MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 209

Episode Date: August 26, 2014

Featuring Johny Hendricks, Rory MacDonald, Matt Grice, Pat Barry, Julianna Pena, Bryan Caraway, and Jared Rosholt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello again, everyone. Welcome back to another three plus hour edition of the MMA hour episode 209. And isn't it crazy? Now, you know that I've had my issues, my run-ins, my ups and downs, my roller coaster ride of emotions as far as the relationship is concerned. Diaz brothers, but isn't it crazy that this is episode 209 on the Monday before Nate Diaz fights Gray Maynard at the tough finale on Saturday night for the third time. Now, I know the first time they fought was on the Ultimate Fighter and those fights are typically known or at least they're considered to be exhibition fights. But actually, Fight Metric told me last week that

they're actually counting that one for whatever reason I don't really understand. Anyway, They later fought a couple years later, and then they're fighting for a third time Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas. And how about this? We got them right here. Nathan Diaz, Graham Maynard, squaring off. Big trilogy fight post- Thanksgiving this Saturday night in Las Vegas. Of course, we'll be talking about that card and a whole lot more. Great to be back here with you.

We've got in the back over there, New York, Rick, Will, Alfred, Buzzkill doing something. And I want to let you know that this particular episode of the MMA hour is brought to you once again by our good friends, over at Need for Speed. It is Need for Speed Rivals. There it is, right there. Right there. And guess what? We noticed these two games right here are actually not the new Rivals game, but they're old ones.

And we realized to conclude a mystery that started last week on the show, we realized that the most wanted games are actually signed by Big Black and Rob Deirdek. Two big MMA fans. How about that? Sign right there. Fortunately, we can't give them away. They're just props for the table. But I want to let you know that Need for Speed Rivals is the latest game. from EA's popular franchise Need for Speed,

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This week's episode of the MMA hour is a jam-pack one in the third hour. We're going to be talking to Roy McDonald, who of course lost at UFC 167 to Robbie Lawler. Looking forward to talking to him. He hasn't talked to anyone since that loss, so that should be interesting. At 305, we're going to take your questions and comments. A interesting week in combat sports.

I was at Glory 12 in New York, Friday night, RFA, Bellator, their season finale. talk about and we want to hear from you. Hit us up using the hashtag the MMA hour or leave a question in the post below if you're watching this on MMAFinding.com. One of our favorites, Pat Barry, he'll be stopping by at 245 to talk about his UFC Fight Night 33 fight against Soapalee on December 6th here in the U.S. It's December 7th in Brisbane, Australia, but the fight will air on Fox Sports 1 on Friday night of next week. Mack Rice. So excited to take it. talk to Mac Rice. Of course, you heard a couple of months ago suffered some serious injuries in a car

accident. He is on the recovery trail, and he is doing great, sounding great, and we're really excited that he'll be talking to us today. So Mac Rice at 225, we'll stop by, UFC featherweight. Brian Carraway, UFC Bantamweight, we'll talk about Tough 18, his involvement on that show, and of course the big rematch coming up next month between his girlfriend, Misha Tate, and her rival, Ronda Rousey, big rematch, of course. Jared Rochall, we spoke to Ted Earhart about him last week. He will be making his UFC debut this weekend at the Tuff 18 finale against Walter Harris. Looking forward to that, Juliana Pena.

She is one half of the finals of the Women's Bantamweight Tournament on Tuff, the Venezuelan Vixen, as you may know her. She'll be stopping by at 125 to talk about her road to the finals and her big finale fight this weekend. But first, let us go to the phone lines and welcome in the man who still. over a week later is arguably the most talked about man in mixed martial arts right now. Him and his counterpart that he met at UFC 167 a little over a week ago in Las Vegas. Of course, I'm talking about the big rig himself, Johnny Hendrix, who joins us Sonsbeard. Or maybe it's coming back at this point. Johnny, how are you?

I'm doing wonderful. Yeah, the bear is coming in a little bit. I probably need a shave. Oh, no. You know, good, man. How you doing? I'm doing great, Johnny. And we really appreciate you.

stopping by. By the way, just curious, with that glorious beard that you grow before your fights, how do you actually get it down to, you know, your skin? You first do a layer with like a, you know, big clippers and then use the bick on your face. What do you do? I've always been curious about this. You know what? I just use an electric razor. You know, those beer turners? Yeah. I actually do have a sensitive face, so I can't use a razor. Oh, wow. Yeah, so I have to use one of those, uh, those just beard tremors, and that's what I shave with. So I don't actually, like, shave, shave. Like I said, and plus, I haven't done it so long.

Probably cut my face all up. Right. Do you feel like, I know you've told us why you get rid of it, but does it also feel good to kind of go unnoticed? Because when you see you without the beard, you look completely different. And this was such a big fight. I'm sure there are people who stop you on the streets

and still recognize you, but you don't look the same. And you can kind of, you know, you can kind of fly through the cracks, if you know what I mean. It's a little bit of that. And it's also a little bit of, you know, just, man, it really is relaxation. You know what I mean? Because as soon as I know that's over with, because cancer's starting to get harder, they're starting to get longer, you know, and whenever that beard comes off, it's like, oh, I get to be healing, you know what I mean, in a sense,

where, you know, I don't have to worry about waking up. up training. I have to worry about doing this and worry about doing that. It's nice to be a dad, you know, and so that's really what it pulls down to is whatever I shave now. It first has to start off as something else. Now it's starting to turn into, hey, I have some freedom, you know? That's interesting. And we saw on your Twitter feed that you were dressing up as a princess hanging out with your beautiful daughter. So it's good, I'm sure, to go back to a normal life. But you handled the controversial loss so well last weekend in Las Vegas.

At some point, though, has it hit you, the frustration, the road that you took to get there? It was so long. And you were so close to being, you know, champion of the world, undisputed champion. At some point, did you wake up and say, man, I can't believe that happened to me on Saturday night? You know what? I'm over it. You know, I'm looking forward to the future. you know, that's really all I can do at this point.

You know, they sit there and they still dwell on it. You know, it is what it is. Just move forward, and I know I'm going to get him again if he doesn't retire, and the next time I will make sure that it doesn't go to the judges. You know, there's a couple of things that I'm taking in my hands, and literally and I'm going to do everything I can to finish GSP

I had him in a second round and next time I'll make sure I do finish it you emphasized literally there are you referring to the handwrap situation I saw an article that well an interview with you in one of the Dallas papers

and you talked about how the handwraps may have affected you is that what you were referring to? Yeah you know what happened there in my fingers Well, it was sort of like the – we're sort of getting – not so much rushed. But what happened was he was wrapping him, and I saw that they just weren't as thick as they should have been.

You know, I know I hit hard. I know I can't allow that to happen. But instead of speaking up, I just was – I just went with a flow, because that makes sense. Yeah. And I don't want to cause any of that. And so it's all my fault. But, yeah, so that's why my hands are that bruised is because that padding is not thick enough. You know what I mean?

Four-off gloves. I knocked people out with 18-ounce gloves, and it's got four-ounce gloves, you really can't hit that hard, or that's going to happen. How much were your hands hurting you in the fight as a result of that? Oh, pretty much after the fourth round, the third or fourth round, every punch was, was pretty painful, you know. But I had to keep using them. I mean, I know they weren't broke or anything, but I knew that I could tell there was something wrong.

And you still have to use them. Your 70% quote, you know, receive some heat. Is that what you were trying to say? Is that why you weren't punching at 100%? Yes. Yes, because after the second round, after I sort of rocked him, I threw one hard punch. And, man, I could tell that that wasn't good enough.

You know what I mean? And if I would have thrown, let's say I do continue to throw 100%. Do I break my hand in the second round? Do I break it in the third? Do I break it in the fourth? Or do I break it in the fifth? You know, that's something that you can't count on. You know what I'm saying?

You can't have that in your mind whenever you're throwing punches. because if you break a tool, then, you know, you're going against the test. If you break a tool, you think he's going to figure that out? Yeah, he's going to figure it out at the moment. So that's why I toned down my punches some, so that way I knew that if I hit him, it wouldn't break. Have you watched the fight on TV? No. Really?

I haven't watched the fight on TV. Why not? I took my coach did that. Because, you know, I just don't like watching myself fight. Is that weird? I like watching other people fight. I love watching other people fight. But for me, I let my coaches do it, and they dissect it, and they tell me everything.

Now, don't get me wrong, I will watch it. But I'm not going to watch it just yet. Since it was so close, so controversial, don't you want to see for yourself if, in fact, you really won the fight? Well, yeah, you know, of course you do. Of course you do. But, you know, I let my coaches. They're a great judge of that. You know, Mark Lehman, he's very fair.

You know, in a lot of my fights, he tells me that he's either, hey, you won that round or you lost that round. You know, he's very, very good about being honest. and he said that he's watched it about six, seven times, but all my coaches have, you know, Adrian, Tony, and Stephen, and Mark, they just sit down. They've been watching it, watching it, watching. They say that he could have, you know, questionally got two rounds, but I did win three of those, you know.

But, you know, again, it is what it is. You know, I'll dissect it. Mark said there's some things that I can tweak. to make it better. That was my first five-round fight. Now I went and I did good. You know what I mean? I didn't do great, but I did good.

And that's a positive down taking from all this is that, hey, I'm going to get better. I'm going to improve. And I can't wait for the next five-round fight. You know, the first round, as you know by now, is the most controversial one because that's the one that the judges disagreed on. Looking back, and I know so much happens in a fight, so it's hard to remember exactly, you know, what happened in each round. But looking back,

can you think of any kind of scenario as to why they would have picked him to win that round, or do you think that you just wanted decisively in that one judge, the lone judge, got it right? Well, you know, here's the thing, is that whenever I look back at that,

and I sort of remember the fight, I came out there with Testful, I was, I bounced around, I threw my left hand, and it was going to run off of that. I'm like, oh, you've got to be. You know, This is what I told everybody they can't do.

You know what I mean? And I did it. But after that, I made that correction. And then I ended up taking him down in the first round. And I thought I stood toe to toe with him. I thought I was landing the better punches, obviously, after the first round, he's already bruised up, banged up. And there's nothing wrong with me. So that's what I'm going off of.

You know what I mean? and you know it's just one of those things and a judge has it hard they do have it hard because if you read I know

like there's some things for example did you know that I push myself yes I actually wanted to ask you about that did you notice that in the middle of the fight there's a great no I didn't you know it's funny is that I

bruised my own jaw off of that punch. Wow. I was sitting there and I go, after I threw that punch, I did not know that I hit myself at the moment, right? Yeah. Well, I was sitting there like, dang, man, he hit pretty hard. You know, he caught me off guard. Well, then somebody said, somebody on Twitter, they posted it and said, Johnny's hard

his hit, and I thought George threw an uppercut off of that. You know what I mean? I thought he slipped it, and he threw an uppercut. But after he watching that, he didn't flip it. My hand glanced his head, and whatever glanced his head had jacked me in the jaw, and I was like, dang, that's why. My, like, now I know it feels like getting hit by myself. That's unbelievable. Have you ever done that yourself before? No, that's the first time. It was like a glaze uppercad.

Like I nick him. But whenever I nicked him, I was trying to finish it. And man, I came up that uppercad. It's getting pretty nice. I'm not going to lie. What about this talk that you talk about that first takedown that he got on you, that you tapped? Can you explain what you were doing there?

There are some people online who believe you tapped in the first, you know, 30 seconds of the fight. Yeah, too. He'd have to put me out for one. For two, he wasn't even squeezing. Three, what you do is in wrestling, okay? Whenever somebody has your front headlock, one hand was fighting the choke, the other one's on the hip.

Because at that point, you can still need the arms, you can still need the thighs, and you have to set your hips to get a geotchy choke. All right? Well, if I put my hand on his hip, I can feel if he's going to try to throw a knee or if he's going to try to set his hip. And both scenarios, in my hands on his hip, I can sort of prevent that.

Does that make sense? It's sort of like a step. And the best way to do it is to show you and to let you feel the difference with that hand on the hip. And whenever you do that, the kids have to look down. With the guillotine choke, your eyes have to be at the ground. So I'm using my hand as my eyes. Does that make sense? Yep.

And so what I did is, I put it up there. So if he tried to don't knee, I could block it. If he tried to think it's his, I get stiff arming. And not only that, but my little drag out that I do comes very well off of having the hand on the hip. Okay. Works for me. I didn't think it was a tap, but I think it's ludicrous. And anyone thinks it was a tap, but I just wanted you to address it.

He wasn't even squeezing. Sure, sure. He was just trying to hold me there to. He tried, like, the front headlock in the very dark. draining the position. Okay? And a wrestler, they know how to handle that.

So he was trying to just wear on me, control me. The part that I did think was very controversial was in the second round when you rocked him and Yamasaki stopped the fight because your mouthpiece came out and then even when he brought you guys back together

you rocked him again. So clearly he was out and I know that the ref is there to protect the fighters and you were in the clinch but it was you know three seconds, three and a half seconds at the most and there was still some activity going on, I think that that allowed GSP to, at least in some way, you know, regain his composure.

Did you think that that was the wrong call to make? No. You know, here's the thing is that my mouthpiece fell out and I'm the one doing the damage. You know what I mean? And who's to say that GSP doesn't fling a punch? I don't have a mouthpiece in. Boom.

You break a twos? You know what I mean? There's a lot of things that could happen to the fighter without the mouthpiece. You know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. And so, no, I don't think he made a bad call. You know, it's my fault for not keeping my mouth piece of my mouth. So after the fight, as you know, it was like a soap opera with everything that has happened.

Do you at all feel bad for GSP? It sounds like he's going through some stuff that he's conflicted, and there are all kinds of rumors and reports. Do you feel at all bad for this guy, or do you still – and I know you're not the kind of guy who, you know, has a grudge. you fight with animosity, so to speak. But at the end of the day, he's the champion, you think you won, and that's got to annoy you to some degree.

But given everything that's come out about him, given the way he was talking at the press conference, does your heart go out to the guy at all? No. Do you think I got great sleep? You know what I mean? You're training for a guy who hasn't been beaten in six years. You know what I'm saying?

I spend time with my kids. I spend time with my wife. You know what I mean? I'm just not a fighter. He's just a, you know, realistically, all he has on his plate is being a fighter. That makes sense? Yep. Everybody goes through life problems.

You know, that's what I saw about, is balancing them and trying to get better out of them, and trying to do this and trying to do that. No, you don't have to sit there and, you know, like, there's a night that I got two hours of sleep, four hours of sleep. leave. But, you know, like I said, it's just one of those things that it is what it is. You know, who cares? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. That's just the way I look at it. It's like, you know, hey, everybody's got something. Everybody's got a hitch. How do you defeat that hitch? I mean, how do you overcome that hitch? How do you balance those problems

in your life? You know, that's just the way I look at it. But, you know, everybody's different. because I wasn't raised. I guess it boils down to my raising is I wasn't raised to really complain. You know, you figure out what's wrong and you meet a head forward and you conquer it. You know,

that's the only thing I could, that's the only thing I can do and that's still the way that I attack or try to live my life the best I can. Do you think that he doesn't want to come back because he doesn't want to fight? you, he got a taste of you, and wants no part of it? Yeah, I think he does.

Because I think he knows his cornerman know that I did win that fight. And the thing is, is that the next fight's going to be totally different. Like I said, that was my first five-round fight. And I'm going to get stronger off of this. I'm going to make my chance better off of this. I'm going to get in better shape. You know what I mean? Because now I know, hey, I train for one.

That's great. But my shape wasn't in question, but I can get better cardio. You know what I mean? I know I can. I believe I can. Then there's a couple of tweaks that I can make in the fight that's going to make it where it's not going to be as close. Then there's going to be a couple things I do on my own that are going to make me a better fighter, you know. And that all showed me in one fight.

You know, that's what I'm saying. The next fight is not going to be the same result. Has the UFC told you that your next fight will be against GSP? No, just after the press conference, you know, Dana White, what he said. Right. You haven't talked to them this week, this past week at all? Or your manager? No, yeah, I don't know.

You know, like I said, Ariel, my job is to fight. Right. You know what I mean? And once we get into everything else, I'm going to want my favorite. You know what I mean? I don't like to do that. I like to just relax and fight. and train. Are you worried at all, though, that it won't be against him, even if it's for an

interim title or vacated title? It's not the same. Even if you beat a great fighter, it's not the same as beating GSP. Does that bug you at all? No, it doesn't bother me, because I think what is it, 75% or 72% of the world believes I won that fight, you know what I mean? So, the kind of the world already knows what happened. Now, it's just about getting that strap. You know what I mean? And like I said before, was never about GSP. It's about what he held. You know, that's what I want.

I don't care who it is or what is at, where it's at. I just want that belt. If you can't get GSP, who in your opinion makes sense for you next? Oh, I don't know. I really don't know. There's a couple of tough guys in my division. You know what I mean? Right.

And so, you know, that's again. That's up to Joe Silva, Dan White. You know, that's their job, my job to say, yes, sir. Sounds good to me. What is your gut telling you? Do you think he will come back? Because listening to his team, it sounds like it's not as 100% as maybe the UFC wants to believe it is. No, you know, I think there's two guys.

Realistically, there's two guys that are probably going to be, you know, going to have a shot at me. You know, and I'm pretty sure he knows who those are. You know, one of them was Robbie Lawler and the other one's Carlos Condon. You know, and there's an intern, but one of those two guys are going to get the shot. Or Matt Brown if he beats Condit, right? Oh, yeah, Matt Brown if he beats Condit. Right.

Yes. So, you know, so you got three guys, you know. So three guys, and where you go see said, hey, this is who you're going to fight for the intern ball. I'll say thank you. And I'll train for him. It's kind of a crazy idea, but one that people have talked about. We just have two minutes left, and we appreciate the time very much. What do you think of Ben Asgren?

Should he get, if the UFC signed him, has he done enough in his career to warrant an immediate title shot in the UFC, or do you think he has to move up the ranks? They called him. Want to get an immediate title shot after getting the belt? How many times? W.C.? No, he didn't.

No. Did the guy from Strike Force? No. You know what I mean? Nobody comes straight over and gets a title shot. You know, even Nick Diaz, he had to fight somebody to get a title shot. And it's just the way that it works. You know, yeah, he's done great in Belvoir's, but, you know, UFC is a, you know, me, you know, as well as I do, it's always a different animal, you know.

And he might come in here and do great, who knows. But you've got to earn your spot. Just to, you know, to set the record straight, Diaz was booked against GSP title. versus title, but it never happened due to injuries and whatnot. But I totally agree with you on the Asking point, and I understand what you're saying. When would you like to come back? You know, hey, if I can, I'd love to try to fight in Dallas at the Cowboys Stadium. You know what I mean?

That would be pretty sweet. You know, I think we could do good at that spot. You know, I'd like to see America try to beat the Canadian record attendance, and we can probably do that if we had something like the Dallas Cabo Stadium to do it on. Final thing, Johnny, have you noticed, like, you know, walking around with your family, just being back home, have you noticed more people? Because I've had a lot of people who aren't MMA fans coming up to me in the last week. How about that GSP fight, that controversy, all that stuff? What's it like being you now? I know you didn't win, but it seems like a lot of people watched the fight, and obviously there was a ton of

mainstream news to come out of it. How has life changed for you? It seems a lot. It really has. And, you know, it's changed to the better. You know, don't get me wrong. You know, you get noticed everywhere you go and all that kind of stuff. But that's sort of what we're, you know, I embrace that because that's part of my job. It's the easiest part of my job to meet fans.

You know, I don't have to get places of face to make them happy. And so I actually sort of like that. But, yeah, it's definitely got a lot more. I'm getting recognized a lot more places. I went home to this weekend, and actually, a guy, feel like your beer's gone. And I was like, wow, that's so impressive that, you know, you're going out on a hunting place,

and somebody recognizes you. So it feels pretty good. Well, enjoy the time with your family. I know Thanksgiving is coming up, so enjoy that as well. And congratulations on a great fight. Like I said, I've watched it again. I still think you won 3 to 2, 48, 40, and hoping that you get another shot at the title sooner rather than later.

Thank you so much, Johnny. Appreciate and we'll talk to you soon. All right, later. There he is. Johnny Hendricks stopping by. Big Rig himself. There's the T-shirt from our friends over at Reebok. The most amazing thing to me is that he doesn't really care.

He doesn't care. If I was in his shoes, I would kind of want to fight GSP. It means a lot more. With all due respect to the other guys he mentioned, it means a lot more to beat GSP as opposed to any top contender. And I know he already thinks he beat him, but to get another chance, the rematch, like we're about to see next month with Chris Wyman and Anderson Silva, the rematch is going to be massive.

That rematch might be even bigger than the Wyman GSP rematch. Honestly, GSP is a bigger pay-per-view draw than Wyman and Silva. Certainly a bigger pay-per-view draw in North America than Anderson Silva. I'm not sure if he's a bigger world wall. star than Anderson Silva, but he is definitely a huge deal in North America. So the rematch in what could potentially be his last fight ever, if he does come back, would be gigantic. And I'm surprised he doesn't care, but that's Johnny Hendricks for you. Kind of goes with the flow and doesn't really get caught up in that stuff.

But I'm surprised that he's not kind of angling more for it and just saying, whatever. I beat the guy once and let's move on if I have to. I'm sure he'd rather that fight if presented the two options, but somewhat surprising. Anyhow, let's move along. Tough 18 comes to an end this Wednesday on Fox Sports 1. We already know who the two men will be fighting in the finale. We know who one of the women will be fighting in the finale. We're waiting to find out the other side of the women's bracket.

And if you've been following her blog over at MMAFighting.com, this very website with Sean Alshadie over the last. few months, it's been great and we're very happy to welcome in via the magic of Skype. The Venezuelan vixen herself, Juliana Pena. There she is. Juliana, how are you? Good. How are you guys doing? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for stopping by. So I actually want to work backwards here to get to this point. Who first told you to go try out for tough? Who was the one that pushed you to actually do this and maybe eventually change your life forever? Well, nobody really pushed me once I heard. about Dana

and I knew that I was on board no matter what. But my coach Rick Little made it available for me. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be fighting. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to afford a plane ticket to go down to the ultimate fighter and to get it done. When you went to the tryouts in Las Vegas and you looked around at who was also trying out, did you say to yourself, I'm the favorite here in my opinion. I could beat all these women.

can make it to the finals of this thing. It's in a very long time, but did that give you confidence seeing who was there? No, no, not at all. I was actually surprised at the turnout. I thought that there was going to be more women, but there wasn't. And, you know, I don't ever go into situations like that thinking, you know, I'm the best or I'm number one. So, no, I knew that there was a really deep talent pool there. And I was just excited to be able to get my name called, you know.

I was just crossing my fingers open, you know, that they would call my name through the next round every single time. But did you think that you would make it on to the show, like through the prelums, if you will, making the house? Were you at least confident in that happening? No. Really? Every time they called my name through a round, I was like ball in my eyes.

I was like, oh, my God, I made it. I can't believe it. You know, every single time I was shocked and every single time I was like, who, someone's looking out for me, you know? I was shocked every time. Okay, so you finally make it into the house, and by now we know the story. You fight Shana Bazler in the first fight,

and everyone thought that Shana was going to win. At least it seemed. She was a heavy favorite. We know her for a long time. She's been fighting in women's MMA. Did you like getting the opportunity to fight first? And that could have been a final in itself. But just getting that big fight out of the way,

did you like that? I was not expecting to fight first. And I agree it could have been saved for a finale fight. But when I got called out to fight first, I was nervous, and I wasn't expecting to fight first. And I didn't know if it was going to be a good thing or a bad thing. But looking back on it, I realized that it was probably the best possible scenario for myself. And it couldn't have gone any other way. Fighting first was a blessing.

And for all those people that try out for the Ultimate Fighter and the future, I suggest begging and scratching and fighting for that first fight because you do get the longest time to prepare your body and to recoup and stuff like that versus everybody else who has to wait and never know when they're going to fight. So fighting first was the best thing for me. And I'd imagine the jitters are out of your body right away because you don't really have to overthink it, right?

Right, up until the point that everybody else starts fighting and then you're kind of like, oh my God, I can't believe I have to do this again. You know, you mentioned the nerves and whatnot. When you walk out, you know, through those doors to the cage, you seem very intense. Like right now, you're smiling, you're happy, but you're tense somewhat stiff. You just have this game face on. Are you a nervous fighter or is that just your game face? That's my game face and yes, I am a nervous fighter.

So just skipping, go ahead. I just get, you know, I just know what's at stake and I know that, you know, only one person is going to get their hand raised. and that really just puts me in the state of mind of like, you know, do or die time. And I'm literally fighting, you know, for my life every single time, you know. I look at it as if it's like a real death or life or death situation. And, you know, I'm looking at it like I'm not going to die. You know, they're only going to pull one of us out of here and I'm going to be that person. So I always try to go in there with that mindset, you know.

How awkward was it to beat Chana? And, of course, you have to win two fights to make it to the finals, but to beat Cheney and then go back to living with her. It was really awkward. Like, at first, like, when I got back to the house, she was, like, feeding me whiskey, and all of a sudden we were really drunk, and everything was fine and happy,

and, you know, she seemed like she was going to be cool and respectful. And then after the next day, it was, like, downhill from there. She was not on my side. She wasn't happy for me, you know, and I understand that she was upset, you know, she lost, but I just figured, you know, would probably be a little bit, you know, respectful and be able to take the loss as a woman, you know, and be able to say that she was not the better fighter that day.

And, you know, she hasn't been able to do that. She's still running your mouth. And so, you know, I can't respect her as a fighter, you know. She's not woman enough to say that she lost fair and square. And so it's just kind of a shame. I wish that we would have been able to make better friends because I do know that she has a quirky personality and that she's fun. And, you know, I'm the same way. So I wish that we could have been friends.

She didn't really seem to want to be my friend, and I didn't have any problem with that, you know. I might have acted the same way had I lost, but, you know, I didn't go in there to make friends. I went in there to knock some heads in, so that's the name of the game. So even throughout the rest of the taping, you never really interacted with her? No, I didn't really interact with any of the women besides Roxanne because she was the only one that would speak to me. Why do you think there was so much resentment towards you? One of the theories that could come to mind is, well, a lot of them knew shamed. from, you know, climbing the ranks and whatnot.

She was the veteran and they were disappointed. She lost for whatever reason, you know, your personalities might have clutched. But it seemed like towards the end, there was just a lot of resentment towards you. Why do you think that was? Yeah, I think that they, a lot of the girls did go in there fighting on the Invicta cards with Shana. And so they knew her, you know, personally. Roxanne's known her for years. You know, Raquel knew her.

Sarah knew her. Everybody knew her. And I think that they respected her quite a bit. and that's fine. I think that, you know, in a situation like that, somebody needs to be put in the corner, somebody needs to be pigeonholed, and I was the one that was that person,

and, you know, I'll play that role. If that's what they want to do, that's fine. But I was just trying to focus on my fights and what I could do, and I think that they didn't like the fact that I won, you know. They thought that I was going to lose, and I kept shocking of every time, and they weren't expecting that, and they thought that, you know,

talking all this smack about me, me was going to get inside my head and get me to, you know, lose the fights and it didn't play out that way. And I think that that just really upset them. How many weeks were you in the house for? I think the whole process was like seven weeks total, but I believe we were there for six weeks. So it's one thing to go into, you know, a working environment where you don't like your coworkers or some friction. But what's it like to live like that, you know, to go into your room and you have no sanctuary? How does that not mess you up mentally?

It does play a part, but I just tried to focus on myself. When we were back at the house, I was always up in my room, you know, doodling. You know, if someone was like nice enough to play cards with me, then I would play cards with them, you know. But for the most part, I just honestly kept to myself and just, you know, wrote a lot. I wrote, you know, I filled up two full notebooks back to back. I drew a lot. I doodled a lot, you know. I just really tried to focus on doing me.

It was the first time that you're in a situation, you know, where you're fighting against these people. You know, you look to the left. You've got to knock that person's head off. You look to the right. You've got to knock that person's head off, you know. So it's a really tense environment. But at the same time, you know, you never get an opportunity to go into a camp

where you're training with some of the best people and best fighters in the world, you know. And you really get to focus on yourself, you know. You don't get to talk to your family. don't get to talk to anybody. You don't get to listen to music. It's the only time that you get to focus on just you. And I made the most of it. And that's exactly what I did. I just focused on me. And I just tried to make it a point to just, you know, worry about me and only me all day long, 24-7, you know, seven days a week. And it worked for me. And I think that that's the way that you need to be in that sort of situation. I believe that if they would have been friends and nice to me and everybody would have, you know, been kissing my ass, whoop, whoop, who, whatever, maybe I would have not been as successful. you know so the turnaround wouldn't have been the same for me so i think it the way that it went out in the house is the exact way that it needed to go down in order for me to be making it into the finale what was it like living with men first time we've ever seen this uh on the show did you like that because maybe in some ways they're not the enemy you don't have to fight them but i'm i'm assuming

you know it's just awkward maybe living with the opposite sex and these these random fighter guys no i've lived with guys before it's it's not that the the male species through me off or anything like that. It's just the personalities is the thing that kind of, you know, drove me nuts. I felt like, you know, when Louis got a chance to come back, you know, he was kind of already an outsider for the fact that he had lost. And so he was just making it a point to make friends and make as many friends as possible, you know? So at first he was calling me, baby girl, baby girl, baby girl. And then the second Cody started being alpha male and trying to accuse me leaking the matchups, then Louis comes in being like, yeah, he leaked the matchups, and then all of a sudden

Louis's against me, and then all the guys are against me. You know, I was getting along with everybody at first, and then after that it was kind of downhill from there, and they all kind of just did their thing. So I just think the personalities was not my style. The Brits, I loved, holdsworth, I loved, but for the most part, the rest of them were all pretty crappy towards me. You know, at first they were all really cool, and then all of a sudden it turned into high school, and they weren't allowed to talk to me or, you know, she's a bitch or whatever, you know, even though I didn't, like, even say anything or do anything. But, you know, whatever, I guess I said some vulgar comments, you know, it's just funny. They, they're watching me like a hawk. Everything that I did was like,

you're wrong, you're wrong, but it's like they would do the same thing and I wouldn't even say anything, you know, so I just felt like it was like a big high school drama thing. And, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't very welcoming towards that. I was like, ain't anybody got type of that. So I just kind of stuck to myself. What was your take on the whole Misha and co-Ronda and co-fewed? It was one of the more intense ones we've seen in recent tough history. As someone who's there and they talk about the editing and whatnot, your bird's eye view of everything.

Did Rhonda hurt herself as far as her image? Did she come off poorly, in your opinion? Was she portrayed poorly on the show? Were they both giving it to each other and both have equal parts in all of this? What's your take on all of it? I do believe that they genuinely dislike each other. And, you know, when it comes to a situation like that, you got to take it for what it is. Ronda is being Ronda, and that's the way that she acts.

And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that because after all, she's not, we're not in a ballet competition. You know, we're in a fighting competition, you know. So it's not something to play nice, you know. We're not, you know, little ballerinas. We're fighters. And so you would expect that's the way that some fighters act, and that's okay. You know, I kind of have a little bit of a rough personality like that, too. And so I completely understand that.

As far as Misha goes, you know, she's just trying to lighten the situation and to do things that she thinks is going to, you know, rustle some feathers. And by all means, you know, it makes for good TV. I think that that was funny, and I think that it was coming from a good place and that there was really no malice in her actions. You know, she was just trying to make for some good TV and to, you know, rustle a little feathers. But as far as their feud, it's real, and it's scary,

and it just puts me on edge, you know. It gets me all worked up. It honestly does. I just, I get so, oh, my gosh, I can't, you know, I can't wait. It's, you know, it is what it is. Rhonda acts the way she does, and that's good. That's Rhonda. and take it for what it is, love her, hate her,

but that's the way that she is, and she's going to be her 110% all the time. So I respect that a lot. What's it like going home and not being able to tell anyone what happened? Not only with the huge win over Shana, but that you actually made it to the finals, people only found out less than two weeks ago. How difficult is that?

It's really difficult. You know, I just caught wind. I was at a fight show the other day, And they're like, oh, all the girls at the hair school, they were like, oh, well, Juliana came home early, so I don't think she did so well, you know? And I'm like, I can't believe you're talking about me like that. That's so rude. But it sucks, man. It's like you can't say, you know, how you did or that you made it to the finale.

And so trying to keep that secret is very difficult. But, you know, now that it's out and now that, you know, I've made it to the finale and stuff like that, it's a lot easier for me to be like, okay, I'm fighting in the finale. but it's funny because they're like, oh, you won the whole thing? And I'm like, no, it's not over yet. Like, have you been hiding under a rock? What are you thinking? You know, so it's good, though, now that it's out there. It's a lot easier for me to talk about it.

Are you allowed to even tell your coaches, because they have to help you prepare for a fight, right? Yeah. I'm not really sure how that goes. I think your coach is allowed to know. Okay, as long as he keeps the secret as well. Right. And what about just the way you,

you were portrayed on TV. Did you watch it every week? Did you enjoy it? Who are you talking to over there, by the way? Nobody. Okay. Just you like to talk to yourself? We didn't see that on TV.

I'm crazy. Didn't they tell you? Oh, yeah, that's right. Well, speaking of which, were you happy with the way you were portrayed? And did you watch every episode? Sometimes it's hard to watch yourself on TV. I watched every episode diligently. Yes, I was pausing it on every five seconds that my faith showed up on the idiot

box. but yeah, you know, it's not like they portrayed me in a terrible light, but at the same time they portrayed me in this like annoying light, you know, and so whatever, I can be annoying. I get that. I ask a lot of questions. It's true, you know, one person wrote on the blogs that I'm that person in class that raises their hand and just keeps asking questions and questions and questions

and doesn't pay regard to the fact that the rest of the class needs to keep going, but I just try to get the most out of, you know, the team. and the teacher's time and stuff like that. And it's true. I was that way in school. You know, I was being like, me, I got a question, you know, always questions. And so that can get annoying. I understand that. But yeah, the way that they portrayed me on TV, I think was okay. I don't particularly care for the fact that they're like trying to pinpoint me as like this big, annoying person because I really don't feel like I did anything that was annoying. I didn't touch anybody's stuff. I wasn't messing with anybody's stuff, you know. I made food. And a lot of

people ate my food. I did a lot of dishes. You know, I kept to myself. And so I'm like, they're trying to, you know, I heard, like, Louie saying that, like, I fight like this. And, like, I swim like this too. And I'm like, well, I didn't really see your fighting skills, you know, back up anything you could say. And I didn't see you swim one lap. So maybe that's why you lost, Louie. I don't know. But I just think it's, uh, I just don't really like the way that they kind of, like, made it out to be like I'm like this horrible person because I really don't feel like I am at all. Is it tough going back to, you know, the real world, no cameras in your face, no drama.

What's that like that first week back home? First week back home is rough because everybody wants to know, you know, what happened or, hey, are you home early? What happened, you know? So it's gotten a lot more stressful because I've made it to the finale. So now it's like if I go to a fight show or, you know, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to, A lot of places, you know, I've been born and raised in Spokane. My whole life, I've lived in this house my whole life, you know?

So I know everybody, the city, like the back of my hand, and I literally can't go anywhere without somebody, like, recognizing me and being like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my harder, you know. It's kind of, it's overwhelming. It really is, you know. I have people, like, signing, asking me to sign their cell phones and sign my car heart jacket. I'm like, that's permanent. It's hard, heart. What do you? Come on.

I'm on reality TV. it's not that big of a deal, you know. I understand that. I was a fan, you know, when I very first started and, like, I would see Josh Barnett and my jaw would drop to the floor, you know what I mean. I would see these MMA stars, you know, and I get it. And so I think it's really humbling. It's really cool to see that these people are like, you know, wanting, you know, my picture and posting my pictures everywhere and stuff like that. But, you know, I just think that since being home, it's been a lot different, you know.

I'm not creeping in the corner being like, is somebody watching me pee? Yeah. You know, and I'm not, you know, so focused on the cameras anymore. I'm just getting back to normal life. But I know that it's about to blow up again as soon as I hit Vegas. It's a shit's about to hit the fan for sure. Are you nervous about that? I think so, yeah.

I think that if they tell you that they're not nervous, a little bit, they're lying. By the way, you still live with your family? You're saying that's the same house you grew up in? You're still there right now? Yeah, I need to win this fight so I can move out. That's awesome. That's a great story. One last thing.

Who gave you that nickname? That's a very unique nickname that you have. Where did it come from? My trainer, my coach Rick Little, he gave it to me. You know, it's funny because everyone always assumes that I was like born in Venezuela. My dad's born in Venezuela, and he ran away from home and came here when he was 14 by himself. and, you know, he's been living, my parents have been celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. My mom is Mexican and native, and my dad is Venezuelan.

And so I personally like to call myself a Veni Beener because I'm like half Venezuelan, half Mexican. Right. But, you know, I wasn't born in Venezuela, but my dad's, he takes more of the bloodline. And so, you know, everyone always asked me, what are you? And I say, Venezuelan, you know. And so that they gave me the Venezuelan Vixen nickname, you know, for that. You know, Vixen is a female fox and like a deranged psycho woman. And so, like, a pissed off scorned woman.

And so I think it fits perfectly. Must be a trip for them to watch their daughter. You know, immigrants watching their daughter on American TV now, like, all, you know, a superstar about the fight in the UFC. That's got to be incredible. Are they going to go to your fight? Yeah, they're going to come for sure. Wow.

What a story. Well, best. Yeah. It's funny because before they were like, not supportive at all. You know, my dad doesn't think it's very dainty-like. And, you know, they just, they hated it. You know, he forbid me to wrestle in middle school and in high school, and he just wasn't about that at all.

And once I graduated, I was like, you're not going to hold me back anymore. You know, so I started to do what I wanted to do. And when I found MMA, I just realized that that was definitely, you know, something that I was incredibly passionate about. And they tell you, you know, find your passion, find what you'd love to do, find what makes you happy. And this was the first thing that really hit home.

for me. And, you know, it was tough for them to accept at first, but now they're, they're totally on board, you know, and they just always give me these speeches, you know, you get around her and you just, kill her, you know, and they're just as wrapped up in it as I am. And so the tunes have definitely switched, and they've definitely become, like, my biggest fans. It's kind of funny. I like to joke and say they're a little bandwagoners, but it's good. It's good to know that my family has my back now, and they 110, 110% support me. And they, uh, they, they're just, and 10% support me. And, and, uh, They have my back no matter what, and so that feels really good. Well, this is great.

Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas to watch their daughter fight inside a cage and win a big contract with U.S. Yeah, they're going to be caring for Thanksgiving, and I'm going to be stuck in a hotel room, like, thinking about it. It's ridiculous. I'm sure if you win, you'll have plenty of time to celebrate. Great meeting you. Congratulations on making it to the final. Looking forward to seeing who you'll be fighting on the big finale. This Wednesday is the last show.

Best of luck to you, Juliana. Enjoy the ride in Las Vegas. and one more time. Thank you so much for stopping by. Thanks, Ariel. It was a pleasure meeting you. Have a great day. Thanks you for having me.

There she is. The Venezuelan vixen herself. She is a part of the finale on Saturday night in Las Vegas. The final episode of the Ultimate Fighter season 18 will air this Wednesday night at 10 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports 1, Raquel Pennington versus Jessica Rikose.

Jessica Rikosy, by the way, Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. So the winner of that fight will fight Julianna Pena this Saturday, live on Fox Sports One, main event, of course, there you have it, Gray Maynard, Nathan Diaz. And Chris Holdsworth versus Davy Grant is the men's finale. We found that out last week on the show. So it's been a fun episode. It's been a fun series, I should say, and it all culminates this Saturday night on Fox Sports One.

And one of the more interesting fights on Saturday Night's card involves a couple of heavyweight prospects. We got one of them on the line right now. We actually spoke about him last week on the show with his manager. And right now we have Jared Rochalt, who will be making his UFC debut against Walter Harris in Las Vegas Saturday night. Jared, how are you? Good. How are you doing? I'm doing great. So, you know, I couldn't help but recall the tweet that you sent out when you got the call to fight in the UFC. That was the same day that your second baby was born, right? Yeah, it's the same day.

Boy or girl? A girl. Which happened first? The call or the birth? The birth did. Wow. It was a pretty crazy day. Tell me about it because I'm the father of one and that is crazy in itself.

I can't imagine being in your profession, seeing your daughter being born and then getting a call like that, you're finally going to fight in the UFC. What was it like? How close did the call happen to the birth and what were the emotions that you felt? You know, we had the baby about noon that day and then got the call from my manager about the UFC that evening. And, you know, just having another kid and stuff is always just a great feeling. Everything is really, you know, just how blessed you feel whenever you have that innocent, you know, child in your hand. And, you know, at the same time, whatever it seems like for me anyway, you have a kid, you're like, you just want to make sure that you provide for them everything that you can

and make sure that they have a great. You get the call from the USC, you're like, okay, you know, now your career is taken off, you know, in the direction you wanted to go to. So it was all just everything worked out perfect. I mean, it's been after a better day. And I know it's tough, you know, having a newborn in your life, especially when you already have a kid, what was this training camp like? Because if my memory serves me correct, you tweeted that out in around September.

So the last two months you've been preparing for this, but I'm sure you haven't had a lot of sleep, right? You know, my schedule and stuff was working out and with my wife's schedule. It ends up working out pretty good because I go to work out at, you know, in the morning and midday, and then at night I work out at 8 o'clock. Well, as soon as I get home, you know,

I take care of the kids. She goes to bed. I stay up until midnight, you know, She gets to leave three or three hours or four hours of sleep, you know. And then when I go to bed, she's back on her, you know. So we just kind of have shifts, you know. And whenever she's sleeping, I try and keep the kids away from the room and stuff and take care of them and keep it quiet.

And she does the same for me in the morning. Whenever she wakes up, she gets the kids, you know, into the living room and stuff. It works out pretty good. And, of course, I have lost up to sleep. That's expected, and, you know, just feel lucky to have that opportunity anyway, you know. You had a great college wrestling career, winning his heavyweight in Oklahoma State University History. Your brother, of course, Jake Rochalt, who we remember from WC and UFC, was he the one that, you know, got you into MMA? Or was this always something that you wanted to do?

Jake got me into MMA, you know, I started watching it about more, well, all the time, whenever he started. fighting and then from there it just kind of triggered a big interest and you know right away it's like this is something I can do you know I really like this uh you know it looks like it would be fun but it's awesome and watching him doing it and everything and then and then getting the call to you take down to talk about my future after wrestling it just it seemed like the right thing to do and it still feels like a right decision so you know he came into the UFC um after you know, they absorbed WEC and some might have thought that not only did maybe the UFC give up on him a little too soon, but that he got in to the UFC a little too soon. Were you, were you conscious of that? Because you started your memory well after, you know, he was released from the UFC in 2011.

And were you conscious of, you know, getting to the right point in your career where you felt like, all right, now I'm ready for the UFC and not just taking the first offer that comes up? Yeah, I think so. You know, Jake was kind of the first offer. first, he was, you know, the tip of the spear for getting in the U.S.P. He was kind of a guinea pig, you know. And with that, you know, some lessons, you know, I think he did get in, and maybe didn't get into the U.S.C.

or really, but maybe he took some, you know, higher profile fights than what he should have right out of the get-go. You know, I mean, just maybe a little more experience. I don't know. It's hard to really say what he should have done different or if he should have done anything different, you know. He had that big win against sleeping and then the two quick losses.

And it seemed like he kind of got released pretty fairly quick, but, you know, it's the way it is. And I feel like, you know, he did a lot of stuff for everybody else, Team Takedown and stuff, you know, everybody learned from. What's it like being a part of Team Takedown? Because we had Ted Earhart on the show last week, and he talked about the investment that he made in the fighters, and that's why the Johnny Hendricks loss was so heartbreaking

because it was finally going to pay off. Are you part of the same deal where they were kind of giving you a salary to start off and then hoping at some point where it all kind of equals itself out? Yeah, I'm on the same kind of deal, you know. We're salary-based, and, you know, then we pay it back and everything. and, you know, they take a big chance on us. It's worked out really good for me, and I'm real appreciative of Team Peggown

for helping you get my career going. It's just really nice when you can just focus on your training and stuff, you know. When I go back to OSU and wrestle, it's kind of the same thing with that. It's like all I got to do is work out when I'm there. It was so much harder when you had to go to classes every day and then go workout.

It's so much nicer that you just focus on your training. In 2012, August of 2012, you suffered your only loss. Since then, you're undefeated. You've won four straight to get back to the limelight, and now you're fighting the UFC. And I remember when you lost to Derek Lewis, a lot of people were saying, like, oh, you know, all right, he isn't the prospect we thought he was.

What did you learn about yourself and about MMA after that loss? You know, it was probably the most important lesson I learned that started in MMA. You know, I went out through the first sport, fights and just kind of bled your guys, you know. And then blew out my ACO in competition and had instructive surgery. And I took that fight six months after my surgery. And I told him, I said, I wanted it, you know. I figured I'd go out there and I'm a bluff for this guy too.

And, you know, but I was in no shape at all to be going five rounds or even, you know, to even think about going five rounds. And I only made it almost to the end of the second, you know, before I had finished. And I just, I wasn't in fight shape. And it just made me realize, hey, you know, you got to do a couple things differently. And you definitely not overlook people. And I know that. I know better than to do that.

And sometimes you just got to have that reality check and, you know, bring you back down to earth. And you're like, hey, wake up. You know, you're not, you know, you're not superhuman or whatever, you know. You're obviously a big guy. You fight as a heavy way close to the limit. and your nickname is the big show. Does that have anything to do with the pro wrestler? Oh, no.

No, it doesn't, but I'm sure what anybody hears and they're like, oh, the big show, they're Andre, their guy from the WWE or whatever, you know. No, it has nothing to do with that. I don't know, it's just a nickname for where I shot her and just kind of carried over. Who gave it to you? Oh, my brother and that.

My brother Jake and that, you know, they're always trying to make fun of me somehow And that one just kind of stuck, which, you know, there are a lot worse in nicknames that they came up with. I was pretty happy that that one was stuck. But I did read on UFC.com that one of your heroes is Hulk Hogan, right? I'm a huge fan of Hulk Hogan. Ever since I was a young kid, we used to, you know, we used to watch the WCW, WWF, you know, all of that growing up. And he was a, you know, I was a huge fan of his sister from, from, from, you know, we used to watch the WCWF, you know,

day one. Did you ever want to become a pro wrestler? You know, right out of college, I actually went down to Tampa Bayport to the pro wrestling, one of those pro wrestling facilities. They actually, they called me up and recruited me down there to work out for a week. And went down there, worked out, and went up to the smaller shows for the guys that were up in coming. And, you know, it was a neat experience.

You know, I guess when I was younger, I probably would have been more interested. been doing it, but, you know, I just kind of got away from my as I got older and never really thought about it. So they called me up and then, you know, I ended up turning David Bays. Do you ever think about that? Do you think maybe when your MMA fighting career is over, you'll go back to pro wrestling? You know, I don't think so.

I'm going to make this the biggest, you know, try to make the biggest deal out of it that can with the fighting and, you know, try and make a big career out of it. And I'm not even thinking about anything. else as an option. But if it was being the worst, you know, and, you know, it's done by, I doubt that I would probably

do any pro wrestling, but I don't know, it just wasn't really for me, but it was neat kind of to try it out to see how they did things. What's your favorite Hulk Hogan match? There were a bunch. I mean, when he was at the NWO, it was great. I don't even know if I have a favorite one. They were just, that was a big night at my house.

You know, we had five kids, four boys in a crew, and we were watching that. They've got pretty rowdy in the living room. So you're fighting Walter Harris, who's also a great athlete. He was a former Division I college basketball player for Jackson State. But, you know, a young guy, and you don't often see two Americans, you know, prospects at heavyweight, you know, getting shots against each other in the UFC, the heavyweight division a little thinner, so to speak, than the other divisions.

What do you know about Walter Harris, four and one right now? Just what I've looked up on him, what I've watched, videos I can find on him. You know, he's a big guy, athletic for sure. He's not good striking, you know, smooth striking. He's an athlete. Division I, college background in any sport, that's something that you are an athlete. And, you know, he looks like he's going to be a worthy opponent. And I'm excited to fight him.

I hope we put on a good show, buddy. He looks, like I said, he's big and he looks strong and big quick. I like it. For those that haven't seen you fight, I mean, we know about your wrestling background. I just talked about it a bit. Give us the scouting report on Jared Rochold. Are you, you know, another wrestler that loves to, you know, take the fight to the ground and mix up with some striking?

Are you a different kind of guy? Tell us about who you are as a fighter? You know, I've mixed it up a lot. You know, I love every part of the MMA. I love the ground game. I love the, you know, The ground of pound, I love working on the feet. I've really gotten into the kicks and knees a lot the last half the year.

And the boxing, everything. I'm a little bit of everything, I believe, but definitely more of, if I had to say, I'm more of a top control guy and putting pressure on people and grinding them out. And, you know, looking for big ground in town. You know, that's probably defined me mostly. I recall way back when that you actually trained with Alastor Overeem when he was getting ready

for Brock Lester What was that like? That was an experience It was a really good experience You know In every way it was As far as training It was need to go over there

To holl in and Watch these guys work out Train with them You know Watch just all these guys that Just sitting there kicking Pat You know just watching

If you're like picking up on little little movement techniques that you're not seeing from, you know, the other guys that have been jim here in the U.S. You're just like, wow, that looks really smooth and very powerful, you know, if I try that when I get back. And then you do it. You know, people are like, well, what happened to your kick? You know, since you've got, you're like, well, I've been watching these guys that are, that do, like, you know, great kicks. They're over in Holland.

And so it was great experience and working out with him was good and getting to work out with all these other heavywages from around the world. It was a good experience training-wise, and it was also a good experience, and it's one of the few times I've ever been out of the U.S., and so it's kind of neat to be across the pond. So you're a good American boy. How do you feel about fighting two days after Thanksgiving? You know, I'm actually, I don't even care. I mean, it could be on Christmas.

It could be on my birthday. I'm just really excited about it. I can't, you know, it doesn't matter what day it thought. I'm just glad for the opportunity, and I'm very, ready to go. And, you know, I'll have my turkey whenever I feel like it. Will your brother be with you in Las Vegas? He is going to come out to the fight.

He won't be in my corner or nothing like that, but he won't be out there watching. And finally, have you talked to him at all about what it's going to be like, you know, being in front of the lights in the cage, Bruce Buffer saying your name? Has he told you about dealing with those emotions? No, he hasn't talked to me about it much, you know? I think it just kind of let me do my own thing, you know. I think is what he's doing. And we've both been in the big, you know, big time with wrestling and stuff.

We know it's like to have the nerves. We've been on the big stage and everything. And we've had her name enough that loud in front of thousands of people, you know. So I think we kind of, I mean, I would definitely take any advice from, you know, that you give. But no, he hasn't said anything. And that's all right, though. Well, you are no stranger to the spotlight, of course, going back to your NCAA career. So very much looking forward to seeing your debut.

We've been following you for a long time. And I think this is a fun matchup and a good way to introduce two American heavyweights on the undercard of a pretty big UFC card. So thank you so much, Jared. Appreciate the time and best of luck to you Saturday night in Las Vegas. Yeah, thank you for out of me, guys. I appreciate it. There he is. Jared Rochalt stopping by. It sounded like he was about to, you know, go into traffic there.

A very busy day, perhaps, where he's at. But I am looking forward to it. It's a very good card. An interesting card. Interesting card as far as younger prospects are concerned. They actually just announced a fight between Jessamine Duke and Peggy Morgan. Of course, we don't know all the fights on the card because we have to wait for Wednesday's final episode. But Kirakor Sani, he's fighting Maximo Blanco. Nate Diaz, of course, versus Gray Maynard, David Grant versus Chris Holdsworth, Duke versus Morgan, Blanco versus Corrani. Nini Maki making his, Tom Nini Maki making his UFC debut again. It's Honey Yaya, Drew Dober versus Sean Spencer, and Ryan Benoit versus Joshua Sampo.

So that's the card as it stands right now, and we'll learn more about it after the finale on Wednesday night. One of the big pieces of the Ultimate Fighter season 18, of course, Misha Tate was one of the coaches, and Ronda Rousey. The other Misha Tate's longtime boyfriend, Brian Carraway and current UFC Bantamweight Fighter, was her assistant coach.

And he joins us right now via The Magic of Sky. to talk about that experience and much more. Brian, how are you? Good, man, what's up? Good to have you on the show. Yeah. So you were a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter, Team Miller way back when,

and now assistant coach and, you know, a lot more in the spotlight. Did you enjoy this experience? And I know it was one where there was a lot of emotion involved and tensions were high at times. Looking back, did you enjoy it? Yeah, you know, I did.

it was uh, it was really cool on the other side of the table, you know, to be on Ultimate Fighter as a contestant and, uh, to come back as a coach and be able to give that knowledge.

I was on the show and, uh, you know, to be able to relate with the fighters that, hey man, I've been in the same situation, uh, as you and,

and, you know, not to take it for granted or, you know, watch this for sneaking up on you and, and, uh, it would be able to try to help them and give back and,

and, knowing what they went through. Did you feel like you were represented properly on TV. Did you feel like they showed everything that really went down between your team and Ronda's team, or did they leave stuff out or edit things in a certain way? As far as me, yeah, I was just, I'm there just grinding, trying to teach the guys better techniques or get them in shape or whatever it may be for the fighters. But, you know, I felt like they did a pretty decent job. I think they left out a lot of stuff for Misha. I think the first two

episodes. Ronan didn't get a lot of good responses from the fans. And, you know, I don't know this, but they don't edit the whole show. They do a couple episodes, get a response, and then they edit, edit a couple episodes. So I think after the first episodes, the show, I don't think they're trying to make her online. That's just how she is. And they became so immune to how she acts that they didn't realize that was looking, making her look bad. So after those first few episodes, I think that they started adding a little bit. And, you know, just showing a lot of wrongness side when she was, you know, throwing a fit or being bipolar and not really giving a rebuttal for Misha.

But overall, I think they did a good job, you know. They have a tough job editing and so many hours of footage. And, you know, I'm not, you know, super happy. But there's a few things that I wish they would have showed a little more light on. Hold that thought. We're actually going to call you on your phone because the connection, is a little poor. So we're going to call you right now

on your cell, all right? Yeah. All right. We're going to call Brian right now because the Skype connection is bothering me. And I want to hear what he's saying. It was getting a little choppy.

But of course, there are some who believe that Ronda did not come off well in the show. And then you see that Misha Tate won the EA sports head-to-head vote, the cover vote that they're doing right now. She eventually ended up losing,

I believe to Alexander Gustafin, but in the first round of this, I think it was an eight-man, no, 16-man-slash-woman tournament. They actually had Misha go up against Ronda, and Misha ended up winning, and a lot of people pointed to that as Misha, you know, being more popular now than Ronda. Dana White said when we asked him about this last week in Las Vegas that people just know who Misha is now, as opposed to, in the past, not knowing who she was, which I don't know if it's, if that's 100% true, because I think the people that were watching this show, for the most part, knew who Misha was. But certainly an interesting subplot of this rivalry. We go back to the phones now. Brian is there. Brian, are you there? Yeah, how's going?

Okay, much better. Yeah, yeah. So you said that you said that you were unhappy about a couple of things. Like what? You know, I just think that, you know, simple things. Like, the ultimate fighter, Twitter, they're just constantly, constantly posting. you know, paraphrasing, like, what Ronda was saying and anything else negative light on their Twitter they're posting.

And then on the TV show, you know, Rhonda was like, oh, you know, that's racist or whatever about the unibral thing. And, you know, saying all this stuff about, you know, that Misha said or whatever. But then I'm giving a chance for Misha to rebuttal or to talk. You know, I just felt like sometimes there was just one-sided and a lot of the end episodes. Yeah, they would just show Rhonda complaining and saying all these things and then not giving Shemisha a chance to basically, you know, call her bluff or, you know, her side of the story, I guess.

Was it draining being a part of an environment like that where there's obviously, you know, tension and there's back and forth and when you're around people that obviously don't like each other? I mean, was that not a very pleasant thing to wake up and go do every day? Well, you know, I mean, there were times where there's definitely a little draining. but, you know, a little awkward some of the situations when we went to pool parties or, you know, things like that. But overall, the training and stuff, I mean, you know, passing through, not really. We learned to be better, not bitter about the whole lot of things. We just learned to smile and, you know, just laugh at her, you know, her tantrums.

And it actually, you know, became a lot less stressful and paid off better, you know, for us. she didn't frustrate the heck out of her. So, yeah, you know, we just became kind of immune to her whole antics and, like I called bipolarness. And so it wasn't as, you know, bad as I actually expected, you know, just all about being better and not bitter. Did you feel like she came off poorly and that this will hurt it? You know, I was talking about when we were trying to reconnect with you that she ended up losing to Misha and the EA Sports cover vote, and she didn't really promote the show all that much on Twitter and whatnot.

And some people are saying that, you know, there was a bit of a shift in the popularity that Misha became more popular than Ronda, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens on December 28th. Do you feel that way watching it? Do you think that she might have lost fans? You know, I absolutely do. You know, I think that the world's, you know, getting a little bit of balance back.

The UFC PR machine is incredibly strong, and Rondo's the All-American blonde girl, Olympian, you know, medalist, and was beating everybody in the first round. So they said, oh, this is gold. We're going to take her, and we're going to mold her into whatever we want her to be, you know. As far as her personality, you know,

she has the credentials and she has the physical appearance to market well. And, you know, the UFC did a great job on that. And I think the UFC, the ultimate fighter, you know, shed just a little bit of light on the type of person that, you know, she really is. And I do think that it exposed to her, I would say. And I think the balance has shifted a little bit, and Misha's gained a lot more fan-falling base. I definitely don't think that.

I would say Misha is the fan favorite. I mean, Ronis does, you know, 350,000 followers or whatever it is. And there's a lot of people who don't follow the sport that, you know, close enough that they just see, oh, she's an Olympian. oh, she's, you know, she's a cute girl that's, you know, world champion. And they just see a little list of credentials and compromissions that she's done. And they think, oh, this girl's done so much. She's amazing, you know, but they don't know anything about her personally.

But on a personal level, I definitely think, you know, for the fans who follow M. It definitely, like I said, brought a little balance to women's MMA and, you know, gains a follower for Misha. Misha has obviously become more popular. What's that like for you? Just given her spot on the show and how big this fight is, she has surpassed you as far as notoriety is concerned in MMA and beyond. Is that weird for you?

You know, it's kind of been like that for a little while. You know, I've been fighting a lot longer. I have 37 MMA fights. And at first I was, you know, I was bitter about things. I was kind of angry. I was like, man, I put in a lot of time. You know, I've won so many fights and I've finished all these fights. and I'm, you know, fighting in HDNet or, you know, Elite X-E on Showtime or whatever may be,

and then, you know, she came out of nowhere, and within a year she was, you know, fighting pro, she was already getting mass recognition and blowing up, and she had three or four fights. And, you know, I put in all this work, and, you know, I used to get bitter and about it. And I guess I could even say, you know, a thing of jealousy, but I felt like I worked so hard, and then she'd, you know, do the equal amount of work. You know, she'd very work very hard work as well, but she'd do. get a lot more from it. And, you know, over time I just matured, and I realized, you know, hey, it's just a different market. You know, she's an amazing athlete. She works just as hard as anybody

else does, just as hard as I do. And it's not her fault that, you know, she's, you know, markable and, you know, a really talented athlete and they're, you know, a really talented female fighter. And there wasn't, you know, very much depth to female fighters. So, you know, like I said, it wasn't her fault. So I'm extremely proud. And that's been a long time ago. It's been years since I've felt any kind of competitiveness. I realize it's apples and oranges. It's two completely different levels between women's M.A. And how many competitors that they have in women's MAA compared to the men's division

that's been around a lot longer. So I'm super stoked for her. It is a little weird going out or seeing her eyes. But I'm super proud of her, and I'm super proud to be a part of that and say that I was her coach from the very beginning. and to see her grow from being, you know, just a freshman college that didn't know anything about MMA to being a world champion and becoming famous. And, you know, it makes me want to drive and work out much harder to, you know,

to climb the ranks and be up there as well. And, you know, I think I'm doing a, you know, pretty decent job. How do you – are you so there? Yeah, yep. How do you deal with the backlash that you receive? Because you receive all kinds of different backlash. I'm sure a lot of it is people being jealous. that you're her boyfriend, and you've received backlash for comments that you made about

Ronda Rousey, the Katzenegano controversy. You receive a lot of heat at times. Nate Diaz, I mean, I could go on and on. How do you deal with all of that? Yeah, you know, I realize that it's just, I used to bother me a lot more, but I realize people don't know me. They can paraphrase and take things out of context. And, you know, I've made mistakes as well.

And, you know, I realize that it's just people. people jealous, you know, people are on their home at computers, and, you know, they know who I am talking crap about me, but I sure as heck don't know who they are and have to, you know, most of the world don't, don't know who they are either, so it's just these people that are either jealous or or whatever it may be or they're shallow, you know, people who judge somebody just based off of, you know, article they read. And so I realize those people don't matter, you know, it's, uh, the people that, that know me and my family and friends and, uh, the people that, you know, in my life every day. Those are the people that matter. And, you know, like I said,

my whole theme and my whole, you know, mine thought the last few years have been, you know, mainly the last years is to be better, not better. I used to be better about all these people. Like, they don't even know me, like, at all this is, you know, things got taken out of context. The whole cat is a model thing was a complete, fabricated, ridiculous lie, like, because I was in the spotlight with a lot of heat from the Pat Healy thing, you know, it's just ridiculous. And then I got to the point where I like, you know, I don't even care of these people. They're going to believe something that I know it's not true. I don't really care anymore.

You know, I'm going to do me and I'm going to live my life to the best I can. And I know my moral values and my moral fiber. And I'm just going to work hard. And thank God every day for my talents and being able to, you know, do what I love and compete at a world-class level and make a living at it. The first time that Misha and Ronda fought, there was a lot of drama. and it seemed like Misha dealt with things, and perhaps even yourself a lot more emotionally.

And this time, it appears from what you're saying here and what Misha has said in interviews, that you're trying to attack this fight a little differently and all the stuff that comes with it. How did you guys just change that? Because a lot of people just say that, oh, I'm going to be better, not better, and things like that. But how did you start to, because it's clear

that the way Misha is acting is a lot different than when they were about to fight in strike force. What triggered all this? for you guys. You know, that just shows a little bit of, I think, of our, you know, personality of what we're able to do and who we really are. You know, Misha and I sat down and we talked and said, you know, she asked me, she's like, Brian, do you think I should use anger to, you know, build the fire for this fight and anger

and all this stuff and whatever and the unfairness or whatever and use that to let me build and use that for power and training? Or do you think I should just let it go and, you know, use basically just, because I want to be here and just be the best for me. And I told her, I said, I absolutely think you should let it go. Like, anytime you let negativity and whether there's jealousy or bitterness or anything to drive you, I just believe that it ultimately ends,

even if you win in a negative result because you're not happy because you're constantly, you know, using negative fuel to drive you. And I said, you know, you should win for yourself and because you love the sport and, you know, because you love your family and, you know, you want to, accomplish these goals as yourself and who cares what she's doing. I was like, you know, we went to our church sermon, and the whole sermon, it was kind of, like, you know, God put us there. He talked about being better, not bitter, and letting things go, and it really touched home

with us, and, you know, our life's much happier, you know, so for us, it was easy after making that choices, you know, it was just a lot easier to be happy and positive for our own life and not worry about that. And, you know, with the whole Ronda situation, the first time, it was the first time, we've ever ran into somebody who's that driven off of negative energy and negative fuel and controversy and

played the mind games like that we were always, you know, thought people or dealt with people who are, you know, really good, relatively good sportsmanship. And, and so it really got into our heads the first time, and we did not respond and, you know,

some things, we both responded poorly and emotional. And, you know, I know I made, some dumb mistakes then. And I learned to never let that, you know, happen again. And that's part of life of maturing and making mistakes and growing from them. And I'm sure you're referring to maybe the back and forth that you have with Ronda before the fight and the backlash that that received.

And I've often felt that if the UFC set up like a Battle of the Sexes exhibition match, you versus Ronda, you both fight at the same weight, it could be one of the biggest events they ever put on. Are you interested in this match? Is that a real question? Yes, it is. That I feel that even at all would know my personality or anybody's personality. I don't think that's even a question.

No, like an exhibition, a grappling, you know, Battle of the Sexes. It happened in tennis. It was a huge deal. I don't mean to actually, you know, I said exhibition. So like an exhibition. I think that would be great. No, you don't think that would be a big deal. We can't deny that there's a rivalry there.

That's why she's getting the fight against Rhonda again. Yeah, absolutely. As far as, you know, you said exhibition for a guy-girl, I think that's absolutely not a good idea in any shape or form or for the sport. Tennis is not a physical combat sport. It's tennis. You know, mixed martial art is a physical contact sport that involves, you know, a lot of its physical pain, whether it's an expedition or not. Submissions your goals to hurt someone and tell the point where that they tap out, you know,

and put them in uh, moves that, that are discomforting and, uh, you know, it's, includes,

you know, combat basically you're saying, you know, touching and grappling and, and, I think that could promote, uh, you know,

men, being able to, you know, I don't know, compete and fight women in the future. I think that's a small step. And I just think that's a negative, uh,

a negative, uh, idea for the sport. You know, I think other sports can do it because it because it's not combative sports, but because it's a competitive sport, I don't think it's a good idea at all. I would never do it to lose-lose situation.

I go out there and smash Ronda or go out there and make her look stupid, whatever it may be. It's negative for me 100 percent, win, lose, or lose or draw. And discredits would be discredit the women, or it would, you know, it's just negative. There's absolutely no positive besides money to be made from all the UFC's end or whoever would be promoting it. I would be the only upside. All right. Well, I think there are positive ways of going about it, charity and whatnot. But anyway, I'll put that one in my back pocket for now.

The UFC, they announced that other than the two men fighting in the finale, the other guys who are on the show aren't fighting on Saturday night. All the women are fighting. Two aren't because they're injured, Samarise and Shana Basler. But does that surprise you at all, that the other men didn't get a shot on the finale? You know, yes, I mean, they've done it, I think it was season 15. They pretty much cut all the guys on the Colton Smith season, and there were some tough dudes on that season.

I was a little surprised because I thought that they would need some more 135 bantam weights, you know, fighters. I didn't think they had maybe quite a big enough roster, but I guess apparently they did. I'm just recently talking to Sean Shelby the last few days, I guess we're pretty full on that. So, I still have shoppings. I think there's some tough guys on there that didn't really get a show

their full potential because it was stylistically in the matchups of the fights that they fought. But Josh Hill is a super tough guy. He's never even wrestling in their life, and people are label him as a wrestler. That guy's got great grappling and his striking actually is really solid. But, you know, the game plan

that happened to be would be the smartest game plan to take take someone down and grind him out and look for the on top. But, you know, Michael Wooten, he showed out tough, you know, he was in fights. And, yeah, it's just, you know, it's kind of unfortunate. It sucks for them to go onto the show and all through that and then not get signed. It really sucks, especially once you grow up on with the fighters that are on the show

and helping them, coaching them, and you see that they have a lot of potential. But, you know, fortunately, a lot of the guys were young that didn't make it on the show, make it, you know, to the UFC. So I think they still have plenty of time to win a few more fights and get back in the mix in the EOC. Final question, as of right now, it doesn't appear as though you have a fight set up. When are you going to fight again? I just got rid of my next opponent, but it's a big fight.

Oh. I can't say who. Break some news for us. Can't break it for us? Yeah. I can't. I can't say I have to wait for the EFC to break the news first. But it is a really big fight.

You know, it's going to do some big things, a big fight for the division. And I'm really, really stoked. Honored to be, you know, rank that high in the position I'm fighting for. So things will be coming soon once we get it more locked in and a date picked, you know. But, you know, I'm just really stoked. Some big things are going to be happening for me in 2014. I guarantee that. Wow.

Well, congratulations. Looking forward to that news. and congrats on the show. I know, of course, that you guys will be in Las Vegas for the finale. I thought you guys did a great job on the show, and I want to wish you guys congratulations on that. And good luck in the finale,

and good luck in that fight coming up. Sounds interesting. Awesome. Thank you so much, and I always welcome on the show, and I really appreciate it. All right, there he is. Brian Carraway is stopping by talking about Tough 18. Sounds like you got a big fight.

Maybe later in the show we can put our brains together back there and figure out what it is. And look, I said exhibition, an exhibition grappling match. Women train with men all the time. I'm not promoting male versus female violence, but let's be honest. Battle of the sexes was a big deal. These two don't like each other. And I guarantee you a lot of people want to see it.

They don't have to punch each other. Grappling. Submissions only. Same way class. I bet you. Ronda said she could fight and beat Kane Velasquez. She can't do that against Brian Carraway. I get what he's saying lose-lose, but.

don't tell me you wouldn't watch it. Anyway, let's move along. Very, very, very excited to have our next guest on the show. Got his t-shirt right here. He is a man who, you know, we've been talking about for the last few months back in September, suffered some serious injuries in a car accident in Oklahoma City, was one-half of arguably the best fight of the year in February against Dennis Bermude's MMA community, you've been pulling for him, and we've been getting some great updates about him, and we really wanted to have him on the show. to talk about what he's been going through his road to recovery and the outpouring of support that he has received from the MMA community. So it is an honor to welcome Matt Rice to the MMA hour right now.

Matt, how are you? Good. How are you? Glad to be here. Well, it is, like I said, it is so great to have you on the show. It really is, and so many people are really looking forward to hearing from you. The first and most important question right off the top has to be, how are you feeling? Like I said, the accident was in September where, you know, a little over two and a half months from then. How are you feeling right now? I feel pretty good, you know. I still have, you know, with the brain injury and stuff, it's a little different.

So it's a little longer road. But physically I feel okay. Just, you know, my balance and stuff is a little off still with the brain injury and everything. But other than that, I mean, you know, I feel pretty good. So you're back home right now, right? Yeah. Thank God. I was in the hospital for almost a month and a half, two months,

and I got to come home about a week and a half ago to do, I do outpatient rehab. So I go do my rehab during the day, and then at night I get to come home to my family. So it's awesome. What was it like when you came home for the first time? It was amazing. I mean, I'm a homebody anyway,

so it felt really good to get to see my kids and my wife and everything in my home and everything, so it was really good. Do you remember what happened in the accident? I don't remember the accident at all. I guess I got rear-ended. The guy was going about 65 miles an hour and never hit his brakes or anything. He just hit me going about 65.

So I don't even remember the day before. They said I went and worked out that more because I was getting ready for my fight. Sure. So I went out that one. morning and wrestle and everything and then I don't even remember doing that. Have they told you about the guy who hit you? I mean, was he, you know, you mentioned he's going around 65. Was it just a mistake on his part? Did something happen where he hit you?

Did you have any idea why he hit you? He said he was distracted by his grandkids. Luckily, they were okay. I think one of them hurt their nose or something, but they ended up being all right. And, uh, but, you know, he wouldn't paying attention apparently. So it was the stoplight you can see for almost a mile. So how he was distracted for that long, I, I still don't know. I was reading some reports, um, and some stories in the, in the local papers, local websites. And it sounds like your doctors have been shocked by your recovery. They were saying that, you know, it was going to take you three, four months to, to, to, to walk. And it took you, I think, like a week after they made that timeline. What are they telling you now about where you stand with your

recovery? Are they in fact surprised by how well you are recovering and how quickly you are recovering? Yeah, they are extremely excited with how well I'm doing. And one of the rehab ladies was looking at my chart, you know, my injuries and what I sustained. And after she talked to me, she was like, you're just a walking miracle. You know, after reading your chart and talking to you, She goes, I can't even explain how much of a miracle you are to be where you're at. So I'm just blessed by God, fortunate to be moving as quickly as I am. And I still have some issues, you know, like I still talk slower I did and a little slurge speech and stuff like that. But if you didn't know me before, you probably may not even tell too much.

And then also the humongous scar up in my hands. Yeah. So you had to have brain surgery, right, after the accident? Yeah, it happened. Like, the brain surgeon had to act, like, I guess immediately. He said that quicker he got in, the better. They had to take this part of my skull out, and I'm supposed to get it put back in in December. Wow.

So looking forward to that, and then they say once I get my skull back in, that my recovery should improve some. So I'm hoping that once I get that back in, to just keep getting better and tell I'm 100%. And when in December is that surgery? I think it's supposed to be the 13th. Okay. I go back like the third or fourth for them to let me know for sure. And what's the recovery time after? Like, will you have to stay in the hospital for a long time after they do that?

I don't know. They haven't really got into that with me yet, so I don't know how long I'll be in the hospital. afterwards, but I think it shouldn't be too long. Was it difficult to try to get back to normal life as far as walking and talking and things like that? Or, again, was it just miraculous how quickly it all happened? It's definitely been a struggle in trying times for me because I'm used to me being me, you know, and I'm a go-go guy and just everything.

And then this has definitely slowed me down and made me realize some things. and, you know, just focus on what I need to do. Given where we are right now, have the doctors told you that they expect you to make a full recovery? Yeah, I mean, as far as I know right now, that I should. I mean, especially as how quick I've, you know, recovering stuff, that it just really, they really kind of don't know because the brain on everybody's different. Right. So it really just depends on how that all heals and all that. And I think once I get my skull put back in, they'll know more.

What is the first thing that you remember in the hospital? Because you were in a coma for some time, right? Is there a moment that you remember first interacting with the people around you? Yeah, the first moment I actually remember was a heartbreaking moment because I don't even know where I was. But I woke up and I remember I didn't remember being married and I did not remember having kids. it really shook me up. And so they brought somebody in and explained to me, show me pictures. And now that I see it, I remember almost everything,

it just threw me for a loop. And I mean, I just started bawling right then and there when I realized that, I mean, I don't know how something can make you forget your own kids and wife and everything. It was just crazy. What was it like when you did see them and recognize them for the first time? Oh, my gosh. I just started crying. I mean, it just was so heart-wrenching, you know.

I'm just thinking that it just lets you know how fragile life is because, you know, one person being dumb can change somebody's life forever. And I'm just blessed by God that I actually get those memories back, you know, and that I can remember them. And I don't, you know, I'm not going to be like that forever. So you have two beautiful kids. Your wife is great updating us. You have a great Facebook page that I want to plug. It's Facebook.com slash Grice Strong, and she's done a fantastic job of updating your fans, family members, everyone on how you're doing. And I actually saw some photos of, I believe you're in a doctor's office or something, but it looks like you're trying to teach the nurses and the patients there is some striking technique.

Is that accurate? Yeah, they wanted to do like a women's kickboxing class. So we put together a little deal and did like a 30-minute kickboxing class. for them. They loved it. Wow. That must have been great for you to go back to teaching and being in your element, right? Yeah, they want to make sure I could focus on more than just one group with my brain injury and stuff. And they said I did well. So, you know, and it was good. It was fun to get to actually, you know, feel like I knew what I was doing for once again. And you recently went back to your gym, right? Yeah. Yeah, I went back for the first time. And it was amazing. So,

I had a great time, and I'm hoping around the first part of the year, after I get my skull up back in, I can start making a lot more appearances and helping out. What was it like when you went back in there? It was awesome. The guys were great, you know, just the women, because we had the women's class in the guys, and they worked really hard, and, you know, just their improvement's amazing. We have this shirt here that the great people at the Cage Fighter, they sold this shirt, and I was told from your manager and friend, here's the shirt right here,

this is Embrace the Grind with your name there, and I was told from your manager and friend, Daniel Rubinstein, that over $30,000 was raised to help your family, you know, cover the costs and whatnot. And while, you know, you were battling and did such a great job, the support from the MMA community was great. It was great to see how people were really rallying around you and trying to push you to get better.

Are you aware of this? Have you been able to read some of the comments, some of the things that fans have written other fighters and things like that? Did you get a chance to check any of that out? I've got to check a little bit of it out. My wife has been amazing and helped me try to comprehend everything that's went on while I was out of it. And she's been showing me some stuff. And it's definitely amazing and all the support. We're just overwhelmed with how gifted I've been with blessing from everybody. and everything. We're just very fortunate. You know, I mentioned before you came on that I think your fight against Dennis Bermuda is back in February, one of the top five, at least, of the year.

What a tremendous fight. I know you came out on the losing end, but it was just such a great fight and you showed so much heart. Have you ever, you know, in the last few days, weeks, have you thought about that fight? Have you thought about, you know, watching it just as motivation?

Because, like I said, the heart that you portrayed in the fight was fantastic, and it would moat anyone in any, you know, circumstance, but for you in particular, because you were there, I'm wondering if it could be extra motivation for you to get back to that. It's definitely motivating. And one of my friends who actually fought in Belator, Ryan McCurry, he texted me and said he watched that fight before his fight and got him all pumped up.

But yeah, I mean, that's my main thing is getting as healthy as I can possibly be and as recovered so I can provide for my wife and kids and just being as good as I can be. And I think that, God willing, I'll get to that point, hopefully 100%. So your day-to-day schedule now as well, what do you do every day to try to get back to 100%? I got to rehab like three, four days a week, and occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, stuff like that, just to try to get my motor skills all going and my brain and stuff like that, just everything, just a lot of therapy. And how, I know you're also a police officer in Oklahoma City,

and I know that they did a sort of fundraiser to help you out as well, cook out and whatnot. How have they been, you know, treating you and rallying behind you as well? Because you have two great communities behind you. It's a pretty special thing. Yeah, for sure. The police partner's been amazing. They've been awesome.

And I'm hoping that, you know, once I get my skull back in and all that, that I'll be able to go back to work and do all that. They're holding the position for me. So it just depends on what kind of work I'll be doing, whether I go back to patrol, because I was a patrol officer, or I go do some kind of inside work. We'll have to wait until the skull gets put back in. The doctors tell me what I'll be allowed to do.

Have you asked them if you can fight again? I talked to one of the doctors about it, And he said it just depends on when I get the skull put back in and how it all does. I mean, because like I said, we were only like two months into this deal. Sure. And they're surprised with how far I am along already. So they're not ruling anything out. And I'm hoping that, yeah.

I mean, my plan is, yeah, of course. I would love to fight again. I mean, you know, that's what I do. Right. It's one of the things I do and enjoy to do. And it's fun. and, you know, just love competing, and I hope I get to do it again. And I know Dana White spoke to your wife, at least a couple of times.

How have the UFC been towards you? I haven't really talked to them too much, but as far as I know they've been great. I mean, you know, the UFC's always been great to me. They've been an amazing company, and they've helped me out tremendously. Well, Matt, you are an unbelievable inspiration. Really, it's so great. It is such a great sight to see you on the show here. And, you know, everyone is pulling for you.

Everyone wants you to get back to 100%. You're a tremendous fighter, a tremendous guy, tremendous father. And I've had a chance to read a lot about your family life and see wonderful pictures of your family. So it just warms my heart to see you and see you in good spirits. And we wish you nothing but the best. His Twitter is Twitter.com slash MacGryce MMA. Once again, the Facebook page, if you want updates, is facebook.com slash Grice Strong. Is there anything else I could tell the people about where they can follow your story, support you and things of that nature?

I mean, no, it's just they can keep up with that there. And I think they sell them the gray strong shirts and the embrace the grind shirts and stuff like that. So if they want to get them, you know, go ahead and embrace the grind was going to be my walkout shirt for my fight that I was supposed to have right after the accident. But so, yeah, that's it. We are so appreciative of all the support and everything that everybody's given us. And thank you all so much. Yeah, and the website, to get those shirts, you can go to store envy.com. You can get the Grice Strong one or the Embrace to Grind one.

All the best, you, Matt. Keep on doing great things over there. And happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. And once again, thank you so much for taking out the time. It's really, really great to talk to you. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. All right, there he is.

Matt Grice joining us, a true fighter in every sense of the word. and he is doing a fantastic job, and I know I speak for the entire mixed martial arts community when we say we hope that he gets back to 100%. As I mentioned, had a great year, early portion of 2013 as far as his action in the cage. That fight against Bermuda is at 157 was fantastic, but a tremendous guy,

a guy who also works for the Oklahoma City Police Department and a great family man and a great representation of our sport, what our sport is all about, people like Mack Rice. So I think the MMMC, community has done a great job raising over $30,000 and not just the MMA community, but, you know, I'm sure his police community, friends and family, but when they put out that donation fund that we spoke about on this show, talked about it on UFC tonight, it's closed now, but they had raised over $30,000 for his family. And that's pretty amazing. That's, that's an amazing thing. And as you can see,

he's doing great and is in great spirits right now. So we wish nothing but the best for the Grice family and hope to see him back to 100% sooner rather than later. Great stuff there. And once again, that website is store envy.com. And if you go to their stores, actually, if you just type in his name, it'll come up. There are two T-shirts up there. One is the Cage Fighter one, and another one is the Grice Strong one. Wish him the best and follow him on Twitter.

Twitter.com slash Matt Grice M.A. All right. So a couple more guests to go. And in a minute, we're going to be joined by Pat Barry, who has a very big fight. coming up at UFC Fight Night 33, as I mentioned. That event, if you look it up, is listed as December 7th, but it airs here in the United States on December 6th. It's a great card.

It's a fight night, and it's in Brisbane, Australia, but it's a very good card. It's on Friday night, as I mentioned, Shogun Huas fighting James DeHuna. Last week, we spoke to Mark Hunt. He'll be fighting Bigfoot Silva in the main event, and Pat Barry is fighting So Apollololay, which I think is a very important fight for Pat Barry. And the last time we saw Pat Barry in action, of course, was at UFC 161 in Winnipeg. And I know he was very frustrated with what happened there and somewhat controversial ending, losing to Sean Jordan in less than a minute.

So looking to get back on track, So the Hulk had an interesting performance in his return to the UFC back in August. He mentioned that his rib was very badly injured going into that fight, and you could tell that he was affected by it. He was very much tired by the end of the fight, but he's coming off a win and has looked very good as of late, at least going up to that fight. So that's a very big heavyweight fight, and it's on So is home turf, so to speak.

So Pat has to go all the way to Australia to fight, So the Hulk. But other fights on that card, in case you were wondering, Ryan Bader versus Anthony Porosch, which is interesting. Poros coming off a very big win. Ryan Bader coming off, excuse me, Anthony Prosh coming off a very big win over Vinnie Magales in Brazil at UFC 163. Bader coming off that loss to Glover to Cher. I'm curious to see, this is a very big step up for Anthony Prosh. I'm curious to see if he could put it together and actually go on a run here.

And, you know, at his age, and one of the more unlikely runs in UFC history, if you recall, he got a chance to fight Miracle Crow Cop back at UFC 110. On very short notice, he was a local guy, got the call, and now here he is still in the UFC, and has a pretty good record as well. So looking forward to that fight, I think it's an interesting fight. Clint Hester versus Dylan Andrews, that's also on the card. This is a good fight.

Tchao Mitsugaki versus Namfan. That's very interesting at 135. Mitch Gagnon versus Alex Caseras. So Julie Kedzi is on the card. So a very good card in Brisbane And now we are going to go back To the Skype Machine And welcome in Mr. Pat Barry himself to the show

To discuss it. Pat, how are you? What's happening, man? I'm pretty cool. How are you? I'm doing great. You know, it's so great to see you like this With the glasses and all Because I feel like I see you every day

On my Instagram, on my Twitter With those glasses In this same kind of look here. First things, first, when did the glasses appear? Because I feel like this is a new addition to the repertoire. No, we hope. Hold on for a second.

Oh, wait. You know what? That's what, and when the glasses first started, you know what happened? You know how glasses happened? 34 is what happened. That's what happened. That's what glasses came from 34. You know, that's a weird number.

I still tell people, how old are you, man, like 26? I'm like, no, I'm 34, man. And they're like, every time I say, people go, really at no clue. But apparently, well, I do a lot of road trip driving, a lot of cross-country driving my entire life because I don't like airplanes. And when I do, the majority of the driving is usually at night time. But while driving at night, my right eye is a little bit fuzzy, the vision. So while driving, looking at signs, because it's fuzzy and doesn't focus all the way, it starts making me think that I'm drowsy and I'm not, even though I'm wide awake.

So I went to, you know, when you got it done, because we get eye exams done all the time. Doc says, yeah, you've got a stigmatism. maybe you should try some glasses. A guy knew in Milwaukee. I was like, all right, sure, man. I'll give it a try. He gave you some glasses and I really, I had no eye. I had like an emotional moment almost like I had no idea I was blind in my entire life.

But this is, if you recall, if you go back in time three, four years, this is what it started out as. I don't mind that look either, by the way. D&G, wow, those are fancy. Yeah, I had no idea. deal with that meant and was wondering why these glasses were so expensive. No clue. All I said was just give me the biggest frames you have because I don't want to see the, I don't want to, I don't want these like sexy librarian glasses where you see the lens and I don't want to see any of it. So they said, this is the widest ones we have.

I said, okay, they gave them to me, they gave them the price. I was like, Jesus, man, what? I had no idea. A little some time went by before I even noticed it because I didn't, you know, I got them specifically to just drive across country. at night only. But then after I started wearing them, I was like, you know what, I like this all the time. Like, I had no idea I couldn't see ever my entire life, man. So then I just recently, five, six, seven months ago,

had no idea that it was frameless glasses is what I saw a guy do. And I was like, oh, this is dope. So I found these, these are light, you know, they, I can, and I have peripheral vision because the other ones are too wide. Sure. Well, for the record... Everybody thinks I'm joking around. I also didn't know that glasses was like a fashion statement.

People wear glasses for no reason. Sure. Like, I had no idea. Oh, dude, oh, you think you're cool? I was like, we're talking about... They put them on, and then they go, damn, you're blind. I was like, yeah, apparently, what do you mean? You thought I would just wear this for nothing?

And people say, yeah, that's what you do. That's dumb. That's the... Why would anybody do that? A lot of NBA players do that. Yeah, they do that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. for zero reason. It's just, that doesn't obstruct your vision. By the way, does the eye issue? Because I know you were poked in the eye, right? Against Sean Jordan, does that have anything to do with that? No, that happens pretty much every fight that I've been in. I always get almost, almost every fight guaranteed.

I get either finger in the eye at some point in time. or a growing shot or a low blow. Maybe it's because I'm short and stocky and have a wide stance or, I don't know, but that's every time. It's every time. How frustrating was that whole experience? Because you go all the way to Canada,

you have this fight, it lasts 59 seconds. There were high hopes for it. And then not only that, you get, you know, you're tweeting pictures, your eyes seem kind of messed up. How long did it take for you to get over that and look, you know, towards the next one? You look upset right now, just me talking about it.

Well, it's, it was, the whole situation was, especially because the referee, the referee, I'll say this, fuck you, oh, sorry, if you're out there, ref, the referee, uh, the referee comes to you before fighting, he says, this is how I do this, is how I handle this? Let me tell you about myself. Is there anything about me that, uh, that, is there anything about you that you want me to know? I said, yeah, I tend to get hit in the eye or in, and, and low blows almost all the time. When I get hit, it. the groin in my testicles. I can generally hit and I can continue going. I can at least fake my way through that. But I, like most fighters, I would say, we don't really know how to react

to getting hit, like, say if you get a finger in the eye. Nobody really, you don't really know how to react. And the rest says, fight, keep fighting, fight, you're like, wait, but, I mean. So, like, really, we don't know how to, like, we really don't, no one knows the proper, what's the proper protocol

to getting that done. So I tell them all that, it happens to me almost all the time, almost every fight. I just don't, I don't know what to do. He's like, well, I'm a trained professional.

This is what I do. There you, this is how I go about doing it. And, you know, so when it happens, I'll see it because that's what it. So the, the plunge comes.

I go, yit, and throw myself on the ground and I start feeling around for my eyelid. Then the ref says, all you stop, and stop. And I'm like, all great.

He's like, oh, it's over. that's why I stood up in a complete rage. Also, after the fight, we go back to the locker room and maybe a little while later, he comes back and asks me to get a picture. Get out of here. Brough. Wow.

Did you do it? Brat. Did you do it? Yeah, but I didn't smile. Okay. Wow. Oh, man. That's what's, but.

But, but, but, but. but his hand should have never been that close to my face anyway. That's my fault. I don't, nothing. He threw a punch. It landed my bed. He should have never been that. His hand should have never gotten that close to me anyway.

That's my fault. I take full responsibility for that. I don't do, do you pull me in the eyeball. It's over. Nah, you got me. Are you in favor of the UFC changing the gloves? Do you want to see that happen since you say you are susceptible to this? You know what?

Um, it's not the gloves. Maybe. I know I get a lot of flag for that. A lot of people are going to like, like, it's not the gloves, right? Like, we're high-level professionals. This is, we are the highest level professionals that you can get. Anybody who throws three groin shots in one fight. Yeah, nah, it's not the gloves.

It's not the rules. We have open-fingered gloves. If you throw a punch like this, like that's that's that's that's that's that's no good that's that's no that's no that's no good that's that's no that's no good that's no good at all man like that's that's we you and everybody knows what they're doing but everybody everybody everybody everybody everybody knows they have open finger gloves it's it's all it's our responsibility to keep our fingers out of everybody else's eyes well the good is it okay go ahead go ahead the the refereeing that whole

I'm a trained professional and I'll be able to recognize it and it's not clear like really it's it's genuinely not clear what is the protocol to a eye gouge I'm a trained pro and when it happens I'll see it I'll recognize it I've gone to school for it I no man you don't know what that looks like no no can you identify a polkaenae I mean me personally as in a fight yes I mean I could I think I can but I've never actually ref the fight and seen it up close quickly, but yes, I think it would be kind of easy if that's what I'm focusing on.

Right. Now, also keep in mind that we're, there's also some dirtbagged actors out there. Oh. But you're not one. That's why it's, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not, I wish I wish I could, if I, sometimes I wish I could be better

at it where at least maybe, maybe, like, ah! And I just sit and go, yeah, I don't mind it at all. No, it's no problem. Like, you're like a zombie, but I can't really fake down. That's a real panicky thing that happened. So the good news is, last time you were on the show, we were talking about how you were in this streak of win-one, lose, and win-lil.

Now you're coming off a loss. That means you're definitely going to win this fight. Oh, I've got to. It has to happen. No choice. That's just how it works. I'm not even thinking about it anymore. Is this, oh, okay, well, the next one I'm going to win.

That's just, we don't have to go to practice anymore because that's just, that's how it works. but that's generally for the most part, according to my MMA record at least. That's what happens. That's what happens, Venice. Well, I'm going to put down heavy timber on you because history has shown us that you rebound very nicely from a loss. Now, did you watch the Hulk's so as, you know, not his first fight in the UFC because he had a bit of a break.

He's actually his return to the UFC. He was criticized heavily for that fight. Said afterwards that he broke his rib in training heading into it, but what do you think of his performance if you saw it? You know what? If just off of having experience with, like, torn ligaments in my rib area and, like, little fractures here and there, let's scratch that for a second.

Off of what you see by watching the fight, I don't understand that people would sit there and go, man, he gets tired really quick and they're kind of sloppy. It's a big man fighting this, too really, I mean, so is the huge. He's humongous, man. But big guy, all right, they didn't. They got kind of tired.

They couldn't really finish his job. And then at the beginning, it finally happened. It was a sloppy fight. That's, um, maybe I've been, it's not really that good. I mean, it was okay, boo. That's generally what would happen when people would watch that fight. Finding out after that he did the entire fight with broken ribs or damaged, damaged ribs.

Then, oh, no, then you're amazing. You did tremendous then. then that performance that was lackluster automatically, like, gets jumped up to, oh, damn, like, though, then that's pretty good because I've had rib injuries before, man, and it's really, one, it's not only it's it hard to, it's hard to punch and kick, it's hard to breathe, so how you can move around and be active and whatnot with that kind of injury, I have no idea. That's tough, man. How do you feel about going to his turf, Australia, to fight him there?

That's a far trip. I don't like that, man. I don't like it. And everyone out there in Australia, that's not what you sit down for a minute. That's not what I mean. All right. I don't like the fact that my itinerary says I leave Sunday afternoon and land Tuesday afternoon. Get out of here.

Brough. Where are you going? Sunday at like 1 o'clock in the afternoon and we land Tuesday. Where are you going? How many stops? I think it's the flight leaves Denver and it flies. around to Australia, then back to Denver, then it goes back to Australia or something. I have no idea.

Like, we leave on Sunday, though, instead of on Tuesday. Of course, there's a time difference, but I would think that you would get there maybe Monday. That's what I thought. Yeah. Like, that's something that I would say, oh, it's the first destination you can fly it to, and it's going to be a time, you're going to go over the time chamber, barrier or something. Yeah, no, man, it shouldn't be that far. Not Tuesday.

That don't not Tuesday. Don't tell me we're landing on Tuesday. I could handle it. But I still made you know what when I first signed to the UFC I made two small requests. Yep. That's all it. I said, look, I'm going to make two small requests and I'm going to premise that with like an awesome statement of I'll fight anybody you want me to any time you want me to. It doesn't matter. It could be a short notice. I'll show up the day of it doesn't matter. I'm always ready. I'm never going to say no. But, but, but. I would like to have two requests, that's all. One, I would like to never, ever, ever fight in Australia. That was the number one. You actually requested that. Holy moly.

I told Joe Zill, can I please never fight in Australia ever? I don't ever want to fight in Australia unless you send me a boat ticket or something like that. That's to leave like six months in advance to get there. I don't want to fight in Australia, and I never want to fight in Denver, Colorado. Now I'm fighting in Australia and I'm living in Denver, Colorado. Well, what's wrong with Denver? The elevation? Yes, man.

Yeah, you know, I say, oh, you come out there for like a week or two, then you get acclimated to the elevation and the, no, no, been out here for months. It hasn't happened yet. It hasn't. They lied. I'm waiting for it. Every day, I'm like, when do you think is, when does this happen again? They're like, oh, like a few days.

I'm like, oh, okay. Maybe it's because I'm a heavyweight. That's why it's taking a little bit longer. Then after some more time goes by, really, you start to get paranoid. Like maybe it's because I'm half black. I don't know. Like maybe that's why it's taking so long. Bro,

it's not, it's not, it's not happening. But doesn't that help you when you go to other places and fight? Because you're, you're training in these tough?

I have no idea. I don't know. You don't feel like it does? I don't know. My last fight was 21 seconds. I couldn't tell. That was your first fight that you trained out of Denver for?

Second. My first fight was in Shane, Shane of Zari. And you looked tremendous in that fight. Uh-huh. So I think it's good for you. One, then I lost. Yeah, but the other one was kind of a watch.

Now it's time to win. See, Shane, then Sean Jordan, now Optimus Prime. And what about being on that plane? You just said you don't like flying. You're going to be on a plane for a very long time. How are you going to pass the time? Brough. You look stressed about it.

I don't really like airplanes too much, man. I mean, I don't like airplanes at all. I just don't get it. But it's, we're leaving on Sunday and landing on Tuesday. Like, anybody, any pilot out there contact me, please, and explain how that's going to happen. That's too much airplane, man. That's a really long time to not be able to get out and take a walk. I got to tell you, Australia is such a beautiful place, and you're going to love it.

But I flew from New, I covered an event there. I flew from New York to L.A. and then L.A. to Sydney. and New York to L.A. is far enough and you kind of feel like you've just done a really big trip, and then you've got to go for like 14 hours after that. That's the toughest part, the first leg. Brough, that's really, exactly, yeah. Yeah, that's the worst when you take off,

even when you should fly back from Amsterdam or fly back from China, and we'd fly 12, you know, 12 hours, and then land, boom, and finally land and be like, oh, God, we're finally back, but I've got another four-hour flight. like that's that's too much plane man there's too much airplane why don't it just go I don't know man what would you rather would you rather the flight just go the entire way

would you rather be broken down into like multiple flights or would you rather one like 30 hour flight one long flight I don't want to get up get down take off landing too much can yeah too much stress one long flight one long flight but once they make that uh that airline from the fifth element where you lay down in the thing and they hit the button

And I was like, God, you sit up and you're there. That. That would be tremendous. Now, are you going with the lovely Thug Rose? We're not sure. We're still, we're still, we're still, a debate on that. What?

The flight's in like six days. Right. That's, that's been tough, man. But we have, uh, the reasoning behind that is that right there. Hey. Hey, how are you? Oh. Wait, hold.

That was a great. That was a great reveal. How are you, Rose? Hey, look at that. Oh, is that the reason why you can't go? That's the reason why, man. Now, I was, she's a coyote, man. Look at that.

Misha. Sit! Oh, it worked. A real coyote? A real coyote? A real coyote? No, man. No, man.

She's like, we don't know. I mean, the rescue said that she was a Husky Lab. We think Husky Shepherd, even though she acts like spoiled Brad Wehrwolf. But, you know, I have to take full responsibility for that because, I don't know, maybe it's not good to eat treats all day. But wait a second. You can't find a dog sitter of any sort. I mean, this is a big fight for you. Don't you want her to come with you?

Especially for the flight. Yeah, well, why would you, how are you going to word it like that, man? Don't you want her to come with you? I'm trying to put pressure. Yeah, I saw that, but that's man rule number like 11. No, the thing is, yeah, no, we, yeah, of course, we could possibly find a dog sitter, but a big part of it is not wanting to find a dog sitter, man. I don't blame her, like, I mean, I don't blame her.

At the same time, we still don't know. Hey, you remember, the UFC only sends you a half of a playing ticket, so that's kind of tough to fly from him of us. Yeah. I'm bringing in one extra corner, man. And that's $3,000, $3,22. And you have to pay for it. Yes. And his $500 visa.

Oh, man. They don't help you out at all? Huh? They don't help you out at all? The UFC gives you no matter where you go. If you're not the main event or like, yeah, yeah, you get one plane ticket for you and one plane ticket for one corner. Does you want anyone else?

Yeah, I mean, Trevor Whitman is the man, but somebody to, we need somebody to hold the banner. Sure. Yeah, but so it's just, I mean, it is a financial thing, but really, like, it also a big, I don't even want to go anymore, man. I'm like, oh, we're going to get a dog, Willie. I've never had a dog before, man. Like, this is my first, this is my first, like, I've always wanted a dog, never had a dog, and, like, I mean, look at that. Look at this rat, bro. Like, I don't want to say that I'm crazy and I love a dog, but I'm crazy and I love a dog, man.

Are you ready for it? You ready? M-H-R-O-O-R-O-R-O-W-E-G-O-W-E-G-E-G-E-G-E-G-E-C-E-R-O-O-W-E-S-G-E-C-S-T-E-E-S-T-E-E-S-T-E-E-R-E-E-R-E-E-R-E-E-R-E-E-R-E-E-R-E-E-R-E. Yeah, so that's, we, and like I said, it's just, but we could get a puppy sitter. We could get someone and, like, put her somewhere or send her somewhere to, like, stay with. But, man, we really, like, this has been, like, life altering, which is weird because it makes me think what's having a kid like? Because everyone's saying, when you get a dog, you get a puppy, you're going to, it's going to bring something out of you, man. And, and, you know, I hear that.

And I'm like, I know what people, I like, dogs are cute and puppies are nice. And, but when it's yours, man, we got. in the car and it instantly turned into, oh, well, now I'm just a crazy boyfriend with this dog. Like, this thing is amazing bro, so being away from it is going to be tough. So, okay, just a couple more

questions before I let you go. I noticed on Saturday... We're doing this all day, yes. On Saturday, you were tweeting about glory, the new kickboxing league. You seemed very into them. You have any interest in fighting for them, given your background?

Oh, I'm all... I'm... I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm fearless about saying that I love kickboxing and I'm always going to love kickboxing for the rest of eternity. I mean, I know that I'm in, I, at, MMA is where I'm at, MMA is what I'm doing. I'm contract to the UFC and I'm going to continue doing that. And that's, that's, that's, that is, yes. But, but, but I'm always going to love kickboxing. It's always going to be my first love, always, no matter what.

I'm, I don't fear saying that. I'm always going to love it. So do you want, and I don't know about you. Man, it's just twice you doing this. Don't you want her to come with you? Don't you want to fight for the only thing? Well, I want to know. You're not answering the question.

I didn't say that. I said I love kickboxing. I want to fight for, I want to have a fight, period. I like being called by the UFC. That's been really nice, like a lot, you know what I mean? Not to take it, would I like it if the UFC did away with wrestling and jiu-jitsu? Yeah. Yep, yep, yep.

Yes, I would. But, like, I was just watching it, which is, it was just great to see. out of all the glory cards, that was the first one I actually watched from beginning to end. Like, we've seen, we've seen some of the fights. We've seen some of them, like, here and there. But a lot of, like, lately, like, when the glory of cars are on, we've, something has always been happening. Some people were on the road driving or we're trying to get home in order to see it or something like that, man. But the thing was great, right?

I mean, how can you not watch, how can you not, how can you, that's not right? How can you watch that and not think that, and not be excited by it? And I talk to people all the time, especially, especially MMA fans. Dude, I just want to see a dude stand there and bang, bro. And it's like, yeah. Yeah, man, I want to see dudes get knocked out and that's all. And I don't want to see all that wrestling and laying on the ground and hugging and all this.

I don't see them up, ref. Stand them up, ref. So I've asked people before, I was like, you want to see guys get knocked out? And they say, yeah. I was like, you want to see guys just stand there and just punch and kick each other? And they say, yeah. And, like, well, you don't want to, you don't like to watch the wrestling. Jiu Jit Jit Jit Jop?

The grappling part of it? They say, nah, I'm like, what about the grindon? Like, nope, stand up and bang, man. I'm like,

do you watch kickboxing at all? I mean, go, psh, nah, man. Not that, not that, not that stuff. Ugh, down, man,

we got to get in the cage, bro. Miam, yeah, me, me, but don't watch kickboxing. I don't,

they don't support kickboxing. All you want to do is see guys get punched him, kicked, and knocked the unconscious, but you don't want to watch a sport that consists 100% of guys getting punched, kicked, and knocked unconscious. It's a great sport.

I was actually there. I was in attendance. I enjoyed it a lot. Yeah, man. How was it? I enjoyed it. I have some issues with the promotion. With that heavyweight fight?

I'm sorry. Oops, I said it. Yeah, but I'm not going to get into them now because we're running out of time and I have to talk about those later. But I want to ask you. Yes. Dana White announced that they're going to bring in the one-firm. 15-pounders, the women's side of things.

What do you think? How far? As soon as they said that, we ordered a pizza. No, my phone blew up as soon as they announced it. Instant, phone battery died from getting so many phone calls and tweets and texts and messages and everything. Her phone instantly, like, exploded. It hasn't been on since. How far away do I think Rose is from being in there? Yep. I think Rose is good enough to be. I think Rose, is talented enough, good enough, mean enough, all around packaged enough to be there a year ago.

Wow, a year ago. A year ago. I said it. Pat said it. A year ago. I think she could have been a year. I say she could have been a year. And this isn't like, excuse me, she's the chick, man.

I think she's the best. She's that dangerous. Well, I look forward. The right, the right, the right, the right rose wake up that morning. and there are many males out there that I wouldn't, that don't stand a chance. Did you inquire about when they're actually going to do this? I mean, you have an end with those guys?

No, I didn't, I didn't ask. I didn't ask, and honestly, maybe this is like considered, it's not cocky, it's confident. I didn't ask when it's going to happen because I don't, I don't doubt that Red Rose is going to be in it. They're going to add 115 pound women's category, and yeah, no, she's going to, for sure, she's going to get in there. So it didn't matter, okay, so when's it going to happen, so it's just, when it happens, it's

going to happen. I agree with that, and I look forward to it as well. Pat, always a pleasure to talk to you. It is always, I love how many different positions. I wish someone would count how many different positions you were in during this interview. It's unbelievable. I can't imagine. Actually living with you.

Congratulations on the new dog. Uh, enjoy the flight to Australia, the, the eight-day flight. No. And good luck. Are you coming? Are you coming out there? Unfortunately, I'm not going to that one. Why not?

Well, I'm going to the, I'm going to the, I'm going to the tough finale and, uh, and then I'm going to Sacramento. I have a son. Does it have anything? Say that again? I have a son. Yeah, I have a son. So I got to be home sometime. Hold on for a second.

Oh, there you get my shit. Wait, say, what was that? You have a son? And let me tell you. I don't know what you're trying to imply. it is the greatest thing times a million to ever happen to me. And if you think that that dog... Guess who didn't want to get a puppy?

Me, I was like, maybe we should start like her family. She was like, let's get a puppy first. I was like, why? That can't be the same thing. If you think... I can't fight with a belly, man. Well, I understand that. You have certain goals you want to accomplish.

But if you think that dog brought out something in you, you have no idea what a little baby will do. It is unbelievable. And I wish that anyone, everyone could experience what I have experienced. It's unbelievable. Oh. That's great. That's, I had, I didn't even, man, I didn't, we didn't, I don't, I don't, I wonder how many people out there knew that.

Well, I'm pretty private about my, my life, but I do talk about it sometimes on the show. He's 18 months old, and, uh, you could wake up at 5 a.m. You know, he wakes up very early, but with that smile, calls you daddy now. Yeah. I'm getting emotional just talking about it. It's the greatest thing. I can't even put into words. No.

How amazing it is. So I hope you guys one day will have the same. experience that I've had with it because it's it's it's so rewarding so much fun never a dull moment coming home runs it's just unbelievable I'm I'm boring people now but it's trust me no that's not boring man like does he like baking treats uh he's not quite there yet he's only 18 months but he's he's getting into sports it's great I can't I can't recommend it enough we're thinking about putting Mishka in agility uh like to do back flips and whatnot man this thing is a monster over there bro we walk I mean I know this is not the same as a kid

but I walk in and she gets all excited and she's on the carpet and it's amazing. I'm like, oh, she doesn't seem like a real puppy though. Like she seems like she's already full grown, but. She actually seems like rose and dog form is what it is. Well, that happens. You know, they take the personality of their owners. Oh, well, then she must not know that I'm her owner. It's nothing like me.

Well, one of the owners. But, yeah, man, that's the best news ever, man. I guess, I really, I don't know. I'm wondering how many people like knew that who haven't heard you say it before. That's cool, man. Thank you. Thank you. I was thinking maybe you weren't coming Australia because of the $4,000 plane ticket.

Well, that too. It is a far trip. I had to do it once, but, no, it's just I can't go to every event and other people get a shot to cover the fights. But trust me, one day, I look forward to bringing him to the fights and introducing him to the people that I get to cover. Like you, like Rose, because it's going to be a lot of fun. I hope you guys get that opportunity as well. Our next guest is actually calling us right now on the Skype. have to let you guys go.

But next time you come on, we'll talk about kids all day, daycare, diapers, all that stuff. Sure, brother. I've got one request. At some point in time, before he's way too big, you've got to interview somebody while wearing that little halter chest part in your suit with him right there. All right, man. Thank you. Good luck to you, Pat.

See you later, Rose. I have no problem, later. There they are. My favorite couple in MMA, Pat Barry and his lovely girlfriend, also fighter for Invicta. Rose, Namayunas. and they are great, and it's unfortunate to hear that he is not going to be with her, at least it seems he won't be with her in Australia, but I think he'll do okay. If you look at his history, one win, one loss.

Now, I'm not trying to take anything away from SOA, but history would suggest that he is due for a win coming off the disappointing performance against Sean Jordan in Winnipeg. Pat throwing me off my game, having me talk about my son here. He kind of messes with me. But let us move along now and welcome in our next guest, joining us from my hometown of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You last saw him in action at UFC 167. He is joining us via the magic of Skype.

He is Rory MacDonald. Rory, how are you? Good. How are you? I'm doing great. Well, we haven't heard from you since last weekend in Las Vegas. And, of course, the fight didn't go your way. How are you doing?

How are you dealing with the loss? Because I think a lot of us were wondering how you will deal with the loss, like that? I think overall pretty positively. The end of the day, I think walking out of the octagon, not getting my hand raised, I think it was a good thing for me. I think I needed it, you know. You know, when I was showering after the fight, you know, I was thinking to myself,

and I really felt that I needed that, you know, I needed to get in a fight like that and, you know, come up short. I think it'll be a good thing for my next fights and for the years to come. Why a good thing? I needed it. I felt like my last two fights this year, I came into the Oxygen with a different mental approach. And both my fights, I didn't enjoy them. I didn't walk out of the cage knowing that I had fun. Usually when I lose in my fights in the past, I've always had fun. I've always enjoyed my fighting. This year, I didn't enjoy fighting.

You have any idea why? I think it's a collection of things leading up to, you know, that it's been leading up to. But I think it's just my mental state, the way I've been thinking leading up to fights, I've been more interested in my after the fight rather than getting into the fight. And I think I needed this fight I needed to lose I needed to get into a hard fight And I'm very motivated

More than ever now I'm very hungry I feel like I have that fire back When you say after the fight What do you mean like the after parties Things like that? What do you mean by that? I didn't I didn't party after So when you say after the fight

What do you mean by after the fight After the fight I realized that it was a good thing No no you say you've been more focused on After the fight than the fight Oh yeah What do you mean by that? After, you know, just relaxing, seeing family, stuff like that. The goal at the end, right?

Yeah, I guess. Just getting away from it more than anything. Not enjoying the journey, you mean? Yeah. Before my fights, before, you know, the most exciting point for me was actually getting into the fight. You know, I was hungry. I wanted to destroy my opponents and I was hungry. I had that fire in me to fight.

and I think it shows in both my performances this year that I didn't have that fire. Were you playing it safe in those performances? I just don't think I was interested. Really? I felt like, you know, my Ellenberger fight, I think I fought a really good fight. I was technically on point. I was sharp and, you know, watching the fight, I wasn't disappointed.

But I didn't have fun at the end of the day, and that's what I do this for. I want to express myself when I'm out there. you know, like an artist, painting a picture, you know, it's just basically self-expression for me, and I don't think I, I don't think I did that in these last two fights this year. So were a week removed or so from the Lawler fight, how do you know that you got that back from the loss?

I think you know just inside, you know. I don't know, just how I'm thinking now. I don't know. You can feel it though. You could feel like there's a familiar feeling. Yeah, exactly. You know, there was a lot of buzz about you and, you know, a lot of people thought that you were very close to getting a title shot. Did any of that go to your head?

Were you starting to believe your own hype? No. You know me. I don't really listen to anything online or what people have to say. I think I was really just more interested in just relaxing and getting away from the fighting thing, the fighting stuff. I lost my fire to fight. That was the biggest thing.

I feel like I have that back now, you know. I watched my performance, and I think it was like two or three days ago. I watched the fight for the first time, and it pissed me off. I felt like it was embarrassing to watch myself. You know, I felt like I really didn't put, I didn't show my best side.

even close, actually. I didn't, I didn't fight like myself. So what's interesting is we're, like I said, a week removed, and you were talking about looking forward to, you know, getting away afterwards, but here you are on an MMA show talking about it. You're, you're, I was expecting, honestly, you know, I didn't bother you or anything. I was expecting you to disappear for, for some time, just knowing your personality. I just got back from the gym. I just, I just, I just got back from sparring. Really? You took, I usually never do that. I usually take a couple of weeks off. I've already been back in the gym and I'm ready to fight very soon. And do you feel like the actual fight? Did Robbie do anything that surprised you or was it all

you that led to that performance? Because he was a massive underdog going into that fight. No, he definitely had used some good techniques that surprised me. I wasn't expecting him to come out the way he did and use some of the techniques that he used. That was definitely a factor in the first round. But the biggest factor was my mental approach and, you know, how I walked into the caves that night. What were you like, you know, fight week in Las Vegas leading up to that point? Did you, were you afraid that a performance like that would actually materialize because of how you were feeling going into the fight? Were you cognizant of how you were feeling? Yeah, I felt relaxed. I felt, you know, I felt like whatever.

whatever, I'll get through it. It'll be easy, like, all my other fights. I was kind of just like, whatever. I just didn't really care. I wasn't scared about it. I just felt like I would just win, and I just felt like I was a better fighter, and I didn't have really any adrenaline going into it,

and I didn't have that fire, you know, of going into fight. Did you look past them? Like, did you not give him the respect that you feel like you should give an opponent like that? No, I, I don't. did. I don't think it really had too much to do with him. I know he's an experienced fighter and, you know, he comes to fight. So I was expecting that. You know, I was expecting a good experienced fighter who is going to come in there willing to, you know, put everything out there.

But something didn't motivate me. I don't know. Go ahead. Both of these last fights, I mean, It was the same thing for the Ellenberger fight. Obviously, I wasn't going to take Allenberger lightly. No one would. It was just a different mental approach. I'm definitely going to change that for this next fight. I'll be very hungry.

So do you agree now that that wasn't a good performance against Alenberger? Because you were criticized for it, but... No. I think that was technically watching the fight. It was pretty good... I felt that I was sharp. You know, I felt like... I felt like I did all my techniques right.

You know, on this fight, though, it was terrible. It was a terrible performance. I was totally sloppy with all my techniques. I was using the wrong techniques. I wasn't using a lot of the stuff that I've been practicing in the gym. And it was just bad overall. It was very frustrating to watch. Did you have a bad training camp?

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I mean, I had a lot of things going on with injuries and stuff. but everyone's got that going on. Is it true that Robbie said something to you after the fight to the effect of that you needed something like this as well? Someone had told me that, but I didn't hear it. Did he say anything to you after the fight? He didn't say that exactly.

I think he said, you know, just be yourself. No matter what anyone says, don't change who and what you are, you know, just because of what people say. It's good advice. Coming from Robbie, who's a good advice. not, you know, much of a talker. That's, that's a, that's a, that's a surprisingly deep thing to hear him say in the midst of a, you know, right after a fight in the cage. Were you

surprised that he said that to you? Yeah. Yeah, I didn't really, at first I wasn't really thinking about it. I was kind of just in the zone and then, you know, I was thinking about it after. Yeah, he was very respectful and it was, uh, it was an honor to fight with a guy like that. He was, uh, very good opponent and very professional and very respectful. Did you think you won? Like before they announced the scorecards Did you think you had a chance of winning? Yeah, I thought it was close. I thought it was a close fight.

You know, and when it's a close fight like that, it could go either way. So at the end of the day, if I would have won the decision or lost, I would still have the same feeling inside of me of disappointment. Watching that fight was, I felt like it was a garbage performance.

It was embarrassing for me to watch for myself. And I'm very motivated to, to put a, you know, a better foot forward for my next, my next fights. Now that we're removed from it, did any of the GSP talk get to you at all? Like what? Well, you know, we thought that you win, he wins, that maybe you guys will fight each other. There was a lot. I know you guys didn't like talking about it, but it was all there.

Did any of that affect you leading up to the fight? I wasn't even worried about it in the slightest to tell you that truth. It was annoying the week of the fight having to answer the question about three things. thousand times, but I didn't even, it didn't even into my mind. I wasn't worried about it at all. Do you believe that he has gone for good? I don't think he's gone for good, but maybe he needs some time. Were you surprised when he said that? Like, do you sympathize with him? Do you understand what he's dealing with? Yeah, of course. People have no idea the kind of pressure it is to fight,

and I have no idea what kind of pressure it is to hold the belt. For how many years has he been championed in a row? Yeah, it's almost been like around six. Yeah, and before that, he was headlining cards since he was younger than I am right now. That's a lot of pressure. That's a lot of interviews. That's a lot of, you know, work. And the guy is just, he's a machine.

For someone to be able to do that, to carry a belt for that long, and to be a headliner for that long, it wears on you, you know. He needs a break. Do you think he won? I haven't even watched the fight yet. I haven't even watched it while. I was kind of watching after my fight.

I was icing, you know, my injuries, but besides that, I wasn't really too focused on it. I know it was a close fight. You know, we've talked a lot about your fight against Carl's Condit, the first one and you wanting a rematch, and it seemed like the first, you know, the loss to him, that, you know, you've talked about it, how it has affected you so much.

Do you feel the same way about Robbie Lawler? Because it doesn't seem right now that you have the same kind of deep feelings about the loss as you did the Carlos Condit one. Am I off here? No, you're right. Yeah, they're similar, but I mean, I've grown up a little bit since the Carlos fight. When I lost to Carlos, I figured, oh, I would never lose. It's my destiny to go undefeated in my whole career

But since then, you know, I've realized, you know To develop as a martial artist, you need to lose in this business You need to go through that peaks and valleys, you know, in this sport And it's just a part of a mixed martial artist's career So Robbie Lawler, is this a fight that you even want to avenge again Or do you feel like it was actually a good thing And that's it, you're done with him? No, I mean,

I would appreciate a rematch with them at some point. I'm not saying I have anything wrong against or anything, any bad feelings. I would like to test myself against him, definitely. I think that would be a good experience for me. Any serious injuries coming out of the fight? No, just some swelling, my ankle. So when would you like to come back? I'll be fighting very soon

Really? Have you told the UFC that? Yeah, there's already something What do you got? You know, I'm not going to tell you. Come on, right? You can't come on the show and say, you should have just lied and said

you want to fight, but now you, come on, you can't do that to us. No one's watching it. No, it should be announced soon, I'm sure. Is it a big fight? It's not a bad fight, that's for sure. You like it? It's very motivating.

Really? What month of, I'm assuming, next year or is it this year the fight's happening? It's 2014. Oh, yeah. January, February? I don't know. You don't know. I don't believe you. Well, let me ask you this. Last week we had Ben Ascrant on the show. You know him, right?

Yeah. He said this. He said, quote, Rory McDonald is a guy who really irks me. He bugs me. It was really nice to see him get knocked off his pedestal Saturday night. But if Dana White was willing, if I lost to him, I would. fight for free and retire from the sport of MMA, that's how confident I am. What do you think of that? Is he signed to the UFC?

No, he's not. Oh. So he's just trying to get his way into the UFC? He's trying to get a deal with the UFC, yes. Oh, okay. Whatever. If he ever got signed to the UFC, whoever the UFC wanted me to fight, he doesn't scare me. Would you like a matchup against him?

You know, he says that you irk him and that you're on a pass. pedestal. Oh, I really don't care what he says. Well, is your fight against him? Are you, are you tricking us now, the fight that you have? No. No. Like I said, I didn't even, I don't even know who he fights for.

He fights for Bellator, right? Well, he was in Belator, but they released him. In fact, he's having a meeting today around now with the UFC. He's trying to get signed by the UFC. So I was thinking that maybe they signed him and gave him you next. I haven't heard anything about it. you're throwing me a curveball. No, I honestly, I haven't heard anything about Ben being in the UFC.

All right. If UFC wanted me to fight him, whatever, sure. I'll fight anybody in the division, you know, outside, you know, George has went over before. Right. And what about your middleweight plans? Is that still in the future for you? Are you sticking at 170 for you? Yeah.

No, I want to be the champion at 170. And, you know, if I feel that I've done well, if I've accomplished my goals at this, then, you know, I can move up. But right now, welterweight, that's it. So this, you know, this aftermath of the fight, you're not even taking vacation or anything. You're right back into training camp. That's it. I came back home and I took a week off basically a little bit. I went to the gym a couple of times, but basically I just need to, you know, heal some injuries, but I'm training. Back to training, fighting soon.

It's amazing to see how you've reacted, because I think a lot of people were expecting you to react completely differently, but it really does feel like a lot of people say that in a cliche way, but it really does feel like it actually was a good thing for you. I really think so. I feel like I have that fireback, and it's a good feeling. You know, when I think about fighting, I want to go in, I want to smash someone. I want my next opponent to, you know, I want them to be crying in the background. I want them to be as scared of me. I just want to hurt someone. And that's the kind of mind frame you have to be in. This year, it wasn't like that, or 2013 wasn't like that for me. But now it is. So I feel good. I'm happy to

be fighting again. You sticking with TriStar? You're still going to be with them, right? Yeah, of course, yeah. And are you afraid that you might get those feelings of complacency and not enjoying the ride. Like, what are you going to do to avoid that now? Just going to be more, more careful about how I'm thinking about when I'm fighting, you know, before I was just, everything was coming very easy to me the last three years since losing to Carlos. The fights were going very smoothly, you know, and I just felt like, wow, it's becoming

very easy. But, uh, and so, I kind of let my guard down a bit. Safe to say you've been humbled? I don't think I ever got... I don't think I ever got cocky. You know what I mean? I don't know.

It's hard to explain, but I just... The best way I could put it is I lost that fire inside me to actually get in there and fight someone and hurt them. Right. You know, I was never scared to fight this year. It was just... I would kind of go through the motions and get... through it kind of thing. All right. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for you.

This is great news. You surprised me here because I was expecting something a little different out of you. But it's great to see that you're in good spirits. It's great to see that you have a fight already and that you're training again. And I'm looking forward to it. I appreciate the time, Roy, very much. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. There he is. Roy McDonald, the brand new Roy McDonald. Who would have thunk it? He seems to be in a very good place. And I'm happy to see that. It's great to see that he's turning the negative of the loss into a huge positive, it seems. And I'm looking forward to seeing who the UFC matches him up against next. And it sounds like it's sooner rather than later.

So stay tuned for that. And he is sticking around at 170. So that's interesting. And I mentioned that Ben Asgren meeting. If you didn't read it on MMAFinding.com, he does have a meeting scheduled with Lorenzo Fertita. Dana White is going to be joining them via the telephone, but they do have a meeting scheduled face-to-face in Las Vegas today. Dana White telling me that he is still not interested in signing him,

but hey, give them props. They're taking the meeting. Ascrant side wanted the meeting. Ben, it appears is going to be there, and they're letting them have their say. And, you know, remember this. You know, the UFC doesn't seem interested, and that's the impression I'm getting right now.

World Series of fighting is still very much interested in him. But, you know, you have a fighter there who shows a firefighter fighting spirit who, you know, convinces you, puts out a good sell, who knows what happens. The UFC has been known to get attracted by fighters like that. And if Ben really wants to be in the UFC, he'll probably have to take a pay cut. I mean, right now he's kind of in a corner as far as leverage is concerned, but it'll be interesting to see what happens there and we'll be monitoring that situation for sure. Okay, that does it for the interviews.

let us go to the phone lines, talk to some people, and then we'll start answering some questions as well via Twitter and the website. Let's go to Tanvir in Vancouver, British Columbia. Tanvir are you there? Yeah, I'm right here. What's up, man? What's on your mind? Oh, I have a crazy bar story, but before I get to that,

do you think they'll ever get to Vancouver again? Because I want to see a UFC fight, and I never went to any other two that were here in Vancouver, and I was trying to go to the one in Seattle when McDonald was fighting in Seattle, and it sucks that they're not coming to Vancouver, because I'm a huge UFC fan. I'm a huge Vancouver Canucks fan, and I don't watch the Connux games when the UFC fights are on.

So it sucks that it sucks that they're not coming to Vancouver. I just want to get your thoughts on that really quickly. Well, the problem is two-fold because originally, you know, they went there twice, had to pay very high taxes. The issue was that instead of regulating mixed martial arts provincially, they were doing it via the municipalities, and the UFC doesn't typically like to do that, but they did this two-year trial period,

and they went there for 115 and 131. And the taxes were high. They were pretty well-attended events, but the UFC decided that they're only going to go back there once, you know, the province of British Columbia, regulates mixed martial arts. Well, that finally happened. But by then, from what I understand, the schedule is already said. And they always go to Toronto and Montreal. And they have, you know, locked into three dates at least in the calendar year for Canada. This year,

the third date went to Winnipeg. Last year, they weren't going back because the two-year trial period was up. So they went to Calgary. I know the UFC likes Vancouver. I, you know, I'm in love with it. I think it's an amazing place. But I don't know if it's on the schedule and there has been talk of maybe doing four or five events in Canada next year. So we'll have to wait and see, but don't forget, I know it's not the UFC, but World Series of Fighting has a card in Vancouver in less than two weeks on December 7th, and it's a pretty good card. Georgie Caracanian versus Lance Palmer fighting for the vacant featherweight title.

Nick Newell is fighting, Anthony Johnson and Mike Kyle, their fight isn't happening. But, you know, it's a pretty good card, and, you know, it's Major League MMA coming to town, so I would hope that you would support that as well. Yeah, I got a quick bar story, and it's sort of similar to your. Matt Hughes' bar story when George St. Peter beat Matt Hughes, but I went to Seattle last week for the Seahawks game. I've never been to the NFL game, and me and a bunch of my buddies went out to Seattle, and we booked the whole time everything in downtown.

We went to a bar, and everybody thought that Johnny Hendricks won the fight. And me personally scored at a draw because that first round was so hard to score. like both fighters had good moments and it was so hard score I had the third for GSP and the fifth for GSP and then two four for Hendricks

and the first one of the draw and everybody in the bar and we're sitting in where all the Canadians are sitting because a lot of Canadians made a trip out to Seattle to watch the Seahawks game and we're sitting there and we all thought the GSP lost

to look at my, I'm a huge GSP fan and Rory already lost the fight against the Lawler so I was already having a shitty day So then when he said, when Bruce Buffer announced and still the UFC Walter champion, the bar erupted, we left the bar chatting GSP on the top of our lungs. I almost lost my voice yelling GSP, and I will never forget that day. It was a really fun night.

Do you think he won, though? For a bunch of my buddies. I scored it a draw. A draw, really? It was a really close fight. So what? Which round did you give 10-10? I don't know.

Yeah, the first round, the scoring system is really, like you said, it's really messed up. It's a boxing scoring system. So it's so hard to score the fight because Johnny Hendrix might have, if it was a different scoring system, Johnny Hendrix might have won that round because that second round. He dominated that second round, and it was a lot more different than the other round.

He dominated that round more than GST dominated his other rounds, right? But since it was a boxing scoring system, I scored it 10-10, the first round. So it was so hard to score that a lot of my buddies saw GSP lost and I was watching that fight really closely in that first round It's sort of similar to the Alexander Gustafin and John Jones fight because everybody thought Gus has been won that fight and then Everybody went into it. I mean Dana White thought that Justin lost that fight and it was a I don't know it's hard to score that fight I watched a couple times I still scored a draw so that's about it

Wow. Thank you. Well, there you have it. Thanks, man. Thanks for the call. Yeah, no problem. Anyone else on the line? That was it. That was it. So, before we get to the questions, should we tell them about what the surprise was going to be, or should we just let it be? What do you think?

I don't know. What do you think? I don't know. I don't know how I feel about it. I mean, I feel like I'm pretty honest with the... Oh, there he is. New York Rick. What's up? Oh, am I on the TV? Yeah.

Let me see my phone here for a second. I just want to see, okay, nothing there. I feel like I'm pretty honest with the people, and I should be, you know, I made the hints of this being episode 209, and of course right here you see Nate Diaz, Graham Maynard, they're fighting this weekend.

So I will be honest and say, if you look at the schedule, you know they usually, we like to do all the interviews first, and then we do all the questions and, you know, the riffraff, if you will, between me and you. You know what I'm saying. Anyway, there was a slot there between 305 and 325, and I had booked Nate Diaz. But given their history with media, I didn't feel comfortable promoting it, and then we'd have to do the whole banning thing and blah, blah, and getting people's hopes up.

There was episode 2.9. It worked perfectly. And I thought it would be a fun interview to have before us fight against Gray Maynard and whatnot. So we didn't promote it, but we put that on our own personal schedule, not the public one. Unfortunately, as you see, it's 3.46 p.m. Eastern Time. No Nate Diaz.

Nowhere to be found, right? Correct. It's unfortunate. And I know his manager Mike Hogan tried very much to make it happen, and they actually agreed to it, but I told them, you know what, I'm just not going to put that extra pressure on him or anything. We're just going to book it. If it happens, it happens. It's a surprise.

And people are giving me crap. Oh, why don't you get a Diaz brother for episode 209? Do you not think I thought of that? Do you really think I'm that dumb as the booker of the show? Of course I wanted that. Of course I've wanted to have them on the show for a long time. And I thought there was a chance it might happen. But I don't feel that bad about it because publicly we didn't announce it.

Of course, we've announced it right now. but it was just gravy. It's been a great show. I really liked it. I mean, Mac Rice, I'll take that interview over a million Diaz interviews. But I wanted to give it to the people

they wanted to have it, and I wanted to have them on the show, unfortunately it didn't happen. I'm fortunate. You tried. Oh, well, of course, I tried. Yeah. I mean, it was scheduled,

it was penciled into our schedule. Right. Panned in, maybe, not even penciled. What do you think? Maybe. Who knows? I say pencil. Okay, fine.

Enough of that. Let's talk about Glory. You were there. What, what? We've got, like, a lot of questions about it. No, no, no. Okay, you want to just get it all out at the top? What do you think?

We should just answer the questions? There's a lot I want to say only because, okay, so I guess there are questions, but I just want to say, okay, well, let's go to the questions because I have all my points here, and I'll probably get to it. Let's run it down. No, no, let's go to the question. Okay, before we get to that, before we get to glory, let's first talk about the tough finale. I just want to know, is there anything going down there as far as bets are concerned?

Is there anything? Let's see. The odds are out. We should make it clear that Mama knows no longer making picks. She retired at the top. Unlike GSP, she is walking away at the top of her game after defeating, annihilating New York Rick. And there are some talks right now that she might even start her own Twitter page and just give out the predictions rogue style. just like drop them on people like atomic bombs. We're in discussions, negotiations, so to speak. But stay tuned for that. For now, let's just, you know, because people do like it and I like it.

I like knowing what's going on with the pick. So is there anything of note on Saturday? Interestingly, the main event is a very close fight. Betting-wise, Maynard is minus 140, D.S. is plus 120. That surprises me a little bit. I think Maynard should be a bigger favorite here. Maybe I'm crazy just because he's been out for a while.

Grant knocked him out and Diaz had that streak since the last time they fought. But I don't see Maynard standing with Diaz as much as he has in the past. I think he's going to try and take him down. And I think it's going to be Maynard that comes out victorious. You know what I like about this fight? The first time they met was on the Ultimate Fighter in the semifinals, right? Diaz won, ended up winning. the show. The second time they met was in 2010 when Gray Maynard won a somewhat controversial

decision. You know, the Diaz brothers talk about that, went a lot and say, look at his face, look at my face. And if you recall, I think a lot of people forget this, but BJ Penn, your boy was going to fight, you know, as champion in April in Abu Dhabi. And Gray Maynour, we thought that if he would have won that fight, he would have been the number one contender. But the UFC was so unimpressed with his performance that they gave it to Frankie Edgar, who a month before beat Matt Veach. He beat Matt Veach on the tough finale. He was supposed to fight Kurt Pellegrino.

But he beat Matt Veach, tough finale, and he ended up getting the title shot, and of course, history changed forever. But the UFC was very unimpressed. And remember, he then went on to fight Kenny Florian. It wasn't the most exciting performance, but they gave him the shot anyway, and then he fought Frankie to draw, blah, blah, blah.

anyhow, they meet at the exact same point again. They were both kind of in the mix for title contention when they fought in 2010. And now they meet coming off essentially, you can make the case the worst losses of their career, right? Sure. T.J. Grant knocked out Gray Maynard in May. Nate Diaz lost to Josh Thompson in April. And now here they are needing a win. It's not like one of those classic trilogies, but it's weird how they meet at the same points all the time.

Anyway, that was my little story about them. I was thinking about that. No, it's good. You seem pretty bored by it. No, it's good color. I mean, but that doesn't, I mean, I don't understand why Diaz is as close in the betting lines. Maybe I'm not thinking of something, but I, this is what I'm, I guess is the reason, is because the last time they fought, Maynard stayed on the feet with him, and it turned into a boxing match,

which some people would say Maynard lost. Some people would say he won. But I don't think this is going to be contested on the feet as much as the previous fights. So I'm thinking Maynard should be a pretty good bet for this card. Anything else? Let's see. Nothing that really jumps out at me. Do they have the lines for Ultimate Fighter finale yet or no?

I know the women's one. Oh, you mean like the actual tough fighters? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, because the fights were just like, I think they just announced the fights today. The females are fighting. The men happened like we knew who was on Wednesday. Oh, really? No, they don't have those listed.

You know watching the show? It's your deal. It's your problem. What happened? I thought you were into it. When was that? You were never into it? I started watching maybe like the first three episodes and as is the case with

really tough. I just can't do it. I like this one. And maybe subconsciously I knew that I was going to be working the tough finale, so I wanted to keep up with it. But it was a good season. At times it gets a little slow, and I still do feel like it needs a fresh coat of paint. But this was a good one. There was enough buzz, and I think the fights were good. It was weird. And it is very telling. And by the way, I said that to Brian Carraway, very telling that only two men are fighting on the finale and all eight women will get a shot at some point. Bazler and Morass are injured, but the men just weren't.

They weren't up to stuff. I mean, two of them miss weight, which is ridiculous. And the fights just weren't that great. The two best men made it to the finale, in my opinion, Holdsworth and Grant and that's that. But the women were great. And in case you're wondering why I was so into it on Saturday night, it's actually going to be, there's no like traditional post-fight show. but there's going to be a Fox Sports Live presents the ultimate final finale.

That's a weird name. Fox Sports Live presents the ultimate fighter finale, I think, special. So it's like a 30-minute special. And John Anick, Kenny Flore and myself, Walby Cajside interviewing the fighters and things like that. Not your typical post-fight show, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm very excited to be a part of it. So maybe knowing that I was going to be a part of the post-fight show and going out there to cover it, I was into it.

But I thought it was a good episode. A good season. But I understand if people aren't into it. We'll know the full card later on this week. But Rochalt, is he a favorite? He is a favorite. He is a minus 220. Walter Harris is plus 180.

Corosani Blanco, that's a good fight. It's a good fight, but that line doesn't really appeal to me either direction. So you're not down with anything? I mean, there's just, you know, this would be one I wouldn't have a lot of action on, except for Maynard. I think Maynard's going to control this fight. All right. Okay.

Well, that's the UFC action for this weekend. And clearly New York Rick is not interested in this card at all. I want to see the tough female lines. When they do come out, I'd be interested in seeing those for sure. It's Giuliana Penaena versus the winner of Raquel Pennington, who had a great fight against Jessamine Duke, and she fights Jessica Rikosi. If you don't know Jessica Rikosie, she is a legit female boxer.

who had, you know, I believe, 33 wins, three losses. She beat Mia St. John. She's a great female boxer and not a very good MMA record, but she's made it this far. She beat Roxanne Mottifery. And, you know, her striking, you see her strike? It's fantastic. Her groundwork, not great.

I'm very curious to see what happens between Pennington and her, but her striking, I mean, you can make the case for her being the best striker in the women's division right now, just given her background. She fights someone like Jermaine Derryondami would be incredible. Even her versus Holly Home. Can you imagine that? It would kind of turn into a boxing match, but it would be a lot of fun. I just want to see Holly Home versus anybody at this point.

That would be nice. Okay, let's go to the questions. And like I said, Bellator is done. So there's no Bellator. And it was a pretty good end to their season. Schlomenko is great. And the way he brings his kid out there. I know you love that.

I mean, it's so Michael Jackson-esque. My favorite thing about Schlamenco is his post. post-fight interviews. He always says something that's just kind of like super badass, broken English. Yeah. And it's just an instant quote that that will live in it for me. But did you see what he did with his kid? Up down side to side. Like didn't know what to do with it. Shook it like Michael Jackson in that hotel room. What the heck's wrong? Over the balcony. And also he brings this kid. I hope he lives in the United States because if his kid is flying from Russia all the time sitting at these events at 10 o'clock Eastern time or whatever time it is where he's fighting, I mean, that's not

very good parenting. He is a great parent because it's clear that he loves his kid and he wants to be around. But come on. The kid should be in bed by like six by the prelims at best. What are you doing, bringing the kid? And also, bringing the kid into the octagon or the cage, whatever it is with your gloves. It's just a weird scene. It's weird.

I get it. I mean, it's his job. He wants his kid to be involved. I get it. All right. All right. Let's start with, we've got some tough questions. T-U-F, not a, not hard ones. Wednesday marks the last episode of tough 18. What would you guys mark this season out of 10? I found myself tuning in every week. It was a

great season. Well, clearly, you were not impressed. I give it, it wasn't bad, it wasn't great. I'd give it the same grade. I'd give any tough, see. Well, I saw like the first four. Yeah. And then I just stopped. But I still watched the fights. I always, you know, watch the fights, but then. Oh, okay. I'm going to give it a, I'm going to give it a seven. a 6.5 slash 7. That's pretty good. Well, I mean, I enjoyed it. The women, like I said, on the MAA beat,

I am thankful for the women, for them coming to the UFC and giving us a whole, you know, new, you know, perspective on things. They bring interesting stories. I mean, some of them are our mothers. Some of them have these great backgrounds like Rikosie. I mean, they're just, they're so happy to be there.

Katz and Gano crying to the cage on her way to the cage when she fought Misha Tate. I mean, they just, They bring in a fresh perspective. And I really enjoy, you know, I really enjoy their fights. I enjoy watching them. And we know some of them like Bazelor and Modifery. I mean, Modifery, she's the best.

You know that, you know, we love talking to her and love her attitude. Do we still have the happy warrior? What happened? This would be a good time to have the Happy Warrior fan. Where is that thing? Did you steal it? No, we didn't steal it. It's in the box somewhere.

All right, all right. But anyway, the reason why it's, you know, just above, of 50% the men. The men didn't bring it. The, the, and you would think, I mean, Bantamweight division is not the most loaded division in the UFC. It's a developing division. You'd see some guys. Two guys missed weight and didn't do so in the most, you know, graceful fashion. And the other man, I just, I wasn't all that impressed with them. So they kind of brought the women down. I kind of wish it was just 16 women, to be honest. So that's why. And Misha and Rhonda were great. I want to mention, I want to talk about Ronda and just say that, you know, I was the one,

who was saying the double-turned stuff, and I could see it happening, but I think she came around, and at the end, we saw her for who she was. She, you know, she is the type that is going to flip you off. She's going to say how she feels, but she didn't, at the beginning she was coming across, like, watching it rubbed me the wrong way, the way she was reacting to the losses, the way she was reacting to Misha. By the end, she was just a competitive champion that wanted to beat her opponent, and I like seeing that, and I don't mind the trash dog. So she came around. At first, I thought that this was going to going to be a very, very bad show for her. But by the end, with her winning that mountain climbing contest, they're cutting the weight to prove that you can cut weight, and it's just a mental thing.

They didn't show that on TV, but Jessamine Duke said that in a blog. I think she's back to who she was. Back to the fiery Ronda Rousey, back to the edgy Ronda Rousey, back to the one that so many people like and others don't like. But she didn't lose anything by the time the show is over. So I think that's worth saying. But that assumes that these people came back around. I mean, if she lost them initially, that doesn't guarantee that they come back. Very true. It's a very good point.

If they're not pleased with their attitude. Very true. Our next question. How many tough 18 cast members should get UFC fights? Early in the season, I heard some journalists say that they thought a record number of cast members would get at least a single fight in the UFC after the completion of the tournament. Outside of the finalists, which are the fighters from the season of tough deserve an opportunity to fight in the UFC? And how many will actually get fights will all the female fighters get an opportunity? Now, this was asked before the news of today.

And I think the UFC A sent a message by doing what they did. Only two men are getting a shot, the ones fighting in the finale. And I even think that whoever loses between Grandin-Holdsworth deserves another shot. And all eight women are going to get a shot in the UFC. And I think that's great. I'm curious to see what the matchups are once they announced them on Wednesday. But they nailed it. They need more women.

I think they're all deserving. The point of the ultimate fighters is to get emotionally invested in these fighters. and then watch them grow. I think that worked. They all came off. I could tell you about each and every one of them. The men even kind of blended together, and I watched every episode.

And by the way, it's the first time I've seen every episode of the Ultimate Fighter since season 10. So that's kind of an achievement in itself for me. But they got a right. All eight women deserved it. Only two men deserved it. Weight-heading, Untuff.

What is your take on this issue? Two fighters missed weight this season, and since proper weight cutting is crucial issue for a fighter, do you think the UFC should use Mike Dolce on the show? I don't know if the UFC can risk another 20 pounds in 24-hour situation like season one of tough after a death linked to weight cutting. The problem is you're not in the UFC yet. You're on their show, but having Mike Dolce there, I feel like it's, you know, I think a coach would be wise to have Mike as an assistant coach, and he's done it before. And he's doing it for the upcoming season with BJ Penn. That's right.

But I don't think the UFC should help the fighters cut weight. They're not. not in the UFC yet. This is on you. This is like you're fighting in a local show trying to climb the ranks. So I don't think that they should do that and sort of mix in, so to speak. But the guys got, I mean, look, it happened twice, but there were really, I mean, those guys weren't cutting weight properly. Gutierrez was eating and just being kind of cocky about it. And, you know, he gave up. He'd even try towards the end. And of course, you have to listen to your body and I get that, but, you know, they, they showed signs of not taking care of their body properly. And other fighters who do take care of their bodies, who are, you know, look at Julianne Pena.

Like, she was in a room just doodling all day, not talking to anyone, not getting immersed in the whole reality TV scene. And she may wait and she was fine and she's pretty big. So I don't, I don't think that the UFC should do that and they should let them just be who they are. and once they get into the UFC, then you can help them with whatever you want or at least, you know, open those doors for them. But I don't know.

It's a bit fighter. You're there for one reason and one reason only. You have no distractions. How do you mess that up? How do you get on the show, take someone else's spot, and not make weight? I think not only should they, you know, help fighters make weight, this should be important for them

and it should show who really does want it. I mean, the... Wait, you think they should or shouldn't help them? Shouldn't help them. Yeah, okay. I think that they should have no influence in it. And, in fact, it's beneficial for them to not have an influence in it

because you want to see who actually does want to be there. If you're coming in that far overweight, you don't want it. That's your fault. That's on you. I just can't imagine going through the whole show. I couldn't agree more, and I couldn't imagine going through the whole show and being away from your family and then not making weight.

It's the one part you can really control easier than the others, and that's your fault. And you know who came off really well, David Grant, who was supposed to fight Gutierrez, and he was emotional. He didn't want to make it to the finals this way, and I got to give him props. And Gutierrez, remember, Gutierrez took the buy.

He took the buy after Bollinger. That's the weirdest thing about this. He actually was affected positively about a guy missing weight, and he misses weight. Took the buy, and seemed very happy to take that by. And it was kind of weird. Can you imagine being in the house and everyone fought, and you're the only one,

and now you're in the semifinals because you took the buy? You take the buy, you don't make, make, make weight. And then your opponent is kind of annoyed that he didn't get to earn his shot in the semifinal. So Grant, I think, came off well. And, you know, he gets me with the whole father thing. And Holdsworth is a great talent. So the right two guys made. And I'm not trying to knock the four other guys who, you know, didn't make it and also made weight. But it doesn't seem like their UFC caliber just yet. But man, you go on that show, you have nothing else to do and you miss wait. You know, I know Gabe Ruder got another chance, but I think they should wait a very long time

before giving those guys another chance. You took someone else's chance. That sucks. Here's a possible fresh coat of paint for tough. In the past Q&A at UFC 167, a fan in the audience asked, what did the UFC Hall of Famers think of the idea of being coaches on the ultimate fighter? Team Gracie versus Team Coleman sounds great to me. Well, everything that I've heard, and you can't get a lot of information, Mark Coleman is a huge star of the next season of the Ultimate Fighter, Tough 19. So I'm really looking forward to that, and it was great that B.J. put him on his team. I said that before that they announced Chil Sondon versus Van der Lees Silva for Tough Brazil

number three, I said that Henzel Gracie and Hoys Gracie would have been great, even if they don't fight. I don't want to see them fight. I don't care to see them fight at this point, but just that rivalry, family rivalry, we know about some of their issues, that would be great. and I agree You know back In the early days Like tough two Franklin and Hughes

They didn't fight Tough four My favorite season There were no real coaches They were just guys I wish they would go back To the comeback season Given where the sport is now

How many X UFC fighters Are out there How much the sport has evolved How many more events there are there are a lot more ex-UFC fighters, you know, roaming around the local scene. It would be so interesting to see them come back. We know who these guys are. We're already emotionally vested, all that stuff.

And then they fight to get back in the UFC. You don't even have to make it for a title shot. That was a great stipulation, but I don't know if we'll go over too well in this day and age. But, man, I would love to see that. That was my favorite season by far. And ironically, the lowest rated season, but I really enjoyed it. And in that scenario, you can have Hall of Fame coaches. I don't think you're alone in that.

A lot of people are calling for the comeback. Another one. But they don't, do you see, they don't seem into it for some reason, maybe because of the ratings. Our next question, will Nate show up to fight Maynard or attend his high school reunion? Well, guess what my first question was? That was, that was it.

I wanted to ask him about that. Not so much that, but I, uh, I wanted to ask him about, you know, just all the comments he made. He, even when he said that he found that I was only going to be a three-round fight, he's like, oh, I might be busy. that day. It's pretty hilarious. Maybe that's what he's doing now. Maybe he's preparing for the reunion. Getting a nice suit. You think there's a chance? Getting suited up. You think there's a chance he doesn't show up? Maybe that's why he missed the interview today. Are you into this fight?

Does this fight mean anything to you? Oh, of course, because both of these guys are coming off a loss. I want to see who rebounds and puts their career back on track. I mean, Nate, less so than Maynard, because we haven't seen Maynard in quite some time, and it was a pretty brutal knockout. out. Actually, I mean, Thompson's headkick was pretty brutal, too. Remember the slow-mole of that? Yeah, I'm very interested in this fight. I like both of these fighters. They're two of my favorites, actually, even though their styles are so contrasting. And I'm definitely interested in this one. But that's, I mean, that's about as far as it goes on that

card with fights that really interests me that much. Would you be annoyed if you had to fight after Thanksgiving? Is that a big deal to you? Got to control yourself. I mean, would you be annoyed by the timing of it all? It's, I didn't grow up with Thanksgiving. I love it. I see. I see.

But like, this is not something that, you know, is part of my family tradition. For most people, that would be, that would be a tough one. You definitely don't want the fight scheduled like that. Is it worse than Christmas? In terms of, oh, yeah, for sure. Because it's the only one with no. It's associated with eating almost exclusively. Right.

You sit on the couch, you watch football and you eat. Yeah. Um, in American culture. So, um, that would be a tough one if, if I was, contracted to fight right after Thanksgiving. Yeah, I feel bad for those guys. But I mean, you signed on the dotted line, so that's your,

you know, you agreed to fight after Thanksgiving, so I don't feel, you know, it's not unreasonable. Of course, if you're someone like Rochalt or the tough guy, I mean, you're not going to turn down the fight. It's just the time. And typically, the UFC doesn't do a fight this weekend. They haven't done one as far as I can remember ever. But, you know, the schedule is so packed,

and they have a show next weekend in Australia, then they have another one. They could have done the back-to-back, the Friday, Saturday, but I think there was something with the schedule that affected that. So there you have it. Here's our next question. Do you think that the winner of Diaz Manor could realistically fight for the title in 2014-15? Both have suffered massive setbacks this year, but Lawler and Belford have both shown that redemption is only a few wins away.

Yeah, a few wins. I mean, think about the line at 155. I mean, you know, T.J. Grand is going to be close. He's going to have to fight someone, but he's going to be close. you've got Josh Thompson, who has also promised the title shot. He's now fighting Benson Henderson. Benson is still very much in the mix. Habeemn Mugamatov. He is definitely in the mix. So, I mean, there's a line of guys forming right now at 155 pounds. And, you know, Anthony Pettis is out until at least the summertime. So, you know, by the time he comes back, things will get sorted. But, you know, I don't think there are one one away, maybe three, something like that.

They've got some work to do. I think both fights would be interesting, and they're, you know, Diaz is helped by the fact that Benson is no longer the champion because he got a title shot against him. And Maynard, you know, is helped by the fact that Edgar is no longer a champion. So, you know, both two fresh matchups. I would think maybe two or three wins and they're back in the mix, so to speak. And by the way, I was very much against Ronda Rousey being out for so long. But now I actually think it was a positive other than the fact that we didn't get to see her first. fight. I mean, it's been a while. It's going to be 10 months since we saw our fight. But I think it

allowed for the division to develop. And, you know, remember when she fought, we were kind of wondering, you know, after Zengano, what would happen. Now a list of people has started to develop, and I think it actually helped the division. So it was actually a good thing in the end. Yep. I mean, it's not always necessarily bad that there's so many contenders because there's not one who becomes a clear contender. So that kind of, the other guys have a better shot, in my opinion. Even though the line may be longer, it's easier to skip the line because there's not that one or two guys that must get a title shot. Yeah, and there's also Dosangos out there who is on a winning streak, but I think a lot more people, I mean, he's not that popular. He's not blowing people away.

So he's kind of on one of those like Costa Philippa type winning streaks. You know what I mean? Yep. Next question. Do you think if Ben signs with, this is about Ben Asgard, do you think if Ben signs with the World Series of fighting and has a couple of dominating performances, the UFC will then offer him a contract. Okay, keep going. No, I was just agreeing.

Keep going. Or do you think Dana will never sign him because it was boring grinding style? I definitely think the former. I think, you know, even Dana when I spoke to him on Friday, he was even mentioning World Series of fighting. He even told me he likes those guys. I mean, I think that they want him to go out there

and test himself. Now, does he need to test himself? I mean, has he done enough in his athletic career to deserve a shot in the UFC? I think so, but for whatever reason, they're not convinced at least right now that we know of. And, you know, there are definitely some interesting fights for him at WSOF. Fitch, Berkman.

I know he said that Carl couldn't get through the tournament in Belator, but I think he's a much better fighter now. And then, of course, there's Paul Harris, and that's the fight I would do right away. That's the fight that I think could be huge for World Series of fighting. So you can make the case for there being more – the problem is that this is a step back for Ben Askeran. I mean, you think about the kind of ratings that WSOF gets on NBCSN, you know, 200, 250, 300.

And then you think about the ratings that Beltaire is getting on Spike, 8, 9, a million. It's a step back. Even though he, in my opinion, will have a tougher time in WSOF, if he rolled the dice here and didn't get into the UFC and ends up in WSOF as a non-champion, you got to view that as a step back as far as the exposure that you're receiving is concerned. I agree with that. But also, I mean, I feel like at WSOF, the guys, especially, I mean, John Fitch, was cut from the UFC or not re-signed or whatever the case may be with their fighters. And it's going to be easy to, you know, just paint broad strokes and say, oh, he beat him, but we didn't even want him in the UFC. And I feel like, I don't know if there's anything Ben Asking can do outside of the UFC to prove that he's worthy.

I don't think that I think he just needs to have you know more great performances but the guys that Bellator was serving up to him and look like now Ascran versus Lima or Rick Hahn I'm Jay Haran I mean he was in the UFC

after that fight whereas Fitch was on his way out you know what I mean I think that what Ben Ascran has to do is finish somebody and decisively and it doesn't matter it doesn't matter if he beats John Fitch

he has to take John Fitch out And then maybe the UFC starts paying attention. But I don't think if he dominates John Fitch on the ground, it's going to do anything for his stock, honestly. I think it's going to be exactly where it is now. And by the way, right now, I want to see him in the UFC. I do think he deserves it. But for whatever reason, and I think the biggest reason is UFC just doesn't want to play into Belator's hand. I think Belator did kind of hurt him by throwing out these deals.

And the UFC's not going to play that game. They don't want or need Ben Ascran enough to play that game. So even if they take him now, they're not going to want to roll the dice on him. It's totally different than Hector Lombard. They've already released him. That's our next question. Let's address that. What happens with Ben Ascran if the UFC does sign him in the coming weeks?

Did they launch him to the top 10 of the division and see how it goes? Or did they slow build him on the prelims against guys he should beat? No, I think you put him against the top 15. You know, I like the Roy McDonald idea, but apparently he's, fighting someone else, I like the Damien Maya idea. And off the top of my head, maybe Damien Maya is going to fight Roy McDonald, right? That kind of makes sense. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. I didn't even think of that until you just said it. That's a pretty nice fight. Smart. Well, you look at the top 10 right now. Look who's in the UFC top 10. GSP, Hendrix, Condit, Loller, McDonald, Ellenberger, Maya, Shields, Brown, Campman, Diaz. Shields v. Ascran?

Do you want to see that? doesn't get me too excited you know it gets me excited Loller versus Ascran But also Will he wrestle Loller? Yeah Of course he will try

I mean You need someone who has that well-rounded game and that's why I thought the Rory fight was good Damien as well Take down defense has been incredible lately It has he really he really hasn't proved it And if he could shake off Ben Ascran

That'd be I mean That would be big That'd be huge But does Ascran deserve a fight against Lollar In my opinion no Right He has to prove himself Condit versus Ascran is such an interesting fight because if you can beat Carlos Condit,

and I don't think, I don't mean to say that Carlos Condit is a gatekeeper by any stretch of the imagination, but he's got great take down the fence. He's obviously a tremendous striker. He doesn't. Yeah, he does. No, he does not have good take down defense. What he has is the ability to get up and hurt you after you take him down. His take down defense is very not good.

Really? You don't like all? No, he gets taken down quite a bit. Because of the GSP fight? Hendricks Rory he's he has lackluster take down defense but why that's so interesting

is because almost nobody is better at once they're on the ground getting back up using it to their advantage and hurting you once they do get back to their feet that's why I would be so excited about Carlos Condit versus Ben Ascran versus Ben Ascran I think that's a great fight of course he's fighting Matt Brown next but

well sure yeah but I think that just style wise that match up I think that'd be great you know it's another good fight Katman versus Ascran Katman has underrated taked taked down defense For sure And obviously a great striker as well Here's our next question about draws

The problem with MMA judging isn't that draw Oh I'm sorry I think this is a question It's phrased a little weird Is the problem with MMA judging That draws are almost forbidden If it was more accepted People would less argue about insignificant take downs

The difference between body shots and head shots Aggression and counter striking etc some fight decisions are made with micro details because it's almost written in the unified rules that you have to absolutely declare a winner. Some fights don't have a winner and shouldn't have one. Is it only a promotion and marketing problem? I think the judges just don't like giving out 10-10s. And that other caller was right. I mean, you could make the case. I don't think it was a clear 10-10. But you could make the case sometimes that a 10-10 was warranted. They don't like to do it. There was a big fight recently. I don't remember which one.

What was the one fight that I gave a 10-8? And it ended up being a draw, and everyone said I was crazy. Very recent. Do you remember? Sounds familiar, but I'm not remembering which a fight it was exactly. I tweeted that I thought it was a 10-A and everyone thought I was crazy, and that would have made it a draw different. But I just think that the judges are so, they're so locked into 10-9.

They're so locked into 10-9, and for whatever reason, they don't stray away from it. There was a card this weekend, Bellator, where they gave out a couple of 10-8s, and it was nice to see, but I just think that the unified rules of MMA do not clearly state what's a 10-10, what's a 10-9, what's a 10-8, what's a 10-7. I mean, look at you know, I know we're going to talk about it, but Gloria, I was watching the kickboxing and thinking about

the judging, and you clearly know what's a 10-8, what's a 10-9, and you even know going in, like, in that fight between Joe Schilling and Wayne Barrett after Schilling was knocked down, okay, you knew that he was now fighting at a disadvantage. You knew that that was going to be a 10-8. You knew it. You never

know. Even if they give them out. You never know. You can't really predict. I think 10.8 is less so troublesome or worrisome than 1010. 108, as long as it's consistent throughout the night, then I don't have a problem with it. You never know.

It's all just a guessing game. Oh, that was very dominant. Sure. But as long as it's consistent throughout the fight and throughout the night, then I'm okay. Whereas you don't see them a lot. But 1010, you just never see it. It doesn't happen. I wish I could see UFC 116 scorecard

Lesner Carwin like the first round right did they give that was that a 1010 was that a 10 8 it had to be I don't know if I could find it if anyone knows let me know yeah tweet us you know what I mean

sometimes it's it's a beat down like what more do you have to do to get a damn 108 yeah I agree don't get me started on 107s 108s 108s are tough to get but 1010 are impossible right I know the question was about 10 10 10 10 10 is I mean I can't even remember it's a unicorn someone tell me one's like last time we saw a 10-10. I think there was run recently in one of the undercard fights.

Do you see? Yes. But don't quote me on that, but I'm almost 100% sure that there was a 10-10 given out, but it was inconsequential to the fight, and that's why it really didn't receive any mention. Well, maybe our friends have fight metric instead of tweeting about the Miami Dolphins and other silly stats can give us the info. That'd be nice. Okay. Next question. Would Rory benefit from a change of teams? rather than sticking at TriStar, like GSP Rory is getting a lot of criticism for his current safe, nullifying style. And I wondered if you thought a change of camp could make him a significant difference for him.

Though he is predominantly a counter-striker with the Condit and D.S. fights in mind, he used to be a lot more aggressive and less calculated than compared to his recent Ellenberger and Lawler fights. By the way, Sahir Abbas reminds me that he says Alvarez versus Chandler, I had 10-10.

I actually had a 10-8, and that would have made it a draw. That was the one, right? That was the one, yeah. Oh, wait, wait. Wow. MMA Decisions.com has a list of all the 10-10s in history. There's got to be like less than 30, right?

Well, what an unbelievable site this is, MMA decisions. I'd say they haven't counted them, but I'd say it's something like that. The most recent one was Belford v. Henderson earlier this month. the Cesar Ferreira Muchanch versus Daniel Saraphian fight Douglas Crosby Yeah, I remember it being Crosby There you go

Prior to that A UFC 159 Well, the same Provolante fight That's kind of an anomaly Yeah Nicolence versus Diego Nunes UFC on FX7 So there you go

You want to know what the first ever recorded one was? Sure How about this? Tony Weeks The Man in Question from UFC 167 at UFC 33 victory in Vegas. Tony Weeks scored a 10-10 in the Matt Sarah Eve Edwards fight.

And also that same night, Douglas Crosby gave a 10-10 in the Jens Pulver Dennis Hallman fight. Douglas Crosby, I see his name coming up here a lot. But you know what I like? I see Jeff Blatnick everywhere, and of course he was a big part of developing the sport. So there you have it. Over at M.A. Decisions, you can see all the 10-10s ever. How about that?

What a sight. Let's see more of them. Let's see more of them. Help MMA decisions out. Give them more to do. So the question is, should he stick with a try store? I mean, look, I do admit, I do think that there's a trend there. I mean, you look, Kenny Florian, Miguel Torres, Roy McDonald, GSP. They all kind of fight the same kind of fight, right? They like to use the jab, which I think is a very underutilized weapon in our sport, as is the body shot. But they have a similar style. And, you know, I think Greg Jackson sometimes is unfairly criticized.

But TriStar, you can't deny that, you know, as of late, their fighters do fight a similar style. That being said, and I don't think it's necessarily the most exciting style, but that being said, I don't think Roy should leave because you can't deny what he's done since going to TriStar. You know, a guy bouncing around, it just doesn't. typically help your career. You know, he never lost up until Saturday night with them. He beat some very big names. And he did develop into a very well-rounded mixed martial artist. So I wouldn't suggest just one loss and you leave. It shouldn't work that way. It's an overreaction. Yeah. I mean, you were training with the champion. That's one of the best

reasons to stay there. You're training against the guy whose belt you want. And he knows what it takes to keep it. So I don't think there's any reason to leave TriStar. The fight was tied on most people's scorecards going into the final round and Rory lost one. That's not a that's an overreaction. That's not a reason to leave TriStar. So you want to hear something really funny. UFC, one second, one second, UFC 17, UFC 17, St. Pierre Hendrix scorecard. This is really funny. Here it is. So the only judge that scored the fight for Hendricks was Glenn Trowbridge, right? He also scored the McDonald-Loller fight for McDonald, which is a little strange. How about this?

My good friend on Twitter, Swiskin, sent me the scorecard for Karwin Lesnar. All right? And the three judges that night were Adelaide Bird. Tony Weeks, Glenn Trowbridge. Adelaide Byrd and Tony Weeks, who are considered to be two of the worst MMA referees out there, judges out there, scored the first round 10-8 for Shane Carwin.

Glenn Trowbridge scored a 10-9. I now believe that that was just a freak thing that he scored for Johnny Hendrix. So you're coming around to GSP, being the rightful... No. I just think... I just think it was just just, it was, I think Hendricks won, but I just think that he, like, you know, he caught a He made a mistake in his mistake. I guess.

I don't know. You think? Okay. Weird, but, uh, weird. I mean, that was clearly, that was a 10.5. Also on MMA decisions, they also have the, the, they rank the judges with the most dissenting decisions. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, I've seen that before. Number one is Cecil People is with 13. Tony Weeks, 12, Glenn Trowbridge with 11, Sal Diomato with 10, and someone Griffin, I don't know what his first name is. It's a real who's who at the top of there. It's like the guys we hear are the most. What a shocker. Where's Adelaide Bird? Anyway. Next question. Ariel, how was your glory experience? Okay, well, here's the thing with glory. I went, I enjoyed it. I actually really enjoyed it. I thought that the live experience was tremendous and you could make the case for it being better than an MMA live experience.

especially at that venue at MSG because the ring is on a stage and it's a ring and it's easier to see than a cage. And the fights are great. You know, Pat Barry nailed it. It's what a lot of MMA fans want. They want all action, no clinching, no groundwork. The rounds are shorter. The fights are shorter. It's a lot of fun.

You see knockouts and things of that nature. So I enjoyed the live experience. the crowd at first, it felt like, at least to me, like they weren't really all that into it. They didn't, you know, I don't know how many tickets they sold. I don't know how many they gave away. But when Georgia Prozion, who I was told was the greatest kickboxer of all time, and of course, I knew about him and never seen him alive, when he got knocked out by Andy Reistey in the first round of that tournament, it didn't feel like a big deal. It didn't feel like Chris Wydenne knocking out Anderson Silva. And it should have been a big deal. I disagree a little bit.

You felt like it was... I felt like the pop was decent, and I feel like something that contributed to it was the angle of the punch. But it was coming. It was coming. You didn't feel like this buildup of excitement and anticipation. Like, wow, this guy might actually lose this fight. It didn't come out of nowhere.

It's not like Petrosian was doing poorly. No, but it wasn't like he was smoking him. He wasn't. But I think the angle of it was part of that reason. Now, I also think that, sure, you're right, that, you know, some of the fans were not educated on exactly, you know, who Petrosian was and how significant this was. But I don't think the pop was bad. I thought it was pretty good. The pop was much bigger later on when Wayne Barretted, New York's own won, when the two heavyweights were slugging it out.

A lot of friends and family for the New York's own. Look, I said the scoring, I thought, you know, it's clear the 10-9 system, 10-point must system, that works. a lot better for kickboxing. But, you know, I pissed off a lot of people. And boy, are you kickboxing fans a sensitive bunch? Holy moly. But I pissed them off and I stand by everything I said. I didn't say anything all that bad. I was pretty positive with my assessment of the night. But I said, I can't help but wonder about some of these records that I'm seeing on these these kickboxing websites because the last three glory events, the underdog, a massive underdog, has won the tournament.

Joe Schilling won one in September, in October. Rico, what was his last name? Verhoeven. Verhoven. Rico Verhoven beat arguably two of the best, you know, Saki and Gita. He won that tournament. And then Ristie wins.

So what does that say? Oh, okay. the tournaments are unpredictable and these guys, that's great. But I start watching kickboxing all of a sudden, and the guy was supposed to be the best, lose to a guy that I've never heard of. And guess what? The promotion couldn't care less about.

When I went to the Knicks game on Wednesday, there was an ad that played on the scoreboard, come see the greatest kickboxer alive in action, no mention of his opponent. Guess what? The ticket. And I should have tweeted this out. The ticket says Glory 12 Petrosian versus TBD.

They didn't even have his name. And then I had all these people who were saying to me, well, how about Chris Wyman? And by the way, Andy Reesie has like 40-something fights under his belt. So he's not like, you know, some guy that they picked out of the crowd. How about Chris Wyman with nine fights beating Anderson Silva? Guess what? Everyone was picking Chris Wyman to win that fight. The promotion for that fight was as much about Chris Wyman as it was about Anderson Silva.

If you are going to promote that the best fighter in the world is fighting, you have to tell me about his opponent and build up his opponent as well. Because if he wins, he just beat this guy. If he gets through this tournament, he just went through the greatest tournament, lightweight tournament, whatever it was of all time. And he beat these two guys on the same night. But if you promoted, like this is a showcase for the best fighter against three other bombs, then you're not doing it right. You're putting all your eggs in one basket, and it looks like you have egg on your face afterwards. And you can't tell me that you are predicting this, that you match it up this way, that these guys deserve to be there. If the damn ticket says TBD.

Now, you're close to this. Was Ristie a late replacement? No. He wasn't a late replacement. So the promotion was Petrosian. Well, okay. Come see Petrosian fight. Exhibition.

It's fair in your main point, but also you have to remember that these are the top four guys at this weight class in the world. Um, so it's not like, you know, Ristie was some, as you said, they didn't pull him out of the crowd. He wasn't somebody that nobody's ever heard of. He's one of the top four guys in the world in this sport. So him upsetting the number one guy is, it's monumental. You have to tell me that. You have to tell me that. You may know that, but I don't know that.

I watched the countdown to Glory 12. I mean, I watched the first half because the whole thing was about Glory 11. The whole thing was about Glory 11. The first half was about Glory 11. I saw it. It's like saying UFC 168 is coming up. It's going to be incredible. Let me tell you about UFC 17 because that was also good

and that will get you to watch 168. Are you crazy? 167 is done. It's over with. You've got to promote the next event. Why would the first 10, 15 minutes after a Bellator show be about the last event? How does that help you get excited about the one coming up? And then I had some people.

I had Mark Miller, the kickboxer, telling me. And even Bas Boone himself, Boss Boone himself of Glory writes me on email saying, Glory is just two years old. You got to, you know, when the UFC started, Gerard Gordova had 200 fights. It was building, 200 fights on his record and all these other guys. Guess what? Glory's not two years old. Kickboxing is not two years old. Kickboxing has been around way longer than mixed martial arts. And there's a reason why kickboxing has never been. I said them, so how's it working out for you here in North America? You guys have been around for so long, right? on the one hand they tell me kickboxing has been around forever don't adopt mMA's model don't don't adopt

their weight classes and the way they give out titles don't get me started on the title situation and then on the other side it's like oh we're only been we're only two years old give us some time no you you pretty much swallowed up k1 you have all the best kickboxes in the world and your sport has been around way longer than m m mb you don't get to play by those rules you have the best fighters your sport has developed but it's a mess and there's a reason why it's not popular here in the united states want to know the other reason. You have tournament champions, then you have weight class champions, and tournament champion is not the real weight class champion. It's so confusing. And Pat Militich himself agreed with me. And that's all I need. I don't care what any of you kickboxing fanboys say. If Pat Militich

agrees with me, then I'm right. You know I'm right. You being you New York Rick. You know I'm right. You know it's confusing. You tried to explain me the rankings. Well, the boss Boone writes me, the rankings are very easy to understand. It makes no sense. Rankings make no sense. I mean, point system, what are you talking about? Just do the damn rankings. Well, the basics of it is, you know, activity matters. That's why Petrosian would be under Van Rous Malin,

which is, you know, the main thing that people would be complaining about in the rankings, that Petrojan was listed as number two. And actually, I mean, that helps the case a little bit, is that he wasn't even the number one guy going into the tournament. But guess what? He was built that way. Fair. He was built that way.

And this loss doesn't change that. He is still considered... How does it not change it? He was just knocked out. What do you mean? He was just knocked out. How is his ranking not changed after getting knocked out? Oh, no, I'm not saying his ranking is not changed.

I'm saying he still considered the pound for pound. That's why it's a big deal. He shouldn't be. What? He shouldn't be. He lost. Is Anderson Silva not the best fighter ever now? Well, no.

Oh, ever, but he's not the best fighter right now. Oh, no. Well, Andy Ristie is the best fighter right now at that way class? Sure. But is he actually considered... the best fighter. Like, well,

there's other guys in the discussion. There's semi-shilt. No, no, no, in his weight class. Will he be above? Rankings-wise?

Yes. Like current rankings? Yes. Oh, no, no, no, of course not. Okay. I'm just talking about

his place in history. You're arguing, you know, that they build it as this, and that doesn't change. He still is that guy. He's exactly what they told you he was. Right,

but you always have to be prepared for the unthinkable because then you could say, look, that's the problem with what, you know, World Series of Fighting is doing as well. They're booking, you know, Marlon Marais versus these guys

that they're plucking out of nowhere. You always, and, oh, and this was the best, when the one guy said, when I was talking about the records, and I said, oh, well, the UFC pads records, too, these guys don't, you know, they really haven't done much. The UFC, you could be the biggest UFC hater. It is universally recognized that the UFC does everything but pad records. They do everything but, Now, up until that point, who knows what the guy's record is going into the UFC. But as far as who they match their fighters up against in the UFC, they do anything but that. And you know it. They don't give, there are no cupcakes in the UFC.

There are no mismatches. The only time there's crazy fights is maybe when there's a, you know, a late replacement and someone like a Camozy has to fight Jacaree or McKenzie has to fight Chad Mendez. But more often than not, they're throwing guys into the deep waters. Brock Lesnar fought Frank Mears in his debut. He was 1 and 0. But by saying that, you're a. essentially saying that kickboxing pads records when if you look at petrosian's record right he's

fought the best guys and and they put the best guy kickboxing has tournaments they put the best guys in these tournaments and he can only beat who's in that tournament and they are the best guys he's fought van russ malin before he's fought kiria has he fought ristie before i'm not 100% sure i think uh ristie may have been in a different way class all i was saying was all i was saying was it makes me wonder the last three glory events that I've watched, the underdog is won. So it makes me wonder when you tell me a guy is 76 wins. 76. I mean, even these crazy boxers who fight on the local scene don't have that many wins. Well, 76 wins. I know the fights are shorter and it's easier. They're more active throughout the year. But 76 wins. So let's see. In 2012, he fought one, two, three, four, five, six, six times.

That's a lot. Yeah, this is a lot. This year he fought three times. Two thousand eleven, he fought one, two. Why is this? Swin Blue. Oh, it was a new contest. So he fights around five to seven times a year, which is a lot. And he's been fighting since 2003. So he's been around a long time. All I was saying was, I can't help but wonder. I'm being exposed to it for the first time, and the favorites are always losing. So I'm wondering, should Glory get the credit for, you know, booking these great matchups? I wish I could give it to them, but they don't promote the other guys. Or are these guys just fighting guys that, you know, are on their level finally. That's all I was wondering. Well, my final statement on this is those are the top four lightweights in the world,

and any one of them winning isn't that big a surprise. It's significant because of Petrosian standing in the sport, but it's not like, you know, this was number eight, this was number 10, this was number 11. These are the four best guys. And that's, and I just wish it would have been built that way, right? Petrosian versus TBD on the ticket says it all. If you don't Believe me, I actually have... Well, you've got to start with your stars. You have to book the event. Yeah, but want to bill it as Petrosian versus Reistie four-man tournament?

Well, the ticket may have been printed before... Oh, come on. What do you mean? What do you mean? That's never happened before? Every UFC ticket. No, that's not true. I've seen tickets with TBD.

Really? Yeah. When does the UFC announce an event without knowing who the other guy's going to fight? Well, if somebody gets pulled... They usually do that pretty quick. I mean, for a main event, think about it. When does it happen? The main event could be wrong.

But suffice it to say it to say, but suffice it to say, Say it has happened, that there will be an unannounced opponent. If somebody's headlining the card and they announce it and somebody pulls out, then it will be TBD. And they have to print tickets, right? People are buying the ticket. They have to print it. And if there's no opponent, that will happen. That's just fight sports.

Yeah. Anyway, I'm right. You're all wrong. Let's move on. Okay. This addresses this a little further. Maybe we talked about it. With Petrosion getting caoed, it adds to Glory's list of big,

names besides Taran Spong that we were told were that we were told was a big name in kickboxing that has been caoed does that hurt their product at all or are they looking out that it's happening now and not in a year or two when they rely more on these names to sell fights basically is it a bad thing that these stars are getting caoed or is there a spin to it all i think it's 50 50 i think it's good that because those guys are still stars right you know you still want to see sake giata you still want to see um petrojan fight now you have other guys i don't just wish that they would build them up a little more. I just think that they would, they would, you get to reap the benefits of your promotion if you build up a guy because it's a, it's,

it's a double-sided coin, it's, they're both positive. If he beats him, you built up the opponent, he beats him, this is what we're telling you. He just beat that guy. He's still the best. If he loses, this is what we were telling you. That guy's a real threat. That guy's really good. They need to work on that. By the way, they also need to work on the live event experience in the sense that between rounds, between fights, I should say, there's nothing going on in the crowd. There are no videos, no packages, things like that. You can hardly hear the announcer, and you can, you can't even hear the post-fight interviews. So they need to work on that stuff. And yes, they're two years old, and I'll give them a pass on that stuff, but I'm not giving them a pass

on kickboxing. Kickboxing should have a 155-pound weight class, 170, 185, 25, 25, they should completely copy MMA. And I don't care that it's been around longer. it's not popular. It's never been as popular as MMA is today in the United States. So they should learn from them. Even if they are the older, you know, the older dog, so to speak. It's okay to learn from the new generation. How about this?

You're knocking the production from that aspect. How about this part of it? I watched Glory 12 on Saturday and thought it was very good. One simple thing I thought they did better than the UFC was the fighter walkouts. Do you think the UFC could improve their life vibe? Live fight production. And if, you know, people didn't watch it or are unfamiliar, Glory has huge screens.

The fighters walk out from a stage, come down to the ring. It's a pretty impressive setup. It's impressive, but I've never been a big fan of the ramp. I like the old school walking through the crowd. Everyone's touching you through the tunnel. That, to me, feels like old boxing. That's Mike Tyson. That's a big fight.

The other one is a little too showcasey, if you know what I'm saying. So I've never been a big fan of that. That screen is great and it looks good when you're there live. I think it looks a little cool. They're on a pedestal. But on TV, I don't love it. Now, I know you're going to say, oh, you're a UFC nut liquor, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, I just told you it's more appealing to the fan to watch in a ring than it is in a cage.

Without a doubt, 100%. You know, I like, honestly, if I was working, I prefer to watch the UFC events at home. I like hearing the commentary. I think the camera angles are better. When you're there, you end up watching the screens. So that aspect and the ring, especially when it was elevated like that, it was great. It was tremendous in a small venue. But as far as the ramp is concerned, I like it through the crowd.

I think that's more classic. I love the ramp and the screen, but you're entitled to your opinion. You also work for them. Oh. I just, I mean, I like the ramp in the screen. I like the pride entrances better than the UFC entrances. You're 100%. Those were a little different because they were really.

really grandiose and they came down a little different. Well, in terms of format, it was pretty similar. Not in terms of the dance productions that they put on and all kinds of... I love that. I love the dance production. But in terms of starting on a pedestal, here's the guy, check him out, spotlight, and then he walks down. I love that. There's nothing wrong with being different, but just my personal preference. With more and more UFC events put on around the world, what happens when Bruce Buffer has a sick day?

Who would you pick to cover an event for Bruce? Well, I would go with Joe A. Martinez. He was the voice of the WC Cage, and he was great, you know, especially when he did your eye favor. You know when he did Uriah Faber? Like, I wish he could just do Uriah Fabor when he fights in the U.S.C. U.S.C. did use him last year when there was a fight in Australia that Bruce Buffer couldn't do. Remember there was a back-to-back. It was Australia Friday night, and then it was the tough finale on Saturday night.

and they actually used Joe Martinez for that. So that being said, I think he's great. He does boxing. He does Invicta. I think they should use Joe Martinez if Bruce isn't available. Now, Bruce is obsessed with his job. He's a tremendously hard worker, and he is, you know, he is the gold standard, in my opinion.

So he's not going to give up that spot, even if there are a thousand shows next year. But if they need another guy, I say go to him first. He's next to our list. Let's hit him. All right. Oh, wait, this one's for me. Oh.

If they happen today, who would be the favorite? I'll hit these quick. You weigh in, too. Jones versus Velazquez at heavyweight. I think Velasquez is the favorite. You? Oh, they want my opinion? It's just for you.

You don't want to do it? Well, no, Jones versus... That's a tough one. Damn. Okay, I'll just do them. Wait, wait, who would you say? Velasquez? Jones...

Yeah, I said Velasquez. Yeah, yeah, I agree. GSP versus Hendrix, too. I think... Wow. GSP comes in as a slight favorite. Slight. Cormier versus.

versus Jones. I imagine that's at 205. I think Jones comes in as the favorite. Yeah. Cormier versus Velasquez. I think Velasquez is the favorite. Correct. But a year ago,

I don't think both of us would have said that, right? What do you mean? You're a big Cormier guy. Didn't you say that? Oh, I would bet on Cormier. I'm saying who comes in as the favorite. Right. I would pick Cormier versus either of those guys at either weight class.

Aldo versus Pettis at 155. I think Pettus is the favorite. I agree. Machita versus Anderson at 185, I think Anderson is a favorite. I'll answer that one after December 28th. Okay, now let's hit these. True or False, real quick.

Ben Ascran joins the UFC. Okay, this is for me, true or false? True. Ascran fights for a UFC title. False. Hendricks finishes GSP if they fight again. False. Rashad will fight Cormier next.

True. Rashad versus John Jones happens. False. Wydman's next three opponents will all be Brazilians. Hmm. True. Tim Kennedy beats Bisbing if they fight. False. I don't think that's the right term for somebody from Dagestan, right?

Oh. Dagestani? That's probably right, but not with an R in there. A Dagestanian fighter fights for a title next year. False. Joseph Benavides will become the first team alpha male champion. Oh, my gosh. True, but there's a twist. But you're only asking for true or false?

The loser of Nate Diaz-Gray Maynard retires. What? False. Bendo wins against Josh and he gets the title shot. False and he won't beat me in basketball either. Damn. Damn. All right, here's our last website question.

This is about you, Ariel. Just a question for Ariel. Big fan and fan of the show. As someone who lives and breeds MMA as their job, are you still as passionate and interested in the sport as you were when you first began? It seems as if you are. Do you ever get tired of it or does it ever feel like it's become like a quote unquote job?

Obviously being a reporter is totally different to being a casual fan. It's not like you have the option to just not watch certain events, press conferences, etc. Does it ever take its toll or do you still feel like you are living the dream and love the sport as much as ever? Bit of a negative question I know, but thank you. Actually, I thought it was pretty positive. I guess there's a negative slant. No, I still love it. I still can't believe that I get to do this for a living.

You know, we all have ups and downs, and there are certain things about just working with people and having jobs that you don't like. But this is my actual job. Like, today I woke up, and my job was to come here and do this show and just talk about mixed martial arts and talk to the best fighters of the sport that I cover. And by the way, even if someone would have asked me today, even someone asked me today, you know, you can go cover the NFL or the NBA. I don't want to leave. I truly feel like MMA is the best sport to cover. The athletes are so interesting. They're so honest.

They're so forthcoming. They're just each one of them, I just, each one of them has their own set of stories that I just, I just love talking to them. And then here's the thing. There could be 50 events next year. There could be 30, 40, 50, 60, whatever the number is. They could all be back to back. But it's not like covering the 54th game of the regular. season between the Bucks and the Sons, where the guys are just going through the motions and looking

towards the playoffs. Well, maybe those two teams aren't, but you know what I'm trying to say. This week, there's a UFC fight, and the stories are Giuliana Pena is trying to become the first ever female ultimate fighter winner. Gray-Maynor, Nate Diaz, they need wins desperately. Holdsworth and Grant, they need wins. Next week, Pat Barry is in desperate need of a win. Shogun Huah is in desperate need of a win. James Tuhuna trying to get back on track. Bigfoot Silva, Mark Hunt. The week after that, Joseph Benavides, is funny for a tell what I'm trying to say is every week, no matter how many events there are, there's a whole new list of stories and stakes and all kinds of stuff that wasn't in play the week before. Even though there's another UFC event,

it's like the playoffs all over again. It's the finals all over again. It's a must-win situation for that set of guys fighting on that card. And that keeps things interesting. It keeps things French, fresh. It never becomes complacent. There's always news. There's no offseason. It never gets boring. The most powerful man in the sport, so to speak, is Dana White. He's never a boring guy to cover. You know, women's MMA is coming up, new divisions coming up, new promotions coming up, guys changing organizations, changing weight classes, guys like Roy McDonald needing to reinvent themselves. There's always an interesting story. You could do this show every day if you wanted to, and there are people who do daily shows. Bottom line is, I love. I love it. I love.

I still feel the exact same way that I felt when I started this journey in 2007, when I dreamed of doing something like this, and I still can't believe that I get to do it. I still can't believe that I'm getting to go to an event on Saturday. I'm going to be on TV and I'm going to be doing stuff for M.MA fighting and I get to come back here on Monday and do it. It's an unbelievable job. And that's why when people come up to me and say, should I be an M.A. journalist, I say, absolutely, because the sport is still growing. The fighters are so accessible. More media outlets are looking for great people to cover the sport, and there's a lot of opportunities for young, hungry, professional journalists covering the sport. And I think it's an unbelievable sport to cover.

You know, are there as many opportunities? Is the money as great? Maybe it's covering other sports? No, but there's no fun or beat, so to speak, than the MMA beat, in my opinion. And I just love it. I love it. I feel the same way. Hopefully that never changes. And I can feel this way forever, because that would be pretty awesome. That would be a great life. We're moving on to the Twitter questions. Well said, by the way. Thanks. First question.

In an interview, GSP's long-time coach, Christoph Madoo, is that how you say that? Yes. He said that the next day, Dana apologized and said he won the fight. Do you know anything about that? Let me just say, I don't think that story is 100% accurate. Okay. That's fair enough. Next question.

With 40 plus UFC events being planned for the next year, do you think it's too much, or is it beneficial for the sport? Well, I think that's a story that has yet to be fully told. There's more to that story. If you listen to what Lorenzo Furtado said, a lot of it is about fight nights, a lot of it is about overseas shows. Still don't know if all of those are going to be televised here in the United States.

So, yes, on paper there are that many. And, you know, you see that picture that was tweeted out about global effing domination. They're trying to expand internationally. I think that's their big goal for 2014 and beyond. and I think this is a part of it. I don't know if all those shows are going to be necessarily, you know, your typical UFC events where it's all guys that you know, a lot of local fighters,

breeding those fighters. This is their attempt to make the UFC mixed martial arts a global sport, a global brand. So we'll see. You can make the case that this year there were a lot. And, you know, sometimes I tried, it's hard for me to answer that question because I have to travel and leave my family and, you know, go through all that. Once you're at the event, once you're there covering it, it's the most fun in the world. And I wish everyone could have

an opportunity to do it. It's the other stuff that isn't fun. So I try not to answer these questions emotionally when I say, you know, 30 events is too many. Because if I had to go to all 40, you would probably feel like too many. But as a fan, as someone that's home and looks forward to these events, like I was looking forward to watching, you know, fights this weekend that I wasn't that, like I'll be looking forward to watching the Australia card. It doesn't feel like a lot to me. It honestly doesn't. And I think that any journalist that complains about it being too much is only complaining

because for selfish reasons, for reasons that, you know, they have to cover it or they have to go to it, et cetera. And I know I've said it before. And I definitely do think that, you know, oftentimes less is more. But, you know, I always hear from MMA fans, I'm going to listen to them on this one. They don't feel that way. The tricky part is once you get in the habit of skipping events, that becomes a problem.

There's a snowball effect there. But if these are international events that are not seen in the United States that are not being publicized here in the United States, it might be a no harm, no foul situation. So let's see. How big would a victory for Misha Tate be as far as biggest upsets, oh, excuse me, upsets in UFC history? Well, what's the line?

Do you know what the line is? Are you still there? Were you talking to me? Yeah, it is up. I'm grabbing that real quick. Okay. I'm going to see what the line is. I heard you talking to someone.

That was Will's mic live. Whoa. Rousey is minus 1,000. Tate is plus 650. Get out of town. Yeah. Minus 1,000? Holy moly.

Well, is there a reason you think it should be less than all? No. But wow, minus 1,000. Wow. You know, I'm very curious to see how Misha does in this fight. Because of that whole be better not better thing, she does seem like a different person. Now, in the cage.

Now, being a different person doesn't change. No, but she fought too emotionally in that first fight. You saw the way she came out. She had the wrong game plan. She just wanted to go in there and rip her head off. So she's going to be a lot more conservative, a lot more smart in the fight. Now, on paper, you know, skill set versus skill set, athleticism versus athleticism. Rousey wins out for sure.

I mean, she's an Olympian. There's no reason to question that. But minus 1,000 is a lot. You've asked me who I think will win. I think Ron Rousey will win. Will that be the biggest upset? I mean, as far as actual betting line is concerned, wasn't... No, that's not.

As far as betting lines concerned, that's not. But what about in terms of place in history? No, I don't think so. Okay, I agree. I still think the division is developing. They're both developing as fighters. You can't say that. Yep.

With the recent 20th anniversary in mind, would any current UFC champ dominate UFC one? Any weight plus Ronda. Yeah, all of them. No, let's say, let's say which champion would dominate if you know because the weights were open right so you're saying all of them but which one would

dominate like oh well John Jones I mean all I everyone pretty much let's assume they're together oh they're all fighting each other that's how I'm reading it because obviously if you stick John Jones in there he'll dominate obviously if you stick Kane Velasquez in there

they'll dominate I think that's his question though No, because would any... He's saying that if there was an eight-man tournament with all the champions? Let's read it that way because the answer to the other one is, yes, every single one of them would dominate that competition. Well, it pretty much comes down to like Widman, Jones, or Velasquez at this point, right? What about Anderson? Oh, he's not a current champion.

Right. Yep. Maybe GSP, but at that point he's too small. GSP is not doing a dent to Cain Velasquez. So I'm going to go with... Sh, it's... Jones? I mean, I think it's...

I think Wyden's too small. I think it comes down to Jones and Kane, and I'd probably pick Kane. Yeah. The size is a big deal, and Kane's motor is that of somebody smaller. I mean, he's almost perfect to dominate that type of thing. He's almost perfectly built for that.

It would be fun to see, like, you know, the first round, Kane versus Demetrius Johnson. I wonder how Rhonda would do I don't think that would be sanctioned anywhere Rhonda would do well against you know people of similar size

in my opinion Yeah It's not like she's Okay what do you think of my Brian Carraway Question It's not that ridiculous I think

I understand This question is asking the same thing Man versus Woman Why are we going to I understand I understand where he's coming from He doesn't want to promote violence against I understand where he's coming from

That was the perfect answer By the way Perfect answer But it's not a crazy question. No. I agree. And you would watch it. Of course I'd watch it.

But his point about, you know, it not being a contact or combat sport, I mean, that's the answer right there. I know. I'd watch it, but I wouldn't. I'm not, I'm not pining for it. I am. And as I said, I think Rhonda would do. And I don't want to see punches. Very well against people her size.

So, I mean, a jiu-jitsu match would be fine. That's what I said. Well, you said an exhibition. I said a grappling exhibition. Yeah, I mean, I'd like to see that. Next question. What do you think of John Jones's comments about retiring at 30? Also, do you think he really has anything for Kane?

I don't believe the retirement. I mean, how many people have said this now? Anderson Silva said it. Bernard Hopkins said it. They all say it. They never stick to it. It's not happening. No way.

Unless he has a specific health reason or something, it's not happening. You're not going to leave at 30 in your prime. There's no way. Does he have anything for Kane? Yes, he definitely does. I'd love to see that fight. I told him, I think that's the super fight that's going to happen first. I think he does have something for Kane, too.

I'd pick Kane, but I don't think he's out of his depth against the heavyweight. No way. Great fight. Next question. Not a question. I am completely baffled by the Soroni v. Martin's matchup. Help me out here. It is a bit of a weird one.

The, you know, Soroni has a very big name. Martin's doesn't. but, you know, let's not forget, Saroni's coming off, you know, a win, and prior to that he had a loss, and it was a pretty bad loss. So you got to build them up. And, you know, the...

I learned a long time. Typically, I don't question Joe Silva and Sean Shelby. They, every time you think they have, like, a weird matchup, typically, usually. And there are some. McKenzie and Mendez comes to mind. There's always, it always like, oh, now I get it. Now I understand.

So, and plus, you know, Soroni wanted to be active. give Martin's a shot. Doesn't bother me. At first I was like, wow, really? I was very surprised. I mean, I would expect more outrage. Outrage. Well, I mean, earlier, you were complaining about squash matches.

Yeah. But let me tell you, well, first of all, we're not going to compare, are we going to compare Georgia Petrosian to his fight? I'm not comparing any specific fighters. I'm just saying you were, you seemed pretty up in arms about, about people's records.

I really don't. He's won, six. six in a row. If it turns out not to be... He just beat Derek Crookshank. And it was an impressive performance. Okay. Has a win over George Griselle. Had a bit of a lull in his

MMA career. But look, you got to build up the other guy. It can't be. I'll tell you what it's not going to be. Seroni versus TBD. It could have been. If you were booking this fight, it would be. Why? If you were selling a ticket to this fight. No, no, no, no. That's not going to be.

Let's see how much promotion he gets. Let's see how much this fight gets as far as promotion. It's not going to get much. Well, there's a reason it won't. I don't follow. The opponent is not sellable. Oh, stop it. Was Seroni versus Dosangos really promoted all that much?

Look, I think the UFC drops the ball on promotion a lot of times. Why? Because there are too many events. They got to pick and choose. I mean, how much promotion is Diaz and Maynard really gotten? with 167 just happening, 168 coming up. So if you want me to say something critical about them, there it is. Here's our next question.

What should be next for stun gun? Woodley, maybe. That's a good one. I was actually talking to someone about stun gun about what should be next for him. Woodley, that seems like a good one. Jake Shields? I like both those fights. You know, someone asked us this question after their fight in Brazil.

People are interested in. I'm sung that. I really do. You do. One of my favorites. Someone asked us this, and I said Shields because they fought on the same card. I have to admit, he is one of my favorites. I'm a little... Shields. I'm sticking with Shields. I like that fight a little better, the Shields fight. Look at that picture of Wydenman. Doesn't it kind of look like his pants are open at the top? Like the bad boy logo is pushed to the side, so it kind of looks like he like... It also looks like he's giving Anderson a piggyback ride.

Like the BJ Pen on his brother's back. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. here's one interesting one yes from coline brown yes do you know what that is yes i know who this is oh okay when are we going to get matt brown on the mhm a hour posed to you ariel hawani coline being his wife did you know that i did also the context clues made it quite obvious yeah so her name is mrs immortal yes um well i already i already replied to this one on twitter why you calling me out again announce it for the people Well here's the thing There's a science

To how I book this show And feel free We're pulling back the curtain here Yes feel free to get To get involved if you'd like But look I have to see If I'm going to attend an event And I know that a fighter is going to be made available

For the fight week interviews I'm not going to interview him on the show Because I'm going to see him there And typically it's better to interview someone face to face So that's why I have Barry on this week Mark Hunt No pre-fight interviews for a tough finale, so Julianna Pena, things like that.

You have to kind of massage and figure it out. That's why, I mean, we could get a lot of the headliners on shows, but I'm going to be at those fights, so you want to get them face to face. So Brown has been in a lot of big fights recently, but he's been at all the workouts and things of that nature, and we've talked to him. So that's the only reason why, but he is due. And I like talking to Matt Brown in person. It's a challenge, but not like in a bad way,

but you just kind of have to, you know, he doesn't, He doesn't necessarily love talking to the media, so you can't just go in there with your typical stuff. He brings out the A game in the interviewer, I think, or at least I try to bring out my A game. So anyway, I appreciate she's a very lovely lady. I met her and her daughters, and he's a very nice family man. And I told her, as I said in the message, very soon. I noticed a lot of people calling me out for... Well, if Colleen or Matt is watching, the best way to do it is to call you out in the...

post-fight. Sure. That's right. Jason High. How about Jason High fighting Adlan Amagov? Not going to 155. Not going to 155

and fighting a killer. Gosh. Actually, I think that's the next question. Maybe I'm wrong. Oh, okay. Let me see. Yes. This one's for New York.

I have Adlaan Amagov beating Jason High. Who do you have? You want to talk about it first? No, go ahead. I would pick Adlawn in this one. You're not going to go with your boy. I don't like the matchup for him.

I think Adlawn's man, it's hard to argue with what he did in his last fight. I think there's a chance if Jason, you know, can get in his grappling, which was impressive against Lapsley, but it's, Adlon looks like a killer right now. I'd have a hard time picking against him. I mean, if the line is, you know, something crazy, it might be worth sprinkling a little bit on Jason High.

Last time I did that, it didn't work out so well. But I think Adlaan is easily their favorite going into this one. and most people will be picking him. I'll be rooting for Jason. You'll be rooting? You're not supposed to root. Your media. You just said last week I'm not media.

Now I'm media. Well, this is why you can't be on the MAB. This is exactly why you root. If only we talked about the unfulfilled promises. Yeah, go ahead. I see your tweets. You see, I hope you do. I see your tweets.

It's propaganda. This is our last one. Oh, of course. I really miss Rick's picks. It's a nice way to talk about and analyze upcoming fights, put it back. I agree. But also, I'd like to just thank the people who've been campaigning for me on the MMA beat in the comment section on Twitter. I see it.

And I appreciate you all. Thank you. You know, putting Rick's picks back on the show would be like giving Chil Sun and a title shot. It's like giving Nick Diaz a title shot. It's like giving Frankie Edgar a title shot coming off a loss, not just one loss. Imagine they went on a three-fight losing streak and then got a title shot. you know what I mean you talk about

unfulfilled promises what about the whole thing where you were going to bet on like the minor leagues and work your way up what happened to that I'm still positive in that but I haven't

yeah you made one bet no no no no no made one bet no no no what happened to that that was a cool thing yeah it was so

you hold up to your end I lost my I lost my fire but now it's back you did like Rory like Rory was that a shot at Rory

you make me shot at Rory I'm comparing myself to him all right um Well, great questions today. That's it. There's some interesting news, just as a side note, because I've been talking about this weekend's action.

Of course, tough finale. But on Sunday, here in New York, Madison Square Garden just announced something cool called Grapple at the Garden. And the co-main event, it's wrestling-only, co-main event is, guess what? Philippe Nover versus Frankie Edgar. How about that?

Also, that's interesting, too, because they're also Henzo Gracie guys. Both of them. Yeah. Waylon Lowe, David Branch. Okay, so Team Hensel Gracie is going to go up against Team Joe Warren. Some of those guys will be on Team Hensel Gracie that I just mentioned. Team Joe Warren, there's Joe Warren himself, Sean Bunch, King Moe, Brandon Ward, Ryan Martinez.

That's fun. Oh, this is awesome. Yeah, it's great. Grapel at the Garden. There's also Bubba Jenkins versus Kyle Dake, who's the, the, who's the, four-time NCAA national champion and a bunch of other stuff anyway it's at the garden it's this weekend it's this sunday some m-mama names i like when the uh the jiu-jitsu's and wrestlings of the world bring the m-ma guys over it that's smart that's smart promotion unlike what glory did on

saturday anyhow that does it for us uh alfred you can hit my music i want to thank the good people over at need for speed rivals for sponsoring today's show Remember, Need for Speed rivals is the latest game from EA's popular franchise Need for Speed. And it's out in stores right now. There it is. PS4, baby. Fortunately, we can't give this away. But here it is.

No rules, no limits, no loyalties on the streets between cops and racers. Now, there are only rivals who will do whatever it takes to take you down. For more information on the game, check out NeedforSpeed.com slash rivals or Twitter.com slash need for speed. There you have it, my friends. Another great episode of the Mixed Martial Arts Hour, episode 209 in the books. And yes, we did try to honor that number, but unfortunately didn't go our way. But guess what? No skin off our back.

A great show nonetheless. I want to thank Johnny Hendricks for stopping by. And good luck as he tries to get another shot at the UFC Walterweight title. The Venezuelan Vixen. Great stories out of her and doing the show from her room. parents' house. Good luck to her in the Tuff finale on Saturday night. Jared Rochall wish him the best in his UFC

debut Saturday night in Las Vegas. By the way, the event is taking place at the Mandalay Bay Event Center, which I kind of like better than the MGM, by the way. Brian Carraway, great job on Tough and good luck. Two people actually hinted at fights and didn't tell us. How about that? Mack Rice, what an amazing

story. Our heart goes out to him and his family, and we wish him nothing but the best. A tremendous story, and it was so great to have him on the show. Pat Barry, good luck to you. Roy McDonald's. Best of luck to you as well. Thank you so much for stopping by. Thank you to all of you for checking out of the show. We'll see you.

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