MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 198

Episode Date: August 25, 2014

Featuring Alistair Overeem, Rashad Evans, Johny Hendricks, Vladimir Matyushenko, Mike Kyle, and Ali Abdel-Aziz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And we have a stack show from Alistair Overeuxenko to Johnny Hendricks, Mike Kyle, Vladimir Matiushenko, Ali Abdell Aziz, the president, executive vice president and matchmaker for World Series of Fighting. They'll all be stopping by. We want your questions and comments using the hashtag VMMM. MMA hour as well. And don't forget another week, another sponsorship, if you will, from our good friends over at Fox Sports One. The Ultimate Fighter rolls along 10 p.m. Eastern this Wednesday, we will talk about all of that throughout this show. But the reason why I'm rolling through all of this, and of course we're joined in the back by New York Rick, Alfred Buskill, Brendan, Will. We are up against the clock here because Sugar Rashad Evans was supposed to join us later in the show.

But then he just informed us that his flight was delayed and he has to join us. now for a few minutes as I believe he is on a plane right now heading to somewhere. So let us go to our first guest right now, right here. MMA hour with Shuga, Rashad Evans. Rashad, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. What's up there? How are you doing? I'm doing great.

I just rolled through that thing. Usually we have a big elaborate intro, but for you, my friend, we'll change things up. Where are you going today, by the way? You're so nosy. I'm going to Newark. Oh. You're going to our turf here. You could have come in studio.

That's what I'm saying. I know. That's what I'm saying. I actually, I wanted to if I got in earlier. Oh, sure. But the fight got messed up. Okay. No time to waste.

You're on the plane right now? Yeah, I'm on a plane right now. Okay. So if they tell you to get off the phone or whatever, you just let me know, okay? All right, cool. All right. Okay. I want to ask you about this fight that was announced last week.

You versus Chale Sunnan, UFC 16, November 16th, 20th anniversary show. A couple days before that, I was in a car multiple times. With you and Chale, and you guys were friendly, of course, we were working on the Fox Show. Did you know at that point that this was even in discussion? No, I didn't know at all until it was the last time we worked together on Wednesday. Chale got a text from Dana. There was an update about who he might fight next, and Chale was like, not fight anybody long as not Rashad.

And then Dana's like, well, it was Rashad. And then that's where it took off from there. But then, you know, we talked it over, and at first we didn't want to do it. and then after a while, you know, a couple of days will by, and we said, you know, it's probably the best decision for both of us to do, so we decided that we were going to do it. You see, when I was in the car with both of you, looking back now, thinking about it,

I felt like there was a bit of friction there. I think you knew something. You know what? I think maybe he knew something. I honestly, I think he knew something or kind of wanted to fight me, but just didn't want to say it, you know. But it's all good, though, man. It wouldn't change to where I feel about Chale.

You know, I still think he's one of the best guys, you know, outside the sport, I mean, inside the sport, and, you know, out of the case. But me liking them, no, don't get this wrong, me liking him, is not going to stop me from trying to, you know, get after them. Not going to stop that at all. Well, we'll get to that in a second, but I heard you on the pre-fight show on Wednesday on Fox Sports 1, and you insinuated that you think Chale kind of, you know,

he said something to you and then said something else, else to the UFC, to Dana White. Isn't that true? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't insinuated. I wasn't insinuating. I mean, because, you know, him and Dana are close, man, you know. Him and they're not close.

And, you know, Chale is, uh, I mean, Chale's about, you know, he's about big fights. And he's about, you know, the fight that's going to bring him the biggest draw. So I'm sure I made more sense to him than anybody else. Do you think he played you, though? I mean, I wouldn't, I mean, I wouldn't say I played you. I mean, you know, it is, you know, it's, I don't know.

Honestly, honestly speaking, I don't know. I don't know. But it'll be naive for me to think that, you know, maybe he didn't have anything to know. You know,

maybe he didn't know anything about it at all. But, you know, he was, he was, like he was, he did seem like he was genuinely surprised at first.

I don't know, man, you know, but him and Dana are cool, so you never know him. Well, do you think they were trying to set you up because they're cool?

Yeah. because me and Chail was friends that, you know, he didn't really know how to play. Hey, do you want to fight? Yeah, but you know what's interesting. When we first talked about this fight, the possibility of this fight on UFC tonight a few weeks back, Chale immediately said, that's cool and all, but I'm going down to 185, so I'm not even going to be in your weight class. Now he accepts the fight. Were you surprised?

Yeah. No, I wasn't surprised because we talked about it, you know. And I think one thing with Chale is that Chale, you know, he went out there had a good fight against Shogun. But then he got confidence, and he knows that, you know what, I can't compete against these guys at this weight class. I think when he went against John, that being the first outing, it didn't give him much confidence being in the weight class because he got dismissed so early.

But now he went there, for his show-un's been, you know, the top five fighters for the past, I don't know, four or five years. So, you know, it just made him think that he can stay at 205. Leading up to this fight, will you guys be working on Fox shows together? No, we were that supposed to do a show together, I think it was in Dallas or something like that. Houston. Houston. Houston, Houston, that's right.

But then with the whole fight coming up and me in a training camp, I decided not even bother them. Why? Do you think it would be awkward? Yeah, it would be awkward. I mean, you know, having to fight them and then having to work on them and have to play, have to play out of each other. Because so much when you're sitting on set, you know, so much. much is pretty much ping pong. You got to listen to what they're saying,

and you pretty much, you know, it goes up in the relationship. You know, the show is going to be as good as how well you feel about the person sitting next to you. And if I have, you know, split feelings about on the far as me trying to, you know, train the wolf with his ass every day and then me want to hang out with him. It's not going to look out. So you have to get in the zone at that point, right?

Yeah, you've got to get in the zone. And that's the thing about fighting. Fighting is a process. It's not like one of these things that you just go and you just do you know, when it's on fight day. No, it's something you build every single day. You've got to harness the mentality for fighting night, every

single day. So at this point, you almost have to start hating Chal Sunnan. Is that what you're saying? I hated a strong word, but I've got to start strongly disliking it. Do you already strongly dislike it? I mean, is the camaraderie that we see on the screen? Is that all manufactured? No, you know, no, it's not

a manufacturer. I mean, it's not false. I really do like Chelle. Chela is a real good guy. I like Chelle a lot. But, you know, when it comes down to fighting it, it's the business. And I know that he is going to step into the cage 100%, you know, prepared for me. So I got to do the same. I can't go in there and be like, oh, well, that's something. But Chalers, no, Chalers going to try to work me.

You know what I'm saying? Chal's going to try to go and look me and give it a brag on me. So I've got to go on there and do what I need to do. Obviously, when you guys are working together, you know, you have moments where you can talk. You ever think back now and say, man, I told him something about my training. You know, at the time, he wasn't really on your radar. I told him something at this. Now, I kind of regret saying that to him.

Now, you know what the secret matter is? It wouldn't matter what he knows about me training because it all comes down to what you can execute when it comes time to fight. You know, so it doesn't matter what I told him, you know? I could have told him anything, help him out with some nutrition tips or whatever information I could have passed to him.

It doesn't matter to me because I don't want to come to fight night, none of that's going to be in the equation. He still has to go in it. still have to fight me. Do you think he's better at 185 or 205? I think that he's better at 205 and I'm going to say that because he's not cutting a lot of weight and when you're not cutting a lot of weight

you know, that's something that comes to be a factor later on in the rounds you know, and for a fighter like chair who's a grinder, I think not having to cut weight is going to actually play in his advantage because now he's going to actually have all that endurance that he would normally have

because he's fighting close to his natural weight. He's obviously a very loquacious fighter, he likes to trash talk, all that stuff. Do you expect him to do that to you? I expect him to come up with a couple palms or two, but I don't think he's going to go too deep. You know what I'm saying? He might say something now because I said that he

because I think that he was doing a little scudgery with Dana got to set his fight up. But you mentioned like, you know, liking the guy and having to prepare for him. You've been in this situation before, but this isn't John Jones all over again, right? Like you guys aren't best buds, right? No, I mean, it's not John

in that situation was something totally different. you know, and that was something different because, you know, where we're coming from at the time, and with the whole team situation and training on the same team. It's different fighting teammate versus fighting somebody who's a friend of yours, you know what I'm saying, it's a different concept. But will you admit it's a little awkward that you work with this guy, you're friendly with him, and now you have to fight them all of a sudden because it really came out of nowhere this fight? No, it really is awkward, it really is awkward, you know, because I got my idea of Chale and, you know,

jail being suddenly. And even when he was, you know, getting ready to fight John, I was like, hey, man, I'll come out and help you train or whatever you need and, you know, try to help out any any way I can. So, it's now weird, I'm going to have to go out there and fight him. Are you convinced that this was 100% Dana's idea, or do you think

he had a part in it? You know, I don't know either way, to be honest, you know, it's just me, my hypothetical ideas. You know, me, I'm the biggest conspiracy theorist out there, so I just love it. And has training camp started? Because this fights in essentially two months, right?

Yeah, yeah. I started training already. I started kicking into gear. You know, I don't see why I should wait around and wait to get, wait to start training. I mean, Chale is somebody who's tough, man, and, you know, it may get overlooked by the fact that he's been beat by Anderson and he's been beat by John in the last couple fights, but, you know, Cail is definitely, definitely a guy that you really need to prepare for it. So are you training in New York?

I'm a decent training with Mark Henry you know guys and Hensa Gracie you know guys and then I'm gonna go back down with South Florida Is this a new thing for you training with those guys?

Yeah, it is a new thing You know me and Mark We talked about training before And you know We got to work together A couple times But now I want to go out there And get some good work out

Get some good work in with them And then go back home How long will you do it for? Probably for like a week and a half or two And then You know Head back down to South Florida Will you bring him with you?

I'll take him as long as he can. You know, he's got his obligations and stuff like that, so I'll get him as long as I can. But, you know, I like work on Mark a lot. You know, he's a guy who has, like, an extreme intelligence and high IQ when it comes to fighting. So, you know, that's somebody I definitely want to have on my side

and somebody who definitely can bring my game to the next level. Blacksillings are rolling right now, but do you feel like you need to change a scenery? Is that why you're doing this? No, no, I'm still going to stay at my camp. I'm still staying with my camp. I'm still staying with him. You know, I'm not going to leave my team.

Okay. She said, I'm going to go out there for a couple weeks, then I'm going to come back home and do the rest of my camp for the Black Zillions. And I'm doing, you know, Henry Hoof and Kenny Monday and a whole Black Vigian family. Okay. I can go out there and just get, you know, it's just like a little, like what I think is this way here.

Every fighter should be able to go out and train in different atmospheres, playing with different coaches, because sometimes you get into situations, and you get into the same camp, and it's just the same spool of far. Sometimes you need to break out of that box and see what everybody else is doing. That's how you stay on the edge of developing your technique.

Do we still have a couple more minutes? Yeah, like maybe two. Okay, here we go. You're back on the winning track. You were on a bit of a losing streak there, and then you beat Dan Henderson. Do you feel like a weight has been lifted that now you can be a little more confident

than now you could go on a roll here? Like, was that losing streak? Was it really weighing on your shoulders? You know, I like to say it wasn't, but it really was, man. You know, when your back is against the wall and you got your whole career and everything you worked hard for, and it comes down to, you know, losing a couple of fights in the row, it does not. It does, like, when it's spacing your head and, you know, the system that's created. And you know, it's like, you lose three fights.

And it's like, you know that bubble. You know, and you're like, you don't know what's going to happen. And you never want to be in that position. And I hold myself at a high standard. and that's something I did not want for myself. So when I was fighting against Dan Hennyson, I'm like, man, I just got to get to this fight. I got to get this win.

And I don't care how it's done, but I got to get to this win. And it felt good to know that I still got it. I still can go out there and I still can fight. You know, because people say a lot of things, and you say it doesn't, you know, you can say it don't bother you, but at the same time,

it does find a way to seep into your mind a little bit, you know. So when I was going to my losing streak, And I wasn't on the internet. I wasn't doing none of that because Twitter would hurt your feelings, man. I know it. I know. So you stayed away from all of that? Yeah, I stayed away from all of that, man, because it just, it,

what would happen is that, you know, you'll start reading all that stuff, and then it will just stay in your mind, and then you'll start second-guessing yourself, and normally you wouldn't, you know? And, you know, it comes down to, like, you just got to believe, no matter what. No matter what happened to you to fight before, you just got to find a way to believe. but when you started, you start filling your mind with other people's thought and what they say about you and what people think that don't even know you, then it becomes hard to, hard to compete. Okay, last question, Rashon, we really appreciate the time. We really appreciate you squeezing us in.

Where will you find that killer instinct, that motivation, a guy you have no real beef with, at least that we know of, unless you're not telling us the whole story here, a guy that you're friends with that you work with, where will you find that edge to pick up a huge win on the 20th anniversary show, Co-Mean event, GSP, your old, foul, your old pal, I mean, where will you find that when you fight and train to fight Chale Sunnan? Every day. Every day. It's not something I'm going to try to find that night. It's something like I was saying earlier in the conversation that I got to call today every day.

I got to remember. I got to like, okay, this is why I'm doing it. See, the biggest part in what happened to me and my swamp is the fact that I forgot why I was doing it. I didn't enjoy it anymore. I was to the point where I was just going through the motion. I didn't enjoy the process because it's all about the process. I got it.

You got to really dig deep and you got to really love every single thing about the game and the grind the grind is where it's at. So I got to fall in love with that grind again

and that grind is what bringing that dog out because when I'm out there and I'm doing an extra work when I'm hitting that bag when I'm making myself you know go so I can't go no more and try I want to pass out

when I'm so busy with exhaustion when I do that I know somebody has to pay for that so when I'm going and when my mindset is going like that on fighting that it becomes easy because I've been breeding that dog all through training camp

and then on fighting now I get to let it out man you're giving me goosebumps right now love talking to you Rashad thank you so much for squeezing us in and have a safe trip and if you need anything out here I know you're familiar with New York State

but if you need anything you can call your boy anytime you want my brother man I hit you up there for sure there he is Sugar Rashad Evans have a safe flight to him he is coming to the east a bit of breaking news there training with Mark Henry, training with the Hensel Grace team.

Of course, he has trained with them in the past, those guys, the Hensel Gracie guys, but Mark, as a striking coach, you saw him in the corner of one, Sapo Natal on Wednesday of last week with a huge win over in Belhozance. We'll talk about that later. That's interesting, with the Black Sillians rolling. Not saying that he's leaving the Black Sillians, but saying that he's trying to get some different looks. Get out of your comfort zone.

You hear this a lot, and I think that's good. It's always good that a fighter recognizes that you need to, switch things up from time to time. And he's only doing it for a week or so, as he said, but to go out here, to come here from Florida to the tri-state area, that's very interesting. But so honest about where he was at in his career, because I remember talking to Rashad prior to the Little Nog fight, where he was saying, you know, after the John Jones fight, he considered retirement. And I always find that to be, you know, a red flag. I remember, you know, we spoke about this recently, Nick Diaz and whether or not he's going to come back.

And we spoke about this on the MMA beat. And I said, I don't want to see the Nick Diaz who has been contemplating retirement for the last few years come back. Now, if it's a Nick Diaz who is rejuvenated, a Nick Diaz who cares again, Nick Diaz who wants to go in a run, who's not worried about outside factors, getting to him and all this stuff, great.

I want to see that guy back. But once a fighter starts thinking about retirement, once a fighter starts contemplating this, and has one foot out the door, there are problems. And you often don't see the same fighter in the cage, ring, whatever, even in other sports, the field, the court, the diamond, all that stuff. When they start thinking about it, when they lose their edge, and it has nothing to do with sports, really, it's just human nature.

If you start coming to a job and you're thinking about leaving and you're not happy with it, you're not going to have that motivation to go the extra mile. And the extra mile for these guys, the fighters, is what he was talking about in the gym. on the bags, training, on the mats, all that stuff. You're not going to spend the extra half hour, extra hour there to get as good as you can be, to be in the best shape possible. Remember the Rashad Evans who fought Tid Ortiz at UFC 133?

Remember the shape he was in? Remember the motivation? Remember the look in his eyes? What he was saying before that fight. That Rashad Evans disappeared briefly post-John Jones. Heading into the Henderson fight, he was quiet, he was calm, he was very focused. You felt that.

You just got that vibe from him. Now against Chale, I think he recognizes it. You know, you hear what he said on that pre-fight show on Wednesday of last week on Fox Sports One. You hear what he says here today. He thinks, I think the way he views it, and I'm speaking just my observation, he views it as he's going against the company guy. You mentioned Chale and Dana, they're boys, right? He's going against him.

I think that's his motivation. I think Rashad feels like people. People jumped off the bandwagon. People forgot about him. People stopped following him. You lose two in a row, and all of a sudden, you're not the light heavyweight king out there. You're not the guy that people are talking about could be a champion again. You're not the former champion.

You're just that guy on the losing streak. And I think his motivation going into this fight is he's fighting a guy who has become, in many ways, the face of the UFC. As far as media is concerned, as far as crossover repeal. I mean, you know, you think about Ronda, John Jones. A lot of champions out there, but not. Non-champions, it's all about chale. And deservedly so. He is one of the best ambassadors for our sport, putting himself out there, well-spoken, can cross over and talk about other sports. You saw him on Fox Sports Live last week. It's an intriguing matchup, and it's between two friends, colleagues, certainly, meeting in the co-main event, UFC 1720th anniversary show came out of nowhere to a degree. Remember, Rashad told me weeks ago before the Shogun fight. that he would like to fight the winner. He'd be interested in fighting the winner.

And that kind of fizzled. And now here we are. They're fighting each other in Las Vegas, November 16th. I am excited. Of course, Rashad Evans, a former Ultimate Fighter winner, and the Ultimate Fighter debuted on Fox Sports 1 on Wednesday, a two-hour special. It continues this Wednesday with a one-hour show,

but a great first fight, a fantastic first fight. Giuliana Pena, who is the Venezuelan vixen, also the tough 18 blogger for our very site, MMAfighting.com, first pick for Team Tate, going up against a frontrunner right now, a person who a lot of people think will actually win the show. Sheena Bazler, who's been in the sport for a very long time, and a lot of people, again, believe she can actually, you know, she could probably be in the UFC already. She doesn't have to go through tough and live in the house and all that stuff. She's fought a lot of the fighters who are currently in the UFC, a veteran of the sport. It's an intriguing matchup, and it's the first matchup.

It was very interesting that they would match these two up right off. the bat, but I think that keeps the interest going. Of course, I mentioned at the top, Fox Sports One, a part of the show once again, we thank them very much. And don't forget, 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, UFC Tonight, my show, kind of. I'm a part of it. Debuts on Fox Sports One at 7 p.m. Eastern hour-long show, same cast of characters as the aforementioned show Sunnan, Kenny Florian, myself. So Fox Sports One Wednesday nights, that UFC block is really kicking into high gear with UFC Tonight. Ultimate Fighter and other programming. Wednesday and every Wednesday from here on out.

For now, though, let's pause. Here's more on the Ultimate Fighter this Wednesday on FS1. You move when we tell you to. Wednesday, it's an all-new ultimate fighter. Rhonda isn't getting on my nerves. The tension between coaches Rhonda Rousey and Misha Tate drives the champion to the edge. She's going to pay for every smile. She smirks today.

It becomes a war by proxy. You're a Juliana versus Shana. When their number one draft picks square off. in one of the most shocking battles in Ultimate Fighter history. It's an all-new episode, Wednesday at 10 Eastern, on Rock Sports One. So there you have it. I was talking about the Ultimate Fighter last week because I had seen the first episode. I have not seen the second episode.

Curious to get New York Rick's impression. You saw the first episode, right? I did. What do you think? I thought it was good. As I've said in the past, I'm not one who follows the storylines, but on this one, I have to say that they really built them up well, and I was invested in the fighters before they got into the cage.

And it was a good show. And the production was obviously improved as well. So you're going to keep watching? I'm going to keep watching. I'm guaranteed to watch the fights. I watch the fights every year, but sometimes I fast forward through the rest of the show. But this one, because I know the female fighters, and I already have some kind of investment in them.

I'm probably going to keep watching, like Shana Bazler. She's obviously the odds on favorite. Everybody's picked to win so far. I'm going to probably watch just based on that. But if I had to say at this point, I will keep watching, for sure. All right. I'm curious. I'm more interested in it now than I was previous seasons.

Because of what you mentioned, the fact that I know some of the fighters, the dynamic between Tate and Rousey, the fact that there are women involved in the show. So I'm going to keep watching. I'm very interested in seeing what happens in that fight. Top pick for Tate, top pick for Rousey going up against each other. Wednesday, 1 p.m. 10 p.m. Eastern time. 7 p.m. Eastern time. UFC tonight, 10 p.m. Eastern Time. Ultimate fighter on Fox Sports 1. So let's see what happens there. Bezler versus Pena. That should be very interesting. And all season long, Juliana Pena is going to be blogging her thoughts.

after every episode and letting us know what really happened behind the scenes, all that stuff. So check that out on Thursdays on MMAFighting.com. Now, moving along, an interesting story developed last week between Johnny Hendricks and George St. Pierre. TVA sports in Montreal reported that Johnny Hendricks refused to take part in the voluntary anti-doping agency drug testing before UFC 167. George St. Pierre said that he would gladly pay for Johnny Hendricks and himself to take part in this random testing, the VADA testing, before the fight. But then, on Wednesday of last week, TVA Sports, they reported that Johnny Hendrix turned down the offer to do this. Later on, Johnny Hendrix's manager spoke to multiple outlets, and they said that essentially they were concerned about VADA because they had heard that VADA was paying for G. to do this. And A, and B, they wanted to do WADA's testing, the world anti-doping agency testing.

And when this was brought up on a conference call with Keith Kaiser in the Vattest Adelaide Commission, team Hendrix, team St. Pierre, and the UFC, they said that GSP's team was asking, well, what's going to be tested, tell us when, tell us why, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I actually reached out to GSP's team who, you know, haven't really been all that vocal about all this. It's been more Keith Kaiser and the story coming out of Montreal and also to Grivada, who, by the way, told me that they were not paying for anything that GSP was going to foot the bill.

They declined, at least for now, to come on the show. But we have Johnny Hendricks on the line. I want to get a little more information about this because Johnny has yet to talk about it openly. So here we are welcoming Johnny Henry Henry. The number one contender in the UFC welterweight division to the MMA hour right here right now. Johnny, how are you? I'm doing wonderful. How are you doing today?

I'm doing great. So I want to talk about this story because it's kind of spreading. It's getting crazy. And let's try to get your take on the whole situation. GSP came out several weeks ago during the whole world tour that happened earlier this summer and said that he wanted to pay for both you and him to take part in the VADA testing before the fight. Then on Wednesday of last week, a outlet in Canada said that he was still willing to do it, but you declined the opportunity to take part in the VADA testing.

Is this true? Well, at first, whenever I agreed to do the WADA or VADA, I didn't know that it's starting to get more suspect and more suspect. You know, here they say that GSP's not, you know, he didn't have to pay the bill. And now I hear that he's on the front page of VADA's actual website. You know what I mean? It's sort of hard to, I don't know GSP. And for him to say, yeah, let's go take the test over here, but nowhere else that I suggested or even the U.S.

suggested, you know, it's a little suspect to me because of, you know, my career is held in his hands, and here he has a foot in the door with the Votter. group. So that's what made me question, should I go that way? You know what I'm saying? And, you know, you're sitting here, you're going, all right, well, this, this and this. And also, you know, there's some suspect things that's been going on the last three weeks. First off, yeah, you know, my manager, his management group or whoever, and the UFC and then Nevada State Commission, they got on the phone. They talked for, I don't know how long an hour or so. And I wasn't even on the Congress call. And we said, yeah, we'll test for anything. But we didn't know

how deep or we don't still know if GSP's in with VADA. And that's like, you know, if you're trying out for a job and a guy says, hey, we're both trying out for the same job, you got to get a drug test. The guy goes, well, hey, I got a really good guy that'll do drug testing over here. Are you going to take that drug test with that guy that he knows? No, you're going to trying to get somebody that you don't know. So that way it's on equal ground. Right. So you feel like he is in with them, even though they are saying that he is paying for everything,

you have your suspicions, and that's why you don't want to be a part of it. Exactly. You know, here's the thing, is that if he wasn't on the front page of the VADA website, if the rumors weren't out that he was doing it for free, you know what I'm saying? and I already know that VADA has some questionable things that are going on. You know what I mean?

They've had it in the past. It's all public records. You know what? Like what? And I don't know that it for, you know, I don't know that. I just know my manager. Whenever we agreed to do the VADA, he started doing some research because, you know, I saw a stepped out line agreeing for VADA too soon.

You know what I mean? and then my manager started doing some research because if we're going to be doing a drug test, it's nice to have some research on them. And, you know, there's just a couple of things that didn't sit well with him. And then we find out that GSP might be connected with them. You know, we might be walking into a lose-lose situation. So you think that they're going to try to catch you and do something, you know, sketchy, for lack of a better word, to try to get you in trouble?

Is that what you mean? Because let's just say he is tied with them. They can't make up results, right? Well, who knows? Who knows? You know what I'm saying? Are you willing to, I'm not willing to risk that for UFC title shop. Right.

You know what, I'm saying? I'm not willing to say, you know what, GSP, you might be correct. They may not be doing something shady. They might be, you know what, they might do something. They might do it 100% correct. but you're talking about I'd be GSP that's millions of dollars if I do this drug test and they do do something to make it where I don't get it well now they might cost me millions of dollars you see I'm saying and I'm not willing to risk that for GSP just to sit here and push VADA so here we are

this this story comes out and people say well wait a second Johnny Hendricks doesn't want to do VADA and people think highly of VADA but then it comes out that you guys suggested to do WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, go with them, independent lab, and test for whatever you want, but it appears as then GSP's camp brought up some red flags, right? That's what happened, yes. We were like, you know what, once we found out that it was a little suspect, right? So we're like, all right, let's still do the drug testing, but let's take a step further. Let's go to WADA, the World Olympic testing.

And not only that, but the commission, the Nevada State Commission, they picked to do water because they only had nothing but good things to say about water. And so we're like, you know what? We want that one too. That's one that I thought I suggested at first. You know what I mean? But I accidentally got the, you know, Vada water mixed up. So we wanted to do water.

So whenever the UFC said, yes, let's do water, I was 100% ready for that. And then all of a sudden, a week later after the conference call, I didn't even know GSP was going to be doing a drug test. You know what I mean? I had no idea. And all of a sudden, then that comes out that Johnny denied it. You know, I'm like, hey, you didn't even tell me you're going to do VADA. Last Zada, the last that I heard from my management and from the UFC that we're going to take water. So I was ready for, you know, I was ready to take water whenever they sent it.

And then all of a sudden, GSP just went and did Votto on his own and trying to throw me under the bus to clear his name. You know what I'm saying? And here's the thing is that if you go back and ask any of my opponents, they're not going to say, yeah, Johnny was on steroids. You know what I'm saying? If I'm on steroids, then I ought to ask for my money back. You know what I mean? I'm not the cut up guy. I'm not just the specimen that everybody thinks of if your own growth or any of that stuff.

You know what I mean? And if I am, then they ought to redo their chemicals because it's not working. Here's the bigger question and the one that I find most interesting. Why do you think this is coming out now before this fight from GSP? Of course, he's been asked about it in the past. People have, you know, other fighters have accused him of this. I remember BJ Penn. Nick Diaz has said things like, you know, that he's on steroids and whatnot.

But why do you think he is trying to gain support for this to happen before this fight in particular, when in the past he has just addressed it, talked about it in whatever way he wants, but has never tried to get, you know, himself and his opponent to do something like this? Why do you think it's coming out now? I think that, you know, he has a, you know, I really believe he has a reason to be scared. I think I can beat GSP. You know what I'm saying? I believe it. You know, there's a part of me that just, you know, I really believe that just. I believe in 100% that I can beat GSP. Now, is that why he's doing it to play head games to do this, to distract me from my actual training? I don't know.

I don't know GSP. You know what I'm saying? And that's what, you know, that starts making me or try to get more people to step up and say, yeah, we think he is. You know what I'm saying? There's a lot of ways that this can play, and I'm just not buying it. You know what I mean? I know that I don't take steroids.

I know you can test me today for anything. Today, tomorrow, you name the time, I'll be there. You know what I'm saying? It's just that I want to do it with a respectable company that I know doesn't have any pull or say or have a foot already in the door. Did your team talk to the people at VADA? You know, Mark Goodman is the president of Vada, well-respected in the world of combat sports. Did you guys talk to them and ask them what the real story is,

or do you just have these suspicions that are just too great for you to even get in bed with them? Too great. You know, here's the thing is that you have a guy that's been pushing them, and here's the thing is you have a guy that's been pushing them, who the bosses, UFC and the Nevada State Commission said they don't want to get pushed, you know, don't push these guys, and here he is still pushing these guys. Why is he still pushing these guys whenever our bosses say, please don't. Does that make sense?

You know, there's just too much stuff that I don't know what's going on. You know, it's just like, okay, you know, I know what the boss said and they say, we want to do WADA. And here he is still going with VADA after, you know, a company says, hey, no. So, you know, that's a big red flag. Then, you know, all these other things, it's just like, man, it just, it scares me. Because, like I said, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what their big agenda is. And if I knew that, then it'd be different.

How much of a distraction has all this been, as you prepare for the biggest fight of your career? It's not. Okay. You know what I mean? It's not, because here's the thing. Like I said, I know I'm not taking anything. You know what I mean? I know I'm clean.

I can pass any drug test given to me, at any given point at any time. It's just that I don't like that somebody's got a foot in the door. You know, that's my biggest concern is certain things going around. You know, it throws up a red flag on what happens. So for anything else, I really don't care because, like I said, it doesn't affect me. You know, I know I'm never, not going to ever fail a drug test. I haven't yet, and I don't plan on to. You know, if I need drugs to help me win, then I don't want to do it.

You know what I mean? I know it does damaging stuff to your body. I have three beautiful little daughters. And, you know, I want to grow until I'm 60, 70 years old. You know, and some of these drugs, you don't know what's going to happen long term. So I want to be around whenever they have grandkids. And, you know, that's one of the things that I'd much rather do it if I'd, I can't do it on my own, then I guess I wasn't supposed to do it.

Do you think GSP's clean? You know, if there's a couple of red flags, you know what I mean? Like what? Well, you know, there's all, okay, why, like I said, instead of, like I'm saying, I'll take any of them. You know what I mean? I just don't like that he has his foot in the door with VADA. So you pick anybody but VADA, I'll take it tomorrow.

I'll take it in a week. You know what I mean? Because in the UFC said the Olympics testing is the hordes to pass. And, you know, if they say, you know, they give you an, I don't know, I tell them they can give me an hour's notice. You know what I mean, to take water. You give me an hour notice to take water and I'll pass it any time. You know what I'm saying?

It's just one of those things that, I don't know, It's just weird that you would sit there and instead of taking the toughest, you know, and he said he wants to clean the sport up, right? And here he is pushing somebody that he has a foot in the door. You know, it's just if he was 100%, not on anything, he would say, all right, we will do water. All right, UFC, here's the money. You pay for it. You set up the time.

anytime, anywhere, you just give me an hour's notice, and we'll do it. Because here's the thing. I never pushed doing drug tests. You know, my main thing was I don't care if he's on anything. I just need him to be ready November 16th. That's it. Nothing else matters to me because if he's clean, then I don't have nothing to worry about. But let's say, what if he's not?

You know, what if he's not? And all of a sudden he starts pushing his drug test, and here it is, blowing up so big, and then he has to take water, he fails, then I don't give my title shot. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's why I'm sitting here saying, I don't want a drug test. I don't care. I want the best GSP for November 16th.

That's all that matters to me is that he shows up, into the octagon with his belt and nothing else. See, I find that to be the most fascinating thing because you just want to get in that cage with him, lock the door, and then get the fight that for a long time you thought you weren't getting. You're afraid that this could blow up in both of your faces in any way possible with him getting caught or something,

and then you don't get the opportunity. So if someone comes up to you, and correct me if I'm not saying this correctly, if someone comes up to you and says, hey, Johnny, you know, whispers to you and gives you a tip. GSP is doing this, this, and that. you won't even do anything about it. You just want to fight the guy, clean or not? Clean or not?

Yeah, I don't care. If they say we have documents. You know, if they come up to me and they say, we have documents that GSP's doing this, this, and this, I'm just going to toss it to the side because I want that belt, and he's the one who has it. So if I say something about it and, yeah, you bust him or whatever, then I lose my title shop.

You see what I'm saying? I don't want that. I need that belt. I want that belt, and nothing else matters. And here's the thing. If I go in there and I beat GSP and, you know, he is on those things, well, then I'm beating, you know, now I'm I beating GSP, but I'm also beating the drug.

And that's what I strive for because, you know, it is, you know, it is in a lot of sports. And, you know, whenever you can do those kind of things and do it naturally, It makes you feel that much better. And, of course, we have to say that he has never failed the drug test heading into a fight, so, you know, we don't want to sit here and accuse GSP. Yeah, I don't want to accuse GSP of anything. Sure, sure.

He's clean. He's clean. He's clean, 100% clean. In my eyes, I'm not going to ever accuse him of anything. You know, win or lose, I'm not going to do that. I just want GSP to be there November 16th. I don't care. I don't care about drug testing.

I just want GSP. And for the record, did the Nevada State Athletic Commission tell you guys, all right, you can't agree on Vada, WADA, but we're going to do our own random testing, like they did prior to UFC 146, and they've done a couple times in the past. Have they said anything about that you? Because this has been such a big topic heading into the fight? I don't know if they've, you know, like I said, I'm not talking to the UFC. My manager has been talking to UFC.

I don't know if the UFC has said they were going to do a random drug test. you know, I'm pretty sure they are since the way that it's blowing up. You know what I mean? They might. And if they do, that's perfectly fine. You know what I'm saying? You know, like I said, none of that matters. I just, you know, I know 100% I'm clean and I know that I have to get GSP into that October 16th.

And so, you know, realistically, if everybody would stop talking about it today, I would be personally happy with that. And just a couple of minutes left, we really appreciate the time, Johnny. Right now, no VATA, no WADA, it's not going to happen. Is that fair to say? Right now, yeah, I'm not doing VATA. I'm not going to do VATA. Like I said, you know, the UFC, they said, if we do any drug testing, we're going to do the Olympic, you know, water. and that's what I'm going to stick to.

And it's up to GSP to say that's the toughest testing is out there. So right now the ball's in GSP's court, I'm saying let's do water at any given time. Just give the money to the UFC and let the UFC decide when we want to get tested. And if he doesn't, then I'm perfectly happy with that too. And would you be okay with paying for that? Well, see, he's the one. See, I can't afford a $30,000 tab. You know what I mean?

Right. And he was the one, he is the one who sat there and said, being the champion, I can afford to take these drug tests. Well, all of a sudden, you know, we have to take these drug tests. He said he would pay for mine and his. So if that's still true, he'll pay for mine and his to do water. All right. One last thing, Johnny, before we go,

I just got this email from a station in Canada called Sportsnet, their host Joe Ferraro Showdown Joe sent it to me. It's a little comment from GSP's manager, Rodolf Bolliou, and I just want to read it to you and then we'll let you go, all right? He said, we spoke with George today, and he took, okay, we spoke to George today and he took his decision. So for your information, George has to say, and forgive me, the English is not great, George has decided that if Johnny Hendricks does not want to do VADA and prefers your proposed in-hance, enhanced steroid and drug testing by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, George will also do it in addition to VADA.

I'll be out of the office. Okay, here we go. Please provide us with a documentation, a detailed invoice and payment instructions necessary to perceive with such enhanced steroid and drug testing by the commission. So basically what he's saying is they'll do Nevada State Athletic Commission testing, whatever they want, VADA, but it appears WADA is off the table. Okay, so GSP's not going to do WADA. That's fine with me.

I'm just not going to do Vada, so I'll just stick to whatever the U.S.C. Nevada State Commission sends me. You know what I mean? Because, like I said, I'm not going to step into somebody's backyard and think I have a fair shot. You know what I mean? It's just too many loopholes, red flags that are, that scare me. You know what I mean? Like I said, you know, you're not going to trust somebody you don't know to get a job.

and one of his friends says, hey, I do drug testing. Come on over here. You know, just too many red flags. And plus, I'm calling out the hardest, toughest, hardest testing the path in the world. And not only that, but the Nevada State Commission wants and the UFC wants. So I'm going to go with the UFC and the Nevada State Commission and say,

I want water. And water is the toughest. and the hort us to pass. And if GSP wants to jump on board, he's all in. But if he does VADA, that does nothing for me. And it's worthless because, like I said, there's too many connections that intertwine those two. And it could be, hey, he probably doesn't even take the test. They could just say he's clean.

I mean, there's just too many things that scare me. So I'm just going to stay away from VADA. And if the UFC, I'm pretty sure after this, they're probably going to do a water test. And if they do, I'm perfectly fine with that because I know I'm going to pass. Johnny, can't thank you enough for coming on. This has been fascinating stuff. And in a way, I'm upset because we just had you on our show for 20 minutes. We didn't really talk about the fight.

The good news is there's two months to go before the fight. It's a massive fight. I can't wait for it. And we're probably going to talk to you many times before then. So I don't feel too bad. But I really wanted to have you on to clear the year. and find out why you're not doing it, and I think you've done so very well. So thank you so much. Good luck in training, and of course, good luck on November 16th, huge fight, 20th anniversary show,

You versus GSP. Really appreciate it. Hey, thank you. You have a wonderful day, okay? There he is. Thank you so much. Johnny Hendricks stopping by, and this has become somewhat of a soap opera, but I think he, you got to respect the guy. He has his concerns, and it's not like he's just saying, no, I'm not doing it. He's saying, I'll do WADA. I'll do the world anti-doping agency. I'll do that. I don't want to do Vada, who, for the most part, from other fighters and whatnot, they aren't criticized all that much, but he has his concerns. And Margaret Goodman, who's the president of Vada, very well respected, but he has his issues and he's entitled to them. So he's saying, let's do

these guys, let's do WADA. And for whatever reason, GSP doesn't want to do that. So as I mentioned, I spoke to Rodolf, who is GSP's manager. They said, not today. Maybe in the future, we can hear from GSP and get his side of things. But for now, that's where Johnny Hendricks stands. And most importantly, the fight's going to happen, at least today, Johnny Hendrix, GSP, one of the most anticipated fights of the year. Can't wait for it, November 16th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Okay, let's move along. On Saturday night, World Series of Fighting Returns. It's their fifth event. It's on NBC Sports Network. A great night of fights on Saturday. 9 p.m. Eastern Time. You got WSOF5 on NBC Sports Network, NBCSN, as it is now being called.

And then after that, of course, if you're a combat sports fan, you have to watch Floyd Mayweather versus Canel Alvarez. We wanted to have the WSOF executive vice president and their matchmaker on the show to talk about the rise of WSOF. And there he is, our good pal, Ali Abdel Aziz, in his car. Ali, how are you? How are you? I'm doing great.

How are you? Where are you going? Are you driving? What's going on over there? I'm, I was supposed to go to training, but Rashad take my spot. Now I'm outside the Hens of Gracie Academy, just waiting to do this interview. Oh, we may have lost them. Can you hear me?

I can hear you. It's a little choppy. If it acts up again, we may just do the phone. How about that? But we like to see your face. Can you see me? I could see you. Yeah, you look great.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. So, Ali, I want to talk to you about many things. First things first. We're pretty much approaching the one-year. anniversary of your first show, November of last year. Are you happy with the direction of World Series of Fighting? Are you happy where you're at 10 or so months later? All right. We're going to have to do phone. New York, Rick? As much as we want to see him in his car, let's do the phone so we can get Ali on

to talk about World Series of Fighting. Ali has managed many fighters, the likes of Frankie Edgar. He has managed, of course, Henzel Gracie. He manages Raphael, Sapo. Natal. Who else does he manage? Kayla Harrison. He's actually fought himself several times. So a man who has been in this sport for a long time. And then last year, World Series of Fighting Launches, they have their first show in November of last year, a show that was headline by Devin Cole versus Andrea Arlofski, who headlines this weekend's show in Atlantic City. Of course, it was originally supposed to be Mike Kyle, who will be joining us later versus Anthony Johnson. But Anthony Johnson got injured. So Arloff,

stepped in and five shows into it. They're an interesting spot. NBC Sports Network doesn't really do much advertising for their shows. They don't promote them all that much, but they're pulling in pretty good ratings, to be honest. They continue to grow. They've developed some young stars like Nick Newell and Tyrone Spong and Justin Gaichi, Josh Berkman with a big submission win in June over John Fitch. So they've done a nice job in, in what, 10 or so months. So want to get him on, and New York, Rick, or Will, one of those gentlemen will let me know when he's on the phone, and still trains to this day. It's still a very active martial artist, trains with Hanzo and whatnot. Actually, I believe way back when he was Rashad Evans' roommate when he was training out of the Jackson's camp.

He was a former judoka, and then transitioned to mixed martial arts and went to train with Greg Jackson and his team in New Mexico. So I think he knows him well, and that's why he wasn't too disappointed when he was bumped for Rashad earlier in the show. And I think he's actually going to pick up Rashad from what I hear from the airport. It's all really coming together here on the show today. And like I mentioned, Mike Kyle will be joining us at 225. Prior to that, Vladimir Matyushenko in a few minutes. And at the end of the interview block will be joined by Alster Overeem. Ali, are you there?

Yeah, I'm good. Sorry, bro. Somebody call me and kick me off. of course. So my question was, are you happy with where the promotion is

almost a year later? I think I'm very, very happy, and I think we did something never happened before, you know. It's our first show. We're on television,

and we're getting our ratings keep going up and up every show, and I'm very happy. Do you feel like you are getting the love that you need to grow the promotion from NBC Sports Network?

I said earlier, I don't feel like they promote you guys enough. How do you feel? Listen, I feel like, you know, I like this guy down there. And personally, I don't deal with the amount of daily places. But I would love to see him, of course, promoting us more. And, you know, having us, you know, of course I do. You know, it can be more always.

What's the landscape now for someone who's trying to get his foot in the door as a promotion, of course, in a world dominated by the U.S. then you have Bellator who's on Spike on a major platform and of course they promote the heck out of them. And then you're trying to move in there as the third guy, the third wheel, the newest kid on the blog as far as a national promotion. Is it tough to get people to sign with you? Is it tough to develop young talent to convince them to come at a early stage of their career and build their career with you guys? And then, of course, trying to find the established names, the veterans out there. Have you found the experience to be difficult?

No, I'd be honest with you I never went after a guy and I didn't sign It's been very, very easily Because the way our contract And the way we treat the fighters And I don't have any problem signing any guys

Because, you know And I've been around the sport For a little bit too And I have a lot of relationships And I never burn in bridges And it's been very, very easy for me When you mentioned the contracts Of course, Belator's contracts

Have been criticized in the past Do you view them as your top competition right now, or are you trying to compete with the UFC? Listen, I'm not even worried about this guy from Bellastore. This is why I'm getting a lot of guys want to sign with us, because nobody can want to be involved in their contract, and a lot of guys, you know, willing to sign with us, not with them. But I'm not, listen, I'm not competing with nobody.

I'm focused on our show. We point on great events from top to bottom, and I think the fan, you know, enjoy it. And this is the most important things. But I think it's room for three and four and five promotion to grow. People doesn't need to compete with each other. You know, it's competition. Good, clean competition, of course, is great. But I believe more shows, it's more for the fighters, more opportunity,

and there's more homes can benefit from it. You know, there's a lot of fire out there. I don't think VFC can take out of all the fighters or WSF can take all the fighters. but a lot of the fighters right now, they want to go to the UFC or do they want to fight for us. So you're getting that feedback from them that they have issues with the Belator contracts,

but on the flip side, Bjorn Rebony, who is the CEO of Belator, said in an interview recently, and I mentioned at the top of our interview that, you know, you've managed a lot of big names in the world of MMA. Well, he called the fact that, you know, you're in this position.

Never mentioned you by name, at least, as far as the article is concerned, but said that there's a conflict of interest there when you're managing guys, and then you're also a promoter slash matchmaker. What is your role with Dominance MMA, which you have been a part of for a long time, and guys like Frankie Edgar, and as I mentioned, Hento Gracie and many others, have been a part of as far as management is concerned? First of all, this fucking guy, he has no room to talk about me or anybody,

because he has the worst reputation of fucking sport, and all he does, fucking whole fire against the will, kidnap fucking fighters and we need to you know guys like that for our sport to move forward we just need to get them out of the sports we need to clean a sport

MMA it's a beautiful clean sport and all this boxing mentality stuff we need to get it out of there we need to kick this guy out as soon as we can second thing my position was dominant MMA you have to understand Hensu Gracia guy

and Frankie Edger this guy's poop me on the map for Hinsu Gracie was my first client I fought in K1 and two And I didn't have any money. And he's like, you are my manager. And he was doing that to just make me money because to help me out. You understand?

And every guy that I work within the past or involved Dominus MMA management, my friend, I have my brother. I train with this guy every fucking day. But the whole thing is for this guy to talk about this, he's this. You know, right now Dominant and the main management, got three people handle it. But I'll be lying here. Like, guys like Frankie Edgar, a guy like Hinsu, guys, like all these guys. These guys, my family, their kids, is my friends with my friends.

Their wife is my friend with my wife. How I can not be part of their life. I'm always going to be part of their life, you know? And these guys always talk about me, the guy like somebody like Ed Soros, he do business with the UFC, he do business with the UFC, he do business with worse as fighting. He never said nothing about him, but I believe Belator view us as a threat, you know. I'm the guy, man, the guy, you know,

they don't talk bad about him all the fucking time. He doesn't even say anything about them back, you know. But he talked about champion Ben Ascran. He talked about his 205 guy, you know. The guy is a fucking coward, man. I'm not worried about him. Obviously, very strong words there from Aline. We appreciate the candor very much.

You mentioned Ben Ascran. Are you interested in him? Of course, man, I think Ben Ascran, you know, they built words that he said he's a one-dimensional fighter. How the guy is a fucking Olympian? He dominated everybody in Belator. He's the only guy outside that guy got knocked out by Tyson Nam. I forget his name is.

He's a champion. Dantus. I don't remember. Dantz. He's the only guy who's tough in. How you talk about your champion and say he's one-dimensional fighter. I think Ben Asker is the world-class athlete. And, of course, I'll love to have him on our roster.

But, you know, he's right now. I guess he's negotiation. And I got to respect the little contract. And I'm going to respect to other people's contract, you know. When World Series of Fighting first came out, the idea was floated out there. It was supposed to be a tournament, right? And there was a big pot of gold at the end. Why have you gone into just, you know, the regular events?

When I first got, you know, the way it happened, I was managing guys strikes and I was versus fighting. And I started getting friendly with the guys there. I was like, you know, they offered me a job, you know. And I accept the job, you know, and, you know, and I told them, I think, is the best idea to have a regular fight, like, you know, like regular, like any other shows. That's what I'm on for Matt. I don't think, you know, it will be successful, you know. And they all, we all agreed on it. And after that, we start working together, and now we are where we are today. And do you feel like, because you have a little kind of mini tournament on Saturday, you have a, you have a, you.

you're going to crown a new middleweight champion in the future. Is this something you're going to try to do more of? Because when you think of tournaments these days in MMA, you think of Bellator. Or is this just what you're doing now to create your initial champions, and then you'll be like any other promotion like the UFC does, contenders, et cetera? That is very much elimination. It's an elimination to who get to be the champion. You can call it the tournament, you can call it or whatever.

But it's an elimination. See the best guy who's going to fight for the worst chance of fighting belt. You know, you got David Branch fighting the Nilevela Ford, and you got two guys who's champion other promotion, Jesse Taylor, and Elvis. They both going to fight each other. And, you know, it's going to be a hell of a fight, and I'm looking forward to it. And the winner is going to fight for the title. I mentioned that you are on the same night as the Mayweather fight on Saturday.

Does that concern you? Because your ratings have been good, again, without getting much promotion from NBC Sports Network. But that is a big night, and it's one that people are being asked to pay. a lot of money to watch a pay for you, and it has a very good undercard. Are you afraid that even if you're in an MMA fan, you're still going to watch the entire thing because you want to get your money's worth,

and as a result, your ratings may suffer on Saturday. Yeah, but you see before 9 in Peckyell, they have the same night of the UFC fight, and they still got a rating on Fox, you know what I'm saying? And we're going to be done before Floyd Mayweather get in the cage, and I think we were going to be home, ready to watch a fight. It's a great night for a fight,

fan. They're really going to be at home, ready to watch fight. You know, they're going to tune in and listen. I believe if I was with them, I'll watch our fight over the boxing fight. We know who's going to win in the fight. You know, where it says it's a fighting? You don't know who's going to win, you know? Personally, I'm going to watch the boxing fight, too, after our show. But you think your show is better than the boxing fight?

I just, you don't know who's going to win. You know, you don't know who's going to win. You know, I know who's going to win in the boxing fight. but this is, you know, you know, this is, that's a different. But I'm going to watch it, I'm going to buy it, you know. By the way, we actually have a caller on the line who wants to speak to Ali on line, number one. I believe his name is Henzo.

Henzor are you there? Oh, God. Yes, I am, my brother. Take a time. There's no hurry. No, but we're on the air right now. How about your good friend? This is, of course, Henzo Gracie, who just called into the show with his good friend, Ali Abdel-Aziz.

how about Ali getting fired up, dropping F-bombs and things like that? I didn't know that side of Ali. Is this a surprise to you? I'm sorry, again, I couldn't hear you. Ali's dropping F-bombs. He's very fired up. I see that kind of killer instinct coming out of him. Is this a surprise to you?

No, he's like that all the time. I know him well, and he's constantly 24-7 like that. Sometimes he behaves better in front of other people. Wow. This is a surprise. What do you think of him as an executive vice president here as a matchmaker? Do you think he's doing a good job? Man, I really think they couldn't pick a better guy, you know.

And I was the first one who believed on him. I think I got him to be my manager, my fight against Matthews, and he was never a manager before. And everything began from there, you know, and I saw him doing an unbelievable job. He's not only the vice president of WSOF, but he is the manager of all my guys, you know, and he helps everybody, hooks up everybody, and pushes everybody forward, you know.

And I've been a little mad with him because he's been running all over the place and I don't have to be able to see him in everyday basis now, you know. Right. Someone needs to work to make this industry grow, you know? Of course. He actually told me a very good story about the time that you first went into Dana White's office in Las Vegas when he was just starting up as a manager. Do you remember what happened then?

Of course, he walked right in. The first thing he said, and he dressed very nice with like an Italian suit, and he's acting out full of pose, the first thing he said, Dana White is, you know, everybody says you a prick, but I kind of like you. And I remember Donna look at me, and he goes like this, only you, Hansel, nobody else. It's nice to see you helping the kid. I say, yes, yes, yes. he'll get better with time, I said to him.

Ali, have you gone better with time? Man, I think when Hans will give me the job, he really feels sorry for me because they didn't have enough money. And now, you know, I owe everything to him and him and all the other guys in the team. And now, you know, I'm trying to pay back a little bit. And it's just that this is why, you know, I'm always going to be loyal to who they give me an opportunity in life.

And if I say, I'm going to turn my back, back on my friends. But then you have to be loyal, man. You have to be loyal, otherwise you're going to wake up one day in your house in the middle of the night with me inside your room with a knife in my hand. So you've got to be careful with that. By the way, Henzhou. I go Egyptian. I go Egyptian on you.

Are you coming back or what, Henzo? Are you going to fight again? Man, I believe it, there's nothing that I want to do more than to be back in a cage, not to be back fighting. I love. I just love doing that. Life has been pushing. me everywhere about on that direction. But now I'm getting so tired and frustrated with everything else

that I'm going to just bury myself into a mat and train the whole day and do what I love it, you know, which is training and fighting. For sure, I'll be fighting again. Wow, when? And if I cannot get an opponent, I may hit this Egyptian guy that you have in front of you. When do you think that will happen? When are you shooting for? Man, I just begun training again, and I'm feeling good.

I had a few problems in the family and now I get everything too not everything is getting better so I'm looking for like to be in top shaping three, four months from now and from there I'll set up a date Okay one last thing before we let you go, Hanzo and then we're going to finish up with Ali I got a guy in the back here on my show

who I have extended an offer for him It's a long story how he got here but essentially I have extended an offer for him or a challenge is the better way to put it to have one amateur fight, to truly prove to me that he is worth my time back there and that he's someone that we should have on the team. And then over the

weekend, Ali found out about this. For some reason he likes the guy. His name is New York Rick. He found out about this and said that maybe he could go train at the Williamsburg-Henzel Gracie Academy, maybe get a few minutes with you. What do you think? That's his house. Can he move over? Can we hook him up? And he's going to have his fight for sure.

Really? New York, Rick, what do you say? I'm going to talk about it. I'm going to be the first one to choke him. I just got a text. I just got a text from Ali saying that he doesn't manage me anymore. Okay. Well, that's good to know. He's moving to Thailand and changing his sex.

He's going to be a woman. So New York, Rick, do you accept, I mean, I got Henzo Gracie. I got Ali. Maybe you could fight for World Series of fighting. He's more than welcome. We're going to train him harder. He's going to do the challenge, for sure. All right.

We'll get his take on it afterwards. Henzo, thank you so much. We appreciate you stopping by. It's always good to hear from me. I saw you guys having an unbelievable show today. Rashad Adams, John Hendricks, Alistair, Vladimir, the janitor. For this, it's a must watch, a must listen, my brother. I'm going to go hook it up on the computer right now.

You're the man. Thank you so much, Henzow. Best to you guys. Thank you, brother. Bye-bye. So, Ali, back to you. Do you think that you're done as a manager here? You want to continue being a matchmaker, executive vice president, all that stuff?

Do you feel like this is what your, your, calling is an MMA. You know, listen, in life, you've got to move on, you know, for my family to provide stuff like that. Like, you know, Dominant M.A. who's right now handled by, my wife was doing a little bit, but we have three kids now. She can't handle it. It's three people handle it.

But the whole thing is, like, people say managing and not managing. All these guys I see on a daily basis, you understand? Like a guy like Frankie, like there's so much for me and my family. I'm always going to be part of his life. It doesn't matter what I do for him, advice, help, and whatever. I'm going to be part of his life, even if Dominus and the M.A.

doing his sponsors and this and this and this. Frankie's like a brother to me, you know? And this is a guy who's always going to be part of his life. And I have to be loyal to all these guys. They give me the opportunity to even be involved in the sport. How many events are you going to do next year? We look at a minimum of 10-12 event. Wow.

Wow. And I read a report on a Canadian website that stated that there's going to be like a World Series of Fighting Canada Wing, like a branch, I guess is the better way to put it. Is that true? This is something my partner has been working on, and I don't know where we stand at this yet, but it's a big possibility very soon. Why would you need that? Why not just hold events in Canada? You're from Canada. We want to go visit your friends there. I think Canada it's a huge market, and it's a lot of great Canadian talent out there. Then you're an opportunity too.

And I think, why not? You know, why not? Recently you announced that on October 26, Josh Berkman is going to fight Steve Carl for the Welterweight title, and that's obviously a big fight for you guys. And a couple of other your big names, because I consider him one of your big names. Nick Newell, look great.

his debut in August. When will he fight again? Nick, you know, he's supposed to fight on air, but he said he want to go on vacation and the guy is an awesome, unbelievable guy, and he's probably going to be back in December. So you have an October show and then December? That's it for this year? Yes. What about Tyrone Spong? You know, Tyrone, I'm going to talk to him this week. I'm not sure what he's doing. He was in Europe, which has got bad. I'm going to talk to him, and

talk to his manager, and we see, you know, what he want to do. But probably early next year he'll fight again. Is it tricky, you know, trying to get him while he's not doing the kickboxing stuff for glory? Man, it's nice. Listen, the guy's, he come, this is his, he did this all his life, you know. And this is what he want to do for rest of his life. And I will support him 100%. You know, I cannot tell the guy, who I am to tell a guy not to do kickboxing or whatever. If he think he can train both sports and do well, I'm, I'm going to support 100%, you know, but, you know, I like Toronto,

and I think he brings a lot to the table, and he brings a lot of attention to us, and we would love to have him on a roster as long as he wants. All right. Ali, always a pleasure. Good to have you on the show. Really, really enjoyed it, and a nice little pop in there by Henz O'Gracy. Thank you, brother. Hey, man.

Sorry about the F bombs, but I just, uh, I just, you know, our sport is such a beautiful sport, and we can have one and two or three, four organizations. All can be successful, and they all can be friends. And, you know, people doesn't have to be envious and jealous of each other and try to, you know, just be clean. Make this a beautiful sport, make it clean and make it fair. That's all I want.

Very well said. Good luck over there. Good luck. The show is this Saturday. It's World Series of Fighting Number Five. It's in Atlantic City, New Jersey, of course. the Reville Resorting Casino. Headlining Act is Mike Kyle

versus Andrei Arlowski and also a mini-middleweight tournament in the future. They'll be crowning a new middleweight champion. So look out for that NBCSN this Saturday night, 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Ali Abdel-Aziz, thank you so much. Keep up the good work and we'll talk to you very soon.

Thank you, my friend. I appreciate it. There is. Asalam al-a-a-a-a-a-a-brothera, as they say, over in the motherland. He is Ali-Aabdel-Aziz. You can follow him on Twitter. at Ali W-S-O-F.

All right. Our next guest, we mentioned it is a busy weekend for combat sports, World Series of Fighting on Saturday night. And then there's the Mayweather fight, Mayweather v. Kenela Alvarez. That is a huge event in the world of boxing, and I'm assuming if you're watching this show, you are somewhat interested in that. But don't forget, on Friday, Bell Tour returns for Bell Tour 99.

They had a great show on Saturday night, an amazing made of event. event, Alexander Slamenco versus Brett Cooper. If you haven't read Chuck Mindenhall's take on that this morning, it was posted on on M.AFighting.com, do check it out because it is a great take on just a great Bellator main event and what that means in our world. Now, on Friday, a longtime veteran of the sport will be making his Belator debut. He is the janitor. He is Vladimir Mauchenko, and he faces Houston Alexander on the Spike Main Cart.

And we have Vladimir right now on the show. Vladimir, how are you? good, thank you guys. Nice to be on a show. Great to have you on the show, Vladimir. So first things first, why did you decide after leaving the UFC to sign with Bellator? Well, it's one of the biggest organizations there. And, you know, I lost a few times in the UFC, and I don't want to finish my career with those losses. I've been training pretty hard.

And it just, to me, feels like a waste to have a loss like that, especially, you know, when it's fast. admission like that. There was some talk after that loss to Ryan Bader in January that you were considering retirement. Was that true? Well, again, I don't want to retire by losing especially like that. It would be great fight when I show my whole potential. They'll be better.

But losing by submission like this, a quick one, I think, you know, MMA is the most unforgiving sport. There's no nine count, like in boxing and stuff like that. You make one mistake and it's over. If I fight Bader, you know, 10 times. I probably beat them eight or ten, but it doesn't happen. It's not the case. You have to wait all this time and try and take the next time.

That's what I'm doing right now. I'm trying to prove myself to my fans and my sparring partners and my coaches that I'm still capable of good fights. So that being said, I mean, how much did that eat you up inside? Losing like that in just 50 seconds to Ryan Bader, a guy who you just said you think you beat eight times out of ten, how much did that bother you and how long did it take for you to get over the lost debater? Well, until I win.

Next slide. Oh, wow. Yeah, it kind of stuck in your head. And again, like I said, all the time and training hours, it seems like a waste. You know, that's what I'm trying to do right now, trying to redeem myself in my own eyes.

So if you look spectacular on Friday night, if you knock out Houston Alexander and, you know, 50 seconds, will you retire then? Are you close to it? No, why are you trying to retire me? Why you keep talking about retirement? No, no, no.

The only reason why is because after the fight, I had heard that you were... Yeah, it's not the only reason I'm still sticking around. It's not the only reason. I think it's a great time for MMA in all the sports. It's turning to mainstream, and I'm really enjoying to be part of it. And I'm trying to do as long as I can. I've won my fans still want to watch me. Did you think that you...

I mean, there aren't that many guys doing it at a high level at 42 years old when you started your career and you're like one of those real OGs you know what I'm saying? Like an original true fighter who has been around in this sport for over a decade did you think that you'd be doing this well into your 40s?

No back in the days and no I didn't honestly telling you and I think MMA is a it's a hard sport and even during every session you're thinking like I'm done it's too hard for me You know, when you're recovered, you take a little rest, and you're like, oh, it feels good again.

So, no, back in the days, I never thought it was going to be that long. Where do you find the motivation? Because your body is getting beat up, not only in the fights, but also in training. Every day, daily basis, you're around the sport for so long. Like I said, well over a decade. Where do you find the motivation to keep doing this? Well, again, motivation is that, again, if the sport is growing and become more, like I said, not more.

It is mainstream right now. And plus, because of so many shows, because it's so big, I'm still student of the sports. So you see those fights, you train with the best guys, and you can, I still learning. So it's a very, very, very, very fun thing to do. But you're right. So, of course, it's hard on the body, but you learn the tricks

and you learn what not to do. And I'm pretty sure if I'd know what I'd know now 10 years ago, I'll be in a much better place, but what are you going to do? Like what? What kind of tricks did you learn over time? You know, pick right to your opponents, take care of your body, recovery is very important. And, you know, you said it's not just getting old, it's old wounds that start hurting more. And when you kind of avoid those old wounds and be smarter about it, you know,

I used to have a cardinal shot because I have broken cartilage in my knee. And instead just take it easy because it melts your carpage and make it easy to bend your knee. I just go for 10 mile round, you know. That was kind of stupid. Wow. Now it's paid for it, but... You have to listen to your body a little more, right? Yeah, definitely.

Your body, your coaches. And, you know, plus with technology, and I say that because there's so many fights, and now you can look at everything in the Internet, you can Google it, you can have answer for every trick pretty much, you know. And back in the days, it was just the heart is better, you know. No pain, no games. Right.

Were you surprised when the UFC let you go in January after the loss? Yes and no. I thought they were going to give me one more shot. And like I said, if I would want, it would be a little bit different. But I understand, too. You guys keep coming, and they have to run the show the way, you know, we have to let new guys come in, and there's a lot of talent there.

and yes and no again like a little bit sad a little bit let's see and what are you going to do I remember after the news came out Dana White went out of his way to you know shower you with praise

and say how much he appreciated how you fought for the organization the veteran that you are etc did you hear that and did that make you at all feel a little better about the situation no yes definitely and I actually personally talked to

with Dana afterwards and you know, we kind of go over all of my career in UFC in general and yeah, we end up in the cool uncle, you know, with some friends and

hopefully if I still continue trained some other fighters who continue to work together and stuff like that. Originally for your Belator debut, you were supposed to fight Christian Impo, but he had to pull out and now you're facing

of course Houston Alexander, who, anyone who's a UFC fan knows of. Which fight did you like better? I like fight the way I'm going to fight. I don't like to talk about fights or not happen and what could or would have should have. Looking forward to fight Houston Alexander. I think they're a little bit different opponents,

not a little bit, but, you know, pretty different, you know, a lot of different. But Houston Exhaust is an explosive, a good striker, and, you know, he's going to try and take my head off. have to stop him. This is a guy who, when he made his UFC debut, was on a role, beat Keith Jardine, Alessio Sikara. There was a lot of buzz about him. But, you know, he hasn't really materialized into the contender that some thought he was going to be.

Why do you think that is? Why do you think he hasn't maybe lived up to some people's expectations? I don't know. It's his personal thing. I don't know. Maybe he didn't train with the right people. Maybe he didn't, he just keep his... style and what he's got.

It just didn't grow more than that. And you'll see the best guys, they overall, good fighters. You take John Jones, he's a good wrestler, he's a good striker, he's all overplace. And if you're not in this, you know, in this day, if you're not trained every aspect of MMA, you know, you pretty much outdated. You still can get away with, you know, some strikes or you super-duper good submission. but at the end of the day if you want to be at the top

you have to know everything you fought for a lot of organizations of course IFL, UFC, Affliction, many others do you think it's going to be a little weird fighting in a new organization because you've been in the UFC for the last few years now?

Well, no, I don't think so and like I said, I fought for many of them and I'm not fighting promoters. Right. I'm fighting the fighters and the fans are pretty much the same too. So to me it's a same

things, same feeling. Cages a cage. Do you still have the IFL light heavyweight belt? Yes, I do. Oh, wow. Where is it? It's my bedroom. You miss the... It wasn't in my gym. When I give up my gym to my ex-partner, then I took it and wait until maybe I'll put in my next gym.

What happened with the gym? Because didn't you open that recently? No, it was about seven years ago, eight years ago. Oh, wow. Time flies. What happened with the gym? Oh, it's still there. It's still there, but we kind of broke up with my partner. I mean, it was still in a good relationship, but, you know, I let it go and they're trying to concentrate more in my fighting. It was pretty hard to do run the gym and train other fighters and continue your fighting career. So at some point, would you like to get back into the gym business?

Yes. Yes, I still coach fighters and key. and regular people, I love to do it. And it's not easy business, I tell you. It's not easy if you're trying to make money out, but I love doing it. You will be a part of martial arts forever. Yes, I will.

That's the goal. By the way, I wanted to ask you, in less than two weeks, John Jones is fighting Alexander Gustafson for the UFC Light Heavyweight title. You fought both men. Who's your pick? Well, I'll still take John Jones,

but I think it's going to be a great fight. be great fight. I think they both deserve to have that one. But I think John Jones, like I said, overall, he's better I think he's better, I think he's better

wrestler. Maybe they're striking pretty much even, maybe it's even better, but definitely wrestler. I won't be surprised if he just will just take some cost of some down, maybe a few times. So, yeah, I'll pick Johns. And then back to your fight,

how do you see you playing out on Friday? Well, I don't like to win, of course. Yeah. I don't like to discuss my strategy, but, I mean, in this case, I think it's pretty obvious. If I stand it up with him, I'm a lot of, you know, take chances and go like 50-50. But taking it down will be, I think, will be a great idea. All right. Well, good luck to you, Vladimir.

I'm looking forward to seeing your Bellator debut. This is a fun fight. It's the co-main event. The main event is Patricia Pitbull versus Diego Nunes, opening round of their featherweight tournament. It's Friday night on Spike TV, beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern time, the Bellator debut of The Janitor, a true veteran, a long time participant in the world of mixed martial arts, and one of the good guys in the sport. Always love watching the janitor fight. So good luck to you, Vladimir, and your Bellator debut, and we appreciate you stopping by. Thank you, thank you, guys. There he is. Vladimir Matt Ushenko, as I mentioned, Paticio Pitbull versus Diego Nunes, another former UFC fighter in the main event on Friday. So they are nuzzling into their regular spot Friday nights on Spike TV. The Saturday night show this past weekend was supposed to be a special one with the finals of Fightmaster,

but then Joe Warren injured his eye in training. So he pulled out, not Joe Warren, Joe Riggs injured his eye. Joe Warren wasn't medically cleared by the commission in Connecticut. And he was pulled from the fight also, Andrea. Spang was pulled from his fight, and it started off as not the best night for Belator, but like I said, main event, Brett Cooper, Alexander Schlomenko worked out quite well, and I know our own New York Rick made a little wager on Belator, but we'll get to that when we speak to him after the interviews in the third hour. So Belator returns, Belator 99, and then, hey, Belator 100,

coming up in two weeks time. The next show is this Friday. Anyone of note of Virgil Swicker on the undercard, on the prelims at 7 p.m. on SpikeTV.com. Anyone else of notes? Sometimes they have a surprise you to, Hector Ramirez, former UFC fighter. And, you know, some people criticize them for, you know,

signing the quote-unquote UFC cast-ups, but you can't deny. We know who these guys are. We know Houston Alexander is. We know who Vladimir Maryshenko is. there are so many UFC fighters now, it's almost impossible to find a guy who's been in the sport for several years who hasn't fought for Zufa. It doesn't bother me. I'm more interested in that fight than a fight against two guys I've never heard of. So there you have it. Beltor 99 on Saturday

night, Friday night, excuse me. Saturday night is World Series of Fighting Number 5. As I mentioned, headlining act is Andre Arlofsk. Our guest at this time, Mike Kyle. Mike, how are you? pretty good man thank you good to have you good to have you on the show Mike last time I spoke to you was in Oklahoma City

and you just finished up your strike force fight and I was in the back and you walk right by me of course you were very disappointed and you said to me I'm paraphrasing that was your last fight ever

why are you still fighting you know I'm fighting just because I want to I want to let the world and let those fans know what type of fighter I am. And I've, you know, I've yet to ever put together a full fight.

Everyone knows all my potential. Everyone always talks about all the potential I have, all the best hands I have. But I've yet to do it. And so it's always in the back of my mind, you know, I want to get out there and put on a great show. And just let the world know what type of fighter, you know, I really am. And, you know, this has been a long time. I've been fighting for 15 years.

And, you know, I have a lot of aches and pains, you know. And it's frustrating when, you know, you have problems making your rent every day or you have problems making your rent every month. And, you know, you're out giving autographs when you walk around, you know. You know, it's frustrating, you know. And so, you know, it's, you know, At that time, if I was Mossossey, you know, I knew that UFC was kind of going to cut me. You know, it just hit me, you know, and it really upset me that, you know,

that I put my whole adult life into this sport and I've yet to get nothing out of it. And, but some fame and giving off autographs, you know, it's frustrating. But, you know, like I said, I'm out to go out there and put on a great show, great performance and let the world know what type of fighter I really am and have a person I am. And let them know. At the time going into that fight against Musassi in January, were you thinking, if I don't win this fight, I'm going to retire? No, I was thinking about when this fight I would be cut. Uh-huh.

I was in my mind the whole time. You know, I don't know if I was one of my best camps, you know, the week before that, Friday I took D.C. down, choked them out with the rear naked choke. During the sparring, I took cane down, choked them out with the rear naked choke, all the same week. And then I turned around and got took them down and got choked with the rear naked choke. So, I mean, it's just, you know, like I said, it's really frustrating not to go out there and perform to your potential, you know. and, you know, I let my feelings and my emotions get the best for me at that time. Obviously, getting back to the UFC, you know, that would be an opportunity to try to cash in

and, you know, get the rewards that you're talking about. Did you feel that pressure going into this fight? Because everyone kind of looked at that last Strike Force show in some of those fights as kind of an audition. Winner gets to go to the UFC and, like the last WEC event a few years back, the loser has to go back, you know, and try to build himself up. Did you feel like, wow, there's a lot of pressure on me now, and maybe that's why you didn't perform to your best capabilities on fight night? Well, that's what some of it, you know, but a lot of it was just getting back in the roof,

groove, you know, I came off a hip surgery. The year before that, I broke my hand four times, so I fought two times in three, almost three years. And when I was in my groove, you know, I fought nine times in a year. And I was just like, you know, in a role, I was comfortable. And so after I fought Fajal and got that no contest, you know, I felt it in the ring. But that was my first time getting back in. Then the second time, you know, I got back in the ring, I fought them softened. And I was like, man, you know, I felt a little better.

I wasn't as jittery. I wasn't as tight. So I figured I said, I told everyone, I said, watch my third fight now. I guarantee I feel a lot better. You know, now that I'm fighting back to back to back instead of taking a year. off. You know, the time I took the year off the Bigfoot, when I fought Marks, you know, I sparred maybe four or five times in three, three, two years because I kept breaking my hand, you know, so it was like, it just took a little while to get that little groove back. And like, you know, coming off my last

performance, the knockout of a tribe's view, you know, I seen that going to, I knew it was going to happen like that. And I feel the same way towards this fight, because now, uh, I feel like I'm comfortable in the rain again, and I'm going to let my hands go. You mentioned the knockout. That happened in May in CFA. 21-second knockout of veteran Travis View. Why do you think you've been so injury-prone over the last few years? Man, like I said, I've been fighting for 15 years, and, you know,

I got a fight with Marks Delimo. I tore a teeter than my labrum on my hip, so I had to get that repaired and have some bones. shaved and, you know, before that, I came off a really nasty break with a big foot with my hand, you know, and when that happened, you know, it was just that I kept rebaking it. And because I couldn't, I didn't want to take the time off. It's hard for me to stay out of the gym, and sure enough, and I kept rebaking it. And so I had a lot to do with, you know, you know, just being rusty and, you know, trying to get that rest off.

But I'm excited to be on this show, and I got a great opportunity, a great opponent. You know, I'm excited. I'm really happy to be working with the World Series of fighting. I'm thankful for the opportunity, you know, and I just really like to end my career with fighting with some of the top guys in the world, and maybe some of those guys will be, you know, maybe Alistair will get cut right now from the U.S. And maybe I'll get to knock Alster out next. Why do you single out Alster, who, by the way, is coming up next on our show?

I just feel like that. I'm just saying an example. You know, I know the U.S.C. is pretty quick to cut people, and I want to fight some of those guys with the best names. No, and Alster, to me, is one of the best guys out there with the name. You know, and Hollister, you know, nothing personal. I just figured, you know, I might be seeing them soon. You know, originally for this WSOF debut, you were supposed to fight Anthony Johnson. He got injured. Now you're fighting Arlowski.

Which fight did you like better? You know what? Either way. You know, I worked with Erlowski before, so I can say, you know, I'll probably be a little bit more comfortable, you know, in the ring with them, you know, right away. But, I mean, either way it goes, you know, a fight to fight, I prepare hard for anybody. So, you know, Anthony Johnson could have took that fight.

You know about this fight? He pulled out of that fight two months ago. I mean, come on, man. I get hurt every day I go to practice, and you won't ever see me pull out of a fight, you know? So are you saying that he... They really won't let me. Are you saying he looked for a way out?

A couple weeks for your Bruce hand and knuckle to heel, you know. Maybe he just didn't want to fight in Jersey. I don't know. I don't know. It's not my job to do that. I just know that Mike Kyle has never ever turned down a fight. And I know Mike Kyle would, you'd give me a date off of the fight, you know, injured or not. Maybe it's stupid or not, but, you know.

So speaking of your hit list, is that who you want next? You know, I really don't want to put there in single people. I just, like I said, if he's one of the top guys, if he's a contender, I'd like to, I just want to fight some of those top guys. I was there, you know, maybe, why don't we get some of these shows versus other shows, UFC versus World Series and bring out some, you know, just, so I mean, I would like a chance to fight from those top guys before my career's over. Yeah, that I can probably say with great certainty that that's not going to happen just because

World Series fighting is such a new promotion and UFC. I don't think they're co-promoting with WSOF, but, you know, a fine idea to figure. I said it the first time I said it last time the next day I got home, Strike Forces, but. That's true. That is very true. So are you now a heavyweight? You know, I'm a heavyweight right now. I'm a heavyweight right now.

I'm going to walk around 220, 25. You know, either way, I can fight either way. Like I said, I want to fight from those top-name guys and, you know, and get out there, get some of these fights off me and show what type of fighter I can be. And in my career with some positive fights, you know. You mentioned this a few times, and of course, way back when seven years ago you were involved in that controversial moment with Brian Olson, do you feel like part of this is that you don't want to be remembered for that? Are you afraid that that's going to be your legacy in this sport? You know, it has been some of it, you know, and so far I've been known as a guy that was full of potential and could be, could be, should have been, could have been.

And, you know, I put too long, or my whole life into this, my old life, and, you know, and a lot of struggles and a lot of sacrifices than other people, too, sacrifice for me. So, you know, like you said, I don't want to be known for the guy that was a dirty fighter or a guy that should have could have wooded if, you know. And, you know, it's really important for me to go out there and put on some great shows. and a guy like Arlowski has a great name still, and he's got plenty of fight in him still. And, you know, it's kind of a mix for an exciting fight. We're both fighting for maybe for some of the same things, you know.

That's true. Did you watch his last fight against Anthony Johnson? If so, you feel like he is as dangerous as he was when he was reigning the heavyweight division way back when? You know, that goes to show you the type of, That's where I'm at where I'm at. That's the camp I'm at. I'm at AKA because they make me better every day.

If I wasn't going to, if I didn't get better every time, I would retire right now. That's the only reason I didn't retire was because every day I'm going into practice, I get better. I'm not going backwards. And see, when you see Rolowski to me, or you see Alistair, you see those guys, that's why they're getting these plateaued, because they're not at a world-class facility where they're getting pushed by other individuals, you know. I'm getting pushed every day I'm in the gym to where it's going to make me better, you know. And, you know, that's the main part of it is being at a gym that, you know, guys are going to push you to make you better. And, you know, I'm there. I'm at a gym that they're pushing for me.

They want to see me win. They want to see me succeed. and, you know, it's a pretty good feeling that, you know, when I walk out of practice, if I'm beat up or not, it's a good feeling knowing that I'm getting better, that I'm not, you know, I haven't gotten worse or I'm not going backwards. The day I start going backwards, I'm walking away from it. So he's at Jackson's in New Mexico. You don't feel like they push their fighters? Well, I'm just saying he don't have the numbers there, you know, and now he's just now starting to get there. I've been there for 10, 12 years.

Maybe if you would have been at Jackson's from the get-go. So he wouldn't have been, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. But I think Greg Jackson's a great coach, you know, great strategy. But, you know, I just don't think, you know, I think Erlowski, you know, he's got the right place now, you know. And, you know, he showed in his last fight, you know. You give Alowski another round, I think he wins that fight with Anthony Johnson. Right.

You know, that goes to show you, his cardio's up to par. You know, to get knocked down like that and to keep fighting and to get better after the fight went along. That's pretty impressive. His chin has been criticized. Do you feel like he has a weak chin? I hope to expose that. You know, definitely. You know, I think everyone has a weak chin when it comes to getting punched in the face with the MMA gloves.

Sure. By heavy weight. Right. Nothing you could really do about that. but keep your hands up, I guess, and not get hit. So do you feel now you're 33 years old, do you feel like World Series of Fighting is, you know, maybe the security that you've been looking for,

or in your opinion, are they just a pit stop? You know, it is. It is a little security that I'm looking for. And it seems like they're pushing for me, and it's nice. It's a good feeling to have, you know, to know that you're wanted. And, you know, like I said, it's a good feeling.

How many more years do you want to do this for? You know, I want to get through this contract, 4-0 and take it from there. You know, I always said I wanted to be down at 35, you know, and start working on this coach. You know, I really enjoy coaching. I want to stay a part of A.K.A. of course, and start working on. you know, coaching, holding mitts, and anything I could do as far as helping the guys out, you know, anything I could collect a check as well.

Right. So right now you're saying financially from your pretty long-in-may career, you don't have much to show for it. Nothing to show for it. Really? Is that on your end, or is that just because, you know, you're not making, you're not being offered a lot? I've just never been offered I never made a lot of money you know and uh

that's just the sport right now we know these shows you know you're putting on Dana and those guys are putting on shows every other week and stuff so I don't expect to get paid you know these guys be paid like boxers of course not you know they're only doing you know half as many shows but uh you know it

they ask be something you know it'd be great to see a fighter's union start where you have, you know, A, B, C-level fighters, every commission makes, every show have, main event has to be two A fighters, so many fights have to be a B-fighter, and so many fights have to be C-fights. And then you won't have that problem, you know, A-fighters, no A-fighter makes under this much, no B-fighters make under this much, no C-fighters make under this much. and every commission makes a show have main event

has to be two A's at least They have to have two Cs on the card They have to have so many Bs And if they did that It would start something To where at least guys would be starting Get an even across You know even more even

But it's gonna be hard to do that Because like I said You call me up and you're asking me At a fight on four day notice I'll do it You know you ask me to fight for five thousand $1,000 I might do it, you know? So it's really no way to really get guys to stick to it,

but I believe that's what it would take, you know, to get things more even and that's making, you know, some money all over across the board, you know. You're in a gym with a lot of high-profile fighters at A.K. Do you guys ever talk about this? I've been mentioning that for years. we've talked a little bit about it, but it just comes to,

like it all comes down that final answer is how are you going to stop guys from taking the same fight? You know, I mean, it would really take a fighter to make a union

and make it to work commissions don't accept no one unless they're part of the fighter's union. Hmm. You know? So you don't... I mean, because like I said,

you know, I've been called and, hey, you all give you $1,000. Okay, I'll show it. Oh, you want me to fight in three days, I'll do it. So, I mean, there's always a guy that want them that are willing to take a risk or, you know, just for the opportunity, you know, and I don't blame them.

But, I mean, it's just, you know, it's bad kind of for the sport, you know. You don't think it's going to happen? I mean, it hasn't happened yet. Yeah. But I would like to see someone start trying to work on it or something, you know. Yeah. Well, interesting points you bring up, and I appreciate you being so honest about where you're at in your career right now. A huge opportunity for you on Saturday as you face Andrei Alofsky for World Series of fighting their fifth event in the main event.

Very close to here in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Best of luck to you, Mike. We'll be watching on Saturday and appreciate the time very much. Hey, thank you for your time, buddy. There he is. Mike Kyle, veteran of the sport with a big opportunity against another veteran of the sport. was supposed to fight Anthony Johnson. Johnson gets injured and now fighting Andre Arlofsky on a pretty busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts.

No UFC event. Of course, UFC had a very busy summer and they returned for UFC 165 on September 21st. But it's a pretty busy one. One FC has a show on Friday in Indonesia. and that you can watch on online pay-per-view. Bel-Tor also has a show on Friday, Bel-Tor-99, as we talked about. That is in Temecula, California. And World Territory Fighting has a show. There's a Cage Warrior show. Legacy has a show.

Bama has a show this weekend. A lot of events this weekend. No UFC, but a lot of M.M.A. events, and, of course, the big Floyd-Mayweather-A.-Alvarez fight on Saturday on pay-per-view. and I'm assuming one or two of you will ask us about that in the comments or the question segment a little later on. For now, though, let's go to our last guest of the day. He is, of course, a good friend of the show,

but we haven't heard from him in a long time. He is the Ream. He is Alasdream. He is Alasso overreem so happy that he is back on the MMA hour. Alster, is it true? Are you there? Yes, it's true. Wow.

You know, I have to... How are you doing, man? I'm doing great. And you know why I'm so excited that you're here? Many reasons. But to me, I'm so excited to speak to you. I love talking to you. But to me, this tells me that the old Alistair is back.

Because let's be honest, for a while you were kind of avoiding us. And back in the day when you were really on a roll, you were coming on the show, you are dancing with us, birthday hats, all that stuff. And that, to me, was the Alster Glory Days, winning K-1, all that. And then you disappeared. And it felt like I was your roommate. Yes, and I liked it very much. Yeah, but, you know, since the whole thing,

I just laid low, changed the whole commission thing. That was like a strategy decided with the management. And, yeah, just to lay low, let things go over. You know, just focus on your thing, focus on training, focus on your transition to Miami, to the Black Dillions. That's basically what I did. Just keep my head low. But now you feel like you can pop up again?

Now you feel like you can do media and get yourself out there and be in the public eye? Yeah, I think the whole commission thing is a little bit old news by now. Yep. And now there's other stuff to talk about, right? Right. Other negative news. So I think, yeah.

Okay, well, let's talk. Of course, the last time we saw you was August 17th. A very interesting fight, unfortunately, it didn't go your way. You were so close to finishing Travis Brown. Have you watched the fight since then? And do you think it was a mistake not to finish the fight, not to stop the fight? referee when you had him down there, nailing him with punches and knees and all that stuff?

Well, you know, first of all, props to Travis. I mean, he's a tough guy. I already knew he was going into the fight, you know, a young outcome fighter. But, yeah, you know, I hit him with a knee head on. The guy was screaming. He went on. I was, I just fell out. And I unloaded on him.

And usually the ref comes in after a couple punches. and I was like counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, it was a ref eight, nine, ten, okay, ref. I think it's time by now, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, I figured out, like, 20 punches or something, and the rep didn't come in. And in the meantime, he was screaming. And then, yeah, then I kind of blew out myself. The ref, you know, the ref could have jumped in, but in the end, you know, I can't really say anything because he clipped me after. Right. Yeah, that's the end of that discussion.

Did you feel in hindsight that maybe you tired yourself out, throwing all those punches, trying to finish him, and that didn't leave a lot left in the gas tank for later on in the fight? Well, after that, after that unload unleashing, I thought I almost had them, I just need to get him one more time, tag him one more time. And I decided, because I wasn't knocked out in a fight, I know everything very clear. I decided I'm going to keep the pressure on them. That was a mistake. I should have just let him recover and recover myself, and then we're probably going into the second round, and then I would have recovered up from that.

Have you watched the fight since then? Yes. He said he was looking for that kick. He thought he could kind of split your defense and connect with that kick. Why do you think he felt that way? Do you feel like in hindsight, you were giving him a sign,

you opened yourself up, the way your stance was, made yourself successible, a cessable to a kick like that? Well, I think he and his I think their team just steady tape

and they just saw that opening. And do you think that the stoppage was fair on your end? Like, do you think that it was right to call the fight off when he knocked you down? Well, I wouldn't talk out. I mean, I got tagged,

I got locked, definitely. Do I think the fight was do I think it was over? No, I don't think it was over. I think I got to hit very hard. But, you know, that's just the way sport is. And it's both the blessing and the curse.

You know, it's all split-second actions. The ref jumped in. I also told him around. I said, you jump in with me this quick. After one kick of the guy, I'm going down. I get one hammer fist. And I was unloading on him, and he was screaming. And the ref heard he was screaming.

I think on tape you can't hurt, but in the cage you could. And with him you don't. And he said, yeah, but that's how it goes. So, yeah, that's how it goes, I guess. That's what the referee said to you? Yeah, he said he was intending himself. So that's why I didn't jump in. And by the way, I kept saying, successable.

I knew that didn't sound right. Susceptible. That's the word I was looking for. So I apologize for that. No, but it's, you know, it's both the blessing and the curse of the sport, and sometimes it falls on your half, and this time it's all in his half. And again, respect for Travis, because I hit him rocks all hard. And, yeah, he survived, and he came back.

Beautiful. How did you feel going into that fight, Oster? Because, of course, there was some pressure on you coming off the Bigfoot fight. But you seemed to be in a good place, and there wasn't a lot of attention on you. You kind of were flying under the radar. Did you feel, though, that this was a must win for you? Well, it's always a must win. I love to win, right?

We all love to win. Nobody likes to lose. That's a human thing, right? So I'm also expecting that to have the pressure on my next fight, but for me, I don't really feel it as pressure. I just feel it as something that needs to happen, and I don't feel negative under that. Were you afraid that, and we're moving towards the Frank Mear fight here,

but were you afraid that the UFC might cut you after the fight? Well, I'm not really, I don't really think about that. I mean, I know I have my value. I know what I bring. You know, I'm an entertaining fighter. I always go over to knock out, and I did turn this fight, and I'm not really thinking about being fired or not or being cut or not. So that's not something you put...

That's not the kind of pressure you put on yourself before a fight. You just want to win because you like to win. Yes, of course. Of course. I'm thinking about how am I going to knock this guy out. I'm not thinking, oh, I might get cut, might get fired. So then late last week, they announced, you're fighting Frank Mier

on a huge card. UFC 167, November 16th in Las Vegas. Do you like this fight? Yes, I do. Frank Mere, I mean, it's a name,

it's a top thing. I, former champion. You know, I mean, this is going to be my first fight this year. I'm a fight

to be active. So we're on the same boat. We both have free losses. So for me, I think this is interesting and very fair fight. Was he someone that you were thinking

about when you were thinking, okay, I need to get back on the horse, I want to get back in there. Frank Mears a guy that I'd like to fight? No, definitely not. Definitely not. Really? Why not? Well, because I just lost

the last fight and I was just thinking about yeah, what am I going to do next and improvement points and yeah, first a nice holiday. Fight is coming way more sooner than I expected. But I think for the fans, it makes sense. And yeah, I went crazy on my Twitter when Frank had this fight.

Yeah. So that's how the whole thing came about. And for me, yeah, it's fine. I mean, I'm as of direct in training camp. So I'm still in good shape. So it makes sense. But you would have preferred a little more time off? Well, I was actually aiming for maybe December, January.

Okay. But for me, again, I'm a fighter. I love to be active. So for me, this November fight is perfect. Did you watch this fight against Josh Barnett, and it's kind of interesting, did you think that it was stopped too early? I think so, yes. So you think he could have gone on?

It's a fine line these days in MMA. It's really just a judgment call, right? It is in the eyes of the beholder, right? And it also depends on your refs. That's right. Are there refs that you won't, you know, allow to ref your fights now because fights are so critical to your career? You know, you can request not to have a ref be in there with you. Since you can have someone that you may not trust, think you'll have, you know, a fast trigger or slow trigger.

Is that something you'll think about? No, not really. Not really. I mean, you know, my focus is going to be more on the training aspect and, you know, not not making. the same mistake in hindsight because again the quarter this time fell in the travis's court but the next time it could have might as well land in mind but not to make the mistakes from my point and that's a training thing that's um yeah a coach fan that's not you know the referee you can never i mean even good reps can make the bad decisions right i don't want i don't want to own to go over that

uh you mentioned the training where do you stand now because in in your last training camp, you, of course, train with the infamous Big Mike Passanier of Mike's gym. You're, of course, at Black Zillions, but you kind of have your own team going on there. So where will you train for this fight? Well, I'm in Holland right now, so I'm training here now, and I'll be flying back to Miami in a couple weeks, and I'll finish my training camp there. Okay. Will you be with Big Mike?

Yes. Okay, so, and then you'll bring him over to the U.S. with you. Yeah, yeah. No, Big Mike is a great guy. He's a great coach. I love his energy, so we'll definitely continue to work with Big Mike. And he's the kind of guy who really likes to yell at his fighters. Do you like that approach? Because I've heard that it can be quite aggressive. Wait a minute. He yells? He didn't yell at me, though. Oh, he didn't? Well, no, not really. I think at some fighters he does, but with me he doesn't. Oh, okay. Maybe you don't respond to that?

Is that the reason why he didn't do too? Because I've heard he likes to do that a lot. Mike also has the psychological effect. I think he might have looked at my character and kind of guessed that that doesn't work well on me. And that's why he's not doing it. Because I know, for example, Melvin Bano, if he does yell at him during the entries, as always. But he did it, I mean. and, you know, a few fights in.

Are you happy, because I remember at one point you were kind of a free agent in the training world. Are you happy with your decision to go to the Blacksilians? Yeah, of course. I mean, they're great fighters. But for me, since I also have a big connection with Holland, my daughter's still there. Yeah, for me, it's logical that I would also be a little bit half-half. 50-50. Do you think at some point you might just stay in Holland and, you know, not split your time to be with your family, to be closer to home, all that stuff?

Well, no, no, no. I definitely made the move to Miami. I love the city, and I'm not going to go back to Holland. That's one thing for sure. And I actually already beginning to start to feel a little bit American. Oh, really? How so? Well, I don't know.

I already felt that I'm a little bit too big for Hohm. So that, you know, because I'm already traveling the world and going all over the place. And Holland is a very tiny country, right? Right. So, yeah, so it's starting to feel a little bit international. That's a little bit, the better word. So, and I feel, yeah, I feel at home in Miami. I like it there.

I did. I mean, I built some friends there. So that definitely is a place that I am going to continue to live. You know, interesting time for your other sport, kickboxing with Gloria. signing a deal with Spike TV here in the United States and they're trying to really make a push to get kickboxing popular here. Is there any chance we'll see you go back to kickboxing

and maybe fight for glory? No, no, no, no, no. No. You're done with it? I'm with the UFC and, you know, I have two goals left. I think you already know that's a UFC title. But I also had a secondary goal, and that is fight all the UFC weights that are there. So with now the first goal a little bit out of sight, that being the UFC group title,

I'm still clinging on to my other objective and just to fight all the Ushsh have weights in there. But you really feel like you're far away from that first goal? Because I think a win here and maybe one or two more, you're right back to where you want to be, right? Correct. but, you know, like, losing, definitely humbled me, so I'm just going to take it easy. You know, I know what I can do. I know what I'm doing in the training.

I'm, you know, I'm a strong guy. I'm a big guy. But it's no time for talk. It's time for doing. And, you know, that's also a little bit of attitude you want to have. Let me deserve my chances. So, yeah, with that attitude, I go into the Frank Mier fight. Did you feel like you needed to be humbled?

Do I think do I need it to be humbled? It just happened where I did. But in hindsight, like considering where you are now, are you looking back and saying, you know what, some good came out of this? Maybe, you know, when I was on top of the world, it was Strike Force in K-1, maybe, you know, I got a little too big, and now I'm going back to my roots

and thinking how I used to think about myself. But, you know, that's how the game goes. The game is if you win, you're a little bit on top, and if you got it sing a little slower and a little less. That's how the game is played.

So you're in a good place. And you've got to build it up again. Right. But I like this, Alistair, that I'm hearing now. I feel like I'm reuniting with an old friend. This is realistic, Alster, and, you know, people don't know me a little bit better. No, I'm also always realistic.

Right. Even when you're on top of the world. Really? Even when you're on top of the world. Even when you're, you were on top of the world, you were still realistic, you're saying? Yes, people don't know me. Now, I'm always, always, always, am realistic.

So in this fight, you know, when it was announced, people were saying, oh, this is, you know, do or die for both guys, they're both on losing streets. You're not thinking about that at all. You're not thinking, I have to win this fight to stay in the UFC. You're just thinking, I have to win this fight, period. Yes, but I am telling you this. If I lose to Frank Mayer, I better start doing something else. because I can't lose from this.

Come on. What do you mean by that? Well, I mean, that is, if I lose to him, that's free in a row, then I better start doing something else, right? Because then there's definitely something, and I'm not good. Right. And would you retire at that point? Well, I still would like to fight a couple years.

So that being said, I'm not going to retire. You know, I just, frankly, I just need to beat this guy. Do you think he's as good today as he was a few years ago? I think he can be very dangerous, yes. But not as dangerous? It seems that's a little bit, the thing with all athletes and all fighters. I mean, it seems that he is a little bit on the downslope of his career. With his free consecutive losses.

But, you know, you should never understand. that's something that I have learned by now. All right, Alster. I'll let you go. But again, I don't know if I could say this enough. It's good to hear from you again on the show. We missed you. It's getting me back, and I promise you be on more from now.

Is that good? Yes. Did you miss us? That's all I want to hear. If there's a development, there's nothing. Well, you know, for a while there, I thought, really, I thought you really didn't like me. I thought I really, I would get the stare from you

that would make me shiver in my boots. But now I am certain that you like me again. No, listen, that was just a management division, keep your head low, and that means keep your head low. That means, you know, to get out of the spotlight. Yeah, no, I can see where you're coming from. But that's all in the past. You're back.

Can't wait for this fight. Nothing personal, but personal. You know, I'm very sensitive. I like you. Yeah, I kind of realized that. by now. Alster, so good to hear from you.

Good luck in training. Can't wait for this fight. You versus Frank Mirr on November 16th. 20th anniversary show for the UFC. It's going to be a great one. And again, really appreciate you stopping by. And most importantly, great to have you back on the show. Yes.

And when do I get my iPad? Oh, really. Okay. How about this? You win. Okay. You go back on a winning streak to get to the number one contender fight,

and I'll give you. an iPad. How about that motivation? That is a huge motivation. It's a deal? A deal. It's a deal. How much wins, three fights? Three, three. Three, fight, wins.

Three fight winning streak. I set it on this show. Three fight winning streak, I get you an iPad. I'll shake your hand on that. What is the day today? Today is September 9, 2013. But let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. What if you don't go on the winning streak. What do I get? An interview. An in-depth interview. Oh. Okay. Well, I'm not hoping for that, but that intrigues me.

Okay. All right. So we're back. Thank you, Alistair. Good luck to you. Okay, I have a good job. There he is. The Ream stopping by. Great to have him back on the show. And once again, I've gotten myself in this iPad pickle with Mr. Overeem. But I like it. If I lose to Frank Mir, he said, I have to find something else to do. How about that? Take that thing, put it on a poster, and sell that fight. There it is. Alistair Overim, UFC 167. If he wins three in a row, I have to get him an iPad. If he loses within that

stretch, in-depth interview. Is that fair? I don't know. I don't know if that's a good deal. But I like interviews. I mean, there's nothing better for me as far as a gift is concerned than in-depth interviews. So I'll take it. How about New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. What's that word? What word? Susceptible.

God, I really butchered that one. Sissitable. What did I say? Successable or something? Yeah, susceptible. Sissable. What was going on with that? I was so excited that he was on the show that I couldn't speak.

Yeah, I don't know. I think that's a fair deal, especially considering that he should have had this iPad quite a while ago. Honestly, there is no record of this. This is something he made up in his mind. But you know what? I like Alster, so I want to give him that motivation. I feel like it's my duty. Will I really get him the iPad?

I mean, who knows? But he needs... That's exactly it. Who knows? Who really knows? But he needs this. He needs this. I am the missing link.

Look, he's on this show well before you were a part of it. Yep. He's on the show. He's dancing. He's getting birthday surprises. He's winning. He's knocking guys out. Not only is he winning in MMA.

He's winning in K-1. He's winning Grand Prix. gives us the cold shoulder, disappears, and look what happens. You're the catalyst. I mean, you said it. Good to have him back. Now, let's talk about something here. Sure.

I was trying to get you on the phone there with HENzo, and you weren't answering. No, I didn't want to cut anybody off. He was still talking. Hensel was still talking. I didn't want to jump in there and, you know, be rude to anybody. That's true. That's fair. What do you think?

Incredible. I mean, to have Henzo Gracie come on and say, you know, oh, he'll be the first one to choke me out and things like that. That's pretty, it makes it definitely a tempting offer and something to think about because who else gets that kind of opportunity, you know? It's making it hard to turn down that opportunity. But you haven't decided yet. I mean, we need more details.

Right. There's nothing in place yet. Sure. But you can't tell me right now, I have decided I will do this fight. No, no, no, no. Much more information. Wow. Look at this. Calculated. I can say this. The more tempting it becomes, the more things like this that come up, like Henzo saying, you know, he'll train me and Ali being so behind it and helping out and supporting it, it makes it harder for me to consider saying no.

Are you a big enough name that if you train for eight or nine months that you can headline a World Series of Fighting Event? Absolutely not. And I wouldn't want to. I don't want to take Shine away from guys who do this as their job. First of all, that would never happen. They wouldn't do it. Nobody knows who I am. But even if that opportunity was there, I wouldn't want to. These guys have earned their spot. I haven't. That's kind of what this is. Right. Is earning it. But I think, I mean, given our connections here, you got Ali on your side now, Hensel Gracie, of course, the Williamsburg, Hensel Gracie, Jim, which is very close to where you live.

Sapo Natal is the coach there, right? He is. And he's a winning UFC fighter, an incredible UFC fighter. You can have a real, I mean, Rashad spoke about Mark Henry. Maybe we can swing up there for a few days. Card Al-Meda, Frankie Edgar. I mean, who knows? Maybe even Ray Long, maybe we can be the ones to unite all these gyms

and have you be the link that brings all this Northeast MMA together. What do you think? It's becoming enticing. But now this is just talk at this point. This is just conjecture. Okay, but what are you looking for? You're looking for like a contract? What are you looking for?

Well, I mean, there has to be some kind of commitment. It can't just be, oh, we'll do this for you. But who's the commitment from? You or them. I mean, you had Hensel Grassey on the phone. What more do you need? Man of his work. me or them. Like, I can't just show up there and then that's...

Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. I thought you were saying that you need commitment. I mean, I think if Hensel Gracey says he's going to train you, the rest are just details. Semantics. Sure. No, no, no. I'm not saying, oh, I need a contract that says Hensel will train me at these hours of this day. No, I'm just saying there has to be more than just somebody on the phone saying, yeah, we'll do it. Like, there has to be an agreement between us and them and whoever else is involved. Right. All right.

So, TBD. Yes, but it is... You're leaning towards it? I can't say I'm not. Are there a lot of people calling you out? Because I got a few tweets where people are saying, like, I love this idea, but I want to fight him. There have, mostly it's been just people saying you have to take the opportunity. There have been some people who are saying, oh, I'd love to fight you.

which I appreciate, but that's not really interesting to me. Maybe by coincidence I'll end up fighting one of them, but I don't think that's really where we're going with this. I'll pick your opponent. I'm not looking for opponents on Twitter. I'll be the matchmaker for this fight. I don't like that. But yeah, mostly people have been supportive,

and I really appreciate that. Keep the input coming. I still want to hear nothing's set in stone yet, but today was a step in the right direction toward getting this done. You are, dare I say, successable? I'm definitely successable. You guys don't know, but that's actually a word. Now, before we get to the questions of the day and also a recap of last week's event, I just want to talk about something very serious developing right now in the world of mixed martial arts.

Matt Rice, who is a UFC featherweight, was involved in a very serious car accident yesterday. And his manager and friend, most importantly his friend, Daniel Rubinstein, who's a member of the MMA community, goes to a lot of events, friends with a lot of people in the sport, has been updating us on Matt's condition as of last night. The first update that he tweeted out was 17 hours ago, and it read as follows. Matt Grice has been in a serious car accident and is currently in surgery. Don't know any more details than that. Positive thoughts, please, of course.

Then he tweeted later on in the evening update on Mac Grice. He's out of surgery. Was told his pupils are small, which means there is brain activity, won't know more till tomorrow a.m. Later, he tweeted, Grice Update in an ICU, intensive care unit room, vital, stable, but still in very serious condition. Docswell MRI CAT scan in AM and determined best course of action. Then two hours ago, he tweeted this.

At the hospital, still haven't seen Matt, his wife is in with him now, was told the brain swelling went down, his eyes are reacting to light. And then finally, just 20 minutes ago, he tweeted, finally got to see Matt, nothing can prepare you for seeing your best friend hooked up to machines in a hospital. OKC Police Department releasing a statement soon. So that is the latest on Matt Greis. And he also texted me something in the middle of the show, which I'd like to read, which is pretty much the same. I just wanted to read it for myself first.

Pretty much the same that he tweeted. So I'll keep our text private between us. So hopefully we'll get that statement. And again, just want to wish Matt and his family all the best. Great guy, great fighter. I had the chance to interview him many times. also a guy who works for the Oklahoma City Police Department and is, you know, a family man, has two kids, two girls, and just a devastating story, a horrible, horrible turn of events.

And we hope that, you know, much as he is, a great fighter in the cage, protects the community, the streets, able to fight back and make a full recovery here. So if you want to learn more and follow this story, I'm assuming at this point, the best person to keep up to date with everything is Mr. Rubenstein. His Twitter is Twitter.com slash Danny Rube, Rube, Rube, Rube, and he's been pretty good about tweeting updates about Matt Grice. So we truly hope for nothing but the best for Matt and his family and hope that he'll be able to recover from this. And we'll look out for that statement. If it does come while we're on the air, we will read it and let you know what's up with Matt Grice, our best to his family and to Matt

himself and hopefully he will be able to pull through. So let us talk about Wednesday this past week, UFC fight night in Bello Horizontch, and Mama knows had a good night. And this is what was interesting about it. I kind of put the pressure on her, and I was in Montreal this past weekend, and a happy New Year to my fellow Jews out there, Rosh Hashanah Shana, Shana, Tava, all that stuff. and I was there, so I had the opportunity to watch the fight with my mother, and she recognized what had been said on Monday. She recognized that the pressure was on, and dare I say, she stepped up to the plate.

Five and one on Wednesday. Her lone loss was the Peter Halman fight. Peter Harmon won, great fight. But hey, five and one. And what it made me think of was many times throughout this whole process, I put the pressure on New York Rick, and it feels, at least to me, and correct me if I'm wrong,

he hasn't quite stepped up to the plate. You know, it's always been some kind of story or just kind of, you know, laying down, you know, with the infamous Jason I think. But five and one after a couple of 500... When the betting lines weren't involved, the record was fantastic.

You know, I had a feeling you were going to say that. I had a feeling. And I'd like to propose this because I'm sensing a budding rivalry between you and Mama You've been sensing this for quite a while. I think her senses are a little off. No, no, quite frankly, I feel like we need to settle this. I would like to propose a challenge between my dear mother, Mama knows, and yourself, where the next event, of course, is UFC 165.

Let's just see what happens for that event, the next big event. We'll get to you in a second and your smaller events. I would like to propose a challenge where you, because let's be honest, you've been watching longer, you kind of know what you're doing a little more, you have more experience when it comes to this, although it doesn't really translate to much. I would like to see you guys pick the main card, but you have to go with the lines.

She goes with the picks, and we'll see who... Well, I have to go with the lines in what sense. Otherwise, I'm just going to pick favorites. I have to go with the lines in what capacity. That's interesting. There's nothing to stop me from picking favorites because those are the guys more likely to win. The hard part about betting is getting the value

out of picking underdogs that have a shot, even if you don't think necessarily that they're the favorite to win. Right. I should have thought about this a little more before I proposed it. Let's table this and think about it. But what do you think? What do you think?

You think something? there. I mean, let's be honest, this has been a collision course. It's inevitable. Let's just get it out of the way. It's getting a little awkward. I have no interest in picking against your mother. Really? None. That's good radio right there.

That's compelling stuff. And I think the people want to see it. I mean, what was her record going into? Her record was 17 and 9. Now she is 22 and 10. She went 5 in 1. Yeah. Well, there you go. I'm more than happy to provide my

picks, but I have no interest in some sort of competition. I mean, I think deep down you're saying, you know, you're saying all the right things on the surface, but deep down, I think you realize that this has to be done. There can only be one. I'm willing to cede the throne to her. No, no, no. Let me think about this for next week. Well, yeah, figure that out, the betting part of it out, because otherwise it would just be the same. I'd just be picking, you know? Well, she went five and one. It was very impressive. Very good night. You know who else had a good night? Who?

Jokerey. He did. Had a great night. He did have a great night. I mean, unstoppable. Yeah, sure. What do you mean? Yeah, sure.

I mean, the train is going and you better hop on soon. How far away from a title shot? I mean, he's got to be either already at the title shot. I mean, Okami was a top, what was he, what was he ranked? Like five or three or something like that? I mean, based on his rankings, silly rankings. He's, well, regardless, Ocami is well, respected. and obviously one of the top contenders in that wee class.

So he's at most won away, right? It's got to be. Yeah, but you didn't submit him. And quite frankly, I almost consider this a loss. Oh, my God. That's what he was going for, right? He's going to bash his brains in, and he did. Yeah.

That was it, it was, how good was that card? It was pretty, it's pretty solid. Well, the undercard. Let us not speak of it. But the main card was... I missed some of the undercard, but the, The undercard was lackluster. The main car was fantastic.

And a lot of people are... I just don't understand the people who are trying to compare the UFC ratings from today to even FX to the spike days. You do realize that Fox Sports 1 is like two weeks old, right? You do realize that most people don't even know this channel exists. You do realize that of all the programming on Fox Sports 1, UFC is by far number 1.

Not only that, even though the ratings may be lower, they're still beating out in the key demos. 18 to 34 other much more established networks. And yeah, this is not, there's nothing to do with me working for them. Like, it's unbelievable to me that people would compare, back in the day, they would compare the fuel ratings to the spike ratings. You do realize that they're in 60 million less homes.

Now it's a lot more equal, but come on. I don't understand why people are always so quick to, it's like they almost are rooting for the, for the demise of the UFC. Why? it doesn't make any sense. If you're an MMA fan, why would you want any promotion to fail, let alone the top one right now?

It doesn't make sense. You shouldn't want Belator to fail. You shouldn't want the UFC to fail. You shouldn't want World Series of fighting. You shouldn't want any of these promotions to fail, let alone the one that delivers most of the time, the one that has the best fighters, the ones that if you look at the rankings,

99% of the fighters in the top 10, from flyweight to heavyweight are in the UFC. It doesn't make any sense. And of course, I'm talking to a vocal, minority here, but I think we need to wait a year, if not too. Remember, end of the fuel run, the ratings aren't fuel, not only for the fights, but the post-fight shows, the wayans, the pre-fight shows, they were doing phenomenally well for fuel, a channel that was in 36 million homes. Give it some time. Network is two weeks old. Relax. Let's set some questions. Okay, let's set some questions,

but wait, one more thing. What's up? You're trying to avoid the elephant in the room. What's that? I was thinking Saturday night, I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I wonder, I wonder if Mr. Rick is actually going to work his way back up. And by the way, I mentioned a lot of non-UFC events this weekend. I mean, you have a tremendous amount of fights to pick from. And then, lo and behold, I checked my Twitter, and you make a pick.

Yep. You make a parlay. Correct. And you lost. Yeah, I parlayed butcher, right, versus the arm collector, Giva Santana. and then I picked, I parleyed him with Brian Rogers, who gassed out after a minute, which was very unfortunate. I kind of saw him, the line got really close at the end,

and he was minus 120. He was the favorite the whole time, but it got close at the end, and I thought he was going to be able to either knock him out early or control the grappling, if need be. And Parlow completely controlled the grappling after the first round where Rogers gassed. out. I mean, that's kind of his M.O. And I just thought he wouldn't tire himself out like that.

And I was completely wrong there. It sucks because the first half the parlay came through. But, I mean, that's the risk of a parlay. Didn't risk too much, only 15. So I'm still net positive. I think I'm... Are you? Yeah, I only, because remember my first bet got canceled, Eddie N. Gomes. And I hit on Harris, Gerald Harris, over... facing Santiago. So I made like 26 out of that. So I'm up 11 or so. Nothing to write home about. I mean, I don't mean to call you out.

I know you're not a math major, but it seems very lucy-goosey. You're a total. How do we not know how much money is in that wallet? How can I fully be confident that you have earned the right to start picking the big leagues? You don't know? I can show the exact calculations. You're not really...

I mean, I don't feel like I've earned it anyway, so... Oh. Until I start, you know, making it up. I think if I had hit on that parlay, we'd start... It would be a conversation to start having, for sure. Are you looking at any of the fights this weekend? Bama, 1FC, Bellator. Let me...

I haven't looked at the odds for... You don't have to tell us now. Of course, we don't expect you to be ready to do this. There's no odds except UFC odds right now. Really? Yeah. The next... The next Bellator odds are November 2nd.

The paper view. Yeah, 165, 166, and Fight Night. Can you even get odds for those smaller shows? You can. But as I said, they post, like, day of a lot of times or day before. Okay. I want to see, like, can you do a parlay that stretches over organizations? Yeah, you can do that.

At the book, I modeled this after, five dimes, you can do that. Wow, that's cool. You can do different organizations, different cards, things like that. I'll tell you what would impress me. If you get a parlay that has an event on like five different shows. Yeah. A fight on five different shows. That holds your money up.

You don't want to put your money into something that takes that long to pay off. Could be fun, though. Builds up a lot of intrigue. You have to understand how to play this out, you know? I don't mean to be breaking the fourth wall here, but, you know, there's some entertainment involved in all this. Yeah. All right.

Well, a step back for you is unfortunate. One of many. But let's see, maybe this weekend. Yeah. Hopefully. All right, now I'm ready for the questions. All right, let's do it. I'll start with the website as always.

Come on, computer. By the way, while you're getting the website ready, Yep. Showdown Joe was tweeting that he has talked to GSP's camp and they are going to comment on the whole situation with Johnny Hendricks. The email that he sent me during the Johnny Hanrick's, during the Johnny Hendricks segment was a very long one. And I tried to pick out the part that I thought was the most up-to-date.

But he then sent me another email as he was listening to the show. We really appreciate a veteran MMA broadcaster, Showdown Joe from Canada, tuning in. He said the key line to remember is that George, this is from Rodolf, his manager, quote, George accepted a couple weeks ago to do the NSAC enhanced drug testing program in addition to VADA. So they're saying that they will do it. I still see that there are issues there for Johnny Hendricks. A, he doesn't want to do VADA. He wants nothing to do with it.

And from all the comments that I'm seeing here, there's no mention of WADA. Now, is that the NSAC program or is that just going with the NSAC and their testing? that seems to be a bit of a gray area, but maybe one of these days we could talk to GSP about it, or follow Showdown Joe on Twitter. He says he has an update coming, Twitter.com slash showdown Joe.

All right. Our first question from the website. Question for both of us. After Glover's destruction of Bader last week, do you think he's ready for and has a chance of beating the champion, Bones Jones? Well, since you're addressed here,

what did you think? Did you think that was worthy of a title shot? I, excuse me, sorry, I hit the mic button. I don't think it was as concerning as people kind of made it out to be. A lot of people were saying, oh, this proves that he's not ready. I didn't think he was good enough to beat Jones before this, and I don't think that now. I don't think that affirmed it any further that, you know, he can't beat Jones. I don't think that there's somebody at 205 right now that that's going to really challenge John,

except for if Cormier drops down. So this performance didn't really raise or lower his stock in terms of beating John Jones for me. That said, it's definitely something you can't be showing going into a fight with John Jones, is that if he hits you hard enough, you're going to go down because Jones doesn't have that kind of power, but his accuracy and his ability to just finish people.

His nose for the finish is unmatched, and you can't be showing that, kind of vulnerability going into the fight. But as I said, I didn't think he could beat him before the fight and after the fight. It didn't really change my opinion of that. By the way, and I am a victim of this as well, there is a title fight happening in less than two weeks, and John Jones is defending his title against Alexander Gustafson. We cannot just dismiss Gustafson. Something could happen. He can finish John Jones. He can knock him out. He can submit him. He can win a decision. He can win controversially. So let's relax on the Glover talk until that fight happens. A, and B,

if John Jones loses to Guffington or if something crazy happens, there could be a rematch. You never know how this stuff will play out. A lot of crazy things can happen. So that's why I'm not getting too crazy about Glover. I do think if Jones wins, convincingly, he's going to get the title shot. UFC is high on him. You know, technically he has won five and in a row in the UFC is 5 and O, but he hasn't defeated a top 10 guy, Ryan Bader, as far as those wacky UFC rankings are concerned, wasn't in the top 10. Is that enough to get a title shot? It's maybe a product of the light heavyweight division being so shallow after John Jones has almost cleaned it out. I still think the money fight is Cormier versus Jones if Cormier

beats Roy Nelson. I still think that's the fight that the fans could really get behind. But let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. on September 21st in Toronto, and let's see what happens October 19th in Houston. That's my answer. I think I read on Twitter and somebody can verify this and send it to us. I believe that Rampage was ranked number nine at the time that he beat him, because a lot of people were saying that thing about him not beating anybody currently in the top 10 or having been in the top 10, and I believe Rampage was number nine.

Fair enough. And that's an impressive win. He dominated Rampage. I don't think Rampage is done, as many others do. Right. But I still think a lot can happen. between now and the next light heavyweight title defense. Absolutely.

Next question. With the success of Jok-Rae, do you see other aggressive BJJ practitioners successfully moving into MMA like Marcus Buccecha, Al-Mida, or Zande Ribero? Buccecha recently hinted at a future career in MMA and in an interview, and Zande sent out an Instagram post. He's 2 and O. Well, you know, this is an interesting question because you and I were actually discussing this before the show.

And we were talking about how I feel like, for the most part, Jiu-Jitsu breeds better MMA fighters. And you were saying kickboxing breeds better MMA fighters. Am I right? Slightly misstated. I was stating that kickboxing is at least equivalent, not better or worse, but there's guys who make the transition from kickboxing to MMA and BJJ to MMA. It's about equal.

I wasn't saying. See, I don't think it's equal at all. I don't think it's even close. Well, I mean, there's... How many guys who have come over from kickboxing have been truly successful in mixed martial arts? Name him. I'm obviously going to forget some, but there's Overeem, Spong, Hunts.

He's 2-0 in World Series of Fighting. But, yes, he's a star. You could say the same thing about guys like Hodger Gracie, who, you know, in the UFC, he didn't have a good performance. They still come over and are successful compared to their... to their peers if you're taking M&A as a whole. I'm not dismissing Spong, but then what else? Well, that's the thing.

I'm sure to forget some. You mentioned Mark Hunt. Yep. Harry Tanov, he's fighting in glory. But in the world of Jitsu, there's, there's Damien Maia, Jacques-Aray, you know, Hajie Gracey hasn't had the best career, but, you know. Galvao. Yeah, he's had an okay career.

Who else? I feel like I'm missing a bunch of guys. But the point that I was making was that why I think MMA fans are more interested in the world of BGAJ as opposed to kickboxing is that, and this is kind of off topic here, but guys like Benson Henderson, Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, and even these guys here,

like Jacare and, uh, Jacarei doesn't do it anymore, but, you know, Maya Will, Fabrice Over Doom, there's another one. They will go and do some jitjitjit. two competitions while still MMA fighters. You won't see many MMA fighters, not named Tyrone Spung, go back and do kickboxing these days. So I just don't feel like there's as much of a connection between BJJ and MMA and

kickboxing and MMA. I think that's an organizational thing more than a sport thing. That's a UFC thing because they have to protect their fighters. Obviously, there's more danger of being injured while kickboxing than doing BJJ just for, you know, trauma to the head and things like that. Overeem was the Strike Force champ came over and won the K1 Grand Prix. And his stock rose more in MMA from that than anything he had done previously in MMA. So I think that if it was allowed, if the UFC was willing to let people compete in these kind of competitions,

I think you'd see an increase in it. And I also think that the stock would rise for sure for a lot of the MMA competitors who also want to get into some kind of kickboxing. I think the other issue might be that it's hard to make money in Jiu-Jitsu. And at least right now, you can make money in kickboxing overseas. So the natural progression, if you're a jih Tzu player, is to go from BJJ to MMA. And if you're in kickboxing, you're probably going to try to make a career out of it and make some money. Yeah.

That's definitely a factor in it. But still, I feel like there's more – the reason why we brought this up where we were talking about this was I think that there's more of a crossover MMA BJJ than there is MMA kickboxing. I'm not so sure MMA fans are going to watch the glory event on Spike or glory events on spike, unless it's really catered towards them. There's guys like Spong and other MMA guys. I don't think MMA fans are inclined to watch that as opposed to a BJJ competition. At the end of the day, they're MMA fans, but I think there's more of a connection to Jiu-Jitsu than there is kickboxing.

Possibly, but I also think that more casuals will tune into a kickboxing event than a BJJ tournament. If you see two guys kickboxing, it's more friendly to people who are not fans of the sport already. So if Spike has people just tuning in, it's probably going to hold some eyeballs. I think that you're not going to change the channel if you see two guys kickboxing. Whereas if they were doing BJJ, for people who are interested in that, it's definitely something to watch. But I feel like it's a little more exclusive. People are not going to probably want to stick around unless they really know what's going on. Yeah, fair point.

I definitely think that they're going to have to really try to advertise and promote the brand, the promotion to MMA fans, because you need that crossover right now. MMA, there's definitely more of a crossover MMA than just straight up boxing. So you need those fans to come over. Now, to answer this question, when on this crazy tangent, I do expect guys like that to come over. And I think that in some ways, unless you're, you know, a unique case or two, most of these guys who are going to get to a certain point in Jiu-Jitsu are going to come to the world of mixed martial arts. You know, look at someone like Drysdale. It's just, it's the natural progression and I and and I don't see that as much in kickboxing or boxing. I mean, they're their

own kind of beast, but if you want to make money, you have to graduate and the best way to graduate right now is into MMA as opposed to, it's like, it's like amateur wrestling. You can only go so far. You want to start making money. You're not going to go into kickboxing. You're not going to go into boyatea. You're not going to go into boxing. You're going to go into MMA. And it's the same thing in Jitutu. I don't know about that necessarily. I think kickboxing pays pretty well. No, no, no, no. that's my point. Oh, you're saying you wouldn't go into MMA and then.

Jiu-Jitsu and amateur wrestling are the same. You can only go so far and you don't make a lot of money. If you're going to go to the route of being a kickboxer, you're not going to graduate and then say I'm an M.M.A. fighter. Right, right. Sure. Yeah, I see more of an opportunity for crossover like Alasor and Spam than, you know, transitioning.

Our first question from the Twitter sphere. Who are you in New York, Rick, rooting for in the ultimate fighter. More importantly, who is Mama Halwani rooting for, team Rousey or team Tate? So this is an interesting question and if she's watching now,

which I believe she is, maybe she can answer the question. There's a bit of a delay. I don't really root for anyone. I mean, I really don't. I root for good stories, good fights, interesting stories, all that stuff.

But I was actually thinking about this and I'll ask you, you know, you're part of the question here in a second, but you may not know this, but back at WrestleMania 13, there was an infamous double turn where Stone Cold Steve Austin became the face at the end of the match against Brett Hart, and Brett Hart became the heel, the bad guy. Going into the match, Brett Hart was the face, Stone Cold was the heel.

And then things happened in the match, and they swapped. And it's a very famous moment in professional wrestling. And I know how much some of you love when I talk about this, but it's very apropos. could there possibly be a double turn occurring with Rousie and Tate? I think we have a question related to that coming up. Oh, we do? We might. My mother wants you to know that she is watching, so of course she's watching, so the answer could be coming quickly here. But, all right, so maybe I shouldn't go this route here, but you understand what I'm saying? I do. Did you see that Q&A that we posted on the site? I did. I don't mind it. I like it. But I'm getting the same.

sense from the people. I'm getting the sense from the people that a double turn could be occurring here. Well, we'll see. The question coming up might imply that exact thing. Okay, well, who are you rooting for? I'm not rooting for either. I don't have any horse in the race, but I think it's going to be a good season.

And I think that they play well against each other, so it's going to be exciting. But I don't, I have no preference in who wins. I don't think it makes a difference going into the fight. And I don't, have any particular connection to either one. So like you, I'm kind of unbiased and I don't,

I'm not rooting, but I am rooting for a great fight, which I'm sure it will be. Yeah, December 28th, I will say that this is the most interesting season of the ultimate fighter since number 10 because of Kimbo slice. I didn't really care about the Rashad, Rampage, feud, because I felt like it had been played out by that point. But Kimbo on the show, heavyweights, that was interesting. I remember rushing home from a baseball game to see Kimbo fight Roy Nelson. That was a big deal. That feel like a big event, got great ratings. This is, as far as interest level goes, the closest we've been to that point. We'll see what happens as the week's play out here on Fox Sports One.

Oh, I bit on the Rashad Rampage hookline and sinker back then. You loved it. You were a youngster. You were a lot more naive. It did great on pay-per-view, right? Over a million. Yeah. Supposedly.

So, oh, wait, we went the wrong way. Whoops. Here we go. This is our next question regarding that very topic. Jones on the Ultimate Fighter came across as a cool guy after losing some of his appeal with the fans. Is Rousie doing the opposite? So this alludes to what you were talking about people souring on her a little bit. You know, it's a little too early.

I will say that I got a lot of messages about this, particularly when we played or we posted that Q&A in Boston. If you haven't seen it, we posted this after the first episode. it took place in Boston. There was a media screening in a movie theater, and Rhonda clearly did not want to be there. There were some familiar lines, some Diaz-esque lines saying that she thought people were out to get her,

that people didn't tell her. I didn't mind it. Even though she was very, I guess she was somewhat aggressive towards me, she did not like some of my questions. I like seeing different layers of people's personalities, and that's who she was. that's who she felt like being that day. That's how she was feeling. That's fine with me.

But once I started getting messages after the first episode, I was thinking, wow, something is going on here. Now, will it play out for 12 weeks? Remember, Rhonda told me in New York, she said that by the time the season is done, Misha will not have any Armenian fans left. Now, that's a small portion of the population, but does she do something that's so outrageous that she will offend a lot of people? Who knows? but it's going to be very interesting to monitor that because Ronda is so beloved, such a baby face, and as a result, Misha Tate has become somewhat of a heel. Maybe because of her association with Brian Carraway, the Bobby Riggs of this whole scenario,

if you remember the Battle of the Sexes. But will that change come December 28th? I think it's too early to tell, but it's very interesting to monitor. This is our next question regarding tough. The winner of Tough 18 men's 135er seems destined for obscurity. Would it have been wiser to feature only the women? I'm not sure.

Let's see what happens. Again, I think it's very early. You know, the dynamic of having men and women in the house is certainly interesting. How do they coexist? Is there romance? Blah, blah, blah. I think it's, it was worth it. I do agree that I'm worried.

way more interested in the women than I am in the men. 100%. I mean, there's no doubt about it. And part of that again is because I know some of the women, but there's just something a little more intriguing about them right now. They could use some blood at 135 in the men's division. So I don't think it was a horrible decision. And I think the dynamic of having men and women in the house is part of the appeal as well. So I think it was the right call. I agree with you on every front there. And I also just want to mention something regarding Tough 18 and regarding our show, the MMA hour.

We have our friends at CounterMove. What is going on with you in CounterMove? Are they paying you for all these plugs? No. This is for our fans, to interact with the fans. But what is it? Explain it to us, because it kind of came out of nowhere.

CounterMove does fantasy MMA. It's not quite betting, but what they do is you pick fighters for the night. They give you a certain amount of money and you pick who you think is going to win. There's different values for different fighters. It's pretty straightforward. Check out the website countermoove.com to see what it is. But they gave us free tournaments for our fans. So there's

250 slots and I'll send out a link later where you can participate. You can pick along. I'm going to be in it. Maybe Mr. Halwani can be in it. Probably not. Sure. But basically what you do is you pick certain fighters before Wednesday, before the next episode of the Ultimate Fighter, and then as they move to the season, you'll accumulate points based on how well they do. And then at the end, there will be a winner, and there's cash money on the line. So it gives people who missed out on the Rick's Picks Invitational a chance to, you know, pick against me and pick against other fans of the show and get involved. How did you do for the first event?

I think I was in like the top 50 or something out of it. of our 250. Something like that. Is that good? I don't know. Top 50? I mean, this is supposed to be bet against the pro, right? Well, it's not quite the same.

It's not just betting. It's, it's, uh, you, basically, they give you, like, a salary. They give you, like, let's say, 25,000. And it costs 5,700 to pick jaccaray. But then it costs, you know, a lot less to pick his opponent. You kind of have to, like, balance who you're picking, things like that. Um, so it's, it's not, quite as straightforward as just picking and betting, but it's fantasy, fantasy MMA.

And we're happy that they let us do it, and it's fun. So there's no fee? Ours is free. The MMA hours tournament is free. I'm going to tweet out a link. And it's open to how many people? 250. So you've got to get in soon.

Then what happens? Like if you finish first, what happens? Get cash money. Every time? Yeah, there's cash money on the line. But how? Then they're losing money. There's no fee to sign up and they're giving out money to the winner?

It's a free roll. So there's ones that people can pay money to enter. We're taking their money. With higher stakes. But ours is 250 people getting free and there's $250 on the line distributed among a top certain percent. You can see all the breakdowns at their website, countermove.com. But I feel like we're taking the money of the people who are paying to be a part of this. How?

They're getting in free. No, no, no, no. Other people, other brackets or whatever. the hell you want to call them. Those people are paying to be a part of this, right? And then we're taking part of the gold. That's a separate tournament. If they want to pay to play there,

then they're paying to be in that other tournament. How does countermove make their money? Well, I'm not in their business. I don't know how they make their money, but I mean, I'm sure they can discuss it with you on Twitter if you want. Sure, sure. I'm very interested. But see, now you're muddling the details.

Ours is free, 250 people, sign up, get in on it, fantasy MMA for Tough 18. Okay, now where does this? go. Are we building towards something or just every week there's a winner or every time there's an event? No, no, no. It's the full season of tough. So... Oh, okay. So now I get it.

Wait, so you're betting on the tough fights? You're not betting on the fights. You're picking fighters who you think will go far. So like... But didn't you bet on the fight night fights? No, that was just another tournament for only those fights of that night. But this one's a full season of tough. It's a separate thing. Okay, and at the end

what's at stake? How much? It was 250, but it's distributed. It's not winner-takes-all. There's like a first prize, a second prize that you can see at the website. So I'm going to tweet out a link later for that. So you bet on all the 16 fights to get into the house? No, what you take is a team of five fighters. You get like Shana Bazler.

So who's on your team? I haven't picked my lineup yet. I'll do it before Wednesday. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, it's fun. So you've got five guys or girls. Combination, guys, girls, doesn't matter. And someone can have the same.

five is you. What happens then? It's tied. It's the same. If you have the same... Well, what do you mean? Well, then you have to split the prize. Yeah. You have to split the prize regardless. Nobody's getting... It's not winner takes all anyway. Oh, it's not?

You know, there's like the top X people... So who are you thinking about now? Well, definitely Shana Beazer. That's one I want. Yeah. But she's probably going to be pretty expensive on the payroll. Oh, you have to pay for them too? Oh, God. This is very confusing.

There's like 25... So it's like a salary cap. Yes, you have like a pool of $25,000. I got you. Sheena Beazer costs X. You can't use that X to buy somebody else. She'll be more expensive than somebody else. Will you pick our good friend, Roxanne Monteferry?

I got to see how much she costs. Okay, okay. So you're going to do this before Wednesday. Okay, this is smart. I like this. It's fun. Yeah, the people get a chance to interact. Okay.

Cool. Moving along. Moving along. Next question. Can Bellator still claim to be a tournament company when their pay-per-view main and co-main event are not tournament? tournament-related fights. I was talking about this with someone just a couple days ago.

Again, I think they need to get rid of the tournaments. The tournaments should only be used to build a contender if you need a contender. But this whole situation with Atila Vey, King Moe, you don't need a tournament for that division. The big fight was Newton versus King Mo. So just make the fights. Say that when you do have a tournament, it's the toughest one in sports. You can call whatever you want. but don't live by the tournament and die by the tournament.

Don't stick with the tournament when you don't need the tournament. Sometimes Eddie Alvarez fight, the King Mo fight. Honestly, I'd like to see Brett Cooper versus Schlamenco too. There aren't many options at 185. The tournament should only be used if you need to build a contender. Or maybe you just do it at the end of the year like the IFL did. Who knows? But don't stick to the tournaments all the time.

Sometimes we just want fights. Sometimes we just want fights. Just make the fights. That's it. Don't worry about always having the tournaments. No one cares. It's a waste of time and it's a mistake. And in the end, in my opinion, it hurts you more than it helps you.

Look at King Moe losing. People wanted to see him in a title fight after one fight. Don't put him in there against a dangerous guy and he loses. Then you have to figure out a way, do a mini tournament and have an interim title. Who knows what you're dealing with behind the scenes? Just use the tournaments when you need to use the tournaments. and make that a selling point. And again, I still think there's too much.

You know, the UFC can't even put on an event for 13 straight weeks. And what I mean by that is, UFC has a very deep talent pool. Beltor doesn't. They're a lot newer. You need the programming. I get it, but I think it hurts your events. Look when they put all their eggs in one basket.

If you have a show once a month, even their summer events are often, you know, pretty loaded. Look at that pay-per-view. November 2nd. That's a great show. As a result, your weekly events are going to suffer a bit. So I think just use the tournaments when you need them. Spread them out a little bit, but this is obviously a bigger problem with Bellator. Our next question. If Congo does well in Belator, does it expose the weakness of their heavyweight division and make it difficult to market? You know, this goes back to what I was talking about with the castoffs and whatnot. I mean, we already kind of know their heavyweight division is weak. This is why everyone,

but the UFC kind of stays away from the heavyweight division. This is why when Alster was heavyweight champion of strike force, it didn't mean all that much. You know, let's see what happens. A lot of crazy things can happen. And, you know, I don't think anyone's going into this thinking that if Congo wins, you know, their title or any kind of tournament,

oh, this exposes belt towards this heavyweight division because no one really thinks all that highly of it, to be honest. We think highly of some of their other divisions, but the heavyweight division is tough. Why do you think the UFC hasn't done a heavyweight tough since season 10? There just isn't a lot of talent out there. So I don't think it says much. And again, if I'm Bellator, I sign as many of these guys as possible,

especially the guys who are getting cut, you know, maybe after one or two losses, who have some name value. Congo still has a name. I'm still going to watch a Czech Congo fight. I'm going to watch Matt Yushenko, Houston, Alexander, you know, I know who these guys are. And the same goes for Lovar Johnson and other guys. There's nothing wrong with, you know, trying to get some name guys out there. And in doing so, people are going to watch and then see some of your other talent. And then if the UFC or the

ex-UFC guy loses, now you may have another new guy, you know, that's how it works. The problem I think that people have with Bell Tour is that they had these strict rules, tournament, no castoffs, all this stuff rematches, and now it looks funny that they're going against all of them. That's the problem. But you have to remember, there's a new ownership in town, and Viacom is clearly making these decisions. The old Beltor is dead. And that's what I said after the Tito Rampage announcement. The old Beltor is dead. This is the new Beltor and just accept it. Our next question. Mere versus Overim, the loser is going home. Is it a financial move by the UFC? I don't think so. Again, I think if Mere loses that fight, he may retire. Overim said the same.

So, you know, maybe it's, you know, maybe they're just, you know, trying to phrase it differently. But yeah, it's going to be hard to justify. Well, here's the thing. Again, if you're losing to Bigfoot Silva, Travis Brown, Frank Meir, does that mean you can't hang with the lower level, you know, heavy weights out there? the problem in the UFC's heavyweight division is it's a fairly shallow talent pool. So there isn't, you know, there isn't a huge ladder that you can fall down. My guess is the loser retires as opposed to gets cut, which is kind of the same thing. It's like when a coach gets fired or resigns, who knows which came first. But I guess the bigger question is, will the loser still be around for a next fight in the UFC? I'm going to say right now, no.

and it's funny that everyone's looking at this fight this way because I got this question a thousand times when this fight was announced. I don't know if it's a financial move and I think the UFC's doing just fine with or without them. I just think it's time to weed out the guys who can't cut it anymore. Our next question, thoughts on Diaz-Meinard 3. Are you expecting a lackluster gray after his K.O. loss and what of Diaz?

By the way, Mamino is going for Team Tate, which is somewhat of a surprise, remember? This is what I was talking about. Remember when someone asked her, Rousey or Tate, she picked Rousey. Remember that? The heel turn. Something's brewing. WrestleMania 13. Don't forget it.

Look it up if you don't know about it. I was looking at Graham Maynard's record recently. Very interesting when you really dissect it. His last real big win was UFC 118 against Kenny Florian. Three years ago. After that, fought to a draw against Frankie Edgar, lost to Frankie Edgar, K.O., beat Clayguida split decision, not the greatest fight and then lost to T.J. Grant.

You know, it's been a while. Last time, you know what was the last time Gray Maynard finished an opponent? It's been a minute. September 10th, 19th, 2007. Who was it? I always mess up pronouncing this guy's name.

Joe Verres, Veras? Verres. Wow. Now, interesting stat about that, or factoid. That was a 9-second K-O. it was undercard of a Kenny Florend versus Dean Thomas Fight Night. I was actually in the truck working for Spike TV at that time.

That's how long it's been. I was working for Spike. I wasn't even an roommate journalist. Last time you finished an opponent. So my question that I am fielding here, the question that I'm fielding here is, how is the fight going to go? Well, if you recall, back in January of 2010,

they fought to a very close split decision, one that Nate Diaz has complained about, afterwards saying that he thought he should have won. I kind of like the fight. Both guys in need of a win. Both guys, you know, it's not like a heated rivalry, but they've talked about each other in the past, and I like it. I'm expecting, I'm expecting an aggressive gray because, A, not only does he have to get back on the winning track, but he wants to prove that he did win that second fight. And I'm happy Nate Diaz is sticking around on 155. I didn't like the idea of him fighting a 170. This is the place for him. It makes a lot more sense. But this, you know, speaking of Mereem,

I don't think it's quite as must win, but this is a very important fight. It's November 30th, tough finale right after Thanksgiving here in the States. I like this matchmaking. I think it makes sense. I couldn't really figure out what was next for both guys, and I like this one. Love this fight. By the way, our friends at FightMetric telling us that is the fastest K-O-in-lightweight history. So it was, it was, it was very impressive. But it was a long time ago. He also finished himself when he slammed Rob Emerson. That was, that was, that was correct. That was in the finale, right? Yeah. Um, yes, I remember that. But, uh, can our friends at Fight Metric tell us how to pronounce Mr. Joe's last name? Do they do that? Are they pronunciation now, too? Let's see.

Um, our fans will also help us with that. They jump, all over the pronunciations. Our next question. How many wins is Melendez from a title shot? Is his cause helped or hindered now that Benson is no longer champ? I'd say it has to be helped because he hasn't lost Anthony Pettis. And by the way, Nate Diaz tweeted out, screw Maynard. I want Pettus next.

That's just what he wants. His manager, Mike Cogan, told me he's fighting Gray Maynard, just in case you were wondering. It's going to be interesting because T.J. Grant is next. And then let's see what happens there. Of course, you know, something crazy happens. be an immediate rematch. And then there's Josh Thompson.

He's out there. We may very well see Melendez v. Thompson 4. Who the heck knows? But I don't think he's too far off. I think there's support for him. He has to fight Diego Sanchez at UFC 166 on October 19th, which is a great fight. I love that fight.

So let's see. If I had to guess, I'm going to say three wins away. That seems like a lot with how many rematches have been done and just, I feel like he's a lot closer than that, especially with how close the perception is that he either won or came very close to beating Benson. I feel like he's close. Yeah, I don't know.

He's got to win at least two in row. I think two is the sweet spot, but I wouldn't be surprised if he jumped the line and got one after one. After Diego? Yeah, just because, like, he passes Josh Thompson, who, won in his return to the UFC against Nate Diaz?

I wouldn't be surprised, honestly. But I think that two is the right number, for sure. I think he wins two more, and then he's got a title shot. It's hard to argue that he did improve himself worthy of a shot. Sure. But he did get a shot. And then don't forget, there's other guys out there. You know, there's like the Normaga Madovs gets Healy.

That's a great fight coming up. I feel like at a certain point there was like a log jam at lightweight. Now it's kind of clear it off. up and there's really not a lot of guys. It's not like a featherweight situation where there's just a bunch of guys at the top waiting. Sure. So I wouldn't be surprised to see him fast-tracked.

The guys he has to worry about Kili, Nirmagamadov, Dosangios, and Thompson, right? Those are the guys. But no, like, do you get the feeling that any of those guys are really? Top draws? Yeah, it's not. It's not like featherweight where there's so many guys that you're like, oh, they have to be in there. I don't really see that much support for both seasons. Maybe Nirmagamatov wins a couple in a row and that coincides with them going to Russia.

You know, you never know. That would be. That would be. And he's incredible. He's great. Because you're picking that fight. Quick. Right now on the spot.

I've got Nirmagamato. I disagree. Yeah? We'll see you next week. Our next question. Will it be strange seeing colleagues Rashad and Chale fight? Which colleague would Ariel like to call out? Well, first question.

And let me tell you something. It is quite surreal to think back last week. Was it last week? Two weeks ago in Indianapolis, I was in the car riding with these guys. And our hotel was like 25 minutes away in Indy to the arena. And now they're fighting each other. It's very bizarre. And yes, Rashad kind of hinted at this winner of Shogun Chelle,

but you never really knew that, you know, this was going to happen. There's a guy, by the way, out here doing push-ups in the middle of the office. It's totally distracted me. But anyway. It's just, it is strange. And I kind of think it would have been interesting to see them, you know, work together on the show, you know, pre-fight show, way in show, post-fight show on Fox Sports 1 or 2. But I get where Rashad is coming from. You got to focus.

And it does kind of make the fight seem a little weird. And at first when the fight was announced, I was bummed because I really want to see Chale versus Vandule. That's a fight I really want to see. I want the chale who is fired up, who's got ammunition, trash talk, all that stuff. That's the chale I want to see fight. I don't expect him to do that about Rashad. But then I start thinking about the actual fight and the matchup, wrestler versus wrestler, Rashad Stryker versus Chale, kind of ground and pound ground.

It's just a great fight. It's a great matchup. It's fun for the 20th anniversary show. And I like it now. At first I was kind of cold on it. now I like it will be strange. Yes. But again, they're not best buds.

Let's not get a twisted. These aren't guys who, you know, have been linked for many years. They work together, and this was bound to happen with so many active fighters working together. Which colleague, to be honest, proves kind of in the pudding.

You know, what was there? Some guy named Ben that used to be on this, this enemy fighting team? Where is he? Chia pet? Where is he? They all ran away. The beefs have been squash.

I'm very happy with the team now. I'm not calling anyone out. The potential callouts are gone. I think he was referring to your colleagues on the show. Why? You just... You just makes much more sense in the question. He's talking about Rashad and Chale.

No. Who are your colleagues when doing broadcasts? He's not asking me to call out a fighter. He wants to know which other journalists do I want to fight. That's exactly what he wants to know. I'm calling you out. How about that? Oh, is that what you want?

That's the fight you want? Because we can make that happen. See? I mean... Can't speak. Backtracking. It goes without saying that I wouldn't do that to your mother. I know she watches the show.

I wouldn't want to do that to her boy. This is the opportunity everyone wants, right? Oh, boy. This is like Stone Cold versus Vince McMahon. Including me. No, everyone wants to beat up, you know. They're superior, right? Also, I kind of disagree.

Not, I don't disagree, but I just say, you're saying you want the chale with he, you know, bringing the trash talk. But the in-the-cage product seems to be the same regardless of if he's, you know, if he like somebody or doesn't like somebody. You know, he came in against Stan and Bisbing and still put on a great performance and I just want to see the fight. It doesn't really matter to me whether he likes the guy. But it does make it a little more interesting. I definitely like the trash-talking chale, but I much prefer the fighter chale, regardless of if he's trash-talking or not. So I just, I'm amped up for this fight because I think it's going to be incredible.

By the way, show the people of the t-shirt you're wearing. Oh, yeah. It's a great t-shirt. Pride 10, Sakarava. Who's the girl again? Hell of I know. I think she was a ring girl. No mas.

They make this shirt. Go pick one up. Nomos dash NYC.com. Correct. Our next question from somebody named bad MMA tattoos. Oh, yeah. Any observations about NSAC raising the threshold for a positive test for marijuana? UFC already did this in June.

Observations? Do I think it makes sense? Sure. I'm not one of these guys who's all into the whole marijuana thing. You know, my take is just don't do it. Really? I mean, to me, it's pretty kind of dry. Don't do it because it's illegal.

if it is legal where you live or if you have a license, then different rules are in play and you should just follow the correct protocols. But your professional is what you do for a living. Just don't mess up. That's really my take on the whole marijuana thing. Marijuana doesn't mean as much to me as it does to other people, so I'm not as passionate about it because I don't smoke it.

So I don't really know. You know, when this news came out, I was like, eh, I'm just kind of, just being honest. Does it mean anything to you? Nah, not really. So why the hell did you pick this question? So you're saying it's a bad question? Let's tell a bad MMA tattoos that Ariel Hawani thinks you...

This was a terrible question. Neither of us really care about it, so... No, I mean, I care about it because I don't want to see guys, like, Healy, losing their bonus for a great fight over something that dumb. Like, but, you know, don't do it and don't give them a reason to, but I mean it's good. It's good that there will be less of a chance

that that kind of thing happens again because that performance was incredible and now he's been put on the back burner for it. Also, we've got confirmation. Okay, what's confirmation? The younger Rubenstein was the one doing the push-ups, getting his swole on out here. Wait, is it?

Is it Danny Rubenstein, right? Dan Rubenstein, his brother Alex. But isn't it funny that I was reading Daniel Rubenstein? I was thinking that. No, it's not the same guy. I'm not the same guy. So his brother's just, he's just, uh, doing pushups. Getting his swan.

I need to be doing that. That's true. How much you weigh now? Did you gain any weight? No. I haven't, in terms of like, I haven't been trying to bulk up yet. That's part of the, the future. But are you, are you eating a little more loosey-goosey?

No. Been eating pretty damn well. Really? Staying, staying fit. In fact, I'm probably getting, I'm still getting into better shape just because this diet's so clean. Right. And I'm still exercising so much. Well, that's good.

I'll be fight and fit if I do end up taking this fight. Wow, look at you. It's exciting. Yeah. Exciting times. Yeah. So, yeah, anyway, moving along. Next question.

Will you be watching the One Mayweather versus Canello fight? If so, how, where, and what's your prediction? How will I be watching on television? I am very excited about this. I like a big fight. and a lot of people are very quick to, in MMA we want to celebrate the demise of boxing. I think boxing is on a role. One could make the argument that boxing is on more of a role than MMA these days.

Showtime in particular, doing a great job. Kudos to Stephen Espinoza and the team over there. And this is a great fight. And it's on Showtime, and our pal, Moranalo, will be calling it on pay-per-view. It's something like $75. But I will be watching. It comes at a weird time because, as you may know, Friday night, Saturday is the holiest of days for the Jewish people. It is Yom Kippur. That's when we fast for 25

hours. And this, thankfully, comes at the end of Yom Kippur. So it's, you know, basically you fast from sundown to, well, sundown to sundown. Or should I say sunset? Is there a difference in sunset and sundown? No, same thing. So you fast from sunset to sunset, or sundown to sunset, or sundown to sundown. And so it goes from Friday night to Saturday night. And this is obviously Saturday night. So thankfully on this one, but it's always different every year, a different day. Anyway, point being, thankfully it's not Friday night. I can't wait. I'll be watching on TV at home. And my prediction is Mayweather via unanimous decision. And I'm excited about the fact that there's an MMA about the car at World Series fighting beforehand, but I do think it was a very, very big mistake.

to put that card, especially one of their weaker lineups on the same night as the biggest boxing match of the year. And they should have gone on Friday. They've done this before. I don't know why they were going on Saturday. I have a feeling that's more of an NBC Sports Network call, but I'm excited.

Will you be watching? I will be watching. There's nothing like a big boxing event, you know, on pay-per-view. Las Vegas. I definitely tune in for the bigger ones. But I don't consider myself, you know, a boxing fan, I would say, because I don't really know many of the fighters in the sport. I know, I obviously know these two.

And in my limited knowledge, I'd pick Mayweather to win, but that doesn't, you know, that doesn't really mean much because, as I said, I'm not what you consider a hardcore fan of boxing. But I'll be tuning in, and I'm excited. I think it's going to be awesome. Interesting thing about this, the undercard is very good. Garcia versus Matisse, and they've really tried to promote the undercourt. card as opposed to in the past when it's all been about the main event.

And all access on Showtime, the sort of 24-7 leading up to the fight has been great. Mayweather, no one can sell a fight like him. And the gate is breaking records. Everything's breaking records. The price tag, all that stuff. He's making a crap load of money. It's a big deal. And I just hope for everyone involved, it lives up to the hype because they put the fight together.

And there are some people who think Canella is overrated and whatnot. Great look. Great fan base. has obviously done some great things in his young career. I'm excited. But end of the day, I think Mayweather wins again. Our next question, when are you in Bendo finally going to step onto the basketball court?

Someone's trying to call from Israel. That's exciting. But he says the line is busy. Weird. Do we have the right number on the website? I believe we do. I'll keep an eye out. 888-4-18-4074?

Yeah, sure. Sure. Well, you know, Benson is obviously a little busy these days. He had a title fight, and then he sort of injured his arm, but no real damage to the elbow. So I'm going to give him some time, let him lick his wounds, all that stuff. But, you know, he challenged me, so I'm ready. You know, I'm not the kind of guy, unlike others, in this vicinity, who backs down from a challenge. I am ready. I am willing.

And honestly, I predict victory. You know, I'm not afraid to say it. So Benson, this camera, this camera, either camera. If you're watching, if you hear about this, you got my number, let me know. Let's do it. And I would check you for toothpicks. None of that. Trying to back me down, try to get a rebound, poke me in the eye, poke me in the back.

That I will not stand for. But the rest, anything goes. I'm a bit of a dirty player myself. I'm trying to coordinate this call with Israel, but I'll give you the next question, all right? Sure. Did you address this? I did. I did.

I did. I sufficiently called out Benson. Yeah. Our next question. Oh, now that Hensel is accepted to train New York, Rick, and a champion, to a champion, how long until he steps into the cage? Well, that's a question for you. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, as I said, if we start getting actual, like, details in place and I don't know.

Let's say next week, everything's secured. Yep. It's all done. How long do you think you need? Man. I'm not sure... Eight months? Six months?

I feel like... Four months. I feel like nine months is realistic. I don't know if we have that kind of time. No, I'm kidding. I could do nine months. I need to be able to... Well, it depends on your trainers as well.

And if I can get you a fight, a lot of people probably afraid to fight you. I mean, there's always you as a last... Sure. As a last case scenario. What if you fought, like, a former MMA fighter, like a guy who's 45-50 retirement? Would you do that?

That could be a big... I think we could sell some serious pay-per-per-per-view here. I don't want... this to be like some kind of freak show thing if i did it i wanted to just be another amateur fight you know what i mean like obviously there there's more uh investment in it and like people can follow along and stuff but i don't want it to be some kind of thing where it's like check this out i'm going to go fight uh former mma this and that like just an amateur who's looking to fight you know what i mean are we are we talking head gear and all that stuff we'll figure that out later we can

we can figure that out but i'm leaning toward requesting some headgear but i mean well look at you demands. All of a sudden, you're like Johnny Hendricks and GSP here. Putting my body on the line here. This is not just willy-nilly. This is a tight ship, so we've got to get it right. All right. So let me jump onto this call and see if we can talk to this caller from Israel. Okay. So that does it for the questions today, right? And he's gone. I'm pretty sure because he usually puts one of these, you know, diddle-dattle questions at the end of our queue.

There is a slight update on the Mack Rice situation. Again, Danny Rubenstein tweeted out this statement from the city of Oklahoma City. It was posted at 138 p.m. I believe that's central time on this Monday, September 9. So here it goes. On Sunday, September 8th, at approximately 4 p.m. off-duty officer, Matthew Grice, age 32, was involved in a serious multi-car accident in Shawnee, Oklahoma. An accident investigated by Oklahoma Highway Patrol. The accident left him in critical condition.

Officer Grice was transported to an Oklahoma City hospital where his status is currently listed as confidential. The Grice family has asked for privacy as they deal with the sudden and unfortunate situation. Officer Grice has been with the Oklahoma City Police Department for five years. This is from Captain Dexter Nelson Office of Media Relations Chief Spokesman, Oklahoma City Police Department. So that is the latest on the Mackay situation, and I don't see anything else on Daniel's Twitter feed. Again, hoping for the best there and hope he's able to pull through and fight back and get back to 100%. Because right now, while the details are limited, it obviously sounds like a... a very tough situation and we wish the best for him and his family.

Do we have that caller or... We do. That was the end of the questions and now we have our caller. Oh, so we're going to Israel? Yep. Shalom? Shalom. What do you, haver? Shana tova.

Simeant Tovun. What's it's good? How's you Hebrew? It's not bad. What's your name? Shana Tava, Jabi. Shabi. Where are you calling from in Israel?

Yeah, it's... Of course, Rishon Le Tzion, if you know it. Of course. Rishon Litsion. I know it very well. I went to Herzliel. I've never been there. I've never been to Rishan Litsion, but I've been to Haifa, Eilat, Yerushalime, Tel Aviv.

I've been to many places around... Aren't you Canadian, though? Yeah, so? What's wrong with Canadian? I'm not allowed to know about Israel? No, no. I thought you said you were born over here. First of all, excuse me, English.

It's like my sister. language. No problem. What's your second language? So, Arabic. Oh, Salam al-a-a-a-qa. Yeah, it's about equal to my English. It's from the military training. Oh, wow, this is fascinating. Yes, go ahead. First of all, a short story about how I started following you. I don't know if you remember, like four years ago, you had an interview with

Forge Brousman in New York on a bench, in a park. Yes. I don't know if you remember that? Yes, of course. Before his book came out. I knew Forrest's Britain back then. I had no idea who you were. And then I saw that interview and I...

Oh, no. Did we lose Shabee? He was just about to sing my praises, I thought. Did we lose him? Habibi. Oh, he still there? Calling from Dubai. Wait, wait.

Wait, wait. Backtrack. You said you... I lost you there for a second. You said you knew nothing about me, but you knew him. Oh, what's going on? Shabby, are you there? Are you listening to yourself on the computer?

Hello. Shabby, can you hear me? Will, what do you got? Audio man. Save me. Hello. He's saying hello, but he obviously can't hear. Oh, Eric?

Hello? What's happening? I don't know. He's there. Hello? Can you hear me? Hello? Obviously, you can't hear me, guys. But let's try calling him back.

Do you have his number? Hello? Yes, yes, yes. Let's hang up now because this is a little weird. New York, Rick? Will anyone talk to me? Alfred. Will.

Buzzkill. Someone. What are you looking for? What is going on? He, uh, something with his connection. Sure. Is he going to call back or what? I'll let you know if he calls back.

Did he call in? Yeah, he called in. Okay. You said he was trying to. trying to call in, right? And then he reached out. All right. Well, I guess he'll call back. But we're pretty much done the show now. Yeah. That's the weird part about this. I really wanted to hear that. Oh, hold on. All right, all right. Trying to get in touch with Shabi, who's from Rishon Le Tseon and Israel. That's very exciting. I believe our first caller from Israel. We've had other callers from the Middle East.

I do recall one from the United Arab Emirates. Of course, we've been to Egypt. Oh, he's back. Shabby, are you there? Oh, he's not... Oh, false call. False alarm. This is a great way to end the show. A great show. A fun show.

But it's become a comedy of errors here. Get out of town. Abdul from Dubai has just usurped Shabi from Israel. Abdul, are you there? Yeah, I don't know what happened. I was saying, yeah, and you were talking to that guy and, you know... This is bizarre. Two callers from the Middle East.

Chhabibi, how are you? Salam alaikum. I'm good. Salam. I called you actually a while back, but then I couldn't get connected again. Okay, now I'm going to guess what you're going to ask me. You're going to ask me,

when is the UFC returning to Abu Dhabi? Yeah, that and also I have a question for you, actually. Honestly, I don't have an update on the UFC's return to UAE. I was just telling someone about the, I was explaining to a friend of mine about the whole breakdown of the UFC's ownership. And I started, I was like, wow, it's been three years since they've been there, UFC 112. And I'm surprised they're not talking about going back. So the next time I see Dana White, I'm going to ask them this question for you, my friend. Okay, that would be good.

Because the AMA here has been growing, you know, they're like maybe now five MA places here. Oh, really? It's more popular than it was three years ago. Yeah, yeah, now it's much more popular. Now, actually, the local guys are going into it. Before, it was just mostly Russians and Brazilians and these people. But now, local are actually going in it. And also we have now the new gym here.

It's called Glory M.A. Yeah. Like the striking coach is Carlo Decker's. Our jiu-jitsu coach is Rico Rodriguez. Really? High-level coaches even. That's great. Sam Town's new gym, yeah.

Is there still a, was it Dubai Fighting Championship? Is that still around? Dubai Fighting Championship, yep. There's one in September. Cool. All right. So, yeah. What's your second question?

But actually, I want to ask you. Yeah. Yeah. I want to ask you whether you did any, or do you do any enemy training? I only train UFC. But, you know, what is that most important? That's just a joke. It's a silly joke online.

So I have been asked this question many times in the past. I have trained in Jiu-Jitsu. I've trained in boxing. I've trained in kickboxing. The last time I trained in any kind of martial art was maybe, let's say maybe 24 months ago or so, maybe two years ago. That's the last time. Yeah.

What happened was, I moved, so I wasn't familiar with gyms, but there's no real excuse there because now I'm next to probably an even better gym and just a lot of travel and having a kid. And there's no real excuse. When I have free time, I enjoy playing other sports and I don't know, just a break from fighting. But I would like to get back into it and I should as well just to keep active and things of that nature. But I have dabbled. I didn't actually grow up training in

in traditional martial arts I was more of a team sport kind of guy but I always enjoyed watching and following it and things like that so I don't have a favorite martial art well actually if you're asking me which one I enjoyed doing the most I enjoyed boxing the most

yeah okay that's good yeah what do you enjoy the most actually right now I like doing more time. Okay. Carlos here, Carlo Decker, so I'm really enjoying it.

So you're training with it? Yeah, I am, but I'm doing it as a hobby. Not really to be a fighter or anything. What time is it in Dubai right now? Right now, it's 12, 23. Wow. You're really up late. Yeah.

I appreciate it. Yeah, and actually tomorrow is my first day it works. Oh, geez. What are you going to do? What's your job? Yeah. Police. Police officer, wow.

Good by police. Look at you. Well done. It's good to know we have, if I come back to UAE, you'll protect me? Yeah, sure. Great. Actually, I'm trying to get, you know, the police officers to train M.A. Right now, they kind of train like Taekwondo and some, you know, some stuff that doesn't really work.

So I'm trying to get M.A. for the police to train. You should do that. That's smart. Yeah, really fast. Even the, yeah, the royal family is really into it. Of course. You had Anderson Silva as a guest once. They're kind of the reason why they got into the UFC, right?

Purchasing the UFC? Yeah, I'm talking about the Dubai Royal Family. Actually, they're into it now more. Abu Dhabi is from a long time. Oh, okay, okay, okay, my mistake. Yeah, what's the name of the guy in the prince in Abu Dhabi? His name is, what's his name? Do you know what I'm talking about?

Dhanoun? Yes, Sheikh Tannoon, yes, that's right. Tahnoon, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's been for a long time, yeah. But now actually, from Dubai also, Sheikh Maktoum and Sheikh Hamdan, they train Jiu-Jitsu, I think, with Hoyce Gracie or someone. Is it true that in Abu Dhabi, high school kids, it's part of the curriculum to do Jiu-Jitsu? Yep, yeah, that's true.

That's beautiful. How about that? You've asked me that, actually, before, you've asked me the same question. You know what? Sometimes I just want to make sure that it's still, you know, I just like to. make sure that's all. You know, I found that to be very interesting. Yeah, they do change. And I wasn't honestly... Yeah, yeah, they do true. Okay, okay. I wasn't sure if I asked you that question, so I like to make sure and ask multiple people, but as you tell me right now,

it was the same person, so I need to keep asking. That's okay. All right, cool. Well, thank you for the call. Do you have any updates? Yes. If I have any updates about the return to UAE, I will get it out there, and I'll be thinking of you when I ask the question. Sure, sure, because now a long time. I mean, they're a partner and everything. Of course. I expected, like, every year to become a yearly thing, but now.

Yeah, it's weird. I will find out. I think it's very interesting. I think the pay-per-view numbers, maybe, or something. Maybe, but with so many shows now overseas, you'd think that they'd go. Who knows? Maybe there's a reason. We'll find out.

I promise I will ask. Actually, here, here the paper views are free. So I wake up, like, at 6 a.m. to watch them live. Wow. That's good. That is great. That's a hardcore fan. Thank you for the call.

My dad also wakes up right now. Okay, thank you. Okay, your dad wakes up too. He's like my mom. Yeah. He's a big fan of Machita. Oh, that's great. Who isn't?

And Machita's dad, too. All right, well, we have to go. I appreciate the call. Thank you very much. Okay, okay. Thank you very much. San-a-Mal-Aum. Okay, let's just go back to the phone lines one more time

and welcome back our friend from Israel. Are you there, Shabi? Yeah Oh, there he is Are you in a car? No, I'm just outside Because my dog Is driving me nuts inside of

Okay How about that? A guy from Dubai Bumped you off the show Weird? What's that? Someone in Dubai Bumped you off the show

When you were calling in before Oh, no, no My phone died So I kept like talking for 20 seconds to myself So what's the story? You saw the Forrest Griffin in an interview, you knew him, you didn't know me. Yeah, I was just a casual fan, just saw, like, the tough generation, the tough nobs.

So I started following you, and that's basically I started following MMA in deep and not just see, like, big events. So the walk in the park basically made me an art-called fan, and once I knew you were Jewish, that actually made me your fan, because, you know, Jewish brothers, we got to look out for each other. Thank you. So anyways, to my question, it's about the everywhere division. Like 20 minutes ago, you said it's a really small talent pool, which I agree.

But Frank Mears just lost a week ago. Two days after, he got a fight with Alist over. Sure. Now, in the meantime, we got Verdun who fought three months ago. Yep. and he's got no fight pending and nothing in the future. Now, we both know he's going to get the winner between Kane and JDS. Right.

Now, he's like 36 or 7 years old. So my question is, why have him wait for so long? Why not just match him up against Josh Barnett for the number one contender and have Travis Brown fight the loser of the title fight? Well, here's the thing. he wants to wait. I agree with you. I said on this show last week,

I think the fight that makes the most sense is Barnett versus Verdum. Verdom wants to wait. He told me this himself. So that's why. Oh, so I guess I missed that. Yeah, they can't force a guy to take a fight

if he doesn't want to. He's close. They're telling him he's close. He wants to wait, and I guess they're going to respect that. I think the fight, I think if you do Barnett versus Verdum, you know, around November or December,

you can still time it out with, you know, the winner of JDS versus Kane 3, but, you know, he wants to wait. I agree. Those guys are, you know, Kane and, excuse me, Meir and Overim, they just fought. I was surprised when the fight was announced

from November 16th, but that's what Verdom wants, and they clearly think he's close, and they want a contender waiting in the wings, so they're going with that. But I agree 100%. I think Barnett, Verdume makes a ton of sense. And who do you think Brown is going to fight? That's a good question.

If you look at the heavyweight rankings, there's only two guys that really come to mind. Josh Barnett, which, you know, that's a good fight, and that certainly makes a lot of sense. And the other one out there is Steepameyotich. He doesn't have a fight yet. You know, Bigfoot Silva is fighting Mark Hunt. Mears is fighting Overe's fighting Overeem,

Verdume is waiting. Cormier is fighting Roy Nelson. The only guy in the top 10 that's out there without a fight is Stepe. So my guess is either Stepe or Josh Barnett. And who's your pick? In those hypothetical fights? Yeah.

Barnett versus... Let's say Barnett versus Brown. Tough one to pick, but right now I'd pick Brown. And then... Brown and both? And then the other one would be Brown-Miochich. Yeah, I think I might pick both Yeah

I might pick Travis Brown for both I like Travis Brown I think he's good Yeah He's a little bit Sees himself a little bit too high If you're asking me

You think so He's a talent A talented fighter But I think it's a little bit cocky Which fans normally don't like But that's just my humble opinion It was great talking to you

Ariel Are you going to fast this weekend? Yes, Yom Kippur. Will you be fasting? I'm not sure, actually. You don't even know that it's... You don't even know that it's Yom Kippur? No, I know, I know.

I'm not sure if I'm going to fast. Oh, okay. I'm not that religious, to be honest. And I had a pretty... I had no sins this year, so I've got nothing to fast for, you know? You have no sin. Look at you. No, I'm kidding.

So, pleasure talking to you. Yes. Shalom, Khaver. Great job, and I'm going to... Shalom And I'm going to keep following you Thank you very much Great to hear from my

My brothers in Israel How about Derek Brunson tweeting about our show All show long UFC fighter Just tweeting me How come you didn't reply To quote Jewish brothers

We have to look out For each other I thought I did But I guess I didn't Derek Brunton Huge fan of the show Perhaps our most famous Maybe him and Skylar Aston

Up there Anyway thank you to Derek for tuning in. And thank you to our friend Shab. How about that? Dubai and Israel at the same time. We're bringing the Middle East together. Alfred, you get my music. It's time to go.

It's been a long day. Rashad Evans squeezing into the beginning of the show here. I felt like it was, what, nine weeks ago? But it is time to go, my friends. A busy weekend of mixed martial arts is ahead. one that does not feature a UFC event, but one that features all kinds of pretty much every other

quote unquote notable organization and a massive boxing fight coming up on Saturday night in Las Vegas. So a fun weekend ahead. I'll be fasting for 50% of it, which will not be fun, but you know what? I will enjoy my post-fast meal while watching these events.

So it'll be a nice little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Anyhow, thank you very much to Rashad Evans for stopping by. Good luck to him as he prepares for UFC 167. Chil's sudden fight, huge fight. Co-made event, 20th anniversary show. Good luck to Johnny Hendricks. Great stuff out of him.

He'll be made eventing that card on November 16th. Thank you very much to Ali Abdelaziz and Henzhou Gracie for stopping by. And remember World Series of Fighting Number 5 is this Saturday on NBCSN. Vladimir Mauchenko makes his Bell tour debut on... Friday night, Bell Tour 99. On Spike TV, good luck to him against Houston Alexander. Mike Kyle, good luck to him against Andrea Alasky, World Series of Fighting Number 5.

And Alster Oveream, so great to have the Ream back on our show. What a pleasure that was. Good luck preparing for Frank Mear. If you missed any part of the show, check it out on iTunes and Stitcher. And some of you have complained that my little ramble at the end makes no sense to all I'll say is pace. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen.

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