MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 193

Episode Date: August 25, 2014

Featuring Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Nick Newell, Marlon Moraes, and Guilherme Cruz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I was about to say Monday, but no, it is a Wednesday. It is Wednesday, August 7, 2013. I was just telling Will in the back that it just feels like a Monday. That's why this is so weird. We're not used to doing Wednesday shows. And then there I was calling it a Monday. Or at least I was about to call it Monday. It's good to be back, though.

It's good to be here. after a little bit of a hiatus. We weren't on the air on Monday, of course, because I was flying home from Rio de Janeiro. I had my Asai, coma, enjoyed UFC 163. Of course, we'll talk about that in a second. So we weren't able to do the show on Monday, but we didn't want to take a week off.

We have a 200th episode to get to, my friends, and that comes at us, I believe, September 25th. I think that's the date. So we've got to keep this train rolling along. So we're back here on a Wednesday, giving you a special Wednesday edition of the show. And then next week, we're back on Monday. So you're getting us, what is it?

Four days apart, five days apart. It's all very exciting. And we've got an exciting show for all of you planned today. Joining us in the second hour will be one of the, let's be honest, one of the most liked, one of the best debuts in our history, one of the most popular guests we've ever had in our show. Connor McGregor, the notorious one, he returns to action next weekend, UFC Fight Night. I believe it's

UFC Fight Night 27. I'm seeing all over the place that people are referring it to 26, but I think Phil Davis versus Nogara a couple years back was 26. So for now, I'm just going to call it UFC on Fox Sports 1 because it's the only time that it would actually make sense. It's August 17th. It's in Boston. It's Chaos Sondon versus Shogunha. So Connor McGregor will be stopping by. Always great to talk to him. He faces Max Holloway on that card, looking forward to having him on. At around 225, we'll be talking to Nick Newell, who makes his World Series of Fighting debut this weekend against Keon Caldwell. That's in Ontario, California. WSOF number four Saturday night, NBC Sports Network. At around two o'clock, we're going to take your questions earlier. Because this is a Wednesday show, as I said,

we're letting our hair down a little bit, and we want to hear from you. There's a lot of things going on in the world of MMA. Bellator's pay-per-view debut announced, Tito Rampage, Joseo Alto, Machita, Davis, all that stuff from UFC 163, and a whole bunch of other talks. We're going to hear from you. Hit us up using the hashtag the MMA hour. And if you also want, you can leave the questions or comments in the post below. And we'll take those questions and comments in the second hour at around 205. 1.45.

Daniel Cormier will stop by, talk about his simmering feud with one John Jones. Looking forward to that very much. and at round 125, Marlon Marais, who is one of the true stars, rising stars, a prospect at 135 pounds. He'll stop by to talk about his upcoming fight for World Series of fighting this weekend on NBC Sports Network. Of course, in the back, we're joined by the usual crew, Buzzcoe Brendan in the house. Sometimes he doesn't really join us. I say that he's there, but he's not really there. It's a little disheartening.

He's kind of moved on to bigger and better. But nevertheless, we got Will, Mike, New York, Rick. Everyone's back there. Looking forward to a fun Wednesday show. And if you may have heard over the weekend, we announced some very exciting news over at MMAFighting.com. Unfortunately, we lost one. Mike Chiapetta moved on.

He is now working for our good friends over at foxports.com. So I'm still kind of working with him. Still part of the family, as I like to think. But we were able to add a man who I've wanted to add to the team for a very long time. And if you've been following the site for the last two days, you now understand why. I'm calling him the beast. I'm calling him the beast from Brazil. This man over the last two days has broken more news items than our whole team combined over the past year.

He's on fire. It's great to have him. And it's really great to have someone in Brazil, that territory on lockdown. So much news coming out of Brazil, that country. So excited to have Guillermo Cruz, formerly of Tatami.com, now a member of M.M. MMAfighting.com, so we've decided to start the show with my man from Brazil. The Beast from Brazil. How does that sound to you?

Do you like that, Guillermo? That's so much for me, but thank you. Well, you're doing it. It's so great to have you, as I've told you a thousand times. You're on fire. You're breaking news left and right. And we really appreciate him. We're so happy to have you.

Now, let's talk about UFC 163. You weren't able to cover it because you were just about to start with us, but the timing didn't quite work out. but of course you watched it, you took it all in. Was it me? And you have your, you know, your ear to the streets over there. Was it me or did this event not have the same kind of buzz as the previous UFC Rio's event?

I mean, really, you look at the crowd for the Facebook prelims, it was pretty much empty in there. It's shocking from two years ago, UFC 134, the place was packed before the fight started. Yeah, it was the first time that we have the UFC show here and the place not full for the first. three fights. I believe what the first time. And I was surprised, but not too much because the card wasn't that great. It wasn't too stacked. But yeah, the UFC does great shows here.

And everybody talks a lot when we have UFC, especially when it airs live at Global TV. Millions of people watching it. But I believe it was the weakest. card for the UFC in Rio. Do you have any idea how many people watch the card, whether it was on the sort of pay TV channel Combache or Global TV? I don't know

that. I try to get that information, but at Combache, they have more than 400,000 subscribers, so it's basically that number of people that buy to watch the show. At

global, I believe, it was something like 10 million people. I don't know. Maybe more, maybe less, but around 10 million people. That's what the UFC does every show here and on the global. Is it me or do the fans in Brazil not, they don't really view Joseo

in the same light as Anderson, Lioto, Vitor. He's not quite up there. Is that correct? Yeah. There were a lot of people criticize him for the fight against a Korean zombie. I was surprised, but after everybody knew that he broke his foot in the first two minutes.

But I enjoy the fight, but all the people criticize him. And I don't know if that's because we had Anderson Silva as the greatest fighter. So everybody's just level lower than him. But maybe now after Amazon lost, he started to Chris Weil. people will start to give, with respect more, Joseo and Hina Barone as the UFC champions. But Anderson Silva maybe took some of their attention for him. Can you clear something up for me?

Josealdo, did he have the kidney stones before the fight or after the fight? No, no, he had that yesterday. He went to the hospital. And he had that before a lot of times. but it was just yesterday he went to the hospital then just back to home and then he went to a party

to celebrate the virtue with his friends he's crazy and and I asked his doctor Dr. Master Tanudi if maybe that had something to do with the weight cut

but it probably doesn't have anything to do with the weight cut so really and he's had these problems before yeah Wow. So did he pass the kidney stone? I believe so. Yeah. Wow. He went to a party, so I guess it was a...

Have you ever had kidney stones? No, thank God. I did have it, yes, and you should thank God for that because it is the worst pain imaginable. It's, it's, I'd rather have the kidney stones. No, I'd rather have the broken foot than the kidney stones. That's how much pain. He's located on here. Yeah. It's a... it's horrible.

So, well, that's good. It sounds like he's okay now, but that's amazing to consider what he was battling, because that's not something that really comes out of nowhere. He probably was feeling the symptoms leading up to the fight. What do you think he'll do now?

You know, his coach, Andre Penares, told you that he's probably not going to fight this year. Do you think that he will stick around at 145? Because there's a line growing at 145, and it would kind of be a shame for guys like Lamas and Swanson not to get a shot. Yeah. He's going to wait.

to heal his foot. And he talked about Anthony Padis, avoiding the fight and faking an injury. And then Anthony Padis told me that wasn't true. It was stupid for him to say something like that. And Andrea Pedernandez, Josaldo's coach, later said that if Anthony Padres defeats Ben Henderson and then vacates his belt and to drop down and fight Josealdo, he will apologize for saying that. So I guess he wants the winner of Ben Henderson and Anthony Padis,

especially if Padis wins and drops 145. Wow. Andre is talking some major smack. Yeah. Is he known to do that? Is he known to be that kind of guy? No. So what's his beef with Anthony Peders?

I don't know. I believe he true thinks that Anthony Parris fake the injury, and he was pissed with that. he wants that fight. I guess that's what's happening with him and Anthony Battis. But it's pretty much confirmed that he won't fight again this year, right, in 2013?

Yeah. You know, I heard, I wanted to get your take on this. A lot of the media were coming up to me at the event. They were very disappointed that Dana White wasn't there. What have you heard? Are the Brazilian fans of Brazilian media in particular, do they feel like, you know, and she said he had his reasons, we don't know what,

but did they feel slighted that Dana didn't come to this event? Yeah, and it's not the first time. That's the third UFC in this year, and he didn't come to all of the events. So it feels like Dana White just watch the show from home, and he doesn't want to take the travel. He threw away from the U.S. We know, but it's his show.

Right. Tess think that he should come to, to race. Brazil, especially in a title fight. But they can't complain too much because Brazil's getting more shows than anyone. So, okay, Dana's not there, but you're still getting the UFC more often than most. Yeah. But when you talk about that, we have a lot of shows, yes, but not the best cars. Not the cars that the fans are expecting to watch.

So, yeah, we have a lot of shows, but cars, we have two or three fights. that are great, but that's it. So the attendance, was that a warning sign? Can they not come back with these shows? Do fans in Brazil not want to see these cards with mostly these unknown, at least to us, Brazilian fighters? Do they want something different? And if the UFC is planning on doing this,

are they about to make a huge mistake? I don't know. Maybe in San Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, the big cities, if they do shows without the... big stars, maybe they will feel that the fans won't watch it. But if you do in small cities, small shows, maybe it works. You know, Marshalls-Lasnik told me that they're looking to come back seven times next year. And they're thinking about how to, you know, deal with the World Cup,

whether or not to stay away from it or to do something in conjunction. Would it be a mistake to do something during the World Cup? That will be hard for them to... to sell tickets, World Cup tickets are too expensive and they are going to have soccer matches all over the country. So if they plan a UFC show to the same city of a big soccer match, that could be a mistake. If you do a UFC event here in Rio, around a date that Brazil plays here, people will rather buy a ticket to the soccer match than the UFC.

So it's pretty expensive to go to both. So it might be a mistake from the UFC. What are people saying over there about Liotr Machita after his performance, a controversial performance, but again, it seems like, you know, live by the sword, die by the sword. He didn't engage enough. And thus the judge has thought Phil Davis won. Are they down on Machita over there? Do they back him after this performance?

What are they saying? I guess there are people talking a lot of things. People are saying that Machida won, that Phil Davis won. It is a basic split. They're 50% believe Leota won. The other half believes Fiore won. Fiore Davis won. It was a close matcher.

So we have all the score card from the fans. Who do you think won? I had Leoro. Yeah. It was a close fight. but I believe the judges saw a couple of takedowns at the end of the first and second round and to score that for Phil Davis. I don't believe that the takedowns would be enough for Phil Davis to win both fights, both cards,

both rounds, but that's what the judges saw. They are used to to see that. They see takedowns and be, okay, you won't have the round because you learned at take down in the last 50 seconds. And now there's a Brazilian commission. You know, the UFC has helped them, but now they're fully up and running. Is that the case? Are they doing everything on their own right now?

And if so, how do you think they're doing? No, basically the judges are not from Brazil. They bring the judges from other countries, the U.S., England, and other places. In Brazil, it's basically they do. is help organizing, seeing the stuff and drug tests, all that's stuff. But the referees and judges are not from here. Maybe we have one and two, but not the whole package. But who picks them?

The UFC or the commission? I believe it's both. They work together? Sorry? They work together. Yeah, I believe so. The next event is in September, Bello Horizanch. Did I say that correct?

Exactly. Bello Horizonte. Beirozance. And that's obviously Glover-Teshire versus Ryan Bader. They've up the Annie a little bit saying that if Glover wins, he will, if he has to win impressively, he could very well be next in line for a title shot. Any word on how ticket sales, how the buzzes for that event? This is not in Rio, smaller place, but still one of the major cities.

Yeah, it's a big city from Minerijer, the capital of Minerijerais. but what I heard, that ticket sales, I don't do it good. It's really bad. I checked it with the website that sells the tickets, and there are some different areas where you can buy tickets, and neither of them are sold out yet. Is it true that you can buy a general admission ticket and just sit wherever you want in some of the sections?

That's what someone told me on Saturday, because there were some pockets that were completely full, and then right next to it, completely empty. Yeah, exactly. Except from the octagon area, you can buy a ticket and see whatever you are. That's strange. So everyone pays the exact same thing and then it's first come first serve, like a movie. Yeah, exactly. But yet tickets aren't doing well? Do you think this is a problem? Is this a major issue? Because they're very into Brazil, but if people aren't buying the tickets and going to the shows, that's going to stop at some point. What's the problem here?

I guess they put Glover in the main event because he's from Menagerie. They thought it would do well there on ticket sales. And now they're saying maybe he gets a title shot with a big win there. I guess they're saying that to help the ticket sales because it's not doing great there. I thought the major problem with that was they thought Glover, would do well with tickets because he's from there. It's not being wet. Can I ask you a question about assayi?

Yeah. I like it very much. In fact, I might be obsessed with it. I went to a supermarket yesterday here in New York and I tried to find it. And it's just not the same. Why is it so much better in Brazil than it is anywhere else? Do you have any idea? I don't know, but it's great.

How often do you have it? I don't have too much because, I usually eat that when I go to the beach and stuff like that but when I kept working too much but when I was now without working I had too much

yeah so what is in it what exactly is in it other than the assayee because what makes it so sweet no you can have that banana in it oh yeah strawberries you can have everything there

my mouth is watering it's good with everything It's so good I had it six times in 72 hours And then And then right before I left I went to get a massive one

Just so I can I was walking back Some Bonillaisei Yes Yeah I need to You know Boni Yeah say you need to Maybe

sponsor this show You know Bonnie I hear everyone talking about him Do you know this guy personally Put in the good word Yeah He's really nice He is a nice guy

I was asking To be on the show He's a huge MMA fan Right He just does it Because he loves the sport Yeah, you really love that. Very rich guy too, I hear.

Really? Yeah, a lot. And is it true, though, that a lot of the Jitsu guys, they eat this because it's good for the, I don't know, they think, because everyone talks to. It gives you a lot of energy. That's what I feel too. You know what I love about it? I feel like everyone... ...and fighting in Jujitsu competition.

You always see people selling small boxes of assay and you eat that and go compete. But you shouldn't eat too much before competing. It wouldn't be good. Oh, okay, I understand. You know what I love about Brazilian people, the way they speak about the Aseille. Like, it's a gift from God. They speak about it so passionately. Like, this is something else.

And another interesting thing, another interesting thing is that you eat it, well, maybe not you in particular, but you eat it with, like, your meal. I see people having a piece of steak with the Aseilla, at the same time. It's not a dessert. It's kind of a compliment. Yeah. You can have that just just for lunch. Yeah. It's good. Amazing. You know, if this whole journalism thing doesn't work out, I'm going to figure out why no one has brought this to the States, or at least the authentic, and I think I'm going to open up my own store. You want to? I heard that Bonnie sells the U.S. He does? Yeah. Not there. The cans. The can't. The assaee. Really? Yeah.

We need to talk. Great stuff. Anything else you're working on that you want to let us know? Or you've got eight other stories to break in the next 10 hours? Yeah, just working. Just working. I heard Bob Saps going to be in Brazil. Yeah, tomorrow. Wow.

A real fight or a fake fight? Who knows? We have to wait and see. Wow. He's fighting Edson, France. Oh, it sounds like a great fight. He used to fight a jungle fight. He's a tough dude.

Oh, he is a tough dude? Yeah. So what do you think? He's a tough father, yeah. Does it last a minute? Do you think it lasts a minute? Who knows? Did Bob Stop come here just lose and grab some money?

We don't know. Just have to wait and watch the fight tomorrow. You know, it's interesting. A lot of local, there's so many local shows, right? I mean, in Brazil, you hear every night there's another show. Oh, Friday, there's this, there's the watch out. There's a show tonight in San Paulo that they have an open-weight fight. There's a flyweight fighting a guy with, I don't know, it's 280 pounds.

Really? Yeah. Legit fighters? Are they legit fighters? Are they known fighters? Yeah. Wow. The flyweight is a short record.

I don't know, 5'3, but the heavy, they're super heavyweight. Wow. He's debut in the NBA. So it's open-way... He used to fight in another competition, I guess, judo. So is it an open-weight tournament or just a fight? One fight? Just a fight.

Wow. Is that the main event? It's crazy, yeah. That's incredible. Is that going to be on TV? No. Oh. And...

Fortunately, it's one. Is that sanctioned? Like, will the Brazil commission okay that? No, it's not. No. The Brazilian Commission only works with the UFC. When they started working with the UFC, I asked them if they would regulate sanction the other events. And the basics said, if they want to, if they pay the costs and everything, they would do that.

But I believe it's too expensive for this small show. So they just do the fight and that's okay. So everyone else, jungle fights, all the promotions, they don't work with this commission. No, nobody. That's interesting. That's very interesting. All right, Gamer. There are other commissions in Brazil.

I guess there are maybe three or four. Everybody can create these own commission in Brazil. I can start one if I want. Really? Maybe we'll start one together. Maybe that's the next thing you're going to do after you break all these stories. Saturday and assay store. All right.

Well, we've got a lot of work to get to. Again, it's great to have you on the team. this man's Twitter handle is G-U-I-C-R-U-ZZZ. Why three Z-Z, by the way? Because one Z already existed, so how to put three. Why not just two?

Two's kind of weird, right? Yeah. Two seems like it's a mistake. Sleeping, yeah. Yeah, okay. Well, you are not sleeping on the job, at least in your first week. Keep up the great work.

So great to have you on their team, and we will talk to you many more times here on the M-M-A hour. Thank you, my friend. There he is. Guilermé Cruz coming at us from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Great to have him. Like I said, if you haven't been on the site for the last two days, the man is, he's on fire. He's talking about Anderson Silva training with Chuck Norris and Sensei Segal. And it's nice to see that everything's okay between Anderson and Sensei, because I didn't want to bring it up. Let's be honest, it seems like when the going got tough, Sensei got going. You know what I mean? And not that, not that direction. Not in the direction of the adversity, the other direction. I mean, where was he? Fight night, he's sitting, you know, the front row, kind of taking it all in with Mike Tyson and company.

If Sensei comes back on the show, I might have a bone or two to pick with him. I'm just going to throw that out there. But apparently, Anderson Silva said in an interview in Brazil, a radio interview, that he's now bringing in Chuck Norris. Now I'm starting to question Anderson. Anyway, other stories that he broke about, Jose Aldo's foot, and great stuff from Dos Santos about Cormier, Bibiano Fernandez, Hennon Barrao, Aldo with the Kidney Stones. Tons of stuff coming out of my man, Guillermo, good times over at MMA fighting.

Check out his work. Check him out on Twitter as well. Moving along, World Series of Fighting Number 4, as I mentioned, is coming up this weekend. That's the big show this weekend in the world of mixed martial arts. There's no UFC. A rare off weekend for the UFC here this summer as they continue. August 17th, of course, then August 28th, and then August 31st. And we are rapidly approaching, by the way, the debut of Fox Sports 1, the whole channel. If you're listening to this overseas,

this is a very big deal in the United States here. An entire channel is being launched, and this is the first network that a lot of people think could at some point threaten ESPN. Obviously, it's not going to happen tomorrow. It's not going to happen next week, next month, two months, but they are coming at, you know, the public, the sports fan, the Joe sports fan, very strong. And in my opinion, they need to accentuate the UFC. They need to really, you know, when it comes to their nightly sports center show, Fox Sports Live, when it comes to other programming, they need to push the UFC as much as possible because that's one of the few things they have that ESPN doesn't have. That's really going to differentiate them from ESPN.

So Fox Sports One launches August 17th, and a huge part of it all is the big UFC show that also launches on that day. And then there'll be Wednesday nights, UFC tonight will be on Fox Sports 1. And of course, Fuel TV is also going to become Fox Sports 2 also on August 17th. So on the first day, on Saturday, August 17th, at 4.30, I believe there'll be a new ultimate insider. then at 5 to 6 p.m. Eastern time, there'll be a one-hour pre-fight show, then the prelims, then a six-fight main card, and the prelims and main card all on Fox Sports 1, you don't have to change the channel. And then at 11 will be the debut of Fox Sports Live, their version of SportsCenter. Of course, next week we'll talk a whole lot more about that.

But as I was mentioning earlier, World Series of Fighting Returns on Saturday, Tyrone Spung versus Angel DeAnda, And one of the big fights on the card is a bout between Brandon Hempelman and our next guest, Mr. Marlon Morais. Marlon, how are you? Good, man. Hello. Everything good, man. You know, I just came from your home country of Brazil. I was there just over the weekend for UFC 163.

When was the last time you lived in Brazil? I went there last year in June last year. But when did you officially leave there and were no longer. living there? Living. I used to live there since I was born, you know, until my 22 years. 22 years I moved to the United States. Now, how do you feel about Asahi?

Because I had Asai over there. I had it six times in 72 hours. I loved it so much with the granola, with the banana. Do you love it as much as me? Because I think it's the greatest thing that has ever been created. Thank you, man. Thank you to remember me about that. You know, now I'm catching away.

Oh, shit. What an asshole. But, man, I wish, man. Asa'i is awesome, you know. It's very, man. I love asa'i, man. That was very insensitive on my part, wasn't it? I'm sorry.

Sorry for bringing it up. Why did you leave Brazil? Why did you come to the United States? Looking for opportunity, you know. I started, I was fighting over there, kickboxing. I had some MMA fights there. And Edson Barbosa, my train partner. my friend, he invites me to come here, you know, to try, man, to try, fight and try, you know, and

thanks God, I came here, and now I'm good, you know, I'm fighting, I have a place to fight, you know, I'm so happy, you know. Do you feel like you are a better fighter because you live in the United States, you train with the people that you do, as opposed to, had you stayed in Brazil, you would have developed, you would have been a fighter, but maybe not as good as the fighter you are today. Do you honestly believe that? Yeah, man, I think come here to the United States, help me a lot, you know, on my game, on my skills. I'm improving a lot, man.

I think it's very important for me at this change, you know. What's it like being a member of World Series of Fighting? You know, you've won twice for them. You've looked fantastic, better in every fight. You're really considered one of their true prospects, true stars, et cetera, but you don't fight in the UFC. So you tell people what you do for a living. You try to get your name out there. not fighting for the premier organization in our sport. Is that hard?

In Brazil, yeah, man. People don't know. You know, the orchestras of fighting over there. But for me, man, I'm happy, you know. It's okay, man. I'm going to keep fighting. I'm happy. I'm doing what I love to do. And it doesn't matter, man, where I'm fighting, you know, I'm happy. Just looking for opportunities and keep doing what I love to do, you know. They treat you well over there at World Series of Fighting? Yeah, man, very good, man. They are awesome people, you know. Very, very, very good, Ali and Ray Seffo, all those guys, you know, all great guys.

Watching you fight, especially in, you know, your last two with World Series of Fighting, especially in the Miguel Torres fight because it was a longer one, it really looks like you're the 135-pound version of Frankie Edgar. Your style, the way you move, the way you box, very similar to Frankie Edgar. Do you agree with that? I'm learning with him, you know. He's teaching me. me almost every day. And hopefully that I can do something that he does, you know. He's a great

fighter and we as a fighters, we got to look up to those fighters like Frankie, like all those guys, you know, those good fighters. How did you link up with him? Edson came here to train with Frankie for Ben Anderson and he said for Frankie about me and Frankie, oh, okay, man, bring this guy here. Let's see, man. He does, you know. And Mark Henry, you know, he said, man, you're sure. You're sure about this guy.

You're sure. And Edison said, no, man, he's good, man. You're going to like him. And I came here, me and Edson, we train with Frankie for Ben Anderson's second fight, and then we keep training, you know, and it's, man, unbelievable, man. Everything here is very good. Ricardo Almeida, Frankie, Mark Aaron. Brian Blue, they're all great guys, man.

They have a nice team, you know. They are like a family. Like my used to team in Brazil and my city, Navafribu. It was small, but we were like a family, you know. I'm so happy, man, with there. So Mark Henry, Frankie Edgar's boxing coach, the Pizza Man, as I like to call him, he didn't believe in you. He didn't think that you were good enough to train with Frankie?

Yeah. Wow. The first time that Edison said for him. But my first train, he, he spoke with me you impressed me I wasn't expecting for I wasn't expecting for you like that

you know So was that for the second Benson fight or the first Benson fight? Second fight The second fight but just two weeks You know Just a short time So you've only really been with them for a year Yeah

Almost I think more than a year, no Well the second Benson fight was in August It was actually a year from like tomorrow or something. We are together for a year. That's it, man. Awesome.

Happy one-year anniversary. I'm sorry? Happy one-year anniversary. Felice compiliano. Thank you, man. Thank you. And, you know, it's interesting. When you made your World Series of Fighting debut,

it was just a couple of months, a couple days after Hurricane Sandy, right? Yeah, man. I was a crazy situation. I had to catch weight and have no work. to go to train. I train here, man, where I am now, you know, inside the room. And I didn't have the flight to go out there to Vegas.

And I flew out there Thursday. I got there. I got there Thursday night, like 12. And I had the waiting on a day after in the fight. It was everything like crazy, you know, a lot of rush. So how bad was it where you were living? Was it flooded? where were, you know, trees down, where the house is getting ruined?

Yeah, a couple trees down. No too many water here, but couple places. But it wasn't too bad here, man. But by the water was worse. And you couldn't leave, so you had to actually train in your house, cut weight in your house? Yeah, I trained at the house for one week. Wow. How tough was that?

It was tough, you know, but I always say for my wife. wife, as tough as the fight, as better will be the win, you know. When we get ready, as hard as the train, as better as going to be when you get your hand raising. So you beat Miguel Torres, and then you come back, and you fight Tyson Nam, who had knocked out the Belator 1-35-pound champion in August of last year.

And it felt like this was his kind of big showcase fight. He signs the World Series of fighting. There was kind of a bidding war for him. And you beat him up. him up very well. You finished him. Do you feel like now after finishing Tyson and that you're getting the respect that you deserve in the MMA community or not yet? I think I'm getting there, you know. I'm getting better. I'm learning and one day I'm going to get my spot, but I think I'm just a young guy trying to fight and entertain the people, you know,

and I think one day I'm going to get my spot right there, but now I'm looking for. Do you think that you'll only get your respect, the respect that you deserve, if you go to the UFC or do you think that you can get that respect while fighting for World Series of fighting? I don't know, man. I think it's something that the people got to say.

I cannot say that, you know. I think it doesn't matter where you are to you be respected. A lot of Bellator fights, a lot of other fights that are not fighting in the UFC, they do have the respect, you know. Yeah, but when you watch guys like Hannah Burow and Dominic Cruz,

all these guys that went through five, you feel like you're ready to fight those guys you're on their level i want to fight with them you know of course i think i am man i i just need to be fighting with those guys you know uh i want to man fight with these guys and i'm just going to get better training to be fighting with these guys and fighting with them what do you know about brandon hempelman who he'll be facing on saturday he's a tough guy you know tough fighter bring the fight he walks forward he like to fight. Like me, man, it's going to be a great fight, you know.

We both are ready. Let's go there, man. Fight, you know. We are ready. I don't think we have a lot of things to talk right now. Now we got to do. We've got to go there and fight, man, and show forward all those people who we are, you know. That's it.

And are you officially staying in New Jersey? Are you never leaving, at least for now? Is this your home? I live in Florida, but I came here for Frank. I live in Florida, but I'm more here than in Florida, man. Right, Jupiter, Florida, right? No, Palm Beach Gardens. Oh, were you once, or you were training in Jupiter?

No, no. What am I talking about? I used to live there in Jupiter. Okay, you did. All right, right, right, right. With Edson, right? Yeah, yeah. So you go back and forth, you don't want to move to New Jersey.

You don't think that that's better for you? I don't know, man. I got to figure out, man. A lot of things to think about. Yeah. You're still a young guy, though. You have some time. Yeah, I have a lot of time to think about this stuff. How many more fights do you have left on your contract?

I think we have two fights. All right. Do you think after this fight, two including this one, right? Mm-hmm. Oh, so that time is coming where you have to talk to them about the money situation. Yeah. Yeah. That should be fun. Yeah. Well, if you need any tips or anything like that, let me know,

because, you know, maybe I can tell you about how to, you know, get the respect that you deserve from World Series. I'm not saying that they're not giving you the respect, but, you know, to get what you're deserving. Thank you, man. I will. And then we could celebrate with some assayee. Yeah, yeah, after the fight. After the fight, after the fight. Marlon, great to have you on the show.

Good luck to you on Saturday against Brandon Huffman, NBC Sports Network. We look forward to it, and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you, man. It's my pleasure to be here with you guys and have a good day. get programmed for you guys. There he is. One of the best 135 pound fighters in the world. Marlon Marais

who, as I mentioned, faces Brandon Hempelman this Saturday World Series of Fighting for NBC Sports Network. The other fights on the card are as follows. Tyrone Spung versus Angel DeAnda, Dave Huckabba versus Ray Sefo.

Ray Sefo taking that leave of absence as president of World Series of Fighting to return to the cage, return to action to fight Dave Huckaba. Kian Caldwell versus Nick Newell, we'll be hearing from Nick Newell in a bit. And J. Z. Cavalcante versus Tyson Griffin, that's the main card.

Undercard, Gerald Harris versus George Santiago. And yesterday, Ali Abdel-Ziz, the matchmaker for World Series Fighting, said that the winner of that fight would probably go on to face John Fitch next, which is interesting, the winner of that fight, will go on to face John Fitch, who's coming off a loss.

Antonio McKee on the undercard, Lou Pauly, Jared Papazian. A nice offering from World Series of Fighting, and it's good that they're not on a UFC weekend. Last time they were the night before... Last time they were the night before UFC 161. Well, 161 wasn't the greatest show of all time. Actually, the Berkman win kind of overshadowed it in a crazy sense.

It does seem to me like they need to find non-UFC weekends. A lot of that has to do with NBC Sports Network and what works for their schedule. Their next show is September, and I believe their next show is the night of Yom Kippur, which is

the holiest of Jewish holidays. Yeah, September 14th, World Series of Fighting Five in New Jersey. I was actually considering going to that one, checking it out my first WSOF show, but on the holiest of the holy to put an MMA event. And the UFC has done this as well, they most famously did it recently, UFC 103, Belford versus Rich Franklin.

But yeah, if that is the case, and I believe it is, I will probably have to pass. A lot of you making fun of my assayi addiction, if you've never tried it, you probably don't know. That's all I can say. Oh, what's the big deal? It's just, the best I can describe it is it's kind of frozen yogurt meets Italian ice. you know what I'm saying? A little blueberry-ish slash raspberry-ish.

Then you put the granola to give it that crunchy texture. Honestly, I could do a two-hour show just talking about it. I'm almost getting like a little hot under the collar thinking about it, so maybe we should get off. It's just unbelievable.

It's really the only reason why I wanted to go to Brazil. I really care about Aldo v. Zambi. I mean, Machita Davis didn't really do much for me. But to get the essay, was something else. And how about, should we even address it while we're trying to get D.C.? Since I'm talking about UFC 163, how about Mama Halwani?

Mama Halwani, this is an amazing thing. When 4-0 for UFC on Fox 8, when 4-0, we already established that. UFC 163, she goes 4-1. Her lone mistake was Phil Davis and Machita, but here's the interesting part. I kid you not, I have the emails. I have the proof. She gave me her picks, and I said, not bad picks, I disagree with two of them. I thought Machita was going to win, and I thought Tom Watson was going to win.

And I said, just for the record, I disagree with those two. So then she changed her pick from Phil Davis to Machita. Why did she listen to me? I don't know. But had she not listened to me, she would be. 10 and 0, no, 9 and 0, because we only did four fights for the Fox card. 9 and 0, my mother knows more than all of you combined, including that Jabroni, New York Rick in the back. It's true.

That's pretty impressive to go 9 and 0, and officially we're going to call it 8 in 1, but she had the Phil Davis pick. And how many people, honestly, how many people had Phil Davis going into that fight? Very few, if any. I don't know, many people, I thought a lot of people were picking Tom Watson, although I found that afterwards, that Talaslides was the favorite. Slight favorite. Very, very slight. Still, it seemed like the general consensus was in favor of Tom Watson.

Maybe I was just, you know, reading the wrong stuff. That's very impressive. She won't be doing World Series of Fighting this weekend, but she'll return for UFC on Fox Sports One. We're not using lines. That's true. But maybe it's time a lot of you start paying attention to Mama Halwani. Mama knows.

Mama knows what's up. Eight and one. When's the last time York Rick went eight and one? When's the last time he put his neck on the line and picked someone like Phil Davis against Machita?

I don't remember it. I mean, sure. He picked Jason High and put the house on him, but, you know, that's not Phil Davis. Similar fighter to a degree,

but not quite. Oh. I'll remind you that... Yeah, there you are. Gilbert Melendez. Yeah. was a two and a half to one dog what was Phil Davis you don't even have it you don't even have the information say again what was turned down the speakers I couldn't hear what was Phil Davis

I think he was similar to that maybe a three to one dog something like that um so it was more impressive yeah yeah yeah um but yeah I did put it all on uh Gilber Melendez if you if you remember and some would say he won that fight uh some would say but guess what? Phil Davis won the fight, and I screwed it up. She'd be undefeated. You have to be impressed. By the way, where is Daniel Cormier? Having trouble on Skype trying to find him, but... We could do phone. We're still at it. No, no, no, no. You might have stepped away for a second.

Oh, wow, I'm getting a lot of texts here. Oh, wait. What is he talking about? It has to be phone. You got to call him on the phone. Okay, cool. Um My only 13% My mom's telling me right now

Only 13% pick Phil Davis She writes Mama knows what's up Although she spelled knows wrong She spelled it K-N-O-WS It should be Mama N-O-S-E Phil Davis is claiming that I gave him the wrong time

But I don't think that's accurate Let's see, let's go back Yeah 1045 1045 a.m. Pacific time. Yeah, his name is Daniel Cormier. What am I talking about? I'm thinking about Phil Davis. I'm thinking about Leonardo Machita.

Of course, we're talking about Daniel Cormier. Daniel Cormier returns to action. UFC 166, Houston, Texas. Gents Roy Nelson. A lot of bad blood there. Uncle Tom this. Uncle Tom that. Talking about cutting the line this.

Talking about out of shape. John Jones. There's a lot to get to a Daniel Cormier, who's doing a fantastic job, by the way, as a fuel TV analyst on the post-fight shows, the weigh-in shows, all that stuff. And his name has been coming up a lot. Not so much when talking about this fight in Houston on October 19th. Last week on the World Tour, John Jones has been asked a lot about Daniel Cormand.

I thought some of the things that he said about D.C. were very interesting. And he touched on it a little bit on the post-fight show, saying that John Jones kind of sounds like a 16-year-old girl, but wanted to get him on to expand a little bit, and to talk about the Nelson fight, because it was talked about for quite some time, and it seemed like for a second we might not get it after Roy Nelson lost, after he became a free agent,

but we are getting it, and what's interesting about it was, Cormier told me that he wanted to be lower on the card. He wanted to maybe open the pay-per-view so that he can be with Kane Velasquez in the main event, come around, do his fight, chill for a little bit with Kormier and then with

Kane Velasquez and then go out and you know corner him in that fight. Unfortunately for him, he's in the co-main event and I wonder if he'll be able to turn it around. When Velasquez fought in December he was doing the Fuel TV stuff

wearing dress pants and dressed shoes did it then went down, cornered Kane and then went back up to do his thing on TV. Pretty impressive. do we have Mr. Cormier Yeah, I'm here

Oh, there he is So you're claiming You're claiming that I gave you the wrong time But I just looked at my initial message to you And it was at this time So what do you got to say? I think that we're running a rinky big organization Over here at the MMA office

So what's It's been in the wrong times and everything I don't know what's going on over there We've got to have a talk with the higher ups Yeah, that's what I think So we'll only have 10 minutes you got to go to train in 10 minutes? No, no, no, no.

We have time. I just need to be at the gym. I have to drive. I mean, I go in at around 1110, 1115, but I just need to be driving while I'm on the way there. Well, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Last week, John Jones was asked about you, Daniel. I want to play this clip, and I want to get your response.

Let's get into it. Here's John Jones talking about our man, D.C. last week in Los Angeles. DC is a... is a guy who really wants to be famous. I don't think he wants to work hard. I think he just wants to be famous. You can see in his physique, you can see in his cardio. That, you know, I mean, he's trying to get his Twitter followers up.

Do you think saying that he's now knowing he could cut to 205 is a statement about, yeah, he's focused to make that cut and get a shape? I hate him questions about him. He's just not relevant to me. You know what I mean? There's so many great fighters in the Light Heavyweight Division. He's not even top five in his division. I'm not sure if he is.

He has like $20,000 Twitter followers. He has short-reach, bad cardio. He looked terrible in his last fight. He's like, I'm not worried about him at all. Did you guys have an altercation at the M.M.A Awards, I think, it was? He had an out of discussion with me. I didn't even know who him and his friend was at the time. So, I mean, obviously they're doing interviews about it.

It was a bigger deal to them than it ever was to me. Never will be to me. So there you have it. First off, he says you have 20,000 Twitter followers at last check you have around 58,000 talks about your cardio, all this other stuff. When you heard that from John Jones, what was your reaction?

It's almost shocking. You know, that someone in his position could be so petty. It was almost like, wow, like, I mean, we're adults, you know, like three points that I'm going to make here. Okay, first, Twitter follower.

He made mention of that two times in his statement. What? I don't understand. what that really plays into an actual fight. I mean, that doesn't really make much sense in a fight. Two, how would you

like to be John Jones's friend? Because he says that Frank Mears is his friend, but he said, I look terrible in his fight, and I still beat his friend. So basically, what are you saying about your friend? You know, and third, I mean, it's just also like, it's just like, again, it's like petty, you know, it's like,

answer the question, and get through with it. You know, he never completely answered the question. Do you want to fight me or do you not want to fight me? That's the question. You know, and on that whole M.A. I've gone out of my way not to address that situation. I didn't say anything about it.

It was the sponsor, you know, who was there. I didn't say anything about that. People have asked me about that for years, and I always go out and nothing happened, you know, because I figured after we had talked, you know, everything had gotten squared away, obviously it did. Do you want to address it now? No, I mean, it's pointless. You know what I mean?

What happened? It all goes back to that statement. You know, I don't know who the person is. You know what? It's all, it's just, he, he's kind of a different person. He's a different type of guy, you know what I mean? He's a different type of guy. That's really all I'm going to say about it.

You know, it's when you start having, when you start coming in contact with him, it actually becomes a little more difficult to deal with. I'm not a 26-year-old guy, 25-year-old guy, however old he is. You know, and I'm not going to be, you know, I kind of was a little immature last weekend when I said he sounds like a kid. You know, I'm not going to get back to that. I'm not doing that. But the truth of the matter is, we're going to fight, you know, at some point,

we both got fights to get through first, but we're going to fight at some point, and then all these things are going to have to be answered. John Jones, to sit there and say that he doesn't know if I'm in the top of my division and all that. That's a lie. It's a bone-faced lie. He obviously knows because he knows how many Twitter followers I have. He's paying attention. I mean, it's a complete contradiction.

Like, what is this kid doing? I don't understand exactly. He goes, I don't know. He's irrelevant to me, but you know exactly how many Twitter. problem as I have. It's like, come on, dude. It's like, God, is that Iowa Central Community College education.

Wow. So do you think that deep down he actually wants to fight you and he's trying to build something up here? I would hope so. I would hope so. I would hope that John's like, I hope that he's getting smart and saying, you know what, it seems like it's going to happen. It seems like it's going to happen.

So I might as well start building it now. I mean, and hopefully we can make a ton of money when the fight happens. I hope that now he's, like, looking forward in his career and starting to build somebody's fight that he may have. But guess what? If him and I don't win our next fight, it really doesn't matter. I mean, truth be told, we've got to win our next fight, you know. And me personally, I've got the most dangerous guy that I've ever fought in front of me on October 19.

So if John wants to go and look past Alexander Gustafson, go ahead and John have fun. I'm going to go ahead and focus on Roy Nelson. This will be the last time I talk about John Jones, his pettiness, his immaturity, and everything. else. So, ask me the questions now because this is it. As I move into my training camp, I'm only talking about Roy Nelson because he deserves respect. He's a tough fighter, and he's an adult. He's not a kid. Do you feel like John has crossed the line talking about, you know, physique, things that I try to put you down? Like, has he made this personal, or is this all part of the game?

I think it's part of the game. I mean, I've never came out and said that I'm the most ripped guy in MMA. I'm not. You know, I haven't cut weight in years. I haven't tried to cut weight in years. I haven't tried to diet in years. I've been, I, I clean it up a little bit when I'm in training camp, but I haven't really made an effort to, to try and, and be the most, uh, ripped guy, you know, but, um, that, that stuff doesn't bother me. That type of stuff doesn't bother, you know, I just, I just don't want, I just don't like, you know, like, um, you know, saying stuff like, I'm trying to, to just be famous. I don't want to work hard. Yeah. He hasn't spent, he hasn't spent a day in the gym with me. He doesn't know what I do in the gym.

doesn't know my schedule. Nobody does. You know, I know that I'm training. And it takes a big, a big, it takes a big, it's a big statement to say that about someone that's accomplished the things that I've accomplished. You don't, you don't get out of Louisiana where there's no wrestling all the way up to becoming the two-time Olympian without being able to work hard. Louisiana isn't known for its wrestling. So obviously I'm working hard. And, you know, this whole thing started with John and I. back in 2010, I had just started fighting.

And, you know, I was in the back at Brock Lesnar versus Kane Velasquez's fight. And just out of nowhere, you know, he walked up to him, and he's kind of looking around me, and he goes, you look like a wrestler, right? Just kind of said that to me out of nowhere. And he said, and then he proceeded to say, I said, yeah, I'm probably the best wrestler you've seen. He proceeds to say He proceeds to say Well, maybe

He said He proceeds to say something like Get cauliflower on your other side And maybe you can get a take down against me I'm like that you don't even know me Wow That's like the weirdest thing Like that's the type of thing that I'm like

Well, what is he doing? I don't understand you know And I'm like well if you were this good wrestler When you were in high school boy I was on the Olympic team You're supposed to know you're Olympians And this is where this whole thing whole thing started. And we discussed that, and I thought we were done with it. But obviously

we're not. And for the record, if that was Kane v. Brock, that was UFC 121, and he won the belt at 128. So he wasn't even the champion. He wasn't even King of the Hill. Dude, I had just started. I mean, I had just started. I would not have expected John Jones to know who I was, but I would not have expected him to actually say that to someone who didn't even really know. You don't just randomly pick a person. person and start talking to them, like just start talking shit to them. It doesn't really make much sense. It seems like a lot of the bad blood does, or some of it, stem from this World

MMA Awards altercation. If this is really going to be the... It's not even that. It's not even that. It's not even that. My whole deal was just... That, that, that, that's like... In that instance, in that instance, I thought John and I had a respectful conversation. Uh-huh. But it was the other thing.

It was at that thing. You know, and that whole thing started kind of a snowball effect. You know, if you go back and look at Twitter, I said something about it, and then Ben Astrin got on him, and then King Moe got on him, and then everybody kind of dumped on him from making that statement, and, you know, he kind of played it off as if he didn't know who I was at the time. Well, even if you didn't know who I was, you don't just go out and just disrespect someone.

But if this is going to be the last time you talk about him, Why don't we just clear the air and get your side of the MMA Awards altercation? I'm not talking about that. Like I said, it's irrelevant. You know, obviously didn't mean much to him. It did mean a lot to me because in that instance, I gained some respect for him. I thought we had a respectful conversation and got some stuff figured out. It was positive.

I thought we got some stuff figured out. By the end of our conversation, it wasn't some sort of big fight where we're screaming and yelling at each other. It was not that. It was too grown. been talking. Obviously, I had the wrong interpretation of it. Do you notice that sometimes he talks about you or sends a message to you

via Twitter, but never mentions your name or, like, mentions your initials, but doesn't, you know, at you, do you ever notice that a response to something that you say, but kind of vaguely, but we know it's about something that you've recently said. You notice that? Well, it's like with Twitter and everything,

you can't hide that stuff. But you can't put something up. A fan will screenshot it immediately, and then give to the other person. I'm always seeing that type of stuff. I don't get that either. I'm like, well, you have something to tell me, just tell me. Like, just tell me because I would tell you. Right. You know, and I would tell you if I had something

to say to you. And every time I have made a statement about that, man, I always do, either directly, tweet him or I say it in these interviews, and I name him by name. So it's like, I don't necessarily understand why he doesn't do that. Listen, I've only praised John Jones' fighting ability and everything's accomplished. The other stuff I think is a little, it's a little childish. When you read those comments, when you see the videos, all that,

how much does that piss you off? Like, I could see you in your house just, you know, walking back and forth. I get the sense that he really dislikes me a lot more than I dislike him. Oh, really? Interesting. Why do you think that is? Why do you think that is? I don't know.

Maybe that's something about me that John just does not like. Because even when they ask him questions, he gets this look of the scuff of his face. Yeah. Like, I cannot stand this guy, and I don't know. So, I will see, you know. Do you think she... Eventually, eventually our pads will cross, you know, whether it be for the belt or if he loses the belt and I lose,

and we end up just fighting somewhere. We're going to fight eventually, you know. It doesn't necessarily have to just be for the title. Obviously, we'd love it to be for the title, but if he gets beat or I get beat or, you know, somebody's a champion and we're fighting the number one contenders fight, there's going to be a time when him and I fight, and everything will get hashed out.

And you know what? I'm a realist. I'm a realist. I know that that is a very tough fight for me. But that's another reason I would like to do it. You know, I want to challenge myself against the best. I'm getting to do that in the U.S.C. right now, and I'm going to continue to do that. Based on those reactions, do you think John Jones fears you?

No. I don't think fear when I think of guys like John Jones and when Anderson Silva didn't want to fight Chris Weidman. I don't think of fear when you think of those guys. Those guys aren't afraid of anybody. they're the best fighters in the world. You know, we talk about boxers and kickboxes, and those guys are great, but they can't beat those, they can't beat those guys in a full-on fight. MMA is the closest thing.

That's a full-on fight. You know, where you can take people out, or you can grapple them. These guys are the best fighters in the world. There is no fear. John Jones is not afraid of me by no, I'm not going to, no mistake, make no mistake about it. That guy is not afraid of me. He's not afraid of anybody. I just know that there's a, he's a, he's,

has a real dislike for me. So you said recently that you want to cut the line if you beat Roy Nelson at UFC 166. How confident are you that the UFC will actually grant this request? I mean, I was pretty confident until the tool glover that if he wins, he's getting the title out, you know, so maybe I'm not so confident anymore. I probably going to end up having a fight at 205. I think which was the thing that was misunderstood area was that I said I was going to ask. Right.

How many times have we been told no in our entire life? We get told no all the time. Right. So if I ask and they say no, okay, no skin off my back, but what's the Harmon asking? What if I was to ask and they go, okay, D.C., you got the fight? Well, good. How can I can go start training for a championship fight? But if they say no, then they just say no.

It's no Harmon asking. When I was growing up, I ask for stuff all the time for my mom and got told no. No, I'm just asking the UFC for something. If they say, yeah, great. If they say no, then, okay, I just keep plugging away. I got to fight at 205. I'm not opposed to fighting that 205. I just would like to fight for the belt.

Who doesn't want to fight for the belt if you're a competitor? But if they say no, you are still going down to 205 regardless after this fight, right? Yes, that's it. I'm going to fight at 205 regardless in my next fight after I fight Roy. Now, you know, I mean, they promised guys tell shots before. I mean, A, Ryan Bader could win. B, he may not look impressive. It's still not, you know, out of the realm of possibility that you do get the next

title shot. You shouldn't lose all hope if you ask me. Yeah, I know. But, again, you know, I've got to get my focus, you know, my focus shifts right now to Roy Nelson. I mean, I do, he's dangerous. You know, I know, even though it may seem as though, you know, I'm looking at John and the belt. When in reality, I'm really looking at that belt, not even really, John. I just want to fight for the belt.

But Roy Nelson's the most dangerous guy I've ever fought in my entire career. He can knock me out with one punch. And I'm fully aware of that. More dangerous than Barnett, Bigfoot, all those guys? Because they don't have that one-punch knockout power. Those guys weren't going to just knock me out. You know, Barnett could have caught me with a submission. Meir could have called me with a submission.

But I knew going into that fight that I would be able to stay out of those positions. Like with Meir, I knew that I could just keep him standing. You know, with other guys, I kind of knew. with Barnett, I knew that I can, you know, I know how to grapple. You know, I've been grappling my whole life when it comes to wrestling, so I knew I'd be able to probably stay out of submissions, like an ankle lock or something. And he almost got me with it anyway. But with Roy, man, it takes one punch.

And it's not even just his overhand right. You know, he's got a nasty uppercut, nice left hook. He's strong. He's a good grappler. He can take me down and get on top of me and crucifix me and elbow me like he did everybody on the ultimate. fight it. There's so many ways for me to lose this Roy Nelson fight that my focus needs to be completely on him. So this whole thing started when you told me that

you wanted to... Well, actually, they offered you a title shot, a title shot, a fight against Roy Nelson, but it was on too short notice. You weren't medically cleared UFC 161. Then Roy called you out for it. That pissed you off. You said you want to kick his ass and you want to kick his ass for Dana White. Then at UFC 161, he said my friends would call that an Uncle Tom move. Was that offensive to you? A lot of people got all heated, a lot of people got all up in arms, were you bothered by that comment?

That's obviously a controversial thing to say about someone. I would have been offended for any of my friends, you know, like whether it had been something racist or racial towards one of my Asian friends or my Spanish friends. I would have been offended in that sense for everyone. But in a general sense, I mean, it's a little disappointed. morning, but it wasn't that big a deal. You know, I think it just kind of feels the fire. You know, Roy and I seem to be like a soap opera, daytime soap opera. It's fun, no.

You know, with Nelson, I actually respect Nelson. You know, because he has real quick, he's real quick with it. You know, he always comes back with nice little snappy comebacks, and it's good. You know, I don't mind that. I think Roy's a smart guy, you know, so outside of that, that deal, nothing that he said is a it really

it doesn't really piss me off I mean obviously I didn't like him saying that I turned down a fight because I'll never turn down a fight I'll fight but I just couldn't my hand was still a little jacked up

from the mirror fight you know so the timing wasn't right but now it's happening anyway so it works out perfect and I also get the real Roy Nelson I don't get the Roy Nelson

that fought last time that took the fight on short notice because generally Roy isn't pretty good shape Well, it doesn't normally just gas in the cage. You know, he's a dangerous fighter for 15 minutes. Because you don't finish him. He doesn't get finished, so you know you're going to be fighting for 15 minutes most times,

and he's always coming forward. So I respect my opponent a ton. My focus is shifted now, and I'm ready to start training in Roy. You know, I mean, I got two weeks now where I'm in my two-week pre-camp, and then I start my eight-week fight camp in a couple weeks. What's the difference between pre-camp and fight camp? just getting my body used to go into practice twice a day. Maybe not as the intensity isn't as high, but I'm in the gym more.

I'm doing more jiu-jitsu. Like Monday I did ice spart and everything in the morning. Then I went at night and did a little aeron workout whereas I may not have pushed myself as hard, but I was in there doing it. And right after that, I threw my ghee on and Kay and I did jiu-jitsu for about 30 minutes, 45 minutes, just rolling around drilling. And then last night just going in and hitting the heavy bag. and getting a nice little short run in after wrestling in the morning.

So then tonight, you know, I'm going to do a little bit of a strict and conditioning with my strength coach. And, you know, tomorrow night I'm going to take the night off. You know, just kind of starting to prepare my body in the next couple weeks, harden it to the point that I'm ready once I start my camp. Because most guys actually try and go real hard from like zero to 100, and that's when people get hurt. You know, so I got to make sure that I got to make sure. that I'm healthy and feeling good when I start my fight camp because it's so important.

You know, we're a professional athlete and we need to treat ourselves as such. Just a couple more things, and then we'll let you go. What are you going to do about King Moe? He's a good friend of yours. He trains with Roy Nelson. What role will he play in this fight? I don't know. You know, I haven't spoken to more about that.

I think it would be unfair of me to ask him to change his, to change his training situation. You know what I? I don't know if, I don't know if that would be fair. But I haven't even really spoken to him about it. As we get closer, maybe we'll have a talk, but, you know, I don't know if it's fair for me to ask him to change his training situation because Roy is there for him.

Yeah. And that would be a little unfair, I guess. He knows you very well. You'd be okay with him training Roy to fight you? Um, you know, I haven't really thought about it. You know, it's something I've actually purposely blocked out. Because, you know, Moore and I, we've been knowing each other since 1999, you know, like in college. And our relationship kind of is a little bit bigger than this whole MMA thing, you know?

We've been through a lot together when I heard that my daughter got killed in 2003. Mo was at my house for a barbecue. So it's like our relationship's a little bit different. I think him, and he's really. He's a loyal person to a fault, so maybe he wouldn't want to do it. I'm not sure. You know, maybe I'll hear something and hear something later. But if I know Mo, I'm pretty sure he'll probably just distance himself from the whole situation.

And how does this affect Kane in the sense that you are fighting in the Co-main event? Will you have enough time? I mean, of course, win or lose, that's not the big issue, but if you get banged up, at this point, are you just kind of figuring you won't be in his corner for that fight? Who's that? Kane Velasquez, yeah, because he's funny. Kane, you know, the crazy thing is, you know, we were discussing this the other day. I was like, hey, you know, I'm not sure this is going to work out.

You know, I've got a tough fight on my hands, and maybe we could find someone else to try and get in your corner. And he's like, you know, I think Plan A needs to let's try and see what we can do. You know, he has a lot of confidence in what I see in the fight. from a wrestling perspective, and he would hope that I could get out there with him. So that's your plan as well? I mean, I would like to try. I'm not sure it's even possible

because I'm pretty sure I'm going to be banged up. I've got a tough fight on my hands, man. And how about Junior Dos Santos saying you're next because he's going to beat Kane? Yeah, he's not. So let's just say, Kane loses. Would you stick around in heavyweight and fight him?

Because you would be the number one contender, heavyweight. I'm going to go down to a 205 regardless. You know, not only do I want to go down and fight, you know, I think I want to, I want to live, you know, just kind of live healthier. I think now, you know, I've got kids and I'm just thinking about the future and everything, man. You know, like, I was a bigger guy, you know, I was heavier, and then now I got a new sponsor.

You know, that's helping with my diet and my nutrition. It's called Automatic Body, you know, and they send all my supplements. They've got me a cook. They've got me a chef. They've got me Kim Lyons from the biggest loser is like my nutritionist and everything. This whole company has taken an interest in me, and they've kind of opened my eyes to more of a healthier lifestyle. So 11 weeks from the fight now, I'm only weighing 230 pounds. You know, before I'd be 230, maybe two weeks before the fight because I'm such an intense camp.

Well, now I'm only 230, 231 pounds, and I'm not even in training camp. So with everything that happens, I think that they've opened my eyes to a healthier living, a healthier lifestyle. Like Mark Munoz. You know, Mark Munoz is the same thing. You know, he wasn't healthy when he was in his depression and everything. And one more key thing, Ariel, that I wanted to actually touch on before we did this. How long have people been telling me to go down to 205? Right?

That's a long time to have been saying. saying you should go down. Well, now I am doing it. But all these people, let's put a little bit of it on them, too. You know, why don't these fans and everybody else who have asked me to do it, why don't they do it with me? And we tweet photos, and the company, they've actually started a program. It's called Get Fit with Daniel Cormier.

And it's like Get Fit with Daniel Cormier.com or Get Fit with DC.com. And you can win prizes. They'll fly you to fight. they'll do one-on-one greens. All this stuff you can win by actually just doing the program with me because my big thing was, I've gotten this a lot from media,

from fans, from people within MMA, D.C., go down to 205. Well, now I actually want them to do it with me so that not only do I live a healthy lifestyle for my life and my kids, let's see everybody else do it around me too. The people that support me, let's see you guys all take this challenge with me,

and we'll all do it together and there'll be some pretty cool things for them on the backside of it. I'm actually looking at the website right now. It's either Get Fit WithD.C.com or Get Fit With Daniel Cormier.com. This is a great idea. Nice picture of you there. Olympic wrestler number two ranked UFC heavyweight.

Shocks the world by announcing his plans to drop 40 pounds and fight at light heavyweight. This is a brilliant idea. I love this. How can you bury this? You buried the lead, my friend. I'm sorry, dude. I just, it kind of hit me at the end. I just kind of, no, because I really want people, not all, I want people to do it with

You know, I'd like to see weekly photos of people actually losing weight, looking better, feeling better physically, because, you know, just as a country, people as a home, you know, we could probably live a healthier lifestyle, and they've really opened my eyes to it, man, and just waking up now and being lighter and being able to do more physically and having more energy, it's actually helped me already. Now, is it going to be easy to cut the 205? No, it's going to be very hard. I'm still pretty scared about it, honestly. But I think with this program, an automatic body and automatic MMA, I think they're going to make this process a little bit easier for me. And I just don't want Kim Lyons to treat me like she treated the people on the biggest moves in the first couple seasons. Okay, two last quick things.

When you fight Roy Nelson, October 19th, how much do you expect to weigh Friday before the fight? I'm just going to weigh in what I weigh, man. If I weigh, I mean, if I weigh 220, I weigh 22. If I weigh 225, I weigh 220. I weigh 2.30. I'm just going to weigh what I weigh because now I'm just going to get up in the morning. Like I said, be healthy and work hard and see what I weigh. I'm going to, but I am definitely, I have my eye on the division that I want to be in.

I know that I've got a tough, tough SOB in front of me that I need to be prepared for. You said this is the last time you're talking about John Jones. Is there anything else you want to say about the light heavyweight champion? No, man, I just want to focus on your fight. I'll focus on mine. Let's leave each other's name out of our mouth, and whenever the UFC decides to announce our fight, then we can trash-talk each other all we want.

All right. I'd like to see it. I want to see you cut the line. I think, I mean, it's a no-brainer. Of course, both of you have to win your fights. Even if you don't, heck, I think it's a great fight. I mean, you know, let's say things don't go well with Roy Nelson, you wouldn't be the first guy to get a title shot by changing weight classes.

And if things don't go well with John Jones, then it really would be an easy fight to make. Nevertheless, he has a big fight. you have a big fight. Always great to talk to you. Daniel, thank you for being so honest. Even though you wouldn't tell us the real story, what happened at the awards,

you gave us enough, and it was great to have you. It wasn't the award show. It was UFC 121. That was the issue. The award show, that was a time that we had a good conversation between two adult men.

Well, I didn't know about the 121 thing. So actually, you're right, better than anything I was expecting. Okay. Thank you, D.C. Good luck with the program here. This is a great website. get it out there to the people and good luck in training.

Always good to talk to you, my friend. Thank you. All right. There he is. Everyone's getting fit these days. New York Rick's getting fit. D.C.'s getting fit. Who else is getting fit?

You let us know. How are you doing with that, Mr. New York, Rick? Is he even there? I'm here. Oh. How are you doing with that? Maybe you should get on Get Fit with D.C. That could be your next project.

If I get any more fit, it's going to be... Oh, look at you. Look at you. No, I don't think I can do another program back to back. How much you weigh right now? About roughly 160. 160. So what do you think?

You lost 15 pounds, 20 pounds? 20 to 25 pounds. Dang. It'd be nice to get like a picture just of your face because I feel like you've lost a lot in your face. My face is up there. Or it was. No, no, no. Like a side-by-side before and after.

Oh, there's a before-and-after coming. No, I know that. But just like right now when I see you. you every time that you come up on the screen, it would be fun if the old New York Rick was up there as well. That would not be fun. It would just be, you know, because just to show, you know, just to show people. Well, that was interesting. Get fit with D.C. It seems like everyone's really interested in getting fit. It's good. This country can use it. So on the schedule, I had questions at 205 until 225, but now it's already 218. Yep. So maybe we'll just save that

for 305 after Conner 1,000. Gregor. Yep. But I wanted to ask you about UFC 163. Sure. Had you been picking, you would have went, what, three and two, right? Yes, because I would have picked Watson. I had the same picks as your mom except for Watson.

Yeah. So I would have gotten Machita and Watson. But she really picked Phil Davis. Well, that's on you. Yeah. No, she's doing great. Are you, you say that was so much. lack of sincerity. Don't even try it. Don't even try it. There's such jealousy that is

oozing out of you. She knows the truth. Is there a simmering feud brewing here? Don't even. We can maybe do like a best of seven. I, I retire. I quit. You'd quit before. I quit. Wow. So destroy me and I don't want any of it. Now, are we looking at World Series of fighting this weekend? Oh yeah. Actually, I haven't looked at the lines. Let's see if there's something now. Geez. We got Spong at a 15 to 1 favorite over Angel DeAnda. 15 to 1? 15 to 1.

Is that one of the biggest ever? It's pretty big. Someone was 20 to 1, right? I mean, Silva was 14 something to 1 when he opened against Stephen Bonner. 15 to 1. There have been guys, I think 20 to 1 was the biggest. Like Socaju versus Little Neck. Nog or something like that.

Let me ask you a question. I'm on this best fight outside, right? Yep. And I see, I see the, the odds for this fight. Yeah. Now, minus 13, what is, minus 1380 is in red. Where do you see that? Right next to it.

Oh, yeah, that's a different, uh, yeah, but, but they highlight the quote-to-quote best. No? Is that what it is? Yeah. But, so why is 1380 better than 1,500? Because that's the favorite. So you want to look at the favorite. So you want to.

lower number for the favorite. Ah, that's right. And then the higher number for the underdog. That's why the 820 is highlighted. So if I put $100 on Angel de end, I can win $700. Correct. It's not bad. You tempted?

No, it is bad. It is bad. He's going to get brutally knocked out by King of the Ring, Tyrone Spong. Now, what are these arrows? It's going down. It's going up. It means the line moved. Okay.

Usually, like, if it moves a little bit, there won't be an arrow. But if it moves drastically, there'll be an arrow. So Marlon Marius opened at a bigger favorite, and then he came down a little bit. He opened at an 8 to 1 favorite, and he's come down all the way to 5 to 1. But there's an arrow saying it's going up. Right, because you're getting better. You're getting better price. Okay, okay.

And the odds on the dog, he started at 4.5 to 1, and now he's at 3.5 to 1. So you're getting a little less. How do you know what they started at? If you click it, it has a graph that shows the first. of the one. So you're not going to touch that either. I might, I mean, maybe a parlay on Marlin, because I think Marlon's incredible.

Definitely not. I'm not going anywhere near Spong. There's really no reason to go near Spong. Griffin and Cavalcante, that's an interesting one. What are you thinking there? That's a close one. I think it's closer than two to one, which is currently what it's at.

So maybe I'll put something down on Jay-Z. Really? I think I favor Griffin, but I don't think that lines that accurate. It's kind of a wild card the whole thing. Yeah, and I'm definitely not touching Cepho and Huckabah. Just because you don't know what to expect? Yeah, I mean, what am I going off based on that one? Who knows?

Such a bizarre fight. Man, I'm surprised to see Marlon opened at 8 to 1. That's pretty shocking. I mean, he's great. I'm a big fan of his, but. I mean, he's only got two fights with WSOF. Maybe the toughest one to pick is probably the Nick Newell fight, right? Yeah.

New organization, new rules. I mean. Caldwell, he does have a nice record, but what do we really know about him? Do you know anything about him? Not a lot. Newell opened at minus 265, so the action came in on him. So people are backing Newell right now. Which is not surprising he's the bigger name.

For sure. Alex Carroll telling me on Twitter that Dionne starring was the biggest MMA dog ever against D.C. I don't believe that's correct. You don't? I don't believe so. Skip to My Thang,

a.k. Skip to My Jays, is saying Bubba Jenkins was the 20-to-one favorite in his Bell Tour debut. I believe that was accurate as well. But is that the biggest ever? I wonder what the biggest ever was. It's somewhere in the 20, the low 20s to mid-20s range. Low 20s to, okay.

And it's one of those. I believe, off the top of my head, I'm thinking it was So could you in Littlenog. But that may have changed recently, but it's in the low to mid-20s. By the way, looking ahead, is Chal Sunnan going down? I still can't quite get this. The arrow going down, does that mean less people are picking Sunnan now? Chal Sunnan opened at plus or close to even. He opened at minus 120.

Then he went all the way up to become a dog at plus 110. And now he's, then he peaked at minus 170 as a favorite. And now he's sitting at 150. He actually became a dog. So, yeah, at one point he became a dog and people got him at plus 110. In fact, it was close to when the line first came out. So people must have bet on Shogun initially. Then he became the favorite again.

And now that arrow means that he used to be at a better price. and now you're only getting him at minus 150. Will you tell Connor McGregor that you think he's going to get smoked? What? Connor McGregor. That's what you told me. What? No, you think he beats Max Holloway?

I do, but I don't even vaguely remember saying anything related to that. All right. That's what I thought you said. Man, trying to start beef with me and your mom and Connor McGregor? How many fights can I fight? I mean, I'm trying to get you ready for life. How old did you just turn? 26.

26. I mean, you turn the corner. You're no longer a nickel. What, not a nickel. What am I saying? I was trying to say a double nickel, but that wouldn't make any sense. What about? A quarter?

You're no longer a quarter. This is big for you. This is a whole new chapter for you. It's time to man up. Okay, I'll man up and fight your mother. That's... Oh, you see? Now it's just like, you had to...

Why'd you have to get my mother involved in this? It just seems like that... When I was a kid, people would always make mom jokes to me, And I would lose my... And you know now that I have a temper playing basketball... I've seen it. I would lose it. One guy was a really big guy, and I just ran and punched him right in the stomach.

It did not affect him at all because he was much larger, but he punched him. Another guy, we were playing hockey, floor hockey, and I took my stick, and I just slashed him in the leg. And, yeah, I had to go to the principal's office for that. But people don't know. People think I'm just this, you know, skinny guy. You know, I have a bit of a mean streak. Anyway, why don't you call Mr. Nick Newell? I will.

Now that we got that out of the way. Also, good for you for sticking up for your life. Yeah, you know what? Good for me. She deserves to be stuck up for her. Does that even make sense? Stuck up for, I guess. But it feels like it has a negative connotation

when talking about mothers and whatnot. But it's true. People always knew that my weak point was my mother, and I used to get so upset. I'll never forget to playing basketball. I just ran up to this guy and punched him right in the stomach. And I'll never forget my hand just kind of bouncing backwards. because there was so much room there.

There was so much excess weight. And then the other one that I remember was the big stick-slashing incident. In fact, while we're on the topic of me losing my mind as a youngster, I believe it was in 1996. No, 1998. The New York Knicks had just been eliminated from the playoffs against the Indiana. Pacers and this kid who was younger than me, I came to school that day and said, oh, how about those Knicks? And I took his head. I took his head. And I can't remember exactly what I said.

I think it was, stop talking about the Knicks or don't ever say the word, something like that. And I just, every time I said something, I smashed his head into the locker. I was that fired up about the whole thing. It's true. I was a bit of a psycho as a kid. But I've calmed down now. I'm a father. I just like to talk about fights, not actually engage in them.

And this is not me trying to prove them some kind of, you know, alpha male. I'm just, you know, telling you about my days as a youngster. Okay, let's go to the Skype machine here and welcome in our next guest. Oh, no. He's not via Skype.

He's via the phone. I forgot. He is Nick Newell, and he returns to action. This Saturday makes his WSOF debut against Keon Caldwell. Nick, are you there? Yes, I'm here, and I'm glad to be back on the show.

Great to have you on the show. By the way, I was just talking about kids trying to rile me up, and they would always say things about my mom, and that would really piss me off when I was in high school, and I would attack them. I would punch them in the stomach. I would slash them with a hockey stick. Were you that kind of kid?

Were you on the receiving end of that stuff? Did you dish it out? Do you have any memories like that? No, I mean, you know, obviously, you know, kids said things that pissed me off, but no one really messed with me because I was, I was like a wrestler, and people were, like, scared. When did you start to wrestle?

Just when I was in high school, but no one knew that I wasn't good in my first year. When you say you weren't good, what were we talking here? Were you winless? No, I won two, but I also lost 22, so. Wow. Two and 22. Mentally, how did you come back from that? That's a pretty bad record.

Yeah, I'm not a quitter, you know. Yeah. I wanted to quit. My mom wouldn't let me, though. She said that I'm not, I said, I want to quit, and she said I can't quit something because it's too hard. I made a commitment and I got to finish up the season. So, you know, I toughed up and I dealt with it. And I just kind of went out there and took my lumps and worked hard and came back.

and ended up being off-state by my senior year. So if your mom would have let you quit, you probably wouldn't be an MMA fighter, you wouldn't be here talking to us? Oh, yeah, I definitely. I'd be, like, sipping soda somewhere and doing God knows what. That's what you'd be doing, that that's the alternative to pursuing career in MMA,

sipping soda somewhere in the corner? Yeah, before I started wrestling, I used to drink a lot of soda. Oh. I stopped drinking it when I started wrestling. I haven't drank it in, like, 13 years, like, Not even a sip. No, like a couple of times, you know, but like...

Why soda? Why is soda the bad thing for you? Oh, no, it's just something I used to... Drink a lot of. I don't know. It's a weird topic right now. Hey, you know, we like to go to weird places. Are you uncomfortable talking about soda?

No, I'm not. I'm not. Were you a big gulp guy? You can talk about it all day. Were you a big gulp guy? You know, the big gulps, the really obnoxious. obnoxiously big sodas? Yeah, big old, hey?

There you go. All right, well, see you later. Dumb and dumber. All right, let's talk about your fight. You signed with World Series of Fighting. Why them? Why did you choose them? Honestly, I'm talking with them.

They are just very easy to work with. You know, the level of competition there is a big step up. And I like everything they're doing promotion-wise. and just like I just felt like it was a good fit, you know, talking to them and just seeing what they offered me. It was a perfect fit. At the end of the day, you know, did you feel like they were the best option or as far as the sort of, you know, more known promotions, were they the only option? No, they were the best option. for me

and when it came down to it you know there's just a lot of great opportunities to be had in World Series of fighting and they're growing and I just really

really felt like it was a great fit were you disappointed that you didn't sign with the UFC I'm disappointed that they didn't make me an offer you know, I thought I had done enough and, you know, proven myself more than a lot of people that have earned the right to fight for them have. But, you know, there's a lot of politics involved and they didn't want to be a part of it. And the World Series was looking to, looking at me as a fighter and not as a guy with one hand. And really, you know, they scooped me up and I couldn't be happier, you know.

I'm extremely happy with where my career is and the opportunity ahead of me Saturday, and I'm looking forward to putting on a show. Did the UFC tell you why they wouldn't even give you any kind of offer? No, I mean, they're, you know, they have their reasons, and they, you know, it doesn't really, it doesn't really bother me. I'm done really, you know, talking about that or like, complaining about, you know, not being there and not getting a chance. I have a great chance and I'm ready to make the most of it, you know.

I'm with World Series of fighting now and I got four fights and, you know, great competition. So, you know, I could really, I, I really have nothing to complain about, you know? One more thing about that. Is that dream dead for you now? Do you not even want to consider going to the UFC, or would you be open to it at some point down the line? No, absolutely.

I would. You know, it's a, you know, it's a big deal, and they're number one. But, you know, I mean, I'm not. It doesn't really bother me. You know, I'm very happy. at World Series. And I really am happy to be a part of the company as it grows. And I can see myself being with them for a very, very long time.

You know, one of the things that you said after leaving your old organization was that you wanted to fight, you know, ex-UFC fighters, guys with big names, in order to get your name out there. Keon Caldwell, while he did, you know, have a brief flirtation with the ultimate fighter, is not one of those, you know, ex-UFC fighters. So what did you think

when they offered you Kiann Caldwell? Well, here's the thing. That's like, you know, that was just something I told John that XOC just to be, you know, because I didn't want to be like mean or anything, but I just felt like there's more opportunities in World Series of fighting and is a better move for my career. More people pay attention to it.

It's a bigger stage. And, you know, I want fights that a lot of people are going to pay attention to and I can get excited for. You know, I got a guy with a 911 record. Not a lot of people have a record that good. And, you know, it's on a big card that a lot of people are paying attention to do. I've never had more media or anything, attention or anything like this in my life. And it's great to be a part of this organization.

And I don't get ahead of myself, but, you know, if I win, I'm in the tournament for the bell at 155, so that's really cool, you know? And, you know, I could, I was, there were still a couple of things. I wanted out of my contract with World Series of Fighting, so I couldn't just be like, you know what, I'm going to World Series of Fighting when it wasn't finalized, you know. So I didn't want to just jump out and say that. So that was kind of like an awkward situation, but I really just want to fight

tough, top-level guys and tougher and tougher competition, every single time I fight. And, you know, I'm going to get that. with you guys. And so right now, you say that you're going to get this opportunity to fight in the tournament if you win. Is that 100%? Have they told you that, or have you just seen this stuff in the media?

No, it was an announcement, and one impressive win, I should get in. So right now, you're fighting this guy Keon Caldwell. I don't know if you've seen this, but in the media, In particular, he said this to MMA Junkie. He said that he feels as though World Series of fighting is favoring you. Like, they're on the Nick Newell hype train. Did you read this stuff? Does it bother you?

And do you feel like that... It's kind of funny to me. And I don't think it's him. I think it's his management team and his coach. And, you know, it doesn't matter what kind of... Oh, if they like me better or not. You know, I mean, at the end of the day, you still get to fight me. It's not going to make it harder for you to fight me, you know?

And if people are paying attention because I'm fighting, then people are going to be paying attention to you, and it's a good opportunity. I don't know why he's complaining. If the roles were reversed, I wouldn't be upset. Do you feel like they're favoring you? No, not at all. It's a, it's a fight, you know? I mean, at the end of the day, it doesn't even matter, you know.

we, it's an equal opportunity. We have an equal opportunity if we're going against each other on this big stage. And, you know, to say anything else is, like, kind of silly to me. You mentioned the media attention and that you're receiving more of it than you've ever received in your career. How do you feel like you're handling it all? Do you feel like it's a distraction? Is it making you more anxious for the fight? How has it been for you?

No, it doesn't matter to me. It's a part of the job. you know, if there weren't fans in media, then I wouldn't be able to do that, you know. We wouldn't be able to fight, and, you know, it comes with a task. The bigger fights you get, the more media you're going to get, and you have to answer it, you know. And if people are interested in me, then I'm interested in telling people my story or what's going on or anything like that.

So it's a non-issue and it's not a distraction. I'm very excited. to do a lot of media and stuff like that, so I'm cool with it. And I'm assuming, you know, when you talk to people for the first time, they obviously are going to want to talk to you about, you know, the fact that you only have one hand. Does it get tiring talking about that all the time at this point in your life? I mean, a lot of the time, it's pretty much I have, like, robotic answers in my head, you know?

Right. When everyone asks me, they say, what's it like fighting with one hand, you know? What's it like fighting with two? I don't know. I was born this way. What are the advantages and disadvantages? You know, I have my answers because those are the questions I always get. But, you know, it comes through the territory.

You know, I am a fighter and I have one hand. It's like the first thing that you notice about me, and then once we get over that, we can get on to my fighting still. But, you know, if I go to the movies, I'm that guy with one hand watching a movie, you know. So it doesn't really bother me. I've come to terms with it. It's the way I am. and it doesn't bother me that I'm born like this.

It doesn't bother me that I am the way I am, so I don't really care if people ask about it. Now, this is your first time fighting in California, right? Yeah. How's the commission? I mean, are they making you do anything special, extra? Are they making you do any more pay? Anything at all? I mean, are they receptive to your condition?

Yeah, they were very easy to work with and very receiving. It was extremely one of the easier states. get licensed and actually every state's been pretty easy so um yeah they were just great to work with have you ever not been licensed um at the beginning of my career uh Rhode Island said no and then they let someone uh that i beat fight there and and i thought that was kind of ridiculous you know and then they changed it too so i could fight i could fight anywhere they let they let him fight in their state after you beat him or before you beat him?

Yeah, after I beat him. Wow, that's bizarre. But now they would license you. Yeah, yeah, honestly. And this will be nationally televised, of course, on NBC Sports Network, but you're all the way over in California. Will you have family and friends there? This is a very big fight for you. This feels kind of like this, it really feels like this next chapter. You know, often when guys sign in a new organization,

yeah, it feels like, okay, it's a new deal. But for you, feels like you're going that next step. Will you have a lot of friends and family there or a lot of people just be watching back home? It's kind of expensive to come all the way across the country. You know, I'm from Connecticut, so it's literally on the exact opposite side of the country as far as you can go in the 48 states. But I still have a lot of people going. I'll probably have like about 15 to 20 people there for me.

That's great. Even though it's so far. That's awesome. Okay, so how do you see this playing out? You versus Keon, NBC Sports Network? How are you envisioning this fight actually unfolding? You know, I have my ways, and there's certain things I've noticed about him that I feel like I can exploit.

And, you know, he hasn't fought a little while, so I've planned that he's better. And I can't wait to go out there and really, really sure. you guys how I've gotten better and how I've improved and he's athletic he can hit hard and I think technically I have the edge but we'll see on

we'll see on Saturday night. All right. Very well. I look forward to it. It all starts at 10.30 p.m. Eastern Time one of the main attractions. To me this card is all about Tyrone Spung and Nick Newell really looking forward to your debut, Nick. Best of luck to against Keon Caldwell.

Thank you very much. There he is. Notorious Nick Newell. We actually have two Notoriouses on this card. Excuse me on this show. We've got Nick Newell and then the notorious one, Connor McGregor. And if you're waiting, as I know many of you are, to hear from Connor McGregor, or actually to see him, he is running late. This is what happens when you become a big star and wear Dickie Bowes all day. He is running late. So he'll actually be joining us in around 18 or so minutes at 3 o'clock Eastern time. So stick around. Still to come is Conner McGregor,

who of course faces Max Holloway next weekend, August 17th in Boston, Massachusetts, UFC on Fox Sports 1. New York, Rick, are you there? Making a phone call. Give me one minute. Okay. So that's the plan right now. As a result, because we went over with D.C.,

we're going to take your questions and comments now when Mr. New York, Rick, is ready to go and then at around 3 o'clock 305 will be joined by Connor McGregor. As I mentioned at the top, it is Wednesday, but we will be back next Monday, 1 p.m. Eastern at the same time back to our normal schedule. And tomorrow actually we're taping the MMA beat in this here studio. So you're getting a new episode of the MMA beat on Friday with some new blood, switching it up a little bit. Looking forward to that. I know a lot of you like the MAB, and if you haven't figured it out,

we pretty much do it when I'm not at an event. So if there was an event this Saturday, we wouldn't be able to tape it on a Thursday because there's no event that I'm at this Saturday, we're able to do it. So if you want to know when it's coming, it's not as regular as this show when we have it on every Monday, every week, et cetera. But you can kind of get a feel for the schedule. Every event that we're not at, they'll probably be in MMA beat, most likely. I kind of laid it out. There's still like 10 more weeks or something like that. Maybe, actually, I think a little more weeks that don't have events that will be able to tape the show.

So that comes up tomorrow, and on Monday we're back to our normal show. LOL, Aria Hawani was a violent youngster. I'd say that's probably, that's probably accurate. I did have a lot of pent-up aggression in me. I'm not quite sure why. I think it's because I watched a lot of combat sports, and it was a bad influence on my life. No, I'm just joking.

I just had a temper, and I still have a temper. Bobby Z says, I think that the main reason the UFC didn't sign Newell is that they're trying to avoid signing pure grapplers, Pender 2. I don't know about that. I think he's right, to be honest. I think they probably don't think that he's at that level right now,

and it's a risk to put someone in there who only has one hand, let him go out there, let him fight for other organizations. And if he beats guys and wins those four fights on his contract, then I think they'd be a lot more interested in him. They seem to be interested in him when he tried out for the ultimate fighter, but for whatever reason, they didn't pull the trigger on that. I don't think it has anything to do with him being grappler. Eddie One asks me, is Brazil,

scary to travel to? No, it's not scary. In fact, I actually really like it. The only bad part about going to Brazil is the 10-and-a-half-hour plane ride in coach to boot. Yes, amazingly, I have to fly coach. Isn't it shocking? I know, it's pretty shocking. But otherwise, the hotel is on the beach.

It's beautiful. I saw this story about Kane Velasquez saying that it was unsafe, and then I spoke to some people close. to him who said that it wasn't true, he just kind of asked, do I have to go? And the UFC said, no, you don't really have to go. But I do not feel that at all. I'm walking around by myself on my many trips to get assayi, you know, with, you know, my phone and my wallet, all this. I feel like I'm in New York City. In fact, it's better than New York City. You're on a beach. There are all these people, loving life. No matter what, everyone's very fit in Brazil.

Everyone's working out. They have these little stations at every, Every, you know, like every kilometer, they have these stations on the beach. And we're directly facing the beach where they have, you know, pull-up bar, things that you go up and down like that, all kinds of, you know, these things with all the bars everywhere. They can go up and down, do sit-ups, benches, and things like that. They have them every kilometer. It's very impressive. And no matter the time of day, you have people running up and down, there's this runner's path. the whole thing is great.

It's just a beautiful vibe. It was wintertime there, and it was still 30 degrees Celsius, which is kind of, I think, like 80 or so, Fahrenheit. I still actually go by Celsius. But it's very nice. I do not feel scared or unsafe there at all. What's this guy telling me about betting lines? The greatest dog ever was Cyborg v. Jan

Finney, Stephen Temple says. There you go. Cyborg was a minus 2,500. Jan Finney was a plus 1,000. Just so you know, I'm a little bit scared of you now after those childhood stories. Doesn't Marais sound and the way he talks about things remind you of a fellow Brazilian JDS? Not really.

I mean, that's just, you know, Brazilians kind of have an accent. like that. Why don't you do a walk-around interview with a Brazilian fighter in Brazil like you do with Rampage in Japan? Would be cool. I think the language barrier might be an issue, but certainly with one of them that speaks English pretty well, that actually is a very good idea. We haven't done those as much because of the loaded press schedules, but hopefully we could do them again. I know Will is a big fan. Will back there, who never even wants to speak, is always talking in my ear and no one can hear this guy's sending me emails at all kinds of weird hours saying, oh, I was just watching some Connor McGregor videos,

and I was thinking that you should do this. I was watching the Wydenman Silva fight. You should do a walk and talk with Herb Dean. The guy's a closet MMA fan, but for whatever reason he's too shy to come on the air. Will, would you like to say something to the people? No? Yeah, what's up?

For the record, that email was at 11 o'clock at night. It was a very weird hour. Is that all hours of the day for you? It was very weird. Now, are you actually talking? to the people right now. Is this your... Yeah, I'm using Rick's mic. This is your official debut. What up, World. Wow, there he is. Big Conne McGregor fan, right? Yeah, well, big Widman fan after I got to go out with you for that sandy piece.

Yeah, that's true. Well, welcome. Welcome to the show. Thank you. It's about time you got out of your show. Mr. Rick, do we have questions? Yeah, we've got some questions. Why are you ignoring me? What do you mean? You're making phone calls. Yeah, yeah. All right. I told you that, no? Didn't I say it on there? Yes. Someone's asking me, by the way, my good bud, Jonathan Obramovich, what about a walk-and-talk with Rampage in Memphis? You know what? I'm over it. I'm over it. Why? To hear him complain for an hour about the UFC and how he was mistreated? Time to move on. And I'm sure Rampage will come up in these questions, right? Yeah, we will talk about that.

All right, let's go. Let's do it for 10 minutes. Okay, cool. Let's go to the website questions first. So what were you trying to ask me before I was ignoring you? Is the moment past? No, I was asking you if we can do the questions now because McGregor is late. Oh, okay, yeah. We're about to do them. Let's see.

First question from the website, from Justin Shepard about Lioto Machita. Do you think Dana White and the rest of the UFC brass are happy that Machita lost to Davis, which lets them sidestep a stale Machina Jones rematch? Well, I would never want to speak for them, and it's a pretty big insinuation. but I think they dodged a bullet here. I mean, he was offered two title shots. He was promised two title shots, and those didn't come to fruition. And it didn't seem like John Jones was interested in fighting Machita.

It didn't seem like the UFC was all that interested after the Dan Henderson fight. So now he lost. Machita is nearing the end of his contract as well. So it now puts them back in the position of power. I think that they dodged a bullet, and this opens up some doors. Now, Machita's side is asking for a rematch against Phil Davis, a five-round rematch. I don't think that that fight was exciting enough to put together a rematch. So I don't see it happening personally.

But hey, maybe it will. Crazier things have happened. But, yeah, deep down, they dodged a bullet, in my opinion. Our next question, your thoughts on Brian Stan's commentary. I thought he did a really good job, but didn't have a lot of personality like Rogan does. and do you think they should bring in a few fighters for the Fox sports cards like Bonner, Mear, Stan, or even Phil Barone

from our friend Aaron M.R.N. Can you imagine Phil Brony? Phil Barone? The best ever. He's incredible. There was one card back in Miami. Rogan and Barone did it together. That was actually really good. Rogan was playing Mike Goldberg. Rogan was the play-by-play guy. And I'm very surprised at how many people don't understand the roles. People were telling me, oh, Stan is so much better than John Annen.

They don't do the same thing. Annick's job is completely different than Brian Stans. Now, questions about Stan? I thought he did a phenomenal job. You could tell that he did his research. He was prepared. He talked to everyone. He had nuggets on the fighters.

I think Rogan is fantastic. I don't understand why people used Stan's performance as an opportunity to knock Rogan or Florian. I think they all do great jobs. And I think Stan has a spot. The guy is just, I mean, it's mesmerizing, let's think to him. He's so buttoned up. He's so well-spoken.

He's research. It's just a pleasure listening to him call a fight. And remember, this is not his first time doing this. He had been calling Golden Boy Boxing for Fuel for the past year. So he's done this before the analyst's role he's going to be doing football as well. He was amazing. And I was just so impressed at the facts, the research that he had, really showing that he took some time. To learn about fighters who, let's be honest, weren't the biggest names, I give him an A-plus.

Definitely agree. He was incredible. Our next question comes from beat juice regarding Daniel Cormier. Why does Daniel Cormier think he should be awarded a title shot at light heavyweight if he beats Roy Nelson, who's coming off a loss at heavyweight? All this talk about beating up Roy Nelson for Dana White. You know what D.C. could do for Dana White? Fight Kane Velasquez. Well, that is true. Cane Velasquez versus D.C., man, where were you? Like 30 minutes ago when we were talking to him?

I think he wants to go down. I think he wants to go down for his health. I think he just wants to avoid all the talk of Kane versus him. I think he likes the challenge of fighting John Jones. I think he likes the challenge of going down to a fire. I think John Jones has legitimately sparked the fire under him while he doesn't have that fire against Kane. He obviously is going to entertain the thought of Kane losing to JDS. That's his guy. And I just think this is a new thing for him.

He says, win or lose he's going down. So that's what he wants to do. But yeah, you certainly bring a valid point. I want to see DC at 2.5, and I would pay good money, great money to see him fight John Jones if everything works out. I love that fight. Great fight. Our next question from James Glory. Do you think we will really get to see Cruz return in February? Dominic Cruz, that is. Should you get a warm-up fight before facing the dangerous barrow? I think not. And will favor ever get to fight him again? This is very interesting, and I was actually thinking about this recently. you know, at this point, I think they would be doing him a favor by stripping him of the belt.

You make Henan Barow the champion, you bring him back, and you get him in there, maybe not a quote-un-up fight, a tune-up fight, but at least get his feet wet. It's very tough to come back from a, this will be a two-plus year layoff and fight Hannah-Berow, who hasn't lost in God knows how long, who's on this amazing undefeated streak, There is a case to be made for crews coming back, maybe fighting favor in a non-title fight, stripping him of the belt, and then you have the winner of fight Henan Burrell. There's also a case to be made for the title unification about off the bat, but they've waited so long. It's kind of weird to strip him now.

Crazier things have been done. But I honestly think they'd be doing them a favor by stripping him. Let him get in there. Let him have a fight against a non-champion. And then, and of course, we don't want to dismiss Eddie Weinlin. and it's fighting him next month in Toronto, but just let Cruz get in there without that big spotlight on him. I think it's a good idea.

And I definitely see him fighting Faber again. In that division, probably the weakest in the UFC, without a doubt. Maybe favor could be the comeback fight? That's what I'm saying. But your point about the spotlight, I mean, he's essentially going to be considered the champ by a lot of people. Sure. Even if they strip him of it,

people are going to make the argument that it's the same kind of thing. So your thing is just facing Barrow on two. and a half years of layoff is too tough. Which I agree. They probably should have done it before. Yeah. Our next question is also regarding Uriah Faber. If Uriah dominates Alcantara, does he get another title shot?

I don't think so, because let's just say he does come back in February, and all signs point to cruise, you know, on the right track and things looking good for him. Brow's going to fight in September. February works out. I don't see Faber getting the title shot. That's a huge win. And then if Alcantara wins, he's a new player. But I see Faber still a couple of fights away from that.

This is our final one from the website. Question for New York, Rick. Oh. Has this new training improved your basketball game? Are you now a slam dunker? Does anyone ever say that? Are you now a slam dunker? I have a feeling this person is not American.

Okay. Because I've never heard that terminology before. Well, I could speak. I'm on your team. I think it's definitely improved your game. I think it's improved you as a person overall. You have more of a pep in your step. You're more responsive.

You're more responsible. You're more mature. I think it's, you know, again, do I want to get myself credit for turning around your life? No. But when we talk about basketball, I think it's made you a better player. What do you think? I agree. Well, I'm just in amazing condition right now.

Amazing. I feel great. Amazing. Now, if Ariel's comments were an endorsement for, UFC fit, then I don't know what is. I mean... That's true. Here I am. I feel... I echo what you say. I feel great on and off the court, and it's been great. And it's coming to an end soon. Two and a half weeks left. That's it? Yeah.

Wow. And so how close are you to being a slime dunker? Not very close. I haven't been really working on the slime dunking. On the slam dunk aspect of it. I can definitely jump higher than I used to, though. Is that true? Oh, yeah, for sure. Really? There's a lot of squats, mountain climbers, lots of things that I do on U.S.C. fit that work the lower body. Because, I mean, the lower body's key to a lot of stuff. Sure.

Especially punching, kicking, explosion. Right. There's pliometrics and things like that. So, sure, I definitely jump higher. And on that note, I'm going to tweet out a picture right now. Oh. Of what? The power pasta, the earned meal I got for my birthday.

Okay. From my girlfriend. What is that? Earned meal is, instead of, they don't, Mike Dolce doesn't have cheap meals. He has earned meals. So if you feel like you've earned a meal, he cooks himself, I believe it's the pit bull pancakes once a week. Then you eat an earned meal. So for my birthday, I had pit bull pancakes, which I already tweeted out, and power pasta, because I hadn't had any earned meals up until this point, and I'm not going to have any after this point.

So on that day, I had two earned meals, and I'm going to tweet out a pick of one of them right now. What's in the pancakes? It's brown rice flour, and then you make your own like blueberry and strawberry syrup to put on top with agave nectar. You just cook up the pancakes like normal on a pan, and then you put the blueberries in a pot, cook it with the agave, and then you kind of chop up the strawberries and the blueberries, and you make yourself a nice syrup. It seems like a lot of work. No, it's not that bad. It's not that bad.

I mean, if you're going to take 15, 20 minutes to cook, You might as well cook something delicious and healthy at the same time. And what's the power pasta? A hundred percent whole grain pasta with peppers, a little bit of garlic. And the sauce is all chopped tomatoes. It's not like you don't buy ragu. You make your own sauce with cans of diced tomatoes. And it was really tasty.

And what was the feeling when you were eating this? Were you on Cloud 9? Well, I felt a sense of accomplishment that I made it this far without having an earned meal. And then I felt like I did earn it. You've got to take my word for it. That's true. That's true. Sure.

You're making a good point. So I'm going to tweet that out. You'll see a pick of that. And then I'm going to get Mr. McGregor on the line. Okay. So, well, we're going to do Twitter afterwards? Yes, sir. Give me a Twitter question now so I can at least address a couple.

And then while you get Mr. McGregor and do your Twitter business, whatever you're talking about, pasta this, pancakes that. I say you this, making me all hungry. All right, here we go. First question. In my opinion, Glover hasn't fought anyone to warn a title shot. Davis beat three former top fives. Match those two for a title shot, question mark. And give me another one.

And we also have from Tim, how do you rank the light heavyweight division considering all the top five, six guys have won and lost to each other? Evans, Leotto, Davis, Hua, and Nag. Okay, keep that up there because my memory, you know, I was telling New Yorkerick yesterday, I don't know what's going on, but I used to have impeccable memory, and now I'll be brushing my teeth and say, oh, I have to do this.

And three seconds later, I forget. It's kind of scary, to be honest. I don't know if this is what happens to you when you reach 31, but it's a very bizarre thing happening to me. In any event, back to Glover-Teshirea, you know what? I kind of agree. He's had four fights in the UFC, four wins, impressive wins, but none of them have been against top 10 guys.

And that's, I mean, it's definitely worth noting. you know, he beat Kyle Kingsbury very impressively, very quickly, beat up Fabio Maldonado, came back against Rampage decision. I mean, again, dominating fight, very, very impressive performance, and then beat James DeHuna. He was supposed to fight, again, a very quick fight. None of those guys, though, are in the top 10 or we're in the top 10. So right now, I mean, a win over. Ryan Bader would certainly put him up there, but that's why I kind of feel like if

Cormier wins, I'd like to see him, quote unquote, cut the line. I just think there's a lot of heat there. There's a lot of buzz about Cormier. There's a lot of intrigue. A lot of people have been saying for a long time that he could be the guy to beat John Jones, his style, his wrestling. Now, I could see the UFC shying away from this because, you know, he's never made the weight, and that's obviously a big deal. That's one of the reasons why I don't think. think John Lineker is going to get a title shot after his performance on Saturday because he missed weight. Second time, by the way, that he misses Wade in the UFC. How can you give a guy like that a title shot when if you miss weight before a title shot, you don't get to fight for the belt? It now

becomes a non-title shot. Travis Luter can tell you all about that. So let's see what he does against Ryan Bader. Yes, five in a row is impressive. If he completely annihilates him, then, you know, it's going to be hard to deny in the shot. But if it's just a decision win and it's not all that exciting, I think it really opens the door for DC if, of course, Jones wins, and if DC beats Royne's. And now, if Jones loses, this changes everything. It's like the Anderson-Silva situation, and we might get a rematch.

I'll answer the second question after our next interview. But for now, let us go to the Skype machine and welcome in. Our good pal, Mr. Hollywood. Look at this guy with the sunglasses. Now he's late to the show before he was begging me. What's that? What's that? What's that? What's that say on them?

Oh, is that Gucci? I can't see it. Rayban. Rayban. You could do better than that. Ray beyond. If you're from Paris. Look at this guy. All of a sudden, where's the Dickey Bow? No, I left the Dickey Bow off. What I am? what's happening but what a difference a few months makes uh i mean last time you're sitting back you're

on a kind of it's only a pair of shades out of yeah oh well i i i sense an aura i sense an aura it's oozing out of you yeah did you not sense that the first time now to be honest i did i did do you feel like a different person um not like i said to you before you know i always felt like the champ i always felt like this was going on this was all going on in my head now it's just how happening in real life. You know, there's a guy. See that guy there's following me around in the documentary. Wow. Hello. There's another guy.

See this guy right here? Yeah. I put him in sleep today. You choked him out? Yeah, he wanted to know. We were just talking about being choked out and talking about chokes and talking about Jujitsu and he ended up getting the balls up to him. He wanted to see what it was like.

So I put him in a rear naked choke and we got it on footage. It's going to be on the documentary. and it was funny. He started shaking and it was pretty fun, yeah? What's this documentary? What's this documentary you're talking about? This is going to be on the national broadcast. It's RTE.

It's a big TV station in Ireland. And these guys are following me around the past couple of months. They were in Vegas. Wow. Coming to Boston, you know. So RTA are splashing out. They know they see MMA and they see the growth and they see where this is going.

and this documentary is going to just put it in that spotlight that bit more, you know. I'm happy to be a part of it, you know, putting mixed martial arts. And martial arts in general in the spotlight here in my country, I felt like this was what I was here put here for, you know what I mean? So I'm going to represent it in a good light by strangling their director. By strangling the producer live on air. Oh, gosh. And this is the big channel that that late show is on as well?

This is a big network, right? Yeah, yeah. It's the biggest TV station in Ireland, yes, the national broadcaster. So it's a big deal, you know. And are you surprised all this is happening this quickly? I mean, you're only 1 in O in the UFC, but it feels like in some ways you're 10 and O by the attention and by the buzz surrounding you. Yeah, I don't know.

I don't get phased. I don't get comfortable. I don't get complacent. I went there for dinner with the dawn. And we went there on a meal. And I was saying to them, just because we're here now, you bring me off of these meals and shit. Don't think I'm going to get comfortable.

Don't think I'm going to do what a lot of other schmucks have done. They got lazy. They got sloppy, sluggish, you know. Come fight time, they show up and they're out of shape. Their shots are off, you know, they're not firing. Me, I don't get complacent. If anything, these kind of things and all this going on spores me to work harder. You know, I use it as a motivation.

So what was that like, you and Dana Way? I saw a video of you guys driving down Las Vegas Boulevard, like Thelman Louise squealing like little girls. It looked like you were having the time of your line. It looked like a great time. Don't be hating. It was crazy. I mean, I was only saying to her, I've been doing interviews all week, you know,

but I was only saying to a guy yesterday. I used to drive my girlfriend's a little Pujo 206, and I don't really have Pugio 206 is over in America or wherever you are, but they're little small bangers, yeah? And there was smoke coming out of the engine. It used to shake down the road. road. But in my head, I was cruising down the Las Vegas strip in a soft hub Ferrari F.R. Tertr. With the dawn beside me. And then fast forward, fast forward five years. And what happens?

I'm cruising down the strip in a soft hub Ferrari F. Fort Worthy with the dawn. I'm mean. So I don't know. In my head, I was all, this was always going on. I'm borderline insane, Ariel. Yeah. And that's what makes me so dangerous. And that's why people love you so much. think he likes you so much? It seems like he has taken a real liking to you. Yeah, I don't know, yeah, I don't know. He's from Saudi, which is like the Irish part of

Boston, you know. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I don't think any other pre-lame guys that have fought one show on the prelim have gone out with the Don, you know, I don't even think main eventors are going out with the fucking Don, I mean, but I don't know, I'm sure I'm Irish, he has some Irish in him as well, you know, that Boston heritage, that Irish

heritage is all those Boston people have, you know. And I come to fight, he can see that, Surely he can see, you know, I come to fight. I'm not fucking about here. I'm not here to be a token Irish guy. I shake no one's hand. I'm here to go forward and go out every single one of them. I'm, you know what I mean?

I stay in shape. I stay ready. I don't know. I suppose all those things maybe make him like me, you know what I mean? But honestly, I don't know. This is a guy who's been around the fight game for a long time, and he talks often about guys getting big heads

and having people hanging around them, things like that. Did he give you advice about, you know, now that you're entering this new chapter of your career? what not to do? No, he didn't really say not what to do, what not to do, you know. We were just talking about everything. Little shit I was waiting for six hours, you know, just me and here, we had, went, got some field, nice steak place to give us, he hooked me up with this Kobe beef.

You ever have that Kobe beef? Oh, yeah, it's nice. It's the massage beef straight from, shipped in from Bangkok, yeah, our Thai, fucking Taiwan or something. It's serious beef, but, um, no, we were just talking about, twice we were talking about everything. He never really gave me. He just said, I don't know what he said. I can't even remember.

I was in a blur. Honestly, I felt drunk, yeah? I felt drunk, flound around. It was like back to that fucking, back after Sweden when I went backstage, and everything felt like a video game. It felt like a video game. But instead of the UFC game, which is what I felt like the last time, it felt a bit more like Grant Hept Auto this time, yeah?

Flown around the soft operario. It was, it was crazy. Surreal, right? Surreal would probably be. Surreal. And I just told him, you know, look, and, you know, I see. other people's mistakes, you know, and people thinking they're part of the promotion

and they're part of the furniture. And, you know, they can show up sluggish and they can be missed their media, you know what I mean? But that's not me. I don't get comfortable. I'm always looking for the uncomfortable, you know what I mean? So I don't get complacent. This only makes me work harder, you know what I mean?

I mean, it's business at the end of the day. Whether we go out there for a meal and go, you know what I mean, go out and float about with Vegas and do some shit, it's still business at the end of the day, and business is not personal. So I come in shape, I come to fight regardless of a result, win or lose, people are going to want to see me, you know what I mean?

August 17th, once again, I would prove that, you know what I mean, and go get myself, get paid again, you know, because I'm running low, are you, you know what I mean? I have a gambling problem and I have a shopping kitchen. So, you know, those things spur me on, you know what I mean? So I need to get back in there and start making some money again, you know what I mean? What are you gambling on? Absolutely.

I'd gamble on the weather tomorrow, yeah, if you want to give me odds. Now, see, I had this, we had this bookie's that Patti Power, the big bookmakers over here, you know, and they were sponsoring me. And it all went ahead. The UFC allowed the logo inside the Octagon. It was a big deal for me, you know. Last minute it fell true, but they gave me a few quid as a token or something. They stuck money in an account, so I've been literally in this Patti Power account.

Do you bet on MMA? I bet on MMA Anthony Parosh to be What's the hippo Get out of here You bet on him The hippos

Let me down Six grand Yeah But I had 700 euro On an accumulator Which is about $1,000 But And Al Parosh

Well Who would have thought that But Fair plate to him I mean But Oh you bet against them You bet against them

I bet for my galas Yeah But I had a big accumulator I had a big accumulator I had a load of the guys Of course I bet on all the fights. I always bet on the fights, but that one just recently, Perosh upset me with his, what was it, 40 and second? Yeah, it was unbelievable. Now, will you bet on yourself?

Sorry? Will you bet on yourself? Um, I thought, is, am I allowed to myself? People are saying I can't bet on myself. I don't know whether that's, that's a loud. I don't know why it isn't it. Why if I bet on myself to whoop someone's I mean, it's not as if I'm betting against myself, then obviously there's something funky about that. Right. But if I'm not on me to win, how is that? How is that? not allowed. People are telling me I can't bet on myself,

but I don't know. You know, I might just give someone some money and maybe, maybe put a better. But I don't know. I don't really want to think. You know,

that's the, although I have a gambling problem and all that shit, but I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't think about gambling or something.

I mean, I have to fight ahead of me, you know what I'm, to be honest, I might, I might do a little accumulator on the rest of the card. Oh, that's fun.

It's on that card. Now, good, what's the most expensive? Yeah, I don't steal the show. What's that? Tell me again who's going to steal the show.

Well, I told you, it's the people's main event, right? Is this the people's main event, you versus Max Holloway? What? Is this the people's main event? I don't know if it has the same kind of panache as you versus Marcus Brimich. Well, the opponent does not come into the equation. This is my show, yeah. This is the Irish coming home.

Era coming to Boston, you know what I mean? The Irish men are coming home to it. It's native land. in the United States. So the opponent does not come into the equation. I am the main event. You can stick me in that main event and you know quite well, it's not going to turn heads.

I'm going to steal the show every time. Were you disappointed when Ogle backed out and you were now fighting Holloway? I'm a motionless to it, Ari. Like I said, a million times before. I don't know how many times I'm going to say again, the opponent does not come into the equation. There is no opponents, you know.

But Andy pulled out. He had staph infection 24. five weeks out of fight, you know what I mean, or six weeks out of five or whatever, but staff infection is a little bit of cream and some antibiotics for five days, max. So you have to train on your own for five days. You know what I mean? The fight was six weeks away, but it is what it is. He pulled out.

I'm not, I don't complain. Oh, bitch, I don't moan, I mean. The fact that we had to travel around, he had to travel as well to Canada, to Vegas. We had to do that little round trip to get the visa sword because there was all sort of problems to get the visa sword. So I'm sure that's weighed his decision. But like I said, I don't bitch, I don't moan, I get it done. This is the thing I stay in shape.

I can travel around and disrupt my training because I'm always in shape. You know what I mean? I squeeze it in anywhere. I don't bitch, I don't moan, I get it done. And I'm fine out I will come and perform. I mean, and I know the Dom Juan's going to have a nice six-figure there for me. Six-figure check. Fuck them bonuses, yeah?

I'm finished with them bonuses. Now I want the little sly backhanders that no one even knows about, yeah? They're the ones I'm out. I know you watched 163. What do you think of Aldo's performance? Are you ready for this man? Yeah, I stay ready. There is, again, Arda, come on, there is no opponents.

This is my division. This is my time. If you think I couldn't slot in there in either place of those two guys last week, then you need to take a closer look, my friend, because I am born ready. I stay ready, so I don't have to get ready. I don't fear none of these guys. I will go forward.

I will go at them. Do you think I'm ready? I think you're... You know, someone was asking me yesterday about the featherweight division, right? And I said, obviously, Ricardo Lama's, I think he deserves it. But I think the guy that people aren't talking about... I mean, obviously, they're talking about you. I think you're two fights away, honestly.

And I wouldn't be surprised you win this fight, let's say. They'll probably maybe try to put you in Manchester. And then the next one, I think you'll probably get it, honestly, with the buzz. I wouldn't be surprised. Ariel, I bring a whole nation with me. A whole nation, a crazy Irish motherfuckers are behind me. You know what I mean? Not many people can say that.

So I'm carrying a whole nation with me in there. I come to perform. I talk to talk and I walk to walk. You know what I mean? So August 17, I'm going to prove my worth once again. And then whatever's after that. You know what I'm really, this is my world title. I'm defending my belt here on August 17.

I mean, this is the way I approach it. So they want to give me, you know, if they want to give me that title show, it's all good. I'm ready to go. I'm always ready. They didn't give me the welterweight title shot. Slot in there. I swing for the fences. You know what I mean?

I'll go for it. I come to fight. I come to perform. I'm ready. Is it true back at UFC 93? I heard this yesterday that you were going up to people and saying, I'm Connor McGregor. And this was a few years back.

I'm Connor McGregor. I will be in the UFC very soon. Remember my name. Something to that extent. Is that true? UFC was in Dublin, yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. UFC 93.

USC 93 was Dublin. Yeah. Well, I'll go way back before that. My very first UFC event was USC 85 in London, the O'Toe arena. him. Matthew was Tiago Alves and at the end

of the thing that was when I seen Bruce Buffer and I started saying to Bruce Buffer hey say my name Bruce and now

he's an in the Akragon then Otores and he got my name mixed up but I didn't just see Bruce I also saw

shit I'm not to forget the referee I saw one of the referees and I say hey take a good look at his face because you're

going to be rescuing people from this guy soon enough yeah and the referee just looked at me like I was

nuts and then Dana was there as well I said hey Dana how much have you got in your pocket

I mean, it didn't answer, so he probably thought that was disrespectful, but I don't know, I was only a little kid running around UFC 85, I've seen all these little stars, and just running a muck, you know what I mean, and then USC 93 came along, I had a little bit, my teammate was in there, I was only a nipper, you know what I mean, only a young man, and I'm sure I was floating around telling people I was going to be in there as well, like I was every day, and like I always am, you know what I mean? I was confident, I am confident, you know what I mean, so I always knew this was, I always knew this is here, you know what I mean. Honestly, I saw it before my eyes and I swear I can't stop it.

No one can stop this. What I visualize just seems to be keep happening over and over and over. It seems to be coming to reality and there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Connor, you mentioned the people that you have behind you and a lot of your Irish fans are telling me... West beyond, are you the most below... Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute. D-Tron, yeah. Oh yeah, I saw that shirt. That's a nice shirt. How's the hair looking? I'm going to get a cut to be honest

There's another one There was this guy This barber crew Want to offer me a few quid And they cut my hair And they give me a few quid To have the logo in the shorts But I don't know

I'm still I think that felt true But I don't know I'm just gonna get maybe a shortback in size You know what you call it? Or a what you call it You know like you know A sharp back in size

You know what that is Yeah Yeah And you're gonna keep the beard though Right This beard goes nowhere I'm just I trimmed it a few times

And then every time I trim it, I'm like, fuck, I shouldn't, I shouldn't have trim. I always regret trimming it. Don't trim it. Don't trim it. Now I'm just trying to let it go, and I give a little massage every now and again. So you mentioned, look, if you listen to my show and I know you are a loyal listener of my show, we are beard officinados here. I have this show, yeah? I have the show, yeah?

I tell you what, next time I'm on, I want the percentage of that pay-per-view shit you got going on with this MMA hour, yeah? Yeah, well, don't come late next time. I mean, all of a sudden, you're coming 50 minutes late. Well, paint me there, and I'll be on time. You know what I mean? If the UFC, oh, the UFC want me there? I'm there on time with a bell on, yeah? Oh, okay.

You want me on for free. I'm going to take my time. I'm going to eat some feel. I'm going to pick out what shades. I'm going to wear it with you. I mean, so I've got a few of these interviews now. You talked about the fans, Connor. Are you the most beloved?

Are you the most famous fighter in Ireland to come out of Ireland since Steve Collins? You know Steve Collins, right? Steve Collins, man, a legend. Steve Collins is an Irish legend. and we have many, many boxing legends from our great nation, you know what I mean? And I don't know, it seems to be going that way.

I seem to be the face of combat in my country. Like I said, I carry a nation of people with me in there. This is only the beginning. I am the first of many. There's many guys to come behind me. There's many of us that are ready right now, you know? Like I said before, we stay ready. But Steve Collins is a fucking legendary, yeah?

Funny enough, I train. I drop over to his brother. His brother has a gym, a pro boxing gym. over in, just house, well, a couple of minutes away in my house, his name is Pascal Collins, called the Celtic Warrior Gym. And funny enough, he used to live in Boston,

and I used to have a gym in Boston and all, but I head over and train with those guys, and they are true legends of Irish combat. You're a fan of his? Yeah, I'm a big fan of Steve Collins, and the Collins brothers, man, they're really nice people as well, hard walkers, and they've got a knowledge of the boxing game,

you know what I mean, that I soak up any time I head over. that way, you know what I mean? I get some good sparring over there, some good tough guys. We have a great history of boxing in our nation, so all the young artists, up and coming pros and all the amateurs. I'm just waiting for their big break as well, so I head over to that James, some top-quality pros over there and get some top-quality sparring. Well, Connor, I'm happy you have that crew there because you know our show, we're second

to none, we make magic. Say hello to Steve Collins. He's on the line right now. Steve? Steve. Connor. How you doing, Connor? What's up, Steve, man? How are you, man? That's fucking nuts.

How are you going to be on the show? Listen. Let me say something. Are you running? How do I can't see you? In Boston, it's called a flat top, all right? So when you're going to get a hecker over there, you go in an ask for a flat top.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you were in Boston as well, Steve, yeah? I am indeed. I just want to say, one thing, Connor. You know, you're the greatest part of ever seen, and I'm glad I'm retired. Steve, man, thank you so much, man. This is absolutely crazy.

I did not expect this to be going down. How was Pascal and all? I was trying to drop. Pascal's away at the minute, I was trying to drop down yesterday. I take this pro, Stephen Norman to meet up for Sparner. He said, if you want to become a professional fighter, he's no doubt on his mind. He's going to be the best in the world.

He's not the best. He said, you've got the heart, determination, the dedication, and the single mind and focus that it takes to become a champion. That's what you have. And that's where you're going to be so successful. And people are going to talk about you for a long time. You are the new Celtic warrior. I'm the old news.

You're the latest news. Yes. You're the greatest. I'm the latest, Steve, yeah? Oh, man, Steve. You're going to go out and do a few sprints, yeah? Because that's at the pump of me up right there. This is amazing.

Steve, what do you think of this guy? Do you think he can be a champion? Do you think he has what it takes, the demeanor? the style, the aggressiveness. What do you think of him? It's once in a lifetime, someone special comes along with him. It was a complete package.

And as long as, as Connick, he's going, and the only way he's doing, there's no doubt in my mind, and the minds of all his fans and followers, he will be one of the greatest fires that the war has ever seen for a long time. He doesn't take any shortcuts. He's got so much natural talent,

but that's not, he doesn't rely on his natural talent. He walks really hard. He's dedicated. He takes no shortcuts, and he's got so much natural ability. So it's absolutely pleasure to have him go out there and represent our nation when he fights all over the world because he enhances the reputation of all these fires. People like him as well, we have such a good name in the fight game.

Connor, I'm getting goosebumps listening to this. What's your reaction? I'm blown away here. Honestly, I am in shock. I'm shaking here. I'm an Irish legend, man. To hear those words, honestly, I'm going to go run 10 miles right now. I was in doing 15 rounds sparring, a fresh guy every round just there about two hours ago.

and I'm going to go run 10 miles because of that year. I swear to God, man, that's the point of me. If it wasn't true, I wouldn't say it. Connor, you used to watch Steve, you have memories of watching him and dreaming of being what he was to your country and now doing the same? Did you used to think of this? It was the legend, man.

I remember when he whipped Chris Eubank, you know what I mean, whooped his ass. I remember watching that back in the day, I was only a little nipper, you know what I mean? Honestly, I'm a shock here, and I honestly don't know what to say here. You're speechless. You're finally.

speechless. Every time I go down to Pascal's gym in Blanchistown, the Celtic Warrior Gym, I'm welcome with open arms. You know, there are such good people, and they are legends of the combat game in Ireland, and they hear them words coming from a legend like Steve Collins. I am speeches for the first time in my life, Raleigh, you know that. And Steve, are you going to watch Conner's fight next weekend? August 17th's a big fight for him.

Absolutely. You know, I've obviously got a new interest in the game because Conner, you know, is so exciting to watch and he's been so successful. I actually think these guys what he does, I think they're all absolutely crazy. Nobody would pay me

to get to fight them guys. I thought boxing was a dangerous game until I came across guys like Conno McGregor and them guys, they scare me so I want to be his friend forever, you know?

Oh man, Steve, are you in Boston right now are you in Ireland? No, I'm in London at the moment. Man, if you can make it over to Boston, that would be something special. I would love to go to Boston. Boston, you know, my eldest daughter was born there.

A sophomore first world title there. You know, I had most of my professional memories have all been in Boston and Brockton, Massachusetts. It's like a second home to me. And my wife and I go there to visit friends and relatives, and it's a great town. And, Connor, you will love Boston. And more importantly, I guarantee you,

the Boston five-men are going to love you. They're so like us in the way of thinking and the way they live, that you're going to be at home and do me a favor because down to South and say it out to all my old friends down there and don't hang around the bars too much

because it will undo all your hard work, okay? Yeah, yeah, I will do, Steve, man I swear I God, I hope Dana White maybe he's watching this and maybe we can get flown over to Boston and walk out with me because here's one for you. It's only me and my coach John going over

because of all the trouble's getting visas and things like that. So literally, and then I have another guy in Boston, Tom Egan, the guy that I started training with back in the day, he lives over in Boston now. He's married to a Boston woman,

so he's a U.S. citizen. So it's going to be me, John, and Tom. And then I don't have another corner, and there's one space left there for another corner man. I'll have to somehow... I put a half a lot of money. I'll be on a flight. And if it brings me over there,

I won't charge for appearance money because it will be an honor. You know, part of your corner. Wow. We can make this happen. I guess you want to pass down a white too. Willie's over there. She can get that Wright Jones into the ring.

I was playing right Jones, Yeah, I've heard about that. I've heard about that, Steve. You recently got re-licensed. You want that fight. You've been looking for it for almost 10 years, right? I've been 15 years, and do you know what? He should have been a sprinter. He can run. Connor, you want it?

Oh, Steve, I swear they got a 20-mile running on a road now, yeah? I feel like tweet Roy Jones and whoever. Connor, do you want to see that fight? Do you want to see Steve versus Roy Jones? I would love to see that fight Yeah I would pay top dollar to see that fight

Like everyone in our nation would pay to see that fight Steve Collins is an Irish legend He's going to make a warm up your title fight And to see him getting in Wuproy Jones Jr Man what a spectacle that would be What'd you say Steve He can run this past down and wide He loves Irish guys especially those that can fight

And he's going to get two of the best for a long time He's going to be old and the new Together in one ring and one night in one stadium Not fighting each other obviously I'm whooploy myself, Steve. You know why you put me up here, yeah? Fucking hell. Well, he seems to...

Yeah. It's all over that. That's going to happen, more. That's going to happen down the line. I can feel that now, yeah? Steve Roy is kind of flirting with M.M.A. We see him with the Anderson Silva, Rampage Jackson, but you're saying, hold up.

You want a piece of him first. Oh, look, that maybe they want to have his career. He's a lot of 15 years. You know? We don't mess around. We don't mess around. We don't mess around. We are a nation of Ireland.

We are a nation of warriors. we come to fight. You know, Steve, Steve has been retired a while now. You know, but the thing is, that love of competition,

it never leaves you. That fight that you have in you, that age doesn't come into the equation. Once you are a fighter, you are a fighter, and, you know, it never leaves you. You never lose your power.

You never lose your heart. That's really forever. That's amazing. Yeah, man, Steve, you're a legend. Steve, any parting words for Connor as he prepares to go to Boston to fight there for the first time, the biggest fight of his career?

All I can say is, kind of, when you go in there, you're going to absorb an atmosphere, you're going to feel a home in Boston, because Boston is our town, I'm telling you, you know, when you walk in there, it's like fighting their own backyard only, it's multiplied. It's like fighting at home, you know,

with a home, because Boston is just like being home. The people will love you and your style of fighting, and the way you fight, you won't want to leave that town afterwards. I promise you, it's where you're going to make history, and it's where you're going to win your world title. And I hope to be there sometime in, and to see you live and be part of the great history

you're going to leave behind you in your era. Man, Steve Collins, thank you so much and I will carry that tricolor high and rock it with pride. Thank you so much for them, Colin Worsman, and I'm blown away. You're welcome. It's a pleasure to hear you

to talk about me the way you do because coming from you, it's a real compliment and thank you for the confidence, Connor, and I'm delighted to have had this conversation with you and I wish you all the best, but I've no deal. you're going to be a champion. You just will. It's just there. You're made to be champion.

It's only much of the time. Thank you so much, man. I swear to God, 20 miles. This camera is going to follow me 20 miles. Thank you very much, Steve. We appreciate you calling in. I know how much this meant to Connor, and good luck getting that fight against Roy Jones. No, it's my pleasure. It comes off. It comes off. You see what happens, but it's not what I want to try it from money. I'm going to campaign.

I'm going to campaign on that, yeah. I know mates in Boston. and hope I was well and assemble love and I hope to be back there soon again for another vacation. Thank you. There he is.

Steve Collins. Connor? Wow. Only here. You came late. You tried to big time us. You tried to give us the big boy stance.

But how about that? Steve Collins. I'm not afraid to admit I was putting my place there. Steve Collins is an Irish hero. He's my hero. This is an Irish warrior that's around

since as long as I can remember and to hear that I was coming more and just to be speaking to him. man, I swear to God I'm pumped up here. I'm even more so ready now, you know. Honestly, I don't know what to say. I'm blown away here. I mean, I'm blown away.

This kind of comes out a great time for you. You're about to leave this. I mean, knowing how much he means to you, this gives you that kind of extra push, right? Not that you really needed it, but it feels like, I could feel it, that you're actually moved by this. Yeah, yeah.

I'm prepared to die in here, Arirley. And if you come up against me, you better be prepared to give you a life because I am prepared to take it. All right. And hearing those words from Steve, that just magnifies that, that just makes me even more so like that.

That Irish spirit, I carry that artist spirit in there. Win, lose a draw, I'll leave it all in there. I will approach the fight, you know. I will go forward. I will be spontaneous. I will be creative. And I will give it my all every single time.

well that was an amazing moment i got goosebumps just listening to you interact uh with steve collins and seeing your reaction and feeling your reaction great stuff connor pleasure as always to have you on even though you came late uh no hard feelings i'll let it go uh good luck over there in boston and maybe i'll run into you if you win the fight we'll get to do a post-fight interview how about that are you um are you over there yeah of course are you kidding me first show Definitely run into you. What are you talking about? I will definitely run into you.

All right. If I won't, if you know, I won't win the fight. Say it, say it now. Who's going to win the fight? I think you're going to win. My man. Thank you for having me on.

It's always a pleasure. And thank you for bringing Steve Collins. That means so much to me. I know everyone from my nation who was tuning in here to this is going to be blown away by that. That's from the next news right there. I'm honored. Thank you so much.

My pleasure, Connor. Always a pleasure. and we'll talk to you next week in Boston. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. There he is. The notorious one. Connor McGregor stopping by a great moment there. Love doing that. And I want to thank Anthony Evans over at the UFC

for helping make that happen. A brilliant moment. If you don't know who Steve Collins is, one of the true Irish legends when it comes to combat sports, the Celtic warrior, as they called them, a guy who retired several years back, but recently came out as he approaches 50 that he got his license again and is searching for that fight against Roy Jones. He once said that he would go to Roy Jones's house and fight him for free in his driveway.

That's how much he wanted to fight him for whatever reason. It never panned out. And you can hear, and that's why I kind of set him up. We knew this was going to happen. You can hear how fighters like Connor speak about someone like Steve Collins, a guy who really, at one point, helped put Irish combat sports on the map, and now he is really the Steve Collins 2.0.

I mean, who else coming out of Ireland right now in combat sports is getting the attention, the notoriety, the spotlight that this man is commanding? And that was a fun moment. That was an awesome moment. I really enjoyed that. So thank you very much to Steve Collins. Thank you very much to Connor McGregor for stopping by.

And, of course, you can see him. in action August 17th in Boston. Only on the MMA hour, my friends. Only on the MMAR we make those moments happen. Okay. And by the way, how about that? Imagine Dana White brings over Steve Collins to corner. I mean, what we could have just, what we might have just made happen right there for this man is pretty exciting stuff. And let's not, let's not dismiss Max Holloway has looked very good as of late. Young guy as well, very strong. I think this is probably a tougher fight than the Andy Ogle fight for Connor. And all of a sudden, I mean, I was questioning whether or not we should dub it the people's main event.

But I was just sold once again. I was put under the spell of Connor McGregor. That's a great card. It's awesome that the undercard and the main car will be on Fox Sports 1. He will be on the quote unquote undercard, but it's all one continuous block, essentially. Look out for that fight, Connor McGregor versus Max Holloway. Okay. Let us go to the phone lines, and then we'll finish up the Twitter questions.

Let us go to Jeffrey in Waco, Texas. Yes. What's up, man? How are you? Hey, Ariel, thanks for taking my question. Question is in regards to the UFC's goal of expanding in Latino America. So there's a lot of talk lately about King Velazquez and Eric Perez being pushed in Mexico. but I don't think that these fighters, they really appeal to those in South America.

And Luke Thomas alluded to this a while back on the MMAV when he said that his wife, along with other South Americans, will always cheer for, like, the Brazilians, because of the proximity. I guess they share that common bond. And my own experience is my girlfriend's from Venezuela, and she always cheers for, you know, the Brazilians. And her favorite fighter is Ronda Rousey, mostly because, you know, she's part of Venezuelan. So my question is why is it that the UFC Why do you think that the UFC isn't pushing Ronda Rousey into the Latino American market? Because if you look at a lot of the Spanish-speaking channels,

you'll see the women look just like her, that she fits the typical role, you know, of how she looks. Her attitude is great for the spotlight and everything. So wouldn't she be the one that could make that big push into that market? I think so. I don't know if they're not pushing her in willingly or knowingly. I mean, I think

they're just pushing her in all kinds of directions and hoping that everyone latches onto her, but you're saying that they should make a conscious effort to push her into that market. Is that what you're saying? Yes, because they, a lot of the times they'll play King Velasquez and African heritage. Yeah.

So I was thinking that they also play Ronda Routi's Venezuelan heritage. You know, and I think that would really appeal to those in South America, yeah. Honestly, I didn't even know Ronda Rousey had Venezuelan heritage. Who's from Venezuela? Who's from Venezuela in her family? I think it's her great-grandfather or something like her grandfather. She said that she's half in an interview, but from what I thought, I said, a quarter,

but then she stated that she would have Venezuela. Okay. Well, you know, I think part of it is Kane Velasquez's, speak Spanish. Eric Perez, obviously, is from Mexico. So, you know, if you push her out there, you know, what could she do with the press? If she doesn't know, and I don't know, maybe she can, but I'm just guessing right now. I haven't heard this. I'd even know that she was a quarter of Venezuelan, et cetera. So I think it's, you know, it's a good idea to push her out there because she's a star and she's very likable and people love talking to her. But if she can't do the

interviews in the native language, it's hard to really push her. I think that's going to come after you get the sport in there, you get the canes out there, you get people into the sport, but you've got to push the guys who can actually speak the language. Yes, but a while back I saw Rashad Evans was on, because I watched a lot of the Spanish TV and Rashad Evans was on there. They just had a translator with him the whole time. I'm thinking that they could, you know, do that also. Because she would, I think she would just, she'd be really marketable for the women.

Because, like, my girlfriend, she hates the blood and, you know, all that. But when Rhonda Rousey comes on, she goes crazy for her because she, you know, she's feminine. at the same time, she's vicious when she's in the cage, and it really has that appeal. No, I certainly agree. I think they're getting in there slowly, but surely they're on that new, not a new network, but they have a new deal with a TV network there

that is the equivalent to Fox here, you know, very large broadcast network. So I think they're making inroads, and I think if Cane continues to win, he could be one or two fights away from fighting there. Yes. All right. Anything else?

All right. No, that's it. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks for the call, my man. All right, let's go to the Twitter questions, wrap things up. Apparently we have a lot of good ones. Honestly, we've got quite a few.

Also, maternal grandfather of Rondorowski, Venezuela. Look at you. Look at you. Look at you. moment was pretty awesome. It was amazing. And then Steve couldn't have been a better guy. I didn't expect it to go that well. That was a lot of fun. Incredible. Okay. Getting back to Twitter questions. You answered the first two. So now we're moving on to the next one. Matt Bissmore. Honestly, I didn't answer the second one. Okay. So that was about briefly, if you want to talk about it. It was the top five or six guys have all beaten each other. Lyoto, Phil Davis. Okay. Instead of giving you my rankings, this is what I would do. If, If John Jones wins, obviously, he's the champion still. Okay, we know that.

If DC wins, I'd like to see DC get the title shot. And then Phil Davis is the X factor. So basically what I would do is this. If DC wins, I want him to get the title shot. I would do Glover versus Phil Davis. If they give Glover the title shot, DC versus Davis, number one contender. Okay, so now our next question from Matt Bissmore. I feel like you're rushing me.

It feels like you're going to catch a train. There we go. Our next question from Matt Bissmore. Does. Yes. Uncle. Okay, does Uncle creepy deserve a third chance at Mighty Mouse? Yeah.

I say yes if Ian can keep from goofing off. Yes, not now. He still needs to get back on track. He only has one win in the UFC. He has something in his back pocket. He fought, you know, he fought, you know, he fought Demetrius to a draw, and then he lost. And in a performance that he says, you know, he wasn't at his best,

whatever, he still lost. So you could still sell that this is the rubber match. And, you know, he was winning that fight. You know, if you scored a fight like they did back in pride, he probably would have won that first fight. But they screwed it up. And it didn't go to sudden death. And he was kind of goofing around in the third round. And he probably could have finished, et cetera, et cetera.

So you have something to sell. But still, there are guys out there that are probably maybe one step ahead of him, Benavitas, who beat him. Just a few months back. There's Formiga who told M.M.A. fighting Guillem A Cruz earlier today that he wants a title shot, and I could see that happening if he wins. There's Linneker out there, and don't forget about Luis Goudnaudu, who's fighting later on this month. He has the first win over Linneker in Linneker's debut. He's being forgotten. I could see him getting a chance as well. There's Tim Elliott. So there's a line there, you know, they're not

the biggest names, but there are guys who I think might deserve it before Ian McCall. But I think McCall will get that title shot. He's very, he's very marketable. He's a fan favorite. If he continues to have performances like he did on Saturday, he'll get it. Our next question, we have a few regarding this topic from John White. What is a harder paper view to promote, Rampage versus Roy Jones Jr., or Rampage versus Tito? Boxing headlighting? Excuse me. Yeah.

I'm playing sick here today. Boxing headlining an MMA pay-per-view or losing records headlining. It's like six in one, half dozen, and the other on this one. As I mentioned before, when we thought it was the Roy Jones fight, I didn't like it because I thought that why are you signing Rampage to have him do something that he doesn't normally do? You know, someone told me recently, all these fighters who are talking about boxing, even from John Jones to Cane Velasquez to Gino-Santo's to Rampage Jackson, they need to forget about it because they would get smoked by a boxer.

It's a totally different sport. It's a completely different sport. And on Ultimate Insider last night, they had Freddie Roach talking about Shogun Hua. and the way he talks about his skills, it seems like they're so elementary that it would not make any sense to sign a guy like Rampage at this point in his career to go up there against an over-the-hill Roy Jones,

still, why would you do it? Why would you pay him all that money to potentially get knocked out? So what I meant when I tweeted last week that this fight makes more sense, the Tito fight, because at least it's MMA and it's what he does, that's what I meant.

Now, that being said, this goes against everything that Belator has always been about. And now Bjorn is telling us, oh, you know, this was the fight that I always wanted to see. And this is not going to be, you know, the norm, but we had to make it, you know, honestly, I'm calling BS on that because he was very adamant. This is a Spike decision. This is something that Spike wants. This is, this has Spike's fingers all over it. The old Belator wasn't interested in these kinds of fights.

I mean, they clearly stated. They didn't want UFC castoffs. They didn't want to make fights like this. This is exactly what they're doing. And on top of that, it's the headline. Now, if they would have made this their Belator pay-per-view and this would have been, you know, the co-main event or the third fight, okay, you can get away with it. This is what the show was all about.

It's Tito versus Rampage. And then we'll fill it up with the rest of the card fighters that, you know, who have made Bellator into what it is today. So this is a huge U-turn in the world of Belator. It's a completely different direction. And yeah, it's a tough sell, but I think it's an easier sell because at least it's two names who maybe haven't seen their last few fights. Tito's fighting rampage. Okay, it reminds me of

yesterday year and I'm going to watch it. Rampage versus Roy Jones, I think a lot of people would have scoffed at it, a lot of people would have made fun of it, a lot of people would have dismissed it. I think here there's more, you have a better chance of getting the MMA fan to pay for it because it's an MMA fight and its names that we know. That being said, they're both kind of crazy, and it's surprising to me that Bellator is going in this direction.

You just spoke about filling out the rest of the card. So James Alonzo Jr. asked, think the Bellator pay-per-view fight is worth ordering if they stacked the main card like Chandler v. Alvarez. I mean, that has to be the co-main event if they can get it done. Glenn Robinson, who is the manager for Eddie Alvarez, told me that they are talking and he is hoping for a settlement. Now, he wouldn't tell me if the settlement was, let's get a deal back with Bellator and have Eddie fight there, or settlement to have Eddie leave and go to the UFC. but that's the biggest legitimate fight Bellator can make.

That's a must-see fight. That's a fight that you need to sit down and watch between two arguable top-10 fighters. One, a definite Michael Chandler, in my opinion. And the other guy, Eddie Alvarez, lost to him when he was the champion. It's a great fight. I don't know if they can get it done. What do they have three months? Less than three months, a little less than three months.

I don't know if they can get it done. But if there's one fight they must make, it's that one on that pay-per-view. From Guillermo del Smito, you disappointed. will never see Michael Chandler against Tom competition in his prime due to his Bellator contract. He signed an eight-fight deal. I mean, yeah, you know, it's the Gilbert Melendez thing. And I think Gilbert has or had better competition in Strikeforce than Mike has now in Bellator. It's kind of a blessing and a curse because he will most likely beat all these guys, not named Eddie Alvarez. We don't know what will really happen there.

But I might favor Mike in that fight. I haven't really thought about the rematch. but Mike's look fantastic and Eddie's been on the sidelines. So it's a blessing because he'll seem roll through those guys, there'll be buzz, you know, he'll have the momentum. And often when there's that one guy on the island by himself, he gets a lot more attention. The curse is that, you know, we won't really know how good Michael Chandler is

until he fights in the UFC. Belator is very smart to sign him. They needed to keep him around. They couldn't lose him. And it's interesting to see how they pick and choose. Like, they let Hector Lombard go, but they wanted to keep this guy. They obviously felt that he had more potential, better future, et cetera. But yeah, I won't lie.

And this is no knock on Bellator. You want to see him fight the best. If the best were in Belator, great. They're not right now. They're in the UFC. So that was the first thing I thought. Eight fights? Damn, we're not going to see him fight those guys for a very long time.

Our next question from Gilbert Martinez. What numbers does Belator need to pull to determine Tito versus Rampage successful? To me, the magic nether. number would have to be 100,000. You know, affliction claims that their first pay-per-view did over 100,000. I'm not sure if that's accurate. WEC claims that their only paper view did over 100,000. You know, who knows if that's accurate. But basically, what we've always been told is that no promotion, not named the UFC, has ever gone past 100,000, 100,000 buy mark. So if they get over 100, if they get 100, if they get around that mark, I think it's success.

I think this will be built as Rampage versus Tito. That needs to be, the UFC, the name gets you 100 or so,000, 150,000, I think, on its own. Rampage versus Tito, we'll find out what those names get you. You know, as much as we love in our little bubble, the Chandler's and the Pat Curranes of the world, they're not going to get you much on pay-per-view. And they're going to promote the heck out of this. It'll be all over Viacom, and they're going to put a lot of eggs in this basket. but I still think that if they don't get past 100, then it's a failure.

And by the way, another thing that surprised me about this, VICOM is not in the pay-per-view business. They're in the business of building up Spike, advertising things of that nature. I'm very surprised that at this stage in their careers, they felt like this is a fight that they need to put on pay-per-view. Like Rampage's last fight was on free TV. He's fought on free TV in the past.

He's fought on Spike. As has Titor-Tis at this stage, if you put them on a main event of a Bell Tour 99 or whatever it is, then it kind of makes sense. But now that you're in the pay-per-view business, it changes everything. It brings about a lot more scrutiny and a lot more attention.

And I'm very surprised that this is the fight that they're using for their pay-per-view debut. It's really not what they've been telling us since they launched a few years back. Our next question comes from Jorge Hernandez. Excuse me. Are you okay back there?

Yeah, I'm good. Do we need Will to read the question? Just kidding. No, I'm going to grab a lozen. after this one. Oh, a lozenge. Oh, yeah. I got some... Ricola! Okay.

If Connor McGregor wins his next fight, he should be matched with... I believe that's Eric Koch, right? Yes, new breed. And the winner of Eric Koch against Dustin Porreier, agree or disagree. I like it. I like that. That's a great fight. That's taking place 164, August 31st,

in Milwaukee. I like it. Looking at the rankings right now, McGregor's not in there, and I don't know if a winner of a Max Holloway gets you there. It certainly gets you towards the bottom of the top 10. But yeah, I like it. I mean, right now, according to the UFC rankings, and I just use these as kind of my guide,

but I think they're very much flawed. They're more of just a TV, you know, a little cherry on top for the TV broadcast. But anyway, Coke is 10, Poirier 7. That makes a lot of sense. Siver would be coming off a loss. Zombies out for a bit. Swanson, Edgar, Lamas,

they're kind of at the top. Yeah, I like that idea a lot. Our next question comes from Kevin Thang. Which fighter would you say is the current face of each of the following promotions? UFC, Bellator, and WSOF. Wow. Skip to my Thang with another good one. Okay, let's go backwards.

WSOF, Tyrant Spung, easy. Bellator, easy. Michael Chandler. Those ones are easy. UFC? Honestly, I would say Dana White is the face of the UFC, but you're asking about a fighter.

I'm going to say there's two that come to mine. John Jones, Ronda Rousey. What do you think? I was going to say it's those two as well. Yeah. John Jones, Ronda Rousey, honestly, I think Ronda might be above John Jones right now as far as the way she's pushed

and marketed and put out there. I'd say in terms of who the UFC wants to push forward and promote, yes, but I still think that people from the outside looking in would associate John Jones as the face of the UFC. Yep. Our next question from Andy, do you think Paul Daly signed with Bama too quickly when there was a groundswell to get him back in the UFC? No, because the UFC told me flat out they're not interested in him. Dana said it, other people in the UFC, so trust me, they did their research, they reached out, they figured out there's no future at least right now. He signs a three-fight deal with Bama.

He's able to fight for other promotions outside of the UK. And then they're thinking, all right, let's win these fights. And then maybe in three fights. I mean, every time Paul Daly is going to fight now, and it's funny how it just kind of switched. You know, he had won three in a row. Wins the Cage Warriors fight a couple weekends ago. And then all of a sudden, it's like, let's get Paul Daly back.

Where were those people of the third fight, the second fight in the street? That being said, it seems like every time he wins now, it's going to keep building and building. So you win those three fights. probably against lesser competition, and then let's see what happens. But, you know, they barked up that tree and there was nothing there, so they had to move on. Our next question from Matt Grady.

Do you think UFC fighters named in the biogenesis deal will be punished by the UFC or will it be left to the commissions? Well, let's see if anyone is named. You know, right now, you know, baseball, I commend baseball. down on baseball, as you know, because of my love of the Montreal Expos, may they rest in peace. But I think baseball has done a tremendous job with this. And, you know, a little over a decade after they were kind of the laughing stock of sports the way PEDs ruined baseball, they really are, in my opinion, the leaders in terms of, you know, cracking down on this kind of stuff.

Now, Dana White and the UFC loves to say that the government, you know, regulates them and they play by different rules. and that may be the case, but I don't think the government is doing a good enough job. For a multitude of reasons, financial, being one of them, they just don't have the money. But every time it seems like a big fight when there's random testing, not every time, but it happened with Barnett, California, it happened with Overim and Nevada. It doesn't happen often. And also, all the guys aren't even being tested. And also, a lot of them know when they are going to be tested, and that's a very easy thing to get by.

back to biogenesis, if they are named, basically what would happen is it would be up to the UFC to punish them in the sense that they can't get fights, they can't make a living, and that's the same way of someone like Oxr Rodriguez not getting paid. The commission just doesn't have to license them and they'll bring this up. But I don't think the commission, you know, let's say biogenesis says that, you know, Joe Schmo fighter took this stuff. Commission can't just suspend that fighter, just out of the blue, say this guy suspended. No, if you're he actually goes and applies, they can deny him that and he'll lose opportunities. I'd be very curious to see what the UFC does if a big name fighter is on this. You know, if it's a smaller name fighter, they could just cut them. But if it's a big name fighter, what would they do? I really have no idea. Greg Castle asks, did you find the UFC World Tour Week to be a success? I was at the NYC one, and I think the fans proved it was. You know, I think it was a success. I was at the New York one. The pictures look great at Cowboys Stadium. L.A. seemed to be. a good crowd. And then as they moved on, they just met with the press, you know, in London and

Sweden, Brazil. And I think it was a success. I think it was important for the UFC to let people know that these big fights are coming and it all kicks off. It is a little strange because it felt like it overshadowed the promotion for 163. The UFC puts on so many events now that you really have just a week to sell them. I mean, there was Fox 8 and then 163. And this was all happening. And they had all their eggs in this basket. I do think the 163, you know, promotion was was hurt by it all. But I think it's a great idea. It was impressive seeing them all up there together.

And dare I say, the best moment was when GSP hugged Ronda Rossi. I thought that was a very nice moment. The guy who asked that question was, he just really had a command for the room and the audience and the moment. But, you know, maybe it was a little, it was a lot of guys at one time and girls. But I think the UFC should do more of that stuff. and really make an effort to let people know, you know, when does UFC ever get to look two, three, four shows down the line?

And they were doing that and then some when you talk about 168. So it was good, but I do think maybe some of the shows happening at that moment suffered a little bit. Our next question from Carlos Ortiz. Who's knocked out figure? Is it behind you, Eric? Oh. You know, I'm happy you asked, Carlos, because we put a lot, and I'll get props where they're due.

Eric Rick does this, he sets everything up, and he puts a lot of time, effort, and thought into the set. Now, if you see up here, can the people see this? They can see this. This is our championship mantle here. And what we like to do is feature the current champions of the UFC. We have Dominic Cruz, Joseoaldo, Vincent Henderson, George St. Pierre. Okay, this is interesting. We have Anderson Silva up there with the belt on the ground.

He's looking very upset. But we don't have a Chris Wyman figure. Coming soon. Coming soon. Round 5 needs to get their act together. So right now we have Anderson there, a little bit in back of the pack with the belt on the ground.

We have John Jones. We won't speak about his left hand, which has gone missing in action. And then we have Kane Velasquez, but this is where it gets interesting. There's some storylines to be told on this mantle. First off, we've got the Korean zombie on the ground, the fallen zombie,

with the dislocated shoulder, as you can see here. So we hope he gets better. So here's the Korean zombie on the mantle down for the count. Now, in back of Benson-Henderson, as you can see, we've got Showtime Petis hanging out over his shoulder, waiting, waiting to strike.

August 31st, coming very soon. And then, towards the end there, we have Kane Velasquez with Junior Dos Santos. Now, interesting thing about Junior Dos Santos, I see he is wearing a belt of his own. Why is that? That's just a championship edition one. Oh, okay.

So we left the belt on Junior. They both came in with one win now They'll settle it That's fair So there you go You have Junior So a lot of stories to be told Now if you look down here

There are more stories to be told You think that this is all just kind of random stuff But it's not Tito Rampage How about that? Right next to each other Matt Sarah of course with the Bell Championship Edition Carlos Condit Boss Routin

Nate Diaz of course We've got Dan Hardy Alasor Overeign Pride Edition B.J Penn Vitor Belford Brian Stan who of course recently retired, and Vitor and Brian were in Brazil. I'm sure that's why they were put there together.

So there's a lot of interesting things. One of these days we're going to do tours, like they do on SNL, where people come and see the studio. It's a very big studio. You can spend hours here, and maybe we'll open that up to the public. But for now, very good call, Carl's. Our next question comes from Amun Palman. Yes.

Are you sponsored by Boni Asai yet? You know, honestly, I don't know if you are actually asking because you're interested. I don't know if you work for them, but I'm open to it. I'll tell you something about Bonilla, SCE. I actually went on their website maybe two years ago, and I wanted to buy, like, a massive case. I wanted to buy, like, a case of 72.

And for some reason, they wouldn't take my credit card. I don't know what was going on. I know it was a legit credit card. They wouldn't take it. So I would love to be... You don't even sponsor me. Just give me some stuff. Let me know where I could buy it.

I just want to buy it. Take my money. I want this stuff. I don't know if it's fattening or not. when I tweeted pictures of it over the weekend. That was really the best information I had out in Brazil. A lot of people were telling me it was fattening. And I didn't know if it was Buzzkill Brandon in disguise or something,

but they were really ruining my buzz. I ate a, I think it was a 500-millimeter, maybe it was 750. Right before I left, it was massive. This thing was massive. And I had the granola, and when I was done with it, like, you know, that much. I put more granola. It was just the whole, you honestly, a lot of people say you haven't lived. unless you done, you really haven't lived

unless you tried Asi from Brazil. Don't go to your local jamba juice and try it. It's Fugazi. So yes, Boniasee, I'm open. No, I'm not sponsored. Our next question comes from Matt Bruce. Once Rick completes Rick's fit, will he look at stepping up

into some Muay or BJJ? Well, I think this is a question for you. I don't know about that. This is just a thing to get myself, you know, into a lifestyle change. Now, I definitely do, I have wanted to in the past, like, start taking up BJJ or some kind of striking, but I don't know about making it into a challenge or anything like that. But correct me if I'm wrong, Matt, the way I'm reading this, you're asking if he's actually going to go into a competition.

Like, fight Muay, compete in BJJ. I don't know. Matt's not here to answer this question, this follow-up, but that's the way. Because if you graduate from Rick's fit and you accomplish that. that, which is a very noble thing to do, okay, now you're just going to go train at a gym with some guy holding pads? No, no, no. You need a new challenge. This is the way I'm reading this. And quite frankly, I think

it's a brilliant idea. It's the next chapter of the Rick's Picks Challenge, if you know what I'm saying. I don't know about that. I got to get my feet wet. Sure, sure. You know, trying out BJJ, which is what I think I'm going to go into first and try that out. But I don't know

about stepping up into, you know, competition or anything like that. Side note, by the way. And, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to chew on this one because I do think there's some, there's some interesting, there's an interesting angle there to explore. My buddy Enrique, this guy is so nice. He came to the hotel on Friday.

He gave me a jersey of Botafogo. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. A Brazilian club, soccer team, football team. And he was very nice. came there to hand it to me with my name on the back. It was awesome. He's telling me the next time he goes to NYC, I will do my best to bring you some Brazilian assailles. Nothing against Bonnet SIEC, but it's not the same. And I agree. It's in a can. It's a little different. But look at this guy. He's offering to come. People are offering me their assay. It's very exciting.

So becoming the M. M. M. Asaie hour. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Wow. This one I chose because I want to throw my name in the hat. Gavin Harris is New York Rick going to replace Mike Chiapetta on the MMA beat? Well, you know, as we mentioned, Mike Chiapeta has moved on. He is now with Fox Sports.com. You know, does that departure automatically open up the door for you? I'm not sure.

I mean, just because Mike's leaving doesn't mean, you know, you get the opportunity. This whole thing has been for you to work to earn that spot because let's be honest, you are not a credentialed, media member. You are not a respected member of the MMA Media Corps. So why do you deserve to be at that table? Because I bring perspective from the fans, from the people. I'm the man of the people. Are you saying you deserve to be there more so than some of the people on the panel? Is that what you're saying? No, not necessarily, but you know, the panel can change up every once in a while.

Sure. Speaking of which, tomorrow we'll be taping with Chuck Mindenhall of ESPN.com, we've got Mark Romundi returning of the New York Post.com and also New York Post. And also we've got Jeff Wagenheim of Sports Illustrated making his debut. So yes, some new faces. And I'll be honest, I don't know if you're ready for it just yet. Maybe one day. But I just don't think that the departure of Mike Chiapetta means you could just slide in there, willy-nilly. I mean, that's a slap in the face to all of us who have been working hard trying to make a name for ourselves in this sport. I don't know about replacing Mike. I'm not going to replace Mike necessarily. But I think that the people can speak for how much they want to see me on there.

And I think they do. I'll do it. Oh, there we go. Will wants to. I think Will, based on the emails, he sends me at 3, 4 o'clock in the morning about MMA, shows that he has the passion, he has the knowledge, he has the real fire to do this. By the way, people are starting stuff with round five. Someone sent round five a message.

On the MMA hour, Ariel Hawani just said, round five needs to, quote, step up their game commenting on the wait for the Widman figure. Now, Damon Lau of Round 5 has just responded and said, 9 to 12 month is the normal turnaround on toys. The fact that we made a Wideman on time is stepping up our game. Widman's coming out. They announced it.

Yeah, yeah, but look, when did he win? They needed to have that thing on July 7th. Yeah, right. A year before that, he wasn't even in the fight with Anderson Silva. You should have known. me I don't hell I didn't know um and this one's not a question this is our last thing from nile hardy came home to ireland after six weeks in spain to my ariel hawani halwani nose shirts I just want to give him some love look at him on the screen is that the one that you have too no no no no i've got the plaid i've got the plaid

you know i got to say uh the new batch very well received the quality was much better I screwed up. I screwed up so bad on the sizing. I ordered too many of like the wax sizes and I didn't order enough mediums and larges. So we still,

we have like some triple XLs and some double Xels and some smalls. And people keep asking me for medium and larges and we don't have anymore. We sold out of those in like two days. So I screwed up. Well, you big and little guys out there.

Go get one of your... Go get one of them. Go get a damn t-shirt. There's still like 50 left. So in total we probably sold like 350 or so. maybe 325, something like that. But there are still some left. So go to MMA Warehouse.com and get your Hawaiian nose shirt.

And I appreciate this man. What's his name again? His name is Nile Hardy. And Nile is a real saint of a man because I believe... Oh, wait. Oh, came home to Ireland. Yes. He is from Ireland.

Those shipping costs, I will admit, international shipping kind of pricey. So I appreciate it very much. Good man. Good man. Top man, as they say. Top look, top lad. Is that it? That's it.

Well, this was fun. Mike, you can hit my music. A very interesting show, my friends, on this Wednesday, August 7th, 2013. That was a lot of fun. I'm still buzzing over the whole Connor McGregor, Steve Collins, moments. The moment that happened here on the MMR, you could feel it. You could feel it coming out of him, how much that meant to him, how that amped him up. And I think my friends at Severe MMA just sent me a vine of him all amped up afterwards.

I'll check that out on Twitter right now. But it's good to be back, my friends. Good to be back from Brazil, home for a week or so now before we go out to Boston, Massachusetts for the huge Fox Sports One launch. A massive moment not only for the UFC, for our sport, for media. It's a very big deal. It's the big rival to ESPN that's finally going to come out there. Guns blazing, hard-hidden, big swinging. August 17th, Chelsen and Shogunhuah,

and the people's main event, Connor McGregor versus Max Holloway. For now, I want to thank our good buddy, Guillermo. That's what you say, Guillermo, Cruz. Now of MMAFighting.com, so proud that he's on the team. He's doing an amazing job. Keep following his work. Good luck to Marlon Marais, World Series of Fighting Number 4 this Saturday. Good luck to Daniel Cormier as he prepares for Roy Nelson and puts the John Jones talk to bed for now.

Good luck to Connor McGregor and good luck to Nick Newell this Saturday. WSOF number four. And thank you very much to Steve Collins for that amazing moment. We'll be back Monday. We'll be back Monday. Same time I play Sunday. We'll see then. Show Mario.

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