MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 174

Episode Date: August 14, 2014

Featuring Gegard Mousasi, Dan Hardy, Michelle Beadle, Ross Pearson, Mauro Ranallo, and Bec Hyatt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-4-3 at O-D-O-D-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-O-com. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with the Mixed Martial Arts Hour back in your life. On this Monday, April 1st, 2013, it is so great to be back here in our New York City Studios.

Our new, our new-ish, New York City Studios, if you may remember, the last time we did this show was actually two weeks ago. And first off, off the top, I have to apologize for my voice sounding a little weird under the weather. What happens is I kiss my son a lot. Do we kiss mouth to mouth? Do we exchange saliva? Maybe I can't confirm. And I've been told that this will lead to sickness. Little babies like to put things in their mouths.

And as a result, I get sick a lot. So I need to work on my immune system. So I apologize if I sound a little congested. Now, back to the studio. Last time we were here two weeks ago, I told you that we were kind of in a transition period. This was the makeshift set that they were giving me And to be honest, I kind of liked it I know some of you didn't really like the action going on back there

As I think my microphone just went up But anyway, there was a lot of action going on back there And I kind of like the feel Sort of the live news feel In the old days, we were in a shoebox Now it feels like I don't know, it feels like we're in a live sort of setting There's a lot of life here

So anyway, that's where we stand. I don't know when the new set is coming, but to be honest, this is growing on me. Anyway, we have a huge show plan for you. We're going two plus hours. We're probably going to three hours. We've got a lot to get to. In the third hour, we're going to be taking your questions, comments.

Whoa. In the third hour, we're going to be taking your questions and comments. My voice just popped up. Regarding all things mixed martial arts, of course, you've heard about it, UFC on Fuel TV 9. Is it in jeopardy? Is it not in jeopardy? What's going on with Alexander Gustafson?

Who is Gehgar-Musassi going to fight? Is he going to fight Alexander Gustafson? Well, we'll take your questions about that. And anything else that's happened in the last two weeks, Nick Diaz, there's a huge, huge, huge slate of fights coming up this weekend, beginning Thursday with Beltor, then Invicta on Friday, then UFC on Saturday. We'll talk about all of that.

Hit us up using questions, using the hashtag, excuse me, the MMA hour. We'll take your questions and comments. Also, best prize of the day, that kind of thing. Well, it's not going to go to the best question of the day. We're going to stick with the picture theme. So we're going to go with hashtag Musaub. Musasi Pose. If you have already come in, the winner gets a Halwani nose t-shirt. I want your Musasi pose. You know what the Musasi pose is. You know that kind of like,

ho-hum, that kind of face, like, I'm just walking down the park. It's a beautiful day. I'm going to go kick someone's ass. That face. That's the face I'm talking about. Use the hashtag Musassi Pose. Best one gets a prize. Now, in the third hour, we're going to be talking to, in the second hour. Actually, let's go back to the third hour. Third hour, New York, we'll stop by. He'll give us his picks for UFC on Fuel TV 9. He's doing pretty well lately. There is a month left in our competition, less than a month. Third hour, we're going to

be, excuse me, second hour, we're going to be talking to Dan Hardy. He pulled out of UFC on Fox 7, so we'll get an update on him. He has a heart condition. Wolfheart, he's calling himself. Find out how the outlaw is doing. Beck Hyatt, she's going to be stopping by. She fights in Invicta this weekend.

Moranallo. He's back on the scene. He has a new show. He'll be stopping by at 2 o'clock. Giger Musassi, the man of the hour. He'll be stopping by at 140. We'll find out what's going on with him. And really excited about this in around 20 minutes or so. Michelle Beatle, the host of the crossover on NBC Sports Network.

Also, she's on Access Hollywood, formerly of ESPN. Huge combat sports fan. She's going to be stopping by to talk about a whole bunch of different things. But first, let us go to the phone lines. And let me also mention that New York, Rick, Buzzcoe, Brendan, Will, and new member of the team Mike in the back. So we appreciate them stopping by and help. helping us out. But let us go to the phone lines. Let us go to the Skype machine, I believe,

joining us all the way from the great country of Sweden is the man who will be fighting in the co-main event on Saturday night. They call him the real deal. He's facing Ryan Couture in Couture's UFC debut. Ross Pearson? There is. Yep. How are you, Ross? Good. Good. Thanks for stopping by, we appreciate it. First things first, what's the buzz over there? What's the vibe? You've heard these rumors about Alexander Gustafson. He's a teammate of yours at Alliance

MMA. Is this fight going to happen? I don't know, Ariel. You tell me. I mean, you're the journalist here. I've actually not seen Alex or a sporkrum, this camp, to be honest. He's done his camp here out in Sweden. I've been

in San Diego at Alliance. and I asked Bert Watson today what was the news, what was the lowdown and even he said he hadn't spoke to Dane yet so he didn't know I don't know what to report I don't know what to say I guess we just wait

until the UFC released it I don't know I'm anxious to find out myself I mean do I go main event does Geyhard Mousassie get an opponent I don't know what happens Any fears that the card gets cancelled? Oh, I mean, that's, yeah, that would be worst case scenario. If it gets cancelled, that would be devastated.

I've got a lot of friends and family here, coming over to supporters. Never fought in Europe for two years now. That would be devastating to me. I've come out here to fight. I've come out here to win. And, yeah, I don't even want to think about that right now. I know you said you guys haven't trained together for this camp,

but you have similar coaches called Eric Del Fierro. He could give you the scoop, right? Yeah, I mean, trying to get in contact with Eric Del Fierro these days is turning out to be a bit difficult. He's a busy bard. What are you trying to say? He's just got a lot of fighters on his hard's traitor right now. I mean, the time difference and all.

Are you not feeling the love? Not at all, not at all. Eric's my coach, my trainer, my manager. We've got a great partnership. I was just being funny with that one. You're being cheeky, as they say. A cheeky bread. I heard that he actually has six fighters on this card.

Hopefully it'll be six, including Alexander Gustafson. So I can understand that he is busy. But you spent your entire camp over there in San Diego. Are you done with England? No, I'm never done with England. I always say I'll always be roughhouse. I was training in England when I was over there for UFC Wembley, training with Dean. I'm a singer down in his gym.

And I think that was eight weeks out of the fight. And then from UFC London, I headed out straight to San Diego to finish off camp, finish preparation. I've been there ever since. your reaction when you got the word that the UFC wants you to fight Ryan Couture? Because I know the reaction amongst the media and fans was, wow, they're throwing

Ryan Couture to the wolves here, and maybe because of the issue between the UFC and Ryan's dad, Randy, they're trying to get rid of this guy. He may not be ready for the Ross Pearson's of the world. What did you think? You know, I was just excited. Pearson versus Couture

is a sounds good, you know. I got us excited for the fight got his wanting got my fight head odd wanting to get prepared

for camp wanting to get ready you know I wasn't really paying too much attention of should I be fighting this guy do I want to fight someone higher

do I want to fight a top 10 guy I just this guy poses threats to me this guy is who the UFC want me to fight

and I feel like like this fight, I can go out there and showcase some skills and beat this guy comfortably, you know, and start getting on a run. Do you feel like he's at your level right now? You know, I definitely feel he's going to come in prepared. I definitely think it's going to be the best Ryan Kachibu you see. But, no, I don't think he's on my level.

I don't think he's fought the level of competition. I thought I don't think he's been in fighting UFC caliber guys for ever really so no I don't think he's on my level and if all things are going to plan he won't last very long in there with me but not taking him lightly I'm not

overlooking anything you know I'm preparing for a tough fight I know Ryan's durable I know Ryan can take a shot and I know Ryan's game you know so he brings some threats to the table and I've just got to be on my A game sharp, strong and let him know

how powerful I hate and how fit and strong I am and how much I want to fight so I've got to own this fight and I've got to perform well and show him what the UFC is all about A lot of people don't think he deserve to beat K.

J. Noons in his last fight in January. Did you watch the fight and who do you think won? Yeah, I've watched all the Ryan's fights back. It was a real close fight. It was one of them fights really that, you know, it could have went either way. But I definitely feel KJ hurt Ryan a lot. He hurt him in the second, nearly had him out. But you know Ryan scrambles well?

he's got a constant grind and his work rate is always high and that looks good on the judges sometimes you know if if you're not landing big shots and hurting the guy but the guy's still working sometimes judges look at the work rate

of a fighter you know and I think that's what they caught their eye on when Ryan 4KJ you know right now you're fighting at lightweight you went to 1.45 you got the opportunity to fight or coach on the

Ultimate Fighter, had the great showing against George Soderopoulos, but it sort of came out of nowhere because you had just dropped down to 145. Are you done with that run? Are you done as a featherweight? Yeah, 100%. Why was it so short-lived? Just I realized how much I hated the sport doing it at 145. It's just not me. It was too hard to live like a bodybuilder via that diet and trained fight. like for a mixed martial artist you know the two just didn't work for us you know and I fell out of love with a sport

and I didn't look forward to fights you know having to make that big weight cut before a fight you know and it just my style of fighting it just didn't work out and I realized quick

you know I just wasn't happy and I didn't enjoy it and once I start enjoying something I just won't do it you know no one thought And he wants to fight. You fight because you want to fight.

You fight because you want to be the best. And at 1.45, I knew I couldn't be the best. I knew I couldn't be the best Ross Pearson. And, yeah, I'm much happier at 55. My weight, my diet, everything's perfect. I can train right up to the fight. I can lift pre-camp and be healthy, you know. It's just a much more natural weight for me

And that can be turning up to fight 100%. You know, it was also interesting because you've never had a fight finish The way the Cups Swanson fight ended, right? I mean, you've had some losses, but not like that. And then you get the opportunity to be a coach on the ultimate fighter. And usually when guys get an opportunity to be on the ultimate fighter, I guess your name's not Chal Sondon, you're coming off a big win, things like that. So it's almost like you had to reinvent yourself for your ego

for your mental state, what did that loss do to you? Yeah, it hurt, man. It hurt real bad. You know, not taking anything away from Cub, you know, he was a better man on night. He beat his fair and square. He's a great fighter. But I feel I was winning that fight, and I've taken bigger shots than that before. Not seeing Cub doesn't hit hard because he does.

I've felt them. and me being myself knowing the shots I can't take and have taken in the past I would have walked straight through that shot you know at 55 I just 845 I just 845 it caught us you know I was going to see I'm not out I wasn't knocked out I was still I was still up I do feel like the

the stoppage was a little bit early but yeah Cubs go bowing hands down and yeah it hurt bad and like you say I'd do it had to reinvent myself and know I had to know myself what I wanted to do um with fighting you know because I knew at fighting at 1.45 just wasn't right for me and I knew I wouldn't have lasted much longer in the UFC at that weight division you know the the show was very entertaining if you watched online unfortunately didn't get a lot of play here in America Dana White was talking about, I mean, he was saying it was one of the best.

And he also teased that some crazy stuff happened behind the scenes, but never told us. So, spill the beans. What exactly happened behind the scenes on toughs matches? So we were there filming, and it was all cool. I think it was the second or third fight in. Australia went one. We went one, and Australia went one. And, no, I think it came back to two-two.

And we, me and my coaches were going back to the guest hotel where we were staying. And obviously, because we'd run a fight, we were cheering and jumping around and just acting silly, really. And team Australia's coaches, George and his team, must have found that offensive, you know. And this was outside of our hotel and we all were in our UFC tough smashers gear. and yeah George confronted us tried to start a street fight like a group fight

Wow Yeah it was crazy So I got separated In the middle of street And from that It started like a little bit of a Twitter Back and forth fight Between me and George

Just seeing get ready to fight in December Blah blah blah And then my assistant boxing coach, Aaron Beach, he happened to see a few things on Twitter and George didn't like it. And a few days down the road on filming, on the set, they were off camera,

and George cheap shot at Aaron. What? Yeah, cheap shot him from behind. What kind of cheap shot? like punched him straight in the face from behind. Get out of here. Yeah. And crazy things happened.

Obviously, George didn't put Aaron down on the floor. He backed Aaron up a little bit and went in to try and finish him off. And Aaron knocked George out. What? Yeah. It turned up a real street fight. And, yeah. obviously the

UFC wasn't happy about what happened I mean it was it was just it was ridiculous really George doing that to

to to team and not even fighting him like a man cheap shot him not when he wasn't even looking when I was when I said all the things that I said about the show I wasn't lying

you know I did lose all respect for George I still don't respect him now he done some ridiculous things and when I said I saw the real George St. Robles that's what I was going on about. I did see what he really was like and he was crazy man

the guy's got problems, he's got issues and there was the things I was saying but obviously I couldn't release what happened and I was telling the truth I didn't lie. So why didn't they show that stuff on TV?

Yeah, that was off camera so they didn't have that. So it must have felt really good when you finished him. Yeah, I mean, that was the longest preparation to get ready for that fight. It felt like the whole year getting ready to fight

George. It was a long time and yeah, it was icing on the cake. I never worried about fighting George. I didn't fear his style. I didn't fear him at all and, you know, I had

some bad feelings towards him and I used that to get ready to fight. And yeah, it felt good just the fight going exactly to plan how I wanted it. You know, I remember a couple years ago you were on this show in studio and you played a fun little game called Wag or Hague. Do you remember that? Yep, I remember. Now, I got to say, you're doing pretty well, Mr. Pearson.

You're dating one of the Octagon girls on the show, right? Christy? Yeah. Look at you, all growns up. Well done. we've been going out for two years. Two years. Why,

well done? Do you not think I'm good enough looking to... No, I mean... No, I mean... Like, Christy? No, but it's, you know, sometimes people bat below their, their abilities, if you know what I'm saying,

to steal... Is that what you're trying to see, I mean? No, I think you nailed it. I think you got someone who you deserve is what I'm trying to say. Okay, thank you. Yeah, well done.

I mean, sometimes, you know, the stars don't align, and for you, they've aligned. Thank you. I mean, have. Yeah, I'm really happy with my personal life, the way of things are going between me and Christy. And, yeah,

I'm really happy and it makes everything else a lot easier in life. So how do you finish this guy on Saturday? How do you see this going down? How do I finish this guy? Yeah, this guy, you know, Ryan Couture. I've got to find, I've got to find my range. I've got to dictate the pace, and I've got to let him know that I don't fear him anywhere.

You know, I know. I know for a fact he's going to use his strike and the set of his wrestling and I'm not scared of his wrestling you know I train with some of the best guys in the world if he wants to try and wrestle let's wrestle you know

I'll show the world what I've improved on you know I'm just not I'm just not a British banger anymore you know I'm a full mixed martial artist if he wants to fight on the floor we'll fight on the floor wherever he

wherever he thinks he's going to take the fight, he's going to be wrong, you know, because I'm winning there, and I'm just going to take the fight away from him, and beat him everywhere. And, you know, I believe I've got the power in my hands, in my feet, my knees, my elbows to finish anyone in this division. And I'll land that shot. I know I'm going to finish right. And let's just put it out there.

If Alex can't make it to Saturday night, you're ready, willing, able to be the main event, right? 100% yeah I mean I came here to fight I'll do five rounds in the main event I'm fit healthy let's do it you know if the UFC if Deanna wants to do it if he sees it to keep the show going you know

I'm here to keep the show alive I know it's not what the Swedish fans want they want to see Alex fight but believers I'm coming out of fight and they won't want to miss it Ross always a pleasure good to catch up with you Good luck on Saturday. Can't wait for the fight. It's Ross Pearson versus Ryan Couture.

History will be made on Saturday. Ryan Couture will be the first father-son duo, of course, his dad. Randy Couture fought in the UFC many years. He'll be making his debut. Ross Pearson looking to spoil the party in Stockholm, Sweden. Good to talk to you, Ross, and good luck. I hope everything goes well and that the fight actually happens, of course. All right. Thanks, man.

All right, there he is. The real deal himself, Ross Pearson, stopping by from Stockholm, Sweden. It's a great card. We'll talk a lot more about it in the U.S. third hour as we preview the card with Rick's Picks. But let us move along right now because, as I mentioned, it is a huge combat sports weekend. And part of the reason why I wanted to have our next guest on was to discuss this. Also, I'm just a huge fan. As an aspiring, as someone who tries to pretend like he is a broadcaster, I look up to people like this, so excited that she has taken

out a couple minutes of her busy day to join us. She is the host of the crossover on NBC Sports Network. Also, you've seen her on Access Hollywood. prior to that ESPN. Yes Network, so many places, one of the best, if not the best in the business. Michelle Beatle stops by. Michelle, how are you? Oh, good. That was a heck of an intro. Thank you. Well, I'm being honest. I've watched you from Yes to, of course, the mothership to now NBC. You're great. And what I like about you most, I mean, we're a little biased here. When, you know, when mainstream people, we're kind of like the loser in school. We think that everyone kind of ignores us. And then when we have a mainstream media person who talks about mixed martial arts,

who talks about things like pro wrestling, all of a sudden we feel like, yeah, people do like us. We're actually kind of cool. So you validate us. Well, I don't know about that, but I do, it is weird, isn't it? You know what it'll happen, though? It'll become trendy and some moron that's never watched it in their lives will say something great about it, and all of a sudden everyone will say, I loved MMA when, but they didn't. We know the truth.

Now, do you get some pushback from people that you work with, bosses, colleagues? He's like, why do you tweet about this stuff? Why are you talking about this stuff? I do get a little pushback, but I always find it funny because, you know, especially with Twitter, it's such a voluntary act of following and followers and, you know, whatever all that stuff is about. So it's, you know, if you don't like it, you don't have to sit there and read it or follow along.

I look at Twitter as a place where we all get to kind of just talk about whatever we want. You know, you can plug stuff if you feel like it or you just have a conversation with a couple hundred thousand people that you may never meet. I love that. And I think it's fun. And for me, Monday nights have become just this almost reactionary thing that I do now with just tweeting raw. No one ever asked me to.

No one's ever said, hey, that's a really good idea. It just kind of happens. And, you know, I love it. And the same thing for the big fights. I try to make sure I watch, if not all of them, most of them, whenever I can. And, yeah, there are a lot more people that I think are fans that we don't realize. And until, you know, I don't know why it's not as mainstream as it should be. And, of course, I'm talking about the MMA side.

because we all know the wrestling side is a whole other ballgame. But I don't get it. There are still those that say that it's this, it's violent, it's what have you. But for those reasons, I think most of us are fans in the first place. How long were you, have you been a fan of all this stuff? Wrestling, just combat sports in general. You seem to enjoy it all since when? I think it goes back to my ancient Roman ancestors in the Coliseum.

No, I think it's, I am so the opposite of a fighter, a flage. I don't have any kind of physical violence in me, and I think for people like me, we get to live vicariously through what we see on that screen. You know, the idea that you train and train and train and it all comes down to one evening where you just have a chance to beat this other human being and win and be the best, there's just something so alluring about that, especially to me, because, you know, these are actions I will never hopefully have to or will take in my everyday life. And so the violence of it and the grittiness of it, it's as tough as it gets. It also has ruined me for things like baseball, because now I try to go watch a baseball game. I'm bored to tears, and it's just not going to happen. I couldn't agree more.

Now, I won't be offended if you answer this next question in one direction. As far as the totem pole goes, you like pro wrestling a little more than MMA, right? I think I follow wrestling. You know what, though? I do watch a lot of MMA, but I think I follow the wrestling because it's every single week, Monday night. you know, it's appointment programming for me. And I think so it's just become an easier thing for me to follow. But, you know, besides the fact that, like, I love Dana White.

I think if everybody in sports had a guy like that, you know, fighting for them, then some of these sports would not be struggling to keep their fan bases. Do you believe that the UFC has taken a chunk out of WWW's world, has stopped their momentum a bit? Has the rise of the UFC hurt the rise of the WWE? You know, I don't know if it's – I don't know. Because I think those of us who are fans of both realize one is obviously very real in that these guys are not pulling punches and scripting anything.

And the other is just purely 100% entertainment, albeit very athletic, but still entertainment nonetheless. What I do think is that MMA has just almost made boxing completely irrelevant. You know, if we didn't have stories like the Mayweathers of the world that are not the stories that are in the ring, it's more about, you know, the asinine bedding and the stuff that he does outside of work, I don't know that we would talk about boxing at all anymore. So for me, MMA has killed boxing. I won't pay to watch a boxing match anymore because I can get everything that boxing has plus some

when I give my money to UFC. You see, I actually think that mixed martial arts has hurt pro wrestling more than boxing because when you watch a UFC event, it looks like a pro wrestling event, the characters, the cage, all that stuff. And if you look at, let's get into WrestleMania. It's this weekend. It's in New Jersey. MetLife Stadium.

I know you'll be there. We'll talk about it. I think that this is a perfect example as to how MMA, more specifically, the UFC, has hurt WWE. Because you look at this card, and correct me, if I'm wrong, it's very flat.

You've got three rematches at the top. We know what's going to have. Let's be honest. Is CM Punk, as much as I love the guy, and he's the only reason why I kind of even watch it, I used to be the die-hardest fan of all time. That's not even a word.

I was the biggest fan. We know he's not going to beat The Undertaker. Come on, we know he's not going to beat the Undertaker. Triple H is going over. So we know what's going to happen. Doesn't that hurt it a little bit? Well, I do think there's a lack of new characters. I think that the WW is in that weird zone right now

where the AAA is in the Undertaker's the world. While I love having them still around, you know, you also have to get ready to kind of move on what the future is going to hold, and we've seen them release these new characters, Tensai lasted, you know, 10 seconds, this Fandango character who is ridiculously hateable, and I don't know how long he'll be around.

I think what they're doing is they're struggling to bring on people that we can all kind of grasp onto in love. Ryback, the Shield. I'm not 100% sure those are going to be long-lasting names for most of us. But I think that the entrance music and the costumes and the ridiculousness of the over-the-top showmanship is wonderful. And I don't know who got what from whom. All I know is that I like it. I like that the fighters in UFC and MMA come in to this most dramatic kind of their choice of music. And, you know, GSP with obviously, which is now a controversial choice in clothing.

But, you know, nonetheless, it's just part of the whole show, because I think that's just part of it. I think there's that machismo swagger that men need to come into an arena before they beat the crap out of another human being. It's a wonderfully beautiful part of it all. Now, correct me from wrong, you were just referring to the Rising Sun controversy, right? Yeah. Wow. You're really up to date with all this stuff. That's very insider.

You know, it's fashion, so I'm on top of it. Oh, and I know you've tweeted about MMA fashion. You're not a fan. I'm not a fan as well. But how, I mean, do you go to the MMA websites and things like that? Do you read about this stuff? I do. I try to keep up with it.

There are some characters, you know, I think Sonin is one of the, you know, he's the punk of, for me. Anyways, he's not afraid to say whatever he wants, sometimes to the chagrin of basically everyone. I like that. I think there's a difference between that kind of a guy versus, you know, Nick Diaz, who is a little bit crazy and irresponsible and probably a boss's nightmare, but at the same time, a definite draw for a lot of us. So I try to keep up as much as I can. It's all characters. And for me, just like I like with the wrestling, it's the storyline that makes the fight that much better. Don't you feel as though that someone like Nick Diaz is more real than Chale?

You know, I work with Chale on fuel. And it feels to me like going into the Anderson fights, we actually believed he had a chance. Now no one really believes he has a chance against John, and it's all kind of schick. I don't like that. No, I agree. I have yet to meet other than Son and himself, anyone who thinks he has a shot against Jones, which I hope so. I mean, the last thing I want is a crappy one-rounder.

But, yeah, I think Diaz is probably closer to what most of us are, which, you know, the irresponsibility of it, and knowing that you've committed to a certain career and that there are certain duties that come along with that, you know, and he hasn't really grasped that that's part of the deal. I would imagine that's frustrating for those that are around him and in charge of keeping up with him. But he's probably closer to an everyday slack than Sonin is. I just think Sonnen is smart, and I think he's a wise ass,

and there's something about that that personally I find myself rooting for. Now, this may be a little too inside baseball. I don't want to get you in trouble, but you've always gone to the beat of your own drum. A show like The Crossover, right, which started in January. It's new. You're trying to create your own little space. you're such a big fan of this stuff. Why not talk more about the MMA world, the pro wrestling world, things like that.

The stuff that the mothership is not talking about and create your own audience, the niche audience comes to you. And this could be the place where people like me, who is a sports fan, but loves this other stuff, but can't get it anywhere else, can go congregate and watch. I know. You know what I've noticed? It's baby steps. I mean, even when I was at ESPN, I wanted to have wrestlers on. And we would have a lot of the MMA guys, but they would come through and do the whole car wash. you know, leading up to a fight or right on the heels of one.

So it wasn't special, and I just, I think there were a handful of us, even in Bristol, that were fans of the sport. I find myself now, though, for example, this week starting tomorrow, we have a different WWE wrestler on every day the rest of this week. Punk is supposed to be on tomorrow, which is, you know, awesome, and I'm so excited about it. We've got Jericho, and the winner of WrestleMania will come in on Monday. These are things I was never allowed to have at my old show,

and so now it's kind of, you know, it's not. nice to have a little bit more say in what we're doing. And look, it's one week out of the year. I understand 100% more than most that not everyone loves this stuff. But I also understand that, you know, it is just one week. And it's fun and it's entertaining. And these guys are all professionals with a mic. And, you know, Mark Henry's on Friday. And he may not talk a lot, but he's a visual that everyone needs to see at least once in their life. And so I love it. I love that we're getting a chance this week, if never again, to kind of do what I like most. For me, It's like Christmas all week long.

Yeah, and there is only one sexual chocolate. If you have not seen sexual chocolate in person, you must see him. So that's good to know he'll be on the show. Now, how do you feel about them using the death of Paul Baer as part of an angle? Is that tasteless, in your opinion, or is that fair game? No, for me, it's not tasteless. I mean, when you have the blessings of the family behind you, and, you know, this guy devoted his entire life, his entire professional life, to wrestling. I think, you know, to have died at such an early age, probably not unexpected for a lot of people

who knew about him and his health and whatnot. But I also think that if you believe in all that after stuff and wherever you go when you're all gone, for him to be able to look back and see he's still a part of this and he's still got Undertaker, I don't know. I just think there's something wonderfully whole about the whole thing. And look, the family said, cool, go with it. As long as they're fine with it,

then I don't see how anyone else could possibly complain. And by the way, dropping an urn, pretending like a dude's in it, is hilarious. I don't care who you are. But did you notice that it sounded very hollow when he dropped it? It didn't feel like anything was in there. There are no ashes in there. Where is he?

Yeah. Which maybe... It adds a new wrinkle into things. Now, Brock, obviously, he's fighting or he's going against Triple H, which, again, to me, Triple H is one of the main reasons why I stopped watching wrestling, because I felt every time he was just such a buzzkill, every time he'd win, and I didn't like him. I liked nothing about him. I thought he was only there in that spot because he was marrying the boss's daughter.

Brock, to me, in his return, it feels a little underwhelming. He's wearing the yellow shoes. He's bouncing side to side. It doesn't feel like the Brock of old, even the Brock from the UFC. Are you digging him? You know what? He had that. Was it the initial, not the contract signing night, but I think it was the night the week before,

when there was actual blood drawn and, you know, he had staples and all that, which I always find funny because everyone's like, you know, that's fake. I'll think, no, because every once in a while, that's real blood. Is ketchup? No, it's real. I'm hoping for the best. You know, I still think Triple H puts on a great show. I still haven't figured out how to spit water twice,

and I do practice it, and it doesn't make sense to me. I hope they really let these two monsters go and have fun and let it kind of drag out for a little while. You know, I don't care much about the back story. You know, you're going to lose your job if you lose. All that stuff is junk to me. I don't care. But I just kind of hope that they let these two really battle it out

and get a little violent. You know, if we see a little blood, I think it makes it that much better. As a fact... Because there's two big guys. I want to see it. Absolutely. The first match was... I keep saying fight because we're so used to talk. We're kind of breaking all the rules here, by the way. I don't know if you know this.

I'm like, oh, crap, all the vernacular. We're getting it wrong. No, no, no. You're right, because I'm used to talking about fights and real things. But deep down, we're all pro wrestling fans. You know, the first match was a little underwhelming, so that's why I'm not really buying this one. But, you know, last year at WrestleMania, we had Maria Menunos.

She was in a match. and as a fan of yours, as someone who knows that you tweet about this, you're now part of the NBC Universal Family, and up until last week, they didn't have a celebrity involved. They announced P. Did it recently, but I doubt he'll do anything as far as physical. So I thought there was a chance. I mean, it makes sense. Michelle Beal, she's part of the family.

They're on USA. Why haven't they asked you to be a part of WrestleMania? You know what? I don't know. They've been really good to me. You know, they basically told me to kind of block off my week this week, and I will be going to all the events and have, fun and you know, the last I heard, I'm doing, I may be doing something at

WrestleMania. I'm just not 100% sure what yet. They know very much that if I ever was allowed to fight anyone, I would like to fight Vicky Guerrero. I've made that very clear. Yeah. Why? I'm not interested in the diva stuff.

I don't find them to be, I find them to be the weakest link, and I think everyone else does too, hence the absence of diva matches during Raw for the last several weeks. But for me, Vicky Guerrero is annoying enough that I know. No, I would be on the side of good if I was to fight her in the ring. But is this Xbox heat? Is this channel changing heat that we're talking about? Or do you actually don't like her and you think it would be a good match? I don't know.

You know what? I don't know. No, they've gotten rid of so much of the female aspect of wrestling lately that there is no channel changing anymore. I know that sounds horrible and I should want the women to come out and be strong, but it's interesting how it was lacking so much story and just no interest. I mean, even my guy friends. I know that the divas aren't aimed towards me. but even my guy friends were getting up to go to the bathroom when they were out.

So I know they're going to have to be a part of mania. It'll be interesting to see what they do with them because they have been gone for so many weeks, at least from Raw. I'm not big on the Smackdown, but from Raw, we've seen nothing. Okay, three minutes or so left with Michelle Beatle. Really appreciate the time. I know you have to tape your show, so the fun and games are about to end for you. Now, speaking of women fighters, I'd love to hear your take on Rhonda Rousey

because she's someone who is, you know, blowing up and she speaks, you know, shoots from the hip and all that stuff. Are you a fan of hers? I absolutely love her. I remember she was at, God, what fight was that? It was in Jersey. I want to say two years ago, year and a half ago, before she'd even come over at that point. And I remember, you know, I very rarely ask to take my picture with anyone. I just think it's dorky and, you know, I'm too old. But I remember taking my picture with her. I accidentally spilled beer on her. I was, oh, my God, this is the worst moment. I just, I love her.

I think the fact that she is as good at what she does as she is, and she's gorgeous and she's smart and she's witty, and she really doesn't take crap from anyone. I think it's great, and I hope that they continue to find people for her to beat up because it's going to get boring if we can't find anyone to step into the ring with her because I think she's making such a name for herself, and I'm excited for everything that's out in front of her right now.

It's one of these strike while the iron hot is on hot moment, and I'm pumped. I think she's very easy to cheer for. She may not fight someone by the name of Fallon Fox, but I don't know if you've heard of Fallon Fox. Yeah. Transgender, right? She's trying to make a name for herself.

Should she be allowed to fight females, in your opinion? God, you know, I was so torn when this whole predicament came out the first time. Was it cyborg's going to fight her? Is that what... No, no. People have suggested that it would be a fair fight of cyborg fought her, but no, they're not fighting at least not now. You know what it is?

and I've listened to so many different opinions, and I've read so much on it, because my initial reaction was, well, you know, she should have a shot and it should be fair, da-da-da-da. But then you go back into it and you realize, you know, she lived the majority of her life as a man, trained as a man, has the musculature of a man. It becomes a very gray area. I don't know that it is fair to now all of a sudden put her in a ring with a woman. You know what? I'll say this. In my lifetime, I didn't think we'd have a problem like this that we would be able to talk about and have to think about. And it's crazy because if she's not allowed to fight the women, she isn't going to fight the men.

I have no idea what they're going to do with her. It's a weird little world for her right now. Okay, final question. Why should the listeners, the loyal fans, the millions and millions of fans of this show, the MMA Hour, fans who, as I said at the top, the ugly ducklings, the ones who have been ignored their whole life, why should they watch the crossover 6 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports Network? What is out there for them on this show? Well, I mean, let's be honest. What better way is there to spend 22 minutes of your life? And I am a fellow ugly duckling slash nerd slash.

But the thing is, you finally realize as an ugly duckling nerd that you really don't care what everybody else has to say about you, and it's a wonderful place to be. My co-host is in the percentage of people who judges and laughs at us, and I annihilate him on the daily. So if you want to come fight the good fight with me, I would watch the crossover. And we talk about other things as well,

but stuff that I don't want to talk about doesn't make the show. So if you're looking for a lot of baseball coverage, I probably wouldn't watch the crossover. Other than that, anything's fair game. Well, as a one-time fan of the sport, Montreal Expo is no longer with us. That is great to hear as well, and that's why I enjoy the show. Again, this has been a huge honor for me. I wanted to have you on the show for a very long time.

Keep up the great work. It's been amazing watching you grow from the Yes Network here in the New York City area to now access Hollywood Olympics, all that great stuff, and keep supporting the ugly ducklings of the world, MMA pro wrestling, all that stuff. Thank you so much, Michelle. We must be true to ourselves. Thank you so much for having me.

And enjoy Mania this weekend. And if you do get in there or have a Bob Ucker moment where they choke you and all that, think of us. Oh, yeah, I will. Thank you, Michelle. Really appreciate it.

Thank you. There she is. Michelle Beatles stopping by, host of the NBC Sports Network show, the crossover. Of course, she's on Axis Hollywood. She's been on the Olympics. A true pro.

I mean, unbelievable stuff that she does on television and so great of her to stop by. She's taping her show later today, so a very busy schedule. We really appreciate and you can follow her on Twitter.com slash Michelle D. Beetle is her,

last name, Beatle is B-E-A-D-L-E. Let her know that you enjoyed her spot on the show today. Great stuff there for Michelle. And you know what? It is a very big weekend. It is a very big weekend in the world of combat sports. As I mentioned, you've got Bellator on Thursday.

It's their season finale. Bellator 95. And I wonder, is Belator going to go to 100 and then do a big blowout? because they've only been around since 2009. Right? They've only been around since 2009. This is their fourth year in existence. Belator 95.

They got five more than 100. Are they going to make a big deal about it? It doesn't feel as big as UFC 100, but who knows? Pat Kern against Shabulat Shamaalaya for the featherweight title. This is taking place, by the way, at the Ovation Hall, at the Revel Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Brett Cooper is fighting against Doug Marshall, middleweight tournament final.

And then how about this one? Rick Hahn versus Carl Parisian. That one completely flew under the radar. I actually only realized that last week when I was looking at the card, Carl Parisian fighting on Bellator? That's nuts. And then on Friday, you've got one FC. Shinyeoki in the main event,

Melvin Manow versus Brock Larson also on that card. Jen's Pulver against Mazakatsu, Yue. That's good stuff. Online pay-per-view. Speaking of online pay-per-view on Friday, now you've got Invicta 5. Invicta's on a role, Jessica Penae versus Michelle the karate, Hadi-Watterson. That's the main event for the Adam Wade title. And a bunch of good fights.

Are Kaufman fighting on the card, Caitlin Young on the card, Julia Butt on the card. So some good stuff there. And then on Saturday, we have UFC on Fuel TV 9. Now, the main event for that card is Alexander Gustafson versus our guest at this time. The Dreamcatcher. Gagard. I'm trying to time this, but we're not doing a good job with that. There he is.

Gagard Musassi. How are you, my friend? I'm good. How are you? Well, Gagard, there's certainly a lot to talk to you about, and we'll get right into it. Are you fighting on Saturday night against Alexander Gustafson? So far as I know, the fight is still on. When did you find out about this?

Yesterday. What was your reaction? You know, I train for a fight. I don't care if they change the opponent as long as I fight. That was what I was thinking. I don't care the opponent. I train for it for eight weeks, even longer. So I just wanted to fight, you know.

I don't care if it's him or someone else. So when you found out, I mean, a big deal in Stockholm, Sweden, he's the star there, potential number one contender. I think we just lost Gaggart. Is he still there? Or did he hang up on me? I think he just hung up on me. Did he hang up on me? All right.

Well, we'll get him back in a second. What I was going to get at. I mean, it's a fight to fight. It's his UFC debut and all. But this is Gustafson in his home country of Sweden. Huge deal when he fought there last April against Tiago Silva, if you recall, sold out that card. And it seems like Sweden is the one market. England is doing very well.

But, I mean, it just sort of came out of nowhere and they could do no wrong there. If this doesn't pan out, if he can't fight. And as of right now, Dana White told me last. night that the fight is still on. Now I know there are a lot of people who say, oh, you know, Dana says things all the time to the media and what, uh, yeah, just bring him on. Whenever he's there. Is he here? Okay. The, the, they're trying to get him back. Uh, people like say, oh, Dana has lied to the media. Dana doesn't tell the truth all the time. Yes. But yesterday, he told me that the commission, the Swedish MMA Federation, told him

that as of last night, they have not ruled him out of the fight, and he still wants to fight on Saturday. And it doesn't mean that today, tomorrow, the next day, but at some point, five days before the fight, if there is even a little chance that he can't fight, you'd have to think that the UFC is going to go in a different direction. They can't wait for the weigh-ins.

They can't wait for Friday to pull the plug on this. That would be a disaster. You have to work on some kind of backup. So trying to figure out what's going on. Where is Gagard? Shall we call him on the phone? That was just a big tease. Okay, what happened?

Will. How could you do this? It's nice of you to chime in. Everyone's so shy back there. Speak to me. Okay, I hear I'm talking to Gaggard. Let me know. Gaggard, are you there?

Yeah, I'm here. Okay, great. So I don't get to see your face, but anyway, it didn't look like you really wanted to look at my face right now, so maybe this is for the best. No, no, no. I don't have any problem. So my question was, okay, you just want to fight, and I get that UFC debut and all.

But it's a big deal to fight Alexander Gustafsson in a sold-out arena in his home country of Sweden. Did a part of your motivation, your excitement go down a little bit when you found out there was a chance he may not fight? Yeah, for sure, you know, the motivation goes. But, you know, what can I do? You know, I don't have anything in control. sometimes I'm the last one to hear, you know, things. So, you know, I'm just waiting. That's all I can do.

So right now, are they even, like, are they in communication with either you or your manager telling you what's going on when he will be officially cleared? Because it seems like there are a lot of unknowns right now. He hasn't said anything, of course. Well, I haven't heard a lot, but my manager is in contact with Joseph, I believe. And from where I've heard, the fight is on. and we're going to go tomorrow to Sweden, to the fights,

and everything is the same as usual. So you still have your flight plan for tomorrow, your flight plan for tomorrow, you're still the same plans, right? Yeah, still same opponent, nothing about the different opponent. They said the fight is the same, so I don't know, I don't know,

I don't know what kind of injury he has. I know it's a cut, but other than that, I don't know a lot You don't even know where the cut is Somewhere Above his eyebrow I believe or something like that

Right? I don't know No one has said it Yeah Okay I thought it Above his eyes Something like that

Is a part of you a bit I mean I got to ask A part of you a little happy about this Because now he may not be going into the fight 100% Happy Well I've never thought about it that way

But if he's cut I'm going to make sure I'm going to hit him where he's cut. You are? I mean, you're going to attack that area. I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be Mr. Friendly and be very sporty, sport-like manship. I don't care. I just want to win the fight.

Have they even thrown out, if he can't make it, we have a guy who's coming who's going to be a backup. If at the 11th hour, they don't clear him, have any names been thrown out? No, I haven't heard anything. All right. How does it feel? I mean, you're five days away for making your UFC debut. Has this clouded all of that?

I mean, this is a big deal for you. You've been waiting for this a long time. Yeah. You know, I put a lot of work in it. You know, I did the media stuff, all the everything, you know. So, you know, I've done almost 90% of the job, and that's the training and whatever. So, you know, the fight is the most easy part. For me, it's frustrating.

that it wouldn't go through. But, you know, they said to me, at least not to me, but what I've heard from my manager is, the fight is still on, and that's, yeah, there's nothing I can think differently than what they say to me, you know? You know, I got to say one of the, the biggest surprises of 2013 thus far has been how prolific you are as a tweeter.

I mean, it's unbelievable what you've done. And it's kind of like Mark Hunt last year. Who would have thought Gegger Musassi would be such a great tweeter? You love this thing. Well, you know, manager said it's a good thing. And then you even let us know that someone broke into your house and stole a bunch of stuff of yours. Have you found the perpetrators? No, dude, you will never find them, you know.

Never found it? Never found the guy? No, you're never going to find the guy, you know. I mean, it's not a, the police came, but they just took some pictures with their iPhone and they just left. I mean, it's bastards. Yeah, I don't think it's a big deal. I can understand it's a big deal from some people that maybe they're older or they get, you know, they're afraid to stay in their own home. But, you know, they stole minor stuff, you know, but what can I do?

It's never fun that someone went in your house, but I can, you know. What did they take? My PlayStation, headphones, some games, you know, some jewelry. But I didn't have any expensive stuff in my house, so there's not a lot to take, you know. So it wasn't a big deal. It's a big deal, but at least, you know, you can make it as big as big as you want. But, you know, there's always something worse in life. That's a very good way of looking at things.

And, of course, no one was hurt, so that's good. If you saw those guys walking down the street, what would you do to them? I wouldn't know. I would probably take them down, call the police, and maybe hit them, I don't know. Well, that's very nice of you. You maybe hit them. But in that regard, maybe you'll be a little sportsman-like, if you know what I'm saying, because you don't want to get into a street fight.

You know, I don't know. If you caught him in the while we're doing, I don't know. Yes. Anything can happen. That's true. Anything goes on the street. But, you know, I don't know. Maybe he needed the money.

I don't know. Still no excuse. In my opinion, he messed with the wrong guy. You know, if I found who it was, I would definitely go, you know, and sort things out. But, you know, I think the things that they took, you know, they were young guys, you know. I don't think there were big criminals looking for big money or anything, you know. I can't do, yeah. You know, someone was just telling me on Twitter here that you have the same reaction to getting robbed as you do when you walk down the ramp to go fight.

You're always so calm, cool, and collected. No one ever pisses you off. You never get off your game. It's amazing. I get pissed off, you know. But, you know, it changed. You know, when you go through certain things or something, it doesn't, it's not very important anymore. I'm like, I'm more relaxed now than I was when I was younger, you know.

Once you believe your life is like, what can I say, life is like, is waiting to fuck you up. Yeah. So one thing comes after the other. So, you know, if I have to make big deal out of everything, you know, then every day I have to cry. Very well saying. And some are noting that you're a little more down than usual. Is that, are you, are you not in a good mood right now? Yeah, I have some personal issues, you know.

Oh, I'm sorry. Well, you know, it's, I can't talk about it. But, you know, maybe after the fight, it will be more public will maybe no. But other than that, you know, I'm just doing my job. I'm just training and getting ready for the fight. Has this been a distraction going into the fight? You know, personally, I don't think it's going to be, it's, yeah, I don't, personally for me not, you know, but, you know, no, for me,

Me not. I don't know. I don't feel like that. It's not going to affect the fight. It's not going to affect the way I train for the fight. Okay, just a couple of minutes left with you. We appreciate the time. How has the training been for this fight? Because I remember before your last fight in Strikeforce, you said that all of a sudden you're finally training the right way. You finally have a training camp. Have you built on that? Is this training camp better than the last one against Mike Kyle? Well, I did this. I had the same trainers, and there was a guy who was, working with the pets and the boxing coach now also for this fight and you know i i train more

professional that's that's the right way to say it but in the beginning it was going a little bit rough with the motivation because i had already training a long time for the mccal fight and i came back at two three weeks but i was one week there and one week here so i came back in holland i had to start training again and every day twice so you know you know i was one week there and one week here so i came back in holland i was At the beginning, it was a little bit difficult, but at the end, I felt everything has fallen into his place. And, you know, the last couple trainings went very well. So I feel like I'm in shape. And so I know I didn't come short on the training, you know.

I've done everything that I should have in training. You know, Alex told us that if he beat you, he's going to go on the mic and ask for a title shot. Will you do the same? No. No. You know, I don't think they've got to give me anybody a title shot. So this is not going to make sense. I believe I will have another fight maybe,

and then we can go and look for maybe for a title shot. You're so realistic, because I feel like some, you know, if you say it loud enough and enough in our sport, sometimes you do get what you want. If you knock this guy out in a minute, I mean, you could get a title shot. If you go out there and say that I'm the number one contender, I deserve it, I've done this, this, that, and that,

I've won this title, this title, I'm here. I'm new blood. Yeah, I know, I know, but it's still up to the UFC to decide. And, you know, I don't know if I'm that kind of popular fighter that they're going to give me a tire shot. So maybe I need more exposure. And so it doesn't bother me, you know. And maybe it's even better to get some momentum towards the title. Gaggard, we are going to immortalize you later on in the show.

We're giving out a prize. a Halwani nose t-shirt, and I've asked the fans to throw out their best musasi pose. Because I like your pose. Like, when you're at the way-ins, you're kind of like, you know, you're just like, eh, you know, not too crazy, not too excited, this or that. It's just, you know what I'm talking about, the musasi pose, right? And we've got a lot of them. So if you want to tweet one out there to let the people know what to look for,

feel free to get in on the act, maybe you too can win the t-shirt. Oh, okay, so I should send a picture of myself? Yeah, you send a picture. Exactly. You have to hashtag it, though. You know what a hashtag is, right? Yes. Hashtag Musassi Pose, one word. And you send it out there and you say, this is the Musassi Pose. And then, because some people have gotten a little off, some have gotten it really good. You'll see in the second hour if you stick around.

But if you want to get in on it, feel free. I will. I definitely will. All right. I'll send one today. Can't wait. Thank you very much, Gagard. And good luck. I hope it happens. And keep us posted. You know, now that you're on Twitter, People go to your Twitter account to find out what's the latest. So keep us posted as to what's going on. I will, thank you.

All right, there he is. Gaghar Musassi. Good luck to you. And he's out. And there he is. And now he's out. Okay. Well, we just found out, Gagga Musassi, as you may have heard at the top of the interview,

he says the fight is still on. He says that no one has told him otherwise. No talk of even any replacements. So as of right now, UFC on Fuel TV 9 still has its main event. And that's what we've been hearing. Alexander Gustafson did suffer a cut in training in the last few training sessions before the fight. It's a huge fight sold out Erickson Glob Arena and Stockholm, Sweden. And this is a huge, I mean, Gustafson may be one fight away from fighting for the title.

Musassi, I think he's selling himself a little short, to be honest. I think Musassi, with a very impressive win over Augustusen, is one fight. may be the next guy in line. I don't think Machita has that momentum behind him, especially considering the fact that he already lost to John Jones. If John Jones beats Chal's sonnet on April 27th, if Chal Sondon wins, everything gets thrown out the window. But if John Jones beats Chal Sondon on April 27th,

and you got a fresh guy in Gustafson or Musassi, I think there will be some support. Now, of course, there's the Anderson Silva Superfight. There's a whole bunch of other stuff that could come into play. But I think Musassi should be puffing out his chest a little more. For more on that, and a whole lot more, let us go back to the phone lines and welcome in, my good pal, the bipolar rock and roller, a man who I guarantee will not only be tweeting a lot all weekend long, because there's so much to watch.

He may even do some impromptu play-by-play via Twitter. He won't get off the couch, that's for sure. He is, of course, Mora Rinaloa. How are you? I am the Sofa Spud Sultan, Mr. Helwani. And I just want to say, I do get off the couch. the couch to get on bended knee to propose to one Michelle Beatle, with all due respect to her significant other and husband if she's married. That woman is the ultimate wife for someone like me,

not only being half Italian, but a huge pro wrestling and MMA fan. We still have to educate her about boxing because we know the death of boxing is greatly exaggerated, but awesome show so far, and I just hope I can be as energetic as your last guest. Well, you know all about Gagar Musassi in the Musassi Pose. No big deal. My main event may be off, but no big deal. I'm flying to Sweden and we'll see what happens. What do you think is going to happen here? I mean, obviously we're just speculating and who knows, you know, what the heck is going on.

But in your heart of hearts, do you think the fight will happen? I hope it happens. I mean, we've seen the precedent said, unfortunately, already last year with the cancellation of UFC 151, and then, of course, what happened with Strike Force, but, I mean, days away, unless they, you know, call up Seth Petrazzelli, who I'm sure would be on the first. flight to Sweden. It does look a little iffy, but, you know, the president's been talking to you on the red phone there, and we'll have to wait and see what happens. But I'm hoping that the fight does take place. I think Gaygard Musassian and people who, you know, our hardcore fans

will know what he's done in his young career. Let's not forget this guy's only 27 years of age. I met him in Japan, Ariel, when he was just 21, was a member of the Bushido series where he defeated Makoto Takamoto, but did lose via Arm Bar to Hakiro, before beating the former Bellator champion, now UFC fighter, Hector Lombard. But he's a guy, and I agree with you. I think the winner, if this fight does go come to fruition, I think the winner of Saturday night's fight, especially with Gustafson already being considered a number one contender

before the Chale Sutton craziness started, I think the winner should be next in line for a shot at the 205-pound championship, despite Musassi saying he would like to face Machita before that. You know, there has been some talk online. And, you know, one of the reasons why I loved your, your former show, and we'll get your future show in a second. But you always, sometimes, when it needed to be done, you like to talk about journalism and things like that, the state of MMA journalism. And you got a little nitty-gritty at times, and for those that didn't like it, they didn't listen. And for those like myself who liked it, they listened. Now, one of the things that have

come up this morning, you know, I get, you know, I sometimes get these people who like to try to ruffle my feathers and they say, oh, why would you listen to Dana White? He has lied to the media in the past. He says the fight is still on. He said Jeremy Stevens was going to fight. He said Chuck Laudan Tito Ortiz was on. These things didn't happen. Why do we listen to Dana White? My take is he's the president of the UFC. Even if he is lying, you still have to listen to him and report. And let's see what happens. Where do you fall in all of this? Of course, it sucks that at times he has said he won't tell us the truth. He's protecting his brand, all that stuff. But to that, I say, I mean, in the past, politicians,

celebrities, they have lied, and we still continue to cover them, we still continue to report what they say. You got it, right? Absolutely, 100% agree with you, Ariel. And for those, and like you say, I mean, people have the right to say what they want to say. And yeah, Dana White is doing whatever he has to do to protect and promote his brand,

and he's a polarizing figure, but in this day and age, polarizing people into Earth truly as well. You know, it's part of the way we now approach things and you're doing your job my friend how many people are trying to contact the data white and if he you know if he responds to you what are you doing you're reporting what he says what you don't have to uh uh editorialize or opinion he's lying you're a reporter you were reporting what the president of the ufc is telling you and people can interpret it any way they want but uh in terms of you know forgetting about not talking

to data white that that that's never going to happen he is the promoter uh he is the the president and then the sports's biggest mouthpiece right now. You haven't called an MMA fight in how long? When was the last time you called? Because you didn't obviously do the last strike force. Was it the last Invicta? I don't think you called that one either. When was last time you called the M.

It's been many months, my friend. And to be honest with you, I feel like the last six months of last year have been kind of, I don't want to say erased from my memory bank, but it's been, you know, with all the personal stuff and professional stuff that I was going through with everything, I just put it out of my mind, and I'm looking forward to the new beginning that begins, believe it or not, this week, and it's weird how everything has aligned and even being back on your show on Monday, and so happy to be here to be able to talk about the fact that, yeah, beginning this Wednesday,

it's a new beginning for the bipolar rock and roller, and I'm really looking forward to it, now having settled down here in my new home in California. Okay, so tell us about it. What's going on this Wednesday? Wednesday, it is a weekly two-hour show, and I'm kind of approaching this as like a variety show of combat sports. I mean, the M.MA hour does its thing and the best of the best, and there are so many shows dedicated to just MMA out there, and I'm a fan of a lot of them with yours being right at the top.

And, I mean, podcasts are proliferated like weeds, with everyone putting on a show, and everyone wanting to do their own thing. and for me, ever leaving the MMA show podcast and the Score Television Network last October, and being on your show and talking about it, Ariel, everything that had gone on in my personal life with my issues with bipolar-effective disorder and other family health issues. I wanted to bring back something that I know I've always wanted to do it.

In a way, I'm going back to the roots. It's going to be a combat sports variety show. I'm going to cover mixed martial arts, boxing, professional wrestling, but anyone who follows me on Twitter, anyone who knows me, knows that I like to cover everything. I'm single. I don't have a life.

My life, my hobby is what I do. I love pop culture, current events. I love to learn as much as I can. So in this Wednesday time slot every week at two hours, I'm just going to talk about the stories that I think matter to me and then everyone else who follows the sports. So I'm looking forward to, of course, having you on my first show Wednesday as part of the Combat Sports Carousel

with your, you know, in the fatigable spirit as an MMA journalist, and hopefully we'll know a lot more about what is happening in Sweden on Saturday. But Dave Meltzer, another of your co-workers' MMA fighting, going to talk about WrestleMania. We're going to have Steve Farhood, who's the winner of the Good Guy Award at the Boxing Writers' Association banquet coming up April 11th, and I call him Mr. Boxopedia. He'll join me to talk about the boxing headlines.

Jimmy Smith, Bellator, Color Commentator, will break down Bellator's season finale. Quadros, the fight professor, talks about the glory main event in Turkey on Saturday. And then Stephen Espinoza, the head of Showtime Sports. On Wednesday night, it's the debut of 30 Days in May, the one-hour documentary about Floyd Mayweather, Jr., never before seen footage and interviews leading up to his showtime pay-per-view debut May 4th against Robert Guerrero. So lots to talk about with Stephen Espinoza. WWA Hall of Famer, Jim Ross, going to join me to talk about WrestleMania, the fact that

he just celebrated his 20th anniversary. where he started a WrestleMania 9, remember, in Cesar Cows in a Toga. He is going to be a part of the show. Shannon Knapp talking of course about fighting championships. I mean, it's going to be... Morro. Like I say, how long is this damn show? How long is this show?

You'll see what happens. You'll see what I do. Oh, my God. For a guy who used to... It's going to be lightning quick. For a guy who used to criticize me for going more than an hour, you've just... I think you just named like 48 people. All I got is two hours, Ariel.

All right, all right. And time, play. Where can people watch this or listen to this? It's going to be an audio thing right now. We don't have the budget that the MMA hour has. Oh, yeah. We want to go video as well, but it's going to be one to three, four to six eastern, emanating from the joint studios in the Burbank area of California. So thejointstoros.com.

Okay. And then podcasts will be available on iTunes and then at Morrowrenallo.com, which I've just recently relaunched. And by the way, that was the longest plug in the history of this show. You deserve it. That's why we wanted to have you on the show. And I got to admit, Moro, you know, we had you on a few months back, and that was your first interview since you went on hiatus, right? This sounds more like the morrow that I know. Nothing against that morrow, but it seemed like you were still in the recovery process. You seem now like the man we know, we love, we're used to, we've seen you on TV, heard you on the radio. You feel and sound to me like 100%. Is that accurate?

I would say it is very close to accurate. I'm always going to battle on a daily basis, and then listen to what Gaygard Musassi said in the previous segment. He put it so well that, you know what, if you allowed everything that happens to you in life to affect you, we'd be crying 24 hours a day. And the fact is I'm definitely at a better place, but it is a continuous struggle,

but I'm really, you know, fighting the good fight, and I'm glad that you ask me questions like that because I want to know that I want to let the people out there who are also battling, know that they're not alone. So is there, in your opinion, something, and I know I asked this a couple months ago, but I think now it almost makes more sense to ask it now, is there something that triggered this for you?

Because it seemed like you were doing better than ever before everything happened. Yeah, I think, you know, the fact that I became, how do I say it, a little stale, or just a little less than enthused about what was happening with me in Canada, my home country that I love so much, but the situation on my, you know, with the score television

network and being sold and having the MMA show, the first of its kind in the country, canceled without really any explanation whatsoever given to me and, and just if I, you know what, I have a lot of friends there and I don't want to denigrate the past because, you know, there's

no future looking in the rearview mirror, but just let's say that there was a lot of things that were happening professionally, and then And then it's, you know, there's not ever one trigger, my friend, when you have an illness, a mental illness, and we see it happening now with Royce White. And I know there are a lot of people who still stigmatize it and still say, you know, well, just get up and get better. Everyone has a problem. Everyone gets depressed.

What's your problem? I mean, there's a lot more to it than that. But I think for me, a change in scenery, not only moving, you know, out of Toronto, but here in California with the weather, I've discovered hiking. I've discovered better health, and I'm not, you know, I joke about you earlier, saying that all I do is work or research. And that's always going to be a big issue with me. But now I'm learning to set aside a couple of hours a day where it's, you know,

more on the inner me, more on the chi, as it were, Ariel. You know, your body's your only machine you have, and it needs fuel. And so I think it was a variety of factors, and I'm just hoping to keep going the way things are right now. I mean, I've got so much great boxing stuff coming up. It's a very busy months of April and May on Showtime. And, of course, you know, who would have ever thought that I'd get an opportunity to call Floyd Mayweather fight on pay-per-view? So there's so much good happening professionally.

I just needed to make sure that I maintain my health personally. You know, I was just about to say that somewhat jokingly. You know, who would have ever thought this kid from British Columbia, the pro wrestling fan? You're going to call a Floyd Mayweather fight on pay-per-view, a huge fight. Is the fight going to happen? on with Robert Guerrero? Yeah, obviously, he had his MENTO membership revoke last week when he tried to bring, well, he didn't try to see, this is the thing.

What I can tell you right now, and I know that there's been no official comment from Showtime, so I don't really want to say much more, but I mean, I know what you guys know and what's been reported. He did offer the information that, hey, I've got this gun and these magazines, but everything's empty, and I guess he didn't do his research because he has licensed here in California, but where you are, Ariel, and even me being a Canadian and news junkie knew that, yeah, some of the strictest gun laws are in New York. He faces a court date May 14th and from what I've been told from Golden Boy Promotions

Reading and, of course, Showtime, the fight with Mayweather will still go on. May 4th, he's already back in Las Vegas training again. It was a very bad lapse in judgment, and unfortunately it's cast a bit of appall, but it's also added now to the storyline what will be one of the biggest fights, if not the biggest fight of the year. When will you call MMA action for Showtime again? Great question, and I hope it will be, it will happen again. And that's something I want to ask Stephen Espinoza about on my show on Wednesday.

I think, I know that he's not fully closed the door on MMA, but when you look at what has happened with the mixed martial arts landscape, and, you know, what happened with the lead ex-C and then strike force being sold and the relationship with the UFC souring there at the end. It's, you know, the once-been-twice shy mentality, I'm sure, and now with all of the boxing that's coming up, and you know, you know there's a lot of interest building in there with all the fights coming up already 30,000 sold for Canelo,

Alvarez versus Austin Trout, April 20th on showtime. It has to be the right fit, and I know that they're, you know, to me, I'm a fan of Invictive Fighting Championships huge. I know I'm the announcer. I can't wait for the show Friday, with the most stacked show in female history. And I think Invicta might be a good fit for a platform like Showtime. And to be honest with you, there's opportunities, but it has to make sense.

And right now, I mean, boxing's the big ticket. And so I hope it happens, but I don't know when. I don't want to put you in an awkward spot. But I actually agreed with you maybe a few months ago. I thought Invicta Showtime, the perfect relationship. now with the UFC's relationship with Invicta, it's clear there is one, and the UFC's relationship with Showtime,

I have a feeling it's not going to happen. Well, and there, and there you have it. It's, again, there are a lot of landmines to navigate, and then that's interesting, too, because obviously there is a relationship with the UFC, as there was when Strike Force, well, it was under the UFC banner, and even Belletor, I mean, that's the thing within Victa,

and I know people are saying, well, yes, it's a feel-good story, yes, the fighters are all in. They've done an amazing job with social media. The fight cards have delivered from top to bottom some of the best action we've seen in either side, male or female. And yet, how do you monetize it? And we've seen the technical issues of the shows, the last couple of shows, and I hope that that's been addressed. But I think there has to be some sort of a platform for Invict.

And maybe the UFC relationship is what leads to them, who knows, showing up on the, Fox Sports Net 1, you never know, right, Ariel? Oh, yeah, that would be fantastic. Now, how would you feel if Invicta signed Fallon Fox? Would that be fair? Yeah, wow. I'm very much in the same mindset as Michelle Beatle was earlier in the show. At first, you know, you hear about someone who's passionate about MMA,

just like the Boy with Down syndrome, or just like we've seen amputees and others. I mean, there's mixed martial arts represents so much to so many different people, Fallon Fox, she began her life as a male. And while not having ever taken med, you know, classes, you read enough on the internet, you can make a bit of an educated opinion. And I think that, unfortunately, you know, she's in a very bad position. I don't think she should be allowed to fight females just going on what I know about the physical aspects and the fact that, you know, she did live the majority of her life as a man. Which sport do you prefer calling more? because to me you're a very different broadcaster.

I like to look at these things, and I love watching you on the boxing telecast. I'm not just blowing smoke up your ass. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't say it. I'd just say, it's cool seeing you on the boxing telecast. I really do think you do a great job. And yes, it's fun to see a friend and a guy, like I was saying to Michelle, from the MMA and pro-restle world, go into the boxing world and do great things. But which sport do you prefer calling more?

Because they're two very different sports as far as calling the action, right? Absolutely. I am just blessed to have had the chance to challenge myself and show that, you know, you don't have to be the old one-trick pony. And I've seen it in so many other sports still. Look how many great sportscasters call the NBA Major League Baseball, NHL. I mean, there are a lot of guys that can do it. And I think, well, one of my favorites of all time is Dan Shulman of Canadian.

But in terms of doing boxing and MMA, which I prefer, you know what, and I don't want to say this to be the typical moral modeling sentimental moment. I just love combat sports, Ariel, and then whether it's mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing. I know people don't want to loop it in there, but you guys have done a great job today, and I'll continue pro wrestling my first love where I cut my teeth as not only a broadcaster, but also doing play-by-play. The aspects that I take from everything, I continue to want to hone for myself.

I want to continue to try to be more conversational. I don't want to scream all the time, although even talking to you now, if I'm passionate about something, this is who I am. I am someone who is loud when he's happy. I apologize. This is, you know, I can't change it because it's how God made me. And some people like it, some people don't, but I'm never fully satisfied, and I constantly, constantly work on trying to get better. And for boxing, I have so much more work to do. But I definitely feel like it's been an amazing transition.

Thanks to Al Bernstein, Pauley Malinaggy, Dave Dinkins, Steve Farhood, Jim Gray. I mean, I get to work, Brian Kenny, I get to work with some of the best of the best. And if I don't improve, then I have a problem because you can't help but get better working with these people. It's like Pat Militich always says, Iron Sharpen's Iron. Very curious to get your take on this story, and we have a couple minutes left with more. I wish we could go an hour with you because there's so much to ask you. The whole Nick Diaz, UFC, Diaz's lawyer, 0.9, the Quebec Commission, is there something here? I mean, obviously, I mean, it seems a little off.

You have Stefan Patri, GSP's ex-manager saying that he never heard of this law that, you know, the waive the decimal. If GSP was 170.9, they're going to waive the point nine. When we all know that for a title fight, you need to be right on the dot, if it's 170, it's 170, nothing more. and we've seen the video, and we've seen text messages, all this, this craziness. Is there something there at the end of the day you look at the fight and you say, even if he was 0.9, even if something went crazy with the commission, he got beat up for five rounds. Drop it, move on with your career. Yeah, I agree with the latter part. I don't, I think it is the mountain out of the

molehill scenario to a degree because I have done shows in Quebec. you know, I've called ringside MMA, the score fighting series, other smaller TKO promotion. So I know the Quebec Commission very well for my time in Canada, and let's face it, athletic commissions

across the board, and I know, you know, some of them will be their father's ruffled here. There's not, there's a lot of suspicion in many different ways, and there's already proven, you know, it's been proven before that they've used the decimal system in the past

for boxing and MMA fights. I think for Nick Diaz's camp, it's, you know, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things because, like you said, GSP dominated them for five rounds. But I think overall, and this could go on, you know, we could talk about this for a long, long time with everything from TRT, TUEs, the T.E ratios, the scales, the rules.

There's nothing unified about the unified rules of MMA. And frankly, Quebec's situation is just a microcosm of something, I think that is endemic to the whole sport in all of the commissions. And we see it in MMA and boxing, whether it's judging, whether it's officials, and there are some very good ones in all of what I'm talking about. But it needs to be more consistent. It needs to be more uniform. And so I'm hoping that maybe Dick Diaz and them talking about stuff like this,

while maybe not getting the sympathy or going to fix what they want to fix, we are talking about it. So I'm hoping that one day people with a lot more power than we have, a lot more education maybe when it comes to the specific things, we need to fix it because it's something that is hurting the sport. You know, just hearing you say the word TRT, it gets me all excited for your return on Wednesday because, you know, you used to tackle these things on a daily basis on your show, and you'd have all these great guests on it, and, you know, you dig deeper a little bit, and it's just,

it's just so great to have you back in our life. One last thing more before we let you go, we won't talk about Invicta for this question, because you're obviously biased. You're going to work the card, and it's a great one, as you mentioned, one of the most stacked in the short history of Invicta. It's Invicta 5. You can watch an online pay-per-view, Jessica Peney versus Michelle, the karate, Hadi-Watterson for the anime title.

That's the main event, and it's a great card you should watch it Friday. But it's such a great weekend coming up with Bellator, Pat Curran, returning on Thursday, and then on Saturday, it's UFC on Fuel TV 9. And then it's WrestleMania 29 on Sunday night. And let us not even talk about the Syracuse. Orangeman, or excuse me, I should say the Orange, going to turn back the clock 10 years and beat Michigan and then eventually on Monday win the title again. Let's not even talk about the New York Knicks playing on ABC on Sunday against Oklahoma City Thunder. What are you most looking forward

to as far as combat sports is concerned this coming weekend? Bandango versus Chris Jericho, baby. No, just kidding. Obviously, you know, again, I'm biased. I know being a long time fan. WrestleMania is always a special. time looking forward to that. But obviously, Invicta, I know I'm biased, and you didn't want to ask about it, but seriously, when you look at this card, you've got former Strike Force women's Bantamway champion Sarah Kaufman making her promotional debut. Cyborg, yes, you can talk about the soap opera with Ronda Rousey and the weight division

and the drug suspension, but still one of the most feared female fighters on the planet making her debut. Jessica Petty versus Michelle Waterson, two amazing, well-rounded, almost mirror images of each other in many ways when it comes to their skills, both on the stand-up and on the ground. And, of course, we also have Barb Honshack and Vanessa Porto. And so many, I mean, there are 13 fights for 9-95. I'm sure. Still like a villain because I love Invicta FC, 7 o'clock Eastern, 4 Pacific, Friday, just 995 for 13 bouts.

King Moe and yours truly. Thank you, Ariel. And before we get to that, it is the return of Moro-Ranalo on Wednesday at the the joint studios.com or moreoranalo.com. It's the show with Moro Rinalo 4 to 6 p.m. Eastern. One, two, three. And by the way, I mean, I am supportive of this, but not supportive. I mean, to see a broadcaster, leave the True North strong and free,

go to America to make a living, to live his dreams. That as a Canadian is not something I can support. Just want to throw that out there. But I do wish you the best of luck with your show. Coast to coach, sup-hawk and biggie, baby! Thank you so much, Maro. So great to have you back. Can't wait to be on your show this coming Wednesday, 4 to 6 p.m. Eastern on Moranel.com or the Joint Studios.com.

Great to have you back in our lives, and good luck with Invicta on Friday. Really appreciate Ariel. Thank you so much, bud. There he is. The bipolar rock and roller in our life here. It's great to hear that voice, one of the best, if not the best, in the business, when it comes to calling combat sports. And he is the voice of Showtime boxing. You may not hear him doing a lot of MMA these days,

but as far as boxing is concerned, he's on top of that mound and with Showtime doing such great things, getting all those Golden Boy fighters and of course Floyd Mayweather and doing Invicta now. Who knows if we'll see him back with Showtime MMA.

He's got a show returning, so check that out this coming Wednesday. Now we spoke about Invicta. It's a great card. One fight that we did not speak about features our next guest. Let us go to the Skype Machine and welcome in from Kansas City.

Beck Hyatt. Beck, how are you? Hey, I'm good, thank you. How are you? So great to have you on the show. now, Beck, I got to ask you right off the top. I have never, and it's more of a statement than a question, I cannot recall a guest hounding us

and harassing us and not only you, your fans, to be on this show, which is a great compliment, which, of course, we had to have you on, someone wants to be on the show, I have to beg people to come on, you want it to be on. Why did you want to be on this show so much? Boost our egos a little bit, if you may. I love your show,

and always follow your pieces and stuff, so I'm always here to create, noise. I've got to create a bit of drama and try and get hurt around the world. So yeah, what better than to annoy you and get on your show? And you know what's so great about you, why I like you so much is even on dirty places like the UG, which I know is sponsoring you for this fight, people talking smack about me, you come in there and you shut them down, a pro fighter sticking up for me. How nice is that? You're welcome. I always love getting on the UG and having some fun with the boys there. So now it's always fun.

you're in Kansas City, you just got there last night. How you feeling? Because that's a long flight from Australia coming from, right? Yeah, from Australia. It was a hectic. I think it was 29 hours all up. It was pretty horrible. They ended up losing our luggage. Oh, no.

Yeah, so we had to go back to the airport at 1 a.m. this morning to find it, and it still wasn't there. So we came home, had a few hours sleep, and I'm headed back there this morning and finally got it. So I'm stoked about that because I had all my fight gear in my mouth guard and everything in there. So I was freaking out a little bit, but I'm

glad I'm here and I'm settled in. So yeah, just got to get some training in, get some food and yeah, get ready. Isn't that the worst then coupled with the best feeling ever when they lose your bag, you get all worried? But then when you get it, isn't it just the best feeling when you have that bag in your possession? Yeah, I was actually sitting in the car while they ran in to get them. And as they came out, I was like sitting in the car doing the happy dance and people were looking at me. It's such a great feeling. Who's this weird Australian dancing around? It's funny

because the only time I've ever been to Australia, that was for UFC 127, they lost my bag on the way to Australia, so they need to figure this out between America and Australia. It's a big mess. Now, I've got to ask you back, you're four and two. You find in the main event of Invicta, the last Invicta, Invicta 4, and, you know,

you've never fought in Strike Force, you haven't had a lot of exposure here in the U.S. How the heck do you have so many fans? How are you a fighter with such a loyal fan base. It's amazing online, on Twitter, on social media. Where did these people come from? You haven't been in this game all that long.

No, I haven't. I've only been training for three years. I had my first fighting in 2011, so I haven't been on the scene for very long at all. So I always say I have the most supportive fan base ever, and I think it's because I interact with them a lot. I'm always on Facebook, on Twitter, talking to them, and I enjoy it.

And that's why they're loyal to me, I'm loyal to them. So, yeah, I definitely got the best fan base there is. You have two lip rings, right? Yeah, I have snake bites. What's that? Oh. We call them snake bites in Australia. I'm not sure what you call them here. I have no idea. Are they connected to each? Oh, okay. All right. Thanks for that. But are they connected?

No, no. They're two separate. Oh, wow. Now, when you spar, when you train, when you roll, do you take them out? No, I leave them in for training. That's not cool. Even when you get punched in the face? Yeah, it doesn't hurt. Everyone freaks out, my training partners, and they're like, aren't you going to take those out?

But I'll leave them in. They don't worry me at all. It doesn't hurt at all? How's that possible? You have an actual thing, like a metal thing in your lip, too? Yeah, they're nice and round and smooth. They don't bother me. Do you have a nose ring, too?

No, just the lip piercings. Okay. Now, can you describe, like, what does this look? You have a very unique look. What are you representing? Because people have, they represent things. Like my Fred C. M. Pug, I'm name dropping here. You know, he's part of the, what is it, when people don't drink.

What's it called? What's it? Straight edge. There you go. See, it's great to have well on the deep. Straight edge, right? The straightest society. Are you representing some kind of faction, some group with your look?

Because it's a great look, but it's unique. Oh, thank you. No, I'm not representing anyone. I'm just being myself. A lot of people ask me if I'm into punk rock and things like that. And I'm not at all. I just, when I, before I started training and fighting, I was actually studying to be hairdresser. So I've always had crazy hair.

And I just love tattoos. And I just, yeah, decided to get snake bites one day and kept them in. So, yeah, it's just my own unique look. I'm not following any crowd or anything. You got into this crazy business because you just wanted to lose some weight, right? Yeah, yeah. I was heavily overweight and just got into cardio kickboxing. And, yeah, and I loved it.

And that's where I met my husband who'd, um, had his own MMA club back in in Launceston Tasmania which is like a tiny little island off of Australia so yeah and that's when I got hooked on MMA Now you say you're overweight like what are we talking about I mean grossly overweight were you just completely obese Well I

I think I was grossly overweight a lot of people Asked me for like before and after photos But I literally hid from the camera because I was I was pretty I call myself an elephant I was pretty big I lost 30 kilos all up I'm not sure what that is in pounds. Yeah, I'm quite little. I'm only short, so it's a lot when you actually see me and realize how small I am.

Now, how did you get so big, or were you always this big? I mean, was this just part of your genetics, or did you at some point just blow up and eat a lot of ice cream? Yeah, I just got myself involved with the wrong kind of people and had no motivation and just, you know, lived off McDonald's and had no idea of nutrition values or anything. So yeah, I just drank and partied and ate and just turned myself into a big fat slob. And then I got to say, I watched your 24-minute video blog that you posted over the weekend. And in the blog, you're eating at McDonald's. So what's going on? Once a fatty, always a fatty?

That was after, actually, yeah, I am a closet fatty. After my fights, I pick out. I go crazy. My trainer now, he's always telling me, don't ruin what you've just done. Don't ruin all your hard work. And, yeah, I blow out in a week or something. But this is before the fight you were at McDonald's. Yeah, it was before my fight.

I only had steered chicken and a bit of lettuce. They all had Big Macs and quarter pound of meals, and I was sitting there sulking. And not to get too into it, because we seem to talk about McDonald's a lot on this show. That's not the best chicken, though. I mean, you could probably get healthier chicken, right? Yeah, definitely, but not at 3 a.m. in the morning in Australia. Yeah, we don't have, like, 24-hour grocery stores and stuff like that everywhere like you do here. So, yeah, it's very hard.

And what were you doing up so late? We actually went to a fight show where my training partner fought for a title and won. So, yeah, good night. Well, congratulations to him. Now, the last time we saw you in action, you were fighting in the main event of Invicti4, as I said, and you were kind of thrust into the spotlight. You know, one week's notice, you get the opportunity, injury replacement. And, I mean, you perform great.

Of course, you came out on the losing end, but, you know, you took her to the distance and I think you surprised a lot of people, and now you have another chance here. You know, smaller stage, but you could build yourself back up. Looking back, was that a good thing? Was it good that you were kind of put in this position? You didn't have to overthink it.

You were put in the main event, or do you think that it maybe came a little too early for you? No, not at all. I'm absolutely stoked with how that all happened. It's definitely pushed me into the line. I'm light, and I did prove a lot of people wrong. They all thought I was going to get finished in the first round, so I actually proved that I'm not all high,

I actually do have some skills behind this crazy, crazy attitude. So definitely a good thing for me. And I went five rounds with number three in the world, so I can't complain. What's the scene like there? I mean, we know that in Australia, it's rising, right? The MMA scene, you know, tough smashes was the success from what we've heard. We're seeing guys come out from there. I mean, they may not be originally from there, but guys like Mark Hunt, Japestah,

they're putting the Australian MMA scene on the map. Of course, there's Hector Lombard, Sutterapolis. But for women, what's it like for women in Australia? It is growing. As you see, we've got two other Australians on Invictor as well. So we're definitely getting there. But when I first began, there was hardly anyone to fight. I fought up in weight because there was no one at my weight division.

So it's definitely getting there. A lot of the young girls are actually getting into it. And, you know, they're going to be good in a few years' time. So, yeah, it's definitely growing. It's still very, very far behind compared to the States. But we'll get there in the end. Are you able to make a living doing this right now? No, not right now. It's really hard, but I'm, you know, willing to sacrifice things and just

keep working and eventually I'll, you know, get the big paychecks and be able to really, really enjoy myself. So yeah, at the moment, we're struggling, but it's all worth it. So what else do you do? Do you have another job? No, I'm a full-time mom, so I've got two children. I've got a two-year-old and a four-year-old, so I just stayed home with the kids and train full-time. And I saw also on the UG, you want to take them to... movie world. What is movie world? I know about Disney World. I know about Universal Studios, but what is movie world? It's an Australian version of Disneyland or Disney World. It's not as

good. It's not as big, but it's just pretty much theme parks and lots of cool stuff for kids to meet the cartoon characters and things like that. So yeah, they're pretty excited. They want to go, so I'm hoping I win the Harlem Shake Contest so I can take them. Now what's the Harlem Shake Contest? In Victor have created a contest where you have to create a Harlem Shake video and have their logo visible in it. And you can win $1,000 if whoever votes for it. So they've got a voting poll up on their website in Victorfc.com and you can go on there and vote for your favorite Harlem Shake. And how are you doing right now?

You better vote for me. I'm winning at the moment, but you never know. I went to sleep because I went in Australia with the time difference I was in the lead. I fell asleep and woke up and I was losing, so I had to get back onto it and get everyone voting for me again. And when does the closing end? Excuse me, when does the voting end? Actually, I'm not sure.

I'll have to check into that. I think it might end way in night or the day before. Okay, so it's InvictefC.com. You're the only InvictaFcter that we have on the show this week, so everyone should go vote for you. Yeah, vote for me and you've got to tune into the stream and watch me fight on Friday night. It's on Invictfc.com as well, and it's... Wait, wait, wait, we're not done. We're not doing the closing plug here. I still got more.

No, I could. Are you telling me we're done? Is that it? No, no, not at all. You fight for so long to get on the show and then you tried to end the interview prematurely. That's never happened as well. I wasn't ending it. Oh, okay, all right. You were just sort of throwing the plug back in there, just in case we forgot. Oh, yeah, why are you checking out the Harlem Shag? You can pre-order your stream.

Oh, okay, yes, so hopefully, yes, no technical problems. They've had that in the past with Invicta. And New York, Rick, telling me here in the back that 30 kilos is around 66 pounds. So that's very impressive. Good for you. How old are your kids? A two-year-old and a four-year-old. So when you leave, what do you tell them?

Where's Mommy going? Mommy's going to play punchy punch. So do they have any idea what you really do, or do they think it's just fun? They come to training sometimes, and they watch my last fight on the stream and stuff. But I don't think they realize that it's not on my... normal thing for mums to do. They're not quite old enough to realize. I guess when they start going to school and stuff and seeing that, you know,

everyone's mom is a nurse or, you know, an office person, they'll probably realize it's not so normal. Will they watch her fight on Friday? Or I guess it will be Saturday in Australia? Yeah, yeah. They're staying with my mom and she's going to tune in and watch. So, yeah, they'll probably see bits and pieces of it. You're okay with that?

Yeah, I don't mind at all. I'm not going to die in there. Well, yeah, that's a good way looking. They watch me train. They don't know it's any different from training. What happens when you come home and you may be bruised up or beat up, things like that? How do they react to that? Yeah, it doesn't worry them.

They're pretty chill. They're pretty chill like me. So I don't think they're old enough to understand yet that, you know, a bruise actually hurts. Or, you know, you had to get hit for that to happen. So, yeah, I don't think they know yet. By the way, your nickname is Rowdy. And of course, there's another famous Rowdy women's MMA fighter right now. Rowdy, Ronda Rousey, who had the nickname first?

I did. She may have had it like years ago as well, but I've been called Routy before I was even training and fighting from all my friends and stuff just because of my personality. So I've had it for years and everyone annoys the crap out of me. Oh, you have to change it. You're not Ronda Rousey and it's not going to change. Does that piss you off? Are you annoyed?

I laugh at it now because. Like sometimes my kids call me Rowdy because everyone calls me Rowdy. It's just my name. But do you feel like she's sort of taking away from your nickname? Because right now she's on top of the mountain and people associate Rowdy with her. No, I don't think she's taking away. If anything, it gives me more exposure because all her supporters come over to me and tell me that I have to change my name.

And by the way, the outfit that you wore the first time you fought in Invicta, it reminded me, you know who Michelle Tim's is? No. Michelle Timbs was a famous WNBA player, women's basketball player, and I used to watch her because she's from Australia. And in Australia, they play basketball. And if correct me if I'm wrong, they don't have a backboard. And women's basketball is very popular over there.

There's just a hoop. And they wear these sort of one-piece outfits, right, with like two colors. Top and bottom. Is that right? That's called netball. Netball. There you go. We do have women's basketball, but that one is great.

That's a whole different sport? Yeah, a whole different sport. No dribbling. You can't dribble the ball. You've got to pass. Your outfit, though, in your debut, was kind of like their outfits, right? Yeah, I actually took it from a combination of their outfit and the hockey outfit and the basketball outfit from the Olympics with the green and gold. So, yeah, I just incorporated it all and got that.

So, yeah, I was pretty pleased with it. Will you be rocking the same kind of thing on Friday? Yes, I will. All right. I'm really happy with it. It was really comfortable. I didn't have any wardrobe malfunction. So, the bonus.

So, yeah, I'm going to definitely be wearing it again. And your opponent on Friday, we haven't talked much about her. It's Francesca. Oh, excuse me, Jasminka. I was in Francesca. Jasminka. And I've heard different pronunciations of her last name. Chiva, Shiva, I've heard many different ways.

How do you pronounce her last name? I call her sour cream and chives. Oh, okay. No, I think it's Siv because her nickname James Impressive, so I think it's Jasminka Impressive Siv. I think. I'm not really sure either. Give us the scouting report. What do you have to look out for with her?

She's a striker with, she's quite strong. She's quite beastly looking, so she's going to be powerful and explosive. And I haven't seen much of a ground game. Most of her fights have been finished standing up, so her stand-up's going to be a strong point, but she's quite a brawler. She's not very technical, so, yeah. think of, I think I've got the upper hand on the ground, so it should be a good fight. And by the way, I've got to ask, we've been talking about this bunch on this particular

show because we've been off for the last two weeks. You're a straw whites, you don't have to worry about this particular story right now, but your take, Fallon Falked, you've heard of her, of course. Should she be allowed to fight women? No, not at all. She's a man. She's chopped a junk off and decided to put some boobs on and try and fight girls. I think it's ridiculous.

So you'd be upset if Invicta gave her a shot? Um, look, that's up to Invicta. Like, I'm not going to say, no, they shouldn't. But I wouldn't want to fight her. I wouldn't want to fight a man. I train with men, and they've got a huge advantage. Um, I think, like, our strength is equivalent to, like, a 16 to 7 year old, 17 year old boy. So she's a full-grown man with man muscles, man bone density.

Um, it's just too crazy of a difference. And, yeah, I wouldn't want a fighter. All due respect to Invicta, of course, the UFC is holding tryouts later on this month. for the Ultimate Fighter, where they're going to have women and men in the same house. I know that's not your division, but we've seen guys go up in the past to be on the Ultimate Fighter. Would you consider trying out for that? 135, of course. Well, at the moment, I'm just focused on Jasminka.

We'll just have to see where it goes from there. I definitely wouldn't pass up the opportunity if it came along. But, yeah, I've just got to get past Friday night. All right, fair enough. You're giving us the PC answer there. Me? Never. But what do you mean to pass up the opportunity? The opportunity has been presented to you.

Anyone could try out. Yeah, I could try out. I'm signed to me Victor, and I'm happy here at the moment, so I just got to talk to the guys. There is some synergy there, right? Sarah Kaufman fights. You know, we've seen people go back and forth. Yeah, yeah, they do. We've got Sarah Kaufman on the card, and she's signed to the UFC and stuff.

So, yeah, I don't think there'd be a problem. but I just probably have to hit up Donut King. All right. Also known as Duncan Donuts here in the United States. I catch your drift. I know what you're trying to say. Beck, it's been a pleasure having it on the show. Now we could do the plug.

Give it to us. Where can people watch it Victa on Friday? It's www.invictorfc.com. They've got a full HD live satellite feed now, so there will not be any problems with the stream. I don't want to hear anyone go, oh, it didn't work for me last time, because it will work.

You can pre-order now, so get on there and don't miss it because I'm going to punch Jasmine in the face so hard. Can't wait, and people are asking me about the poll. They're saying they're having some trouble, so maybe you can tweet about it right now and let people know with a link. And also some people want to donate to your movie world cause. So just to let you know you have fans out there. You probably had them before you came on the show, but maybe we helped you out a little bit. It's been great having you on the show back. Good luck this Friday.

We'll be watching, and I'm sure we'll be talking to you again very soon as well. Thank you, and thank you for having me on finally. Oh, it has been a pleasure. There she is. Rowdy Beck Hyatt. She fights once again for Invicta on Friday night. That's Invicta FC. Now, one second here.

As you may have been hearing, I hope it hasn't been bothering you too much. As I mentioned, the germ situation, throat losing the voice. So it's not me at my best here, but we are powering through, and it has been a very fun show. And last but not least, as far as guests go, one of our favorites. The man known as the outlaw, he was supposed to fight at UFC on Fox 7. Unfortunately, he had to pull out. We're going to find out a whole lot more about that.

And other things, Dan Hardy joins us right now on the MMA hour. Dan, how are you? Good, how are you? Good to have you on the show, Dan, and we really appreciate the time. First, let's get it out of the way. I know you've talked to a few people about it, but for those that may have missed it, and we want the most up-to-date status right now on this Monday morning. why did you have to pull out and how are you feeling?

Well, first of all, I'm feeling great. In my opinion, there's no real need to pull out, but the California Commission wouldn't claim it to fight. They have extra testing that they have done for fighters to get their license. And one of the tests is an EKG, which came back as abnormal. And it turns out I have a second electrical impulse in my heart. And obviously, there's a risk that comes with that. they don't want to take that risk, I guess,

and obviously the UFC are in a tough situation as well. So I'm just trying to figure out. I've not spoken to the UFC about it yet. Obviously, they've got so much going on at the moment. So I'm just kind of giving it a week or two, and then I'll speak to somebody about, you know, what my options are. Now, you've been sort of playing this up. You kind of change your name on Twitter and all that stuff.

And the actual official diagnosis is Wolf-Parkson-White syndrome, aka Wolf Hart. And I'm assuming you use. didn't just develop this in the last week or month or so. How long do you think you've had this condition? Oh, this is something since birth. It's not something that can develop it. You're either born with it or you're not. About one in every 1,000 people have it. Most people don't know because they never have any symptoms, and I never have either, which is why I've never known about it. So I don't actually have Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome.

I have Wolf-Parkinson White Patton. Oh, okay. But apparently, I mean, the risk is obviously a lot lower, but it's still too high for California. You fought in tough commissioned states like Nevada and New Jersey. How has this not come up in the past? I don't know, to be honest. It's just the EKG is not a standard test for most places from what I've gathered. I think that after 35, you have to start having an EKG,

but that's something that I've just heard from my doctors. I don't really know, to be honest. I mean, I had an EKG and I fought in Florida. I took a fight on a day's notice, and it showed up at the way in that I had an irregular heartbeat, and I required an EKG to be cleared to fight. But they declared me and everything was fine. So I don't know.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure with this one. And let's be honest. In Florida, they kind of let things go, you know, sweep them under the rug. So they're like, yeah, one day's notice, we're going to let this guy fight. Who cares about his heart, right?

Yeah, well, it was kind of a, it was kind of a shifty situation. anywhere. I won't go more into it. Yeah, it was a bit of a shady situation. So let's say this fight was taking place in Nevada or in Florida or in Texas. There's a very good chance the fight happens, right? Oh, they wouldn't have even known about it. I would have done the tests as normal, the blood work and the physical and the eye tests, and they would have claimed me to fight just like they always have.

So is this career threatening now, or is this just a situation where in California you just can't fight anymore? or any state that's going to test for this, it's going to come up, you can't fight there, but anywhere else, you're good to go. Well, it could be career-changing.

Okay. It's definitely career-changing, but I don't know, I don't know, really the full extent of it. It really depends on the approach of the UFC adopt, whether they decide to keep me out of California and I can fight elsewhere,

or whether it will, now it's known, everybody knows about it, and no one's prepared to take that risk. And, you know, of Europe and Asia and things like that to fight, but it really is down to the UFC

and whether they're prepared to, you know, to allow me to fight knowing that there is a... And I mean, the risk is less than 1%. It's, you know, it's really... It's more likely I'm going to get hit by a plane on the way to the gym. You know, it's kind of stupid, but what can I do?

It's kind of out of my hands, and I'm okay with it, to be honest. I'm excited about, you know, the potential to go and do something else or whatever the future holds. You see, what's interesting about this is in the last few months or so, of course, we saw you in Las Vegas a couple months ago. You were talking about retirement and going on this run and then retiring maybe in 18 or 24 months or so.

And now it almost seems like with how philosophical you've become and we'll get to that in the second you have this sort of new take on life, at least it seems that way to me, you view this as a sign. Is this the way it's supposed to end for you? and if so, if it had to end today, are you okay with that? I can't not be okay with it because I can't spend the rest of my life, you know, being bitter about the fact that I didn't get to finish my career on my terms, you know. It is frustrating because there are still things in, you know, in the sport

that I would like to achieve for myself, you know, and within martial arts. I'm still not, martial arts would always be a part of my life. It's just the competition that seems under threat at the moment. So my journey through martial arts weekend will continue, But obviously competing is, well, it's the easiest way of making money at it for a start. And second of all, it's the most fun. You know, you get so much exposure and so much attention, and it really heightens the anxiety going into the event,

which always, for me, makes me perform better. So there are a lot of frustrations that come with it, but there's always a bright side as well. Do you think this is a sign? I think it could be. I think it could be. Maybe the four-fight losing street was a sign. I just wasn't listening.

I don't know. Well, you've certainly proved that that wasn't a sign because now you've gone on a winning streak, so clearly that was the wrong sign, but when will you make the decision whether or not this is the sign to listen to? Well, that's really out of my hands. That's on the UFC and whether...

Because I'll never leave and go and fight another organization. That's not even an option for me. I always said that I would finish my career with the USC, however it ended. And, you know, and I love the UFC. I'm a huge fan, almost. I wouldn't have any desire to do that anyway.

So it really depends on the UFC and what they want to do with me. But, you know, in the back of my mind, I'm kind of split on it because, obviously, I want to continue fighting just because I enjoy fighting, and it's, you know, that's my selfish opinion of it.

But on the flip side, you know, the minute possibility that something does happen, and that not only works out bad for me and for the sport in general. you know, that is always in the back of my mind. But on the flip side, the surgery, in my opinion, is not an option because I've never had any symptoms and any problems and I'm very much of the opinion that if it's not broke,

you don't need to fix it. So I don't know if it's a really weird circumstance, it's not something that I could have ever planned for. Are you surprised that no one in the UFC? I mean, I know they have a lot going on, but you're one of their top guys. This happened over a week ago. No one has checked in on you?

no I've spoken to well I'm not spoken to people directly but through my manager I've kind of heard you know from from a couple of people but it's I've not really forced the point to be honest I've just kind of sat back because obviously it's kind of a lot to deal with on my own let alone trying to figure out you know where my career goes so I've just been I've just got a a chill week I've been doing a lot of yoga and hiking and listen to a lot of records and I just kind of in a bit of peace, and I feel really good. So maybe this week's the week where I start to approach, you know, the coming years. So obviously it's great to see that you are here, that you're okay and you're healthy,

and that, you know, this is not life-threatening, which is most important. This was a very big stage for you. This was arguably your biggest stage as far as fights are concerned since the GSP fight. This is on Fox. Millions of people would have watched your fight against Matt Brown. When you first heard the news that you had to pull out, Did you go through a bit of a depression? Were you down, or were you able to look at the bright side right away?

Well, the problem was it was kind of over a week where I was, there was a lot of uncertainty because I had some doctors telling me that I was going to get cleared. I did all the stress tests and the ultrasound and all the things that they asked for. And they kept saying, oh, no, you'll be fine, you'll get cleared, you'll get cleared. And then I went in to speak to the cardiologist and basically kind of just get cleared by him. and he said that he couldn't claim it to fight, and it was kind of a surprise. Although in the back of my mind it was a possibility,

I'm always forward-thinking, I'm always trying to be optimistic, and I just figured that it would work out because, you know, why would it not? I've been fighting for years. So it was kind of a shock, but in the back of my mind, I knew that it was also a possibility,

so I'd kind of probably been dealing with it anyway. The last time we had you on the show, you were talking about, and you've talked about this other outlets as well, the ayahuasca, is the ayahuasca, is how you pronounce? It's way above my punching. How do you say it? Ayahuasca.

Ayahuasca. I'm a guy who I've never had a cigarette to my lips, so all this stuff is very, it makes me very nervous, is a neurotic Jew that I am. This stuff freaks me out, which maybe that makes you think less of me, I don't know. But it seems like, you know, with your retreats and your ayahuasca and all this stuff,

and I don't know, am I being too shallow by even thinking this way. Like you are somewhat of a different person, more philosophical, a deeper thinker, things like that, you look at the world in a different way. A, is that accurate? And B, where did that come from?

Yeah, I think that's accurate. I think part of it is just growing up. I think the period between signing with the USC and the GSP fight was a huge shock to the system. And then obviously on the flip side, losing the title fight, and then following three, was, you know, it was a very,

a very self-reflective period. And I think I grew up a lot. I think I changed the lot naturally anyway. And then with the added, you know, trip to Peru and, you know, a few other experiences I've had of late, I've been forced to examine, examine myself with a microscope

and to really, really understand who I am and what makes my personality up. And I think just knowing myself better is giving me a, a better outlook on life. If you could live in one place, if Dan Hardy had the opportunity, forget about your job, to go live in one place, that's where you'll be the happiest, the most appealing to you. Where is that place?

You know, that's such a difficult question, because I can't think of a single place that would complete me. I'm a gypsy. I like to travel. You know, I'm always on the road, and I always seeing new places. So I don't know. I want to spend a lot more time down in South America. I have a lot more traveling to do down there, but the same goes. Asia and, you know, I love Europe as well.

There's so much diversity there, so it'd be really difficult to pick out a single place. Will you ever go through some kind of makeover where I know you shave the Mohawk in between fights and things like that, but you change your look. No more Mohawk, you're regular guy. I saw an interview that you did with Middle Easy recently, where you were like, oh, you know, I don't want to be that token martial artist with the red Mohawk in the background of some D-List movie and have turned down opportunities and whatnot. Would you ever change that, or is that always going to be who you are?

That's who I was. I'm not that person anymore. I'm not the Mohawk's gotten and, you know, just the whole, the arrogance that came with it, you know, that I showed in those first few fights in the UFC. And that, you know, that played its role, you know, that it was an important phase in my life, and I learned a lot from it.

And the way I acted led to the right fights and the right situations arising from those fights. I mean, it got me a title fight. four fights, which is early for anybody in the U.S.C. But, yeah, at some point, you know, we all have to evolve a little, and I have changed. I feel much better about myself. I don't feel like I'm putting out a bad impression on my species for acting. The way that I do it, I did, and the way that some people do, you know, on the ultimate

fighter and stuff, there's a lot of tie-ins with that for the reason that I changed my hair cut as well, because, I don't know, it seemed that the UFC tried to find one guy with a red or a pink mohawk for every season, and that was the guy that was drinking too much and throwing stuff in the pool. And I'm not that guy, you know, but I kind of, I guess my brand kind of got ahead of me and became something that I didn't want it to be, so I had to step away from it. So right now you don't have a Mohawk? No, I don't. And if you fight again, you won't fight with a Mohawk?

I don't think I will know Wow This is blowing my mind But that interview Isn't it strange That people get so upset about I hear it all the time I'm autograph signing

Yeah because that's who you are That's what we're used to So in that interview that you did With Middle Easy When was that shot? A couple of days ago You had something there Is that gone?

I did but it's not a mohawk It's shaved down the sides In the back Okay It's just kind of It's not spiked I've gone for that old like 1940s

binocle boxer look. Oh. Where they just kind of come the hair back but it's shaped on the back as well. So you're going to have that thing there.

That's not, that, all of that is not going away. Probably not. I might grow out the old Big Labowski hair coat but not just yet.

Because I think the, the removal of that little thing, whatever you want to call it, that's drastic. That's a whole new look. This is kind of like sort of modifying

or the evolution of the look you once had. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, well, yeah. I would think that I like the air-conditioned on the sides of my head. I like it to be nice and short because it gets really warm in Vegas, so I can't grow it out too long just yet. Are you still the outlaw? The shaved head makes me look. I guess, yeah. I've not really given it much thought. I mean, do I need a nickname being a regular person?

That's true. Will you walk around with a handkerchief across your face or, you know, covering your face? No doubt. No doubt. I'm always looking to hide. my face from someone. All right. This is, it's, it's, it's amazing to, to see someone, to talk to someone who kind of grows up in front of you, you know, it feels like all of us are just kind of the same. And then when you have a fighter, someone that you watch and admire and you cover, talk about these sort of changes.

It's a very fascinating thing for us because it doesn't happen often. Well, thank you. Does it make you feel like a parent in some way? Not so much like a parent, but it's, it's very great that you allow us to see this and that you are honest about it. it, you know, because let's say, and I'm not knocking him, but Chuck Liddell was the same. We never saw that evolution. And a lot of fighters, Van der Leis Silva is the same.

So we don't get to see a lot of, you know, George St. Pierre has pretty much been the same. So it's kind of very interesting when you see someone change in the midst of their career. Well, I appreciate that. I'm in a fortunate position. It's still amazing me that people have got any interest in what I'm saying or doing. So I'll always be, I'll always be honest and up front. And I'm excited about the changes that I'm going through my life. I always knew that my life would be very fluid anyway.

It always has been from childhood. I've always been traveling and being fascinated by different things and to the point where I'm completely obsessive about something like mixed martial arts. And then that thing will run its course and I'll move on to something else and I'll give that my full attention. And I think that's basically what's happening on a grander scale. I'm moving off Ninja Turtles and going back to Lego. It's kind of a similar situation. And by the way, excuse me, the throat situation is pretty bad over here.

How sad were you when you found out that Matt Riddle was cut from the UFC? You know, I wasn't really sad at all. It's unfortunate because I've got no real problem with Matt. He seems like a nice guy, and I talked to him in the gym. The problem is you put a camera on him and he turns into a child. and I think he'll look back in a few years I hope he'll look back in a few years and have changed some

and kind of regret some of the things that he did or even just see them for what they are and the fact that he might not have been putting his best foot forward back then because in my opinion he's not and I think he can do a lot better but he's still very young he's got a long way to go in the sports

and he's a good athlete and I wish him all the best I'm sure if I find his way back to the U.S. the right thing. Final thing, Dan, is there some sort of timetable in place here where you will make a decision

about your fighting future or are you just going to let this sort of play out on its own? I'm going to let the universe take control, as it always does, and just kind of, just see what happens.

I have a lot of plans in my head. I have a lot of things that I want to do. And really, I'm the only thing I can control in this world, so I'm going to get on with that and see how things

fall about around me. All right. Well, we look forward to that as far as what's next for you. And of course, you can keep up with all of Dan Hardy's comings and goings on Twitter. It's Twitter.com slash Dan Hardy MMA. And recently I saw that you tweeted that you lost some followers and you kind of felt good about this. You felt a little lighter. So, you know, only your true

fans are sticking around and you always give great status updates and whatnot tweets and all that. So follow Dan on Twitter. Dan, good to hear from you. Good to hear that everything's okay, that it's not serious. Again, not life-threatening or anything like that. We were looking forward to the fight. And please do keep us posted. on whatever happens to next. Sticking around, not sticking around, Mohawk, no Mohawk, whatever. Keep us posted.

I will do, mate. Thanks for having me out. It's been good talking to you. There he is. The Outlaw, at least for now, Dan Hardy is stopping by the new and improved Dan Hardy, despite the fact that he had to pull out of UFC on Fox 7, alive and well. And that is very good to hear. Anytime you hear someone talking about a heart ailment of sorts, very concerning, but good to hear that he's okay. doesn't have the disease, if you will, he has the syndrome. I think that's what he said.

That's pretty much what he said, right? So that's good. One percent chance. Better chance of getting hit by a plane on the way to the gym. And if you miss the news, replacing Dan Hardy is Jordan Meyen, fresh off his win over Dan Miller at UFC 158. Jordan Meen, the young Jordan Meen, I believe this will be his 36 fight. He's 23 years old fighting on one month's notice against Matt Brown on Fox. Main event, of course, Gilbert Melendez versus Benson Henderson, Daniel Cormier, making his debut

against Frank Meir, and this fight, Jordanian versus Matt Brown, and Josh Thompson returning to the UFC to fight Nathan Diaz. And what's cool about this is four Strike Force guys, former Strike Force guys versus four UFC guys at the Shark Tank,

the former home of Strike Force, the HP Pavilion in San Jose. That's a cool setting. It's the It kind of, in that sense, from a promotional standpoint, it worked out. And that is in the midst, by the way, of a four-week stretch that begins this weekend with UFC on Fuel TV 9, four straight weeks of UFC fights. Four straight weeks. UFC on Fuel TV 9 this Saturday, Sweden, for now, it's Alexander Gustafson versus Gagar Musassi,

co-main event, Ross Pearson versus Ryan Couture. next Saturday, Mandalay Bay event center, it is the finale of the Ultimate Fighter at the Mandalay Bay. The Hard Rock was booked. Some band was there, and they had to move it. And as a result, we're getting Uriah Faber v. Scott Jorgensen. Also, Travis Brown versus Gabriel Gonzaga,

Misha Tate versus Katzingano, the finals of the Ultimate Fighter. That's going down. April 13th, April 20th, UFC on Fox 7th, and then April 27th, It's UFC 159 across the river here in the tri-state area, Newark, New Jersey, Chal Sunnan versus John Jones, Mazel Tov to Johnny Bones on getting engaged yesterday, Easter Sunday. And that may be because, you know, I'm wearing, you know, this is, I don't celebrate it,

of course, but I respect it. And these are Easterish colors, I believe. That's why I'm wearing this. And it is April 1st. Don't worry. I know we're pretty much two-thirds done here. but nothing pisses me off more than in the public eye. It's one thing to do with friends.

It's one thing to do with family. It's one thing to do it, you know, in a small setting, but nothing pisses me off more than when public figures of any kind, news, especially news, because these are people you have to trust. Athletes, all that nonsense. When they do April Fool's jokes. I mean, is there any worse joke than that? I see Tim Kennedy saying that he's fighting Gagor Musassi.

As far as we know, I'm not saying this is in April. fool's joke. As far as we know, that's not happening. I saw John Alessio say that Ryan Couture is injured and he's fighting Ross Pearson. These are bad attempts. Well, maybe, I mean, they could be right, but I have a feeling. I saw someone else say Joe Lozahn is fighting Kenny Florian in Boston, UFC on Fox Sports 1, August 17th. They announced that last week. The Boston part of it, Kenny Floreen is not fighting Joe Lozon on August 17th. So these are cheap attempts at humor and fooling people and we are taking no part of that. So you can rest assured.

All right, now that I got that out of the way, New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. Wow. What a, what a, are you in a shuttle? What is it going on over there? What do you mean? The noise?

Yes, the noise. No, we are in the control room, not a space shuttle. Should I chalk this up? You know, I mentioned at the top they said that we'd have a new set by now. We'd have other things fixed. Clearly there's an audio issue. I mean, who is to blame? Is it Buzzkill? Is he even back there? I don't even know. I can't see you guys.

He's not back here. Oh, well. So, yeah, let's blame it on him since he's not back here. Taking the day off? Mm-hmm. All right. Slacking. Well, it sounds great. What should we do now? Let's run through some of these faces. We've got quite a lot.

Okay, okay, okay. So we got the Musassi poses. Has Gaggar Musassi tweeted something? I haven't seen it. He seems like he may have been a little preoccupied. I think he's got other things on his mind. Now, let me tell you what's at. stake. There are only like five of these left. Of course, they were sold

out on MMAwarehouse.com. We made over $2,500 $2,500. The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, so I really appreciate that. Halwani knows. So what I have here is a large and an extra large. I have

a yellow large and a white XL. Whoever wins, we'll ask you. Do you want the large? You want the XL. And how do you win? Well, it's the Musasi Pose. By now, I hope you figured it out, I had you tweet the best Musasi Pose out there, and we have gone, how many did we get? Do we get any good ones?

Was this a success or was it a failure? It was a success. In terms of numbers, we got quite a lot. In fact, we're going to have to go through these relatively quickly because there are quite a few. Well, you don't have to take all of them. You know, you could whittle them down. No, I want everybody who submitted a picture to at least get on screen. Okay, so let's go.

How many do we have? Approximately. 30? 30. Jesus. Now, some people miss the mark. Okay. Well, why do we have to show those people if they missed the mark? They didn't get it right.

Well, we can just disqualify them right away. Quickly. Everybody participates. I just wanted to remind you guys that I should have mentioned this earlier for the Ultimate Fighter finale. Katzengano is asking her fans to tweet ideas for her walkout song. She's never picked one before. And if she picks her song, she will give you her walkout shirt. So you can follow her at Twitter.com slash Katzengano.

She's fighting Misha Tate next weekend. Okay. What do we got? Okay, this is our first one. By the way, I see Buzzkill right next to me right here. Unbelievable this guy. He's sitting right here. This is one of the perks of having this window.

I can see that some of you are not taking the job seriously. Okay. That's a Musasi pose. See, this is one that I think was taken previously. Yeah, I mean, or maybe he's at opening day, baseball game. So, yeah, this is our first one. All right. Pass.

We can eliminate them right away if you want to do it like that. Let's eliminate them. Okay, that one's gone. That was not bad. This one's pretty good. He's got the gloves. And also, he said his five-year-old nephew took the pick. And you've got to give props to that.

It's just kind of a serious pose, though. Hopefully we got better. Let's leave this one in, but... And Dave from Morgan's a big time fan of the show, but I'm not quite sure he nailed it. Hmm. The many faces up. Not bad.

You see, it's hard for me to totally disqualify when I don't know what's coming up. So this is a maybe. This one's very weird because there's a lot of headroom. Oh, okay. It's just kind of a pose. Yeah, I'm not feeling this one.

All right. This is a good one. It's the same guy, but now he's shown... So just the fact that he inserted a picture of Musassi. Well, you can see the similarity, no? By the way, he actually looks like Musassi. Yeah, I'm...

I'm down with that. All right. It's a bit of a disadvantage for the rest, and advantage for him, but I get it. Oh, what's going on here? He's wearing the hat, and he's got the thing around. He's got the belt around.

With the cap, two belts, and a sad face. I dig it. All right, he's still in. Those are weird gloves. This one, this guy's really sad. He's too sad.

Yeah, he's a little too sad. More subtle. Oh. This is very... Wow. Holy crap. That looks exactly like Musasi. Here it is.

I want the prize, L-O-L. Wow. He's definitely staying in. Yeah. I mean, he's in the lead right now. Remember this man. Is that Jeremy Bader? It looks exactly like him.

It is not Jeremy Bader. It's a hipster Musassi. Those glasses. I think this one can go. Okay, fine. But we appreciate all submissions. Whoa, this guy's an actual fighter. Got a black eye.

But now people are. getting it. I like this. This is a pretty good one. This is decent. We'll keep him in. Yeah. Other guys still the winner so far. Which one? The one with the hat? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he looks exactly like him. Sorry for the long hair and small beard. Should be sorry.

Disinterested. I liked it, but I don't think this makes the cut. I do like when people actually... Post a picture. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I agree. Hmm. I think that he has some kind of food in the back. I'm not sure if it's almost. You were telling everybody to... Yes.

Oh, do you think that's why? I don't know. Maybe I'm giving too much credit. Yeah. I think this one gets Xed. Yeah, yeah. This is a good one. Okay, now this guy is apparently, I mean, he looks like he's working at a grocery store right now, right?

Or some kind of lab, maybe. Yeah. That's a good one. How disinterested he is. Yeah, yeah. It really captures the essence of Musassi. This is probably number two right now. He's so disinterested.

Wow. That's knee bar buffet. That's my man. He was on this show prior to your introduction to the show. He used to put out these great videos. He doesn't really do them anymore. That is an incredible handlebar mustache. The mustache alone keeps him in.

Mustache alone. But as far as the face goes, I mean, it's just kind of a serious face. All right. You know what? Eliminated. Dang. I don't like him. This one's actually pretty great.

What kind of hat is that? I think the plant is in the background. I don't think it's part of the hat. It's pretty good, though. But it looks pretty good. But not as good as the other two. Eliminated. Now, this guy submitted through Twitter, but it's all kind of weird twit-pick stuff,

so we have to see it that way. Also, this guy is definitely in his cubicle at work, and I don't know if he's just actually bored, but, you know, this represents, we're looking at a guy right now with one earphone in his ear. It looks like in a cubicle with a fluorescent light above him. This, I think, represents a lot of people listening to the show right now. So I appreciate people. like this.

I respect because in America, we are on midday. You know, I feel like a lot of people kind of plan their day around the show. I hope, you know, eat lunch at the desk, all that stuff, right? It's good, but I'm maxing it. All right. Here's our buddy, three weeks in a row. I love this guy. I almost said a bad word.

Did it slip out? It was halfway out. You stuffed it back in. There's just my bad, my throat. Yeah. This guy's the best. One person deserves. He does our contest every week.

He's incredible. And we love him for it. Sean Sheehan. He's the best. And by the way, every week, he looks completely different. New haircut, new facial hair, new shirt. He's got it. Well, I'd hope a new shirt.

That's a good point. Yeah. But I'm closing that one. Oh, my God. Now, this one, I don't think he got the face right. But he's just so manly with that body hair. I wasn't about to go there, but I don't, I don't, I don't, think the face the face makes the cut no he didn't but it it i like it i like that he took the shirt off

he showed he showed what he's working with by the way that is the musasi pose right there like hmm you know i'm just gonna go outside now and oh we might have a fight later no big deal i love it is that bus kill no no this guy is really bored now i can't tell if he's on drugs seriously geez asleep i i see it He is the Zen master. I see the disinterest, but... No. I think this one's getting X'd as well.

Oh. I like how people... See, I appreciate it. Oh, in honor of opening day, Hussein wearing a Yankees hat? Did he do that himself? When did hewesie wear a Yankees hat? Now, he's wearing a red socks hat.

It just... You don't see the symmetry there. It doesn't mesh. I appreciate the effort, but it doesn't mesh. Out. Hmm. It's a nice try there, but it just kind of falls a little flat.

All right. Out. I feel bad for people. Oh, my God. This one's strange here. Let me go to the next one. Because this was his first submission. Okay.

Seems like a regular guy. And then he took it up a notch to this one. Is that real, though? Real in what sense. Did he Photoshop that or is that real stuff on his face? I imagine he threw some... What's in his hand? What's in his hand?

Wait, wait. That's his phone. Wait, oh. Wait, so you're saying that's all real. Oh, it's a... on the picture for sure. Get out of here. Oh, yeah. Inner Musasi, his placid facial pose is hiding this inside. Holy moly. He actually went through that trouble?

I don't think. He probably had this done for like walking dead or something. So you're calling him out. I'm not calling him out. I'm just hypothesizing. But you're saying it to Fugazi. Let's just say that. Because I think this deserves maybe a consolation prize just for the effort. Okay, well, we'll keep it in. I'm keeping it. This was the original. Yeah.

I'm going to close this one out, but we'll keep the blood. There we go. Oh, whoa. He's actually wearing a Hohuanian nose t-shirt. See, but I think that that's a bad move. Yeah, because now you're out. He says this one's getting dirty. Dang.

But what happened? We lost it for a second. Hold on one second. So this guy actually has a Hawani nose shirt. Hmm. That might be a problem. Good submission so far, though, I must say. Too bad Musasi didn't chime in.

Let's see if he added one as we try to get back our pictures here. No. Just a bunch of retweets. There's a great... Okay. Oh, boy. What's happening? We have...

Do we have a meltdown of sorts? Yeah, we might have had some technical difficulties that... Did we lose everything? to overcome. So you're going to have to come back to me in a minute. Okay. By the, okay. Aliso tweeted out a good picture of you that if anyone missed it on Twitter,

New Yorkerick was caught wearing a Victoria's Secret pants and a cutoff shirt on his stoop. Was it a good look? I don't know. You be the judge. And our man Alizzo at A-L-I-Z-O submitted it. And to be honest, it is a pretty damn good Musasi pose. Although he wasn't going for that. That's just New York Rick being New York Rick.

Musassi and I are kindred spirits, I feel. Oh. Are you back or are you just chiming in here? Just for that. Okay. Whoops. Well, we'll try to get those pictures back. I still do believe that one guy who actually looks exactly like Musassi

is in the lead right now just because he looks exactly like him and he got the face. He nailed it. So as things stand right now, speaking of Musassi, the fight is still on. And quite frankly, I can't really think of anyone who would be willing to step up on such short notice.

I mean, that's like five days. You've got to fly to Sweden, cut the weight. You know, it could be a middleweight that could step up. Don't forget about that. But as far as the 205 pound division, that's a tough sell for anyone. Big stage, to me it sounds like, and to go back to our previous point,

yes, in the past UFC has told us things that didn't pan out when maybe at the time that they told it to us maybe it wasn't even true at that exact time. But right now it seems like Dana is being as honest as possible and I just think that if there is even a small chance, a tiny chance with five, four, three, two, one days out, they're going to pull the plug on the fight

if there's a chance that come Friday the last time that the commission will see the fighter, that he won't be cleared. That can happen. Because then you really can't get someone on 24 hours notice unless you bump someone up like filthy Tom Lawler who asked for the shot on Twitter. I just don't see that happening.

I'll do respect to Tom Lawler. As of right now, Monday afternoon, 3.20 p.m. Eastern time, the main event is still on. But Gustafson did cut himself. And the Swedish M.M.A. Federation I've tried to call Gustav said a couple times. No word there. Spoke to people in his camp.

They're not giving out a lot of information. And quite frankly, Musassi's camp. I mean, you heard from Musassi on the show. Not all that up to speed, it seems, on what's going on. But he's going. And you saw Ross Pearson. He's already there. A lot of guys are already there.

We got the rest of our entries. All right. Let's take a look at these, and then I'll try and retrieve the other ones. No problem. I know who's the leader as of right now. Okay. This is one of our next ones. Nope.

Oh, boy, that quick, huh? Well, I mean, I'm trying to... Now, this one I love. Why do you love it so much? I love it because he has the fist up. It's so lazy, and it's like, mm. Yeah, but it's not better than that other guy. That's the gold standard right now.

I'm with you, but I really like this one. Really? Do you have a crush on him or what? Well, now you just took it too far. All right. What else? Oh, that one's... That guy actually looks like him. See, but you're so swayed by the pictures that...

No. You think I am? Obviously. He doesn't look that much like him. He does have a bit of the crazy eyes. And he's doing the Verdume face more than a Musassi face. He's out. What the heck?

What does it say on his shirt this guy? He said Musassi knows and then he turned it to Musassi pose. Oh, that's pretty cool. But why is he look drunk? I don't know. And it's all blurry. Yeah. And his name is, I'm not impressed.

Well, guess what? I'm not impressed with your picture. Ouch. Hmm. Decent. Decent, but not good enough. He did say every week you'll try. Now, again, I appreciate the effort with this one. I just don't think it's going to cut it.

Plus, could you not find a better picture of Musassi? It's all pixelated and everything. Damn. Tough critic today. Spencer, not bad. but it's just a little too serious. All right. That was the last new one.

So let me go try and find the two that are in the running. That's cool. If it's a problem, that one guy won. There's no doubt about it. Which one guy? The one guy who looked like him who had the hat, he nailed it. Okay. You know what I'm talking about, right?

It was one of the earlier ones because there was one in the middle bunch. There was a guy. It was just his face, Musassi's face. He was wearing the hat. We'll get it. That's the one. That's the winner. Whatever his name is, he won. Go contact him. I bet if we search for Musasi Pose right now, it would come up. I mean, let's see if I could find it quickly. Oh, that's going to be tough.

Yeah, I can't look through all these. But you know which one. Oh, I think I found him. Found him. It's, wow, that was, that was pretty good. At Oba ID, or Oba underscore ID. He is the winner. Congratulations. New York Rick will hook you up. let him know if you want the Xcel or the large. We're going to show it on screen. We got it. Oh, okay. There it is. That is good.

He wins. There's our winner. There's our winner. Congratulations. Thanks for doing it. Musasi Pose. Winner gets the Halwani no shirt. And I do have a couple left, maybe a handful or so.

So I will bring them in the coming weeks. If you couldn't get one on MMA Warehouse.com, there's still some hope for you. All right. Are we going to questions? Are we going to Rickspicks now? Well, we're going to have to delay it a little bit. Why? Well, we lost all our questions, so.

Oh, are you serious? Yes, sir. My dear God. I've got website questions, but let's do Rick's picks. Okay. And then we'll take some calls or something, and then I'll get the Twitter questions back. Okay. What I could do is, I could just say, right now,

Okay, I'll do that later. I'll just ask people to do it and I'll just read them off my Twitter. Resend your question. Okay. All right, let's go to Rickspix. Oh, wait. While we do Ricks picks, if you sent the question, we apologize for the technical difficulties, transition period. I heard we had no sound at the beginning of the show.

Is that accurate? As far as I know, yes. Yes, what happened there, by the way? Should we bring that up or? You're asking the wrong person. Will, would you like to chime in on this one? How about you just, you can just turn around. knock on the window.

Oh, Buzzkill. Ask Buzzkill. He's pretending like he doesn't like he doesn't know me right now, like he's working. He's getting all shy. It will be fine in the replay.

Okay, that's good to hear. All right, so what will happen is if you sent us a question earlier with the hashtag VMMA hour, send it now. I'll weed through them while Rick looks at his picks. Brendan's writing me on G-chat. He's so sly.

And I'll just read them off the page. We'll take the other ones from the website. Cool, cool. Cool. What do you got? Buzzkill just wrote to me on G-chat. Yeah, my bad. I killed the buzz.

Oh, yes. Oh, Brendan. It was the setting on the encoder. Yeah, whatever. Okay. What do you got? UFC on Fuel TV 9. Yeah, this is an interesting one.

I'll just go through them one by one, and then I'll give like a recap at the end. Gustafson is currently still the favorite at minus 225. Musassi is plus 185. Now, going into the fight, I thought that Gustafin is rightfully where he should be in terms of the betting line. I thought that he should be about a two and a half to one favorite. But now with this new information, it definitely affects betting. A lot of people were counting Musassi out.

I don't think that he outclasses Musassi to that. Grated degree. I think that people have had success punching Alexander Gustafson. And Musasi is very good at punching other people in the face. Plain and simple. I don't see this being much of a grappling match. Now, I know that Musassi is known for not having great takedown defense. And if Gustafs so chooses, I imagine that he could pretty easily get this to the ground.

But I think that it's going to take place mostly on the feet. and I think that let's discount the iron, the cut, or whatever injuries we're talking about here for a second, I think that Gustafsson takes a decision over Musasi, outstriking him. But you can't ignore that. I mean,

well, I'm just saying this is my breakdown without the injury. But the injury happened. I'm going to give the breakdown with the injury as well. But that makes no sense. Of course, I'm saying this is what it would be And this is what it is now So now in terms of betting I think that there might be a little bit of value on Musasi

Just because of the nature of the injury It being a cut in all It's something that you can focus on And it's something that you can visibly open up To end a fight quickly So if this cut is as bad as I imagine it to be Musasi has one aim and it makes his game plan very easy.

And I think that it wasn't as far in terms of what the betting public might have thought initially. I think that Musasi had a chance. I don't think it was a big chance. I would have favored Gustafsson, but I think the line would have been about right. I didn't see much value on Gustafson. But now I see a little bit of value on Mossassie

just because of the nature of the injury. Now, I'm not sure. Have you noticed a change? Let me They actually have the The graph here Let me see Oh cool

At one point it got up to Plus 225 So Musasi has come down a little bit Back to about where it originally opened up At plus 180 So he's at plus 185 Oh that's cool Gustafson opened at minus 260

And now he's at minus 225 So that means that the bets did come in on him But I imagine this is going to change Actually quite a bit closer to fight time assuming that the opponents remain the same, assuming that Gustafson remains in this fight. Okay. But my final evaluation on this is I see slight value in Musasi if Gustafson fights with the cut. And I think that he would be able to hit that cut and open him back up.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, as I was saying, Gustafson could turn this into a grappling match, and I think that he would win there. Although I thought Musassi did a great job on bottom against. King Moe, I don't think that that's going to look too great for the judges. And I think if Gustafson makes it a wrestling match, he still controls the fight. So the next fight we have listed here is... Pearson Couture. Okay.

Why, is that not... Well, the order here is Pickett Easton, but... No. Pearson Couture. Pearson is minus 400. Couture is plus 325. Now, I think that Pearson's going to win this fight. I'm fairly confident in that.

I was very impressed by Coutor his fight with KJ Noons. I don't think he won that fight, but I was very impressed. I thought KJ was going to be able to walk through him pretty much. So I don't think that this line accurately represents the fight. I think there is a little bit of value on Coutre. Personally, I can't take any flyers on Couture just because I don't have enough money to play with when I have a very strong feeling that Pearson is going to win this fight. But I don't like Pearson at minus 4.

I think he's going to be able to keep it standing and pretty much execute a similar game plan to what KJ Nunes was able to land the harder, stronger punches while Katoor is going to control the activity. I think he's going to push forward as he always does, but I think that Pearson's going to be able to avoid enough damage and win a decision. But I don't like him at minus 400. I think that's almost outrageous, honestly, after how decent Katoor looked against KJ Nunes. Decent. He looked pretty good. Although I do think he lost the fight. I don't think he won the fight, though.

I guess it's a vertical. Well, I just ruin the flow there. Well, I mean, it sounded like a backhanded compliment. No, I think that there's value on Couture, but I personally can't bet on him. But I see a little bit of value because I don't think Pearson should be a four-to-one favorite.

Fair enough. The next fight, definitely look. looking forward to this one, Pickett and Easton. Brad Pickett is currently the favorite at minus 165. Easton is plus 145. Big fight, 135 pounds. Yeah, this is a huge fight.

I think that that line's about right. I like Pickett a little bit in this one. Just because, just like Dana White, I'm a big fan of Pickett, and I really like the way he fights. But I feel like he was a little bit exposed in his previous fight against Wyneland, who kind of picked him apart.

I mean, and Pickett's known for being able to create angles, get inside, use his excellent boxing, but Wineland was able to keep him on the end of his jab. Now, obviously, Easton doesn't have the same build, isn't going to be able to execute the same game plan, but I think that his level of activity is going to be tough for Pickett to deal with. And the other thing is, Pickett can always rely on his submission game, his great grappling game, very underrated in that area, if the fight comes to that, but Easton is equally impressive in his grappling. He's a good take, he's good to getting takedowns, he's a good wrestler, he's also good defensively in terms of getting takedowns, he's a black belt in

jujitsu. So I think that this fight's going to take place standing and it's going to come down to the pace of Easton versus Pickett being a little more technical. It's the Brawler versus boxer kind of matchup that we've seen a lot. the past. And I favor picket slightly, but I'm not sure if I'm going to bet on him. I might even put a bet on Easton, but that's yet to come. I still got to think about that one a little bit. But in terms of the fight, I think it's going to be a great fight. Yeah, and what's interesting about this division is, I mean, look at Eddie Weinland. His first two UFC fights, he lost. Two wins later, he's fighting for the title. It's probably the

most wide open in the U.S. I guess flyweight would be more wide open. And then there's the women's band to wait. But you get my point. It's pretty wide open. So even though you lost, didn't look good in your last fight, it's very easy to climb that ladder rather quickly at 135. Definitely agree there. Moving on, we have Matt Mitreone and Phil DeFries. Huge fight. Mitrione, thanks. And I wanted to get him on this show, of course, but he's actually flying right now.

He thinks that a loss, it could be the end. Well, that would be three in a row? It would be three. I mean, there was a big stretch there. He lost to Congo, came back a year and a half later. Oh, right, right. Nelson, but yeah, I mean, it would be three. Matt Mitrione is currently the favorite, minus

320, and Phil DeFries is plus 260, the underdog. This is another one like the Pearson-Kator fight, where I do favor Mitrione, but I don't think he should be this big a favorite. So I do see some value in DeFries, in the sense that Mitrione is a striker, and DeFries is a grappler. And if Mitrione's take-down defense, you know, hasn't improved.

to the level where he's going to be able to keep DeFries off him, there's no reason to believe that DeFries can't win this fight. So I don't think, I favor Mitrione slightly. I picked him against Roy Nelson, which ended up being a very large mistake. But I do still favor him in this fight. But at minus 320, I don't think there's any value on Matt Ventrione, and I think the value is on DeFries here. So I might be betting on him, and I might stay away completely.

But it's an underdog or stay away bet. There will not be a bet on Matt Mityreone here. All right. although I do favor him very, very slightly. Okay. There's a lot of other interesting fights on this card. Diego Brando and Pablo Garza. Diego Brando is minus 205.

Garza is plus 165. I think Brando is going to win. I like his style. I like him as a fighter. But I think that Garza looked really, really good in his last fight. And I was very impressed. And just his body type creates so many, mismatches in terms of how people match up with him stylistically.

He's so good at using his size, especially in his last couple of fights, that I think that I'm probably going to either stay. This is another one where I'm going to stay away or take the dog. I don't see Brando having much value at minus 205, but I'm not in love with Garza at plus 165. So again, this is going to be one where I stay away or I take the underdog. Also, kind of interesting. It seems like every single fight has a line on a Monday.

I think, yeah, I think the whole card has a line. Maybe they, what was it? What was the last, I guess the last one was two weeks ago, so maybe they had some time. Yeah. Yeah. Let me just pick and choose maybe. Connor McGregor.

Oh, yeah. Marcus Brimage. This is the real main event. Connor McGregor is minus 175 favorite. Marcus Brimage is plus 145 underdog. God, and it's on Facebook. What a crime. Can't wait for this fight.

I don't know what to make of this fight. one betting wise because I don't know enough about Connor McGregor. Now I've watched his fights and I'm going to watch more and get a little more educated. But I don't see why coming in he would be such a favorite over Marcus Brimidge. I would think that it would be more of a coin flip. Brimich has proven himself. He's proven that he can throw bombs for sure. If Jimmy Hedis wasn't so tough, he would have gotten knocked out. And he's proven that. He's proven that. He's proven that. He's that he can use his own wrestling, prevent takedowns. He's a very well-rounded and very talented fighter.

And I'm not sure why a guy coming into the UFC without any experience in the big leagues would be a favorite over him. So I'm thinking that there will be a play on Marcus Brimage. Now that said, I've been very impressed with what I've seen from Connor McGregor, but the level of competition just isn't the same. Sure. So that might be one where I'm leaning toward Brimage,

and I fully expect that I could be wrong. If I do bet on Brimidge and McGregor comes out and starches him, it wouldn't surprise me just because I've been very impressed by him. But the experience factor is completely in Brimage's favor. I can't wait for that fight. And it seems like Brimage really has a chip on his shoulder because he feels like the UFC is not showing him any love. You know, beating guys like Jimmy Hedis and Maximo Blanco. I mean, Brimage is doing really well in the UFC. And I think he deserves to be higher than the Facebook card.

But these fuel ones, I mean, it's not your typical Facebook. because there's no televised undercard, if you know what I'm saying. So I don't think you should take it too personally. I agree. I think that's it in terms of what I'll preview. But follow me on Twitter, and I will post some bets for these fights.

And this is going to be one where I might have a lot of bets in a lot of places because the lines are not. There's no huge favorites other than Ross Pearson and Peralta over Khorasani is actually a very big favorite. But other than that, the lines are relatively close, so I might be putting down quite a few bets. And let me ask you, before I give you the times for the UFC and Fuel TV 9 listings on Saturday, like I said, it's pretty jam-packed. It's Bellator, there's Invicta, there's one FC.

Are you looking at any of these? Are we just sticking with UFC here? I'm definitely thinking about the Bellator card. I'm definitely thinking about the Invicta card. Now, I've said that in the past and ended up not betting. because it all depends on the lines. I can tell you that I'm thinking about these fights, and I am, but the numbers have to make sense.

For Invicta, I imagine that there's going to be some lines that I like. Belator is a little more questionable just because sometimes there's guys on the card who don't have enough fights that I wouldn't feel comfortable betting. But Invicta has a lot of fighters that we've seen a history on, and I'm comfortable laying down some bets. So more likely Invicta than Bellator, but there's a possibility for both. Will they post lines for a card like Invicta? It will be like right before Way-ins very close to the fight.

So you may have to put some picks out there before your usual Friday spot because their card is on Friday. Yep. The Bell Tour on Thursday, all that stuff. All right, so look out for it. It's Twitter.com slash New York, Rick. As I said, and are you doing WrestleMania or not? No, I am not doing. Well, that's a shame.

Beltor 95, 1 FC8, Invicta FC5, UFC 5, UFC of Fuel TV 9, WrestleMania, Syracuse, Michigan, Knicks versus Thunder. I may not get off the couch. It's an unbelievable weekend of television coming up, and I will not be anywhere. I'll be in New York. I won't be at any of them. Just taking it in.

Doing stuff from home, but not on the scene, as I usually in. So a lot to look forward to this coming weekend and follow New York, Rick, on Twitter to get more of his picks. Now, people have thrown out some questions here. Let's do the Twitter ones first, and then we'll finish off with the website because I got some of them here.

Unless you had other plans? No, how about you start with those? Okay. Okay, I'm just going to... I got to read them in chronological order because there's just so many. I'll go through them quickly. Can't wait for September 21st,

Toronto, hoping for winners of Hunt, JDS, or Kane, Bigfoot for the heavyweight title, you think that may happen. Well, that's May, September. That's four months. Yeah, I'll say it can't happen. Other than Nick Diaz, who are you most dying to do a walk-and-talk with?

BJ Penn. BJ Penn in Hawaii. Thoughts on injuries continuing to haunt the UFC and are fighters starting to over-exaggerate their injuries. I don't think it's starting, I don't think it's continuing to, I mean, it just, to steal a phrase, it is what it is. Injuries, I mean, I think that they have dodged them pretty well this year. And it just feels like right now in our sport, until we actually see those two guys or girls

standing inside the octagon face-to-face, it just seems like we're not, I mean, like, you can't, you can't buy it. and that sucks because you get all these great fights and cards and all this stuff and until they're actually in there together something can go wrong and that's a bummer I don't think guys are over exaggeration

you don't think Alexander Gustafin wants to fight on Saturday in Sweden you don't think he wants that fight come on is there anything to take away from Ryu pulling out of the MMA business is there money to be made in MMA? A very good question

I thought Raiu you know they came out strong but I don't know if they attached themselves to any really big-name guys. You know, let's be honest. Fitch, Ben Ascreen, they're not the most popular fighters out there. And those are the fighters that they attach themselves to.

Yet, you know, I saw them in Times Square, all this stuff. The clothes, you know, like I said, with Michelle, I'm not a huge fan of MMA clothing. For whatever reason, it just, I don't mesh with it. But they were okay. They're all right. it wasn't as obnoxious as others, but I'm not sure if there's any money to be made in my business. I'll tell you this much, I don't think the money is to be made, you know, walkout shirts and things like that.

And that sucks because that money goes to the fighters. But I'll tell you what, putting money into the fighters by putting out videos, video blogs, mini documentaries, things like that. And slapping your logo, that to me can make more sense because that's going to live on the internet. The walkout is so short. It's tough. Got to pay the tax, all this stuff. So it's a tough one. What do you think is going to happen with Dominic Cruz?

Should he get a little more time deadline? Look, they have the fight with Henne and Borough, Eddie Weinland. So to talk about it now, there's no point. People have accepted the interim fight. It's happening June, Winnipeg. Now, Borough should fight Cruz if he beats Wyneland to unify the belt. and if Wyneland wins, then he should fight Cruz as well. But Rao has now defended the interim belt twice if he wins, June 15th, in Winnipeg.

Let's say, they say, all right, Cruz, we want you to fight November, December. If he's not ready by then, that will be over two years. Then I think you have to start talking about, you know, stripping out of respect, build him back up, don't rush him, don't have that pressure. It's nothing to hang your head about, but you got injured. But right now, I don't see any. need to strip them of the title. What are your thoughts on having a scoreboard in MMA or maybe something like the Letterman

card? Well, they did have that with Eddie Bravo. I think the fights are short and there's not a huge need for it, although with all the controversies these days and maybe you don't want it because of the controversies. It'd be too confusing. But would I like to see it? Yeah, I did like it. Can Katzengano use the MMA hour intro music for her walk-in?

How cool would that be? Ready and willing. Just let me know and we'll hook you up. That would be awesome. Update on when Akiyama is coming back. No idea. Haven't heard much about him. Some have asked about him. The other one that was very popular to ask about was Brian Bowles. And he is coming back. He's fighting George Rupp later on this summer. Akiyama, no word about him.

I presume he is somewhere being very sexy right this minute. Do you think that the next season of the ultimate fighter will be the highest rated season because of the real world feel? not sure if highest rated. I don't think they could beat the Kimbo season. I'll tell you what, I'm interested in it. You know, this year, it was nice, fresh coat of paint production-wise, but at the end of the day, it's the same show. And next season will be the same show, but there's that new wrinkle. I kept saying the real world changes. And I got to be honest, I'm not really digging the real world anymore. I know I always said that was my favorite reality show, but it just seems like I got too old for it. You know, it's like 21-year-old. I just, I don't really

relate to these people anymore. They just started a new one in Portland. At least it changes cities, new characters, new jobs, things like that. Too much of the same on the Ultimate Fighter. At least now bringing women to change things a bit. UFC returns to Boston with many title fights already booked.

Main event options for Fox Sports 1. I thought of that. They're going to stack that card. That's the first day that that network launches. Don't forget that. That's the first day that Fox Sports 1 is in existence. So they're going to stack the deck. I just don't know who's out there.

And I heard some people talking about GSP Hendricks. I don't think that's going to happen. I think GSP is too big of a pay-per-view draw. But this is UFC on Fox 1. If you know what I'm saying. The first one, K&JDS, it's that big, I think, in everyone's mind. And they will stack the deck. Are you as pumped about the Invicta 5 card as I am?

It's stacked. It is a great card. I really, I think they're doing a great job. It was very much needed. It came at the right time. That's the most important thing. For Invicta to come now with the UFC supporting and putting on women's fights, it just works perfectly. Came at the right time.

There's no competition there. There's no friction there. I just think they need to get off the online pay-per-view format. I think that could only take you so far. I don't think that they'll be on Showtime. I can't see that happening with UFC's relationship with Showtime. They need to figure something out. You know, access obviously is a venue, but I don't get it.

here in New York, so I don't know. Let me go through a couple more Twitter ones, and then we'll take a phone call and then go to the website, and then we'll call it a day. If Gustafsson can't make the fight, then no replacement can be found, should the UFC still hold the event? I think so. I think a lot of people are there, are ready, the fighters are there, everyone's there. You don't want to kill that market.

Sure, will it be a disappointment? Yeah, but there's 10 or so other fights. They'll all, you know, try to save the day and put on a great fight. Yeah, it's a huge bummer, and it would be a major blow to the momentum that they have in Sweden. But at this point, five days away, I don't think you should cancel the card. Caveman Rickles entrance with the Life Size Raptor, 2WE, like it or not like it. Love it. Be different.

I don't care. Don't take yourself so seriously. Rickles, of course, won the Belator tournament. Is Mamad Kalidav of UFC caliber worthy? I think so. I'd like to see him. I know there was some interest. Strike force, when Zufa owns strike force, now UFC.

I would suspect that we see him at some point in the UFC. Okay, let me take two more here. I'm excited to see Jacare MMA and the UFC and impressed with his last fight. Your thoughts on him and Philippe. I think it's a tough fight for Philippe, known for his striking. Jaceret, very much improved on his feet, obviously known for his jiu-jitsu, right now favoring Jacqueray. What promotion do you think is having the best fights so far this year, UFC or Bellator? Hmm. I mean, I think UFC is having a bigger impact. Again, my problem with Bellator is that the fights seem to blend together. You know, week to week, it's hard to keep up. Like I said, Carl Prasian is fighting. Who knew? I mean, that's a big deal for Carl Prisian. He's fighting on the main card. Who's promoting that? What's getting out there? If you missed the broadcast, what kind of videos are being put out there? What kind of promotion? Well, you know, you need that. And week to week, it makes it tough.

The ratings are pretty good, so, you know, what do I know? But I think having a break in between the fights would better serve them. Once a month, I think, is ideal for an organization on Belto. 95 shows in four years. That's bananas. Thank you, everyone, for your questions. Really appreciate it. You know, we can answer these all day.

One of these days, we're going to do in all questions, MMA. I've wanted to do it for a while. Just be interactive with the fans. Let it be about you. Let me know if you're interested in that. One of these days, we'll do it. Now, I'm told we have a phone call. We do.

We have phone call. It's a very special phone call. The much-anticipated debut of the Milan moment. Is that true? Is he there? It's definitely going to be the Milan moment. Wow. Finally, after trying so many weeks to get on the show, here he is the brother of one,

Skylar Ashton, the famous Skylar Aston, the as-famous Milan. How do you pronounce your last name? Jagger? It's Milan-Jagger-Lypstein. So I'm pronouncing it incorrectly by saying Milan. It's Milan like the city in Italy, but I'll give you a pass, Ariel, because I watch her show all the time, and I'm a huge fan. I know you're a huge fan, I really appreciate the sport.

It's Milan. And so Jagger, you're on Twitter. It's Twitter.com slash Milan-Jagger. That's your middle name, I suppose. Yes, sir. Okay. So what do you got? This is your big debut.

I just wanted to first of all talk about, you know, If the headline on UFC on Fuel in Sweden, it's going to be changed from Gasson to Musassi to Kierston versus Gertr, I'm still going to watch. But how are you going to tell me that the most interesting fight on the card, Marcus Brimich versus Connor McGregor is still on Facebook? I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. I just can't believe that. That could be the silver lining in all this. Maybe they get their due on on Fuel TV.

That's exactly what I'm bringing this up about. I wanted that to be my first point, because I think it's the most important thing to talk about. If that main event has changed, I want Marcus Brimidge and Connor McGregor to get their time on the prelims, like every other notable fighter out there. So you're throwing it out there, you're making the demand, you're telling Dana White to smarten up and put these guys on TV. Yes, sir. I think Connor McGregor has so much potential. He had an amazing interview with you on your show, and I think he deserves his due, and his debut should be televised. All right, I agree with you.

What else he got? I talked with Ed Spar as a few weeks back. Oh, look you name dropping. Everyone in their mother pretty much is coming around to the idea that Chris Wyman has the tools to give Anderson Silva the hardest fight he's had in a long time. Is it safe to say that we could put Michael Bisbing's notion that you have some type of man crush on Chris Wyman to bed? No pun intended? Well, you know what? I'm happy you brought that up, my friend, because I think it's rather frustrating because you have all these sheep, you have all these people who don't think on their own.

all of a sudden Michael Bisping says something and I have a crush on Chris Wyman. Chris Wyman, Matt Matrione was on the show every single week at one point. No one ever accused me of having a crush on him. Wyman deserved his due. He was an interesting character. He's had interesting things happen to him. And he's been on the show like, what, a handful of times?

No crush. I have a lot of respect for Anderson, Wyman, all the fighters. I don't favor him. He's on the show every week. So yeah, I think it is time. I think what happened was Michael was a little sad. He had his feelings hurt that I wasn't showing him the love, that I was giving the love to another middleweight.

And guess what, Michael, you're not the only 185 are out there. You know, I've got to spread the love here. I can't have you on the show every week. I know you asked me to be on the show every week, but I've got to spread the love. So that's all. And then you have all these people who kind of fall along. It's very frustrating.

Also, you know, I just heard you say that you can't relate to the MTV real world, but I'm 21 and I still can't relate to that stuff. But I wanted to talk about this ultimate fighter reality show this season. And I think that everyone's really impressed with Dylan's fighting. You know, he just fought Bubba and had a great showing. But I'm even more impressed with his confessionals. The guy is spewing out monologues, like the season actor trying to get an Academy Award. Do you think maybe on the next season they'll be able to have the two finalists

or maybe even the four semi-finalists get UFC primetime or road to the Octagon feature? I feel like that would be the ultimate prize for these fighters trying to get their name out there. You know, it's not a bad idea, although they get such a great platform. and being on the show. Let me ask you, I mean, do you feel any different about this season as opposed to the last couple of seasons? Like, I don't feel that much different about it as opposed to the Carwin season with Nelson. And quite frankly, why I'm worried about Rhonda being on the show is, A, I don't want to wait to see your fight in December. That seems like an attorney away.

And B, it sometimes feels like by the time they get to the fight, the coaches, the drama fizzles a little bit. You know, it doesn't have the same sizzle as it once did. I completely agree. now looking at John Jones and Chelle Sutter their best friends when they were talking so much smack on Twitter before the fight. But I have to tell you, from a production value standpoint, the show is

100 times better. Foxes put their hands on this show, and they've made it into real TV. And now with women and men in the house next year, it really is going to have that reality TV show feeling. And I think they really have to capitalize on whoever the big stars, like, you know, Dylan from this season, I think next season they need to

capitalize on the big starts that come out of this show. And I really think they should spotlight them in the same way that they spotlight their biggest stars on UFC primetime. You're 100% right about the production. It's night and day. And you're right about next season. And what I like about next season in particular is it reminds me of season one of the ultimate fighter, season two of the ultimate fighter, where there were a lot of great fighters out there. And now with so many ultimate fighters, it's hard, and so many guys on the roster, it's hard to find legit stars who could be future. champions. But when you hear about fighters like

Roxanne Monteferry, like Tara La Rosa, you know, you hear about some great women fighters who are just looking for an opportunity and they're going to try out. I mean, that to me, you could do you could probably do 16. But I like that it's eight. I like that that the men and they're going to be living together. It's very intriguing. I'm

on board. You sold me on the concept. I just hope it produces come September. Also, I want to throw something at you that's maybe not a serious conversation. But, you know, with Johnny Hendricks' new contendership position, and we all know how you've documented that you love his beard. We know that MMA fighting has a great MMA pound-per-pound ranking. But, you know, with all this beard envy that I have, I was wondering, do you think that we'll ever see Ariel Huanian M.M.A. pound-per-pound beard ranking?

Wow. Do people want that? I think the people really want an Ariel. I think they crave it. I think of names like Roy Nelson, Michael Kiesa, Kyle Kingsbury, court McGee, my favorite fighter John Jones, and even IU alum Dave Herman.

Wow. Now you just opened up a big problem for yourself. Are you really as you're speaking to a Syracuse alum? Are you really going to bring up Indiana University? I mean, is that really the best thing? Oh, I really didn't want to have to talk about this today, Ariel. But you know what? We just didn't come out to play.

I have to give it to you, we got out-coached. We had no answer for the 3-2 zone, and it's a really sensitive subject with me. Well, I'll drop it. You know, I got to when you started to name those beards and the list, is it weird that I got a little excited, maybe a little too excited? No, not at all.

Okay, all right, all right. So maybe I will do it. That would be really... That is a great idea. Congratulations, sir. I mean, I'm very upset, but I know you must be very happy for your... Wait, now you're all disheveled.

Now you're not even listening to me. I'm not even talking about the game. I'm talking about the beards. Oh, yeah, of course. Me too. I'm still on the beard conversation. I was just saying from before I didn't want to talk about it, but now I at least have to congratulate you.

Fair enough. I appreciate it. Are you going to jump on the bandwagon? Do you leave you with the message for the fighters? Okay, go ahead. I think when it comes down to fighters trying to quote comedy shows or movies on Twitter and use the art form known as offensive comedy,

I think they should quote the source that they get it from to make sure that the viewers do not think that it's their original thought. Miguel Torres recently got in trouble when he quoted workaholic, and Phil Davis just quoted Tropic Thunders, never go full retard joke. But Davis admitted to say what movie was from, and I think just like in college, it's important that these fighters start citing their sources on Twitter to avoid backlash with the UFC Code of Conduct in place. You know, just some quotations are at dash listing the attributed source would suffice. Let me ask you a question, and I agree with you 100%, but wasn't it Vinnie Mogulash that did the full retard thing?

Oh, I saw it on the MMA morning report that he was either a reply from Phil Davis or it was. forward from Vinnie Magalach. But either way... Either way, it should never be said. Say, this is from Tropic Thunder, because I think just the word retard can really come off offensive to turn people, and I don't want to see any of those fighters get cut for this reason.

And by the way, until you just said it right now, I had no idea that that line was from Tropic Thunder, and I thought it was in very poor taste. So you're 100% right. Exactly. You're 100% right. And I didn't know what Miguel Torres was talking about either. You're not comedians.

Let us know what the hell you're talking about. And if not, don't say it because not everyone knows what the hell you're thinking about. And by the way, how about my friend Montreal Design on Twitter saying, the guy you're talking to now should replace New York Rick. Way more knowledgeable and interesting. What do you think about that? Is that what you're trying to do here? Whoa.

You know what? I really hope you guys enjoy my Milan moment. You know, I put a lot of time into this, but it's really a pleasure. I just got done taking an exam here at Indiana University. But being able to switch gears with you here and talk to MMA, which is the only thing I'm really interested in, It really just made me truly happy, and it's made my week, let alone maybe my month. Your month? Wow, it's April 1st. It's been a great month for you so far.

I'm not April Fooling you either. What class was it that the exam was for? Don't even talk to me right now. It's math finite. Oh, God. It's the hardest subject ever. But to be honest, I'm more comfortable when I talk about anything else. And the exam just ended, right? So how did you focus on the exam, knowing?

that you may get your big chance on the MMA hour. Was it tough? Definitely did not focus on the exam as much as I could have. I was definitely focusing more on this than the exam, which I'm sure most people would be like, wow, that's a terrible idea. But, you know, this is just really important to me, sir. And hearing that someone would say I could replace New York Rick,

of all people, that's just high phrase. Well, let us know. His Twitter name is Twitter.com slash Milanjigger or Milan. No, no. Milan. I got it right, right? Milan. Milan.

Milan. Let me say this. This has been Milan Lipstein for MMAFighting.com. He even has his own sign-off. Okay, Twitter.com slash M-I-L-A-N-J-A-G-R. Let us know. Should he replace New York, Rick? That's right. We're throwing it out there. That's not let us know. Great stuff, man. Great stuff. Really... Thank you very much for having me, buddy. Really happy that you stop by. And now you have an open invitation. But first, let's see what the people have to say. All right?

Have a great day, buddy. You too. Thanks a lot, and go orange. Oh, God. Please don't say that. There he is. Our good pal, Milan, stopped by. Good to have him. The brother, of course, of Scholar Aston of 21 and over fame and pitch perfect, all that good stuff.

I thought he did a good job. What did you think, New York, correct? Very good job. Great debut. You could put your personal beefs aside. I got no beef. Did you feel threatened? No.

Okay. No, but that was good. It was good. Came prepared? Got a little college B-ball talk in there. It was a great change of pace. How about Mike Kyle ending his brief retirement and fighting Valentine over him? Mike Kyle came up to me after his loss to Musassi and said, I'm done.

I'm done. It's over. I retired. Two months later, he's back. Unbelievable. Okay. Let's take some questions from the website and then let's go home. Sounds like a plan.

You have those? Yep. Okay. First question from Kilroy was here. Cool. With talks about GSP possibly retiring soon, would it hurt his legacy at all to not have fought Anderson Silva? Side note, I also see this turning into Mayweather-Pakiao,

where one will lose before they have a chance to me. Well, I don't feel as though there was the same anticipation for GSP Silva as there was for Mayweather-P-Pakia. The world was waiting for that fight. Mainstream media was waiting for that fight. It's just not the same with GSP Silva. and quite frankly, I don't think he's retiring soon. I think, you know, that was kind of blown out of proportion,

those comments from Farah Zhabi, my opinion. I don't think it hurts his legacy if he doesn't fight Anderson. I think he's done enough. I think he has some big fights coming up at 170. So no, I don't think so. From Davis 8185, is the story of Decimal Gate over or were the MMA media revisit the situation

with Dayton White during the Fuel TV Sweden card? This is where we stand. as of right now, Diaz's representative slash lawyer, Jonathan Tweedle, as far as I'm concerned, has not filed a complaint to the Quebec Commission. What they want ultimately is a rematch. And what I gather from the UFC is they're not all that interested in the rematch right now, coming off the laws, Johnny Hendricks deserves a shot. He's going to get it.

I'm not going to be in Sweden, but I hope that the media there in the scrum, We'll ask Dana. Just had my OCD kick in there for a second. And then, of course, there's next week, The Ultimate Fighter. There are a lot of opportunities to talk to Dana White. I'm sure we'll get his take on it. Right now, he has chosen to stay quiet. Of course, we've reached out, but it doesn't want to weigh in on it.

But what I gather is they're not going to get the rematch. And quite frankly, if the issue is about the decimal, and yeah, they may be upset with Mike Mersh of the UFC. You know, he was in the video and text messages. all this nonsense. At the end of the day, who decided the decimal stuff? Who was the one that decided to waive the decimal? And if GSP wasn't 170, who decided to overlook that, it was the Quebec Commission. So you've an issue, then you apply and you make your complaint and all that stuff. You've got to file the complaint and then take it from there. As of right now,

I don't see them doing that. So right now, I think it's pretty much where it is. And we'll get Dana's take and I, if I had to guess, I'm going to guess he will say that Nick Diaz lost and, you know, GSP wasn't 171 or anything like that or over and right now he doesn't deserve a rematch. That's my guess. But I will say, by the way, I just want to say, not to be all negative, I do think it was, I mean, that's incredible, what? You're waving the decimal? How does that make any sense?

Then you tell the guy an hour before, why not bring it up at the weigh-ins, though, if there was an issue on Diaz's side? But yes, the Quebec Commission does. does not look good here at all, especially when in the past they looked at the decimal. What the heck is that? So I'm happy that we're covering it. I'm happy that it's being brought to light. I'm not sure if what at the end of the day Nick Diaz wants, the rematch, is what he's going to get.

Our next question from Pugilist George. Eddie N. Goems was someone I saw as a very real and legitimate opponent for Cyborg Santos, whereas I don't see Muxlow offering anything to derail Cyborg. I guess he's asking, does that fight have a little less luster now? I think I'm just interested in seeing Cyborg come back. You know, I'm interested to see how she does. I mean, the Gomez fight was, that was probably a little more interesting. But to me, this is all about, you know, Cyborg, how she looks.

She hasn't fought since December of last year, all the stuff with Rhonda and all that. That enough, that's enough of a draw, in my opinion. So is the fight less interesting? Yes. but I'm still interested because it's the return of Cyborg. And by the way, when I was running down the card, I didn't even mention Cyborg. I mean, yeah, that's a big deal. This comes from Allen Scotland MMA.

Do you think Anthony Johnson will end up back in the UFC? If so, when? Presumably he will fight at light heavyweight. How do you think he ranks against the other UFC light heavyweights? And if he does fight outside the UFC again, how about fighting Rampage? I do think he'll be back in the UFC. I'm not sure if he'll be back right away. He does have the contract with World Series of Fighting.

I wonder if they'd step in his way. But again, Dana said the win over Arlofsky doesn't do much for him. I think it's impressive to beat a guy like Arlovsky. And by the way, we didn't touch on World Series of Fighting, which went down March 23rd. I thought the action was good in the cage. I think, you know, getting guys like Birkman, you know, a nice win, Justin Gaci, nice win. Marlon Morayas, to me, was outstanding. Dave Branch, I wasn't all that impressed with.

I don't think Palofiolia should be fighting, quite frankly, anymore. And the Arlovsky fight, fine, although the eight seconds overtime in the first round where he got rocked, was horrible. And I've called Nick Lembo a couple times, no answer about this. I thought everything else was a little off. I thought the production wasn't great. Didn't like suggesting fights, guys in other weight classes.

And to me, what bothered me the most was Birkman turning down the Fitchfite fight. bring Fitch into the cage like they did with Marais and Nam, and you don't even acknowledge Fitch being there. And then he turns down the fight. Weird. So the action was good. They need to fix up some other stuff. And of course, they had the issue with the cage and all that.

Their next show, June 14th in Las Vegas, John Fitch versus Josh Berkman is the main event. It's a rematch of a fight from a few years back. Back to Anthony Johnson, I do think he'll be back in the UFC. Don't think next. And I think it'll be at light heavyweight. against Rampage, very interesting fight, but where would that fight take place? I don't think World Series of fighting

is going to break the bank for Rampage. I could see, maybe they could. And that'd be an interesting fight. I'd pay to watch it. Our next question from Thought Process. With four events in as many weeks, what single fight are you most excited for in the month of April?

Thinking about it as Michael Bisping. Someone's saying, Ariel O'Wani versus Bisping, they're trying to start things. And I didn't say anything. I was just saying that he was a little jealous, that he wasn't getting all the love. That's all.

Mike knows how he feel about him, that respect and all that. But now he's chiming in, so it's getting a little heated on the Twitter. Four events in as many weeks for the UFC, which fight I'm most excited for? Well, to be honest, I was really excited for Musassie Gustafson. Hope that pans out.

But the one I'm most excited for, gosh. I am most, I mean, for me, it's Cormier-Mier-Mier. But it could really be that entire Fox card. The entire Fox card's amazing. That thing is top to bottom. This might be Joe Silva's masterpiece. This might be the finest work. And Jordanian stepping in is a great storyline.

It's great drama. And to be honest, as someone who's watched Gilbert Melendez for all these years, it's just going to be really cool to see him in the UFC. Champion versus champion. Top guy in the Emmy. How often does that happen? So as far as the spectacle, those two fights, Cormier, Mier, Melendez, Henderson.

How can you beat that? That card. So good. Yeah. This is our last one. Ariel, the question on everybody's mind. How was your Passover? I missed my chance to enjoy my mom's matzabal soup because I was working.

Oh. From Jordy Bones-Jones. Well, my Passover was great, and I appreciate the question. I was in Montreal for a few days. Always nice to go back. See my family with my son. It's great. He's almost a year.

April 30th. Feel free to send presents. So great. greatest thing ever times a thousand and guess what i just went to packs before this show which is a restaurant here not to give them the plug but why not and they had mutzabal soup this is not you know technically that's on 100% kosher because the place has to be completely clean from bread and all that but it was very exciting i couldn't pass it up because i love mutzabal soup so i had it i had it at my parents my mom makes a great one had it my in-laws they make a great one today's one

was different, but it was still fun. And I feel bad for you, Jordy, because everyone deserves a multiple soup. Even if you're not Jewish, you know, don't listen to Rampage. That stuff's great. You've tried it, right? Yeah. It's great, right?

I mean, it's not my favorite. It's amazing. I'll have a muttable soup, breakfast, lunch, dinner. It's great texture. Love the chicken soup, salty. It's great. It's okay. All right.

I think you're overselling it. Okay. But then again, I haven't had your family's mom. That's true. That's true. It's very good. And I appreciate you asking. I love it. Multiple soup is great. Go to Katz's. Go to a bunch of places here. Second Avenue deli. It's great. I appreciate you asking. And a happy Passover and a happy Easter to everyone who's watching or listening. We're done, right? That's it. Should I say? Oh, people are getting all sensitive. Well, that's that. You can hit my music. Who am I telling you to hit the music?

Today it's Mike. Mike! Great job. Came on cue. Very nice job. Well, it was a fun show. I appreciate everyone stopping by. Again, as I said, a huge weekend coming up, and it starts on Thursday.

Bellator 95. Then we move into Invicta FC5. Then we move into UFC on Fuel TV 9. there's even a one FC card. It's a huge, huge weekend of mixed martial arts action, and I'm excited about it. And then we've got the other stuff that I talked about as well. You've got the WrestleMania, all that stuff.

You're a combat sports fan. There's great boxing on. I mean, there's times are good. There was a great boxing match on Saturday. Brandon Rios. Going for the trilogy. That is how you do a post-fight interview. Anyway, I want to thank everyone who stopped by.

I want to thank everyone who sent in questions, comments. Musasi poses. Hopefully the fight goes down on Saturday on Fuel TV. 10.50, you've got the prelims on Facebook. That's where you can see Connor McGregor's UFC debut. Then 2 o'clock, you've got the UFC on Fuel TV pre-fight show. And then 3 o'clock, you've got the main card over on Fuel TV. Scratch that. 1 o'clock is the pre-fight show, 2 o'clock main card on Fuel TV. You can check out all the stuff. We'll have it on an MMAfighting.com, so don't you worry. I want to thank Ross Pearson. Good luck to him against Ryan Couture. I want to thank Michelle Bito. That was great. What an honor was for me. Really enjoyed having her on.

Gagar Musasi, thank you to him. Moranalo, good luck with the new show. Beck High, thank you so much. Dan Hardy, thanks so much. Thank you, everyone. We'll be back next week. Cannot wait. If you missed anything, we'll have the replays on M.A.

We'll have the replays on M.A.combe. And iTunes. Support for this show comes from Figma. Figma is the place where teams turn ideas into the world's best digital products. And now, Figma is introducing a faster way to make those ideas real with Figma Make. It's an AI-powered prompt decode tool that turns your ideas or your Figma designs into interactive code-backed prototypes in minutes. And because it's all in Figma, you can use your team's existing design building blocks, making it easy to create

outputs that look good, feel real, and represent your brand. Whether you're a designer, product thinker, or founder, Figma Make helps you go from concept to something real. real, fast. Figma Make, a prompt to code tool for making ideas real. Try it now at figma.com slash make. That's figma.com slash m a K-E. Ever feel like your work tools are working against you? Too many apps, endless emails, and scattered chats can slow everything down. Zoom brings it all together, meetings, chat, docs, and AI companion seamlessly on one platform. With everything connected, your workday flows.

Collaboration feels easier and progress actually happens. Take back your workday at zoom.com slash podcast and zoom ahead.