MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 189

Episode Date: August 25, 2014

We've got a special news edition of The MMA Hour on Thursday, as former WEC champion Brian Stann, and one of the most popular names in the sport, announced his retirement. 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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Welcome to a very special edition of the Mixed Martial Arts Hour. Of course, I am Ariel Hawani. Of course, we usually do this show on Monday afternoon, but we received a bit of breaking news, and we wanted to do a special show. We're trying to do more of these in the weeks, months, and years to come, and this was a perfect way to start branching out and doing these special live editions of the mixed martial arts hour.

We've got a lot to get to today. We're not going three hours like we usually do, around 30 or so minutes, so please sit back, relax, enjoy the show, and we appreciate you stopping by, whether it's early in the morning on the West Coast, lunchtime on the East Coast, or in the afternoon overseas.

Thank you so much for joining us. Without further ado, let us get to our guest today. joining us via the phone line is Brian Stan. Brian, are you there? I am. I'm here. Thank you very much for having me, Ariel. It is a pleasure, Brian. Thank you so much.

I will turn the floor to you here. I'll turn the tables on you for a second here. You have a big announcement. The floor is yours. Well, I appreciate you. I give me the platform, Ariel. And I felt important. Obviously, yesterday news broke that I'm going to be branching out

and doing some college football. but really a couple months ago, long before that opportunity even came to fruition, I had made the decision and just really wasn't sure about when I was going to announce it, but that I was no longer going to continue fighting. And so I wanted to use this opportunity to really say thank you. The relationships and the experiences that I've gotten from the fans, my fellow fighters and the UFC have honestly

have just made me a much better person and I I leave fighting having taken more from mixed martial arts and taking more from fighting than I ever gave and there's a lot of reasons obviously that have caused me to retire from the sport

and we can get into those later but really for me it's the best thing for me and more importantly my family right now that I no longer continue fighting. I am still going to be involved as much as the UFC will allow me to in the UFC and continue to be an ambassador for the brand and for the sport and hopefully continue to do things like the pre and the post-fight show, et cetera.

But as far as competing anymore, as sad as it makes me, it's not the best thing for me as a husband and father, which ultimately for me is by far the most important thing in my life, and that's the most important job I have. And by continuing fighting, I think I sacrifice more than I gain, and that it's time for me to turn my attention to do other things to provide for my family. Well, Brian, let me be the first to congratulate you on a wonderful career. And more importantly than that, I think you have been one of the best ambassadors for our sport in and out of the cage, the way you've handled yourself.

in the cage. I remember the Sakara knockout, you pulling back, not throwing that extra punch. And, of course, the way you've, you know, represented the sport through various outlets. And we will get to them in a second. I congratulate you on that. And I congratulate you on always doing it your way, the classy way. So a big tip of the cap to you on a wonderful career. As I said, you mentioned, you know, there are a few reasons why you've decided now. In the prime of your life, you're only 32 years old to walk away from the sport. Can you tell us some of those reasons? Why do you feel like this is the right? time. Sure. Sure. No, it's a very fair question. I absolutely feel like I can still go out there

and compete and compete at a high level. However, even though at only 32, it has gotten harder for me to stay healthy through training camps, you know, and some of that's locked. But other parts of it is, you know, I played football since the second grade. Then I went to the Marine Corps and did two-combat deployment to infantry, and then now in fall professional. And then now in fall, professionally for eight years now. And so it's taken a toll on my body. And for me to continue competing at the level that I fight at, to, you know, climb back up the ranks after two fights get in both fights, I think, you know, some minor adjustments and maybe I win those fights. But to climb back up the rankings, I think I would have to completely change my

training situation. And I just can't do that. I have my third child on the way. and going to Albuquerque, New Mexico for two months at a time to train for fights, just isn't possible for my family situation. And my current training environment in Atlanta is a great training environment. However, I end up being almost like the head coach, the leader of the room, and that's just not a way that is conducive to me being successful in the cage. There have definitely been other fighters who have been successful that I train with. But for me, obviously, I haven't been as good as when I was able to fully focus on fighting and train in Albuquerque.

And the other things that are going on in my life right now, they require my attention. And then the number one of all those things is my family. I can't be the best husband and father I can be by living in another city for two months at a time while I prepare for fights. And then the other part of it is, you know, after playing football for this many years and then being involved and, you know, several explosions in Iraq and now fighting professionally for eight years, I definitely am rolling the dice with my long-term health. I have not had any issues with head injuries. I don't have a number of documented concussions,

but these are issues that you don't know there's something wrong until there is something wrong. And bringing my third child in the world this fall, my third daughter, it is not a good idea for me to roll those. dice. You know, I've had the opportunities to get to the highest level of sport, and I've fought from the best fighters in the world, and unfortunately, I've lost a bunch of those fights, and that has stopped me from getting to the level that I would like to get to in the sport. And I do think I could continue, but if I were to continue, try to revamp myself as a fighter,

I think I run the risk of possible long-term health problems, and that would be very irresponsible of me as a husband and father. And again, those are always going to be the most important jobs I have. I'm very, very lucky to have other options of maintained a full-time job the entire time I was a fighter just because things like this could happen. And you never know how successfully you can be in fighting. And I've got some other options, and I think it's time that I focused more on them. And, you know, Dana has been very supportive.

We talked briefly about it, but he was extremely supportive. And I hope that he and the UFC will continue to allow me to be involved in the sport in any way possible. Brian, you mentioned those health problems that you are, you know, afraid of creeping up as you get older. Do you feel any of those right now? Are there any warning signs right now? No, you know, I don't. I definitely, you know, I noticed that I'd never been knocked unconscious before until the, the Anderly, really so the fight. you know, you do start to notice things as you fight more and more as interesting as I talk to other fighters.

You know, early in your career, you could take punches and sparring and take punches and fights that don't even phase you. As you do it over time, over time, years and years and years, all of a sudden in sparring, one, you're sparring with better people, but two, you start to maybe have some headaches here and you start to realize, you know, this isn't exactly the best thing for our health. And I think there's going to be a paradigm shift in the way mixed martial arts fighters train. For example, my last training camp I only sparred once a week rather than the traditional twice a week. But doing that for years and years, I mean, if you look at my life, I've been getting hit in the head since I was in second grade playing football. And I'm now 32 years old. That's a long time.

And there's only so long that I can roll those dice and be successful. And for me, the risk is not worth. uh... is not worth it brian if you would have defeated vanderlays sylvan japan in march do you think you'd still be fighting i probably would still be fighting really i think it's a very fair question and i think sometimes it takes losses

uh... you know to make you see things in different perspective when you win you're on top of the world and in the highs of this sport are phenomenal and it it's what keeps us going as fighters over and over again uh... but losing that fight I invested so much time I trained so hard for that fight. I never saw myself losing. And I lost, and it was, you know, because of who I lost to,

and when I lost is my second loss in a row. You know, it knocked me back down the ladder quite a bit out of the top ten of most people's rankings. It would take a lot of fights to get me back to that level again to where I could compete for the big dollars, the big contracts, get to a title shot, and all those things. that are the things that ultimately help you provide better for your family. And when I look at that in the timeline and the things associated with it, I think it is not the most intelligent decision for me as a father to continue doing it. You know, it's one of those things where I need to look at it because my fighting style,

I'm not going to change that. It's who I am as a person. That that's how I fight. When you pay me and you book me for a fight, I'm going to fight. and I have the ability to take guys down and do different things. It's just not who I am. When you punch me in the face, that goes out of the desk, it goes right out the window. I want to punch you back, and I have no issue standing in the pocket and throwing,

and that's just it's not a healthy fighting style. It's not a fighting style that's going to give you a long career. It's going to give you a career that's about as long as the one I have. And I think, like I said, the best decision for a guy like me is to walk away at the right, right time. It's not always going to be the best time where I could say, man, I did all the things I wanted to do in my career. But ultimately, you know, more important, far more important than any of that, you know, I want to be functional and be able to provide for my daughters for the time for a long time. And I want to be there when they have kids. I want to walk them down the aisle. I want to be

functional. You know, when I look at videos of Muhammad Ali and some of the guys he fought, that's not going to be me. When I look at football players now that are retired from the NFL that are having issues, I'm not going to allow that to be me. Going into that fight against Vanderlae, were you thinking about this? Did you say to yourself, if this doesn't end up the way I wanted to, this could be it for me? No, you know, honestly, it never crossed my mind that I would lose that fight. I thought, you know, and of course you have to make yourself feel that way as a fighter. You know, you've got to try and make yourself mentally invincible.

You know, but I encountered some health problems just in the buildup. you know, in training for the fight, and that was very frustrating to me. But I thought that I would fight for about three to four more years at that point. In fact, I did an article or an interview where I said that, and that's legitimately what I thought. But, you know, when you have a fight like that, and you could look back at your career, and I mean, that night, that night after getting out of the hospital, being back in my hotel room, I was so disappointed over the next morning. I told John Anakin Kenneforian in private, and I said to him, I said, I don't think I'm going to do this anymore.

And they were very surprised, and of course they took out a grand assault because the guy who just lost a big fight, could have gone either way. But I just looked at the amount of time I invested in that training camp, how hard I trained the sacrifices my family makes. Because when you train for a fight, when you are a pro fighter, a large percentage of your mind is 100% of the time devoted to that fight. Even on your off days when you're taking your kids to the park, You're still, you know, you're thinking about Vanderlai-Silvi.

You're thinking about Michael Business, whoever it is you're fighting. You can't get them out of your mind. And it takes away from your ability to learn new things, to do other things you want to do in life. I don't read nearly as much as I used to or, you know, do this or do that. And so for me, when I lost that fight and I looked at all the time I invested in it, it just, it was time. where I said, you know, there are a lot of things I want to do in life. And ultimately, I have to provide for my wife and children for a long time. You know, I'm only 32.

I'm going to be working for a long time, especially even three daughters. I'm going to work even longer than I should probably now. I need to be putting my mind to focus on the things that are going to be, whatever it is that I'm going to do long term. And I'm just, you know, I've unfortunately haven't been as successful as I would have liked to have been. And, you know, I think it's smart that fighters have backup plans, and we've got to have long-term options, and we've got to come to realization sometimes that, you know,

our careers will be over before we expect them to, and that we're not always going to accomplish everything we wish we could have with our career. You know, you mentioned those backup plans. Yesterday the news came out that you're going to start calling college football for Fox Sports. Of course, we know you do fantastic work on the big Fox shows, as well as on Fuel TV, and more of that is to come. when Fox Sports One launches in August.

If you didn't have all of that, would this have been a more difficult decision? In other words, is this kind of the blueprint for fighters? Start thinking about your future. Start branching out. It doesn't have to be in broadcasting, but doing other things so that the transition could be easier. Oh, certainly. It would have been more difficult. And, you know, for me, I've always had that full-time job.

I took a job right out of the military. I've always worked full-time while I fought. and running my organization, hire heroes, it would have never have grown as much as it would have grown. We would have never helped as many veterans as we've helped without the assistance of mixed martial arts and the media that I've been able to leverage for the cause of my charity

through my fight career. But without the other things I'm doing, it would have been a much more difficult decision because, as you know, when you start having children, life gets a lot more expensive. And as fathers, we do the things we have to do.

not always the things we want to do. And so it would have been more difficult to say, well, you know, I need to take one or two more fights and put a lot more money away, and then maybe I can start getting my resume out there and looking for their jobs and looking for other things. It would have been more difficult. But fortunately for me, I've had that full-time job,

and I've had other options and avenues that I could go down. But the college football thing was not the deciding factor. that that would have not changed. I mean, that was just the situation I got lucky, and I auditioned, and I think lucky for me, the other guys weren't very good. I mean, they're taking a chance on a rookie. What was Dana White and the UFC's reaction when you told them this?

Were they supportive? Did they try to convince you otherwise? Usually Dana has been supportive of guys who want to walk away for whatever reason, but I'm curious what they said, because when you initially told me, I was shocked. You know, when I spoke to Dana on the phone, it was about, about a week and a half. ago. And I talked to him, and the first thing he said was that you've absolutely got a lot of options.

We love having you on Fox, and we'll support you and whatever you decide to do. And, you know, he asked me, said, you know, has how are the Fox people been to you? You know, we love having you, you know, continue to do that. And so he was very supportive. When you're talking about long-term health, etc. You know, Dana doesn't mince words about that, and he speaks about that pretty often, and so he was very supportive. And, you know, right now you take a step back.

You've had some time to digest this. You look at your career. Are you happy with the body of work? Do you have regrets? Do you look at what you've done, former WC light heavyweight champion, had some very big wins as a middleweight. You know, he came in with a nice undefeated streak

leading into your WC title fight. Are you happy with your body? do you work or do you have regrets as you walk away? You know, there's always going to be some what if and what it could or should is. But I am happy with it. I mean, ultimately, for the people at Greg Jackson's gym and some people actually from other big-time fighters that trained with me when I initially made my transition from WC to UFC, I would say 90% of them thought that I would not last in the UFC here.

I knew nothing. I was completely self-coached at that point. and I went down to Albuquerque already in the U.S.C. basically saying, hey, you know, Coach Winkle John, Coach Jackson, teach me at a fight because I'm playing the best guys in the world now. And it was through a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication and sacrifice by my family and myself, and really the help of all the people down there that I was able to become a top 10 fighter. And I'm proud of that. Now, the recent two-fights skid has been tough.

You know, things happen in my family that completely changed around my training situation. And there's been a lot of fighters who've had to deal with that. And when you change your training situation and I basically had to create a camp out of thin air, it was difficult. And so there are things that I think, you know, maybe I could have performed better. I don't know if it would have changed the result or not. Maybe I could have performed better had I been in the training situation where I wasn't my best. I was at my prime and at my best when I was in Albuquerque with the ability to focus on my fighting. But life happens.

And life happens to all fighters, and people won't get to see that every day. You know, people don't know always what goes on in our personal lives that affects our performance in the cage. And you know what? I had to do what was best for my family. And if that caused me to lose a couple fights, there is absolutely no regret to that. My wife needed me more than anybody in the world during that time. And I was there for her. and my performance as a husband was much better than my performance to the fighter.

And so I don't regret that. For those that don't know, are you comfortable with elaborating what you mean when you say life happens? Sure, yeah, absolutely. So, you know, almost two years ago, you know, right before I fought Alessio Succar two days before Christmas, my wife's younger brother took his own life. And so he was very, very close with his own. big sister. And since then, she's actually started a foundation in his name that helps young men and women who are having mental health problems and that are thinking about suicide. And so at that time,

her mother, her mother, the mother of the young man, was actually living with me as well. And I still take care of her to this day. And so, you know, it caused a tsunami of effects into my family life. And I still needed to fight to pay the bills. And I still need to find a way to provide for my family. So, you know, my team at Greg Jackson, Coach Winkle-John, they sent people out to Atlanta and helped me train for that fight. And we did what we had to do. And, but it's never been the same. You know, it's never been the same as being able to go to camp every day at the gym where you get everything in one gym. You know, it was me gathering some great fighters here in Atlanta that I'm going to continue to coach and continue to lead here because they're just great people.

But it made things more difficult, and certainly it's hard to focus on your career when so much your focus is really needed on your family, both financially and emotionally. And you just don't heal from things like that in a year. It takes time, and in many ways my wife and her family are still healing. That team in Atlanta that you speak of has some very good, good fighters training out of it. I mean, you got Hafele Sonsa, who's looked very good as of late. I saw you with Douglas Lima, who fights in Bellator. He's been looking good as of late. Will you still be a part of the team? Will you still help these guys progress and train and get

ready for fights? Absolutely. I will forever be a martial artist, and I love, you know, for me, it's weird to not work out and do jiu-jitsu or wrestling every day would be silly. I obviously won't be sparring, but I will absolutely still help these guys. I love doing that. I want to always be involved in the sport, and it's a lot of fun for me. I mean, it's basically just leadership. You know, it's helping a fighter diagnose what the game plan should be, what they need to work on, how to organize an eight- or nine-week training camp,

and go forward and find the best people to bring them in to teach them the techniques they need to win the fight. And that's really what I do. I'm not the guy who can teach them all those techniques, but we certainly have them here in Atlanta, and I definitely still want to help with that, and I think it obviously helps me an awful lot. If the UFC is going to continue to use me in the broadcast, you know, you need to be a guy who's in the gym and around fighters every day

to really understand the sport well enough to break it down and speak in a way that the fans appreciate and tell them what they don't already see on TV, tell them what you could see and why things are happening in a cage. So those guys have become like brothers, me just like all the guys I train with at Jackson's, and I won't be leaving them. You know, Brian, when you enter WC, you were just 1-0, then you went on the undefeated streak, you get the title shot, you win, and even then people weren't quite sure what kind of a

fighter you would turn out to be. They, you know, would knock the light heavyweight division in WC, you make the transition over to UFC, and as you mentioned, a lot of people, again, you know, they weren't sure what kind of skills you had, and what kind of a UFC fighter you would be, and you tell the story of going to Greg and Mike over in New Mexico and telling them, them just teach me how to become an M.A. fighter. Did you become a better fighter than you ever expected? Did you, did you amount to more than you ever dreamed? Yes. I honestly thought, I thought after I defended the title and lost to Steve Cantwell that before that fight, okay, this would probably be my last fight and then, you know, I got to, you know, just keep moving

on with a real job and, you know, be a normal person. But I had an itch. I still wanted to do it. thought I would have an MMA career. I thought I'd do a couple amateur fights and be done while I was in the military. I mean, this never, the whole time I felt like I was playing with the house of money. You know, I never thought this would happen. And, you know, when Greg Jackson invited me down there to train after I lost my first fight in the W.C. And I went down there, you know, like I said earlier, the relationships and the experiences

continually made me a better person. Every single fight I've had, I can point to something I learned in my life. and I learned and got to be around people from different cultures and backgrounds that I ever had and make friends with people. I mean, it helped me become a better husband and father, and I think that's why I kept doing it. And that's what makes this sport special. That's why a lot of fans, they say, wow, the athletes in this sport are so much better, so much cooler than in other sports because we're so humbled.

I mean, when we have a bad day at the office, we get our butt kicked on national TV, but we're losing every day in the gym to different guys. We're developing new friends from all over the world that you would never have had those experiences in other sport. And I think it makes your life better. And me and my family really enjoyed that. I mean, my wife and kids would enjoy going down to Albuquerque and meeting people from all over the world,

going to the fights and meeting people from all over the world. And, you know, all the traditional values and character traits that existed in traditional martial arts are still, I think they're even more so alive in the modern mixed martial arts, and I think that's the reason why I continue to really just get addicted to the sport and want to continue with it.

And ultimately, you know, what allowed me to become a better fighter that not only survived in the UFC, but had some good success for a time there. You know, Brian, for a guy with a relatively short MMA career, you've had some great moments, Like I mentioned, the WC Light Heavyweight win, you know, winning your first fight in the UFC, the Chris Lieben win was a great one, defeating Jorge Santiago on Memorial Day. And I know you got very emotional in the crowd chanting USA.

You've had some moments, some moments that people only dream of ever having. Is there one that sticks out? Is there one that is more memorable, more special than all the rest? You know, there's definitely a couple. It's hard to say which, you know, which one sticks out more. I mean, obviously, fighting in Japan in a main event against Vandrelay Silva, who I remember looking up on the Internet when I was in the Marines, was pretty cool because when I look back on him, like, then,

I never in a million years would have fought him. I'm going to fight that guy, and I'm going to fight him in the main event in Japan on national TV. Never. Fighting on Memorial Day was incredible. When I beat Mike Misenzo, that was a big moment as well because it was in San Diego. There were a lot of military veterans there. it was a fight that that was up in the air on whether I should win or lose. And it was kind of a turning point in my career.

There was a time I thought that would be my last fight. I'd fight that fight, and then, you know, hey, not making a whole lot of money, it's probably smarter for me to invest my time and other things and go figure you win the fight, you get a fight at a night, and now all of a sudden, oh, wow, well, you know, I'm going to continue doing this. So, you know, there are definitely a bunch of memories that really stick out, and those are just a few. A lot of people listening right now, a lot of people watching, you have some loyal fans and people who have followed your career very passionately because of your background in the military.

Anything you'd like to say to them directly? You know, it's really just thank you. I said before, I'm taking away much more from the sport than I ever gave. And their support is really, I don't think the fans understand how much the positive reinforcement fuels fighters. and with the growth of social media every single day, you know, fighters look at that to get the motivation to go in the gym. I can't tell how many fighters I talk to. That'll talk to me in privacy, you know, I'm still looking for that motivation again.

I'm looking for that fire. It's tough, you know, because training is hard. This sport is hard. But you look at your Twitter or you look at your email, you look at whatever, and you see these fans that are really patting on the back and say, hey, keep doing it. We enjoy this. And that fuels you.

and i just i can't thank them enough for that it's it's incredible when when you get to live a life and have a brief moment in time where were people supported you like that not everybody gets that opportunity and i have been extremely lucky to be one of you the true definition of uh... of a hero class act an american hero role model bryan stand that is what you are i can't thank you enough for for coming on here and

uh... you know speaking about your career announcing your retirement it's it says a lot about who you want that you're walking away at this point because you can have many more fights in the UFC, many more years, but I think it says a lot about you. And when I think about Brian Stan, I think of that moment against Alessio Sakara, you could have hit him with that extra shot, but you didn't because that's the class act that you are. Congratulations, Brian, on an amazing career. I'm proud to call you a colleague over at Fox. Can't wait to see you grow as a broadcaster, not only in MMA, college football, and who knows what else they'll have you do over there. They seem to love you, and deservedly so. You do fantastic

work on television. You've had a great career. You should be very proud of it. And I can't thank you enough for coming on here and talking a bit about it with us. Well, Ariel, thanks so much for giving me the platform. Thank you very much for the kind words. And, you know, just thanks for all the hard work you do for the sport. You know, it's professionals like you who come over and make the sport better. And so I see behind the scenes how hard you work. I don't think the fans get to see that, but I see the tireless hours you put into advance of sport and showcase us, the fighters, in a different light. I thank you for the opportunity to do this on your show. Thank you so much, Brian. We'll talk to you soon. Take care.

There he is. Brian Stan, everyone, as you see here on the board, 12 and 6 MMA record, a former W.C. Light Heavyweight Champion, you remember when he knocked out, Doug the Rhino Marshall. Of course, you know him as a former U.S. Marine awarded a silver star for his unbelievable work in the Marines in 2006, an American hero, as I mentioned. And if you recall, when he defeated Jorge Santiago in a fight that a lot of people didn't think he would win Memorial Day weekend. There was that shot of him on the mat, in the octagon,

with a very pro-American crowd chanting USA, one of the great moments in UFC history. And yes, he never fought for the UFC belt. He came close with that run, derailed by Chal Sennon, but nothing to be ashamed of, and it's great that he's going to be a part of the Fox UFC family and even the Fox College Football family. Plenty more to come from Brian's stand,

but for now we congratulate him. on an amazing mixed martial arts career, and we congratulate him on knowing when to say when. Knowing when to hold them, knowing when to fold them. Brian Stan knows when to fold them as far as his fighting career is concerned, and in our sport, often we see guys stick around

a little too long, Brian Stan. That is not the case with him. So congratulations to Brian Stan. Mike, you can hit my music. That's it. A short edition of the mixed martial arts hour, guys. I wanted to do this. Like I said, wanted to do more of this way back when,

but now we have the opportunity and the resources to do it. And what better way than a guy like Brian Stan universally loved in the world of mixed martial arts announcing his retirement today at the age of 32. He didn't stick around too long, had that amazing fight of fight, which by the way, MMAFiting.com named its fight of the half year.

This year, 2013, just in March, Saitama Super Arena, an amazing fight with Vandale-Silvo went toe-to-to-to-with the axe murderer. And unfortunately for him, He did not come out on the winning end, but performed amazingly, and a lot of people still today considerate the fight of the year of 2013 had some other great fights in his UFC career as well, fought some big names like Michael Bisping and Chal Sondon, as I mentioned, Chris Leibin derailed his train and Jorge Santiago and Phil Davis. And the list goes on and on. But really, to me, when you think of Brian Stan, you won't think about any of the big wins, the accolades, things like that.

It's just the way he conducted himself. and out of the cage, always gracious with the fans, gracious with the media. It's a guy who woke up, I remember, at 4 a.m. to do our show before that fight against Vandalai Silva. No questions asked, no complaints, just a true ambassador for the sport of mixed martial arts. And as the sport of mixed martial arts continues to grow and continues to expand, we need people like Brian Stan, not necessarily fighting inside the cage, but we need people like Brian Stan representing our sport in other avenues. Like he's going to be, you know, former UFC fighter calling college football, that's amazing stuff.

Congratulations to Brian Stan on an amazing career. We look forward to what's next for him. Thank you so much for watching this special edition of the MMAR. We will see you Monday afternoon. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action. And your Chase card can get you exactly that.

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