MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 217

Episode Date: August 29, 2014

Featuring Johny Hendricks and manager Alex Davis in studio, Ricardo Almeida, and John Crouch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the Downloaded 2, 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?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for the show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other. Introducing O-DU. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier,

CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-4-3 at O-D-O-D-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-O-com. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with... The Mixed Martial Arts Hour back in your life on this Monday, January 27, 2014.

Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Halwani Insider, New York City Studio. Great show plan for all of you today. We actually have two in-studio guests today, and I'm very excited about that. Trying to get more guests in studio. It's great to talk to them on the phone via Skype and all that, but there's a different dynamic when they're here in person. So I like that very much.

I'm very excited about today's show. Of course, we're joining the back of the background. as always by New York, Rick. Buzzkill's not in the house. Will is here, and Alfred, of course, is back there doing his thing. And in the third hour at around 320, we're going to be taking your questions and comments. Yes, I know a lot of you have questions. A lot of you have comments.

We'll be addressing all of that at around 320. So do not worry. At around 3 o'clock, we're going to be joined by John Crouch, who is the head coach for Benson of course over at the lab. A big win for Benton Henderson's somewhat controversial win on Saturday night in Chicago. We'll talk to John Crouch about the win and about this sort of reputation that Benson has developed of squeaking out these close decision wins. Ricardo Almeida is a former UFC fighter turned MMA judge. He's also a coach still.

He works with Frankie Edgar and all those guys in New Jersey. He will be judging over at UFC 169 this weekend in Newark. And I wanted to talk to him about just the evolution of going from a fighter to a judge, especially these days with judging being. such a hot topic in the world of mixed martial arts. At around 2 o'clock, we'll be joined by Alex Davis, who is a longtime MMA manager. He'll be in studio. He manages the likes of John Lineker, who's fighting this weekend, Bigfoot Silva.

He's been around the sport for a very long time, managed a bunch of guys from American Top Team. He was with Adriano Martins in Chicago. A lot of great insight from Mr. Alex Davis, and I'm looking forward to having him in studio. Of course, you can hit us up using the hashtag the MMA hour. Leave us a question in the post below. We'll get to all that stuff.

As I mentioned in the third hour, best question of the day, gets one of these tops boxes. But first, let us welcome in. In studio, for the very first time, he's been on this show many, many times in the past, but this time in studio, the uncrowned champion, as I like to call him, of the UFC's Walterweight Division, Big Greg himself, Johnny Hendrix.

Johnny, how are you? Doing wonderful. You? I'm doing great. What brings you to New York? Just doing a little bit of PR for Reebok in the new Z-Series, Z-Quick series, so a new shoe coming out. Just doing that and hanging out.

This is the shoe? Yeah, that's the shoe. Now, what kind of shoe is this? It's a very stylish shoe. Yeah, it is. It's actually based off of attire. So if you look at the bottom, yeah, if you look at the bottom, see how they're individually and twist it, turn it, it's sort of mold to your foot.

Would you use this to work out? Yeah, that's what I use the train in, you know, do a lot of different, you know, we're running constantly through different environments. So this shoe actually works out very well. me. Now, is this Johnny Hendrick's shoe? No, it's not the Johnny Hendrick shoe. Why don't you have your own shoe? Well, where's the love? Well, we're probably going to do that. I don't, you know, yeah, we might. I don't, you know, it's just one of those things that, uh, we're, we're just starting out. So we want to get the fill of each other and then see where, where it goes from there.

How did the whole Reebok relationship start? Because this is a big deal in our, you know, in other sports, someone has a deal with Reebok or another, you know, blue chip sponsor. It's not a big deal. but in our sport, because we're always striving for that kind of legitimacy, it's big news. How did it happen with you? It was a weird thing. They actually went up there and saw they're at the fight with it whenever I fought, Condit. Okay, in Montreal. In Montreal.

And after that, they're like, man, this guy's, you know, he'd be perfect for us type thing. And we were actually looking for somebody new to and sort of fell in the place. And then been loving it ever since. So obviously, you don't fight with those because, you know, you have to fight barefoot. But everything else that you do, running, weight training, all that, those shoes. Running weight training, yeah, because they're very good on turf because each individual can grab. And they're lightweight. So we do everything without shoes on.

So it's actually nice to have a pair of shoe that's light and sort of forms with your foot so that way you can stay quick and do all those kind of things. Didn't you do something else with Reebok like that crazy race, the Spartan race? Yeah, the Spartan race. What is that? It was a five, I think four and a half mile run with like 25 obstacles and they just vary. You know, like you had to throw a spear. You had to do monkey bars. You had to do, you know what I mean?

In the mud, right? In the mud and stuff. Yeah. Is it a race? Yeah, it's a race. How'd you do? I did a, it's funny because as soon as I crossed the finish line there, like, how do you think you did? I had about an hour and 10.

You know, there's a couple parts that I wasn't going to go too crazy on because they're rock ledges. Right. And I was running through the first time, and a guy sort of bumped into me. I literally had to catch myself, sort of scrape my shins up pretty good, and then caught my balance. I was like, okay, I'm not going to do that no more. I'm going to walk those areas. And I walked across the finish line. I was like, you know what, I did about an hour and 10.

I did an hour and 10 in 0.3. Wait, you actually guessed your time? Yeah. You had no idea. Had no idea. But it felt like that. Really? You know, you're so used to working out.

Sure. You sort of know that internal time clock. The person who won the whole thing. How much... Oh, he did it in like 39 minutes? Really? Wow. But you were taking it easy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I don't... You know, that was for fun. Right. It was just, you know, I'm not going to sit there. And what I learned, too, is the first obstacle, try to get there first. Because the first obstacle, I had to wait 10 minutes to get through it

because everybody built up by that time. Because I was just like, you know what? I'll pass everybody on the obstacles, not knowing that there's going to be lines for each of them. Right, right, right. The business of Johnny Hendricks these days. It must be good, right? Coming off that, you know, I know it was a loss, but a lot of people, like I said, the uncrowned champion, it must be good to be Johnny Hendricks these days. Yes and no. Oh, really? Because, you know, I want that belt. You know what I mean? I know I'm getting to fight for it in a couple months, but I just wish I had it now. You know, I mean, in studio, right there. Right. But you really can't. so hold on to the past so much.

So, you know, I'm doing good. You know, training is hard. Just as always doing the same thing. Enjoying life. You just did a little bit of a media tour with Robbie Lala, right? Yes. To announce the tickets being on sale and whatnot. Robbie's an interesting guy because he's not much of a talker.

It kind of keeps himself. You had to do some fun things. Was it awkward to be around him? What was it like? No, it wasn't. For me, you know, wrestling throughout my life, me and you are number one and number two. we're going to be sitting in line right next to each other for, you know,

pretty much a whole career. So, you know, we get to talk and, you know, it's fun to have that kind of relationship. Okay, but when we get into the Ophgon, it'll be disappeared. So, you know, that's sort of the way that I, that's one thing that I love about this sport, is that you can be casual, be nice to people, and then when it's time to actually do your business, you can. Didn't you guys do, like, Snow Angels or something together? Yeah, we did Snow Globes.

Snow gloves. You have to actually build them? Well, yeah. Well, not build them, build them, but, you know, they gave us the parts to put them together. Why? For who? For Texas morning? Okay.

So you're on TV doing this. Yeah, we're on a TV show. Who made the better one? I don't know. I only made one. They made him make two. Why? I don't know.

Because he was right next to the main person. You, I could see, you know, you're a dad. He's a dad, too, but with the girls and all that. And I've seen you where you're at the parties. And I can't really see Robbie Lawler like doing arts and crafts. Just doesn't seem like that kind of guy. You know, I think it was, I think he did feel a little out of his comfort zone. But yes, me, I have to do that all the time.

Barbies, you know, I'm trying to get my girls. They like Ninja Turtles. So then I can actually get into it with them. And that's a little bit more of a male type of thing, right? Yes. Yeah, you can, you know, show them the martial arts and all that. There you go. Are they at the age now where they kind of understand what you do?

My oldest one? A little bit. How old? She's four. Oh, still young. Yeah, still young. She, you know, it's still separate. You know, Johnny Hendrix is a person on TV.

Right. I'm dead. You know what I mean? So that's, but she gets that this is me and that's me too. But hopefully I can keep it a little bit shelter, a little bit longer. Really? Okay. Yeah.

Why? You know, because I just want them to grow up, not seeing or not realizing what I do. You know, I mean, meaning that I'm... Are you embarrassed? No, no, it's just a public figure. Okay. You know what I mean? I want them to think that we're just a regular, we're regular people.

You know, I want them to grow up not going, oh, my dad's this. Gotcha. Because it's sort of embarrassing. My daughter was like, yeah, my daddy can kick your daddy. I'm like, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, that kind of stuff. And it's like, oh, thanks.

But what have people come up to you in person? She must wonder why are people coming up to you? Yeah, but that's also what, you know, that's, you know, that's, the cool side is that you get that part of it and then they get to see how you treat other people you know and sort of move on life like that

I hear from I don't really cover you know college wrestling and things like that I mean I know the names and I know about the Jordan Burroughs of the world but that's not my thing you know I'm amazed my thing but I hear from people that when you were in you know NCAA wrestling doing your thing at Oklahoma State you were kind of a bad boy

is that accurate You ruffled people's feathers. Well, what it was is, okay, like I said, you know how me and you are going to wrestle? Yeah. Constantly. You know, there's guys I've wrestled five, six, seven times. Well, I knew that that was going to happen every year. We're going to wrestle four or five times.

So what I try to do is if I could wrestle you and beat you, but also, you know, push you out of bounds, grab your ankles, yank them out from underneath you, do certain things to make you think that I'm playing with you. Right. and I beat you by only three points. Well, the next time I wrestle you, I do the same thing. I might beat you by six. So the mental side of the game, you're trying to get under their skin. Yes, just make it where they don't...

But that pissed off a lot of people. Yeah, well, a lot of people did not like me shoving them into their crowd. Yeah, I mean, but whenever I did interviews, I was, you know, like this. I was perfectly happy, but they didn't care about that. They just thought, I enjoyed wrestling, you know, just like fighting. You know, I smile a lot. Right. I have fun with it.

that's what I did with wrestling and they didn't like it. I'll let you take some water there. I know the weather here is kind of beating you up, right? Yeah, it's a little chilly. It is. It is. But were you considered dirty? Is that frowned upon in wrestling or are there top guys who do the same thing?

Well, what they want, what wrestling sort of wanted whenever I was coming through, now it's a little bit different. Okay. They wanted more drone style. You know, don't smile. Oh. Why do they want that? You know, just change. Okay.

You know, I mean change? Sometimes change is not a good thing to some people. And, you know, wrestling is growing to where it's changing a lot better. You know, and people can start showing their attitudes and have fun with it. And I think that's going to really help the sport out. So were you, you weren't considered like, I'm trying to think of who's like a guy who's kind of vilified in our sport that people really think is like, it wasn't that. that level. They just knew that you like to play tricks and things like that. Yeah, they, well, because in MMA, you're not known for that at all.

Yeah, well, because people listen to my interviews. Oh, okay. Gotcha. And they, they, they, they actually enjoy somebody that goes out there, smiles, and has fun with what they're supposed to be doing. And also, I put on, I try to put on the best show I can. Right. You know, I mean, and that's what I did with wrestling is that, hey, if there's 10 matches going on, I want to be the person that they're like, man, you know, you see that kid wrestled, that was incredible. Or, oh my gosh, I hated that kid.

Right. At least that they care about you. Yes. Right. But you don't even try anything in MMA. I don't ever see you doing any kind of tricks. No, no, no, no. You know, there's a, it's just,

what it is is whenever we fight, there's certain things that I can do, like, for example, on the clinch. If we're fighting and you put me in the clench, the first time I'll feel you try to do something hard, and I'll nullify it, and then I'll do my own. You know, make you feel. feel my power. Does that make sense?

Sure. And then, so that way the next time you won't try as hard, you know, there's little things that I still do. It's just not as I guess well-knownst. Or blatant, yeah. Yes. Is it true, though, that you had no interest in being an MMA fighter? Yeah, no, no whatsoever. You didn't even like it?

No, well, I watched it. Okay. I didn't want to be it. You had no interest in doing it? No, no, no. Why? You thought it was too brutal? No, I just, I just did not see myself as a fighter. I really didn't. I thought myself as being, you know, the guy who still watched it. But never in a million years would I have thought that I'd be here where I'm at now. When's your, like, when did you first start watching it?

Do you watch like all the way back, you know, in the 90s? Let's see. I started in like 2001. So even past like Hoist Gracie and all that stuff. Yeah, 2001, 2002. We started watching and then I started watching a lot of pride. Oh, really? Yeah, we watched a lot of pride.

And that's probably one reason. why I didn't want to be a fighter. I don't want to get kicked in the head. Why pride? Just because they were the more dominant. Would you actually stay up late? Yeah, we would stay up late. Me and King Moe, we'd actually watch Pride.

And he says, he told me, he tells me, he was like, yeah, you're going to be a fighter one day. And I was like, whatever. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because it's just not me. But, yeah, we watched it all time. Watched all time. Then my, let's see here, 2004, we started watching the pay-per-views.

Okay. where the team, hey, we're all going to get together. Yeah, the whole wrestling team would start get together. And then after that, it's sort of snowball effect to where a lot of people enjoyed it. At that point, was King Moe saying he wanted to be a fighter? Did he know that? You know, I don't know what, he, I think he was trying out for WWE. Oh, okay, yeah.

I think that's whenever he was doing that. No. No. That's not your thing. No, no, I did the real stuff. Yeah. I like the real. I like the, you know, if I lose, it's because I lost.

Right. I don't want to lose because you tell me. in the back. So you didn't want to be a fighter. Did you have any idea, you know, upon graduating? What did you want to do? Well, that's the thing. It's like, right before I graduated, my manager now, he called me, was like,

Hey, would you like to be a, yeah, Ted Earhart? Yeah, Ted Earhart, team takedown. He was like, hey, would you like to be a fighter? And I was like, okay. You said okay? Well, I said okay to get flown out. We flew out to Vegas. Okay.

I trained it. I trained with Tyson Griffin. Okay. And we were doing small gloves. and we're supposed to go like 10%, 15%, but you know, never been really punched in the face my whole entire life. You know, I've wrestled, but never been hit. Were you wearing headgear? No, we're just doing small gloves light.

Yeah. And then all of a sudden they're like, hey, you two need to chill out. I'm like, he's hitting me. You know, because you don't know how hard, like a tap now. Now I realize that he was under control. I wasn't. Right. And then I was like, all right, well, I really didn't like that too much.

back, prayed about it for two weeks. He called me up again. Hey, would you like to go back? Sure. Went back, got knocked out, came back home, prayed about it and said, all right, I'm going to do it. Really? Yeah. How does someone go from not liking it to saying I want to actually do this? Like, what switch for you? Well, I always wanted a family, and I always wanted to protect them. I thought I always could. I did not, there's no way I could have protected my family, you know, with the skill set that I had. You know, even as a collegiate wrestling, Yeah, you know, I could have. Right.

But I want to make it where I can get away too. Okay. Now you're making me think that I don't even have one ounce of the skills that you do as far as fighting is concerned. I could probably throw a basketball into a hoop. I don't know if that's going to save my family if we're in trouble. Now I'm starting to worry about myself. Yeah. Well, you just never know.

Sure. Definitely nowadays. Yeah. And, you know, you're walking down the street. Somebody might say, hey, I want your wallet. Well, you're tough. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

Have you ever had to use this? No. No, no. I try to... It's just nice to have it in your back pocket. Yeah, it's like, you know, carrying a gun. So that was the deciding factor. It wasn't that, oh, I want to be in the crowd and, you know, win a belt.

It's just I want to protect my family even better than now. Yeah, because here's the thing. It's like when I first started, of course, I always said I want to be a UFC champion. Because I want to set a goal for myself that I thought I could achieve. but did I think I was going to reach it? You know, you don't know. You're just like, okay, because in Team Take Down, the first year our contract was,

in the first year, they do an evaluation on you, and then if you went one and two, they can cut you. Oh, wow. Okay. So if you went, if you were two and one, then they'd keep you, you know what I mean? So they could evaluate you and decide if they wanted to keep you. So I was like, you know what, I'll do it a year, see what happens. And did the year.

I was 3-0 and I was like, oh. Is that when you started to see, I can actually be good at, like, did you know right away that you could be good at this sport or did it take some time? Well, it took my boxing coach, Ron Frazier at the time. He was like, man, you got a little pop in your punches. And he's like, once we figure out how to throw them better, you might be able to knock people out. Then about six to seven months later, I started going into the pro gym. You know, at first they were like, hey, you need to go straight pro. since you're this, this, this.

I went in there, I was like, I'm not ready for these guys. I need to develop skills, started going against guys my level. Once I felt comfortable enough, I went in there and started training, I was like, okay, I think I can, you know, because at that time there was a lot of great guys going through Randy Gator's gym. Right. And so I was like, okay, you know, I'm doing pretty good with these guys. I'm not doing great, but I'm getting better.

And so that's whenever I've really made the switch saying, all right, I'm going to even do more now to get myself where I need to be. It's interesting because you say you wanted to do this. and really get into it to protect your family. Correct me if I'm wrong, didn't at first when you met your wife to be, she didn't like the fact that you were a fighter. Yes, so it almost worked against you. Yes, it almost worked against me.

Yeah, she drove separate and then... She was that turned off by you that she didn't want to be in the same car as you? Well, she was scared. She was like... What do you think you were going to do to her? Yeah, well, that's what I said. I go, I said there, she was like, oh, I told all my friends what your license plate, blah, blah, blah. Wow.

You know, because I was, you know, a guy from Vegas. Okay. Fighter. She thought that there were some questionable things about this. Yes. Okay. And how did you, how'd you win her over? We went out that weekend, you know, and then came back and it sort of just fell into place, you know.

Just every two weeks, I flew in from Vegas. Yeah. To where? To where you live now? Okay. Yeah, to Oklahoma. Where she lived. She lived in Oklahoma City at that time.

And so I told her, I was like, I'm. I'm sacrificing a lot of guns to come see you. Because, you know, at that point, I was buying like one every three or four weeks, you know, just trying to build up a collection. And so I was like, I was giving a hard time about that. But it turned out to be a great choice. Of course. You have a great family now.

Oh, yeah. You mentioned Team Takedown. Has it been a success? I mean, you're the only guy. You're so close to getting that title. You're fighting for the belt again. But it has just been you at this point who's really graduated. There have been some other guys, and there are guys coming up.

We know about Jared Rochalt, who debuted recently. But would you say, because it created waves when they did it about signing the guys and paying them and things like that. And Ted's a great guy. But do you think the concept has been a success? Yeah. Well, you know, everything's a gamble. Right. You know what I mean?

One out of three, that 33 percent, that's pretty great. Right. You know what I mean? In all, in the math world, you know, I'll take 33 percent every day. Right. You know, definitely if I can make my money back on that 33 percent. but now you can actually, what's happening now is we're able to get more fighters because I am doing so well. Have you noticed that?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And more people are actually coming to our gym, which is great. You know, and that only just helps not only us, me as a fighter, but also my training partners also that gets them better. So, you know, it sort of just gradually gets everybody into a great, you know, hopefully hitting the top of. the peak. So you're sticking with it. Oh, yeah. You're not going to move away. You're not

going to do your own thing. You like the concept. You like where it's going. Yeah, I love my coaches too. You know, Mark Lehman, Adrian, Tony, and Stephen, you know, I love those guys to death. And not only that, but I love my managers. You know, this is a crazy the thing to say, you know, probably not everybody comes in and says that. You know, me and Tim

McBride, he's one of my managers. We go, we pretty much do something once a week. Okay. You know what I mean? And then Ted, once every two weeks or something we're always doing something together and that's sort of the relationship that I like. I couldn't see myself breaking off doing anything else.

You know it's amazing. UFC 167 here we are. It's about to be 169 it's been two and a half months since the fight. It doesn't feel like it's dying. It still feels like it's there. It still feels that we talk about it in some way, shape, or form every week on this show.

It was such a surreal thing because it was such a close fight and then what happened afterwards with the press conference and what Dana said, what GSP said, what you said to a degree, then GSP walking away, keeps going, then what GSP said recently about the UFC. Do you kind of feel like it's almost hard to put it in the rearview mirror? Have you been able to? Yeah, I've been able to put it into, you know, here's the thing, is like I've been telling everybody, I'm not mad at the judges.

I'm not mad at them at all, you know. Not even a little bit? Well, here's the thing is that, okay, let's say I, you know, we know GSP his turnaround rate sucks. You know what I mean? It takes him like six months to come back. So I'm actually grateful that he ended up turning over the belt, relinquishing it, so soon. I'm very grateful for that. And that ended up making me be able to fight in Dallas. You know, so if that doesn't happen, do I fight him in Dallas?

You know what I mean? Am I fighting in Dallas? You know, I'm probably fighting in probably April or even May. Even later, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm actually grateful for that. So with that being said, no, I'm not mad. It was never about him, you know?

At first, honestly, I'll be honest with you. I didn't believe you. Now I believe you. At first, you kept saying, I don't care of GSP, I just want the belt. I was like, I can't see that. I don't understand that because you want to be the champ, you've got to beat the champ. Yeah. But you really don't care about him. No, I don't care about him because, you know, here's, well, here's the thing is that, you know, in about five years,

right, everybody's going to be like, who is even me. You know, or 10 years from now, they're going to be like, there's always somebody bigger and better coming through. So what I wanted is that belt. That belt is something that you can have forever. You know what I mean? Fame comes and goes, but that piece of strap that Dana White puts around your waist never does. What did you think about his comments recently? Have you heard what he said?

Huh. He said that one of the major reasons why he left was because he didn't feel like the UFC stood by him with the drug testing issues. He said that he felt like fighters are scared. scared to speak up. He never points the finger at you, but he said that he felt, you know, he didn't like that the UFC call, Dana called him stupid, you guys look silly for doing this back and forth. What do you, would you make of those comments? You know, here's the thing, is we wanted a certain drug test, okay? VADA, you know, here's the thing. I don't like that somebody puts his face all over, you know what I mean? The website and everything. You thought something

something fishy was going on. Yeah, even if it's not, you're still not going to give me as an employee over to your website and say, hey, just trust us. Just trust us. Come over here. You know, I've never failed, never taken anything, so I knew I was not, I'm not worried about it. What I liked about WADA is that they hold on your blood test for 12 years. 12 years? Yeah, it's 12 years.

Okay. And then, so let's say you're taking a type of steroids right now that can't be tested. Well, as soon as they get the testing, they'll actually go back and retest your blood and say, oh, wait a minute, we couldn't test it now, but we can test it then. Remember that Olympic girl? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, you know, same thing. Yeah.

Is that's what scared him, I guess, to go the other way. I don't know. Why do you think it was so adamant to do this? Because Dana kept saying that he thought he wanted to do it just to clear himself. Like, again, I don't know if he thought it was anything on you, but maybe he just, he said enough is enough. and I want to teach people that I'm not doing anything. But it just, the whole thing spiraled into this whole back and forth.

I wonder why now? Because BJ Penn had accused him Nick Diaz. Why now? Why for this fight? It was somebody who hasn't accused him, right? Right. Yeah, that's the weird thing, right? Yeah, I was like, I told him, hey, if you're doing, whatever you're doing,

keep doing it because that's the person I want to beat. Yeah. I don't want him to be any weaker, anything else than what he was. And that's it. is that if I get accused, so like literally, if you say, hey, Johnny, you're on steroids, you know, I would get tested. You know what I mean? And I would go to a place that, you know, I don't need to go to water or any of these other big time things. Hey, I'd just go in there.

Hey, here's my drug test. Cool. I passed. Of course. You know, I'd post it, whatever. But for him to wait until he knew he was going to retire. You know what I mean? You think that all came into play.

Yeah. I think he was going to, he knew about this beforehand. Yeah, I think that if he won, he was going to retire and he knew that, hey, everybody thinks I'm on GHB or whatever is called. HG.H.H.B. is like, I think it's like a date rape. Okay. Well, see, there you go. I know my drugs, don't I? Don't take that before. Yes, don't take that before. You won't make it to the fight. Right, exactly. But, you know, that's, that it is what it is. Do you feel like it kind of, you know, when he comes out and, again, he doesn't point the finger at,

you, but when he talks about all this stuff, as recently as like two weeks ago, does it annoy you? Like, do you feel like in an indirect way your name is being dragged through the mud? No, because here's the thing is it, I don't care what he says. He's out of the sport. Right. You know, like, did you say good riddance? Well, just, hey. Leave us alone. Well, if you want time away from the sport, take the time away from the sport. But I know it's him and this other, that Canadian reporter. Oh, yes. Yes. There's a couple of them, But yes, I know what you're talking about. You know, which one I'll talk about.

It's probably him and him, you know, just trying to take Nick picks at, you know, not only UFC, but me if they can. And... Were they trying to dig on you, the reporters? No, but you saw him that day, you know? Sure, sure, sure. He was just sitting there constantly, constantly asking. That's the first time I ever seen you get upset. Yeah, I was like, dude, you know, we're 20th anniversary and you want to talk about this.

You know what I mean? Look at all these guys sitting up here. And you and GSP, all you all want to talk about is I took drug test today, you know, and I passed. Okay, good job. You know, you probably passed how many times before that? We don't care. Right. You know, I mean, it's just water under the bridge.

You know, that's really what you've got to look at is they're always going to say something. Right. Can't please everybody. And GSP is probably one of them, and that Canadian guy is the other one. You know, obviously you haven't fought him before, but did you think he looked any different or felt, Do you feel like he was maybe weaker? Because, you know, some people say, okay, he had to take test for the first time of this nature. Do you think it affected him?

You know, I don't know. You know, he didn't feel that strong to me. He didn't. No, I mean, obviously, I was turning him off the cage left and right. You know what I mean? And that's, well, that's why I tell everybody, show muscle and functional muscle. Those are two different things. I have functional.

I'm fat, but I'm strong. Right. You know what I mean? I don't look like I'm the poster. boy of anything. And that's why sometimes I'll go in there. There's some guys that are actually ripped that are very strong. You know what I mean?

So I was expecting a very strong. So I lifted a lot of weights trying to make sure that I was expecting a very strong GSP. And he actually wasn't. How many times do you watch the fight? I watched it twice. That's it. Yeah. That's all I needed.

As recently as? Let's see here a week ago. Oh, why? Why so soon? Just because of trying to figure out, well this, why did I do this? Why did I do that? You know, also to give myself another re-look at sort of what did happen. And with that being said, is the best I could do was give it three to me.

Yeah. You know, the best I could do. Meaning to try to understand where they were coming from. Yes. Because, you know, what I want to understand, too, is, you know, not only did I lose that fight, but I also want to understand why the rest went the way they did. So I'm looking. You know, and I'm trying to put my head around how they gave them these rounds and that round.

And I just can't, you know. I feel like your low regret, and correct me if I'm wrong, is your 70% comment. Because people took that and ran with it as that you weren't going 100%. But I think what you were trying to say was, actually you tell me, you're saying right here. What were you trying to say with that? What I was trying to say is, did you see my knuckles the next day? Yeah, yeah. I mean, they hurt so bad to hit him that second.

after the second round. Right. That's really whenever I was planning on. Because what I wanted to do the first round is to fill him out, shut his stuff down, show him that I'm better, and then try to finish him. That was my whole game plan.

And so the second round, I started hitting him harder. Once I did that, my knuckles hurt so bad by the end of the second round that the wrap that I had was maybe just way too thin. Right. Has that ever happened before? No, that was the first time.

First time that person, who wrapped your hands? House did. Okay. But he, I usually tell him, hey, I need a thicker wrap. I need a thicker wrap. But this one, I was like, you know what? You know, that's going to be perfect because I plan on, you know what I mean? I figured, plan on finishing him.

That's exactly what I was, you know, that was going through my head. You know, that would be perfect. I'll hit him even harder. Cool. Well, it sort of backfired. So that's why the third round I wasn't hitting him as hard because it literally hurt so bad to punch, you know, just over and over and over. And then I sort of said, hey,

we got to do something, got to change it up. Let's do it the fourth and fifth round. And, you know, it was toughen up and get it done. Yeah. You know what I mean? Had you ever been in that much pain in a fight before? Like that you inflicted, you know, that you were hurting? The worst thing I've ever done was broken my hand.

Who's that against? Alex Surgikoff. Oh, okay. W.C. Okay, okay. And that was a long time ago. Yeah, then I fought Mir Sadala with a broken hand going into the fight. Going into the fight?

Yeah. Really? That fight lasted like, how long did that last. Yeah. Thank God. 29 seconds. I was sitting there. realistically, the week before the fight, I broke my nose and then I broke my hand.

How did you dodge the commission on that one? I guess they just don't really check you all that much? They don't check. Whenever they checked, I just, they wiggle my nose. I didn't flinch. Wow. And they did my hands. I didn't flinch. Did it hurt?

Oh, yeah. Which hand? My left hand. Wow, you're left. Yeah, I did it right here. Why didn't you pull out? I wanted to. I was going to, but Mark Lehman said it's such a good fight for you.

Okay. And I believe in my coaches. and that sort of, that's sort of, that's crazy. Yeah, I was like, oh my gosh. And when it lacked, because I remember now, it was, you said 29 seconds, I think it was in Philly, right? Yes. And you really celebrated. You must have been so relieved that it was over, right?

Yeah, I said, and I was like, thank goodness it didn't go past first because, you know, after I hit him a couple times, I felt it get a little worse. Yeah. And then the ref pulled me off. I was like, oh, thank goodness. UFC 101, I think it was. 101, yep. What about your size? Because I, correct me from wrong again, I heard you say that you, you said that you, you

want to fight as a middle weight? Yeah, that'd be great. Is that true? You know, here's the thing. Are you big enough? Am I big enough? Well, I'm tall enough. Well, here's the thing. What do I fight now? Right. Everybody's six foot, six two. That's true. You know what I mean? Like, there's no height difference between 185 and 170. Everybody's a giant, you know, everybody I got to bring a damn stool to get, to do a weigh-in check. You know what I mean? It's like, gosh. So how much you weigh right now? I'm about 205 right now. Two-05? Yeah. Is that less than usual? Yeah, that's I usually walk around at 220. So why 205?

It was a quick turnaround. Okay. Because usually, like the last two years, I've only fought twice in those years. And what happens is I usually take about two weeks off, three weeks off. I start coming back. When I start working out, my body remembers the weight cut and working out. So it starts eating. Well, you know, you're not putting in the hours.

You do whenever you're in training camp. So all of a sudden, I blew it up to 220. Wow. Yeah. So, but this time you didn't allow yourself to go up that much. Yeah, I couldn't go up that much because of, yeah. So, but why, so why you start thinking about middleweight all of a sudden? Or is it not all of a sudden? You just started talking about and people ran with it. Yeah, I just started talking. You know, well, here's, here's what I was thinking is, how sweet would it be to try to be, who in today's age is wanting, should I say, definitely in my weight class. Yeah. wants to go up to a weight class and try to have two belts two different weight classes so you want to win this belt yeah i want to win it defend it do whatever you know okay but not right away yeah oh yeah no no no whatever the ufc wants me to do hopefully i can get it defended a couple of times and say hey can i move up to 185 you versus widenman would be interesting yeah would wouldn't it that would be very

interesting yeah we both both wrestlers both strong people you know and if i get six months to really lift weights, man, my body just loves weights. So I know I can change myself to where 185 would be not a hard weight cut, but it'd be, you know, it'd be a lot easier than 170. How much is the weight cuts suck right now for you? How much do you hate it? It sucks pretty bad. You know, once I hit around 178, it starts getting rough, you know. So that's... Have you ever had like a really bad one? Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Let's see here. It was against Mike Pierce. Okay. Mike Pierce, right before I got Dolce. Yeah.

I didn't think I was going to make weight. Okay. I didn't think I was going to make weight on that one. Also, Josh Koshchek one. I didn't think I was with Dolce on that one. I didn't think I was going to make weight on that one. Really? Yeah, I got a, I got, I had to start taking some, some pills that hold water.

Okay. That's not a diuretic. No, no. It was for bronchitis. Okay. I got bronchitis two weeks before Kosteck. Oh, so that's why it was. tough to shed the way. I was taking those pills. Okay, okay. And I was doing everything,

Dolce wanted me to. And then all of a sudden I show up at two, or I think I was like 194. Okay. Did he know that you were sick? Well, he knew I was sick, but I didn't tell him I was taking the pills. Oh, man. Dummy. Yeah, my, and so, which I learned from that. So now if I, you know, if I do get sick, do whatever. How bad of a feeling is that when that, when that, the clock, like you're watching the clock, you're aware that the wands are coming and you think you're not going to make it. Oh, it sucks so bad because, you know, I, as a competitor, I want to also be respectful to you because I know if you're making the weight, I want to make the weight. And I want to make sure that we're all even. Oh, I thought you meant me as a media member. You just want to be respectful.

You know what I mean? And that's something that I really respect. What I want to do is make sure everybody realizes that, hey, I make weight, I do this, I do this. Everything's a checklist. You I mean, definitely in my eyes, because as long as I stay on those checklists, everybody's happy. You know, I mean, if everybody's happy, that makes me happy. Speaking of weight, changes, and whatnot, Robbie Lawler has looked amazing at 170 since going down. You're surprised that he's had this renaissance in his career? Because no one saw it coming.

No, no, you know, he's got some heavy hands. You know, and if you watch a lot of his fights, they're sort of even. And then all of a sudden, Robbie catches him. And that's something that I really had to focus on is make sure that I'm a lot of I don't get caught. You know, there's a couple of things that he will do, and whenever you put him in certain situations, he will come firing.

And I think in the fights that I've seen, people sort of wait. They're like, what is he going to do? What is he going to do? And then boom, it's over. You know, and then he jumps on and hits him a couple more times, and then the fights over. So that's what I have to really make sure is with him.

If I'm out of range, I want to make sure I'm out of range if I want to relax. If I'm in range, I've got to be 100% tight throwing punches, making him where I really can't get, let him get off too much. That's the type of fight I have to put on this fight. Do you remember watching him back in the day? I mean, your age isn't that much different, but he's been doing this a lot longer. Yeah, no, I've watched him fight a lot.

Like I said, I've seen him fight multiple times. And then whenever I go back and rewatch him, like, oh, yeah, I remember this fight. I remember what happened here. Do you watch tape a lot? Yeah, I watch tape. I love watching tape. I don't understand guys who don't. Uh, yeah, because, well, here's the thing.

You're my coach. Right. You see something. Well, I'll go back and I'll be like, yes, I see that. But what I see is your foot moves a little bit like this and then your body weight shifts and then you come. You know what I mean? Okay, well, that gave me a visual. So what I'll say is you're going to be my partner.

I need you to adjust like this. And then as soon as you adjust, I need you to move your weight a little bit and then go. And then we'll do it slowly. So that way we get the timing. And then once you get the fill of it, I say, right, I need you to do this in sporing. Yeah, and then when you get to the fight, it looks familiar. Yes.

Hmm. So you watch tape on all your guys. I watch tape on every one of my guys. No, no. Like, for example, I watched about six or seven fights of Robbie's. All right? Yeah, picked, picked. Will you do that up until the fight?

Well, yeah, well, like in two weeks, we'll do another refresh. Okay. And then after that, I won't watch. Because at that point, I'm saying, okay, this is what he's doing. This is what I need to do to counter this. How do we, then once we get a game plan and how we can counter these things. then that's whenever I quit watching the footage and then I start working on my counters

and then my partners, they watch the footage and try to be as close as they can to what he's going to do. Will you even watch the old stuff or do you think he's different now? Yeah, I watch the old stuff and I also will watch the new stuff because here's the thing is on the new stuff, whenever he does something, it'll actually, if you go back and watch some of his older fights, he does it. Oh, okay.

You know what I mean? Yeah. So he hasn't really changed. Also, you know, I'm still young enough in about two years, I'm going to be sort of the same fighter. Unless I constantly say I'm trying to adapt, trying to adapt. And that's sort of the way that you've got to look at is that even though they're doing it now, they probably did it back then, or if they didn't do it back then, what made them change now?

So you try to find that period. You think Cond did Woodley, the winners, would be next for the belts? Is that what you're thinking? Probably, yeah. That's what I'm thinking. What are you liking that fight? You know, I like them both. Con is a great guy, but I've known Tyron Woodley for, at least since my sophomore year in college.

Wow. Yeah, you know, he wrestled at Missouri. Yep. We wrestled actually, a great guy. You wrestled him? Yeah, yeah. Who won? I did.

I did. I did. But he's a great guy. You know what I mean? I like the guy. I like his family. Right. You know, so I got to go with, I'm sorry Condit, but I pull for the wrestlers.

Okay. And also, I pull for Tyron because I've known him for so long. You know, I just know it's going to be a great fight. You already be Condit. You want a new fight. Well, dude, when does Condit ever bring a boring fight? Right. You know what I mean?

So that's the only reason that, hey, if Condit did win, I'd be excited because I knew that it was going to be a battle. Right. You know what I mean? And if he doesn't win, Tyron wins, then I'll be like, okay, hey, I get to fight somebody new and somebody I've known for a long time. By the way, do you think you'll use more wrestling in this fight against Robbie? Because people still believe that the wrestling is kind of as kryptonite. Yeah, you know, I don't know. Why do you laugh?

Because you're trying to nick-pick my game plan? I'm just, what? I'm sorry. I'm just wondering. No, I'm just playing. You know, I'd like to say yes. But I thought I was going to use a lot more wrestling on GSP, but... You did?

I did, in a sense, but not as much as I was planning on. Okay. You know what I mean? Because I was winning certain battles. So if you're winning certain battles, why adapt? Right. You know, also, so that's what I really try to do is I'll say, okay, this is what I'm going to do.

But whenever I step in there, I let my body sort of say, all right, this is what, all right, You take control. I'm just going to sort of follow. You know, and then that's sort of the way everything goes. Is this the beard? It's not going away, right? No, it's not going away. This is it.

This is the beard. Yeah, this is the beard. It started, I guess what? A month and a half ago? How does your family feel about the beard when it really gets out there? My wife hates it. She hates it. Yeah, she hates the beard.

She likes the nice groomed beard. Yeah. So right now she's not too bad about it. It's whenever it gets the puffiness. She's like, God, the thing looks disgusting. Shave it off. That's why you shave it off right away afterwards. Well, no, the reason why I shave it off right afterwards,

because the first time I grew it, it is so bad that I shaved it off, right? And then the next fight, I did the exact same thing, and then it sort of became a tradition. And what happened is when the beard's here, stuff gets put in the back of the mind, after I shave, like I'll hurt myself sometime throughout this camp, and after the fight, I'll shave. And literally, the next morning I'll be like, wake up. I'm like, oh, my God.

Really? Yeah. It's because, you know, I'm so used to. Is that padding or no? No, no, no, no. I wish. Yeah. I wish.

It actually hurts worse to get punched because, you know, whenever I'm clean-shaved. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm in there boxing and stuff. Right. I'm like, dude. Smooth. Yeah, stuff just sort of glances off. Right.

But put your hand up there and like... Yeah, yeah. It's rough, yeah. Yeah, it grips everything and, you know, leather and hair. I'm noticing some white hairs. Is this a new thing? Yeah, I was going to have... I didn't know I was doing a video today.

Well, no. Oh, do you do you do like a Just for Man type? No, I don't, no, I just pluck them out. I kind of like it. Yeah, I'm getting old, man. Let it go. I will. You pluck them out?

Yeah. Why? Because. How much could you actually have? Actually, this is all that I can't have. Let it go. Because of, whenever I first started shaving. Right.

This fight, I was like, after this fight, I was like, man, I got gray. I got white hair. Yeah. Not gray. Yeah. I got freaking white hair. I'm like, oh, my God. Sophisticated.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't mind it. Was it, what is the young experience? Sure, sure. No. the white with experience, but I got the black. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, it just shows the evolution of who you are. Yeah. You know how much I love beards. Yes. I know you got mad at me that one time. Yeah, because, yeah, I just gave me a hard time because I was like, because my luck with GSP would look at him and go, yeah, he's got to shave it. Yeah.

I want to play a quick game with you before we let you go. Let's go. I love beards. I consider myself a beard aficionado. Okay. I'm obsessed with beers. Probably it's unhealthy. And I wish I could grow a beard like you.

Like if I can even get it to that point, it's just not thick enough for me. It's okay, but it's like a little weak on the side. Yeah. Well, if you shave it, the more you shave it, the better. I know, but I don't want to do that because that's like a step back for it. Anyway, I like to analyze people's beard. So I want to play a game with you called Beard or No Beard. Beard or no beard.

I named you the beard of 2013. Oh, yeah? In my words, I thought you had the best beard. You know, Travis Brown gave you run for your great beard. But I think your beard, because people talk about your beard and it's part of your character, and it's really the, I don't think, don't listen to your wife, don't shave it. We had the shirt, you know, the go beard or go home. We had it.

I don't know where it is right now. So I'm going to show you some pictures. I want to, I want you to tell me if you think this guy is better off with the beard or without the beer. Okay. All right, because you would know better than anyone. So do we have the music? Game show music. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, yeah. All right, let's, we're playing beard or no beard here on the MMA hour. Let's go to our first guy. This is Michael Kiyasa, Ultimate Fighter winner. See, if he trims that up right there. Yeah. It looked like a... Right now it's a little too messy.

Yeah, it's a little... Because that's going to get in your food. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? That gets in your food too much. So if he trim that up just a little bit... I think it's not a bad beard. Besides... It's a bit of a Jesus-looking beard, right?

Yeah, yeah. It's a little, yeah. If he trimmed it up, made it look nice and then let it grow back out, it'd probably be even better. How much trimming do you do? Oh, I do... I don't... What I do is I trim about once every two or three weeks. Oh, you do?

Yeah, I just trim it. I just trim, you know, just make sure. Even when you let it go out? Yeah. Oh, I want to see the whole thing. Yeah. Can you just let it go? Well, see, the UFC makes us because if it looks too ruggedy, they're going to be like,

yeah, yeah. Okay, all right. So for him, trim. But keep it. Yeah, keep the beard. Okay. All right. Don't trim too much, by the way.

All right, here's the next one. Okay, this one. Yeah, he's got to shave it. No beard. Yeah. I say no beard because of, you know, it doesn't, it's not a great angle. Okay. I think that if we could get a side angle, it's not, like you said, it's not real full.

Not full, really? Yeah, I mean? I don't know. When he came out with that beard prior to the Velasquez fight and it didn't help him, I was just blown away. Yeah. There was something, he looks like a Viking. He does. And now, he does look very mean with that beard.

I'm not going to lie. Yeah. He does. But if it was a little bit more, I don't, like I said, I can't really. Yeah, I just can't see because, you know, right here. All right. See, yeah, it looks a little weak. Yeah, yeah.

Well, he has shaved the beard since. Yes. That's a good thing. All right, here we go. How about this one? Roy Nelson. Roy Nelson. Yeah, I saw this beard coming up.

Yeah, you know what? A little bit too long, I think. Too long? Oh, there's another vantage point if you want to. Yeah. Look at the year. I think that was, what, three months ago? Yeah, well.

Like three months apart for each other. Right, right, right. Yeah, it's just too much. Dana White hates this beer. Well, yeah, I think it's just... There's another one. Golly, it's just getting greater and wider. Worse and worse and worse, right?

Yes. I think that, yeah, a little bit too much. You know, there's like a, there's a fine line between just massive where it's like the biker style, you know, and then there's the fighter style. Speaking of biker style, that looks like bikers style. He does, doesn't he? Yeah. What about the hair? The mullet and all that. The mullet, the hair. You know, I'm not a fan of long hair because, you know, whenever you get hit, every time you get hit, that moves. Right. And looks worse than the judge's out. Right. That's true. Charlie Brennam, I think, has that problem. You know him, right? Yes. That's why I shaved my head. I liked it very much in the fight, by the way, when you shaved the head for the GSP. You never done that before. I went back and looked. You went shaved but kept the beard long.

Why did you do that? Because of that. Because whenever you get hit. It wasn't that long. I know, but any type of movement. Wow, you were thinking of everything. Yeah, any type of move, I want to keep everything out of away from your judge. Oh, yeah.

It looked clean. And it really made the beard like pop. Yes. And you did it like right after the way-ins, right? Yeah. For 167. All right, let's move along here. How about this one?

Kimbo's slice. He's got to keep the beard. You got it. That's his thing, right? That's his thing. Yeah. You know, sort of like me, it's his thing. Marketing. You can't change.

If Kimbo shaved, I think he could get anywhere in it. Yeah. He wanted to and they'd be like, who's this guy. Be a big mistake. Yeah. It's a very thick one too. Yes, it is. It actually kind of reminds me of yours.

Yeah. It does. It does. You know, mine's a lot like his... Is it... No, no bald spots in that one. No. No.

It's unbelievable. There he is. Kimbo says. What do you think of Nick Thompson's next? beard. Do you remember this one back in the day? Yes, I do. Look at that. Looking like a goat. No, that's it. It's bad.

That is maybe the worst beard. I hope he lost the bet. That's all I'm going to say. I just hope he lost the bet. You kept it for so long. That beard was something else. Can you pull off something like that? No, I could. What would your wife say? Oh, she would kill me. She would kill me.

Because, you know, I'll put stashes, like handlebars all the way down. Really? And I walk out. It's just like, oh my God, that's so ugly. Go back in there. I'm like, okay. Have you ever put anything in, like, wax or anything, like to make the twirly, like Uncle creepy style? No, like right here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I haven't. You never done that. Never done that. You're just kind of straight. Yeah. I think, and plus, you know, you can't put anything in there. Right, right, right.

For the fighting. Absolutely. I just mean, like out and about. Yeah, yeah, out in the bow. Well, that's the thing is like, you know, you're still training with people. That's true. 24-7. It's like, ugh.

What's the point? Yeah. All right, let's move along. Who do we have now? Mike Beltran is a, obviously, a ref. Has he ever reffed any of your fights? No, he hasn't reff in one of my fights. You've seen this before, right?

But I have seen that, yes. What do you think of that beer? I sort of just want to grab them, I'm pulling down. I just want to touch it, right? I just feel it. Great guy, by the way. I met him recently. Very nice man.

Oh, really? Yeah, very nice. You know, a lot of the reps are very nice. They are very nice. They get a bad rap because it's a tough sport. It's a thankless job. Yes, it is. It is.

What do you think of this, though? You know, I think it cut it a little bit shorter. A little. What do you think of the braiding? Because sometimes he just lets it go. It just flows. Yeah. I think that's probably what it is, is the braids.

You don't like the braids. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the grades. But when it's just like two long things, it's almost worse, no? Yeah, it might be, you know. Basically, make it shorter. Yeah, make it shorter. You can live with it? Yeah, I can live with it.

If it's right around here. What about how he cuts it over there? You know, it doesn't go all the way. He just kind of cuts it there. Yeah, you know, that's one of those things that to each their own. But he's got a good beard, though.

Yeah, he does. It's very full. I'm thinking that you're saying to yourself right now, if this guy refs me, I don't want to insult his beard one day, right? He'll probably be reffing the main event with Robbie Lawler and you'll get screwed. All right, how about this one?

This is a classic right here. This is Tank Abbott. Now, in this particular day, he was actually sporting a toupee. We don't need to talk about the toupee. I was about to say, that is not Tank Abbott. Tank Abbott hasn't had hair.

for what, 20 years? But it is Tank Abbott. What do you think of that beard? It's actually pretty good, you know? You do like it. It is full. You know, he's not fighting anymore. No, he's not.

So I sort of like the Santa Claus look. Yeah, yeah. You want to hug him. Yeah, you do. He looks like a nice guy right there. So he's not using Just for Men, though. He's just letting that baby go. He just lets it go.

Take a cue from Tank Abbott. Not about the top of the head. Just about embracing the white. Tupé. Unbelievable. One of a kind, Tank Abbott. All right. We got three more.

Here we go. Here's this Travis Brown. This is him in August when I spoke to him. See how it looks nice. It does look nice. It reminds me of your beard. Now he's getting bigger. That was his last one, I think.

Yeah. See, you know, it looks good. You know what I mean? Like it's full. It's not just like, it's got a little bit of, you know, hair's going a little bit, a little bit, but not too crazy. Amazing. He's doing so well ever since he grew out the beer.

Hey, something with the beard. You know what I mean? So, you know, that's, that's, I, I. And you can tell you trims it up here. Yes. It's all nice. It's all nice. Yeah.

Would you say this your favorite? Yeah, that's my favorite by far. Okay. How about this one? This is a very interesting one. Cort McGee. See, Cort Shaves the mustache part. Yeah, yeah.

It's a little Amish looking. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. It is the Amish looking. And see how like... Yeah, yeah. You don't like that. It's all like right here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what I would say is trim this up. Okay. And just keep the goateeat. Oh, okay. You know what about growing this out of the mustache part? I like the mustache. You gotta let you got it. It just seems kind of empty.

Okay. Here's what I have a question for you. Yeah, please. Is this actually a beard or does it have to have? The mustache? The mustache. I think it's a beard. I'd call it a beard.

You'd call it a beard? Yeah, I'd call it a beard. Because he has it up here a little bit. It's longer than the goatee. Here's what I want to ask the fan. What is a beard? Is it, is it this with the mustache or is it this? Is this all that clarifies it to have to be?

Quickly Google beard and see what the definition is. Well, this is a slight note. Okay, here's it. Here's the definition from Wikipedia. A beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, upper lip, cheeks, neck of a human being. Oh, there you go. So it's not a beard. Wow.

You just actually blew my mind there. That's not a beard. Not a beard, so. He's out. He's out. So should he shave it all off or should he just grow the top part? He should probably just, you know, realistically, I'd say shave some of this off. But if he wanted to keep the beard, grow the mustache out and let it go.

I say so. Okay, last one. Here we go. A classic. Andre Arlowski. Yeah. I mean, that one, he's been wearing that beard for a long time. Yes.

And like I said, you know, see how it's like, it's clean, but it's not like over clean. Right. And it's not too long, but it's, you know, it's got good, good. It's full. It's healthy. Yes. There are no spots. Look at that thing.

I mean, it's always shaped very nicely. Actually, in that particular picture, it's actually a little longer than usual. Most of the times these days, very clean, very neat, it's all kept well together. Yes, you know, and I don't mind if it's a little bit bigger than this one. Yeah. You know, I like them a little bit fuller, but clean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I think that also, that has a lot of interest.

When did you start this, by the way? I started, golly, 2008. Really? Yeah, against Haskins. Okay. And W.C., my first W.C. Why? I was just growing.

I was tired of shaving. And Mark Lamb was like, I was like, dude, I'm just going to grow it out. I'm going to shave right before I go to, uh, uh, to go to weigh-ins, or I mean, the week of the fight. Right. So I was going to shave it. And then, then whatever. Mark was like, oh, you got such a great beard. You need to keep it.

I was like, no. It's it. You know? Right, right, right. And so needless say, Mark talked me into it. I kept it. And he was like, and then I shaved it. That right after the fight, I shaved it.

Then, uh, the next fight, I was like, you know what? I'll grow it again. You're superstitious, aren't you? Well, not that. I was going to shave it again. Okay, okay. I was like, I'm going to shave it this time. Mark's not going to talk me into it.

So I started growing it like three months out. Right. I shaved it halfway and he's like, what are you doing? And I was like, I'm done with it, you know? And then he was like, you need to grow it back. I was like, you know, a week or a month isn't bad. So I grew it out for the month. Then everybody started saying the happy bearded guy.

Right. And then that's why I was like, oh. Just kind of roll in. And I think it's done very well for you. Yeah. So I just had to go with it ever since then. Well, this has been fun. Yeah, it has.

No beard. Actually, I learned something. I learned that you need this to actually have a beard. Yes, I know. Crazy, right? Yeah, who knew? Tell me where fans can get these shoes. February 1st, they go on sale.

And anywhere, any Reebok store or online. Okay. I like online because it gets shipped straight to you. Yep, yep. You know what I mean? You don't have to go anywhere. What's the name again? Z-Quick.

Just type in Z-Quick. Z-Quick. Are there multiple colors or is it just that color? Yeah, you can get black. There's going to be a lot more colors coming out. Right now we're just supporting this. Right now, I also have a solid black pair. Okay.

But, you know, I like the blue. The, yeah, well, the color, you know, you have color options. The solid black, you wouldn't know the difference between these two. You know what I'm saying? Right, right, right, right. So that's why we're supporting this. How would you, you know, call the shoes? Is it a cross-training shoe?

What would you call it? I'd call it all around just anything. You know, if you're running, running. All kinds of exercise. Yeah, you know, it's very good. You know, if you're making quick cuts, I actually like it a lot on quick cuts. It's very light, durable. That's great.

Well, congratulations. Thank you. That's amazing. I know you were on Crowd Goes Wild on Friday, the Regis Show, on Fox Sports One. I heard everyone in the audience got shoes, so I'm assuming all of us here gets shoes as well. Yes. If you want shoes, hit me up. A pleasure.

Hey, thank you so much. He is, of course, Johnny Hendricks. You can catch him on Twitter. Also on Twitter. Twitter.com slash Johnny Hendricks. The shoes come out February 1st, a very big week for sports with the Super Bowl here. Shoes coming out actually on the day of UFC 169. Are you sticking around for one?

No, I might come back. I might come back because of Rasha. There's a Russian guy. Rashid Madhamedo. Yes. He's been training with us. He has. Yeah. He's been down there training with us.

So I might go up there to support him. Cool. So you're going to go home and come back? Yeah, I might. Is he good? Oh, yeah. He's very tough. He's very talented.

I think he's another one of these guys with like Habib and those guys to all come from the same team, right? The Red Fury team. And he's very, very soft-spoken. but the guy, he's been awesome. He's very, I'm very grateful to have him in our gym. Awesome. Well, good luck.

UFC 171, Johnny Hendricks versus Robby Lawler for the UFC welterweight title. This time, he'll hopefully walk away with the back. Yes. And it's going down in Dallas, Texas tickets available right now. He is Johnny Hendricks. Check out the shoes. We're going to come back with Alex Davis, MMA manager in just a matter of seconds for now. Take a listen, watch the UFC on Fox 10 post-fight press conference.

This happened just a couple of days ago in Chicago. We'll take a break, reset, and we'll be back with Alex Davis right here on the MMA hour. Back on the MMA hour, that was the UFC on Fox 10 post-fight press conference in Chicago. Interesting stuff, of course, with Josh Thompson saying that he wasn't quite sure if he's ever going to fight again. And, of course, very emotional after the fight. It remains to be seen if he will fight again. We're going to talk to John Crouch, who is Benson's coach. Later on in the show, we spoke to Javier Mendez, who is Josh Thompson's coach.

after the fight. He was very emotional. I suggest you check out that video interview on MMAfighting.com. Right now we want to thank Johnny Hendricks for stopping by. Now we have another in studio guests. This is a lot of fun. This man, one of my favorite people in the sport of mixed martial arts.

I'm not just saying that because you know I don't say that all the time. A genuine, good person, just really one of the true class acts, in my opinion, in this sport. He is Alex Davis. He is an MMA manager extraordinaire. He's been doing this for a very long time. When I was in diapers, probably. He's been doing it.

He manages some of the biggest names in sport. How about that Bigfoot? Payton, you see that right there? That's cool. I need to take a picture. He's going to love it. Bigfoot, Silva. You're here for John Lineker, of course.

You were just in Chicago for Adriano Martins. How are you? I'm good. Thank you so much. Yeah. I mean, you know, thank you for the praise. Thank you for the nice words. It's a pleasure to have you here.

We were just talking about the fight. You know, the Henderson-Thompson fight. You were there, of course. And I don't want to, you know, we don't need to talk about the fight in particular. But as a manager, and, you know, you've been around this sport for so long. You used to be in martial arts. We'll get to that.

But, man, you know, for us, it's like, ah, that's a crappy decision. For you guys, like, how, when you know that your guy won, and for whatever reason, got screwed by the judges, referee, and then you have to go back to the drawing board, and it's an L on the record. How do you stomach that? How do you go back to the locker room and talk to that guy

and tell him it's going to be okay? It's extremely difficult because, you know, I mean, maybe people, the fans, watching the sport, don't understand how much efforts put into a, a fight, you know. And if you lose, you lost. But when you won and when you actually confirm, because you can't really tell if you won in those first moments after the fight, you know, you have to go and look at it again, you know. But when you see you've really won, and it hurts. It hurts. And I've been through quite a few of those, you know. And it's something

that I think that as the sport develops, it's something that has to be done better. I mean, it can be done. We have the technology to do it, you know. How do we change? How do we change it? Well, first of all, I think that the judges themselves have to be people that are ex-fighters, people that have been in MMA, that have done it. I see a lot of these people, and I see the names and people I've never, I don't know. And I don't know how they're reaching these conclusions, you know. And then I think that the whole format has to be changed. I mean, we have the technology to bring stuff back. We do it in NFL, for example, you know. And I don't see why we can't figure out a better way of counting punches and counting

kicks and counting takedowns and it's always going to be a little bit subjective, but I think we can, I think it can be none better. And I think we need to make that effort out of, to be fair, to the fighters who've put all this effort to get in there, you know? I'm happy you said that because I've often thought that MMA is such a detailed sport. It's not like boxing, because in boxing, you know, you use the 10-point must system. You know what a 10-8 is. You know what a 10-7 is. And kickboxing as well, it's very cut and dry. But in our sport, given the unified rules and how they're laid out, it's so subjective. You really don't know what a 10-8 is. You can't really say that was a 10-8.

There's so much going on in MMA that I think they need to assign points, take-down, submission attempt, this, that. And I think that will make, it might be a little confusing at first, but it could actually get fans more into the sport. If fans know, oh, he needs to score this to get back into the fight, I think that might be the answer. And it sounds like you agree as well. I agree because, you know, the 10-8 system, 10-9,

the 10-system was created for boxing, not for M&A. Right. You know, so you can have, it's subjective. you can have weighing systems. It can be done. The truth is it can be done. We have the technology today to do it, and I think we should be doing it, you know. I actually just saw an interview with you that you did with the Connection Rio a couple years back.

And you mentioned that back in the day, you used to work with Antonio Rodrigo Nogera. Yeah. And one of his first fights was against Dan Henderson. Yep. And you called it the worst decision still till that day. I think that... In rings, right? Yeah, well, there's thousands of fights out there.

and I don't get to see them all, but that was to me the worst decision I've ever seen. What happened was there was two rounds, you had two five-minute rounds, and then a third round if there was a tie. So in my opinion, Rodrigo had already won the fight, but they said it was a tie, and then they made a third round. And in that third round, Rodrigo mounted Dan and stayed like three minutes on top of him and punching, and then put a knee in the belly, I mean, just dominated, and they still gave the decision to Dan Henderson. That was for, if Rodrigo would have won, he would have went against Babalu for a $300,000 purse. Wow. And that, to me, that was the worst decision I've ever seen, you know.

How did they score the fights back then? It wasn't 10.9. No, that was Japan. So they just scored the entire fight. Yeah, that was Japan. And Maeda, who was the promoter, he came to me and apologized. He said, I'm sorry. my champion's not the champion because Dan Henderson went on to win the fight, win the tournament.

And he said, your guy should have been champ and all that and everything. It didn't change us losing $300,000, you know. Did they make it up to you or no? No, no. It just passed, you know, and whatever. But, you know, one of the things I was just telling you about that something, there's so many aspects that have to be, that we have to start paying attention to, you know. After a decision that one of my kids was on the bad side in Brazil,

and I started looking into this and I found out something called motivated reasoning, you know, and this is not something that people are creating, this is science, you know, a human being is incapable of giving a fair judgment to something if he has an attachment to one of the sides. He just can't do it.

So now I know that, for example, I do not get heated after a fight where I think my kid won because I know that I'm going to see the punches he gives, I ain't going to see the punches that he takes, You know, I'm just human like the judges are, you know. So there's so much more to this than we realize, and we have to start taking these things in account.

We have to develop, you know. The sport of him is in the very beginning, and we have the chance, we have the technology, we have everything to start looking at these things and understanding them better, you know? You used to be a judoka. You started in judo. Yeah.

That was your first entry into the world of martial arts. That's correct. And you were pretty successful. Yeah, I was a Brazilian national champion, multi-time, state of Rio de Janeiro champion. I came to the States. I was U.S. National Masters Champion. I was a got third in the world master's champion.

I've done it a lot, you know, and I didn't even like MMA to tell you the truth, you know. What do you mean? It wasn't my, it wasn't, I didn't have a passion for MMA. I wanted to be Olympic, I wanted to go to the Olympics in judo, you know, what happened. Did you try out? Yeah, tried out. I lost by a small margin to the guy that ended up getting the bronze medal in 1984. Really?

Yeah. The ones in LA. It was in Los Angeles. That's correct. And did you ever try again? or that was... No, I was, you know, very young, and I thought that that was it,

that I wouldn't be able to fight again at that level, and I went to go race motocross and was a lot of fun. I just injured myself. Professional? Really? How do you go from judo to motocross? I love motorcycles, too,

and I accumulated, like, over 25 fractures. And I came back to judo, and I kept on winning, and I realized that if I would have stuck with it, I would have ended up going to the Olympics, you know? And no coach told you, man, you were so close. try in 1988?

It's funny you say that because that's one of the reasons why I have such a passion for my guys because, you know, if I had had somebody there to give me guidance at that time, I would have kept on at it and I would have gone. I didn't have anybody. You know, I didn't, that wasn't, didn't have a coach or anybody.

I was on a team, but the coaches had their favorites there and I was kind of big weeks between, you know, and so if I would have stuck with it, I'm sure I could have made the Olympic Games. But since I didn't have anybody to tell me, I went to a depression. I gave up judo and went to raise motocross.

Is that the big regret of your life that you didn't keep going? Yeah, that is the big regret. You think about her a lot? Yeah, well, no, I don't really think about it. It is what it is. You know, life goes as it goes. But, you know, later on when I stopped motocross, because motocross and judo are sports that don't mix.

The reason being you're always scraped up and bumped and hurt, and you can't put a guy on and do anything, you know. Later on, when I came back to judo and I started fighting again and I started fighting against guys that were actually at Olympic level, I started beating them. I realized that I had been dumb that if I would have kept at it, I could have done it. But at that point, I was already 33, 34. It was my body wouldn't take training anymore, you know. So who introduced you to MMA? It was funny.

I had a very good training partner, a guy named Luis Vigidu, who was Marco Rua's partner in Brazil. and he introduced Marco Ruiz, and I moved to the States at the same time that Marco did. Marco couldn't speak English, so Marco ended up asking me for help on this and help on that, and that's how I ended up in MMA. And then I met Minotara, this first fight against David Dodd in Orlando, and Marco had a slot in the Rings tournament,

and that we put Minotaur into that tournament in Japan. That's how Minotara got started off. So were you his manager? I was his manager then. So how did you even become a manager? It just happened. I can't explain. He said, I need your help.

I need my help. So is he your first client? Yeah, not really in the fight game. I mean, it was more seminars and stuff like that. But, you know, I was always helping him. And I just happened to understand fighting because of judo. And also in motocross, motorcross is a very developed sport in the industry-wise. I mean, the sponsorships and everything like that.

And there's a lot of similarities between what's being done today in MMA logos and company sponsors. It's very, very similar to what happens in motocross. And it's a professional sport. I race at a professional level, so I got that part. It was very educational for me to learn that. Did you have like a law background or anything like that? Did you ever want to be a manager of any kind of? No, never want to just happen.

Just happen. Because I'm so fluent in English and Portuguese. And I was actually lived in Rio in the times of the resurgence of MMA, Valued in those days. It's just I was a judo guy, and I didn't really, that wasn't my thing. But I was at the beach when there was big fights happening, the fight between Eugenio Tadillo and Renzu Gracie, where they closed down MMA for seven years. That was the one that was a big brawl.

I managed the bank right across the street from that club. The next morning, everybody told me everything about that, you know. But you weren't there? No, I wasn't there. You had no interest. No, I had no interest. So you were just, these are like thugs? No, it wasn't that.

It's just I was so concentrated on going to the Olympics and winning in judo. that I didn't really have time. It wasn't really interesting for me. I fought a lot when I was young because I was born in Brazil, came to the States when I was three, lived in to 12 and went back to Brazil, and I couldn't speak Portuguese.

And Brazilians are merciless. They'll make fun at you, and I couldn't understand what they were saying, so I'd am fighting them all the time, you know? And that's how I got in judo because my dad would, you know, we're all Texans, you know, so we could, like, fight a drop of a hat. And my dad got tired of being called to the school all the time, so he took me to a judo school.

Oh, wow. And that's how I started in judo. So when you were first introduced to it through, you know, Marcos and all that, did you say, okay, I'm just going to help you out, but I don't want anything to do with it? No, it wasn't really like that. I started looking at and understanding it. And, you know, and through Marco, I started understanding it was not a blood sport. I started getting it. I understood that it's not about one guy beating up the other guy.

It's about surpassing your own self, you know, and that's what makes it a noble, sport, you know. And so it was Marco that really brought me in. And then, of course, I mean, as luck would have it, I got introduced to Minotauru. Yeah. And I started helping him out. And then we had a school together. And then just things kept on going, you know. How long were you with Minotaro? We were about about a year and a half. And then we, after the Dan Henderson fight, we went bankrupt. Oh. The school? Yeah. Okay. It's a funny story. We went bankrupt. And I'm sitting there at the school scratching my head saying how am I going to pay rent and the bills for this month and somebody's the guy stops out and comes to the school and asks man you're alice right I'd like to do

judo with you and said cool the classes are at these times so no no I want to do right now so okay let's do it so I gave me a class I liked that and let's do another one and he liked that and it was Dan Lambert that's the only of American top team that's how I ended up he just walked in that day he just walked in that day and I started training with him then I end up going to we I have We went bankrupt. I closed down my school. I had to do work at other stuff. And I started teaching him at the Silvira Brothers School, which turned down to be American Top Team.

So at the time, he was just a guy. He had nothing to do with American Top Team. It didn't exist. No. No, it was Silvira Brothers. Okay. And did you, you know, at what point with him, did you start saying, let's launch something like this? No.

Obviously, you're ripping it right now. It's still very much a player in the sport. It was Libraru came from Brazil, and he had this idea, creating American Top. Top Team, Dan liked it, and they created America Top Team. I was the first manager there. I managed it for the first few years, you know. I brought a lot of Brazilians there, and I'm still part of the team, you know. But you don't exclusively manage them? No, no, no. I manage quite a few guys outside, too. Were you around with Dan when he was considered, there was a point where he was considering buying the UFC, right? Were you around there? Yeah, I was teaching judo in the morning one day, and we talked about it, you know. Wow. And it was

Tell me about that. He calls you and says, I have this idea I'm going to buy the UFC? No, it wasn't like that. I'd heard to another friend of ours that he was thinking about it, and I kind of hit him up on it and said, yeah, I'm thinking about it, you know, and then I guess it didn't go through. Wow. You know, I think it was good for MMA.

I don't think we could have done as good a job as... Would you have been a part of it? I think so. Wow. I was already, when we were talking about the American Top Team, he'd already said I'd be helping him manage it, you know, and so probably. Do you think he regrets it?

Do you think he looks back or do you think he's okay with that? No, I think he's fine with it. He's okay? He dodged that bullet? Yeah, I think he's fine. I think that it was good for the sport that the Fertitas and Dana White. Dana White. Dana White's done a great job.

He's a great promoter. Did you get excited when you heard about that? You were like, wow, I want to work. Did you want to work in a promotion? I don't know. I was kind of scared to tell the truth. That would have been a big, big bite to chew on, you know? Right.

I mean, you've got to really know what you're doing to do something like that, you know. And I think that in those days, you could see that MMA would turn out what it is today. I mean, the potential was there. First of all, was the athletic commission thing where they started banning it. And then it was, I think, that 9-11 kind of took the gas out of any new sport for a while. I don't think the American public had enough, couldn't focus on something that soon. But I was pretty sure that M&A would grow like it like it has. Did you think it would get this big, though?

Because, I mean, you've been around for so long. Not only in the States, but, you know, in Brazil, what's happened there, with the UFC going there so many times, like almost once a month now, did you think it would get this big? I hoped. You hoped. Did you think? I thought there was plenty of potential. I never thought how big it could get. I hoped it would get this big.

And in Brazil, there's another thing. You know, in America, when you live in the States, you turn on TV, and you got hockey and football and skiing and surfing and all kinds of stuff. In Brazil, you know, it's not like that. Brazil you have soccer, which is the main sport. And then the second sport might be volleyball or Formula One. And there's a huge vacuum. And MMA came to fill that space up. I don't think anybody realized how big it would get that fast

because the first you have seen real was an open TV. It was a big transforming point. Are you talking back in the 90s? No, no, the return. Because they had one back in the 90s, like 98. Yeah, but that was still small. I mean, yeah, it wasn't. But how do you explain?

Like, because in the 2000s, no one cared about it. I mean, it was kind of dead in Brazil. And then that show, UFC 134, the one in Rio, this boom happened. And even back then, it wasn't on Global, right? Well, the reason for that is that, yeah, there's been a channel, an exclusive fight channel in Brazil for a lot of years now. But not everybody gets it because it's expensive. Right. So I think that when they put.

that on open TV. The Brazilians, they're always very patriotic about their athletes. I mean, even though Pride wasn't on main TV, everybody knows Minotado and was routing for them. They're very patriotic about Brazilians that are doing stuff outside. But when that went on open TV, that all of a sudden brought a lot more eyeballs to the sport. And when you say open TV, it's like Fox here, NBC. Yeah, open TV. It was open TV. And so anybody could get that, you know. And so And the funny thing is people that you'd never think that would like the sport all of a sudden started talking about it. I mean, I was at that show.

I had four guys in that show, and all of a sudden people start stopping me in the supermarket, people that you'd never think that would even be paying attention to fighting, and say, hey, and they'd start saying, you'd see that guy do a jab? And it was amazing, just amazing. Do you think Brazilian MMA is healthy right now? And the reason I ask is, you know,

you look at the champions in the UFC, Junior is no longer champion. Anderson, obviously, no longer champion. I mean, after this weekend, if Henan Borough and Josaldo, I know it's a big if, they lose. There would be no Brazilian champions in the UFC. I think that this is something I've been predicting. Why?

Because it's very hard for a Brazilian athlete to train in Brazil. There are very few places. I mean, Navuño, it is a place where they have structure and ex-gim's a place they have structure. But outside of that, The Brazilians, they're great fighters, they're very intuitive. They're really good, but the problem is that they don't have structure.

I mean, everything's so expensive in Brazil. It's hard to get supplements. It's hard to train. It's expensive to train. So I think that the American here in the States, you're going to have so much more structure, you know, and you have the wrestling work etiquette that mixes into it too. So I think that Brazil now is going to have to play catch for a while until they manage to do it. Right now, for example, myself, what I'm doing is since I'm part of American top team, I have that privilege.

I try to bring the guys that I see that have potential and that they can do it. I start bringing them to the states because they have a better chance of making it here because of the structure. It's great that you bring that up because one of the reasons why you're here, the main reason is because of John Lineker. Correct. He has a huge fight coming up this weekend against Ali Bagua Oetinov. A lot of people think the winner, if he looks good, will fight for the belt. And, of course, Linnaker needs to make white, miss weight three times. You've brought him over, right?

Has he been here in the States? He's been here for it. We actually brought him late because we had visa problems. Okay. And it was, you know, Brazil is a funny country. At the end of the year, Christmas time, carnival, you don't get things done. So it took us a little while to get his visa. But I brought him, and it's the same thing.

You know, he's done a miracle of doing the fights as he's done so far. Yeah, he can't believe it. I mean, if you go where he lives, it's a little town in Parana, you know, and his little school doesn't even have a chair to sit down in. Wow. It's unbelievable what he's done. So is he with American Talk Team now? Yeah, he's American Top Team now.

And what about the way? He'll be fine. Yeah, it's... People are worried. Well, the thing is that... Demetrius Johnson said, did you hear what he said this weekend? Yeah, I saw him. Yeah, well, you know, I get it.

You know, I mean, Demetrius can tell that that's a tough opponent, you know, and then he's doing his thing, and I don't take anything against him. I guess he has a point. But, you know, John is a very young kid. He's not had a lot of schooling, you know, and there were certain issues in the weight cuts that we did not understand. I mean, you know, they're talking about the three times. He didn't make weight.

I'll tell you that two times. I took him all the way that China and made weight with him. People don't remember that. Okay, he made weight in Brazil. Of course, yeah. He has an anxiety problem, okay? And that creates a problem where he has a problem losing the weight. Now we've handled that.

Why not just go at 135? Because he's too small. because he has a better chance of being a title contender and a champion at 1.25. He's a 125er. It's just that, like I said, he did not understand. He had no idea what he was doing wrong, what he was doing right. It took a while. It takes a while.

And that's what here in the States you have more access to, you know. Is he working with Mike Dolce? No. Weren't you supposed to, or did you want to? Yeah, but yeah, I wanted to. But the problem is Dolce is a really busy guy. There's language differences. There's a huge physical distance between him,

and it was going to be very, very difficult to bridge that. I mean, how could I get Dolce to talk to Lineker and Portuguese and thousands of miles away? I mean, it wasn't really going to work. So who's he working with? He's working with a very good doctor named Marco Adain. He's an experienced doctor. He takes care of a lot of UFC fighters, and he's working real well,

and I like the doctor because he's always talking with Linnaker, always messaging him, he's on top of it. Will he be with him in New Jersey? No, he's not going to come, but he's on weight this time. Yeah, he's on weight this time. Do you think if he wins, he gets a title shot? That's what it seems like. Really? Have they told you that?

Well, that's kind of what I've been led to believe. Wow, and you feel confident you like that matchup against Demetrius? Yeah, I think John is a kid that if he has the proper structure and proper people around him, he will, I think, what I, personally, and I'm, like I said, there's motivated reasoning, you know, he's my guy. I think that John can become champion, and I think he can stay champion for a while. And he comes from very, you know, kind of humble, you know, beginnings, right? Very humble. So this would be huge for him.

Yeah, and that's another obstacle when you, when you, I've been through it so many times, when you bring a kid from that background. Right. And all of a sudden he starts doing real well and comes into the limelight, then you have the second challenge in his career, how to handle all of it. that, you know. Wow. And John's a very simple kid. He doesn't like the, the light. He doesn't, you know, it weighs down on him, you know. You see very, like, very humble back. He's a very simple kid. He's a very simple kid. He's a sweetheart. He's a great kid. I really, really like this kid.

How much of your job is like kind of babysitting and coaching in that sense? You know, not just so much planning and getting deals and things, but just bringing these guys along, holding their hand and letting them, you know, realize that everything's going to be okay. Just follow my lead. Well, it's, I think it's different if you have an American manager, American kids. I mean, you have, people have accessed information here. In Brazil, it's a lot different. And if I'm a manager, I have to understand that if I don't look at the human aspect, if there's things outside the fight, the specific fight areas,

which are going to hamper his efforts, I need to address him. I need to be on top of him. I need to do it. It's painful. It takes a lot of time. I end up managing relationships and all kinds of other stuff. but if I don't do that, I'm really going into a fight with a flat tire. I need to be paying attention to everything, you know.

Would you put Hussimar Pal Harris in that kind of category? Yes, Housimar is also a guy from a very, even more humble background than Linnaker. I mean, people don't, you know, when you talk about, he comes from a farming background. So, you know, I say, Ariel, he comes from a farm, and in your mind comes tractors and silos and stuff. That's not like that in Brazil. This guy used to be out there in the rainforest, cutting rainforest down with mosquitoes around using axes, not hacksawes, you know, and it's a lot deeper. And this kid actually went through extreme poverty and went hungry, and he ended up eating pig feed. You know, this kid comes from a very, very, very humble background.

And even people in Brazil don't understand that. I do because I have a farm in Brazil, and I know the type of person he is and where he comes from, you know, and people don't really realize that, you know. And the problem there is that, you know, when you come from that background, until you understand the big, wide world, it takes a while, you know. Was it fair to cut him? Now that you're a little bit removed from it. I think it was a little bit drastic. Yeah.

I think that there's no denying that he was, he hold on to things too, too long. I think that there was a lot of people creating traffic off his misfortune, you know. I think that Dana did it in an impulsive moment. moment and because of public opinion. And it's not right. He has to let go. But I get why he does it. He's not a bad guy. He's not an evil guy. Nothing like that. It's just the guy that, you know, he kind of spaces out when he gets in there, you know. And how is he dealing with it? I mean, they actually just announced today that he's fighting for the belt at World Series fighting against Steve Carl, March 29th. So that's going to help him get back on track. But how did he deal with

with all the publicity and the people criticizing him and losing your job? How do he deal with it? It hurt him a lot. You know, it was difficult. But he's a very, stable guy. He's not a guy that gets caught up in hype. You know, he's really stable. A lot of people think he's not stable, and that's why he does this. Let me put that right. He's stable in his day-to-day life.

What happens with him is that when he's in that intense moment fighting, something happens where he kind of loses contact with reality. And I say this not because of submissions. I mean, remember the fight in Rio where he thought he'd won and got up on the... You know, he

just, I mean, it turns off we say it, he turns off the phone. Right. It doesn't listen to anybody anymore, you know. And I've seen that happen in other cases when he fought Dan Henderson. We were trying to tell him to do one thing and he was doing something else. Right. So at that time with Nate Marquart, that was a weird one, right?

That was another weird one, you know. He had in his mind this idea that people were greasing to fight him, and I got into the ring and I looked at Nate's leg and it was shaved as bare as a baby's ass, but there was nothing on it, you know. I'm a witness that there was nothing on it, you know. And that's the kind of thing. thing that happens with him, you know. But we took him to a sports psychologist, we'll work on it, and he, and he learned his lesson.

You don't think it happens again? No, I don't think it happens again. Is the sports psychologist really helping him? Yeah. Because I know you told me when this happened that that's something that you really wanted him to do. Well, you know, it's like I told you about motivated reason. There's so much stuff that we don't understand, then we need to find out. I'm just, you know, unfortunately, I end up with these problems, you know, like Bigfoot or

Rose, actually, in Brazil, they're telling this joke that I'm going to have them because I have Bigfoot, Lineker, and Rosemar, you know. But, you know, it actually happens in other sports. An individual sport, this is a fact that happens, you know. Well, since you brought it up, Bigfoot Silva. What happened there? There was some miscommunity. I didn't really take part in the TRT process.

You didn't. And there was a miscommunication between him and his doctor. And he ended up. Is he suing the doctor? I don't know. I don't want. The doctor's a good friend of mine. want to be part of that. I thank God I wasn't in the middle of that, you know. Right.

And well, thank God, if I was in the middle of that, maybe I could have avoided it. So why weren't you there? Because isn't that kind of like what you do or not? Well, no, why wasn't I there in Australia there? No, why weren't you in the middle of it? Because he was handling, the doctor operated on his shoulder and they were handling it themselves. I'm really busy. I didn't, I thought everything was fine. Sure. I didn't know it. I didn't, I didn't realize I needed to be involved in it. Did he try to cheat? No. He did not. That's the one thing I need say he took, he took instructions wrong, but he did not try to cheat. He needs, he needs to be on TRT?

Bro, this is one of the guys that really has an authentic reason to be on TRT, because he has acromegaly. Right. What is acromegaly? Acromagallion is a cyst or a little tumor in his pituitary gland, which makes him overproduced GH, and that unbalances all of his other hormones. For example, when I started managing him, he would actually lactate, okay? And he has extremely low testosterone, which is amazing because if you ever seen him grouch in a bad mood, you wouldn't think it.

But he has extremely low testosterone. So he had a real reason for doing this. What happened was that there was a miscommunication between him and the doctor. He ended up taking the injections at the wrong time. That's what happened. And thus his levels were... Yeah, because what happened was that he was taking one a month and it wasn't working. So they started one a week.

Okay. And so he took one on the week before. the fight and then he took one on the week of the fight and he wasn't supposed to do that he didn't he got mixed up between a bank week and you know i mean he said okay friday monday saturday sunday monday you know and he got mixed up that's unfortunate because it has somewhat tarnished the legacy of the fight right absolutely absolutely but it it was not it was not intentional he didn't try to cheat that's the how's he dealing with it uh he's not in a very good mood about it no no he's not in a very good but he's taken out on the doctor, which I don't think it wasn't really his fault,

the doctor's fault, I think it was miscommunication. Once again, the doctors in Brazil, he's in the States, you know, and it gets difficult. And he lost a lot of money. Yeah, he lost a lot of money. They took away, the bonus. And the image, I think that the hurts the most. That hurts the most image. Plus, I think he has that history in the past, right, with the Lidexie, so people try to tie the two together.

Now, that one, I'll tell you, that was wrong. That was wrong. That was wrong. He got tested positive for both. Now, listen, guys, I mean, I don't know about what my guys take. But if anybody was going to give a fight or something, it wouldn't be a horse steroid, okay? What happened was, yeah, I mean, give him a gorilla steroid, not a horse steroid. So what happens, he took Novodex.

Now, Novodex, it metabolizes into something similar to the boldenone metabolite. And we had the proof, we had everything, okay? And we hired a lawyer, which is a good lawyer on these things, and we went in front of the commission and I found out that the commission, the way it works is not really fair, you know, and we could prove it, but they didn't accept it. We went on to sue the California State Commission in civil court. And the judge, the judge didn't want to, you know, he said, oh, well, the commission cannot prove they took Bolin on, but I think Novodex is cheating too, so he wanted to throw it up to a higher court. At that point, we realized we're against the system, and we

weren't going to waste more money trying to do it. But I tell you, he did not take Bolin on. Adrianne Martinez lost this past weekend. How's he doing? Physically, how's he doing? He's doing fine. That was a brutal knockout. Yeah, I mean, it's another case where, you know, if a great fighter, we're going to see a lot of good things out of Adiriano,

but he tried to fight from his hometown, you know, and he doesn't have people good enough to train with him. You go to American Top Team, there's 50 top guys on that mat where he can go and train and, you know, mix up with guys at his level. But where he's coming from, he didn't have them. that, you know, and that's exactly what I say, well, it's going to be so difficult to fight out of Brazil in these big fights. So you'd like to see him go to ATT for his next fight?

I'm bringing up the guys that I can and ATT accepts, yeah, it's my home. And not only that, it's a for real place. I mean, the guy goes there, he trains with professionals and there's no bullshit. You know, he goes there, he trains hard, he goes home, eats, sleeps, come back and train, you know, and trains with people at his level, you know. One last thing before they go, and this has been great. Really, really enjoyed having you on. We talked about Brazilian MMA, but how do you feel about just MMA as a business right now? We talked about it getting bigger, but you hear people complain about sponsorships and, you know, fight or pain, things like that.

Are we in a good spot in our sport? Do you like where the sport is as a manager who has to deal with this on a day-to-day basis, getting sponsorships, dealing with UFC for pay? You feel like the sport is in a good place? Yeah, I mean, I think it's not that it's in a good place or bad place. It's just part of evolution. We've had this conversation before. We talked about those big boxing fights in the 1920s where he had 90,000 people looking at it. If you look in the growing curves of sports of NFL and of other sports,

we're in the very, very beginning. We've only been here for 15 years, you know. So it takes time for all this stuff to adjust and everything to fall in place, you know. So, you know, the UFC people don't, I mean, people talk about what they're paying or not paying the fighters. They don't realize that they themselves are expanding and investing, you know. So it'll develop, you know, there's going to be other big events going to show up and other things are going to happen. even the fighting in itself is going to develop. There's going to be new things.

I mean, how many new techniques are not new techniques, but old techniques that keep on reappearing? I mean, who could have believed the front kick until Anderson brought up? Or the spinning back kick until Barbosa kicked that guy. And we're going to keep on seeing this. We're going to keep on seeing it in the fall. I watch the two Pettas brothers. Those kids, man, they're the next thing.

They're not them themselves, but the way they fight and the cage walk. Who could have believed it? And we're going to keep on seeing things like that. By the way, Barbosa, does he have a fight? Not yet. Not yet. What are you talking about? I don't know yet.

I don't have anything yet. I'm just hopeful. We're going to get a top fighter. It's about time. It's about time. I think that Barbosa was in this last fight. He proved that after the Varner fight, you know, he took some pressure and they didn't, the other opponents. The other two fights weren't fights to put a lot of pressure on him.

But with Casteter, he went through some hard moments. And I think that it proved not only to us, but to himself that he can take that pressure. and he can overcome it and come back. You know, a champion has to be good when things are good and when things are bad. And he proved that he can be good when things are bad. Pleasure. Thank you. Thank you so much.

I mean it. One of my favorite people in this sport, a true class act. He has a big weekend coming up with, of course, John Linnaker fighting Ali Bagua Oetinov this weekend. The winner very well could be you next for one Demetrius Johnson. Best of luck to you. And I noticed that on your Twitter, you're not active all that much. What's going on? I mean, I'm trying to tell people to go talk to you if they have questions, but...

I'll try. Your last tweet was like in October. Bro, it's like... There's too much going on. I come before email, so it was email, then it's Facebook, then it's Vox or Twitter, this, and I just can't keep up with everything. All right. But he does have a Twitter account.

If you want to drop him something and maybe he'll respond to it in like six months or something like that. I'll try. Thank you so much. And best of luck to you and John this weekend. There he is. Alex Davis, everyone. We're going to keep listening to that press conference. Some other interesting things happen.

And in a minute, we're going to be joined by... Ricardo Almeida, who is a MMA fighter-turned-judge, and he'll be working this weekend in Newark, New Jersey, UFC 169. So here's the continuation of the UFC on Fox 10 post-fight press conference. Back on the mixed martial arts hour, that was the rest, I guess, not the complete thing, but the second half, if you will, of the UFC on Fox 10 post-fight press conference. Some great stuff from Alex Casares. To see his maturation as a person has just been a lot of fun to watch, and he had a huge win over Sergio Pettus. We actually did a post-fight interview with him.

You could check it out on the site right now. It's on MMAfighting.com. Soroni was in rare form, and, of course, it was just interesting to hear from Benson and Josh after their very hotly contested fight, and it went the distance. And it actually makes a lot of sense to talk to our next guest at this time because he is a former UFC fighter,

one of the top contenders back of the day in the UFC's Walterweight Division, and he moved along and is still, and he also fought as a middleweight, of course, he's still in the sport, still teaching, still coaching, but he's also a judge, and he'll be working at UFC 169 this weekend in Newark, New Jersey. He is Ricardo Almeida, and he joins us right now on the phone. Ricardo, how are you? Very good. How are you? Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.

So I'm wondering, did you watch the main event on Saturday night, Josh Thompson and Benson and Benson? You know, I didn't watch. I heard about it. I was actually coaching some guys at a jiu-jitsu event, so I didn't have a chance to watch, but I heard it was pretty controversial. It was controversial, and I think that it's good to have you on, and I think a lot of people are excited that you are judging because they know you, they know you've been in the sport. How would you, you know, characterize the state of MMA judging right now? Someone who actually fought, who's competed, who now goes into judging and is helping the sport grow. Do you look around? and you meet people and say, these people don't know what they're doing, that this is a problem right now.

We need more people like myself to do this. I don't know. I think it doesn't necessarily mean that because I was a fighter, I know more than everybody else. You know, I think that I've been in a lot of the positions in there, and I'm certainly not scared to call it how I see it. I think that I definitely have more experience in more sports than, you know, a lot of the judges.

But I don't think you necessarily have to have been a fighter to be, a good judge. But with that said, you know, we're talking about the state of the NBA judging. It's pretty out of control, you know. We just spent some, a few months ago, sometime a video in the next season of the ultimate fighter and, you know, some of the judges they have over there in Nevada were you could just tell that there will know much more than just the boxing element of the fight game. And I think that's sort of the state across the country, besides a handful of us.

lot of commissions, you bring, you know, either a kickboxing or boxing judges and they really have no idea about the takedown aspects or even the knee strikes and elbow strikes and what's going on in the cage, you know, like, it's pretty sad. Do you think that the commissions are doing enough to educate the judges and to bring in the right kind of people to judge these fights? You know, for us here in New Jersey, I think that Jersey has always been a pretty, as in a leadership state as far as MMA

you know with the first rules being here in Jersey and the first couple UFCs during the ZUFA ownership and actually two weeks ago the whole staff of everyone who's going to work the UFC or the UFC comes in town next weekend we all got

together Nick Limbo brought everyone in and you know talked to the judges talked to the staff who's going to work around it we had a chance you know the whole team to watch a bunch of fights and just talk about how he would have judged and, you know, certain situations. They're all like very controversial matches.

And I just thought that was a great initiative. And, you know, most of the guys worked for the New Jersey, say, athletic control, but they are, you know, former martialists, not all of them are former fighters, ball. Them are, like, martialists that have their schools and, you know, they know the sport. And, you know, I think it's pretty great. What the guys are doing here in Jersey, and when they invited me to be a part of it, I was proud to be a part of it, especially because I live here in Jersey since 1997,

but I don't think that's what the other commissioners are doing out there. So do you only work in New Jersey? I only work in New Jersey, yes. Right now I'm only licensed Georgia, New Jersey. Do you want to work in other states, or are you content just being in New Jersey? You know, like I do this. I'm just trying to do my part, you know, like I fought my very last fight.

was for me a controversial decision. You know, I didn't fight great, but I still think I won the fight. I was pretty bummed, and I decided to retire after that. And, you know, you maybe just want to be a little bit more involved in it when Nicoland boy invited me. But for now, I'm just doing it here in Jersey. I already travel so much coaching guys and, you know, I have Frankie, Edson, Marlon, and, you know, a couple of the guys who fight here in Jersey

locally, plus the judicial tournament. It keeps me pretty busy. So right now I'm not really looking to add more journey into my schedule, that's for sure. And, of course, the fight you're talking about was against Mike Piles at UFC 128 over in Newark, New Jersey. I remember talking to after that fight, and you were obviously very disappointed. It was controversial. So you didn't reach out to Nick Lombo? They reached out to you?

To get a judge, yeah, Nick invited me. You know, I've had a good relationship with Nick for years. I've worked with them closely to develop the rules for the amateur MMA program here in Jersey, which is very strong. you see like a bunch of, you know, tough guys from Jersey coming up to ranks. And, of course, all the gyms are great coaches too. But right after I retired, Nick Lambo called me, like, yeah, old Carter, you know, like, I know you just stopped fighting.

You know, I'd love to have you as a judge here in New Jersey. And I was like, yeah, Nick, for sure. You know, like, I just couldn't say no. I think that I've always trusted Nick, you know, he's been like a good friend and he's always been like someone who cares himself with a lot of respect. and transparency and when he invited me is, I just felt that I couldn't say no,

especially, you know, knowing how judging is in the MAA. You know, I honestly don't think I know more than anybody else. I'm just trying to do my part and hopefully some more fighters will be more interested in doing it when they retire. Did you have to take a course or something

in order to start judging the fights? I actually did like a little bit of a trainee program, you know, like I judged that a bunch of the local shows for quite a while, you know, like, talk to Nick about the rules. He explained to be the rules and some of the things. And I did a couple smaller shows, some of the local shows.

And after a few events, he put me to judge the UFC when the UFC came into town. Do you think one of the problems in MMA judging is right now the judges don't make that much money, so there's no incentive for anyone to go out there and actually become a judge? Yeah, I guess. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're making a million dollars to judge U.S.

C-169. No, I wish. I probably, I probably retired sooner. Yeah, that's true. But, no, I, you know, like, it's one of those things. Like, you know, you're not working for the UFC. Like, you're not working for the event. You know what I mean?

Like, so you basically, you're basically a state hired, you know, workers. So, you know what I mean? Like, it's not, I'm not expecting to make millions of dollars, you know? Like, it's about just doing what's right. Like, sometimes it's not just about the money. money. You know what I mean? Like every one of the judges there, they have their jobs, you know.

Most of them have their own schools because they are involved in martial arts and, you know, they do other things. And I'm not expecting to get rich out of being a judge. I'm just trying to do my part, you know, and still be involved in the sport. I'm still very active as a coach. I have guys fighting in the UFC. Have guys coming up the ranks. It's something that I enjoy doing.

And, you know, truthfully, being a judge and being involved in the sport that way, you It makes me a better coach for my guys, too. So, you know, I think it works out pretty good. How do you feel about the 10-point must system? Do you think that's the right system that should be used to judge MMA fights? You know, like I like the old, I like the old pride rules. The entire fight. Yeah, but that's kind of, you know, it just brings like so many elements, you know.

Like I think with the shorter rounds, I mean, the smaller amount of rounds in MMA and longer rounds than in boxing, you should be able to take everything that happens in the fight into account. You know, I think people still have a lot of misconceptions about how a fight is judged. You know what I mean? Like you always hear the fans talk about damage, well, somebody's face being damaged. And that just, it's not always the case, you know. And there are certain, like, controversial situations that people kind of see the fight one way,

but it's just not even how it is, like, in the rules. You know, and it becomes controversial that way. You know, the judges always have a tough job. The referees also have a tough job. But like I said, you know, like it's common sense. You know, like if you understand the sport and if you've been around it, you know, I've been around it, you know, for a very long time, you know, like in jiu-jitsu, of course, and then as a fighter and as a coach the past, you know, 10 or 15 years.

And then if you've been around it, like, you know, you know, looking at. You know what's going on, but if you haven't been around it and you haven't been involved somewhere, somehow, you know, it makes things more difficult. Yeah, that's probably the biggest problem. I mean, maybe you can criticize the actual formula you want, but if you're not using it or don't have the capability to use it correctly, it can be the most perfect formula and you'll still screw it up, right? Yeah, every sport where you have judges and it's always going to be, it's always going to be version. I surf and I love surfing and, you know, they kind of judge and they give scores for someone catching a wave and it's the same thing. It's always, you know, the interpretation

of the judge and sometimes they give it to somebody who's not supposed to be the real winner, you know, like to me it's just all about the fighter, you know, especially the way the sport is these days. Like careers are made and broken with like a winner too, you know, like and at the UFC. And if I can be there, and, you know, and if I can be there, and have a little bit more transparency and be a little bit more consistent. And, you know, the guys here in Jersey could be a little bit more consistent

than everywhere else. And, you know, we could become a little beacon of how things should be done as far as, you know, the judging side of the MMA is so great. You know, we already have so many great referees, like Big Dan and some of the other guys who are traveling. They are seen as great additions to the sport.

I hope that, you know, the guys in Jersey, you know, of course, the fighters, you know, like Frankie, the Millers, you know, like, why not the judges kind of set the tone, too. But I just, I'd like to see it be more consistent, you know, like, so the controversy, you know, sometimes you're going to have, a lot of times you're going to have close fights. You're going to have, you know, guys winning two out of three rounds and or in a title fight, so five-rounders, a guy's winning three out of two rounds and, you know, one round goes one way, one round goes another way, you just kind of, you know, messes things up a little.

But when you start to have the disparity of, you know, a referee giving four rounds to one person, that's when things start getting out of hand. How many events do you think you judge a year? Right now, I'm judging – actually, this is the first one I've judged in a while, because last time the UFC was in town, I had one of my students in Nick Coton. He was in the event, and I was going to be in his corner. so he can be a corner and a coach in the same event. That just doesn't look very good.

So I asked Nick to sit out. And then this time around, Frankie is actually going to coach Nick Coton because he's going to be on the card. I'm not going to be coaching you. I'm just going to be judging this time around. Do you know which fights he'll be judging as of now? Have they told you yet? Yeah, they told me, I think they actually even made it public.

It's the last two fights, like the two main events, the main and the core main event. Not any of the other fights on the undercard. I could be wrong on this, but I don't think so. So let me ask you, I mean, and this has come up when I said that you were going to be on the show, Josealdo is fighting in one of those fights. He beat Frankie Edgar. Is it hard for you to judge a fight with Josealdo in it? No, you know, like when they show me the assignments, I told Nick, hey, Nick, you know,

we just recorded the show against BJ Penn, you know, Frankie Fox. I'll do and, you know, like, I just want to let you know of this in case, like, any controversy it comes up down the line. He's like, you know, Ricardo, I brought the assignments to both camps and they were okay with it. And to me, as long as they're okay, you know, like, I'm, like, I'm a fan of fighting. Like, I love great fires and I want to see the guy who wins, win, you know what I mean? Like, if Frankie fights his heart out and, you know, he's had some tough decisions come his way,

and like, for me, I just want to do a good job when I'm in there, just as I did when I was a fighter. So you have no problems with Novuniao? No, absolutely not. I've been competing against those guys since I'm like 15 years old when I was in Brazil, you know, like I know everyone well, you know, and they've always had a great team, and they've always been, like, on the other side as competitors,

but I have nothing but respect for those guys. I love watching, I've always loved watching Raya Fabor from the times he was on WEC. You know what I mean? Like, I'm, I just want to be there. and do my job, as those guys want to be there, doing their job. You know, I have nothing but respect and admiration, and be the best man win that night. Have you ever sat down and judged a fight,

and you realized that you had an issue with someone, hit the fighter, his corner, his friends, and stuff, and you felt it was hard to be 100% neutral? You know, like, when a situation like that comes, like what happened with Nick that I was going to be there, and actually one time when I was judging Hendricks and Koshchek, John Cholish was on the same card, and I got assigned to to Judge John Cholish, and I told Nick, hey, Nick,

you know, Cholish trains with Hansel. He's come down to my school a few times, and I asked Nick not to be assigned to that side. And the same thing happened in Belator when I was judging Belvoir, and Philip Nover was on the card. You know, the assignment of Philip Nover, and I told him, hey, you know, like I have Nover coming to my school and spying with Frankie all the time.

Like, I feel more comfortable if I'm left out of that. So I try to be proactive. And, you know, Nick Lambo knows all, and he knows our team, so he has an idea of where the guys that come and go. But he's not there on a daily basis to see who comes into sport and not. So if it's someone that I've had close contact with, I just have to be out of that assignment. And you feel like given where you sit, you know, sometimes there's action that happens in the corner all the way on the other side of the cage, and you can't really see, like, do you feel like you have a good vantage point where they place the judges to properly judge a fight? Actually, on the local cards, you know, we don't have the monitor.

In the UFC, we have the monitor. So we have, you know, a great view. We're like right there against the – I have a better seat than Dana White and Lorenzo, you know, like we're right up against the cage, and we have the monitor. But, you know, some of the local shows are a little bit further back behind a table, usually, and we don't have the monitor, so it's a little bit harder. But do you watch the monitor or the live action?

in the in the in the in the in the or in the UFC yeah oh I don't watch the live action but sometimes they go behind the poles and things like that and then you just look at a more off let's say they land on the ground they have their backs to me okay what's going on in the guard then you know

you have to look at you have to look at the morning it's the same one of that you know Joe Rogan those guys use for the for the commentary right right and but you don't get to look at replay though right like after the fight or after the round you don't get to see moments again, right? We get to see it. I don't remember, we get to see it, but we have to hand the cards in immediately. As soon as the round ends, one of the officials from the Athletic Commission

comes right behind us, and we hand them the scorecard. So we don't have a chance to see it, but we don't have a chance to take it into account. Okay. Would you like to see, I mean, it seems maybe like a silly question just because you're doing it, but do you hear from fighters? Would you like to see more fighters do it? Because you don't hear that many fighters. You know, it was a big deal when they,

announce that you were doing it, but I haven't really see that many people try to copy you and do this as well. Yeah, you know, like I've always, like I'm on wash the waters before. I wasn't more sure as before, you know, I was a firefighter. I mean, like, in a sense, you know, I started jih Tzu when I was 15 years old, before the first UFC happened. And, you know, it just so happened that, you know, later in life I became a fighter and I really liked it.

I'm always always been a competitor. and I have my own school so everything I do has something to do with martial arts like a lot of other fighters you know, fighting them as a job you know, like and when fighting is done, you know what I mean? Like they go do something else

they might not necessarily be totally being involved with more shorts, you know, with MMA. Some of them become coaches, some don't even like to coach, you know, and that's okay, everyone chooses their own path. I think that, you know, I'd like to see more guys do it. know you have some guys being commentators and things like that. It's just that I'm assuming that probably a commentator makes more money than judge.

I guess it always goes back down to that. How was the ultimate fighter experience? It was great. You know, it was very unique. It's hard. It's hard being out there in Vegas for such a long time. I kind of bounced back and forth between there and the East Coast a couple of times. We had some other guys fighting at defense that I had to attend and other things that I had to do.

I went to do a jihitsu tournament in the middle of one of the weekends. I went to California to do a jihps tournament. But it's like you're in a parallel universe. You know, you kind of see what's going on outside. We were training, you know, with the cast from the show two times a week. Frankie is a maniac who trains twice a day no matter what. So we'll train Frankie. Then we'll train the guys from the show.

And then we'll train Frankie again and then the guys from the show again. So we were in the gym like eight, nine hours a day. Wow. But you think it was fun experience? It was entertaining. You think fans are going to like it? Oh, yeah. I think fans are really going to like it.

You know, especially they're going to see a side of Frankie. They're not too many people knowing. Frankie is an incredible, incredible coach, incredible leader, an incredible person to be around. He always brings different energy when he's in the room. You know, as a training partner, of course, but as a coach especially, so I think people are going to see some great things. You ever get that itch to fight again?

I get it, you know, all the time. and then I see the guy's training and getting hurt, and then I'm like, man, I don't know about that. Yeah, you know, one thing that I wish I would have had a chance to do, it happened right after I stopped fighting, was to have a chance to fight in Brazil. But, hey, you know, I don't regret anything. You know, like, I loved fighting when I was fighting.

Sometimes I think that I could still do it, but I'm happy where I am right now and just focusing all my guys and, you know, I don't think about it like that way, you know, oh, can I go back, can I go back? It's not something that bothers me, you know? Yeah, you left right before the Brazil boom in the UFC, right? Because your last fight was 128, and then they went 134, and now they're there like every week.

Yeah, it was right before, you know, like I said, it was a dream for me to want to be able to fight in Brazil, but, you know, maybe I'll get to go there as a coach. Yeah, exactly. And you got great guy, like Marlon, Marlon Marlon Maris, I think. Yeah. I know they just announced he's fighting for the belt. March 29th, he is something.

He, I think he could be, you know, I know he's in World Series of fighting, he could be a UFC champion. Yeah, he's, he's incredible. He actually just, he just got back here to Jersey. We trained this morning, and, you know, he has that, of course, he has the talent, you know, he has, you know, the athleticism, you know, he has the skill for sure, you know, but he just, he has that drive, and, you know,

he works with Frankie a lot, you know, like, and, like I was saying before, Frankie's, Frankie's work ethic is contagious, you know, He just makes people around him better, and more than Edson has been one of those guys. Well, Ricardo, thank you so much for coming on. It was great to have you back on the show. Good luck, doing it. I think it's great that you're taking out some time for the simple fact that you want to give back to the sport.

You're going to be working two huge fights this weekend, the main event, the co-main event at UFC 169, and I know you're very busy with your team. You guys are doing fantastic work. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you guys come off on the show. So thank you very much for stopping by. Good luck, judging the fights. Hopefully no controversy, and it's easy. maybe it'll just be two finishes and you don't have to do anything.

I think that's probably the best these days with the other judges, not you, but some of the other judges who clearly don't know what they're talking about. But I appreciate you stopping by, and hopefully we'll see you over in New Jersey this weekend. Yeah, I'll see you this weekend looking forward. It's a big weekend for sporting, you know, with the Super Bowl. Yeah. It's a big UFC. So, you know, I'm going to do some homework this week, be on my toes,

and do the best job I possibly can for the guys because, you know, they train their butts off and it's all about the fires. I don't doubt that. Thank you very much. Good luck this weekend. Thank you. Bye-bye. All right. There he is. Ricardo Almeida, judging the co-main event on Saturday, which is, of course, Jose Aldo versus Ricardo Lamas. And then the main event, Hennon Burrell v. Uriah Faber number two.

That's this weekend. Other big fight this weekend is Alistair Overe versus Frank Meir. As we mentioned, John Linnaker versus Ali Bagga-O-Otinov. There's also Abel Trujillo versus Jamie Varn on the pay-per-view card. down the card quickly at the end of the show in a few minutes. Okay, let's go and move along to our last guest of the day. He was in Chicago. I saw him there in fridge at Chicago, not the weather that they have over there in beautiful Glendale, Arizona, but he left a happy man because his guy, Benton Henderson, won in the main event. I say happy man, although when I saw him at the end of the

night, he wasn't all that happy because his team went two and one, and that says a lot about him. He wanted to go three and O and felt very badly that one of those, one of his guys didn't come out on the winning end, but still one of the very best in the business. We've had him on the show before. He is John Crouch, the coach over at the MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona. John, how are you?

Good. What's happening, Ariel? That sounds like a pretty good card this weekend in New Jersey. It is. Are you going to that one? I can't wait. Yeah, I'll be there with Andy End. He was on the ultimate fighter.

He came down from Alaska and to his camp with us. I'll be there with him. Wow, okay. So there you go. Another busy weekend for you. So two and one, as I said, it's fair to say you weren't all that happy when I saw you at the end of the day. And it had nothing to do with, you know, controversial decision with Benson.

You wanted to go three and no, not good enough to be two and one, right? Man, it's just so hard when you have multiple fighters. Like, you know, some of the really big gyms have gone through it a bunch. This was really starting to happen to us a little bit, and it's so hard to split your focus between three people, three groups. And I was just really disappointed. I thought it was a winnable fight for us and come up short and I just love the kid

and just felt terrible about it, that's all. And of course we're talking about Yachtin Meza who lost to Chico Khamis. The other win that you had was Alex Casares picking up a huge win over Sergio Pettus and we'll get to Alex in a second. But, you know, I'm wondering

what's the most you've ever had on a card as far as guys? Is it three or have you had more? No, just that's it. We've had three this time we had I think we have three on another one but that's it that's the most we've had

but that's enough man I have no idea how Greg Jackson was five or six I was just going to say that there's sometimes where Greg is running back and forth and so there you go three it is tough I mean are you all in the same locker room at least

I would hope so yeah they did put us in the same locker room this time so it was great being there with the the whole team was a pretty cool experience let's start at the top Benson did he deserve to win Absolutely Okay

Listen I didn't think it was that close You didn't I don't understand the uproar I thought we won the fight clearly You know we lost the first After that Josh got some great takedown

You know he's really tricky in the clinch He's got some great trips You know He's got some really great highlights Against Gilbert with those trips And But he didn't do anything I don't feel like Josh

Ever tried to finish the fight Not once You know Benson has taken a lot of criticism for not trying to finish, but I feel like we were the aggressor the whole time. Honestly, that's what led us to make a couple of mistakes to give up positions, was trying to be aggressive. So I didn't really think it was question while I got home last night, watched it again, and I felt sure that we had won. Which rounds do you think you decisively won? I wouldn't say, I think it's really close, Ariel.

The rounds were close. I feel like Josh is really smart. He's a good opponent, and he was definitely playing, in my mind, he was definitely playing more of a point game than we were. He was trying to win the round. He was trying to win, according to the judge's scorecard. Benson landed a lot of hard shots and felt like we were the aggressor, the entire fight, as far as ring control goes. You know, Josh got our back, and in the first round, for sure, he did a great job of controlling it. A couple times after that, he didn't control the position at all.

We got up, got out, and actually won the next point. position. So I honestly wasn't surprised by the 49-46. That's kind of what I had thought myself. So you thought he won four to one? Yeah. So you must be shocked by the backlash here. I'm not shocked. You know, Dana doesn't like us too much. And Benson's never got to sit at the cool kids table, you know? And I think it's unfortunate because he's a great dude. And he He works super hard, not that other people don't, you know, but you know Ben. You've been around him. He's nothing but just a humble, great guy, and he works his butt off.

So I'm not surprised by the backlash, but I am disappointed by it, certainly. So you think that Dana White doesn't like Benson Henderson? I don't know if he doesn't like Ben, but he's certainly not a fan of how Ben wins his fights, you know. Why do you think that? I think he said it a few times, hasn't he? Well, you know, he's, you know, go ahead. Oh, grinding it out, Benson-Henderson-style fight, winning close decisions. He said that, and you know, everybody would love to have finishes.

God, it would be great. If somebody could show me how to make his left hand explode people's heads when he threw it, it would be awesome. Let's do that. Well, we work on his power all the time. We work on finishing all the time. And, you know, the guys at the 55, I mean, who's finished Josh Thompson? Has anybody? I don't think they have.

And he's had, what, 2,000 minutes in the ring with Gilbert Melendez, and by the end of it, it was a draw. Right. They're both great fighters. And those fights, both their last two fights were very controversial on who won. I mean, we're fighting people that are really, really good. And at 55 pounds and below, the finishes are hard to get because people are in such good shape. They're really dynamic. They're really well-trained.

They're good athletes. I just think it's great to say, hey, we're going to finish everybody, but the real reality of the situation just doesn't happen. And, of course, the only time Josh Thompson has ever been finished was against Eve Edwards, that famous knockout way back when in August of 2004. But since then and before that, never been finished. Well, and think about that, 2004, Ben hadn't even started fighting it.

I didn't even started, still in college. Right. So, you know, Josh has been around the spot. He's a great fighter, man. I don't understand why people think it would be just so easy to smash Josh Thompson. The guy has been in the top 10 for longer than Ben has been fighting. So what do you want us to do? It gets a little frustrating.

You know, ultimately, Benson doesn't care. He's just going to go out and do his best, and he's going to win, and none of this matters to him. It just gets under my skin a little bit because we're trying. We'd like to do our best. I think George St. Pierre said it to you maybe or somebody, that he, you know, people were, you know, decrying that he wasn't able to finish people. And he's like, hey, man, I have, these are the gifts that I bring to the table,

and I'm doing the best I can. And it struck, it rung a note with me because all the guys in the U.S. are trying to do that, every single one. And when you play in the NFL, you don't always win 70 to nothing, you know. Right. Some games you win in overtime when the other guy snaps, you know, fumbles the snap, and you kick a field goal that bounces off the upright. Sometimes you win those games.

and you've got to take those games as well as the big ones. So it's just a little frustrating to hear him get that criticism. What do you mean when you say that he's never been invited to the big kids table? Oh, man, you know, he's so quiet. He's not very, I don't, the cool kids table. Cool kids table. Oh, even more interesting. It's hard for Benson's not really one of those loud, talky guys.

You know, it's hard for him to pay. He's just not him. and so, you know, some of the people that get more press and more attention, which is fine with him, you know. And that's honestly fine with me because it leaves us to train, but I feel like it doesn't give him the proper amount of respect. I think that he's such a great fighter and a great guy, and it's frustrating to see other people get a little bit more credit.

Like it wasn't Josh's problem that the fight didn't go in an exciting fashion. It was our fault, right? We didn't do enough to do what we were supposed to do. In my mind, Josh was the one that fought a more technical point-oriented fight. You know, maybe because his hand was hurt. You know, there's reasons for it. I'm not saying it was a bad strategy. It almost worked.

But it's just, you know, I'd like to see Benson get the love that other people get to you. That's all. Does Benson feel this way? Not at all. Not even a little bit. Really? He doesn't care one bit. And most of the time, I don't care.

You know, like, what are we going to do? However you feel, Ariel is how you feel, and I can't really change that. You know, like, no matter what I do, if I rant and rave, I stand up and throw things, you're still going to feel how you feel it, and you'll probably feel it more if I make an idiot of myself yelling about it. So at the end of the day, you can only control one thing, and that's your effort that you put into your training. And if you put in the effort, then you just have to take what you get when you roll the dice. Why does it bother you so much this time?

Oh, I don't know. I think it's early. It was, you know, that there was such an uproar kind of surprised me and irritated me. You know, we're fighting the best people in the world over and over again. Still, nobody's finished Frankie Edgar, right? Right. And Gilbert Melinda, same thing, you know. All the last guys that we see, the only person that finished Nate Diaz was Josh.

And honestly, Nate was doing fine in that fight before he got caught with that head kick. So we're fighting people that aren't. finishers. They don't get finished. They're cardio machines and they're monsters. And it's just hard. I love Benson and I want to see him get credit where credits do and it's just hard for me to hear honestly. Do you feel

like this might, you know, even after the press conference and getting messages now as we're talking, it feels like there's a lot of backlash towards him. People don't believe that he's trying to finish or they think that he's winning these fights that he doesn't deserve to win. Are you worried now

that, you know, for a while it didn't seem like it was affecting him, but now after this fight and the Gilbert fight recently that people are starting to turn on him and won't support him anymore. Well, you know, people that are on top don't get supported. People start bringing him down. People start talking bad about Anderson Silva, you know, and he's what the greatest of all time, probably. People were hugely down on George St. Pierre

after he won his last fight with Hendricks. You know, it just happens and people can have their opinion. And, again, all we can do is our best. I mean, you can't train harder than Ben trained. There's nothing more he can do, you know? And, you know, we practice all the time. I don't know if you saw, but he's in the gym training in his gear this morning. Oh, wow.

So, yeah. So what do you want to do? What should we do different? You know, we're not going to just throw, you know, the takedowns that happened in the fight It resulted from Ben being a little bit overaggressive and jumping in on his punches, too high. And that's where the body locks came from, you know, which is great for Josh. Like, it was excellent technique, excellent timing, great technique.

But it was from Ben trying to be the aggressor to try to make things happen. So, you know, when you're too aggressive and you do crazy stuff, then bad things can happen. You want to stay within yourself and really fight inside your abilities. So I guess that's just the frustration of it, you know. And the backlash that you're talking about now, it's like we can't do anything about it. All we can do is train our hardest and come back to the next time and try again. What do you make of the fact that this is third time main eventing a show on Fox?

That's got to say something, right? There's only been ten events. He's made evented three of them. Yeah, I mean, I think I don't even know, man. You still get that impression, though. Yeah. Hmm. And I'm assuming you heard what Dana said after the fight.

He didn't go to the press conference, but he did do an interview with Fox Sports, and those quotes that you're talking about about a grinding type of Benson, that kind of seemed to as gone under your skin. No, not just him. Everything. Anyway, it's awesome. Like, I really like him. I just wish, you know, I want to finish more.

I'd like to see us finish people. It's just difficult at this level to finish guys. They're really good. it. What was his mindset like going into this fight, coming off the Pettus fight, and getting married in between? Like, what kind of, was he the same old Benson? Was he different?

What was he like? Same. He was ready to go. He was in great shape. I think you saw. He was fresh as a daisy at the end of the fifth round. Yeah. He goes some more.

He was great. Why does he always go for the towel before even weighing in? Does he have a tough time making $155? Not at all. He just doesn't. He doesn't like it. Okay. He always wants to be at the weight for 30 seconds and then be up again.

And it's, he always likes to cut it as close as he can. So most of the time he's worn a towel. When Yadhi and Ephron are there with him, he's usually under, because they make him get in the sauna a couple more times. But when it's just me, he's always in the towel, and that's when he's right on. It's not hard for him, he just would rather not that extra. that extra eight ounces bugs him. Like he doesn't want to give away that extra eight ounces. He wants to have it.

This time around he didn't braid his hair. He was almost clean-shaven. He didn't come out with the ghee like he did last time with the black belt. Did you guys talk about that going back to the old Benson? No. No, he wore the same shorts. He wore against Anthony, which was a change for him. Yeah.

But he didn't like getting in and out of the ghee with his gloves. Okay. So, and as far as the hair braided, he wasn't sure whether he was going to do it as at that day. He had done it in practice when he sparred. And I asked him, he's like, I don't know, I'll decide when I do it. And he was always, Ben's always late. I don't know if you know that, but he's usually late. And he was late that day getting up.

He took a nap and was ready to go, but he was late so he didn't have time to do it. Do you prefer when he, because it seems to bother him a little bit in the fight, right? No, I don't think it bothers him at all. Oh, okay. me more than it bothers him. So you want him to do it. Yeah, I'd like to see him do it forever, but that's not my hair.

It's not my fight. So, you know, I told his wife, I almost said his girlfriend, I'd be in trouble if I said that. I told his wife, I was like, hey, brain his hair. He's like, I don't know if he'll let me. So, yeah, it turned out he woke up late and they didn't get time to do it.

Obviously, it doesn't sound, at least for now, like he's going to get a tell shot right away. What would you like to see them do with him next? doesn't matter it's not up to us you know we're just going to keep getting better

so whoever they give us we'll just keep beating them until we get to see Pettus again and we're looking forward to that you know like do you think he'll get it do you think we'll get to see Pettis yeah at some point

do you think it'll happen yeah of course yeah we're not going to lose anymore okay we're not losing any more fights so what are they going to do right how many do we have to win in a row.

We'll just win that many then. No problem. Did you talk about 170 because there are fresh guys up there, or is that not an option right now? I don't think he wants to fight at 170. The only time he wants to fight at 170 is about an hour before weighing. You know, if you'd talk to him right before the way-ins, he'd tell you for sure he's going up to 170.

Right. As soon as he gets that first bottle of water, he's good to go. So right now, no injuries or anything like that, so he could return sooner rather than later, right? Nothing serious happened in that fight? No, he's good. He didn't even get hit. There was no damage done.

There was really, literally, told me after the fight, Josh caught him with a punch in the end of the fifth round, one minute before the end of the fifth round, and that was the one thing he got hit with. Josh had a couple good push kicks, but, you know, they weren't hard.

They just landed, so there was absolutely no damage. He was training today, getting ready to do his strength and conditioning tonight. Is this the most upset we're ever going to see or hear John Crouchby? Yeah, honestly, I wish I wasn't. I wish I could be a little cooler like Ben. But, you know, sometimes it's tough as a trainer. You see the guy's sweat, you see him bleed,

and they're doing everything they can. And not just my guy, you know, but like when GSP and Johnny Hendricks went down, like, man, the guy can't do any more than his best. That's it. like what do you want him to do and it's not just ben it's not just whoever you know john fitch was in trouble for doing it john pitch was great like what are what are you what are you supposed to do he's not a knockout guy so it's it's frustrating for me that that's such a integral part of our sport you know um i know people want to see knockouts i know they love to see people just get in there

and go crazy but man that's not smart fighting your career doesn't last very long when you're one of those guys. You know, you get a fight-of-the-night bonus and your record in the UFC is one and three, and then you're fighting for $2,000 at some local show. That's it. And you never go back. And then you have all these bad habits that you don't fight smart. So, you know, some guys are great at it and that's great, man, more power to them. But that's a hard way to go. And you have to be, have some natural gifts to be able to do that. By the way, I noticed Joe Riggs in the corner this time. Is that going to happen from here on now? Because he hasn't been, all the time in the corner, right?

No, he, um, uh, Joey's actually really good on the Mets, and he really helped Ben with his boxing. So, um, Ben has never had the same four guys in the corner. Okay. I'm the only one that's been there for all of his fights. Wow.

Yeah, and so maybe it's my turn next time. I'm going to get replaced. Why is that? Why doesn't he keep the same guys? I think the people that are working closest to them, you know, um, you know, Adam Gillespie is more. The coach has been there quite a bit. You know, Afrin's been there a few times. I think Yadhi would have been there,

except that Yadhi had a fight that night. You had seen how to fight. Okay. So I just don't think, you know, Ben's not real, like you're talking about his geese and his hair. He didn't care about that stuff. It doesn't matter. He's not, you know, he's not superstitious at all.

Like me, when I played football, if I didn't have the right pair of socks, man, that meant I was not going to play well. And when in truth, that's not the truth. you know right and really Benson's good to go

it doesn't matter you could take everybody out of his corner and he would fight the same way you know you could put him on whatever you want and he'll fight the same way he's really strong like that

let's let's end on this positive note because Alex Cesaris looks so good you know I know he had his ups and downs and maybe if the fight would have gone the distance he might have lost who knows but he finished the fight

he finished a top contender and a guy that a lot of people had a lot of high hopes for, a lot of buzz surrounding him and Sergio Pettis, and then afterwards, I was most impressive with him afterwards, and what he said at the press conference, his demeanor, his evolution as a human being. I mean, where did this come from?

Have you seen this? Has this been a gradual evolution for Alex Casas, or is this something that just came out of nowhere? Because I feel like he's changed a lot in the last year. Well, you know, he's smart kid. He's not necessarily your prototypical human beings. being. And, you know, he's got some views and ideas that are outside of the normal realm of thinking. But he's really smart. He's really well read. He has his opinions and he can back them up

with stuff that he's studied. And I think he's just growing up into a man, you know? Like, he's a smart kid and I like him a lot. I've seen him grow a lot since he's done four camps now at the lab. And I think they've helped him become tougher, you know, mentally. Like his fight with Sergio was a microcosm of his time at the lab. He started off and he was struggling in the beginning. And now he had enough grit and determination to just keep going, keep grinding through, and it turned out great in the end. So that's the thing I'm most proud of with Alex that he's got that ability

to grind through and really persevere in the face of a harsh situation. I know it wasn't Anthony, but did it feel good to beat a Pettus? No, not for me. I don't, I don't even, it's not really Anthony. Like, like, people want to make that into something else. But no, I felt good to get a win in the Oxycon. It felt good to have a great performance. You know, like, I like Sergio a lot.

I actually think he's a really good fighter with a great future. And I've heard him speak, and he's a really mature, nice kid. And he's going to be around a long time. So I don't feel that at all, no. Would you let, I just turned off. One second. Yes, sir. Hello? I just turned off. Sorry, John, if you can hear me just one second.

Hey, Will. Oh, there we go. John, can you hear me? Yes, sir. Okay, I pressed a weird button. Would you like to see him take a step up in competition now? Because it seems like he's always on the prelims. Is he ready for that? Yeah, I think he wants that, and I think he deserves it. I mean, since he's been to 35, he's lost one fight. So I think he's six and one. He had the one decision overturned, but he won that fight. And then the one that he lost, he lost because the referee took away two points. He lost a split decision. But he would have won that fight.

In my mind, he's undefeated at 35. I think it's time to step up, don't you? I do. I'm really impressed. I actually thought it was a little early to book this fight because I thought they were both, you know, two great prospects moving up and maybe they'd meet at a higher point later on. But it happened, and he showed his true colors. And I think it's time.

I think they've actually been very slow with him, and kudos to them, because sometimes they rush people. Maybe they did that with Sergio here, but he is certainly ready. Maybe a T.J. Dillashaw type of guy, someone like that. I'd like to see him step up and fight. Gosh, T.J. is great, man. I would like a step up in competition, but he's still very young, you know, and he's still picking up a lot of good things. But I think T.J. and Eddie Wyneland, we make a great fight. Oh, yeah.

Those guys are just that next, just outside that championship. thing, you know. But yeah, I would like to see him step up. I think it's time. You know, he's getting better and better. I'd like to see one more, and then maybe TJ or Eddie or one of those guys that's that next step up. Well, congratulations on the two wins. I know it wasn't a

perfect night, but I'd say a very good night for you guys. And you have a big night coming up at UFC 169 this weekend, Andy Ans versus Clint Hester. That is on the fight pass portion of the card at around. Well, it starts at 30, that fight probably at around 7.30 or so. So safe travels over here to not as cold, but still

pretty damn cold in New York, New Jersey. And always a pleasure having you on the show, John. Really appreciate the insight. Thanks, Ariel. Take care, man. There he is. John Crouch, the coach over at the lab in Glendale, Arizona. My headphones here, I'm going to have to fix them. Just one second. I think I fixed it. Hello, hello. There it is. I stepped on it, and then I'm good, right? I'm good? You're good.

Okay. Step on it. So then all of a sudden the headphones shut off, and I can't hear a word that he's saying, but at least I think the microphone still works. So anyhow, I think I fixed it now. It does sound a little weird, but I could fight through it. So thank you very much to John for stopping by some interesting comments about the cool kids table. I don't know.

I think Dana kind of just tells it like it is after the fights and gets very passionate about it. But it's this third time main eventing on Fox, and that has to mean something, especially this time when he wasn't the champion. So who knows, but that's how he feels and certainly appreciate him coming on and voicing his true feelings there. All right. That does it for the interviews.

Thank you very much to everyone who stopped by, and it was great having two in studio guests this time. What do you think? New York, Rick, who'd you score the main event for? Did you even watch it? Did I even watch it? I don't know. Are you sick?

Yeah, a little bit. Oh, my Lord. Actually, I'm not sick now. I'm getting over some bronchitis, I feel great today. Bronchitis? Yeah. That's serious business.

Yeah, my throat was jacked up. Okay. Stay away from all of us. As I said, not sick anymore. Okay, okay. So you did have a chance to watch the fight. Who'd you scored for? I had it for Thompson.

You did? Okay, what rounds? Or three to... Do you remember even like it was three to two? Yeah, it was three to two. It was two to two, and then I believe the fifth round was the swing. but that's, you know, that was my first scoring. I didn't rewatch it.

Okay. But I'll say this. First of all, John Crouch expressed himself about as well as you can. Yeah. You can tell he was kind of pissed, but he was keeping his emotions in check. Well, not even, not even, that's accurate as well, but not even that. Just though, he took every criticism lobbed at Ben and broke it down and said, this is why I disagree and why I think that Ben should be.

more respected and things like that. And I agree with every point he made. That said, I think that he mentioned it and other people have mentioned a comparison between himself and George St. Pierre. And I don't think that that's apt at all because the criticism for George St. Pierre was he's not finishing fights. He is ultra-dominant. And we want to see him achieve a status like Anderson Silva where he's finishing guys and making it look. dominant in that respect. There's never a question whether George St. Pierre won a fight or lost a fight during his title run until Hendricks. He dominated guys from opening bell to closing bell, and there was never any controversy surrounding whether George St. Pierre won the fight or not.

Whereas Benson Henderson, people are, I have zero criticism for Benson Henderson. I like watching him fight. I have no problem with his fighting style. I think he's an incredibly athletic, talented, and complete fighter, but my criticism is for the judging. I have no problem with Benson Henderson. More power to him. If he continues to win these fights, that's no skin off my back. I like Benson Henderson.

I think he's one of the best characters in the sport. He always gives you an honest answer. And he has an attitude that is very rare among top-level athletes. So my criticism is never for Benson Henderson. person, it's always for the judges. And I don't even need to say how bad the judging situation is. A little mini New York Rick rant while sick. How about that?

Do you agree? I mean... No, of course I agree. Of course I agree. I thought Josh Thompson won the fight. It was close. I watched it again today. I still think he won the fight. You know, three to two, I just can't see four to one for Thompson because the first round, if now I'm remembering correctly, the first round, it was clear that it was for Josh Thompson. The second round is really the toughest one. Yep. The third round, if memory correct, is correct, is Benson, then Thompson, then Benson.

I think that was it. Does that make sense? That would be three. One, two, and four. Two being the toughest one. So I think three, I don't think this was a robbery. Again, I don't think it was controversial in this. said it was a total robbery. I just think that it was pretty clear. And if you look at most

people's scorecards and the media and whatnot and other fighters, everyone seems to agree that they thought Josh won. But again, robbery, it's tough. Five-round fights. The sport, it's so vague scoring all that stuff. I'm sure someone's going to ask this question. Before we get to the questions, let me just address one thing, because this was a bit of a crazy weekend in Chicago. For myself, personally, it was very, it was very strange because, um, I am a reporter and all of a sudden people are asking me questions. Like, I'm part of some kind of story and it was uncomfortable. People writing to me on Twitter, you know, writing about me, writing things on forums and in other places and whatnot.

And it was just very, it was very strange to be a part of. So here's what I'll tell you. And I will tell you this because I feel like most people, wouldn't, it would just kind of ignore it. I can't ignore it for two reasons. A, because I feel like I'm an honest guy. And B, I'm known for, you know, being the guy who, you know, asks questions, the tough questions, all that stuff. So it would be somewhat hypocritical of me to just ignore all the stuff that happened to the chatter that was going on. Here's what I'll tell you and kind of break it up into two departments. One, at some point, before,

my days are done, at some point, you will find out exactly what was going on. I promise you that. That is a promise for me to you. But here's what you need to know, and here's the most important part of it all. I still work for MMAfighting.com. I'm right here doing the job, and I'm damn proud of it. I still work for Fox Sports. I was on UFC tonight last weekend, or last Wednesday. I'll be on UFC tonight this Wednesday. I won't be on next week because there's no show, but the week after that, and the week after that and the week after that, I'm not going anywhere. I still do the way-in shows. I still do the post-fight shows.

I still do the pre-fight shows. All my jobs, the jobs that I had on December 31st of 2013, I still hold today. And that's the most important thing. So anyone, and let me just say this, and I know who each and every one of you are, and what you have done to me is giving me the greatest gift in the world, because those of you who are celebrating my demise, and who are trying to dance all over this grave that you created for me, you have given me so much motivation to just be the best journalist that I can be

and to continue to even be better than I ever was before, because I have some very bad news. I'm not going to keep asking those questions. I'm going to keep being at those shows. I'm going to keep being on your TV. I'm going to keep annoying you with my instigating questions. I'm still going to be doing this show. I'm not going anywhere.

So I'm sorry if that bothers you. I'm sorry if that disappoints you. I'm sorry if you felt like there was a new era and I got what I deserved and all that stuff. I'm not going anywhere. I still have the same jobs. I won't be working UFC 169 backstage. I won't be doing that. I'll be there for MAAFunding.com.

And I promise you you will understand why fairly soon. But all these rumors about not being in with the UFC, I still have my credentials. Why weren't we at a Dana White Scrum? I have no idea. I really don't. I honestly don't know. And that's a question that I have. have to ask at some point. But as far as I'm concerned, I still have all those jobs. Trust me,

I've asked if I, nothing's, nothing's wrong as far as that. Because people get, you know, they make you a little bit crazy. What's going on here? Still have the jobs. Never lost the jobs, by the way, I should mention. Never lost the jobs. I'm still a part of everything. I'm still very proud to be a part of everything. I still have all the roles that I had. Nothing has changed. Nothing did change. Nothing happened and they went back. Nothing. Nothing. You will understand in, in short, order and that's as comfortable I feel talking about it. But I appreciate. And most importantly, I appreciate all those people who are writing to me, who are sticking up for me, who were sending support, who were reaching out. It was bizarre. It felt like I was kind of, in all honesty,

it felt like I was like a zoo animal and I was in front of a glass and people were just standing and pointing and staring. It was, it was bizarre. And it was not very pleasant. But I thought Chicago was a good event. Spoke to CN Punk. That was amazing. That was the highlight. Got some good stuff with, as I mentioned, Alex Casares and Javier Mendez and before the event, good stuff with Donald Seroni and Josh Thompson. I think it was, you know, it was a good event to cover.

All that stuff was a little strange. But as far as I stand right now, in my mind, I have a very good relationship, the same kind of relationship that I did with Dana White and Lorenzo Furtita and the UFC. There are no problems there. I still have the jobs. You know, I still get to cover the sport for MMAFraining.com. I sell my credentials. Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed.

Never lost them. Never had to gain them back. Nothing has changed. And that's where we stand. Why did everything happen? Why did everything come out like that? I'm not quite sure. I think some of those questions need to be, you know, directed at other people.

I do, you know, people have noticed that, oh, Dana doesn't follow you on Twitter and stuff like that. I don't know how you would find that out. Yes, it's true. I don't know how you would find that out. Is that a big deal? No. Why is that a big deal?

Doesn't follow me. A lot of people don't follow me on Twitter. Not a big deal. In this sport, I think you go, especially as a member of the media, you go through ups and downs and, you know, there are moments and, you know, highs and lows and things like that. The way you cover the sport, you know, not everyone's going to like you at every single moment. It happens. that's just the way it is. And hopefully if you cover it in a fair way and an unbiased way and you know, you're trying to do your job as, as correctly as possible, you can't be best

friends with everyone. It's just, it's just not going to happen. But you want to have a good relationship, a professional relationship, or respectful relationship. And right now I stand to you, I sit here and I say to you that it has all remained the same, at least in my mind. And this is not a delusional mind talking. I'm pretty sure. Trust me, I've done my research. So it's all you need to worry about. You'll still see me on TV. You'll still see me on UFC tonight. be at 169 and I won't be at 170 period, but you'll understand all that stuff in due time. I appreciate it. Thank you all for reaching out. Thank you for the support. It means more than you'll ever know.

And, you know, if I can do anything to repay you, I wish I could. And that's just the best way I could do it is just to, you know, do this show and to give you the best show possible and to give you the best interviews and to give you the best coverage and to really care about my job. I'm not leaving MMA. I will never leave MMA. And I've said that before. There is no better sport to cover. And even some nonsense is not going to make me leave. I'm not going anywhere. So, sorry about that. And now let's answer some questions. Drop the mic right there. All right, let's start with the website questions.

First question titled Slip on a Banana Peel. What do you think of Bendo not caring how he gets a win? Do you think this type of attitude cheapens the sport? I don't like the word cheapens. It is a little weird when he said, it's all weird. And I asked him this question, he's like, oh, you know, I'll take a win if it's on a banana peel. I'll take a win. At the end of the day, a W is a W, and especially as far as your legacy is concerned, a W is a W. I guess as a fan, and if you're upset, you'd want to hear him say, you know, I wish I could have done this and that and got the finish.

But we often forget, as John Crouch pointed out very well, well, these are the best of the best, and he's been fighting the best of the best. And guys who don't get finished, Josh Thompson, Gilbert Melendez, Frank Yeager, they don't get finished. So I don't think it cheapens the sport. I actually, you know, I appreciate the fact. He's honest. He says, if a guy slips on a banana peel, I'll take it. I'd rather him say that than say, Josh Garnett, I wish I got the win.

That's who he is, and you can either be a fan of him or not. But I don't think it hurts the sport. Josh Garnet? Yeah, Dosh Garnet. I feel like that's something that... Gosh darn it. Isn't that it? Gosh darn it.

Yeah. Gosh damn it? Oh, no. Gosh darn it. You said dash garnet. Did I say that? Yes. All right, all right.

Yeah. Yeah, it's the journey. I love that attitude. The slip on a banana peel. A W is all you're fighting for in this sport. Like Crouch said, he gave his best effort. And if he gave his best effort, and that's how he won, the alternative is losing. So if he's comfortable winning, which I'm sure he is, then I love that attitude.

And I love the fact that he's one of the guys who will say it. Because a lot of guys will say what you're saying is, you know, oh, I wish I did this. I could have done this. He says, I gave it my best and I won. Deal with it. And I love that attitude. Yeah, I have no problem with it. He's being honest.

Next question. Is Benson Henderson in danger of becoming the Yushin Okami of the lightweight division? He has two losses to the champion. He doesn't have the most exciting style. he just took out a top contender and Dana doesn't appear to be a big fan. You know, I don't believe this either. You know, I think he was just telling you,

is Dana not a fan of GSP? I mean, well, maybe today he's not a fan of GSP, but at UFC 167, was he not a fan? He just said he thought he lost the fight. Trust me, if they weren't a fan of his, he wouldn't main event three shows on Fox. And he's had close ones in the past. And he's actually had maybe more controversial ones

in the past. I don't believe this, that he's not a fan of him. I really don't. So he's not the Yushinawami, the Light Dewey Division. Now, let's see what happens from here. From here things might change, because it seemed like he was a little upset, didn't even go to the press conference, who knows why. But let's see what happens from here. And then maybe we'll be able to answer this question. But going into that fight, I don't think he was. Next question on starmaking. I don't see either Jeremy Stevens or Steepie Miochitz performance Saturday night having the kind of star making push either guy needed. to get people talking.

The platform, Fox, was there, but the fireworks weren't. Agree. You know, remember when I said this going into the show? It was not the best, it was, in my opinion, the weakest lineup on Fox. And sometimes, yes, you can't judge a book by its cover going into it. You can't judge a card going into it and all this stuff. But sometimes, you know, guys do great performances, and they come. come out, you know, swinging and there's a great highlight. Unfortunately, in this one, it,

it kind of lived up to its own hype, which wasn't all that much hype. Stevens, Meotich, those victories were just kind of there, but there just wasn't all that much to talk about after the event. There just wasn't all that much to, you know, to sink your teeth in. You know, there was the controversy. Seroni's win, but a lot of people just expected that. There wasn't all that much, you know, going on about Adriano Martina. Caceres's win, and then that was pretty much it. So, yeah, I don't think... It still remains to be seen

whether the Fox platform equals, you know, a higher visibility down the road, more people into you, more people buying your pay-per-views. That remains to be seen. Ten shows in, I think the jury's still out on that one. So I don't think much is going to change for Jeremy Stevens and Steve Miochich. Our next question, how realistic is it for Donald

Seroni to achieve the six fights he wants this calendar year. I think it's pretty damn realistic. I mean, if he stays healthy, they like Donald Soroni. You know, they like him a lot, and he produces great fights. He always delivers. For the most part, he delivers. Didn't deliver against Nate Diaz, but for the most part, he did. And by the way, or he has, against Diaz, that was the fifth fight for him in a 365-day stretch.

So maybe he pushes his luck once he gets to number five and six. but I could see him getting on maybe the, you know, the Baltimore card or the Orlando card. And they like to put the same guys on Fox. So maybe they'll put them on that Fox card in Orlando. So that'd be two. You know, six might be tough. I think he could get five, but six, six might be pushing it. Something crazy will have to happen at the end of the year.

He's starting off right because he's fighting in January. To get that many fights and you've got to start in January. And maybe you go like 13 months or 12 months like your eye is doing. but six might be tough. I'll go on the record, I'll say he does get six, he gets four. That's a big difference. Yeah, I guess it is a big difference, but four, you know, four. Four has been done quite a few times.

Guys have done that. Six is one of those, that's like a real mark right there, if you can get six UFC fights in. I think that would be a record in 12 months. Yeah, whereas four has, it's not even that rare anymore. Almost a few guys do it every year. So,

yeah, so maybe it will be tough. I think he could do it if you wanted to. I just don't think it's in his best interest. Fair enough. Next question. Jose Aldo being ranked number two in the pound for pound list. Do you think people are underlooking this bout, or that is overlooking, I imagine,

assuming that Ricardo Lomas is no match for the champion. Do you think Henan Burrow and Uriah Fabor have been receiving a little too much media attention? Not really. I mean, it is the sexier fight. It's a rematch. Faber is the biggest name south of, you know, 155 or 170, depending on where you put BJ Penn right now. So Faber's a big name. All the stuff with Dominic, getting the fight on short notice, you know, the rematch, how good he's looked as of late. There's just a lot more to talk about there. And Burroughs look so good as of late. Lama's lesser-known fighter. Aldo has been, you know, kind of spotty as far as his activity is concerned. It's the right call to put them in the main event, and I'm not surprised they're getting more attention. Our final question from the website regarding Nate Diaz on Twitter.

Nate said that both Henderson and Thompson deserved to lose Saturday night, and also Nate went on to question why anyone should care about Anthony Pettis and his fancy suits. What do you think of what Nate said? Is he wanting to fight again already, or is this just the Diaz way? The only thing I'll say to this is,

I can't tell you how many times I've asked Mike Kogan, his manager, to do an interview, to come on the show, and for whatever reason, it doesn't happen. So he keeps saying that no one wants to talk to him, no one wants to do interviews. It's not true. Please, come on the show. I would love it. It's not true. Remember that time? I didn't want to announce him being on the show because I was afraid he would bail, and he never picked up.

We had his number. We called him all the stuff. so silliness I don't know I don't know I don't even know where it's coming from now does he have a beef I don't know the whole thing

like come on the show and let's talk about it enough of these rants so next we're going to Twitter eligible for the tops cards UFC 2013 bloodlines which is in stores now celebrating the global phenomenon that is the UFC each box contains 10 mini boxes

and each mini box contains five cards cards that can include fighter autographs, fighter memorabilia, or both. So five autographs and five memorabilia cards per box. For more information, visit www.tops.com or Facebook.com slash tops. Well done. Powering through it. Okay. First Twitter question.

If UFC 169 moves to Sunday, do you see the pay-per-view buys dropping down significantly? I, for one, am not buying it if it airs on Sunday. Why? Because they'll end too late, I guess. WWE does that, but it doesn't end that late. I mean, let's just look up the weather right now. New Jersey, how do you do this? Weather.com, right? 10-day weather forecast.

I mean, is this all much ado about nothing? Come on. Okay. Look, it's nothing. Thursday, sunny, Friday, sunny, Saturday, a little rain, Sunday, Sunday. precipitation 10% nothing much to do about nothing don't worry about it it's not happening our next question frank meir versus alistair overreem seems like it could be a loser leaves town fight could the loser retire before being shown the door i think frank meir would retire i don't

think overreem would and i do think the loser might be done in the ufc depending of course how they lose, but if it's just a straight-up loss, knockout something like that, no controversy, I do think that'll be it. I could see Overeem continue to fight overseas, glory maybe, Japan, whatever. I could see Mear just saying, all right, I'm done. I feel like we said this about each of their last fights, though. Not really going into Barnett, I feel like you were saying he's on the way out, Overeem. Not really against, what was it, Travis Brown?

he just lost once. Maybe. Maybe I'm misremembering. You know why you're thinking this? Because this fight was supposed to happen in November, and we were talking about it for so long. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That is it.

We were talking about this fight as a loser leaves town match. In November? Yeah, right. Okay. Next question. If the rumors are true and GSP is looking to start a fighter's union, do you think that he'd be the best person to lead this? The rumors aren't true that union thing with GSP is not true.

I spoke to his manager. He had no idea what I was talking about, and he did tell me it's not true. Right now, GSP is not starting up any union or working with a union. Do I think if a union were to start, would he be the best person? Yes, GSP is the kind of guy. That's why this has been such a big story, and it's not going away. GSP has been the kind of person who, you know, didn't abuse his power, didn't, you know, create controversy.

When he talked, people listen, and for the most part, he was rather vanilla. Now that he's speaking, you know, about some controversial things, people are really listening. He has a lot of clout, a lot of respect. People look up to him. He is one of the greatest of all time. If he leads, people will follow. And I've said for a long time, even more so than Anderson or John Jones or any of these top guys right now, if there's one guy that could do this, it would be GSP. I don't know.

That's the thing. Will he keep going with these comments or is he just going to go away? That's the most interesting part right now. But I don't think he's starting a union at least right this second. If he did, that would be beyond fascinating to watch, see how it unfolds. He's the one guy, in my opinion, that could bring some change. Now, it would be even more fascinating if he was still an active fighter. But since he has one foot in the door, out the door, I still think he has a lot of clout.

Our next question. Ken Shamrock came out and said that he used steroids before, but never during or right before a fight. believe him and will more follow. I mean, I don't want to. Do I believe him? He was on this show and talked about, you know, all kinds of PDs and stuff like that, back in our old studio. At this point, I mean, it's nice that he's talking about and being honest.

Do I think more will follow as far as active fighters? No. What's the point? Why would an active fighters in the UFC admit that he's on steroids? What would be the point of that? It's up to the commission. It's up to the UFC. It's up to other people to catch him.

But I don't, you know. And what does it mean now? okay, so you cheated back in the day. Great. At this point, what's the point? What are you trying to, are you trying to teach people that, you know, look, I had a great career and I use steroids.

If anything, it kind of gives them like a good lesson. This could happen to you. Just don't tell anyone while you're doing it. And you can be a WW.S. You can be, you know, a UFC star, all this stuff. Like, what good comes out of that? Correct me if I'm wrong, because I very well could be. but did

Jose Canseco not come out with something similar to this right before steroids and baseball started becoming exposed as like a big thing was it not his admission and then kind of naming certain people or implying things could this not be something similar to that

where Ken Shamrock? Well I'm not so I'm just saying whether it's Ken Shamrock or somebody else who comes out who's not in the sport Jose Canseco was not in the sport when he came out and made his admission and then followed up with subsequent finger pointing.

Is it not possible that somebody like that could come out and, you know, start getting the ball rolling in terms of exposing steroids? Because, you know, the facts are the facts and we're not catching everybody who's using steroids, regardless of, you know. Of course. I think there's a huge percentage of guys that are on steroids. Here's an interesting thing. They always say that the government is, you know, overseeing combat sports, MMA, all that

stuff. the government doesn't oversee baseball, but he was so loud and his accusations were so real that it did go to the government. So you would think because the commissions are involved, that it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to get the government truly involved in this. And when I say truly involved, like truly involved, because right now it's kind of a, you know, it's a tough gig. It's a half-ass effort because there's not a lot of money and they don't, you know, guys know when they're getting tested. So it's very easy to bypass that. but I don't think that this admission.

I don't think that Ken is the guy to do that. That's fair. That's fair. And it's no knock on him. He just, he doesn't have that kind of cloud right now. And he's not naming names. Like,

Yep. Ken Seiko, as weasily as it was, he was naming names. And that led to all these other avenues that they can explore. And he was, you know,

being so cooperative and telling them about, I don't see Ken Chamrock doing that. Someone could do it, and it would lead to that kind of stuff. And it's a great point. But this is not the, This is not the Kinseko moment. Plus, he's talked about this before.

That's true. He's talked about it on our show. And I don't think that this necessarily is the moment, but the question of more to follow, maybe he's the first who gets the next person who then in turn starts the ball rolling in the way Konseko did. So I think that any admission is a good admission, honestly, and hopefully more will follow, honestly.

Sure. Yeah, I mean, 100%. Any admission is good. You can't knock him for that. But it would be great if there was a, you know, a guy who had just fought for a UFC. There's something like that. And he's like, okay, here we go. My last fight, I was on steroids.

And this guy did that, la-da-da-la-la. And this is why we're doing it. And that would really have more of an impact. Now it just kind of feels like a whimper. Yeah. Next question. Oh. Can we get a Ricks-pix 2014 going?

New year, new challenge. I miss it. Well, it's interesting that you picked this question. I picked it. And a few favorites, other people chiming in. I mean. Well, three favorites. That's a few, isn't it?

Yeah, I guess. That's Rick Catfishing. Oh. Those are all my accounts as well. No, that's true. Lindsay Proctor. Another woman. Oh, you're saying that to my account?

Yeah, that you made this. Yes. Of course. Now it all makes sense. Got me. Bandit octopus. I don't know. Let's ask the people.

I have a shameful, uh, admission. Yeah. That is me. No. obviously not. Wednesday's a friend of the show. If you want to see Rix Picks back, tweet us, let us know, and we'll decide.

Of course, you're not ready this week, and actually I do have to wrap up for personal reasons. They'll get all crazy, nothing to do with getting blocked on Twitter or my credentials being blah, blah, blah, or some guy who shot me from the grassy knoll or something, relax. But yes, I do have to wrap up the show, and it's not going to be as long as usual. Rick's Picks, tell me on Twitter.

Twitter. Do you want to see this? Do you want to see a guy who has faltered time and again? Do you want to see someone get egg on their face one more time? Do you want to see that kind of car crash? I'm not sure I do. I appreciate your love for me. This is a very nice Twitter background to have on a day like today. This is our last question. Great. If the USC had an actual... Oh, yes. I love this question. Oh, I know you love this question. If the UFC had an actual Royal Rumble, who would you pick to win it? You go first. I didn't even think about it. I imagine it'd have to be somebody big and strong. So I'm probably going heavyweight. Who can I?

Oh, I know my answer. Daniel Cormier. Really? No, Jokuree. I thought for sure, Jacare. Way too small. Cormier will pick them up and fling him out of the ring. Wow.

Who picks heavyweights up the way Daniel Cormier does? Damn it. That was a good pick. Yeah. I want to pick. Should I come back with John Jones? I think John Jones would do well, but I don't. You're right.

That's not really the thing of the Royal Rumble. You need a wrestler who's just going to pick them up like he did against Josh Bernard and just toss him out. Yeah. Yes. It's a great question. Can you imagine if they actually did a real MMA fight like a Royal Rumble? What's the point of that, though? That's not really MMA.

You're not really using MMA skills. No, no, no. But that's fine. It would be 30 MMA fighters, but the same rules. So we'll see, like, could Kormier go up to, I don't know, Bigfoot Silva and toss him out? Now, he can knock him out. that, but can he toss him out of the ring? I don't think...

I think it would be impossible to pull off. I don't think there'd be any eliminations unless it was fly weights and one heavyweight. But that would be fun too. Like, could Demetrius escape Bigfoot Silva? No. Imagine Mark Hunt. The answer is no.

Imagine Mark Hunt's there, and he's trying to eliminate Uriah Faber. It'd be amazing. What a sight it would be. More, even more fun than this question would be who would be in it? Which 30 guys? Like, the very best of the best. Would Ronda be in it?

I'd put her in it. Absolutely. Ronda's in it. Would the 115ers be in it? No, I think there's a certain... No, no, no. Everyone has to be in it. In WW Royal Rumble, everyone's in it. Yeah, I guess.

I mean, I don't know. This is so silly. I don't even know. I love it. Is he the first to go? No, you know what happened? Connor McGregor gets in there and everyone bands together and tosses him out. He's like one of those guys, you know,

who no one likes? Yeah. Did you watch the Royal Rumble? I did not. Did you? No, I didn't watch it either. I mean, it was so predictable. Batista wins, come on.

He won? Yeah, he won. What a turnaround. Wins his first M.A fight last year and comes back and wins the Royal Rumble. No, that's interesting. Yeah, he won. It's, I mean, snooze fest. All right.

They don't know what they're doing. Anyway. So, yeah, so let's, I'm going to cycle back through these. Okay. Royal Rumble question. Rick's picks. Great question. Fantastic question.

Shamrock on steroids GSP Fighters Union Mir Overim and UFC 169 changing dates I like the Royal Rumble one okay it's fun it's good question

good way to tie it all together especially coming off our interview of CM Punk there it is by the way UFC face swap says get New York Rick to make picks for Bellator World Series of fighting I already did this

and you didn't do it I did some of it but yeah It doesn't get my juices flowing. Jeez, look at you. You're too good for those. If the betting odds came out in the same way and all that, I'd be all up for it. The betting odds are too, they're too late to come out. Yeah.

Well, for UFC fights. Even for UFC fights. No, I mean, it's getting, the system is getting better and better as the sport is growing. Like, there's lines out for, you know, fights way, way ahead of time. Is it time, you know, Kyle Marley brings up a. good one. What? Bring back the RPI.

If you win that, you get to do it. Oh, God. This again, I had to do all the work on that. It's so intense. It is fun, though. It's so labor intensive. I had to calculate everybody's picks. Maybe a different variation of it?

Yeah, maybe. Someone else says, Fleek says, Rick's picks 2014. That's like, oh, no, wait. That's kind of funny. Rick's picks 2014. 2014, that's like the bill's getting a fifth straight crack at the Super Bowl. This other guy, J-D-E-R said, let's bring back Rick's Picks.

Everyone loves a great comeback story. Oh, here's... You just tweeted to me. You just tweeted at me. I did? Yeah, I see a tweet from Lindsay Proctor, Bandit Octopus. Oh, I just... I see.

Everyone tweet, I was very confused. You want Rick's Picks back. Thank you, Lindsay. How'd you do the tweet? I didn't hear you type. You did one of those where you schedule them. Well, I'm liking the voice. You sound very...

What do I sound like? You sound like, you sound like Barry White, you know, when he was 30. Like, you're not quite there yet as far as the voice, but you're on your way. People are saying, you know, it doesn't sound like me that they can't even distinguish. Honestly, this is why I'm probably liking it very much. It sounds like I have a whole new sidekick. Side kick. Well, I'll take it.

Yeah, why not? Why not? It's like a whole, it's like we switch up the team here. It's great. I noticed even the questions were better. I mean, I'm doing something right. All right. That's it.

That's it. Tops cards, RoRumble. We have, I think, one more of these left. Topps.com. Yeah. Let's hold on to it for now. We'll see what we'll do with it. No, I know.

I'm not saying I'm giving it away today. One more thing from our friends over at the Ultimate Fighting Championship. UFC Fight Pass has been confirmed as the exclusive home of Tough Brazil, Vanillaeis Silva v. Chil Suhounen. It starts March 9th at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific. just after hours it airs in Brazil. So there you have it. You'll be able to see Vandrelay and Chale and Tough Brazil, I'm assuming, with subtitles on FightPass. And Fight Pass is no longer free beginning March 1st. So if you want to watch, you're going to have to pay $9.99 or $9.95 a month, something like that. And there are two events right away. There are Tough China, the final.

in Macau on March 1st and then March 8th there will be that event in England. Alexander Gustafin versus Jimmy Manoa. One last thing before I go. It is UFC 169 week in Newark, New Jersey. I'll be there. Guess what? I will be there. Wow.

How exciting. Henna Burow versus Uriah Faber for the bantamway title, Jose Aldo versus Cardo Lamaas. Frank Meir versus Alstor Overe versus Linaw. Abel Trujillo versus Jamie Varner, John McDessie versus Alain Patrick, Chris Carrioso

versus Danny Martinez. That's an interesting one. Nick Catoon versus Tom Watson. Al Iacquinta versus Kevin Lee Andy Ns versus Clint Hester, Rashid Magomadov versus Tony Martin and Neil Magni

versus Gassan Umalatov. Lock of the night, go. For 169? No. For 174. Yes, for 169. Oh, for 174.

Uh, Joseo Aldo. Lock of the night. I mean, yep, lock of the night. I'm telling Ricardo Lamas when I see him. Ooh, trouble with teacher. Yeah, I'm telling him. Josie Aldo, he's incredible. And I agree with the person who is saying that he's being criminally under, not talked about.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I get that. I get that. But you know what? Guess what? He should have been main eventing the Fox show. Lamas in Chicago. How many times I'm going to say this? 100% agree with that.

That would have made so much sense on Fox, title fight. Lamas in Chicago, more tickets would have been sold. Aldo on Fox getting that platform. He's exciting. Such great highlights that you could show him jumping all over the place. I mean, it made too much sense. If anything, Benson versus Thompson should have been a co-main event in Jersey. Just swap them, right?

Anyway. All right. Alfred, you get my music. It was fun having two in-studio guests this week. Wasn't it? Johnny Hendricks was great. And congratulations. on his new Reebok shoe.

It's always fun to talk to the guys. You know, you get to talk to them at the events, but it's like for five minutes, and you're really just talking about the event itself. So when you get them here in studio and you get to talk them a little more about their careers and how they started all this stuff, I love that. If we could have an in-studio guest,

I send a message to anyone out there. If you're ever in New York or in the New York area, you're a manager, you're an agent, you're a fighter, you know that someone of interest is going to be in this area. and they want to be on the show on a Monday, please let us know. You know, guys come and go.

It's kind of hard to catch everyone, but I try to do my best. So he had Johnny Hendrix, and I appreciate him stopping by very much, and I wish him the best of luck at UFC 171. Alex Davis, thank you very much to him, and good luck to John Lineker, as he, A, tries to make weight on Friday,

and then B, fights Ali Bagahoutinov winner. Very well could be the number one contender at 125. Carda Alameda, good luck to him as he judges the main event and the co-main event on Saturday night. And John Crouch, thank you very much for stopping by as well to talk about a busy Saturday night. Good luck this Saturday as well. Thank you very much to everyone for everything this past weekend. It was a kind of crazy weekend, but sometimes it's nice to know that people do care and are supportive. And I can't thank you enough for all of that.

Again, not going anywhere. I'm still here. I haven't left. I got everything that I had a week. ago and I am so happy to be on this journey with all of you and I appreciate everything that you have done for me. Peace. I'm out of here. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action and your Chase card can get you exactly that. With a Chase card, you can experience more. That means access to pre-sales,

preferred seating and more savings. For more information about how to step into a world of more with Chase Experiences, visit chase.com slash experiences. Benefits available only to eligible Chase card holders. Depositing credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. Member FDIC.

Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor.

But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information.