I can do it. Wow. The last time I got it done, I had it done by my friends good.

But generally, I just do it myself, you know what I mean? It's not a big hard job. It takes his two minutes. I've done it in the car before, going to places and things like that. Two minutes? I'm not like, yeah, not very long at all. Like, not very long at all. I'm not trying for the best, the most put-together,

clown, you know what I mean? It's just a rough guideline of a silly man, crown. You know, I was reading your UFC.com bio, and in the bio it says your heroes are your wife, of course, Chuck Norris and David Bowie. I'm curious about

the other two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why those two? Well, Chuck Norris is a given really, I mean, the man can fight the whole world with one bazooker and a lollipop stick, couldn't he? Yeah, that's true. Do it or do it or do it.

It's kind of just because he's a trend of you know what I mean. I was never, I'm not, to be honest, I don't kind of fit in any kind of box. So I like people who kind of stand out and do something a little bit different, you know what I mean? So, most definitely one of those kind of people. Are you a fan of his music?

Yeah, I am a fan of his music. I'm a fan of every kind of music, to be honest with you. I'm a very open book, you know what I mean? I like anything and everything. Everything and everything a chance. You know, what's interesting about you and your story is you say fun-loving and you live life to its fullest, but before you decided to give this MMA thing a go, you were a bus driver, right? And I find it...

Yeah, I've done a number of... I find it interesting that, you know, you could say, okay, you know, someone who is a bus driver, I mean, you may make good money, but you may not be, you know, shooting for the stars, if you will. You're not trying to live out your dream. Why did you decide to become a bus driver? And then why did you decide that this is not the thing for me? To be honestly, like I pushed upon before, where I'd been a nightclub day.

I'd managed a nightclub. The nightclub wasn't doing very well. So obviously, I had a grown-up man with a family. I thought it's the time I got a proper job, sort of thing. So I went and got a real job. I was driving a bus for a year. I'd already had one pro-fight previous to that. And it was my wife kind of inspired us to just said, look,

go out and get your dream if you want. It's only you who's stopping you. So obviously I retired from driving buses and kind of give MMA me all, you know what I mean? And this is how far I've gotten so far. Did you think when you decided to leave driving buses and give this thing a go, did you think you'd make it to the UFC? no not at all really but I just didn't want to

I didn't want to be the kind of person who was sitting in 10 years time thinking I give up on it I think I could have gotten to the UFC so I'd rather like try me best and fail than they'd not have tried at all and there with things going at the moment so I'm just living it up really enjoying every moment as it comes you know obviously you lost to Norman Park on the show

or the finals of the show in December how long did it take for you to get over the loss How devastating was it for you? It didn't take a lot of time for it to go over the loss, really. I kind of, I love Norman DeBits, you know what I mean? He was one of my closest friends in that house. He felt like a little brother than me. I looked after him a little bit, obviously, me being a family man.

I kind of fall into that box well of caring about people. I honestly thought going into that fight, I'd be able to fight a lot harder. I thought I'd be able to put out my feelings to one side. And just as soon as I got in there, I was an absolute mess. Mentally, I just couldn't switch on and fight them the way I would normally fight

to somebody who I didn't know or had no evidence for. So in reflection, I think that should have maybe been one of me, I should have focused on that aspect a lot more during my training than I did really. I just kind of put it over the back in my mind and trained to fight somebody else. And then it kind of came up and bit us on the ass when I got in there.

That's very fascinating. You don't hear people admitting to that. So have you ever been in a situation like that before, where you were fighting someone that you truly respected? No, I've never been in that situation where I knew a person who I fought, you know what I mean? I respect everybody who I fight, but I've never had kind of, never had any kind of emotion towards anybody who I fought before. and kind of just like a person, like-minded person who I respect,

but kind of ultimately give them me all. With Norman, that was totally different, you know what I mean? I went in there. I felt absolutely fantastic preparation-wise. I walked to the cage. I got in the cage, the door was shut. And from the moment, I looked at him, I knew I was going to have trouble. Wow.

My head was a mess. And me and Norman have spoke about this since, you know what I mean? We've been pretty close. friends as we were in the house, as we were when we left the house and as we are to this moment, you know what I mean? Well, you won't have that problem against Mike Ritchie, and what's interesting about this fight is that it's taking place in North America. First time that you're fighting in North America.

In fact, the fight against Norman was your first time fighting outside of the UK. How do you feel about this situation? Time difference, major time difference. You have to deal with that in Australia as well, crossing the pond. How do you feel about this? Is this exciting, or do you like fighting closer to home? yeah I don't mind well I fight really to be honest

I just like I see I'm very open I'm very easy you know what I mean I always tell the truth I'm really looking forward to the fight I'm not really bothered about time differences how things are going to affect it

it's 15 minutes that I've got to kind of bust me heart for you know what I mean and my heart can take a lot so I'm going to go in there and give it everything I've got for 15 minutes and that's all I can do you know what I mean I'm pretty sure the time difference and all of this traveling and things.

It's going to be irrelevant when I get in there and just put it all out there for 15 minutes. It gives me best. How confident you feel in your wrestling, because one would imagine that's going to be a big part of his game? Yeah, I mean, I can imagine Mike's going to want to – well, he's not going to – he might he's not going to be. I'm sure he's got every base covered, you know what I mean? but he maybe is more confident in his wrestling than somebody who trains out of the UK would be obviously because

you guys over in the American stuff are kind of wrestling from birth, you know what I mean? It's something us guys over in the UK kind of pick up later in life. But I'm very confident, you know what I mean? I've got a fantastic wrestling coach back here at home so we just cover all the bases and hopefully I'll be able to step up with a challenge.

And you're a part of Team Ruff House, right? No, I don't train with the Ruff House. No, I've been down there a couple of times and trained with the Lads, but I don't fight out the Ruff House or anything like that. I'm an affiliate with them anyway. But are you friends with them in something like Judo Jim and those guys? Okay.

Well, Jimmy, I mean, Jimmy fought at the weekend gone, and he came up here, and he actually used my back to cut weight and things like that. That's why I thought you guys were. Okay, I knew you were friends. friends in some capacity, but I thought, okay, and he looked good. Does that inspire you when you see a friend like, you know, just a couple of days before your fight? Yeah, of course.

It does. I had a, there was quite a big show in UK on here Saturday, gone, and I'd see five or six of my friends and training partners fought and all did very, very well. So that does inspire me, you know what I mean, that the guys I'm training with are doing very well, going into five. By the way, at the top I asked you about your tattoo, your look, and I want to ask you about your tattoos before I let you go. I mean, is that part of the look, or is there a specific sort of story behind them that we don't know?

Because, of course, when you see the clown with the tattoos, that in itself is an interesting sight, if you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Not really. I'm really random, you know what I mean? Actually, I actually, a 16-year-old had my first tattoo on my arms, closely followed by I've got some big hands on my chest

I kind of let a friend tattoo some hands underneath those hands so they're actually a cover-up of some really tragic hands that had done when I was very, very young so and everything just kind of fell into place from there you know what I mean, just little random things like I always

I want a little black heart in the middle and then once I had the heart I said oh wouldn't it look cool with spider legs on So it just all ran into itself, you know what I mean? It's like a conscious effort to create a kind of look to me. Well, it's certainly memorable. Things I'm interested in. Yeah, it's just things I'm interested in, you know what I mean,

that I kind of tie it all together. Like I said, it's memorable. It looks good, and I'm looking forward to seeing you fight on the big stage. UFC 158. One more thing, one more thing before I let you go in a second, we'll be talking to Mike, your opponent on Saturday. Is there anything you want to say to him? Not really, I mean, I'm sure there's nothing needs to be said to Mike, you know what I mean?

We're both going to be there. We're both going to be fighting hard. We're both going to enjoy this. I just want to wish him all the look and hope he's fitting ready, and I can't wait to meet him from Saturday. Looking forward to the fight very much, Colin, safe travels to Montreal. Good luck to you on Saturday night. We'll talk to you very soon. Right, thank you. Take care.

There he is. The Freak Show. Colin Fletcher stops by. he'll be fighting UFC 158, the first fight on the pay-per-view card on Saturday night at the Bell Center in Montreal. Now, his opponent, as I mentioned, is Mike Ritchie, and he joins us right now on the MMA hour. Mike, how are you? Hey, what's up, Ariel? I'm doing well, so no fighting words. I don't know if you were able to hear Colin there, but very respectful, you know, wishing you luck.

Very nice of him, right? Yeah, I mean, I don't really think there is much to say, really. You know, it is what it is. I prefer to have my opponent, you know, not waste their time talking. You know, you were sort of campaigning to get on this card, and for a second it looked like you weren't going to get on the card because it was filling up very quickly. Were you worried that they wouldn't put you on this one?

I always knew in the back of my mind I was going to get on this card. I mean, I wasn't, you know, sure I would get, you know, this position to fight on-paper-view. But as soon as I started campaigning, I knew I was going to get on. I would never have started campaigning if I didn't feel I was in position to. And it worked out, you know, and thanks to my management as well as Dana White for making it happen. It's a fun matchup. It's obviously an important one for both of you. But as I mentioned to Colin, what I like about it is both of you, at first glance, couldn't be any more different.

I mean, as far as your looks go, even your fighting style. What do you make of Colin? You know, the guy likes to dress up as a clown, the tattoos and whatnot, very different from your look. I mean, whatever Whatever makes him happy I mean I dress how I dress

and look how I look and that's because I'm comfortable looking like this and I feel good like this so he's comfortable in his clothes and all the best to him have you ever dressed up

as a clown for fun gone to a clown party like he does? I was a clown for Halloween actually Wow Halloween yeah I posted a picture

I tagged him it and it was just me as dressed as a clown and stuff. It was pretty funny. But, yeah, I've dressed this one before. Did he respond to the picture? Because I'm curious what he thought of your clown get-up, because it's a man who takes to... Yeah, he laughed at it and stuff. And he laughed and he was like, good one and all that.

So it was cool. Did you think that you would get another shot in the UFC after the tough finale because most of the guys were on the show with you didn't even get one shot? Of course, I knew I was going to get a shot. I mean, you know, Moving through the house the way I did, and especially being a natural lightweight, I think I struck a little curiosity in Dana White. I think he was curious to see me at this weight and how I performed, considering, you know,

that I was knocking guys out at 170. So I felt pretty safe with my, you know, with my job after the tough finale. In your opinion, what went wrong against Colton? The worst thing to do, you know, is kind of talk about what went wrong, because it kind of just seems like you make excuses, you know. So no excuses, you know, the guy, he showed up and he strategized better than I did, and he was well prepared, and he executed obviously, and he took the decision. Leaving the tough house, you know, I was kind of very open about how it, you know,

that it upset me, and it was very draining. You know, I should have taken some time off, and I did it, and I had trouble focusing during training, and I ended up, tearing my LCL seven weeks before the fight. You know, I was in a brace for four weeks, and I just pushed through all this stuff, and, you know, really I shouldn't have. I feel like I was kind of fighting for everybody else. You know, I signed with Alchemist, and, you know, Canada was like, yeah, the first Canadian,

and the UFC was excited to have me there. And I kind of fought for everybody else when I was really 100% unprepared, you know, and it showed in my performance. but with no excuses if I was in such a bad position I should have took a step back and said I'm not ready for this fight but you know I played out the way it played out

I just wanted it to get over with regardless I was really just fed up with the whole tough thing and I wanted it to end did you receive any sort of push back some heat from the UFC because you were very outspoken you're on this show talking about how you even thought about maybe suing the UFC over the experience

did you get any kind of reaction out of them Well, that was a joke. Oh, okay. Yeah, of course. I mean, look, people think I complain or I whine about the ultimate fighter, but I wasn't really complaining or whining. People asked my opinion, so I gave it. You know, if nobody asked, I would not have said anything. So, I mean, people asked, you know, and I said, well, I didn't like it.

You know, some people say they did. I don't. I didn't. It bothered me. And the whole suing thing was obviously a joke. You know, it was a great opportunity that I didn't. was given. But, um, so yeah, so little bit. What kind of feedback do you get from, from fans online when you see them out and about?

Because, uh, even right now, getting tweets, you know, some people really like you. Some people don't really like you. I'm sure you've, you've, you've realized this because you may come across cocky, confident, et cetera. What are you getting? What do people say directly to you? Um, well, yeah, I mean, directly to me. And there's many, many people are going to tell me they don't like me to my face. You know, people don't usually do that. So the people around me, they, you know, the people who are around me, they like me.

You know, when I get approached, it's obviously by somebody who likes me. But on the internet is a different story, right? On the internet, I'll receive flat from a lot of people. I don't know where the cockiness thing comes from. Like, I think I was the most quiet guy on the Ultimate Fighter. you know, I wasn't talking any smack or anything. But, I mean, people are going to think what they want to think. You know, I can't control that.

So if they love me or they hate me, you know, it's up to them. I just, I noticed that as well as either they really like me or they really hate me. They're never really indifferent. They're never like in the middle. Like, yeah, he's an okay guy. It's either like, you're amazing or you're, you know, you're a garbage. A piece of garbage. One or the other.

But, you know, that's a good thing. You don't want them to be indifferent. You want them to either really hate you, want to see you lose or win. You know, you don't want someone to sort of be, eh, this guy is kind of a channel changer. So I think that's, that's to your credit. I'm wondering, do you believe people mistake confidence for cockiness? Oh, 100%.

I mean, like I said, I don't know how I come across this cocky. And I never even once went public and said anything that was cocky. Like, I'm the best, I'm this, I'm that. I never refer to myself as anything. So how can I be cocky? You know, if anything, I'm just quiet. People might, I don't know how that's mistaken for cocky, but I'm not.

You know, there's been times in the past growing up when I was less mature where sometimes I would be cocky and sometimes I wouldn't like it. You know, I've experienced that emotion before. I know what it is. Yes, I'm confident. I would never have been able to get to this point if I wasn't confident. but cocky

it's an exaggeration you know it's been a while since you fought at 155 pounds because of the show how's that going for you to get your body back to this point where you're now going to have to cut some more weight et cetera et cetera we're less than a week out I feel unreal back in my weight like I have never felt better you know my diet has been sharp I hired a chef

I got a nutritionist my weight is on point I've been training the last couple weeks at about 168 pounds, 169 pounds. So I'm even lower than I was when I was fighting. I had to cut four or five pounds to make 170. Now I've been walking around under 170. I'm leaner than ever. My performance is great.

I couldn't be happy. And with that, you know, breathes more confidence. Now I'm in the gym doing more rounds, getting more work and feeling better. And it just, it's all been, you know, in this momentum that's just been building. I can't wait to get back there at 155. I feel like I let up a lot of the advantages I had, you know, moving up to Walter 8. Now that I'm back at this weight, I really feel like I'm twice the fighter I was when I was at Welterweight. I noticed yesterday you tweeted a picture of a Chinese food meal that you were enjoying.

How does that fit into the diet? Because that can be healthy. No, I was just messing around. My parents wanted to eat. So I was like, okay, yeah, I'll go pick you guys up some food. three of them, you know. My parents and my sister and I just, I went and I picked up Chinese food for like 10 people. And I just sat there and watched and ate it.

But I tweeted about it, but I didn't actually eat it. You couldn't pay me to eat that stuff right now. You know what's funny about that? I actually had Chinese food for dinner like an hour before you tweeted that. And I was not so, I wasn't feeling so good about myself. But then when you tweeted it, I was like, oh, look, here's a pro fighter about the fight. He's having Chinese food too. So then I started to feel better about myself.

But now, once again, I don't feel good about myself. After my fight, because at 170, it wasn't a big concern for me. You know, like, I was able to eat whatever I wanted. When I was cutting weight, I was having, like, goat cheese in my salad and, like, just... It was not a big deal. You know, now I've been super strict on my diet. But after the fight, I mean, I have somebody who's going to be waiting with a bag of McDonald's for me for as soon as I walk out of the locker room.

When the fight's over, I will have my McDonald's waiting for me. What's going on with that? Because I see you talking about McDonald's a lot. I mean, I'm not a pro fighter and I can't even look at that. What's the infatuation with McDonald's? You're a guy who your body is your temple. How can you put that in your body? Well, look, for the most part, the way I live, I train, you know, extremely hard every day,

and I eat extremely healthy. I'm on, you know, top-of-the-line supplements. Everything I eat is organic. I have a grocery store here called Tao. It's an all-organic store. And they sponsor me to give me everything I need every single day. So for the last couple months, I haven't eaten anything other than, you know, anything that's not even organic, let alone unhealthy. So I eat really well and train super hard.

So for me to indulge in, you know, some donuts or some McDonald's, it's not that big of a deal. I'm not eating it every single day, you know. Okay. Your body, sometimes you need to have a cheap meal. Even for your, you know, mentally, you need to refresh yourself and stuff. But McDonald's is different from me. I don't see McDonald's as junk food. Like, my body doesn't react very, very badly towards McDonald's.

When I eat McDonald's, I feel great. If I'm sick, I eat some McDonald's. You know what I mean? Like, it'll make me feel better. Like, for me, that's my ultimate food. The first day I ever ate it since that point, for me, it was my favorite restaurant. And in my opinion, it's the best restaurant known to mad. There's no better.

There's no better. Like, tell me what's the most successful restaurant right now on this planet. That's true. McDonald's. And there's a reason for that because it's the best. There's no better food than McDonald's. I know I'm cutting weight now, so if we get into food, I might start blabbering. But, yeah, that's my fascination with McDonald's.

The best. The burgers are unreal. What's your favorite meal at McDonald's? Well, like I said, I haven't eaten at McDonald's in, like, I don't know, 10 years. I just can't. I've heard. If you're going to be in Montreal this weekend, I will. We'll go to McDonald's.

I can't do it. I'll show you how to eat it proper. Really? You know, yay, you got to go about things properly when you walk into that restaurant. Can't play around. The guy who's going to be holding your bag, what's going to be in that bag on Saturday? Like, what's the go-to, the meal there? Okay, so first things first, we're going to have a fish filet in there.

That's for sure. No playing around. Fish filet, extra crispy double cheese, add Big Mac sauce. Done. Wow. We're going to have a fry. We're going to have a double cheeseburger with bacon. and we're going to have six nuggets.

So we've covered all aspects. We've got chicken, beef, fish, we've covered it all. And then, of course, a mix flurry for dessert. Which flavor? Smarties, extra smarties. Extra smarties. Wow. That is a big meal, though.

You can finish all that? Well, it's two burgers and nuggets and fry, you know, and a fish. Yeah, yeah, you're right to fit. But it's not that bad. I mean, McDonald's is like, you know, I've eaten one time, one time I ate cheeseburgers at McDonald's. What? In one sitting? Yeah.

Yeah, one sitting. Just ate cheeseburgers, like no fries, no nothing, just ate burgers. I know somebody who ate 12 ones. Just for fun? Just, well, yeah, I guess you say that. Well, it starts off for fun, and then I get towards the end, it's more of like a push to see how far you can go. Right. Yeah, for fun.

Now you're actually making. my mouth water. Now you're actually getting me a little excited even though I don't like this stuff. Let me ask you, do you like the fact that you're fighting in Montreal? Because there's added pressure fighting in your hometown. Do you enjoy that? I'm so happy I'm back in Montreal. I'm such a hometown kid.

You know, this city is... I love it. Like, I was born here and I'll die here. This is my city, and I feel like no matter how small or how big the show, I've always done my best in representing the city and fighting for them and putting on for them, entertaining for them. And, you know, to have the opportunity to fight here in Montreal,

on pay-per-view, and share a car with George, someone who I've looked up to for years, there's no better for me, you know? Like, I mean, obviously I can say, oh, there's world title shots, and there's this and there's not. Of course, you know, I can add to the stakes, but for right now, this opportunity for me in the position I'm in, I couldn't be happier. And I'm, there's nothing but excitement, you know, going through my, body for this affair. I'm just wondering before we let you go a couple more things.

First things, first. What's going on with Roar? We haven't heard from him since he pulled out of the fight. Is he okay? How severe is this injury? Well, it was severe enough, you know, to impede his training to the point where he, you know, he wouldn't be able to fully be prepared. So he had to back out, you know, it wasn't an injury where he would need surgery or

anything like this, but it was enough to sideline him, you know, from press. preparation and you know he's recovering now I mean he's getting back into the gym now is slowly I see him training again but he wasn't able to you know fully prepare for Condit but now he's back and it's really not not bad you know he's making a full recovery he'll be he'll be back in no time what kind of pressure not I'm not talking about the hometown pressure but these days especially in the lightweight division the UFC has come out and said there are a lot of guys who need to be let go because we have too many guys they're all must win when you're fighting, but

in that sense, is this a must win for you? Do you need to win to stick around? To be honest with you, I really haven't gotten caught up in that, you know, I just told you earlier how I fought for so many other reasons, my last fight and fought for everybody else, and really this

time around, I've just gotten back to fighting for myself, and the reason why I started, you know, remembering where I came from fighting because I love this sport, I couldn't care about these cuts, I couldn't care less, I don't care who's getting cut, when they're getting cut. I'm just fighting for myself.

I love to fight. You know, great, it's a bonus. It's in Montreal, but I could have been anywhere. You know, I just got back to fighting for myself, and I'm not worried about, you know, all this stuff that's happening around me. I'm enjoying my training. I'm enjoying, you know, coming back to my weight division. Like you said, you know, it being such a steep division.

But I feel like I got the opportunity to join the UFC at 55 because of my performances at Walter Waite. And those performances weren't a fluke. You know, I consistently fought well in that house, and I finished people. I got knockout of the season. And that's going to happen now at 155 as well. I'm going to continuously go in there and put on great performances

and stop the show like I have been doing when I was on TV. So I'm not worried about these cuts, and it's not something I've gotten really too caught up in. It's amazing listening to your voice compared to the guy we spoke to in December. You seem to be in a much better place mentally. in December you seemed a little dark, a little sort of beat up mentally over the whole process and just the sort of tone of the interview, much different than this one. Do you notice that?

Yeah, I literally have become, you know, I've done what I had to do this time around. I've become selfish and put myself first because I'm the only one that's in there. When I lost to Colton, I remember him having his hand raised and me telling myself, you remember what you're feeling right now. And you're the only person in here who's feeling that. You're embarrassed. You know, you've lost. You're upset.

And it's only you. Nobody else. You fought for everybody else. And now it's you in here who's taking all the heat. And now I've really gotten out. You know, when I stepped out of that cage, I changed everything. 360. It's all been about me, my training and my fighting.

And that's all that matters. So at the end of the day, I'm the only person walking in there. You know, I changed everything I was supposed to change. And it's been months. As soon as I got back to Montreal, so I'm completely different in a completely different mind state now. and for me, I'm just happy to be back, you know, where I should have been back then. Final question.

I know you're part of the Alchemist team, Lex McMahon, those guys doing great work. Are they going to reach out to McDonald's? I mean, it seems like a fit to have them no-brainer to have them sponsor you. What's going on? Why hasn't this been done yet? They need to eat. McDonald's needs to make that step over into M.A. I think maybe after this fight and this performance that I put on,

we'll approach McDonald's and maybe make commercial or two. All right. I look forward to that. And, hey, if you want to give me a cut of that deal since we sort of put them on blast here. I'm going to make sure it's in contract that Ariel Hawani and friends, right, eat for free at McDonald's for life. Wow. I'll be sure to never use that deal. But I appreciate the sentiment.

It's a very nice idea. Good luck to you, Mike. Always great to talk to you. Looking forward to the fight very much on Saturday night. And again, thanks as always for the time. All right, man. Thanks. I'll see you there. All right, there he is. Mike Ritchie's stopping by. He'll be fighting Colin Fletcher. I was going to say Colton Smith.

That already happened, of course, at the ultimate fighter finale in December. He fights Colin Fletcher. It's The Freak Show versus The Martian, right? Not really. But it kind of is. Although I don't think he goes by the Martian nickname anymore. But he was once called The Martian. So it's The Freak Show versus The Martian on Saturday night, kicking off the pay-per-view in Montreal. Okay, let's move along now to our next guests. Very excited to talk to this man.

Been trying to get him on the phone for a while and very pleased that he has decided to join us here on the MMA hour. He is the newest member of the World Series of Fighting Team. He is John Fitch. John, how are you? Doing good, man. Thanks for having me on the show. Great to have you on the show, and I'm sorry for bothering you over the last couple weeks. I feel like I've been harassing you, so I appreciate you finally.

No worries. You're not the only one. I was getting a lot of questions. there for a while. What has the last two weeks or so been for you? I know you went to Japan for a second, so you almost escaped it all, but yet you were still around some familiar faces, but this whole experience, what has it been like for you? You know, it's been life-changing, I guess. You know, there's a lot of new plans that had kind of come up and just settled. But, you know, I'm actually very excited, and I'm in a very happy place right now because I feel, you know, working with World series that I'll get to help build an organization and work with people instead of kind of

feeling like I'm working against people. Is that how you felt in the UFC? A little bit. I mean, I didn't know exactly what I was expected of me, and I just never quite felt right in the organization, and I think this has just got to be a fresh start and something a lot better. You know, we brought this up to Dana when we spoke to him right after this news, came out, he shot it down, but, you know, it seems to many people like a no-brainer,

did you feel that way ever since the whole video game thing happened? In other words, did you feel like the relationship was never repaired after you were let go for a day and then brought back the next day? No, I kind of felt that way from the beginning. Even before that? Yeah, things just kind of deteriorated more after the video game. But, yeah, I never really felt comfortable or wanted. there. Why even before that? Because you did get the title shot, you moved up, you fought some great opponents. What made you feel that way?

I never, I don't know. I mean, nothing, in particular, just an overall feeling, just didn't feel like I got a lot of attention to some other people did who were doing the same things as me. But, you know, the important thing is that I'm going to be with an organization now that I feel that we're going to really get a chance to do something big. When you left, you know, Las Vegas, a Super Bowl weekend after the Maya fight, did it even cross your mind that you may be out of a job after that performance? Um, no, I didn't really think about that at that time. I was kind of just upset with the performance and, you know, just questioning and going back through my preparation for the fight and things like that. I wasn't really thinking it all about losing my contract with the UFC. What went wrong there?

Because, you know, the theme of when people were talking about the fight afterwards, he outfitched, fitched. He did what you have done to so many other fighters. How did that happen? You know, I just, I don't want to take anything away from Damien. I just, an off night, I don't think I ever felt like I got started. You know, it was very flat. you know, I think one in a lifetime type of things

that I get one of those days that falls on a fight night. But, you know, it happens. Everybody kind of goes through that, you know, in training sometimes. But, you know, I've never had an experience kind of like a shutdown like that in a fight before and hopefully it'll never happen again. Were you healthy going into the fight?

I believe so. So no excuses as far. And we're not trying to take anything away from Damien, but that was you in there and you just got beat on that night. Yeah, it wasn't the best me. It was an off night for me. I can't really say it was me, but I'm not going to put any kind of excuse out there.

Like, I was being held back in any way. What was your reaction when you got the news that they were letting you go? Um, I just kind of laughed, really. I mean, it was a surprise, but at the same time, it kind of wasn't. So it was more like a, okay. You expected this to come, and now here it is. Yeah, it's kind of like, you know, feel like you've got a neck,

a knife thing went over your neck for a long time. You know, you're not real surprised when it cut you. Is it almost a relief that it's gone? You know, I think maybe that's kind of like the feeling that I'm having right now, you know, because I'm in a very happy place. I know if you talk to my wife, my attitude is much different now

than it has been the last couple years. Really? Yeah, and, you know, I'm just looking forward to this as a positive experience, and, you know, I'm really excited with World Series of fighting. Does this mean the ukulele is going to come back? Yeah, I mean, working on a way-cutting video right now. Oh, great. All right. Well, that is truly a sign that you are maybe a little happier these days.

Did you notice the – because you kind of, you know, as happens often, you know, we look to social media to see if, you know, the person in question and the headlines, will say anything, and you were silent, understandably so, but everyone else was going, I mean, the fans were going crazy. Did you know that? Did you see some of the things that the fans were tweeting to either Dana White, to journalists, to just in general? Did you notice the reaction you were getting?

I got a lot of support, you know, from every angle, from team, from coaches and management and friends' family. I didn't really know about the online stuff until I started my phone started blowing up when people started finding out. We were worried because I found out like on a Monday and then everybody else kind of found out on Wednesday. But me and the wife had already forgotten about it. We'd already moved on. And then everybody else started finding out. So we started getting, you know, a lot of phone calls and text messages and just a ton of support from, you know, people close to us.

And then, you know, any journalist who's had my number over the last, you know, seven years or so text, and weren't even asking for interviews. We're just giving their opinion and, you know, saying that they supported me. I had, you know, fighters, current and, you know, Hall of Famers had sent text messages and given support. And just everywhere I went, went to Japan, and the amount of support I got over there was crazy. And then finally started getting back online and seeing the overwhelming response from my fans and the fans of the sport. What was it like being in Japan at a UFC event after this had just happened a week ago? It was fine because, you know, the people, the workers, the staff, everybody at the UFC, when that level has been always great.

And, you know, it's kind of like family. So it was just like any normal event or everything was fine, being there in corner and reaching. but the you know and the crowd and everybody there was super supportive also so it was a little surreal because it didn't feel like anything changed on that end you know one of the things i noted after this happened and then this avalanche of support came your way was you know as i've said to you always really enjoyed talking to i think you're one of the smartest guys in the sport the way you you analyze things i remember one of our first interviews i was just sort of blown away by your responses and i remember as recently as ufc 153 prior to the

the Eric Silva fight tweeting out an interview with you saying, take a listen to this interview, very interesting stuff from John Fitch. And then you'd get the typical, oh, it's John Fitch, he's boring, et cetera, et cetera. And then when you get cut, you get all the support. And I was wondering, where were these fans six, seven months ago? Where were they when people were maybe dogging you or putting you down, calling you boring, et cetera? Did you ever think that, like, oh, it's great to know all these people love me, but where were they a few months back?

No, well, I mean, it's what I've said a long time ago. You know, a lot of people who support me and our fans of me, they're not people who spend a lot of time online. There are a lot of people who are on the forums and on those websites, you know, wasting their whole day just talking about the sport. So when something like this happened, they did catch into it. That's something that motivated them to get online and actually make comments and put a post. I think far too often we spend too much time listening to the people that have no lives in are doing nothing but. spending their days online and writing comments and talking about everything I hate in the world. The two things Dana said as far as explaining this. One of them was you're on the downside of your career.

You're a number one contender, now you're down to ninth, whatever that means in the rankings. Do you agree with them? No, in no way? Sorry, in no way or in what way? In no way that I'm on my downside of my career. I don't agree with that at all. And I never really got that much recognition as a number one to enter when I was under contract. Did you listen and watch those interviews when he was talking about you? No.

I haven't paid attention to anything other than my fans and supporters. And then he said that you were very expensive. Did that bother you? Did that bother you? Because obviously there are a lot of people who make more than you in the UFC. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's a... a sport about winning, I guess. Winning doesn't really count for anything.

That's the interesting question, because it brought up the debate, entertainment versus sport. Do you think we're going down a dangerous path here? Because how can someone, you know, this is what was brought up by your supporters, with your record, be expendable after a loss like that? I mean, in a lot of ways,

I think we're past that point. But, I mean, it's what people want. People want, you know, those types. the fights, people want those matchups, they're not that concerned right now with, you know, style matchups and guys being better than other guys. A lot of times right now, they just want to see certain fights because they excite them or they're fun to watch for some reason. And I mean, if that's the game you're playing, and that's what you're looking for in making

money, that's what the crowd's spending money on right now. When you debut in World Series of Fighting, will it be the same fit, or is this an opportunity to reinvent yourself? You know, I think just me being comfortable in the situation and being happy with the situation, I think it's just going to let me be more of me, and I think that's going to be something that people are really going to want to pay attention to. Other than World Series of fighting, who contacted you? You know, they made the strongest presence right away, and with dealing with other people I manage it as extensive group of fighters in all words.

So they already know the contracts, and they already know what offers are probably going to be made. So there wasn't much need to look elsewhere. As far as, because this was a big talking point, I feel like I have to ask the question as far as financially, is it a similar deal to the one you were getting in the UFC? No, but there is a considerable amount of freedom. Like as long as it doesn't fall within too close to a fight date, I can compete in grappling. competition. So, you know, there's potential to make money on the side doing that.

So if anybody's out there winning a superfight or some kind of exhibition game. What about as far as exclusivity in MMA? Is this an exclusive deal? Can you not fight in Japan or somewhere like that? You know, I think we have some options to where we could possibly fight out of the country. it just depends on how active they make me. If I stay really active with them, you know, I might not have the time or the desire to need to fight elsewhere.

When this news came out, Gerald Harris seemed to be campaigning for a fight against you. Does that interest you? You know, there's a number of good guys that they sign at Walter Way World Series. I think it's going to be interesting to see how things play out, but that's definitely a future fight. And the fight that was supposed to happen back in July in San Jose was you versus Aaron Simpson. And in talking to them, it seems like if he wins on March 23rd, he may get that opportunity to fight you. Does that interest you?

Yeah, that's potential matchups too. You know, me and Aaron were supposed to fight once before. And then, you know, if Berkman wins, they could, you know, grant him a rematch from that fight a long time ago. So both are interesting. You know, there's still plenty of good, interesting matchups to happen at World Series. Is it said that you will debut on June 14th? Yes, there's still just no opponent, but we'll be main event June 14th. Oh, great. You'll be, so you're getting the love over there, in other words.

Yes. That must feel nice. It's been really nice to, you know, work with people and get a strong push from this organization, and I want to do what I can to get to push back and really build this organization. Did you watch their first show in November? I did not. You know, for the last, you know, a couple years I haven't watched any MMA other than my teammates fighting. How come?

It's just, there's just so much of it, and it's too hard to follow. And to be honest, there's never really the matchups that I want to see. So it's rare that I get the opportunity to watch. Do you think there is room, because obviously Belator is number two, do you think there's room for three organizations in North America? Well, I mean, that's the goal is to make World Series number one and round out the rest. So, no, I hope there is only one organization in North America,

and I think it's going to be us. You know, some people, when you look at some of the deals that they've made and the time buy, we get concerned that financially they may not be making the right deals because you don't want them to sort of come out like other organizations, spend too much and then be gone in a year. Are you going to be a part of it as a veteran? I mean, will you be lending some expertise, some advice or whatnot? Are you just focusing on fighting?

Well, you know, I'm a big focus of course fighting, but, you know, if they need help elsewhere to help grow and build the organization, you know, I want to be able to do what I can for them. You know, there's no risk, no reward, so they're going to have to, to make an effort to get themselves seen on NBC. And I think, you know, that's the thing about the sport. Once people start to see it, they want to see more of it. You're 35 now, just turn 35.

How many more years do you want to do this for? As long as it is still fun. I mean, you've got guys like Randy and Henderson, you know, fighting into their 40s, and they find success in or enjoying it. I don't see what I can't either. Was it at some point? throughout this whole run with the UFC at the end, was it no longer fun for you?

Was it getting dangerously close to that point? I think a little bit in the last year or so. But what was it? If I wouldn't have won the Eric Silva fire, I think that, you know, there are a lot of factors in me not being involved in the sport anymore. What was interesting, though, was when I talked to you in Brazil,

it seemed like you really regained that fire. Like, that had rejuvenated you and given you a lot more, you know, life. Yeah, I think, you know, the atmosphere and the buildup to that fight in that position I was in really kind of gave extra energy to it. But now in a weird sense, because there's all this attention on you and fans talking about you, even now a lot of people writing about you as we're doing this interview, is that kind of the only fire that you know?

Like, it's just nice to feel wanted sometimes, right? And is that a big part of your motivation here? Yeah, but I think a lot of it too is I kind of had the revelation that I think It's not necessarily UFC's fault But the sport was kind of turning me into a fighter And not a martial artist And I think

Living my life and doing things daily as a martial artist Made me a lot happier And I think I've gotten back to that in the last month or so You know if you go undefeated in World Series of fighting Your contract expires as UFC comes calling again. Would you go back? Would you entertain that idea? You never know. I can't write anything out, but I'm excited with the deal I have going right now, and I'm hoping we can build from it.

So you're at peace with, if that chapter of your life is close forever, you're at peace with that? Turn the page. Turn the page. That's it. It's over. Got to ask you, just before we let you go, John, because I always appreciate your insight, D.S. GSP, does D.S have a chance in your opinion? I don't think so. You know, he's always been weak in wrestling. You know, bigger, stronger wrestlers are able to control him. And I don't think he's got enough power to knock GSP out.

I just don't think stylistically it favors him. But, you know, he's got a lot of heart. And if he can land enough of those punches in the fifth round, I don't know, maybe he pulls something out and gets GSP tired. Is this one of those fights that interests you? I might watch it sometime later. But you're not going to watch it live. No.

Wow. You really don't care. No. What will you do instead on a Saturday night? Which Saturday night is it? I might be traveling or with family. You don't even know. It's this Saturday.

Oh, this Saturday. Yeah, I'll be in L.A. Oh. So you really don't follow the sport at all? I'm starting to follow World Series now Okay All right Well you know they have

I should be in New Jersey For their second event I was going to ask you about that Their second event is in a couple of weeks You'll be there in Atlantic City on March 23rd Yeah Okay let me have Everything's situated yet

But I'll be there for the fights Okay final thing We're giving away two tickets to that event And we need a reason Why someone should win these tickets. Anything come to mind? Should fans, is it a trivia question about you, something that if the fans get right,

someone gets these two tickets? Anything come to mind? Yeah, you could ask them what the event was that I fought Diego Sanchez. Diego Sanchez, all right, but you know they're going to look that up on the internet. Well, it's a lot of pictures. We can do a Fitchface contest.

I did a Fitch FACE contest, and you can pick the best Okay. You know what? I love that. You have to tweet us right now, and we'll decide the winner by the end of the show. You have to tweet us a picture of your best Fitch face. The best one, the one that we like the best, gets the two tickets to March 23rd. Sounds good. All right. Well, John, it's good to hear from you. I'm very happy to see that things turned out for the best, that you're with a new team now, a new promotion, and happy you came on the show to talk about everything that's been going on in your life. And by the way, sorry for hounding you. Just really want to talk to you again. Congratulations. I was in Japan most of the time, so I miss most of this. Oh, okay.

Very good. And I hope fatherhood is treating you well. Oh, it's doing great. He's a handful. He'll be walking soon. That's awesome. Well, congrats on the new deal. Looking forward to your debut in June.

And again, thanks for stopping by. No, wait. Thanks for having me. There he is. John Fitch stopping by. So this is the deal. Last week we said, tweet us why you deserve to go to this event.

This week, we're going to up the ante. If you want to go to World Series of Fighting 2, March 23rd, Atlantic City, Revell Ovation Hall, the Revel Resorting Casino, you have to tweet us to either Fitch, Fitch, to either New York Rick or myself, tweet us your best Fitch face. The winner gets the tickets. New York, Rick, will you tweet that so the people know what's happening in case maybe they're not listening? Yes, I will. And by the way, if you're not listening, you almost don't deserve the tickets, but whatever. just in case. Because you have to live in the area.

You have to live in the area. You have to be able to go to the event. We're not just giving them to you to put on your wall. So there you have it. That's the contest. We'll decide a winner by the end of the show. Let's move along now. And a man who knows a lot about Atlantic City,

lives in the great state of New Jersey. He's our guest right now. He is Frankie the Answer Edgar. Frankie, how are you? I'm good, Ariel. How you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for stopping by.

I appreciate it very much. Haven't talked to you. I don't know if you've done many interviews, if any, since the, the Josealdo fight. It's been, what, a month or so, a little over a month. Are you over it? Are you still thinking about it?

Are you still dwelling on it? No, I mean, I'm over as much as I can be. You know, obviously upset that I didn't get to win, but, you know, what are we going to do? Back to the drawing board, I guess we go. Was that the best Frankie Edgar possible, or do you think you could have been better that night? You know, I think you could always do better,

but I was happy with my performance. I was more than prepared. You know, everybody in my corner, I felt, you know, everything that arose in the fight, we wasn't really a surprise, so I was ready, you know. Was he better than you thought he would be? Not, you know, pretty much just what I thought, you know. timing and speed always take a little adjusted period to get used to, and I felt once I got adjusted, it kind of seemed like I was ready for, you know, we were expecting what he brought to the table.

And then how about at 145? Now that you actually fought at 145, I mean, are you convinced this is better for you to fight a that weight? I want to say it's better. I just, you know, it's just something, I guess, more fitting, you know, just based on my size. You know, it kind of made me feel like a better athlete anyway. You know, I was paying attention what I was eating more. And, you know, it's a little stricter on that end. So, I don't know, I think I just felt better, I guess you could say, you know, about the cut than I thought I would.

You know, he made some headlines last night. Someone tweeted me this video, this interview that he did in Brazil, where he talked about the fight. I just want to quickly read the quote and get your take on it, okay? He said, everybody said it was going to be the toughest fight of my life of my career, this and that. So come fight time, I was laughing during the bout because all the media was saying was it was going to be the biggest challenge of my career. But in there, I saw that it was nothing like what I was expecting it to be. Of course, I trained a lot. This is my life. So I train hard every day when it's fight time. But then it goes really easily. So thank God, everything went well for me.

After each round, my trainer was telling me what was going on and what we had. on our hand, so thank God it went like that until the end, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It seemed like he was maybe a little bit disrespecting you. Do you not take it that way? I don't know, man. He used to have a lot of stuff, you know? So, you know, I don't get really caught up in this stuff, man. And he thought that was an easy fight. I mean, you know,

it was close. I mean, you know, I can't deny that. I don't think even people, they always, fans can't really deny it either. It was a close fight. You know, it was easy a, I guess, I don't know if that's the way that. two to have, you know what I mean, as a champion, you know, overlook to people like that, but, you know, whatever it is. You've been in this situation before, before they read the judge's scorecards.

Did you think you'd won? I did, man. I just try to stay positive, you know what I'm saying? Like, I always think in my head, I want, and I don't know. That's just something I do. But it was a close fight, you know. You know, I'm not sitting to sit here and say, I thought I wanted it and win. You know, it was a close fight.

So after the fight, you know, a couple of weeks later, we report on UFC tonight that you're interested in a fight against Cub Swanson. And then Cub tweets to you, you know, haven't you learned, you know, your lesson fighting these WC guys and you're like, yeah, relax, I'm not really, you know, nothing against you guys, just it's an interesting fight. And then it comes out that the UFC actually wanted to make this fight happen, but it seemed like Cub wasn't ready. From your perspective, what happened there? You know, I was away on vacation with my family And I was calling I was getting emails

I wasn't getting a phone call We got an email Saying call me from my manager You know Ali And they asked me to Take the fight On the 17th be the man of that I said yes

For what I understand He couldn't make weight And he was too big to make weight In that short of time So six and a half weeks Was enough time to get down Does that surprise you Because he had just fought

Mid-February in London after your fight. Oh, yeah, you know, I don't think, I don't know if he's banged up in the fight, too. You know, he just fought not too long ago, but, yeah, I don't think weight would be an issue, you know, especially, you know, and, you know, call me out a little bit. I thought he'd have to that fight, no problem, but I don't know.

He told me that he had a bit of a foot issue after the fight, et cetera. Did they not mention that to you? Was it only the weight excuse that was given? No, no, no. He said, you know, he still was banged up, and he felt he couldn't. work out enough to get down and wait. So, you know, maybe not just the time, but

because he was a little bang-up, you know. I'm hoping we can maybe make this fight a later day, who knows? So is that what you won? Is this a fight that you won next? I mean, listen, the way I look at it, you know, it's why I hate taking names because all this drama, you know, seems to come with it. And, you know, I'm looking at a couple of the number.

You know, he was the highest-ranked guy that doesn't, that doesn't have a fight that's available. That's the guy I want to fight, you know. I feel like the past seven fights, almost three years. I've been either the champion or fighting for the belt.

I think I deserve a top name. Yeah, so is he the sexiest name out there for you, or is there someone else at 145 that interests you more? Yeah, I mean, like I said, he's the number, he's the number, I don't know

what it is. I don't really follow. You know, my coach actually followed a little more to me, but I say he's number five. You know, one to champ, two, three, and four. I don't know who they are,

but they're booked. You know, I may be one of them, I don't know. So number five, seems right. He's the highest guy that's not booked, Let's do it. Have they reached out to you, they being the UFC through your manager Ali, have they said that this is what they want to do next?

No, you know, I don't know. I think they like this fight. I mean, kind of makes sense, you know what I mean, on their end as well. But, you know, they haven't pushed me to the day or anything like that. From what I was told, you want to have this fight for, like, a main event for a non-paper-view, because you want it to be five rounds to really test his card. He's never been in that situation before. Is that really what you want?

Not only that. I mean, yeah, of course. It's a five-round fight going to be to my favor, most likely, because, yeah, I mean, in my last seven fights or five-round fights, I'm pretty comfortable doing it. But me also, I just want to, you know, I mean, my goal, I'm not trying to fight to just keep my MN career going or anything. I still want to fight for the title. That's still my goal.

So that's what I want to name like Cobb. That's where I want to do a five-round fight, so I kind of just keep everything the way it was, you know, just keep striving for these five-round fights and get back to the title. You know, I get hounded by your support. quarters, and particularly your coach, one of your coaches, Mark Henry's son, because he's, when we talk about the rankings, Frankie should be number one at Featherweight and Lightway. You deserve both those spots, and to be honest, I agree, and I did put you in both those spots. Do you agree?

Do you think that you should still be the top guy at Featherweight 155 and 145? You know, I don't know. I mean, it depends. You know, I'm not really big into the rankings, obviously, you know, that's your guy's job. and, you know, the fans to debate over. But, you know, it definitely brings buzz to the sport and just something to talk about. You know, I guess there should be,

if you're going to wreck me in the 55, it's got to be, I haven't fought in a while. I'm sure I can't be ranked there anymore, you know? But just because those two fights against Benson were so close and he's still the champ, it just almost makes sense. That's my thinking. It's cool. You can pat me in the back.

I like this, you know? I know you look at the rankings. Don't be so modest. I'm not being modest Sometimes you do You know you do I don't really You don't really get on my computer too much Honestly I follow mostly

Your stuff through Twitter For news and some other media guys You know And I'm not really on a computer much So as far as ranking goes I'll catch them when someone puts them off See now we're both patting each other on the back You had to throw in the other media guys

Not to piss off But we know where you're going first Hey come on man Is it safe at this point That at least for the next year or so you're not going back up to 155, you're going to stick around on 145? Yeah, I'm going to stick around 45 for now.

Are you done at 155? I would say I'm done. I don't want to close a book on it like that. For right now, yeah, I'm speaking with 45 and, you know, work my way back to the title. It is my goal. And just to piss you off, I ask you this question, what are the chances we see you at 135? You know, right now,

not a very big chance, you know. If, say, I did win the 45-pound title, Then, you know, maybe I could have made a push for, you know, I don't know, like, I have three belts in three different weight classes and whatnot. But, you know, since 45-gne overweight, I don't need to suffer, you know, could I make the weight? I probably could. It definitely would be a little more suffering. I just don't feel like I need to. I think I can compete at 45 and 55.

I don't need to go down to 35 to compete with those guys. But if history of the line, who knows what I'm going. But, you know, that's the thing because, I mean, I would think you would get, if not immediate, get one fight away from a title shot. Does that interest you? Like I said, if I had, if there was more on the line, maybe, but not just start to go down there for that.

As right now, no, that's what I could say. I don't know. I get persuaded easily sometimes by my coaches. Right. What are you doing in, like, you know, now that you're kind of in limbo waiting for a fight, do you still go to the gym all the time? Do you still as active, or do you take some time off now?

No, I'm in a gym. That's what I do, you know. obviously traveling for certain events here and there, but for the most part of the gym, I've got teammates coming out with fights. I mean, I've got nothing else to do. You know, I like to train, so I might just sit around. I wanted to sit around.

You know, we had a great interview. My colleague Dave Doyle spoke to Marlon Morice, and he gave you a lot of props as far as just motivation and being inspiration to him. How good could this guy be? He's fighting in a couple weeks for World Series of fighting under the radar bit, but got some attention after beating Miguel Torres. How good can he be?

Ah man, the roof The sky's the women for him He's super athletic Picks up, you know Things very well And yeah I think he's one of the top 35 Founders, you know

He's start believing it And I think we're going to see him on top of that That list soon Do you ever consider going outside of New Jersey Or the New York area To, you know, train with other people And whatnot, you know, it seems like at some point Everyone kind of dabbles in that

Or are you happy with where you're at? Yeah, I'm happy with where I'm at You never know what happened. But last year, Ricardo was helping out his brother in Orange County and, you know, turned out there with some guys. So you never know well. But, you know, I'm in Jersey. My home, New York, New Jersey.

I'll be training here at Team Hanzo. I made it forever. I have a feeling I know you're going to say here, but just because I'm asking some people on the show today, and it's obviously a hot topic. GSP, Nick Diaz, who you're picking? You know, I'm obviously, you know, a good friend of George. I mean, you know, I'm cool with Diaz's brothers, too, but I just think George is, you know, we train to get a share a lot of the same coaches. I think he's going to take that one.

Do you think he wins via a finish of sorts, or is it a decision? Do you think he can stop Diaz? Yeah, Diaz is so tough, man. I'd be tough to stop him. But, you know, I think we'll get the win now. When are we going to see you back, Frankie? When do you think in the summertime? Yeah, I think summertime, ideal.

All right? You know, June and July, something like that. What about it's New York? Is this New York going to happen? Oh, man. Well, why aren't they trotting you out there in Albany? You kind of did that already, right? Yeah, I went, I did that parade already, I guess you could say.

Now it's Chris Wydenman's turn. Right, right. Hey, so would you, if they told you, like, because this is going to happen in June, right? I mean, it has to happen before June. That's when the calendar ends. If they said, you know, if they haven't booked you or if they feel like it's going to happen, and they said, well, we're going to wait until November the 20th anniversary we want you on the card. Would you wait that long?

or would you rather fight before then? I'd rather fight June and July and then fight out. Okay. I'd like to try to do that. Okay. But that's, I mean, I feel like for every tri-state area fighter, that's a goal, right? To fight at MSG, especially the first one? Yeah, absolutely.

You know, I've been obviously lobbying for it, you know, in the past. And, you know, that's one of the main reasons. I want to fight in the guard. I try to handle literally right across the street from there. So I'd love to be able to, you know, get on that course. Last thing before we let you go, what's it like over Jersey Shore? these days, I mean, as far as the cleanup process, the rejuvenation of the area, how's it looking? You know, it's getting better.

Seaside's at the same past, they parade. There's a bunch of people over there, but the boardwalks still being built. You know, they're getting things done. You know, the houses around the water around here are still just, you know, going to the heart sits and getting back to their feet and getting money from insurance companies or whatnot. But we're getting back on our feet. Do you think come summertime, everything will be back to normal, or that's too soon? Yeah, I don't think it'll be normal, but I think seaside will be open.

You know, the boardwalk is supposedly has a deadline and has to be done by. So this summer, I think, you know, someplace it will be a little limited and, you know, with their availability and what they could open up. But, you know, for the most part, we'll be able to go over the bridge and hang out on the beach. So I'm looking forward to them. Well, that is very good news. Looking forward to that as well. Frankie, always a pleasure to talk to you. Good luck in your next fight against whoever it is.

We don't know. Maybe it's Cub, someone else. and I'm sure we'll be talking to you before then. Always a pleasure. Thank you, well. Take care. There he is. Frankie, the answer, Edgar, the former UFC lightweight champion,

now a fighter in the featherweight division. Looking for the fight against Cub Swanson, I think it's a fight that makes sense for him, certainly. I think it makes sense for Cubs. Unfortunately, it was supposed to, that was the plan to have it, the main event of the Ultimate Fighter finale, which is on April 13th,

the real main event or the original main event, or the original main event was the man you heard from last week on the show, Demetrius Johnson. He was supposed to fight John Maraga for the UFC Flyway title, got injured, and was forced to withdraw from the fight. And I actually spoke to DJ on Friday. He told me that the surgery went well, shoulder surgery, torn labrum. And he has a post-op visit on Friday of this week to find out how long he'll be out for.

the rehab process, et cetera, et cetera. So we still don't know when he'll be back, but that was supposed to be the main event. They then came and asked Frankie if he'd be willing to fight Cub Swanson. He agreed. Cub told me that he had a foot issue that was precluding him from getting into shape and thus losing the weight. And so he said, thanks, but no thanks.

But hopefully we'll see that fight because as far as the rankings go, I definitely think it makes the most sense for both guys. coming off the losses, Cub looking so good. It's one of those rare instances where the guy who is coming off a loss, actually, it feels like in a weird way his stock has been raised. It feels like people appreciate Frankie way more now than they ever did, even though he's not the champion, even though he's coming off a loss. And Cub has been looking so good as of late, it just kind of makes sense.

So it's one of those rare times where there's a guy who's coming off a winning streak, a losing streak, get the fight actually makes sense. So Frankie Edgar, Cupswanson, let's see it happen. In a few minutes, in around three minutes, we are going to be joined by Stefan Bonner in what is his first interview since his suspension, testing positive for the steroid jostanlon. Did I say that correctly?

I always mispronounce that. I think so, yeah. What do you know about steroids? Well, you were either asking me or asking you. No, it was more, I'm happy you chimed in, but it was more of a, you know, just kind of throwing it out there to the team. But you think it is. You think that's how you pronounce it. I mean, certainly the way it's spelled, you would think that's it.

Jostanelon? Justonelon. Justanolon. Yeah. Lone. Maybe lone. Maybe it's lone. It's an anabolic steroid at the end of the day.

That's all you really need to know. the second time he tested positive for a steroid. He was fine, suspended for a year by the UFC, who was the Athletic Commission in Brazil, and he hasn't talked since then, and that was back in October. Of course, he retired after the fight as well, as we haven't heard much from him, been inactive, really on Twitter. I mean, a little bit here and there. Had a kid recently, so a lot going on in the world of Stefan Bonner, been trying to get him on the show for a very long time and looking forward to talking to him. After that, we're going to be talking to Mark Hunt from Australia. It's 6 a.m. in Australia.

By the time we talk to him, it will be 6 a.m. there. And looking forward to talking to him, what a crazy, crazy, crazy week it has been for Mark Hunt. Overeem gets injured. Asks for the fight. Dana says he turns down the fight. Then he gets the fight against Juno Santos. We broke the news Saturday morning, early Saturday morning. And here he is about to fight Junio Santos at UFC.

160 and I cannot wait for that. I just got a text. Well, this is a bummer. I'm sure Eric is about to find out this news right now that I just texted. Maybe he can have a better, maybe that I would just receive. Well, this just rock my world. Let's see, let's see what, is Eric still on the phone there? Oh yeah, he is.

No answer. No answer, yeah. Well, I just got a text from Stefan Bonner, who, has respectfully declined to come on the show after, I guess, well, I don't want to give his reason out, but he has declined to come on the show. So that is a bummer. Wouldn't you say so? Would have been great to hear from him. Would you classify that as a bummer? Of course. Yeah. Buzzkill, Brendan. That is a buzzkill. Did you notice my mood just dramatically?

dramatically drop after that, after that text. I definitely noticed it. And then I was so, you know how long I've been working to get Bonner on the show? And I just wish if he couldn't come on the show, just would have told me. I never would have. Does this mean we have to put Stefan Bonner on the band list? I think so.

That thing is, where is that thing? We still have to dust it off. Yeah. It's been collecting a little bit of dust. I'm not quite sure if anyone's still left on it. Well, I can think of a couple people. who probably post-mortem deserved to be on it.

This is a bummer. How about this? I was going to announce, after the Mark Hunt interview, we were going to have Caesar Gracie on the show, right? That is a late edition. He tweeted that he will be joining us at 320.

Do you want to call Caesar and ask him to come on? I'll give him a call. Okay. Well, I apologize for that. I was looking forward to that interview as much as any on the show this week. And hopefully we'll be able to get him on. Hopefully we'll be able to get him on quite soon.

But he literally, literally texted me a minute ago. As I was looking on my phone to see what the time was and said, unfortunately, he'll be able to, unable to join us on this week's show. Well, that's that. Apologies for that. I hate. As you know, I hate. There's nothing more that I,

that I hate advertising someone and them not showing up, but I could show you the text right now, although I don't want to. It was signed, sealed, and delivered, and we thought we were going to have him, and he just canceled literally a minute ago.

So, all is well, that ends well for us. Hopefully we'll get Caesar Gracie on, and he was supposed to be on at 320. Well, we'll have him on now. Of course, it is UFC 158 week, and all our focus is on that, and of course, the main event is the talk of the MMA world. It feels like a big fight. It feels like a big deal. It feels like one of those

moments. You know, like this is the fight that you get your friends. You want to watch. You'll be talking, debating before and after. It's just very exciting. And I think we're all looking forward to it. And then after the conference call on Thursday, which was the first time, and I'm not sure, with all due respect to John Danaher, saying that George doesn't know what MF or means. I'm not sure about that one. But that's what he said. It's all taken for his word. But still, after that, it was fascinating and would like to talk about that and many other things pertaining to that fight with Cesar Gracie himself.

And he joins us right now on the show. Caesar, how are you? Thanks, Rob. Thanks for coming on a bit early. We appreciate it. I know you were listening to the conference call, or at least some of it because you were tweeting about it. What did you think of it? I think it's kind of entertaining.

It was kind of crazy, actually. You know, I listened to about half of it. And then I was just like, oh, my God, this thing's out of control. I kind of just went listening to it. And then I got the other updates later. You know, I was busy doing other stuff at home. So that's one of those things. Was it out of control in a good way?

Because, I mean, it seemed like everyone exploded when they heard this and were still kind of buzzing over it. Was this a good thing for the promotion for the fighters? or did you not like the way it turned out? Well, I mean, for the promotion, I think ultimately it was a good thing because it kind of hyped it. It showed, you know, the volatility of this fight, and it showed what these guys, they're going to go to war.

I mean, even for me, I was listening to when I was with us, you know, oh, my God, man, Nick's all pissed off and GSP's pissed off. And I'm expecting a great fight. But besides all the hype and everything, I don't even, for me personally, I know that these guys are great martial artists, and I think that's the point Nick was trying to make, that he deserves this fight as a martial artist. And that's something that's very important to him.

And, you know, a lot of people don't... Nick expresses himself a little bit differently than some. So it was kind of hard to follow if you're not used to that. But I think what he was trying to say is that he should be respected as a martial artist, and so forth. And that's why he's actually going to be in this fight. It's not because he's the way they portrayed him as a bad guy in the videos and everything as if he was portrayed, you know, to hype the fight up. I think he wasn't too pleased with that.

So I really don't think he was trying to put GSP down was the thing. You know, he was trying to clarify himself. But, you know, like I said, Nick expresses himself a little bit differently. And then you've got GSP who's English is not a first language. So it became kind of funny as it kind of spiraled out of control a little bit, and then these guys just started to get angry and so forth. Do you think GSP respects him as a martial artist? I think he does.

I mean, I think GSP is training really hard for this fight because he's going to look at Nick. I mean, Nick is so multi-talented. The guy has phenomenal hands. He underground. He's a monster. Nick is. and, you know, so wherever the fight goes, Nick is very comfortable if he gets taken down, and if they stand and bang,

it's one of those things where Nick is good all around, and I think GSP does understand how dangerous Nick is. Were you expecting that? Like, because the question I asked him on the conference call was, it seems like he's been out for a year, and there's a lot that's been bottled up, and now here it is. And I thought, you know, like I said, I thought if you actually listen to what he was. saying, it all sort of made sense. At times, he went off on tangents and whatnot, but it wasn't nonsensical rambling. Were you expecting him to unleash all of that on the call?

You know, Nick is, he's not really a PC person. It's funny because the call, he had left the house, and I think he was shopping or something. I don't know, he was somewhere and randomly making the phone call where he's at a grocery store or something like that. You know, he wasn't at home doing this call, and he wasn't at the gym. So he was doing something, and then make this going to express himself exactly how he feels. And that's just the way it is. I wasn't expecting that kind of a call.

No, I wasn't. You know, I'm wondering, and I've said this on this show, it feels to me like the guy who fought at UFC 137, the guy who fought at 143, it just felt like a subdued version of Nick Diaz. And this feels like the Nick Diaz that we've all grown to love and appreciate. he is who he is. He's this character that is very much different than anyone else. And the guy who came back to the UFC, the first two fights before the suspension,

he felt, I don't know, it felt like packaged, like he was almost hypnotized. Do you know what I'm talking about? Am I making any sense here? This feels like the original, the authentic Nick Diaz. No, I think I know what you're talking about. This is the much more, how would I describe it, like volatile, and just ready to,

to express himself and everything. Nick is that a lot of people don't remember back in the day or maybe didn't follow his career in some Strike Force shows or something like that. Yeah, that's what it looks like. It looks like the old Nick is back and that old aggressive style. So that's a good thing in your opinion. Well, you know, yeah, I mean, it's one of those things.

I think he did great in his fight against BJ Penn. like we talked about. Even Condit's fight, I think he was focused and controlled and everything. I will say, but this fight, Nick is in much better shape than either of those two fights. He's prepared.

For the last couple of fights, you know, Nick Diaz is always a phenomenal athlete and everything. However, he is in better shape now. This is the trained that Nick Diaz. This is the guy that, I remember back in the day

because I've been with Nixon since he was 16. You know, he's been in my school. And, you know, I remember the guy, the endless training hours, the craziness that used to happen back in the day. And this feels more like that to me. You know, for the other fights, the guy didn't really train as hard at all as for this fight. That's why I'm so excited about it. It's going to be because, you know, CSP always comes in shape.

He's a tremendous athlete. He's probably the most explosive athlete in mixed martial arts today. the guy is all about training. And then again, he's a black belt in jihitsu. He's got really good striking. The guy has, he's a champion. What can I say? You know, that's why he is the champion.

He's the best, he's the best welterweight the UFC has ever had. So you have to come in this kind of phenomenal shape to be able to fight a guy like that. And that's where Nick is. That's why I'm so excited for this fight. How does Nick beat him, though? because, you know, other than the freak, Matt Serra fight, he's looked rather unbeatable a GSP has in the UFC. So when you try to envision how this fight is going to play out,

how do you see Nick beating him? Well, you know, Nick has the tools to beat him. He's got the, like I said, the submission game. Nick's submission game is phenomenal, and it's very hard to prep for a guy like Nick because he does things that you don't expect when you're grappling with him. His game is very, very unique,

and his stand-up style is different also. So it's one of those things. And you mentioned about GSP, but, you know, look at GSP. The last fight, he almost got knocked out. You know, you got dropped with the head kick, and he got pounded on the ground. And Condit was very close to maybe winning that fight on that round by knocking them out. So, you know, these guys, nobody's the Superman. Let's face it.

There's really good people, but nobody's Superman. At any point, someone can be dethroned. And that's what we're hoping for. When you think about this setting, when you think about Montreal, Georgia's beloved in Canada, and it's his hometown, are you concerned that anything's going to happen? Do you feel like you need some extra security or anything of that sort? No. I mean, Canadians are much a deed, you know. But, I mean, you know, that's not a bad thing.

What I'm saying is we're not getting threats or anything like that. As a matter of fact, we've got a ton of fans in Canada. and it's been great. You know, these guys have gone to Canada a lot. They've done a lot of seminars, appearances, gone to support fighters up there, and we've got a really good base of fans up there. So that's very encouraging,

and that's just not something we're worried about. What happened with the whole flight situation? You tweeted Dana White that you wanted Nick to get an upgrade first class. He didn't take too kindly to that. Where did that come from? You know, I think people make a bigger deal with. I put that tweet up there. You know, I'll post something like that because I just think, you know,

I think of these huge, like a million-dollar fights. And I'm thinking, you know, maybe this guy should have business class going to the fight instead of coach. That's just the way I think about it. I don't know. I'd like to see these, not Nick Diaz only, but all these athletes that are doing the main event fights and making the kind of money that they're making for Zufra. it'd be nice to see him treated accordingly, you know, like get him a nice flight. Leach business class, not coach, all the way to Montreal from Sacramento or whatever,

Nick's flying out of, you know, but it's not a big deal, you know, whatever. So is he getting the first class fight or the business class fight? Not from Zupa. He's not. As a matter of fact that Dana's words to me were, what were they exactly? It was that whole, I talked to him on the phone, and, you know, he called me up about something else when they're talking. And he said, man, you want him to think that you tweet, you called me out on Twitter like that.

You're lucky if I get him a Greyhound dust. He gets frustrated with these guys sometimes, you know, because they don't really play the game the way he likes them to play and everything. And he kind of goes off a little bit. And obviously, you know, he comes up from his perspective. I'm going to come in it from my perspective. At the end of the day, it's not a terrible thing. but we just have those different opinions. You seem to like on Twitter sometimes, I mean, you seem to like to stir the pot.

Let's call it like we see it, right? You enjoy that. Well, you know, well, for sure. You know, everybody, it's just, you've got to have fun in the sport, and you've got to say what you think is true and puts your ideas out there. You know, that's what's great about being able to express yourself, I guess, you know. I'm going to have my opinion. I'm going to put my opinion out there.

A lot of people like that. A lot of people hate it. And the end of the day, it makes things more memorable. Who wants a boring fight, a boring, a boring talk to about this. People like to get involved in MMA, you know. And our camp has always been, not just myself, but a lot of people, including the Diaz's or someone, you know, all the fighters and everything and so forth in my camp. We have no trouble expressing ourselves. If Nick Diaz never knew

Caesar Gracie, would he be a different person? Meaning, did you rub off on him a little bit? Is he an extension of you? No, he's his own man, 100%. You know, he does things. And a lot of people, they say, man, why don't you do this? Or why don't

Caesar, how come Nick is doing it? It's like, man, you don't understand. I'm his jitzy trainer. I manage the guy, certain things, and everything, but the guy is 100% Nick Diaz. It's, you know, I mean, we both be different people, I guess, you know, because people influence each other.

But, yeah, Nick's going to do what he's going to do. That's just the way he is. And I've kind of learned to kind of, I try to kill myself trying to change that in the beginning. Mike, you've got to do it this way. You got to do it this way. No, man, this is, you know, but Nick is going to do what he's going to do. And that's just, okay, that's the way it is. Does Nick Diaz hate GSP?

I don't think he hates it. GSP. I think there's a lot of things that he doesn't appreciate about the image of GSP. And I think that he was trying to convey that in the call-off. So I don't think he hates him at all on a personal level. He really doesn't know him enough to hate him. I think Nick comes from the background where these other guys, the mentalities of the, you know, like maybe BJ Penn or someone like that, that martial arts is supposed to be like this, and, you know, you're going to be more technical, and you're going to know more,

and the other guys are maybe more, look, you're going to be stronger, or you're going to, I don't know. It's just, it's like some fundamental philosophical differences, I think, that he doesn't like about GSP. And I think that's what the class is, if you will. But I don't know. He doesn't hate him.

You know, it was interesting. One of the big points of contention on the call was, oh, you know, GSP being pampered and whatnot. And it was funny because he tweeted that video of himself hitting the speed bag for 23 minutes, and it's mesmerizing to watch that. I mean, his cardio's off the charts. He seems to be an amazing shape. But you had to chuckle at the end.

Richard Perez is actually literally towing him off after the whole thing, and he was just sort of making fun of GSP. You know what I'm saying? It was obviously we know people help him out, give him water, but it was just sort of funny a couple days later to see that. No, no, no. You know, a quick thing about that, though. The funny thing about that, and I was there that day, by the way,

is that's after Nick Spard for six rounds against a really good pro and did another workout hitting Mitz, and then hit the bag for, it was longer than 23 minutes. At 23 minutes is when the guy started filming, you know, that's the crazy thing. That was the end of, like, I mean, he'd worked out at least, I mean, doubled over an hour straight of just craziness. and then you guys got the tail end. Now, as far as wiping someone off,

the thing is you can't wipe yourself off and you've got boxing gloves on her. Good point. You know, whatever. Good point. Yeah. And so he'll do that a lot. I don't know.

Did he have boxing gloves on for that? I mean, sometimes you just do that with wraps or whatever. But, you know, usually your boxing coach is just used to wiping, you know, your face off or whatever because there's so much sweat in your eyes or something. And generally, you have boxing gloves on. So the boxing coach is just used to that because you can't wipe yourself off. I'm looking at the video. I'm looking at the video right now, and I do, and I'm not trying to, whatever,

but he's actually doing it barehanded, nothing, no wraps or gloves. No, no, right on. But you know what I'm saying about the boxing coach with the, of course. He's always, it's almost like that. Instinctual. Yeah, it is. It's like, okay, I hear you're done here on your wife off your face. It's because usually you've got boxing gloves on when you're sparring or hitting the mitts or anything,

and your coach always grabs that because you can't do yourself. So, yeah, but right on. I don't, if that's pampered and whatever. I think he deserves it. I mean, I think they both deserve to be tiled off. I mean, they're their high-level fighters. A couple more things before we let you go. What happened with the countdown show?

It seemed like a bit of a he said. She said they, did Nick really miss, you know, opportunities to be interviewed? Did the UFC really lose money over this? I think a lot of stuff gets blown out of proportion, and a lot of stuff isn't like, like, you know, everybody, oh, man, Dana White, you know, or whatever, Cesar Cuis or something like that. But sometimes there's just little things. Like, I'll give you an example. You mentioned the conference call, and what's the first thing they said?

They thanked everybody to get for doing that call. And then Dana-like goes as usual, and then Nick's like, hello? Yeah, it was great. You know, he's got so many things he's doing that he's not even in the loop a lot of times of what's going on. And literally, when they finished Nick, you know, doing the countdown show, it's like he doesn't even know they finished Nick. It's not like he, you know, there's just a lot of little things, you know. He's thinking, oh, my God, he's missed three times or something.

It is true that Nick did not go for the first two times, I think it was, but it's just, you know, it's one of those things where, Nick has his training schedule. He's like this. I'm going to do this today, this and this. And if the countdown show wants to follow him doing it, that's great. But he is not going to change that schedule before a fight to do countdown show. You know, okay, look, I'm going to put my training aside and pretend I'm trying. training over here, you know, because they'll want you to, these guys come out sometimes and they want you to, okay, well, here, why don't you hit the bag, hit this, and they literally

tell you how you're going to train, and what they want to catch on film, and they want to go to your house and film it, and all of that takes away a whole day training, and Nick was like, no, I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to do that, you know, that type of a thing, and then they caught them on the third day, I think it was, but, you know, yeah, so, but there's There's a lot of things, and in the day, it's not as a big deal as it comes out to be, you know? But he got it done. That was the important thing. Last question before I let you go, Caesar, and we appreciate the time.

When will you be with Nick in Montreal? Are you going there with him? And you have to sort of, just because we've been through this with the media stuff and all that, I mean, on Fight Week, he's generally good and very accommodating. But will you be there to sort of make sure that everything goes smoothly leading up to Saturday night? Yeah, he leaves, I think, I want to say tomorrow. Tomorrow, yeah, I'm pretty sure tomorrow morning, and I go Thursday, I think it is. But we've got other people going.

Richard Perez will leave Tuesday night. I think he gets in Wednesday, so get there a day before me. A couple of other guys are going to go with Nick. And like I said, he's an adult, and he'll be fine. He's, you know, he'll do what he's got to do and everything. Nick's Nick will be good like that. So I won't nobody has to hold his hand or anything out there. All right.

Well, best of luck to you guys, looking forward to it very much. Can't wait for the fight. It's one of the fights we've been looking forward to for years. Finally, we're going to see it happen. Nick Diaz, GSP, Saturday night in Montreal. Caesar will be there. Everyone will be watching, and we're looking forward to it. Can't wait.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Caesar. Really appreciate it. See you in Montreal. Thank you, guys. Take care. All right. There he is.

Caesar Gracie, the brains behind. Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, and that whole great team. really appreciate him stopping by on short notice, looking forward to seeing what they can come up with come Saturday night in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Okay, let's move along now. He was supposed to come on earlier, and now he's coming on. So honored to have him on the show, pleased that he decided to come on the show. He is Stefan Bonner joining us on the MMA hour.

Stefan, how are you? What's up, Ariel? I'm all right, yourself. Good to have you on the show. It's been a while, and certainly we've wanted to talk. I'll ask at the top, why have you? have you been so quiet over the last few months? Just out of respect for Dana and Lorenzo, I'm just kind of respectfully pissing off.

And I'm really, you know, it's just been hard to do with this and forgive myself. And it's just been really hard. And even coming on here and talking, it's like, yeah, I don't want to spend all the time talking about the negative stuff. I got, you know, some exciting going on this weekend up in Tahoe. It's going to be a bunch of our UFC fighters, including me and Forrest up there at the Harris Tahoe, you know, hang out with us, watch the fights. You know, I think Boreen for us, maybe some karaoke, maybe some stand-up comedy, too.

It would be a good time. So I wanted to get that out there and say, if you're in that area, Lake Tahoe, Harris, come along. Jay here, and Mike Pyle is going to be there. A couple other guys, a big list of fighters. But, yeah, me and Forrest together again. and we're always a good time. And we'll be sure to plug that before you go as well.

Of course, have to ask some of the questions, because this is the first time, I believe, that you have talked since everything went down post-UFC-153. In your opinion, was this fair? I mean, did you test positive for a steroid? Is that accurate? Yeah, it's accurate. So it's just frustrating because here's the thing.

I mean, if it's a Google search, we'll tell you that, you know, the detection for that particular one is between, like, one and two months. And, like, I took this fight. I had, like, exactly three weeks to train for it and 35 pounds to lose. You really think after I heard out that I was going to get this fight, I went and, you know, took something, like, that's going to be an interesting for sure. Like, no.

I mean, the truth of the matter is I've been out of, I've been out of action for a long time. And I've been holding out trying to get the big fight. And there was one comment. I met with Dana multiple times, and it totally straight up. Like, when we were asking for those coach in the show, it's not going to happen, you know? I think you should retire. And we kind of both can you agree in agreement that, yeah,

the best thing for me to do is retire. Now, over this last year, I've got a couple of stem cell procedures on my knee where they go in the air pelvis, take a lot of that blood out, take a pocket of fat out, like a minute. any lipo and shoot it back up in your knees, Dr. and Ford, Dr. Puri did that. I've done twice over the last year, and the best thing to do to get that done is not do anything. Don't take time off. Don't stress it.

I'm retired. I'm like, gave up on fighting and kind of come in the grips with I'm not going to fight again. So, yeah, I've never been out of the gym for as long as I had done. And, you know, when it was time, you know, after the second stem self-recedure, gave it a couple months, just to let it run its course and hopefully feel better. Then it was time to, you know, hopefully make my five-body feel butter again. And, yeah, I just want my choice of feel butter, you know. And believe it or not, there are some therapeutic uses through, you know, some of the bad chances. And, yeah, bottom line, I wanted to get my strength back.

I was very weak, and my body not feel good. My joints didn't feel good. So that was my goal, to start training the game. You know, I want to get back in the gym, help other guys get ready, and just make it a part of my life again. And I was coming to grips with the fact that I wasn't going to fight again. And, you know, yeah, I got a call to fight Anderson. and I had three weeks to train for it

and 35 pounds to lose. Did you keep taking it? Did you keep taking it after you got the call? Yeah, right. The minimum time, it's detectable, at least a month. Like, why would I take something that's going to show up? You know, like, no, of course, I thought I wouldn't. I thought it was...

So it came... This was something that was in your system before you got the call. Once you got the call, you were off anything that was illegal? Yeah. Okay. It seemed like you hesitated there for a second.

Is that not... I just want to make sure I have the story accurate. No, I have my wife here. Shut up. Quit talking. You're just digging here, Grave butter, you know. She told me if you can talk about it,

make it short and sweet. And, you know, she just doesn't want it. all over the internet and, you know, going to... And it's just, it's hard. It's so touchy, you know. It's hard to, you know, come out and talk about this and actually get anything positive to come of it. It just, I know, I know it's going to be crucified,

and it's been really hard, you know? Like the day of the news came out, I had my baby. And, you know, like, what a joyous day, right? And the first, you know, baby picture I put up, you know, I'm so excited. like my baby son is here in this world. Like, God, what a day, and put a baby picture up. And, you know, you have all these comments underneath it about, you know,

cheater and steroids and all that. I mean, things like that really hurt. So, I just, I mean, it's hard. And I could totally sympathize with that, not trying to dig you into a deeper hole, as you say. But I'm just curious, and this is sort of outside of it, it seemed like when Dana White spoke about it. I mean, he has a lot of respect for you.

You're kind of him and Forrest, it seems like, you in force, excuse me, it seems like you're almost like kids to him in a way. That was the hardest thing, too, you know, because there's no way. I thought there's any possibility of it showing up. Like, I would have taken the fight. And just, you know, I finally get the opportunity. I've been begging for in vain for so long. Not only do I go out there, and I thought I'd put on a better fight than that,

but then that stuff like this happened. I just feel like, God, you know, like I really, like, it came into his house and took a shit on his carpet. I mean, it just kills me, you know, that, like, come on, Dana, give me this opportunity, and then I go make them look like that. So, yeah, it's, you know, I'm really sorry. Yeah, Dana and Lorenzo, I love those guys. And, like, you know, the full time being in the UFC, I was yours. I've been trying so hard to, you know, to be a part of the UFC.

Like, I want to be a part of the UFC more than anything. I've always thought it was like the coolest thing ever. And I worked really hard outside of the Octagon with all the TV work I've done, the merchandising and, you know, the parents and all the PR and going around talking to kids at schools and going to the boys home and all that, like, because that was really important to me, you know, just to be a part of the UFC and in ways other than going in there and fighting. And that's been the

hardest thing for me. Like I worked so hard over the years doing all those things to kind of give myself a home in the UFC outside of the actual fighting part of it and I feel like I ruined that and I let down Dana and yeah, I've been hard

to forgive myself. Do you regret taking the fight? No, I mean It was, like, the opportunity I always dreamed up. So it was, yeah, I mean, now in hindsight, looking at it, like, yeah, probably, it doesn't better if I didn't, but at the time thinking, like, you know, that, like, God, thank God I stopped taking that stuff, you know, a few weeks ago, like, you know, obvious expert I talked to, you know, said, you know, shouldn't show up.

And, yeah, I was worried about it. But I thought things would work out, and they didn't. And now they were paying the price. Have you talked to Dana? No, other than when he called me, my wife had just started going into labor and gave me the news, and I just strung together a bunch of expedives, and that was pretty much the conversation.

He just saying, what, shit, no, fuck, fuck, no, no, no. And he's still like got to get my wife to the hospital. We'll talk later. And that was all I talked to David. You know, I think you'll still be a part of the, obviously, the history of the sport and the UFC and whatnot, but do you feel like they've turned their back on you at this point? No, I feel like the best thing for me to do is to respectfully piss off. You know, it's not to sit there.

Oh, come on, Dana, give me another chance. Let me be like, you know, I fucked up and put my tail between my legs and leave you guys alone for a while. I mean, that's a lot of respect for them that's least I can do. Do you think at some point you'll be able to repair the relationship and be back, you know, doing, whether it's a TV stuff, promo, et cetera, who knows what you wanted to do for them upon retiring? But are you hopeful that will happen? I don't know. I hope so.

I don't know that. What have you been doing since then? Other than being a father, of course. Yeah, mainly that. yeah, nearly that. So, yeah, it's been hard. It's like one of those things where, you know, no one wants anything to do with you.

Even like the fact that I got this, you know, appearance lined up this weekend, and it should be good and great. I'm, you know, good with the fans and good time. And, you know, always are good together. And so, yeah, but it's been tough. Like, yeah, you know, people really don't want to have anything to do with you.

you after something like this happened. Yeah, I mentioned this to you even before the fight, even before the fight before the fight against Anderson, how you seem to be one of those guys who was really setting up for life after the UFC with all kinds of businesses, the T-shirts, you know, the memorabilia and whatnot. How's that going? Yeah, not so well. People who are going to business with me right now.

I'm a bad name. You know, I'm the bad guy right now. I just, I got to, you know, just deal with it and move on. And it sucks and hurts, but, yeah, it's the reality of the situation. The worst thing about it, all this stuff, you know, I try to do to, you know, get my body feeling all right. Like I said, you know, if you asked Dr. Sanders, you know, who his best customer is, a lot of UFC fighters, who's the old orthopedic guy for the UFC, it's me. You asked Dr. Shoes, who's given the most stitches to it to me.

And, you know, despite all these things, I've tried to. to do to get my body to feel good. It's still, even though, it's backfired on me, and I'm, you know, scheduled to have another knee surgery here in a couple weeks. So it's just, yeah, and, you know, I had the last one in 2010, and it felt terrible before that, and it never really got better from that. So, I don't know. You know, I wanted to do anything I could avoid surgery now.

It's really my only option, and I just, it just sucked. It just sucked. So. What kind of feedback are you getting from fans? I mean, I'm sure when you go on Twitter after this, you'll see it's actually positive. I'm sure that's like none of my time on that. I mean, just everything like I have, I spoke to Ms. Charity called Garrett's fight. And Garrett Holley, he's a martial artist with Down syndrome in Fort, Florida.

And it's a really inspiring story of really how he didn't have really a lot. He graduated from high school and trying to say out only the press kids. playing video games in the basement. His dad would, you know, call people and beg them to come hang out with Garrett. And it wasn't going so well. And then his dad, you know, brought his two sons to the martial arts gym, and she, Garrett fell in love with that. And fast forward a couple of years.

He's, you know, lost 40 pounds. He's in really good shape. He knows about good nutrition. He's, you know, really got to handle rheumatory arthritis is, you know, one of those things that the downturnage and suffer from. So that's just training being better, so he's being stronger, it's helped us, as right as feel a lot better.

And he belongs. You know, he teaches the kids' classes. He plugs gym membership. So we started this charity, he filled with kids with special needs could come participate in martial arts and just see. Maybe it isn't something they love to do like he did.

But hey, maybe it is. And maybe, you know, other kids could get a, get that sense of, like, doing something they're passionate about and belonging to something. He's got a good life now. The guys at the gym love them. They bring him out with them all the time. He's got friends.

He's got a job. He's got, like, something who belongs to. He's healthy and shape. He's really built his confidence. That was the one thing that inspired me when I checked out his Facebook page after first hearing about him. He had videos when doing a 5-K run. And near the end, he's sprinting it in encouraging these other girls to come on and finish strong.

And he had leadership qualities. So, you know, me and his dad started this charity, and he had a, on the exhibition a couple weeks ago down in Florida. So yeah, when I'm, you know, social media to promote that. And, you know, of course it was all, you know, I'm trying to do something like, you're good and raise money for a charity and positive. And, you know, there's so many people who have to go and post them about, you know, you're going to teach them, you know, take steroids and be a cheater like you. And just, you know, even if you tried to do something good, it seems like people like, like, kick you.

So, it's kind of sucky. But, oh, I went there, we raised a good amount of money and made it a positive experience. But it's just, like, the matter of what kind of good you're trying to do, there's always going to be, like, negativity. And I guess that, you know, it's going to make you stronger in the long run. But, yeah, the more info on that, just go check out garretsfight.org. And, yeah, just donate a little something and help a good cost. Does this make you feel like maybe you need to go outside of MMA, like your future is no longer in this sport,

from a business perspective, from a future perspective? I mean, yeah, I've known that for a long time, though. I wouldn't want to be part of U.S.C. But I want to keep my options open. Yeah, I know that there's money and business and things to be made outside of the whole MMA world. And, yeah, and this whole terrible experience I'm going through is to help me realize that more.

one more thing and then we'll let you go and I know we've gone over our time and we appreciate it very much Stefan and again I think if you go on social media now you'll see maybe a bit of a different response people are funny like that so again we do appreciate it can you clear up did you try to

cheat against Anderson did you try to gain an advantage or was this simply poor timing on your part I mean like come on I'm not I'm not a stupid person Like, you know, in the main event, of course, I know I'm going to get tested. Like, you really think I got, like, I mean, three weeks to train for the fight, 35 pounds to lose.

I mean, you're saying after I found out, I went and took something that would be detectable for a month. Like, that makes absolutely no sense, you know? It really doesn't. So, do you think you'll come? Absolutely not, you know. Are you officially done fighting? Go ahead. That's it?

That's that? No, go ahead. Sorry. No, yeah, absolutely not. Like, no. I know my life's going to tell me to talk about this, but really, like, there's some things that's helped with, and certain times.

A, collagen synthesis, that's where all your tendons and your ligaments are made, or even muscles, some collagen synthesis, that could be enhanced, and, you know, you're going to work to prevent injuries, and, too, to help build strength, you know. But, you know, if you have 35 pounds to lose and you have to do five-minute rounds, all right? Like, your goals for the three weeks of train-free under-sillba is all about losing weight and cardio and conditioning. And honestly, seriously, aren't going to help with that.

They're not. They're not going to help with your cardio or to help you lose 35 pounds in three-and-a-half weeks or not. Do you think you'll ever fight again? Yeah, I doubt it. even if physically I felt better, you know, I wouldn't. Oh, God. I'm in trouble. Why?

With your wife? Okay. All right. I've got to go, Ariel. Stefan, I just want you to promote where you'll be this Saturday. That's it before we let you go. All right. We'll be in Harris, Lake Tahoe.

And, you know, there'll be a lot of us. They're including me in Forest. So come out and some karaoke and that comedy. It should be good. Thank you for the time, Stefan. We appreciate it. All right, I'll talk to you later. There he is.

Stefan Bonner is stopping by, hopefully not in too much trouble with his misses. But we appreciate his time very much, and it seems based on some of the things you've been writing on Twitter that you do appreciate it as well. Let us go to the Skype machine now and welcome in. Apologies for being a little late. We wanted to give him a little more.

time to sleep in. That's all. 6.22 a.m. over in Australia. Our next guest, is he ready to join us or not? There he is. I'm here. The Super Samoan himself, shirtless. How are you, Mark? I'm good, man. What are you doing up so early? Waiting to talk to you?

You wake up early for me. That's so nice. I appreciate it. You're welcome. Well, thank you for stopping by. Is that a bit of a Shiner under your right eye over there? Yeah, I should listen to my wife, you know. What happened? She hit you? No, it is.

I thought you guys were at Shangri-La last weekend. Well, it was. Yeah, that's why I got this. I got to, what a crazy few days for you. It has been, unbelievable. From Overeem getting injured, you saying you want the fight. You turn down the fight to you getting the fight against Junior Dos Santos. Explain to us what exactly happened.

Overeem getting injured in your world. Take us into it. What happened here? Well, I think it's just a good opportunity for me. I mean, it's a bad news that Alastica got injured. But, you know, I'm so glad for the opportunity. I was lucky to get the opportunity to fight with Santos. So good news for me.

So you said you wanted the fight You told me I'm down I've been born down You know this And people were getting excited Rally for Mark Hunt I mean the place was going nuts All over the internet

Social media And then Dana says on Twitter It's not looking good He turned down the fight And then you go on Twitter And say I've never turned down a fight So what happened? Explain to us Look

I had a few discrepancies About You know The way I was being treated And stuff And um I hid my opinions to, you know, thank you for you to herself. And then Dana told me, he talked about it,

and he listened to what I said, and he fixed the problem. So it was, it was done. It was, it was, it was done deal. I'd said yes anyway, but, you know, being the boss, he just sorted things up. So he didn't know what was the problem until I told him. So, yeah. And, and now you're happy. You think he's treating you fairly? Well, yeah. I think I mean, treated a bit more fairly than I was before, you know? I mean, I don't know if I should say some of the things I think, but, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't happy with where I was with the situation, you know, I mean, oh, here he is again. Oh, oh, where's he at? Hey, buddy. How are you? Hey, my, man.

Hi, Moombe. Well, it's good to see you again. It's not an interview without the kids. I love the kids. He was asleep until he must have heard your voice. Oh, yes, of course. Everyone loves... It's time to go to speak to the mermaid. Everyone loves to hear my voice in the morning. It's a pleasure to wake up to this. So, Mark, Dana tweeted, just had a great conversation with Mark.

What was the conversation like from your perspective? Well, I thought it was pretty good. I mean, Dana listened to what I had to say, which was, you know, pretty cool. I voiced my opinions about different things that I wasn't happy about. and he said, you know, I can't fix a problem if I didn't know what the problem is. He's been pushed so many places because he's got a big company. But, you know, I said, you know, being the boss of the company, you should know what goes on.

So, go ahead. I was happy to listen. Then he fixed the problem. It was good. He mean, he's a good person. He listened to what I had to say and sorted it out. So it's fine. How long have you been feeling unhappy about these things?

well a long time since I was an employee of you see so really yeah so you finally decided to bring it up why'd you decide to take so long to bring it up well I mean it's hard to say really I mean I look man I just wasn't hamble with some of the things you know I was it was getting doubt here wasn't it wasn't you know it's not it is as an employee of a company it shouldn't be treated the way it was being treated now like I didn't think it was fair I was it was fair I was it wasn't it was fair it's not it's not it's it's not it's it's not it's it's not it By the way, just curious, did you call him or did he call you? Well, he called me because of you. What do you mean? He wouldn't call me because of you. Well, I mean, well, you're the one that I told my feelings to you first. Right. And it was just off the record.

I was hoping he wouldn't go and put it on with that, you know, and then, you know, you called you and then you told him that he should talk to me. And, you know, that's why I said, I hear a bucket of KSC, the KFC king's going to get you some food. Well, now you're being too kind. You don't need to give me the credit. I didn't tell him what you were upset about, but I asked him, if you really, since you brought it up, I asked him, you know, what the issue was. And he said, well, you know, there's some issues here and there. And I said, well, I don't know, I'm not trying to overstep my boundaries, but maybe you should give him a call and talk to him directly.

And I guess it all worked out, right? Well, yeah. Well, look, I've got the best opportunity so far of my career. And I'm happy. I mean, I'm happy the discrepancies have been fixed. you know, I'm on a better, better place. You know, I never turn down any fight. You know, I'm always up for the opportunity.

For me, it's opportunities. It's not about, you know, this and all this other sort of jazz. For me, it's about getting these opportunities. And very rarely do they come up, you know, you've got to take them when they come. So. You know, for that brief period where he said you turned down the fight, everyone was like kind of up in arms. What do you mean he turned out? What kind of reaction were you getting to lead you to go on Twitter and tell people,

I've never turned down to fight and I didn't turn down to fight. I mean, that must be frustrating. I saw you getting a little upset on Twitter. Well, look, man, I'm not a liar. I'm pretty straight up person. And I just said that, well, I don't. I told the truth. What my family is, I tell most of the time the truth.

Sometimes it's good for me. Sometimes it's bad. But it's true. I don't turn down fights unless I'm injured. Never have. So it's a part of my makeup. Like I said, opportunities. come that often.

So you've got to take them where they come and I wasn't, you know, taking a dig at anyone. It's just the way I was voiced in my opinion. That's the good thing about Twitter. You can voice your own opinion about things. Why, you know, someone asked me this question, and I think it's an interesting one. You seem very open, comfortable on Twitter.

Yet when you do interviews, like when you did the interview in the cage, when you beat Stefan Struv, all you said was, yeah. I mean, you don't really want to be very talkative and open. Why are you different on Twitter? Well, I can talk about it. And the after going to the ring is different. I'm a different person.

My main goal of being in the ring after I've finished fighting is because I'm a follow of Christ now. So I give glory to the Almighty. I don't care about anything else. I don't care about I give thanks to my wife, to my family. So, yeah. Why do you go out there, not time? What's that? So only not time.

It's not time. It's not so good bed. Is he telling me to wrap up the interview? No, you said it's time to get a bit. It's not time. It's actually early time. Isn't it the morning over there? No, no time.

Oh, okay. Yeah. When did that happen, Mark? Because I see religion is a big part of your life. When did that change happen for you? It's been happening for a while. I just, it's, it's been happening for a while. I just didn't really take the step.

I just, I don't know, it's a bit, religiously part of my whole life. I've always believed in something. But, you know, all of a sudden I've been, you know, trying to get more towards my faith. And, you know, it's kind of weird, though. Like I said before, I mean, everything's,

since I've never let God take over the serial wheel of my life, everything's changed for me. The things like I said before weren't important to me as much, you know, money, all that sort of stuff is not important to me anymore. So, you know, the only thing that's really important to me is getting my family and having a personal relationship with the almighty, with my kids and myself. So that's all that really matters to me. This, the way I looked at it, I was being told if this is not even our home, you know.

I mean, and this is my opinion, too. This is my personal opinions. And, you know, it's the way I think about things, the way I've been looking at into things. It's not, it's not, you know, it's just my opinion, the way I look at it. But yet you were feeling disrespected by the UFC. Well, look, man. Look, man, one room, four guys. Come on.

Come on, event. You know, well, I can't get one more extra ticket. Come on now. It's like, you know, I got a 20,000, there's a 20,000 arena, and I can't. I get one more extra ticket. I got four tickets. I get one more just a call. You know, what the...

Is that not fair to you or what? No, no, of course. So you told that to Dana and he said, that's a problem. I will rectify this. Yes. You know, he listened and he listened to what I had to complain about.

And he said, you know, well, I don't know if... I'm not in mind really, he said, so he fixed a problem. So I'm really heavy about that. Fixed a few of the discrepancies I had in it. And, you know, I was always down for the fight. Why do you like this fight so much?

Because it's an opportunity. I mean, like I said, opportunity is very, really come. And as a fighter, you know, a fighting has come a second time round for me. I've won the world title already as a K1 fighter. I lost interest in fighting and then mixed martial arts came. And this is just another opportunity for me to prove, like, be a part of the best fighters in the league. And Junior was the world champion before he lost the cane. the opportunity is here.

I'm so amped about it. I said pumped about it. I mean, no, it's not been amped about it. Well, he's getting that. You know, it's interesting. I've never seen, I remember when I broke the news Saturday morning, it was unbelievable. It was early in the morning.

It was like 6.50 a.m. in New York. And the reaction, it was like a party. It was a celebration. I've never seen people react and follow and rally, really, around a fighter like they have for you. Why do you think they love you? you so much the people? I don't know, man.

Probably because I'm honest. I have no idea. Man, I think they're like, I don't know. I haven't got a clue. But, you know, I'm a nice person, man, you know? Yeah, I know.

I would agree with that. Did you compare yourself? What was that? Sorry? Your daddy's a nice guy. Yes. He likes the KFC a lot. But they like to eat chicks and gravy

and that's it for his. and breakfast, Edna and breakfast. Every time, geez. And that's the KS3 man. He ups in KSK every single day. You see? That's what I'm talking about.

By the way, when are you going to get them as a sponsor for you? I have no idea, man. You've got to ring them up, man. You're the middle man. You're the man that organized everything. Listen, haven't I done enough for you at this point? Seriously, I mean, really, what have you done for me? Never enough.

Your work is never done. You've got to do it all the time, though. You know? Are you asking me to be your manager? No. Oh. I'm asking you can't get a KFC deal. Hey, you see when you see what happened to Stefan with his broken jaw, it's still not fixed, he's in the hospital tweeting all that stuff.

Does it make you feel bad? It does. But that's just the job we're in, the school we're in. You know, it could have been me. It just, you know, he's a strong kid, man. He'll come back strong. I just, you know. Just the price.

we have to pay it. Like I said, I give my life for what I do. And so should every other fighter. It's the way it is. When you hit him, were you able to feel that you broke his jaw? Look, man, I knew I'd got him, and I knew that it was over because he, people that, that won us to a fight would have been up. He wouldn't have been up coming after me, but that was a pretty hefty show. It was pretty good. I knew I got him. But I'm glad the herb stopped it because... My toes got two stores.

Okay, move. It probably would have been worse for him, you know? It would have been probably not just one clean break, it would have been probably more breaks in his jaw. So I'm glad that it was stopped. Woody, buddy. Nice toes. Are you surprised that he doesn't use his reach

and his height more to his advantage? It seems like he still hasn't put that all together. Well, look, man, I baited him a lot in the third round, but I think being a young fighter, I think it's a lot of experience that he has. I mean, he's had a lot of fights, but, you know, I think the experiences with more fighters, the better you get.

So, I mean, yeah, I mean, he doesn't use him in his skill set level, like semi-shilk, same height. You know, it's a big problem with someone as big as he is. for the short guys like myself to get in if he utilizes all his weapons properly it'd probably be I mean no probably he will be a better fighting machine

is that cake now yeah where did the ground game come from what ground game come from? You were showing off some you were taking him down you were showing off some ground skills where did that come from well you know people

people don't realize I've been doing it for eight years nine years now the ground game, you know? I know I'm not a technician. What are you going? Oh, no, he's going to get the other one. I've been doing it for a while. I know I'm not a technician at Jiu-Jitia, but I know I can understand what they're trying to do on the ground.

I understand I can see it in here, so, you know, I'm not an easy beat on the ground. People think I am, but, you know, all right. I'm all right. Will you try to take Junior down? You know, if he wants to go down and go down. I'd like to, he's like me. He's like to stand there, bang, and I like to test his middle, you know?

You know, he's the best fight. It was the best fight on the world, and I consider myself the best fight on the world. And I would like to, I clasp my striking really highly, and so does he. So, you know, we'll see what happens when the fight comes. By the way, did you see that amazing picture taken by Josh Hedges of the UFC of U.S. punching Stefan. Did you see that picture? Oh yeah, I have it. It was a nice shot. Are you going to maybe blow that up and put that in your house or your gym or something?

Do you care about that kind of thing? If you come and look at my house, you want to see a picture of me up there. We'll see as my kids and family. My name is coming. Now we're going to bring me in coming. Oh, no. We're both here. Oh, they're both here. Look at that. Hey, hi, sweetheart.

Oh, we haven't met you before. My daughter, her name's Sierra. Say, hi, darling. Wait, so Noah just woke her up? Noah. Yeah, well, she wanted to see the mermaid, too, and say, you know. They're both here, darling, come here, my baby. Yeah, I'm not into that sort of stuff of, you know,

pictures in that stuff. I don't have anything of me or trophy or whatever. I think everything is nothing. Oh, Lee. No, both the gang here and say. I like it. You got backup. Okay, just a couple more things.

I'll let you go in a couple of minutes. I just want to ask you a few more things. If you beat Junior on May 25th, do you think you deserve a title shot? Like I said, it's not my call. It's up to you. It's up to the buses. Hey, nice.

Yes. Out of hair. It's nice hair. It's up to the boss. Take the caller. And that's just the way it is. I'm just, like I said, I'm just an employee.

No, here? Blue. trying to get in the man. I got a boy, hey. Well, this is the biggest

fight of your, of your MMA career, I would say. I mean, since the K-1 days, you've obviously had big fights

in pride in the UFC, but this is a huge opportunity. Will your kids come out to it? I don't think so, man. This is, it's work, and I'd rather just,

if my family comes down, it'd be like a holiday and I don't want to be like that because then I'll get hurt. So, you know, and I need to get to right into the thing of the business,

the end of fighting. And like you said, if this is an opportunity for me and they don't come up really so i'll be coming really really hard for this win you know i've got a win and that's just the way i look at it so we're going to battle man i'm so amped about this my face see you later um have you started training i'm going this this uh this week to start training so when's i've had my fill of kFC in it when's the last time you when's the last time you felt this about a fight?

Maybe when I fought Fedor for the world title but... Wow. Yeah, that can go too well but anyway. Yeah, maybe for the world

for the K-1 and Fidor fight but this is really excited for me so it's good. You think you knock them out? I can meet anybody. Simple as that. As you told me last week, you were born down.

Not down, down, down, man. Yes, yes, yes. I was born. I was born, I'm ready to go. You know, you want to fight, man? I'm your Huckleberry, baby. And what about the Army of Doom?

Like, is there going to be some sort of meet-up, some, like, are they going to be in the house come May 25th? But what are you going to do to get them on your side? I don't know. The Army of Doom is, you know, it's funny because, you know, it's hard to explain me. Explain it. In a way, I have the Army of Doom is down. You know, I don't know how there's, you know, they had a way. you know what are you talking about i don't know what you're talking about yeah neither do i sometimes

i probably keep them a list too many times i don't know i don't know if they're gonna come part of it it's the way it is is there anything you want to say to them they're very excited to hear from you they told me when this was announced you got to get mark oh man there's so many you know if they're down man if they're down as a part of the army man why is you going to buy a t-shirt or some shit go on my website buy a t-shirt and i have handles them you know what that's where So you're saying they're very supportive, but come on, step it up and go on the website and buy a t-shirt. That's what you're talking about. You want to be part of the army?

Come on, man. What's going on here? Ridiculous, man. Where can they buy the shirt? On my website. You know, it's markhounofficial.com. You know, they should go and check it out there. They want to be a part of the army.

You know, buy something in support. That's the way I look at it. So you're only officially a part of the army if you buy a t-shirt. Yeah, man, talk is cheap, man You know that, talk is cheap Yeah, well, sort of Will you be training in the U.S. for this fight at ATT? No, I'm going straight to New Zealand

I've got a camp waiting there And then I'm going to try and go out to Vegas Three weeks out or four weeks out for the fight And acclimatize Yeah So you're going to be away from your family for a long time Look, man, yeah, 11 weeks, I think over 10 weeks Look, man, you know, Pizahn's got a big fight coming up

He's got a world title shot. The big guy's gun. He has a gun. So, you know, I want to, he's got to concentrate all the efforts on Bigfoot for this fight. So I got my guys ready to help me with training. So this is what they go. You get it that's up here, the cameras are not.

So you're just showing you that. Oh, wow. Hey, buddy. Hey, would you fight Bigfoot? No. Yeah. Yeah. You too big for me.

It's a big. Was that a yes? I heard it started and I'm big and he's little. Okay. You heard it there right there? Did you ask me that question? Yes, I was asking if you would fight Bigfoot. No, no, no.

I wouldn't fight Bigfoot unless it was four world title. He's with American top team. I essentially my South American top team, so, you know. But if you win and he wins, you would fight him for the belt. Well, it's, you know, it's got to be. I mean, if he won't, if Pizal wins for the bat, and I win my fight, and if I get the World Title shot, then, you know,

It's the will of title, you know? Yeah, there is only one. Mark, I'll let you go. I know your family's there. I really appreciate you waking up so early in the morning. Tuesday morning in Australia over there. Good luck. This is a huge fight.

It feels like a big deal. I can't remember the last time. Maybe when Brock fought Alistair, the last time a non-title fight garnered this much attention and excitement. You versus Junior Dos Santos, UFC 160, May 25th in Las Vegas. Happy for you that you got the fight, and congratulations with that. and looking forward to seeing you in Las Vegas. Yeah, thanks so much for having me on the show, Ariel.

And thanks for help me out with the things I need to sort out. Thanks for your time, sir. My pleasure. Hey, man, I hear a bucket of KFC, so once they sponsor me, then, you know, that's up. Me and you together, eating some KFC. It would be nice. All right. Sounds good.

All right, for your time. Thank you. There is. The Super Samoan and friends, joining us from his home in Australia, waking up. super early to stop by and talk about his fight against Junior Dos Santos, UFC 160. So, yeah, I mean, he did bring it up. I think, who knows? Is he giving me too much credit?

I don't know. What happened in a nutshell was I spoke to him about the fight. He said, I'm down. The next day, Dana White said he turned it down. I spoke to Mark. He told me some stuff that he didn't want to talk about, which he pretty much just. talked about here, the ticket, and the hotel situation. And so then I asked Dana, what happened?

And he said he didn't really know and et cetera, et cetera. And I said, well, maybe he's being misrepresented, maybe, you know, because he wasn't talking directly to him. He was going through his team. And I said, you know, if you want to give him a call, here's his number. I just spoke to him. He seemed to be giving me a bit of a different story. Dana gives him a call. He has a great call. And there it is. Mark Hunt's fighting Junior Dos Santos. Of course, a lot more went into it and whatnot. And I'm sure at some point with the reaction of the people saying, what, he turned it down. He just said he was down to fight him. How could he turn it down? It would have happened. But anyway, great to talk to Mark Hunt. Great to have him on the show. And very much looking forward to that fight. As I mentioned on Saturday morning, when the news came out that this fight was actually going down, the reaction was just out of this world. It was unbelievable. It was, I mean, like, It was like people were partying. They really love this guy. They've rallied behind them.

They feel like he's almost one of them. He's like a rocky type of story. And I can't remember. Maybe it was Brock Alster, but this is different. This feels like they have, the people feel like they've almost brought him to this point. And they want to see him take down the big ex-champion. The funny thing is, Junior DeSatos is like the jolly green giant. There's no nicer guy in this sport yet in some way he's the bad guy in this one,

just because Mark is so beloved. love these days. So it's going to be a great scene. And it almost feels like that's the main event in a weird way. Kind of like Alster versus JDS. So Alster's out for a few weeks, hopes to return to training four to five weeks. And he's hoping to return. He wanted the fight in July, couldn't do it, quadriceps injuries. So we'll see what's next for Alster. Some people bringing up Stefan Struev. Who knows? Right now, no fight, no timetable yet for his return. What we do know is Mark Hunt versus JDS, UFC 160, May 25th. That does it for the the interviews, but there's still plenty more to go on this show.

What a roller coaster. Remember last week when I said it was freezing? It's now really hot in here. Not to mention all the stuff that's been going on as far as the interviews are concerned. I am sweating buckets, but I like it. It's like that sort of accomplishment sweating, if you know what I mean. Rick, let's get the tickets out of the way. We got some people who tweeted Fitchfaces.

We're about to put them up right now. Were they good? Oh, they're good. This is our first one. What? What is that? That's not a fitch face, is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The famous picture of him, his ear was a little out more, so that's why he's touching it right there. But, you know, the sideways snarl move. Okay, but let me ask, oh, okay, I get it, the ear. Do we know if these people live in the tri-state area? I've been checking, and most of them are New York, New Jersey-type area. But we can go back and look when we pick the winner. Okay, well, it just seems like he's British. I was just going to...

Ouch. He's from New York, I believe. Okay. So that's our first one. This is our second one. Not much of a fitch face, but he's trying. Yeah, he's trying. I mean, I do like the facial hair.

Okay, it's nice. I mean, I do appreciate the effort, that's for sure. This guy looks like... This one's great because he's in the car. He looks a little disinterested, but I think it's a fitch face. Is he, I mean, is he dropping one or what? What's going on to that? It just seems like he just ate it.

Some bad cottage cheese. That could be it, but that's our third submission. Okay. This one's good. Wow. He's really gritting the teeth there. I like that. And it's not even for him.

He's trying to pass it off to S. Richel, who makes an appearance himself later in this. Okay. This one, what is that? I'm not sure this is a fitch face, to be honest with you. That's not even, that's an old shot. That looks like a young Nate Marquart is what that looks like. Yeah. Is that? I mean, that's a picture of a picture. He took a picture of something hanging in his house.

Yeah, that is. What is that? Come on. We're starting to get somewhere. Okay. This is, oh, this is the guy. This is the guy that the other guy was trying to win for. The funny thing about these faces are, it kind of looks like they're all dropping ones. Believe me, we'll get closer. We'll get closer. Okay. Here we go. Oh, man. I like this one. The beard's working too, but here's a real fitch face we got. going over here. Grew the beard for this occasion.

He writes. Josiah. Okay. Wait, can we just stop? Is he in the leaderboard right now? Is he number one? He's number one in my book.

Okay, yeah, yeah. This is, okay. This is a decent one. That is a decent one. I do like the fist. I live in jurors. Okay. This is from Geronimo.

Not a bad one. Not a bad one. Oh. This one's good. Wow. Wow. Wow. He's got the contract in hand. I appreciate that.

From Brooklyn, so he's definitely local. Yeah, we're biased. Wow. You see, he loses a point here because he's not... He's not doing the fitch face. Well, he's doing the fitch face in that picture. Right, but that's not the fitch face per se. But the creativity off the charts on that one. Off the charts.

This is a good one. This is a good one. This is a true fitch face. This is a true. Come on, I need these tickets. Plus, I've got the hair and the beard. That is a good one. I think he's got two.

Let's see his next one. Oh, two. Oh, look at that. With the hat. With the hat. I mean, the hat almost. Fitch doesn't wear a Yankees hat. You're taking away points for that.

I'm taking away points for that. If someone had a Purdue, one of those tukes that he wore when he fought at 107, that'd be game over. Here's another one. I can't even see anything on this one. Let me try and scroll a little bit. Oh, there you go. There we go. Man, the teeth.

He's snarling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. I mean, it. He does look scary, as Isaac just pointed out. We're getting a lot of New York submissions. That's good. I'm happy.

It's good. These tickets are going to go to use. I feel bad for the person listening to the audio-only version of this show, because they're like, what? Well, if they search, hashtag Fitchface, there you go. After the show, you can see all of them. That's great. What else?

Give me one second. That looks like a fat Patrick Cote. I see the Cote. I see the Cote. And I don't mean to say, fat, but just bigger than what Cote is now at 170. Was that mean? I think, so moving on, I think we have two, I think we have two submissions from him.

Oh, no, this is somebody else. This is a good one, though. This is a good fitch face. You don't like this one? No, no, no. I'm saying, oh, my dear God, in a good way. Oh, yeah, this is good. Jeez.

What do you got so far? Let's, let's, let's, oh, God. I'm thinking, I like the one with the contract for sure. Did you, did you close them out, or you still have them? We'll go back after. I can't think right now. This is too much fun. But the one with the contract, in my opinion, is in the lead just because of the creativity.

Okay, what else? Not the best fitch face by the book. This is one including a dog. Yeah, that is nice. So also creative. The fitch face is not a very attractive face. Oh, yeah, no. It's not supposed to be.

It's people not in their best moment. I think this one has two also. Oh. See, he's not really getting the teeth right. No, he's not. But the creativity with the dog is good. actually kind of looks like him. Yeah, the beard is nice.

This is a good one. That is a good one. That is a good one. Posted to Instagram, actually. Wow. So that's... No one understands why he posted that because he didn't explain it,

but somehow I think there's probably a caption. Okay, okay. Now, this one's fantastic. That's Isaac. This is from our own Isaac. He wants the tickets. He wants to do the fitch face. Is that what you guys are doing back there?

No, no, no. That's not what I'm doing. Of course, of course. It's hilarious. That is a pretty good fish face. It's a good one. For a guy who's probably never seen the fitch face. That's what I said.

I said, he's never seen it, but he's doing it right. What, did he just guess? Or based on the other submissions? He saw the other pictures, and he figured it out because he's a smart boy. That's when you're supposed to lie and say that he just guessed and got it right. Now, this is our last one. This is not a fitch face even. What?

And this comes from somebody in, I believe it. Sean, he's the best. He's the guy who was tweeting from the Dana White talking. that's right talking Ireland not even a fitch face but I had to put this up because it's ridiculous that is the best oh my god he's in Ireland I would fly him out just because that was so good

okay so let's let's run backwards through these can we keep that up just can you compose yourself while we run backwards through these it's just so crazy all right let me get that we've got Isaac okay we got Isaac

this guy's pretty good okay so he's out okay so here's the thing. Cut out the people will go by process of elimination. Just like X the people's and then they'll only be like three, four left standing. You know what I'm saying? All right. Let's keep him in the running.

Yeah. Crying here. I think out. Out. Out. Out. Out. In the running.

In the running. Out. In. Out. Same guy. Yeah. But it's, okay. In.

In. In. In. In. In. Out. Out. Out.

Definitely out. Wait, wait, wait. Is that guy in? I think that guy's out. This guy's... Keep a minute. All right, he's in. Out.

Out. In. I'm saying in. Okay. All right. That's the first one. Oh, God. Okay.

So what do you think? Wait, now let's go. But now, okay. Out. All right. Now we're going next round. Yeah, we have to narrow this down. Out.

Out. Out. In. I'm saying out. Listen. All right. He's in. He's in.

He's in. Out. Well, you're going too fast. No, that guy's out already. I eliminated him last. Why can't you eliminate them? So where there's only three left? No, no, no, no.

You can't X them. No, no, no. Okay. Okay. Well, this is going to get confusing. Okay. Out. Out.

I feel like he should win. I think it's down to him. Yeah. And the guy with the contract. Yeah. Let's go to the contract one more time. My bitch face. I was kidding.

contract wins. Contract wins. Contract wins. What do you think? Wrong? No, I think it's right. By the way, how many tickets do we have? We could give away, too.

Give them to both of them. All right. Two pairs, contract guy and that guy with the beard. Josiah. Josiah. That's the right call, right? I think that was the best fitch face, and this was the best in terms of creativity. All right. There you go.

So you both get a pair of tickets, right? yeah we can we have two okay we've got two tickets world series of fighting revel resort and casino thank you very much for all the submissions that was great really enjoyed that we should do that more often we should do things like that more often well credit to john fitch that was an incredible idea that was an incredible idea thank you very much mr john fitch okay uh let's go to rick's can we can we do that last let's get the questions done uh first okay sure why do you have the music uh no we don't but i just wanted to um put this all in one segment so let's let me uh

set up the questions. Give me two minutes. Have no fear. We do have one more pair, right? We have one more pair. Wait, is World Series fighting this weekend? No, it's in two weeks. So we have one more pair. We're going to try to give them away. Well, we will give them away next week. So if you didn't get the tickets, have no fear. And by the way, there are tickets available and I think they're pretty cheap. So if you're in the area and you really do want to go, go buy the tickets. So we'll take some questions now. At stake, GSP, championship edition, round five.

Obviously very fitting this week because he is fighting on Saturday night at UFC 158. What an eventful show thus far. A perfect start, in my opinion, to this great week of fighting going down on Saturday night in Montreal. And this is what's at stake. So we're going to take questions from Twitter, some questions from the website. And the best Twitter question will get this. And then we'll go to the Rick's Pick Challenge, and then we'll get the heck out of it. here. I feel bad about Stefan. I mean, just kind of an abrupt way to end the show or the interview.

Hopefully he's not. I think, you know, he said his story. And based on the responses we were getting on Twitter, it seemed like a lot of people, it's funny how people act that way. They just kind of get behind someone who pours their heart out. I think this was a good thing for him. Well, I mean, I wasn't in the other camp. I wasn't one of the people who was, you know, going too rough on Stefan Bonner. But I definitely had a different, I don't, a different feeling towards. him. I wouldn't say that I necessarily feel any better or worse about what he did, but the way he owned

up to it and, you know, poured out his heart and soul and told every, you know, bit about what he did. You have to respect it. And move on. Move on at this point. You know, now we can move on. You did the interview. It's over. And now we can move on. So

hopefully he sees it as a positive. Obviously, don't want to get him in trouble. Just wanted to hear his side of the story. And he told it, and I respect him for that. All right, let's go to the questions. Yep. First ones from the website. It says question for Rick.

Are you going to answer this? Is that what you think? I'll answer it. But there's another one that says question for Rick that's not necessarily for me either. I think that with all due respect, I think they're telling you that this is a question for you to pick. No, this one's about betting, but. Okay, okay, okay. So then go ahead.

How do you feel about Silva opening as only a two-to-one favorite over Wydman? Do you think that after what Chale did to Anderson, people think that a wrestler has the best chance to beat Anderson? Go ahead. I think that him opening as a two to one favorite over Weidman was interesting for sure. In terms of my own opinion, I think that the line was shifted more by the fervor and the hype behind Weidman getting the title shot. I think that if it just had been announced, you know, Weidman's fighting Anderson right after Anderson had just defended the belt, I think the line would have opened differently. I think that there's a lot of, I'm not sure what the word is, but there's like a feeling amongst the people, I've said this before, a zeitgeist where people are really rallying behind Weidman. And I think the betting line was slightly affected by that.

I don't necessarily feel that that's an accurate line and the line has shifted since. I believe that Anderson's hovering around a three to one or three and a half to one favorite now. but that said the aspect of the wrestling is definitely a part of that line being like that and that there are people who will one person I talked to this weekend even said that they think that Wydeman is capable of doing what Chale did to Anderson in terms of keeping him on the mat and and that Wyman is actually considered a very very high level wrestler when he needs to be so I'd say that that does influence the line a bit but I say it's It's more about the hype surrounding Weidman and that we've had all this time off between Anderson's last fight and Wyden's last fight that it's hard to have an accurate line.

What was interesting about the GSP interview when he was talking about this was he was saying Anderson's smart for taking the fight now because Chris is coming off a layoff by the time they fight will be a year. And I wonder, I mean obviously a lot has gone on in Chris's life. The shoulder injury, Hurricane Sandy. But I wonder if it's almost beneficial to him because. because now he can, he's been focusing on Anderson since pretty much, you know, the Munoz fight. He had the brief period with Boch, but it's been out there for so long. And Anderson maybe hasn't been focusing on him. I wonder if he's just had time to really sort of, you know, zero in on him.

Although he has had to, you know, get back from the shoulder injury too. So I don't know. Who knows if that's a good thing or a bad thing? I was somewhat surprised it was that low, but who knows what it ends up with? What were we? Like four months before the fight. So a lot could change between now and then. But that is certainly an interesting indication of how the people feel about Chris Weidman.

Yep. Next question. Simply, is John Fitch the best UFC fighter to never wear the belt? Someone was asking me about this recently, and I was talking about it with a fighter. I remember them bringing up Guy Metzger, being one, is John Fitch the best? Wow, that is a very good question. Right now, no one comes to mind. One I've heard a lot in this same conversation as Kenny Florian.

Kenny Florian, although Fitch's record more impressive than Kenny's. I wasn't, you know, saying I particularly feel Kenny over Fitch. I was just saying that one that has come up a lot when this discussion has been had is Kenny. Yeah, so, I mean, I can't, I think he's definitely in there in that discussion. top five. I'm trying to think of guys who, I mean, and also in the early days, they weren't winning belts necessarily. They were winning the tournaments in recent years. Fitch is certainly up there. Someone else who I feel like is the tip of my tongue that I can't quite nail it. Walter weight, lightweight, very, none of the, you know, Faber is up there too to never wear

the UFC title. He had WEC. Heavyweight, light heavyweight. You know, Dan Henderson. That's a good one. Dan Henderson. So those are a few that come to mind. Next question. Should Nick Diaz win on Saturday? Are we going to see Dana White's head explode? I can't imagine the PR nightmare that it would be to have Diaz as the new champ. No way. I mean, the rematch would be huge. Diaz is beloved. They're using the, sure, the press conference stuff as promos now. They love it. They love it. You kidding me? That was that fight needed that. It needed a jolt.

Let's be honest. We weren't as I mentioned, I think on the show as pumped up about it as we were maybe, you know, a year ago or a year and a half going as announced. I mean, now I'm counting the minutes to Saturday night. I can't wait for the press conference. I can't wait for the media day. All that stuff. This is a big fight. This feels like a big deal.

And that just, that just amped it up by five levels. I mean, is he tough to deal with maybe, but he is a draw and people love him, people hate him, they care about him, and that's a good thing. You want that. Our next question. With John Fitch being released for allegedly being on the decline and earning too much money, do you think Rashad Evans is in any danger of being cut if he loses to Henderson? This would put Evans, whose fights aren't always exciting on a three-fight losing streak and who is earning substantially more than Fitch. I don't know. Can I what? Buzzkill. I'm doing whatever the hell I want to do.

I like to talk. Really? I mean, talk about getting me out of my zone. I'm thinking about the question. I'm analyzing it in my mind. And then I get, can you address the camera? Jeez.

Fine. What's wrong with this camera? Okay. All right, all right, all right. Here I am. Okay, now I forgot the question. Oh, Henderson. No, it's Rashad, right?

Yeah, it's about Rashad. I don't think he'll get cut. Let's think about the losses. John Jones. The Nag one was obviously not his best performance. And then this one against Henderson, obviously depends. But as Fitch said, I mean, he was in a different place. Rashad is very, very popular.

He's still marketable. He's a draw. And I think he's a bigger draw than John Fitch. I don't think anyone would disagree with that right now. Works for them on the TV side of things. I mean, there's a lot more that goes into it. So, no, to answer the question, if he loses, I don't think that he would get cut, unless he puts off a total stinker, but I don't think so.

I agree with you. This one says question for Rick, but... And by the way, a lot of people getting mad about my he looks British comment, that's not an insult. People look a certain way. Brazilians look a certain way. British people look a certain way. Italians look a certain way.

That's not a bad thing or a good thing. He just looked like he was British. So the next question. Is that wrong? I mean, really? is that a bad thing to say? British people have a look. It's a nice look.

I love British people. Anyway, next question. Next question. What are the chances GSP and Diaz hug it out after their hopefully epic 25-minute war? And will Diaz be the one to initiate the embrace if it happens? Well, the question is for you. See, this is what I was saying.

I don't think this is necessary only for me. But in my opinion, I think that they will hug it out. Just because I think that they're, as Diaz, As said, there's a mutual respect there. He respects George's game. He doesn't play that game himself, but he respects George's game and respects him as a champion. And I don't think there's going to be any hard feelings or any grudge. I think right now, you know, tensions are high, but I think they will embrace and respect each other after the fight.

I agree. I agree. GSP is not that kind of guy. And we've seen this before with Nick, Frank Shamrock hugging him with BJ Penn. So I don't expect anything different. Our next question. This is the last one from the website. Ariel, we know what Mike Ritchie's perfect meal is, but what is yours?

A nice bowl of matzo ball suit with Rampage, perhaps? You know, as a kid, it used to be a nice Domino's pizza with green olives. That was my, that was like my McDonald's, right? I mean, we're not talking about a home-cooked meal, but my mom, the greatest chef of all time. And that's the only reason why I'm really excited to go home to much of for a second. I thought your Gmail was just on blast. That reminds me to look at this camera. So we're not talking homemade food here,

which is on a whole other level, particularly the Lebanese food. I am very hungry right now, so I will dwell on this. But as far as the McDonald's comparison, what is out there? I guess it's pizza. For me, it's pizza.

Green olive pizza. Nothing puts me in a more euphoric state than a nice cheese pizza. it with green olives on it. Maybe a little pineapple on the side, just for fun. No ham, just green olives and pineapple. That's my answer. Michael Bisping, another great fighter to never wear a title.

Oh, and Michael Bisping just tweeted. Someone just wrote, one of the best fighters to never wear a UFC belt is Bisping, and then he just responded, that's going to change, though, but thank you. And this is from MMA for Life. All right, we're moving to the Twitter questions. Fans not happy about my selections from the website, as usual. Or our Fitchface selections. Oh, stop it.

That's another story. The first question, the ads leading up to GSP versus Diaz really make Diaz look like a villain and a jerk. Is this a fair assessment of Nick? I don't... I mean, that's just, you know, when you talk like that, when you're outspoken like that, when you call out your opponent the way he has,

that's kind of the way it's going to be played up. And GSP is already who he is, and he has this persona, which was part of the issue that Diaz had with him, that it's, you're not going to turn GSP into the villain. He's the champ, and, you know, he's kind of like the golden boy, in a sense. Very clean cut. Always says the right thing.

You know, it says he doesn't like talking to the media because he's on autopilot, all this stuff, and Diaz is Mr. Middlefinger, Diaz is the guy who got into the brawl, Diaz is the guy who's coming off suspension. So it kind of makes, those roles make themselves. But by the way, in this day and age, people tend to side with that guy, the Diaz kind of guy, rather than the GSP guy, the gray character as opposed to the guy wearing the white hat.

So I don't think it's a bad thing. Do you think GSP was out of line on the call? Nick didn't say anything bad to him, and GSP started attacking his intelligence. Say the first part again? Do you think GSP was out of line on the call? I don't think so. I mean, he was defending himself,

and I'm happy that he tried to defend. I mean, when he said the part, listen to me, you uneducated foe. You know, when he said that, I mean, that was big. That was like, wow. I've never heard GSP say that. Uneducated foe.

Pre-beck better watch out. That was pretty good. No, yeah. That was, that's, and then he said to him, you know, maybe you're not smart enough. I mean, that's why I found it so fascinating. Nick got this out of him. GSP wasn't coming with that. Nick got it out of him.

That's why I asked John those questions. And I don't think that Nick's in GSP's head. I don't think he's under his skin, but he got it out of him. And that's impressive. We've never seen Kosteck get it out of him. Some of the other guys that he's had these kind of war of words with, we've never seen it happen before. Sarah, he's never done that.

So that's why I thought it was impressive. But no, I don't think he was disrespectful. I don't think he called him anything. I mean, that was the best conference call of all time. It was authentic. It wasn't manufactured. They both were just talking to each other. They didn't need us there.

And it was great. Both of them, to me, did nothing wrong there. And I love them for it. Our next question. Is GSP admitting he's never actually tweeted a slippery slope? Seems like he's flaunting the fooling of his fans. Well, I will say this. As far as negatives go, I don't see why he said that.

I mean, look, it's funny. We blame him for sometimes not being open, and now he's open, and you're kind of like, well, that was the wrong one to be open about. And I kind of agree. It's a weird thing, but why would you admit that? What was the point? You know, someone was asking about the dark place thing.

He could just say it. But you know what? I give him props. He was honest, and that's what we want. We want honesty. So let him be honest. Let the Twitter. No one said Twitter had to be personal.

You know, no one believes that the fan pages on Facebook and whatnot are run by the guys. So why does the Twitter have to be run by, you know, the athlete or the superstar, the celebrity in question? I'm sure a lot of fans were turned off. I wonder if any unfollowed him. But that was an interesting one to start being honest. about or open about, I should say. And I'm not saying he's lying. He just doesn't give us all the goods.

But hey, he did. I don't think it's such a big deal, honestly. Well, I think people want to feel like... Well, sure, but, you know, there's some Twitters that are just like that, where you come to get news about the person. There's still going to be more personal stuff on his Twitter than somewhere else. So it's not necessarily an unfollow situation. If that turns off so much, then just unfollow.

And if not, that's, you know, you can still. go to his Twitter to find out things that you wouldn't find out elsewhere. I think him being honest about it wasn't necessarily a negative or a positive, in my opinion. Look, you're getting pictures, you're getting inside. If you're a fan, you're going to follow him. But I can see why people would be like, eh, that's kind of weak. I agree. I would just unfollow if it was me.

Yeah, yeah. It's not a huge deal. And underlying issue, props to him for being honest about it. Our next question, how excited is Mama Helwani about UFC 150? Oh, my dear God. First of all, she listened to the conference call. I think she may have listened to it twice. She's watching right now.

We know this. She's going to the weigh-ins on Friday. May even be going to the open workouts on Wednesday, which are open to the public. Certainly she has her tickets, going to the fight on Saturday with my sister, dragging her who doesn't want to attend, cannot wait.

I won't tell you who she's rooting. Should I say, I feel like it's inappropriate. Is it inappropriate? Let's hear it. All I'll say is it's probably not. not who you think it is. I think that says it all. I think that says it all.

Which is a big, which is a major turn in our lives. She is pumped. She cannot wait. And also very pumped that Carlos Condé, who have already said on this show, is one of her favorite fighters. So, yeah,

she is excited. She will be there in full force. Bought her own tickets, by the way. No freebies. So don't go calling us out. So there will be a lot of Hohannis in attendance on Saturday. Just making the night all that more special. Our next question.

Are GSP's comments about Wydman beating Silva his way of saying he's done with the super fight? Sorry, someone was giving me crap again for this other thing. Say it again. Essentially, GSP's comment on Wydenman beating Silva and finishing me. Oh, yeah. Is that his way of saying he's done with the super fight? No, I'm not surprised. I mean, they're friends, they're training partners.

So I'm not surprised that he said it. Also, I'm not surprised if he's trying to maybe get under Anderson's skin. But what do you expect him to say? Anderson's going to beat his friend? It's interesting for someone to say it. More interesting is Daniel Cormier coming out yesterday saying that not only does he think Wydenman beats Anderson, he thinks Mark Hunt beats JDS.

Someone like Cormier, who is neutral, who has no relation to Wyden or Anderson, that's more interesting, in my opinion. That's definitely interesting. And a very interesting guy, a very interesting mind. So, yeah, he said that on Twitter yesterday. But what do you expect GSP to say? Our next question.

Do you think ring rust will hurt Wyden against Silva? Is it smart for him to take this fight without a tune-up fight? He has to take the fight. I mean, he can't wait. He can't turn this down. This is what he wanted. And who knows what happens after? New York, John Jones, GSP.

I mean, there's too many variables. What's interesting about this is that Wyman had to do essentially nothing this year to get this fight. And I say that in a good way. I don't think he did. You know already how I feel. I think he deserves it. But what's interesting was think about all that had to go his way for this to happen. Okay.

The Bisping loss. Belcher losing. Boch losing. even his injury in a weird way was a blessing in disguise. All these things had to happen for him to get this title shot and he's the last man standing

and in a weird way he was the guy who deserved it from the beginning, in my opinion. The most interesting styles matchup so maybe ring rest, maybe it's not the best time he's not in the best shape he's not rolling like he would be

after a fight that he just had two, three months ago but he has more time he's not banged up hopefully for his sake and you got to go in. It's weird how people came around. You know, originally they thought he didn't deserve it.

Now he deserves it all of a sudden, and it seems like people are really behind this fight. For the most part, there are still some people hating on it. So I'll never be perfect, and he would be crazy to turn it down because he's coming off an injury, and he never even considered it. Our next question, Diaz, Chale, or Weidman? Who has the best chance at becoming the champ? Diaz, Chale, Wideman?

I go Wyatman. I say Wyman has to be. best chance. What do you think? I agree completely. Yeah, I think Wydenman. Which is interesting because Anderson is widely considered, you know, the best fighter on the planet pound for pound. And yet, we're

saying that Wyden's probably the one who has the best shot. It's just interesting. Stiles makes fights. And he's also of that bunch the least experience. But yet for some reason there's something interesting, and I think Dan and her nailed it. He's

almost like a bigger GSP. I don't think it's striking is there. But as far as the grappling... Well, Danher was saying there's things that he has that GSP doesn't have. For example, the Jiu-Jitsu. Wydenman is so fluid with his on the bottom and on the top jiu-jitsu. It's very, like, impressive. Yeah.

Yeah, can't wait for it. I love that fight. Can't wait. Our next question. Now that Mark Hunt is fighting JDS, if he wins, and gets a title shot, would it be the greatest underdog story in MMA history? It's already one of the most improbable stories in MMA history. I mean, think about it. This guy had a contract with pride.

UFC buys pride, Zufa buys pride, and they figure out, oh, he has some fights left. The UFC says, well, I'm not that interested. We don't want him. How about this? We'll pay you the contract and you can go away. He says, nah, give me the fights. Come on. I want the fights.

Let me at least earn the money. They say fine. They put him on the first fight of the night against Sean McCorkle at UFC 119. He gets submitted in a matter of seconds by Sean McCorkel, of all people. I mean, really, that's one step above Isaac submitting Mark Hunt. I mean, it's really, it's not an impressive thing. And it's rather shocking at this point. Anyway, he comes back and they still give him another chance after that. They could have cut him. Maybe he didn't have a contract where he could cut him. Who knows how he got that other chance? But there he is, sticking around. Fights,

Chris Tushar at UFC 127 in Australia, right? That was in February of 2011. Knocks him out. Walk off. All right. Chris, not the best UFC heavyweight of all time. Fine. Comes back.

Fights Ben Rothwell. Not the most exciting fight, not his best performance, but beats Ben Rothwell, who's a legitimate heavyweight. Fine. Now he's won two in a row. Now already it's a little bit improbable. Knocks out Czech Congo, UFC 144. Out with the injury.

comes back, knocks out Stefan Strue, of all of a sudden he's fighting Junior Dos Santos, and a big part of it, make no mistake about it. The fans getting behind them. If the fans weren't behind this fight, who knows if the UFC would have done it, that's a huge part of it. And I'm curious.

I don't know why they love him so much. I mean, I get it, maybe he's an underdog. He's kind of, you know, he doesn't, the interviews, he's just sort of aloof, and he doesn't give too much, but yet it's kind of fascinating in a weird way. He's got a great look. He's had great fights in the past.

Someone brought this up to me, which I think is interesting. Is he the last pride fighter to have a legitimate chance to win a UFC title? What about Dan Henderson? Well, that's my question. Oh, you're saying...

Is he the last guy? He's the last hope? That's a good one. Can you think of any other names other than Henderson? Well, there's Vandalee who's doing... Well, I mean, guys were really closer to the shot.

Yeah, that's it. That's it. Yeah, he might be the best shot. it's amazing right who would have thunk it the guy was under 500 just months ago yeah so i think it's by far the best underdog story it's i mean you can't you can't you can't be it you really can't there's something about his look there's demeanor the way he finishes fights it's great okay our next question what is your opinion on phallon fox the transgender fighter competing in mma advantages disadvantages and is it fair oh god this is a really deep one um If you haven't heard the story, it's been everywhere.

Found Fox, first openly transgender fighter in MMA history. She is 2-0 as a pro, involved in a tournament in Florida, was licensed but was not open about her surgery. And now it's come to light, and the opponent's saying, well, maybe she wouldn't have taken the fight. And should she have to tell people beforehand? I mean, at this point, everyone knows who she is. She's on CNN, for God's sake.

So if you don't know about it, then someone's not helping you out there. And you should be doing a little more research. If you Google her name, it'll be out there. So it's out there at this point. The question is, does she deserve the opportunity to fight women? Is she getting an unfair advantage? Honestly, I don't know enough about this situation. I don't know.

I mean, at first glance, you say, yeah, I mean, she's a man. You know, she was a man, and she had the surgery. Now she's a woman. She still has that strength, the hormones, et cetera. But then you read more about it. And, you know, there are doctors who say, that they lose it all. This is way above my pay grade.

I don't want to be uneducated. I don't want to sound ignorant. So I don't know. Who am I to say? What do you say? Well, I say something that you touched on was that Crooklyn did a few interviews with doctors who said that at a certain point, her hormone levels are decreased, the bone density is decreased, and she has no advantages.

over other female fighters. And this is from the doctors who are experts on the subject. So I'm not sure what more somebody would need. But for me, personally, in my opinion, that's enough. If the doctors are coming out and saying that, then that's justifiable in my opinion. Now, if I'm a fighter competing against her, I might have a different opinion about it.

But if the science is there, then, in my opinion, I think it's fair. I'm curious to see how her future opponents react. If she goes 15 and 0, will the UFC signer? I think so. You do? I do. Wow. I mean, there's only so long you can keep somebody away from the big show when they're winning that much.

This is unprecedented, though. I mean, this is a big one. I agree, but I mean, we just had Liz Karmouche. This is totally different. This is a physical issue. Yeah, I'm just saying that. I don't talk about it because she's transgender. is it fair is the question oh i see what you're saying you you were saying would you

you're saying would they allow it based on yeah if it's fair or not not the the media no no no no um i think so i think that the the ufc is is ahead of the curve in terms of implementing things for example the the um the t rt testing that's coming out that happened what seemed like overnight where dana was like you know what this is how i feel this is how it's going to be from now on. And I think that you won't find that in many other leagues where things are implemented that quickly. So I think that in terms of being reactionary to it, the UFC is the perfect place for that to happen. So if the information comes out and the UFC gets educated about whether it's fair or not, whether this is considered an advantage or not, I think that they'd be the first to quickly implement it.

and I have faith in that fact. So that if she did go on some sort of winning streak that was impossible to deny, then I think the UFC would be a home for her. That's just my opinion, though. Yeah. I'm not sure if it will happen, but she's getting a lot of attention,

so I'm curious to see what happens next. This is our last question for today. What's the story behind the comic art framed behind you? It looks like the X-Men. Well, is it okay if I look this way, a bus kill, or is this... Okay, so this little framed photo here was given to us by the good people over at Cage Hero. As you can see right here, it says AOL Fan House, MMA Hour with Ariel Hawani, making Monday mornings better since June 18, 2009.

Our first show. Funny story about this was John Volante was on the show prior to his fight against Chad Griggs, first round of the Strike Force Heavyweight Grand Prix two Februarys ago, and he came to the studio with Mark Master Andrea, who was one of the owners of Cage Hero. He was a big fan of the show. They were coming into the studio, the AOL days,

so he gave us this, which I thought was very nice. And when we moved into this studio, I didn't particularly like this gray beam here. So I thought that the painting or the photo, which was up in our old studio, would work well here just because it kind of broke it up a little bit. And what was interesting about that appearance was, it was Volante. Mark came because he helped book the interview. And the guy who just came along, who tagged along with them

was Chris Wydenman. Unknown Chris Wideman, not a lot of talk about him doing okay things on the amateur, not the amateur circuit, the Indy Circuit Ring of Combat and whatnot. He just tagged along. He jumped into the interview. He came in at the end, but the star was John Valenti. And then like a week later, Wyman gets the call to fight Sakara, UFC on versus what I think it was number three in Kentucky, beat Sakara, the rest is history. Talked a bit about that he had a rib injury and he was still able to overcome that. So what's funny is I almost feel like him getting on the show expedited his UFC debut, don't want to take credit for it, you know, like the hunt situation.

But that's the funny story. So this is it. the K-Chiro painting picture and yeah it's cool K-Tiro check them out appreciate it all right we do have the questions today to run back through oh wow so this is the first one right here it's the one about the ads leading up to JSP versus TAS just run through them quickly we get the ads uh the line the tweeting from GSP yeah your mom Oh, yeah. Okay, he wins.

This guy. No, no, my mom. The question about your mom? Yeah, of course. All right, there it is. There it is. Congratulations. Who was it?

Let me go back. I love that question. Shecky Shabazz. Shecky Shabazz, of course. Congratulations. You win the GSP round five figurine. You asked about my mom. You're going to win.

That's the bottom line. But there were some great questions this week. I really love them. I like the Hunt one. The GSP one's all great. stuff. Okay, let's go to Rick's picks. It's 430 for God's sakes. Yeah, we can do these quick because I touched upon most of it last week. We've got St. Pierre. He's a minus 500 favorite. Nick Diaz, a plus 400 underdog. As I said, I really don't like this styles-wise for Nick. I think that

GSP's going to be able to take him down at will and keep him there. Now, Nick's always dangerous from the bottom, but I think that GSP's good enough with his positional control that he's not going to be in much danger and I think that's the way the fight's going to go. Now I said something and somebody on Twitter mentioned this. I said that I think that GSP might be able to finish Diaz. St. Pierre wins by TKO, KO is right now sitting at 5.5 to 1. And I don't see value in minus 500 for GSP, but there might be some value in taking GSP by TKO or KO at 5.5 to 1. Now, I'm not, by no means am I saying that's the most likely scenario.

I see GSP winning a decision. But it will be possible for GSP to have Nick Diaz on the ground so much. And we know how good GSP is punching inside the guard. He completely destroyed BJ Penn from inside his guard. GSP's also a depth at passing guard. So that's not a problem for him to get a new position. I think that there might be a scenario where he has enough volume on his punches, not necessarily doing so much damage. you're not you're really you know ds is is almost impossible to finish in terms of knocking him out cold or submitting him but he might have enough uh of he might get enough a number of punches in that he might be able to force the ref to stop it with a tkow now as i said that's not the most likely uh gsp by decision is sitting at let's see minus 250 so a little better um than the minus 500 of taking him straight out but i'm not sure that that's what i'm going to go i'm either going to stay away um

Stick GSP in a parlay or take a flyer on him inside the distance because I think that is possible. Overwhelming with strikes. All right. The next fight, Condit Hendricks. And by the way, that was one of your better breakdowns, I must say. Thank you, sir. Yeah, no problem. Condit is plus 115.

He's the underdog. Hendrix is minus 135. Now, I was a little on the fence about this fight last week. I've since thought about it, and I really, now this could come back to bite me in the butt. I really like Condit in this one as an underdog. dog. Now, I said the same thing about Campman that I'm about to say about Condit, which is that he has a very diverse game. He's tough to knock out, and he's going to have, be able to get in and out and execute different attacks on Hendricks. Now, I said the same thing about Campman,

and Campman got laid out in, what was it, less than a minute. So you cannot discount Johnny Hendricks power. Now, I don't think that that happens to Condit in this one, but I'm not sure enough to say that it absolutely will not happen. So if you look at some props, Hendrix wins inside the distance is currently plus 325, because there's not a line on knockout exclusively out right now. But if you're feeling that this is going to be another one of those Hendricks fight where he just blast somebody, plus 325 is not bad odds to get for a Hendricks knockout.

Now, I might take that as a flyer to counter my bet on Condit, but my pick for this fight is Condit, and I will probably bet on Connit. it. And I'm absolutely worried about it because of Hendrix's power. It's undeniable how powerful that dude is. It looked like he barely grazed Campman when he knocked him out and he sent him flying across the ring. So yeah, I'm picking Condit, but Hendrix is a beast. That's a tricky situation. It's such a tough spot for Hendricks after the Ellenberger fight, which seemed like a good fight for him. Now he gets the former. interim champ.

If he loses, it's a shame, you know, because he was there. He earned it. And then if he wins, I mean, who has a resume like that? This guy's torped, like, he's demolished the division. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the breakdown on that one. All right.

Real quick, we have Ellenberger minus 165 favorite, Marquart plus 145. I like Ellenberger to win a decision here. Now, Ellenberger has power. Mark quart has power, so either guy could end this fight inside the distance. But I think that Ellenberger is going to be able to mix in some kicks. We saw that, you know, Safedin was able to work Markquart's legs. Now, I don't see that happening again. Ellenberger is not Safedine.

But I do see him being able to slow Markwart to the point where wrestling is not a factor, and he's going to be able to beat him on the feet. Now, Marquart's, you know, no slouch on his feet. So it's not going to be easy. I think that this fight's going to be either a split decision or a close unanimous decision. One of those because I think it's very evenly matched, but I think Ellenberger has a little bit more in his tool belt at this point. So I'm picking Ellenberger. Possibly going to bet on him, but nothing right now, nothing that I see right now that's jumping out.

And that's it? They posted lines for Chris Komosey and Nick Ring. Camosie is a slight favorite. I doubt he opened as a favorite. Let me check it on that. Comozi opened at plus 140 So he was the underdog And now

Oh actually no ring is still the favorite Camozzi opened at plus 140 He's now minus 115 Ring opened at minus 180 And he came down to minus 125 So the action is coming in on Camosie Who's still a slight underdog to Nick Ring At minus 125

I like Camosie in this fight First of all Nick Ring coming off, layoff from, what was it? I think he had food poisoning. Is that right? I think he had the flu or something. He was supposed to fight Philip who pulled out of the fight the morning up. Right.

I think it was a sick cut something. I don't know if it was food poisoning, but yeah. Something happened. And I feel that sometimes those are almost worse than injuries. Injuries, you kind of know what you're dealing with. But this is one of those situations where you don't really know what you're going to get. Now, I say this every time. because you know you have to Nick Ring is in Canada and he's been known to win decisions in Canada.

Oh. Now I'm not saying that, you know, the refs are, the judges are in his pocket or anything. I'm just saying if it's a close fight, Ring has shown the ability to pull it out. Whether you agree with the decisions or not, that's something you have to account for. But I like Comozy in this one. I will probably bet on him. All right. There's one more line, Colin Fletcher and Mike Ritchie, two guys we had on the show today.

Yes. Fletcher is a plus 205 underdog. Ritchie is minus 285. I don't see much value. I like Ritchie in this one, but I'm not sure I'm willing to lay the juice on him at minus 285. Maybe in a parlay. I think that Ritchie's a really, really good fighter.

He just happened to come up against a guy who is a superior wrestler and knows how to execute his game plan in Colton. But I think that this is Ritchie's fight to lose, and I like him in this one. but not at minus 285. I'll see what kind of props come out or possibly stick him in a parley. All right. That's it.

There it is. So you'll tweet the picks an hour within an hour after the weigh-ins, right? That's correct. Ruben Duran versus George Rup. Isay Tamor versus T.J. Dillusha. Quinn Mulhern versus Rick Story, Facebook prelims. Darren Crockshank versus John McDessie, Jordan Meehan versus Dan Miller,

Darren Elkins versus Antonio Carvalo and Bobby Volker versus Patrick Cote FX prelims. Then it's Colin Fletcher versus Mike Ritchie, Nick Ring versus Chris Comozy, Jake Ellenberger versus Nate Marquart, Johnny Hendrix versus Carlos Condit, and then the big one, George St. Pierre versus Nick Diaz. It's UFC 158. Isaac. Let me just say two things real quick.

There are some undercard fights that I'm interested in, so we'll keep an eye out for that. Second thing, shout out to Brian Axelrod. I got to go to the Barclays to see Bernard Hopkins Fight to Boris Cloud. It was incredible. Good crowd? Yeah, the crowd was great.

Brooklyn was rocking. Hopkins became the oldest fighter to become champion, I believe it is. At 40 years old. By the way, someone noted you were tweeting more about that than you were about UFC on Field TV. I tweeted twice about it. That's more? Yes, that is more, but that's because I was in the building.

If I was in the building for UFC on Fuel TVA, you can bet there'd be some more tweets. Where's the theme song? It's coming. We're working it out. You know, red tape and all that. I was going to go Brendan sitting right next to me. Yeah, what's up?

He's not involved in the process, but, you know, he's overseeing. All right. Well, then it's definitely not going to happen. Isaac, you can hit my music. There we have it. Marathon edition of the MMA hour. We knew this was coming. But it was worth it, my friends.

A great episode. Appreciate you stopping by fitting. It's such a huge week in MMA. Again, it feels like a big fight. And I love that feeling. It's the fight we've been waiting for. We thought we were going to get it two other times. There was talk when Nick was the Strike Force champion, GSP, of course, the UFC champion.

And finally, someone tweeted a picture, a video to me yesterday of me interviewing Nick like three years ago about this fight. When they obviously couldn't fight, Nick was saying, I want to fight this guy. Finally, we're going to get to see it happen. cannot wait. I want to thank John Danaher for stopping by. Great insight. Really want to have him back on the show in the future in studio, talk about his career and get some more insight from him. I really enjoyed talking to him. Colin Fletcher. Thank you very much to him and Mike Ritchie. Great stuff out of both of them. Looking forward to that fight kicking off the pay-per-view on Saturday night. And I must admit, Mike got me a little excited to maybe one day try McDonald's again.

I really appreciate John Fitch stopping by. Congratulations. to him as he signs with World Series of fighting and is set to make his debut in June, June 14th. Frankie Edgar, always a pleasure to talk to the answer, the former champion, and good luck getting in that fight against Cubs Swanson. Caesar Gracie, great insight, as always, from the man from 209. Looking forward to seeing him in Montreal and good luck against GSP. Stefan Bonner, really appreciate him stopping by. I hope it all works out.

Really appreciate the insight. And Mark Hunt, let's not forget about Mark Hunt, the Super Simone, really appreciate. Thank you so much for all the questions. Everything. We'll see you next week. Peace. Something out of you. 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. It's all of those things and then some.

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