MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 212

Episode Date: August 29, 2014

Featuring Johny Hendricks, Demetrious Johnson, Firas Zahabi, Ian McCall, Ray Longo, Phil Baroni, Julie Kedzie, and Carla Esparza. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

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Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani Insider, New York City Studio. Very excited about this episode of the M.M.A. Hour. We are going, as always, three plus hours, maybe even four plus hours on today's show. Our second to last episode of the year, yes, we are off next week due to the holidays and travel and whatnot. but we will have that fan appreciation show on December 30th. You have responded, and I'm very excited about that show, but for now, very excited about today's show. Of course, we're joining in the back, as always, by Mr. New York, Rick, Alfred, Will.

Buzzkill is somewhere lurking, but I haven't seen him today. And I want to remind you that, once again, today's episode of the MMA Hour is being brought you by our good friends over at Glory. And Glory returns December 21st with Glory 13 Tokyo. It airs on Spike TV at 9 p.m. East, In his final fight before retirement, Peter Ertz takes on heavyweight tournament champion Rico Verhoeven, while Daniel Gita faces Errol Zimmerman. The world's best welterweight also square off in a one-night four-man welterweight championship tournament. Do not miss the exciting kickboxing action glory really picking up a lot of steam,

and we appreciate them being a part of the team. All right, less than 48 hours removed from UFC on Fox 9, still in awe over what Demetrius Johnson did in Sacktown, knocking out Joseph Benevides, the first man to ever knock out Jiu-Jitsu himself, and he did it in just a matter of what, like two minutes or so at the sleep train arena. What a great way to end that show with Faber, getting his submission win in the second, and then the Flyway Champion reigning supreme on enemy territory. So we're going to talk about that, of course, at around 340 Eastern Time.

We'll take your questions and comments. Hit us up using the hashtag the MMA hour. Leave a question and comment in the post below if you're watching this. live. Keep them coming. We love hearing from you. At around 320, Julie Kedzi, who recently retired after her second loss inside the Octagon. She'll be joining us. She has a very interesting piece of news to share with everyone. So stick around for that. Very excited to talk to one of the true pioneers of women's MMA. The aforementioned Demetrius Johnson, Mighty Mouse himself. He'll be stopping by at 305 to look back at that big win over Benavides and look ahead to what's next for him.

at around 2.45, one of our favorites. There is only one New York badass, and he'll be joining us. He is, of course, Phil Barone. Talk about his simmering feud with the newest member of the 1-FC team, Ben Ascran. Looking forward to having him back on the show. Farazza Habi, of course, will be stopping by at 225. In case you missed it, George St. Pierre is no longer an active fighter in the UFC. Unbelievable.

For the first time in almost pretty much a decade, he is not in the UFC. for the first time since prior to UFC 83, he is not the UFC Walterweight champion. There is a vacant title that Johnny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler will fight for on March 15th. So Farahabee is going to stop by to talk to us about George St. Pierre's decision and what is next for Mr. Rush. At around 205, Carla Sparza will stop by to talk about the big news

that these straw weights are moving over to the UFC. It is official 11. strawweight fighters have gone from Invicta to the UFC, and they will make their debuts on tough 20. They will fight for the first ever UFC 115 pound title. One of those fighters is Carlos Sparsa, the now former Invicta 115 pound champion. Also joining us today, the aforementioned Johnny Hendricks, talk about that big news. He'll be fighting for the vacant title at UFC 171. Ray Longo will stop by one of our favorites to preview the big UFC 168 remit. match between his guy, Chris Wyman and Anderson Silva. That goes down December 28th. But first,

let us go to the Skype machine and welcome in a good friend of the show, Uncle Creepy, Ian McCall, joining us right now. Ian, how are you? Doing good. How are you? I'm doing very well. I know a busy time today for you, a lot of hectic things going on, so I appreciate you stopping by very much. And we'll make this rather quick. First off, you know, there's a lot to talk to you about, But obviously, we'd like to first talk about the passing of your good friend and a great fighter, a man who, you know, we didn't know him personally, but I've had him on the show and I've talked to him. And everyone just speaks so highly of Shane Del Rosario. Just want to talk about how are you feeling? You know, I know it was devastating news last week.

How are you coping with this? You know, more or less just kind of in shock, I guess. I tried to be the pillar for the team, for everyone to hang on to, just to be the guy who's not out. I think everyone kind of expected me to go off the hinges and freak out and do something stupid. But I was just trying to be a good example and show everyone that had to cope with things and just keep training and get my other teammates and fighters ready for fights. and I think in that process, I didn't let it really sink in. So it's, I don't know, I'm just kind of still in shock.

It's, you know, a guy I've spent 15 years in my life with, and I live with it for the past year. He took me out of probably the worst situation I've ever been in and had me move in and, you know, help me raise my daughter. So it's a lot to take in, but, you know, I just want to, just like, everybody else instead of mourning so much we just need to kind of celebrate that the person who was instead of you know just being so depressed about it or you know finding the bottle of a finding the bottom of a booze bottle or something that you just need to celebrate and have fun and

train and do what shame would I like to do and that's you know keep winning when did you first meet him uh middle school I think seventh grade wow we didn't we didn't start hanging out until high school. And you stayed friends all that time. You guys were really close friends since you met around high school, or since you really connected in high school? Yeah. You know, we were just good buddies and just obviously became closer, becoming, you know,

when I left Jeremy Williams and I needed a gym to go to, I figured the only place else I would go to was Oyama, so I went there. And because my friends, like him and, like, Bao Kwa, were there already so I just made sense and since then obviously you know our bond got even better well we were always friends he'd been on you know countless family trips you know like my parents or you know he's like a he's like family um did he ever complain about any health issues um you know heart issues anything like that chest pain did he did that ever come up you know we always uh as sad that is we always we always

kind of like mess with him for it. He's like, oh, my heart, you know, because he was kind of dramatic sometimes, especially when he pushed him too hard working out. And it was, he kind of made a joke about it too. I did, well, you know, my heart hurts, but now, obviously, that's kind of a, you know, scary thought.

But, I mean, who would have known? You know, the guy was, he was the biggest, strongest force we had. So we all kind of looked at him as bulletproof. You know, Rick Lee, who's a video, in the MMA world put out a great video about him for Fight Magazine around the time that he made his UFC debut last May, talked about this relationship with this young girl and just going back to the sight of his car accident. And you can really tell from that video what kind of a great guy he was, the heart that he had, how caring he was.

I don't know if you've ever seen that video, but in a nutshell, was that Shane Del Rosario? Was he that huge guy, big guy, you know, literally, but seemed like a soft. in a sense. Yeah, I mean, he was, obviously, I've never seen the video, but I've lived that with him. Yeah. You know, he's got, he's got three daughters. They're not his by blood, but they're his. They look at him as their dad.

You know, it's his ex-girlfriend. He's not even dating, you know, the woman anymore, but they're still really good friends. And he was just that kind of guy. He was so family-oriented and everything. Even with me, it was, you know, I was, you know, I was. going through divorce or whatever, and it would be a really bad spot. Well, he just said, hey, you know, we're both not doing well career-wise. Move in with me, you know, I'll help you raise London.

We'll get our stuff together. You know, we'll do everything we can. And that was just how he was. You know, he took care of all of us. And being kind of from a Hawaiian background that's very family-oriented. And he, you know, like his dad always says, you know, Ahana isn't the family you're given. It's the family you choose.

and he chose to have a big family and try and take care of everybody because that's just the big teddy bear he was. You know, you were supposed to fight this weekend in Sacramento and we'll get to why you had to pull out. But, you know, just recently the UFC announced that you'll be fighting in March. Did you think about taking some time off or did you want to get back in there to resume your life? I just wanted to get back in there and resume my life because that's what Shane would have wanted. you know, Shane's, he would have wanted me to go out there and fight and perform and, and use this as fuel to go out there and, you know, get back to where I should be. And that's on top of Demetrius Johnson beating him. That's the second. And of course, we will get to him in a second. But tell us, how's your hand feeling? Because you posted on the UG recently a pretty gruesome picture of your hand, and we're getting used to these pictures because after you're winning in August, you tweeted out a picture of your hand that you broke

in that fight against Santos. And now you recently posted another one, which I believe was you were trying to correct kind of a botch surgery. Is that what happened? Yeah, the first surgery. My hand was crushed. Like, I broke it.

I think I watched the fight once, but one of my best friends, he washes all this stuff religiously. He's like, oh, you broke it at two minutes and five seconds in, you know? So I just, obviously, it didn't hurt. It didn't affect my performance. I kept punching. I kind of broke like this whole section of my hand here.

Wow. And the first surgery just didn't go well, so the second surgery was a cleanup job. And now it's okay. I mean, I can't make a fist completely. You can see my finger doesn't go down all the way. Wow. But I have, you know, I do a lot of physical therapy. I do, you know, I stretch it all the time.

And I can work out. I can punch with it. It's just, it just, I'm more or less like, getting dead on your nudgeus at this point. Will your finger ever go down, though? They say, well, I mean, the physical therapist, they can force it to 90. It just, we just have to stretch the tendons and get rid of scar tissue and stuff. So hopefully by beginning of January, I'll be able to close it completely.

And then from there, you know, I can just resume, you know, punching us as hard as I want with it. But in the meantime, they've announced your fight against Brad Pickett. You think you'll be okay to fight in March? Yeah, I'll be fine. You know, I've told everybody I'll, I'd fight with the broken hand. I'll, I'll break it again, you know. I don't have to pay for, I don't have to pay for it for me. Right. Maybe this time to fix it, you know? So did you actually break it while preparing for this fight for the Fox event, or was it just bothering you and you felt like you needed to fix it? No, no, no, it was, it was just, I broke it in August. Right. And I've had two surgeries since then. For some reason, my body age, their body completely overreacted as far as scar tissue and it made a bunch and

you know there's a big ball kind of weird thing on my hand so it's it's um i've only punched with it twice as far as training i've been training the whole time but i've been kicking and left-hucking and elbowing and doing everything else just not not really hitting with it have you been anxious to get back in there because you know despite injuring your hand you looked really good I mean, that was your best performance in the UFC by far back in August in Brazil to try to build on that. And now it's going to be, you know, just a few more months before you can get back in there and keep up that momentum. Yeah, I would have fought Scott, you know. I mean, it's just a hand.

I got seven other tools to hit them on. So I just kind of, I look at it in a good way, you know, whether it's the hand stays unbroken or it breaks again in a fight. I don't know. I like it paid for one. I want to get, you know, I want to climb back up those ranks and get back to, you know, my title. Were you surprised that Zach Makowski defeated Scott Jorgensen? I knew Zach is good, and I haven't really watched many of his fights. You know, coming down to 125, it's, if it's your first time, you're not going to, it's not going to be easy.

You know, some guys do it better. But I haven't seen the first time. fight. The only fight that I saw that night was I saw just the highlight clip of Uriah choking out Michael McDonald and then I saw DJ knock out Joe.

But I'll have to go look at the fight just because that's an interesting fight I actually want to watch. I don't want to watch much fighting anyways. But yeah, that was a shocker. All right, so I'm very curious because I remember, we actually, the last time we had you on was right after Demetrius' last one. And, you

You know, you were complimentary, but you still, you know, there's still that simmering kind of issue there. I believe you called him a nerd when he was, when you were on. So what do you think? I mean, he knocked out, he knocked out Joseph Benavita. It's never been done before in a matter of minutes. That has to impress you, right? Oh, yeah. I mean, that was, my hat's off to DJ.

The guy is ever improving. I mean, that's one thing you can never take away from him. He's champ for a reason. He's ever improving. Of course, I'm going to pick holes and everything. because, you know, I'd like to get a chance to beat him to death again. But it's the guy's, he is a great champion. And now he's shutting up all the critics and he's making us as 125ers look good.

You know, he submitted Maraga, which was, I was waiting for it from the first time he sat in that position. It took him five rounds to do it, but he still did it. You know, with a basic, you know, spinning, you know, well, over the top on board. But regardless, that's just me just being a cynic Because it wasn't me who was doing it. And he caught Joe with a perfect punch, man. I mean, he was timing well, everything looked good. It was definitely impressive.

And it's people, you know, might say, well, doesn't that kind of scare you now that he's knocking people out? It's many people out. I say, no, it's more fun. He's more dangerous. And now he's going to come in with confidence thinking he can do that to me. And obviously, I want to reverse that role. agree though that from when you fought him in Australia and then in Florida

he is a much better fighter than those two fights? Yeah, of course he's a better fighter. You know, people want to talk about his top control and stuff with Maraga. Well, Maraga didn't do a damn thing off the bottom. I mean, like, he didn't even try and shrimp out and get back to guard. He did nothing. So I wasn't that impressed with it because neither of them did anything until he, you know, submitted him with a move that it's a basic arm bar that he hit well,

but at the same time, you had four other rounds to do it, especially when he wasn't wet, you know. With the knockout, it was just perfectly tied. His boxing's obviously getting better. His timing's getting better, and he's learning how to get that kinetic energy from the ground up to his feet, you know, or up to his hands to punch harder, which is cool. Your fight against Pickett is fascinating because I think a lot of people still want to see you

fight Johnson again, especially how the first fight went. Pickett is one of only two men to actually defeat Johnson. That was at 135. So between your fight and maybe a fight that is in the works between John Lineker and Ali Bagotinov, that could produce the number one contender. What do you think of those two guys? They've been doing some good work as of late, except for Linneker, of course, not making weight. Yeah, you know, Linneker's been knocking everybody out, but you can't make weight, dude.

like sorry. Like, it was just like Josh Sampo who over this kid is called me out and wanted to shave my mustache and it's like for one you didn't make weight too you didn't beat anyone relevant and free like

what are you all for me? Like, I'm going to knock you out and shave your eyebrows or take your virginity like what do you like what I don't understand what you're going with this. Beat it kid, you know? But as far as

the Russian kid Ali, he's a stud. That kid you could tell he's going to make some season in him and Linnaker fight, they're going to be, they're going to be trapped out of each other. And I'm excited to watch it because I, you know, an enthusiast, I just don't pay attention to the UFC mine

or the MMA in general because I don't know. I'm trying to enjoy life and not be consumed by. But that's a fight. I definitely want to watch. As far as me and Pickett goes, obviously that's my first hurdle. I got to get past Brad, and I know that's not going to be a easy fight.

But he is coming down. and he's not a small 135er. So if you think you're going to come down to my, you know, to my weight class and you're going to all of a sudden be fast because you weren't fast at 135, well, I have a problem. That's just not how it works, you know. Look what happened to Scott Jorgensen. Right.

You know, so I guess I'll just be welcoming him to the division. You think it's a mistake for him to go down? You never know. I mean, he's at a smart camp, a really good camp as far as ATT goes. They know how to cut weight. They know, I'm sure he'll have all the good guys over there helping him do it.

But yeah, I think it's a bad move. And what about Sapo just for a second? I mean, did you even know this guy? Did you have an issue with him? Because he told me that in an interview after his fight. It kind of came out of nowhere. So was he just trying to call you out

because you know, you're one of the top guys? Where does that come from? Yeah, he's just trying to make a name off himself. and you want to be a smart ass and say some stuff, then I'm the best of doing that. So if you really want to start having a little Twitter war, and I will bury you, my friend. Plus, you know, it's like I come from a different era

as far as fist fighting, you know. Like, I got into this because it was NHB. We were buried, you know, it was a fist fight. And, like, first off, you beat my friend, one of my best friends, Antonio. So I'm already pissed off. I'm going to try to hurt you. Two, you've called me out forever now.

I've heard his name, and I've never knew who he was, besides the fact that he'd be Danoneo. So it's just kind of bugging me now. But if he earns it, then sure, I would love to beat him up. I'll teach him a lesson. Do you think a win over picket will get you another shot at Johnson, or will you need one or two more? Realistically, I think I would probably need one or two more, but I wouldn't turn it down, obviously. I think that because Pickett has beat Demetrius before, obviously people are going to start talking about it,

especially after the win. But I wouldn't mind if they said, no, no, you need to fight the winner of, let's say, Winnecker and is it Bogotinov? How did he says last thing? Bagawutinov. Okay, so yeah. So if I have to fight one of them again,

or one of them after that, that's fine. I'm not in a rush, but I would like to see a title shot by the end of the year. Finally, when does camp for Pickett start, or has it started? It's already started. I can't have a lot of impact on my hand because it's not close. So I'm up in Reno, Othau Area. Just training, one of my training partners just got here.

I'm doing a bunch of high-altitude cardio stuff and training and just trying to get my cardio up. So when I do go home in January, that my cardio is already super high. So I can, I don't have to worry about that part in my camp. I can just go right into, you know, the technical aspect of it and to game planning, you know, because most people don't game plan, but, you know, that's a big part of how I fight. And last question, are you, you know, for, are you at all concerned that it will be hard to focus on the fight after, you know, the passing of your good friend? Or do you think this will help you cope with it? This has definitely helped me cope with it.

You know, it's keeping me, you know, I'm my own worst enemy. I can take things a bad way and go do stupid things, but this is, it's kept me, you know, kept my composure. It's kept me in the gym and just doing the right thing. And I'm just going to use it as fuel to make my friend proud. Well, Ian, I really appreciate you coming on. My thoughts are with you and in his family and all his friends. I know you guys are a very close team, and like I said, didn't know him on a personal level,

but really enjoyed watching him fight. Great prospect, and he was always very nice to us and seems like a great guy. So truly my heart goes out to you guys, and I hope that everyone is able to deal with this as best as possible and appreciate you stopping by and hope your hand gets well soon and really looking forward to that fight against Brad Pickett in March. Thank you, man.

Okay, there he is. Uncle Creepy, Ian McCall, stopping by. He has a very big fight coming up in March, in London, against Brad Pickett. That is that card, by the way, that is being headlined by Alexander Gustafson versus Jimmy Manua, which we found out recently will only be available, at least as of now, on the new UFC Digital Network. So if you want to watch that fight,

which is a pretty important fight at a 205 pounds, the UFC has said that Gustafson, if he wins, will be next for the title, especially if John Jones wins against Glover de Chara and we found out recently that John Jones versus Glover has been moved once again. Third time. It went from 169 to 170 to 171. Now it's 172, at least for now.

And he tells us Baltimore, but the UFC not confirming that. Anyway, if they both win their fights, it's a natural. The EA Sports Cover Boys, how about that? How about that? So that card will be at least as of right now the second one that will be on the digital network live and available to people if you buy the service. The first one, of course, is that January 4th card in Singapore. Before we get to January 4th, though, how about December 28th? How about December 28th?

UFC 168, it is fitting that we end the year with one of the biggest fights, one of the biggest rematches, the biggest moment thus far of 2013. of course was Chris Wyman knocking out Anderson-Silvin the second round of UFC 162, and we will end the year when my opinion has been the greatest year in MMA history,

certainly in UFC history, with that rematch. And that is why we need to have Chris Wybman's coach, Ray Longo, on the show before that big fight. Ray, how are you? Very good, very good. I think I just got chills.

How, I mean, how excited are you for this? And I know that word is thrown around, but I mean, this is obviously bigger than the first one because of what happened in the first one. All eyes are on you guys. It ends the year, a tremendous year, how the first fight went. How can you even put into words how you are feeling less than two weeks

before this fight? Yeah, no, I think everybody's excited. You know, the first was very exciting also. I think this comes around, you know, Christmas time, so there's a lot of mixed, not mixed emotions that way, but you know, it's right, everybody has a family, everybody's trying to do the right thing.

But, no, this is exciting. We want to put a stamp on what he did the first time, and I think Chris is focused. Training camp's going excellent, and we're ready to roll. He's ready to show everybody the first time wasn't a flute. When you say that this is happening around Christmas time, does that prove to be a distraction of sorts, or does that put things in perspective?

This is why you're fighting, your family. This time of year, everyone talks about family and friends and loved ones and things like that. Does that help someone like Chris with his beliefs really zero in on the task at hand? I think it helps a guy like Chris We've spoken about You know he's got a new house I mean he's got two kids Would have been the first Christmas in the house

And he knows that this is a big fight for his family And for their future And I think it's going to be a big motivational factor for him You know Before we really dig deeper into that fight I have to want I mean George St. Pierre walked away on Friday You know this

So as they stand right now The last man to ever beat GSP is your boy, Matt Sarah. Is that a feather in your cap, your and Matt's cap? I think it's a feather, yeah, sure. You know, not that we're going to hop on it. We're pretty humble guys.

But I think when you talk about it, it's a nice little feather in the cap. You know, I don't think that ever gets boring when we see that clip of him knocking them out. So, yeah, I think it's a feather. You know, I've always wondered, because let's say, let's just say, worst-case scenario for you guys,

Anderson wins this rematch. I would think at some point Chris would get another shot. Why didn't Matt ever get another shot at GSP? You know, I really can't answer that, but I think, you know, Chris and Matt they were at different points of their career at the time. And, you know, I think, Matt, you know, would I have to come back up the ladder?

I'm not sure I had to really go back and think about that, but I think it's just because maybe Matt was a little older at the time, and that might have been the difference. you know, but I really don't know. I always thought the UFC dropped the ball on that one, because think of Kane and JDS. Kane was the champ. JDS beat him.

Kane got a rematch, beat him, and then JDS got another crack at it, a third crack. Same exact scenario here. Matt, Sarah, deserved a third crack at GSP, in my opinion. Yeah, no, I agree. We definitely deserved a third crack. I think, I got to tell you, I think nobody really gave Matt any hope in that fight,

and I think it's with them. It's all what they think they could sell. you know, so maybe they just thought it wasn't a mockable fight. I don't know, you'd have to ask somebody else, but, you know, we certainly would have loved the third match on that. So, yeah, I don't know. You'd have to really have somebody else on that. Are you hoping GSP doesn't come back so that you guys can be the last ones to ever beat him?

Definitely not. And I hope. I happen to like GSP. I hope he just is happy with whatever decision he makes. And, you know, he's a great guy. And, you know, I think he needed some time off. I think he did the right thing, and I'm not definitely not, I hope he does come back.

I think the fans love him. He's a big drawer. He's great for the sport, and definitely I would love to see the guy come back. Now, that doesn't mean anything to me. To a degree, though, do you understand where he's coming from? Do you understand what he's talking about when he talks about the pressure and whatnot, like that a guy, for us, it almost seems unfathomable that is someone, you know, at his age, pretty young, making the money that he's making.

could just leave all of that. But someone who's in the sport who's been around these types of fighters, do you understand where he's coming from? Yeah, I definitely understand where he's coming from. And I'll tell you what, I think, look, the worst thing you ever see in this sport is a guy that's sticking around too warm.

So to have the discipline, and I don't know if he's coming back or he's not coming back, but to have the discipline to walk away on top, I think, is huge. I mean, I think that's a huge thing. It looks like he wants to, you know, settle down a little bit and do some things.

and it does, you know, take away a lot of time from, you know, like what we would consider normal having a family and doing all those types of things. But I think, like, again, to me the worst thing is to watch a guy stick around one or two fights too long. That's hard to watch. But to watch a guy go out on top, I think, is huge. I think that's – I think he sets a great example on – for guys that are coming up is to not stick around too long and to just follow. follow your passion. I mean, I think he wants to do all the things, and I think that that's great.

There is life outside of M.A. You know what I mean? Get out of here. It's hard to believe. You know, my wife wouldn't agree with me, but there is life outside of M.A, and I think that's where it goes to prove. You know, after Chris knocked out Anderson,

it seemed like he was relieved that he was no longer champion, and at the time said he didn't want to rematch. And, you know, we've heard John Jones say he may want to walk away early. We've heard fighters say this often. Few of them actually go ahead and do it like GSP did. And I'm sure you're expecting Chris Wyman to be a champion for a long time. Does this ever come up with you guys about leaving at the top, not sticking around too long, things like that? No, that's never come up at this point now.

Too early in the game? Too early in the game. And we, you know, it comes up when we maybe spoke about GSP, but not in relation to him. know. How has life changed for you since that big knockout in July? Because I noticed recently that your gym name has changed. You're now Power MMA, right? Right. Getting a lot of buzz there. And, you know, Long Island MMA, forget about it. I mean, as they may say over there, that that whole Nassau County is on fire. Not even, you know, just your gym, but it just seems like anyone who comes out of Long Island right now is winning a UFC fight. But for you specifically,

how have things changed? Are more people signing up? up for the gym? Has this put your gym and yourself on the map on Long Island and as a result, more customers coming through and things like that? You know, listen, here is the deal. I mean, for me, you know, more visibility. You know, everybody's doing great, but we're going to really focus on the gym aspect after the fight. We made an agreement to do the gym, and we didn't really want to, you know, let any attention, you know, put too much attention towards a trick. Jim and let it take away from the training. So after this

fight, we'll focus in on that, and I'm sure it'll be great. There's a great buzz around here. We've got a great group of guys around here, and I think that'll come after, but, you know, for me, really things haven't changed. I mean, it's, you know, it's really the same. It's always nice having

an extra alcohol lot around and, you know, receiving the attention. But for the most part, no, definitely, I feel, you know, and I feel like things are relatively the same with just a little more attention. said. Power MMA, we know about them over in Arizona. So now you guys are affiliated with them? Is that the case?

I guess so, yeah. You guess so? You're not even sure? I mean, affiliated, you know, which way by name only, but I mean, listen, those guys, they, I mean, Chris's manager has a connection. He came up with the idea. We all thought it was a great idea. And those guys, Aaron Simpson's a great guy, Ryan Batesom's guys, are also, you know, the day we're all training together. I mean, we always have access to each other at this point, but, you know, I look at it.

I mean, yeah, I guess we, yeah, I guess an affiliation that way, sure. You know, speaking of training, Chris announced at the beginning of this training camp, that everything would be filmed available if you want to go online and buy. You can watch everything that he's doing. As his coach, how did you agree to this? Why would you let him do this? Well, first one, I don't think we do this. You have to ask him that.

Oh, it never actually happened? I don't think. I don't know. I think it was more on the conditioning. He definitely, there was definitely never a camera on me and him, and I never agreed to that, and I don't think I would have agreed to that. So I think that was on the conditioning end,

but I'm not on that. That's a question for him. Because I do remember him saying, I'm not a big fan of that, if that's what you're asking. Yeah, because I do remember him saying if Anderson wants to watch me and things like that. I mean, it was somewhat implied that this was the actual training

for the fight. That makes no sense, right? That would not be smart. That wouldn't be smart, no. It's good to see that you actually... I'm sorry, I don't have a better answer. No, well, that is the good answer, in my opinion, because I was shocked that he would do that

with so much riding on this fight. No, no, definitely not. No, I wouldn't. I think you know me well enough. I'm not that type of guy, and, you know, I don't even know. I think that came at a point when, you know, Chris was getting bombarded with different, you know, business ideas and stuff like that.

So what's that been like? How is he dealing with that? As someone on the outside, so close to him, but you're, you know, you're not him, but you can see everything that's going on. How is he dealing with all those people coming up, you know, coming out of the woodwork, the new ideas, the new business plans, all that stuff? How's he dealing with it? You know, again, we, I think, you know, was entertaining at the beginning, but the last, you know, eight weeks, we really just put the guy on a lot down. and don't talk about anything. Let's just focus it on the fight. You know, how huge this is for your career and your family and everything else. And that was it. So I think he found it maybe entertaining at the beginning of that there's him. But for the last two months, he's just been zero and they know what he has to do.

Was there a point where you thought, you know, Chris is getting involved in this stuff too much? It's getting to his head. Was there a point where you were worried about it and had to talk to him about it? No, no, he's pretty grounded. it, you know, but it was probably a thing about it. I'm going to say it was probably a point where I haven't mentioned it, but nothing more than a mere, you know, forget about that now, and that's what's what we have to do, but nothing, no great conversation or anything.

What was the small tipping point for you? I mean, it was, you know, a couple of months ago, was I think he, you know, it was more, I think he got to business with a, you know, with a buddy of mine. And I think we just came to agreement. Let's focus on all what we have to focus, and that will always be there afterwards and how important the fight is. But nothing more than that wasn't a big deal.

As far as the preparation for the fight, how does this one differ from the first one? You know, we kind of kept it similar. We brought in a boxer from upstate, who's really good, fast-pants southpour, you know, 185. I mean, we had it, I think, the sparring was a little better for this fight. You know, we kind of kept the same guys,

but they added some guys. What about Wonderboy? Because I thought that that was a very interesting addition to the camp. Is he back this time around? Yeah, he's here right now. He's been in the last week or two. And he helps, right?

Oh, he's awesome. He's always a big help. He's got to go. No, he's father's awesome. He's awesome. You know, they know how to work. His kicks are. You know, he's probably one of the best kickers I've ever seen,

very fast and like again great sparring part and a great guy uh big addition you know the first time it was a big fight the second time it's it's a much bigger fight ufc is expecting big numbers in las vegas things like that have you talked to him about fight week about how to deal with fight week and in in the media and things that has that ever come up uh not really i think you know he's been there before and you know we tried to uh just you know we can put in perspective of it's not do too much media, but I think he's probably turned down a bunch of things in the last couple of weeks. And, you know, he's ready to go tomorrow. So we're ready as of right now, I could tell you. I wish to fight was Saturday. So we got a little extra leeway,

and if he wants to do some interviews at this point, you know, no harm done. His weight is perfect. He's been an animal in the gym, his sparring is perfect. Everything is point on. We're looking for a great fight. What would you make of Anderson saying, oh, my foot, my stance was wrong? That's why I got knocked out. Did you hear him say that? No. Do you think that was it?

I didn't hear of say that. The stance was wrong. Do you think that... Maybe he'll correct it this time, and hopefully he'll do better in his head. You know, last time before the fight we had you on the show and you boldly predicted that Chris would knock him out. What are you thinking this time? Give it to us on the record. I think we're looking at a submission this time.

Let's be, let's diversify. But is that honestly what you think? I think there's a good chance, yeah. I think he's, he looks point-hung with everything. I think it's whatever he feels like though. I think he could take this fight anywhere he wants to. We know we're going to play to more strengths like we normally would, and I think we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Do you think Anderson is shot? Do you think he's done as a fighter? No, I don't think he's done as a fighter. You know what I mean? I mean, as far as getting in a dog fight, I mean, I don't know about that, you know what I mean? But as a fighter, I'm sure there's still 95% of the people he could, you know, beat up and torture. But I just think he's got the wrong guy in front of him. Do you expect him to try to mess with Chris again?

Do you think he'll do that, you know, essentially what he tried to do in the first fight? I think he'll probably start off a little differently, and then he'll revert back to what he'll always does. I think it's, you know, woven into the fabric of who innocent and silver is. That's what he does. I mean, just watch his fights. There's not one fight where he didn't, you know, mug the guy, you know, you know, try to goof around. And that's just two years, man. I think that that would be the hardest thing for him to change. You know, and he might try at the beginning, but, you know,

as time goes on, I think you'll see the, you know, the octagon doesn't lie, man. That's one thing. I think it parallels life. and it'll show you who you are. And I think that's who he is, and I think that's going to be hard for him to change. How many times have you watched the first fight? Oh, I've watched him a lot of times. You have to wonder a thousand or over a thousand.

Really? That many times. I watched it a bunch of times, yeah. And when you're... I just watched it. I just watched it with Chris again maybe five days ago. And what do you guys talk about when you watch it? Yeah, just all the things that maybe he did or he didn't do

and what we did and, you know, what we could do different. different, you know. Do you, at this point, let's say you're at the 1000 mark, do you notice new things? Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah, I could look at it, definitely. Wow, that is fascinating. I loved what you said in between rounds one and two.

Punch him in the freaking chest. Right. And people thought that was kind of you kidding, but you were actually, that was your actual advice. That wasn't you just saying, go out there and punch the guy and hope he falls down. You wanted him to punch him in the chest? I wanted to punch a hole and it's just a weird disgust.

The guy has great head movement. You know, he leans back, but the body doesn't move and it was more look. That was the in-between corner, in-between rounds it was part, you know, being emotional and trying to psych them up. And, you know, if I go back and look at my notes on the first fight, it's, you know, to grab them,

you know, to punch him, you know, right in the chest and we wanted to put a bullseye on his chest and that way we could find a head a little easier. So, yeah, I wasn't like it just came up at that point, that was what we had talked about with a little extra emotion, given the nature of the fight and the ambiance, and that's what just happened to come out. Would you say that you're the most entertaining cornerman in MMA? You know what?

That's not for me to say. I just, you know, me and Matt just do what we do. That's it. You know, if that's entertaining to some people, that's great. But I've been doing that for a long time. If the UFC put out a three-hour pay-per-view of a camera just on you and Matt cornering guys, I would pay $100 for that. I cannot get enough of listening to you guys, watching you guys.

It is so entertaining for me. I'm being honest. Now, will Matt Sarah be there? Because he wasn't there for the first. He will be there. He will be there. So who's getting to heave-ho? Is it the old man?

Mr. Wyden's getting to heave-ho? No, I think we made a decision because we really wanted Matt to be there and we didn't want to cause any trouble, but I think Danaher will step down for this one. Really? Didn't Danaher kind of say that he was like the head coach for the last one? No, no, I think I've always been the head coach. Okay. Yeah.

So Dan of her stepping down, does he know this or is he about to find out right now? No, no, you know, I was saying. But Chris's dad... And Matt was his instructive, so it's not like a... Sure. Like a big deal. And then, you know, and then Fannis, Matt was his instructor. And then he was Matt's instructor.

His time when I'll tell him would always go to him and get new insights. He's very insightful. He's great at what he does. But, I mean, Matt is the senior guy if you want to trace back to one each. And Mr. Wyman, will he be there as well? And Mr. Wyman will be there. That's the X factor right there, right? That is the X-F100%.

And I'm not just kidding. Like, what does he provide from your perspective? What does he provide for Chris? just being there? Well, I think, first of all, he's, I think he provides stability. And, you know, I think he really keeps Chris grounded. And, you know, the guy's very spiritual. And I think he's a great, you know, relaxation for Chris.

How do you feel about spending Christmas in Las Vegas? Well, I'm going to spend, I'm going to go out Christmas night. So I'm going to, I'm not going to have all spent Christmas with my family. and, you know, and Christmas Eve is always the bigger day out of the two days for me. So Christmas Eve, I'll be with my brother and his family and, you know, the rest of my family. And I make Christmas Day, we normally keep pretty quiet. And I'll fly out that night. Christmas night?

I think we might be on the same flight. You know, what flight? What airlines? Delta. How about you? Ah, jet blew. I look at that. That's awful.

Damn. You ruined me. Sorry, sorry. You got me excited. It kind of like, you know, it was like a tease. Two more things before I let you go. We talked about Matt at the top. Does this one feel the same as Montreal, UFC 83, the big rematch?

Does it feel different? Do the stakes feel different? How can you compare the two? Because, you know, on paper, one of the greatest of all time, one of the greatest of all time. It feels very similar. You know, it feels similar. I'll tell you what the difference was. I'm not saying this in any type of, you know,

a negative way, but, you know, that fight, Matt Ford was in April and December, he herniated two discs in his back. And he, you know, he was going for injections. And I've never ever seen that kid, never seen him not take a fight, you know, because of an injury, but he had to cancel that he used fight. And subsequently, he had to fight three or four months later, which anybody was on a back injury where you can't move from a month. I mean, I've never seen him incapacitated like that.

So we had to really alter the training for that fight. And he was so dead set on, I'm fighting this fight. He was going to fight CSP no matter what happened. If he had to have to have wheel him in there, you know what I mean? So we did alter the training camp around that. So I was so apprehensive because I knew what the fight meant to Matt, and I knew how injured he was. And I'm not saying he was injured going in there,

but we did have to be very careful with the training because he wasn't going to back out of that. So I kind of worked around that. So that's the biggest difference. His kid's healthy. He's ready to go. He probably had a better training camp and he did the first time. You know, he's in a different spot.

So for me, as a coach, walking in him more confident than I do with Matt because I think Matt, that injury kind of had us both on age. And like, again, that was back to go. It was a direct call. He goes, I'm fighting this fight, you know, no matter why. You know, so we worked around that back injury. and it was a brutal injury. Like, again, I've seen that, you know,

one of a life three weeks before the Delante fight, he tore his bicep off. His bicep rolled up into his shoulders as he's in the ring. He's telling me, I'm fighting. You're not taking him out of the fight. He fought that fight, you know, with no bicep, basically. So he fought, you know, taro with two torn meniscuses.

I mean, that kid didn't. He was, you know, he fought a bunch of fights injured, you know. So that was the one, I think he killed him. to pull out of that, you was fight with the back injury, but that was the severe injury, severe. And that's the difference to me in this fight. Weidman's healthy. He had a better training camp in the first camp.

You know, he's big, strong, hungry, aggressive, you know, normal Chris Weidman. And, you know, he's going to, he's, like, again, like he'll tell you, he's walking forward in this fight, and he's going to get what he wants. Final thing, and you just gave me goosebumps just talking about all of that. But final thing, if Chris Wyman wins on December 28th, Is Chris Wyman, the 2013 fighter of the year, and is Ray Longo, the 2013 coach of the year?

That would be nice, but he definitely deserves to be a fighter of the year. I mean, it'll be his 11th fighting the UFC. I think what he's accomplished is really phenomenal. And, you know, me, that would be ICA only take. That would be great. But he really deserves to be fighter for the year. And he will win on December 20 days. Cannot wait.

Thank you so much, Ray. Happy holidays. in the fight, we'll see you out there. I mean, it's just, what a perfect way to end the year. It's going to be fantastic. Thank you very much. It's going to be great, man. Look forward to seeing you out there. Thanks again, buddy. There he is. The one and only Ray Longo, joining us from Long Island.

The the Nassau County over there is producing some great fighters. None better right now than the UFC middleweight champion, Chris Wyman. Okay, let's move along. As I mentioned, some very big news on Friday. George St. Pierre announcing that he was vacating

the UFC welterweight title. He was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. We don't know when he'll return. Dana White says he is quite certain that he will be back at some point. George left the door open, but for now, on March 15th, there will be a UFC welterweight title fight without GSP. Robbie Lawler will face our next guest for the UFC 170-pound title. Of course, we're talking about Johnny Hendricks, and he joins us once again on the phone.

Johnny, how are you? Johnny, are you there? how you doing? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for joining us once again. What was your reaction? Before I get to your reaction, how did you find out that this was going down,

GSP leaving, giving up the belt, and that you'd be fighting March 15th in Dallas? Actually, Dan White, he called me, and sort of broke the news. You know, I was in Disney World. And, you know, like I told him, I said, hey, it doesn't matter to me. I didn't care about GSP, you know, plus I believe I beat him, and so does the world.

So, you know, I was just like, hey, I'm fighting for the belt. Thank you, Dana White for putting, you know, believing that I, you know, give me another shot at the belt. That's why I was very thankful for. And, you know, I told him, thank you so much for believing in me. and by the way side note right around the time that this happened a friend of mine was actually at disney world and saw you and took a picture with you i think when you were waiting for it's a small world or something so i do know in fact that you are at disney world how about that hey that is pretty crazy you know what that was so weird that that many people did recognize me

there and uh you know it was a fun trip i'm glad that i was able to meet some of the people there and uh you'll get to see some of the fans and they got to see me uh as who i'm I am. So internally, how did you react? I mean, you're there with your family. How did you react to this news? And on top of it all, it's special because you are fighting in Dallas, which is essentially, you know, your backyard. So what was your reaction? I'm super excited, you know. Who wouldn't be? Who wouldn't be excited? You know, you're sitting there and you're doing stuff and you find out that you're going to be doing a fight in Dallas, your own backyard. You're going to be

fighting a very tough opponent, Robbie Lawler. Who wouldn't be excited for that? You know, I know the fans, I've seen some posts that the fans are very excited for this fight. And, you know, to be honest, I am too. This is going to be a great fight. It's going to be a fight for the fans. And I can't wait.

Are you surprised they went with Lawler or not maybe Carlos Condit? I was a little bit. But you know what? Hey, like I say all the time, that's above my pay grade. I'm there to fight whoever they throw at me. Like I said, I'm just grateful that they gave me another shot for the belt.

You know, that was the biggest thing of all, is that, you know, I was just like, you know what? I won't let you down for the same time. That's pretty much what I told him. But you knew that whether or not he comes back, you were probably going to get another shot. It was just a matter of against two, right? I mean, there was no doubt in your mind that you would fight for the belt next, right?

Yeah, yeah, there wasn't. But, you know, here's the thing is that, you know, you never know, I know Dana White, and I know the fans, they play a big part in everything. And, you know, just because you're for certain for something doesn't mean that is guaranteed. Does that make sense? Absolutely. You know, I always would always like to be optimistic and think for the best of everything. and so I was planning on that I was going to be fighting another five-round fight. Back to GSP, are you surprised he left?

No. You know, he knew that he was going to have to fight me again, and that might not even be it. You know what I mean? He has done some great things in the sport. He's done what he wanted to do, and I don't blame him for living, but you know this whole time is that I wasn't fighting GIF. I was fighting the belt.

You know, I want that belt more than anything. Do you think if that first fight was more one side in his favor, that he would keep fighting, in other words, the fact that he had to fight you next was kind of the tipping point for him to leave? Do you believe that? You know, I don't know if he realized what he was saying after the press conference.

Does that make sense? Yeah. You know, I think he was still out of it. I think, you know, and that's the thing is that I didn't really hit him that great and realized that. You know, and, you know, now he can go out. He won the fight to the judges. The judges scored it that he won. Why not go out on top?

You know what I mean? And, hey, who's to say that one day I can't defend the belt and get him back out? You know what I mean? you just don't know what the future is going to hold is what I'm trying to say and my goal is to get that belt and hold on as long as I can one would think that would be a gigantic one of the biggest fights

returning GSP fighting against you do you want that like is that something that you feel would be huge for your career do you even care about that? No I don't care about that you know here's the thing is if I fight GSP again I fight him again

if I don't I don't you know my world doesn't revolve around him. It revolves around that belt, you know, and that's what I've been saying this whole time is if it worked out the way that it did, I'm not fighting

I'm not fighting GSP. I want what he carried around to all the press conferences. That's what I was fighting for, and that's still what I'm fighting for. It's amazing, because if I would read these quotes in a newspaper on a website, I would say, this guy is full of BS. How does he not

want, how does he not care about this? This is GSP, this is one of the greatest of all time. I believe you. I actually believe you because you have been consistent. You keep saying this over and over again. We keep asking you to see if you will change your answer, but you keep saying it. How is it possible that it has nothing to do with GSP for you? It's just about a belt. Isn't that a massive feather in your cap to beat that guy who is considered one of the top two greatest of all time? Well, Ariel, do you think I beat him? Yes, I do. I told that to you. Yeah, exactly. So why would it be a big feather in my hat just to prove it on a score card that I beat ESP, you know, that doesn't bother me.

You know what I mean? The thing that bothers me now that I'm 15 and 2, you know what I mean? Yeah. That's what bothers me more than anything, and that I don't get to walk around with the belt for the next three months, you know? Yeah. That's my thought process is that it's never about the individual. You know what I'm saying?

It's always been about what the individual has and everything else that goes with it. And that's been my thought process this whole time is that. that, you know, GSP, like I said, he's done amazing things. He was a great champion. And now, you know, now hopefully I can, in return, do the same. How many times have you watched the fight? You know what, Errol? I haven't even watched it yet.

What? Really? I haven't watched it. And the reason why is because, you know, I know that there's some things that I can improve on. what I'm trying to do right now is just sort of, you know, it still hurts, you know. It still hurts, you know, like I said, it's still hurts to wake up and not be able to hold that bell, you know. But that's sort of what I, you know, that's the way I've done all my fights is that I don't watch it until I start my training camp up, which, you know, this week I start my training camp back, which is great, get back in the gym. start doing some stuff is always fun for me. But, you know, so this afternoon I'll probably watch it and, you know, dissect it and

figure out what we can do better and, you know, what I did good, try to make it better and what I did wrong, try to improve on that, you know, and that's sort of the way that I go through everything. Because you are not fighting him next, is there a chance you won't even watch the fight again leading up to the Lawler fight? No, I will. I'll watch it. The reason why is because Robbie Lawler and him,

are definitely not the same fighters. Robbie Lawler, he's more sort of like me, you know, stand-up guy who wants to just knock your head off. And that sort of makes me excited. And instead, GSP is a guy who you've got to be very concerned with how you do your takedowns, how you do this, the positioning, how you do, you know what I mean? There's so many things that go into winning against GSP. But what that'll do in return is that I might do something,

in that fight that I did wrong that I might do against Robbie Lawler or Carlos Condor or whoever else I face in the future. So it's always important to go back and watch what you did, even if you win, so that way you can improve your skill. Do you think that there is a stain on GSP's, you know, record and career because he's leaving on this note controversial decision over you? You know, oh, man, that's a tough question. I don't know. I really don't care. You know what I mean?

It's the past. It is what it is. You know, he chose the lead. And, you know, like I said, he's been a great champion. He's done some great things for the sports. And, you know, now hopefully I can do what he's done. You know, and, you know, here's the thing, too, is that just because you say where you retire, I know me as a competitor You know, I still, even whenever I go in there And wrestle at Oklahoma State

I still want to win Does that make sense? I still want to compete I still want to do these things Once it's in your blood You can never get it out You know, my dad, he's 56 years old He's still compete

At what he can You know what I mean Everything turns into competition And that's the way that I was bred So I know me If I said I retired I would probably come back because of that reason right there is that I would want to come back

and I would want to compete after about a month. I get bored. How has the life changed for you? I mean, you said people were coming up to you. It's nice to hear from them, get that recognition. Do you notice that you are a lot more popular now since that fight? Yeah, you know, a lot more popular. And it's been great, you know.

I enjoy it. That's something that's been very fun for me. You know, I love being a people's person. I love talking to my fans. And what makes it great for me is that I get to meet them not in a fan-based environment. Does that make sense? Sure. You're in the real world.

You sit there and you're doing family stuff or this or that and you meet these guys and get to see them with their kids and you get the, you know, oh, man, you've got very pretty kids or, oh, that's cool, you're doing this and that. So that's what makes it fun for me, is that people are starting to recognize. me in that kind of environment. Do you think that'll ever get old? Because he talked about people coming up to him all the time and he just can't escape fighting.

Do you think you'll ever get bothered by that? Well, here's the thing is that somebody told me a long time ago. Tony Stewart, I went and did a NASCAR ride around with Tony Stewart. He told me, this is the easiest part of my job meeting fans. You know what I mean? I don't have to get punched in the face. I don't have to punch somebody in the face. I don't have to train for you guys to come talk to me.

You know what I mean? So that's the easiest part of my life is to sit here and go, hey, you want a picture with me? I haven't done anything in the last three months or three weeks or whatever, and you still want to come talk to me. That's easy to me. You know, like I said, I like to be an open book to the fans, and that's what I want to continue to be.

You know, don't get me wrong. There are times like you're cutting, feet and stuff like that. They get hard to do that. But you also got to take a step back and say, wait a minute, This is the life that I chose. This is the life that I want. Because I know if people are coming up to me and talking to me and doing these things, then I know I'm at a position where I can have a better future for my kids.

You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. That's my whole outlook. Just a couple more things. Robbie Luller, his resurgence has been absolutely phenomenal since returning to the UFC and dropping down to 170. Are you impressed with what he has done as of late? Hey, yeah.

You know, who wouldn't be? You know, he's thrown out some great wins. You know, he's a great fighter. He's in the locker room. You know, I talked to him a little bit before his fight, and, you know, before my fight, you know, he seems like to be a very nice guy. And I think it's going to be, you know, we're sort of the same style. You know, we both have power and we both like to use it.

Also, you're both left-handed, right? Yes. So how does that, do you like fighting against a fellow Southpaw? Actually, I do like fighting your fellow South Pauls. It makes it a little bit easier to do a couple of things. I'm not going to spread my secrets. But there's a couple of things that I like to do that makes life a little bit easier for me because I have a lot of boxers that like to switch from South Paul to right hand,

whenever I'm scoring them. So whenever they switch to South Paul, it actually makes it a little bit more, a little bit easier to land certain combinations and certain punches. and hopefully we can find those kind of gaps in Robbie Lawler. What do you think the lead-up and the build-up to this fight is going to be? In Dallas, all eyes will be on you. Do you think at some point it's going to be, like, are you kind of dreading it? I know you talked about the fans and liking that, but this is going to be the most amount.

I mean, it might be even bigger than 167 just because you're the hometown boy. No, that's why I told you from the very get-go. I want to target on my back. I want everybody to come after me. You know what I mean? That's been my goal since I started fighting, is that I want the goal, and I want everybody to sit there and say,

I want to beat that guy. You know what I mean? And that's been my whole thought process throughout this whole time, is I need that. For some reason, I enjoy that kind of pressure. The more pressure you can put on me and get me to where out of my comfort zone,

in a sense, the better I shine. And that's what I want to be. Final thing. You said that training camp is starting this week. So does that mean officially no more shaving for you? Yep. Officially no more shaving.

I actually shaved Friday before I got the news. And yeah, so no more shaving is going to go out. And hopefully it's a good enough beard for the fan. Yes, I cannot wait. And hey, yes. If you ask another, if you ask another beard question? Yes. Oh, doing good.

Wait, what's that? Say it again? I said, if you come out here and ask another beard. Yes? Beard question, I'm going to come out there and officially, I don't know what I'm going to do, but... Knock me out? You almost got me in a... You almost got me in a pickle. I was like going, hey, hey, hey, leave the beard alone.

Okay, okay, I'm sorry. You know, you know I love the beard. the t-shirt right here, go beard or go home. But you know, I got to ask, it's an interesting question. People talk about the beard a lot. I wasn't trying to screw you. I didn't, I know GSP's not that kind of guy, but I was just curious. The last thing, trust me, I would be more devastated than you if you had to shave that thing off. I really truly believe that. So, but I hear, I will make a deal with you. I will never ask one of your opponents about your beard right now, making that deal. Thank you. Thank you. Johnny, thank you so much for stopping by. Congratulations

on getting the big fight. Can I'll wait. UFC 171, March 15th. Tickets on sale in January. You versus Robbie Lawler. Again, congratulations and happy holidays to you and your family. Hey, thank you, man. You have a wonderful day. There he is. Big Rig himself. Johnny Hendrix, the number one contender in the UFC's welterweight division. He will be fighting for that vacant title. Vacant title. How about that? Crazy how this sport turns. Crazy. At least we got the news relatively quickly. The rumors can go away. Everything. GSP moves on with his life. The UFC moves on with their lives, and they book this fight between two of the best welter rates right now. Who would have thunk this time last year? This time last year, Robbie Lawler had yet to fight

in the UFC again. He had yet to make his return at 170 pounds at UFC 157 against Josh Kosteck. Who would have thought that in March of 2014, Robbie Lawler would be fighting for a UFC welterweight title. GSP or no GSP? Who would have thought? Because if GSP was still around, he'd still be one fight away. After beating Kostchek

and Rory McDonald and in between Bobby Volker, he'd still be one big fight away. So not too far off. Who would have thought? Unbelievable story. Looking forward to that fight. It's going to be a lot of fun. And of course, we'll talk about it a whole lot more

as we get to March 15th. Now, let us move along. Last week was a very big week as far as news is concerned and somewhat overshadowed UFC on Fox 9. On Wednesday, the UFC announced that all of a sudden they were taking 11 contracts from Invicta, the All-Women's MMA League, and bringing them over to the UFC.

Straw weights were coming over. They announced last month that they were working on introducing the 1-15-pound weight class. And all of a sudden, on Wednesday, Dana White announces to the media, they have taken 11 contracts, and they will bring them over to the UFC. They will make their debuts on the Ultimate Fighter season 20.

That will start filming in May. It will air on Fox Sports 1 here in the U.S. in September. And then in late 2014, the winner of that tournament, of that reality show will be crowned the first ever UFC strawweight champion. Now, as you may recall on this show, I've talked about the ultimate fighter needing a fresh coat of pain. This reminds me of the comeback season, of course, very different since these fighters have never fought in the UFC.

But the stakes are a lot higher. The winner is going to fight for the Belt and be crowned champion. The names who are going over to the UFC are Alex Chambers, Claudia Godella, Felice Herig, Beck Hyatt, Emily Kagan, Juliana Lima, Rose Namayunas, Tisha Torres, Paige Vancent, Joanne Calderwood, and our next guest at this time, joining us via the Skype Machine. She is the now former Invicta Straway champion. Carla Sparza, Carla, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good. Good to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us. So what was your reaction? Actually, again, before we get to the reaction, how did you find out that this was actually going down?

I mean, I kind of found out how everybody else did. I found out by Twitter. And I got a text, go check your Twitter. And I'm just, you know, it was blowing up. And, you know, I was pretty excited. That's how you found out. They didn't tell you beforehand? I got word that I was going to be going to the UFC, but I had no idea that the show was

going on. So, I mean, like, that was a big shock to me. And I was super surprised, you know, because they've never done a show like this before. When did you get word that you? you'd be going to the UFC? I like two days before, I think, or like the day, no, actually the day before. I was, Dana actually called me at the gym right after I finished training.

And I'm like, who is this? He's like, this is Dana White. And I'm like, what? Yeah. And he, you know, he told me about it and stuff. And, you know, it was great news. He said they were going to announce it on Thursday, but they ended up announcing on Wednesday. So I wasn't surprised, you know, that there was, you know, going to be.

changes made, but the tough season definitely was a shocker for me. Was that the first time you talked to Dana? Yeah, I believe so. Wow. That must in itself have been surreal, right? Yeah, it was pretty cool. My friends, my teammates around me were like, what's going on, you know? Like, because I was flipping. I was like jumping up and down. I was like, what? Like, I was, yeah, it was cool. So they announced that 11 contracts have been taken over and officially they'll be 16 fighters who will be on the show and then of course the winner will be crown champion.

Now, you were the Invicta 115 pound champion. And right now that is the top, as I said, women's MMA promotion. What did you think about having to go, you know, into the house and having to win the UFC belt? You know, when Rhonda came over, of course, Strikeforce was a part of Zufa, so she became champion right away. Were you happy about that or did you think that you should have been the champion right off the bat? You know, either is fine for me. I know Rhonda, I've heard her even say herself. Like, she didn't feel like she was really champion because she hadn't earned it yet, you know.

So, I mean, I'm totally happy to go in there and fight for the belt. You know, I just want to get fights in. And I still think I'm going to be champion. I mean, that's a goal. Yeah. And do you feel like right now, given the people who are being brought over, the 11 women, including yourself, that you are the frontrunner, that just, you know, as champion, I know you haven't fought all those women, but we should consider you the top contender, if you will? I believe so.

I believe so. Yeah, okay. Obviously, you know, it's going to be – they're all going to be tough fights, and I'm not underestimating anybody. You know, I'm not going to go in there cocky and think that, oh, I'm, you know, the number one pick in the house, because that's what Shana did last season, and it didn't work out too well for her. Dana told me that all the women except for you were going to get paid $32,000 before ever stepping foot in the house. You were getting 40 as champion. So you're getting paid twice, as if you were fighting twice, before ever stepping foot in the house.

Are you surprised that they're doing that? Yeah, of course. I was really surprised, but, you know, I'm obviously really happy about it. To me, you know, it just shows that they're taking care of us. You know, they're treating us well. And it's a great way to come into the UFC. You know, great. I feel like we're coming in with open arms,

and, you know, it feels good that they're taking care of us. Did you think this would happen this quickly? Did you think after them breaking the news last month that this would all happen so fast? Because honestly, I didn't think so. I think so. Neither did I. I mean, like, I'd heard rumors a while ago.

And then, you know, recently a few months ago, people were like, well, it's going to be pushed back again. It's going to be like another year. And I'm just kind of like, okay. You know, I was, I was totally happy with Invicta. They treated us great, you know, but, you know, I didn't know it was going to happen this fast. So when you were at that Invicta show last weekend, you had no idea this was going down? No.

Wow. Speaking of that show, you didn't fight because your opponent had to pull out the day of the fight, Godella. And interestingly enough, you entered into the ring after Ticiot Torres defeated Felice Herig. And you essentially called her out, which I noted was somewhat surprising because the champion doesn't usually call anyone out. Usually the challengers call out the champion. And I thought the promotion kind of told you to do it, but you on Twitter told me that I was incorrect. Why did you do that? You know, I was a little bit heated.

You know, I had all that energy that I, you know, had to, that I was going to use in the cage. And, you know, and she had just bought my best friend and beat her. And I was a little, I was a little bit emotional. You know, me and Felice are, you know, best friends. We're like sisters, so we get a little bit defensive for each other. And, you know, she obviously, it's not like I called out a chump. You know, she went in there and decisively beat one of the top five fighters in the world. So, you know, I wanted that fight.

But like I said, you know, it's not up to me. What did Shannon say to you? Because she never kind of confirmed this was happening. And obviously she knew what was about to go down with the UFC. So how did she calm you down without really telling you what was in the work? Um, wait, what do you mean? What do you mean? Because she had been working on this for some time. So she couldn't tell you that in two days or three days it would be announced that you're going over to the UFC. So when you said to her, I want this fight, what did she say to you? Um, actually, uh, she had told me when I got the news that I wasn't fighting. I mean, um, I went up to, to meet her and talk with her. And she knew I was upset. I, I've been working really hard for this camp. I've had some personal tragedy.

my teammate, my teammate, Shane Del Rosario, just passed away. My grandmother just passed away, and I, you know, been talking with her. She know I was going through a rough time, so she couldn't really give me details, but she said, I have a surprise for you. I'm going to, you know, I thought she was going to tell me earlier. She's like, I can't tell you what it is, but you're going to be really happy later. You're really soon, okay? And I was just like, uh, okay.

Well, and she ended up being right. And of course, you mentioned those tragedies we had Ian McCall at the top of the show, talking about chain. I know your team, Team Oiyama, is a very close team. Was it hard in the final days leading up to the fight to focus and be 100% prepared for the fight that actually never happened? But mentally, how were you dealing with it? I mean, it was hard. I mean, I was at the hospital every day, you know, surrounded my people, my teammates, you know, my friends that were all like really sad themselves. So it was just, you know, hard environment. It was hard to get training in because of the holidays.

holidays, you know, it was definitely a struggle, you know, but I'm a professional and I went in there. I kept training every single day and, you know, did my job. I just pushed all the drama to the back of my mind and, you know, I focused on what I had to do. What was your relationship like with Shane? I mean, Shane's been my teammate for seven years. I mean, what can you say? We're in the gym together every day training, you know, we're at barbecues together. We're at fights, you know, supporting each other through, you know, through wins and losses. I mean, you know, it's like family.

You know, we're all brothers. You know, it's like they're all my brothers. So, you know, it's really hard. And I'll ask you the same question I asked Ian. Had you ever complained to about any health issues like that? No. Actually, the night before it happened, we were wrestling that night in the same class. It was like six of us and we were all just wrestling.

And he seemed to be doing great. He was in good shape. You know, it was just joking around like normal. I'd never noticed anything. He'd never said anything previous to that. But I guess something like that does run in his family. But, you know, it definitely came as a shock. The day after Thanksgiving, you also tweeted out that your grandmother suddenly passed.

You were very close to her? I actually was the one taking care of her. Like, she didn't have anybody but me. So I would, you know, take her to every single appointment. You know, she was never taking care of herself. I set her up in a home. You know, I was visiting her all the time. Like, I was her person.

I was her only person, you know, and, you know, it was just really hard. Obviously, there was a lot going on in your life, but were you even more looking forward to actually fighting and letting it out and representing them and doing it for them? And did that make it harder that you couldn't fight? You know, obviously you'd be disappointed at any time a fight falls through just hours before. But in this case, was it even tougher? It was so tough. You know, I felt like I didn't get to see my grandmother as much that month because, you know, I was training really hard for this fight. And it felt like all that work, you know, I wanted to dedicate the fight.

I wanted to dedicate the win to my teammate Shane and my grandmother, you know, and I wanted to go out there and fight for them and make it worth it. You know, it was really hard. Like I felt like a little bit, like all that work and everything was just in vain. and, you know, it's unfortunate, but I'm still, like I said, I was dedicating the fight to Shane, and I have my wrestling singlet that I was going to wear in the fight, and I'm going to auction that off and donate everything to the foundation that Shane chooses or if they make one for him. That's great. Do you know where you will auction it? I'm just going to do it online. I haven't really put too much thought on it. I'm still waiting

on details from the family and everything. You know, right after that weekend, you, Felice and Claudia got involved in a bit of a Twitter battle, if you will. Are you looking forward, dreading, having to share a house with Claudia now? Oh, gosh. I mean, does anybody want to live in a house with somebody that they don't, you know, that they don't care too much for? I don't think so, you know, but it's probably going to be like us versus them, you know, whoever she's cool with. you know, I don't care for that girl at all. And she, you know, she flaked on me and fights twice.

So just that I didn't care for her. And then with all this crap talking, it's like, you know, Oh. Anyone else you're dreading living with? Not too much. I mean, obviously these are all potential opponents. So that's going to be rough. But there's nobody I really have anything against.

My theory is that for this season, there shouldn't be coaches. it should be kind of like the comeback season where people came in and helped you guys prepare but there shouldn't be teams I should say because you're all top contenders you're all fighting for the belt it just seems a little weird to have teams what do you think do you want the traditional tough season

or do you think this one should be different? I mean obviously things the format is a little bit different already so I wouldn't be opposed to things being switched up or the same you know I'm just up or whatever How are you going to feel about having the cameras and things like that all over the place in your life for six or so weeks? How are you going to deal with that? Are you worried about this at all?

It's definitely going to be interesting. I mean, obviously, I've never experienced anything like that before. And, you know, I'm sure I'll get used to it after a couple days, you know, but it's still going to be like, oh, brushing my teeth, you know. Yeah, it'll be fine, though. And this is interesting because never before, you know, on the comeback season, they had to win the finale and then get a shot at the title. You guys are getting a shot at the title if you make it to the finale. And it's interesting because fighters say it's a lot different when, you know,

your training in the house, so to speak, as opposed to when you get out of the house and you get to go back to your team and do your regular stuff. Are you concerned at all about having to fight so many times close together and without your team for what is such a big fight? Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, I'm not going to have my, teammates that always help me and my coach who's like you know who's always guiding me and everything so that's going to be hard but you know as far as the weight cut goes it's going to be great for people

like for people like me who you know don't cut too much weight um you know i diet down i only cut like five pounds or less so i mean i think that's actually going to be an advantage for me so i'm i think it's going to be fine this thing's going to be good there are five open slots left anyone in particular or two people, three people that you would like for them to bring into the show? I mean, that's kind of a hard question because, like, I want my friends to get on it, like, happy roadish. I was just talking to her. You know, I want people that I like, you know, to get this opportunity and, you know, to be in the house with me. But at the same time, it's like, I don't want to have to fight my friends either. So, you know, that's a tough one.

Who do you think we'll make it to the finals against you? I think there's a lot of tough women in the house. I wouldn't be surprised if I met Claudia in the finals or Joan Calderwood or even Tisha. And I'm not taking away from Felice being in the finals, but that's like the last fight that I want to be there. But it's interesting because you fought Felice back in 2011. You say that your sisters now.

Were you not friends back then? No, the first time that we ever laid eyes on each other was, you know, at the fight. And how'd you become such close friends? You know, I think going into that fight, you know, I mean, neither there was trapped. It was a tough time for me at her. And, you know, people would talk crap about her like, oh, your wrestling sucks. But, I mean, come on, you know, I have a pretty strong wrestling pedigree. So, you know, I would defend her.

And we kind of got to talking a little bit. We ended up training. And we just got along really good. She has a great heart. I mean, she's totally, like, fun. And, you know, it just, we got along really good. So it just kind of happened that way. I'm going to talk to the producers of the show.

I think it would be great TV if you and Claudia share a room. What do you think? Oh, God. Don't you dare. That would be something. That's reality TV right there. Oh, my gosh. I would not be able to sleep.

I'd be so irritated. Please, I hope that doesn't happen. Do you think, though, it's going to be tough to focus because you have all that pent-up aggression in you. Every day you're going to come home from training, and this person's going to be there who you despise. Like I said, you know, sometimes you just got to push stuff to the back of your head and deal with it.

You know, that's fighting. For various reasons, you haven't fought since January of last year, so by the time you actually end up fighting on the show, it's going to be over a year and a half. Does that bother you at all? Yeah, it does. You know, I mean, I'm a fighter. I want to fight, you know.

I, you know, obviously, I don't know. What can I say? I want to fight and I wanted to fight last week, you know, but, you know, it wasn't my choice. And, you know, I'm still, I've still been training this year. I've been improving as a fighter. So I think, you know, people are going to see a completely different fighter in me next time I fight. Do you think this is going to hurt Invicta?

that, you know, some of these women were Invicta's biggest names, biggest stars. Do you think this is going to, in a sense, are you, are you bittersweet when thinking about this because it's a huge opportunity for you, but this might hurt Invicta? I think Invicta will be okay. Shannon's super smart. You know, she is very tactful. I think she's going to continue being successful. And, you know, obviously, you know, it's not the best thing for Invicted to lose biters, but, you know, I think they're going to be okay. Why do they call you the cookie monster? Well, because I love cookies.

Oh, okay. I actually had cookies for breakfast today. Wow. My coach gave me that name. Like, I think I was grabbing, like, six cookies out of, you know, a basket we had at the gym. He's like, damn, you're always eating cookies, you know? And it's true. And, yeah, they just stuck.

What kind of cookies did you have this morning? Um, like these little wafer ones. I think, uh, I think they're from like Europe or something, you know, fancy cookies today. Wow. Look at you. They were like so good. And I'm actually bringing a box of cookies to, to my gym today for, uh, you know, just to have like for Christmas. But it's like a big box, but I didn't want to keep it because I knew I would like eat it all if I had it in my house. So you do you eat cookies every day? Um, yeah. Wow. You know, I actually got a cookie sponsor, a perfect fit cookies, so I can, like, eat them even when I'm in camp and not feel bad. Wow.

So these are healthy cookies. Yeah. What's the number one cookie? Like, if you had a dream cookie from a certain place, maybe it's one that you make, what kind of cookie and where is it from? Well, I am like a chocaholic, so, I mean, anything with chocolate is golden in my book. Okay, but from a certain place, is there one that we need to try that? that is your favorite? You know what's weird?

Yes. Carl Jr. has an awesome cookie. Really? Like awesome. Yeah, their chocolate chip cookie is like amazing. How often do you have that? When I'm treating myself, not in camp, you know, I'm probably going to go get one today.

Oh, wow. I kind of want one as well. They don't have Carl's Jr. Here in New York. So will it be tough in the house not to be able to eat cookies? Or maybe you can ask them to get you some cookies? Yeah. I'm an issue.

Okay, I'll talk to the producers about the cookies and the roommate thing, so it'll be kind of the best of both worlds. Cool. And I don't know, will they let you wear the singlet? And, you know, because they typically make you wear like the Ultimate Fighter stuff. Will that be a problem for you? Um, no. I mean, I want to wear my singlet, but I think, I don't think I'm going to be able to. But if they can make, like, a cool, like, ultimate fighter singlet for me, I wouldn't say no.

Oh, wow. That would be cool. Okay. What do you do between now and May? I'm actually going to take a little break right now. I had a really hard camp, and, you know, I'm just going to clear my mind and rest up, and then I'm going to get to work. You know, I know ahead of time who's going to be in the house for the most part,

so I'm just going to, you know, do my homework and get ready for everybody. All right. Well, best of luck for you. I know things are about to get very interesting for you in 2014. Looking forward, this is a great call. by the UFC, in my opinion. I think it's going to be great for them to crown a champion right off the bat.

Looking forward to seeing you and all those women in the house come next September. It feels like it's so long away. I don't know how we're going to be able to wait, but I'm sure it'll go by fast. Good luck and happy holidays. Thanks. Bye. There she is.

Carla Sparza, the now former Invicta Strawway champion. She will be one of the 16 women to fight on the 20th season of the ultimate fighter. And a lot of people asking me, oh, this is going to be great. BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar, they're going to coach these women, right? No, they're not going to coach them. That season is already in the can. That season is going to air in April on Fox Sports 1 here in the U.S. So this is the next season. They're a season ahead. You got BJ and Frankie coaching their season, and then they're going to fight in July. These women will do their thing around

May or so, and that will air in September, probably around end November, early December, will have the finale and then crown the first ever strawweight champion. A great division, a great addition to the UFC roster. Okay, let's move along. Let's welcome in our next guest, very, very, very interested in talking to this man. I want to hear what he has to say. He is the longtime coach of the now former UFC Walt away champion, the man who walked away from the sport, at least for now, Friday afternoon. He is, of course, Faraz Zahabee. Farah, how are you? Great. Ariel, how are you? Okay, I'm doing great. I have so many questions to ask you, so let's get right to it.

Did you know he was going to do this? On Friday, when he made that announcement, did you know already? Yeah, you know, he came back from vacation and, you know, he went to clear his mind to figure out what he wants to do. He was still kind of on the fence. You know, he's been talking about this on and off here and there, scattered. So, you know, he went on vacation to clear his mind and came back with the decision that I trusted, you know, because when you decided the heat of the moment, I don't think it sticks, you know. So I wanted to wait for him.

to come back from vacation. When he came back from vacation, we talked, and he told me that, you know, he's going to take a break. Did you know that he was going to do this? In a sense, were you surprised by this, or did you think after what he said at 167, your talks with him even before that,

that this was inevitable? I think before the Hendricks fight, he had mixed feelings. I think before the Condit fight, he had mixed feelings. He went back and forth. But the problem is I was always cutting him off. I would always tell him,

it's not time to talk about this during camp. You know, and he had three fights in 80s. months. There was not real time for us to get into a deep discussion on it. We just kind of always said, okay, after the next fight, after the next fight, it just happened three times in a row. But he was always on the fence about it and talked more and more about, you know, what's you're going to do

with the rest of his career, his life, his personal life, etc. And everything was always put on hold until the fights are over. So right after the fight, and I think he was already still on the fence, I don't think he was sure right after the fight. In a sense, doing those fights, back to back to back, the haunted fight, the Diaz fight,

and then the Hendricks fight. Was that his undoing? Did he come back too quickly and put too much on his plate? I don't know. You know, I think he wanted to make everybody happy. He wanted to make the fans happy. Maybe it wasn't a slow and steady pace.

You know, and I don't think it was a super fast pace, but it was fast. I can't say it was abusive or anything, but it was fast. You know, I think it was fast. I was looking back at an interview I did with him in July in New York when he was doing that World Tour press conference stuff, and he said he had some big plans for his career after this fight against Hendricks.

I thought he was talking about a super fight, but it's clear to me that he was talking about this. So when did you first realize that the Hendrix fight could very well be his last for a long time? Right after the fight, you know, right after the fight when he said it, I thought to myself, you know, he's probably going to be taking some time off. Personally, I think George is a very competitive guy. Unless he finds something else that he's super passionate of, he's going to come back to fighting, you know. but if he doesn't find anything that he's super passionate about, I think he's going to come back to fighting.

So who knows, you know, it's tough for grabs. Were you, you know, in hindsight, giving us hints all along, you and Christoph Medou, because you said, once you lose the passion, time to walk away, and this blew up into a big story, but then you kind of said, no, no, no, that's not what I meant. Christoph was saying that he should walk away. Were you giving us hints all this time?

No, no, I wasn't. Listen, me, I have asked the same question often, you know, and I got stable answers. My staple answer to whether my fighter should retire or not is whether he has the motivation to do another camp because I don't want to go through a camp with the guy's not motivated. That's the worst, you know?

Because you're watching the guy sink, and that's the worst. I don't like that. If George tells me I want to fight and I tell him, okay, you have the motivation to do the camp. And he tells me, no, I don't want to do the camp. I'm going to tell him, I don't want to do it. But if he tells me, yes, I'm hungry, let's do it. I'll come in and I'll train.

I'll do the work. Then I'm more than happy to do the camp, you know. So that's what it is. Because as a trainer, you know that motivation is the first step. If the guy doesn't have the motivation, it's the worst experience to go through. Obviously, he didn't start feeling these feelings out of nowhere. So did you notice that his motivation, his focus was lacking going into the Hendricks fight? No, you know, like I said, you know, when he would talk about retirement or possibilities,

I would always tell him after the fight, you know. For me, it's kind of crazy to talk about those kind of things because in the fight you might have ideas of playing golf and being on a beach somewhere. Forget that. You can't think about that. You can't think about it. The last day on earth is the day of the fight. That's the last day on earth. There's nothing happening after that. That's just a mindset. Most people might not understand, but I think it's something that a fighter should have when he's training. That's your D-Day.

People who go to war, they don't think of what they're going to do after the war. They think about what they're going to do during the war and it's life and death kind of thing, and you have to have an extreme mindset. I don't believe in thinking about what you're going to do after. This is a bit of a side note, but when you say this, I'm reminded right away of what Rory McDonald told us on this show like two weeks ago. He said that that was his problem. He was looking forward to what was happening after the fight. Does that come from you?

Is that something that you noticed out of Rory? Well, listen, I tell my guys all the time, don't look. It's like somebody walking on a tightrope. You tell him, don't look down, you know? Just put the next foot in front of the other and look forward. And the first thing the guy's going to do is look down. Why? Because he doesn't have the experience.

He hasn't learned his lesson. Sometimes guys have to learn their lesson by experience. I've done so many training camps, I forget how many. But I've told guys, you know, many times, don't lose sight of what you're going to, who you're fighting. That night, that's all you can focus on. George went through the same story. You know, he overlooked Sarah.

You know, he was really thinking about all the things he's going to do after, learn that lesson where he learned it. It's a natural process, you know. People learn. They fall and they learn. And then once they get burned, they don't get burned again, you know, and it's just part of the experience of being a fighter. So when he came back from his trip and,

officially told you that he was going to make this announcement. What exactly did he say to you? What was his reason for walking away now? Well, you know, I don't want to get into his personal life, you know. So there's that block that's the foundation of all this, I think, you know. But all I want to keep it in a way superficial, you know, the guy has been putting his life on hold. Why? What's deteriorating?

I don't want to say, but his social life is deteriorating. You know, his family life is deteriorating. Not physically, just in terms of him spending time with his love. loved ones. That's it, period. The guy lives a military life. He's a soldier every day after every fight. It's another preparation. The preparations are extreme. He brings in sparring

parties. He brings in coaches. He puts so much in. There is no time for enjoyment, personal time. There is none of that. And then you look back and you see what's happiness in life. Is it winning fight after fight or is there more to it? The answer to that is obviously there's more to it.

Because George will be the happiest guy in the world if winning fights will make people happy. There's more to life than that, and I think he knows it now, and he wants to just balance his life out. It's that simple. I really think it's that simple. He always talks,

especially lately, about being obsessed. Did you get the sense that this consumed him to the point where he wasn't enjoying this anymore? Well, you know what? That's what I told my guys, too. You have to be obsessed with winning. You have to be obsessed with preparation. If you're not, take a seat, you know,

because you're going to get hurt. This is not golf. It's not soccer. The guy out there is going to be. do your bodily harm. You better be ready on every single position, every single exchange, every single possibility. If not, take a seat because you're going to get hurt.

Let the next guy do it. Let the guy who wants it most do it. Because if you don't want it, you're going to get hurt. That's my opinion. You're going to be lazy. You're going to forget something. You're going to cut corners, and somebody's going to get you. Did you even try to convince him or when he told you you just said okay?

No, you know what? It's a personal thing. Me, if he tells me I want to fight, I'm going to back him up. If he tells me, I don't want to fight, I'm going to support him. He doesn't owe me anything. I don't believe he owns anybody anything. I think he's, you know, he did what he asked to do. He's made his mark, and it's up to him.

Does he have the motivation to fight? Right now, he doesn't. He has the motivation to take care of his personal issues. That, I think, is a smart thing because he's going to end up depressed. He's going to end up alone. He's going to end up, you know, without the needs that everybody has, you know, without satisfying the needs everybody has. The guy has to develop, he has to balance his life out.

His life is too extreme. You can't be a soldier forever. You can't. Knowing what you knew about him beforehand, if you would have come up to you and said, you know what, I want to keep fighting. Would you have told him to take a break?

No, I would have told him to listen. If that's what makes you happy, do it. You know, but the guy has been fighting for too long and missing too many birthdays, too many weddings. He's been missing too many, you know, life experiences.

And I think he wants to just balance his life out. His life is too extreme. You know, if you spend a day with George, you'll be exonerated. Like I spend, when I do a training camp with George, I'm burnt out because there's so much going on. It's just ridiculous. You know, there's, there's treatments, this training, that training, there's this partner, there's flying down here.

It's just, it's crazy. It's just really ridiculous. There's so much things, there's so many, it's so much work to orchestrate. And I can understand it after so many fights, the guys will burn down. Have you ever met a fighter like him who has to deal with this much and deals with everything like that? No, I've never seen a guy who I do so much. I've honestly.

You know what? That's one thing I always told George. I always told me you're overtraining. And he's like, oh, you're sure? I said, if you're not, if you're, if you're not over training, it doesn't exist. Because nobody's doing more than that. You know, it was amazing listening to him on Friday and then seeing him at this, this mall. He seemed like such a happy person, like the weight of the world.

Was that your impression when you spoke to him? He seemed so at peace and so happy with everything, not emotional at all. Oh, yeah. No, George is right now the happiest I've ever seen him. Wow. To be honest. honestly his mood is better he told me he's telling me he's sleeping better he's gained weight like he's got more big you know like muscular and i'm not fat or anything like he's you know i think i think

the stress was making him uh weaker i think the stress was making him miserable i think the stress was making him uh you know he was suffering all the time you know he was bringing him uh he didn't have he didn't have peace it's just too much stress in his life and now he's the happiest guy in the world right now you know he's been teaching class with me he's been helping me out we've been doing jiu-jitsu and wrestling for fun we haven't done training we haven't trained for fun in, I think a decade. Wow. They haven't trained for fun. So I think he's reconnecting with what makes

him happy, you know, what gives him enjoyment. Do you think if you would have lost a Hendricks, he would have come back? Yeah, I think he would have done another fight. Really? And do you feel... Go ahead. No, because you know what? The thing is, is that there's always another fight. You know, after he fought Condit, he couldn't duck Diaz.

Diaz called him out. Then he beat Diaz, you know, he wasn't sure if he wants to continue. Well, there's Hendricks. You can't duck Hendricks. Then maybe if he beats Hendricks, okay, the fight was close. You got to fight him again. And then you fight him again. Oh, there's Tyrone Woodley,

knocked the guy out the same night. So you got to, you know, you're always ducking or doing something wrong. You can never finish. There's always another guy, you know,

so now's the time I think, you know, I told him, if you don't have the motivation to another camp, don't do it, period. If you want to do another one, let's do it. He finished off on top.

I think he's happy. He needs a break and he's going to come back better and stronger one day. I hope, I hope, because he's a trainer's dream, you know? He's a promoter's dream.

I'm not going to push him. I'm not going to force him. I'm not going to let him be it. If he comes back by his own desire. Before we get to the comeback, did he mention at all this fight was so close? I don't want there to be any doubts. Did that come up at all, a conflict in his mind? Not really.

No, we went back. We watched the fight. We went over it, and I think he's satisfied. I think he's happy. I think he needs that break more than anything else. I couldn't imagine now, you know, now that he's so happy and so chipper that he would, I think he needs to, I think he needs to, get a little bit bored with life and look for an adventure.

There's been just too many adventures for him, you know. There's just been too much stress and too much action in his life. He has no peace in his life, you know. So he needs peace and balance himself out. He'll get hungry. He'll get hungry. He'll get motivated again. He'll get excited again about fighting and training.

So you really... I think it's too much. So you really believe this is not the end of his MMA career. He will be back. Well, you know, maybe it's just what I'm hoping. You know, it's a biased opinion. I'm hoping. I love George.

I love him to come back. like I said, he's a trainer's dream. But let's see, you know, let's see. If you find something else that he's really passionate about, because he's an obsessive guy, you know, his personality is very obsessive. If you find something else, I don't know what it is. I don't know if he plays another sport or not a combat sport, of course, but whatever. You know, you might get addicted to whatever.

I could see him going and jumping into another, you know, something. He needs something, George. You know, he's not going to be happy with just watching TV all day. He's getting to need some action at one point. But right now I know he's had so much action that he needs a lot of downtime. That was actually my next question. Is there a chance he goes into the Olympics? Do you see any of that coming?

He just does another sport? I don't think so. Not a combat sport. Not a combat sport. I don't think he would do that. He'll do basketball maybe. I don't think he's good enough. He's going to get his butt kick.

You know, George's not crazy. He's not going to go in another sport where he's going to be, you know, he has no chance. He knows, but he's going to do something for fun and maybe enjoy himself. I don't think he has to compete anymore in another sport to be a world champion. The only sport he'll want to be a world champion, I think, would be his MMA. You know, if he came back to do it for winning and being on top, it would be M.M.A, I think.

I have heard that after he saw what happened to Anderson, Anderson lose, and that fight was kind of gone, that that really kind of cemented in his mind that it was a good time to walk away. Did he say anything about Anderson to you? No, he didn't mention Anderson, to be honest. No, he didn't mention that to me. What about acting? Maybe that's the reason. Is he want to become an actor? I think he likes acting.

I think the movie is cool. He likes it. But I don't think he thinks himself as a super actor or anything. He does it for fun. It's exciting for him. You know, he gets to show's buddies that he's in the movie or whatnot. Will you take it up more seriously? I would love to see him do that.

I think that would be cool, but it remains to be seen. What does your gut say? If he does come back, will this be like two, three years or one year? What do you think? Honestly, I don't know. I have no idea. There's no way for me to gauge that. I'd just be guessing and starting up crazy ideas.

Honestly, the guy, I think once he gets bored, he's going to come back. Once he gets, you know, his stress levels down, he gets back to a normal routine. He'll come back. But if you find another passion for something else, and this is just my personal opinion. There's nothing he's told me. It doesn't mean my observation of him over the years. I think if he gets really obsessed with something else or really into something else, you know, maybe Olympic lifting or whatever, you know.

I'm just throwing it out there. He might never do any of that, you know. he might forget about, you know, competing anymore, you know, but I don't think so. I think eventually down the line he'll get hungry again, and that's just my opinion. Do you think we'll see him cornering guys with you more? Will he be more of a, yeah? Oh, yeah, yeah. George loves, you know what, when he got injured, I told him, he asked me, what do I do?

I said, keep your head in the game, you know, I talked about Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning hurt his neck. He started on the sidelines coaching his guys. He kept his head in the game. You know, he kept focus on how the game is played. And I told him do the same thing, and he did. He came and he cornered with me, and he, and he, he went. worked with the guys, and he's been coming into practice and teaching and helping the guys

out at TriStar. So I'm really happy with that. He loves martial arts, you know, but when you do martial arts for a fight, it's completely different than when you do martial arts to help somebody out or for fun, the whole different experience, you know, and now he's training for fun and to help guys out. So like today, he's going to be in the gym? No, not today. He's not in Canada right now.

Oh, okay. But when he comes back, he's going to continue his regular routine. You know, George can't stop training. I don't think so. I don't think he'll ever stop training. You know, Elio Gracie, he taught up private, they say, the week that he died, you know, and I'm not surprised. You know, the man who was in his 80s, and I'm not surprised. I don't think guys like that, they just let it go.

It's carved into their psyche. Martial arts is carved into their psyche. Every day they wake up and they see martial arts everywhere. I'll be surprised if George stopped doing martial arts. Let's end on this. You know, he said something very interesting at the end of the conference call where he said, I tried to get back to the sport, I tried to do something right. and he was referring to the VADA testing, and it didn't work out.

And I got the sense that that really bothered him. And going into the fight, he said that he was frustrated that the UFC didn't stand by him. Dana White kind of dismissed this when I brought it up. But what do you think? Was that kind of the final nail in the coffin firm as far as right now in his career?

I don't think it had any do with him retiring, but I do think he was a bit hurt from the criticism. You know, because you think about it, you know, he's a natural world champion. He really is 100% natural. I've never given him any type of substance whatsoever. He wanted to prove it to the world, and he wanted to show that the world you can do it naturally,

because it's health first. These kind of products, they will in the long term make you sick very likely. You know, you will get sick. You can die young. You have heart attacks. You can have cancer. You can have so many side effects. You know, us we don't touch that at all.

And here he is trying to prove to the world that he's clean and a world champion, try to set a good example. And a lot of people jump down his throat and criticize them and try to, you know, accuse him up trying to pull some kind of ploy. I think Hendricks and George both had goodwill. I think UFC both had goodwill. But it was like it was just two groups trying to agree on something. And these two groups would agree easily if they weren't facing each other for a title fight.

You know, everybody pulled out their conspiracy theories. You know what I mean? And the UFC trying to referee that is just impossible. So I understand the situation. Everybody thinks somebody else is up to something. When in the reality, I think personally, nobody was up to anything. It was just an honest. attempt to show the world that, hey, these guys are clean and it's doable this way.

Were you around when he was trying to get to the press conference? Because he has said that the UFC didn't want him to go to this press conference. UFC President Dana White said we didn't stop him from going to a press conference. Were you there? And what's your take on that situation? I was in the back, yeah. But actually, I was not coordinating with the UFC. I was trying to locate the UFC belt back in the room.

The UFC belt got misplaced. The UFC wanted the belt back. We're trying to find the belt for them. and it was misplaced. So I got a little worried. I worked with me and the coaches were looking for it. It turned not to be in George's bag, but George was getting stitched up,

so he didn't know. And when I finally retrieved it, we got it back to them. We headed back to the press conference. I don't know exactly what happened with that story. Rolf coordinated that, you know, whether we were going to the press conference

or to the hospital, so we'd have to ask him. But I know the doctor did say we should go to the hospital as a precaution, which we did, and there was nothing wrong with George at all. Did he tell you anything about his

relationship with Dana White? Were they on good terms? Yeah, you know what? Dana even called me last weekend. He was very positive. He was very supportive of George. You know, I think Dana White and Georgia respect each other a lot. I know George respected Dana White immensely, and Dana White's comments very heavily, you know. And I called George,

and I talked to him when I said, you know, Dana was very positive and supportive of you and I think he made him feel really good, you know, because after the press conference, the comments Dana made, they kind of heard George a bit. You know, kind of bothered him a bit. But after that, you know, I think they fixed things between them. And I think they're good, you know, their relationship is good. So those comments had nothing to do with this decision? No, he retired right after the fight, you know, before the comments were made.

You know, right there in the octagon, he was trying to tell people, you know, his way, he was trying to say, look, you know, I got to step away from this, you know. I'm not going on another roller coaster ride again. Well, for now, you know, at least. So I think it's just a matter of stress level in his life and needing to balance out of routine. Because right now the way he's living as a soldier every day, it's extreme. You know, he'd be back in training right now if he was retired.

He would be here right now instead of, you know, vacationing right now, or taking some time off. And he's 100% healthy. No health problems. A lot of talk about the blows that he's taken over the last few fights. You know what? Honestly, he didn't take any damage at all. It was all cosmetic. You know, when your face is scratched up, I always tell my fetters, when your face is

good because you didn't get hit on my chin, you know. I'd rather have a bruise on my cheek or a bruise on my forehead than a bruise on my chin. Because the chin doesn't bruise. The chin, your legs go. So everything was cosmetic. We had him scan just as a precaution. There was nothing wrong with him. He's perfectly healthy.

You know, he's happy he can be no injuries. He trained right away after the following week. We're rolling, training, moving around, having fun. And he's back to a more stable routine, regular routine. All right. Well, we appreciate it for us. I know it's been a very hectic time for you. A lot of people asking for your opinion on things, but always a pleasure.

And by the way, congratulations. It seems like you have another star coming out of that gym in the UFC. Alex Garcia looking very good in his UFC debut. So congratulations on that. And happy holidays to your family. Thank you. And you too, my friend. All right, there he is.

Farazahabi, the head coach over at the TriStar Gym in my hometown of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. And I will actually be there in a couple days. George, if you're listening, if you want to meet up for a cup of coffee, a Poutin, now that you're a little bigger, if you want to meet up for an empty chocolate show, something like that, I'd be happy to sit with you and talk things out. You let me know, I'll be there for a few days,

driving over to Montreal later on this week. So let me know, George, but for now, George St. Pierre, no longer the UFC Welterweight champion, no longer a member, an active member of the UFC, but everyone around him seems to think that he will come back at some point. We'll see. We'll see.

I'm not convinced. At least right now, I'm not convinced. Let us move along. Last week on the show, we had another top welterweight, not a member of the UFC as well. Ben Ascran, he joined us. He is now the new member of the one FC team. And in the midst of that discussion, the New York badass's name came up. Phil Barone, who's been on this show several times in the past, but not in the recent future. Actually, one time back in our old AOL days, he was actually a couple of co-host of mine. And that was a lot of fun. And I thought it was about time we had Phil Barone back back on the show, very excited to welcome him back on to the MMA hour. Phil, how are you? I'm great, man. Great to be back. So, so much to talk to you about. Before we get to Ben,

let's talk about your health, because the last time we saw you in action in one FC, a gruesome ankle injury you suffered. How are you feeling right now? How close to 100% are you? I'm good, man. I'm ready to train. You know, my flip was fell off. Got her sold back gone and I'm ready to go. That's it? Yep, that's it, man. I mean, both of my ask, I'm, you know, get in the back, dude.

I mean, everybody wrote me off, you know, everybody, you know, even the therapist and the surgeon, you know, told me, you know, son, you know, at your age, I mean, there's no coming back from this, but, you know, yes, I'm what kind of man I am, and I'm back, dude, I'm back.

So, I mean, now, what was the exact injury that you suffered there? Because literally, your your ankle was facing the opposite direction? I dislocated it, and then when I fell, I broke my, I broke my leg, because I just located it standing, so when I stepped, I fell in that caused me to break my leg. Was that the most amount of pain you've ever suffered in your career? Pretty bad, yeah. I have to say yes.

What was that flight home like? Pretty terrible, man, pretty terrible. Thank God they, I made the first class and I got to lay down, but it was pretty bad, man. I was in pretty excruciating pain. As soon as I got out of hospital and I was off the good drugs, I was hurt. And you said recently that one FC has taken care of you. They paid for everything? Yeah, they flew me home first class, you know, so I got to lay down because, I mean, there was no way I could sit.

I could sit up with my leg like that, especially when I first happened. You know, if it was still dislocated. They flew me home, so they were going to have the surgery in Las Vegas. But didn't you have some, like, didn't you go with some? kind of unconventional surgery where someone, a football player or something told you, I read about this, told you that you should go this route as opposed to the more conventional route.

Did that actually happen? Right, right. There's a guy McBean. He won the Super Bowl last year and he had the same injury as me. And then Los Vegas and the searcher out here was able to, you know, put you back together correctly. And, you know, five months, man.

Five months. I mean, guys will come from. back from my ACL in five months. It's crazy. So what's different about the surgery you had than, you know, the typical surgery that one would have for this? Well, I'm not so much a doctor, so I'm not sure. I'm not too sure, but I'm walking around, man. I can't run. I'm good to go. I can't tell you the terms of what exactly was done differently, but, you know, I'm good to go, man.

So you're good to go, like, around March or April or so, you'd be ready to fight? I think so. I mean, I'm a Campbell away from being a fight shape. I mean, I'm a Campbell way. Well, it's interesting that you say that because we had Ben Asgren, as I mentioned, the newest member of One FC on the show last week, and he told us that he is going to make his debut around March or April. And, of course, fans of MMA would know that you guys have been going back and forth on Twitter

for the last couple of weeks, and I asked him about you. I want to play for you. he said about you and then get your response, okay? Okay, yeah. Here's Ben Ascran talking about Phil Barone on last week's M.A. Are you going to fight Phil Barone in your debut? Oh, man. You know, he's so bad at M.A.

I mean, I know none of those guys that 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 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 I couldn't imagine being the guy that was actually in the bathroom crying to his girlfriend on TV after losing 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 in one-fc. So I'm pretty sure they have some better competition than him. So, Phil, a lot of shots there.

What's your response? He's a pretty good talk. He's a pretty good talk about. But, you know, those are fighting words. Why come from those are fighting words? I mean, if you want to fight, let's fight. I'm ready to fight. I guess, like I could be ready, eight, ten weeks, and we could do it.

So what's the story he's talking about you crying to your girlfriend? I have no idea, dude. My wife was on a stupid reality show. We used to have the same management, so I was a show to the show them. And, you know, my wife was obsessed. She made me not to take the fight because, you know, I came back from shoulder and I took the fight and listened to she was upset. I wasn't crying.

But, you know. Does it bother you that he's bringing your wife into it? Yeah. Yeah, you don't go with that. You know, there's unwritten rule. You know, you don't talk. I definitely want to be at an after-party with this guy there. You don't talk about what goes on, you know, behind the scenes.

You don't talk about people's family. You don't talk about, you know, he's broken unwritten rule. You don't bring that stuff, you know, you don't bring that stuff into the media. You don't talk that kind of trash. He says you're so bad at MMA. You're not even in the top 50. Does that bother you? Top 200.

He said top 200. He's so bad at the MMA. He's a good wrestling. He was actually a good job wrestling guy. He has been a good job wrestling guy. I mean, he's the only guy that ever released as a champion. I've never even heard of that. He's released with a champion.

And you see, you know, they're one of them to do with him. I mean, he's not, he's not a fighter. You know, he's definitely a good athlete. He's accomplished some really, you know, really high-level things in a sport of wrestling. and he's, you know, wrestling in the fight. He's not a fighter. He's not out there fighting.

If he got in a fight with me, he would definitely be in a fight. He'd find out what the MMA fighting is all about. I'm a fighter. Some have criticized him, some have called him boring. Do you agree with them? I mean,

I only seen a fight one time, and I thought he lost to my buddy Jay-Hon. You know, I only watched one of this fight. I think it was on MTV 2 or something, some, you know, I'm not sure where I saw, but he fought Jay-H-Lon, I thought he lost.

And I've only time I've ever watched those. I was watching my friend, Jay. But if you did fight him, I mean, would you be at all concerned that this guy who's an Olympic wrestler would take you down, smother you, and the result would be very similar to all his other wins? I mean, not really because, you know, I fought Olympic Hill in the Middle East before, and, you know, more than hell my own against him. And I think Matt Lundon is twice to fight a, this kid is, you know, twice to fight this kid is, when Matt Lund was his prime, when I fought him.

I think I can beat him, dude. I think he's really slow. I think he's stepping fetch and made the order for me. I think I'd blow up my hands go and knock him out. He's not like a fast double leg. He's not going to blow it through me with a double leg or something. You know, he has to clinch up. He's not explosive.

It'll be a very great, you know. He's got to be an athlete. He's completed a high level, but I think he's made the order for me. I think he has to put his hands on me. I think he has to put his hands on me up. I'll touch him up. you know, I would touch him up. I think it's a good fight for me. I really do.

Listen, dude, the silly one about me on my record or anything else, I've never in my career ever taken a fight I didn't think I would win. I've never fought somebody around there, you know, for a day to lose, ever in my life. I've never, and I wouldn't take this fight of anything that I beat this guy. You mentioned the Lundland fight, you know, with all due respect, that was almost 11 years ago. Do you think you can hang?

The Lillin was in his crime like that. Sure. Lillin was like this guy. This guy is right now. You know, just, just that. of the world came. He can pursue that. Just off the Olympic team. And, you know, I had foot him back then. Yeah, it was 10 years ago, but

I didn't even have a fight 10 years ago. You know, I was just a tough kid from New York that can throw, you know, punch a little bit and a little bit of wrestler. No, I'm twice the fighter I was. I'm 10 times the fight I was back then. I was just a tough kid back then. I had a fight now. It reminds me, you know, it reminds him when I fought Shamlock.

He took, you know, I was coming out of pride. You know, I thought I was the man. I thought I could be in anybody. And Shamlock, you know, was an older guy who and it looked so great in his previous fights. And, you know, I got woken up, you know. I got, you know, I wanted to fight too cocky. And I wasn't prepared the way he should have been. It reminds me, you know, reminds me of a replay.

This time I can be the guy to, you know, beat up the young kid. You mentioned cocky. I mean, a lot of people, including myself, I think that Ben Ascran is cocky. Do you think that he has earned the right to be cocky? Has he done enough in his career in MMA to be cocky? He's a great wrestler. I mean, he's a great wrestler.

I'm not sure what the Belator what the way he's championship means. I mean, I'm not sure. I don't think he has the right to, you know, disrespect me the way he did. You know, and regardless, you say, soccer fighting, and he's your word better than it. But you just don't bring up people's family.

You don't bring up, you know, somebody's wife and call him their girlfriend, and you just, you just, you just punky guys. You know, I'm appreciative of one of the UFC, you know, the money to get me back on my feet. I know they thought I was done. Everybody wrote me off, but they gave me the opportunity to...

I mean, they paid for surgery. You know, they paid for surgery. They flew me back. It was above the policy. You know, it was over and above... You know, it was over... It was over what they were covering, and they paid for everything. And, you know, I would like to, you know, return to favor and give them a big fight. I don't

think there would be a bigger fight in one of the studio first to ask, at least in America. I mean, I'm not sure who we could fight next. I mean, no disrespect. Who's going to fight? Mr. Fuji, the great Muda, Taga Chirgoli. You know what I'm saying? I mean, Tuggett Chungley, I mean, who's he going to fight? I'm the biggest thing over there, and I just think that, you know, he's a good talker.

I think we'll promote the fight, and I think I'll beat him. I wouldn't take the fight if I really didn't think I'll win. You know, honest to God, I think I'll win the fight. So what are the chances this fight actually happens? Have you talked to one-fc about it? My manager, you know, Bonnie Cox, are really good friends with, you know, And he talks a lot with Matt Yume. So, you know, I told him I want to fight, please get the fight.

Express interest in the fight. And he said he's going to do his best. So you think it will happen? I mean, if they want to promote a big fight, why wouldn't happen? Isn't it the name of the game promotion? A lot, you know, and what fight will be better promoted? I mean, I guess not over there. But in the Philippines, everyone speaks English.

And I think we can promote the fight pretty good. Right. And I think it will be, I think it will be an interesting fight. I mean I think I could beat the guy dude I wouldn't be on the show right now telling you I want to fight

if I didn't think they could beat him I'm not cool in here to get my ass you know kicked I don't want to get beat up anymore in public you know it's not fun I wouldn't train

and come back from his injury and bust my ass and make all the sacrifices I have to make to go out and get beat by that asser do you think deep down he wants to fight

you know he's kind of playing like he doesn't want it but he is responding to you he is engaging in all this do you think deep down he wants to fight you. He started the whole thing. He wasn't even signed with one of C.

I said, I'm the best football player at one of C. You know, I'm just making a statement that, you know, I'm coming back. And, you know, he jumped right in.

He jumped right in. He jumped right in. Like, what did he follow me on Twitter? How would he? I think he wants to fight. I think he wants to fight. I mean,

how would he, why would he respond? And how would he, I made one tweet, made one tweet, and didn't mention his name. And he jumped right in. So it doesn't make sense.

to me. I mean, obviously, he follows me. He's a fan. You know, which probably is. He's a fan. You know, Phil, you're 37 years old. You've been through a lot. How many more years you want to do this for? Man, who knows, man? Who knows? I always said I'm going to do the shit so the wheel falls off. The wheels fell off, and I fuck put the thing back on.

I'm back rolling. You know what I mean? I'm back rolling, dude. I don't know. I don't know. You know, I love doing it. You know, I listen to the interview just had, which is about GSP. I mean, you know, he's a compass. what it means a lot, you know,

I feel an underachieve, I didn't accomplish, you know, any of my goals, and I've been a big underachiever, and then you see guys like Monter Achieve that was supposed to be released and have big rebounds and win a big fight. You know, I want to be one of those guys. I'm not done yet.

I still want to fight, I still want to compete. I want to have resurgence, you know? I would like to have resurgence. I would like to have a couple of big wins before I hang it up. I would want to go out like this. I want to go out, try it on a stretch of man, I was injured.

You know, and I begged, and you can ask anyone, I was, I was on the ground for a while, begging him like, man, just pick me up, let me hop my ass out of the ring. I thought I was done, dude. My leg was phased me other way. I was begging the other way. Please just put me up, let me hop out of the ring, and then, you know, put him under stretch and carry me out. They wouldn't do it.

I don't want my last fight to be carried out of the ring on a stretcher. I mean, I really don't. It would be no better than make my comeback, and my, who knows when I was made a last flight, knock out, Ben Asker. That would be a great way to go. out, and not on a stretcher. But, you know, more often than not in our sport, like, GSP is a rare case. He walks away, at least for now, on top. In combat sports, guys seem to stick around a little too long. Are you worried about that for health reasons that you're sticking around too

long? Then, you know, getting the head's bad for you, without doubt, you know, but so it's skydiving and other shit if the parachute is going to open. You know, there's a lot of things are bad. You know, crossing the street can be bad. So, you know, I've already, as far as my health the damage is done I think most of the damage is done and to be honest you know

then asking me ain't no of the man off you know I'm not I doubt I don't believe that fight with partition you know

you know I might be like wrestling my dog my leg or something like that as about it I might be a little upset but I'm going to be dizzy

but you say it's a safe fight right I'm not scared that fight at all but you say the damage is done I mean

what kind of damage has been done Oh, who knows, man? I'm just saying over 15 years I've ever fighting a long time I was fighting a tough man when I was a kid

now before the UFC I mean I've been fighting for a long time and played football a wrestle and I have you know a couple more fights

and you can and get to you know sing the ship you know so it's all damage it's done

man no real damage but you know I'm just saying I just don't think a couple more fights is it to make a break that's what I'm saying

You're now in Las Vegas, so you're no longer with A.K., who are you training with? Well, I'm just, you know, I moved out here. It's about half the price. My wife is in a nurse who's a lot of here in Vegas, so that's why I'm here. Well, where are they going to go to train camp? I mean, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. You know, I'm on a drop-by-cator's gym now and start getting in shape and just get a feel.

See what, see what's going on here. There's a couple of gyms out here. You know, dry stuff I was a gym at a train there before. There's a couple of gyms out here. I'm not sure. Some of the ones I like to get away, you know. I like to get away from my camps. I was thinking, you know, go back to A.K.A., who knows?

Maybe E.T. try something new. Switch it up. I have no idea. But I just got to, you know, get six weeks in and then figure it out. But I like to go away for camp. That's why I go to A.K. I like to be away from home and just focus on my fight. So between now and whenever the decision is made,

are you going to harass Matt Hume and try to get this fight? And that's what I have a manager for So I'm pretty much done Talking about it I'm an harassment manager And trying to have You know And book the fight

I don't have Matt Nume's number I don't think you I don't think you're tag Kind of guy You want to call too much And but bother Yeah that is probably true Yeah I mean is a pretty tough guy

Well Good luck getting it I think you've done a good job In generating some What do you think though What do you think though What's if I would interest you more one-fc.

Well, honestly. Who would you want to see that answer to fight? Honestly. In one-fc? Yeah. Well, I asked him the question last week, who are you going to fight in one-fc? And he said,

I don't know. I have no idea. Kind of implying that there was no one that interested him. And I can't tell you, you know, looking, you know, even off top of my head, I can't really name any top,

you know, welterweight right now that, you mentioned Mannhuff, maybe, but there's no one that is really an obvious choice. unless he fights, you know, one of the local guys over there. So the, you know, and I hope you take this the right way. The pro wrestling fan in me, the guy who gets, you know, you know, suckered into this kind of talk would obviously like to see you fight him. I'm just worried, as I mentioned to you,

you know, you've been through a lot, 37. And I agree he's not the biggest puncher. But, you know, in this game, and you hear so much about concussions and whatnot, want you to be healthy. Don't want you to stick around too long and take unnecessary damage. So that's all. I respect that, but, you know, a couple of fights that said we got like him, I don't think it's too dangerous. I'm not too scared. I'm not too dangerous. And I really believe that when the fights over, he'll be more to concussion. Wow. I'm pretty sure he'll go home with a concussion. I can identify it. I wouldn't take the fight if I think he could beat him. You know, I watch, you know, after we talk about a little animosity or whatever, I watch completely. I watch completely.

was fights night and I wasn't impressed. He's slow. You know, and he's not a big blast through double-ed guy. You know, he's more of a, you know, he's a plodder,

and he's going to walk into shit and I'm going to light him up and knock his ass out. I mean, I really believe that. So I didn't think so, I would have ignored it. You know,

I would have ignored it. I don't call out guys that, you know, I don't call out guys that I don't think I can beat. I know I can beat this kid. I'll posit if I can beat him. I just think he's made the order.

See, step and fetch. I think I would knock him out. Fair enough. Good luck to you, Phil. Keep us posted on how things go, and happy to hear that you're feeling healthy again and getting ready to return. Good luck getting the fight. And if you do get the fight, good luck fighting him. That'll be interesting to watch. Thank you.

Thanks for bringing to my life. There he is. The one and only. New York badass himself, Phil Barone, stopping by. Good to hear from him again. Good luck getting that fight against Ben Asper. So Phil was talking about Matt Hume, who is the matchmaker over at 1FC. He also just so happens to be the coach.

for the UFC Flyway Champion, the man who knocked out Joseph Benevides on Saturday night, live on Fox, the sleep train arena. As I've said to him, I am in awe of this man. I am literally in awe of this man. You know, he is called Mighty Mouse, and I thought, as we serenade him here on this show, he took a few minutes out of his day in his victory tour. We thought we'd play the Mighty Mouse theme music for him. He is, of course, Demetrius Johnson. Demetrius, how are you? I'm good, man. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate the music. It's awesome. That's good music right there, right? Yeah, that's fantastic music. I feel like going in, like, you know, telephone boots and strapping on my red end of words and going on in a red cage and picking off. You know, when I was a kid, this was my favorite cartoon. Maybe that's why I have this affinity for you.

There's a clip that my mother has of me singing this song as like a six or seven-year-old. I tried to get it for the show, but I failed. But it's just great. The nickname is great, and I thought the music would really cheer you up. Thanks man My name's already I've already I'm talking to you and heard the music Have you ever seen the The Andy Kaufman bit with this song?

I have not Are you kidding me? Dimitris I do not as I haven't You got to When we're done You gotta go on YouTube And Google Andy Kaufman Mighty Mouse

He did this bit on Saturday Night Live Where he just sang the The chorus of the song And it was just It was not that brilliant and it was not that funny, I guess, on paper, but he performed it wonderfully. I think you would like it very much.

So when we're done, your homework is to look up that clip, all right? We'll do. All right. Let's talk about the fight. As we finish the music right there, a job very well done, did you, honestly now, now that it's done, did you really think you would knock them out like that? Honestly, no.

I plan on going there, and I thought I always put myself in there. might say that it's going to be a war, and it's probably going to go five rounds or it can in, you know, in the first round. So for me, I just go in there and see what he's trying to do and what he's trying to execute an octagon, and I try to capitalize on him. At what point did you see the opening for that? Because I spoke to your coaches right after the fight, and they said that they almost, you're such a good student, you're such a good person to work with, that they almost kind of triggered something. Something they said to you, I think it was settle in that told you that this was open. that the knockout was there.

At what point did you realize that? One of the things that we work very well at A&C and what my coaches is at trying to adjust on the fly and seeing what the person is trying to do because when I train my coaches, they always say this is a game. Like, you got to figure out what type of game this person is playing. And they always say you can't have your cake and eat at the same time.

So if one person is not reacting very well or not trying to bite on my face, then something's going to be open. Whereas, you know, once I started, I heard Matt Hume saying, okay, settle your feet, you know, settle in, settle in. That was telling me, you know, okay, keep your feet grounded, work your way across the distance, and try to see what's going to be open. And as I was starting to cross that distance, I saw how Joseph was blocking,

and I noticed he would drop his hand when I would start fainting. So that's when I just let the right hook go. And Matt Hume in the locker room, he says, remember, you're fast when he is, you're going to get to the punch before he is. So just trust yourself and, you know, you're going to shock the world tonight. Just go out there and fight. When you were watching the first fight, did you see that this was open as well? We saw that a lot of things were open that we could capitalize on,

and that was one of the things that we were just trying to do that. You know, Matt saw that, you know, I was a lot faster than Joseph, and I can get to the punch faster than him. But in the previous fight, you know, I would beat him to the punch, and then I'll jump way out of range to at this time. I was like, you got to settle your feet and then let your hands go and don't jump way out of range. Be right there so once he misses,

you can be there to counter and your feet are sad. Do you remember what you were thinking when he fell to the ground and those punches that you landed? I mean, it looks like there was a thousand that you threw. You're so quick. But do you remember what you were thinking because no one was expecting that? No.

I just noticed that, you know, when I hit him, it felt clean, you know, everybody says, you know, when you knock people out or you land the clean punches, it doesn't, you don't even feel it. And I felt him fall, then I looked down, and then I just jumped on him, and I kept on going, you know, just because, you know, in this sport, you know, I could have hit him, and he could have got back up, and he could have kept on fighting. So I wanted to make sure, you know, it was done and waited to the rest to pull me off. Why was this the first time that you knocked someone out since February of 2010?

And I believe that was via a kick. I believe the last time you knocked someone out with your hands was around 2007 or so, right? Yes. Why the first time since then? You know, for me, it's just a combination of me getting more comfortable from the octagon, developing as a martial artist, and, you know, I'm fighting the best guys in the world, so, you know, going out there and be able to execute that on Saturday night.

You know, I've been training for like 15 weeks for this fight since September. You know, when Bibiano came in town, I helped me get a first bite. So for me, you know, I think it's just me getting comfortable and getting, understanding how to fight well and using my skill set. So like I said, it happened last night. You know, Joseph just made the wrong mistake and I was able to capitalize on it. So I'm glad that I was doing with that good knockout.

You know, when I was talking to you on Wednesday in Sacramento before the fight, you were saying, well, we were talking about people talking about, you know, or you saying that you could just go out there and throw bombs like him and all that stuff. You're like, you know, I could do the same, but I'd be leaving myself open because I'd be, you know, throwing for my hips, et cetera, et cetera.

Were you just kind of playing possum? Were you tricking us in your mind? You were going for the knockout, but you were trying to let us know that you weren't really looking for that? No, no, not at all. You know, I could, like I said, I could throw bombs like that, you know, from my hip. And I think that that shot came from a little bit, you know, right field. But it was, I was able to throw the shot, and you notice I wasn't off balance when I threw it. I threw it, it hit it, and he fell, and I wasn't, like, toppling over him.

Like, once it landed, I was able to, you know, get my hands on him, follow him down, and then follow up the strikes, whereas usually when you see people, you know, throw big knockout shot, and if they miss or land, you know, they land, and they're, like, they've lost their balance. So, yeah, I was able to generate enough power, enough speed in the short distance, which I was happy about. Did you hear the talk of people saying you didn't have knockout power? Did that ever bother you?

No, it never bothered me. You know, I've knocked people out before in the past. It just takes time to, you know, get comfortable and doing it again. And like I said, you know, when you're fighting the best guys in the world, especially Joseph Invita, who's a dangerous opponent, and who has, who's a shirmer and knockout power, you know, it just, like I said, I just settle my feet, less than my coaches and execute, you know, what they wanted me to do.

Your celebration, once again, spectacular, you're flipping, you're flying all over the place. But then you ran towards your coach. Matt Hume and he said something to you. What did he say to you? You know, he basically says, you know, good job. Joseph's hurt, you know, pretty bad. So let's, you know, stop the, you know, the celebration. And, you know, I want to go on air and apologize about that, you know. And the fight, you know, I didn't realize how bad hurt he was.

You know, I thought he was backed up and he was totally fine. And my coach, you know, he brought him to my kitchen that, you know, hey, man, you know, Joseph's kind of hurt pretty bad. And he's still down. And, you know, we're not celebrating on the fact that, you know, Joseph's hurt and he got knocked down. You know, we're celebrating the fact that, you know, the hard work that we put in the gym and we're able to execute the game plan. And, you know, for me, I don't feel like I'm wasting my coach's time.

You know, they take time away from their family and their life to put into me. So that's what the celebration is about. But that's what Matt told me was like, you know, it's good fight. Go over there, check on Joseph. And I try to do immediately, but then the people are like, no, you can't go see himself. That's where Matt told me in my ear. And then I apologize about that. And you did line a big smooch on Matt Hughes's face right on the kisser over there.

Do you remember that? Yeah, I do. You know, I just get so excited because, you know, for me, I'm just a guy who works hard and who trains and I'm just a student in. For me to be able to, you know, Matt, you know, hopefully I made him happy and my other coach, Brad Kirkland, and make those guys happy because they put a lot of time and effort into me and they tell me to do certain things, and for me to do that, you know, it's just teasing the moment, you know, stuff happens.

You know, early in the fight, when they were announcing your name, there were booze, obviously, because you were in Sacramento and you kind of made a face like, oh, you were giving the puppy dog face. Did you like that, though? Was it fun to be in that environment? Yeah, it didn't bother me. You know, I'd tell everybody before, you know, it doesn't matter where I fight.

I'm just there to fight and perform. So it was funny, you know, and it just showed the fans that, you know, your guys' booze don't get to me, and I'm here to fight, and it's just me and Joseph in here, and me, I'm going to handle us, and then you guys decided you guys want to boo after the fight or cheer for me. Did you say anything to Joseph after the fight?

Did you get a chance to talk to him? Yeah, we're in an octagon, and I came to him, and I said, hey, man, are you all right? And he goes, man, what the hell happened, man? And I was like, it's all good, bro, you're going to come back. I hope you're okay. And, you know, I was all upset when I went to the press conference

because he wasn't there because, you know, I wanted to make sure he was okay. And, you know, Dana White said he was at a hospital, which is, you know, good things. to get an MRI, make sure everything is good upstairs, just because, you know, fighting's only a part of your life, you know, there's going to be the rest of his life that he wants to go to live, so it's good that, you know, you guys have looked at,

and he seems pretty healthy, and I hope everything is good for him. Typically, you fight longer than that. So did you feel fulfilled afterwards? Did you feel like you got the whole thing out of your system? Yeah, you know, I felt like it was a good night of fighting. You know, my body feels amazing. and like I don't hurt, which is a nice feeling. I'm ready to spend the holidays with a family,

and it's a good feeling. So I guess you can say, like, usually when I get done fighting, I'm usually like, whew, that was a tough fight. That was a world-deserved win. But I thought like this one was a good one, too, just because it was everything we worked on in the gym, and I was happy to be able to execute. Did you recall that your first pro loss was in that arena in Sacramento,

was known as Arco Arena back then, but it was to Brad Pickett. WC48. Did you remember that? Yes, I did. I remember somebody brought it up like three weeks before I was going down to the arena. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's right. I lost in that arena.

And, you know, I was in a different place in my life when I fought Brad Pickett at the Arc Arena. So it was all good. What was the difference? I was a man working at a, you know, 40-hour-week job, 9-to-5, and training, you know, maybe six days, six hours a week. week and went in there and I wasn't even training with Matt Hume full time and a huge difference. Did you honestly, back then, those days, did you think you would become this good?

Nope, nope, honestly, no, I just, you know, I love training, I love working out, and I love learning new things about the sport of martial arts, and like I said, I'm grateful to be where I'm at today, and I'm just another hard worker, and it was just another fight with Joseph, and I'm spent out of the family and get ready for the next one and keep on improving. Who made you realize that you could be this good? I never, I don't even think I'm that good because I still have a lot of stuff to approve on. And it was just my coaches and my bosses and my peers saying like, dude, keep on fighting. You're going to make it.

You're going to make it. But for me, you know, I've seen a lot of, you see all the time, you know, athletes make it in NFL, basketball. And they play two years next year. Next you know, they're out of NFL. They're broke. So for me, you know, I'm not going to say I've made it yet because I'm only 27 years old. and I still have a long career ahead of me. And, you know, 2013 was a successful year,

and 2014 could be, you know, a horrible year, and, you know, bad things could happen to me. So I haven't made yet. This was a successful 2013. I'm putting in the back pocket and look forward to 2014. Was there a fight, though, when you realize, okay, I could become a champion in this sport that really, like a result that really boosted your confidence?

I would probably say, no, not really, just because I never knew if I could, be a champion. You know, like I said, when I won the butt against Joseph's been to the Vita, I was like, wow, it really happened. Like, I never thought to say what happened. Because this is the pinnacle of the sport of mixed martial arts, and I'm on a top of it, and sometimes I'm just, when I go to the gym, I don't even know I'm the champion. I'm just there working out, trying to learn

and trying to get better. Three and O this year, three main events on Fox. You continue to look better. Are you the 2013 fighter of the year? Absolutely. That's not my decision to make. That's, like the end of why it says, you guys make that decision. Not me or him. You guys do. Speaking of Dana White, I was waiting for your post-fight scrum.

What happened? You know, I didn't have a suit, and Dana White did have a suit, so what are going to look formal, and I don't want to steal his friend when he's doing his post-fight scrum. So maybe down the road when I come to a fight and do it like last time, I remember I went to New Jersey for John Jones fight. The U.S. he pulled me back, I did like, you know, 10-minute post-fight scrum and all that stuff. Maybe I'll have him, but I'm not on that level yet. But, you know, I tell you what, you weren't wearing a suit.

But I was just talking to, you know, our guy New York Rick here about this before the show. You're wearing the polo. You got the Xbox One logo. And I cannot think of a better sponsorship duo than yours with Xbox One, a sponsorship partnership, if you will. It's so clean. It's so professional. The banner just has that logo. The tights just has that logo.

You wear the polo. It just looks so pro. and it just fits you perfectly. Something about Northwest, all that stuff. Is there a reason why you just have them in your corner? Is there a specific reason why? Because I can't think of any other partnership in our sport as far as fighter and sponsor better than yours, honestly.

Yeah, the partnership with Microsoft Xbox One is a great one. We can work with each other, and they're very passionate about getting behind athletes that are from the Pacific Northwest. So I seem to fit that bill when they're looking for it. And it just works out good. They're right down the street from the gym. When I got down my fight, I talked to one of the reps that, me and are good friends.

We worked with each other on a Tomb Raider thing in the past with the UFC personal trainer. So things are going good, and they're very good about branding stuff, you know. As you said with the banner, it's like they're going to let the whole world know that. You know, we're behind Demetri Johnson, and DeMich Johnson is a partner with Xbox One, and everything's just nice and clean, and that's how we look it. That's how we like it. And is there a reason why you only have one sponsor? Yeah, you know, I'm very, I'm very, I care about my brand,

and I don't want my brand to be slapped with anything, you know, and I kind of respect MacDancic out. He was like, you know, people are just throwing things on my shorts just to buy them airtime. And for me, like, I care about my brand, and I want to build my brand the right way, and I think Microsoft has helped me do that. And that's why we just have an Xbox one. when we love work with them.

They're very easy to work with, and they're very understanding as well. Two more questions before I let you go. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Dana White. He didn't particularly like my question. Maybe you will like it better. I'm just wondering, after three main events on Fox, do you feel like you have, in a sense, graduated to pay-per-view?

And I know the pay-per-views aren't seen by as many people as the Fox fights, but do you feel like now Demetius Johnson can headline a pay-per-view by himself, no problem, and it will result in many buys? You know, obviously, if I were to look at all the numbers that I've done on Fox, I would say I would hope I will be able to headline a preview just like GSP and, you know, John Jones, those guys hit those numbers. But at the same time, you know, those guys have been doing so much more in the sport than I have. I'm happy to be fighting on Fox, and I continue to hope to fight on Fox that way I can build my stardom up. And that way, when I get the chance to fight on Piverview, you know, I blow GSP and John Jones numbers out the water. and they're like, wow, flyweight headliner,

I'm always getting that favorite view. East-Sight headlining, so I think I'm working on a lot. I still got more climbing to do. Who do you think's next? You know, I'm not for sure. You know, my job is to spend time of my family and relax and keep on getting better at the gym. That's the U.S.C., Joe Silver, and Sean,

show me to do an amazing job signing new flyweight talent and letting me know who I'm going to fight next. So Linneker, Bagotinov, McCall, maybe even pick it to venture that. he's down on 125. No one in particular are you on next? Nope. Nobody in particular.

It doesn't matter to me. Like I said, you know, when they call me and tell me this is the day I'm fighting on, I don't worry about who I'm fighting. I worry about me being the best money money on that I can be on that day. Okay, so how about this? When do you want to return? You know what? I want to return, obviously, next year.

Maybe March or April or... Yeah, March or April sounds good. That way, because I plan on taking all of December off and basically pretty... much all in January, and then start, you know, getting back on the grind in the January, February. All right. Well, congratulations, Demetrius. I know you're busy and you're trying to relax now and you're sick of the MMA media,

but I appreciate you stopping by. And, of course, we'll be talking about you on your favorite show, the MMA beat. I think you like the MMA beat more than the MMA hour. Is that right? That is true. I do. I'm not going to lie to you. Wow.

How about that? But I appreciate it nonetheless. I appreciate that you watch all this stuff. and congratulations to you and your family. Happy holidays. I'm still in awe. I've watched it many, many times. You continue to impress.

You continue to set the bar higher for the flyways and for fighters in general. And I think that right now you're top five pound for pound. You deserve that respect. I kept saying it backstage over and over again. This man needs more respect. He needs more respect. I think you don't get enough. And hopefully now you will get it.

So congratulations and looking forward very much to your return to the Octagon. Thank you, Ariel. And have a good Christmas. Happy holidays. came with chat with you again, buddy. All right, there he is. The champion. Mighty Mouse himself, Demetrius Johnson,

and of course we played the theme music at the top there. In my opinion, the greatest cartoon of all time. And he may have the greatest nickname of all time, and it fits him, right? He actually flies around like that little Mighty Mouse, unbelievable stuff. If you haven't seen it, check out the replay. And it sounds like Joseph is okay, so very happy to hear that, because it was tough to watch.

It was one of those very clean knockouts. and for a second he did see him out on the ground, but based on his Twitter and whatnot, happy to hear that Joseph is doing okay. So the flyweight division continues to impress. It continues to be, in my opinion, one of the stories of 2013, how it has really, you know, credit to Sean Shelby, he has really done a great job of finding contenders, of developing it, allowing it to evolve, and at the top of it all is Demetrius Johnson. So congratulations to him.

Now, also, a story, a big story in 2013, as I, as I, said many times before, as I predicted last December on UFC tonight. Oh, and by the way, before I get to our next guest and speaking of UFC tonight, Demetrius Johnson will be a special co-host on Wednesday's episode of UFC tonight. So definitely check that out on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Fox Sports 1, Demetrius Johnson in studio with Chale Kenny and the rest of the crew. So look forward to that. Now, last year at the end of the year, I said that one of the top stories of 2013 would be women's MMA in the UFC. At that time, we thought there'd be only one division. Now we round out the year and there's about to be a second division. And as I said before her first fight in the UFC,

she is a true pioneer of women's MMA, had two cracks inside the octagon, arguably won her last fight, unfortunately didn't go her way. And after her fight, she announced her retirement. Somewhat surprising, wanted to have her on to talk about that. And for a very special announcement, And of course, I'm talking about Julie Kedzi, who joins us right now via the magic of Skype. Julie, how are you? I'm doing well. I'm not used to Skype, so this is unnerving. Well, I got to tell you, this is one of the best Skype connections we've ever had.

This is crystal clear, so well done. Yes. You can see all my acne. It's awesome. Are you at Jackson's right now, or is that your house? I am at Jackson's. I'm in the general manager's office. Thanks in Brighton.

Well, thank you very much for joining us. So you're at the gym, you know, less than two weeks after the fight. You didn't take any time off, no vacation for you? You know, I had originally thought if I'd won, I would take the win bonus and I would go to New Zealand and kind of tromp around. But since I didn't get that extra money, I had to come back home to work. But it's good. And are you over the loss? Because I know it was a close fight.

I know a lot of people thought you won. Does it still kind of bug you? You know, somebody asked me about this last night. You don't really get over losses, but you can kind of change your attitude about things. And I've never really wanted to be Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite. I was like, oh, I could have been on the football team and thrown that football over the mountain. You know, that kind of thing. It's like that's not my style.

It's time to move on, try new projects. I did feel like I won the fight, but one of the judges didn't. Two of the judges didn't. So that's how it goes. Were you planning on retiring going into the fight? Yes. I was planning on retiring. I wrote a tweet.

And then after the fight when the decision came down, I was like, oh, okay. So I had to re-edit the whole thing, and it ended up four tweets long. But, yes, I spoke with Greg Jackson while I was warming up backstage, and it was just one of those things. I didn't really know about it until the words kind of left my mouth. And, you know, it's just like, I think this is it, coach. I think this is my last one. And I thought he would be like, you're making excuses.

You're doing great. Go out there, you know, stop shooting yourself in the foot and said he was really receptive. He said, if you really feel that way, then let's do it. Let's blaze this fight. Let's go out there in glory. and I felt so happy with his support. Like, I knew it was the right choice. And even when they called her name,

walking out of there, I knew it was the right choice because I didn't have any, oh, I'm going to take revenge on her and I'm going to get this one back. I didn't have any of those thoughts. I was like, meh, they're wrong. And that was it. That's all I felt.

And, you know, that's a clear indicator that maybe my passion has changed. But in the middle of the fighter, you know, at least right before, did you feel pressure to, all right, I know this is it for me, I have to get a win. Did you add more pressure on yourself? No, actually, it felt like a release of pressure.

I felt like in my fight with Jermaine Durandini, I didn't perform. And so I went to a sports psychologist. I changed my entire training routine. I took care of myself. It was one of the best camps I've ever had in my life. And one of the things that came up in my sports psychology is that I have a little bit of a codependent nature. And I came to my own realization in that it wasn't just that I'm co-dependent on my coaches.

I was dependent on this identity as a fighter, and it was actually holding me back from loving MMA. And I really love this sport. I'm really, you know, I'm involved in it, but if I can't give 100% in my fights, if I can't keep up with other people, that's going to make me not love my job. And so I just felt like it was time for my job to change.

It was kind of something I came to. It was like one of those epiphanies, strange story, kind of hard thing to do. But I realized it, and when I finally, finally voiced it to Greg, and I said, this is it. He, you know, he supported me, and it was the right choice for my life. So even going into the Duranemi fight,

you didn't feel this way. You didn't know that you were feeling this way. It only really hit you in that locker room? Yeah, little things would come up. Like I would say to myself, when I retire, I'm going to do this. Or when I retire, I'm going to do that. And those are things you actually have to pay attention

because once you say that word, retire, that means you're actually thinking beyond what's happening in the cage. And that's not a bad thing to do. It's not bad to plan for your future as a fighter. but it does show a little bit of a distraction from wanting to be at the top. I didn't, I was said I wanted the belt, I want to be the champion, but I didn't really have that desire for the glory and attention exactly. And I loved the fighting and I loved the training.

So I couldn't really find a place for it. And I think you need that kind of ambition to want the glory, to want the attention, to go after sponsors, to go after that, you know, to put yourself out there. And that was the side of me that just it was getting weaker and weaker and weaker. You know, the training, the MMA, the love of it, that was stronger. My technique is stronger. But my desire to perform was getting weaker and weaker, if that makes sense. In hindsight, subconsciously, do you think that it affected your performance in your last few fights?

It may have. It may have. I don't know that for a fact. I know that getting to the UFC, fighting in the UFC was a dream of mine, and I wasn't going to not do it. But I do feel like I may have peaked as a fighter earlier. And this was kind of me. You know, technically I think I'm proficient, but there's something missing. And, you know, who knows, six months from now I may come back, but I just don't see that happening.

I think that my life is taking on a direction it needs to take. And we will get to that in a second. But one more thing, you spoke to Ben Folks over at M.A. Junkie, and you had a very interesting comment that I wanted to ask you about. You said, you know, maybe I've just settled my issues. What were those issues? Were those the issues that got you into fighting? Yeah, I think a little bit of them. They were issues that got me into find.

I was very attention-seeking when I was younger. I really liked that approval from crowds to be patted on the head to be told, you're great, you're number one. And I really had a lot of people I wanted to prove wrong, especially when it comes to women's MMA, to females in the sport. My favorite place was in the trenches, proving people wrong, and just going at it and going at it. And then the small shows, and then, you know, later on Elite X-C and Showtime,

and these, there's, I don't know how to explain it, but it was more fun proving people wrong than it was actually getting attention. And I think that everybody's been proved wrong about women's MMA. I'm sure we still have a long way to go. But I think that a lot of the hurdles have been jumped. And I think I'm a little bit more settled. I'm 32 years old. I know myself better.

You know, I'm happy with myself. And that was something I wasn't in my 20s. I was a pretty miserable person. And so, you know, I just think I've easy. out a little bit as a human being. Well, that is a nice segue to the next chapter of your life, because retirement is, for you, is not sitting on the couch at home eating potato chips. We knew that because we knew you would be active at the gym, but you have a very big announcement to make a very interesting one. So I'm going to give you the floor right here and allow you to make it

to the world. Thank you. Well, you know, I'm very happy to announce that I've been in talks with Shannon Knapp and I'm going to be Invictus new matchmaker. So I'm going to be taking on the role as matchmaker in the company. I'm going to be working hopefully to help develop the careers of other female fighters, bring them up in the sport, you know, give them the attention they deserve, and, you know, hopefully promote the sport a little bit in the sidelines now and have a, you know, have a role where I can help people, you know, face to face, just give them what they need. And I really am excited about it. I'm terrified, but I'm excited. Well, congratulations. I think it's a fantastic choice. I think you're going to do great, but I have some follow-up

questions. Does that mean you'll no longer be an announcer for them? No, actually, she says, as far as it's concerned, we're going to keep my announcer position. And I was thinking about that, is that going to be, you know, when I'm doing commentary, is that going to be maybe a biased commentary, or is that going to change anything? And then I got to thinking, how many people are sitting there on forums and Twitter, and they're like, well, why did Joe Silva make this match? Well, why did Sean Shelby make this match? And honestly, you're going to have the commentator and the matchmaker right there telling you why it happened.

So I think I'll be able to actually give people more insight into the workings of the business as, you know, audience members, and they'll actually be able to see why people were matched up the way they were. And, you know, if a fight falls flat or it's not as exciting, you know, then we'll, I'll be able to take the wrap for it right there. Wow, that is actually a fascinating angle to all of this. So I think that's a great way to position it. Have you ever been a matchmaker before? Never. I have no. But, you know, it's like everybody's an armchair matchmaker. Sure. I've sat around a lot and I said, well, I'd really like to see this person fight this person and that person fight that person. And I think that, you know, I'll be honest with you, I think I've got the tools to make, excuse me, make it a successful journey. And I've told Channa Knapp, I said, be very blunt with me, be very hard on me, don't make this easy for me.

I want these girls to do well, excuse me, these women to do well, and I want the company to do well, and I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to help get us there, and I'll take my raps, I'll take my criticism, I'm prepared for it. How did this come about? You know, she had mentioned something of it before, gosh, was it before my friend? I don't even know. I know there was something I talked to my manager about, and then they were, I knew that Janet was out of the picture. I actually don't know the full story there, but I, I,

you know, I don't care to. I think that it's time to start fresh and, you know, hopefully bring some new energy into things. But, excuse me, I know I talked with my manager. I think I mentioned it to Shannon once or twice. And then after my fight, you know, we talked. And then yesterday, we talked for about two hours. And we made plans for the future. Wow. Well, congratulations, once again. I'm wondering how well-versed you are in, you know, obviously you know about the 135ers, 145s, but what do you know about the 105ers and the 115 pounders? I mean, how much do you know about those fighters and not only who's in Invicta, but who's out of Invicta? Who needs to be signed? Well, you know, what I don't know, I have tremendous resources for. I don't know. I think

the unsung hero of women's MMA is Robert Sargent. I agree. He is phenomenal and he has always kept me in the know about, you know, if I have any questions about people. And I'm excited to start investigating. I know a little bit about the 105ers because I have several teammates in that division. So, you know, in the past, we've been scouting opponents for them, and now it's going to be a matter of not even scouting opponents for them. It's going to be me building these names that, you know, I've maybe just heard in passing. And the straw weights, we've got some vacancies there.

So that's going to be an exciting division to build. I'm excited for it because we're really this kind of, I don't know, Invict is just, it's going to be its own entity. Well, it is its own entity. I don't know if I'm using the right language, but it's going to be a wonderful place for women, as it already has been in the past. But it's going to be even more exciting and even more wonderful for them. Like I have a lot of faith in it.

I have a lot of faith in the women. And people seem to really, really want to fight for us. And that's a good start. I'm happy you mentioned Robert because I agree with you 100%. What a great guy. He does his job so very well. And he's been covering Women's M.A. before it was cool, if you know what I'm saying. Are you going to add any people to the stuff?

I mean, honestly, I know he's media, but Robert, I think, would be a nice little assistant. to have. What do you think? I don't know, but I would totally vouch for him if it came to that. I'm not in charge of hiring or firing or anything like that at this point, but I would totally vouch for him to get a position in the company. I would love that. And of course, Robert, if you don't know, he runs MMARising.com, which is the source for all things women's MMA. Are you going to be doing this by yourself? You know what? Shannon is going to lay out a pretty direct plan for me. We're going to be meeting in the next couple weeks, and so I'll be able to give you more information as it progresses. So I think it's by myself.

I don't know. I am open to whatever she has me do. I have to learn the ropes. And I'm excited. I'm very, very ambitious when it comes to this. Like I feel a hunger that, you know, to succeed at this job that I felt when I first started fighting. So it's good.

Will you have to move? No. As far as I know, you know, we haven't changed anything with my location. I'll be working out of Albuquerque, New Mexico for the time being. You know, that may change in the future. And will you still be, you know, coaching and helping? out at the gym. Yes. I'll always be involved with the students of Jackson's MMA. I'm still working for my own ambitions to get my blackwilled undergrad and to get a real insight into

what's going on. And I've spoken to the girls on the team and I said, look, those of you are assigned with Invicta, you're going to start hating me now maybe if you're not getting as much but I want you guys to understand that I'm going to be in a different role. I'm going to be in a new position that I'll be able to coach you day to day, but I'm definitely, you know, I have to look out for this company and my team at the same time. So it'll be different. I know you're friends with Sean Shelby, who's a matchmaker for the UFC, you know Joe Silva. Have you talked to him or them about this? And if not, will you try to get some advice from them? Yes, actually, I've talked to both of them. First thing I did when I got off the phone with Shannon yesterday was I texted Sean

Shelby and asked for his blessing. And he was very happy. He was very enthusiastic and kind to me. And I just had an email exchange with Joe Silva. And he was also very encouraging and very kind. So I, the UFC's relationship with Invicta is really good. And I would hope that it stays that way. You know, those two guys, Joe Silva and Sean Shelby are two of my favorite people in the universe, just as people, not even involved in the MMA business. They're just so fascinating to talk to. So I hope that our friendship continues and even get stronger as, you know, I go to them for advice or, you know, they come to me with things. You know, they also have very stressful lives. There's a lot of stuff. People falling out at the

last minute things like that. You prepared for all of that? Yes. And I will be prepared for it because I don't have to make weight anymore. So I'll be able to comfort eat in my times of distress. Are you worried at all about the 115 pound situation? Because they just pretty much took, you know, 11 of your biggest names. No, because I, first of all, those women deserve to shine. They deserve, you know, that opportunity at the UFC. And I absolutely love the fact, you know, this happened before I was brought on to the company, but I love the fact that Shannon would not hold them back from that, you know, the pursuit of that dream. It's an important dream and it's an important opportunity for them. And I think it speaks to the integrity of Invicta and, you know, as a company

and as Shannon's integrity, to let these women do what they choose to do. And there's a lot of fighters out there. You can't really develop divisions if you just stick with the same people over and over again. This is basically open the door to a bunch of straw weights who are looking to get that attention to get on the big stage. And so I think it's actually, I think it's going to rejuvenate the division. Not that it needed it. It's an amazing division, but it's, you know, it's going to add even more to it. And I think that's going to happen in time with many divisions. You'll see new talent emerging. You'll see women who deserve, you know, attention and chances. And I'm, I'm excited for it. I feel like it's a, it's a cool way to develop our brand. And it's a cool way to develop, you

female fighters in general. I know you just got the job, but you know who will be fighting for the new 150 pound belt now? I have no idea. I have to talk with Shannon about that. Okay. It's a big belt now, so it's going to be interesting. And what about any fights, any dream fights? I know you're very close to the Invicta products, so you must have thought about this.

Any fight? Oh, man, I need to make this fight. You know, there's one fight, and it's actually a rematch. I was on the Invicta website, and I was seeing who signed. and Terrell Larosa has fought her last couple fights at 135, and I don't know what her plans are. I need to sit down and talk to her, but I remember her fight with Amanda Buckner, and I saw Amanda Buckner has been signed to Invicton.

I remember that fight in Bodog is one of the best female fights I've ever seen in my life. So I don't know if it's out there. I haven't even told Shannon, I'm probably shooting myself in the foot right now, telling you, and saying it publicly, but I'll tell you what, like that was an epic, epic fight between two warriors,

and if there was a chance of making, that fight again, that rematch, I'd be pretty excited by it. I'm pretty sure Tara is going to be really angry at me for saying all this without talking to her. No, no, it's okay. You know, one of the things we talked about Sean Shelby and Joe Silva, you know, they are a tough negotiator, you know, negotiators, tough men. Are you prepared for that? Because, you know, you're such a nice lady and you always have a smile on your face. I mean, there's a negotiation and there's tactics involved and managers wanting this and that fighters who are upset. Are you prepared for all of that? I believe I'm prepared for that.

And what's nice is Shannon's really going to be guiding me. So I think that she's going to help me get the tools to deal with that. And I've dealt with tough negotiations and managers before, just in a different way, just on a different level. So we'll see what the future brings. I mean, I may end up crying under my pillow every night for the rest of my life, but I don't think so. I'm kind of looking forward to the challenge of it. Do you think Invicta for their next event needs a free TV platform that they've outgrown this sort of internet situation and an online pay-per-view situation? In my opinion, they do. I don't know what the total solution for that is. Hopefully, TV networks are jumping at the chance for this.

But in my opinion, yeah, it's time to be on television. These women deserve it, and they deserve having their sponsors watch an event without it crashing. which the reason it's crashing is a good thing, but it's still crashing. So it's time to fix that. When you announce your retirement, a lot of people said the UFC should hire Julie to commentate, not just the women's fights, but just fights in general because you're so good and people really like you on the mic. Was there any talks of that? You know, no, I never had any talks from the actual ZUFA officials. You know, Kenny Florian and John Anick said some really nice things to me after the fight.

But to be honest, I think I'm better suited with Invicta than with the UFC. And that, like I said, I like to be in the trenches. I like to help develop something. I want to stick up for the guys who maybe nobody knows about yet. And, you know, in the UFC, they have plenty of experienced commentators. They have plenty of experienced people behind them. And I really am about promoting women in the sport. And so in all-female promotion, for me, I think, is the right platform.

And by the way, since you're an Invicta official now, when's the next event? Break some news for us. I have to get back to you on that. Oh, man. Just like your typical matchmaker. Can't tell us anything. I know. No comment.

When does the gig officially start? When do you start actually signing matches and things like that? Well, she told me yesterday I'm hired. Okay. So I went to my computer and I started looking at, you know, names and this name and that name and what I think should happen here and what I think should happen there. But I really don't know. Shannon's going to be coming into town to talk to me in the next couple weeks. And so I think when we sit down face to face, we can kind of put a plan together. I'm going to start my own projects, my own plans, what I would like to happen in each division,

and present them to her and see if she approves them or not. Final thing before I let you go, you know, when you retired, I put out there that, you know, without your fight against Gina Carano way back when in Elite XC, we may not even be here talking about women in the UFC. and I do believe that. What's your favorite moment? Now that your fighting career is done, at least for now, what's the moment that sticks out above the rest? Well, that Gina Carano fight, that was incredible,

just in the purity of it and the really good friend I made out of it, that was wonderful. But gosh, I don't know. I really liked my first fight, my very first fight, when I was empowered and I had that ability to beat somebody and I knew that this was the direction I was going to take with my life. And everybody was like, no, you're not. no, you're not going to do this. And I did. And I said, we're going to be in the UFC. And we were.

Wow. And we are, actually. And my first fight started everything. And so I think if I go back in time and wanted to relive something, it would be that. Was that March 27, 2004 against Terry Blair, hook and shoot? Yes. What a memory I have. I was almost 10 years in this four, but I didn't quite make it. Yeah, that's true. By the way, you want to make a splash, sign Gina Carrano. Like, Gina, if she wants to come over, I'm down. Yeah, that would be pretty big for that. That would be a huge feather in your cap as matchmaker. Yeah, it would be pretty fun.

Well, congratulations. I don't know if you know this, but I was in the running to get the position. I threw my name out there. Sadly, no, I'm kidding. I said it as a joke to Shannon. I don't think that would be very ethical on my part, but I think they made the perfect choice. I'm very happy for you. Congratulations.

Can't wait to see what you do with the brand. We love watching it over here, of course. and congratulations on a great career. You are a pioneer without you, without people like you. We would not be here talking about women in the UFC. I am 100% certain of that. So congratulations on all you've done, and good luck in this next chapter. Thank you very much.

Thank you. I appreciate it. There she is. The new Invicta FC matchmaker, she is Julie Kedze, joining us from the Jackson's Gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Looking at my text here, getting some texts from Phil Baroni. Baroni didn't love his interview, but I thought it was great. I had no problems with it.

He's telling me, I don't need Ben Ascran. He needs me. I have the fans in Asia. He has zero fans anywhere. No better way for Ben Ascran to be introduced to MMA fans in Asia than by fighting me. That's what I wanted to say. He calls me out. Then he doesn't want to fight.

Sorry. It got cut off there. I really believe in my heart. I can come back and win the one-fc title. Hunt, Faber, Vitor, they're all doing it. Why can I? I believe I can. That's Phil Barone. Congratulations to Julie Kedzi on her new position with Invicta.

All right. New York, Rick. Are you alive? Yes, sir. There he is. Phil Brony's still texting me. Ascreen's not a real fighter. Jesse Taylor, still grinding, still fighting. He is a real fighter.

Paul Daly, still fighting. By the way, Paul Daly, what a knockout that was on Saturday at Bama 14. was a classic. That was Shogun-esque what he did to James DeHuna. May have missed that one because of UFC on Fox 9, but check it out. That was great. So, once again, show being brought to you by Glory. They returned December 21st, Glory 13, Tokyo, Spike TV. This Saturday, 9 p.m. Eastern, a lot of interesting fights, and guess what? By the way, you're all, you're all, you're all blurry. Oh, there you're gone. They got the, the back. I was going to work on the camera.

So guess what? Guess what? Not only is this a big show for Spike TV for Glory, but this marks the Tokyo debut of one New York Rick. It does. You'll be there. Going to Japan, baby. Wow.

It's exciting. Now, this is the first time that you ever leave North America. Yes, that's correct. I've been to Canada, but that's the only time I've traveled outside of the U.S. How do you feel? Are you nervous? No, I'm excited. Nervous.

What would I be nervous about? Should I be nervous? Well, I mean, first of all, you've never left North America and you're going on what is, I think, like a 15-hour flight or something like that? Yeah. That would make me nervous. That doesn't bother you at all? No, a long flight doesn't bother me. Okay, well, let me tell you this.

Other than maybe going to Israel or I do like Italy, Greece, to me, Japan, Tokyo, I've been to just Tokyo, so I can't, you know, paint the whole country with one brush. but Japan is, or Tokyo, I should say, Tokyo is such an amazing city. I adored my time there when I was there for UFC 144. I do think that you will love it very much. And I know you have a great affinity for the Asian people. I do? You do? I have a lot of Asian friends.

I went to a predominantly Asian high school. Did you tell me you like Asian culture? You had a lot of friends going, no, you didn't tell me that? I thought you did. I don't recall ever saying that. I thought you were a student of the Asian ways. No, you've been. misinformed. Well, you should have played along with it. I mean, you're going over there. You want

to greet you with open arms. I don't want them to greet me with an assumption that I understand more than I do. Well, what do you think it's going to be like when you walk off that plane and you see all this foreign language and there's no English. It's very, it's very, you know, it's not like you're going to France where the letters are the same. There's nothing that's similar to what's going on here. I think you might be in store for a culture shock. I, I'm almost assuredly in store for a culture shock it's going to be crazy and and it's going to be fun i am so jealous i just i just love tokyo so much now what are you doing over there um working with uh glory yeah but what exactly for glory 13 um managing the media oh look at you PR wow do you like that yeah so it's it's a great job

because for this job i get to be a part of a show that's a media outlet and for the other job i get to be a part of the behind the scenes part of the media. Do a lot of people come up to you and say, are you New York Rick of MMA hour fame? Not so, I mean, it's happened a handful of times, but it's not like an everyday occurrence. I bet a lot of people in Japan are going to come up and say that to you. We're big in Japan.

You know that song? Big in Japan. Dun, dum, dumb, dumb, big in Japan. Will loves that song. I don't know that song, actually. I see him rocking out. Alfred loves it, too. All right, tell us about this event.

nothing about it. I do know. See, this is, this is interesting. Rico Verhoven, he just fought in October, right? He got the big, uh, the big, uh, heavyweight tournament win. And he's back very quickly and he's retiring somebody, some bloke. Well, I know, when you put it that way, he's, he's not retiring somebody. Peter Ertz is retiring after this fight. This is his final fight. He announced. Is he really going to retire though? What, uh, I mean, he's retired. He, as far as we know he is retiring. Okay. Combat sports, it's always a little dicey, you know, people come back. but I think at this point he has nothing left to prove that's for sure he's a legend in the sport and he's choosing this as his final fight and it's definitely not you know a cakewalk he's not getting an easy one for his final fight

Rico Verhoeven just won the heavyweight championship tournament yeah but so so what's at stake here explain to me this I know I know the kickboxing fans get very worried when I talk or they get very offended is is the tournament title at stake or is that done with is the championship you you don't win you don't win you don't don't pass the tournament title. So Verhoven is the tournament champion. This is just a fight. This is a matchup. Okay. At stake is legacy. I mean, Peter Ertz can go out on top

beating, you know, a guy in his prime, Riko Verhoven. And Verhoven has the chance to raise his stock even higher after winning the tournament. Hmm. He's beaten Daniel Gita and Go Kansaki in one night,

which is, you know, that speaks for itself if you know kickboxing, you know how good those guys are. And now he's facing Peter Ertz, who's another legend in kickboxing. This can really raise his profile. When are they going to bring out some titles, some real champions that I can hang my hat on? We'll see. We'll see.

That's your answer? For God's sakes, you're the PR guy. You need to have answers. There are no titles currently. Okay. Anything else we should know about the card? Well, I mean, it's stacked. The aforementioned Daniel Gita is facing Errol

Zimmerman in the co-main event. And then there's the Walter Waite tournament. Glory is famous for these now, the one-night four-man tournaments. Sometimes they're larger. In the last few, they've been four-man. By the way, is my boy, real deal Raymond Daniels in this thing?

He is. I love that guy. That guy's the best. He fought in Strike Force, and I was so excited, and he did not perform very well in M.A. But this guy was in the Chuck Norris League, all that stuff. That guy is the man. I like him. He was not as successful in MMA as he has been in, you know, obviously karate, you know, combat karate, but also kickboxing. He's undefeated in kickboxing. I think he's got 17, 18 wins in kickboxing and has yet to taste defeat.

So he's taking on Valtolini, who's been a knockout machine lately. He's so exciting. He is very exciting. Fantastic young fighter. American man. Let's see if the Americans can continue. Oh, you're talking about Raymond? Yeah, Raymond, Raymond. I don't know the other guy. Valtalini, Canada, from your homeland. Oh, that's right. He fought recently, too. Yeah, the turnaround time in kickboxing is a lot shorter. I learned that when talking about Petrosian. Correct. That's how they can, you know, get higher. He's a good-looking guy, too. He's got the look. Right? He's got a complete package. He's a great fighter. I think he's got 10 wins, nine knockouts.

So it's going to be fireworks, I think, between Daniels and Valtolini, for sure. Try to stay away from the infamous red light district, all right? On my trip to Japan? Yeah. I will not be going there. All right. Shout out to my girlfriend. Oh, yes, that's right.

All right, well, good luck over there, safe travels. I will remind everyone that we are off next week. Not because of his trip to Japan. New York was going to return in time, which we appreciate very, very much. But for other reasons, we are off next week taking a breather. It's actually because Will's not going to be here. That's the main reason. We felt like the show wouldn't be right without any technical difficulties,

so we had to have Will here. Just kidding. Just kidding. Look at that face. Wait, is that a joke? Do you have some jokes now? So there we go. No show next week.

but we will be back on December 30th for our year-end fan appreciation show. We're actually, I've actually come up with a lot of, we're mainly going to take phone calls and a lot of questions from Twitter and the website, but we will also throw out some awards. I actually wrote down some of the awards on the plane home yesterday, that brutal trip from Sacramento, things like Story of the Year, story to watch in 2014, Fighter of 2014, Who, we predict will be the fighter of 2014, the fight of 2013, chaos, sub, prospect, feel good story of the year,

things of that nature. I will put this list out so you can join in on the fun before the show, get your picks ready, and then on December 30th, we'll have a fun show after the big UFC 168 card. We'll come back here, recap that, talk about it. As of right now, not really thinking any guests, you will be the guess. Fan appreciation show. We'll have some fun and end off 2013. in honor of all of you. I'm very excited about this. First time we've ever done this. So stay tuned for that.

Next week, though, by the way, December 23rd, next Monday, no MMA hour, but of course I have to take care of my people. Of course, I have to take care of the fans. There will be a special year-end edition of the MMA beat that will play on Monday. So you will still have something to watch,

still have something to digest. It will be the MMA beat, myself, Luke Thomas, Chuck Mindenhall, Jeff Wagenheim. We will come together. There'll be an episode this Thursday. That will be presented, of course, by our friends at Glory. We appreciate them supporting the MMA beat as well.

And then Monday, December 23rd, there will be our final MMA beat episode of the year. And then December 30th, final MMA hour of the year. Okay, let's take a quick phone call. And then we will move along to your questions. And then we will get out of here. They tell us we have to be out of here by five o'clock or else. Hopefully we won't be around that long. Let's see.

Who do we got? Who do we got? We've got Dave in Newfoundland. I've always wanted to go over there. Dave, are you there? I am. You should visit for sure. I would love to.

Absolutely. And actually, it's funny. I know times a factor, so I'm not going to use up much of it. Much of it. But I got to say, Rick, is absolutely going to have no problems. And I actually used to live there at one point in life, and everybody's too friendly and easy to get along with.

So no worries, Rick. Great. I was a little worried because, you know, You know, when you have a guy who hasn't really been out there in public and, you know, around the world, who hasn't seen the things that I've seen, sometimes it could be a bit of a shock, but now I feel better. And it is. Yeah, it's good to go. The last time I was on your show was the Monday before Anderson Silva and Chris Wyman. I'm not sure if you remember or not.

Yes, I do remember. This is kind of funny, right? Yep. I actually meant it to tell at the time. I think what helped me again on the air something that I'll tell him about was a quick story about Chris Levin because at the time of course

Chris was fighting on that same card as Anderson and it would have been topical but by the time I got in the air with you I completely forgot and he never said it What's the story? I just want to basically what it is is I was lucky enough to actually to train with Levin

the day after Anderson thought Chale's son in the second time during that time it was the summit was on the go in Vegas so I believe the whole UFC roster was there so it was really busy weekend as far as all the fighters being around that sort of thing so I was actually the day after on the Sunday afternoon we went to a gym the train and and it was pretty quiet given the time after the Saturday the big night beforehand and just the time of day it was really quiet there were some bodies in there when we went in and when we left it was pretty much empty but yeah he was a really great guy um

he gave some great advice and that sort of thing, and I was pretty surreal because I'm falling up for such a long time now. So when we clued up, I just had to ask him. I said, so at this time, again, it was 2012. He was coming off suspension. I asked, I was like, you know, so who do you want to fight next? And very nonchalantly, he was just, you know, he's like, ah, you know, Alan Belcher, Merck Munoz, Vitor Belfort,

Hector Lombard, and I went, whoa, like, when he said Hector Lombard, It really, I was like, I can't believe. I never even thought about that. Now, I know, again, things have changed. Lambert's at 170 right now. But that one maybe stopped in my tracks for some reason, because at that time, Lambert had just been signed from Bellator and sort of had that mystique around him and hadn't fought in the UFC yet.

And I just start rifting on that fight. I'm like, wow, that's incredible. That is a fight. Wow, I would love to see that. So, you know, I thought the gym was completely empty. The way it worked out, there was a ring in one room. in the room right next to it was the cardio. And so right at that moment, I ran to go to the bathroom to clue up.

And I take one step in the room, 10 feet away, and who's the one person in that room, is Hechtelombard. And you're looking right at me. I can't say for sure. I don't know. Because, again, it was pretty surreal experience. But I don't know. Maybe he didn't hear a word.

but the way he was looking sort of, it sort of told me that he heard everything we were saying. Not that it was anything bad. It was just a pretty cool moment, but freaky at the same time. But pretty much the whole point of this story and why I'm tough telling it is that it just goes back to how nonchalantly, when I asked Chris Levin who you want to fight out, he just started throwing out the top guys at the division at the time, like it was nothing. And you would know better than I, you know, obviously interacted with the fighters a lot more, and that sort of thing, and maybe all the fighters do it, but there was something about the way he said it

that it made me absolutely certain. The only reason Anderson Silva wasn't on the list is because, you know, he's coming out to suspension. That's just not realistic. So I hate to use any cliche when it comes to the MMA, but it really gives you a true appreciation for what a warrior like that is really like. It's pretty amazing. So I pretty much just wanted to give it.

shout out to the leaving there and how much of a gamer he is. And I know he's got to fight with Uriah Hall on the same card. And I hope he can get on the inside and do it because I do think it has that fight has his name all over it. Yeah, well, that is a huge fight for him. If he can pick up a win there, he needs a win desperately. Against someone like Uriah Hall, he would definitely be back in the mix, so to speak. And I agree with you 100%.

I mean, don't want to compare them, but just look at Phil Barone. That's what separates these guys from URI. It's a good thing and a bad thing. They think they can keep going. They think they could fight the best, and that's what makes them, you know, so much fun to watch. Sometimes, which is what's so special about what GSP did, they don't know when to say when. They don't know when to walk away. How often do you see someone at the top of their game?

I mean, I can think of Michael Jordan. Even Barry Sanders, you can't compare to GSP because Barry Sanders, who left at the top of his game as far as individually, he was never a champion. GSP was the champion, and he was not just the champion. he was top two or three best in the world pound for pound he walked away so that's why it's so noble what he did so special to see but guys like liban and guys like baroni and many many many others that's what's so fun about them but it's also something you know that that that is a little scary to watch sometimes because they don't know when to say when i'm not saying that you know that's uh that's the case with chris leban i think this is a big fight and i don't know if you'll have

another shot after this one but uh it's going to be interesting to watch at ufc 168 that's definitely one of the interesting fights, a contender for the people's main event. We do have to go, my friend. I appreciate the story, and thank you so much for calling in once again. All the best, Ariel. All right, there he is. Dave, stopping by from the Great White North. Okay, let us answer some questions. Before we do that, real quick. Okay. We want to thank for sending two people. Yes. We want to thank Pete Hayman for sending over Ariel shoulder

the Tommy Toehold doll with the Helwani nose shirt on. There it is. We are fans of Tommy Toehold and he made us a doll, an actual doll. How about that? With the Helwani nose logo.

Now, you know, I won't mention the fact that it doesn't say Halwani nose. That would have made it very nice. But... I mean, look at the craftsmanship. Yes, it is a nice job.

There it is. How about that? So thanks Pete for sending that. Giving it to my son. That's a good. Good idea. He'll cry. Okay, what else?

Why, he'd be scared of it, you think? Well, I mean, it's been a scary phase, yes. Second person, been supporting us all year, Chris Rini, This Day in MMA.com, does Viceland. I'm sorry, Fightland for Vice. Wait, he does this day in MMA.com? Yeah. What?

I didn't know that? What? No, I didn't. Why, do you visit that? Yeah. What's so funny? Well, why are you not saying anything? I mean, like, I feel like you would know that that's Chris right away if you go to it.

Am I? Oh, yeah, you're right. I never been to the site. I know a different to this thing. Great. Why do you have to keep asking me? Just let it be. Anyway, Chris, you're the best.

Thank you, yes. He's been supporting the show. He gave us both gifts. My gift is too far and I have to get up, but it is a great gift. It's a beautiful picture that he made for me with his great talents of wood, What is it? He burns it in. He burns it in.

It's unbelievable. So check out his stuff. He's on Twitter. He's on this day and MMA.com. Check him out. There you go. So now let's do some questions. Okay.

Jim Brown, someone mentions as a good example. Jim Brown. Did he win a Super Bowl, though? Oh, is the retirement thing? Yeah. Brad Hirsch says, did he win a Super Bowl? Anyway. Michael Jordan is the one that comes to mind

because he was just coming off a championship and he did come back as well. Oh, what's that? Joseph Benevitas. The resolution on this is weird. Let me try fixing that. There we go. Of course, I know Jim Brown from his days of calling UFC fights.

Also, greatest athletes come out of Syracuse University. All right, here we go. All right. Joseph Benevita's future. What are the chances of Joseph Benavita's fighting for the flyweight title ever again? He lost the close decision once and was finished quickly in the second fight. Where does he go from here? Does he just hang around at flyweight until the title changes hands?

or does he go back up to 135? Well, this is exactly why I believed that there was probably more pressure on Joseph going into this fight than Demetrius, one of those rare occasions where there's more pressure on the challenger because he lost twice to Dominicruz on 135, once for the belt, once not for the belt, and he also lost once against Demetrius Johnson back at UFC 152. so that'd be two losses against the champions in both way classes. Where do you go from here? Well, it's hard to say never.

You can't say never. Never say never, as Justin Bieber once told us. But as long as Demetrius is the champion, it's going to be hard to get a third fight. He can win four or five in a row and look at Jariah Faber. He's going to get another crack at Cruz, which makes sense. He has a win over him. He'll probably get another crack at Borrell if he wins. And that was fairly one-sided.

So you never want to say never. but he's going to need a few wins, three, four, five wins in a row to get back in that discussion. And that's just the nature of the beast. Still, in my opinion, you know, below Johnson, number one or number two, best flyweight in the world. Got caught. It's unfortunate. But Demetrius is definitely the king of the flyweight. So we'll see what happens. You know, you never know what will happen. Who becomes champion if Demetrius loses, that opens up a spot. You never know what can happen. Right now, though, he's going to need a few wins to get back in there.

technical difficulties hold on one second Sean Sheehan tells us Eric Cantona who I do recall from the soccer world I guess he he walked away our friend flip the script tells us Jim Brown retired before the first Super Bowl was ever played he did win NFL championship oh yes 1964 so how about that

so geez I still think that the Michael Jordan I mean Michael Jordan is considered the greatest and people can consider Jim Brown one of the best football players of all time. So one of those guys. The Barry Sanders one is a little more contemporary, so people, well, it was kind of around the same time as Michael Jordan, but that's the one that comes to mind.

It's going on with the questions. Preview is not cooperating. So just read them. All right. Say who asked the questions so they get the props. Don't worry about it. mini s lDR oh that's the name okay okay yes uh demetrius johnson on the pound for pound list in my eyes there is a real case for demetrius to be the number one fighter on the planet with my understanding of pound for pound as essentially a skill for skill ranking irrespective of weight

demetrius has in my eyes shown to be the most complete and technical fighter we have today even still i don't see him unfairly and this is worded strangely uh i don't see him getting such recognition over jones kane etc what would take for us to see DJ atop the UFC pound for pound rankings? Well, pound for pound is kind of silly. We all know that. We've discussed that. It is so subjective. Right now, UFC.com rankings, as crazy as they are, he is number six. So he's very close to top five. But if you look at the rankings, I mean, Anderson Silva's number three, and I'm sorry, he can't be above Chris Wyman. I don't care what anyone says. You lose, you go down. The guy who beat you has to go up. You lost. What other, pound for pound is this fictitious argument of who would be the best if they all fought at the same weight.

Well, guess what? Chris Wyman beat Anderson Silva. How is he eight? And Anderson is three. It makes no sense. John Jones is up there, of course. Josealdo up there, of course. Hennon Barrow, up there, of course. Cave Velasquez, up there, fine. Although I know people don't like when heavy weights are up there. In my opinion, Demetrius Johnson is number five. Actually, not even number five. He could be in the top. I put, I put, as far as, as performances go, I think Demetrius has been more dominant as of late than Josealdo, honestly. But he is definitely a top fiveer, in my opinion, and I do think he deserves more respect, and I think he is starting to get it. He's come a long way since the Maraga fight.

If you notice, a lot of people weren't talking about does he deserve to main event this show? That didn't really come up this time, and I'm happy, and I don't think it will come up next time, even if it's a pay-per-view or whatever. So I think he's getting that respect. Our next question. Just how impressive was Uriah's defeat of the highly talented and much touted Michael McDonald? He truly leads by example, and along with the inevitable cruise rematch, I think he is ready to face Hennon for the belt again. Why do you think Uriah has a better chance at winning the belt this time around, if you do? And what lessons for his career future do you think young McDonald will have gained for the experience of facing favor?

McDonald's 22, he will be back. Some people were talking about, you know, maybe he should. expand his horizons and, you know, get out there and train with other people, and that could help him. But Uriah Faber, I am so impressed. I am so blown away. You know, Uriah in the past got a little mad at me for saying, you know, how many title shots are you going to get? And I do believe, off the top of my head, he is undefeated in non-title fights. As of late, once he got those big opportunities, he didn't come through. But there's no denying, as I said on Fox Sports Live. Under 170, he is the most popular fighter in the UFC. And now, BJ Penn coming down, changes things. But his

last fight was at 170, and that's why I said that. The way he's reinvented himself, the way he continues to come out there and beat the best, and not just beat them, but finish them, dominate them. The Alcantara fight wasn't a finish, but he came back from a very dicey first round and ended up beating one of the top guys on 135, you know, finishing Scott Jorgensen, finishing Ivan Menjavar, submitting Ivan Menjavar in the first round. And doing what he did to Michael McDonald was so impressive, not. knocking him down like that, where McDonald, his head just like bounced off the post. And then

going for the finish, going for the submission, using all facets of mixed martial arts. So impressive to watch. And he continues to get better. He's getting his old man strength. I do believe he is the number one contender. I am in full support of seeing him get another crack of the title, whether it's Cruz or Brow. I will admit, I am more interested in the Cruz fight because he has a win over him, because of their long simmering feud, I think it would be massive fight. It's one fight that we need to see again. It was the fight that was supposed to happen before Cruz got injured. It would be fantastic. But for Faber to step up, and I saw him, you know, he's not a very emotional guy, but I saw after that fight in Sacramento to do what he did

was really amazing. It really was amazing. You could see that it really affected him. His first UFC win in his hometown at Sleep Train Arena, formerly known as Arco. It was a really great moment. I know my mom was very excited. She loves him. He is. He is. is her favorite fighter, him and Carlos Condit, and I think Faber a little more. She said she was shaking, and that place was shaking. It was amazing. Every M.MA fan deserves to see Yariah come out to California Love in Sacramento. It's unbelievable. So my cap is tipped towards Yariah Faber. What he has done over the last few fights is amazing. And I think Michael McDonald will, you know, he'll learn a lot. He's young. He's very young. He's been pushed very quickly. And just,

deservedly so. He's fought some of the best and he's being some of the best. He'll be back, just like Faber has come back. And this time around, let's see who he fights and handicap that. But I think he is better today than he was. Maybe the brow fight came a little too quickly. Who knows? I want to see him step up in the big show on the big stage, fighting for that belt again, because I do think that he needs that UFC title. He doesn't want to be Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley. WC was great. He had the belt when they were owned by Zoufa. It was essentially the same thing. But I think your eye favor deserves to be UFC champion. So let's see what happens.

Our next question. Super fights. Champ versus Champ. Johnson versus Cruz or Barrao at 130 pounds. And Aldo versus Pettis at 150 pounds. Who wins these fights? By the way, Dash brings up John Elway after winning the two titles. That's another good one.

So there are some out there. I'm not saying GSP's alone, by the way. But I do like the comparisons. Anyways. Champ versus Champ. Well, you can't take it. Johnson versus Cruz or Brow, two different fighters. By the way, I don't think those fights are happening, especially the 135 ones.

Cruz has been out for so long. I don't see it happening. He has a win over Johnson. I think they need, they're kind of done with the super fight talk for now. You can tell. I think they need to, you know, build contenders and keep the train rolling along. So I don't see it happening. And I don't really see it happening at 150 either for Aldo and Pettus. I truly don't. If you're asking who I think will win, well, let's start with Aldo Pettis. I think Pettis wins that fight, if healthy, at this point. I think Pettus wins the fight. Johnson versus...

Johnson versus Cruz, man, is a tough one. I think Cruz wins maybe a little bigger. And I think Johnson beats Berao. What do you think? I've got the heavier guys in these matchups. I've got Pettis, and then I've got Cruz and Borough, but

every time I pick against Demetrius, it ends up really badly. I mean, we saw Cruz versus Johnson. Yeah. 130. It's a little different, but, and I do believe, by the way, I mean, Johnson has fought five times since then, I believe, off the top of my head.

He has improved incredibly, and Cruz hasn't fought since then. So you have to take those things into account. But if you just pretend that there are 100% none of those factors, we saw the fight, but he's definitely improved. Yeah, no, I agree with that completely. All right, next question. Cody McKenzie, how weird was that on Saturday? That's it.

Wow. Yeah, that was pretty weird. That was pretty weird. You know, they told me that he didn't have a mouthpiece, didn't have shorts, they had to go get the shorts. What can you say? Cody McKenzie wasn't very happy with me after the fight. I was actually filming the post-fight show. I was doing a quick report on the fly weights, and he just was asking me questions.

Didn't like something that I said in the weigh-in show. I read a quote from Cody McKenzie that is on his. his UFC.com profile about his education, his background, and that he went to the school of Hard Knocks and this or that. He said, he never said that. And I said, well, it's on UFC.com. You should tell him to take it down. It's on your bio right now. And I even went back to look, and it's still there. So he wasn't happy. But anyway, he lost to Sam Stout. He was wearing shorts with pockets. And that was strange. And Dana White said they were embarrassed. It was amateur. And it was. I mean, he didn't have shorts.

Why? I don't know. Didn't have a chance to talk to him about it when he came up to me after the fight. But why couldn't they have just gone shorts without pockets? That's what I'd like to know. Why'd you have to get the mesh shorts with pockets? I feel like there wasn't much thought put into this. Come on.

He still had the tag on. Yeah, I know. That's true. I don't think there was much calculation involved. Bizarre. That's a first. Dana said he was more embarrassed about that than the Dennis Hallman one, which he was way more fired up about Hallman.

and I don't know which is worse. I mean, honestly, I don't really... I guess the McKenzie one is worse because it's so willy-nilly. The tag is still there. The Holman one was at least thought about there was a sponsor there. It wasn't done spur of the moment.

And I guess that is a little more professional. Bizarre. Our next question. Thoughts on Bobby Green. Do you guys think that Bobby Green is in the top 10 of the lightweight division? His speed, athleticism, striking accuracy, head movement,

and take down defense are really good. I'm looking forward to him to fight a top 10 guy. In fact, I really like his chances to beat some top 10 guys like Jim Miller, Graham Maynard, and Nate Diaz. It's funny you say that. I was just looking at Jim Lehrer. I was like, wow, that'd be a fun fight. Very impressed with him, and it's great that he's finally getting his due,

finally getting a chance on the big stage. He's very entertaining. He's entertaining in his interviews. He's entertaining as he walks down to the cage and he's rapping. He's entertaining after his fights when he spits the water in the air la Triple H. He has this cocky attitude, which is fine, keeps his hands down, likes to play around a little bit, but he goes out there and he's very aggressive and he was very aggressive in that fight. And he really, in my opinion, that was more impressive than the Vokman performance.

I feel very strongly about what Pat Healy can do in the cage. And I have a lot of respect for him. And that was a very impressive performance. And I think Bobby Green deserved to win. I don't know if he's top 10 yet. he's certainly there, you know, top 12 or 11, you know, who knows at the bottom. But yes, a fight against a Miller. You know, I don't know about Maynard fighting again.

I'm not sure, you know, if that's in the cards from after some of the big shots. But Green Diaz would be fun. It certainly would be fun. You know, Peta said he wants Diaz, so who knows if, you know, Diaz would want to fight against Bobby Green, but Green Diaz would be very fun. That's a great fight. I like that fight too. But I think that he needs one more before he hops into that top 10.

Yeah, but sometimes, you know, you get opportunities. I'll say this, though. He can hang. Volkman and Healy are two of the best, like, grinders. Yeah. They will get on you, and they will break you. And he just completely countered them. I mean, you said that you were more impressed by this fight.

I'd say it was about equal just because of the fact that Volkman had him on bottom for the first round, and he didn't wilt. And he came back in that fight. And that really showed me something about Bobby Green that plays. into every time I think of him fighting, just that you can't break his will like that. Because most guys will wilt under that pressure when Volkman gets on top.

So I've been extremely impressed by Bobby Green. I'd say that maybe, you know, put your hands up. I find it entertaining, but I think it would have looked more dominant if he wasn't playing around. They'll play around, right, right. But he did say, you know, he did it to make up for the last fight where he felt, you know, the fans didn't get what they expected, so he wanted to put on a show.

And I understand that too, but I think he would have looked even more dominant than he already did if he just fought the way he's capable of rather than playing around a little bit. Once you reach the big dog, sorry to interrupt, you can't do that anymore. I agree. But in terms of skills and promise,

Bobby Green is way up there. And if you're bored one day, find my interview with him in Strike Force after the JZ fight and how frustrated he was. And this is the guy who was fighting the opening, fights of strike force. It didn't seem like he was going anywhere. And he's been around a long time, King of the Cage and whatnot. He's come so far from then. And he's very close to, you know, really being able to cash in. So let's see what happens. Next question. What is it about Ariel that

makes Dana want to treat him like a pesky little brother? Wow. I've definitely heard worse questions ask than whether DJ is now a legitimate pay-per-view draw. Well, that I guess is a question for Dana, because I don't know what it is about me. I don't know. I mean, I thought that was a fine question. I don't think that was a bad, I mean, that was a legit question. Here's why I asked that question in case you're wondering. Is Benson Henderson a bigger pay-per-view draw today than he was before fighting on Fox? I don't think so. Is Kane Velasquez a bigger pay-per-view draw today than he was before fighting on Fox?

I don't know if the proof is in that pudding. I don't know if it is a direct correlation. Now, we're very new to all of this. It's very early in the game. And again, the UFC doesn't make those. number is public, but from what the numbers are that are released, there's not a direct correlation there. Is Gilbert Melendez is a bigger pay-per-view draw? I don't know. So I wanted to know if he thought, and of course he's going to say what he wants to say, but I wanted to know if he thought the guy

who just fought three times in the main event of a Fox show this year, and one calendar year, can you stick them on pay-per-view in the main event and sell? You would think, you're getting two million views, right, on Fox at least. You would think, what, does that equal 500,000 viewers? Is that equal 400, 600, 700? Who knows? That's what I wanted to know. I didn't think it was a crazy question. Isn't that what this is all about? Fox leading to pay-per-view draws, right? Isn't that what this is all about? Creating stars? That's why you put guys like Demetrius on pay-per-view, excuse me, on Fox, and not guys like John Jones, not guys like GSP. That's what this is all about, right? So that's what I wanted to know. Had he reached that

point yet, was the work done on Fox? Does he graduate now? But as far as the pesky brother thing, that's a question for him. Our next question. GSP removed from the welterweight rankings. Should GSP be removed from the welterweight rankings when he hasn't officially retired? He got removed from the rankings less than 24 hours after his press conference. Do you think Dana wanted it removed right away? It's worth noting that Diaz is still on the rankings. People have been saying that. Oh, that's very interesting. I think he was removed because he vacated the title, but yeah, that doesn't make much sense.

But again, the welterweight rankings, excuse me, the UFC.com rankings make no sense because I'm looking at them right now and Damien Maya is ranked fifth and Jake Shields is ranked sixth. In case you forgot, Damien Maya lost to Jake Shields. How does that make sense?

I bet I could find a thousand of those examples. Let me see. Let me see. Let me find one more, just for fun. Let's go down here. Oh, how about this one? This is a good one. This is a fun one. Shogunhua ranked 6th. Chil Sunnan rank 8th. Now, of course, one's coming off a win, one coming off a loss, but Chil Sunni beat Shogunhua in August. And a win over Tehuna doesn't necessarily equal a loss to Rashad Evans. Do you know what I'm saying? Doesn't make sense. The owner Machita's 10th at light heavyweight? How does that make any sense? the whole thing is very strange

so I'm not going to get too caught up about that our next question do you think that Rory McDonald will return to form now that GSP is out of the way and is for is a hobby still involved in Rory's camp yes he is still involved I'm curious to see what they're going to do with Rory

are they going to make the Rory Condit fight now that the D.S fight is off the table DAS turning down that fight it would make a lot of sense or maybe they do Jake Shields' conduct? There isn't a clear-cut answer. The Diaz fight would have been so much fun. It would have been so great.

It was the perfect fight to get Diaz back into the mix. It was the perfect... This whole scenario was so perfect for Diaz. It's a bummer that he's not coming back. But I do agree with Dana. It's time to let him go. It's time to just let him decide when he wants to come back.

Enough of the... You know, the guy doesn't want to fight. So what? Let him be. It's time. You can't keep trying to get him back. He has his reasons. You've got to respect that.

but that would have been fun. Roy McDonald, he is with Zahabby. Will he return to form? Let's see. Only he knows. His interview sold me, but let's see if he actually puts it together. You just touched on this a little bit.

What is Nick Diaz waiting for? Do you think he is waiting for the dust to clear after the next couple of welterweight fights or is Nick Diaz looking for the cash? I don't know if he's looking for either of those things. I think Nick Diaz just maybe doesn't like doing what needs to be done to fight. He doesn't want to go through all of this. He loves to train.

You know, he's a triathlet. He's a fantastic athlete. But maybe he just doesn't want to go through all of this. Maybe he doesn't like the sport for the same reason. You know, George needed a break from the sport. Different scenarios. One's a much bigger start than the other. But, you know, there are pressures on Nick Diaz's shoulders. Maybe he doesn't want to, he likes to help out his brother, likes to help out the team. You know, only he can answer those questions. But I thought if he wasn't going to come back for Carlos Condit, I don't know what he's coming back for. Now maybe in two years he'll change his mind. But that was the fight to come back to. That's the fight. I thought he wanted to avenge. And I was very surprised. When I first heard about it, I thought, wow, Diaz is coming back. This is going down. And then when he turned it down, apparently, according to Dana, I was very surprised. So who knows? I don't think he's about the cash things like that. I just think he doesn't want to be a part of, he doesn't want to do all this. He doesn't want to get ready for the fight. Not because he can't. I just think he's not into it right now. And like Farras said, if you're not into it, you shouldn't do it. Our next question.

Paul Daly, after his win over the weekend for Bama, is there any chance of one F.C. picking him up and building him alongside Ben Askern for a potential matchup down the road. I reckon Ascern would absolutely dominate Daly, but I still think it's one of the better potential waterweight matchups outside of the UFC. That's a great point. Tough matchup for Paul Daly, but that is a good call. He does have his deal with Bama, but it's exclusive only to the UK.

That is a very good call. I love that fight. Now, can Daly stop the takedown? That's the big question. It's the question that's plagued him throughout his career. But, man, is he a fun fighter? And it would be fun to see. The problem is, you know, we've seen these fights for Ben Ascreen in the past.

We've seen him versus the strikers. And it just doesn't turn out to be a great fight for the striker. But as far as name is concerned, I mean, there aren't a lot of great free agents out there at 170 pounds. So, yeah, Paul Daley would be fantastic. You can tie me up for that one. And he's shown over. and over, he only needs one punch to... Oh my gosh, that knockout was unbelievable.

He's... The guy, it was like someone pressed a button, he just went... His highlight reel is among the best in MMA. Next question. About the women's strawweight division on Tuff. I personally love the fact that the UFC are going to use Tuff 20 to introduce and crown the new women's strawweight champion. Do you like this?

Also, what do you think of the idea of the coaches being fighters that are retired, injured, etc.? I think someone like Dan Hardy would be a great choice. So as I said before, I think they should just be every fighter for themselves. So they just prepare and then... So I wish I could watch that comeback season because I wonder how did they make the fights for that one? Maybe they just announced the bracket right off the bat.

Sean Shelby makes the fights. This is the bracket and here we go, right? Everyone knows. This is when you're fighting. Bang, let's do it. They need to make it different. The teams, it's not going to work for this one. They're all fighting for a belt.

They're not fighting for a contract. It's different. And to a degree, they're fighting for a contract. But you know what I'm saying? It's a much different scenario with different stakes. I'd like to see, you know, the Julie Kedzez of the world, the Gina Keranos of the world, the Ronda Roosies of the world, the Misha Tates of the world. And, you know, the Matt Hughes's and the Force Griffins and the Greg Jax. Anyone who wants to come in, who they think will make sense, they come in, they help them train, they get prepared for their fights. But every woman for herself, that's what I think makes most sense. I don't want to see T. Team Penn versus Team Edgar. Not for this one. It doesn't make sense. I don't like it. Our next question, what fights are you looking forward to next year and why?

This person can't wait for Machita versus Musasi, for instance. Well, I got to tell you, right now, at the top of my head, one of the fights that I'm really looking forward to, that's not sign that is, you know, still something has to happen before it happens. But Faber versus Cruz 3, based on how Faber looked on Saturday. and if Cruz returns to form, which is a big if, if he returns to form,

I would be very excited to see that fight. Very excited. Incredibly excited. I really like that one too. That's amazing. Other than that, you know, Machita Musasi is a great fight. I'm curious to see the evolution of your boy, Jacques-Arey. He has a fight against Carmel, but he's very close to a title shot.

Evans Cormier, very curious to see how Cormier does at 205, a very important fight for him. you know, I want to see Gustafsson back, and I want to see if you can get back to John Jones. Jones to Shera, of course. You know, I kind of wish we were seeing Jones Gustafin right off the bat, but I get it. And I think those are interesting fights. I'm looking forward to the return of Connor, of course. I mean, I'm just kind of listing things here. There's no, you know, I think going into this year, I think one of the great things about

2013, we got to see a lot of the fights we wanted to see. I mean, just think about, I was thinking about this. Think about the back end of 2013. Wyman Silva was the fight I wanted to see going into this year. Pettus Thompson, excuse me, Pettus Henderson was the fight I wanted to see going into this year. Jones Gustafson wasn't really on the radar, so to speak, but there was a lot of buzz about Gustafin after the B.J, the Shogun fight in Seattle, which was, you know, this time last year. We got to see it, and it was incredible.

K&JDS3 was the biggest fight they could make at heavyweight. Johnny Hendricks versus GSP You know before It was around this time in Seattle That Fox event That's when they announced the Nick Diaz fight And Hendricks was very upset Well we got to see the fight

Now we're going to get to see the rematch We got to see all the big fights that we want to see Even Rouse Zemisha Tate too We're getting to see that fight So we were very spoiled this year There were still some injuries but at the top And hopefully everything stays the same for 168

At the top things have been good for this stretch That world tour and all that The fights materialized So there's no clear-cut one above the rest off the top of my head. I think of Cruz favor, but I'm obviously curious to see what happens with some of those other fights I mentioned. Yeah, those are all great. Only one I'd add is BJ Penn, Frank Yeager, obviously. That's it for the website questions.

Okay. Going to jump into Twitter. Man, Cormier, Rashad, it's going to be amazing. It is going to be amazing. I'm it's a tough fight a very tough fight for Kormier

off the bat right first for that I thought doesn't get any tougher yeah it doesn't get any tougher I mean if he wins his fight he should get a title shot here's our first question from Twitter

hey Ariel what is more surprising Hunt versus Bigfoot going five rounds or Mighty Mouse versus Joey somebody used Joey B going only a few minutes Joey boots yeah how about that who would have thunk it

those two main events back to back, who would have thunk it? Everyone would have thought Hunt Bigfoot would go two minutes and then Joey B versus Mighty Mouse going five rounds and look at that. That's why we love the sport. That's why I loved Hunt Bigfoot so much. It was so unpredictable. That's why I loved Jones Gustafsson so much. It was so unpredictable. And that's part of the reason why I enjoyed Mighty Mouse Benevita so much because it was so unpredictable. The unpredictability of mixed martial arts is in many ways what makes it so great. And, you know, pro wrestling, right? I mean, before MMA was as big as it is today,

I got my fix from pro wrestling, the combat sports fix. It's so predictable now. I can't watch pro wrestling. It's too predictable. We know what's going to happen. And it's not creative and things of that nature. There's a lot of issues. But my main issue with pro wrestling, it's so predictable.

I feel like I know what's going to happen. I did when I was watching it. I haven't really seriously watched it in a while. MMA you never know. You can't sit here and tell me that, oh, this and that has led me to believe that Chris Wyman's going to win again. You don't know. We have no idea what's going to happen December 28th, and that's what makes it so great. And this is a perfect example of that.

Objectively, I guess I'd have to go Hunt versus Bigfoot. But just because of the fact that any one punch can end the fight. I didn't even answer the question. I thought it was more of a statement. But yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I do agree. But, I mean, this is a perfect question. that displays why MMA is such a great sport.

I do agree, though. That is the bigger surprise. Next question, what do you make of two judges scoring the first round 10-9 to Castillo in his fight against Edson Barbosa when it was clearly a 10-8? I mean, it's the same thing with what we saw Bader and Peros.

We do not know, everyone, you know, they say what they want, the people who did the courses and all that. You can't sit here and tell me that we know what a 10-8 is. It's not clear. When I watch kickbar, When I watch boxing, I know what a 10-8 is.

I had the opportunity to talk to Andy Foster, who is the head honcha, the executive director, I believe is his official title of the California State Athletic Commission. This man is a breath of fresh air. He has fought in the past. He led the way in Georgia. He worked for that commission. On Saturday, he told me that he had no judge was anything less than a purple belt, but hey, they got this one wrong. maybe you need someone who has everything who's done MMA. That being said, this man agreed Andy Foster and I'd love to get him on the show at one point

that something needs to be done. He wrote a great open letter to the fellow commissioners telling them that things need to change. The 10 point must system doesn't work. It doesn't work. It's clear that it doesn't work. Bader Perosh. And it's not just the people who do it and that's a big part of it. It truly is a big part of it.

I do agree. It is a big part of it. the people implementing this don't know what they're doing. But look, you have competent people and they still don't know what they're doing. The system isn't easy enough. The system isn't clear enough. The criteria isn't clear enough to give the right scores. And that is an example. You weren't quite sure. That's the point I'm trying to make. You weren't quite sure. When Castillo rocked him and kudos to him, it was a great fight. Kudos to Barbosa, great comeback. When Castillo rocked him, we were wondering, oh, is he going to give him a 10-8? We don't know. If we were,

watching boxing, if you're watching kickboxing, you know, oh, that's a 10-8. All right, we know going into it. You're not sure in a man. That's the problem. Our next question, do you think Makowski's impressive performance makes the case that the level of competition in Bellator is closer to the UFC than people think? I think McCoskey's a much better fighter than he was in Bellator. I think that he's obviously now fighting at flyweight. I don't think people have ever disagreed that at the top of the food chain in most of the divisions, clearly 155. Chandler and Alvarez could be in the UFC and do very well. Ascran could be in the UFC and I think he could do well to a certain degree. Lombard has proven that he can at least hang in the UFC and he's, you know,

gotten a second wind here at 170. Pat Curran, Daniel Strauss, I think they could do well. Dantas to a degree, I think he can hang. I don't know if he'd be a champion, not 100% sold, on him, but he did defeat Makovsky at 135. Some of the bigger guys, I think Schlmenko could do fine. I don't think he'd be a champion, but I think he could do fine, and I think he's a very entertaining fighter. 205, heavyweight, not quite sure, but the point is, at the top of the food chain, I don't think there's any doubt. It's the lower guys that we think can hang, but the top guys, I don't think there's any doubt, and credit to Mikovsky. Great matchup for him. Took it on short notice, performed well, Jorgensen's first fight at 1.25, all the stars aligned.

and yeah, I'm very curious to see what he does. He looked great. Our next question, Edson Barbosa and Abel Trujillo's performances were amazing. What is next for them? A matchup could lead to one of them getting a title shot at lightweight. I don't know about that. There's a long list of guys. I want to see Barbosa crack the top 10.

I think or at least get an opportunity to fight a top 10 fighter. I think he deserves that now. You know, I heard that one of the fights that they really wanted was Donald Soroni. Maybe he fights the winner of Soroni versus Martins. That's happening next month at Chicago. Soroni versus Barbosa would be a lot of fun. Did Barbosa beat Martins, right? Am I crazy?

No. In the UFC? Definitely not. Back in the day... Who am I thinking of? That who beat who? Who did Martins fight? Adrian Martinez in his last fights fought someone.

He was fighting on one of those Brazil shows and let's see here he defeated Derek Crookshank okay um yeah that'd be a i mean seroni versus barboza would be a great fight in my opinion yeah that would be a good fight um i'm drawing oh yeah there's hobi lov and dos angios they'd be close there you know even barbosa versus nait diaz would be fun right anyone versus Nate Diaz is always fun anybody who's going to stand with Barboza it's going to be and Chuhio

great performance when he is putting it together he looked great he looked vicious in there holy moly when he pointed at Roger Bowling after that that was that was a dominant win

I still think they need to take their time with him work his way up but I think Barbosa is a little bit ahead of him if you ask me next question do you think the Hendricks Lawler fight was the best option, or do you think Condit deserved a shot? I get it.

First off, what you have to realize is Dana White is a big... He is a big Robbie Lawler fan. And by the way, Lucas Martines. It's in Barbosa, beat him. Two different guys. That's what I was thinking. He likes Lola. He's always liked Lola from back in the day.

Lollars look good. It's a great story. It's a great matter. matchup, we haven't seen it before. We saw Condit versus Hendricks. Also, Condit lost to GSP. He also lost to Hendricks. So, you know, he has that win over Camden, build him back up, get him another big win, no rush. He's probably going to, you know, get a title shot with one or maybe two. Maybe. One might even do it in this current climate. So I think it's a fresh matchup. It's a fun matchup. They both hit very hard. You want to see how Loller would do against his wrestling.

It's a great story with him getting the title shot. Who would have thunk it all. all that stuff. So I think all that plays into it. And at first I was surprised, but then I was like, you know what? I get it. And with Condit, there are interesting fights. He could fight McDonald. You know, Lawler can't do that.

He already fought McDonald. So I'm okay with it. I like it. Our next question. Is Alexander Gustafsson starting to become a huge star? He just won the cover vote for the EA sports game. And he seems to have a huge following now. Well, he's certainly very popular in Europe.

And I asked John this question in a very interesting interview. thought on Friday after the wayans. He almost raised Alexander Gufferson and, you know, he was kind of a little, you know, he was saying, oh yeah, this is going to be the worst thing that you've ever done and all that stuff. And, you know, he kind of helped raise his stock in a weird way. And you could tell he was a little, you know, kind of, he was kind of annoyed that he won the vote. But man, honestly, it had to have crossed everyone's mind. On the day GSP walks away that he loses this to Alexander Gusseson, I don't, I don't know if GSP is quite at the level, excuse me, if if Gustafin is quite at the level of one George St. Pierre.

And maybe Gustafson promoted it more and campaign more. Maybe that is the case. But it did seem a little funny. Didn't it? I mean, come on. That being said, it's probably best that it happened this way. They are linked together. It's a great fight.

You build that momentum. And think about it, the momentum and the timing is fantastic. Because Jones is fighting in April. Gustafin's fighting in March. This game is coming out in the spring. they will probably both have their fights already when it comes out. They could be fighting each other as the promotion of this game really ramps up. They could be booked to fight each other.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, the stars could not align better. And it is a little funny to see like GSP and John Jones on the cover. Like, it doesn't really make a lot of sense. So I'm okay with it, even if they played around. No big deal. But yes, Gus of Sin, his stock has really raised. And by the way, the cover vote thing, I thought was a great idea because it got the game out there.

and it was in the discussion and people were campaigning, and it was success in that sense. So whatever they wanted to do at the end, trust me, I've worked on that side of the fence. It happens. And I don't think anyone's going to cry. Certainly not GSP. Bigger deal for Gustavson, so give him the win.

And yes, regardless of that, I do think his stock has raised, and I'm super excited. I just question the decision to put him on that digital network. This is his first fight post the best fight of the year. This is the fight that could get him another title shot. Are you splintering the audience by putting him on the digital network? We'll find out.

Next question. Will UFC 168's buys suffer from the $5 increase? I buy most paper views, but we'll be going to a sports bar for this one now on principle. Well, kudos to you, my friend. I don't think that it will suffer. Honestly, I think enough people want to see the top two fights, the third, you know, big fight. Brown and Barnett is huge, and I don't think it's going to suffer. I really don't. I don't think anyone's going to say I'm not watching it. Maybe, maybe a few more people will go to the bar, but I think you're the kind of person who wants to go to the bar or not go to the bar. I don't like to watch pay-per-views at bars. I like to hear the commentary. I like to be relaxed. I like to be on my couch and things of that nature.

So I don't think the extra $5 is going to be like, screw you, UFC, I'm going to the bar. That's just my opinion. I think you're the kind of person who either wants to do it or not. I think this opens up a can of worms. You know, when do you raise it, when you don't, when do you not raise it? If this card warranted raise, what about other cards that, you know, maybe aren't quite at the level of your typical pay-per-view? I mean, it's interesting. It's certainly interesting. But as far as this show, I don't think that less people are going to watch it.

Maybe less will buy it. Maybe. Maybe people will come together a little bit, but it's five bucks. So I don't think it's too drastic. If it was 10, maybe 15, maybe different. but five, I don't think, is that big of a tipping point. Last question on your favorite subject. What are your thoughts on Ronda Rousey being ranked number 10 on the UFC pound for pound rankings?

Where do you have a ranked, if not number 10? I don't know if she's fine. You know, I have no problem with it. I guess it's so, it's a good question, skip to my thing. I mean, it's, it's the pound for pound rankings is, it's very silly to begin with. I get involved in it. Don't get me wrong. it's never going to happen. And now you bring in women and it's different.

But I really have, you know, if I did think if she won her next 10 in her own, I thought she was top five, I would put her in there. I have no problem with it. I mean, we're already, you know, it's already a stretch what we're doing here. So I don't think there's a difference. That's why I want to see the quote unquote fight against Brian Carraway. I think these women train with men. I have no problem with it. But does she right now, given her resume, deserve to be on there? That's the bigger question. And I'm not quite sure. I'm not quite sure she's done enough in the sport had enough wins to warrant it.

Two, three, four, five wins, maybe. But I don't know. This is the question you have to ask yourself. If she fought Demetrius Johnson at the same way, could she win? If she fought Kane Velasquez, given their skill set, John Jones, given their skill set, that's what pound is. You know what I mean? You know, there are some people who I almost think that in,

it's weird, but like in divisional rankings, they're lower, but then in Power for Power rankings, they're higher. Someone like, you know, a Vitor Belford or Rashad Evans, people that come to mind who are non-champions who deserve credit. They can go different weight classes. Their skill set is one that would work at Flyweight or middle-weight or light heavyweight. You know what I mean? So that's the question. And I don't think she's there right now. That's it. Certainly the best when you're talking women's MMA right now. I think she's beaten enough. but then you open yourself up to a bigger pool and more skill set and tougher competition. I mean, women's MMA right now isn't at the place of the men's side of things.

I don't think anyone would disagree with that. So maybe two, three, four, five wins, something like that. We'll see who she fights. But I tell you, I tell you this much, I thought at first, and maybe I'm just saying that because the fight is coming up, but I thought at first it would be a big mistake to have her weight. You know, so long, it feels like she fought like 15 years ago. but now I feel like having her weight built up this list of contenders

and it was a good thing for the division. Looking forward to it. All right, we're done. Alfred, you can hit my music. I can't have a breath here. Great show. I want to thank Lori. Remember, December 21st, Glory 13.

They're back. They're in Tokyo. And hopefully we'll see New York Rick on Spike TV. How about that? turn. Big Welchway tournament. Raymond Daniels. Remember that name. That guy's good. I want to thank everyone who stopped by. I want to thank everyone who sent in questions, comments. Looking forward to remember, we are off next week, December 23rd, but there will be a special edition of the MMA beat on Monday posted for you a year-end edition, so stay tuned for that.

But we are back December 30th, so this is not our last episode of the year, so we won't get all nostalgic and sentimental. That will be the fan appreciation show, and we hope that you will join us If you can't join us, send us questions, comments, whatever you want. I want to thank E. McCall for stopping by. Best of luck to him. Appreciate him stopping by very much. Ray Longo, good luck against Anderson Silva, UFC 168. Holy moly, that's going to be nuts.

Johnny Hendrix, congratulations on getting the big title fight against Robbie Lawler, March 15th, UFC 171. Carlos Sparza, good luck on tough 20. Kind of sucky that we have to wait so long, but I am looking forward to it very, very much. Fraza, Habi, thank you very much for shedding some light. on George St. Pierre's big decision. Phil Brony, good luck getting that fight against Ben Ascran. And welcome back to training.

Demetrius Johnson, congratulations on the big win Saturday night in Sacramento, California. And Julie Kedzi, congratulations on a great career. And congratulations on being the new Invicta FC matchmaker. Thank you very much for all your questions and comments. Thank you so much for watching the show. We're off next week. Back in two. Until then, I say, peace.

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