MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 211

Episode Date: August 29, 2014

Featuring Mark Hunt, Daniel Cormier, Conor McGregor, Ben Askren, Josh Thomson, Duane Ludwig, Soa Palelei, and Marshall Zelaznik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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On this Monday, December 9th, 2013, hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani inside our New York City studio. If you're watching this live, apologies for the slight delay, but what's an episode of the MMA hour without a technical difficulty right off the top? We've got a great show planned for you,

and no time to waste. Let me tell you that this week's episode of the MMA hour is being brought to you by our good friends over at Glory, and Glory returns on December 21st with Glory 13 Tokyo. That airs on Spike TV at 9 p.m. Eastern. In his final fight before retirement, Peter Ertz takes on heavyweight tournament champion Rico Verhoeven, while Daniel Gita, he returns action against Errol Zimmerman. Also, the world's best welterweight square off in a one-night four-man welterweight championship tournament. Don't miss the exciting action that is December 21st in Tokyo.

How about that? They're going global. Once again, they're out of the United States, going to Tokyo, Japan, and we thank them for being a part of the show once again. So we have a jam-packed lineup plan for you. Let us talk about what's going on in the third hour. Soa the Hulk, Pollylae. He is coming off a huge win over Pat Barry.

I always call him Pollylai. It's actually Palleli. Back in the day, I used to call him Palli-Lay. It's actually Soa the Hulk Palleli. And, of course, he Hulk smashed Pat Barry on, Friday night in Brisbane. What a card that was. And of course, we'll be talking about that all show long, so do not fret. At around 325, I've got to plug in my damn computer. At around 325, UFC rising star, Connor McGregor, he will return to the show. It feels like every show, Conne McGregor gets called out. Last week, it was Luke Barnat. A couple weeks ago, it was Diego Sanchez.

is Connor McGregor stopping by at around 325 to talk about everyone calling him out and the latest going on with his knee rehab when he expects to return. Mark Hunt, he is the fighter of the week, the star of this past weekend and Bigfoot Silva as well. We got Mark Hunt coming back at 305 to talk about his amazing fight against Bigfoot Silva. A majority draw. It was on Friday. It was one of the greatest fights. It feels like every couple weeks we come on the show and say that was one of the greatest. fights of the year. Bigfoot Silva versus Mark Hunt was not only one of the greatest

fights of the year, one of the greatest heavyweight fights of all time. We'll talk to the Super Simone himself at 305. Ben Ascreen, he stops by. Is he officially going on one FC? We'll find out. What's going on with Ben Ascran? Let's finally get some answers here. So he stops by 245. Dwayne Ludwig. He has a very big weekend coming up. Team Alpha male, four fighters on the UFC on Fox 9 card. So Coach Bang stopping by, 225, Marshalls Lasnik, who's the UFC's chief content officer. He'll talk about the new UFC Digital Network at 205. We'll take your questions and comments using the hashtag the MMA hour,

leave them in the post below. We're actually taking those earlier this week at 145. So hit us up now and hit us up often. And then at 125, Josh Thompson, the punk, who faces Benson, Benson Henderson, a UFC on Fox 10, January 25th in Chicago. He stops by to talk about that fight. But first, let us go to the phone. lines and welcome in our good pal, the man who'll be making his light heavyweight debut on February

22nd at UFC 170, Mr. Daniel Kormier. Daniel, how are you? I'm pretty good. And it's a little under the weather. It's cold here in California. It's cold in California? I'm not really feeling all too bad for you, my friend. You know what the weather is like here? I'm not sure, but it still doesn't make it not cold here in California. It doesn't about how cold you are. It's still cold here. So it's cold there? And in you're sick? You know, well, you're not, you're, I'm colder than you are, so you're not cold. Well, it doesn't work like that, blood. So, so just because it's a little chilly there, you got sick, what kind of tough fighter are you?

I'm, man, I'm telling you. It's just you're not used to it, man. We want to wear shorts and sandals here, you know? It's why you move to California. All right. Let's talk about the nitty-gritty, so to speak. On Friday, your buddy, I didn't know you guys were that close, but Rashad Evans was on Fox Sports 2 saying that he is going to fight you in the main event of UFC 170,

five-round fight, light heavyweight fight in Las Vegas. Let's hear it from you. Is it true? Yep, it's official, man. Rashad and I are going to main event that card. My first UFC main event against a guy that I feel, I think Rashad's something like 22 and 3. You know, most people don't get records like that

without being, you know, real, really, really good fighters. You know, Rashad, won the ultimate fighter. heavyweight champion. You know, I think this guy's going to be in the Hall of Fame one day, so it's a true test to show where I am. I know that you've got to beat those types of guys if you ever plan to get a championship fight, so it is what it is. Hello? I can't hear anything. Can you hear me? Daniel, if you can hear me, I just lost my headphones, so I can't hear anything. I can hear you. I can't hear a single thing. Daniel, are you there? Yes. So, Sorry. I'm here. I just lost my headphones. But I believe everyone else was able to hear about, hear what you were saying. So let me ask you this. He seemed to have sort of a moral dilemma in accepting this fight. It seemed like he really, and this was different than the Chal Sondon fight. That one, you know, it was kind of built up that they were friends. But they were more just, you know, TV colleagues, so to speak. But it really seemed to bother him that he had to fight you. Does it bother you?

Yeah, it's difficult You know, like We talked a couple days before When we were hearing that the fight was going to take place And, you know, it was talk It was like, hey, man, we're going to fight We're going to give him a good show But then when you receive a bout agreement

You see a guy, you see a guy His name on that ball sheet It becomes a little different You know, because then it's real, you know To go a little different into Rashad and his relationship, you know, Rashad was one of the guys that even when he was riding high and

MMA kept his eye on wrestling Rashad actually had my Olympic team t-shirt you know, they had my Olympic wrestling team t-shirt. And if you guys remember the whole team Thursday thing was going on, you know, Rashout was the first guy to give that deal with the other of the guys that were

part of that whole group who were doing for a while with the T-shirts trying to help out with boys and girls clubs around the country. You know, and more importantly, the very first time I fought in 2009, about two months later, Rashad, he fought Tiago Silva, I think January 2006. And he had me out there's training camp to help him prepare for Tiago Silva, you know.

So he was like the first big name guy, you know, at the time, he was bigger than, you know, bigger than Payne. You know, King was still working his left to be in Champ. Rashad had already held the belt. And he was the first big name guy that actually brings into his camp and really helped and trying to go about my business in this sport. You know, so we stayed together for two weeks. I lived in his apartment and went to practice every day,

and I learned a lot from him. So did you not want to take this fight? Did you try to convince the UFC to give you someone else? Well, you know, I offered him up a whole bunch of different scenarios, you know, and this was the fight that was going to happen, you know. I would have preferred to have fought someone else, but, you know, the U.S.C. They're going to make the fight, and it's our job to fight.

You know, I mean, I care about him a ton. I think he's a great guy, but, you know, now it's time to get down the business, and we've got to go in that cage, and I've got to try to hurt him. I mean, I can't go into the cage feeling like I don't want to hurt my buddy, you know, because otherwise he's going to hurt me and beat me, and that will set me back, and it'll keep me away from attaining my goals. So how do you turn on that switch? How do you now view him as the enemy

as the guy that is really standing in the way of a potential title shot? And that's exactly how you have to do it. You know, he's the guy that's going to stop me from accomplishing my goals. I've always been a guy that's been real goal-oriented. I put something out in front of me, and I try to get to it, and I've been chasing becoming

a championship. And this is another step in that journey. You know, now I'm fighting at 205. I'm going to fight in the weight division that we're guys. to look for my size and where there's a real chance for me to be the champion, you know, so

as long as I was in the heavyweight division and games, I was holding that belt, I was just spinning the wheel, you know, I was kind of, I was just fighting and the chance to become champion wasn't really there, but now there's a real chance to become the UFC champion, and I have to view it as, as Rashad is

the guy that's going to stop me from doing that. Matchup-wise, do you like this? Obviously, he's known for his wrestling skills, but he's developed into you know, a solid striker as well. Do you like the way you match up against Rashad Evans in 2014, O.B. It's going to be a tough fight for me.

You know, he's a lot of the same skill that I have. You know, he's very fast as I was for the heavyweights. He's a good wrestler. He's got good stand-up. You know, he's a black-bone Brazilian jih Tjitsu. People don't, people forget that. You know, Rashat's top game is about as good as anybody I've seen, you know? so,

uh, thank you. I love for that. Daniel? Yeah, can you hear me? Yeah, a few times you're cutting out.

Wherever you are right now, just don't move, all right? I know you're very elusive. Yeah. I am. Sometimes, you know, I think I have the ability to,

uh, to, uh, to, to, to go to fire Rashad and, and, and make it a,

uh, a very, very interesting fight and, and the ability to try to impose my, my, my size, my size on him and, And in my wrestling, you know,

anytime I fight a restaurant, I hold it in a distance. I feel like I hold you advantage because in the sport that we all chose growing up, I'd have to the top of it, you know, and that means something. So, okay, you mentioned your size. How much do you weigh right now? I weigh about 234 pounds.

You know, I'm a little heavy. I got big after the fight. because I wasn't training. I got so busy with TV and I took a vacation. So I had like eight, nine pounds since the fight. You know what, man? I got into the other day and worked out of Woff. I was back to 228.

And I think that I got 11 weeks to the fight now. I need this next two weeks to get down to 224 pounds and start my training camp. And I'll be fine. I feel very confident that I'm going to be able to make that weight. And compete well. You know, I know it's, for some people around me, not my coaches, on my teammates with my family, they're all like, well, you're fighting a five-round fight, and your first time down, does that scare you?

Yeah. I'm like, no, you know, I've got the, I know how to compete, you know. And when push comes to shove, I've got to compete, regardless of how I feel, I'll go in there and do what I've done my entire life. Ariel, I've been competing at the highest level since I was 14, 15 years old. I wrestled in the world championships for 15 and 16-year-olds, you know, and I got third place. So I've competed at the highest level in athletics since I was a kid, and I've got to rely on that whenever I get into that cage. Does the cuts scare you at all, or are you at all anxious about it? It does.

It makes me very anxious, yeah, because now I'm on the phone with people every day. The people that are supposed to be the professionals, the people that do this, my nutrition company, the guy that cooks my food, people that are going to help me on this journey. I'm on the phone every day trying to see how I get a leg up on this deal because it's only six more pounds than I was having to make in wrestling. Actually, 206 will be two kilos, which is four and a half more pounds and I would have to make in wrestling,

which doesn't seem like much. But with my history, you know, it is kind of scary. But you know what, there's a guy, you know, Aaron Simpson, you know, he fought in the U.S.C. for a long time. And he cut weight with me with me. when we were wrestling. And Aaron would struggle to make 185, and I saw him fight 170. So obviously they know what they're doing now.

The way weight cutting has changed and the new approach that people have taken to it, you know, automatic body my company, Mike Dolce, Aaron Simpson and his crew, all those guys have a different approach to making weight. And not to mention the guy that makes my food at real fuel, you know, he cooks really good, healthy, clean food for me. and it all just kind of kind of shed the weight just kind of falls off. So tell us in a nutshell what is the plan to lose the weight. Like how much do you want to weigh, you know, six weeks out, et cetera,

and how are you going to do it? What's your secret? Other than just training, how are you actually going to lose this weight? Well, just eating very clean. I'm going to follow my diet that I've been on. I've got a great supplement sponsor, man. They do a great job with providing me the stuff that I need. I'm going to use Aaron Simpson.

He's one of my buddies. I'm going to use the guy at real few. I'm going to use my supplement company. I'm going to reach out to Mike Doche and talk to him too. I mean, obviously he's got this thing worked out pretty good. I'm going to use everybody to help me get this weight off and help me do it as safely as possible. I'm very, you know, I've got a family now, so I know I have people to live for. I'm not going to put myself at any risk.

I'm not going to be sucking off a whole ton of weight like I used to. I'm going to go on diet and down. And if I want to be, my 6'6 on, I want to be. 220, 225. I mean, in the cage at 225. So if I get too low, I would not be able to get back up 220, 220

pound by fight night. So you've got to be really careful. So if six weeks out of 225, I feel I'll be one of the cell. And I can step on the scale at 206 and hopefully be 225 by get back in your cage. And of course, you know, your issues with cutting weight in the Olympics

well documented. Are you 100% sure? Did you talk to your doctors that you won't have any health issues to battle on the way down to 206? Yeah, you know, I've talked to people. They're telling me that it's, they're telling me, they're telling me that it shouldn't be that big an issue. I've gotten smaller already physically than I was when I was wrestling. When I was wrestling, I was weighing, you know, upwards 245, 247.

One time three, before permanent, I was 252 pounds and got two of them. So I was just a lot of things and eventually caught up to me. You know, I'm going to put the fight weight this time, hopefully, because I don't only have to make the weight. I don't want to just go there to make weight. I want to go there to make weight and win and put myself in a position to fight for a championship. The concern that people around the have a lot of being a five-month fight,

I say, no way. I say this is great because what else will prepare me for a championship fight than fighting in a five-round fight? So it's an honor to headline to UFC. It's a great opportunity to fight a friend and a guy that I feel that will be a Hall of Famer when his career is done. And it's a great opportunity to put myself in position

to fight for the championship. I think it's going to make you guys work together on those Fox shows beforehand. I know the producers over there like that kind of thing. I thought that would be funny. You know, I put his voter on the show together. You know, we're breaking up. I fight each other.

But you know what, man, I don't think I know shot as a competitor. He wouldn't want to do that, you know, and as much as it sounds fun, I think we do need to try and distance ourselves to just make sure that, you know, we can go in there and give, you know, give the fans exactly what they want.

You know, we usually talk quite a bit, and it's going to have, you know, it's going to probably have to stop in order for us to prepare ourselves to go in there and do battle like we need to. You know, we owe it to ourselves, our families and our fans, to give 110% and treat each other as the enemy.

So, you know, with time and space, it's easier to do that. And I know you said you wanted to cut the line. Obviously, that's not happening at 205 right now. Do you think you'll need maybe even two wins at 205? Because, you know, you fight at end of February, at least right now, John Jones and Gustafsson are fighting, you know, in early March. If they both win, it sounds like they're going to have the fighting. Lower.

Yeah, no, no, I mean, they're fighting separate fights. Don't you be correcting me, Daniel Cormier. I know you're a TV guy now, but slow your role. I am. But if they win their fights, they're going to have to fight each other. So it sounds like you'll probably need two wins to get to that title, right? Well, I mean, if I've got to fight two guys, I mean, wow, Rashad has been number two for a long time.

Who else are they going to have me fight? You know, what I think is going to happen is I'll fight Rashad in February. Hopefully when the fight, then I can fight Glover. for the championship sometime in the spring or in the fall. I can fight Glover for the belt probably after he beat Jones. Really? You think he's going to win? Yeah, he's going to win.

I mean, yeah, I think he's going to win. Really? Why? He's a big, tough, strong guy. He can wrestle. He presents a lot of the problems that John Stinson and Gustafsson. He lent the Gold. Two, you know, Glover's got to be 6-3, 6-3.

So big guy, too, presents a lot of those. and I think just the performance like he did against Gustafin back to back I'm not sure if that's in him. Are you trying to take a little poke at him or do you really legitimately think Glover's going to win?

I think it would be too much for Joe to have to put together too like he did against Gustafin. If he does get past Glover, then Gustafin will beat him and Gustafin gets to fight him because there is no way he can put three of those performances like that back to back.

Not when you have to really dig that deep. Not many guys can't. Dig deep to win these types of fights. You know, obviously we've talked about your back and forth with John. He takes shots at you on Twitter. Never tags you, but still takes shots, and you get annoyed about it. And I asked him about this recently, and the line that I thought that was most interesting was this one.

He says, it just kind of sucks because both of us being African-American guys in the sport, I think we should get along and respect each other, but that's not the case. And he also confirmed your story about him, you know, coming up to you and maybe you took it the wrong way. But what do you think of him, you know, playing up the African-American thing? You know what, man? Like, honestly, like, I don't – listen, we don't have to be friends because we're both black. Let's just say it. We don't have to be friends.

I want to be cordial with John. I could still be cordial with John Jones. I just – we've never spoken to each other since that time. it wasn't about me him not knowing who I was why would he know who I am nobody knows who wrestlers are I mean I'm a wrestler

I've gotten used to walking along my own pounds people not knowing who I am I'm not going to San Jose now people don't know who I am that doesn't bother me what bothered me was if you the way he said it

was I was trying to find a way to break the ice is that the best you could come up with was to talk somebody like come on if you're trying to break the ice that's the best you can come up with you understand what I'm saying yeah

You've got to be able to come up with something better to break that ice. Why not be respectful? Hey, I'm John. Hi, I'm Danny. I know who you are, John. Nice to teach you. I think you're doing great things in the sport.

That's what would have happened. But instead, you come up with an insult to break the ice. It just makes no sense. He's socially awkward. He doesn't know how to really deal with people, I don't think. Wow. And you think he's going to lose that. That's fascinating stuff.

By the way, a couple more questions before we let you go. You recently signed a new contract with the UFC. Are you happy with the deal? Very, very happy. Thank you. Dana Lorenzo, I hope you guys saw my new truck. I'm very happy. Yeah, I saw that.

Is that as a result of the new deal? I mean, look at you. No, man, I was going to get a vehicle. You know, I've been driving the same expedition since 2003. And I needed a new car. You know, Celine was on me to get a new car, get a new car, and finally I just did it. I'm kind of an impulse guy, you know.

Like, I won't do anything for a long time. And then whenever I, like, make my mind up to do it, I'll go do it right away. So that morning I saw the car. I was like, that is a great truck. I was like, I think I'm going to go get it. And I did. Wow.

So it's kind of more of an impulse thing, you know. So what are the terms of the deal? Break you down for us? Yeah, you wish. You really? Do you think you could just put that in there? Why not? You really do think it?

No. Come on. Let me ask you. Why in the NBA and the NFL we can find out how much the guys are making? And in our sport, we can't. I don't know because, I mean, you know, the thing is, like, it's actually kind of nice that we just don't have to. Yeah. I don't, you don't have to know everything, Ariel.

This bothers you much more than it bothers the general public. Just know that, right? Because you want to know everything. Well, it's just good. But it doesn't really bother their fans all that much. They don't really care how much we make. It bothers you much more. Listen, I disagree.

When the fans found out how much Nate D.E. They think Nate Diaz made like $15,000, which is not true, but they think he did because that's what has been released by the University of Athletic Commission. The fans went ballistic. They went ballistic. They care for you guys. They want to know that you're making enough. So you can at least tell us you feel like you're being paid fairly. You're happy with your deal.

I'm going to say this to you. Nate Diaz, myself, and the rest of the guys in the UFC, I'm sorry, they are getting taken care of. They're making fair money. They're making really good amounts of money. And for me personally, yes, I am very happy with what I'm making. This is the first time you had to negotiate with the UFC, right? Well, I actually did last year, too. Oh.

You know, right after my strike force fight, my, with Josh Barnett, I was a kid in the end of my contract. So I negotiated a new contract, a short contract that Dionne starring in January. and that was a very short contract. And now I just signed a long-term deal because I feel like I got to fight in the organization. They got to see what they have, and we had a better understanding of what we could put on paper

and both feel comfortable with it. By the way, what about your wrestling buddy, Ben Asking? He's coming on the show later. Are you a little bum that he's not going to be in the UFC? Yeah, man. You know, I think he's one of the best guys in the world for sure. and he's going to whatever he does, he's going to prove himself,

whoever he fights, you know. I really spoke to Ben. I don't know. This old one-fc thing feels, you know, a little different, but Ben will always make the move. Listen, Ben will always make the move that's best for Ben. No one's ever going to dictate what happens

with Ben Ascran. And I think that's very honorable, especially in his day and age, where most people kind of just go with the flow of things. You know, Ben won't allow anybody to to determine what his future holds or what he does. So if Ben Ascran is going to 1FC, Bravo Bin Ascran.

You know, you took a step in a different direction that most people aren't willing to do. So again, you know, I'm happy for him whatever he's doing. When does this training camp start? You know what? I'm actually doing my pre-camp. And I do a pre-camp for two weeks, and then I do my real camp for eight weeks.

but two-week pre-campus for today. I go in there and I start to spar. You know, I do some different things. It's been six weeks since I fought, so going five-five-minute rounds is out of the course. But, you know, 100% reason it by and in a week or two weeks, I'll do five-minute rounds. And eventually, I'll be doing my five-fives.

But with the way that the guy sparred, aka 100%, there's no going in there and doing five-five-minute rounds after being out of the gym for five and a half, six weeks. Well, Daniel, always a pleasure and good to hear that you're still on the Knicks bandwagon. I know it's been a tough time for a long time suffering fans like yourself, but... There's a question. I always said that New York Knicks or Bockers. This New York Knick and Bockers, hey, boys, keep your head.

I feel for you, and I feel very bad for any, any reporter that this may have, season tickets. Horrible. Daniel, great to hear from you. Good luck in the fight. I'm sure we'll talk to you before then. It goes down at UFC 170 on February 22nd at the Mandalay Bay Event Center.

You know what? It's still up in the air. Oh, hey, bro. You can be there? It's still up in the air, my friend. I know I know I'm sort of your good luck, Charming all, but I'll let you know. Hey, remember, I won all my fights and strikes,

and you never came. That's not true. That's not true. That's not true. was that most of them, if not all of them. All right. Thank you, Daniel. Feel better over there. Stay warm. Thank you guys for having me, Ben.

There he is. DC, Daniel Cormier, making his light heavyweight debut on February 22nd against Rashad Evans, his good buddy. It's the main event, by the way, on pay-per-view. Now we go from one, AKA Star, to another. It goes down January

25th in Chicago at the United Center. Tickets on sale right now, by the way, Benson versus Josh Thompson in the main event of UFC on Fox 10, and we have Josh Thompson on the line right now. Josh, how are you? Good, how are I'm doing? I'm doing very well.

So, of course, we're the week of UFC on Fox 9, you were supposed to fight for the belt this weekend in Sacramento against Anthony Pettis. He got injured. Why are you fighting someone else? Why didn't you just wait for Anthony Pettus to get healthy? I mean, I don't think that really wasn't an option. So we just kind of just decided that Bento will be the next best thing.

just move forward. But if you had it your way, would you have rather waited? Given that he's going to be out for 10 weeks or 10 months, probably not. I mean, I mean, I've been told he's going to be out for 10 months. And who's to say that when he, you know, something like that doesn't happen. Something like a Dominant Cruz thing doesn't happen to him where he comes back. You know, I mean, the PCL is from kicking and checking kicks. So when he comes back, I mean, he can end up just trying to check a kick or throwing a kick

and hurt it again, you know, even though he thinks it's ready. you know, young kids, and when they come back, they think they can do more than they can. I went through that a little bit when I broke my ankle. I thought I could kick sooner than I could and re-broke it again. So he could be out for over a year, you know, so we'll just have a champion that sits on the sideline. You know, I mean, I try to pick a pitch for interim title, but, you know, there was nothing there. I was asking either fight Gilbert or whoever else or T.J. Grant or whatever for interim title. But that was an option, and so, I mean, I just took the next best thing.

How devastated were you when you found out you wouldn't be fighting for the books? I know this is something you've been working for for a very long time. I know I've been working for a long time. I was a little upset, but I mean, to be honest, as soon as the fight was given to me, as soon as the fight was given to me, and we accepted the fight and we knew what was going on, for some reason, I didn't hold my breath. I kind of figured that he was going to back out of the fight.

Just, I mean, given that he had pulled out of the fight with Aldo, miraculously got better, you know, for the, for, to fight in his hometown against Benson, and then now, now he's pulled out again. So, I mean, I can understand, you know, you just won the title, you want a little time off, you know, but, you know, hey, it is what it is. I mean, I really wasn't holding my breath.

So it sounds like you're not really buying the injury. No, I mean, like, I'm sure he isn't hurt, but, I mean, I tore my PCO a week before I fought Gilmael Melendez, the third fight, you know, there's footage in me doing it. Fox is following me, you know, and follow me around for it. and, you know, and I knew exactly what was going on. You can fight with the torn PCL.

You know, it's a little discomfort, but, I mean, I fought the third fight with the torn PCL. So I think you could, it was four weeks or five weeks left, you know, in his training camp. I think you get them up with it up, but that's just my opinion, you know. I mean, everyone reacts differently. I mean, I've seen guys get through, you know, the NCAA National Championships with the torn ACL or torn MCL, you know, wrestling. you know, and I've seen guys just as soon as their ACL tears, they came, they came in for pressure on it. They just screaming the pain.

So some people just react differently to pain. And, you know, he's pulled out of two fights now, two title fights with the hurt knee, and so I guess he doesn't react very well to pain. And both of you, you know, you had your little back and forth, and some people thought you were going to fight in Houston. Do you think he just doesn't want to fight you, maybe? I mean, I don't think that's, no, I don't think he's afraid of anybody.

I mean, I don't know if he wants to fight him. me or not. I mean, who really knows? I mean, I know I pose a threat to him as far as, I'm basically like another image of Benson, just probably a little bit longer, a little bit, you know, just different, you know, a little bit of, I'm on right-handed, he's left-handed, that type of thing. I mean, but, I mean, we're dangerous all the way around, you know, I think, I think the fight between me and him would have been, would have been a great fight. Would you have preferred to stay on this Sacramento card? It's close to where you live in the, in the Bay Area, you know, you don't have to kind of rejigger things in delay or training camp.

Was that something that you were hoping the UFC would have done for you? You know, I would have, but I mean, you know, the option really wasn't there. So it just was something, you know, I wanted to fight a big name guy. I wanted to fight on them, you know, staying on that card and not headlining it after being the main event, kind of just wasn't really something in that that was, that was interesting. So, I mean, I really wanted to fight a top guy, you know, and so the fact that, like, Benson was available. Benson took the fight, and I'm really excited about it, man. And so this is a huge opportunity, I think, just for me and not only for me, but just to just to kind of stay, you know, in the topic of the conversation of a title shot.

You know, I mean, I've seen guys, you know, say they were going to get title shots and then, you know, and then they just had a bad performance, you know, and, you know, they were able to get their shot. So I wanted to make sure that, hey, win-lose or draw, there's really no fighting in the fact that, you know, if I beat Benton, then I'm still there. I mean, it's going to be a knockdown, drag-out. Almost all of its fights are close. You know what I mean? It's going to be a tough fight no matter how you cut it. So it's just a matter of who's going to go out there and try and win it in the last little bit. Did the UFC tell you that if you win that fight, then you'll get, you know, the number one contender spot back?

No. But in your mind, you should be, right? At that point, you're fighting the former champ. I mean, there's not much higher you can go than Benton Henderson. I think we've learned over the years that it really doesn't matter what's in my mind. That is true. It doesn't matter. No, it's just another fight, man.

You know, if someone looks better than me, I think, you know, we've seen it before. If someone looks better than me on another card, you know, it's in the same division, they may potentially get both ahead of me. You never know, I mean, I would think it would put me there as an Nour-Contender, given it, you know, he was the champion for about two and a half years, I believe. You know, I'm maybe a little bit longer, maybe shorter, I don't know, but I'm just guessing me.

But, you know, I would assume that it would leave me there as a number one contender. But, like I said, I can't worry about all that stuff. I just got to worry about winning the fight, you know, because pretty much winning solves everything, you know, and if I don't win this fight, then we really won't be having this conversation about Tyler shot anyways. I read an interview where you said you actually think that Benson is a tougher

opponent than Anthony, which is interesting because Anthony has defeated him twice. Why do you believe that? Yeah, but, you know, everyone wants to try to make the MMA map. I'm not trying to say that Pettis isn't dangerous. I'm saying, you know, everyone knows that you've got great kicks. You've got good striking, you know. I mean, even though he submitted Benson, I mean, there's really not a whole lot of threat on the ground.

People aren't really too concerned about his wrestling. You know, those are things that, like, people prepare for. You mean, you know, not kidding and a sniff a take down on me, you know, I get a petting you taking me down. You know, Benson has a good chance of taking me down. You know, stand-up-up-wise. I think Benson is pretty good. He's, you know, he's left-handed, Pettus switches like I do.

So it's just kind of like, I think just the overall game, to me, there's more of a threat with Benson stylistically. You know, he's a little bit better than me, and Benson a little bit better than me in one area, and I'm a little bit better than him in some other areas. Whereas Pettis, I mean, I really don't want to use the term one-trick pony, but, I mean, he's really a stand-up guy, you know, and you saw what the Clay Guita fight.

Now I don't want to do M.M.A. about it, but I'm just saying that you saw what the Clay's, we define it to you. If you get a couple takedowns on him, you know, and you kind of solve the riddle in the first two in the first two takedowns, I mean, he kind of shuts down, especially if you mix it up on the stand-up. I mean, the takedowns will just come a little bit easier.

I mean, the whole objective for me and my game, my whole career, and the reason I've been able to live this, you know, be successful for so long, is that I'm well-rounded and I can mix it up. So it doesn't really matter where the fight goes. I'm trying to always keep you guessing. So even with Benson, I've got to keep him guessing.

I got to get some takedowns. I got to get to the clinch. I got to do a lot of things. There's a lot of things I got to do. I got to keep it on the feet. I've got to stay on the outside. I got to stay on the inside. I got to always keep them guessing.

And it's funny because M.M.A. guys, if you want to be a true mix martial artist, you really need to learn out how to mix it up. I think that's one thing GSP has done so well over the years. And I think it just shows. Look where he's out right now. I mean, he's just one of the, he's basically probably the best in history, I think, in the UFC. So the last time Benton was coming off a loss, part of this loss, of course.

You know, he went on a great streak, became champion. Seems like one of those guys who really takes it personally and, you know, kind of rises to the occasion when everyone's doubting him. Are you expecting to see a different Benson this time? No, I'm not going to see a different Benson. I'm just going to see one that's probably just going to come out a little bit more focused.

I really think that he underestimated Pettis's grappling, and it just cost him. And it was a, I think, to me, I can't say it was a fluke. I mean, there was a lot of technique involved. But he got his arm caught in the wrong position, and not just the arm bar. He got the other arm caught underneath it.

And that's pretty rare. It kind of very rarely happens, especially with no ghee. You know, what it happens with, it generally tends to happen with the ghee, you know, where you can't really pull your arm out and get stuck. So it was just kind of, I think they were still dry. It kind of was just a weird situation. He caught him with a good arm bar. I mean, I've had an opportunity to grapple with tennis in Hawaii at the U.S.

Grand Opening gym there in Honolulu. And, you know, he's pretty crafty on the ground as far as, you know, when you're right there, you can play around there his legs. You know, he's pretty crafty. He's got good transitions. But his overall grappling games, horrible.

It's really that bad. You would label it as horrible. I mean, I guess, I don't know. It's hard for me to say, like, I've trained with, you know,

I mean, I currently now, I've trained with, like, Leo Vieira, Leaz-Roeira. I've trained several. I would say years with BJPenn. I mean,

I've trained a lot of top-top grapplers. I mean, like, I mean, I'm a black belt myself, but I mean, these guys, they, I wouldn't consider myself a great jih Tjitsu guy. I mean, I'm decent, but I'm not that great. You know, I mean, these guys, I've trained with Lucas Leche, Bucce, those guys, they're all, these guys are phenomenal, great athletes and great jih Tjitsu guys. So, I mean, to think that, you know, he's on a, on a level, I think, near mine, no, I don't think so, and to think that if he's anywhere near the other guys, heck though.

You just spent a few days with Benson and Chicago doing media stuff, right? Yeah, I had a great time. What was that like being around him and so close to him as you prepare for the fight, which isn't that far away, by the way? Yeah, yeah. I don't, you know, I'm one of those guys that, like, I really don't care. Like, yeah, he's a nice guy. You know, he walked into the lobby at the hotel.

We kind of gave, you know, gave a high-five, quick exchange, like a quick little, you know, hug, I guess you don't want to say a hug. bro hug. Yeah, bro hug. I mean, you know, we kind of just, you know, we actually kind of hung out for a week, you know, the whole week the last three days. So it was cool. We had a good time.

We had a great time with the Blackhawks game, you know, took some pitchers together hung out. There's no animosity at all whatsoever. And I've got to say, honestly, my best fights have come with people that I've really respected and really had no beef with, you know, I mean, the Gilbert fight, him and I used to train together. We never had a problem beforehand. Don't have a problem afterwards.

I mean, obviously, now that we're both in the UFC is a little more competitive. so we have our own things that we need to focus on before. We were always just focused on each other. But, I mean, the guys that I've had great fights with, I think are guys that I've respected and never had an issue with. I mean, I've been in the room with some of some fighters that just sort of like, you know, I can't be in the same room as you, you know, because we're fighting and, you know, it is what it is, not my issue.

You know, I mean, I'm one of those guys. Like, when I'm done fighting and my career is done it over with, I mean, all the anger and all the, whatever you want to call, it, you know, that animosity you had towards somebody before the fight, really doesn't make you a better person. It's just, you know, it doesn't make you a better fighter either. It's just something that you got to do to suck yourself up and so be it, but, you know, that's just not me.

I'm really looking forward to this fight, and it's one that I've wanted to see for a long time because I remember, I think it was before your Jay-Z fight, where you called him out, right, because of the rankings. It feels like the culmination of all of this. You know what you remember that, right? You guys are trying to put words them out. I never called him out.

Well, you were talking about that it was a little ridiculous that he was up there in the rankings as WC champion. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't say that he was up there. I didn't say it was a bad thing he was up in the rankings. I was saying I thought I was kind of far-fetched that he was ranked above guys like me and Jay and Jay-Z. That's a call-out. That's calling him out.

Yeah, you're calling him out. You're not calling him about the fight, but you're- Calling him out, it's like, yo, let's fight. There's different variations of call-out. I don't know about that. All right, fair enough. But you did bring him up out of nowhere. I mean, well,

something every time you do an interview, is that calling somebody out? Because you said some pretty nasty things about some people. Who me? Yeah, I mean, you know, you're kind of like beat around the bush. You like to hit a little bit. Oh, you like to pick fight. Pick fights.

That's how like, yeah, you know. I ask questions. And anyway, yeah, exactly. That's my job. All I did was ask the question. Oh, okay. I said, I said, I said back then, I said he really be ranked higher than Jay Z or myself.

And I said, I said, no, I didn't think he would. I will bring up the clip, and no one asked you about Benson in particular. That was the amazing part of the whole thing. You were talking about the rankings. You're like, well, how about this guy Benson? No one asked. I asked. I was asking.

Right. I was asking. No one asked. I was asking. Well, here's a chance to prove that you are better than him. That's why I like it. Exactly. That way, this is perfect.

I mean, what it is, it's just a scenario that obviously he's gotten better since then. So, but, no, it's going to be a great fight. Honestly, he's a good guy. He's great to be around. and he's a great fighter. Like I say, he poses to me, stylistically, he poses a lot of threats. And it's just going to be a good fight.

I mean, I think I saw the way he matched up with Gil, and that was entertaining and good fight. I feel that, you know, I think it's going to be a great fight for the fans, man. These are the one thing that I think that I like to fight guys that I think they'll bring out the best to me, you know, and I think he will. And he has close fights, as you mentioned.

Are you aware that you have? have to not get into that game where it goes to judges and you're, you know, he's maybe stealing around with a big takedown at the end, you know, are you cognizant of that? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm very aware of that. You know, but it is what it is. You know, I just got to go, I can't focus really so much on, oh, no, we're in the fourth round. I really got to finish this fight by the fifth. I've got to just focus on going out there and just doing, and finding my game plan and implementing my will and just doing what I got to do. It seemed like you were really excited about the fact that you're fighting at the United

Center. I saw you taking pictures next to the Jordan statue. I know you're a big hockey fan. That seems like a big deal for you. No, it is. I mean, like, I was sitting there with Ben and we were talking about it. Like, you know, Michael Jordan and all the history that's there in that arena, I mean, the Blackhawks, you know, winning the Stanley Cup, you know, a few times in the last, what, three years, four years. Yeah. And, uh, I mean, that's, there's just so much history in that arena. It's pretty amazing. And just to know that I'm going to, uh, I potentially could be a part of that, you know, or at least be in the same arena. you know, to have a great fight and possibly, you know, a fight that fans will never forget.

That's something that you can't, you can never take away from somebody like, when I'm done fighting, you know, I can look back and say, you know, hey, I fought there at the United Center and, you know, Chicago and the fans and everything were great. You know, those are the things that I look forward to. By the way, I got to ask you this before I let you go. Someone, a fan on Twitter asked you a question about CM Punk and you wrote back CM Who in all caps. What's going on there? Is there an issue there between you and the professional wrestlers?

You both shared the same nickname. No, I actually, as soon as I said, I really don't know who CM Punk is. Oh, okay, okay, all right. I said, I really didn't know who he was. So, you know, yeah, I was trying to figure out. People have hit me up before about it. I've just kind of like it, I thought it was maybe like a nickname people were calling me. I don't know, like, CM Punk or why don't you fight TM Punk?

And I'm like, all right, well, who is it? I don't even know who that is. Oh, okay, okay. So, yeah, I don't watch Per Wrestling. I think the last time I watched Pro Wrestling was the Hulk Hogan was the champ. back when he fought like macho man Randy Savage. Right. That's probably the last time I ever watched it.

All right. Well, we appreciate it. And the next time you're on the show, I'm going to have that clip ready for you so we can clear this up. Next time of all the show. Probably after the fight, right? Well, who knows? If you want to come back, I mean,

I'm still waiting for you to do the tables turned interview where you asked me questions. Remember that? Well, yeah, yeah, I definitely want to do that. The issue is, I mean, like, every time we even get, I kind of forget about it after the fight. I know, I know. You got better things to do after the fight than talk to me.

Well, you know, I'm in the process of opening my own gym, doing my own thing, and, you know, kind of doing that. I mean, I'll still be training at AKA, but I'm opening my own. I've changed the name to a Dash Cardio gym. It's just going to be like a fitness gym. It's a workout that me and the AK guys, we've been doing it for about 13 years now. And, you know, we just started taking over, and I'm going to try opening, like, a franchise of these gyms here in San Jose and in the Bay Area and go from that.

What is Dash Cardio, though? Like, what is that in a nutshell? It's, uh, dash cardio, it's like an aeronide bike mixed in with, uh, I'm going to bring in some, uh, some treadmills as well. It's all mixed in with a plymetric workout. It's a workout that us fighters that John Fitch, Koshchek, myself, we've all been doing for years now. And, um, I would say probably close to 10 years.

Wow. We've been doing this workout. And, um, it's just, it's mixed in with bag work. It's mixed in with, uh, the aerine bike. And we get, you know, we, we do a, we do interval training on each one. And, you know, longer than, like, say, a minute, minute, minute and a half on each one. on each exercise, and you're just really pumping through it, and it's all done with, like, loud music and, you know, in a nice atmosphere, a fun atmosphere, you know, for, for clients

and people to come in and they train. So it's for everybody. I mean, it can be anyone from 15 all the way up to, you know, I've had people that I've trained before that have done this workout that are in their mid-50s, and they love it, you know, because you can just do all bodywork exercises, TRX stuff, you know, balancing, stabilization, things like that. So those are all things that I've done. When does it open?

hopefully this weekend oh really we're hoping to do a soft opening this weekend and then we'll get it we'll get the new year's resolutions all the case's worked out before new year's resolution and where is it in san Jose in san Jose off of

4-424-4-4-4-4-Pel right off of right there next to capital expressway and the automol okay all right well good luck with that that's very exciting and good luck with the fight as well on the 25th yep thanks that I appreciate it

and I want to just make a flick and everything for all the sponsorship. Oak Grove as well for helping me out. And thanks for having me all here. Pleasure. There he is. The Punk. Josh Thompson meets Benson Henderson, January 25th, UFC on Fox 10 in Chicago, Illinois. Their annual trip to

Chicago, and if you know by now, the last two years, we've done a sit-down with Mr. CM Punk. He doesn't know who CM Punk is? Who doesn't know who CM Punk the best in the world is? Anyway, maybe we'll get to do that again this year in Chicago. They announced the main card, which a lot

of you didn't like, and I don't blame you. I mean, it's not, uh, it's not what we've come to expect from Fox main cards. Uh, it's, you know, it's a nice little card, but, uh, somewhat underwhelming as far as the main card is concerned. We'll see what happens to now and then, because remember, UFC on Fox 9 was a tremendous main card that got hit with the Josh Thompson peddice fight falling through. And then this weekend, the horrible news that Matt Brown is injured and, uh, the convent fight isn't happening. Bummer, bummer news. All right, we have like, uh, 13 minutes or so before we're going to Marshall's Lasnik. We had a bit of a break in the action here. So I wanted to take some questions. Of course, it was a very busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts with UFC on Fight Night, U.S., UFC Fight Night 33 on Fox Sports 1 here in the U.S.

With the great Mark Hunt fight, the return of Shogun Huah, we're so quick to call it the return, which is somewhat troubling in its own right. Ryan Bader, Malling, Anthony Perosh, and a few other interesting notes. And then on Saturday, World Series, of fighting, return with Nick Newell being the star of the show, in my opinion, another quick submission that was Invicta with a nice little car, but once again, some technical difficulties on the internet for their live stream. So it was a very busy week, and there was a lot of other stuff going on. So do we have any questions that we can answer in the next 12 minutes or so? Yep. All right. Okay, let's start with this one from the website. Mark Hunt the movie. Is there someone else that has a better story right now?

the Mark Hunt. By the way, I'd like to see Mark Hunt play himself in Mark Hunt the movie, just because he's such a great, you know, wordsmith. But yes, his story is unbelievable. And people snicker when when Dana White calls Mark Hunt the best story in sports. People snicker. They think Dana's being a promoter, and maybe to a degree. But his story is amazing. By now, you probably heard it. You know, he had the pride comment. contract that kind of fell through the cracks that he was still owed some fights, some money. UFC wanted to buy him out because they didn't think that he was good enough to hang. And he said, no, please, just give me an opportunity to fight in the UFC.

And this was a couple years after Pride had already been swallowed up by Zufa. So they give him an opportunity, and he jerks the curtain with Sean McCorkel at UFC 119 and get submitted in a little over 60 seconds. The first fight of the night. They give him another opportunity. One more at UFC 127 in Australia. is Tushar walkoff, K-O, and then it begins. Ben Rothwell. Who was the other one? He had Ben Rothwell. He had Czech Congo. He had Stefan Strove. He had a string of very big wins. And then, of course,

he met Junior Dos Santos, which is, you know, nothing to be too upset about losing to him via spinning back kick knockout. But here he comes, returns in a fight that kind of flew under the radar and survives an amazing onslaught from Bigfoot had his chances, broke his hand in two places. He is so, he is such an interesting character. Of course, we know about his kickboxing background, winning the Grand Prix. I can't wait to have him on the show. Our next question, is this the first time in the UFC where a draw did not suck. I really wanted Mark Hunt to win, but when they called it a draw, I was surprisingly okay with

that result too. In a fight like that, nobody deserves to lose. I totally agree. It was the first time that I could ever remember myself thinking, wow. I remember John Anick saying, there is no loser in this one. Right before they read the judge's scorecards, no loser in this one. And then there really wasn't a loser. It was a majority draw.

But here's the thing. I did go back and score the fight because I got to be honest, I kind of forgot that I needed to score. Not that I needed to, but that I liked to score it. I kind of forgot that because it was so much fun after around like the third. third round. So I went back to score it. And in my opinion, Bigfoot won the first, 10-9. Bigfoot won the second, 10-9. First round, he dropped

him and landed the bigger shots. It was a little tough, but I'm pretty confident in saying 10-9 Bigfoot. The big-like kick in the second round, 10-9 Bigfoot. You can make a case for the third round being 10-8 Mark Hunt. You can make a case for that. Although if the Bader, Perosha fight wasn't a 10-8 at any point, that's not a 10-8.

But you could certainly make a case I would have no problem with that. Mark Hunt dropped him. Tremendous ground and pound. Clearly that round goes to Mark Hunt. Fourth round, clearly the round goes to Bigfoot. You know, he had him in Mount, ground and pound, bloodied him, all that stuff. The fifth round clearly goes to Mark Hunt, but that was not a 10-8. And that's what made it into a draw.

two judges scored at a 10-8 for Mark Hunt. And, you know, I was talking to some people about this. And I almost feel like we love the fight so much and we're okay with the draw. I'm okay with the draw. It was so close. It was so much fun. It really feels like both of them were winners. But this fight was taking place in Australia.

And the last round, which wasn't even as dominant as the fourth and third for Bigfoot and Mark Hunt respectively, it almost feels like those two judges counted up the scorecards and said, if I give Mark Hunt a 10-8 here, this will be a draw. Really? It feels that way to me, because that wasn't a 10-8. It feels like there should be some kind of investigation in this. I'm cool with you saying that Mark Hunt won the fight because if you scored the third round at 10-8, Mark Hunt wins the fight. I'm cool with you saying Bigfoot won the fight. But the draw part, I find a little shaky. Now, if you're going to give a 10-8 to Bigfoot in the fourth and a 10-8 to Mark Hunt in the third as well as the fifth,

no, I think Bigfoot still wins. So yeah, I kind of felt like that, that happened. Really, they went down to the fifth and they're like, if I give this 10-8, it's a draw and everyone goes home happy. That's a little shady, if that did happen. But anyway, on the whole, it's one of those scenarios where it was actually better that they kind of judged the fight on the whole, even though they weren't supposed to and scored a draw because I think everyone was happy with that.

Even the fighters. We'll find out soon. Well, you answered our next question then. You pretty much hit on exactly what the next question was. Really? About them doing a 10-8 just because they wanted to draw? Yeah. Did you feel that way? I did.

Weird, right? I mean, there was no 10-8 in the beta fight. I know every fight's different, judges are different. But if there was not a 10-8 up to that point, including round three for Hunt or any of the Bader-Per-Roshe rounds, then obviously that round was not a 10-8. Right. But that said, I mean... So what does this guy say? He's just asking why has nobody up in arms about...

It's bizarre. And, you know, I asked some people in the UFC and they're like, no, I could see it. The third round, I could see being a 10-8. Really? If they submitted the scorecards and the third round was the one that made it a draw, I'd have no... I mean, there's nothing to even say. Right.

Or the fourth. No, well, the fourth would make it... No, no, no. I'm saying, no, you could just say the fourth, warrant a 10-8. You could say the third warrant a 10-8. The fifth does not warrant a 10-8. It really doesn't. But I would be okay

with either guy winning or the draw. I just find it a little weird that in Australia they scored the fifth round of 10-8 to make it into a draw for the Australian fighter. You know what? I think you're probably giving them too much credit, to be honest. They could sit there and count it up. They shouldn't. Oh, I'm sure

they could. But, I mean, judges have proven themselves to be so incompetent. I think that they probably couldn't even especially in Australia. Remember Demetius Johnson and Benevitas? They miscalculated in Australia. I don't recall this. You're kidding, right?

No, I'm serious. Not Benevitas, excuse me. E. McCall. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I was about to say, I don't recall. No, no, no, sorry. E. McCall, the first round of the tournament.

That was in Australia. Yeah, so maybe it was completely coincidental. That time they showed poor math skills. This time, they actually showed good math skills and gave them a 10-8 to it could be a draw. And again, I'm okay with it being a draw, but I'm not really okay with how we got to the draw. I'll be honest, I say that, but I don't know if I'm okay with it being a draw.

Yeah, you're right, you're right. It is kind of shady. I mean, we kind of have been saying the judges should be getting it right and going hard on them for the longest time. And then all of a sudden, when it works out the way we want it to work out, we're all giving them praise. I mean, it's not really the way it's supposed to work. I'm not thrilled. How did you score it?

I scored it the way you scored it pretty much. Third round, I would probably give that a 10-8. But, you know, I don't know how to balance that between Perosha's fight with Bader. Because if that wasn't a 10-8, then that's not a 10-8 that night. So I'd say that Sova won three rounds to two. Okay. But if you give that middle round, if you give round 3 a 10-8, then it's a draw. Yeah.

But then if you give round 3 to 10-8, you could very much, Say round four. Yeah. Yeah. And then... You could make that argument for sure. But we were so caught up in the moment that we were like, yay, it's a draw. But then when you kind of take a step back, is it really a draw?

Yeah. Okay. Do you think Mark Hunt is having the best year of any fighter? He's one... Oh. Okay. I'll read the rest of this while you answer that. Ariel and Rick, do you think Mark Hunt is having the best year of any fighter?

He's won, one and one, but his stock has risen dramatically in 2013. 13, you know, I have a hard time calling him the fighter of the year. I mean, his three fights were fantastic. I mean, let's not forget, the Stefan Strew fight, tremendous. Amazing knockout, one of the pictures of the year. You've seen it by now. Then he fights JDS loses. And it was a fun fight and all, but he lost. Then you have this fight where it was a draw. So, I mean, he is technically winless in his last two fights. In my opinion, my fighter of the year will only truly be decided on December 29th. If Chris Wyman beats Anderson Silva twice in the same year,

he has to be the fight of the year. Not taking anything away from Mark Hunt. Mark Hunt has had a fantastic year. He has had a fantastic resurgence. He has really evolved into a true mixed martial artist. Take-down defense is great. He's showing some nice submission defense skills. Obviously, his striking is one of the best.

But you know what this fight really taught me? It really taught me that Kane Velasquez is really that damn good. Look at what Kane Velasquez did to Bigfoot Silva twice, twice in a year. And then look what Bigfoot Silver has done to pretty much everyone else. It's pretty amazing how quickly Kane Velasquez beat up Bigfoot Silva. And look at Mark Hunt. As hard as he punches, broke his hand in two places. Look at Mark Hunt, what happened to him.

couldn't finish Bigfoot Silva. It's pretty amazing. Fighter of the year, I don't know. Stories of the year, absolutely. And he was the story of last year as well with his winning streak. And I wonder if we'll see it again. I have a take on that. But we'll finish up answering the questions later on in the show.

We appreciate everyone sending them in. Let us go back to the phone lines now and welcome in our next guest. He is the UFC's chief content officer, and he's here to talk to us about the new UFC digital network. he's our good pal Marshall Zalaznick. Marshall, are you there? I am here. Hi, Ariel.

It's been a long time. It's been a long time since you've been on the show. I'm not sure. I can't remember if I've ever been on the show before. You have been on. In fact, you one time no-showed the show way back in 2010. Oh, geez, I'm getting old.

I've forgotten all of it. In fact, you know-show does. I apologize. I see all the names of everyone that's being invited on to the show. I follow you on Twitter and I'm thinking, God, he mustn't like me. I never get an invite. And I've got something to say.

I know you do. But you know what? I put you on a three-year ban after you know showed us because I was just so upset. My bad. I will make that up to you today. Great. Well, it's good to have you on. You have a new title, Chief Content Officer, right?

What does that mean? Well, you know, we are at the UFC always looking at ways to try to evolve the business. You've heard Dana saying for some time, you know, that bigger things are coming. And one of the things we're trying to do is get hyper-focused on all of the content that's being distributed and created for not only the U.S. market for the international markets. So it seemed as we were evolving the way we look at our business. And now that, you know, we built these offices up in all these other places around the world, that, you know, the training wheels can come off. I don't need to manage those offices like I used to. and while I'll still be involved, I'm going to spend much more of my attention now,

trying to work with the production team and the marketing team at Zufa to try and, you know, get us to be even more compelling in the content space, which basically means all the TV we distribute around the world, all of the digital content we create and distribute around the world, and that means online and mobile. And then looking at, you know, how quickly this whole world of content delivery is changing, and making sure that we are in step with what's happening in the space. So I'm fascinated by this new digital network.

I have a lot of questions, and I want to go down the line right now. When is it actually going to launch? Well, we're looking towards the end of the year. I'm going to do my best aerial to give you all the information I can. Things are moving very quickly, and we are planning to have a very formal announcement in and around the Anderson-Silva fight so that we'll be able to address all the questions that I may not be able to give you absolute clarity today, but you'll get the best that I can give you.

Well, you know, Marshall, first you said you were going to knock my socks off at the top of the interview, and now you're telling me you may not be able to do that. There's no bigger platform than the one you're on right now, just to let you know, bigger than any press conference. Oversell and underdelivered. That's always been my practice. Okay, what is this thing going to be called? Like, what's the name of the website where people will go and things like that?

Is it just UFC.tv? Well, right now we are working on trying to incorporate into this into the USC.combeau much like some of the other sports leagues do. So that will likely be the location where the network ends up sitting or the service is probably a more appropriate way to define it. And yes, to answer your question directly, I would expect that it will sit under usc.com. Do you know how much it will cost a month?

Well, if I did, I couldn't tell you, but I don't know, but I can tell. you that the range, the range is on the lower end. I've seen some of the blogs or some of the forums where people are chatting about it and people have sent me links. You know, the universe or the world has really been, at least in our world here in the U.S., you know, the Hulus and the Netflix have sort of set the basement on what pricing is, and I think there's an expectation. You know, there are numbers as high as 14 in 1999. I can tell you we're going to be, at least in the current planning on the lower end of that spectrum. So it will no doubt be a good value proposition. So you're thinking, you know, if someone pays this amount, they get everything, or then will they have

to pay a little more to get the live events and things like that? Well, the service anticipations will not include in its initial form and, or is there any current plan to take our current pay-per-view business and migrate it over to this service. There will, however, be the interoperable international fight nights that we've been talking about that are getting created for the international markets like the event in Singapore and the event in London, those will be included in the service. So the service would include those fights. There'll be other live components to it with other programming from other events around the world, including even events from the U.S. And then you'll have access to the entire vault and other original content that we'd look to produce. So there won't be like a package deal where you can get the pay-per-views and everything as well. It's strictly for those international fight nights.

It will be. You know, we are looking at offers where there is a role for the pay-per-views to pay. We don't know exactly what those will end up being, but the service, when we ultimately name it, ultimately name it and launch it, it will not include a possibility to watch the pay-per-views with it, but it might sit alongside of it, the pay-per-views. How long has this been in the works for? You know, it's something, as you know, I know you're aware, and I'm sure a lot of your listeners are aware. Your UFC.tv has existed in varying forms

in terms of ala-card offerings, in terms of a smaller subscription offering, which is done rather well. So we've been looking at it for a while, and we've started making the shift, I would say probably beginning of this year when we started to look at our business, started looking at how we might restructuring,

the international business, and began talking about ways to take all of our library and find a better way to get that into the hands of our fans. For this monthly rate, will you get every single UFC fight that ever happened, or will there be kind of little packages like, okay, you get whatever you guys program that's there? Or do you get the entire thing, the entire library? You will get the entire library. Now, one of the things we're dealing with is the way that technically, works and the ingestion and the metadata, which is all the information that goes around each one of the assets, there will be an up, there will be an arc to how much content gets up, but eventually all of the content will live there. Every one of the events that we do on an ongoing basis, depending on their holdbacks or whatever, the rights clearance issues will ultimately be there. So it will,

in essence, be a whole organized entry into all of the, the UFC content. And then which of the other promotions that ZUFA, you know, has swallowed up over the years will also be available in their entirety as far as the library is concerned? Well, you know, some of the libraries that we have, and we're going to rights clearance issues now and looking at some of the other rights-related issues, which not only deal with clearance, but sponsors and things like that, that we have to make sure we're abiding by all the contracts that we inherited.

libraries that we have. We have, obviously, people know Pride, Pride Bishito. We've got WEC, Strike Force, WFA, EliteXC. I think there may be a couple of other smaller libraries that we have, but we're going through a cleansing, if you will, of them now to make sure that we're in compliance with our contract. So we're going to put everything up there, and we've got big aspirations for what this can be and how people can use it. And these international fight nights, they will be. be airing, you know, the start times will be catered to the local market, meaning the Singapore card. It will be early in the morning here in the United States, right? That's right, yes. They'll be live. These events are being, in essence, sort of like an out-of-market sports package, if you will. But in essence, we are going to be showing those events live in their local

markets so that people in those markets, we can help grow the business there. So when it comes to our business in Europe, that event will be live there, and it will be in off hours, if you will, or non-prime hours here in the U.S. However, the second those shows end, will they be available on-demand right away? So if you, you know, you wake up and the show's still in progress, but you want to wait until the entire thing's over, will you be able to watch it the second it ends? Yes, we're looking to make sure the technology will allow us to what we call real-time and code it so that they'll be up there and you'll be able to come in and watch it live or jump in whenever you jump in and start from the beginning or wherever it is or if the

event is over you'll be able to jump right into whichever point you want and these events uh how will they um be presented because now you know you watch the prelims and things like that it's all the fox music the fox graphics you know we know who the announcers are as the same will this be a completely different thing because it's under uh you know this different umbrella the digital network? Well, our production team is working hard to make sure that the production quality remains the same, and Lorenzo and Dane have every expectation that it will, so I don't doubt that we'll be able to deliver on that.

As far as the announcers go, there will be some similarities with the announced team. There may over time, just because the amount of events that we may do, we may end up finding other English-speaking talent, which would be not only a play-by-play commentator, someone you may not be as familiar with, but we'll generally, we expect to always have a color commentator, which is a former or current UFC fighter. Would you ever to save costs, and because these are happening in weird hours here in North America, would you ever have them call the fights from, like a studio in Las Vegas or something like that? I know that's a practice that happens pretty regularly in certain sports.

It's not something that we're anticipating doing, primarily because the in, Octagon interviews is something that we always want to try to deliver on. Obviously, there are cost efficiencies in doing that, but it's not something that anyone is considering budgetarily at this point. And off the bat, I was told that it will only be available in Canada, the U.S., Australian, New Zealand. Is that accurate? And why just those countries? That is accurate. Primarily, we're looking at it. Those are markets which have a lot of similarities, not only in different rights grants that we have with various content so that it's not a total one-stop shop or a turnkey solution.

We do have to adapt for each of the markets, but they're all English-speaking. We have systems already built up that we can deal with the currency there. They are markets that have a propensity to transact, whether it's on pay-per-view or iTunes, or you look at some of the business matrix out there. They're used to paying for what they want. So it made sense to launch there, but we'll be very quickly to start launching in the rest of the world as we develop all of our strategies. Do you have any idea? We have a lot of listeners in Europe who listen to us live now because the time difference.

Do you have any idea when it will hit Europe? You know, ironically, Europe has one of – we're unencumbered the most in terms of our rights, and we can launch a lot of product with this service that we might. not be able to offer in other parts of the world. The problem is we're in the middle of a few negotiations out there with TV negotiations that are very important to us, and we want to make sure that we have a clear understanding of the future for our rights there. But to answer your question directly, I would expect that within 60 to 90 days of launching here, it should be ready for the rest of the world. And how many live events will there be on this network?

Well, a lot depends on how quickly we grow our events in these international markets. You know, Gary out in London has big plans to do as many events as we possibly can. I would anticipate that in its inaugural year, you'll get anywhere from 11 to 13 events, possibly more. I'm hoping that we can do it on a monthly schedule, but there may be months where you get two events instead of one event and some events, for some months where you might not get one of the international live events. So it just depends on how the calendar works.

This is an interesting year because World Cup ends up taking a lot of Latin America and Europe out of the mix in terms of, you know, from the June and July timeframe. Looking at the card, let's say the Singapore card, there are a lot of fighters that we don't know, a lot of local fighters, a lot of Asian fighters. And it seems like, you know, the main event was originally supposed to be Ellenberg, Gassafting, has changed a little bit. But the rest, I mean, it's a lot of fighters who haven't fought in the UFC and unknown to the fans here, unknown to the fans worldwide. Is that a taste of how these cards will be put together, you know, maybe a big fight at the top, but the rest will all feature younger local fighters? Well, I think one of the things that you're aware, you know, the shelf space is very limited at the UFC. So the, and by that, I mean, there's not a lot of room for up-and-coming fighters to, you know, to get their shot.

What this series allows us to do is to help find the next Connor McGregor's or the next Gustafs, in essence, is it gives us the ability to bring in these fighters. And so when we asked fans and we did some focus group testing and we went after our avid fans, you know, one of the things that rang true, which is Dana very excited, is that this is going to give us the ability to bring on fighters that we didn't have the space for,

who were all very competent and could perform in the UFC. And so, yes, well, there may be fighters you may not know today. I would expect that as Joe and Sean do their work in these markets, you're going to be able to be a part of uncovering the uncovered talent, as it were. So that's true. There will be some fighters on there. You won't know. There will be other cards like what's happening in Manchester,

where you'll probably know every fighter in the main card. It just depends on the time of year and the location of the event. Did you mean London, March 8th? Yeah, did I say Manchester? Yes. Yeah, my bad. I meant London. No problem.

And the main event... You thought you got something there. I did, I did, yeah. But I know you were just in Manchester, so that would be somewhat surprising. Now, the main event of that show is Gustafsson. He's coming off one of the best fights, in my opinion, the fight of the year. Dana has said that if he wins this fight coming up, he'll fight for the title. Any concern that you're putting him on this platform that is not being seen by as many people,

you're trying to build stars here, you're trying to keep his momentum going, but yet his visibility is going to be reduced. Any concern there? Well, it was certainly something that, you know, as we were, making our planning for this that we addressed and discussed. And the fact of the matter is is that the Gustafson has a huge following. We think he will have a huge following on this service. But nevertheless, it is something that we, as a company, have to make sure that we get

Gustafsson and the results of that fight known. So it's a good point. It's one we are looking at. But ultimately, we believe that, you know, the Gustafin performance will be known and be made aware of to the fans, and hopefully they come into the service and watch it. From an American TV perspective, UFC is doing very well on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2. Why not just put these fights on Fox Sports 2, even if it's in the middle of the night, or Fox Sports 1, middle of the night?

I mean, it's live UFC fights. Was there any talk of that? Well, you know, all of these suggestions were on the table, but ultimately as a company, if we're going to continue to evolve and grow, we have to grow with the, with the, technology and take advantage of it. You know, there's an old saying in business if you're not growing, you're dying. And so Lorenzo always wants to be on the cutting edge. And, you know, our first master we were serving, if you will,

in creating these international fights for those local markets. So we had good monetization of those fights. So for us, it was a matter of just putting our stake in the ground and saying, you know what, this is what we want to do with these fights, so let's do it. A lot of people wondering where the tough Brazil show will air, Chale and Banerle as coaches. Is this where it's going to air? Very good chance.

You know, the discussions with Fox are always ongoing. We really look at this product as being additive to what we're doing here in the U.S. with Fox. This will be a one-stop shop. People will know they can get content that will help to continue to satisfy their needs and get them more entrenched with the UFC product. And so when it comes to the Ultimate Fighter International, there's a very, very good chance.

that you'll be able to see it exclusively on the service. But we don't forego anything. All the product that we will be looking to generate as it relates to originals and Ultimate Fighter will always be discussed with our partners everywhere in the world. So it won't be one size fits all, but because it's a Portuguese program and because it's going to be captioned, I wouldn't imagine that Fox will have a huge interest in it. I think you're wrong about that one, to be honest. Chelsunin.

But we'll see. It is Chale. It is Chale. He is kind of the face. I just was on a call this morning talking about some of the ways we're going to handle chale for the Portuguese market and creatively deal with it. And so it'll be interesting. You know, we've got some more work to do on the creative output, if you will, of that series. Tell us about that call. We can address it. Tell us about the call. How are you going to handle it?

Well, we don't know yet. There are all sorts of options. You know, in the U.S., you know, it's easy. to caption everything, but for Globo, which is the terrestrial broadcaster there, which goes into all of Brazil, you have to be very sensitive to captioning. They're not a network that wants to caption. So then the question becomes, do you dub it? If you dub it, how do you dub it? Do you have a translator with them? So everything's on the table right now being discussed. Of course, we know that prior to joining the UFC, you work for In-demand, right? I was there, yes, for almost four years. Yes, and Dana loves to tell that story about how you

to hound you. Is that why you were tapped to lead the charge here because of your history and television and programming and things like that? Yeah, I think so. You know, when we talked about it, you know, this company has become very global. And I think my experience in London and managing these offices as we built Toronto and Asia and Brazil that I had a lot of good touchpoints internationally and understood some of the sensitivities in the media market internationally. And I think my U.S. contacts and U.S. knowledge of the U.S. business was helpful. And so I think it made sense. And it was, it's a transition. We're transitioning now to make that happen. But I was flattered that they thought that I could do this,

and I'm up to the challenge. Does that mean at the events in Brazil, you'll, you'll no longer, you know, be the man in charge there. Are you done doing that stuff? you're going to miss my awkward, uncomfortable face at these press conferences, unless I need to be there in a pinch. I would expect that all the territory heads will take more responsibility now for all of the media in those regions. You really helped grow the U.K. market back in the day, you know, several years back, the rise of Michael Bisping, you and your right-hand man, as I like to call him Aunt Evans. You guys, you tore it up over there. And now you see what's going on with Gary Cook. I mean, I always, I really liked when Gary Cook took the job the first day when they brought him up there at the press conference, the podium, he right off the bat, you know, mentioned you and gave you props and things

like that. Is it tough seeing that baby grow up without you now? You know, you know, the one thing you'll know about me is I'm probably as honest as Dana. In some ways it is, you know, because you feel like no one can do it like you can do it. But the reality is you mature in this business and I guess as you mature in life, if you realize that it's not, you know, everyone has their own styles and their own way of growing things. And the reality is when I left London a couple of years ago, we had done what I thought was what we needed to put the business in a position to grow. And so when Gary comes on and Tom and we have race in Brazil and Mark Fisher and Asia that these people are, you know, almost in many ways more qualified to take these business to the, next level. So, yeah, sometimes I look at it and I think, man, I wonder if I would do it that way or what I do it this way.

But the beauty is with someone like Gary and Tom, as they aren't burdened by the legacy of media that I have for these, you know, 10 plus years. They come in with not a whole bunch of exclusive media experience like me. So they look at the world totally different. And in my mind, media is the biggest driver for our business. That's what's going to get. That's the megaphone to help us drive our business. You mean like shows like this? I mean shows like this. These are the opportunities for us to speak to our fans and to get them to understand what we're trying to do. And it's hard, I know for everyone to understand,

and I've seen some of the threads, and I've seen people who are worried that somehow this is going to make it worse for them and their experience with the USAV. I'm telling you, this new service is going to be additive to everything we're doing. and for the avid fans and for the casual fans, I think they're going to enjoy this. This is going to be a lot like Netflix meets MLB extra innings. Oh, wow.

Okay, two last quick things. I don't know if you heard, but WWE is launching something similar to this. Have you studied what they're doing and how are you going to be different than them? You know, I don't. It was literally at the end of last week. You know, somebody had sent me some information

that there were rumors that WW is doing this. We did this without any knowledge of what WWW. was doing, but it's always interesting to watch what other people are doing in this space. And so at WWE develops and rolls out their plan, assuming it's true, it will be fun to watch it and see how it grows. I don't know enough about it to know how ours will be different, however. Is there anything we didn't cover? Something that you want to get out there.

I know you say there's a big press conference coming up, but is there anything right now that you can tell us that I didn't ask you about? No, the only thing I would say is everyone should reserve judgment. I wouldn't be negative on this thing to the extent that anyone is being negative. This is going to be an amazing product that, again, will satisfy everybody's insatiable appetite for UFC. We're going to be working on original program, which will be on just the vault. But Craig Borsari, who manages all of our production and his team, we're going to work on very creative programs, which will give people more access behind the scenes at UFC.

And we're going to work very hard to curate all of the library. that we have the thousands and thousands of hours of content and put it into usable forms so that people, you know, might be able to see Chuck LaDell's favorite fights or Dana's favorite fights or, you know, who would the knockout artists in the U.S.C. We're having fun working on some curated categories. Final and most important question, by the way, why is your Twitter name Ziggy's Follies? You know, you know, Ariel, because we've spoken about this. Yes, but the people.

I'm not a big fan of doing the press, you know. I've always tried to stay back. I've been forced up to do it at these press conferences. So for me, Ziggy's Follies was, I don't really promote myself. And it's a nickname of mine I got when I was in law school with Ziggy. My baseball rotissory team is Ziggy's Follies. And so for me, this was literally a way for me to tweet to the people that I knew who knew Ziggy's Follies, but it's obviously changed to what it's become now.

Now you're a great resource. I mean, on Fight Night, you're tweeting behind the scenes picks. I mean, it's unbelievable. Everyone needs to follow you. Well, I appreciate that. There are all my numbers. But, yeah, I hope that there are times when I can tweet those pictures when I don't have as much responsibility. So my next event is Giorda Gla de Soule, and I'll try and give you guys back scenes pictures to that.

You'll just be hanging out eating assayi. No worries, no press conferences. That's my boy. Thank you so much. Good luck with this. It was great to get some of the answers to the questions we were wondering about. Can't wait for that press conference. Cameron, right to actually try this thing out, and always appreciate having you on.

It's been too long. Don't be a stranger, Marshall. I will. You'll be hearing me knocking on your door now. Thank you very much. Best of luck. There is Marshall's Alasnick, the UFC's chief content officer for the new UFC Digital Network. That's what we're calling it right now.

Let's see what happens when they launch it end of the year right now in Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. But it sounds like the rest of the world will get it not too long after that. And, of course, the first of the first of the year. event that will be aired live on the network takes place January 4th. Lim versus Safedine. That is taking place in Singapore. It was supposed to be Safedine versus Ellenberger. Ellenberger pulling out due to an injury. And then March 8th, by the way, Jimmy Manoa versus Alexander Gussifson also going to air live exclusively right now on that digital network. How about that? All right, let's move along. UFC on Fox. Number nine, as we mentioned, is in Sacramento. And in my opinion, it feels like

like, it's almost, it's poetic. It's the culmination of one of the big stories of 2013. That has been the emergence of team alpha male. An amazing streak they've gone on led by their coach, their new coach, Dwayne Bang Ludwig, who was appointed pretty much around this time last year. So here we go. Second, the last show of the year. And one of their own can become the first member of the team to win a UFC belt.

It feels like it's all coming together. And there are four of them, four team alpha male fighters fighting on the card in Sacramento, their backyard, Saturday night on Fox. You get what I'm trying to say here. Right now we have their coach, Bang Ludwig, on the line right. The second, Dwayne, how are you? Good, how are you doing? I'm doing great.

So I don't know if you heard my little intro there, but do you agree with what I'm saying here? You started December of last year. You've gone on an amazing streak, and now it could all pretty much come to an end with four of your guys fighting in your backyard of Sacramento. one of them trying to become the first to win a UFC belt. It feels like this was all kind of planned in a weird way. Yeah, it's definitely coming together nicely. And for Benavides to walk away with the title, it's going to be nice. I'm going to enjoy that moment for sure.

And then get Faber a win, get Mandez a win, Danica Steele win as well. Go 4-0 on Saturday. That's going to be a good feeling for sure, especially when the boats sitting around Benavides's waist. What was your first fight as coach of Team Alpha-Male? What was that fight? The first fight that I cornered a team off a fighter was Danica Stio when he fought Paul Sass in England.

And your record in the- January this year. Okay, and your record in the UFC, what is it right now? Do you know? I'm not sure. But just one loss, right? The T.J. Dillis-Shaw fight, which was somewhat controversial. Correct.

Do you feel like... Go ahead? No, no. That's the one I do remember, of course. Yeah, of course. I don't know how many wins, but I do remember that one for sure. Do you think he deserved to win? It was a close fight. It was a close fight. I don't know if you're a guy deserved to win, but it was a good fight. We just can't let us. I think we sat back a little bit. But there's just one of those things. We had to get out there. We've got to push it for 15 minutes until the finish comes.

Do you feel as though this year, which, you know, there's been a lot of talk about you guys. I remember that show in San Jose, another great night for you guys. And, you know, I said on Fox just a week or so ago that, you know, holds worth winning. And then if Benavides wins, it would leave no doubt that you are the coach of the year. Is this year incomplete if you don't get one of those guys a UFC belt? No, you know, that's definitely a goal is to get them, the UFC belts for sure, and get their wins. But the main goal is when I train these guys, it's just a little bit of an improvement, each and every class, just want to get them better. Of course, the main goal is to get them belts and get them wins.

But the main thing that I look for is just little improvements each and every day. So each every day that they come in here and they get better, I'm happy. But the critics have always said they're great fighters, their top contenders, but they could just never get over the hump. If you can't get them over the hump, is it all for not? No, they still improve.

It's still created better martial artists. They still learned as a coach. There's still improvement. You know, the critics aside, these guys are still getting better. They're still top 10 athletes. They are improving. They are true martial artists.

So if they're going to erase all that, just to look at the UFC gold around someone's waist, I think that's a bit ignorant. Do you feel like they are better fighters collectively today than they were last December when you were hired? I feel so, yes. I think it's a tether-knit team now.

A bit more order and structure. I think there's more guidelines and goals and things that everybody's following. I think it's a tether-knit team. Not just me, but everybody else says that as well. Of the four guys competing on this card on Saturday, who's improved the most? I would say Danny Castile probably improved the most.

Benevitus only had it improved a little bit. And everybody is getting way better, But Danny, for sure, is the guy out of the poor that has improved the most. And the main thing he's improved the most at is just becoming his own athlete before. I think he was trying to be somebody else or something else. But I'm able to sit back and just kind of talk with him a little bit more and find out what's comfortable for him and just allow me as a coach to adapt to the athlete. I'm not trying to make, you know, Ben, or Denick Castillo, Dwayne Ledriguez,

want to get him better as his own martial artist. And he's doing great at that now. Who do you think has the toughest test on Saturday? great, Danny Gustle with Edz and Barbosa has to be our toughest test. Yeah, and why do you think that is? Because of the motion and the different athletes that are going to be in the cage. There's two different athletes. So that's going to be our toughest belt.

There's a spotlight on these guys because they are the Sacramento boys fighting in, you know, essentially their home arena, so to speak. Have you talked to them about that, about dealing with the week to come and, you know, all the attention that they're going to receive? They received a lot, but it's all going to really build. up come Friday and Saturday. Have you talked to them about dealing with that? We talked a little bit about that, but they're two professionals and they know how to handle that stuff. Not much has changed. I mean, they're going to have a few more interviews here and there, but other than that,

I think it's going to be the same. And on Saturday, all it is, we have something going to that arena. We just have to spar. That's all it has to happen. And you weren't in Benavides's corner when he fought Demetrius for the first time, but I'm sure you've watched the fight, right? Correct, yes. Is he a better fighter than the guy who fought Demetrius last September? He's a way better fighter, for sure. Explain to us why. Well, the main thing is just mentally. He's not going after the fight like it's the last thing that he has to do in life.

He understands that it is just a fight, and we have to go out there and we have to spar. We don't have to make it our life. We just have to go out there controlling emotions, stick to the game playing the spar. What do you... He just put too much into it. He wanted it too bad. Too much pressure on himself? Possibly.

What do you make of Johnson? Do you think he's better than the guy who fought him? him in September of last year in Toronto? I'm sorry, one more time. What do you make of Demetris? Has he gone better in your opinion? Yeah, he's got better for sure. He's gotten way better. He is very good at, you know, he's a doubt, he's

became his own acting. If you watch his fight, even with Ian McCall, the first time and the second time, he's improved from there. He's improving each and every fight. One of things that he's doing now, he's playing a safer game. He's real smart. He's very good at the time with the takedowns. He's very good to get him to go ahead and just touch and commit so he can just get the shot off. And he's

become his own athlete, and it's awesome to see that he's improved a ton. But with that being said, Benavides has the recipe to beat Demetius Johnson on Saturday. Did you watch The Road to the Octagon show? Yes, I just seen that yesterday. What do you think of Demetrius saying that, you know, he's not just a guy who goes out there to try to throw bombs and hope that they land? It seemed like he was taking a shot at Benevides and everything that you're doing with him.

That's fine. I don't mind if he's taking shots around. That's just his personal opinion. and I think that was the case before. I don't think that's no longer the case. We're a bit more calculated with our things. I don't know if he's just trying to play a head game and we're being silly about that. But to be honest, I don't even remember hearing him say that. I mustn't even hear that come from a couple of different people.

And, you know, I don't know if that's him just trying to get into our heads or what that is, if that's just him being ignorant a little bit because if he hasn't watched the last fights, that's no longer the case. Are you surprised at how much better they've gone since you started work with them? Like, did you think that they had that much room to improve? Yes, I'm definitely surprised. Well, I'm surprised at, you know, all the attention, all the success. I didn't expect us to lose any fights.

But, you know, I just, you know, my goal is obviously the big picture, winning the UFC gold and winning every fight. But I just, when I'm in the gym, I just want the guys to improve each and every day just a little bit. That's where my vision is, of course. But again, like I said, I have my vision on the big goal, you know, winning the UFC gold and win all the fights. But each and every day, those things are going to happen when you come in the gym every day and get a little bit better. And that's what I focus on me, and it's them getting better each and every class. Are you surprised at how good of a coach you've become?

Yes and no. I mean, I've been coaching guys since I was 19 anyway, so I've been doing this for a while. I am surprised with the success just because of the level of athletes that I have and how open-minded they are and how hard they work and how much they improve just because of their own dedication. Because I've done this the same thing. I've worked with many athletes since I was 19-year. and I understand that people are going to improve if they choose to improve or if they choose to change. And these guys have this, as it has accepted me, you know, quite easily and listening to everything when I ask, and they get better because of that because they have the simple basic drills

and proper information now with world-class athletes. And I also know if I had the same level of athletes I worked with before, but the changes are drastic for sure. I'm definitely happy with what's been happening. Are you comfortable with all the attention that you've received? because you're so, you're very humble guy, and you know, you're kind of a throwback in a sense from the, you know, the old martial art way. And sometimes I get the sense that, I don't know, you feel a little weird about all the praise that we've showered upon you this year. How do you feel about it?

Yeah, it's just, what's weird about it for me is everything that I've done before has come from my own physical abilities. It comes from me sweating, for me pushing hard. Now I no longer sweat, no longer push hard. I sit back and everything that I do now is, well, most of the good knowledge is metal, just training combinations and drills and techniques. So what's weird for me is just to go back and have this level of success with me, you know, doing physically little work. I'm just associate physical work with success. And now I'm getting a bunch of success just off my mental work. And that's a little bit weird for me.

But I'll tell you what, I like it. I like doing the folks with the pants and signatures and autographs and these interviews. It makes me still feel relevant in life. If I was just, you know, had a whole-in-wall gym with two students, I wouldn't be feeling as successful. Now I'm working with, you know, world-class athletes getting them U.S. titles and that makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I'm doing something a bit more worth, you know, worthwhile in this life. And that's my main goal in life is just create better martial artists and I'm having a good time at it. But of course, I am humble. I am. Like you said,

throwback martial arts, it still is, you know, true honor and respect. And I think someone that is lost in today's mixed martial arts, but it's coming back to no better person to lead than some people that are in the Ocena, myself, and see my own machita myself, and see my mom, and see my mom, I'm in St. Pierre, there's definitely good role models. There's a great a great handful, but then, of course, there's a couple of other mixed martial artists that I think don't really have the martial art of our respect. But it's coming around. It's coming around for sure.

Correct me if I'm wrong. It almost feels like you've received more praise, more attention than in your fighting days. Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah, I'm definitely more popular now. You know, I have a trainer than I wasn't ever as a fighter. I was, you know, the first guy had to beat jazz and, you know, win my first world title and my second world title. I was still doing maybe an interview with two or a week, but now I'll do interviews all

all this freaking time. And again, I like it. I like, you know, get my name out there. Like, people know that I'm a good martial instructor and trainer, and I know what I'm doing, and I don't have good athletes. And even if I don't have good athletes, so I'm in here, too much, well, not everybody in here is kick ass. Some of the guys, you know, some of them suck, and that's fine.

But they're still, I'm still giving them goals. They're still coming in. They're still coming good partners. They're still learning. They're still becoming better from the big martial arts. And I love that. And I'm helping people. I've taken other people's goals and made them my goals, and that's making me a happy person.

On the surface, how did you turn these guys who weren't known to be, knockout artists into knockout artists. How does that happen? Is it technical things that they were doing wrong? Someone like Mendez, I think, has won four in a row via KRTKO. Benavides as well as gone on the street. How do you change a fighter to become that kind of fighter? Well, I think they've already had that. Now they understand. Well, they had this to have, they have proper information out. And it's not just showing them, you know, here's the cross. Now here's where it goes. I create drills and I put the right, you know, and, you know, this is the correct thoughts in their brains while they're doing it.

This is little key things. And that just happens on the flight, too, is certain scenarios going on. Okay, you know, we'll put your foot here, make sure you have this thought in mind as far as your, you know, bite down the mouth, pace one off to the side. Just little key things here and there, because there's a lot of great areas in martial arts, and that's where I excel is picking up the gray areas and making sure the guys are paying the techniques while they're taking place. I know for a long time you wanted to open up, you know, your schools all over the country.

Is that still the plan right now? Yeah. Well, I still have my affiliate business and I'm throughout the world now. I have been in Malaysia and Thailand and all throughout the U.S. as well. And I'm still doing that as my affiliate process because I have a lot of my drills and combinations

on video when I send them off to affiliates and then they do the same exact drills and combinations that we're doing here at Team Alpha Mel. So it's a collective group of all throughout the world. But yeah, you know, I'll eventually have my own academy, you know, of my own at some point down the road. And would you leave

Team Alpha Mail to really grow that? Or do you you could do both. I'll have to see how, you know, when that, I guess we'll cross that bridge when it comes. That's a bit of a great area. I have to figure that out. But right now, this chapter, if I'm understanding, life is about chapters. I spent 20 years fighting. And when I was doing that, I thought that's all I was going to do for the rest of my life,

even though that's not a realistic thing. But now, you know, now I'm a coach. I'm no longer on the fighter or the athlete. So that was a 20-year chapter of my life. I understand life is about chapters, just like, you know, elementary, middle school and high school, those are all just chapels in life. So I know I'm not going to be the head trainer of Tim off Moe for the rest of my life. And I'm not a common person anyway, so I can't, I wouldn't be the same. I guess this isn't for me to do for the rest of my life. I will venture off and open

my own academy and handle it that way as far as a martial artist. And where, when, or how that'll happen is the X is just the unknowns, I guess, right now. The deal that you signed with Faber to come be coach, how many years was that for? It was a one-year deal. So that, That's actually ending, but I never actually signed the contract, but that's coming to end the end of this year. You never actually signed the contract? No, no. Why not?

There were just a couple things in there that we just had to go over and bounce back and forth with the ideas, and we just, I just, it's just a verbal agreement right now, or as it's been since January. So it's up at the end of this year. Will you be back next year? Yeah, yeah, I'll see here for sure. We're still going to win going to go. I so many of us to get a belt, that's for sure.

Vinavius is going to have to retain the title next year also. So there's still a goal. They're not leaving in January, but, you know, and again, I understand life's about chapters and I won't be the head coach here for the rest of my life. I will have to venture off and do my own business just because, again, I'm not a common person and to work. And for me to work for people isn't the best feeling for me. I've got to make sure I work for myself.

And although I basically do work for myself here, I'm just a 1099 subcontract employee. And each, you know, each fighter pays me a percentage. And that's how I get paid. I don't have just one boss, even though the kids you write his gym, they pay me a percentage, and so I make, you know, it's just an equal partnership, basically the co-op, and we're all learning and growing together. But I will step away at some point, open up Ledwick martial arts,

and that will be my academy. Do you have, like, a time frame, you know, by this year, that's when I want to leave and do this? No, there's no time frame. I have the access to funds now as far as an investor, and I can do it now, but now is not the time. By the way. Right now, it's for me to get these guys' titles.

I'm sorry? I was going to say, and I agree with you, but this turned out so well because your stock has risen. Opening up Dwayne Bang Ludwig's schools today is a much different deal than if it were last year, right? I mean, you're the talk of the MMA world. You can attract more investors, more clients, and things like that. Do you agree? Yes and no, because I open an academy, as far as a statistic, 80% of your client base will come from within a five to seven-mile radius.

So if people throughout the world know I'm a kick-ass instructor, still, when I open up the doors, only 80% of my clients are going to come from a 5 to 7-mile radius of the academy. So it's about where you're going to open up the academy. I don't need people in Ohio knowing how bad ass I am if you're not going to come to sign up. Right. But once you do spend. It doesn't make me feel relevant and happy and stuff for sure. Because I guess it's a good plaque to put on your wall. Sure, sure.

Okay, final thing before I let you go. Benevides Johnson, how does it end? It's going to end with Benavita's knocking him out in fourth round. Wow, okay. Faber... Crazy, right? Yes, that is crazy. I think that would be an unbelievable story if it did happen. Uriah is going to choke McDonald, Mendez is going to knock out Lens, and Dan

Castillo is going to win a decision against Barbosa. And when is Uriah going to choke out McDonald? Since we're getting specific. Second round. Second round. You're going to go 4-0 on Saturday in Sacramento. Yes, sir. Can't wait to see it.

Dwayne... The bansillions, baby. Come out from no banzillions. Bangzilians, I like it. Good luck to you guys. wait to be out there. And congratulations, regardless of what happens. And I know Chris Holdsworth just won, the Ultimate

Fighter Contract. Congratulations on a tremendous year. Appreciate it, my friend. Thank you, sir. There he is. Dwayne, Bang, Ludwig, my pick for Coach of the Year, regardless of what happens on Saturday night. But Saturday night would definitely cement it. And, you know,

you got to get props to a lot of guys. There are a lot of guys not trying to slight anyone. I mean, I think Ray Longo deserves to be in that conversation, 100 for what he's done with Chris Wyman. Ally Quintas look great. There's always Greg Jackson. There's always Farah Zahabi in that in that conversation. There are a lot of great coaches that don't get the attention that they deserve guys like Duke Rufus, guys like John Crouch, and many, many more. But I think when you look at what the alpha male guys have done prior to working with Bang Ludwig and what they are doing now,

in 2012, Rydera Faber was 0 and 1. This year, 3 and 0. Mendez, last year, 2 in 1. This year, 2 and 0. Last year, Benevita is 1-1. This year, 3-0. Danny Castillo, 2-0, last year, 1-1. Undefeated, all four of those guys. It's impressive. And we'll see what happens Saturday night in Sacramento. Okay, let us move along and welcome in a man who has been very much in the news over the last couple weeks, tons of news about him, and we're looking to find out some answers. We want answers. We got questions. We got questions. he's got answers. There he is. Coming back for the second time in I believe three weeks, Ben Ascran, how about that? Ben, how are you?

Whoever thought that would happen after my lifetime, Ben, I didn't expect these circumstances. But it worked out good at the first time, so let's go for a two-fer. Okay, here we go. Are you the newest member of the one-fc team? Yes, and obviously,

it wasn't where I thought I was going to be at this point, but after everything that's happened in the last three weeks or so, I think it was the last time I talked to you. It's been a crazy three weeks, but it ended up turning out pretty well for me, and I'll be headed over to One FC. I think my first fight is probably going to be either March or April, and then I'd be joining an involved MMA team for the end of my camps over there in Singapore.

Okay, first things first. Why hasn't One FC announced this officially? I think it's coming very short. We had just, you know, they had done a show last week, so there was a little bit of trouble finishing up the contract, but I finished talking to Matt Hume this morning, and him and my management were just putting the final touches on the contract. So it is pretty much set to go.

What are the terms of the deal? We know. I won't get into monetary stuff, but it's two years six fights. first one I said will probably be in March April and looking forward to going to kick some butt. Are you happy with the deal? I mean, I know you said it's not where you expect it to be and you won't talk about money,

but on paper, are you happy with what you're getting? Yeah, I'm super happy. I mean, honestly, the day after I left the meeting with the UFC that I had out there, I was like, you know, honestly, I thought I was probably going to hang up and run my wrestling academies and camps and I really enjoy that stuff, so it's not like I was sad about it, but I kind of felt like this is a weird ending to my MMA career.

Like, why would it end like this? And then, you know, World Series of Fighting was super active in trying to sign me up, and then 1FC hit me up, and just after looking at both deals, and I got to meet a few people involved in 1FC when I was training in Singapore the last time, which was 2012. It just felt like a really comfortable deal for me. And, you know, monetarily, they, they gave me some big money.

Okay, so let's talk about this meeting with UFC because it was two weeks ago today, and we know that Dana White wasn't there, Lorenzo was there, but I believe Dana White was there via the phone. What happened in this meeting? He was on conference call, and the meeting went really well. It was, they were all polite, everything was good,

and we talked, and honestly, when I left the UFC offices, I thought we were going to come to a deal at that point. It just seemed like it was going to happen. Everything had went well, and then you'll later that night, they called back when they say they're not interested. So it was kind of a weird set of circumstances. And, you know, after going through the meeting and everything, it's very clear to me that it's not really about me.

It's about Dana's quarrel with Bellator and Bjorn and everything else that's going on there. Because, you know, when you look at his main argument is that I'm not good enough, it's just it's shenanigans, plain and simple. I don't think there's a website across the MMA world that doesn't have been in the top 10. And they got 84 guys on roster. And frankly, I beat half of them dudes with the one arm tied behind my back and blindfolded. Some of those guys, they really suck. They're really bad at the sport of MMA.

So, you know, when it came down to it, I think it's all about the Bellator bickering and whatnot. And, you know, the worst part about it is I feel like I wish they would have at least said, like, hey, dude, you know, we like you. blah blah, blah, this isn't why we were signing you. But, you know, when I was in the meeting, they acted like, hey, we're going to get this, you know, it's good, blah, blah, blah, and then all of a sudden, no deal. So when you walked out of that meeting in Las Vegas, you thought you were going to join the UFC?

That's the way it really seemed like you was heading. Yeah, after me and my manager left, and we were talking about it, and that's, you know, that's kind of what it was seeming like. And what was Lorenzo's stance towards you? You know, I think Lorenzo, doesn't let his ego get involved and he's a little more mature

so he doesn't really have the quarrel with Bellator quite as much as Dana so I think Lorenzo was pro me and wanted to give me the organization because when you look at it and really one of the things that I've respected about the UFC and I've watched since the beginning probably like you have

is especially once the Fratitas bought the business because the UFC wasn't the number one fighting organization in the world when the Fratitas bought it it was probably pride at that point. But one of the things that was the main goal of their business was, we're going to let the

best fighters in the world get in the octagon and fight it out to see who the best is. And so when you think Dana's is so immature that he's letting a little bitter rivalry between him and Bellator slash Bjorn getting the way of

the main point of their businesses, which is to put the best people in the world in the octagon and let him fight out to see who the best is. It's kind of crazy. You think by someone by the time someone has a billion dollars and runs one of the biggest sports organizations in the entire world that they would have enough maturity to get over a bitter, you know, a bitter rivalry with a different company and let the best fighters get in the octagon and fight it out.

Did you ask him directly if this is the reason why he doesn't want to sign you? No, because if they would have said no, then I would have said, hey, is this the reason? But when I left the USD office, it didn't seem like that was even necessary. So, you know, why really get into it? But what about when they called you back? They called my manager. My manager called me. And so I don't, you know, I don't know what conversation went on between my manager and them.

But, I mean, honestly, if you guys knew all the little bullshit that went on behind the scenes between both organizations, you guys would be cracking up so hard. Like what? Oh, like I can't say, I respect people's privacy, and I'm not going to throw a dirty laundry out. Okay, fine. You brought it up, so I had to ask. Yeah, I'm just saying, like, this shenanigans, you know, especially on the EFC's part, but I'm not going to get into it. I'm going to get myself in trouble. Okay, but that being said, you still wanted to fight for them, and when they called you, you thought that you were going to retire?

Like, when they called you back and said, thanks, but no thanks, you were leaning towards retirement? Yeah, honestly, I mean, when I left Bellator, you know, another thing is Bjorn getting yelled at for this situation, which is ridiculous. Bjorn was the first person to say to me, Ben, why do you want us to let go your matching clause? You're going to get screwed by this whole deal. And I had to say, Bjorn, I'm a big boy. And if I screw myself, I'm fine with screwing myself. I'm okay with that. So, Bjorn, on the one hand, gets crucified for holding Eddie too long.

then he has the respect to let me go, so I can go try to achieve my goals, and he gets crucified for that, too. So it's like he did one thing, and he did the opposite thing, and he gets killed on both ends, which is laughable to me. It's like, I asked Bjorn, I said, hey, you made an offer, we can't come to a point where we can agree on what the contract should be. How about you let me go? And he said, okay, that's fine, let's do it.

And so he let me go. And, you know, at that point for me, it was UFC or bust. I want to go and cheat my goals. And so when I go out to the UFC meeting, it doesn't work out. I'm just like, maybe I'll just retire. And, you know, I thought long and hard about it. And I was getting, you know, it took me a week and a half, two weeks to really consider the one FC and the World Series of Fighting Offers. And do I really want to do this?

Is this something I really have in my heart? Because I'm not the kind of person who just wants to do it for a paycheck. And I said that before. And when it came down to it, it was, you know, long thought pressed to me. And there was a lot of stuff on both sides. Should I do it? Should I not do it? And when it came down to it for me, I said, you know what?

I'm not ready for my MMA career to be over. UFC is obviously not an option at this point. So which one of these deals do I want to take? And one FC made me a great offer. It was a great deal. And it was just something I couldn't turn down at that point because I'm not ready for my MMA career to be over. Do you think you screwed yourself? It's definitely possible.

You know, call it Dana a liar about the whole drug testing issue probably wasn't the most politically correct move on my part. But honestly, at the end of the day, when you think about how big the UFC is, right, that it's a billion-dollar entity. It's the largest, one of the largest sports organizations of the planet. and their main goal is to put the best guys in the octagon. You're thinking in your head like, well, surely they're not going to let, you know,

their anger at Bjorn or the fact that I said one silly thing to Dana a year and a half ago, getting away of this actually happening. So, you know, maybe I did live and die by your mistakes. You know, if it was my fault, I guess I would like Dana to say, hey, that douchebag shouldn't have said that I was a liar. maybe I would have signed him. You know, and I could live with that. But the fact that I'm not in UFC,

and it really doesn't have anything to do with me, which is pretty much how it is. I can tell you that without a doubt. After being in a meeting with doubt, that's kind of a frustrating thing. It's a tough pill to swallow. It has nothing to do with you in your opinion. And I can tell you without a shadow of doubt,

it definitely has nothing to do with me. And like I said, I'm not going to air any dirty laundry, but it definitely does not. And that's probably the hardest thing is, and because let's look at it from another angle. I mean, I offered to fight Roy McDonald's, and if I lost, I would not take a paycheck and I retire.

I mean, what better way to disprove Bellator, right? Dana wants to disprove Bellator. He doesn't have to pay for it, and I retire. Like, that's a win-win on all parties, right? But he knows I'm going to look at Roy McDonald's ass. He knows that there's a very, very small chance to Roy McDonald's actually going to beat me, and that's why he didn't take me up on the offer.

So they know that I belong from an athletic standpoint, from a winning standpoint, I belong, but I think there's other things behind it. Did you consider going back to Belator after the UFC deal was off the table? Did you consider just continuing your run as champion there? You know what? I didn't even talk to Bjorn after that. You know, I figured if they wanted me that bad. They probably would have contacted me, but I did kind of say,

hey dude I don't want to fight here anymore so it wasn't really a surprise to me that he didn't call me after everything had gone down you know you mentioned that you find it interesting that people are crucifying bjorn but you don't i mean let's look at the other two times this happened hector lombard they made a deal ufc won out they got hector eddie alvres ufc made a deal beltor wanted him they ended up keeping him with you they didn't play that game they called you one-dimensional and it's one of those things where they almost said, here, take him, take him, let's see how he does in your organization. Do you think that if they didn't do that and didn't kind of, in my opinion, kick you on your butt on the way out, that the UFC would have been more interested in you? They made it too

easy on the UFC, in my opinion. Yeah, that's a definite possibility. I mean, they wanted me. There was offers made. There was offers on the table. It was just that, you know, Bjorn, I've known Bjorn for four years, right? We spent a lot of time together when I go on go to my fights or whatever with the Bellator stuff. And he knew where my goals lie. And my goal was to be the number one of the fighter in the world. He knew that, and he respected that. And so after talking and making a few offers and seeing where I was at and where he was at,

he just said, hey, Ben, here, go on your way. And like I said, the one-dimensional comment, it doesn't bother me. Because, you know what, I'm so damn good at that one-dimension. I'll meet anyone in the world with it. And I'm not really scared to say that. Okay, so did you not sign with World Series of Fighting because Dana said he wanted you to? That definitely has something to do with it. I mean, I got a really hard time with people telling me what to do.

Sure. And I mean, like, if I'm your employee and I work for ZUFA, you know what, I'm probably going to listen to you. I'm going to have a tough time listening to you, but I'm going to do it. And now I'm not your employee and you're going to tell me what to do that. That just ain't going to happen. That's crazy. So at the end of the day, Ali with Ali Abdel-Aziz with World Series of Fighting,

he was an awesome dude. They made me a really good offer, and they were going to take care of me. But having Dan telling me to go there was something that was definitely, it was in the back of my mind like, dude, I'm not going to let this guy push me around. I don't even work for this guy, and he's going to push me around.

That was definitely something that was maybe pushing me away from them. My theory is if he never would have said that, you would have signed a World Series of Fighting. Accurate? You know, I can't say for sure because one FC did make me a great offer and I feel really comfortable with them. Yeah, but there's probably a better chance that I would consider that offer more seriously. Which deal was better, World Series of Fightings or OneFCs? You know, they're relatively equal. There was a few points on either side.

I guess you could argue one deal is better or the other deal is better depending on how you want to look at it. But they're both awesome deals. I mean, I can promise you from what I see on a, you know, MMA junkie when I see what people or what fighters are making, I'm making more than probably 85 to 90 percent of the guys in the UFC without a doubt. Okay, so let's say the one FC deal is the better deal. Which deal was better than 1FC or Bellator's original deal to you?

Stop, Aaron. You're trying to get too much information. I just want to know if you made the right decision. Listen, here's the deal. Here's the deal. Dana's opened up a can of worms now because what he doesn't realize is Bellator was already willing to pay. They paid Michael Chandler.

They paid Eddie Alvarez. Obviously, they paid Tito. Now that was the wisest decision, but they paid the man. And now the World Series of Fighting and One FC were opening up their pocketbooks. Both of them made great offers. So some of these people who are lower-level UFC fighters that the UFC's getting to pay them 12 and 12 or 15 and 15 or whatever chump change, they're going to, you know, next time they have their contract called,

they're going to think twice about signing with the UFC and say, hey, could I make, could I go make more money elsewhere? Could I go make more money in one of FSC? Could I go make more money in World Series of fighting? And so, you know, I think essentially what Dana has done for himself indirectly is create more competition, and the fighter with competition, the fighters are all going to want to get paid more. So I think he actually may have just opened up a can of worms

He didn't really want to open up. So you said it's two years, six fights. When that contract is up, do you still want to fight for the UFC at some point? I'm going to add that. I don't know, man. I would have a hard time. Dana has just been so disrespectful in the media. And, you know, and it's just shenanigans.

Like, we've talked about the fact that I'm not good enough. I mean, that's laughable and no one really believes that, except the most uneducated fan. And so he just been so disrespected. respectful about that. And, you know, I really wish she just would have said something in my face in the meeting about what he, what his direct issues were not, you know, because they didn't pretty much barely say anything in the meeting.

It was more me and Lorenzo talking than anything. And I would have a tough time, even if they were willing to pay me a lot of money. I think I would have a tough time coming back and fighting for the O.C. At that point, not saying I wouldn't do it for sure. I would have to think long and hard about doing it. You seem like the kind of guy who is fueled by competition. You want to strive to be the best. That's what this was all about.

Who are you going to fight in one FC who is going to, you know, what your appetite? Who's going to, you know, fill those needs of yours? Well, sure. I sure a shit don't know. Like I said, right, I thought about retiring and I had both one FC and World Cheers making offers. and I had to think, you know, about it to do.

And I just decided I wasn't ready to be done fighting MMA. But is there one guy that comes to mind in one FC, one guy? There's nobody. I mean, I'm going to wait for them to give me a matchup, and I'm going to go fight, and that's what I'm going to do. And you know what, Ariel, honestly, you know, I know I haven't done anything to convince fans or the media that I'm the best Walter Way in the world, but I think in my head, and I've went with a lot of the times,

top guys I have in practice. I'm pretty damn sure I'm the best multi-weight in the world, and it's a sad thing that Dana would let me get in the octagon and prove it because I told him, I would do it for free if I lost. Are you going to fight Phil Barone in your debut?

Oh, man. You know, he's he is so bad at MMA. I mean, I know none of those guys are ranked in the top 10 or 20, but Phil, I mean, he can't even be in the top 200, can he? He's just, he's trying to get, he's trying to pick a fight on Twitter,

and I'm trying to ignore him because he's fairly irrelevant. But you are engaging. You are engaging with him. I mean, I engaged him once or twice, just, you know, I couldn't help myself. You know, we all saw that show on TV where he was in the bathroom crying to his girlfriend. And it was, you know, it was embarrassing for me to watch as a man. It was embarrassing. So, you know, I couldn't imagine being the guy that was actually in the bathroom crying to his girlfriend on TV.

after losing it at a very low-level MMA promotion. So I don't know. I guess, you know, if I had to beat up Phil Barone for a lot of money, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world I ever did. But, you know, I think he's 0-2 in his last two fights than one-fc.

So I'm pretty sure they have some better competition than him. Like a guy like Husseymar Paul Harris, didn't you want to test yourself against him? That would have been such a fun fight. Well, you know, that's what, you know, I kept thinking about it. And it's like it came to me. You know, the World Series Affairs, they do have a couple of solid guys, but it's like, okay, you know, I'm ranked, say, on some side, eight or ninth, right?

Paul Harris is like 13th and Fitch is like 17, right? So say I go beat Paul Harris and Fitch, what do I move up to? Seventh? Six. I mean, you know, I'm not saying that Ricky Bobby is the wisest man on the world, but in essence, if you're not first or last, I mean, no one's going to brag about being seventh in the world. I want to brag about being first in the world and honestly if I beat Paul Harris and Fitch and whoever else they have over there

because their champion right now is a Belator washout. You know, Steve Kroff could never make the Belator finals. So he's their champion at this point. You know, what's the highest I'm going to realistically move? Seven or six, but I'm sure shit not going to move up number one. So what's the point?

So at this point you've put that all aside because you're not going to move up in one-fc either, at least given the roster that they have right now. So you just don't care about that anymore. You're just going to go out there, fight the fights that they give you, collect the money. Those those kind of needs of yours are being put to the side. Yeah, I mean, I looked at both options and I said, can I move up to number one with either of these options? And I think the obvious answer to everyone is no. It's impossible. In one FC, in World Series of Fighting, in Bellator, I'm not going to move up to number one in the

world. That's just, that's a fact. It's an unfortunate fact, but it's not going to happen. So at that point, I kind of had to throw that idea out of the window. And are you worried at all about your visibility? Because on Spike, you were being seen by 800,000, 900,000 million people. Obviously in the UFC, kind of the same. World Series of Fighting would have been a lot less right now. But one-fc is a lot less, at least in North America, than World Series of Fighting.

So are you worried at all about that? Well, no, not really. I mean, they're compensating me, which I've already talked about. But, you know, another thing is I don't really like being famous. I hate it when I have to go to a restaurant and sign some autographs and stuff like that. And I know obviously that's what pays the paychecks that people tune in and watch. But my wife and I talked about it. And since I didn't really like it, I thought, hey, maybe I go be a huge star in Asia.

And then I come home and no one knows me. And so I got the best of both worlds is I'm famous over there and making money. And I come home and no one knows who I am. And I got the best of both worlds because I get to be famous and make the money. and then at the same time not be famous and not have to talk to people want to go to the grocery store and just be able to buy my potatoes

and pasta and go home. Yeah, you could be like the 2014 version of Bob Sat. Well, I don't suck that much. But yeah, something like that. Final thing, what's the deal with Evolve? Because we know that you're at Rufus Sport. You do great stuff there. You're a coach there as well.

So how's this thing going to work out? I'm just going to finish up my training camps there. I was at Evolve in 2012. It was an awesome place. Great coach. Great all-round. And obviously, when I signed a one FC deal, they know it would be over in Asia. They just approached me about kind of joining their team at the end of my camps.

And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to go there and finish up my camps, and they're going to help corner me. And it just seemed like the appropriate move because I like them. I know them. I'm comfortable with them. I think they do a good job. And I'm obviously going to be an agent fighting for One FC anyway. So it just made sense on all sides.

Well, I wish you the best of luck. Congratulations on the deal. I know it didn't go as you planned the last couple of weeks of free agency, but it sounds like you're in a good place. You're happy with what OneFC has presented you. So congratulations on that. Looking forward to your debut. And it's great to have you on the show again.

I like this budding relationship that we've built over the last couple weeks. Yeah, sounds good anytime. Thank you. There he is. Ben Ascran, the newest member of the one-fc team. He says he'll make his debut around March or April or so. Six fights, two years, not going with World Series of Fighting, not going with Bellator, not going, of course, with UFC. He's going to One FC. And as I said, on the MMA beat, kind of rooted in ego.

He admitted it, at least for the World Series of Fighting part. He's not going to go where the guy who doesn't want to sign him wants him to go. You know what I'm saying? And he claims that the reason why he didn't sign with UFC is because Dana had an issue with Bellator. I still think, and I give him credit for this, I still think that he is giving Belator a little too much credit here. I do think they hurt him on the way out, but he has a good relationship with them and more

power to them, that he walked away in their good graces and vice versa. I do think if they would have tried to sign him, they probably would have gone at some kind of bidding more, maybe not as extensive as the one that they had with Hector Lombard and Eddie Albrez, but I think he would have been a little more attractive to the UFC, take away one of their champions. Anyhow, good luck to him and looking forward to his debut in Asia

early next year. Okay, let us get to our next guest so excited, so honored that he'd join us. Coming off, in my opinion, one of the greatest fights of the year, one of the greatest fights of all time. Certainly one of the best heavyweight fights of all time. I've watched this thing three times since. It was a joy to watch.

And he, of course, is one of our favorites. And we're so happy that he's joining us just a couple of days later. He is the Super Simone himself, the KFC king in the house. Mark, how are you? What's up, my mate? How are you feeling, my man? I feel good, my husband. I mean, but physically, how are you feeling?

That was quite the battle that you were in on Friday. Wow. A bit beat up. I just, yeah, a bit sore now, but I'm good. I'm a hem now, so it's great. So the injuries, you broke your hand in two places, right? Yeah, I thought I broke my leg as well, but I didn't. I thought my right hand was the one that was broken.

But it wasn't. It's just, it was close to being broken. It's really. really so also but just my left hand is broken and that's it

nothing else yeah did you get stitches nothing else oh it's just what's that sorry it's cutting up a little bit

yeah just got stitches in my head that's all how many oh not many okay so so let me ask you this when the fight is actually happening

when you're taking these shots you're giving out these shots it's going going back and forth. Do you have any kind of idea that you're involved in one of the greatest fights of all time? Like, did it hit you or did it only hit you afterwards, given all the praise and attention that you received? No, I didn't think it was definitely a big deal. I just do my job, just my fight. I was just trying to win, you know? That's all it is.

Have you watched the fight since then? I have, uh, I watched it once. I thought it was like, um, I thought it was okay. Mark, I'm, we're going to call you on your phone now. because it's a little crackly right now, okay? All right. Okay, we're going to call Mark right now. This is too exciting of an interview for me to have to watch the pixelated Mark Hunt.

We saw him. There he is, but we're going to call him on his phone right now and get him on. But as you can see, a big cast on his hand and nothing else. Just a few stitches. No broken leg. Interestingly enough, he thought he broke his right hand.

He actually broke his left hand. That's amazing. That is Mark Hunt for you. A man of a few words, but that's why we always enjoy talking to him. If you haven't seen it and you're watching this show, I'm a little, I would be a little shocked. I'd be somewhat surprised. But if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and go watch it. It was amazing.

In the discussion for Fight of the Year, along with Alexander Gustafin and John Jones, Gilbert Melendez, and Diego Sanchez, Eddie Averrez versus Michael Chandler number two in that discussion most certainly and now we have Mark Hunt back Mark are you there? Yeah, yeah. Okay, much better. I'm happy we got to see you

but I want to hear everything that you're saying. So you've watched it since then, right? Yeah, watched it, yeah. And you weren't all that blown away by? Do you think it's as good as what people are saying? I just thought it's a normal fight. you have to admit though it was the greatest fight of your career right

it was pretty good come on it was the best I mean you can't beat that do you think it's the greatest heavyweight fight of all time well I don't know probably I don't know I thought it was pretty good did you

did you score it when you watched it uh I don't know from from the outside perspective we have the one in there uh I just thought I could have done

lot more things. But, uh, I don't know. I don't know what was, uh, you know, I get pretty judgment.

I'm playing a, for sure when I'm watching myself, fight. So I should have done this, you know, but anyway. But did you think you deserve to win the fight? Well,

I think we both put our, put our hearts up there. I thought we did pretty well. Actually, so I don't really mind a drawer anyway, so, you know,

I mean, uh, we both had our moments in the fight. So I didn't really matter to me. I mean, I mean, it's big would pump me and I pumped them, so that was pretty good. But it's one of those weird fights where everyone seemed to be okay with the draw. When they announced that it was a draw, how did you react? After going through that for 25 minutes, such a war, you guys banged up, bleeding all that stuff,

and they announced there's no winner. How do you react to that? Oh, like, I wasn't at all mad about not getting the draw when I was. So, like, oh, I can deal with it. Wow. Were you surprised that the way they got to a draw was that the two of the judges gave you the fifth round 10-8? Did that surprise you? I don't know.

I mean, I knew there was a lot of when I did, because I didn't know my hand was working. And I knew there was a reason why I couldn't clinch properly or grapple because I couldn't grip as hard as I could. But I thought it was a good Corvature. You know? When do you think you broke your hand? I don't remember. I think I broke it because there was two breaks in the Metacopal fans. I don't know when it was barking, but I just remember I couldn't hold six foot down.

You know, because of the clenching, I couldn't grab it. I was like, oh, my gosh, something's wrong. I put my right hand was busted, but, you know, but I don't know whenever it works. What's going through your mind

when you're, you're landing some amazing shots and he's not going down? What do you actually thinking? I'm like, man, what do I need to do? I need to do something even more. It was just the crazy thought.

How do I... I was trying to... When I started up, when I was in the office, I was like, man, I still don't go out of ways. But, and I,

Anthony is a strong man, you know, so, you know, it pops. So, yeah. And how did you feel? I mean, to go 25 minutes like that, in your MMA career, you've never done that before.

How did it feel to have those two extra rounds? I wouldn't be bad. I just, like I said, I was cut away because I didn't know when I was sitting on my left hand while he wasn't falling. And then I didn't know until after when I slipped the head, the glove off that my hand was working.

So, yeah, I don't even know what the hell I was. still using it, freaking out. So the fight went 25 minutes, but it might not have even gone that point because in the first round, you know, it almost ended rather quickly when he dropped you.

How hurt were you? Well, I was like a flash knockout. And I was like, whoa. It was like a quick knockdown and it got up. You know, I got caught. Didn't even realize it got caught. Then I just, yeah, started going back. And then he came back in the second round

and it seemed like he really injured your leg. Did it bother you for the rest of the fight? Yeah, I thought my leg was bucked, you know? Sick as much. Yeah, I thought the leg was back

and when he kicked it. It wasn't good, man. The leg wasn't a feeling too while after that. And I didn't normally get a shot for, but man, I had to get shot for that. Wow. But no injury to it.

It's just really bruised. Okay. This is the, that was the leg. I had no pressure on it. It wasn't conditioned while the muscles. It was like getting back to K1 days. You know, in the fourth round, he had you,

he was in mount position, and he was doing his classic move where he puts his hand on the neck. It wasn't working as well as he did it against Fador-Millianenko, but still dropping some bombs. What's that like to have a guy like Bigfoot Silva in that position, hand on your neck, bloody, throwing shots at you? Well, it felt pretty good. I was like, I was all there.

It was nothing. I wasn't even fazed it. I mean, I was just trying to do my move to get out of it. And I was to get out of the mouth. But I wasn't that hurt at all. It's an amazing sight, though, to have someone like Bigfoot with his face all bloodied up coming at you, right? I mean, that's something that you've never really experienced before. It's great, actually, yeah, it's a good scrap.

Was he... Was he tougher than you thought he would be? Yes. Yeah, it was, you know, he would have... You know, he would have gone, it was crazy. That's right. Number four. So it was great, yeah.

You've trained with him before, right? I mean, based on your training, did he get tougher? Or is he a different fighter when you actually fight him? Um... I didn't think it was going to be fun. I thought one of us was going to get out. Early, but I think I was going to get the decision.

You know, a lot of them did not. It was going to happen, but it happened. Yeah, it was a great fight. Were you able to hear the crowd? The crowd was going nuts for you. Did you feel them during the fight? I heard the crowd screaming from somebody. When I was getting pumped, I was like, damn.

When I was being at the bleakers, it was pretty awesome and I was like, the loudest crowd of being in the new way. It was a great moment to actually be in that problem that sort of the generally going. I was like, whoa. She didn't need it to have thinking sometimes. Okay, let's answer one of the big questions coming out of the fight. Why did you not have any sponsors?

You didn't even come out with a T-shirt again. You're wearing UFC shorts. What's going on here? Man, I think of the little cooks, man. You know, like, last time I ran into God and ripped people off, taking people's money and not seeing the mission. I went to another one of those guys in New Zealand,

and he sucked up all my partnership. There he told me a million dollars in friendships and just try to rip me off. He's just a crook this, because I serve. And I don't know how they do it to live themselves. This is your manager you're talking about? Your ex-manager? No, this guy I made his name is Randy McCaffey's an idiot.

Okay, so he was doing your sponsorships? Well, he promised me a million dollars in sponsorships. A million? A million million million sponsorships. Okay. Yeah, and next minute, I'm pulling out $40,000 for some of the next one. It was such an idiot in the sponsor. He sucked up all my type of sponsorships.

It's not on me at a table. And I'm sort of, you know, it happens. happens. I'm with people now. I'm just trying to move on. Had enough of these kinds of people, so... When did you cut ties? What's that? That's why I walked away, walked into the no sponsors, because I'm just quite short of all my sponsorships, and I couldn't go anything to the U.S.C.

So, that's a shame. So when did you cut ties with them? Like, why couldn't you get sponsored? Was it too late to get sponsors for this fight? It was too late. He shut up all my father. He had like three months. Wow. And his promises were just empty,

just like himself. It's just anti. I was like, I saw too glad and I was looking for sponsors because he said he was going to get everything organized. Such a clown.

Anyway. So you're done with him. I don't know. I don't like, I don't know. I'm thinking about people. Okay. Because you just annoy you.

Actually talk about them and just they get the better of these. But for your next fight, for your next fight, you're going to have sponsors, right? If I ran into anymore crooks, I wish I don't think of all this time. I'm looking good people now, so it's all good. You know...

I've got something down there. You know, Dana White was glowing about the fight. He said he gave you both your win bonus. You got fight at the night. Did you speak to him? Did he call you and talk to you about the fight? Well, Dan, I did message me, and he was talking to me. He was pretty happy about the fight.

I think, you know, people were saying he just talking about blind and honor. for us, you know, I'm still winning for the island. But, you know, I mean, the boss is pretty happy, so the beach happy, and, you know, I'm pretty happy, so it's pretty good to suit you're going to get a pair of life, but, you know. Maybe you will get one. I'm sure they'll give you some kind of bonus, right? I mean, on top of the bonuses you got? I don't know. I don't mind. I don't mind.

The fight was good. I was happy with it. Both of us walked away out of them from a bit badly injured, and all glory to God, as always. Right. And now, go ahead. Yes, I was going to, we both walked away to our families. Right. Not bad at the end you.

And speaking of your family, you brought in your son, who we've seen on this show, into the cage. Why did you do that? Because he's a boss. Both my sons are there. No one can't have. I want to, I mean, he's young and all, but I want to have to experience

the older than what his dad does for, to provide for his family. So, you know, I mean, he was a bit scared in everything, but, I mean, he thought they put a bit for us, helping him to get in the cage, you know? I mean, Chuck, he's a good man. I mean, Chuck, we, you know, we're not enemies. It's just our professional, professional athletes and fires, and, you know,

at the end of the day, it's all we do for a living, so, yeah. How did your son? I'm glad my son enjoyed, both my sons enjoyed the fights, you know. I mean, he was a bit scared, but this is reality. This is the fight business at the top level, you know, so. So they didn't mind seeing their dad get punched in the face all bloodied up and stuff? Well, of course I did. Of course he did.

I mean, shucks. He was a bit scared, but this is reality, you know. This is a fighter. That's a problem. Yeah? Yeah. Would you mind if they became a fighter? If he was good enough at fighting, of course.

Okay. I'm supportive and no matter what he does. Yeah, it's just up to him what he wants to do. So I want him to see. experience what it's like at a U.C event, and he was quite pumped. That was the first time they watched you live in the arena. My wife was being to a few fights.

She doesn't like the cameras, of course. I mean, she watched me fight in K-1. Right. But, yeah, I'm a fighter, that's what I do, sir. And now what do you think about next? Do you think that they should do in a media arena? or almost like don't ruin this moment and have you guys fight someone else? Well, I would like to fight big foot again.

I mean, big foot, I don't want to fight them to start. You know, I mean, I go with you and I'm an employee and I'm, this is what I do. It's my business, you know, my business. You know, whatever, I'm out for a while. My best, my middle couple of birds are Bergen, but whatever, you know, whatever they put me as far as far as to do, like, for a fight, I'm there, so, you know, I'm always, yes. Always in there for the battle, that's sure, sir.

I got my dreams, and I want to be the big fight on the planet, you know, gain in a different sport, you know. So I'm not going to put that aside. I'm nearly 40, so, you know, and I go do my last shot at this, so. So you think... It's all over nothing for me, as always, so... Absolutely. You think it makes sense to do the rematch right off the bat.

Well, that's the way they see it. Well, that's the way they see, you know? Of course, I'll say no, but, you know, I don't know. Like I did any fight for me is going to be a fight. Like I said, if I was my last shot of maybe 40, sir.

But what an amazing research into it has been. How many more years do you want to do it for? Well, like I said, I still got a dream. The fight to be the world champion. I want an opportunity to fight to be the best fighter on the planet.

And if I get to do that opportunity, and so then I just hang my gloves up and that's it. but, you know, while I'm still fighting, I don't want to fight to make it. I mean, this fight here was a pretty defining moment for my fighting career.

If I'd lost to fight, in the NFL, if it all, probably would have, wouldn't have, you know, to keep going, I don't know, but there was a drawer,

and, you know, there's a great fight, so, I mean, can see another one at me. It's got to feel good to get all that love from the people, right?

I mean, And I can't recall in your MMA career, and you've had some big moments. It's just been amazing. Yeah, actually, it's been crazy. I can't believe it. I mean, if you know, it's such a great fight, I was like, oh, isn't that great? It was pretty good. But, you know, we're doing a great fight.

I'm like, whoa, it's hard to look at it from a lot of perspective. We know the one's fine. But, yeah, I mean, thanks for all the love for all the fans. It's great, especially in my name. Oh, yeah. To get their support, so... I can't imagine. And when do you think you'll be able to return?

I got one break. I've got two breaks and a couple bones, and the thumb and the fourth finger. The doctor said at least six months, you know, before I can start hitting anything, and I'm like, oh, my God. I had like 12 screws in my hand. Wow.

Yeah. So six months before you can actually hit anything, so it's going to be quite some time before we see you fight again. Yeah, I'm hoping of, you know, street line up there three months and she has a field in. Okay. Final thing, Mark, anything you want to say to all the people out there who've been showering me with love for the last two and a half days or so? It's been a pretty amazing thing to watch. And watching the fight itself was amazing, but anything you want to say to those people?

Yeah, I want to say thank you, too. You know, it's all the guys that support us. And what we do for living at the greatest sport on the plane. I don't know why people say bad things like, you know, crazy. But it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to do what we do at the top level. And, you know, thanks so much for your honor to support. So, you know, I hope to look and my appreciation by getting in there again next year. So hopefully you'll sooner than later.

Well, I want to. Go ahead, go ahead. Yeah. No, I sort of said thanks for big football for making a fight what it is. and much loving and having the family as well. Yeah. Well, I think

on behalf of everyone, I want to thank you. That was amazing to watch. It was such a pleasure, and the heart that you displayed both of you was something that, I mean, we haven't seen all too often inside the octagon. It was certainly one of the best fights of the year, best fights of all time.

It was such a pleasure to watch, and you guys really put on a show for everyone. So congratulations on that. I know it wasn't a win, but everyone feels like it was almost you know, it was right to just make it a draw and have both of you have your hands raised. I hope you heal up very quickly. We certainly appreciate you stopping by. I know it's early in the morning there in Australia. Enjoy your time with your family. Heal up, and we'll talk to you

very soon, Mark. Thank you for an amazing performance. Thanks very much. A Merry Christmas. And happy new again. There he is. The one and only. Bye, bye. Mark Hunt. There is only one. What an amazing performance on Friday night. great to have him on the show. We appreciate it. Cast and all from his home in Sydney, Australia. Okay, let's move along and welcome in our next guest. You know him by now. The man who I think his star was born on the MMA hour as he was sitting on his couch eating blueberries without a pot

to piss in. Things have certainly changed for this man, but he is kind enough to join us. Once again on the show, of course, we're talking about the notorious one. Connor McGregor. Connor, are you there? What's your body on my man Oh, you're good What's going on? Connor via the phone is not quite the same I know

I'm having about her day So I thought I'd mix it up a little bit Yeah I wanted to see that new tattoo of yours Let's get one thing straight out of you yeah Yeah Your show didn't make me I made your show

Yeah The whole nation of Ireland Watches this show now thanks to me So you're welcome my friend Yeah Well thank you very much I wanted to see that new tattoo of yours.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm getting inked up out here. I got a nice chest piece, represent my gym, straight, blast, gym, but I didn't just want the original, our logo was a gorilla, so, but I didn't want just a regular one, you know, I mean? I wanted to mix it up and get my own little version, so I decided to stick a King's Crown on that gorilla,

and have them eating a motherfucking heart, and I mean, and, and then I have my arm done up, and I think I'm just gonna get, I think I'm hooked on these tattoos, and people are trying to talk me out of it, but I'm just kind of do my own thing, you know what I mean? I like Cateaus. I mean, I can do fuck all else right now out here.

You know, I'm out here. I'm a fucking old. So I may as well toss up some time and get some inked on. So you're going to get your whole body inked? I don't know about that now. Let's not go fucking nuts. I'm not talking like when I was Maui motherfuckers. I mean, just a little bit of ink, you know?

Never hurt nobody. Did you talk to your, I know you have a team behind you now. Did you talk to your people about, you know, sponsors and things like that? Do they like the chest plates, so to speak? I mean, you know, hearing a lot of guys, no matter what, Ariel, success, success silences everything. You know what I mean?

No matter what way a person looks or what way a person acts, success is, if that person is successful, then that's all that matters, you know what? I mean, that's all on focus. I'm not going to shit what way I look at what way I come across to certain people. I know my success inside that up is on, and the way I carry myself, you know, I don't have to come onto a show.

I don't, first of all, I have to beg to get onto the show like that little fucking Frankenstein. with a poof-looking motherfucker and to beg to get on this show and beg for sponsors and I feel bad for the guy fucking reality TV show

reject I mean I honestly I feel for the guy coming on begging for begging for being on the show begging for followers he begging some some else

what kind of interview was that shit where he begs this South African guy for a fucking Audi hey motherfucker buy an audio yourself if you want an Audi you fucking reality TV show reject

what a loser man that interview that interview with that guy doing a sweet I was probably the funniest thing I've ever watched in my life earlier. Ever left field as well. A light heavyweight, a light heavyweight, eight-foot stick of shit from England,

talking absolute shit that he knows nothing about. I mean, it was the weirdest thing I've ever watched. I watched Jealousy come out of a man's pores. A guy that's not even in my division. I swear to God, man, it was the funniest thing ever, but I don't care about it. All I know is when the door shuts and the bell rings, Nobody does it better than me

Nobody is more calm Nobody's more controlled I walk the walk Ariel I don't just talk to talk I I walk the fucking walk And you best believe I will walk through everyone In that top ten

So no matter what way I look The belt is mine And that's all I care about I'm not here To beg people for For this and for that Like that other reject And I'm saying

This is what I'm about I'm about the belt I'm about getting myself healthy Getting back on track I'm not here on my own Ariel Yeah I'm in Los Angeles On my fucking own

in an apartment. I wake up, I go to rehab, and I go home. And I'm in my thoughts. I'm scheming. I'm peeking up the window. Walking around my apartment. I'm butt naked like a freak. You know what I mean?

scheming my fucking return. So fucking, that's all I give a shit about. I'll give a shit about my sponsors. I'm a little shit. You know, you, Casey, you mentioned you're referring to last week's show. For those that missed it, here's a very quick clip of what Luke Barnett had to say about Connor McGregor. Very quick.

Here we go. Yeah, Conner's, Donald, a very good job of marking himself, buying followers and making himself look important. And my sponsors, like, go on, get above him, and then we'll buy you a cup. So he says you're buying followers. What an absolute loser, I just listen to that. You know as well as I know, my friend. I carry a nation.

The nation of Ireland is behind me. It's not my fault that loser is a reality TV show. Reject. It's not my fault he didn't win the show. you know what I mean I feel for the guy stuck on that subject on that reject

contract that he's on I feel for the guy maybe maybe I might buy him an Audi myself in a couple of fights time and I was going to look after the fucking bum

but honestly what the fuck do we even say to that absolutely loser I'm

first of all first of all if you ask me the guy it's brainwashed is brainwasing at his highest level right there

yeah he thinks he thinks if he gets let me get this straight yeah if he gets to a

certain amount of followers if he equals my followers it's cringly stuff to be honest I don't even like mention it but I have to mention it because the guy came on to a spade to get on the show because I'm talking about me so I'm only human when I reply to these idiots you know what I'm saying? Right. The thing is he has to get

a certain amount of... If he gets to my amount of followers, some guy he never met from South Africa, some some guy from South Africa is waiting in the wings. A guy from the Malincan tribe in the middle of fucking East Africa as South

fucking African is waiting for this English Twath English reality TV show Reject to reach the same amount of followers as some Irish guy and if that happens

that South African from the Malincan tribe also doubles up as an Audi dealer is gonna buy him an Audi come on Ariel what the fuck what the fuck do I even say to that shit

man it was a weird it was the weirdest thing I ever saw in my life man I don't know what I feel for the guy I have to mention my name to get some attention I honestly, I feel for the guy.

I know what I am, but it's not my fault. We all have the same 24 hours of the day. Don't fucking hate me for, you know what I mean? Don't hate me for staying the show. Don't hate me for my support because, you know, as what I do? I never begged me on this show. This is my fourth time on this motherfucker show. This is my fourth time on this show.

Tell me, tell me when I ever begged you to go on this show. Never. Never, never. And tell me, tell me, tell me how many people have held you to get me on this show. A lot. They like you. Now tell me this. Do you think I don't what he's saying I don't? No, I said it myself.

Now tell me this. Do you think he's an eight-foot stick of shit? Frankenstein look alike, ugly motherfucker. You know, it's interesting. It feels like every week almost someone is calling you out. It is crazy, my thing. On this show. On this show. People come on the show. I want to play you another clip. I won't get you to respond to it because this is fun. Here's a couple of weeks ago, your friend Diego Sanchez talking about you.

You got lost it on your record. You're acting like you're the Muhammad Ali of Ireland. You got lots of it on your record, buddy. And who are they? Like, come. Dude, like, like, come on. Like, why do you think you're freaking Superman when you ain't done it? You've got to walk to walk before you could talk to talk.

He didn't walk the walk. He fought, like, two fights in UFC. Yep. And he's freaking champion? I think he's a bunch of crap. and for the guy who come and disrespect a guy like me, and I didn't disrespect him, I just told him how it was. I'm like, look, man, what have you done?

Like, you're going to talk shit about my friends. You're going to talk shit about guys like, you know, guys like, all the guys. All the guys, all the guys. You're talking shit about Chad Mendes. Chad Mendes will eat you for lunch. Like, this guy will eat you for lunch. You have not proved that you could wrestle. You have not have not proved that you're legitimate on the,

the ground? You have not proved that what are you going to do when you got a Diego Sanchez on top of you, ground and timing you? How are you? You have not proved that you are equivalent to that situation. So what do you think? Diego Sanchez? Yeah, yeah. Well, look, without due respect,

the guy is a husband. He should be in Belacost. With the rest of the husbands, there's no doubt about it. The only reason he's still fine is because he defends shots with his nose. But let's go way back. Because he's saying I disrespected him. all of a sudden I stack going on him,

or I disrespect the top 10, that's why he got involved. Well, let's go back way forward than that, when it really started. In the lead up to that much Holloway fight in Boston, when I was doing all my fucking media shit, and Dana gave me that media workout. I had all that obligations to do.

That husband, that husband, that husband loser was all over Twitter, slain me and saying, who is this guy? He's just a hard job. Holloway is going to knock him out, blah, blah, blah, blah. Tweet after tweet after tweet after tweet. And even then, I didn't acknowledge it. I said, what, that guy's not in my path.

I don't give you shit about that guy. I'm saying, I leave him to it. Let him say what he wants. Then the fight where Holloway was over. It was done. I had beaten Holloway. Then I, as far as I was away at that time, four to six weeks I was going to be out.

I was told, at the back of that arena, four to six weeks, mate, you'll be back in there. So I'm thinking, okay, dude, who's next? Who I want next? I know who I want next. I want anyone and everyone in that top ten. So I went, I've done this interview with Foxx,

sports and they asked me about the top ten and I give my honest opinion on every one of them Prairie was a pea head just to remind you, Prairie was a pea head Cubs Swanson was old Nicolence was boring a boring hillbilly Jose Aldo plays it too safe

Chad Mende should be 1.35 he's a 65 inch reach I have a 73 inch reach Ariel and who the fuck else I believe Frankie should be 135 as well I get my honest opinion on guys that I want to face excuse me for once

to face guys in my top 10 I apologize and then and then this husband gets involved once again start saying you have no respect and start trying to cause this shit again so I'm saying okay

okay then okay okay okay I can't let him say anything again now I'm gonna have to respond to this husband schmucked that should be in Bellator so I responded I called them the fattest sloppiest slowest martial artist

I've ever laid out on I've ever laid out on eyes on I told him I'd go to $1.70 and whoop his fat ass easy. And you can call me on that. Yeah? That's how, that was my response. He's trying to, people, and all these MMA media losers, Jeff, you're the only

MMA media guy I was, because the rest are just fanboys that have access to a comedy. Let's call a spade of spade aria, yeah? Mommy owned it a camera. You know what I mean? I have internet access. You know what I mean? All these, all these losers are trying to say, I started this shit with Diego. No, no, motherfuckers!

Do you know research. He was the one that's shouting on me. I was, I had my attention locked on the top 10. Nobody else. I want to climb that ladder because I know. And they fucking know as well.

And not only they know, you know as well, Ariel, yeah? I had my eyes off on the top 10. I ignored what, what Diego was saying in the lead-up to the Holloway fight that he was saying, Holloway was going to nothing else.

Who, this guy gets him right around and Danish Ferrari, all this jealous shit. I ignored it. And then he got involved again. So then I said, okay, I'll push the top 10 aside. I'll push them aside

and I'm going to go at Diego Sanchez. for a little bit. And then, and then the injury came out. It turns out the injury was more severe than I was told. Then he's all over Twitter

making fun of that. And you know what I mean? So again, I replied, no lot of shit has been said between myself and himself. I'm no fucking energy. I said a lot of shit

about him, a lot of, a lot of damning comments, you know what I mean? But you best believe that motherfucker started it. But enough is enough. What said is said,

we will throw down. I'm not the message, Dane it, I message Sean Shelby. This fight will happen. And I guarantee you This is what I want I want the motherfucker to come at me

Because Hollow I'm so much respect for Holloway He's a great competitor I believe he I believe he whooped Dennis Bermuda's ass as well I believe he's unbeaten inside that octagon He took Bermuda

Bermuda's head off Clean off in that fight But I whooped his ass He went running He didn't want to exchange He was under defensive He was there to see the bell I want the motherfucker that's going to come at me

And throw down I want I want I want I want I want That's what I fucking want And you best believe

that Diego Sanchez fight will happen out of him. I'm going to make it fucking happen. Whether it will be the next fight, because my timelines and shit, the fight, I guarantee you, before that man retires, I'm going to whoop him. I'm going to school him in evasive combat. You can mark my motherfuckin' words out of there.

What about Cole Miller, who went on the microphone and said, called you, what do you call him, Gruber, and said a lot of the same things. What do you think of that? Oh, I see it. These motherfuckers are you a lot. He also

He also called me He goes I see I'm flying here And I'm flying there Looking all GQ Well at least he's honest Because I do look fucking GQ Yeah

You can call me Con on Mike GQ Oh shit Nah I thought that was funny man That's a fight that interests me You know what I mean Carl Cole's all right to be honest

I don't mind the guy You know what I mean But You know I tell you This fucking sport Is crazy my friend Yeah I'm only here four months, Aria Leigh.

I'm only here fucking four months. I've been on this show four times. I've fucking nearly got the sack from saying derogatory comments about our female champions and shit. I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I'm just being me, Ariralee. I'm not, I say what I say what I think. You know what I mean? It's going to rub people, it's going to rub people the wrong way, you know what I mean? It's also going to rub people the wrong way that I have a nation behind me.

I don't get serious apart. But don't fucking hate me, you know what I mean? not my fault. What are you about your own situation? You know what I have to say about that? At the end of the day, I'm injured, yeah? I'm currently rehabbing.

You know what I mean? Just fuck all I can do. I'm only responding to these idiots that are talking to me. I have a job. I'm under no illusion of the work that is ahead of me. You know what I mean?

And I'm not slacking. I have this rehab. I'm nailing this rehab. You know what I mean? I'm giving everything I fucking have to get back in there and whoop everybody, you know what I mean? I'm under no illusion.

of the work that's ahead of me. But I will be back. And you know what, Ariel? No matter what card, whatever card I turn on, whatever the main event is, whatever number of fight I'm on, whether I'm the first fight tonight, whether I'm the second,

anywhere, you know it's going to garner more attention than the main event. No matter who it is, I don't care who it is. And I know that sickens a lot of people. I fuck, sometimes I try and hate me too, Ariel, yeah? I fucking hate me too. Sometimes I try and hate myself. Yeah, I get butt naked and looking

the mirror and try and hate that image of perfection that's looking back at me, but it's damn impossible. Okay, so with all that being said, Connor, do you consider yourself, are you the fighter of the year? I mean, the attention that you've received, the attention that you've generated, the two wins inside the octagon,

is Connor McGregor the 2013 fighter of the year. This is when we do these kind of awards things, you know? Where do I collect? You just tell me a time and a date and I'm there to collect that award, and you best believe I'm custom-fitted in something special. representing D-tone as well.

I'm saying. Anyone there watching, hit at B-Tone.com, but don't leave it too long. The new notorious range is selling out fast. Detone number one, the rest are deadlines. Oh, shit. Give us an update on the knee right now. How far away are you from being 100%?

I'm heading home in the New Year, so I'm really happy about that. And I get to see my friends. I get to see my family. I get to see my gym. You know what I mean? We're opening up a brand new facility. A brand you want to see this facility.

Oh, my fucking God. It's unbelievable, yeah? The biggest facility the country has ever seen. Cater to everybody. Beginners to prose all the way true. You know what I mean? We've got it all now. So I'm looking forward to going home and promoting that gym.

The doctor said, the surgeon said I'll be grappling by February. You know what I mean? I'll be grappling by February. That's my prayer answered right there. And I'm not a Jesus, man. I'm not a, I'm not, you know what? I'm not a holy man, but I swear to God I miss the mat so much. You know what I mean?

I can't put out the words. It's the only thing that distracts me from everything else. The only thing that eliminates all, it's the only thing that eliminates everything else outside in my life, you know what I mean, is that time on the mat, studying jiu-jitsu, studying the mechanics of the human fame. And I just can't wait to be back. February is when I can be back doing some jiu-jitsu.

Now, I'm not trying crazy straight jiu-jitsu, but I would be on the mat and I would be drilling technique, And that to me is good enough, you know what I mean? I'll take it from there. And again, I'm raring to go, I swear to God. I'm rarely to go. I can't put it into words how much I'm ready to go here. But again, at the same time, I'm listening to instruction.

I'm not stupid. I follow instruction to the tea. I'm well aware. I studied it. I know this game like no other, yeah? I study this game like no other. I'm aware of the setbacks that other athletes have had on this injury from brushing it. I'm thinking they can do too much.

I'm just following it. instruction to the T. If they tell me I can do it, I ask how much of it can I do? How often can I do it? And that's the approach I take. And I will be back. You know what I can do no more? I can do no more. I don't even want to... I'm over this media shit as well, I mean,

this is probably last one I'm doing, I'm going to because I got my tone off the media stuff to me honest. It's all bullshit, yeah? But I'll be back. I'll be back. I'm hoping May. Who knows? I'm just going to keep my head to the ground and keep my head to the ground and keep working hard. Are they waiting to do this Ireland show for when you return?

I've watched this show called The Late Late Show in Ireland twice in my life. Both times when you were on it, it's a fascinating program, the mix of characters on there. And when the last time that you were on a couple of weeks back, you said, you implied that they were going to wait for you to come back around May or so. Is that still the plan? First of all, the late late show is the world's longest running talk show. soak that up for a minute there, Ariah, yeah? Us Aris, we started talk shows, yeah?

We run talk shows. The late show is the longest running talk show in the history of planet Earth, yeah? Your whole shit right now came from the late late show. So praise that damn show, right? For again, yeah, sorry, back to where we were at. May, they said, Lorenzo said to me at UFC, Manchester,

Hannah, we have May booked in the O2, but it depends on you. If you're not ready, I can also not go back to September. So I said, yes, May, let's do it. And then I've done a little bit of studying. May 30th to the day is 40 months to the day that I am over ACL surgery.

Now, on the calendar, George St. Pierre, on months, it was 10 months. It took them. But if you count the weeks, it's deceptive. It was actually 48 weeks, which is 12 months. You know what I mean? So, and May 30 would be 40 weeks from me, which is 10 months.

I mean, if you count the weeks, it's a little bit deceptive, you know what I mean? So I, I, I gone to Lorenzo, I told him that information, I passed that information onto him, and he said, and he said, don't worry about it. We can move it to September. So again, it's up in the year. Okay.

I'm back to you two February, and I will take it from there. But it's either going to be May in Ireland or September. But if I'm being honest, I'd imagine it's going to be September. I'd imagine I'll have a return five, somewhere in June July, May June July, possibly June, July, and then a fight in June

July, whatever the fuck that is, and then to be honest, I would love Diego Sanchez in Dublin, and I don't care to wait. That's my path I want to take. And then, when I whoop his ass, I honestly believe they could give me that belt. I honestly believe that they could give me that belt. I know a lot of people don't like to think

about it, and I mean, but Ricardo Lamas and Jose Aldo, with all due respect nobody cares about Ricardo Lamas and I don't mean not to be disrespectful but they don't you know what I mean me versus Aldo would sell

shit loads more than Aldo versus Lamas you know what I mean it's harsh but it's true you know what I mean so I don't know I've had my comeback June July

whoever that is against who knows you know what again things are so far away that the landscape came like Sean Shalcher because I spoke with Sean Shelby I spoke with Dan

I spoke Lorenzo the landscape changes in that amount of time. So I can, we can see me and say I want to fight this guy

and that guy and that guy who actually knows what the what the fuck is going to happen over the next a couple

month so I just, again, I just don't give the shit there and I'm just go with the

fall, I just want to get back on the mat. That's all I'm looking for. Just get back on that damn man and do

what I love to do because I hate everything else. I don't want to do nothing else. I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to come on

and start begging shit looking for looking for sponsors like a loser. I was an absolute loser. I just want to go on the mat and train and learn about the human frame.

And that's all I give a shit about. I don't care about it. I don't know what a shit. Don't care about no South African. South African guy. What is that shit, Ariel? What the fuck is that shit? If you were saying that to me, please.

I don't know. I actually asked him in the interview if you saw it. I said, you know, you get these weird emails from people in Nigeria and things like that, asking for money. I hope that's not one of those situations here because it sounds a little strange.

Ariel was the weirdest thing I have ever watched him. life, yeah. Honestly, I feel for the guy, you know what I'm saying? But I don't know. I might buy him an Audi myself. Give me, give me another fire thing. I'll buy the poor bastard on Audi, do I mean? It's fucking hell. I feel for the guy. Reality TV show, Bidgett. Hey, let's finish on this, Connor, and I really appreciate the time in you coming on. You know, I noticed yesterday you mentioned how you kind of fell down on Saturday, but then your spirits were up. How are you dealing with the ups and downs of this? Because I can imagine, you know,

not being with your family, you're in L.A. rehabbing. I'm sure there's a rollercoaster ride of emotions that you're dealing with. How do you feel like you're dealing with everything? Because it sounds like right now you feel like you can go five rounds. Of course, you're not 100%, but it has to be mentally taxing, right? It is probably the most mentally taxing thing

I've ever gone through in my life. And any athletes will tell you that, you know what I mean? When you can't train and you can't do what you love every day, and then on top of that, then on top of that, I'm out on a place on my own that I don't know anybody. You know what I'm at the top of it? So it is tough.

I was only talking to my friend this morning who said an injury is not just a process of recovery it is a process of discovery and that really hear home to me because it really is a process of discovery I'm really learning about my mind here I'm really learning about my real psyche here you know what I'm saying

so I just take everything with a learning curve I'm looking at all from everything it is tough if other people can do it if Dominic Cruz can do I'm paying close attention to Dominic Cruz and his story you know

that I hope that guy comes back and whoops ass because that is a story that inspires me you know what I mean not once but twice he had a setback

you know what I mean to beat a champ and then to get it all ripped away from him you know what I mean I'm paying close attention to his story and I hope

I'm paying again I'm paying close attention that's fine and I hope he comes back a moucheass because I would take so much inspiration from that

but if he can do it I can do it if George can do it I can do it we all face ups and down so I'm no different I just need to bite my fucking gun shield

right down on my gun shield and get it done and that's what I'm doing you know what I mean and unfortunately unfortunately a lot of people seem to

seem to keep mentioning my name and keep bringing my shit back up you know what I'm trying to I don't know why trying to get attention or whatever but I'm just gonna

I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing and come back and come back and feel the show and come back and be the real main event I don't care where it's on on the card out of it and you know as well as I know it will be more anticipated

than the main event whatever that main event happens to me let me leave you people want to hate on that let me leave you with this you're in Los Angeles right now, right? Yeah. In April of 2013,

eight months ago, Kobe Bryant tore his ACL. He returned yesterday to the NBA in eight months. That's got to give you inspiration. That's a high-level athlete, right? Did you know that? Yeah, I only was talking to my manager today about that.

Literally about 20 minutes before our phone call, I was talking about Kobe Bryant story. Kobe Bryant's in the same rehab place as mine. On that same, anti-gravity treadmill, walking back to get to fitness. So again, of course I take inspiration from that. You know what I mean?

You all go through up and downs, you know what I mean? Unfortunately, unfortunately mine happened earlier. It's not to happen in early in my career, you know what I mean? But look, I will be back out of you, not what I mean? All I can do is,

all I can do is get to work. And that's what I'm going to do right now because I'm late for rehab right now as we speak. Okay. I'm heading to rehab right now. And I'm going to hit a heart. I bought myself a punch bag yesterday, yeah? I swear to God it was like Christmas.

I have a hooked up there. And I have a gym on top of my apartment. and I just went up and we hung the punch bag from one of the machines it was an amazing thing but I swear to God it's like all my Christmas has come at once

and I'm just gonna beat the shit out of ya I'm gonna beat the fucking shit out of every night and just visualize and dream and I mean isolation visualization motivation and dedication they had a piece of success

and that's all I made that's all I need to do Connor it's a pleasure as always thank you so much good luck to you know we run this show, yeah? You know who is your show. We appreciate it. Great to hear from you. All the best. Happy holidays. And thanks for stopping by. Good luck with the rest of your rehab. My man. Thank you so much. Tell Mrs.

Elwani, I was awesome for us. I hope you have a good Christmas. All right. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. There he is. Conner Greger, the one and only stopping by and dropping bombs on people left and right. That was that was vintage Connor McGregor. We may, you know, know, I am thinking about, and you guys let me know what you think of this. I am thinking about the show on December 30th. You know, in the past, we've actually taken off around the holidays. We've, for whatever reason, we've taken off.

This year we're not. And we have a show on the 23rd. We have a show on the 30th. We have a show on the 6th, I believe, that Monday is. Point being, I was thinking, since we're here giving you all these interviews all the time, and you know what to expect from the show. You're going to get the best and biggest names, and it's going to be fairly interview heavy.

I was thinking that the show on the 30th would be a fan appreciation show. It would be a show where we take your questions, your comments, your phone calls, more phone calls than usual, a lot of questions from the website, a lot of questions via Twitter, and perhaps New York Rick and myself

would give out our awards for 2013. You know, the stuff that everyone does, but we've never really done it on this show. Are you into that sort of thing? Fighter of the year, fight of the year, rising star of the year,

guest of the year. You get what I'm trying to say? And when you say guest of the year, I mean, this is not me sucking up, this is not, but the guy has been on multiple times. I believe it's four. Actually, it's five.

Before Brimage, post-Brimmage, before Holloway, 200th episode, and now this one. So five in the calendar year, which is pretty good. Of course, Matt Matrione broke that record, or at least has the record, but he was more of a reoccurring character.

The point being, what do you think? Just having Connor on and him talking about how many times he's been on the show reminded me that I wanted to ask everyone about this. December 30th show, nice way to end things. And, of course, it's something crazy happens, and it is the biggest show of the year. and if we need to get a big guest from UFC 168,

we could get one or two. But I kind of want this show to be about, you guys talk about the year that was, because what a year it has been. And there's still two more big UFC shows left, the Saturday in Sacramento and then December 28th. So Marinate, let me know what you think on Twitter. Let me know if you're down with that idea,

and we'll take it from there. People telling me, Kobe Bryant. Did Kobe Bryant tear his ACL, or did he... So he tore his Achilles? Now, tell me, what's the difference between a torn Achilles? Oh, right, that's right. So Will is telling me that the Achilles is in the back of the heel, ACL is back of your knee, correct?

Sure, he says. Now I'm sorry. Part of the knee. Point being still very significant. I mean, come on, we're trying to motivate the guy here, for God's sakes. I remember why I thought it was Achilles. Originally, they thought he tore as Achilles. but it was just, no, excuse me.

I remember why I thought it was the ACL. Originally, they thought it was ACL. I quickly Googled it as I was talking to him, and when you Google Kobe Bryant torn ACL, articles come up regarding that. But that was the original prognosis. But then when you Google Kobe Bryant Achilles, well, then you get a whole bunch of other articles.

Look, I'm allowed to make one mistake in a four-hour show. You know what I'm saying? The point is he can't. came back rather quickly. And I wouldn't be surprised if Connor comes back quickly. People seem to like the December 30th show. Okay, okay, Achilles. I hear you.

I hear you. All right, we got one more guest left. So Palleli, big win. Friday night in Brisbane against Pat Barry. We're trying to get him now. In fact, where So Palleli is right now, it is 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. So how about Mark Hunt joining us?

said around 7 a.m. in Sydney, so politely, stopping by at 5 a.m. in Perth. He is in Perth right now. That's what I'm told. So he's either waking up really early or going to sleep really late. And we have him via the magic of Skype. Let's go right now. There he is. The Hulk. So how are you? Hey, morning. I'm good. I'm good. Good morning. Good morning to you, my friend. What is it? It, It's 5 a.m. over there? Yeah, it's about to have 5 a.m. Well, I really appreciate you waking up so early. I mean, are you the kind of guy who goes to sleep really late,

or do you wake up early? Are you just waking up for us? I'm up there usually this time of the morning anyway, training. So it's no biggie. Well, we appreciate it very much. You say you're training. I mean, I'm assuming now you're not training, right? You're going to take some time off after a fight like that, right?

Yeah. Oh, well, I got up early yesterday and trained at 5 o'clock, but today, I've only got two sessions today. No vacation for you, no time off? No, because we start filming this movie on the 20s in next week, so I've got to keep in shape. Which movie? It's a movie that's being filmed in Perth. I can't really say anything until they press release it. Oh, okay.

But, yeah, I play a bad guy. Play the boss of the bad guy. Wow. And how many weeks do you have to tape for? Or film, as they say. I think it's for six weeks. It's all good. So you look so impressive on Friday.

evening. The show was Friday, Saturday in Brisbane, and a lot of people were wondering how you were going to look because you were criticized. I mean, Dana White criticized you. He took a lot of shots at the fight saying it was boring and things like that, and you came out afterwards and said that

you were injured, but someone's watching that fight and some people were still, you know, kind of joking about it. You took some heat. Did you feel like you needed to do something impressive and you did do something impressive, but going into it, did you feel like you really have to wow the crowd to make them forget about what happened in Milwaukee?

Yeah, but you know what? Dan, it's got every right to, he's my boss. And if you're employed by, you know, they want you to work and be 100% and perform 100%, you know. And coming into that fight, I injured my rib a week before and I fractured a week before.

And when I was in Milwaukee, I tried to get a quarters of, an ejection and but Michael Gordon, he's the doctor for the Milwaukee Bucks he wouldn't give it to me because if it did, it could have ruptured

my spleen or if a bro, you know, broke off or so he gave me a some pills to try to you know that didn't even do anything so the first round when I took Nikita down

I felt a pop in my rib and I couldn't breathe. So I tried to rush to finish in the first round. And it was just the worst pain in my life. Every time with the punch, I felt like my rib was popping. It was coming out of my skin. I mean, you know, it's, you know, I just, you know, with this fight with Pat, and I knew Pat was dangerous,

especially with his kicks. And so I just kind of went out there and played my game. And, you know, I knew I had to make a statement on this fight. and hopefully I did. So it's been four months or so since that fight in Milwaukee. How much did it bother you and how much, you know, motivation did you take out of what was said and tried to fuel that into what you were doing in training? Because, you know, that was the last time we saw you.

And like I said, a lot of people said things about you and criticized you, including the most important person of all your boss. Did you use that as motivation as you were preparing for Pat Barry? Yeah, I didn't really like it. It didn't. My whole thing was just to get him, getting, getting my rib kind of healed up as quick as I can. And, you know, it's a thing.

I didn't put any more pressure on me, just made sure I trained harder. I bought swimming into my, because when I went, I was over in Auckland with Mark Hunt, training with him, training a bit of camp with Mark as well. And they did a lot of swimming and stuff. And then when I got back and I made sure I put swimming into it.

my camp as well, so I went and, um, and did a lot of that and, um, a lot of rehab and stuff on my, um, on my, um, on my ribs. So I'm 150% when I, so I've got no excuse to go into this fight. And, um, yeah, and, um, yeah, and, um, yeah, so, uh, physically you were 100% going into the barry fight, no problems at all with the rib or anything else. Yeah, no problems at all. Um, no problems with, and the last two weeks before, um, the, the, the, my fight with Pat Barrett with, um, the, the, the, my fight with Pat Barry, I made sure that I didn't have the same mistake as the last where I injured myself. So I was very careful and just mainly just up the cardio up with this last fight as well. When you were envisioning how the fight would play out,

and Pat has been criticized for his ground game in the past, did you think, all right, I get this man down, I'm going to get him in Mount, and it will soon be over after that. Is that how you envision this whole thing playing out? Yeah, well, it's, you know, I always had a game plan, especially, you know, against Pat. And, you know, Pat's got some devastating kicks and, you know, he can even throw bombs as well. I knew Pat wouldn't throw, you know, harder punches than Mark Hunt, so. And Sturber's, he, but, you know, Pat's dangerous.

And the thing is, you know, was to get him to the, to the ground. and work my jih Tzu on the ground. So, but, but, you know, I was comfortable once I got into the ground. I took my time. I didn't rush anything. And, yeah, and, yeah, I'm happy to get an early victory. And, yeah, this is, this is the hurt game. Man, what a finish that was.

What do you call that? It was like Hulk's Spash. I don't know what to call that. I feel like there has to be a name for what you did to him there. I just, I'm pretty confident if I get on top because I've got a really good base and good jih Tzu and stuff. But you can call it a Hulk smash.

I think there's some videos that have gone viral where I've come up and the whole, someone's recorded the Hulk smash in the background. Really? And that's quite funny. I mean, were you actually landing two-pillar? punches at the same time there. It felt like you were just going bang, bang, bang, bang. I don't know if you could see what I'm doing there, but it actually felt like you were doing

what one would think of when they think of the term Hulk smash, and your nickname is Hulk, so it actually works. Yeah, it's, yeah, I managed a trap, so when I went straight into Mount, I'm trapped his left arm. Okay. So he only had one arm to, uh, to, uh, to kind of defend, which is, which is, you know, and, um, and I, from the, from the start go, as soon as I mounted, I, I, um, I, I went, I started, I don't know what I, kind of remember, I don't remember, it's like, I just got to go to work. You haven't watched the fight again? I watched it once, but apart from that, it's, you know,

I'm just happy I got the victory, and hopefully Dana White and Joe Silverick and not, yeah, this is, you know, this is playing, this is me, like, this is, this is the way I fight and yeah it has to feel good to get your first UFC win right because I mean that that feels like it was it was escaping you for some time

yeah it wasn't no I mean I don't really consider yeah I got the one in Milwaukee yeah yeah I did get a win but like a big win like that like like a like a not a finish because I know you finished Nikita but you know what I mean like a like a signature win like you were doing

on your way back to the UFC after going winless. Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, I don't really see that Milwaukee fighter. I didn't really earn that win. It's like it was just the bad. I know.

I actually kind of just forgot about it in asking that question. I apologize. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And that's, but this, this is the win that I needed to, to prove that, you know, I belong. I belong in the UFC. And, and I'm continuously just want to keep busy and just keep fighting. and keep representing Australia.

And yeah, I feel very... I mean, I totally forget. We were just talking about the fight, and it almost felt like that this was the first one. You know what I mean? It was a very weird thing. So I apologize for taking the Milwaukee one away from you. Yeah, yeah, no, I just...

I don't, because the Milwaukee one's the funny one because I don't really see it as... I don't think I like, I earned it. Like, you know, I wanted to earn it. Like, you know, and this one, I know I earned this, you know, because I felt like, you know, I really had to make a statement, especially in front of a home crowd. It could have went two ways.

It could have went, you know, bad, like, you know, and lost and, you know, in Brisbane. But especially when the other guys didn't go too well and when Wichie Vass come up, Ben Wall come home. I was like, oh, damn, Dylan hurt his shoulder. And I went, oh, man, I've got to do something. You at least get something for Australia. But, yeah, I was really happy, and I came backstage, and Mark Hunt was backstage, and the guys were backstage, and I was like, oh, yeah, it's good.

Like, Mark Hunt's camp, he's got an awesome camp, and a good group of guys out in New Zealand, and it was just good to have my back, and I had their back in that as well, so, yeah, so, yeah, so it's quite good. What do you think of Mark's fight against Bigfoot? Do you relish the idea of getting involved in a fight like that? one day? Yeah. The thing is my fights,

I try to, I try to finish. Yeah. And the thing is if it's, it's like, you know, MMA is like, you know, apart from standing up,

and a lot of guys that come, they come into MMA now, they're, you know, the world-rounded, especially with their stand-up and they're working a lot on their stand-up.

So I still think myself that, that, you know, probably, 70% 80% of MMAs, if you're a good grappler, you can kind of finish it. And, you know, it's if, and yeah, that's you for standing up. But the thing is, why get, why get hit? Like, the name of the game is to hit and not get hit.

So, you know, I don't think Pat has landed anything on me. And I wouldn't want Pat to land anything on me. You know, it's because he could have thrown and I could have been the one sleeping. Sure. But, you know, I kind of, in training, we kind of had that game plan to, you know, to avoid his kicks. And I bought in some top-level tight fighters and kickboxes into, to mimic what Pat would do. And he did throw a few kicks, and I avoided that. And when I went to throw, to take him down again, he kind of, he bought in his right knee.

thinking that was perfect because I kind of grabbed that and took him down from there. So when people say I want to get into a war and things like that, you say thanks but no thanks. Yeah, I mean, because the thing is the win. Right. And you got a win. And if you can get a win, how I did it. You know, if I can get on top and win from there. Or if there's a limb that's there or a leg that's there or a foot, ankle lock, foot lock, grab it.

and end it and end the fight. But, yeah, I think, you know, Mark and Bigfoot's fight was, we were in the back and we were standing on our seats. And, yeah, and at one time when Mark hit Bigfoot and went down, I thought it was done, but then Mark just casually walked over. I thought Mark would have raced over to try to finish it, but he just casually just walked over it. And it was just, yeah, it was Mark, then Bigfoot, Mark then Bigfoot.

And it was like, oh, geez. Yeah, that is Mark Hunt for you. So now the hunter, because for a long time you were the hunter, you were trying to get into the UFC. You've become the hunted. Right after your fight, Brendan Schaub says he wants to fight you. What do you think of this fight? Yeah, I'll leave it to Audi and Sayer from Paradigm. I'll let them, you know, discuss what my next movie is.

But, you know, Brendan's, you know, he's a good fighter, a world around and fight a good stand up, his ground's good as well, so, you know, that'll be a good fight. But I'll let Paradime see, you know, do the finalisation on see what the next movie. But I just want to keep busy, you know. You know, Brendan, I respect Brendan as a fighter.

I respect all the guys that I fight, you know, that are in the UFC, the top-level guys, you know. this is our bread and butter and we're sports people so you know but oh you know I'll let them let them let the guys my management team decide what what in the next movie is and

you know if it is it is but if it isn't then it isn't but we'll see what happens when do you want to return um you know I kind of I'll still train now so I keep keep active and keep busy and get this movie thing out of the way.

And yeah, and I'm happy to, you know, hopefully next year, you know, I want to get at least like, you know, four fights or something. Or, you know, just keep busy. And I'm in the UFC now. So the last three years, I've been pushing really, really hard to get back to the UFC. And I was just thankful for Dana Wyder and Joe Seel for giving me the opportunity to come back. Yeah, what a great year it's been for you to go from outside of the UFC, finish off the year with a big win like that. can't think of a better way to end a year. By the way, do you have a lot of birds, or is that

just the summertime over there in Perth? I hear a lot of birds chirping. Yeah, the birds come out. Wow. Usually the cockerbara's, but birds come out, they come out early. Gosh, I am jealous of you guys. It is freezing. It's wintertime here. It's summer over there, right? Yeah, it's summer over here.

But it was good. I had a joke with Shogun after the after the press conference and I was saying to show oh man you got you got so much money just give me that give me that bonus and he was laughing as well

so I was like it's like you stole my bonus yeah because up until that point you were the leader right I mean that had to be the case he did steal your bonus yeah

yeah I was just joking around with the showdown he was laughing and I was like man just give me that check so it's like laughing so but it's all good you know it's it's um i was just happy to get the win and and and um especially in front of the the crowd was just the crowd was just electrifying and and i kind of emptied them up as well sure the end with the ozzy-ozy-ozy so um it was awesome i'm sure you you've dreamt of moments like that as you were trying to get back into the ufc to fight inside the octagon to get a win like that

in front of your your home country that that's i mean that's what you'll be thinking about when this whole thing is done when you're an old man with your grandkids That's a highlight real moment for you, right? Yeah, absolutely. Especially coming off the 2007 against Eddie Sanchez, that was the worst, yeah, it was kind of a... The lowest moment. It was a nightmare.

Right. Yeah, it was a nightmare. And I thought to myself, you know, I don't want to kind of be 50 years old and 60 years old and think, oh, you know, I just, I want to come back and I want to, you know, make a statement and then kind of retire in five years and say, yeah, I did it. You know, but it was, I was just, it was just, it's just a, you can't explain how, you know,

in front of my home crowd and especially like, you know, against Pat, Pat's, yeah, he's a devastating striker and then, you know, and getting a good win over there for Pat was, yeah, it was, it was awesome. Well, congratulations, enjoy it, good luck on the film. I know how hard you've worked to get here. I remember seeing you in Winnipeg when you were just there to make the wait, because, you because they took that fight away from you. And that's a fight I'd like to see as well, you versus Steve Amiochard sometime in the near future.

But I know how hard you work to get to this point. You finish off the year with two wins, even though I tried to take one away from you, but you did get two wins inside the Oskins. So congratulations on that. And keep up the great work. Really enjoying watching the UFC this second time around. Thanks, Aria.

All right. Thank you again also for waking up very early. No problems. There he is. Soa the Hulk in the house, dropping by from Perth, Australia. How about that? 5 a.m. over there, Tuesday morning. Should have asked them what Tuesday was like, right? Just kidding. Yeah, I did now.

All right, well, great stuff out of all of our guests. That does it for the interview portion of the show. We took some questions in the middle, but a lot covered on today's show. And it certainly, it was warranted after such a great weekend of mixed martial arts action. And we didn't really touch on, you know, the fighters from Invicta and World Series of Fighting. I'm sure there'll be some questions about them. So let's continue with the questions, shall we? We shall. Okay. I hear an echo. Now it's gone.

It's gone. All right. I had to jump on the call. You sufficiently answered the one about Mark Hunt Fighter of the Year? Yeah, that's it. Okay. Next question. Shogun, is he back, or is that too easy to say after an early win against Tihuna?

What is his future, and who do you want him to fight next? Oh, go ahead. Sorry. It's hard not to get excited when Shogun knocks out somebody but like that. I think an in-shaped Shogun is a match for absolutely anyone. Well, here's the thing. I mean, remember last week when you were saying that he was the underdog? He was the underdog, right?

I think it might have shifted at various points. At one point he was the underdog. And I think he was like plus 105 at some point, like when the line closed. So yes, for all intents and purposes, he was the underdog in this fight. I was shocked by that. And that's no disrespect to James Tihuna, but I mean, I mean, Shogun's losses to Gus of Sim. he had a fight against Chewson, which he didn't look like himself, and Chell even admits that, but he still lost.

And it was rather one-sided, but I was surprised by that. And I think people were writing him off a little too quickly. Now, is he back? Reigns to be seen. I mean, let's see how he does against the gust of sins of the world. You know what I'm saying? I still think that it would add months, if not years, fights to his career if he drops down to 185.

I think 185 would do him a lot of good. He is just too small. You saw that stare down at the Wayans, and Tehuna looked like he was a weight class above Shogun. He's just too small for 205, and I think it would help him. He's quick. He has a lot of power, obviously. And if he doesn't lose that, and, you know, we've seen guys like Machita go down.

I just think it would be better for him to go down to 185. He would get a bunch of fresh matchups. It would just give him a whole new, you know, a whole new, a fresh coat of paint, as they say, right? on his career, and he has been criticized in the past for not pushing himself and training and things like that. But if he can do it, if he can drop those extra 20 pounds, I really think it would help him. So I don't know if he's back. I didn't consider James Toonit to be a top 10 guy. So until he fights and beats a top five, top 10 guy, let's find out if he's back. But the knockout itself as a fight by itself. It was fantastic. It was one of his best in the UFC, certainly one of

the best of his career. And I have to think that, and I know I kind of joked about it on Twitter, but I was actually being serious. I mean, his longtime manager and friend Eduardo Alonzo was in his corner. He was with him. They're back together. He was not with him during this bad streak. They had a difference of opinion and went their separate ways. And I'm pretty sure it was for the Gustafson. I'm pretty sure Alonzo was with him for the Verifite, which was his last win. So I really think the, you know, when you surround yourself, and even Damien Maya wrote to me on Twitter saying that it was true. When you surround yourself with people who care about you, long-time friends, long-time supporters, it gives you that extra edge.

It takes off some of the pressure. I think that was big. You're saying when you make yourself comfortable and things like that. Yeah, you need those kind of people. Now, here's what I say. Why does everybody have to drop a weight class? you know, that's the thing that everybody calls for it. Yeah, but he's coming off a win.

I don't think he should drop. He's been a 205 fighter his entire career, and he's been a very good 205 fighter. There's no reason for him to go down, in my opinion. Maybe a fresh coat of paint just because it gives new matchups, but there's plenty of guys he can fight at 205 in the UFC, and, you know, he looked good in terms of, of how he looked physically.

His conditioning and his shape looked really good for this fight. So I don't see any reason for him to drop. I know a lot of people are calling for that. He looked good, but he didn't look great. I mean, there was still, there was some excess weight there that I think that it would behoove him

to go down and really push himself a 185. Look, he fought the top guys at 205, right? He has, you know, Chale, say what you want. I mean, he's a top guy. He's a top tenor, right? right chale yeah yeah okay um gustavson he's a top twoer top threeer i mean so who's he gonna fight that's gonna get him back there he's already lost to to um john jones he's already lost to alexander gufson is he gonna fight you know the fight that i've always wanted to see him um you know have was the rashad

fight that was the fight that was supposed to happen on 128 before rashad got injured we get him back there okay but rashad has other plans is he going to fight down cormias those are bad styles matchups for him at 205 right Okay, but that's your, that in his mind, that would be a fight that would get him back there. He may think he's going to win that fight, even if you're saying, if stylistically you don't like that fight, that fight can still get him back there. Yeah. I don't think that he's out of options at 205 and I don't necessarily think that dropping away class is always the solution. But sometimes it gives you, especially coming off a win.

Exactly. So that's what I'm saying. If he was coming off a loss, it would be a whole different story. I just think if you look that good against a, you know, top 20. Light heavyweight, I really think he would look very good at 185 against the top guys. I really do. Maybe. I just think that comfort is a thing.

He's been a 205er. Yeah. And there's really, if he lost, then there be a reason, maybe. But he's, get ahead of the game. It's a tough, don't wait for the losing streak. He's already had the losing streak. I know. So switch it up.

Okay, so you beat James DeHuna. All right. That's a good win. No, I know. So now you can say, I'm going down to extend my career. I'm not going down, you know, out of desperation. I'm not going down to save my career. I'm going down to extend my career.

It's a big difference. I disagree. All right, we'll see what he does. Next question. Pat Barry. With Pat Barry being such a likable guy, it was a huge bummer to see him lose another fight this weekend. Would he benefit from moving down to light heavyweight

or would you rather see Pat hang up the gloves? I don't think Pat can make light heavyweight. I just think he's a big guy. Those legs are huge. I know. I know he's small. He's short. I don't think he can make light heavyweight. You're right. Pat Barry is super likable. He is one of the great characters in our sport, one of the nicest guys in our sport. And you hear the way he talks about MMA and you hear the way he talks about kickboxing. Our sponsor this week is Glory kickboxing. It would be fun to see Pat turn back the clock, so to speak, and go back to his first love, right?

I would like to see it. Of course you would. But it's one of those things where you know any time he fights, it's going to be a fun fight. He's going to get finished or the other guy's going to get finished. How many times do we want to see him get finished? Right? How many times? And I know the Sean Jordan fight was somewhat controversial and he wasn't necessarily knocked out.

At least he doesn't say he was. This time he was knocked out. And that could happen in kickboxing, but in different ways. I mean, on his feet, he's a lot more comfortable than on the ground. That's when he gets finished typically. in mixed martial arts. So I always feel a little uncomfortable about telling guys when to hang it up. But I would love to see now with the emergence of Glory,

I would love to see how he would do in kickboxing. You know, I never really watched Pat Barry in kickboxing. I'm not a big kickboxing fan. I'm interested in what Glory is doing for sure. So I'm curious to see how he would do in kickboxing. I don't know if the UFC would let him go. They probably wouldn't. Of course, not on Spike.

But I still think, you know, you look at his losses. Against Soa, that was on the ground. Against Sean Jordan, like I said, it was iPoke, he claims, but it was TKO. Then he beat Chained Del Rosario. He lost to Lovar Johnson via TKO on the ground. Stefan Struve was submitted. Czech Congo was just complete bananas. Miracle Krocop submitted him.

Tim Hague's submission. I mean, most of it has been on the ground. It's tough. There's always going to be a place for a Pat Barry. Honestly, I don't think the UFC's going to cut him. And I think he deserves one more chance. It's just two in a row. You know, guys have lost more than that and gotten another chance,

especially in the weaker weight classes. So I think he'll get one more. But I would love to see him in kickboxing and see how he does there. Our next question, booing a referee. Can't recall ever hearing a crowd boo a ref, not even Steve Mazzagati before a fight even begins. Who is this Steve Percival? And why is he public enemy number one in Brisbane?

You know, I really don't know. I thought it was because of the earlier, there was an earlier fight that they didn't like what he did. And I thought that's why. I don't remember which fight, but there was an earlier fight. Maybe that's just what they like to do in Australia. They boo the refs.

They don't like the officials. I don't know. If anyone out there knows the answer to that question, please let me know. I thought the same thing as you, but it was... I thought he did something earlier. It was pretty raucous. It was a chorus. No, I know.

And I think it kept building up every time. But I think that he did something earlier in the night, and then the fans, you know, just they kept building. And then it became kind of a joke by the end. But that's what I thought. But if there's another reason, if he did something else to someone else, let me know. Here's our next question about Invictus Technical Difficult. Yes. With the continued technical difficulties that Invicta keeps having during their events,

how much do you think it's hurting the company? They already lost dollars on more than one pay-per-view event. How long can they keep this up before the casual fan gives up trying to watch their events? Oh, and by the way, our good buddy Brenton, Brenton King, they were booing the stoppage in the Richie Voss fight. That's what he says. He stood two guys up multiple times. It's because he stopped.

the fight between Scugians and Vass. So yeah, that's what I thought. That's what I thought. Anyhow, that was a bummer. And, you know, people give Shannon a lot of credit for giving away the fights for free. If you don't know what happened was, it was an online pay-per-view. It was a paper-view on television as well. A lot of people were buying it online.

I was trying to buy it online because of World Series of Fighting on TV so I can watch both. would have been a good scenario, and I couldn't buy it. And everyone else had that same problem. So right away after contacting Shannon, who at that time didn't even know, and this was like five minutes into the main card, she decided to drop the paywall and give the fight card away for free. Well, people were congratulating her and applauding her for doing that, and it is a noble thing to do. But on the flip side, it's not the first time it's happened. Off top of my head, I mean, I know they've dropped it at least twice. I think it was three times, and they've had technical problems before when it was free on Ustream. And she was on this show last week saying that she is the sole owner of Invicta.

She needs that money. And if you bought the pay-per-view on TV, and if you bought the pay-per-view online and were able to watch it, she was going to refund everyone, which is the right thing to do. But that means she made no money off pay-per-view for this show. It's a small arena that they were in in Kansas City. That is a tough, tough. break. She deserves a lot of credit for that, and that is the right thing to do from a PR perspective. Everyone's going to love her for it, but that is going to hurt her in her pocket. They can't afford to do that ever again. They can't. They can't survive. They cannot survive. They need a TV deal to survive at this point. You know, my buddy, John Pollock over at the Fight Network, wrote a great story about where Invicta stands now after seven shows. And the novelty of it and the coming out party, so to speak, for all these.

fighters. That's what this has been. A lot of these fighters didn't have a stage where we can watch them all together on the same card. And they do have the best collection of women's fighters, without a doubt. They are in all women's fighting organization. But that novelty has worn off. Now they just need to be a successful promotion. And they're not making money. And that's a problem. And she is the sole owner. And she's not, you know, no one could be a sole owner of company. You need investors. You need money. You need that flow coming in. And a good way to get that flow coming in is from TV deals. Where is she going to get that TV deal? I don't know. But they cannot afford another event like that. That is for sure. Next question. Given that Joseph Benavides has never

looked so dominating, is this his time to wear the strap. As much as I really respect Mighty Mouse, I think Benavitas is going to have a game plan to land his power shots and win. How big of a chance do you think he has? Is it his time to be the champ? Well, this is a good question. What are the odds for this? Let's take a look. I believe they're pretty slim. I believe that...

There's only one line available for this card? Demetrius Johnson is the favorite at minus 130. Benavitas is plus 110. What's up with only one fight? Usually they have the main card by now, no? Around this time, yeah. But I mean, there was just a fight weekend, a lot of different events. Does that delay?

Like, in the past when there were less cards, Did they get them out quicker? I mean, having to make these lines is not, you know, it's not magic. It takes time. How do they make the lines? There's somebody who sits down and creates the lines and who determines, you know, this is the correct, the correct attribution of what people think is worth betting on for each individual fighter and each side of the line. So, you know, it doesn't just happen. So I imagine that that takes away from.

And, you know, you can't get lines up as fast if you had to do that many before. You know, one of these days we should have one of those guys come on and explain to us how they actually come up with the lines. Yeah, I mean, who's out there? There's Joey Odessa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, okay, so they only have one, and it's very close, right? Yeah, it's a close line. Johnson is minus 130, Benavitas is plus 110.

So who are you picking? man, what? I want to pick Benevides. Right. But I've eaten it so many times betting against Demetrius. I know. Demetius is really coming to his own as champion. Twice with McCall.

I bet against him last time with Benavides. You did? You picked him to beat Maraga. Yes. But I mean, I didn't bet on that because he was a pretty sizable favorite. You picked him to beat Dodson? No, I picked Dodson. Wow.

I picked Dodson by K.O. He needs you to pick him so he can win. No, pick against him. I feel like this is Benavius' fight to win. Home turf. Demetrius just continues to smash me. So I don't know. My gut says Benavitas is going to win.

Really? My gut says Demetrius. That he's just going to grind one out or be able to just withstand the onslaught. he's just, where is he going to beat him? That's the thing. Where do you beat Demetrius Johnson? He's so well-rounded.

So great on his feet. Well, I mean, it's not like... Where are you going to beat him? It's not like there's not the possibility to finish him. Oh, you mean, Dawson's gotten pretty close. Sure, sure. A few times in one fight. You know what's interesting about Johnson?

He gets better as the fight goes on. Remember the Dodson fight? Well, that's why he's such a great champion. That's the mark of a true champion is, you know, he takes it early. He takes your best shot. And then he just continues to keep coming, and you can't keep up with that. You can't keep up with that pace that he sets.

You know, I think one of the interesting storylines in this fight is that, man, there is a lot at stake for Joseph Benavides because, you know, he's lost twice to Dominicruz. If he loses twice to Demetrius, I mean, you're kind of in that no man's land, right? Where do you go? Yeah. There's a lot at stake here. And not only that, I mean, but he lost twice.

I mean, he's better at 125. Oh, I agree completely. I mean, look at how he's looked like it. Yeah, he's better at 125. He's fighting. you know, on his home turf now, is adopted home city of Sacramento. And it feels, like I was saying to Dwayne,

it feels like this is the cherry on top for that team. They need that UFC champion. And there's a lot of pressure on him. Not saying that he can't rise to the occasion. I think he's a tremendous fighter. I think he is the second best flyweight. If he fights Dotson, who do you think wins? Talking about Benevidias?

Yeah. I'd take Joey in that one. That's what I'm saying. You and Joey, you guys are tight. I think he's an amazing fighter. No, but who calls him Joey? Oh, that's what you mean? Yeah.

Fine, Joe B. There's Joseph. There's Joe. Never heard Joey. But yeah, I think he's the second best right now. There's a lot of pressure. All right, let's jump back into the website questions. Anyway, someone sent me an article.

here that they were upset about the skugans win. That's why they were. And to achieve Vasulik, right? Vesulik? That's why they were mad. And that was one of the early fights. I mean, that's what it seemed like, but that was... It just kept building, and I think they were just having fun with it.

Next question. UFC 168 pay-per-view charge. What's your take on the rising price of the pay-per-view for UFC 168? And who do you think made the decision? So people were very upset about this, that it went up apparently $5. Based on, from what I gather, Josh, Josh Gross sent out a tweet that someone got a flyer or something and then people just went nuts. You know, if we get a chance to talk to Dana White, I will ask him about this and figure it out.

I mean, I don't know. I haven't reached out waiting to see them in Sacramento and then I will report back. So I'm going to reserve my comment. I mean, it's not huge, right? It's $5 more from what I gather. And that is significant. With all the shows, I mean, I'm not saying that it's not significant. Don't get me wrong.

And it is the UFC's biggest show of the year. But I want to ask them if A, it is true, and B, what's the reason for it? Let's find out. That does it for our website questions. All right. Going to bring up some Twitter questions. All right, our first Twitter question. Why are MMA fans so obsessible rematches?

Every great fight fans want one. Why not just enjoy the original? You know, I'm happy that Alex brought this up because I'm not. sure if I want to see Mark Hunt versus Bigfoot, too. I don't know if the second fight could top. I mean, look at Bonner versus Griffin. Can't top it. The second one was no one even remembers that there was a second one. And the great thing about this fight was that it was so unexpected. People thought it would end very quickly. No one thought that they would go 25 rounds. I mean, any time Dana White says that there's no way this fight is going to distance, for now on,

I'm betting that it's going to distance. It happens every time. And it was so unexpected. It was so much fun. There's no way that they could top this. How could they top this? I guess there is a way. I mean, there's always a way. I just don't know if I want to see it. Let's let it be. But you just kind of argued against yourself. Sure. By saying nobody remembers Bonner Griffin too. That's the point. So if we see this again and it's a stinker, that's it. It's it. It's true. You're right. We will remember this first one for as great a fight as it was. And it was one of my favorites of all time. It was a it was. It was a, it was a, it was a, it was the most technical fight, but it was just incredible to see these two guys,

that big, that powerful, slugging it out for five rounds. It doesn't diminish at all. The first fight will live as it is, and it will, the second fight being a stinker, if it happens, it happens. So you think they should do it right away? No, I don't like immediate rematches regardless, so I don't want to see it right away. But if somewhere down the line they have this rematch, I mean, look at Alvarez Chandler. That one was great, right?

Nobody said, oh, I don't want to see that again. This was kind of different because it was so... You know what I mean by unexpected? Sure. We were talking about this fight. It was fun. I loved this fight going into it. It was just a fun fight. You knew it was going to be fun on paper.

It was not going to be a stinker. I mean, it would be very surprising. But it was just... It was supposed to be over in one round. Yeah, and it wasn't going to go back and forth like that. I mean, it was so much fun. I mean, that's just the best way I can describe it. I just had such a great time watching that fight.

It was just so much fun that I don't want. want to ruin that, but I guess you're right. I guess you're right. It doesn't ruin it. Why not give it another shot? Who knows if they can't recreate the magic? Do right away. I mean, that's, I don't really care so much when it happens.

I don't like immediate rematches, as I said. So further down the line would be better for me. But if people want to see it right away. If there was ever going to be an immediate rematch, this is it because it was a draw. Sure. I agree with that too. Yeah. So.

I agree with you. I think there are too many rematches and it's like every show there's a fight, everyone goes nuts for a rematch but if there was a, I mean, there was a draw so it was inconclusive this would warrant an immediate rematch

because it was a draw. But I don't know. You know, look, Mark is out for around six months, at least. So by the time he comes back will be like eight, nine months. Mark Hunt versus Bigfoot Silver 2 could be just what the doctor

ordered. Who knows what would be going on at that time in MMA, so maybe we'll want it. Our next question, who would you guys favor in a fight between Bader and Davis? Seems like they're on a collision course towards each other. You know, I wonder what's going on with Phil Davis. I keep trying to ask him, but he doesn't get back to me.

Remember, he has that win over Machita in August, and he kind of disappeared. Thought that he was maybe going to fight Cormier, Cormier, he's fighting Rashad Evans. Who knows what's going on? Who would I favor? Tough fight to pay. tick, right?

It is. I mean... I think I would go with Davis. Based on the resumes, it's almost, you know... It's a... It's a lopsided in the favor of Davis. Yeah, but I think, you know,

Bader has fought some tough... He fought Glover. And he's lost. No, I know, I know. But how many top five guys has Phil Davis fought? I guess Rashad and Machita. Machita, which was a question of...

He beat? Yeah, but he was not top five. I mean, he wasn't top five. That is revisionist history. He wasn't even top ten. I'm not revising history. I'm saying he beat Gustav's. Okay, but I'm just saying.

So it's Machita and Evans and arguably he lost the Machita, right? You could make that case, sure. He had his little tournament thing there with Wagner Prado. Well, you're not about to say that that was like, he destroyed him.

No, I know, but the first time, I mean, he had to fight him twice. beat Nogara, who beat Rashad, annihilated Timbo. I mean, he's fought some top guys, not taking anything away from him. I mean, the resume is pretty good. Yeah, no, no, it is good. I just said I thought he was going to win.

But very close fight. I think that it would come down to if Phil can get him down. I mean, Phil's looked better on his feet, no doubt about it. But I think Bader has the power to put anybody out, really. You know, Bader has fought John Jones. Lost. No, I know. That's what I'm saying, but he's fought top guys.

I mean, Rampage, he fought Lioto, he fought Glover. Anyone asked me about the Paroche fight? I don't think so. I mean, wow. First off. I mean, there might have been a question about should there have been a 10-8? Yes. Yes.

Second and third round. They should have stopped that fight. I think it was the midway through the third where it was just getting, it was getting hard to watch. And credit to Perosch. I mean, the fight almost was finished in the first round, like, halfway through, and he kept coming, but he did not. I'd love to see the fight metric stats on that one, because it didn't look like he landed a single punch. If I remember off the top of my head, I think the stats were something mind-boggling, like Bader landed like 200 shots and Perosha landed like 11. Something, something insane. 150 was the differential, maybe, something like that. It was

It was not a pretty one. Now, do you think that if there was live scoring and the corners were able to see this, that they would have stopped the fight? They knew what was going on. I don't know. I think that that might be an incentive. They thought he won the first round. They thought he won the second round. No, no, no, no.

But it would say you're kind of out of this. Time to call it a day. In the second round, well, in total, according to fight metric, Bader landed 70 of 100 significant strikes. Okay, significant, but what about total? Okay, total. 156 of 188. Okay, that's in total. Peros, 11 of 39.

Yeah. First round, 5 of 27. Second round, 5 of 9. Third round, 1 of 3. If that's not a 10-7, what is a 10-7? Doesn't exist. Bader landed 61 of 70 in the third. 50 of 56.

In the second. 45 of 62 in the first. Come on. How those rounds were scored 10-9 is beyond me. How those weren't 10-7s beyond me. I mean, forget 10-7. Let's at least get a 10-8 first. 10-8, for God's sakes.

Unbelievable. Crazy. Next question. How promising is Justin Skagans mixes karate with MMA and grade on a mic and already asking for another fight? Yeah, he was impressive. I don't think I was like super blown away by him.

am, were you? I mean, like, super bro- I mean, he's very good in that performance. He looked very good. So does I have fight metric open? Let's see the stats on that one. He got the mic and knew what to do with it. I'll say that much. Yeah, he did. And, you know, anytime someone's in the flyweight division, it's exciting. I feel like the flyweight division has really come together very quickly. They've done a great job Sean Shelby has of building talent and finding talent. And he's very exciting right now. Talk about one-sided. Just don't say flyweight on TV. Yeah, that's weird. World Championship, I saw that. Nobody'd want to hear about an exciting division.

27 of 37, no, no, no, 47 of 59 total strikes, and his opponent, Richie Voss, 19 of 24. But significant strikes, just two of seven. That was one-sided. Somewhat one-sided. Yeah, I was impressed. But not overly. impressed.

I mean, I don't know. There were other guys that I walked away from that show thinking, wow. Like, so I thought, wow. Shogun, wow. How about this guy? Did you think wow for this? Is it more likely that rising star Nick Newell will be the face of WSOF or will end up in the UFC? I'm happy someone asked about him because, like I said, he is Mr.

Must see TV. He is, I mean, what a pleasure to watch that guy. And I had a quick standing guillotine win on Saturday night once again. What I think should happen is he. He needs to fight one more time and then fight for the belt on NBC this summer. In case you missed it, WSOF right now, the plan is to have two events on NBC next year, beginning with early summertime. And I'm so impressed by him. What a story.

I mean, you can't say enough good things about Nick Newell. If I'm WSOF, I try to do everything in my power to keep this guy on our roster. We all know, and WSF knows, they know that everyone wants to go to the UFC. They don't live in a fantasy world. and it would be great to see him in the UFC. He would be great on the ultimate fighter as well, and it's a shame he didn't get that chance, but maybe he was for the better,

because he's a much better fighter now than a few years ago. So, you know what? I think it was for the better. But he made it for the athletic commissioner in Nevada. They licensed him. They have no problem with them. Clearly they shouldn't have a problem with him. So what's better for him?

Obviously, it's to be in the UFC. Of course. That's what he's going to be. He'd be, you think he's a star now. He'd be a gigantic star in the UFC. If I'm WSOF, I try to keep him around as long as possible. But if the UFC comes calling, boy, I would be in favor of that. I would love to see him in the UFC and see how far he can go.

He, in my opinion, people gave me crap for this. He is without a doubt the face of World Series of fighting. Without a doubt, don't tell me about Justin Gaichi or Marlon Marais. Those guys are great fighters, tremendous fighters. This is the guy that is going to open doors for WSOF. This is the guy who everyone sits down and has to watch the fight. No matter what. You have to watch Nick Newell.

I don't care. I don't care. Honestly, I'll be honest with you. I don't care if the best UFC fighter is fighting. You have to watch Nick Newell if they're going up against him. He is that great of a story and inspiration. He's must see TV. No other way to put it. Completely agree with you.

But do you think he beats those guys? Are you saying he beats Justin Gehche? I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know right now. It's hard to say. I mean, honestly, he needs to step up in competition. I think Justin would be that guy.

I think he needs someone between. between Justin and who he's fighting now. He's not fighting top guys. Let's be honest. Sure. He's not fighting top guys. He needs someone like, you know, the thing is they don't have a very deep roster right now. I mentioned Luis Fermino who annihilated Jacob Vokman in his last fight.

Like a tough grappler like that would be a step up. Not these guys that they're bringing in for a one-shot deal. You know what I'm saying? And then the winner, you know, Gachie's fighting Luis Gonzalez on January 18th for their title. and if he wins that belt then a title fight against Gachi early summertime if he gets a fight around that time he could fight

pretty soon he didn't even get I don't think he landed he was hit with one punch so I want to see him fight one guy above but not quite at the level of Gai Chi because I think Gachi is UFC ready I think he's a tremendous fighter and then fight Gaichi for the belt and then we see what happens he still has a few fights left

on the contract I like that plan next question from our friend Brent and King who you mentioned earlier. In my opinion, the standout fighter from this past weekend was Tisha Torres. Who did you have?

I think I know your answer based on the last one. He's must-see TV. He's a great fighter, but, you know, I don't think he was tested. To me, this weekend has to be

about Mark Hunt and Bigfoot Silva. And that was one of the greatest fights ever. And I don't know if someone asked me this. Someone asked about if it is the fight of the year? I avoided that one because, I mean,

I'm just kind of sick of every week. Is this the fight of the year? years. Absolutely. But it's not. It's not. I mean, the stakes, it's better, in my opinion, than Gilbert and Diego. Gilbert and Diego, we knew who was going to win.

The second that fight was over. We knew who I'd won. It was 2-0 going into the third. It was a tremendous fight. And if it was a five-round fight, remember, if this was a three-round fight, it would have been fairly one-sided. Bigfoot to Mark Hunt won. And I've been kind of against five-round fights in the past.

Now I feel like we've been proven, we've been let to believe, and it has been proven that they're good. More often than not, they end up being good. There have been some stinkers, but more often than not, they have been good. And it helped turn things around for Mark Hunt. But the stakes were never bigger than John Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. And what was great about that fight was also great about this fight, it was unexpected. Everyone thought John Jones was going to run right through Alexander Gustafsson.

It didn't happen. And that's what made it so special. And it was so close. and when they finish fighting, you weren't quite sure who was going to win. You knew who was going to win against Gilbert and when Gilbert fought Diego Sanchez. Eddie Alvarez and Mike Chandler was a great fight,

but it started a little slow. It didn't have everything. It ended tremendously. But this one, my opinion right now, as we stand here, and I said to myself on Friday, stop worrying what's the fight of the year. It doesn't matter.

Just enjoy these moments. It's been an amazing year, the best in my opinion. but just stop worrying ranking. Let's rank them right now. Gustafson Jones 1. Hunt, Silva, 2. Chandler, Alvarez 3.

Gilbert, Diego, 4. Stan Vandale. You know, I'm going to give it to Grison Bermudas, 5. Stan Vandalet was a little too short, right? Then Stan Vandlea. Jessica Penae versus Watterson, that was up there. Anyway, I totally didn't answer this question. Tisha Torre.

was very impressive against Felice Herrick. I do think it is a mistake on the part of Invicta to give her a title shot after one fight in the promotion. She's what, 4 and 0? Build her up to be even bigger star. And I thought it was weird that Carlos Sparza called her out. The champion shouldn't be calling out a newcomer. It shouldn't work that way.

You're the champion. How people come to you? Someone like Joanne Calderwood has been there longer, has fought, you know, bigger names, she probably deserves it over Tisha T. She was very impressive, but I thought that the whole thing was weird. And I said,

I thought Invicta told Carla to call Atisha, and then she went on Twitter and told me that I was wrong, that she wanted to do it because she beat up her friend, which makes it even weirder. Speaking of... Did you agree with me on that one? I do agree, but I thought that Tisha Torres put on one hell of a show, and I think she was my standout fighter from this weekend.

Really? Yeah. Over Mark Hunt and Bigfoot. They didn't do something that I hadn't seen. I mean, I didn't do something with you as heavyweight? Okay. Let me roll that back.

Rewind. I knew Mark Hunt had a tremendous heart. I knew he was going to go in there and slug. I wasn't as exposed to Tisha Torres. That's what I meant to say. Sure. Maybe the rising star or something or the kind of out of left field. This was an out of left field because a lot of people were excited.

That was the people's main event for that card. And also, they're getting half and a while. award each. So they have to split it if it's hunt and big foot. Guess what? It was a draw. So they should get half an award each. They get half of it. Uh, next question is about Joanne Calderwood. Is she the favorite to be the first UK fighter to win a UFC belt? She's ranked number four in the world now. You know, I don't know only because who knows when they're going to bring in the 115 pounders. I mean, they seem, it seems like they're still a few months, maybe even a year away from that. So who knows what can happen. There's Gustafson. There's McGregor, who I think he's going to get one

rather quickly, although by the time he comes back, it's going to be tough with his injury. So, I mean, once they do bring them in, absolutely, but I don't know when it's going to happen, so it's kind of hard to say now. She's very impressive. I know a lot of people are excited about her, and I think she deserves to fight for the belt next and build up Tisha Torres. I think that's what makes sense. And I thought that's what they were going to do until she got called out by Carlos Sparza, but who knows? Our next question. With Condit versus Brown, now off of

UFC on Fox 9, what becomes the new people's main event? And I misspoke. Why did I think, I might have got confused. Tichitaaura is 4 and O in Victa. I misspoke. So I apologize for that.

Why does it feel like she got way more attention? It felt like this was her debut. Am I crazy here? It didn't feel like her debut. I knew she had fought before. but this was fighting Felice Herrick. Yeah. It's a big deal. It is a big deal.

That being said, I think that Calderwood is ahead of her. And she said it herself, in fact. I don't think there's any debate there. I just thought it was a little weird that she was getting called out. Right? I agree. I thought that was weird,

especially because the fight before was the Calderwood fight. The one right before, unless I'm wrong, I believe the fight immediately before was called. Calderwood. So it was not what I expected, but I mean, if they gave her a title shot, I wouldn't have a problem, especially, you know, after the show she put on. By the way, was the last question about Europe or the UK about Calderwood? It was about UK. So you said Gustav Sanna and McGregor. Okay, that's, I was totally off there. My bad. I thought you said Europe. Yeah, again, it could happen, but there's still, there's still some time there to get the, who else would there be from UK?

there would be bisping. I don't think he's going to get the shot anytime soon. Jimmy Manoa. Jimmy Manoa, if he's shocked, but they said that he's probably not going to get unless he does something crazy. So she could be, yeah, in UK, she could definitely be it.

I agree with that. But anyway. Condit Brown, gone. What's the new people's main event for UFC on Foxx time? And I just want to say, I apologize for the T-Torris thing. That was a total brain fart on my part. Okay, Condit Brown.

You know, I was thinking about this. And I wanted to say, Bam Bam Healy versus Bobby Green. But I feel like I put that pressure on Bobby Green before, and it's not fair. So the bowling... I'm excited about bowling Trujillo, but I don't think that's going to be it. Jorgensen Makovsky. Could it be that?

What about Barbosa versus Castillo? Or is it just an easy one, like Faber versus McDonald? It might have to be that. And guess what? Sometimes there isn't a people's main event. I don't know. Joe Lozahn. He's fighting, period.

I mean, that could always be the people's main event. I don't know. I have to think about it. There's usually one that sticks out and just not there for this one. But it was Condo Brown. It was definitely Condo Brown. Last question. Has Dwayne Ludwig's impact on Team Alpha Male made them the best team out there?

If not, which team is better? I mean, off top of my head, there's TriStar, there's Jackson Winkle-John, There's the Blacksilians. There's ATT. There's AKA. I mean, I don't know if you could say that the best. I don't know if that's fair. There are a lot.

Which is the best? I mean, there's Novo Niao. Novo Niao has two champions. Two UFC champions, right? So that is quite impressive. Jackson's has one. AKA could have two at some point with Kane and D.C. I don't know.

You can't say that there's one. that's the best, but I also can't say that team alpha male is the best. They don't have one UFC champion. Could change this weekend, but they don't have one right now. That's it. And credit to my buddy Anthony, who likes to get the love. My buddy Anthony for reminding me that Tisha Torres is for and Owen Invicta. And also credit to my man Skip to My J's, or Skip to My Thang, who reminds us that, of course,

the people's main event would be Joe Lozum versus Nick the tooth if it happens, right? The real, I mean, that is, that is the real people's main event. If it happens. I'm going to try to get an update on that when I am in Sacramento. I go to Sacramento on Wednesday, Wednesday morning. It is a long trip to get to Sacramento. I have to go from New York to Atlanta to Sacramento. Wednesday morning.

How about that? Bizarre. The home of Rudy Gay. Maybe he'll be there. That's it for the questions. We're done. All right, we're done. You can hit my music, Alfred.

Well, a fun show, a jam-packed show, a lot to discuss. And I didn't really get a chance to read the Twitter questions about the December 30th show. Were people into the idea of the Twitter comments? Were they into the fan appreciation questions-only show? You let me know. I'm here all week. I want to thank Daniel Cormier for stopping by, which feels like it happened 10 hours ago. thank you very much to him.

And good luck as he cuts all the way down to 205 and meets Rashad Evans at UFC 170 in Lost Wages, Nevada. Josh Thompson, good luck to him. Was looking forward to that fight against Anthony Perez. Some interesting things coming out of Josh Thompson's mouth about Anthony Peders. And I'm going to find that clip that we were talking about

because that was a call-out. That was definitely a call-out. Thank you very much to Marshall's Lasnik. Good luck. New UFC Digital Network that comes out in just a matter of weeks. Dwayne Ludwig, good luck to him and the team. They got four fighters fighting on this card.

UFC on Fox 9 this Saturday. Good luck to him and the rest of the fighters competing, representing Team Alpha Male. Ben Ascran, thank you very much for officially breaking the news that he is joining 1FC. Great stuff out of him. Mark Hunt, that was amazing. Thank you very much for that fight and the heart you displayed.

Wow, great stuff out of Mark Hunt. Thank you very much, Conan McGregor. Great stuff out of him. very spirited stuff and soa paleli thank you very much him and congratulations on his big win over pat barry same time and place next week enjoy ufc on fox nine thanks so much for watching the show until that we say peace so maddie yeah support for this show comes from odoo running a business is hard enough so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other introducing odu it's the only business software you'll ever need it's an all-in-one fully

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