MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 184

Episode Date: August 25, 2014

Featuring Rampage Jackson, Pat Barry, Tyron Woodley, Eddie Wineland, Sean McCorkle, Ray Sefo, and Jonathan Tweedale. 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 each other. Introducing O-DU. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier,

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so I'm so happy to be inside here inside our New York City studios for another three-plus hour edition of the MMA hour. We've got a great show planned for you. Lots to get to today. We're jam-packed. As per usual, let us get right into it. joined in the back, as always, by Mr. New York Rick, who today we're calling Red Eye Rick, not only because he actually came to the show today via a Red Eye from Los Angeles. He was at Meta Morris.

We'll talk to him about that later, but a little red eye because Rick's involvement in the Rick's Picks Challenge, his namesake is no more. ousted in the third round will not make it to the finals unfortunately we will discuss that we will break it down digest it all a little later on we also have to ask him about UFC fit lots to get to with Mr. New York Rick so we're joined by him in the back also joined by Will Mike

the rest of the crew back there doing their great work as always and today on the show my friends we we got an interesting cast of characters an eclectic cast of characters I just lost my music is it gone That's it. We're done with the intro. Hopefully you can still... Oh, there it is. It's back. No problem.

All right, so what's going on? In the third hour, we're going to be taking your questions. Use the hashtag the MMA hour. Leave them in the comment section below. You know the drill at this point. Up for grabs, once again. UFC knockout via Tops cards. Our good friends over at Tops.

We'll tell you a little more about this. If you missed it last week, a great prize this week. Best question via Twitter gets that little. prize. So good luck to you on that. We'll also, as I mentioned, look ahead at UFC 161. We'll look at the finals of the RPI, and UFC 161, of course, goes down this Saturday in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, home of the Blue Bombers, home of the Winnipeg Jets, my first time going over there, so I'm looking forward to it very much. At around 3.25 p.m. Eastern, Jonathan Tweedle, who is the legal representative for one Nick Diaz. He'll be stopping by to talk to us about War MMA. Nick Diaz is

new promotion. They kick off June 22nd, Stockton Arena. What the heck is going on with this? We have a lot of questions. Hopefully we will get them answered. Sean McCorkel, he'll be stopping by at around 245. He defeated Marius Puginooski. I called

it the International Job Squad Tour, but he won. He won via Kimura on Saturday. Had a lot of interesting things to say about Poland, about the promotion, KSW. So we'll be talking to, Mr. McCorkle, reuniting with him, will there be a minute? You'll have to wait and see.

225 will be talking to Pat Barry, who knows the thing or two about Mr. McCorkel. He faces Sean Jordan at UFC 161 on Saturday. Big heavyweight fight. 205 will be talking to the World Series of Fighting President, Mr. Sugar Ray Cephal. World Series of Fighting returns to NBC Sports Network on Friday. They have their third event. This one's headlined by John Fish via Josh Berkman. And it's actually a rematch of a fight that happened in the UFC many moons ago. Around 2006, I believe. John Fitch defeated Josh Berkman.

This time they meet again in the main event. John Fitch making a lot of headlines for his comments about UFC pay. And Jacob Vokman making headlines as well. It's kind of like the disgruntled ex-UFC fighter card. But it's a fun card. You've got Vokman versus Beerbomb in what I guess is kind of the call. homemade events, Tyson Steel, Steve of Carl. It's been hit a bit by injuries. Hulse Gracie pulled out Terran Spung, not quite an injury, but he pulled out of the event. He's doing glory next weekend here

in New York. So that's World Series of Fighting number three. We'll talk to Sugar Ray about that a little later on. We're also going to be talking to Eddie Wineland. Eddie Wineland, of course, was supposed to main event, UFC 161 this weekend. Unfortunately, Henan Burrow pulled out due to an injury. So Eddie Weinland now wondering what is next for him. He's not quite sure. He doesn't know. He doesn't know when he'll be fighting, who he'll be fighting. Hopefully he has some answers for us in a fortunate situation for the first ever WC Bantamway champion was going to get a shot at the interim belt. Now that shot kind of up in the air. And then our good pal, Quentin Rampage Jackson, he stops by at around 120 to talk about his new deal with VICOM, now a member of the Belator team, now

a member of the TNA wrestling team, Paramount, all that good stuff. Rampage is in the house. But first, let us go to the Skype machine because on Saturday there's a very big Walterweight fight taking place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It involves Jake Shields and our guests at this time. Tyron, don't call me Tyrone Woodley. How are you, my friend?

I'm doing great. How are you guys going? Oh, we don't hear Mr. Woodley. Can you hear me now? Are you there? Can you hear me? No, this is a problem on our end. it has been coming up as of late. We're going to fix it in a second. I see you just fine, but I don't hear you.

Okay, let me show us on. Apologies for that, Mr. Woodley, we'll get you. You hear me now? No, I don't hear you. I see what you're saying. I see your lips moving, but unfortunately I don't hear you, but it's on our end. It's on our end, I believe.

Well, they're telling me we hear him, so someone has to come fix this because obviously I don't hear him. Okay. All hold tight. We'll get to him. in a second. We apologize for that. Taran Woodley is facing Jake Shields on Saturday. That is the featured bout on FX and the prelims. And a lot of people thinking that this is actually the second

most important fight on the card as I'm just talking about him as he's chilling over my left shoulder here. Oh, Tyrone, are you there? Yeah, I got you. Oh, all right. Here we go. Here we go. I got you, my man. Sorry about that. So I was talking about how a lot of people think this could be the second most important fight on the card. Are you disappointed it's not on the pay-per-view? Actually, I'm not disappointed, to be honest. I'm kind of understanding why it's on the prelims. I think they want to get everybody pumped up for the pay-per-view portion. You know, it's probably going to be a couple million people watching FX, so they want to have a really, really good bottom there. And, you know, if we do well, and it's a great fight, they'll

probably show some of it on the pay-per-view portion anyway. And my family won't be able to make it all the way out to Canada, so for them they'll get on, watch you for free on television. I'm not really worried about it, man. My performance has to be stellar, regardless if it's on pay-per-view, live stream, or, you know, FX. So I got to go out there and put on the show. I never understood why people got upset about not being on the pay-per-view. More people end up seeing you on the prelims anyway.

So what's the big deal? Yeah, for me, man, I'm trying to build my base. You know, I'm building my fan base slowly. In the UFC, people saw me in the last outing. I just want those guys to know, this is Tyrone Willey, man. This is the fighter that you're going to see from now on. That wasn't just one fast knockout. That's my mentality from now.

I want to go out there and really use a gift that God's giving me to go out there and put on a great performance. So this has given me another opportunity, like you said before, a ton of people are going to watch the prelims. Most people that watch the pay-per-view also watch the prelims. So I'm going to basically double-dip and look to increase my fan base. You know, your debut was spectacular. You defeated Jay Haran in just 36 seconds back in February. Was it one of those situations where you were looking forward to the fight so much? You finally get to the UFC.

It happens so quickly, and then you don't know what to do with your adrenaline. Because I can imagine, I mean, 36 seconds, that's not a lot of time. How did you deal with it afterwards? I just kept campaigning for a fight, man. You know, it's all about building up the way before you're fighting and riding it out after your fight. You know, people only remember you from your last performance. Your last outing is the most important outing. And that's with the fans and that's the organization.

And that's how you get the next big fight. So for me, you know, I had a spectacular knockout. I went out there. I handled business quickly. I showed everyone in the Weltaway Division. That's how I got to buy with Jake Shields. I was pushing to get the Carlos Condon fight. I was pushing to get any fight.

We had talked briefly, me and you formally, I told you no bout tonight is going to get turned down. And I stuck to that word. We just had some contract issues that we had to get tweaked out. And once we did that, we ended up with the Jake Shields ball by the end of the night. Yeah, and you're talking about the kind of mix-up at UFC 158 when Condit was looking for.

a new opponent after Roy McDonald and then they brought in Nate Marquard, etc., etc. You wanted to fight on that card very much. You said so in February that you felt there was going to be an opening and, well, it didn't happen for you, but now you're fighting. Jake Shields. Why Shields? Why was Shields the guy you wanted to call out? Why was this the fight you wanted next? Shields was campaigning really toughly for Carlos Condon.

And I was thinking of name recognition. And once again, we go back to building your fan base. You know, he has over 100,000 Twitter followers. You know, and, you know, he's followed for Rome on a Rock title, which he's won, Pancraise. Elite X's strike force. He's even fought for the UFC straf. So for me, knocking off a guy with that type of recognition,

is only going to grow my career. And also, you know, he's a world-class fighter, especially on the ground. And I think style-wise, I'm a nightmare for him. And I think that's, that made a great, great bout. Every welts away was paired up with somebody else. And we stuck out like a sore thumb. So we just matched those two thumbs up together.

We're going to get it on next week. I mean, this week, actually. You mentioned the kind of glory days of Jake Shields. As of late, you know, in his last four fights, he has two losses, one win. Officially, he has a no contest against Ed Herman, but he did win that fight. That fight was at 185. Do you think he's as good now as he was when he was champion of those organizations you mentioned? You know, I think, you know, I said this.

I think you covered your speakerphone. Can you hear me now? Yeah, I got you. Okay. I was saying that, you know, I think he gets frustrated when I say this, but, you know, it's not being arrogant. It's not even down playing. I'm just saying that it's a true fact he's a specialist, and he's one of the few of the specialists left.

You know, you saw Hoyt's Gracie, and you saw, you know, guys that came in with just one area of expertise, and he's using everything, the kickboxing, the striking, the wrestling, everything he's using two gets of the ground. So for me, I think that the matchup is amazing. You know, I'm an All-American wrestler. He's now going to take me down easily. I know he's looking to make an ugly fight get close and put a lot of pressure on

and think I'm going to break, but I'm in the best shape of my life. You know, I just got off the scale. I'm the lightest I've ever been leaving to go away for a fight. My diet has been amazing. Metabolic meals, make sure I ate really healthy. And I'm just, I just got my swag on right now, man. He should have fought me in Strike Force.

And it's just my time, you know, I'm just confident in preparation, confident in the gifts that God's giving me. And I'm confident that's my time. 2013, I'm going to make a bold statement. And you're going to see me in that title fight less than 12 months. How much do you weigh right now? I can't tell you. Oh, why not? You should be proud of it.

I'm like mid-80s, man. Okay. I'm the same. A lot of people fluctuate. I never get to 200. I'm never below like 185. I usually stay within 185, 190 at all times. I've been at fights.

The week of the fight, I've been 190. So for me, I'm mid-to-low 80s right now, but usually on Monday, I'm like 190, 192. So for me, I feel good. You know, I took some days off. My body's feeling fresh. and ready to roll. So, you know, everything is looking great so far. So you think 12 months from exactly now you will have fought for a UFC belt? I believe so. You know, if I can make my voice heard a little sooner, I'm not going to deny about.

You just, you never know what this fight game, man. People get injured. Bouts get taken away. People test positive for, you know, in performance enhancers. People, you know, have things that come up. They just prevent them from fighting. So if you, you know, are always in condition. And that's why my campaign has been stay ready, stay ready. The reason I was able to take, you know, take this bout or possibly take one of those bouts on 158 because I was in shape, man.

I really was doing what I was saying. And I think if I keep that up, you know, something's going to open up where I'm going to get in there. You know, if I beat him a great fashion, I fight a top five guy, you know, somebody like Capman or Conn or Diaz or Roy McDonnell, man, I'm in a title shot.

All I got to do is it's not a round robin tournament. I don't have to beat 10 people. I beat one those guys. My name can be put in a hat for a world title. Do you already know who you're going to call out if you win on Saturday? No, that's a lot of guys. You know, it's about who's not fighting. You know, Damien Mayer's not fighting anybody. Nick Diaz isn't fighting anybody. I know he's not retiring even though he said he is. You don't believe him?

I don't believe him. He brings too much of the sport. You know, I'm a fan of his as far as his fight game goes. You know, the guy's done crazy things for the sport as far as, you know, just going out there and leaving it all out there. I think he's young enough and got some left in him that he'll get back in the gym and rethink his thoughts. So guys like that, you know, Katman and Kahn is matched up. We're going down to Ellenberg is matched up.

So it's really only a few guys that are sticking out. So I'm looking for, you know, the bout that's open. It makes sense. Preferfully somebody in the top seven to top ten. And from that point, you mean, it's all just, it's the wolves that are out there. You know, they can't feed me to the wolves. I already know who the wolves are.

It's no hidden opponents. So for me, I'm mentally prepared and mentally ready to step in there with anyone. You know, you mentioned PEDs, and the reason why the Shields-Herman fight was overturned to a no contest was because he tested positive. We still don't know what he tested positive for. Do you know?

I don't know for sure. You know, I think, you know, in this game, man, everybody has their own perspective. Everybody, you know, do their own regiment. I just particularly, you know, I stay away from, you know, bashing or saying I'm for or against. I just know myself, God bless me with gifts. He also blessed me with a strong mind. that I can work through adversity, work through pain, work through injuries.

And really, you know, I like the pride of saying that I was hurt in this camp, you know, but I pushed through it. I didn't feel great. I had the flu. I was injured, you know, my energy felt low. I like that mentally going into the fight. So if I get in a bad spot, I can remember and I can draw from that. So for me personally, I just don't believe I needed one.

Two, I would rather finish within the time allotted. You know, when my clock ends, my clock ends, I'm done. I'm hanging it up. So for those guys that do it, you know, they have. their reason. Some people, you know, you know, doctors say their levels are low or whatever. So I just don't get into it. Nobody's going to beat me because they're on steroids.

They're going to beat me because they wanted it more. They're going to beat me because they're going to beat me because they're going to fight that night, not because of what they're taking. Do you already know when you want to hang it up? No, man, not really. I haven't even did anything yet to start hanging it up. You know, I'm honest, you know, as far as where

I'm at my career, you know, I don't think that, you know, I'm at a state where I'm not. And, you know, but I know that I can get there. I know I got the skills. I know I got the mindset, you know, coming off a loss really changed me as a fighter, and it changed me from being a little too overly conservative sometimes because I was trying to, you know, get to the top. I was trying to get to the title fight. And I got there and things that go my way. So for me, I got a lot to prove to myself. And whenever that's done and whenever I feel like I've accomplished everything that, you know,

I set out to do, then we'll start seeing when it's time they transition to something different. It's somewhat cliche, but just seeing you and talking to you after the Marquard fight as opposed to before and seeing what you did in the cage. Is it fair to say that was kind of the best thing to happen to you, not only because of, as you were saying, your approach, but you know, you kind of got the lost out of the way, not only the loss, but the way

you lost. And now it's almost like no one even remembers that anymore after what you did to Jay Haran. You went on Saturday, I mean, it'll be an afterthought. Yeah, you know, for me, like I said before, everybody remember your last appearance. You know, when I knocked out and finished just a minute, six of my

first seven fights, I had three to decisions against tough guys that just don't want to get finished. You know, Terrick Safferan and Paul Daly and Jordan me in and those guys don't want to get finished. Nate Corey don't want to get finished. So when I had decisions against top guys that look amazing against other fighters, but I was able to, you know, neutralize them, play the chess game and won the fights. You know, everybody claimed me as a blanket.

And then I knocked somebody out and all of a sudden I'm just one of the hardest hitting welterweight in the division. So for me, it's just constantly understanding that it's a fair weather bandwagon sport. you know, fans jump on, they jump off. But also the more and more highlight real performances I put on, the more and more people don't want to see me fight. So, you know, nobody remembers that. They only remember me knocking out Jay Harron in 36 seconds.

I'll go back to the Jake Shields question, but I'll phrase it in a different way. Do you feel like he's evolved enough over the years? Like someone like yourself, you're knocking guys out now, you come in as a wrestler. Do you think that Shields, even though he's been in the sport way longer than you, do you think he's done enough to evolve as a fighter? I think he's going to meet evolution in June 15th.

I think he'll see that, you know, just grappling or just enough striking or just enough wrestling to get to your game, it's not going to be enough against me. I feel like, you know, I'm a part of the new generation of MMA, you know, guys that can do it all and do it all well with power, speed, athleticism, and work ethic. So I think that he's a little bit sharper than the same fighter he was 10 years ago. He's still doing the same takedowns, still doing the same combinations. I watched Friday his last 10 fights two and three times over again, and I really found a lot of the same tendencies.

I found him trying to, you know, trying new things, but he's still pretty much the same fighter. You know, with every fight, you might see me go for submission. I might run out a decision. I might knock somebody out. And truly, nobody's really seen everything that I can do all at once, all in my fight. So my goal is to let it go, man.

Let it go. And after this fight, people should be able to mute the audio, put a song behind it, and let it be a highlight rule by itself. Have you ever been to Winnipeg? I've never been to Winnipeg, but I heard it's going to be crazy. I heard they buy a ton of pay-per-view buys, and that's probably why they brought it to the city of Winnipeg. I've been getting a lot of love from Winnipeg fans,

so I'm looking to turn their house down. By the way, someone asked me about this on Saturday. Eric Silva looked really good against the guy you know very well, Jason High. He said, what about a fight against Tyron Woodley if he wins? I thought it's a very interesting matchup, but do you feel like if you beat Shields, you're past someone like Eric Silva?

I never think I'm past anyone. You know, you always got to be watching those guys that are coming up that are hungry and quite a skeptics have more UFC fights than me. I think the kids are aggressive, a young kid, but if he's not looking to fight for a title, I'm not looking to fight him. If the person I matched against is not thinking about title now, it makes no sense for me to fight him because if they beat me, they're going to be in the same place. But if I beat them, I don't want to be close to where I'm at. I want to jump exponentially in bounds. And, you know, this is not a sport like it used to be where the best fight the best, number one fights two, three fights four.

This is a sport where if you are marketable, you put on a great show, you know how to sell it, you go out there and you give the fans what they want. You can find yourself in a spot where others might think you might not deserve to be in. So I think the kids also, no disrespect to him, but I think he clearly stated that he wants several fights before a world title. It wasn't in his mindset right now. He said if he can get 10 fights before then, you know, So he would take 10 fights for me. I would go crazy if there's more than three fights.

So I think he's a tough kid, but, you know, where he wants to go in his career right now is not where I want to go. So I would probably be looking for a different bout. Okay, final thing, because your debut was so spectacular, do you feel any pressure to replicate or even surpass what you did back in February? None at all. Only pressure I feel is the pressure to not hold back. You know, if there's something to happen spectacular soon, fine. But I'm telling you right now, man, I'm ready to.

to go 15 minutes of a dog fight with this kid. And, you know, I'm not going to stop trying to finish him all the way through. I think that for me, it's noticing how to be patient, knowing when you actually have an opportunity versus being overzealous. You know, when I dropped Nate Markport in my mind, I was like, I'm the work champ, I'm the war champ, I'm the war champ. I thought I was a champ. And I went nuts, and I threw 30 rabbit punches instead of throwing three, four, five,

meaningful hard blows, bouncing his head off the canvas and making the referees get involved. So for me, it's knowing when to take the shot, when to go in for the kid, when to smell blood. And I think the patience and the space that I'm having between me and him is going to make it a very hard fight for him. By the way, I love that you call him a kid. He's three years older than you. Look at you. Well, who's the third? Jake Shills is? Yeah.

Oh, well, everybody's a kid. I'm a kid. He's a kid. Them's fighting words, my man. Until you get 40 years old or something. All right. You still the kid, so. I'm looking forward to it, Tyron. This is a great fight. you versus Jake Shields, FX prelims, Saturday night, UFC 161.

Thank you very much, my man. Good luck to you. We'll see you in Winnipeg. Thank you, guys. CW3O's DLEY. Stay tuned. The next champ is right in front of you. There he is.

Mr. Tyron Woodley stopping by from St. Louis, Missouri. Looking forward to that fight very much. All right, as I mentioned, last week, some very big news in the world of mixed martial arts. Arguably the biggest news of the week was that former UFC light heavyweight champion, Quinton Rampage Jackson, now a member of the Bellator team, and also the T&A wrestling team, also Paramount Vicon, so much. So he had to give her a good friend, Rampage, a call and ask him to come on the show. We wanted him to be in New York with us, but he turned us down.

Rampage, where's the love? I thought you liked hanging out with us in New York. Like hanging out with trouble, man. I've been visiting. I've been over the old place. Can you hear me? Were you that upset? No, can you hear me?

Well, we're two for two on the intros here today. Can you hear me? I told we have Rampage, but I cannot hear Mr. Rampage. Rampage can hear you. Rampage, if you can hear me, apologies, we are efforting to put you on. What happened was, not everyone's here today. Apparently that there are some bigger things going on in the world than my show on a Monday. Can you believe that?

So they took some of the people off. We don't have a full staff. I think we have Rampage. Is that you? No. me. Well, if you heard it last week, I'm sure you heard it if you're listening to this show. Rampage Jackson signed with Bellator. He also made his T&A wrestling debut on Thursday. Rampage, a guy who has talked about pro wrestling for a very long time. Grew up a big pro wrestling fan

in the Memphis area, junkyard dog, guys like that, and he had a little confrontation with one Kurt Angle in the middle of the TNA wrestling ring. And it seems like he's going to go as they say the King Mo Rout. Now someone's telling me they hear him on Twitter. We can hear him, but I can hear him. What's going on, guys? I can't hear anything. Can someone tell me what's going on?

Rampage, are you there? Yeah, I can hear you. All right. What's up, man? How are you? I'm good, man. How are you doing? Sorry, it's a bit of an amateur hour here on the show. You know what it's about, right? Come on. I know how it is, man. Everything ain't perfect. Well, congratulations to you. This is huge.

How long have you been, have you been negotiating? with these guys working on this deal and all that stuff? Actually, I don't know, man. This is just spoke to my manager. He's been working with them. He's been working with them. As soon as my contract was up as soon as we can start negotiating, he went to work, and that's all that now.

When you fought in the UFC back in January, did you know you were going to Bellator? No, I had no idea. So you were just like a free agent sitting back like a king and letting people bring the offers to you? Exactly. You know, I knew I wasn't happy with the UFC and I hadn't been happy with them for a long time. So, you know, I did a lot of smart investments and just a lot of smart things. And I saved my money up and just worked on, you know what I'm saying?

Rehabing my knee and just trying to just do a lot of better things for me because I knew I was going to get out of there. I knew I was going to bounce. What kind of investments are we talking about? Well, you know, it's a couple of private things. but, you know, I'm just on a few things. You know, it's like a couple things I'm doing. I'm trying to open up my own bar and stuff like that. A few of things.

It's going to be sweet, pretty still. Look at you. Look at you thinking, dropping your seeds all over the place. I've dropped my seeds in many places. So you feel, you feel, I get the impression from me that you feel sort of free, relieved, you're happy, you're in a better place in your opinion. Man, I'm in a lot better places. It's hard to explain this, but when you go, when you, you know what I'm saying, put, you know what I'm saying, you're sweating tears into a company, and they won't even let you have sponsors, they tax your sponsors, and, you know what I'm saying, you try to do something like a movie. Like a lot of people get mad people, you know, get mad people for fighters for doing the movies.

But, you know what I'm saying? We're human beings, like a lot of people would give their left leg to do a movie and stuff like that, you know what I'm saying? And I did a movie about, you know what I'm saying, you know, 18, B.A. Barakas, Mr. T. was like a big icon. for my people for many years, like a lot of people went out for their role. And, you know what I'm saying? I just feel like I'm just trying to, like, further my career, you know what I'm saying? Because you can't fight forever. And I took a lot of heat for that and stuff like that.

So, you know, the UFC didn't see the big picture, but, you know, some better tour, they said, man, we'll give you movies. We'll give you sponsors, you know what I'm saying? Do all the movies you want, you know what I'm saying? Just only better for the brand and for the sport. And so I was like, man, they told me some is a really good thing. they gave me off. I couldn't refuse. But, I mean, you were in the UFC for a while, and you had some nice moments.

You fought on Fox, found on paper, you fought for the belt. Surely you leave with some kind of good memories, right? Was it all bad? It couldn't have been all bad, right? I didn't say it was all bad. I never said that, you know what I said? I always say, like, the UFC is a good company. They're a good brand, but they just watch out for their own brand. They don't really, they don't really watch out for the fighters. You know, they cut fighters just and right.

You know what I'm saying? Like, that's our livelihood. That's how we feed our kids, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people forget that, you know what I'm saying? Fighters are humans, you know what I'm saying? We have families to take care of, you know what I'm saying? And we have, you know what I'm saying? Bills.

So like, if you just cut a fighter and like, what is he going to do? Where is he going to go? You know what I'm saying? A lot of fighters open up jams and stuff like that when they retire for fighting because they have to, you know what I'm saying? I never wanted to be one of those guys that open up a gym and go around doing seminars and stuff because I have to. I do the type of stuff because I want to.

It's different between having to do something and wanting to do something. Your energy is positive when you want to do it. I get the impression, though, that Dana was sad to see you go. He even said in Chicago, when you left, you said, you're going to miss me, and he said, I miss you already. Did that really happen? You know, I doubt it. I doubt you to miss me.

I'm pretty sure that I was a thorn in the UFC side for a while. You know what I said, honestly, you know, I did everything. thing in my power to fix that relationship. I was, honestly, I was wrong for doing the 18 movie because I was scheduled to fight, Richard in Memphis, you know, saying that's a hard decision for me, but I know I missed up by doing that.

So that's why I didn't pull out of that fight in Japan when I was injured. You know what I'm saying? I was like, I don't want to pull out. I wanted to try to show that I still got this back. And, you know, honestly, and I still thought I could beat Vader with, you know, with injury. I'm like, you know what?

I'm going to try to, you know what, and fix his relationship. But then they made it worse when Dana was like, you know what I'm saying? Face the face. He was like, yeah, man, he's cool.

He unstood and everything. Then behind my back and talk shit on me for not making weight and all this stuff and say a few things and the press. I was like, wow.

And that was a starter book that cameras back. And then that's when I knew that there was no repair in that relationship. And that's the day. I decided that you know what? I'm going to leave the UFC.

Did they even try to sign you when your contract is up? Do they do, like, kind of one last-ditch effort to get you back? Yeah, they offered me another deal. My manager told me they offered something. But, you know, it didn't matter what they was offering me, I was on check. I really don't like the sponsor tax and stuff like that.

I feel like, you know, since we're independent contractors, you know what, I'm saying, like, you can't tell me what uniform or where to work. And I just don't like it. You know what I'm saying you can't be sponsored by certain people and not that. there's this belonging to me. I'm not the type of guy that I have to listen to people and stuff like that. So I just deal with I had to do, and I get out of there. All right, so like I said, you didn't come to New York to visit us.

You didn't give us, you know, the exclusive with you here in studio. So give us this. When are you going to make your debut for Bellator and against two? I know you're in a giving mood. It wasn't that I didn't want to come to New York. I was busy doing a lot of stuff to Spike. I was in Atlanta doing the TNA debut. Then I had to come to L.A. to do the Spike Choice Awards,

which I think airs Wednesday and then, you know, I got to come back and start training, man. I couldn't go to New York and do all that type of stuff. Well, you know, we're bigger than those shows. Come on, that's small potatoes compared to this show. Hey, hey, hey, hey, I know you wish that. But honestly,

honestly, I don't know the exact date when I be fighting and stuff like that, but I'm just getting, I'm just getting ready and stuff right now. I'm sending it to start to get slowly, and slowly get there, get ready, you know. I notice you're in Mexico. Are you training in Mexico? Well, actually, I'm in Mexico.

I was just working on, like, you know, some new and old skills. I'm just out there. You know, a lot of my friends are party animals. I'm not going to lie. They invite me out of all time. Everybody got birthdays and it's a net. So, you know, so I got me a place in Mexico, like, two-hour drives right there on the beach. So I go down there.

It's a nice little mini-gium there and a nice weight gym there. I just go there. And I just mean, like, my teammates. just have a good time. We take that quad down the beach, and you can ride to quads on the street, and I got sand dune, so I train and play, and train and play. So I'm just working on getting my mootachat back up to par and my wrestling and my, and my, and my, um, jih Tzu and so.

But do you have, like, a time frame or so? You say you're starting training now. Does that mean, like, in the fall you'll make your debut? Do you have a kind of, you know what I'm saying? Well, I'm not training for, I'm just training just to, and get, you. back in there and training and work on my skills. So I don't know the exact day, but I know I'll fight before. 13 is up.

I can tell you that. Oh, really? And do you feel like there's anyone interesting for you at 2-5? Because, you know, originally we thought that it would probably make sense that you'd fight King Moe because you had that beef, but now you guys seem to be buds. Yeah, King Moe is cool. But at the end of the day, man, this is, you know, this is a job, job to fight. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I was buds with Dan Henderson and still put on a great fight with him. If it comes down to it, me and King won't have a fight. I'm sure he's going to try to knock me out just as much as I'm going to try to knock him out, no matter how cool we got. But no tournament for you, right? I don't know. I don't know. I'm not looking forward to doing tournaments, but no, I doubt I do tournaments.

But, you know, I say, I'm a team member. Like, if me doing a tournament can get about to a more ratings or whatnot, I'll be doing a tournament. Listen, what people don't know about me, I'm all. I'm easy to work with. You know what I'm saying? I'm a lawyer guy. If you're loyal to me and you work with me, I'm a soldier, man.

I got you back. So Balletor, I like the stuff that they're done for me. Listen, those guys took them with Valk. They got me doing, they got me doing my own reality show. They're going to, you know what I wrote an MMA movie. And I pitched it to the guy that at Caramette pictures. They said, okay, cool.

They're going to put me with a writer to do it because I'm not a script writer. And they're going to help make my movie. and they make my dream come true becoming a pro wrestler so you know I got their back whatever they need I'm down I'm down with them these guys took me up then they bought me a brand new Tesla

you know I'm happy I got that back man okay I want to talk about all this stuff that you mentioned first let's talk about the movie you actually sat down and wrote a movie what is it about what is the plot and is there a role for like an interviewer reporter type of guy you know what I'm saying it's always there's always

a role and stuff in there I wrote them I wrote a movie, like, I wrote MMA movie a couple years ago, and I just been, you know, writing it here and there, and I think it's turned out to be pretty interesting because a lot of people don't capture the true side of MMA, you know what I'm saying, like the brotherhood aspect of it. Like, you know, look at me, I'm a black guy from Memphis who's been all over the world for MMA.

I speak a little Japanese, you know, so I go to England and train. And I met people that I normally wouldn't meet in my regular life. And they're like my brothers now. I call them my brothers. And a lot of people don't capture their side of MMA. Because even though MMA is really not a team sport, but it really is. You know what I'm saying?

You've got to have good guys that you really like a guy to go out there and get your ass kick for them every day and training the spa and stuff like that. And that develops a strong bond. And it's more to MMA than just getting in the case. A lot of stuff don't ever get seen. I just want to capitalize on a different type of stuff and make an exciting move out of it and what people can enjoy.

Will you be in the movie? Man, I wrote myself as the star in this movie. Oh, typical. Typical. Damn right. Typical, damn right. Like, Ben Affleck did it? You know, then why can I?

You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I love my sport of MMA and stuff like that. But, you know what I'm saying? Loving a sport, don't pay your bills and don't put your kids through college. You know what I'm saying? I got to also make that money.

So, you know what I'm saying? When I'm old and I can't do anything anymore, I still can go on vacation and still, you know what I'm saying? You know, spoil your little grandkids and stuff like that. A lot of people don't think for the future. They do think for the now. But, you know what I'm saying? You live long enough that there's a future. You know, I notice this.

I follow you on Twitter and Instagram. and a lot of your stuff that you're putting out of social media stuff is very much focused about your kids. You seem to be in this sort of state that you're loving family and you're proud of your kids. Always pictures about your kids. Does this feel accurate to you? Like, you feel more fatherly to me over the last, like, six months or so.

Where did this come from? It's come from me being able to spend more time with them. You know what I'm saying? A couple years ago, I was always busy, you know, working and stuff a lot. and everything. Now, you know what I'm spending more time with them. I get to see them a lot more and make you closer to them. You know what I'm saying?

I love my kids. They're my kids. They're part of my DNA. You guys, you guys get to know my kids. Like, I know my kids. You understand. They're great kids. They're funny.

They're like me, you know what I'm saying? They're funny. And we joke around. We have a good time. And they're great kids, you know what I'm saying? Except for the two that I might have to bail out of jail in the next couple years. But they're my kids. Will they be in your movie as well?

I don't know about the movie, but I'm sure they'll be in my reality show. Okay, so let's talk about the reality show. You asked people on Twitter recently for a name. Have you come up with a name yet? Well, you know, we come up with a couple of ideas. I don't know if I'm at Liberty to say. I was just wondering what the fans would say. A lot of fans say it at Rampage for real, and I actually do like that.

It is good. That is good. That is because me, if I do a reality show, it would have to be a real reality. So it won't be, I can't do a scripted reality show. This is me. I can't do one. But I'm sure, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, some things that probably have to be, like, subjected.

Like, oh, let's go do this today, something I wouldn't normally really do. I'm like, okay, it's fine. Yeah, I go do it. And everything, but other than that, I can't have people telling me what to say or what to do for my reality show. So it would have to be a real reality show. So the reality show will air leading up to your debut, I'm assuming, right? No, the rabbit show It's like a rabbit show

It'll just air when it comes out I'm sure it will promote my fights And Balletor and other things too But it's not It's not what you guys It's not really like It's not going to do like an ultimate fighter Or anything like that

It would have some training and stuff And I'm sure and everything But it would have a lot of other stuff I do a... I'm not only a fighter So I do a lot of other stuff You know what I said I got to actually I got to train

To be a pro wrestler I'm sure they're going to show coming that stuff, me to learn how to hit the ropes and take falls and all that stuff. And my everyday life, my life is already like a reality show. Honestly, you guys just don't know it. I don't go telling me. I don't tweet everything. Do you see how often I tweet?

I Instagram more than I do anything. When is the reality show going to come out? It's going to ask pretty soon. We have to start filming there, but they want to pump it out as soon as they, you know what saying, get going. Everything's coming pretty fast. All this stuff hit pretty fast. Now, how would you grade?

You made your TNA wrestling debut last Thursday. You had your little TEDA-TED, if you will, with one Kurt Angle. How would you grade your debut? Were you happy with it? Well, you know, I don't know a lot about it. I used to watch for wrestling when I was a kid before I got to M.A. That's why you do all the slams and stuff like that. So I got knocking people out.

So, you know, I really don't know. I haven't been watching it for the last couple years. But, you know, from what I heard, the fans like the Dan Jordan and stuff like that. And now I've got to get used to, you know, people like telling me what to do and like, oh, do this, do that. And like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, like, you. But, you know what I'm saying?

And they're on, you know, I'm saying that, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? It is kind of crazy. You know, they tell you, all right, go do an interview. But then they don't tell you that, you know what I'm saying? Somebody can go. Somebody can cut you off your interview. But you got to just out of it.

Like, I'm doing an interview that Kurt Enger just interrupt my interview. You didn't know he was going to do that? No, man. You know, you gotta get used to all that stuff. What? They didn't plan that beforehand? I thought that was part of the story. A lot of people don't know.

A lot of people, like, a lot of people give you a lot of shit about doing pro wrestling and stuff like that. Oh, it's fake and this and everything. It's entertainment. Like, if people are going to say stuff like that about pro wrestling, then they shouldn't watch action movies. Because I'm saying, action movies are not real. You know, it's the same thing is put there to entertain you. So whatever they, whatever they, whatever they think is going to entertain you, it's going to entertain you. like Kurt Anger,

interrupt my interview, is entertaining, but if I would, if I felt like I wanted to entertain them back, slapping them from my interview, that we probably got to fight, but like I said,

I don't, that's my first time there, I don't know the ropes. I don't know if I was allowed to attack him or what. I want to hear what he had to say. Right, right, right. Now, you're not kayfabing me here,

or you know what that term is, right? No, I don't know a whole lot of terms. Now, okay, what was it like when you met Hulk Hogan? Did you turn into a, a fanboy? Well, me, no, I see, that's a thing. I deal with enough fan boys.

No, not to be a fan boy. But deep down, you were a fan boy. No, no. Yeah, I'm a fan. Come on. Like I said, I go to watch it, Hall Hogan. All I'm saying is, I met Hall Hogan.

He was super cool and everything, and I was a big star struck. I just shook his hand and said, oh, nice, nice media, and like that, but I didn't say much, because you know what? You know what teaches me is, when I meet fans that, that say the wrong thing

and do the wrong thing. Like, if I meet a fan, the fan is cool, and he just checking my hand out, nice to meet you and stuff like that and everything. I'm cool with him. Who knows?

He can probably turn into a friend, somebody that can hang out with, but sometimes you get one of those people that act super weird and make it uncomfortable for you, you know what I'm out. Yeah, yeah. I know you've been there.

You met people that make it uncomfortable for you, then you're like, then you totally like turn off to the whole thing. All you want to do is just get out of there. Like, man, it's just, you know. So I've learned from me. that experience

that just, you know what I'm saying, just be myself and just take his hand and not ask for a picture and not go all crazy. Oh man, I watch all your stuff

and do all, tell him all this up there. He already know he's done because he's done it. You know what I'm saying? I just met him being late on the day. You know,

I was old in school with me, we were sitting there watching the show backstage and he gave me a few pointers and stuff like that and he opened up he felt more comfortable with me

because I didn't act like a fan board, but I'm just saying I was Starstrow. You do realize how, how taxing it is on your body, right? I mean, King Moe said before and,

oh, yeah, you know, I'm going to do this, and then afterwards, he said he didn't realize how hard pro wrestling training is. Are you prepared to go through this and beat up your body? Because this is tough stuff. Well, listen, I'm sure that it's texting, and I'm sure it's working,

I'll beat up my body and stuff like that, but it's the same thing people told me about MMA, you know? And I don't plan on being one of those pro-rests like those guys doing all that crazy stuff This is not me. You know what I said? I'm already coming to the game with a few injuries and stuff like that already.

So I'm just going to come out there and just entertain everybody and just do look different because, you know, if there's no secret, but I am different from most everybody else. So I can't have, I can't go out there and do all the hot flying stuff like those guys. When do you think you'll make your actual wrestling debut? Because you have to go through like a whole training and school and all that stuff, right? You can't just walk in there. All right.

Yeah, like I tell you, everything is like, brand new. So I don't know. They haven't really told me a thing. They don't know. They don't know how long's it going to take me to get it. They think that maybe I might learn it faster than some people because I grew up watching it and that I grew up pretending to be a pro wrestler for like the better like 17 years of my life. So, you know, Sarah, so maybe I might get it faster than others and maybe not, but we'll see. Was the most appealing part of this contract that they offered you, the other stuff, the, the reality show, the movie stuff, the wrestling, and less about the MMA stuff?

No, no, no. I was really excited about going out there and fighting as well. You know, I'll be back on Spike. Spike is what made the UFC what they are. I'm sorry if you don't know that. If UFC didn't put off the fight on Spike, if I fight that, who knows what they would be right now. So I'm happy to be back there on Spike and go out there and fighting and, you know,

you know, I'm sure that other fighters learn how about it or treat you and how they hook you up instead of hate on you. I'm sure a lot of other fighters will come over, and I'd be excited to fighting a lot of people that's coming over there and doing a great show. You know, so, like, it's fun for me when I know, like the promotion has my back. Beyond Redmond, he gets it, guys.

I don't know. It's like one of the few promoters ever dealt with it, actually gets to him and Terry Trave-Ocock, I'm telling him. They get it, you know, and beyond, like, man, what kind of sponsors do you like? What kind of sponsors do you want to go after? He kept that. UFC has never said that to me, and, like, all the years I fought that for him, and I haven't even fought for it beyond that.

He already asking me questions like that and everything, and, man, the guy gets it. He understands that. Yeah, people, people all love fighting, and they do it for passion and stuff like that, but passion don't pay bills. It's interesting you say that because lately they've received some bad press from guys like Eddie Alvarez, other fighters who have complained that they haven't done right by them. You think, though, thus far, it's early, they're going to do right by you. You're confident.

Yeah, I'm confident, but, you know, who knows what those fighters have done for them. Right. You know, it's always too fast for every story. You never know what people are done. I can just tell you from my experience with people. You know what I'm saying? And I'll tell people for how they treat me, not how I heard they treat others because, you know what I'm saying? I'm a man of this world.

You know what I'm saying? I've seen and heard many things. And there's always two sides of all. I've heard people that that said, like, I've done this, I've done that. But they don't tell what they've done to me to make me do that to them. So you know what I'm saying? I don't even know those guys. We've got nothing against them.

I just saying so far they've been treating me right. Two last quick things, Rampage, and we appreciate the time very much. You're 34 now. you're soon going to be turning 35, right, in just a matter of days. How much longer do you want to do this? Because I seem to remember you saying you wanted to kind of walk away at around 35, right? Yeah, I was telling everybody I want to walk away at 35 because I didn't know that there's going to be a bout tour with Spike behind him and Vagcom. And I wasn't happy with the UFC.

I just wanted to get out of it. I was going to walk away at 35 and just hustled and try to do movies and stuff like that. like the UFC took the love of MMA out of me. I'm telling you guys have no idea. A lot of stuff I can't talk about because that's not a non-disclosure, but I'm not going to sue the UFC if they talk about what happened between us and everything. So, you know, they took the love of MMA out of me. And so now sign this new deal, now I'm happy to be back.

I think I got a couple more years in me, you know what I'm saying? I think I could fight for at least two or three more years. really wow two or three more I mean two or three fights per year you think it's possible you have six or so fights left in you? I don't know man I'm just saying

I don't know all right and what do you say to those fans who say oh you know rampage left the UFC you know there are some fans who are just UFC fans and some of the feedback I got you know it was a little negative when they heard this news some positive some negative

what do you say to those fans like how are you going to try to convert those fans to come over and watch Bell Tor on Spike I'm not going to try to convert those fans and come over and watch the Belmont on Spike. They're negative fans, and they don't know. They're just U.S. UFC Sheet, that's what I call them. They don't know the world of MMA.

They just, they just, you know what I'm saying, started watching U.S. on Spike and stuff like that. But I'm pretty soon. They get tired of what they're watching over. They're like, honestly, a lot of times the fights, and UFC's been looking boring to me because, you know, God's fighting not to lose because they're so scared to getting cut and stuff like that. They just want to win, you know what I'm saying?

I'm known to go out there and scrap. No matter if I win and lose, I'm trying my best to entertain the fans. So the guys want to come to see an exciting fights and see me fight there. They'll come over, but I'm not going to try to convince them to do anything. I'm just doing my job. And, you know, I got nothing to do with negative people. I'm doing all that. Like, people don't understand.

Like, if they were in my shoes, they would have left the UFC a long time, a long time ago. So they don't, they don't know. All they see is the guys. fighting the cage, but, you know what I'm saying? All I'm saying is I'm doing my thing, you know what I'm saying? I'm happy where I met. And I don't care who's not happy about me to even if you see at all. And I won't lose one second of a sleep over it.

When's part three going down in Memphis? When we get that goal, when we got some, when we got some other stuff to talk about, I guess this interview right here was, you know what I'm saying? This could have been the one in Memphis, I guess, but hopefully we can get that job. I'm going pretty far. No, no, no, no. The one in Memphis is a bigger deal. It's us looking at your hood where you grew up, your childhood,

eating some food, your family. This is more the news part, but the other one is evergreen. You know what I'm saying? This didn't ruin anything. Okay, well, then. Let's do the one in Memphis. I've been in Bellatorre for a little while, and I'm proven all the negative people wrong with them,

and I'm, you know, say, I'm still heavy with Bellatoril, and, you know, so I got the M.A. move it, you know, I'm going to, and I'm going. working on my second script that I wrote already, and we both doing good things. We both blowing up, your show blowing up, my stuff blowing up, and then we go to Memphis and have some cruise to talk about. Oh, I can do something else. I prays in the media and then you should have to talk about.

Who knows? All right. Well, I look forward to it. Most importantly, Rampage, congratulations. I know this is something you wanted. You seem to be in a really good place, a positive place. I'm looking forward to your debuts and wrestling. Of course, MMA, Bellator, and the movie stuff, you got a lot going on.

I appreciate you taking some time out and talking to us here and keep in contact with us. So now that you made it in Beltaire, you got all this stuff going. Don't forget the little people, all right? Oh, look at you, man. I ain't trained since this high school on it. All right, Rampage. All right, I don't forget about no back. Take care, man.

Thanks for having me home. All right, there he is. The newest member of the Bellator roster, Quinton Rampage Jackson, stopping by. Congratulations to him on his new deal. Okay, let's move along. now UFC 161. It goes down, as I mentioned earlier, this Saturday, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, home of the Winnipeg Jets. The MTSS Center, the original main event, was supposed to be Henan Borough,

defending his interim Bantamway title against our next guest. Eddie Weinland, unfortunately, Hennon Borough pulled out, and Eddie Wyneland is no longer fighting on the card. Eddie, first off, thank you very much for joining us on this show. Now that we're here, UFC 161 fight week, you're probably getting set to go to Winnipeg. now that you're not, what's it feel like for you? Oh, man, how do you even describe it?

You know, I know we've had this conversation before. It's kind of the culmination of 10 years. And here, I'm supposed to be flying out tomorrow. And, you know, you have to contact me to confirm that flights are canceled and yada, yada, yada. It just, to explain it in one word, it sucks. Is it one of those things we were just kind of looking forward to this fight card ending so you don't have to hear 160?

and Winnipeg and all that stuff? Yeah, you know, I've got time off of work, and, you know, I had this all set aside, and I think my girlfriend and I were going to go down to their lakehouse down southern Illinois and just kind of get away from everything. You know, I know that her friends down there are going to be playing the fights, so I'm sure we'll probably watch them. It's going to be a little bitter to watch the fights knowing that I should be there, but it'll be nice to get away from everything, not have anything to worry about,

be in the middle of nowhere, and just enjoy life for a couple of days. is, you know. Did the UFC give you the opportunity to remain on the card and you turned them down, or did they tell you they wanted you to wait for Henan when he gets back and is healthy? I was told to keep training like I'm fighting. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, so I continued to train. I continued to, you know, I'm still, I pumped the brakes on training. I'm still working out. I mean, I'm always in the gym, but they told me to keep training as if I were still fighting. and, you know, they said that they just, there was no replacement to be had. It was interesting because I remember when this fight was announced,

they had the press conference in Winnipeg. You debuted your amazing mustache, which we will definitely get to in a second. And it almost feels like, this is a great story, the first ever WC Bantamway champion getting a shot at the title. Kind of, in a way, sort of came out of nowhere because we didn't know if Dominic Cruz was going to come back and Hennon was going to fight him after his win over Michael McDonald. Did it, and you're in the main event, of course,

Did it feel like this was almost too good to be true when you were doing the whole build-up to UFC 161 a couple of months ago? Yes and no. I mean, I knew that I was well-deserved in a title shot. I knew that fight was I had earned it. You know, but in the back of my mind, they earned the back of my throat, whatever you want to say. I had a bad feeling that there was a possibility of somebody getting hurt. And it's always a possible thing. You know, it just when I first got the fight,

It was like, oh, crap, well, what if somebody gets hurt and I can't fight? Well, it happened, you know, it's almost like a nightmare come true. And, you know, now we're dealing with it. And, I mean, basically it is what it is. You know, what are you going to do? You can't – the guy can't fight. He hurt his ankle. It's unfortunate.

But hopefully he gets better really soon, and, you know, we can finally get to it. What was your reaction when you got the news? Shit. You know, my heart drops. It's that nauseous feeling that, just disappointment, you know. You're looking forward to something, looking forward to something, and then it's not there anymore. So they told you there was nothing available for this car.

Do you have any idea when you will return? I have not heard anything. The last I knew they were still waiting to see how long he was going to be out, how severe it is. However, I have caught news that Dominic is back to training. So, you know, that may be the decision. exciting fracture. How long until Dominick's back? If they come back at the same time, obviously the two champs have to fight, leaving me the odd man out. So, you know, at that point, just give me another

fight. So are you prepared for that? That was actually my next question, because I feel like when you hear about Henan's injury, ligament damage in his foot, you know, that could take a while. Dominic's on the road back. He's shooting for a return end of 2013. We're already in June. Is there a part of you that actually believes you may not get that title shot? You know, this time around, I may not. You know, again, deciding factor being Dominica, you never know what his knee's going to do. Again, wish him the best of luck. He's been hurt for a long time.

I hope he can come back and do what he has to do. But one day sooner or later, I'll have my shot. And if it's not now, then it'll be later. I wish it could be now. But if it's not, then I just keep working and build back up to that shot. Halfel's Sun Sal looked very good on Saturday And a lot of people were saying What's next for him

And if you didn't get this opportunity I thought that's a fight that would make a lot of sense As far as the rankings are concerned and whatnot Does that interest you at all? I mean a fight to fight You know It's like you said He's been on a pretty good win streak

I wouldn't be opposed to it You know again If they're not going to give me a title shot Then just give me somebody I guess A fight that would obviously Help you get back into the sort of good graces of everyone and see that all right you are the top contender right a fight that's meaningful i mean that's yeah i don't want to fight the guy just coming into

the ufc i want a guy who's been established um you know anybody who knows me and knows i like to fight top guys i don't i don't like to fight these guys that are that are under the top ten you know give me top five guys give me top three guys uh i like the challenge i embrace the challenge i i embrace it i take it as it is and i like to see what i'm made of i like to see what i can do against the best guys in the world because In my mind, I am the best guy in the world, and I want to show everybody that. And the only way to show everybody that is to fight the top guys in the world. You know, I obviously have talked a lot about your mustache that you debuted kind of out of nowhere at the press conference.

I was watching the stream, and all of a sudden Eddie Weinland is rocking this unbelievable mustache. And then I saw it in person. I saw it with my own eyes in San Jose. And honestly, one of the reasons why I was so disappointed was because you, you, you know, you told me about how great it's going to look come Winnipeg, because that was, you know, two or so months. Please don't tell me you shaved the mustache. Oh, absolutely not.

It's basking in all of its glory right now. I finally got to the point to where I don't even have to wax it. I get out of the shower comb it, and it's done. It's got a natural curl. It's full-bodied. It looks like an old-school burly mustache who it's got some nice curls on it. Where did this idea come from to come up with this mustache like this to grow this? it's really one of the best

I've ever seen, not just in our sport, but it just has that kind of like 1920s old school boxer, like, you know, you even did the pose light? It was just great.

Where did this come from? And we're looking at, we showed a picture of it to people. Yeah, and it's got the, it's great. That's what we are shooting for. You know,

me and a buddy in mind, we always, we always grow a mustache every year. I grew one last year and we both started to curl them. You know, never, never once did we think about it.

And then we thought, well, it's kind of long, I thought we could curl it. So we started curling it. I just, eventually I got sick of it. My hair was getting really long and my mustache was getting in my mouth. And I just didn't know what to do with it.

So I shaved it all off. Well, this year I grew another one back. I started going it right after the picket fight. And it just, it turned into something just great. And I, again, my hair started getting long. I was like, well, what am I going to do with this? You know, and it was either shave it or do something with it. So I Googled handlebar mustache.

And the one thing that popped up was the best thing to compliment a handlebar mustache is a well-groomed haircut. But I went to a buddy in mine as a barber, told him to give me the old school comb over, and here we sit. Like you said, we're going for the 1920s old school tough man. It's funny because it's an underrated. When you look at yourself right now, it's all right, that's a great mustache, of course, kind of blown away by it. But the underrated part of it all is the haircut. The haircut really accentuates it.

It's a great compliment. And I didn't really think of that until I was actually just looking at the picture now and you describing it. That's huge. What kind of compliments you get on a daily basis? Because I feel like your life must be so great now. It's funny is everybody looks at you in a different light when you have a mustache. You get more respect from the older people. I went to my cousin's wedding, and this old gentleman, he was well into his 70s. He had a nice handlebar mustache, and I walked up and compliment him on a handsome mustache.

And he looked at me, and at first he just going to turn out, say, thank you. He looked at me, and he kind of took a step back, and he goes, whoa, hey, you got a nice start, too. You know, and I've had times I opened the door for a guy at a gas station. Again, he took a step back, and he goes, oh, hey, man, that's a nice mustache. You know, you just get compliments everywhere you go because you don't see it. You know, and that's what I'm trying to get it back to where the mustache, the handlebars are in. You know, you're starting to see a little more of it, but you don't see a whole lot of it. And when people see it, they kind of kind of taken back by it, and they don't really know what to think.

Like the older crowd, they kind of respect it and compliment it. And some people, they kind of look and giggle, but, you know, the majority of people really think it's awesome. What kind of length are we going for here? I mean, how much long are you going to go with this thing? Yeah, you know, I wasn't sure. I had been trimming it. You know, I was trimming in the middle of it, and I was letting the sides grow, and it just didn't look right. So, again, I jumped on Google, and just Googled up handlebar mustache and grooming etiquette and all this stuff.

And they said, you know, as long as you can bear it, let the middle grow out. So I'd let the middle grow out, and I started combing it kind of taming it. the sides. Ah. And, you know, it's, it's gotten to the point to where it's full-bodied. Like I said, I don't have to wax it anymore. I just comb it and it curls. Really?

There's no product in there. No product. Wow. It's all natural. I don't know if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, but the most recent picture I posted with my girlfriend, it's not waxed. It's not. No product, nothing.

And I'm very proud of it at this point. You know, they said that very, very few men can obtain a wax free mustache and had the handlebars. And so, just so I know, when did you started, we're now mid-June, how long did it take to get to that point? I started right up to the, actually, about a week before the picket fight.

Okay, all right, so the picket fight was December. Yeah, so it was six months or so you reached this legendary status. Absolutely. And, I mean, it's only getting better. I said every day it's getting better, getting better, and just let it grow and see where it goes, and if I have to

trim it back a little bit. We'll just kind of run with it and see what happened. That's, to me, it's kind of the most unfortunate part of all this, because I wanted to see you debut that thing in the Octagon. You know what I mean? Like, I wanted to see the fight, great fight and all, but I hope when you do fight and you get the title fight that they'll update the picture in the poster and have you with the mustache and make it like one of those old-school-looking posters. I mean, it just, it kind of works itself out. I mean, the mustache, like I said, it demands respect. They're almost kind of half to just fly me to take new pictures so that they have my mustache.

When you faced off against the brow at that press conference in Winnipeg, did you feel like he was intimidated when he saw your mustache? You know, I was going to touch on that. When I faced off with him, I could see he would look me in the eyes, but they always kind of straight to my mustache. He would go from one point to the other point, and then he'd look me in the eyes. They'd look at one point, and he looked me in the eyes.

So his eyes were wandering back and forth between my eyes and my mustache. So almost like he couldn't look away from it, but was intimidated, but also maybe a little jealous, too, probably. The feelings I'm unsure of, but I know he definitely noticed it. You're familiar with Raleigh Fingers, the famous... He had a pretty good one, right? He probably had the most famous handlebar mustache, right? He had a good one. He had a good loop going.

And he's also... He still rocks it at, you know, like, well, he's probably now in his 60s or not probably 70. I haven't seen recent pictures of him, but, I mean, I... You always see the picture of him with his A's hat on and the big loops. Yeah. So is this something that you think, at least right now, you're going to keep the rest of your life? Well, you know, it's, we're working on, we're working on mustache mafia. Oh, yes.

If all goes, it's planned and we get it trademarked and everything. I mean, I'm kind of stuck with a mustache, I guess. So what is this mustache mafia? The mustache mafia, it was just kind of a joke, me and a buddy of mine talking about mustaches and this and that. And he was, oh, you should let me print a shirt because of mustache muffet. coffee on it. You know, I just said, all right. And the next day I know I got a t-shirt that's got the mustache mafia on it. And, you know, I said, we're working on, working on little things

here and there. And, you know, if it takes off, it takes off. If not, you know, whatever. But, yeah, I, for now, the mustache is here to stay. I really like it. And it's, I guess it's a part of me now. I'd feel, I'd feel awkward without it. By the way, you mentioned your other job. You're still a firefighter, right? Yeah, full-time, full-time firefighter. What do they think of your mustache over there? Oh, they love it. They love it.

I got stationed out to an outlining station. We have three stations where we're at, and I got stationed to an outlying station, and one of the battalion chiefs hasn't seen me in a few months now, and we were at the downtown station, and I was walking up to the station, and he looked at me, goes, Eddie, that's effing awesome. He just, like, he was taken back by it.

You know, like I said, everybody they see it, it's like, wow, that's really cool. Did you just press the button on your phone because you were about to swear? Do you just bleep yourself? Wow. I said essence. The timing was amazing on that. I don't know if you noticed.

It's all coming together for you. I'm sure you're going to get your opportunity. I'm disappointed. It's not happening in Winnipeg. Everyone's telling me to shut up about the facial hair on Twitter. But I like talking. You know, I've always been told that there's a name for men without facial hair, and it's women. I know you don't have facial hair.

so I won't call you a woman. Wait, no, I do have facial hair. I got facial hair. I mean, it's not like yours, but I still have something. Geez. As long as in a little bit there. You're not impressed with what I got. Wow, look at you calling me out.

Now I feel all self-conscious and everything. Hey, hey, you know, it's a start. Okay. We've got to see if we can get you in the mustache mafia. I think you'd look good with a big burly mustache under. What you're saying is you're not impressed. It's mediocre. All right.

I'll give you that. It's mediocre. Wow. All right. I take this as a challenge, Eddie. Thank you. You know what? I no longer feel sorry

that you're not fighting this weekend. I'm just kidding. No, I hope you get the opportunity. It won't be the same without you. I know it was a very big fight for you in your career and something you've been looking forward to, and it was a nice story. First ever at W.C. Banffey champion.

You will get it one day, my friend. We appreciate you stopping by and keep up the great work with the mustache. Absolutely, buddy. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, man. There he is. Eddie Weinland stopping by, looking for a fight very soon. We hope for his sake that he gets the title shot that he was promised,

and he was supposed to fight this weekend. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. New Main event, Dan Henderson versus Rashad Evans' new co-main event, Stipe Meochich versus Pat Barry. Now, Saturday night is UFC 161 on pay-per-view. Of course, the prelims on FX, the early prelims on Facebook. Well, Friday night, you've got the return of World Series of Fighting, their third event. They had their second event in March.

They're back in Las Vegas. This time at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and their president is the great Ray Cepho. He joined us in studios in studio before their first event. Now here he is. Now here he is before the third event, and he just left. He was in the frame and just walked away. Can he hear me?

Hey, Ray. Maybe he doesn't have his volume on. Hey, Ray. Hey, Ray. Ray, how are you? You just left. Was it something I said? No, no, no, no. I had to open the door. Okay, no problem. Well, welcome to the show. We appreciate it. You have this third event coming up. What's the momentum like for you? How would you compare the buildup to this event as opposed to your first two?

It's actually, I think this one here compares to the first one. It's just as good because we're back home in Vegas. and, you know, it's always better when you're at home in your familiar territory. So it's always a lot easier when you're home. You know, before your last event in Jersey, there was all kind of controversy about the cage and the mad and all that stuff. Safe to say this time, no problems? Yeah, absolutely. That won't be an issue anymore. I think, yeah, that was actually kind of good because it made us realize that there are things that we need to look into,

find out certain things, how certain commissions want us want things. And so, you know, we're still learning. So you have this main event. It's an intriguing one. It's John Fitch, former UFC fighter going up against Josh Berkman. And what's interesting about it is Fitch and even another fight that has been promoted to your main card, the fight between Jacob Vokeman and Lyle Beardbaum. A lot of the talk is about UFC pay, you know, just being sort of disgruntled unions, things like that. Do you feel like this is taking away from your event or is any press, good press, in your opinion? You know, to be honest,

obviously these guys have issues with UFC. You know, I can only speak on my own experiences with UFC and the guys that I train and I have nothing but good things to say about them and, you know, but obviously it's different when you're an athlete for them.

So in terms of these guys, so you know, without going too much into it, obviously this is an issue It's a personal issue between them and the UFC, and that's something I think they need to sort out themselves and come to terms with it. They've moved on, and I think it's best to kind of leave it at that, and just focus on where they're at and what we're doing.

But as president, does it bother you when they're talking so much about it on the conference call and other interviews and whatnot? Yeah, absolutely. It does. It does bother me, because, you know, again, like you said earlier, it does take away from the issues. from the actual event that they're about to go into. And, you know, that topic, and I'm glad that Jim was in charge of that media call, you know, intervene and pretty much explained that.

That wasn't the time of the forum for that kind of discussion. That being said, you know, the main focus is obviously this coming Saturday and this coming Friday and look forward to, you know, WSOF3. So it's exciting. I mean, the main event itself, John Fitch and Josh Brickman, it's really a great main event for me personally, because I think 70 years in the making of this rematch, they finally get to face up again,

but also because they're both different fighters, and Josh Brickman has just been an animal in this last two fights. And so it makes it for a great fight, Fitch being one of the top tens in the world, and he's an amazing fighter himself. So, you know, I couldn't really, pick who's going to come out on top of this one. So and for that, it's

exciting in itself. So when you signed Fitch, I mean, when he was released from the UFC, you guys jumped all over him and you wanted him to be a part of it, announced this fight shortly after the Berkman win in March. Why was he attractive to you? Why did you feel like this is a guy that you want to have in your organization?

Well, one, you know, part of this, I didn't, I don't really, no, I didn't really know Fitch. But one is because he's a big name. He's the top 10 fighter in the world. And then two, I got, you know, I get to meet him in Japan probably two weeks prior to us signing him. I found that, you know, he's a super nice guy. And then I was taking a man out in Atlantic City, we bought him out there as a guest,

and I got to spend a little bit of time with him as well. And, you know, I like it. He's a cool guy, and the fact that he can, you know, the guy is one of the top ten in the world. So he's the type of talent for an organization like, guys, we need. That was very interesting. I remember that he was cornering Ricky Fukuda. You were cornering Brad Tavares. You guys actually faced off against each other.

Right, right. That was kind of weird. How are you juggling that? I remember talking about this with you when this all first started. You know, you still have your gig as a coach, obviously, and you're working at Extreme Couture, and you have this, which is a full-time job. How are you juggling it all?

Listen, you know, I've always been the person that enjoys me busy, and I like to, I don't like sitting around doing nothing. You know, I got to always be on the go, and I guess I get that work ethic for my parents. And I love being busy. And listen, I feel so blessed to, the whole time that I'm being busy, I'm coaching. I'm, you know, prison and wars are fighting.

I'm fighting, and I'm in the gym six days a week. I'm one of these blessed guys that everything that I've done in my life or everything that I do today, it's all involved in martial arts itself. So, you know, I can't thank God enough and the good people around me for just being part of my life and being blessed where it's led me to today. You know what I mean? So I enjoy being busy. I remember when you were in our studio in New York, you talked about how despite everything you have on your plate,

you still want to fight. You want to get to that big 100. And since then you haven't fought it. Is that still the plan for you? you still want to fight? Absolutely. You know, after winning 6408 divisions being inducted to all of fame, my main goal now, actually, obviously my priorities are versus the fighting and my son is.

So back side of that, my personal goal is to reach 100 and retire. And so, and I feel like I still have good years ahead of me. I'm in the gym six days a week. I feel good. I spot, you know, the young guys in the gym. and, you know, I still outwork them. So that tells me that I'm still, you know, still got that hunger and that drive

to actually get in there and compete. Any fights lined up? Absolutely. Right now, Alia and I discussed and talked about, and I've signed my battle agreement, and we're getting ready for August 10th. August 10th? You're going to fight on your own card.

Absolutely. We talked about this. in this past six months, and it's finally going to happen. Wow. So that's the fourth event, August 10th in Ontario, California, right? You're going to fight. It's correct. Who are you going to fight?

Well, right now, you know, this Stewart discussion is going back and forth. Like I said, you know, I signed my bad agreement, and we're just waiting for this his battle agreement to be signed. And until then, we can't really release his name. Is it kind of, is it someone in your, like, age bracket, a sort of legend of the sport? Is it a younger guy? Can he give us a hint? Let's say this. He was the guy that was supposed to be on this car. Okay. How's that? Well, then that kind of leads me to think it's either Hollis Gracie or

Mike Huckabah. The choice is yours. But you won't tell us. I can't tell you right now. Okay. But you will find out sometime this week. Now, how do you, okay, so now we talk about juggling your duties as president, promoter, leading up to that fight, how is it going to be different when you're actually preparing for a fight? It's an important thing for you. I mean, it's going to be on television, you're kind of getting back into MMA. How are you going to handle all that? Brother, I find that I perform the best under pressure. So, you know, that won't be an issue.

Do you think, have you ever seen a promoter slash president fight on his own event, in his own card? You know what I'm saying? No, but I've done it before, where I promoted the show in New Zealand was one of the biggest kickboxing events that ever held in New Zealand at that point in time. We had seven more titles on the line. I was the main event. I was the promoter. And I tell you what, though, I'm very fortunate. I found that that was a lot of pressure back then because it was just myself and one business partner that ran the whole show.

I'm very fortunate that I have a whole team that was just a fighting that it looks at it. after everything else other than me dealing with the media and getting in that occasion and doing my thing. So, you know, the difference between then and now is that I have all this support and the team that actually gets to do a lot of that work. At this point in your life, 42, you got this great job, trainer, all that stuff. Why even fight? Why do you have to fight? What does that 100 mean to you? Why do you have to do this? It's just a personal goal. I've always been one of these people that when I set goals, I try and just really completed. And so, you know, my goal coming up in the ranks and kickboxing was to become a world

champion, let alone winning six world titles. And so, you know, I never really, never, as a young fighter, I never really thought I would be contracted to one of the biggest kickboxing organization in the world who had the best of the best from around the world, which was K-1, and that phone call came. And so, you know, it's a personal goal that I really want to, you know, finish out. That being said, you know, after this fight, I don't know. Maybe this fight, this could be the end of my career. You know what mean? I really don't know. A year from now, or maybe two fights from now, it could end. So, although I've set that goal, I haven't really, I'm not like, okay, I've got to. I've got to.

I finish this 100 and, you know, whatever. So right now I'm enjoying it. I'm loving it. I feel blessed. And so I'm just taking one step at a time in terms of that goal and see if I can fulfill it. That being said, it's not, you know, it's not set in stone that it has to be fulfilled or finished. I'm going to do the best I can to get to 100. But, again, you know, it's one of these things that after the next fight,

I know, and I've always said this. If I can't get up in the morning, if I can't motivate myself to get up in the morning and go to training and again in the afternoon, then that's an indication of me. It's time to hang it up. How many fights you have now? What do you have, like 90-something? 93. So you'll have seven more. And by the way, something just occurred to me.

One guy who was supposed to be on this car was Tarant Spung. You're not going to fight Tarant Spung, are you? Tyrus One fights at 205. Okay, well, I don't know. Maybe he'll go up to fight you. I mean, we saw Anthony Johnson fight Andre Rolowski recently, right? Hmm, interesting.

His Skype just froze. I have a feeling it won't be, Tyrone Spung. I think we may have lost Ray Sefo, but we were trying to reconnect with him there. So there you have it. Ray Sefo is saying that he is coming back to fight on his own card, World Series of Fighting 4, August 10th

in Ontario, California. As for this card, the main card airs on NBC Sports Network at 11 p.m. Eastern, in the main event, of course, is Josh Berkman versus John Fitch, Steve Carl versus Tyson Steel, Brian Cobb versus Justin Gaichie, and Lyle Fancy Pants Beerbomb

versus Jacob Vokeman. That's the main card. Undercard has some interesting fights. John Gunderson versus Dan Lozon, both of them making their World Series of Fighting Debuts. So that's on Friday, and then you have UFC on Saturday, a pretty nice little MMA weekend coming up this weekend, and this one is their return to Las Vegas. So as we mentioned at the top, hopefully no problems and familiarity.

There he is, Ray Sefo. Ray, you just, you disappear when I asked you about Tyrone Spong. You're not going to fight that guy. That guy's a killer. Yeah, no, Tyrone Spong is an amazing fighter. He's a great athlete. But, you know, for MMA, he fights at 205. And again, you know, I think he's going to stay at 205 as a mixed martial arms. he'll be back for WSO4 as well that is correct

he will be on that August card do you know what the main event of that card is going to be is it going to be you you know honestly I think out of respect to our fighters there are guys that that's going to be on that card that's had way more experience

in mixed martial as than I have so I don't think it's going to be me this card coming up is on a Friday and I'm presuming that's because you don't want to be on the same night as UFC. Is it safe to assume that in the future you'll be on Saturdays, unless there's a conflict? Absolutely. You know, the dates, you know, obviously we sit down and figure out the dates

and we hand that over to our partner at NBC Sports Network and whatever days works for them and works for us and we'll make it happen. And the next three events are on a Saturday, yes. And when you look back at your first event compared to now, how much do you think you've learned? I mean, you look back, you say, oh, we made this mistake, this mistake. Do you feel like you have learned a lot since your first event in November? It's only been, what, like seven months? Right, exactly.

No, no, you absolutely. You learn every time, we learn every time we do an event. And it's funny, when we're just talking about that five minutes before we came on about certain things that we've got to look at and make sure. And again, going back to what happened in Atlanta City, that was a huge learning curve for us. And getting paperwork done, getting the cage, making sure that the needs of that commission is met way before we actually go out there. So, yeah, absolutely. As long as we're learning, we're moving forward. And I know you have a great team behind you.

But as far as you're concerned, what should the philosophy of World Series of Fighting B as far as signing free agents because, you know, there's kind of this thing, you don't want to sign guys who are released from the UFC, but the UFC releases a lot of great fighters, and sometimes you're silly not to pick them up like a John Fitch. But in your opinion, you know, is there a fine line between picking up too many of those guys and trying to look out to find, you know, some young talent? You got a few on this car. You know, a guy like Justin Gachie, young, a guy who doesn't come from the UFC, doesn't have that stigma attached to him. Right. Listen, you know, I've said this all along.

If whoever's cut from UFC and they're great fighters, and listen, coming from a fighter's perspective, I understand that you're never going to perform the best every time. And who knows a fighter may go through, you know, personal problems. We can't see that. And so we look at the fighter, we look at the way he performs and his kind of what's sort of skills he brings to the table, what kind of person he is.

If it works for us, we'll make it happen. If it doesn't, then obviously, Obviously, we'll pass. But that being said, we're not afraid of sign guys that have been released from UFC because like, for example, the John Fitcher, who is a, to us, I think he's a great fighters. He's ranked in the top 10 in the world. And he's a super nice guy. So for us, we'll make these things happen.

That being said, we are creating our own champions, young champions, like Justin KG, like Brinson Henson, who was the kid that was on the... WSR2 also featured on the Wizards of Fighting Future Champs TV show and who won by a fly-a-knee knockout. So these are the kind of young talents that we're birding ourselves, and we have a few more that's, you know, that we're just playing and putting it on the car. The Malo Morales, who was an amazing, amazing fighter, you know, he comes out, he faces Miguel Torres, beats Miguel Torres, who's a, you know, who's a freaking huge huge name in the sport. And then it goes up against Tyson Dam, who's ranked number four in the world at that point in time, and he absolutely did his thing.

And so he's one of these guys that, not only he's a young fighter, we look to, you know, put him up and then fight for a title real soon. All right, well, good luck this weekend. We'll be looking forward to it. It's World Series of Fighting Number 3. It's this Friday. It begins at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC Sports Network,

the prelims that you can watch all over the Internet on Friday begin at 9 p.m. Eastern time. We'll be watching the main event, Josh Berkman versus John Fitch, really looking forward to seeing how John Fitch does in his WSOF debut.

And how about you dropping some news for us here, WSOF4? Ray Cephyl returning, fighting on his own card in Ontario, California. That is great news, my friend. Thank you very much, Ray. Good luck on Friday,

and we'll talk to you very soon. Thank you for having me, buddy. Take care. There he is. Sugar, Ray Cephypho, one of the nicest guys in the entire sport. stopping by the president of World Series of Fighting. Good to have him back on the show.

We'll go from one heavyweight to a next in a few minutes. We've got Pat Barry lined up. He'll be facing Sean Jordan on Saturday night at UFC 161. While we wait to get Pat Barry, got some good stats this time from our friends at FightMetric. UFC on Fuel TV 10 was this past weekend in Fortaleza, Brazil. An unbelievable card, a history-making card. highlight, of course, being Fabrice Radoom, defeating Antonio Rodrigo Nogera in the second round via submission. It appears as though it was a verbal submission because I did not see Big Knock Tap.

Here are some stats, courtesy of my friends over at FightMetric. UFC on Fuel TV 10 was one for the record books. It had 10 total finishes, and that ties Ultimate Fight Night 13 for the most ever in a modern-era UFC event. And its eight submissions set a new record for modern-era. events. Fuel TV 10's total cage time was, get this, 76 minutes and 52 seconds, and among UFC events with 12 or more fights, it ranks as the second shortest in the modern era, just three minutes and 54 seconds shorter than fight night number 13. A few more for you, and that is pretty staggering stuff. The event just kind of flew by, and it would have been quicker

had they not shown the prelim so much during the main card. A few more for you. Honie Jason's tapout of Mike Wilkinson at just 124 of the first round is the fifth fastest submission in UFC-WC featherweight history. The fastest tapout at 145, Josh Crispy's guillotine choke of Jens Pulver at WC-41 in just 33 seconds. How about this one? We talked about Eric Silva earlier. Eric Silva finished his third UFC opponent in Jason High, and it took him only one minute and 11 seconds.

That would be 71 seconds total. Among Walter weights with five or more UFC fights, Eric Silva's average fight time of four minutes and 23 seconds is the second shortest in the division's history. He's tied. Actually, he's not tied. He's behind only Frank Trigg, who's at three minutes and 55 seconds. The shortest average fight time in UFC history

belongs to Drew McFedries with an average of two minutes and 20 seconds. And then one more regarding the Eric Silva versus Jason High fight, that bout also featured a unique rarity in UFC action neither fighter landed any strikes in fact it's just the third modern era fight to feature zero strikes landed by either fighter the other two bouts

Roman Machian versus Dorian Price at the tough six finale and Hussemaar Paul Harris versus Thomas Der Waal at UFC 11th the common theme among all these three fights all three featured quick submissions. So there you have it. Some history was made on Saturday night in Brazil. A great card.

And we have to mention Tiago Silva looked amazing in his fight against Fézhao. Did not see that coming. Did not look to be in great shape physically. But he weathered an early storm. And then Fajiao seemed to kind of get tired as the fight. The first round went on. And perhaps it was due to his layoff. Perhaps he was not in the best condition, whatever.

But then Silva showed improved boxing and then just finish. him brutally. Teago Silva back at 205. Hopefully for his sake passes all the tests and he's good to go and could go in a bit of a run here. I doubt we'll see him against Bigfoot Silva, by the way. I know they went back and forth, but how the heck is Bigfoot going to make 205? So we go from one

heavyweight to a next, as I mentioned, UFC 161. Sean Jordan is facing this man. Pat H.D. Barry. Pat, how are you? What's happening, man? I'm cool. Just sitting around. Just get out of the sun. Where are you? I'm doing well. You got out of the sauna or the

son. Son, no son. Man, I'm a heavyweight, does. Right. No, I'm not dropping nothing new. I was sitting outside in the sun. Well, you like to mess with the people online telling them you're going to drop to 205. That's all just a big joke, right?

Yeah, man, I'm not going. I mean, I'm not saying I could definitely be bought. I could be bought. But I mean, I could be convinced to go to 205, but I'm not, no, there's not. I see no need to. You're in Colorado right now, right? Yeah, yeah. We're actually, I'm in, where at Golden, Colorado?

We're in Denver. It's a section called Golden. I'm in Trevor Whitman's kitchen right now. Oh, really? So you're... Look at the refrigerator. That's a nice. Oh, then we got a wife.

Wow. Hello. How are you? Yeah, so no, just in the kitchen sitting around right now. I remember when you told me a few months back that, you know, the whole death clutch experiment, that dissolved. And I see you training at Grudge. now. So have you moved to Colorado? Are you now full-time over there?

No, no, no, no. Rose and I decided that if we move anywhere, the gym's going to close down. So we're still in Minneapolis, because we're doing half of our training with Greg Nelson at the Academy. And we do the other half out here at Grudge with Trevor Whitman and with Jake.

So we're doing, we do half and half. Have we moved to Denver? No. Is it possibly going to happen? They could. They could. But we've, we don't have the world's greatest luck with moving places to train. But man, I got to say, it seems like something's rubbing off on you there because some big news recently, you were at the Colorado State Championships, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu submission

grappling tournament, the fourth annual one. And you actually, you actually, my friend, you submitted someone. And we actually have, thank God someone filmed this on an iPhone, because we actually have the footage. We'll play it as you speak about it here. But did this really happen, or was this a figment? You actually submitted someone. one. Hey man, I got my, I got my first arm bar. I got my first arm bar against some, some heavyweight purple belt guy. Hold on for a second. I'm a step outside for a bit. No problem. Some heavyweight purple belt guy. I got my first arm bar submission. Oh, oh, oh, what's that? Oh, no. There she is. I'm sorry. There she is. We were waiting for her. Is she reading a coloring book?

Is she, all right, hold on for a second. I can't. Ariel Hwani just said, is she reading a coloring book? No. Hey, man. I'm learning how to build a house. Hey, wait, see you one more time. I'm learning how to build a house. I'm learning how to build a house.

What book is it? Back to basics. Back to basics. We're getting ready for the end of the world, man. Because when everything hits the... Did you hear about the NSA stuff? Oh, about the leaks. Yeah.

Look at you. See? Look at her. See? Just dropping some current events. It's not... They're listening to us right now. You see, it's not a...

Is she reading a coloring book? Yes. Yes, Rose just turned seven yesterday. And she said, the coloring book is in full effect right now. No, man, Rose is learning how to build a farm in a house and plant crops and whatnot. All I'm going to do is carry heavy stuff. She knows how to do it all. But in the Jiu-Jitza tournament, that was some heavyweight purple belt.

I actually had two matches. And that was the second one right there. And that guy was strong as a mug. And I rolled for a Camorra. Then we rolled again. Then we rolled again. and Rose was screaming at the top of her lungs, arm bar as loud as she could.

And I heard it, but I've never done an arm bar before. So then all of a sudden I just, I yank the arm bar out. Now, did I get it? Yes. Did he tap? Yes. Was I wearing a cup? No, I was not.

And there was nothing comfortable about that at all. So that was the first time in your life you ever tap someone out, even in training? Oh, man. That was the first arm bar I've ever done. Oh, okay. I wasn't the first. I've submitted, Rose. Never, I lied.

I didn't. But I've gotten submissions before I practice, and I've gotten submissions before, but I've never, I've never gotten an arm bar ever, not even at practice. Have you tried, like,

did you even know what you were doing, or did instincts just kind of take over? No, she yelled at me so much. Arm bar just sit back, lean back with, I mean, she went, she yelled so much exactly,

like, step by step, what to do that I just, all right, I'm going to just sit back, and I sat back, and his arm bar, was just still there. Now, you know, you've had some big moments in your career, UFC,

kickboxing, all that, but even though this was kind of the small, fourth, fourth annual, Colorado State, blah, blah, blah, jih T tournament, was this kind of one of the biggest deals of your life? Really, I had nothing, I had no, I had no energy left. I've never, I've never done an arm bar, ever, not even at practice. I don't know if my design, my body just wasn't designed for it, at least else was by my excuse has been. My legs aren't, I can't. They don't close. I don't know why. They don't touch. This is not going to happen. But that was a, that was a, after that was over, we can leave. We can go. We can go home. We left. That was it. There was no more, there was no more competing after that. I was like, I just did no on bar.

Did you have? Oh, yeah. I'm like, we are finished. It is over with. We're going to celebrate straight to Chucky Cheese right now. Didn't you lose in the next round, though? No, man. I lost the first one. Look at you. Oh, wait. You lost the first one. And then you just left after the second? I lost the first match. Yeah. Because I told everyone there, hey, if we're going, we're going to go live, we're going to go to the death.

But if you grab my foot or anything near, anything dealing with some type of ankle, tick, tear, you know, toe, toe grab something, I'm just going to tap. So as soon as he reached back, the guy sat back to touch it, when as soon as he sat back, grabbed my foot, I was like, oh, no, you win, you got it. And they were like, oh, no, I didn't do anything. I was like, you win, man. You got it. You're the king. You're the world. You're to win.

I'm not fighting this one. New. I'm not going to try to defend this. As soon as you reach back and grab my foot is over. You win. So that and then my next match I had was against the other guy. And then that was it after that. There was only like three or four guys in that.

And I'm sorry. There was only three or four guys in the Masters. Oh, I'm sorry. the master's senior division. Wow. Look at you. Yes. Yes.

Seniors Masters Division. Did you get a trophy or something for that? Got a wooden metal. Nice. That's cool. Yeah. It was a gold, the gold, silver bronze, and then they had a wooden one. Yeah, I got the wooden one.

That's right. I got a pair of dentures on a string. And this on the heels of Rose's unbelievable flying arm bar, which would you say was more impressive? Your arm bar or hers? Now, I will say this. did have an unbelievable 12-second world record breaking someone called Guinness 12-second flying arm bar but I I kind of have to take the spotlight and say that I think my arm bar maybe was a little better yeah I think maybe it was a little bit better no I think maybe it was

a little bit better no we think right right right right yes no all right you're right no it wasn't Hers was the one. That thing was the best. If you haven't seen it, go see it. Shut up. Go watch it. It's the best. At this point, as far as popularity is concerned,

do you think she's surpassed you? Do you think Rose is now officially more? Are you now her boyfriend as opposed to she being your girlfriend? You know what I'm saying? Yes. I've been saying that since the beginning. I don't know why people kept saying, oh, that's Pat Barry and that's that chick he's dating.

No, I don't know. That's been the goal since she started coming out and getting into this whole thing. is like, I don't, I want, I'd like to be known as her boy toy. That's it. Like, I don't want to people, like, people don't have to know my name anymore. That's Rose and that dude that carries her bags. Like, that's what we should be labeled as.

Has her popularity surpassed mine? I hope so. Like, that's the, that's the plan, man. The thing is that I'm out here making funny little jokes and videos here and there. She's just punching people in the head and becoming famous for that. Like, that's awesome. That's, that's, that's all the training that she's done, all the hard work that she's put in, all the stuff

she's dealt with me and this roller coaster ride that we've been on she deserves every pinch of it every bit of it I'm hoping that that's happening right now hopefully by now people have it'll be I say like in the next year I'm just going to be really I'll be that guy who carries

her bags and that's that's that that is absolutely fine with me are you saying you're going to retire soon am I going to retire no no no I'm not going to retire I'm just going to be The dude who carries her bags. Watch out, man.

Uh-uh. That's you, uh-uh. Oh, wait. Oh, we got another edition right here. Look at this. Look at that. Oh. Marissa.

Wave. Hello. How are you? It's a whole party over there. She barked. She didn't wave. She barked. That's how we say hi.

Hi. Hi. So, I can't imagine. I could see how much you love Rose. I mean, we've talked about this before. I can't imagine watching my wife fight. You know what I mean? And someone tried to beat her.

How bad is that for you? How bad is that experience? Well, I'll tell you this. It's pretty stressful. for watching her, like knowing that she's about to have a fight, there is a certain level of stress because it's it's kind of like the,

you know, like the, like it's, she's there. I want to jump in and I want to finish it for her. I want to make sure she doesn't have to go through any type of emotional, like psychological warfare or like some physical pain or getting hit or anything. Now that's a pinch of it though.

It's a pinch of it. Now, and the only reason why I can say it's a pinch of it is because I am so I'm don't watch me while I'm saying this man read your color book I'm I'm so convinced that she is ridiculous like that she is something special

like honestly man I'm so convinced like of her ability I'm so like I've this is something else like this is this is evolution of the sport right here there's nothing now anything can happen in the fight at any point in time but I'm so

I'm so what's the word that I'm looking for? Colorbook, what is it? What's the word? I'm not so convinced. I'm so, uh, something like I'm, I'm, I'm so, I'm, her preparation is, I'm so confident. Confident, right. Confident. I'm so confident with her preparation and her ability, man, that really, like, the nervousness, it's, it's not, it's always going to be there in the background, just a

pinch, but. And there she is again. Yeah. I'm so confident in her preparation. I'm so confident in her ability. I'm so confident in the aggression level that she brings that the little bit of, oh, my rose is going to have a fight.

It's only, it's minute, man. And, of course. It's exciting to watch her. Like, just because she's inventing things on her, like, right there, like, on the whim. Like, she's, in the heat of the moment, she's coming up and improvving things. Like, really, I don't say,

I'm the worst corner man in the world. I don't, hey, ah, instead of saying punch kick, move to the left or anything, I sit there really, like chewing popcorn, like, crowd surfing. Like, she's ridiculous, man. It's fun watching her climb the ranks, and she returns July 13th for Invicta once again this time. Same place in Kansas City.

It's really fun, and people really get behind her. It's a lot of fun to watch now. It's amazing. We've talked to you for, what, 15 minutes or so we haven't mentioned your fight, so we should probably do that. You're fighting this Saturday against Shoeh. Sean Jordan, does he do anything that concerns you? Sean Jordan does everything that concerns me.

He is the same height as me, which is going to be strange, punching someone who is like at face level instead of having to punch up. Stefan Struve, I hate you, Stefan. Like, it's going to be, it's going to be, it's going to be, it's going to be one that challenge right there. But Sean is, Sean is a different kind of athlete, former football player, so he's got a really fast twitch muscle. Like, he's, he's the kind of guy.

He's deceptive, man. He's strong. He's ridiculously strong, but he's got a speed factor that is really deceiving. Like, he's, right when you think he's moving fast, he shows you how fast he really is. And I've seen that in all of his fights. I've seen that just by knowing him, man. I mean, he's also, I don't know, like, it's the slightest, it's the little, it's the, like, the smallest bit of slight of hand. Like, he's a magician, man, and that's what this fight is going to consist of.

This fight is going to consist of who can trick the other guy first. Whoever can fall for it first is going to be the one who most likely loses. Most likely. There's going to be a lot of magic happening, a lot of sleight of hand, a lot of pretending to throw sandwiches in the air and see if he looks at it and punch him in the head. Like, there's going to be a lot of maneuvers like that because is he going for a takedown or is he throwing a rocket overhand left like to your brain?

Is he like trying to punch and kick with you? Or is he going to like body slam you and like throw you through the ring? Like you have no idea where this guy is coming from. He's supposedly a wrestler, supposedly, but he's got 10 knockouts. Like, that's not, what, that doesn't sound like wrestling to me. But you know, this guy, he's everywhere. I've been knowing Sean for a while now. He's a great dude, man.

We're going to be friends all week. We're going to be friends while we're fighting. We'll be friends afterwards. But this is definitely the kind of fight that I would want to watch. Two short stocky guys who are both shaped like squares in there going at it until somebody goes to sleep. He also has a tongue ring. How do you feel about that? He has a tongue ring?

Yeah. Did you know that? Sean has a tongue ring. I did not know that. It's very weird. Hey, Sean Jordan, if you don't keep it in during the ring during the fight, then you lose. That's whack. That's whack.

Now I've got... Amanda, I've got to get one. Imagine. Imagine loser gets a tongue ring. But he has... That tongue ring will get lost in my... I think we'll get lost in there. There's no ring big enough that will fit in here.

You know what's interesting. You started your career in MMA 3 and 0. then you went into the UFC, never won two in a row. You'd win one, lose one. You had a little stretch where you lost two in a row. You're coming off an amazing win. Can this be the time you get two in a row? Hey, you know what?

We've made it a point not to talk about that. Oh, okay. Ariel Hawon is the one that brings it up. Hey, man, when you got into the Rui, got to the UFC, MMA, you come on three and O. You got to the MMA and to the UFC, and as soon as you got it in there, you win, lose, win, win, win, lose, win, win, win, win, lose, win, lose, and you're coming off a great win. So what are we to expect in this fight on Saturday?

You did lose, lose. I did have the, I do have a lose lose. Yeah. Maybe this will be the win-win. That's the goal. Well, I do happen to have, and I'm sorry out there to the fans and to the public and everyone who watches and makes bets on these fights. I'm sorry that I have been a major letdown sometimes.

Sometimes. It's true. It's the truth. I'm a jerk. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. like to win a fight and then come out and then in the fight after I win in some spectacular manner to come out and to be winning a fight and then lose like that's I'm that's that's rough that's got I don't know how my mom still watches this like people need to stop watching me this is just I am this is this has got to be stressful but like Rose said I do have a lose lose on my record why are we celebrating that I don't know but I do have a lose lose lose on my record maybe this would be the win win all right I saw I saw I saw I It came to me in a dream.

One last thing, Pat, in this most important of them all, you mentioned your mom. You put out... You put out a video recently that she was battling some health issues. How is she feeling now? Honestly, man, this has been... This last eight weeks training camp has been one of the more stressful ones out of the entire fight career that I've had because of all of the outside things that have been coming along.

Mom gets sick, goes to the hospital, which she never goes, she never anything. So she obviously was shot in a drive-by. That's the only reason why she would be at a hospital. She gets sick, goes to the hospital,

spends 22 days in two-row hospital with having two surgical procedures done. At the end of 22 days, they tell her we have to wait another week because we still can't figure it out. So mom says, all right, no problem. Packs her bags and walks out. It goes home, says,

Right. You can't figure out what's going on with me. I'm sick. I can have any trouble breathing. You got me on like 17 medications. Ah, you know what? I'm going home. If I'm going to die, I'm going to die at home. If I'm going to live for the next six years and then pass out, I'm going to do it at home. I'm leaving. So she walks out of the hospital and she leaves. So they have her on, oh, so many, like, you know, medications, which she kind of has, like, taking, but I don't know if I can trust her completely that she is. But she's been, you know, seeing people here and there. And she's getting a, you know, it's being recommended that she goes to the Mayo Clinic because they still honestly can't figure out two months into it. They can't figure out what's, what is this that's on her lungs, like what's going on. Then I get a phone call two Sundays ago. All right.

Mom's been home for a few weeks. Two Sundays ago. No, not two Sundays ago. Today's Sunday, right? Today's Monday? Monday. Yeah, so Sunday of last week. You get a phone call saying they're back in the hospital.

I'm like, oh, man, what happened now? and apparently my stepdad fainted. My stepdad who's never been sick ever, faints, goes to the hospital, and they tell him he's got level 12 diabetes. Wow. Like, all of this stuff is coming out of nowhere. He's never been sick ever,

and now he's got, like, advanced stages, diabetes, and he's got to take insulin shots and, like, medications through here and there, man. So it almost got to the point was like, I'm going to stop answering the phone when people call from home because this is, This is way too much.

Like, this is just a lot. Then Rose asked if I was hungry. I shook my head, no. And my neck, and I couldn't turn my head to the right for like two weeks. What? Pull the hamps. Are you hungry? I was like, hmm.

And that was it. Bleak. Really? And over the next two hours, my neck got stiff. And then I started, like, stroking out on one side. And so then I turned my head to the left. But right was like, ugh. So we spent two weeks like that, pulled the hamstring, walking down the stairs.

It's been, you know what? It's the world. The world has been trying to tell me to cancel this fight for eight weeks now. Eight weeks. Hey, Ariel, when was the last time you got a splinter? It's been a while, but I'm not as manly as you are. Well, this is true. I might look manly, but I'm really not the one.

Rose is the tough one in this relationship. I got a splinter. A splinter in my foot. And I think I have to take away I got to cancel the fight I've got to split. Really? I mean, don't you stop getting splinters at certain ages? In your foot. You stop

you stop getting splinters. You stop stepping in Doug Yeah. Equal matter? Like, you stop, that kind of stuff stops happening at a certain age. You stop falling down the stairs at a certain age. I got a splinter, man. I'm thinking

that's craziness. Like, what what's going? Like, who's trying to get me to not have this fight? So why are you taking it? Huh? Why are you doing it? Because, man, they got a lot of people betting on me to win, so I've got to get in there and like throw it. Like, come on, man, I've got to keep the tradition live. I'm coming off a great win.

This has got to be a ridiculous loss, right? No. Not true at all. Not true at all. Not even kind of. Because that's why I'm taking it is because it seems like the world is trying to get me to not take it. That's all the reason in the world to take it. I don't know what kind of kid you were.

But when mom said, whatever you do, don't push that red button, my head always went, but now I've got to push it. I'm sorry. I have to now. You've got to be here by 1 o'clock. Now I'll never be there by 1 o'clock. If you tell me I've got to do it, I can't do it. Pat, you shouldn't take this fight. Well, now I've got to.

Wait, so give us the update. How is mom feeling and how is stepdad feeling? Stepdad is frustrated because he has to take insulin shots and take some other type of blood pressure medication or something. So he's frustrated with that. My mother is feeling mentally. better and physically a little better but mentally

not better because she still doesn't know it's just the fear of the unknown you know okay like she still still has no idea like what it is that's going on or they still don't know so I mean it's kind of like hey you've got something it might be healing you it might not be it might just

be there nothing's going on but at the same time it might be horrible she doesn't know if it's contagious like she doesn't know what's going on so she's uh she's she's fed up with it man she's burned out Other than that, but she's great, though. Other than that, she's great. All right, Pat.

Well, good to hear that. At least she's great. Hopefully everything works out for both her and your stepdad, and for you guys as well, that splinter sounds horrible. So I hope your foot gets better. Looking forward to seeing you and Rose in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Great town. And I'm looking forward to that fight very much against you and you and Sean Jordan.

That's a good heavyweight scrap. What happened now? I'm saying bye. Oh, bye. and we will have Rose on the show before her next fight. That is a guarantee, and hopefully you will not make any appearances and ruin the interview. Yeah, I will not. I would just be holding the bags in the background silently. Yes, sir, boss, Rose, boss lady.

Yes, sir. I can do that. Thank you very much, Pat. Good luck to you. See you in Winnipeg. Hi, brother, man. See you there? There he is. Pat H.D. Barry, one of the best in the business. Always with a smile on his face. Big heavyweight fight for him. His opportunity to finally go two and know in his last two fights in the UFC. He beat Dan Evanson, UFC 92, lost to Tim Hague, UFC 98, beat Anthony Hardong at UFC 104.

Then it was his big chance against Miracle Crow Cop at UFC 115 lost that fight. If you recall, via submission in the third round, just 30 seconds left. Rebounded, beat Joey Beltran at UFC fight for the troops number two, but then lost to Czech Congo in another chance. to go two and O in two straight fights. One of the great comebacks in UFC history lost to check Congo, UFC on Versus in Pittsburgh. Followed that one up with a loss of Stefan Strove,

which just felt like a tough way to rebound from a loss like he had to check Congo, but then came back and beat Christian Moorcraft, but then lost to LeVar Johnson on Fox. And since then, he beat Shane Del Rosario in December, Ultimate Fighter 16 finale, if you recall. one of the more emotional post-fight interviews in recent memory was just days after the Newtown shooting in Connecticut, and he was crying and just talking about how much, you know, he loved life and how emotionally was going into the fight. And that was coming off an amazing knockout of Shane Dozario.

Pat Barry, truly one-of-a-kind in this business. We look forward to his fight on Saturday night in Winnipeg. one more, actually, no, two more guests to go in around 40 minutes or so, or maybe 30 minutes, my math is bad. We'll be joined by Jonathan Tweedle, who is the legal representative for one, Nick Diaz, talked to him about war MMA, and even where Nick Diaz stands in his career, Tyrone Woodley, as you saw, was talking about Nick and not believing he is retired. But first, let us go to the Skype machine, and welcome back our old friend,

big sexy Sean McCorkle, who is coming off a win, KSW in Poland, over the great Marius Pugianowski. Sean, how are you? Doing all right. He's the great Marius now, huh? He is the great Marius. I mean, that was impressive stuff. Now, did you guys talk about the finish beforehand?

Did you plan it out? Or was that just off the cuff? You just going to business for yourself? I knew that was coming. I mean, it was bad, or you're going to have someone else hijacked my interview, be it like CM Punk or Tim Hague? or so as someone was calling. I did see on the underground,

someone cracked me up. He said that if I look clearly, he got robbed because he had his foot on the rope when I was submitting him, and that should have been a break, which I thought was pretty funny. That was pretty funny. Now, as I predicted before we started the show,

your Skype connection is so bad that I can hardly hear you, and I bet if someone's listening to this via audio podcast, they'll get very annoyed. So I'm going to have our guys call you via cell phone. Let's still look at you, but you'd be on the phone. How about that? That's great.

That's ridiculous. because I actually even put it on a new computer. I don't know what's going on. It sounds like you're all like computer voice. So someone's going to call you now on the phone. We'll still talk while they do that, but then at some point we'll switch over to the phone, all right? I haven't given R.T.D.D.2 of a BJ right now.

Okay. And let me just first say there's no minute. There's no McCorkal minute this time around. That, let's just say, mate, rest in peace. Right. That's a shame. Matt, Mitriot ruined it for us all. Although the good news is that no one can do anything to me, since I don't really have a contract with anybody.

Yeah, that's true, but you know what? I have a contract with my own show, and I'd like to keep it. And by your show, you mean the UFC show. Oh, you're so funny. All right, thanks for stopping by, Sean. I appreciate it. How much did you pay those people on Twitter to bother me every week to get you on the show? I mean, there's no way in hell that you actually have this many fans,

and I think we're switching over to the phone now, right? Got me now? Yeah, I got you. Okay, yeah. How many? I don't know. How much I'll take people? I think you're severely underestimating my internet celebrity. Like, I am the Lady Gaga of the internet. People love me. Actually, they hate me, but I'm super famous on the internet. Yeah, right. Well, part of the reason why I didn't want to have you back on the show was, A, your last appearance was one of the worst, like, just straight up, just bad. It was just so bad. It was like I was embarrassed. I didn't want to do the show anymore. But not only that, you went and did the McCorklemen. It was some other Rinky Dink show. So, like, why should I have you back? Just like that, you just go off and take your service.

services elsewhere? Yeah, I cheated on you as long as well as my girlfriend with a McCorkle minute. No, my last appearance, my last four jokes were awesome, and T.M. Punk called, and apparently he's a huge MMA star. I didn't realize. He is. But, yeah, it's huge in the M.MA world, and I got cut off before my jokes got a chance to get me good. Sure. Yeah, I don't know. I had to go, I had to take the McCorkel Minute somewhere else to Adam Hunter's show. And then he tried to talk me into opening the first stamp comedy for him, but I don't think I can do that,

man, I'm not comfortable in front of crowds of 20 to 30 people. How many people were you fighting in front of on Saturday? Because KSW, that's a big deal over in Poland, right? Man, it was, yeah, sold out 16,000 people. Wow. It was, I will honestly say, man, and I know everybody said I'm bashing the UFC now. I'm not bashed in the UFC, but that was the coolest show I have ever fought at in my life, man. Why?

It was 16,000. 16,000 people, the production was amazing, like a laser light show, fireworks. I mean, just everything you can imagine. I mean, Marius Kugnowski had his brother wrap his way out to the ring, like Roy Jones Jr., or something. It was the funnier of the thing ever. But, I mean, their production, it was more, it was like pro wrestling style, you know, more WWE style, remind me of a WrestleMania or something like that,

and it reminded me a lot of pride, but, I mean, even took it a step further than that. And not only did you like the production, you actually said, I want to get this right here, because you had a very interesting quote. You said, this is now my new favorite country in the world, including the United States. Are you moving to Poland? I'm not sure I said included in the United States. You didn't say that because that's the quote I'm reading. Correct.

I said my new favorite country I've ever been to. I guess I've been to the United States. And then I made a joke saying, plus, you guys don't even start wars in foreign countries to steal their natural resources, which I think was lost in translation because everyone just kind of stared blankly at me when I said it. But, yeah, a little shot at the American government. I love the United States. I just hate the government. Are you actually, like, why were you so blown away by Poland?

I've been to Poland, nice place, but why were you so blown away by it? Just, I mean, the whole thing, the people, the weather was beautiful, one, which is not something you get in Indiana. I told them over there that Indiana is like the Siberia of the United States, you know. But the weather was beautiful. The city we were in, I don't know what it was called, but it was on the Baltic Sea was a clean, nice city. the people are all super friendly. The women are gorgeous. And I don't even like European women or white women for that matter.

I like Latin girls. But it was just everything, men. And the fight for KSW, and like I said, of course, everybody's going to say, bashing the UFC. I mean, you might as, I didn't have to do anything. Like if I told them, hey, my sports aren't thinking quite right. They got sponsors for me. I didn't even ask.

They got sponsors for me, got me money. Then they came and told me, I said, hey, these shorts don't get quite right? I didn't have to ask again. They went and got another pair of shorts. I came back. So I don't like these. They went. I mean, they do everything.

for you. It took us to nice restaurants every day. Real upscale restaurants paid for everything. It was just, man, first class all the way. Why didn't you stay longer then? I mean, you went in there, you did the job, you beat the guy. Why not just kind of bask in the glory of that big win? No, because I put my kids, man. I was away coming for a week already, and my little boy is 11 now, and he and he and I are super close. My girl's old enough where she can do it. My little boy cries when I leave, and I can't wait for me to get back.

I talk to him on Skype every day while I was over there. He and I are real close, and I feel, I don't know, I feel bad about leaving him for the extended periods of time. How did this deal even come about, and I commend you for that very much, because it just seems like these fights of yours, like you fought Satoshi Ishii, it just kind of flies into the radar. And I was even talking to you about the Pugianowski deal, and at one point you said it's on, then it wasn't on. And then all of a sudden I hear that you're in, you're in Poland. Like, why are these fights happening on such short notice for you? I think what's happening is we're trying to use what little name I have left to get wins for their, you know, their guy, their promotion. And originally Monty Cox, my agent called me, said, do you want to fight, you want to fight Puginowski in a month in Europe or in Poland?

I said, absolutely. So he said it was on. And then he called me back a few days later, said it's off. They have someone else. They think you're too experienced for Pugnowski. It turned out they were right. They said, do you think you got too much experience? Okay.

And then they called me 12 days. before the fight and said, hey, we need mind to get a hold of us. The other guy pulled out. I guess the other guy was West Sims, is what I was told by West Sims. But I don't know how reliable source he is, but I guess he hurt or something. And they called me and it like, oh, no, we never said we weren't doing it. But a rumor was over there. I talked to some of the press over there, and they said that, you know, it's kind of like the same situation with Japan. They want you coming in on two days notice or on three days notice so you cannot possibly be prepared.

you know, I took a lot of crap for losing to Satoshi Isi, who's a gold medalist and a zero in the Olympics. But I literally fought him. I was in Seattle seeing a girl. He was very good-looking. But I was Seattle to see a girl. I got called by Moni. He said, do you want to fight in Japan in 36 hours? If I got to leave in 36 hours, you have to be in the ring in 36 hours.

You have to leave the next two or three hours to go. And, you know, I took that fight. I literally traveled 28 hours. Got there. eight hours later, I was in the ring fighting him. And, I mean, of course, I looked terrible fighting. You know, I hadn't trained at all ahead of my neck still bothered me, so I hadn't trained since the SELA fight.

It didn't look like I trained for the SELA fight, but I did. But, yeah, I'd like to see any go fight under those conditions and do well. Okay, so you get this fight, and now you have a two-fight deal with these guys. Are you going to fight again for them? Because weren't you at one time kind of flirting with retirement? I was before the Sala fight. I was done, man. when I fought Brian Hedine, I think that was the first one.

I lost outside the UFC. I had herniated disc pretty bad in my neck. And I had hurt my back before. So I was just done. It just wasn't worth it. But that's been over a year ago. And this time around, six or seven days of train, it was still extremely painful, extremely hard to do.

But I guess I showed the other night that even at 50% I'm still one of the baddest dudes on the planet, when fighting strong men anyway. By the way, did you get the impression that they were pissed that you beat him? I know the fans weren't real happy with it. The promotion was fine with it. When I spoke to the only concern when they were talking to me, it was like, you know, they said they've got to be real careful and they match him up because they don't want some guy to come out there and just, you know,

take him down and submit him in 15 seconds, and it looks, you know, like a joke fight. And so I can promise that that's not going to happen, you know, because I don't have any takedowns. So that wasn't going to happen. But it was, they just wanted to, they want to, good entertaining fights, and I think, I mean, the mine didn't last really long, and I think the

manned hall fight right after mine ended real fast, too, so I were a little disappointed with the co-main event, main event, just the amount of time the fights lasted. How much they pay you for that? I guess I can say, 10-flat. 10-flat? I feel like you'd get more to fight, Marius. I mean, I probably could have, but it was such a good

match-up for me. We didn't even tried when he called me with that. It was perfect for me, man. I mean, I didn't think, I couldn't see any way he could beat me. I mean, maybe I'm overest. estimating my ability, but when I know a guy's going to get tired faster than me, that's a rarity, you know. So I knew he was going to be tired before I was. So, you know, I fought him in as a two-fight deal. It escalates.

I get more next time since I won. So I get a considerable amount more. So I knew it was the biggest thing for me was getting two fights, too, and to fight a guy with a huge name like that. I'd like to specialize in fighting guys, like, say, Batista or somebody like that who doesn't have a lot of experience but has a huge name. Sure. I try to fight Bobby Lashley one time, you know. not that he's not any good, but lastly, you know, super famous and not the greatest fighter.

So for me, that's like I'd rather do that. I don't know. It only matters what people believe. It doesn't matter what's true. So people think I'm one of the best fighters in the world because I beat the world's strongest man than more power to me, right? How strong was he? He was strong in a weird way. It was different.

Even when I gave him, like, the way-ins or whatever, you could just feel it come off. I'm like, holy hell, like when you hugged him, you know, or shook his hand. But I train with Tom Erickson, and there's nothing. And people think I'm crazy. Tom Erickson beats up me and Matt Mitreone at the same time when we try to jump him. And there's nothing. You've never felt strength like that as far as applied, you know, wrestling strength or whatever. So I've never grappled or done anything with anybody who's half as strong as Tom Erickson.

So, okay, so you beat him up, you submit him, and then there's, this is my favorite part of the whole thing. You have this little ceremony in the cage where they give you guys trophies. and stuff, and we have the footage here. We're going to play it. Are we going to put it on the screen? Okay, we're going to put it on the screen so I can break it down. Here you are with the trophy. Marius is there. He's with a more conservative lady. You're standing

next to one of the ring girls, and you're all kind of hugging each other. You're taking a picture. You got your arm around Marius. Then you take your arm off, Marius. You put your other arm around the girl, and now you're looking at the camera. You're looking at this? You're looking at this. And then you say something to her. And she kind of just brushes

you off and walks away. What exactly did you say to this, lovely young lady? I told her, I don't think she spoke English, but I told her I don't have a girlfriend in case you were wondering. That's what I said to her. And did she say anything back to you? No, I don't think she's spoken English because that's the only way she wouldn't have gone for that line, right? Yeah, totally. It was very smooth.

That's my second best pickup line. I don't know if you're ready for my best one, but if you want to know, I'll tell you sometime. Sure, I'm ready for it. My best pickup line is I will go up to a girl to bar and say, listen, I'm not a rapist, but if I were, you're the first girl in this bar, I would rape. Okay, why did you have to take it there? I thought we were just having... Have you actually said that to a woman?

It actually worked on the girl from Seattle that I was talking about it. I left Japan from. Sounds like a real catch. It actually is great. In med school. Oh, wow. But I just love the fact that you had the presence of mine. You just beat this guy 60,000 people, and you were just back on your game.

You didn't care. You saw an opportunity. You just went for it. She was the one that, I believe, walked down to the cage or to the ring with me. It was walking. Like, you're trying to stay focused or whatever. I was walking. I was like, holy hell, that's the best looking girl I've ever seen in my life.

You know, like, to my right, if she was walking down. And I kept checking around. And I even looked at somebody in the crowd. I looked at her, looked at them, and looked back at her again. And they started laughing on my way out there. So you've got to have a little bit of fun with it, man. Like, I tried to break the tension a little bit. I had a corner man.

It was real funny. It was actually Kendall Grove's Cornerman. I just took one of my friends with me because nobody could go with me on that shorter notice on this fight. So took one of my friends that had a passport. So I thought he actually cornered me as a jihih Tucci coach. And right before the fight, he said, I was looking intensive and over to him and said, don't worry, man.

I'm sure your supplements are at least as good as his, which made me laugh. You know, both because that would be a ridiculous statement to make because there's no way they are. But it's, you know, I like to make steroid jokes, quote unquote. You think he was on the stuff? Man, you know what? I actually don't know that he was. He doesn't look nearly like he used to. I mean, you can look like he looks now without steroid.

You can't look like how he used to look. And he only weighed. I think he only weighed 260 pounds, so I can't believe. I was 40 pounds feathered in that, in that fight. I couldn't believe that at the way and sitting there looking at him, how big is. Even his legs are sick, you know, whatever. He's big everywhere. You know what I mean?

But no, he's a big dude. They test you guys? No. No, they didn't. What were you on? protein and and what is it Hulk Hogan stuff Oh, vitamins

stuff like that. Just that, right? So you just brought a friend? I've dabbled in TRT on occasion. You have? Have you really, have you taken it? Yes. How do you get it?

Sometimes even through a doctor. Really? Yeah, no, actually, I've been on testosterone for placement. I was 25 years old before I was trained before I was fighting. Why? I had to go off of it the whole time I was in the UFC. I just had a low testosterone.

That was before everybody else was using it as an excuse. So I went to the doctor, didn't feel well for a long time. I was 25, said I was tired all the time, and they took my blood. I thought maybe I had cancer or AIDS or who knows what. And they, I don't know, either one of those would make you sleep a lot. But it will eventually make you sleep forever. But I didn't know, I don't know. So they tested every my blood.

They said your testosterone, like 1-10, which was crazy low. So I started taking testosterone injections then. Then I had to go off of them the whole time I was in the UFC because I didn't know there was such a lot. thing is a TRT exemption. And I didn't want to bring it up. So that might be the excuse for my poor performance. Oh, that's got to be it.

That's the only thing it can be. Didn't you need it to live in a healthy manner? Like, didn't you want to bring this up so that you can actually have a good life? Yeah, I mean, it sucked being off of it. And, I mean, I just didn't want to take it because I didn't want to make them mad. I didn't even know how to bring it up. You know, I didn't even talk about TRT at that point. You know, this was what, 2010, it wasn't even an issue.

So I didn't want to bring it up or no, so I just went off everything. Notice I said everything instead of just 10,000 replaces accidentally. But I just didn't want any issues. Yeah, that was not easy. It's no fun when you have low testosterone trying to compete and do anything, let alone at that level. So let's just say you weren't able to fight, and you know, you told us how much you made for this fight, but you're not fighting. I mean, you're pretty active. You're not fighting, you know, extremely active,

but you actually, no, you're actually very active. I mean, in 2013, you fought twice. In 2012, you fought like 48 times. But is this how you're making your living now, or you're doing something else? No, it is still. Yeah, I got paid really well on the issue fight and the solar fight.

And I was going to fight next month here in Indianapolis. I had another fight set up here in Indianapolis because I was like, God forbid, I lose the Pugianowski. I've got to get a win. So I had a local shoot here. I'm going to have me fight one of their shows, I guess, against a lesser opponent that I would definitely win, but I was going to do one here. But apparently, I'm suspended for 60 days in the state of Indiana for fighting overseas that's non-sanctioned. I guess they suspend you for 60 days no matter what, even with a – I said, can I go to the doctor?

Can I go get an MRI? Can I do something that says I'm okay? And they said, no, it's just a law. You can't fight here. Other states, I think, don't have it, but it's hard to sell for me to sell tickets in other states against a lesser opponent. So life-after the UFC, even though we've talked to you a number of times, you're all right. You're doing okay. Yeah, I'm making as much now as I was making the UFC, at least from them, maybe not sponsorship-wise,

but, you know, when I'm getting paid, I'm getting, you know, I get 10 to 20 a fight typically. And the most of the UFC ever game, I believe, was my fault Mark Hunt. I got eight to fight, eight to win, a $5,000 bonus, which probably should have been the $70,000 submission bonus, I thought. Right. But freaking CD Doleway stole that from me. It was just so unlikely. By the way, I've always wanted to ask you this. Isn't it crazy?

It kind of died down a little bit after his loss. But didn't it kill you to see Mark Hunt in the position that he was in, Junior DeS Santos, the fanfare and all that? And you defeated him in seconds in his debut. I was always surprised that you, of all, people, never ran with that. You're the guy who beat him. You know, he grant him a rematch, et cetera.

Like, why didn't you ever capitalize on that? I didn't know. I think you were not even talked about that privately. I didn't know the best way to go about it, man. And I was kind of tired of rub it in his face, bring it up all the time, like, even in my everyday life. Like, I'll be going through the drive bank and be like, hey, I don't know if you ever heard of Mark Hunt, but I beat him one time.

But, no, I didn't want to rub it in. I like Mark Hunt a lot. He doesn't like me, I don't think. Why not? After the fight, I don't know, man. Like, it was a big deal. I told him before the fight, it was a really big deal for me to meet him. As stupid as that sounded or whatever, but I was always a huge fan of his before I ever

trained before everything. And so the meeting was cool, let alone fight him. He wasn't that cool. until I won. But same thing with Pugianowski. You know, I didn't really get a chance talking after the fight, but it's amazing when you beat a guy

how their attitude towards you changes. And I've never been like that. You know, like it's, I told him Pugnauioca, I got there. I used to watch him in Strongman contest before I was even trained to fight before you were anything like that. Like, it was really cool for me to meet him.

And we're best buddies leading all the way up. I'm getting ready to walk out, shaking hands, joking around, stuff like it, right to fight. And then we, you know, I go to check on him after the fight. He doesn't want to talk to me. It didn't seem like.

So I was like, all right, well, you were trying to hurt me, too, you know, if you remember correctly. And I could have broke his arm or at least attempted to, and I didn't. I knew I had this submission. There was no, and I guess, I don't know, maybe they'll come back one day to bite me. I see no reason to hurt anybody worse than they need to be hurt if I know I'm going to win anyway. So I didn't jerk it. I didn't try to break it. I didn't try to hold it any extra, you know, like I had him.

I knew he wouldn't be that flexible. But I could have tried to break his arm and make a name for myself, you know, as though, you know, Sean McCork will breaks everybody's arms. But that, to me, I mean, I don't know. I just wouldn't want somebody doing it to me unnecessarily, and I didn't want to do it to him unnecessarily. I've always felt that same way if I can submit a guy, why punch him in the face a thousand times on the ground?

You know? Maybe I'm not vicious enough. I don't know. So, wait. So Mark Hunt, why didn't you run with that, though? Man, I just didn't know which, I don't know. I needed better advice on which way to go about it. I just didn't want to rub it in on him that I beat him,

and I didn't want to keep bringing it up, you know. I don't know why. It actually sounds exactly like something I would do. But I just, yeah, I didn't know the best angle to get the most attention. But I was rooting for him the whole way, man. Like, I was – you got us hoping one of those right hands would land against DeS Santos when he was telling them big right hands because that just makes me – everybody's like, are you a person still in the UFC or not?

And I'm like, no, that everything he does that's good just makes me look cooler. That's unfortunate that you didn't run with it. I mean, of all people, I would think that you would be able to understand how to take this and capitalize it. You know what I mean? How would you have done it? Because, yeah, I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to tell you.

Well, why should I tell you how to run your career? You're the one with all the jokes. I don't know. I tell you put me on your show every week if you want rating. Yeah, I don't know about that. So, all right, so you didn't get the girl, right? No, I didn't even find her after the fight. I was too busy answering a million questions about how awesome I am pretty much to press from all over the world. Oh, yeah, I was wondering about that.

Was there a lot of press there? It seemed like you were doing a lot of interviews. It was, I probably did. I want to say I did at least 20. Wow. They're separate ones with guys, way down from a guy with a little audio recorder to guys with the whole setup like you guys have. You don't have come do it. So it was pretty cool. It was, it was weird for me because I tried to be nice because I had to go back there so I couldn't talk a lot of trash. But I did ask a German guy if my tattoo looked like a Nazi tattoo. And he said, let me put it to you like this. I wouldn't put it on me.

And I started cracking up. So he was like it looks just like a Nazi tattoo. And I told him what it is. I just wanted to verify that it was looking like what I intended. So he didn't really get that. But, yeah, it was, I did some interviews before. I got a text from Mani. He told me to stop making steroid and Nazi jokes. So those are sensitive topics over there.

When are you fighting again for them? They said originally December, man. They've got a show, I think, in October and one in November or either September, November, I think. But I told them I'd like to come back as soon as possible. I mean, I'm already out of state for the fight, right? Right. That was a great subtle joke. Yeah, no, I mean, I'd like to come back.

If not September, I mean, I don't want to, I can fight anywhere I want Poland in the meantime, but they were, well, I don't want to say who they're talking about having me fight, but it would be interesting. Oh, tell us, tell us. I can't because maybe they'll get mad at me. Oh, come on. When are you afraid? I would love it if they would have me and James Thompson fight.

I can tell you that. Oh, that's interesting. That's interesting. Yeah, I wish. Isn't it funny how I go from the work today? ways who's ever fought in UFC and then I win one thought and all of a sudden like I'm the greatest again to everybody that's

surprise. Well, let's not get crazy about the greatest. I mean, it's just been a while since you've been on the show. Are you going to be in Seattle for Matrione's fight? I actually am. Are you going to be there? Hopefully you're not his bad luck charm. Are we going to get an interview and put it on your website here? Are you crazy? I just

gave you 25 minutes of my show. I know, but if you remember correctly, I had to talk you into interview me in Indianapolis and it got 10 times as many of you said. Anyone else you said You said, I'm just here for the main event guy. That's so, that is... Okay, now you're completely lying, because I remember back then, I used to have to ask for specific fights and fighters,

and I asked for yours the first fight of the night. I interviewed you, and you came to the workouts. You weren't even supposed to be there. So stop with that nonsense. Congratulations to you, Sean. Let's end this on a good note, and we look forward to speaking to you soon. Welcome back to the show.

All right, thanks, man. There he is. Sean McCorkal defeated Marius Pugnowski on Saturday at KSW. And he'll be back for them. It sounds like in December, perhaps against the big bad James Thompson. Congratulations to Mr. McCorkel on picking up the win and offending the entire country, which he lives in afterwards. Now, in a minute, we'll be joined by Jonathan Tweedle, who is the legal representative for one Nick Diaz. Jonathan is working with Nick Diaz and his crew to launch war MMA.

just writing this. You see, I have to kind of promote things as they're going on because there's no breaks during the show. And that's just the one-man band that I am here. War MMA will have their first show, June 22nd, at the famous Stockton Arena. I was there many moons ago for Elite XC on CBS. It was a show headlined by Robbie Lolliver

versus Scott Smith. I remember Chris Cyborg fought Shana Bazler on that show. Chris Seiborg thought that she had defeated Bazelor and she went and she celebrated and then they told her, wait a second, wait a second, the fight's still going on. It was very bizarre scene. But anyway, I actually really enjoyed Stockton. I know Stockton gets kind of a bad rap, but when I was there, I don't know maybe if I was just in the right part of town, but I remember the ring, the arena, I should say, was next to the water. It was very nice. There was a nice hotel next to, yeah, I'm actually looking at a picture of the arena right now, the Stockton Arena, and it's on the waterfront, and it's a nice arena. I don't know. I feel like all that they tell us about the 209 isn't exactly

true. But anyway, they're having their first event. It's June 22nd, and you can read more about it over at Nick Diazpromotions.com, and we've got Jonathan on the show right now via Skype. Jonathan, how are you, my friend? I'm good. How are you, Ariel? I'm doing great. I have so many questions to ask you, Jonathan, about this and other stuff related to Nick Diaz. Let us first be clear about this. What is your role in war MMA? I act for Nick. I represent his interest. I can't see you, Ariel. Is there... Yes, we have a new studio, and we don't have the webcam set up. So I'm here. I can see you just fine. You've got what appears to be a weight set in back of you. You have some kind of bullseye

thing going on over there that says Diaz, I believe, a nice little cabinet. So I see you just fine. You have me at a disadvantage. You're able to see me and not... Why do you come so guarded on the show, Jonathan? We come here in peace. No particular reason, Ariel. You know, we've had discussions in the past. I know what I'm dealing with. Oh, wow. Look at this. Great way to start. Okay, so can you tell me what's your... By the way, are you in Nick's house right now? Yes. Oh, wow. Can you give us...

Apologies in advance, if there any interruptions from one of the fighters coming in, not aware that this is going on? We'd love that. Is Nick there? Can we say hello to him? Well, you mentioned in advance that you were hoping for either a Nick or Nate cameo. I can do one better. Oh.

Because I have right here... Oh, come on. There they are, yes. Yeah, I think Nick is out on a trail run right now. Okay. But so that won't be possible. Okay. Well, anyway, back to War MMA.

What is your role in this promotion? Well, I'm assisting Nick in doing what he needs to do to get this thing up and running. Part of the team working on this along with Dan Black, Nick's longtime. We're Thai coach and Damien Gonzalez, who is a triathlete and marketing director. And where did this idea come from? well shortly after nick's last fight you know he was thinking about things he wanted to do next step and he thought well why don't i throw a fight show and the idea was to throw a show here locally and just the concept grew and grew and uh you know folks are interested in any time

nick is doing something so this has become bigger than i think he originally envisioned and when you say bigger do you mean as far as the publicity that it has received or, you know, the amount of financial obligations he has to put into? What do you mean by bigger? Bigger in terms of the attention that's being put on it. And as a response to that, the things that he wants to do to, you know, in response to that response, you know, the show is going down at the Stockton Arena, which is a very large facility, seats about 10,000 spectators.

And, you know, he's really going all out. here for this first show while still keeping in mind the, you know, the reasonable rule that you want to proceed incrementally any time you start a new promotion, you know, looking at mistakes that have been made in the past. Sure. Affliction, for instance, and others that started too big. So on this card, it's shaving up to be a really, really exciting card. You've got a lot of technical fighters that are going to have, you know, full room to flex their

technical chops, this being in a ring and, you know, no elbows to a grounded opponent so that these guys can actually use their technique. It's not just a matter of if I can hold the other guy down for five minutes, three times, then I win. We've got to remember, MMA is supposed to simulate in some way a fight. And, you know, in a real fight, you don't win a fight by holding someone down. So that said, we don't want to go back to the rules where it's, you know, unlimited time. I mean, that's not practicable. That's not really that interesting for most fans. So there's some compromise that's needed by virtue of the fact that this sport uses three or five, five-minute rounds, which distinguishes it from a real fight. So if you're

putting, if you're making that distinction, let's make some other distinctions so we actually ensure there's actual fighting here, not just holding. And holding is a foul in pretty much any other sport. So prior to UFC 158, we know what Nick said after that, you know, he said he wanted to retire unless he got the fight against Anderson Silver, the rematch against George. But prior to UFC 158, was he planning on doing this or did this come about once he decided he was done with MMA as far as a competitor? this was this was a concept that he started thinking about after that fight i mean prior to his

last fight his focus was exclusively on preparing for that fight so i mean you don't have a lot of time to think about the future you don't have time to deal with a lot of the ordinary mundane things that ordinary folks have got to deal with let alone planning the next phase or a big new project you're not going to be thinking about a big new project while you're preparing for a world title fight. Right. So he came up with this idea, and then he approached you and said,

I want to put in motion because, you know, as you mentioned, affliction, I mean, putting on an M.A promotion and putting on a series of events, that is a huge undertaking. So I'm just wondering about the genesis.

You know, did he kind of come up with it one day and say, all right, help me out, we want to do this, or did someone approach him and say... So you broke up there, Ariel. Did he say that again? Did he kind of think, you know,

this is something I really want to do? Ariel? Yes? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Jonathan, can you hear me? I can now. Yes. Did Nick think of this on his own,

or did someone come to him and say, you should be involved in something like this? Well, I think the genesis in his thought was he was looking at a bunch of the guys around on the team and in the community that weren't on his team, thinking about whether they had adequate opportunities to fight. And the thought was here that, a new promotion would provide a much needed opportunity for a lot of these guys to advance their careers. So in part, it's about giving back to the sport and to the folks around him that have

helped him along the way. And in part, it's a new project to build something for his own future. Is Nick 100% funding the promotion right now? I'm not going to get into details like that in this interview. Is he funding any part of it or is he just putting his name on the promotion, the website, Nick Diazpromotion.com. Obviously, he's a very big part of the image. Ariel? Sorry.

Is he funding? Definitely. This is definitely his promotion. Yeah. And he's involved in every decision. Ariel, yes, he is involved in funding this promotion and he's involved in every decision. that needs to be made in connection with this promotion and in connection with this first fight show.

How many people work for the promotion right now? There's a team, probably about 8 to 10 folks that are working on it, in addition to the contractors that are handling discrete issues. Of course, if you include them, the number rises greatly. Does he have any interest in fighting for his own promotion? Will you know how the UFC model works of, right now that's not a realistic possibility?

I mean, Nick isn't going to be able to fight for any promotion until he's released from his UFC deal, or that ends. And retiring from mixed martial arts does not qua retirement terminate that agreement. have you gone the sense now that you're around him have you gone the sense that the itch is coming back we just had tyron woodley for example on the show earlier and he and he was saying you know after this fight against jake shields would love to fight nick i don't believe that he's really retired i get that sense a lot from a lot of the welterweights they keep calling him out no one really believes he's truly going to walk away have you gone the sense that he is really done unless he gets those two fights or do you feel that itch coming about well of course these guys want to fight him um would want to fight, you know, a legendary figure in the sport, the problem is, for them, he's retired. And unless there's a very good reason to step out of retirement, I don't see that changing. So on fight night and leading up to the fight, well, you know, people have asked me this, will Nick be there kind of squaring off the fighters?

Will he be doing the press conference? Will he be acting as the promoter like a sort of, you know, Dana White, a Scott Coker? Will we see Nick in that role? Knowing Nick, you can bet that he's not going to be emulating Dana White, exactly. So Nick's going to do this his own way, and you're going to have to tune in on June 22nd to see what his vision of Nick Diaz, the promoter is. I can't wait to see that. Now, you mentioned that. Where can I see this?

Will this be broadcast anywhere? Yeah, this event is going to be streamed, not. only on the promotion website, nickdiaspromotions.com, but the stream is going to be made available to all and every MMA website that wishes to embed the stream. So this is going to be widely accessible all over the world to whoever wants to tune in and check this out for free. For free. So why go free and not charge some kind of fee, make it like an eye pay-per-view? Right. And of course, that's, that was. an option and the

plan may be to do that for future events but much like Invicta who didn't who made their first event available for free if I'm not mistaken the idea is you want to do the first show for free to

show everybody what it's about to ensure that look for a first show first stream there could be technical glitches we don't want not that I'm expecting glitches but you want to make sure everything can go perfectly before you're asking people to spend dollars on it. But really, this is about throwing a show that's going to be making these fights available

to a lot of people showing a new concept of MMA with these rules that have been implemented and showcasing these fighters and introducing them to a really broad audience. Those purposes could be undermined by disdemeanor. consenting people from checking out the stream. And even five bucks is going to turn a lot of people away if it's not the UFC. Who came up with these rules? Because obviously some of these things are things that Nick has talked about. Elbows.

It sounds to me like he's always liked the ring as opposed to the cage. There was even an interesting one about trash talk. Who came up with all this stuff? Yeah, that's all Nick. That's all Nick. He just came up with it. So is it true that you get some kind of fine or a penalty? penalty of sorts if you trash talk in the ring?

Sorry, a penalty if you trash talk in the ring? I remember reading when the rules came out and I should pull them up, that there was something against trash talk. Is that accurate? Well, that rule specifically is a rule that the athletic commissions have implemented. It's long being a rule in Nevada and California and New Jersey, I believe. It's rarely enforced, but you probably remember, on at least one occasion

maybe it was a Mario Yamasaki enforcing that. No talking, no talking, he said during one UFC event that Rogan commented on. May it have actually been the Robbie Lawler, Nick Diaz fight. So is this something that Nick wants to enforce? Not particularly. Okay. You know, it's funny, I first met you,

UFC 115, I believe it was, in person, which was in Vancouver, right? And you were working for the commission over there during its two-year trial period when it was just a sort of municipal commission, not a provincial commission. Things have changed, actually, recently, just last week, big step for Canadian MMA. Do you still work in that regard over in British Columbia? No. I was on the Vancouver Athletic Commission for a couple of terms. and resigned maybe about eight months ago. Originally, I got involved because I wanted to help move the sport forward in Vancouver. But as I got to see what was going on in the sport further,

it became evident to me that these fighters need some help and need some protection from the Athletic Commission. So not Vancouver specifically, but some others, without naming names. So I resigned from the commission and started working with fighters. And Nick was probably the most prominent fighter that I started working with. How did you link up with Nick? It's too long a story to tell. It's a fascinating story.

How did someone like you, let's be honest, you don't seem like, you don't look like the guys that Nick usually hangs out with. You're kind of straight laced, you're a Canadian guy. I mean, it's an odd couple, if you will. So how did this happen? Not really. I mean, it's only an odd couple, so to speak, if you buy into the myth about Nick Diaz that UFC has marketed. You know, it's, I don't know what else to say about that. But Ariel, you're too smart to buy into that and you know Nick well to buy into that. Yes, I'd love to talk to Nick, but it sounds like he's not very interested in doing interviews leading up to this fight. Why not capitalize on that?

not have your biggest star the face of your promotion right now out there doing interviews? Well, look, I mean, if this was solely about dollars and cents, then, yeah, he'd be out there pouring himself around to the media, but he wants the attention, he wants the attention on the fighters and the promotion. And, you know, it's a different, it's a different model from the UFC's model where, you know, Dana White is the biggest star that the UFC has. That's not, you know, how Nick is envisioning proceeding here. Where does Nick stand now with Caesar Gracie? Caesar Gracie is Nick's jiu-jitsu instructor.

He's no longer his manager. Correct. Are you his manager? I represent his business interests. We don't use words like manager. Does he have a manager? He has someone who represents his business interests. That would be you.

Correct. And the last time we heard from Nick was UFC 158, and he was talking about having some tax issues and whatnot. Has that been cleared up? I mean, it is June, so tax season, quote unquote, has come and gone. Is he all okay with that now? Yeah, totally taken care of. So why did he even...

What's that? There's no issue. He's fine. What was the issue? I can't go into anything competent. I can't even say if there was. an issue. But, you know, he made those comments at the press conference right after fighting for 25 minutes. You know, that may not be the, you might not have got a sort of nuanced picture

from his comments at that press conference. He was emotional, what you're saying. No, I'm not saying that. Oh, okay. But you may not have got a complete picture there. He also insinuated that, he didn't get the best preparation that sometimes he had to kind of do things on his own has that changed the people around him are they helping him i mean now he's doing a different kind of fight he's putting on a fight does he have a good team in your opinion around them to to put on a successful event yeah he's an excellent team around him in connection with this event uh this happening june 22nd of course because he's not training for a fight the concerns he articulated about um not having the

not having the help he needed to prepare. I mean, you know, that's, that's not opposite today because he's not training for a fight. So he's now, you know, he's still running and swimming and cycling, but, you know, in training, but not with the objective of, you know, training for an MMA fight. As someone... As a different scenario. Absolutely. As someone who represents his business interests, do you get a lot of calls?

I mean, he's still arguably, you know, top 10 most popular. fighters in the sport. Do you get a lot of calls about people want to sponsor him, people want to sponsor this event, people trying to get him to appear at their event, to compete, etc. How many calls a day are you fielding for Nick? Yeah, there's a lot of interest in Nick Diaz, and I wouldn't, top 10, I think you've got to be a little more discriminating than that. in the MMA world he's one of the top several commodities so to speak and there's a lot of interest and that interest is not abating at all.

Do you have big sponsors for this event? I think the really big sponsors want to see an event go off successfully and we have excellent sponsorship partners for this event. and we expect the interest to grow even greater after this first successful event on June 22nd. Yesterday there was a Meta Morris Jiu-Jitsu competition in Los Angeles. A lot of people say now that Nick has retired from M.A., maybe this is something that he'd be interested in. I know his brother was there with their good friend, Crone Gracie. Has he talked to you about being interested in maybe competing their third event, fourth event, etc.?

He hasn't mentioned it specifically, but I wouldn't. say it's impossible that he would do that. You don't think the days of him competing are over in some form? I don't know. That depends on two things. I mean, it depends on whether the fans really want to see him in a really interesting matchup. And it depends whether Nick is willing to come out of retirement and bring the fans a really, really big. match. Well, that kind of changes what you told me earlier

because now it's no longer GSP Anderson. It's just a big matchup. So if there's something out there that entices him, he could be back maybe not even involving those two. Is that what you're saying? Well, of course, but it's just difficult to imagine anything not involving one of those two

fighters at this point in time that would be sufficient. But you're right. Maybe in three years, you know, the landscape's totally changed. Anderson's long, retired. GSP is retired. There's a new welterweight champ that's held the belt for a couple of years.

Who knows? You can never predict the future. But as of now, he's retired. And I don't see that changing any times in the imminent future. Well, that's unfortunate, I must say. One last thing, before we let you go, Jonathan, we appreciate the time. Where do we stand on Wakegate that took place in Quebec? Of course, you were at the front lines of this saying that believing that something fishy

happened at the Wayans, UFC 158 in Quebec, where do we stand right now? Have you filed the complaint?

Do you believe that something officially un-coacher, I should say, happened on that Friday afternoon in Montreal?

Yeah, so the steps that we took after that fight, in fact, before that fight in connection with the video,

all that was successful, and shedding light on what happened. The fans that checked out what was made publicly available can draw their own conclusions. Nick went above and beyond the call of duty and shedding light on what happened. And this was never about sour grapes.

This was never about trying to say that this affected the outcome. But in his view and my view, the job was done successfully of showing the fans what happened and hopefully the fans now can put pressure on the regis in Quebec to you know to shape up a little bit so is anything going to happen I mean are you going to you know get this overturned I mean can anything come about of this or have you done your job in your opinion as far as I'm concerned this is over I think as far as Nick's concerned

it's over and it's up to the the fans if and to the followers of the sport and the UFC to look at what happened on the basis of what's already being disclosed and to determine whether they want to pressure their issue to change their procedures. This is never about trying to obtain some kind of win or advantage for Nick. And what about with the drug test? It seemed like you were questioning whether or not that was done 100% kosher. Yeah, well, I can tell you that we requested in writing the results of the drug tests in detail. We wanted to know what was tested for it.

Of course, the regi treats these things as confidential unlike some other commissions, so we could only make a request in respect of Nick Diaz's sample and the tests that were run on that sample. And the response from the regi in writing, I can tell you right now, they declined to provide any detail as to what NICS sample was tested for, what prohibited substances, if any. So your guess is as good as mine in respect to whether NICS sample was tested. So you think something was fishy? If NICS sample wasn't tested, how could anyone believe that Georgia's sample was tested?

Right. you think they were trying to protect George? You can speculate all you want, but I'll leave the speculation to you. All right, Jonathan. Well, it goes down June 22nd. Stockton Arena, of course, in Stockton, California. Daniel Roberts, former UFC fighters on the card. Antonio Banwellis also on the card, right, from former WCN UFC fighter, right?

No, Antonio is not going to be fighting. I noticed he's not on the website, but I thought I saw him that he was publicized for this. Yeah. did it earlier, that's a change. You know, these cards are always subject to change. We've got a very exciting, our co-main event is a fabulous co-main event, Evan Sgarra, and Caleb Mitchell, Caleb Mitchell has been training Gracie Jujitsu for over 10 years, took a very long hiatus from fighting.

He fought Kid Yamamoto in Japan years ago in Shuto. Took a long time off, but he's been training the whole time. I would expect that we're going to see him in the UFC in the very near future. And we have another fight that we're going to be announcing, likely tomorrow that's very exciting, a huge grudge match between two heavyweights that is not to be missed. We've got other fights with really technical got Darren Cooley and Cody Gibson, Roy Bouten and Lyon Wilson, Chris Quiddiquit and Dominic Clark.

We've got some amazing fights on this card. And you're okay with guys going over to the UFC? you're okay with being sort of a feeder league to the UFC? There's no league. This is just a show, and it will hopefully lead to a second show. There's no competition with the UFC. The UFC wants presumably organizations like this to exist and thrive, and we've certainly not received any negative pushback from the UFC.

So, yeah, there's absolutely no concept. It would be counterproductive for us to be telling why. or M&A fighters that they're going to be locked up and not permit to go to the UFC. It's our hope that fighters are going to fight for this promotion, then fighting the UFC. We'll take fighters that have fought in the UFC, and it will continue. By the way, does war stand for something? No.

Okay. And I'm assuming there's going to be more, or at least you're planning on more than one show, because it's listed as War MMA1. The website is Nick Diaz Promotions.com. Do you want to give us, before you go, a quick tour of the famous Nick Diaz household, This is something that many fans dream of seeing. Yeah, well, they're going to keep dreaming for a while more.

Oh, what is that, a bullseye in back of you? What is that with his name on top of it? Yeah, it's a bullseye for... Like for archery or darts, right? No, you know, throwing knives, throwing stars, what happened. Do you have any nunchucks around there? Can you show some of your moves, or you haven't picked that up yet? I...

Are you stalked? resident now? Do you live in Stockton? No. You're just there to work on the event. Exactly. All right. Well, we're looking forward to it. June 22nd. We'll be able to see it for free. That's amazing on Nick Diazpromotions.com, other websites, as Jonathan mentioned. Appreciate the time, Jonathan, and good luck. This is coming up very quickly next weekend, as a matter of fact, 12 days from now. We're looking forward to it.

We'll be watching it, and we wish you guys nothing but the best. And say hello to Nick when you see him. I will, Ariel. Thanks a lot. Pleasure talking to you as always. There he is. Jonathan Tweedle, the legal representative for one Nick Diaz. He says he handles his business affairs. And there you go. He's working on War MMA number one. And it goes down June 22nd in Stockton. Very nice arena. Daniel Roberts versus Justin Baseman is the main event. New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. Are you interested in War MMA? Yeah, I mean, why not? How many events do you think they put on? Now that, I can't answer, but I'd definitely be interested.

Why not? I'm always interested in any promotion. Give it a shot and see how it goes. Were you like me hoping, and I think I hear an echo back there. Yep. Were you like me hoping that he was going to show up just in the background, just to say hello for a second? It would have been great if he started using the bull's eye,

throwing ninja stars at it. It would have been amazing. I wasn't hoping for that because I think he knows that the camera's there, so he's not going to walk across. That's true. That's true. He might have been just sitting right in back of the camera. Who knows?

Now, we have a lot to talk to you about. Sure. First off, let's get the elephant out of the room. I mentioned the red eye. You took a red eye over from Los Angeles. Correct. You're at Mennamoros, but that's not really what I'm talking about the red eye

because I'm assuming you were very much in tears over the weekend. You are officially out of the red eye. Rick's Picks Invitational. I was crushed. I almost. What happened? What happened? No, what happened is I bet it all on Jason High.

And a lot of people say, everything. Everything you have. How much did you have? Here, let me open up the spreadsheet. I believe I had 211 something. I had 2.1.92. Okay. So I bet that all on Jason High.

It would have paid out, I think, $700 or something like that. but it doesn't matter because he got finished. Why Jason High? Why did you feel like you need... I mean, honestly, I'm just going to throw it out there. It seems kind of like a lazy effort on your part. You just put everything on Jason High. You never do that.

Yeah. I mean, I saw that the line was a little off from what I thought. Evidently, that was incorrect anyway. But... Did you throw on the towel before the event started? No. I would never throw in the towel. But there were some interesting plays on the card.

I mean, why did you get a little? Not really. The card was kind of heavy on, like, a lot of juice on Brazilian favorites. I mean, almost every single favorite won their fight. And they were in the very, very high betting line range. So you just felt like the best, the best plan was to put everything on Jason High. Who wasn't a favorite going into this, right? No, he's a big underdog.

Big underdog. I had a, I mean, Yeah, it was just a bad move. It was a poor bet, and I lost. Do you feel like this loss coupled with, obviously, your poor showing in the Ricks Pick Challenge, have really changed people's opinion of you being a sort of betting expert? I would hope so, because I never presented myself that way. Only you did.

Oh, come on. I was giving you, you know, the props. You know, if we're going to have someone on the show picking fights, he's got to be an expert. Not an expert, folks. You're not an expert. Not an expert, folks. You're not disappointed at all that you lost? Disappointed, sure.

I wanted to win. I thought I would win. Obviously, I realized that the Jason Highbet wasn't a sure thing. Far from it. So I expected to win, but I also accept the possibility of losing, and I lost. This is like one of those post-fight interviews when the guy is trying to really mask his disappointment and is saying all these other weird things.

By the way, look at your G-chat. I asked you a question over there. I know it's hard for you to sometimes. I have to have to the red eye and whatnot. So you lost two. What was his name? Lee MMA. Lee MMA.

And I got to admit, I mean, you were confident you weren't cocky, but I didn't really think, you know, if you recall, Lee got into the tournament simply by giving props to my mom. And maybe the lesson here is, when you got my mom on your side, good things are going to happen to you. And you kind of joke that, oh, it's like people were saying playing favorites.

One guy said something about the Knicks. My mom, that's how they got in. I didn't really think, I didn't peg Lee as a real threat to you. Are you surprised that he was the one to dethrone you? No, because I was kind of looking past Lee to the final. You admit it. Well, you have to. This tournament's so short, you have to be thinking of the future.

And Wanabet and, Marley were really coming on strong. So you need to make a money quick. And if I had hit the bet on Jason High, who I thought had a realistic chance to win, a decision, nothing dominant. I didn't expect High to go out and blow the brakes off Eric Silva, who I think is a fantastic fighter.

If I had won that, I would have been in first place by quite a bit. Now, obviously, that comes with a risk, that he was a big underdog for a reason. So I ended up not working out. And Lee, Will said to me, are we going to have the, no, I believe it was Mike said, are we going to have the bracket? You're like, nah, no bracket. It sounds to me like you're just done with the RPA.

You're kind of like Eddie Weinland. You just want 161 to end. You don't have to listen to this anymore. Not quite. The bracket didn't come because I was on a red eye from Los Angeles. It's tough. But let's be honest. It's going to be an awkward few days for you.

Did people really like, you know, shove it in your face, rub it in all that stuff? Some people did. Some people were supportive. right uh mixed bag how was how was lee and are we get i i was trying to get lee on the show is he going to come on for a few minutes i don't know that's up to lee

well okay i mean you didn't answer my thing don't worry about your thing i'd like i'd like to get a word or two with the big winner oh come on do we really have to yes i think it's uh it's only fair that someone

who uh defeated lee or defeated the big King, Mr. New, there he is. There he is. Lee, what's up, man? All right, Ariel. How are you, Mom? Welcome to the show. Are you wearing a bowtie right now? Yeah, got the bow tie on. You got to make an effort when you're invited on the greatest show in the world.

Ding dong, the Witch is Dead. You finally were the man who dethrone the cocky, the confident. The man who said that this tournament was a lock even before it started. He looked past you. He just admitted it. said that you stood no chance. He put it all on Jason High. He'd even think about what else was going on on this card. He'd even look at the other plays. He could not care less about what you were doing in front of him.

He just put it on on Jason I, and then he faltered. Now has zero dollars to his name. You defeated him. How does it feel? Well, it was expected. Rick never really had a chance. He underestimated me, like everyone else in the competition, he paid the price. Wow.

You feel like you were the real underdend. I feel that I've been made the underdog, but really it's Lee's Picks Invitational. It's my tournament. So not only that, not only did you beat Mr. New York, Rick, you have now rechristened the tournament. You have now renamed it, rebranded it as Lee's Picks Invitational. It doesn't quite have the same ring, I will admit, but still, a very bold move on your part. It always was my tournament. It's just now people are starting to catch all.

Wow, look at you. So the whole time you felt you were looking at, was this your turn? Was this your final, I should say? In other words, did you forget that you still have a final? I mean, it's a big deal to be Rick, but you still got to beat the big wannabet guy. What's his name? Oh, look at Lee.

Look at Lee. Do you want to say something to Mr. New York, Rick? No, I'll leave him alone. I'll let him dry his peeps in the back there. He's okay. He said enough, and he cut him back up his words, so I got none to want to hear him. Mr. Rick, is there anything you'd like to say

to Lee. Congratulations. This is amazingly awkward. By the way, where are you joining us from? I see the Union Jack in Backview. Yeah, Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland. Look at you. You got some toys. Are those round five? Yeah, of course. Got rap beats right here

who you had in the show earlier. Tito, Matthews, and Rande Gator, but we don't talk about Randa Gator anymore. This is your own MMA hour set. You got the logo back there. How did you pull that off, by the way? How did you get the logo up there?

A bit of magic, but I took a picture on iPhone. I plugged iPhone on the TV, and I've got it up there now. Why do we have such loyal fans in Ireland? You guys, you, Sean, some of the other guys. Is it because of the time the show comes? What time is it over there?

Is it? The time's perfect. The time starts at 6 o'clock here, or the show starts at 6 o'clock, and now it is 9 o'clock. So it's the time, perfect. So you just sit back, you drink, what do you drink over there? Guinness. Is that what you guys have?

Yeah, some people drink Guinness. In Northern Ireland, we drink Harp. Harp, okay. You certainly don't eat Haggis. I made that mistake last time. That's actually in Scotland. I apologize for that. Yeah.

So you just sit back and you watch the show and you enjoy it on a Monday night. Yes, great. With your girl in your arm, of course. Well, she doesn't watch. Oh. She watched one show, and it was a show. where he's all made fun of me because I lost all my bets. I got in bars.

Wait a second. Now you just reminded me in the first round you actually lost all your bets, right? Yeah, but the thing is, Ariel, you had a look at my bets. I put four bets on, only $1 each, all on underdogs. Like, I picked someone who I thought was going to win with an underdog. My whole game plan in round one was just to sit back and let the gay lose. I knew he'd blow all his money. I knew I would come out with more money.

I just wanted to move into that Keane Velaski's card with around the $100 mark. So I kept $90 for that card. Look at this, unbelievable strategy. I think you're one of the only guys who actually had a strategy. This was like the ultimate fighter for you. You didn't want to tire yourself out in the first round. If only Rick could learn from you. Yeah.

I've got a strategy for every single round. Every round I've done something different. And I got one more for the final. You do have one. Can you give us some kind of insight? It's just going to end up winning. That's all you got to know. You realize this guy, I mean, you've turned into a real Cinderella story here.

You realize want to bet UFC. This guy goes on the Sherdog forums. I mean, look at his name for God's sake. We don't even know who his real name is. This is a real deal gambler. Are you ready? Do you feel like you have the skills to unseat someone like this? Gambling for foods, Ariel.

I got this. Are you a gambler? Do you like to bet on MMA generally? That's the thing. I've never made a bet in my life. And the other thing, the problem with me and Sean is our odds are completely different here in the UK and Ireland. We don't use that plus 480 and minus 120. We just use simple 3 to 1, 2 to 1.

You know, they don't even make sense to me, them odds, so I don't really know. I don't pay any attention to the money lane. Is it possible? So you have no idea what you're doing here. This is all dumb luck? No, no, no. I know who's going to have a good idea. I pick who a favor to win.

win and I'm matching up with maybe in a parley with who else is going to win but I don't pay any attention to the money line. The likes of Rick got swayed by the money line on Jason High but the money line doesn't come into it for me. I just pick who's going to win. It doesn't matter if he's the favorite or underdog I'll pick who I think's going to win. Mr. Rick are you just going to sit back there and let this guy say he doesn't know what he's doing accuse you of not understanding. I think that's him saying he doesn't know what he's doing says at all. I don't I don't need to say anything. But doesn't that make it worse? He just said that you don't know, you were, you were blinded by the money line. Jason High, I mean,

he's throwing out some real accusations here. Yeah, it happens. You got nothing for him. Nothing. Do you feel like Rick kind of stepped in this amazing opportunity now, and he doesn't quite understand what he has, that really this is an opportunity that many MMA fans would love, but he's kind of taken it for granted. Do you feel like his head's gone a little too big? Just being on your show, he's stuck it all for granted, Ariel. Really, I've knocked them out. He should be kicked off your show. Really?

That's my feeling. You think he should be done? Fired. Yeah. Of course. We want to listen to experts on the show, and if a guy makes a bet on Jason Haye, I don't think he should be on the greatest MMA show in the world.

Poor Jason High. Are you suggesting that you take a spot? Every single week I'll be here, international correspondent. Well, are you going to come in and do what he does behind the scenes? Because I need someone to help me out there, too. I'll be in the next plane to New York. Really? Wow.

Look at this. Rick, has he made it personal now? Congratulations. What does that mean? Rick, Rick, be a personal when he called me out. Yeah, what did he say again? What was the quote? It kind of goes, believe me, I would love to meet Lee in the next round. Oh, yeah, that's right.

You don't call someone out. And then he just dropped it all on Jason. By the way, I was going to invite you earlier on the show, but I noticed you don't follow me, but then you told me you have two accounts. That seems a little sketchy, I must admit. How do you have two accounts? It's really, really simple.

It's just you start following a few fans, and then you follow more and more and more, and then your timelines follow cats, and people's dinner and their dessert. And, you know, I just want to see MMA news. I just want to follow fighters and journalists. So that's why I created a second one with kind of the same name, just spelled wrong.

And I just use that to follow journalists and fighters, and, of course, Dana. Of course. I keep the other one for fans And they still talk to the fans during fights I like to use that other one during fights And talk to the fans And what time do you wake up in the morning

To watch these fights live Like on Saturday, what time will you wake up? Or stay up? We don't wake up, yeah, we stay up. The fights, a pay-per-view will normally start around half 11, 12 o'clock midnight And they'll finish around 6 a.m.

Geez, how do you do that? How do you stay up? Just the love of the sport. That's what keeps you awake and the adrenaline. It's actually hard to sleep at 6 a.m. After you've watched those fights. And I've now actually started to just stay awake

and watch the press conference now too. And then my interviews, right? That's what I love about the Sunday morning. You go to sleep. You wake up on a Sunday morning. You lift the iPad and you just watch all the interviews from yourself and the scrum. That's amazing.

I certainly appreciate it. I think, do you agree, by the way, that it was kind of the luck of my mother that has powered you through to the finals here? No doubt because it was just like a shot in the dark by mentioning her. But actually, I got to say, when you told the story about your mom going to the Wayans by herself in Canada and stuff, it just kind of warmed my heart, you know, it was just great to hear. I love that.

So I didn't just tweet that, hoping to get on. I actually do like your mom and I love that. She's a fan. She's a huge fan. She's watching right now. She watched the fuel car with me on Saturday. She'll be watching 161. she's rooting for you.

She's rooting for you and it's great that you called her out and that's the reason why you got in. It's an amazing story. Anything you want to say to want to bet or who has you called them? I've seen him tweeting today saying he wants to get a thousand

or a thousand dollars from his 100 that he started with and he hasn't got a chance. By the way, what you have now? I'm sitting I'm actually sitting at $419 although according to Rick's spreadsheet

it's 417. I don't know what's going on there, but I took screen stops of the bats when I made them, just to make sure that I got what I deserve. But I don't know, even if it's 417, I'm still going to win this. So you're saying he took $2 away from you? That's exactly what I'm saying.

Wow. Well, we could, we might excuse him. He did fly over, Red Eye, and whatnot. He's actually writing me on G-chat right now that this is getting embarrassing. He doesn't want to say it on the show, but he's feeling very embarrassed by the whole situation. I wrote that like two minutes in. Also, I use the same calculator for everybody.

That's the reason that that's the number. Yeah, that's okay. It doesn't matter. You take $100 off, ma'am, still going to win this family. By the way, how much does Wandabet have, Rick? Quite a bit. He's got a big league. He's got $624.

He's got $624 and $1. consent. So what you're saying is that both want to bet and Lee in three weeks would have won the Rick's Picks Challenge because I asked you to turn 100 into 400. Both of them would have won. That's correct. I mean I would have won

too though because I would have taken different bets this time around. What do you make of that Lee? More excuses? It's more excuses. It's the same old excuses too. We've heard it all before. Yeah, it's getting a little tiring. I agree. That actually is. Yeah.

Well, I wish you want to give us any insight. I mean, this is the time when we talk picks. UFC 161. Clearly, Rick has checked out of the whole thing. Is there anything you want to tell us about 161? Any picks or anything? Anything we should look out for? Yeah.

Who's the... What's the picture in back of you? What's the picture in back of you there? It's a little... That's the most beautiful ring card girl ever, Carly Baker. Oh, yes. It's a UK ring card girl, yes. Yeah, yeah. She's actually going to put kisses on on it, so, you know... Oh, wow. Look at you.

Well in there. I'm well in there. The card coming up, I just see Pat Barry winning. You know, you can't let a gay with his tongue pierced beat you. Plus Pat Bowry, he likes Ninja Turtles. That's true. Pat Barry's got that one. Yeah, this is great analysis. What else you got? Right. Well, obviously Roy Nelson is going to win by knockout.

Okay. You can put your house on that. Main event's a tough one. It's 50-50. And with the way the Black Zillions are performing, you would fancy Rashad Evans, but it's hard to back a Black Zillion at the minute, the way they're performing.

But then there's just too many factors in that fight with Don Henderson being out for so long. You don't know how he's going to come back. That's a tough one to battle. But I'm actually looking for the actual list of fighters. You don't have the fight. What about Tyron Woodley versus Jake Shields? You've got to go Whittley with that one.

All right, well, don't tip your hand here. We don't want one of it to know what you're doing. It doesn't matter. He doesn't know my actual bats. You know, I might know my texts. You fancy the one, but it will make a difference. And plus, want a bet, he's going to have his own. I'm not going to sway his sort of thinking of a ripple.

That's true. All right. Well, we'll look out for your picks. Hopefully Rick will at least tweet them out there. He hasn't totally checked out. I mean, the tournament does still have technically his name on it. So she takes some pride in that. I wish you congratulations, my friend.

but your work is not done just yet. We'll check in with you if you win. You'll be back next week. I'll be back next week, Art. I love the confidence, Lee. Thank you so much for stopping by. I'll see you then. Thanks very much for helping me on the show.

It's an honor. Oh, no problem. There he is. Lee MMA only shocking the world all the way from Northern Ireland. He has made it to the finals. He will go up against Mr. Wanabet, UFC. That was, I'd say that was a top five,

or in my opinion. Top five best segments in MMA our history. Agreed. That was fantastic. Yeah, I really liked it. I really enjoyed it. And I look forward to speaking to him on Monday of next week if he wins. Now, let's talk a little MetaMorris.

You were there yesterday. It was kind of the anti-UFC on Fuel TV 10. Not a lot of submissions. Only one submission. That was in the main event. Chrome Gracie submitted Shinneoki via guillotine. What did you think? What were your impressions of the event?

What did they do over there? I loved it. I loved it. The crowd is just so much different than the typical MMA crowd, they're more, well, obviously, they're, it takes, like, you have to have a certain knowledge of BJJ or a certain fondness for the sport to want to come watch live jujitsu. So the crowd understands the minutia of what's going on much more intricately than, say, like an MMA audience. You're going to have less casual fans. So when something exciting is happening, it's, it's,

the feeling in the arena is different. Same for when something not exciting is happening. The Brendan Schaub Cyborg-Abreu fight was made fun by the crowd, even though technically it wasn't a great fight. Just the atmosphere in the building was incredible. And did you feel like it was a bit of a damper that no submissions happened until the main event? I mean, these are the top guys in the world. and they're matched up against each other.

It's really tough to submit guys who are that high level. So I'm not surprised, really, that there were not that many submissions. And I think the Crohn Gracie submission of Shinyeoki was pretty incredible. So that was a great way to cap the night. Visually it looked good. We have great pictures, courtesy of Esther Lynn. I thought the press conference looked good visually, like I said. How much of a, again, a damper was the Brendan Schaub thing?

is because it really felt like, and even reading some of the comments, it really felt like the air was let out of the building, at least for a moment it kind of came back at the end, but it did not seem like people were very happy with Brendan Schaub. And by the way, if you haven't seen the press conference, post-by press conference, the interaction between Halle-Racy's Shab and Cyborg Abrae with Halleck asking questions, but kind of in a passive-aggressive way and clearly disappointed,

Brendan is fascinating stuff. I suggest you watch it. But how much of a stinker did Brendan, put on. In my opinion, it wasn't great. If you're going to enter the jujitsu tournament, you have to really engage somebody. You can't play that kind of game where you're just stalling on your feet. At the same time, I understand not wanting to play into a guy who's that good in his element, Cyborg Abrae, not wanting to play into his hands. So definitely not excusing Brendan Schaub. I didn't enjoy it.

But I thought that it became fun at a certain point when the crowd was interacting with the fighters and Cyborg and Brendan were interacting with the crowd as well. Speaking of the crowd, a lot of famous people there, right? Yeah, there was quite a few. There were quite a few, rather. Like who? Who are we talking about? I believe I saw Scott Kahn and James Kahn, Terrell Owens.

Whoa. Quite a few people. And fighters, too. Yeah, Benson Henderson was there. There were a lot of fighters on Twitter who were there. Mark Munoz, Chelsunin. Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of people were into it.

Jake Glazer, of course, of Fox fame was there. Brian Stan was there with Jay Glazer as well. What's the ceiling here? I mean, how far can this go? Do you think that this is something that people really get behind? Oh, yeah, I definitely think there's a market for it. And I definitely think that the fans showed out, the arena was packed, and I think that the fan showed out for this one.

So I think, and they announced Hoyler Gracie versus Eddie Bravo for the next one. That's right. The big rematch. When is the next one? Did they say when it is? I don't think there's a date yet. Big rematch of a match that took place in 2003. Eddie Bravo comparing himself to Buster Douglas, pulled off the upset, submitted. Did he submit Hoyler Gracie or did he just defeat him? I don't remember. But anyway, they've been talking about doing this rematch for a while. It was supposed to happen a couple years ago, and now it's finally happening, Mademort.

So good luck to them with that. Any other good L.A. stories? Anything like you said? You were on the campus of UCLA? Not for very long. Yeah, that's true. Beautiful campus, though, actually. Incredible.

Did you get to do your UFC fit? I did the diet, and I did the one DVD because on Saturday I had a rest day. Oh, you have a rest day? Yeah, there's one day of rest every week. for me it's going to be Saturdays. So how many days have you been doing it for? That would be eight. Eight days.

Where are you feeling now? Because last week, like on your second day, you were very, you were very sore. Oh man, I was really sore. My legs were dead. I couldn't move. Now I'm kind of in the mode where every workout hurts, but afterwards I'm not debilitated. I'm not limping around. I feel pretty damn good, actually.

What's, wow, that's a good question. You know when they put those quotes up, I feel very, very pretty damn good quote unquote dash new york rick um what's tougher the workout or the diet the diet the workout isn't you know unnecessarily tough it's not like here you're never going to be able to do this we're going to break you it's not like that um it's made for people to be able to do at their own level at their own um pace so um it's not easy by any means but it's not unnecessarily difficult either but the diet part man i love me some sweets I love some soda.

I love fried foods. I love all that kind of nasty stuff that's not good for you. But I've been really good about it. Have you cracked? No, I haven't cheated. No, aren't you allowed to have a cheat day of sorts? No, I'm allowed to have a day where I earned a meal. Oh, which means what?

And that earned meal would be like something that you wouldn't necessarily have during the week, but it's also not, hey, go to Wendy's and splurge on. five hamburgers. And that's a big deal for you. Yeah, well... Maybe not five, but... Yeah, I like fast food every once in a while. You think you'll finish it?

I know I'll finish it. Can we get some kind of photographic evidence that this is actually taking place? Because how are we supposed to know? I mean, I trust you and all, but... All right, all right. I'll put something out soon. All right, all right.

Well, why are you so shy about it? I don't know. I was hoping to save it to the end and then... Yeah, but how do we know that you're actually doing it? You're right. You're right. Just give us something. How about...

I'll do some kind of... I'll do some picture. I'll do a picture or two. And also maybe I'll do a vine of me actually working out doing the UFC fit. All right. Well, continued good luck with that. Hopefully you have better luck with that.

And by the way, you know, I kind of dangled the MMAB thing at the end of the UFC fit, but I just don't know. I mean, you lost two challenges. So are you taking it back? Is that what you're doing at all?

I'm not taking it back, but it just seems like, you know, he lost two challenges and that. I know. It just seems like the one that doesn't involve luck. Well, Are you saying gambling is luck?

Are you saying gambling's not luck? I think there's some kind of, you know, there's some kind of skill involved, right? Sure. The guy who just moved on was telling you that he doesn't know the betting lines. Yeah, but it just, are you trying, okay, so you're trying to say that every time you make a pick, it's pure luck, you don't really know what you're doing. There's no skill behind it. There's no, there's no formula, no science behind it. I don't remember saying that.

Is that what you're insinuating? No, no. I don't know anything about gambling. That's why I don't do it. Oh, clearly so. That's what I guarantee that I would have done better in the Ricks Pick challenge. I wouldn't have to put it all on Jason High. That's a good point.

We can have the Hwani Challenge. That's the part that bothers me so much about this. It just made no sense. It went against everything you've ever told me about gambling. Put it all on one underdog. Yeah. I really just thought there was a good chance he was going to win. I was pretty...

Not even a great chance. No. Not a great chance because Eric Silva is really good. And he was an underdog for a reason. It wasn't a situation where I came in going, oh, like Matt Riddle, way back when we were doing the original challenge, that was a situation where he was a big underdog. I think it was like two and a half to one where I was like, no, this is insane, he should be the favorite. And that one I was very confident in. This one I thought there was a shot.

I put it on the line and I lost. And that happens. and I live with it. It certainly does. All right, well, I'm sorry to hear you won't be a part of it. Will you still watch UFC 161 or are you done with MMA now? I'm done. I'll never watch MMA again.

Yeah. I don't blame you. No, of course. Of course I'll watch. All right, let's answer some questions. And then get the heck out of here. We've got the UFC knockout box courtesy of Tops. Do you want to tell us more about this?

Oh, I lost you. Oh, I'm here. There you go. Let me tell you a little bit about the Tops boxes. that we're giving away. And this is only for the Twitter questions, by the way, folks. So Ariel's holding the 2013, UFC knockout box. You can see it right there.

Each box has a sticker price of $160. So this is no small affair. It contains eight mini boxes, and each of those eight mini boxes contains five cards. So do the math, you're getting 40. And then on the five cards inside the pack, inside the mini box, There will be an autograph memorabilia, an autograph card, a memorabilia card, or any combination of that. And you're guaranteed in each box, which is the eight mini boxes combined, two autographs, two autographs, memorabilia cards, and four memorabilia cards.

That's awesome. From Tops. Follow them at Tops cards and Facebook.com slash Tops. I used to collect Tops cards. It's amazing that they have UFC cards now. It's great stuff. We appreciate them giving us this. Okay, let us move along here.

answer some questions. Let's start with the website questions. All right, the first one comes from Thai Fighter 1. He asked about damage to the UFC brand. Do you think the continuation of negative ex-UFC fighter interviews such as Rampage, Fitch, Volkman, and Cholish will eventually damage the UFC brand? Honestly, I don't. I mean, it's certainly been a trend as of late talking about fighter pay and whatnot, but the UFC brand is so big. I mean, I don't think honestly, it's made much of a dent. John Cholish, for whatever reason, feels like that was like six years ago at this point.

I don't think Vokman, you know, you have to remember sometimes we live in a bubble and there's a vocal minority, but, I mean, you talk about this sport and how big it is and how many mainstream fans there are, casual fans, when I say mainstream fans, people that don't even know MMAFighting.com exist,

people that don't know Shardog exists, people that don't know other websites exist, that don't watch Fuel TV, things of that nature. you're going to have to make a lot more noise than the noise we've heard as of light to truly damage the UFC brand in my opinion. Our next question from James Glory.

Chale claims that he and Dan Henderson shared his injury information, that's Dan Henderson's injury, long before the public knew. As a result, Chale got to fight Jones. Should fighters be allowed to deceive the UFC and fans in such a way? Or is all fair in love and violence?

Well, he never mentioned whether or not he told the UFC. when did the UFC find out about this and when did they tell John Jones about it? You know, he never said that. He just said that they kind of worked in cahoots to set him up. To see the fans, well, things are going to happen. People are going to say things. You know, Dana White said that he'll lie to us if it means, you know, protecting his news,

his interests, et cetera, et cetera. So I think in the end, everything kind of works out the way it needs to work out, the way it's going to work out. We can't do much about it. but now the big question is, in my opinion, when did the UFC know? And if that's true, because Dan Henderson denied this last year when people asked them about it, if it's true, why didn't Dan tell the UFC? Why did he just tell chale?

If it was three weeks before, if it was four weeks before, because then the UFC could have had enough time to find a replacement. Why just tell one guy and not the company? And if the company knew, why did they only wait until eight days to tell John Jones? Very interesting. This is our final website question from Kid 14 regarding MetaMoros 2. I am what you call a hardcore MMA fan. However, this weekend I found myself watching my first competition Metamorphorce 2.

I thought it was clever utilizing MMA fighters in the competition. Do you think MetaMoris is creating a successful blueprint for crossover appeal between MMA and Jiu-Jitsu fans? Furthermore, what other MMA fighters would you like to see Square Off in a Jiu-Jitsu competition? Jokoree versus Damia Maya, Mirr versus Vir? Doom are two potential matchups that he suggested. I certainly think they're doing the best of any other out there. I mean, like I said, they're taking elements of what we like about MMA boxing, other combat sports.

They put on a card. They sell the fights. I mean, the countdown shows that they put on were fantastic. Visually looks great. I love their mat, raised, nice venue. You got guys like Ed O'Neill of married with children, modern family fame, as your color analyst, Hennar Gracie, as your play-by-play. play guy. And then you got names coming over from the UFC. Of course, Brendan Schaub

didn't do as well as he would have hoped and others as well. But, you know, that got people interested in it. Shaniaoki got people interested in it. And then you have, of course, you know, the hardcore BJJ fans, the hipsters, as I like to call them. You have characters, fighters, or practitioners, I should say, that will quench their thirst for action. And they'll want to watch it. Crone Gracie. You had Ryan Hall who was supposed to compete. cyborgabreou, you know, you have a nice mix of interesting characters. And then you put on, you know, it's always smart, in my opinion, you have an event, you're starting out, you should always announce the next one.

Because that's the time where the spotlight is on you, all eyes are on you. WC used to do this very well. Strike force to a degree. Have an event, always announced the next one. And they did that last night. They didn't have the date, but they had Holy Gracie versus Eddie Bravo. That's smart. hopefully they're not overspending.

Hopefully, I have this black belt here on my desk that they sent out these invitations. Very nice gesture, but how much are they paying for this stuff? You know, in 1995, did that scare some people away? I still think for your second show, a little expensive, but we'll see. So, you know, you saw someone like Jonathan Tweedle talking about free events as opposed to here in 1995, second event and Victa going the free route early on as well. I think it's probably better to get people interested and then go. And then, you know, you have the issue of no submissions up until the main event. I think there was kind of a dark cloud hanging over and until that point, I think a lot of the post-fight articles, the post-fight chatter would have been that the event didn't live up to the hype.

But that's going to happen. You know, you have some UFC events that are all decisions, and then on Saturday you have 10 submissions. Or 10 finishes, I should say. So it's going to happen. I think they're on the right track. I like their logo. I like everything about him. I think Halic Gracie's doing a great job.

I thought he did an amazing job at that press conference with Shop and Cyborg. We'll see, though, as I asked New York, Rick, what the ceiling is. How big can a Jiu-Jitsu-only promotion go? I guess we're about to find out. That was it for the website. Before we move on to the Twitter questions, just quickly. Kyle Marley, the other guy who was in the Invitational, he had a good week as well.

I just wanted to point that out. What did he do? He also, he was the one who won the most money, but Wanabet had a big cushion on him, so he ended up winning. Oh, wow. But yeah, he tweeted. He was like, I don't even get a mention. And I was like, yeah, that's unacceptable. Yeah, that's true.

All right, congratulations to him. Yeah, everybody had a good week except for me. It was fun, and we've got one more around. And by the way, Eddie Bravo triangle choked Hoyler Gracie back in 2003. Thanks to everyone who let me know about that. All right, let's move along. Twitter questions. First one from Sean Brady.

With Verdum's win, should he get an immediate title shot or face another top contender first? Overeem 2, Cormier or Nelson. Perfect World. I'd like to see Verdoom fight Kane or Dos Santos. You have two great stories there. I think Verduem versus Kane is a fascinating styles matchup. I think Verduem versus JDS 2 is also great because Verdum was not as good as he is right now when he fought JDS a few years back. I believe that was UFC 90 when JDS knocked them out with a lot of hair on it.

his head. The problem is he sat out for a year and he just beat Big Nog and those two guys, JDS and Kane, are supposed to fight what? October, November, December. Is he going to sit out again to wait for them? It could be a grueling fight. That's the problem. I don't want to see him fight Cormier. Cormier says that he's going to fight one more time at Heavyweight then go down. I want to see Cormier fight Nelson if Nelson wins on Saturday. I don't want to see him fight Nelson. People keep bringing up Nelson. He beat Nelson. rather convincingly at UFC 143. This reminds me of when Travis Brown

beat Stefan Struve at UFC 130, and everyone just forgot about that a year later. Overeem would be interesting. Another time, he says Overeem 2, they actually fought in Pride, so it would be Overeem 3, and would it be interesting

if Overeem and Verdume fought now? I think a lot of people would probably pick Verdum this time around. Travis Brown would be interesting, but again, I think he deserves it. timing warrant a factor. I think he deserves it. I just want to see what they do with Kane and JDS and how they feel. But if you're asking me, I think he deserves a title shot because it's a great matchup against both guys. Our next question comes from Matt Cohen.

How do you think Kane would do against Verdume on the ground? That's what I love about this matchup. I love the fact that you've got a great wrestler versus a great grappler. The guy who's great off his back. Of course, he submitted Fador with the triangle choke, triangle slash arm bar. I just think it's so great and his striking has improved so much that it's it's the best matchup post-JDS. I want to see JDS Kain 3 next without a doubt, but if you have Verduem waiting, I think it's a great matchup. I think for Kaine has never fought a guy with the jiu-jitsu skills that Verdum has. Right now I decide with Kaine. I think Kane's on a whole other

level. I think he would hang. His wrestling is phenomenal. You hear a great things about his jiu-jitsu, although he hasn't had to really show it. Kane is great on the ground, so right now I would side with the champ. On the ground, I don't think Kane would be in the same like classes. Well, as far as in a pure jujitsu match, of course not. Strictly in M.MA, even. I don't think, I think if Kane went to the ground with Verdume, five rounds, it would be a bad situation. But I don't think he would end up on

the ground at any point in a fight with Verdume. But even if he used his wrestling, he's smart enough on the ground as a wrestler to know, what not to get himself into. Maybe if it was take down only, but if he started trying to control him, it would be a bad situation for him. But I don't think he would anyway. I don't think he would even go there.

I meant that if the fight kind of fell to the ground for whatever reason, if it went there for a moment, I think Kane would not get caught. He's too smart of a fighter. Man. Radoon is so good, though, at doing that. He is good. I don't know.

I'm really high on Kane right now. I don't think he gets caught. I think, remember, I was the one who is, driving the cane bandwagon back when everybody was saying jds was untouchable he knocked him out already i was the one saying that no cane is going to actually embarrass him he's going to make him look bad and he did but this is why it's such an interesting fight this conversation right here i think it's a great fight especially because how how far verduem's hands of oh yeah amazing uh next question gaz kwilliam how how will big nog be remembered as a ufc heavyweight how much did a hard run in pride

physically damage him. First off, I don't think he's done, to be honest. I think he'll be remembered as a former interim champion had that great comeback against Tim Sylvia. Of course, he's had some tough losses, but to me, when I think of Big Nog, I just think of a guy who kept on coming. He looks physically broken. He looks like he's, you know, 65, just keeps on coming, no matter what, steps up when needed, has battled all kinds of injuries, even as a youngster with that that, that truck accident, you see that big scar on his back. This is a guy who just kept on coming, never said die, fought, put on great fights every time. Like when you, I've been to two big knock fights in Brazil. I've had the honor of covering two big knock fights in Brazil. There is nothing

like it. I will never in my, as far as I'm alive, as long as I'm alive, I should say, I will never remember or forget Big Nog in Brazil, UFC 134, defeating Brendan Chob. When everyone thought Brendan Schaub was the second coming and this was going to be his coronation and the torch would get past. I would never forget him getting knocked out by Big Nog and then people crying, press row fans throwing beer out, beer thrown on me, just a party, pandemonium, complete chaos. That's how I'll remember Big Nog. He invokes this sort of emotion out of everyone and people love him so much in that country. He's a true legend in our sport.

And I saw on Field TV, they were asking if he's a Hall of Famer. 100% he's a Hall of Famer. He's one of a kind. So that's how I'll remember Big Knock. And I don't think he's done, by the way. Our next question from Amir Silva. What's next for Tiago Silva? Top 10 for sure, question mark?

Yeah, I mean, Tiago, in my opinion, has been a top 10 fighter for a while. He's just had these issues with PEDs, recently, marijuana, that keeps setting him back. I read a crazy stat for my colleague Dave Doyle. This was his, or if it stands, this would be his first victory since 2009 that he doesn't get in trouble for afterwards. Is that right? Let me just check that. I think that's right. But it's interesting that you have to say if it stands.

Right. You never know. And are you, you really think he's top 10 for sure? Well, I don't know if he's. You said you've had him in the top 10 for a while? I think up until the Machita fight, he was in the top 10, yeah. Well, that was a while ago. Yeah, it wasn't, it was three years ago.

Four years ago now. Wow. Time flies. So maybe he's been kind of on the cusp. But look who he's lost to. Gustafson took that fight on relative short notice, shot Evans. No contest against Farah, but he won that fight rather convincingly. And Stanislav Nedkov,

which turned into no contest, but he did win that fight. So his only two losses, other than Machita, Evans and Gustafson. But he didn't look great. in the wins either. He didn't.

No? Ned Kauf wasn't great. He was dominant. Vera, he was dominant, but he was also, you know, apparently on the stuff. He looked amazing on Saturday. His boxing looked great.

Like I said, weathered the storm, he looked really good. And what was most amazing about it, physically he didn't look good. He looked a little doughy. And I looked at him. I was like, oh, no. I mean, he had kind of love handles.

He looked amazing. The head movement, everything was great. So maybe he's, I mean, you look at the UFC rankings at light heavyweight. 205, the bottom half is very questionable. Do you have them in front you? I do have them. The bottom half is very questionable.

You got, let's just talk about six through ten, right? Because we know who the top guys are. Six through ten. Ryan Bader, Gaggard Musassi, Phil Davis, Shogunhoa, Rashad Evans. That's six through ten. I don't think he... Antonio Noggera, he could beat him too. I don't think he beats any.

of those guys. You don't think? No. Not even... Can't be Bader with the wrestling? Probably not. No.

He's in the 10 to 15 range. Yeah. That might be it, but I don't see him cracking the top 10 anytime soon. That division's... That division's good. It's a good division,

but man, Fajal is very good and he outclassed him. Yeah. Man, that was destined to be a good one, huh? Yeah, it was great. It was a great fight and a little disappointed in Fajal's performance, but he had the year layoff.

UFC debut, a lot of factors going against him. But Tiago Silva, to me, was one of the big stories on Saturday. Our next question from Marco Solis Martinez. And by the way, he didn't really answer his question. Did he say a top 10 fighter next? Yeah, sure, I'd like to see him. Maybe against Musassi sounds like he's going down, but maybe against Nogera when he comes back.

That's pretty good. You know? Our next question. Eric Silva continues to impress. Where do you see him ranked? And who would be next for him? I don't quite have him in the top 10. Obviously, he's very impressive.

And how impressive does John Fitch look now? I mean, you know, he beat him up, then gets worked by Damien Maia, but now he's out of the UFC. Obviously, he can beat the Jason Hise, the Charlie Brennman's of the world. I mean, he's a very talented fighter. but now I'd like to see him take a step up. I really think the Tyron Woodley fight makes sense for him. And Taran Woodley may have other plans, but look at who's at Walterway then. Hendrix is fighting GSP, Condit's fighting Marne Catman,

McDonald-Ellenberger, they're fighting each other, Maya's fighting Kostech, Diaz is retired, Kamen's fighting Condit, Safedin just got injured, Robbie Lawler is fighting Sierra Bahadurzada, and they're Kostchuk at 10. There aren't a lot of options. Woodley or Safedine makes most sense to me. Not sure how injured Safedine is. Certainly I want to see him fight a top 15 or so guy

who was originally supposed to fight John Hathaway. That makes sense as well. But even he said, as Woodley mentioned, even he said he's far away from a title shot. He doesn't want to get rushed into it. So let's take his word for it. Our next question comes from Lalo Vigil. Do you think the UFC will keep allowing fighters

to compete in MetaMorris, especially after Shob's performance? I don't see why not. Schaub didn't get injured. I don't think it hurts them in any way. I don't think it hurts Brendan Schaub, really. So as long as guys don't get injured, I don't see why not. And to answer a previous question, other people that I'd love to see, I'd love to see Nick in it, I'd love to see Nate Diaz, BJ Penn would be amazing. Guys, you know, Damien Maya, of course, would be amazing, Jacaray would be amazing, those guys. Even Hajar Gracie, the list goes on and on.

Robert Drysdale, who's now a member of the UFC. We'd love to see all those guys in there. Our next question from Louis Gumacos. Is New York under more pressure to legalize MMA now that is the only city in the United States and Canada to have not legalized it? I guess he means state. Yeah, that is unbelievable because I have a list of things that if we don't touch, I'd like to say at the end of the show. And the last one left was New York and I just looked at my list. I was like, oh, there's only one left. And then this question here is New York.

It's embarrassing. It's really at this point embarrassing. And I'm so happy if you missed it last. week, Canada as a country, kudos to them, legalized MMA, countrywide. Every province now can put on MMA events legally. And some of them don't have athletic commissions like Saskatchewan, but most of them do. BC has one now, Quebec has one, Ontario has one, Maritimes working on that. Manitoba, of course, we're going there this weekend.

Alberta, there was an event last year in Calgary. So kudos to Canada. In the United States, 49 of the 50 states have legalized mixed martial arts. Now, two of them, Alaska and Montana, don't have athletic commissions, so the U.S.C. wouldn't put on an event there, but it is legal. Connecticut is about to become legal. They're confident it will happen just a few more steps to take,

but they announced it last week it's going to get done. There's only one state in North America that, has a ban on MMA, and that's this state. The one we're in right now, the one that we are broadcasting this show from New York State, and it's embarrassing. At this point, we know what it's about, we know it's about the unions, we know about all that nonsense. It's that mark, it's like a pimple sticking out. It's embarrassing. It's pathetic. And there are eight days left in the legislative session calendar before it wraps up in June, and then it can't happen for the rest of the year. They're putting on a lot of pressure. They're trying. They sent out a press

release today with Shaquille O'Neal trying to tell them that they need to get this done. They're trying to do everything they can. I don't know if it's going to happen. UFC, Zufa, Mark Ratner, they're cautiously optimistic I guess you can say, but not confident. It would be embarrassing if it doesn't happen. If it doesn't happen this year, hopefully next year.

But at this point, all eyes are on New York and it's great that everyone else has legalized it so we can sit, look, laugh, and even cry that amateur MMA is legal here, but not pro MMA. It's a UFC issue with the union and it's really embarrassing. It makes me embarrassed to be a New Yorker and I consider myself a New Yorker and I can't believe it.

Our next question comes from Guillermo del Smito. Does it almost sound to you like the Bellator promotion of his new deal was an afterthought for Rampage? Well, I kind of asked him this question and he said no. He said he still wants to fight. He's happy maybe for three more years. Certainly he's

excited about it and I think he put more of an emphasis on Belator today than he did. He did. at his press conference last week. But I'm sure that, I mean, they offered him some stuff that maybe the UFC couldn't. The wrestling, the reality show, the movie stuff. So I'm sure that enticed him. But we'll see.

Let's see what kind of shape. Let's see what kind of attitude he comes with in his first fight. And then let's decide. But for now, I'll believe him that it was as much about Bell Tour as it was about everything else. But I could see why you'd say that, by the way. Our next question from Darren Chung.

A lot of these are about a rampage. they're going to be related. Do you like this cross-promotion of fighters in MMA and wrestling? Does it tarnish the validity of either sport? I don't think it tarnishes it in any way, but thus far, I mean, I haven't been all that impressed with the King Mo experiment, and maybe we'll talk to him next week on the show. He returns June 19.

I think a lot of these MMA fighters underestimate what goes into being a pro wrestler. I think they think it's going to be easier than fighting because it's not fighting, and it's scripted. And I just, I don't like the cameos and all that stuff. I don't like when an MMA fighter goes into pro wrestling and kind of... It's fun when an M.A. fighter plays pro wrestler on MMA TV.

It's not really fun when an MMA fighter plays pro wrestler on pro wrestling TV, if you know what I'm saying. It just... There's something about it that just kind of seems off. And these little cameos, it's fine, but are they taking this seriously? And you're only a good pro wrestler if you keep winning your MMA fights. If you lose your MMA fights and who wants to see you pro-restle? So I'm okay with it

I don't really love it I don't think it tarnishes the sport of MMA I don't think it hurts wrestling But honestly I could do without it It doesn't do much for me It doesn't really get me excited Our next question From Knicks

In MMA Do you think Rampage will be a baby face Or a heel in TNA And should him and King Moe tag team I'm going to guess that Rampage will be a baby face. I think it wouldn't be smart for business to have him be a heel, especially with the movie and the reality show and the fighting. Him and King Moa, I heard there were some talks about that,

but who's going to be like the... I feel like if he's going to be a part of a tag team, there needs to be like a true wrestler with him to carry him. And Moe's been doing this for like a year now, so maybe he can be that guy, but I just don't see how you juggle both of them. And I don't see how you can focus on your fighting career and also do the wrestling stuff.

The wrestling stuff's a full-time job. It would be fun for one or two shows, but I don't know. I'd like to see... I want to see those guys feud. I want to see that fight in Bellatorre. So I don't want to see them as a team. Here's our last one on that wrestling aspect

from The Fleek. If New York Rick was your partner in TNA versus Rampage and King Moe, what would your team name and gimmick be? That's a good question. I mean, you saw this earlier. Have you thought about it? I don't know enough about wrestling to kind of pick out a...

My worry is that, you know, we've seen this other side of you throughout this, how you kind of took your ball and went home. What if the going gets tough in the match and I'm kind of asking for the tag? And it's just too much and you just kind of give up. You know, I'm hot. I'm ready to get in there and clean house. And you're just getting worked on by two guys. The referee's looking away.

They're telling me to go back. You know, you leave me behind. dry. Like you do with this whole tournament. Maybe that's my heel turn. Oh, yeah, that's right. And then Lee MMA only. Yes.

And you're not getting that tag. How about that? And then Lee comes in and saves the day. My true love. My Elizabeth. I would love that. If TNA wants to make it happen, I think we would work them pretty good.

See, they have the size, but they're kind of like, you know, they're lumbering. I think we have the speed. Especially you with the UFC fit stuff. I mean, you'll probably carry us. Yeah, I'm pretty fast. Yeah. Yeah, no, I don't know. I don't know about the gimmick thing. Sorry about that guy. I think we

would... I don't know. I think we could be heels, to be honest. I think you and I could be heels and they could be the baby faces. Oh, yeah, we'd be fantastic. Yeah. I'll work on that. Here's our next one from Jack Bodkin. If I had a farm, I'd bet it on Weidman and Pettis. Who was the best chance to cause an upset in any title bout this year? Any title bout?

If you had a farm, geez. What do you think of that? Would you bet it on Wyden and Pettus? Widman, yeah. I wouldn't bet the farm on those guys. I mean, I'd save that for Jason High. Oh, Jason High. No, Wydenin and Pettis are definitely live underdogs.

I could see, here's the thing about Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva is not going to get beaten by anything but time. That's the only thing that's going to beat him. So it's possible that this trajectory that Wyedman's on is going to correlate and cross with the trajectory of Anderson Silva, the downward trajectory, and he could be the guy to defeat him. But it's not going to be because he defeated some kind of invincible fighter. It's because Anderson Silva is losing a step. And I think that that could be possible at this next fight, but I wouldn't bet on that until I see it. As far as Pettus goes, I think that he has some

advantages over Aldo that could play into his favor. And I definitely think he has a chance. to upset there. I would say of all the tough fights, and how about, what is going on here? Brendan, Buzzkill Brendan, just message me,

asked me if I'm watching a stream of an EA sports UFC announcement. Buzzkill Brendan, in the middle of my show. He's not even here. My show is going on,

Buzzkill. You're ruining my buzz. This guy, asking me if I'm watching something. I mean, it's unbelievable. There's some sort of of EA sports announcement with Dana White and other characters. He says it's breaking news. Oh, is it breaking news? What's so breaking about it? Anyway, enough of that. E3, right?

So what are some of the other title fights this year? Let's see. Well, honestly, I think Pettus is the guy. The only thing is Brazil. Well, what about is JDS and Kane is booked, right? Yeah, but I don't think that. I wouldn't call it an upset. Of course you would. There's an underdog and there's a favorite. Yeah, I guess.

Just like Aldo and Pettis. I don't think Pettis is a big dog. Yeah, but he already beat him. It's a little different. John Jones, Gisbson. You have, oh, Hendrix GSP? I'd favor Widman and Pettus over Hendrix. Yeah.

I'll go with Pettus. Yeah, I think Pettus is the one. But I don't think he's a... Nah. Burrell Cruz, if that happens, not really huge. You know, T.J. Grant? There's some interesting title fights coming out. All right.

This one is from Tom Aird. How do you think Phil Davis matches up against Leoto Machita at U.S.C. 163? I think it's a bad matchup for Davis. I agree. I think it's a bad matchup. Lino Machita, great striker, elusive, counterstriker. That unorthodox stance of his, Phil Davis, wrestler, is he going to be able to take him down? I mean, look what happened with Henderson. And Machita, although Henderson, not known to,

use his wrestling like Phil Davis is a rely on it, but I don't like this matchup. You're a big Phil Davis guy. Do you like it? I don't like it for Phil. Yeah. Leotto's not going to just let him double leg him or single leg him. He's not going to be able to chain wrestle because he's not going to be able to get a hold of him. Leoto's going to circle properly, stuff takedowns, and I see him out pointing Phil on the feet. I don't like it for Phil. But I think if he, there was a knee issue that Phil had. a while back that he seemed to have taken care of. Now, if his wrestling is even significantly better at this point,

I could see it being a possibility. But what we've seen so far, I don't like it for him. But if we see something we haven't seen before, if his wrestling has improved because he's healthier or something like that, I do see a path to victory for him because he's such a great athlete and such a good wrestler. But right now, Machita all the way, for sure. Yeah, I agree. I think it's a tough fight for Davis.

It would be interesting. I mean, it was also fighting in Brazil. And by the way, if you're Machita, how annoyed are you? You just got another title shot taken away. It kind of confirms that it's going to be Gustafsson Necks who continues to try to bait John Jones on Twitter. But yeah, Machita Phil Davis, UFC 133. From Sugar Pooper, with Rhonda and Kat tweeting each other about their future,

do you think Kat will get the winner of Tate Rousey? and he comments that it's a long layoff. Well, Katta's already said that she has been promised the winner of that fight, and she's out six to nine months. That fight's happening in six months. It's not a long layoff. She has a major knee injury, surgery, all that stuff. So it works out perfectly for her.

That was it. That was it. Back to the start. Let's give it to the New York man. Asking about the only state? Yeah. Okay. There it is.

Tops cards, UFC knockout 2013. We appreciate talks. tops very much for hooking us up with this. And that does it, my friends. Fun show. Let me run down UFC 161 for you all very quickly here. It kicks off 7 p.m. on Facebook. Eve Chabwein v. Dustin Pag.

Mitch Clark versus John McGuire. Roland DeLorm versus Edwin Figueroa. Kenny Robertson versus Sean Pearson. James Krause versus Sam Stout. Jake Shields versus Tyram Woodley, those last four fights on FX. That begins at 8 p.m. Eastern. and then the main card Igor Prokriich versus Ryan Jimo, Pat Barry versus Sean Jordan, Alexis Davis versus Rosie Sexton, looking forward to that. Steppe Miotich versus Roy Nelson and of course the main event, Rashad Evans versus Dan Henderson.

I will be there on Thursday with all the pre-fight interviews. MMAFighting.com will have your on-site coverage as you have come to expect it and love from the good people here over at MMAFinding.com. Mike, you can hit my music. There it is. A fun show. A good time. New York Rick made it all the way from Los Angeles. Red Eye or not, he took his loss like a man, and we commend him for that. Congratulations to Mr. Lee MMA only for picking up the big win in the third round,

and he will now meet Wanda Bet UFC in the finals of the RPI. That goes down this weekend for UFC 161. Who will be victorious? Find out next week on the show. I want to thank Mr. Tyron. Woodley for stopping by. Good luck to him on Saturday. Winnipeg. I've never been to Winnipeg. One of the things I love about my job right now is that I get to go to all these great Canadian

cities that I've always wanted to go to go to, but I never had the chance. Now I get to go. I get to go to Calgary. Never been there before. Vancouver. Now Winnipeg. This is great. A little bummed out that had no direct flights from New York to Winnipeg. How about that? But nevertheless, I'm looking forward to good people over there. Can't wait to go to the breadbasket of Canada. Quinton Jackson, congratulations on your new deal. Good luck in your Bell Tour, TNA debuts, movie stuff and all that. Let me know if you want me to appear.

Talk to my agent. Eddie Weinland, keep up the good work with your mustache. The mustache mafia, very strong right now. And looking forward to your next fight. Ray Sefo, good luck with WSOF3. That's John Fitz, Josh, Josh Berkman, this Friday. And how about Ray Seffo breaking some news? He will make his return to MMA WSO4 in August.

Pat Barry, good luck to him. Great stuff. As always, Sean McCorkle, congratulations. Jonathan Tweedo, we appreciate the time. Good luck. June 22nd, War MMA in Stockton. Next week, we're back. Same time and place. Check us out. Reply, iTunes, Stitcher, all that good stuff. Until that we say, peace. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other?

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