MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 252

Episode Date: October 20, 2014

Featuring Daniel Cormier, Royce Gracie, Dan Miller, Mitch Gagnon, Jessica Aguilar, and Mike Chiappetta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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On this Monday, October 20th, 2014, we usually test out the audio levels before the show. We didn't do that this time. And it's very loud. So I'm just going to turn it down quickly here. There we go. Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani inside our New York City studio.

Now it's too low, and it feels like I have an ear infection. Oh yeah That sounds just about right So a relatively quiet weekend in the world of mixed martial arts An opportunity for us to catch our breaths And I hope you had a great weekend I did as well It's a little chilly here in New York City

But it's always nice Fall in New York, you can't beat it And as I mentioned, there wasn't much going on And I thought that was pretty nice There was a Bell Tour show on Friday But as I said on the MMA beat It wasn't that interesting going in wasn't that interesting going out.

Belator did make its Las Vegas debut on Saturday, un-televised event at the Monster something-something-something. And that seemed to be a success. There were a lot of people there. It was free, but they have infiltrated Las Vegas, and it kind of went under the radar, perhaps on purpose. They have a better show this weekend, though, and of course, it's UFC 179 on Saturday.

There's the Brazilian flag. There's Josealdo. The featherway king. returns and he meets Chad Mendes in a rematch of UFC 142. I will be there. I get there Friday morning. Actually cutting it pretty tight as far as the wains are concerned. Just doing the coverage for Fox this time.

So no fight week coverage. But I'll have my ears to the streets, on the streets, talking to the people. And if anything big happens, of course, you know where to find me. So I'm looking forward to that back in Rio. Much to discuss as far as UFC 179 is concerned. And much to discuss on this show. So at around 325, we'll take your questions and comments. So as always, use the hashtag DMMA hour, leave a question or comment in the comment section below.

305, we're going inside the vault, and I'm doing inside the vault a little differently now. So stay tuned for that. 305. We'll go into the vault and look at an old interview. 245. We're going to talk to Dan Miller, the returning Dan Miller. And it's very apropos that we talked to him on this Monday morning. I'll explain why later.

but it was announced late last week that he meets Daniel Saraphean on December 20th in Brazil. He hasn't fought since March of 2013, and I'm looking forward to having him back on the show. At 225, we're going to talk to Jessica Aguilar. Now, Jessica Aguilar, in my opinion, actually forget my opinion. Let's listen to MMA rising.com, Robert Sargent, who in my opinion is the leader when it comes to all things women's MMA, as far as MMA media is concerned, he ranks her as the number one straw weight in the world. And as you may know, the UFC has introduced the strawweight division. Very recently, of course, they are featured on the Ultimate Fighter 20.

They've had a couple of fights over the past summer. But Jessica Aguilar is not in the UFC. She is the WSOF strawweight champion. She returns to action on November 15th. At least we think she does. And we'll get into that with her at 225. At 205, we're going to talk to Mitch Gagnon. The Canadian got a huge fight late last week as well.

He meets Henan Burau, the former UFC Bantamway champion. Barow is coming back on December 20th. If you listen to the show, you've heard me say that I thought Henna Brow should be out for at least six, seven months. Come back, March, April, take some time off. That's not happening. He's returning in Brazil on December 20th. Speaking of Brazilians, 145, hoist Gracie, the legend.

The man who put the UFC on the UFC on the United. the map, the man who put this sport on the map here in North America and arguably worldwide. He'll join us at 145 to talk about his new role with Bellator. Bellator, Hoise Gracie, Bellator, weird, right? 125, we're going to talk to Daniel Cormier, who's just announced that he is the new co-host of UFC Tonight. Replacing Chale Sunnan, it's now the DC and Kenny show. So a lot of great promos for that.

No mention of Hawani, but you know what? I'm used to it. But first, let us go to the Sky Machine. I'm so excited about our first guest of the day. This, in my opinion, is one of my very good, true, honest friends in mixed martial arts. One of the great byproducts of doing this job has been having this friendship with this man. We used to be teammates over at AOL and, of course, here at MMAfighting.com for many years. I think it was four or five years by the time it was all set and done.

most recently worked at Fox Sports. One of the very best in the business. Our good pal, Mike Chiapetta, makes his long-awaited, much-anticipated return to the MMA hour. Mike, how are you? I'm good, Ariel. No longer one of the very best in the business, though. Well, you know, you never know.

I don't like to close the door on anything in life because life has a tendency to throw you curveballs. But yes, we will get into that. As I mentioned, first off, great to have you on the show. So there's a lot going on. It's an interesting time for you. Recently, you parted ways with Fox Sports, and a lot of people, even when I said yesterday that you were going to be on the show when I tweeted out there, people are like, wow, Mike Chiappetta, it's going to be so great to hear from him. What's this guy been up to for the last two and a half months?

So, Answer, what have you been doing? Nothing. Nothing, just chilling. Nothing, hanging out. No, I'm just on the hunt, man. I'm just on the hunt for what my next adventure in life's going to be. I've been doing the M.M.A. thing for, like, eight years. It's been real fun.

I don't know. I'm not saying I'm done with it. I don't know for sure, but I'm just trying to find something that fits my life better and fits my family life better and all those things. So, you know, I've talked to, I've had a lot of kind of, I don't want to say offers, but I've talked to a lot of people about roles inside of MMA, stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with MMA. So just trying to find the thing that fits me best. Do you miss the beat? Like when you see all the news going on, you're like, wow, I wish I could. could cover this or weigh in on this or do you not miss it at all um i only miss like weighing in on things i don't miss the day-by-day minutia of it um there's a lot of stuff i don't miss to be honest with you um like what what don't you miss some of the some of the lesser cards you know being you know right now i'm basically a fan right i'm not i'm not a reporter so i'm essentially a fan and it's it's pretty easy to skip past some of the events that when you look at the cards you're just like,

I'll just look at the results tomorrow. And not to say that, you know, there might be some guys that end up being something down the line. I mean, it's not necessarily, you know, horrible cards or anything. Some of them are,

are demonstrably bad, but others, it's just like, when you look at it, there's just nothing really compelling about it. I don't miss having to stay up late, you know, three, four in the morning to cover those

and have to miss the early part of the morning with my daughter and stuff. So things like that, you know, when I read sort of the headlines, you know, there's some stories I certainly don't miss writing. Things to do with crime and stuff like that. I always hated writing stuff like that. So a lot of it I don't miss. You know, all the war machine stuff and things with, you know, down to Tiago Sylvan, things like that. I just never likes writing stuff like that. But, you know, it has to be done, of course, but I don't miss it. You were in the trenches for so long. You covered everything you were all the events and you were one of those guys, you know, as you mentioned, you'd be up to 4 or 5 a.m.

writing stories. When you decided to take this break, if you want to call it that, was it hard to unplug from the world of MMA or did it happen just like that? No, it wasn't a problem for me. You and I have talked about this a lot on the road. I've never really had a huge problem like unplugging. I know a lot of, for a lot of us who covered this sport, you know, it's not like covering the sport used to be.

It's second to second now where you always want to be attached to twas. Twitter and your cell phone, who's texting you, whatever, to figure out, you know, what's going on in the sport and how do I react? What am I going to write about this? Who do I need to call? Whatever. So it's very difficult, like on family life, right? It's just very different on regular life to have one and to try to balance everything out. It's not an easy thing. So I never really had a big problem with doing it. Sure there was times where it was, especially like you knew something was happening somewhere and you wanted to kind of follow the moment by moment as far as how the story evolved.

But now, now I just kind of, you know, check in, you know, every couple of hours I'll take a look at the news or whatever. But, you know, like the week, on the weekend, I won't even look at, you know, if there's no event or anything, it's kind of out of sight out of mind. How many UFC events have you watched since, you know, taking this break? Like, let's say 50% of the event. You know, they're long. Seven hours, I don't expect you.

Lower, lower. How much, how much, like, let's say there's an event out there that, let's just look at events and you've watched 50% of that event. Let's say UFC 178, you watched, you know, the main card. So I would consider that 50% of it. How many of those are out there as far as what you've seen since you left the sport? Just a handful, a couple. How many pay-per-views have you ordered? None.

None. Wow. That's amazing. That's amazing. I did watch some of the, what was the last event was UFC 178, which it was the, Demetrius Cariaco, the Stack Cariore, Cona McGregor. Yes, St. Beatrice Chiaroso fight, which I did not watch the main event. Wow.

I was so sure DJ was going to win. I just, you know, I said, I'll figure, watch this tomorrow or just to see the result tomorrow. But some of the other, you know, I was very interested in Connor McGregor, see how he would do, taking a step up with Porreier. and there was another There's another couple of good fights. Kennedy Romero, Dominic Cruz, Katsingano returning, right?

Yes, Dominic Cruz, of course, I was very interested to see how he came back and that was great to see. Those are the stories that I miss writing about. Those are the things to me I was always interested in, like these great comeback stories and things like that, Dominic Cruz and Katzenegano. I mean, that's why I was really interested in that card

more so than the main event, which I didn't think had any drama, it didn't have any teeth biting into me, you know? Dominic Cruz, I mean, I feel like if you're a fan of the sport, you've been invested in this guy for so long, first as a champion, and then hearing this how terrible his injury stories have been, that I just feel like as a fan, how could you kind of ignore that story? To me, that's the kind of story that always, like, you know, got its claws into me and said, again, this is something I want to write about. Forget about MMA. Do you miss being a journalist? Do you miss being a reporter? To some degree, yeah. I mean, I've done it for such a big part of my life. Even before I did MMA stuff, I was just in general sports. So, you know, the vast majority of my professional career, I've been a reporter.

But, you know, I still, to me, I love to write and I'm still doing some writing, doing some stuff on the side just for myself. I mean, you know, I'm trying to, I want to write a book. I'm going to write a novel. Oh. Yeah, but, you know, I don't know if it'll ever go. anywhere. As you know, I wrote a novel years ago. Yes. One of my favorite books of all time. For those that don't know, refresh our memories. I wrote a book for WWE in 2005. It was such a great experience. It's nine years later,

I'm finally getting around to writing another one. Is it a sequel? No, no, God, no. No. No, it was an awful experience. I like the experience of writing the book, but the rest of it, the business side and dealing with the publishing, company and stuff was a nightmare. And it turned me off so much. And it's, you know, it's nine years later. I never wrote anything else long form. So now that I have the time, you know, I've, I've been, you know, I've been playing with a few ideals and, uh, MMA related or not. We'll see if it goes anywhere. MMA related? No. No. Done. Look at you. Cold turkey, huh?

No, couldn't be less, it couldn't be further away from M.A. It's just, you know, it's a It's a general novel, a beach read, I would say. Oh, I like that. You know, it's amazing. Like, when was your last day on the beat? July something, right? So my last day on the beat was I was on the fight week, international fight week event. July 4th weekend, right?

UFC 175 with Wydenmanichita. And then the tough finale with BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar III. And to me, I know part of the reason, like, I don't. I'm not so worried if I never read about M.A. again or never come back. Like, for me, B.J. Penn was the guy who got me into M.MA, like, as a fan. Years ago, like, I remember seeing B.J. Penn knock out Cal Uno and going, like, wow, this, that's what I thought, like, this sport could be something. Because I'm like, this guy is an athlete. This guy's a real athlete. He's putting everything together. There's jiu-sit-to, his boxing, his wrestling. And he's got the showmanship aspect, which to me was just a big.

a part of it as anything else, right? So BJ Penn, to me, was like the first really compelling fighter that kind of drew me into the sport as a fan and also helped me realize, like, this sport is going to get big enough to where I could probably make a career writing about it. So BJ Penn drew me into the sport, and then the last event that I have recovered was BJ Penn's last fight. And so, you know, I actually had, you know, I had a credential to be at the show, but I didn't have a seat inside the arena. So the whole show I watched from the backstage, but when BJ came out and Frankie came out, I made it a point to like walk into the arena, kind of had to sneak in there, and watch just the walkouts. I just watched the walkouts. I had a pretty good feeling that it would

not go well for BJ. So I just went in and watched the walkouts and I was kind of like, I think I'm done here, man. Wow, that's beautiful. I think I'm done just like BJ. It would be okay if that was the end for me. That's just kind of felt like it was like a poetic ending. Of course, saying that's probably three weeks from now, I'll be writing for somebody else behind him. Sure, of course. But that's combat sports. I just got goosebumps, as you told that story. I didn't realize he meant that much to you.

You know, I remember when I first started back in around 2007, you were already working for NBCSports, right? NBCSports.com? Yep. And for some reason, this story always, I always think about it when I think of you as a journalist. I remember used to do some kind of like notebook. Maybe it was around, it was Fridays they used to do the Thursdays Friday. And you had one story about Nate Corey linking up with Ann One, that Ann One was going to start sponsored.

And I was like, wow, how did he get this? Like, how does this actually happen? How does someone go out there and get a scoop like this? I was just so impressed because I was a big basketball fan. I was like, how did he actually get this? And I always remember that you were one of those journalists. I said, I want to be like, I want to cover the sport, not just, you know, I want to be professional.

And you always came across that way. So what I want to know is two and a half months, was the three months since you left? What's your take on the business right now? The sport, as far as MMA media is concerned, you take a step back. Think about all the crap that has happened since July. It's unbelievable.

I mean, so much crap has happened. Cormier-Jones and on and on. What's your take, as you take a step back, what's your take on MMA media as now you leave it and go do something else? Well, first of all, thank you for saying that. I appreciate that. When I first got into M.A.

reporting about MMA, I mean, that was kind of my purpose. Like I felt like, especially for major mainstream sports sites, there really wasn't too many people writing about it. Dave Doyle, who's now at M.A. fighting, was writing about it for Fox Sports. From time to time, you know, I think he kind of had to convince them to that it was okay to cover this stuff. I wanted to make it a full-time gig, and I was pretty lucky. I think I was the first one.

I don't know if Kevin Ioli was at Yahoo before I was at NBC Sports, but it was kind of right at the same time. and obviously he writes about boxing as well I wanted to make it like my full-time thing and I feel fortunate that I was able to do that but I think now people look at you the same way like people get the scoops you get and like how does he get that how does he do that?

So I passed the baton you've had a while now anyways but the state of media I think is you know it's still getting better it's you know there's still a lot of issues with it I would say I think at this point the sport is big enough that it can handle a lot more criticism

and I think it should I think the media and MMA should be a little more critical. I think we have seen that in a sense, particularly with calling out the strength of the cards that UFC is putting on. Obviously with the drug testing and things, it's been nice to see that, you know, a lot of people in the media have been willing to kind of step up and take the UFC to task where it's necessary. I'm not saying you should just be critical of any little thing that they do. I think that's petty. You know, we see a lot of snark particularly on Twitter. I'm not a fan of that.

A lot of sites and personalities do that. Okay, from time to time, not a big deal. I don't like it when it's all the time, because to me, that's not professional. I just want people to be professional. Whether it's calling them to task on the way that they handle this cognitive drug test or the strength of cards or whatever it may be, I think we need to see more of that and less of just compiling lists and doing kind of these, a lot of these fluff pieces that are always flowing around.

I know you have to do it to some degree. I would like to see a little more depth to stories and, you know, sort of investigatory stuff. What's the story that you're most proud of? If I want to tell someone, this is what Mike Chiapetta was all about. This was his best work as far as covering MMA. Is there one that sticks out, NBC, Fan House, Fox, whatever? Is there one that sticks out? One story you love covering in your article you're extremely proud of.

That's a hard one for me. I've always been terrible, like, instant recall of lists and things like that. I don't really keep favorites. I've never really... That's a hard one for me to answer. I'm proud of most of my body of work. I always tried to, you know, comport myself with professionalism and in the way that I dealt with everybody from, you know, the promoters to the fighters to my fellow journalists. You know, one of the things I also miss is just, you know, the people that you meet along the way. The people that you see, you know, it becomes sort of a traveling circus where, you know, you're friends with most people. Obviously, you can't be friends with everybody, but, you know, it's nice to see the familiar faces when you go on the road. You spend so much time away from your family that

it's always nice to see familiar faces, and that's something that I miss. I just always wanted to treat the sport professionally. Like I said, that was kind of my mission statement from the get-go. I wanted to come in and treat MMA the same way that ESPN was treating majorly baseball back then. And I wanted to kind of be part of a wave in that direction. So as long as people look at me that way, that's fine. I know people always say, like, oh, you know, you went to Fox Sports. That's a show. That's a promotional partner, whatever.

And there's always going to be the issues of that. You work for Fox. You know how it is. people are always going to accuse you of things. Even when I was there, I tried to criticize the UFC where it was warranted, and there was many spots I did it. I just hope people just look at me and say that guy was pro. You know, in Sports Business Journal a couple weeks ago, there was a story about the decline

of the UFC pay-per-view and this transitional period as they grow internationally. There's going to be some growing pains. What's your take on the UFC product right now? I mean, I know you said that you haven't watched a lot, but are you consistent? concerned? I mean, I feel like if you would have left the sport four or five years ago and there were still, you know, 12 paper views and a couple of fight nights here or there, you still would have probably had an easier time keeping up with it. But now with almost a show every weekend, it's easy to get into the routine of not watching the shows. Are you concerned about where the UFC is headed? Yes. You know, I think I gain a whole new perspective of it from the outside. From the inside, you have no choice but to keep track of every show and every fighter and every injury that happens. And, and, you know, and, And so from being in the bubble, as Dana likes to say, and other people in the sport, it is a different viewpoint. You know, on one hand, I completely understand what UFC is trying to do. I mean, they have some of these untapped markets where they know that they can swoop in, make a killing financially, and hopefully build a fan base.

On the other side of it, the cards are getting watered down. There's no two ways about it. I think I used to always say like, there's really not, oversatuation is kind of a, I don't want to say a myth, but it's just kind of over-exaggerated. It's really not. Now, I think from the outside, it's much easier to see that it's not. Oversaturation is here.

When you look at the cards, there's a lot of guys that you just don't know on major event pay-per-views on the main cards. And, you know, there's no reason that I shouldn't know who some of these guys are. and I just don't understand how that's an incentive to buy. Now, like I said, I don't blame the UFC completely because they're trying to serve all these masters, but at the same time, this is like the classic mistake that businesses do, which is grow too quickly. So while they're sitting here raking or cashing in these big checks they're getting from going overseas to different places,

is it, you know, is it long-term the right move? That's the answer that's still going to be seen. obviously the pay-per-view revenue is down but internationally I'm sure the revenues for gates and for television contracts are up so I'm sure that's part of the internal battle that they fight as well because it's like you know okay we're gaining here what we're losing here so we're still doing okay right as as long as we keep kind of you know putting the sport out there and exposing our brand it's going to help us but I don't you know I think we're not going to know whether that's true until a few years from now are they

get able to make more stars out of the guys that they have. So far, you know, we haven't seen a lot of evidence of that, which I think is, I think is pointing towards the fact that it's not working as well as they hoped, but it's also, like I said, hard for them to stay out of these spots that want them to come in, these spots like, you know, Ireland and England, all these places that are, Australia that are clamoring for events. But they're unfortunately kind of wearing the roster thin, too. It's funny to ask this question to a 40-year-old man, but I have the opportunity here to do so. What's your dream job?

If you could pick one thing to do now, one industry, is there something that comes to mind that you would love to do other than writing the book, of course? Yeah, being full-time novels would probably be it. That would be it, right? Yeah, probably, yeah. I mean, I love, if someone just made me an offer to come in and write columns about sports,

you know, once or twice a week, that would be fantastic. I don't think it's going to happen. but yeah, you know, obviously, you know, doing something with writing has always been at the crux of what I do in my career, even when I left journalism for a little while. So something to do with writing, yeah, for sure. But, yeah, I'm going to try and hammer out this book and see if I can sell it to somebody and, you know, see if I can build off of that. But I know that that's probably probably a little bit of a long shot that it's going to turn into something huge. never know, so you might as well go for it. Yeah, of course. I support it 100%. Okay, before I let you go, I'm going to ask you to put that MMA reporter hat back on for one

quick second. Jose Aldo, he returns to action on Saturday. He used to do those amazing breakdowns for MMA fighting and... I don't miss those, by the way. I know. A lot went into them. I definitely appreciated that. Aldo Mendez, too. Who's your pick and why? I didn't really spend too much time thinking about this. I mean... I know. That's why I want to ask you, putting you on the spot. I'm going to lean Aldo just a little bit. Like I would say, I don't think I would put money on it either way. What are the odds, by the way?

Is Aldo favored pretty? Eric, do you know the odds? He's taking a nap. I'll find them out in the second year. Yeah, no, I think I'm leading Aldo a little bit just because I feel like, I know a lot of people say, you know, some of his recent fights have been a little bit lacklester. I think he's one of those guys that turns up, he turns up the, he turns up the, volume or whatever to correspond with the situation.

So maybe if he's not so motivated when he looks across the cage and doesn't see a big threat, he's going to be a little lackluster and lack of days ago. But when he knows that he's in for a challenge, that maybe he's actually in some danger, that he's able to turn it up a few notches. I think a lot of great champions are like that. And I think that he's one of them. So that's why I think that he's probably going to win again. Chimand is a great fighter, though.

I wouldn't be shocked if he wins, but I'm leaning at Aldo. So Aldo is a minus 230, Chad Mendez plus 190. What I like about... I actually thought it would be a little closer than that. Really? You know, it feels like lately, it feels like there's a lot of title fights like the DJ Carrioso fight. I really feel like the champion isn't going to be tested.

But this one, I truly don't know what to expect. I feel like it could go either way. Of course, Aldo held onto the cage and all that. We'll get into all that nonsense later. But for now, Mike, we got to go. It has been a great pleasure to have you back on the show. Don't forget about us. I know you're moving on.

and you pop up on Twitter now and then it's like I have my MMA media feed on Twitter and then just out of nowhere Chiapetta pops in there with his two cents. It's great to see. Great to see all as well. Keep us posted on what you do next and all the best. Don't be a stranger. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. There he is. Mike Chiapetta stopping by. Great to have him on once again. It has been a while. I think the last time we had him on the show over a year ago, one of the true good guys. You'll you'll be hard pressed to find many people in MMA, who know about MMA, who have anything negative to say about this man. As he mentioned, treated everyone with respect and was incredibly professional. And I think MMA media is a little lighter.

It's a little less strong these days, a little weaker, as they may say, without Mr. Chiapet on the beat. Miss him, but I can certainly understand that he wants to flex his muscles and try something else in his 40s now, which is, you know, the new 20, as I'm talking, even though I'm not quite there just yet, but look at this man. Looks like he can do a triathlon. He's actually quite fit. I don't know if you've ever seen, but his biceps, tall guy.

I mean, he's a pretty intimidating guy as far as his physical stature is concerned. So he's got a lot to do. I'd love to read that book. One of the great writers as well in the world of M.M.A. We miss him, but happy to see everything's okay. And looking forward to his next venture. All right, let's move along here. As I said at the top of the show, it was announced just a few minutes ago that Daniel Cormier is the new full-time co-host of UFC Tonight.

And UFC Tonight has been on a two-week hiatus. But it is back this Wednesday. It's back at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Fox Sports 1. They took a bit of a break because of the World Series, which is, oh, I think we have a new, a new, Do you know of this new Skype name for Mr. Cormier? Gave me two. Oh, okay. What the heck?

He gave me a, he gave me one, and then he gave me another one. Yeah, that's it. Sorry, we had the wrong Skype address for Mr. Cormier, but we will get him on, talk about that. We haven't had Cormier on the show for a couple of months. The last time we had him on was before the bra, before everything that happened with the Nevada Athletic Commission. Of course, before this news came out, because it just happened. a few minutes ago. And you probably know if you're a fan of this show that he returns to action on January 3rd against John Jones, probably the most anticipated fight, in my opinion, of the next few months.

And it really starts to get hot and heavy after this weekend. I mean, this weekend's a good card. It's really, in my opinion, a two-fight card as far as what you really want to go out and watch. And there are some interesting fights, fighters, but, you know, the main and co-main. And the co-main is particularly interesting because the two guys coming off losses on the same show and not very inspiring fights and performances, but still names, go over to Cher, Phil Davis, they're both in the top 10. But it's all about Aldo Mendez, in my opinion. And then things start to get really interesting with UFC 180 in Mexico, Kane versus

Verdume, and of course, D.C. will be there cornering his good friend and training partner, Kane Velazquez, UFC 181 with the two title fights, Hendricks versus Lawler 2, and Petis versus Melendez. And then UFC 182, which is John Jones versus Daniel a bunch of other fights in between them. These guys were supposed to fight at UFC 178 on September 27th, but John Jones injured his knee, had to have surgery, and probably a blessing in disguise in hindsight,

even though the news was incredibly depressing because at least if you're D.C., it's probably a blessing in disguise, because he was being asked to not have a full training camp. His knee maybe was a little bit banged up, and now he's definitely getting... getting a full training camp. He's getting several months. I mean, he's getting even the luxury of taking some time off, even more so than he had. And so they'll probably ramp things up as far as

that fight is concerned in the next few weeks or so. I have seen some footage of Daniel Cormier, who, by the way, was just announced as the, or I guess voted or elected as the new American kickboxing academy captain, which was a very big deal to him, although rumor has it that he was the only one who actually volunteered to do the job, but that's okay. I mean, someone needs to volunteer. There wasn't a big election. It kind of reminds me of when Chale Sunnan ran for public office, and he ran unopposed, and he won by 99.9%. Remember that? Back at UFC 117, when I called them out, didn't necessarily call him out, but it was on the Lake Water DVD when he tried to play it off as him beating his opponent, and then I reminded him that he ran unopposed. He played it off very well.

classic chale. By the way, I was on his podcast. If you missed it last week, you're welcome. First episode. Wow, I couldn't believe it. I wasn't scared. Originally I was supposed to be first episode, then not. And then I guess I made it. I guess I wowed the crowd over there. And it seemed like the podcast did. Well, I told him it's the Hawani effect. We were number one on iTunes for a couple days at least. And then I haven't checked it recently, but it seemed like it was pretty well received. I know there was a question about that last week. If there was a question again, I could tell you a bit about the backstory. The rest I'm going to keep for myself and my memoirs. But I was honored to be on the show and to see that everything's going well with Chale. And I look for it. I think it was good for him to get, you know, all that other stuff out of the way, the stuff about the drug test and, you know, his personal life.

And now he can settle into the role of host. Podcast host extraordinaire. Now, where is Daniel Cormier? Someone talked to me. We can just do phone. I don't need to do Skype. Can you tell him that? Is he not there?

I don't understand. He texted me. I don't like to be tardy, you know. Yeah, let's just do phone. One thing that really pisses me off about the new iPhone, every time I try to check texts or Twitter, it's always flipped. Does anyone have that problem?

It's always flipped. And then I have to restart it. Why is it always flipped? You know what I mean? It's like I try to look at it this way, like my pin case. I try to look at it this way, and it's always this way,

and I can't get it. It's damn annoying. That just happened. All right, we're going to get Daniel Cormier here in a second. Afterwards, we're going to be joined by the legend, Hoyce Gracie. It might be a little late to Hoyce Gracie here. He really wants to do Skype for some reason.

Yesterday, we were watching, Cormier and I, I was reminding him of our first time running into each other. That was prior to the Strike Force Chicago event, which was Head. by Fadour versus Brett Rogers. We did that wrestling match. King Mo, Cormier, they recreated the WrestleMania 6 finish.

But with a twist, because I think Cormier, I think he turned on King Mo. It's a great clip. It's online. It's on my old YouTube channel. And I think that was the first time that I ever ran into Daniel Cormier. And finally we have him. Here he is. The captain of captains.

The man who is now known as the co-host of UFC Tonight and the new captain of the American Kickboxing Academy, it looks like he's in a bunker in Afghanistan. I can't even see you. What is going on there? I mean, this is the most pixelated. This is the worst Skype connection I have ever seen. We've got the music for you.

The captain of captains himself. The new co-host of UFC Tonight, the former two-time Olympian, the former All-American from Oklahoma, State University, the one and only DC, Daniel Cormier. How are you, Daniel? Ariel, it's in the bad

connection. We have a bad connection. This is the worst connection of all time. I mean, I had this whole introduction plan for you. I had the music, I had everything. Let's start over again. Let's go back. Free call me to do it all over again.

We're having internet issues at M of A hour right now. No, no, no. You're having the internet issues. Can we call you on your phone and just do this normally? Because now we're taking up too much time. We're going to call you on your cell phone. Call me on my phone.

I want to do it like this, so I like looking at you. I know, but this is just horror. I mean, honestly, I feel like you're in a witness protection program here. I'm using America online. Yeah, you're using dial-up. Can we call him on his phone right now? We're going to do the whole intro again with the music and everything. I really feel like he needs to hear that.

So let's call him on his phone. Gosh. What a, what a start for Daniel Cormier as he enters this new era. as UFC Tonight co-hosts with Kenny Florian. By the way, Mazeltov is Kenny Florian, who just got married this past weekend. I'm still waiting on my invitation, but nevertheless, I heard it was a great affair,

and I heard it was a great party, and I want to wish him a Mazotov, as well as his beautiful, beautiful bride, Clark, who got married this past weekend in South Carolina. I wonder if Daniel was invited. Yes, people making fun of Daniel Kormez. All right, let's try this again. Let's do the music,

bit again. Here we go. Wait. Yes, yes. You first, you said, I think that was the first time I ever ran into Daniel Cormier. And you go on and you say, here he is, and then you go into that whole thing. Okay, okay, okay. So, you know, it was strike for Chicago. And of course, King Moe

was the big star back then. And it almost felt like it was King Moe and I having this moment. And Daniel was the third wheel. He was trying to get some air time. He was trying to make it in the business. You know, he had the Olympic thing and all that. We don't have to go through it. But needless to say, four years later, here he is, not only, and you play the music now, not only is he the two-time Olympian,

not only is he All-American from Oklahoma State University, not only was he a captain of his high school wrestling team, he is now the captain over at the American Kickboxing Academy, and it was just announced, just went through the wire, the new co-host of the number one rated show on Fox Sports One, the official news and information show of the Ultimate Funding Championship. UFC tonight, he is the number one contender, in the UFC's Light Heavyweight Division, the one and only, Daniel Cormier, everyone.

Daniel Cormier. I love that. Wow. That was awesome. Do you hear the music? Oh, it's awesome. You're the natural. You're the captain.

It's almost like, it's almost like, it's almost like nature boy Rick Flair's soul. Kind of. It's from the natural, the movie, because you're a natural when it comes to TV work. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's awesome. Well, congratulations. I know this is something you've wanted for quite some time.

And what's it like now to be officially a part of the Halwani team? Because, of course, everyone knows that, you know, there's the team and then there's one star of the show. What's it like being a part of the Hawani team officially now? Well, first off, for confirmation, I must say to the people who are listening that may think, well, Ariel's a little full of himself. We brought Ariel Hawani on set over the Fourth of July weekend. Yes. And the ratings broke.

It skyrocketed through the roof that the Nielsen ratings actually collapsed because Ariel Hulani sat at the death. That's just the truth. Not the truth. What? But it's good. Look at you dropping Nielsen ratings like you're some kind of expert. It's good.

It's good, man. It's awesome, man. I, it's good because of all the guys that actually tried to get this job. You know, it was, it's good because of, no, no, I'm just kidding. It's good because it's good because it's something that I've wanted to do, you know, I want it. And also it's good because truth is, a lot of people, we tried, you know, and I think Brian Stan's amazing, you know, so Gilman Landis does a fantastic job.

Brendan Schaubb from when he first came in and tried the first time to what he did last time he was on the show. It was all amazing. It shows the confidence that the guys over at Fox having me to actually pick me to host the show when so many talented guys actually went out and tried to do it. Now, here's my concern, and I think a lot of people share this concern. I mean, you are an active fighter, and you have a big fight coming up. You're fighting for the belt on January 3rd. How are you going to juggle all these responsibilities, especially,

considering the fact that you don't live in L.A. It's not you can just get in your car, do the show, and come home. You live in San Jose. You have to get on a plane. Is this going to be a distraction? Well, Ariel, you know, I've been getting that a lot as I do these interviews, but, again, it goes back to having so many guys that actually, you know, all of us did the show we all tried on it. And now I can actually step away six weeks from the fight, as I've always done.

And guys like Brendan Schaub, Brian Stan, Gilbert Melendez, all those guys are so good that they'll just do the job just as I do. You know, it's like, so the process of actually picking a host has helped to get so many talented guys to actually take my place when I go off and train. Fighting is my main focus. And also, right now as I'm starting, you know, I'm in the beginning stages of my training camp, it serves as a day off area. You know, I get on in the morning, I wake up, I get on the plane, fly down to L.A., which is only 45 minutes. do the show flyback. I'm home by 8 o'clock at night.

So it serves as a day off. If I don't have a day off in the middle of the week, I won't take one. I'm one of those guys that actually, if I have Monday to Saturday, I will probably go Monday to Saturday. So this will actually force me to train smarter by taking that day off midweek. And I think I'll get more out of myself.

What was a bigger honor when you were named captain of the American Kickboxing Academy replacing the great John Fitch or the new co-host of UFC tonight? It's kind of hard to put a, it's kind of hard to put a value on that, you know, because because it's so different. You know, I mean, with the captain thing, it's like to have my guys, to have the guys actually and coaches actually believe in you to actually name you the captain of a gym, that's been around since the start of MMA.

I mean, Brian Johnson was fighting out of the American kickbox. when he fought Frank Shamrock. So to be named the captain of a team like this is a huge honor for me. But then the UFC Tonight thing is something that's so unexpected. You know, I mean, things that are unexpected usually are big. You know, I mean, when I came to California in 2010, I never had any idea that I could actually ever have a job host in a TV show. Whereas if I was on this team and I did.

well, at some point you can think that you would be looked at as one of the leaders. You know, in the last three, four months, you retired as an amateur wrestler. That was a great moment at the Fan Expo. You got engaged, captain of the team, got the John Jones fight, this happens to you. You know, father of two wonderful children, I mean, your children are absolutely adorable. A lot of good things have happened to you over, you know, the course of your life. But would you say the last three, four months have been maybe the best stretch of your entire life? best stretch of my entire life, man.

Healthy kids, engagement. You know, all the things you listen to the job, last wrestling match, actually getting to get on the mat and wrestle. My wrestling shoe. Yes. My own wrestling shoe. Cage fighter. I think it's all, I think it's all,

it's all building up to that moment. It's all building up to January 3rd. It's all building. Everything is laid out. You know, now it's up to me to go and get it. You know, it's all there for to take. area. You know what I mean?

I said time and time again, this is a culmination of a lifetime of competition on January 3rd. And it's like everything is just building to that date. I can't wait. But honestly, best stretch of my entire life

was probably this last four or five months where all these good things, all these good things have happened. Perhaps if and when you become champion, you can invest in a bit of a better internet connection. Maybe that would Hey, you know what? You know what it is, man?

I'm the guy, Hawani, that commercials actually work. You know, like, you guys probably just fast forward through the commercials with your brand new DVRs and all that stuff. We don't use DVRs in their house, not I'm lying. I watch commercials and they actually work on me. They work. What does that even mean? If I'm sitting at home and there's like a Popeye's commercial comes on.

Oh, yes. And they're like, oh, it's the greatest chicken ever. I'll go and eat it. Pizza hut. I'll get it. Gatorade. This new Gatorade is so good. So I've got to try it. Like this new water, it's better than all natural water. And I go and try it. Like so commercials really work on me. So when AT&TUverse said, we have the best internet. I had great internet before. I switched my cable provider because I wanted AT&TUverse because the commercial just was so good. You know, and now look at what happened. I can't even use Skype anymore. It's embarrassing. And look at you. I mean, you're considered to be so media savvy, yet you just dropped like five Fortune 500 companies.

None of them are your sponsors. You're giving them this valuable air time, these plugs. I mean, you can't do that. What would your sponsor say, something like that if they heard this? There's one that I'm hoping to make a deal with, and you know who they are. I've been chasing them for the last six months. Still?

It's my holy grill. Still, it's my holy grill to actually have that sponsorship. It'll happen. It'll happen January 3rd. How often do you think about John Jones? Like how many times in a day? Every day. Every day.

Every day I think about John Jones. It just kind of comes into my head, you know, and I think people at this point are probably a little hard of hearing me talk about him so much. Because it's constantly me thinking about what I can do. How can I implement a game plan to beat the number one pound for pound fighter in the world? You know, it's like it's constant, man. I'm always doing, talking, thinking. about John Jones. It must be annoying for the people around me.

Honestly, do you feel a little bad for Gustafsson now that he is healthy and he's not getting the fight? I mean, you know, it's circumstance, man. You know, Ariel, a lot of things come down to circumstance. You know what I mean? This job, you know, circumstance. The fight with John, it's circumstance. You know, like me went in the Strike Force Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Circumstances. True. You know, sometimes things come down to the person that's willing to step up when an opportunity is presented. I did. Did we know that John and I would be so electric? No. It's taken on the life of its own, and now it's like he can't get back in his place. But no, I mean, I'm not going to feel bad for him now.

I'm not going to feel bad for him when he's waiting at the end of 2015 to fight for the title because I'm going to win. and then Jones is going to get a rematch. So it's like Alexander Gufferson just, he was the victim of circumstance. So no, I don't feel bad for him at all. Scale of 1 to 10, how nervous were you when you were meeting with the athletic commission having to replay that brawl?

I mean, that was great theater. That was theater at its finest. I was scared, man. I was scared. You know what was the worst? Like, I'm in, I'm with my lawyer, and we're talking about, the situation and I'm like you know what man I was defending myself and when you got a team of people

that are on your side they're like yeah you know and you're talking about it it all sounds so good but then when you get out there and John goes up and he accepts responsibility for everything he did and then I'm up there saying oh I defended myself or my lawyers talking I'm like man we are so stupid we should have just because my instinct is always to man up yeah man up and just take responsibility But in that situation, I think we did the right thing. But immediately, I'm like, we are so, this sounds so dumb. Plus, you know, you got the commission who, you know, after talking to Floyd Mayweather, and they were just like, you know, really nice to him.

And then they were really nice to John. And then one guy didn't even know my name. I was like, oh, my God. By the way, what's it like interviewing your boss? I mean, very few people have to do this. You had to interview Lorenzo Fertit on the show, and Dana comes on the show. and fellow fighters that you may not like. It's a very unique thing that both you and Kenny have to do,

but even more so for you because you're an active fighter. What's that like? Is it weird? You know what? It's not that bad. You know, those guys put off a very good vibe. You know, it's hard whenever people are trying to standoffish are in a shell. It's not that bad because these guys put out great vibes.

You know, like Dana is easy to talk to. Dana will actually call and say, you know, hey, you know, Don't pull any punches with me. Just ask me whatever. And, you know, it's, you don't get that very much from people in his position, you know. So because of their, because of how open they are and just because of the vibe that they put out, it's very simple. With fighters that you don't like, I mean, I interviewed John Jones after he fogged over to share. And I thought it was probably the best interaction that him and I had ever had.

So, you know, things happen. The fun, the best part about it is actually being on the show. weekly and then we do fight picks and then walking up to the guys that Kenny picks against him going you know Kenny Flore you picked against you. That's fun. That's fun. I thought you were going to say, I thought you were going to say my segment was the most fun, but I guess that's more fun.

Well, the thing is, you know, your segment's pretty cool, but, you know, I think me introducing your segment is whenever it's, you know, that's when the light shine the brightest. Sure. No, no, I understand. You know, the thing that really made everyone, I think, really want to see your fight against John Jones was that moment, you know, off-camera moment that leaked, you know, that clip.

When you watch it, you cringe a little bit. Some kid just put out a hype video for your fight. It's tremendous. Everyone's been tweeting it. I'll find it on my feed and tweet it as well. But when you watch that interaction, because that was as real as it gets, the steel line from the UFC, we don't see that kind of hatred between two fighters who are about the fight.

I mean, it's just fascinating to watch. I wish it was 60 minutes long. But when you watch it, what do you think? It's pretty cringe-worthy, actually. Yeah. Because you don't want to really present yourself in that way. You know, you don't want to be... Because John and I, above all, we're family men and we're fathers.

You know, we've got kids. So you don't really want to be portrayed like that because that's not who we are at the bottom of it. But, you know, man, whenever... Sometimes, man, when it's real and you just have a genuine dislike for someone, it's, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's just, you can't control it. You can't control it, man. How bad was the other stuff, the stuff that we didn't see?

That was pretty bad, too, man. We've had, we, we, we've had, uh, what are you doing over there? Someone calling you or what? No, man, I'm just trying to think about it. I'm trying to think about it. I'm just like, it was that bad. It makes me actually kind of try to find the right word to describe it. It was bad.

I mean, it was bad. It was very insulting to him. And I said some things I'm not proud of. I'm pretty sure he said some things he's not proud of. It was bad. I mean, was it any worse in what you guys saw? I'm not exactly sure, but it was bad, man. Again, you know, it's just like, in emotions, we're running really high whenever we, we went and did that.

That was only about 30, 45 minutes after that whole lobby thing. You know, so mostly it were running really high. And Hawani. Yes. I've got to be very careful with how I word my stuff because you know the commission actually said, they got me on that whenever I went in front of them. Sure, sure. They said I told Kenny Floreen and them, you know, that would be good for my wallet.

So you got, you never know who's watching and who's listening. If I listen to you, you've got the most watch. Sure. He got the most listened to show in the history of all listened to shows. I mean, not even talking about MMA, we're talking about shows in general. You know, I saw your clip where you were addressing the troops after you were named captain of A.K. And it was a good clip. It was inspiring. But, you see, here's the thing about U.D.C. that I always appreciate.

You respect history. You know about the people who were there before you that paved the way for you to get to where you are today. And, I mean, let's be honest, as far as AKA is concerned, you're a bit of a Johnny come lately. I mean, you weren't there from back in the day. You're just there the last few years. I was at AKA on the day, I mean the darkest day in AKA history. I was there when the entire team was almost thrown out of the UFC. You know about this story, right?

I do know about this story, but I did not know you were in the building. I didn't think you ever set foot in our building. They roll out the red carpet for me, but how about this? That was, I mean, you talk about opportunity, circumstance. I was there. I was in San Jose covering a strike force event, and it was a dark period. We didn't know what was going on. And the great Javier Mendez, founder of A.K.A.

address the troops. And before I let you go, I want it to, I have the clip of him addressing the troops. Not many people have seen this. I have the clip of him addressing the troops. And I think that you need to take a couple pointers on how to properly address the AK troops. I wish you can see this and you could go back and watch it because if you look around the room, it's pretty fascinating. It's a video clip.

We'll hear the audio of it here. The fans watching at home can watch it. Here's Javier Mendez addressing the troops. And I want to play this for you as a pointer or two as to how to do so in the future. Okay, you ready? Let's do it. Here we go. Here's Javier Mendez addressing the troops

after the entire team was almost kicked out of the UFC back in November of 2008. This is just my feeling on how we are as a team and how we stay as a team. Okay, number one, what happened yesterday is what happened yesterday,

okay? Every one of you fighters has a decision because it's your decision. You basically, all you guys are my boss is basically. Every single one of these fighters, every one of you guys, with Koshchik,

with Swick and Fitch and Kain, like with Koshchik, His fight that he had with the Alba Alves, you know, Bob said, hey, what do you think of the Alves? And I was like, uh-huh. Costeck says, I'm taking that fight. I don't care what you guys say. Well, guess what?

Cost is the boss. I'm going to support him 100%. So I support him 100% because that was his decision to make, not mine. My job is to train him, to support him, to be his backup when he needs it. That's my job. That's my job with Swick. That's my job with Paul. That's my job with you, Kyle.

That's my job with everybody here. My job is not to take sides. I don't take sides. One guy likes oranges. One guy likes apples. Well, okay, I'm going to go with the guy that likes oranges because... No. No, you guys are all the same to me.

I love you guys all the same. I'm going to treat you guys all the same. So whatever decisions you guys make, I'm backing them. I'm not choosing sides. And if we start choosing sides, are we a team? We discussed that already, you guys. We're a team. We stick together.

If we don't stick together, what do we have? If all of a sudden, everybody decides, besides, okay, I'm going to go with SWIC, okay, I'm going to go with COTS. Do we have a team there? We got a team divided. Now we've got two separate teams. And I didn't work so hard in everything I've done here for us to not be a team. We're a team. Let management do what manager has to do as far as their part.

But you guys direct management. Management doesn't direct you. Hence, this is the situation that came about. It wasn't management that makes the decision. The fighters make the decision because they are the bosses. All manager can do is encourage you guys and tell you what's on the table and the fighters decide what they want to do. And we can't take sides on what your guys's decisions are. We have to go with it.

Whatever you guys are doing within reason that's within the limits of the law. And on top of that, you know, we're a team. If we can't be a team, well, what are we? You know, I keep saying team because, you know what? I think we all know. We are a team. You know, so I want you guys understand that no matter what happens here, SWIC, You know, van, whoever, we're a team.

So let's remember that. And when we do our thing in here training, we're a team, and let's stay together as a team. That's what makes us strong. And we need to continue to be strong. Let the other things happen as they happen. But we cannot do one thing to separate who we are. We're an AKA team, and we're a strong team,

and we're going to continue to be strong. Okay? So I don't want to say anymore, let's not nobody talk right now. Anybody wants to do their own talk we can do later. You know, but right now let's work out. But I just need to say, let's stay together and be a team. All right? Okay, let's go, you guys.

How about that? That is, and that's some intensity in Javier Mende's. How about that? That's cool stuff, right? That is good. That is really good. That is really good. That was before practice.

So could you imagine how those guys got after it whenever they let them put, when they let those guys lace up and go fight? Could you imagine how they got after it after that? That's history right there. That's history. That is awesome. I need that. I need you to make sure I have that video.

Well, I'll send it to you. You can watch it on the replay here, but that to me is, that, that's why I have a lot of affinity for AKA, because, hey, they let me in and no one else was allowed to come in as far as media, but how he kept talking about team, team. So I want you to understand, I know that, you know, sometimes it's all about D.C., but I want you understand that you are now the captain of a team, all right, that you guys have to be a united front. Don't forget that. That's how, and that's how we always are, man. And if you notice, that's why we, that's why, that's why, When answering questions a lot of times, and we talk about training camp, we say we, we prepared. We've prepared the right way. We've done it the right way because we are a team, and we are A-K. I'm very happy for you, Daniel Kormier. Congratulations on not only being named captain, also co-hosts of UFC tonight. Every Wednesday, Fox Sports 1, it's back this week, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific.

They got the right guy, in my opinion. So congratulations. I will talk to you on Wednesday on the show. and enjoy it. You certainly deserve it, and of course, good luck. Prior to January 3rd, but I have a feeling I'll be talking to you before then as well. Thank you, I really appreciate it. Got me all choked up here with the, with the Javier Mendez video. That's how we do. That's how we do.

Real, real emotion, Ariel. You know how to bring it out of a guy. I like that. Now, go work on that internet connection. All right, bro, later. All right, there he is. D.C., Daniel Cormier, new co-host of UFC tonight. Let's move along. All right, let's go into legendary status here. One of the greatest of all time, the man who put this sport on the map,

the man who put the UFC on the map, the man who when you walk around and tell people that you cover this sport, they say one name. They say hoist Gracie. They think of this song as well. How about the intros now on the show? I like it.

Classic UFC right here, right? They think of Hoyce Gracie, choking people out, left and right, no and knowing what the heck he was doing on the ground, but he put this sport on the map and he's joining us right now on the phone, right here on the M.A. Hour. Hoist, how are you? How you doing, sir?

You like that music? Yeah. Do you remember it? I like the music. I like the music. The next one, the last of the Mohitans. Oh, the other one that they used. That I chose that one. You chose it.

The first year of C wasn't chosen. It was just that's a good thing. Wait, so they asked you which music you wanted, and you got to pick it? After a while, yes. Not on the first UFC. Right, of course. Because they didn't know that you were going to win,

even though your family was involved, right? But then you were calling the shots. So let's get into this, Hoy, because some very big news happened just a couple of weeks ago, less than a couple weeks ago. You were named the new brand ambassador for Bellator MMA. And, of course, this raised some eyebrows because you're synonymous with the UFC brand.

You made a name for yourself in the UFC. You are the UFC. in many people's eyes. You start the broadcast. You and Kent Shamrock, how did this opportunity with Belator come about? I will always be in the FC,

man. Come on, man. That's my house, man. You built that house. I built that house. The Bellator, I'm friends with Spatokor. And he set me up with a few seminars on the past.

And he starts talking to me, hey? You need some help over here. Like, sure, that's what I do best. Travel, teach. I already teach seven months of the year all over the world. So I'm just going to help them out. Did you have any reservations because it's not the UFC

and like I said, you are so synonymous with that brand? Did you speak to the UFC brass? Did you approach them and say, is this okay? because, you know, like I said, when the news came out, it was surprising. I thought to Dana White. Okay. Yes.

I called him up. I talked to him. Say, hey, the guys want to offer me a job. It was pretty much, well, what can I say, Royce? I was like, okay, thank you. So I'm just going to help them off. It was pretty much, I mean, it was a little longer topic. Yeah.

but... Was he upset? No. How can he be upset at me, man? Come on. Of course. Were you hoping that... I'm trying to please everybody, man.

Were you hoping that, you know, he'd say, oh, no, come here and do this for us, you're part of the family. Was that why you called him? I was calling him to... Because I'm loyal. You see, I didn't... with that friend for so long with the EFC. So more of letting him know,

hey, this was happening. I don't expect anything. It's a long time I stopped expecting stuff from people. So if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But I don't expect him to do anything or anybody to do anything. And he pretty much, his responses, like, I don't know what to say, huh?

pretty much good luck. Do you think that you will still be, you know, like last year you were at UFC 167 and all that, do you think you are still part of the UFC family? Do you consider yourself, do you think you'll be welcome as such? I hope so. I don't have good things to say about the UFC. Right. I guess that.

We'll always consider the UFC my house, man. When they sent out the press release announcing this news, they called you the godfather of MMA. Do you consider yourself the godfather of MMA? That would be my father. I'm his son. Even though your father never had a traditional MMA fight like you did, you still consider him. He had more than I did.

Well, MMA, I mean, as far as MMA is viewed in the 21st century here. Yeah, no, he had never had those, but I'm not. a product, I'm a product of his work. I'm a, I'm a food that he planted the tree. So, yeah, sometimes people give me all the credibility. But hey, I'm just doing what I know, what I learn from him. And don't forget my mom. And don't forget my mother.

But my mother's pretty mean, too. Sometimes it's even meaner than he was. Always got to get problems. My father would say, do not hurt your opponents. On the first year to see, he's all guiding you to, hey, win the fight, but don't hurt them. Don't draw in the blood. Try to be as nice as you can.

Just be a gentleman. My mind was like, forget all that, son. I want to see some blood. I want you to hurt your opponents. It's like, okay, ma'am. And your role is, and that's pretty amazing that your mom would say that and your dad wouldn't, which is not typical. Your role is brand ambassador.

What does that mean? What exactly do you have to do? I got a smile and wave. Go to the fights, meet up with the sponsors, with the crowd, help out the fighters, from how to thank, how to act, how to, how to, not to, yeah, how to act inside the ring and outside the cage,

inside the cage, inside the cage. And this is all part of a new era for Bellator with Scott Coker at the helm, and they're getting rid of the tournaments, and they're signing guys, you know, like you and Stefan Bonner and some bigger names doing some interesting fights. Do you like,

the new Belator as opposed to the old Belator? Did you like the old Belator more? I'm going to stop to watch the new Belator now. I haven't had a chance to the new one. The old one, yeah, it was okay, it was good. It was good. It wasn't bad. It was good. I'm a fan of anime, man. So

old Belator, new Belator. Yeah. Scott Cook is a personal friend. So, but man, they got a strong team. They got Viacombe behind their. and they got new, three new kids coming up. I don't think that there's enough job on the UFC for all the fighters.

So there's so many talent coming out, so many new kids, man. He became a job. But if there's only one show in town, how can we employ all this talent? Why do you think people like Scott Coker so much? Why does everyone speak so highly of him? I have no idea, man. I like him because he's a martial artist. Like I said, before Bell atour,

he already hooked me up with a couple of same hours for his cry group that he belongs to that he got blacked out from. So, honey rails, and so he's the one who put me in touch with him. But do you feel like he treats, he's not your typical promoter, he treats the fighters different,

Is that why people like him so much? That's what I hear. I never had to deal with him as a fighter. But he's always been nice to me. But again, who's not nice to me? It's hard to. Everyone's nice to us. Somebody's not nice to me.

I want to like, why? What have I done? I try to be nice to everybody. I try to get along with everybody. Somebody's not nice to me. I'm going to say, hey, what's going on, man? What's the beef, man? What's the problem?

how come you're not nice city I'm going to ask and of course no one wants to get on your bad side I mean one time I feel like I kind of pissed you off and I saw this look in your eye I thought you were going to break my neck right then and there

so I learned my lesson come on man I'll never do such a thing you know how he's you never got on my face I saw you were like hey you come here right now and I saw this look cold

I just had to I just had to have to have a little thought you, but that's a different story. Sure. Oh, man, you haven't forgot about that? Are you kidding me? I soiled myself right then and there.

Hoist Gracie, the legend, the look, you, with your eyes. You choked me out with your eyes. I was that nervous. Man, no, that wasn't me, man. That wasn't. He was hands. Yeah, right. Hey, by the way.

Yeah, that's the wall, man. Recently, you were in the news because, of course, Eddie Bravo, fought Hoylor Gracie and Metamoris, competed against Hoylor Gracie, and then there was this thing between you and Eddie Bravo. Where does that stand now? Are you interested in competing against this guy? No, I haven't got any offers.

But I don't compete in grappling rules. I'm an MMA fighter, now. I'm an MMA fighter all the way. So the only offer you would entertain, as far as Eddie Bravo's concern, is an MMA fight? Nah, I'm pretty much, fighting.

So what happened there? What was the problem? With daddy bravest, personal. Everybody talks highly and praise him. The guy praised, do you have kids? I have kids, yeah, too.

You have two kids. How old? Two and a half and eight months. Well, you're going to send your kids to learn from a guy that tells everybody it's okay to do drugs. it's okay to drink alcohol

sorry man it's a you want a dude in private do it in private I have no problem with that but for me to send my kids I can never send my kids to someone that praises alcohol and drugs that's what he's going to be teaching your kids is that what you want children chose kids to learn

it's okay to smoke pot oh pout's not a drug walk into police she's a pile of pot and tell the cops that's not a drug. Come on. So do you feel like he's almost giving a jiu-jitsu a bad name by promoting this

but also being a, you know, a jih Tutsu practitioner or a teacher as well? People that don't know, they hear about it and they start to thank all the people that do jiu-jit-slok spot. It's a drug addict. Yes, he does

generalize Here I am fighting for something good, and the guy is fighting for something bad in my point of view. Sorry, I can't agree with that. What he represents. It's nothing to do with his jiu-sitsu. It's nothing to do with that. With his teaching or whatever. With his school is the endorsement.

You want to do something like that. Do it private. Keep it to yourself. Was there an altercation at the time? that Meta Morse match afterwards? He spoke about it, but what about you? Did you feel like he got heated? No, I came up, I saw him outside

from the Dr. Meta Morris. I went to talk to him, because I haven't seen him for a long time. Yeah. Well, like, you know me. I'm going to come up, and I'm going to talk to you. Sure. And I talked to him in a nice tone of voice.

Hey, man, I like what you said about my father and my family. He was throwing up. up, his look up, like, uh, I was like, because I always heard you talk to talk trash about my family. I never talk trash. He said, whoa, he raised his voice. Oh. Put his finger up.

I was like, whoa, hold on. Put your finger down. Don't you raise your voice to me. That's when I got, you know how I look, how I get. Yes. Yes. I know it very well. This tone of, now the tone of voice and the face changing.

I was being, I was making a nice comment. I always heard talking trash about my family. I like what you said. the match required. You talk good about my father and my family. I like that. And the guy raised it up and raised his boys. I never talked about it.

Look at my book, man. I don't look anything. Shut up, no, man. Shut up, man. Just don't say anything. Just, now I got heated up. And then what happened? Then Jean-Jacques, walk in.

He's like, come on, hoist. He just left. We just finished fighting. And they're letting go through the wrong. Like, get out of it. Get out of here. They need to walk away. You just walk away.

I was like, yeah, man. The guy, all, something trash, you know. I was putting us down, putting the key down. Guy on his school, I heard you make him proud. The key is to clean his math. I thought all my life with the key. Anybody have a problem with that?

Can talk to me. Go do what I do. That's why I feel like you versus him would be just, it would be so huge for the sport. You know, old school, new school, your issues. I mean, that would be gigantic for Mittermore's, right? Nathan Morris, they do, they allow punch to the face?

I don't believe so. God, I do this rubber guard stuff on me, I'll punch your nose. Oh, man. I love it. What about your cousin Henzzo? He's competing against Sakuraba. Do you think he'll win? No punches as well. Hensu is a machine.

Hensu do stuff that no, I never seen anybody do. The guy competes in a grappling match one day. The next day he's in a plane to go travel across the world to fight an M&A match or vice versa. He fights an M&A match jumping a plane, fly across the world, they will compete. He done that for

pride in Abu Dhabia. Sometimes he got to fly in Japan, jump in a plane a couple days later, he was to compete in Abu Dhabia. Unbelievable. Of course, you've competed against Sakuraba. Will you help him train for the match? Man, Hans lives in New York, man. I'm so pleased over here in L.A.

I just saw him this weekend. Oh. He looks good, man. He looks good. Hans-al is, of course, the steer is always up, man. He's always good to hang around, man. Once we get next to him,

he's going to stop laughing. But even though you say that you're not interested in, you know, anything that doesn't involve punching, do you like, do you feel like Meta Morris and your family's, of course, behind it? Do you feel like they are,

it's kind of the new age, they are advancing the, you know, the Gracie way, and Jiu-Jitsu, this is taking it to another level? Are you a fan of what they're doing? It's better. I like it better than the normal, I mean, the average tournament out there. Yeah.

But it's not something, it's a dream match. It's not something that you do a tournament style. It's a different, different setup. I like it better. You like that better than, say, Abu Dhabi or something like that? It's right up there. Okay. I'm not very fun of the tournament points.

Right. Of the point system, you see the... Do you think that it can take Jiu-Jitsu to the next level as far as to the... Oh, we lost them. Are you still there? I think we lost them. Drop the mic. Okay, just a few more minutes with Hoyce Gracie.

And then we'll move on to our next guest, Mitch Gagnon, who is patiently waiting. very interesting stuff from hoist gracie his take on eddie bravo eddie was on this show after his quote-to-quote draw against toilet gracie which i thought he actually won but as you know the metamorous system is no points submission only which is fun except for when a highly anticipated match ends in a draw but still there are times when you know that if this was your traditional jihitsu match this guy would have won and and I'm no jih Tzu expert,

but I would say that most people who watched it thought that he was the unofficial winner. Of course, he was on the show afterwards and was quite heated about everything and very interesting to hear Hoise's response. Now, as we wait to get Hoist back, let me remind you that tomorrow, Tuesday, October 21st,

from 5 to 7 p.m. Pacific time, Bell Tour is having a fan fest at the Dave and Busters on 2931 Camino del Rio in San Diego, California. 2931 Camino del Rio. Dave and Busters, it's open to the public. It's free. Randy Couture, Tidor Ortiz, Stefan Bonner, Ken Shamrock,

Hoyst Gracie, Muhammad LaWall, Michael Chandler, all will be in attendance, autographs, meet and greets, the works. That's the Bellator fan fest, where, among many others, you can meet the legend, Hoise Gracie himself. He's back on the phone. Hoyse, are you there? Yes, I'm here, man. You hang up on me. No, no, it wasn't us.

I think it was New York Creek in the back there. We'll keep you on for just two minutes, and then we'll let you go, and thank you very much for the time. I just wanted to know, do you think MetaMores can take Jiu-Jitsu to the next level? It can make it a mainstream sport where it's on TV, or do you always believe that it will be sort of in that niche area, the gray area as far as the American sporting world is concerned? I think he can get the media.

I think he can. I think he can. It's just, they're doing dream matches. Yeah. As long as they keep doing that, you see, the match that the public wants to see, not in a tournament style, but single one shot. Yeah.

Hey, by the way, has Scott Coker asked you to fight for him yet? No, I'm done, man. I'm done fighting, man. I'm kidding. Unless, if you want to fight me. No, no, trust me. I want nothing to do with you. That's only interviews.

But you have to fight one hand behind your back, man. Like Art Jimerson, kind of. Yeah. But I can, I mean, he's got Tito there. He's got all these legends. Stefan Bonner. Why not Hoyst Gracie? You're only 47.

You're a young man. Yeah, but I don't want to stop. Yeah. I'm going to push it. You're smart. We got no one to stop on this business, man. The body doesn't recover as well. And the Hoyst-Gracie business, it's doing well, right?

You're flying all over the place. And I'm traveling seven months of the year. Seven months, you enjoy that? I love it. I'm not traveling more because I got a family. I got a family to take care of it. Do people give you respect? I mean, do the young people, do they know who?

who you are, do you feel like even though it's been 20 years, 21 years, do you feel like they know and understand what you did for this sport? They look at me and say, man, you're so old now. 20 years ago, I was a new kid when I saw you fight. 20 years ago, wasn't that long ago. I will think it's a lot. You know what's funny about 20 years? Like, when I think of 1993, when UFC. 1 happened,

I mean, when I think about what else happened in the world of sports, the Chicago Bulls won their third straight NBA title, That doesn't feel like all that long ago, but because MMA has progressed so much since 1993, it actually feels like it was 50 years ago. Do you know what I'm saying? So you're calling me old now. No. You call me 50 years old.

No, no, no. Okay, maybe I should stop. I will stop. Meet Hoyce Gracie tomorrow at the Bellator MMA fan fest. 5 to 7 p.m. Pacific Time. Tuesday, October 21st. It's free and open to the public. 931 Camino del Rio in San Diego, California, King Mo, T, T, T, T, Stefan Bonner, Randy, Gature,

Shamrock, Ken Shamrock, Michael Chandler. Do you still get along with Ken Shamrock when you see him? Are you guys friends? He would never be my friend. Come on. Oh, really? He's a person that I thought. Is it weird when you see him? Is there attention? No, it's good. It's all good. All right.

I forgive, but I don't forget. Oh. But, yeah, we'll be dead. He's birthday tomorrow. They're on 5 to 7. What don't you forget? You say you forgive, but you don't forget. What do you not forget?

Man, the guy talked too much. He talked too much. It's okay. I learned with the talk. I do the fighting. Well said. And of course, Beltor 131 is November 15th. Tickets on sale right now at beltor.

My last question to you, Hoyce. Titor Ortiz, Stefan Bonner. Who wins? Ooh, that's a dream match right there. Chito got his ground and bound game. I like to eat Chito fights. Man, he comes to fight. But Staffenbarner, he's dangerous.

You can never count him out. He's been training with B.J.J. for a long time. So, I don't know. You got to make a pick. I can, I can, oh, man, if I had that crystal, ball, I would be playing a lot. I can see Chitual taking him down, getting on top of him, but I can see Stephen Bonner going for submissions.

So, nope. I won't pick, man. It can go either way. That's why we create the stuff. That's true. All right. Well, thank you so much, Hoy, and I'm glad that we're friends again. I'm glad we cleared the air and that, you know, we've repaired our relationship.

All good, man. Thank you. And congratulations on your new deal with Bellator. See Hoyce Gracie tomorrow 5 to 7 p.m. Pacific time in San Diego. Dave and Buster is meeting and greet with many other legends of the sport of M.M.A. Hoise, a pleasure, as always. We appreciate the time and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you. There he is. The one and only, Hoyce Gracie. How about that? Always an honor to have him on the show. All right, let's move along. Our next guest is going into the eye of the storm. He's going to Brazil, December 20th. It was announced last week that this young Canadian, man is going to Brazil to fight the former UFC Bantamweight champion. Now, I was surprised because I thought Henne Brow was going to take some time off,

but that is not the case. Henan Brow is coming back on December 20th, co-main event of the Leota-Machita versus CB Doleway card, and he'll be fighting the streaking Mitch Gagnon, Ontario's own Mitch Gagnon. He joins us right now on the MMR. Mitch, how are you? Pretty good, man.

Just sitting my car waiting to, go with training. Oh, no. Are we keeping you? Are you late to training? No, I'm early. I'm early. Okay. Well, that's Canadian for you. I mean, we're always very punctual, right? Yeah.

By the way, I've always wanted to ask you this. And correct me if I'm wrong. I mean, of course, your name is a French name, Mitch Gagnon. Are you French Canadian? I am, yeah, I'm French-Canadian. So you're from that part of Ontario that's more French than English? You know, North Ontario is pretty French. Okay.

You play it right down the middle, really. Yeah. How much does it bother you when people call you like Gagnon or Gagnon? I mean, there's so many different variations of your name. How much does that bother you? Doesn't bother me at all. Most of my friends are English, or they always razzled me on the, you know, it's an ongoing thing for many years. Okay, so let's talk about this opportunity.

I mean, you've won four in a row. look very good in the UFC, and you're not just fighting. I mean, most people thought, okay, you want four in a row now, you've looked solid, you're going to get a top ten guy. You're not getting a top ten guy. You're getting the former champ, and he was supposed to fight at 177. That didn't happen, of course, so he's just, you know, he's a fight removed from losing his belt. What was your reaction when you got the call that you'll be fighting Hennebrow in Brazil,

of all places? You know, I was shocked to even get the opportunity for a few reasons, obviously, that I thought I was going to get, needed to get a few fights, you know, like top 10, but, you know, high top 10. And number two was, you know, I thought Renan Barra was going to take, Henan Burra was going to take some time off after, you know, his loss and then his bad cut, weight cut. You know, I thought he was going to take a step back and reevaluate things. But, you know, I guess I guess he's ready to go. And, you know, I'm super happy, super excited for the opportunity. Are you surprised that he's coming back?

I mean, do you think it's a bit ill-advised? Because I thought the rematch was happening too soon, and we saw what happened there. I mean, his body essentially shut down on him. And now this fight is happening, you know, a little over three months later. And the body takes some trauma. He was beat up against T.J. Dillusha, he says he doesn't really remember most of the fight. So given all that, are you surprised he's coming back in December? Yeah, definitely.

Very surprised. But, you know, at the end of day, you know, I think they're, they're, great camp, they know what they're doing, you know. So, you know, it is what it is if he takes it. He's ready to come back, you know, and they offer me to fight. I'm happy. I'm happy regardless. Do you think that works to your advantage? Do you think that you're not going to see the best Henan Brown in December 20th?

You know, I don't know. It could be the total opposite. It could be the best of Edinburgh. I don't know. I'm not really focused on that. You know, I got nine good weeks of preparing for this fight. You know, it's, you know, I'm not delusage. I know it's a big step up in competition, but, you know, I've been pressing for this.

I wanted this that I think I was going to get any brown next? No, but, you know, I'm happy. I'm really happy to really get this going and then proving, you know, probably 99% of the population off. So you last fought just 16 days ago, so you're essentially getting no time off. Are you okay with that? Yeah, you know what? I actually took two weeks off, you know, and that's good enough for me. I'm always in the gym working.

and, you know, I'm healthy. I wanted three fights this year. I was one of the things I feel like I'm not doing enough is being active, so I'm pretty happy I got three. I'll get three in there, and, you know, against the former champ, it's cherry on the pie. So you've had some visa issues in the past, and some people might not know this. This is going to be your first pro-MMA fight outside of the great country of Canada. You're skipping the United States.

You're skipping Europe. You're going straight to Brazil, which is obviously a very hard. hot market for the UFC and very boisterous crowds, et cetera, and you're fighting, you know, one of their very own. Are you going to be able to go to Brazil? Because as I mentioned, you've had some of these issues in the past. Yeah, you know, everything is settled. You know, my management and the UFC are working on that.

And, you know, everything is settled on that end. And, you know, everything is good. What were the problems? You know, it's just something that happened, you know, over a decade ago. I really don't want to go in details, but, you know, it's going to get resolved, and, you know, I'm just focused on the fight. So you're going to be able to fight in Brazil, U.S., no problems there, right? No problem. Well, that's good.

I'm reassured now. Because, you know, remember in Chicago, like the week of the fight, you were turned back? That must have been devastating. Very devastating. You know, I've worked, you know, put a lot of time that I can. and not to fight, you know, it's heartbroken, especially being my debut fight. You haven't been, I mean, you came back in April,

but you had a pretty long, I mean, what was it? Six months, yeah, seven months or so. Prior to that, you had a year off. Why have you not been as active as you would have liked? A few injuries, you know, I blew out my knee between both September cars that I have fought on. And, yeah, I actually, you know, I got injured a few times and then, you know, obviously the visa issue. And so, you know, we put out the combination of my injuries and that, you know, that's why I haven't been active.

You said that 99% of people, or at least you feel that way, don't think that you're going to win. Why do you think that is? Is that simply because he's the former champ and they may not know you? Or why do you feel like you're not getting the respect at least early on here? You know, well, it's not what I think. think it's what, you know, my Twitter feed got bombarded by the day that they announced the fight. So it's not really what I think. It's what I see.

And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, I'm too strong mentally and physically. That doesn't bother me at all. So people were going to your Twitter feed and telling you that you're going to lose? I'm like a lamb being fed to the wolves and yada, yada, yada. Yeah. What kind of a person does that? I guess Henanberalpha.

Were these Brazilian people? You know, like I said, I really look at it all. Like, I don't have to finish reading the messages. I see it's negative. It's not constructive for me. It's negative, and I just keep scrolling, you know. I see a good message. I'll retweet it.

Do you just block these people right away? because I recommend doing that if you don't. You know, I guess, you know, how I see is any publicies can publish. You could talk shit about me or talk great about me. It's, you know, it's part of the sport. Have you talked to anyone? Go ahead. Yeah.

No, the more you advance in the sport, the more people will talk, you know, bad or negative. And, you know, it's one of those things that you just have to deal with and not, you know, bite into it. emotionally and just it's part of the fight game. I've been to Brazil a couple times. I've covered events there. I'm actually going there this weekend. And the crowds are second to none.

I mean, they're very intimidating if you're fighting. They chant, you know, you're going to die and all this stuff. Have you talked to any teammates or friends? I know the fight just was recently announced, but try to get some kind of expectation as to what you're going to face there because you are, I don't think of going out on a limb here, you are going to be not the most liked man in Brisbane. Brazil when you fight there on December 20th.

Yeah, you know, I honestly didn't really put any thought into it. I'm just super excited for this fight. I've been, you know, really just focused on getting back into training and having a good game plan for this fight. And, you know, I'm really not focused on that right now. Do you feel like if you beat Henna Burrell, you will be the number one contender? The division is really, really a little bit of mess. You know, you got Dominique Cruz coming back,

who's got a title shot against T.J. Dilsha. Then you get a Sentau who's on the 7th Fight Street, who's promised to fight against T.J. I don't know where that promise stands. I don't know. Really, it's really not important for me. The importance right now is for me is the next nine weeks, getting prepared for Henneboro.

Well, I certainly think you'd have a strong case if you beat Henna Brow. I'm wondering, will you watch the T.J. Dilleshaw fight a lot? I mean, that's one of the few losses on his record, of course. He went on this amazing streak. Will you try to replicate what T.J. Dillishaw did? You know, I'll let my coach decide. You know, I have confidence in my coaches and whatever they feel like I should do. And, you know, I obviously have my little opinion on where I could win this fight.

but, you know, I'll let my coach, you know, get the game plan going, and I'll just follow it. Where do you think you can win this fight? You know, I feel like if I put a lot of pressure on hand in, I feel like I can make him do a lot of mistakes, and I think when he backs up, that's where he's more vulnerable. If you let him settle in and fight his fight, you know, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. I think if you move a lot and not being in the pocket with him and trade punches,

you, you know, your chances are great or winning this fight. Will you watch the first fight? Will you watch that, that I called the first fight, the second one never happened? UFC 173 Dillishab Raoul. Will you watch that fight

as you prepare for this one? Yeah, definitely. I already watched it a bunch of times before. You know, I'm watching, you know, all his fights from then until, you know, all his fights I'm watching, you know. I want to see what he, you know, obviously fighters evolved,

but there's some things that people keep doing, and I want to see what he does always, and yeah, I'll definitely be watching his fights. By the way, recently on this show, we were talking about the state of Canadian MMA, and I wasn't so high on it. I felt like not enough talent was coming out of Canada, perhaps because there aren't as many promotions

building talent these days, and the UFC hasn't gone there, and GSP, you know, retired or at least walked away temporarily. What's your take on Canadian MMA today, as opposed to a few years ago? Do you feel like it's in a good spot, or do you agree with me that there aren't as many prospects coming out of Canada these days? You know, I wouldn't say a prospect, but I do believe that we lack MMA shows to show that the talent we have. There's so many, there's so much talent here, especially like where I train in Toronto, there's so much talent here,

but there's not enough shows to get them fights, and it's slower for them to get fights. You know, I got a few buddies they fight maybe once or twice a year. if that and, you know, definitely MMA in Canada or maybe like in Toronto area, Ontario has downed, has downed down. Will you be doing your entire camp in Sudbury? No, I haven't been doing my camps in Subbury

since my caraway fight. I've been coming in Toronto, you know, pre-religiously to do my camps here. Where in Toronto? I move around a little bit. You know, I go to Ed Rush Train facility where R.G. Grant is the head coach there for boxing. I go to Parabellum out of Oakville for my MMA-specific stuff and kickboxing. I go see Joseph Altilini, Bizzucco Joe, Gloria Champ.

I go see him religiously. And I move over. Yeah, probably those three gyms I mostly go out. but I do, you know, various gyms on the odd time as well. Are you going to have to go to Brazil for a media tour of sorts and, you know, take that all in and face off with them? This is a big fight. Are they going to do that for you? Yeah, I think I'm not sure the exact days,

but, you know, I'm supposed to be flying out in the next couple weeks in the way to do a media tour in South Paulo. Oh, are you looking forward to this? Because you've never gone that kind of attention before one of your fights. As far as the UFC is concerned, Are you looking forward to this? For sure. Yeah, I'm writing it. I'm loving it. I'm enjoying every moment of it. I can't wait to be there and then just get through the process. It's going to be awesome.

All right. Well, I wish you the best of luck, Mitch. Thank you for coming on, December 20th. Hennon Burow returns to action against Canada's own. Mitch Gagnall riding a four-fight winning streak. He's looked very good as of late, and this is obviously a very big fight for both them, for Hennon to try to get back on track, and of course for Mitch to pick up the biggest win of his career. luck. Good luck out there, Mitch, and thank you very much for the time. Great to have you on. Thanks. Thanks for having me. All right, there he is. Mitch Gagnon, Ontario's own. So, you know, since I was crapping all over my home country as far as producing talent, and the last couple

weeks, Roy McDonald got a number one contender fight, and Mitch Gagnon is fighting Hennabrow. Very well may be a number one contender fight. So how about that? Perhaps I lit a fire under everyone. That's what I'd like to think. All right, let's move along. I said at the top of the show that the UFC, of course, they've introduced the strawweight division, women's strawweight division, 115 pounds. And they're featuring them on the Ultimate Fighter 20. And on December 20th, on December 12th, they're going to crown their very first UFC strawweight champion. But according to most women's MMA experts and the one that I consider to be the leader as far as women's MMA media is concerned, and Robert Sargent from MMA Rising.

The number one strawweight in the world is not in the UFC. She is the World Series of Fighting Strawaway Champion. She is Jessica Aguilar, and she joins us right now via The Magic of Skype. There she is right there. Jessica, how are you? Hey, Ariel, how are you?

It's an honor. Finally get to invite it to your show. Who's calling you right now, or is that on our end? It's... Sorry about that. No, no problem. Well, it is an honor to have you on the show. We really appreciate the time, and congratulations on this amazing Skype connection.

Wow, this is Crystal Clear. I feel like you're in the studio with us right now. Really? Wow, that's good. Daniel Cornei needs to learn a thing or two. He came on the show earlier, and his Skype connection was horrible. It was putrid. So it's great to have someone who actually cares about their Skype connection.

So a lot to talk to you about. First, let's get the business out of the way. November 15th, it was announced that you would be defending. your title. However, XFC is now saying, wait a second, this is not going to happen. What exactly is going on? Are you fighting on November 15th? Will you be defending your title? I will be defending my title on November 15th. WSOF 15th. You know, Ali, the matchmaker for WSOF and WSOF, they've confirmed the fight that's happening. You know, I'm not quite sure exactly what's going on on the other end, but I know that I do have a fight November 15th. So I will. I will.

be defending my title again, which I'm very happy and I'm excited to and, you know, ready to keep winning. And of course, the issue is not you. The issue is Kalindra Fariah, who they're claiming that XFC is claiming is still under contract with them. Did they tell you that even though she doesn't get, you know, released or free to fight, that you will still fight someone else? No, I was told by Ali that I was guaranteed that I will be fighting Kalindra. So my fight will still be against her. I will be defending my title against Kalinda for you. Okay, well, that is good to know and happy to see that everything, apparently according to both you and Ali, that everything's okay. Hopefully XFC doesn't stand in the way. We'll see what happens there. Now, what do you make of her

as an opponent? I mean, not really one of the more talked about fighters at 115 as far as, you know, the top ten is concerned. Is she on your level, in your opinion? Right. Well, you know, she has a great record and she's fought some top opponents. You know, she's been around for a while also. I think, you know, there's a lot of talent that is, you know, known as well. And, you know, she's ranked. So, you know, I just want to keep fighting the best, keep proving, you know, my skills and just keep staying number one. So, you know, it'll be an exciting fight. She has a very extensive, you know, background stand up and she has good ground game. So I'm excited to, to challenge myself against How do you feel about what I said at the top?

You're the number one ranked straw weight in the world. Do you agree with me? Do you think you're the best? Of course, yes, sir. I am the best. So what's your opinion when you see, you know, the Ultimate Fighter 20? Have you been watching the Ultimate Fighter 20? I have.

I have when I, you know, I've been recording and I've been watching as much as possible. So, you know, I think I'm excited for those girls. I have a fellow ATT sister on there, Tisha Torres. and, you know, she's, obviously, you know, it didn't go as well as she wanted it to, but she has an amazing, she's amazing talent, very tough, and just happy to see, you know, the growth of the sport and what's going on with my division. It's just really exciting. So, but when you see, you know, Carla Sparza, ranked number one, and she was the Invicta champion and whatnot, I mean, when you're part of the UFC, when you're on the ultimate fighter, even to a degree Invicta, you get a lot more attention, a lot more

notoriety. Do you feel like you don't get that respect from, you know, the casual fans, the casual MMA, media member, et cetera? Yeah, you know, it's, I think, you know, obviously we're talking about UFC, the biggest promotion in the world, which is a different platform than any other promotion. And that's just the truth. You know, so when you put, you know, those ladies on a show like that, they're going to get the exposure. They're going to get the, you know, the respect they deserve. But, you know, like I said again, I'm just very excited for what's happening with my division and just to see those ladies, you know, do what they love to do and just show their talent on the show. It's a cool thing. I remember you linked up with World Series of Fighting right

around the time that the UFC announced that they would be introducing the Strawweight Division that they bought these contracts from Invicta and they would do the Ultimate Fighter and all that stuff. Did a part of you say, gosh, you know, that would have been a great opportunity? I mean, Even World Tourist Fighting will tell you, UFC is number one. I mean, I don't think I'm breaking any news here. Did you feel like you missed out on the opportunity? Well, you know, as you said, I signed with WSOF like a week before, two weeks before UFC announced that.

And, you know, I had been with Belleter before. I had, you know, I was very, it's very not active as I wanted to be, not as active as I wanted to be. and they gave me a great opportunity. You know, they had, I mean, they called me, they said, what do you want? And it just worked out. And, you know, I take every opportunity the same. So it worked for me.

It made sense for me. And I signed with them. And then two weeks later, I think UFC announced it. So, I mean, I did feel like I missed out. But, you know, I'm still living my dream. And I still have an opportunity here. And, you know, I'm fighting the best in the world. And eventually, you know, if the best in the world will fight each other.

So, you know, I just got to keep focused. I kind of keep on my path. And my path is continued trading and doing what I need to do to keep winning. And, you know, the rest will come, you know. If you were a free agent, would you have considered going on the Ultimate Fighter? Do you like the idea of being on a reality show? I don't, to be honest. I'm not a show girl.

You know, I'm, yeah, I'm not a reality show girl. But, you know, I'm happy for the opportunity those girls have. And, again, you know, I just want to face the best in the world. And my, you know, my focus, I have to stay focused. So is continue training hard. I train with the best team in the world, the American top team. And keep winning. And eventually the best will fight each other.

I know we're just a few episodes in, but do you feel like they are representing you? Your division, well. I mean, this is the biggest stage for your division thus far. Do you like the way that they're representing you? Well, you know, everyone's different, Ariel. You know, we all represent the sport differently. We are all, you know, each other, each person. So I think they're doing the best possible and they are representing well.

And the UFC is doing it, you know, giving them a great opportunity to kind of, show, you know, their skills and what they're all about. So I hope that they continue being positive and, you know, representing my division the way it should be. You know, one of the things I really appreciate about you is that you, you honor your Mexican heritage very well. I mean, you come out to the cage with your team wearing the luchador masks, and you're actually fluent in, I mean, you're fluent in Spanish, not saying like it's some kind of surprise, but I was just doing some research on you yesterday, and I was watching interviews with you on Telemundo, and your Spanish is perfect. How do, for the most part, I mean, I know that Mexicans, they love, they love boxing,

they love combat sports, right? How do they feel for the most part, and I know I'm generalizing to a degree here, but about women's combat sports? Has that taken them some time to warm up to that? Or have they, from what you've seen, have they received you just like any of the other male fighters? You know, I haven't had a problem, and they received me with open arms. You know, in our culture, you know, when we're representing our culture, it's like they're behind us, you know, I haven't had any problems, Ariel. They've opened their doors, they've invited me to their shows, they've supported me, so I can't be any happier with my, with my, you know, Mexican fans. And that's where I came from. That's, that's my, those are my roots.

Do you feel like you've only really scratched the surface? on your popularity and your success because, you know, Kane now is blowing up and the UFC is making its debut in Mexico City next month. And I can't wait to see how they receive him and what happens to him afterwards if he's successful. But, you know, there aren't that many of you. There aren't that many, you know, truly great Mexican women MMA fighters. Do you think that you have only scratched the surface that you can be a megastar if just given the right kind of exposure? Yeah, I think I've just scratched the surface. And, you know, the sky's the limit. It's, like I said, once they're behind you, they're behind you.

And it's, you know, as you've seen, you know, this UFC sold out in, what, eight hours in Mexico. So once you have the Mexican crowd behind you, they're behind you. And if I'm representing the Mexican crowd, they're going to be behind me because I'm going to be their champion. And that's just the way it's going to be. Again, somewhat ironic that your next fight is on the same night as the UFC's debut in Mexico. Is a party you wish we were fighting on that car? It's a fight in front of your own people. Oh my gosh, that would be amazing.

That's one of my dreams to fight in my country. You've never had the opportunity to compete on any kind of stage in front of your home country? Never. I've never. And have you talked to WSUF? I mean, because I feel like maybe they put a card on with you headlining or co-meant events, something like that. That would do very well. Have you talked to them about this?

I have. I have. You know, we've talked about that and they've said that they would be interested in doing that. And they've been working on their end. But that would be great. That would be another dream come true. How many fights left do you have on your contract? I have two fights under my contract with WSOF.

Including the next one. Correct. And is there a champions clause? We've seen that in other promotions, or when those two fights are up, your free agent, you can test the waters? I think so. You know, I can test the waters.

They can resign me. Again, I just want to continue fighting the best and continue being the best in this division. And, you know, so if they can continue bringing me top opponents and keeping me busy because I want to stay busy and I want to keep working, then, you know, we'll see what happens in early next year. Are you confident that you can fight the best there with the UFC signing so many straw whites these days? Well, you know, the WSOF and Ali, again, they've, you know,

They've kept me pretty busy this year, and I hope that they can continue to do so. And they've said they can continue to do so. So we'll see what happens. You know, it's pretty interesting what's happening right now. But there's still a lot of talent out there that is, you know, that's in the top and that's, you know, that I can go against. Again, I love the fact that you come out in the Luchador masks. I'm wondering, you know, other than the obvious, is there a specific reason? and why you wear those masks

and you and your cornermen and all that. I mean, we know what it represents on the surface, but is there anything more to it? That's just a part of my culture. I don't wear the mask, actually. My cornermen, you know, they wear the masks. So it was just something that I wanted to do, you know, when I was coming out,

have the cornermen wear the mask, the Luchador mask. And just to make it fun, you know, the guys here, Mike Brown and, And Laboro, they like to play around. So it was something fun that I kind of just surprised them when I became champion in January. And they were like, let's do it. So it was just something that we did it. And I kept rolling with that.

And I feel like I'm losing my mind here. I feel like I've seen you in the mask, at least once. Yes, I do. Yes. Not coming out to the fights, but I do wear the mask. Yeah. You know, I do a lot of things in the community. Right.

And I just recently, I'm not sure, I recently, it's, I am an ambassador for the GLAD organization, the LGBT. It's the largest organization for the LGBT. And so they, it's an anti-bullying. They wanted to go purple for October 16th. And so I put a purple mask on. And I do, you know, some funny posts every, every now and then with the Luchador mask. So what does that role entail, that, that, that role with GLAD? What exactly do you have to do?

Just to represent them, you know, I'm an openly lesbian and just to advocate, just to, you know, I represent them for anti-bullying, just an advocate for the LGBT community, you know, sharing my story about how comfortable I am and, you know, how not to be scared, just be yourself, you know. So they, you know, as an athlete, they reached out to me and said if I would be interested in, of course, I love to be a person. part of organizations like that. The people who you meet that aren't MMA fans, connoisseurs, and they find out who you are and then what you do, are they surprised that you're an MMA fighter? Yes, some are. They can't believe. A lot of people, you know, they can't believe.

But, you know, it's like any sport. This is just a sport. I'm an athlete and I love what I do. So if I can share my story and help somebody change the way they think or in a good cause, I'm happy. Do you find that mixed martial arts? is more receptive to, you know, gay or lesbian fighters than other sports. I feel like, you know, we saw what happened with Michael Sam and those gigantic news in the NFL.

And, of course, the NFL has been around a lot longer. And, you know, there are maybe more rules and, you know, locker room and all that stuff. But it feels to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, because you would know better than I, that mixed martial arts on the whole is a lot more receptive to anyone in their sexual orientation. Do you agree with me? No. I do, you know, I do, to a certain, you know, extent. I've never, for me, I've, you know, I've been fortunate here with the guys.

I've never had any problems, and I've never heard anything negative. So it's pretty cool. So you feel like, for the most part, no one views you as such. I mean, I wasn't even going to ask you about it until you brought up the glad thing. It's just like, I think in other sports, it's like, oh, that's gay NFL player, Michael Sam. But in our sport, people don't say, oh, that's lesbian fighter, Jessica Aguola. Right. They're just strawweight champion.

You know what I mean? Yeah. You're right about that. I never get, you know, I never, I never, they never, no one never says that. Right, exactly. That's just who I am. Where do you get the luchador masks, by the way? Do you have them personally made or do you just go to a store?

No, actually, you know, if my friends, you know, bring me when, when they go to Mexico, they bring me, you know, the masks. I actually got my own made and by a professional you know he's a he's a he's a he's a he's a guy that makes the lichador mask for like what are the guys

yeah the famous guys yeah the famous guys the lichador guys in Mexico so I got I got my personal made wow it's yeah so it's a this is a professional jag you know mask made so he's I found him in Monterey when I went on my trip and so now he's he's made my personal mass that's pretty cool but usually get him

from Mexico is that one of one or did he make you a few I have um five original ones but that's only there are only four for my corners right now and those are the original ones is there anything to the design the colors is there any specific meaning behind those yes there's actually can you have the Aztec sun there's um there's a what says jag but then there's a pyramid, obviously, for the Aztecs. And then on some is the sun, the Aztec sun. The Aztec sun. And it's representing a warrior.

It also represents a warrior. So, you know, I got, I got, you know, designed as a jaguar face. And then it just has a jag in the pyramid. So it's just something that, you know, that I like to do and represent. into my culture and, you know, it's a, guys like it too, so it's pretty cool. I love it. In fact, Goyito Perez actually gave me a mask. I used to have it on this set, but much like everything that I bring to this set, people take it and steal it. I don't know where it is, but I loved wearing it. I felt, I felt like I was empowered. I felt like, I truly felt like a superhero.

Really? Oh my gosh, when I put that thing on for the first time, it was, I'll never forget that feeling. I felt like I could take on the world. My nose, like, kind of like crept out of it because it's so big and it's not made for, I think someone called me El Niz. Niz, gan. Yeah, that was my name. That was my name. But I'm wondering. What?

You are a superhero to your son. That is true. That is true. See? That is true. I actually, I wore it for him, and he freaked out. He was a little too young to appreciate the mask. But, you know, Doscarus Jr.

You know him, he fought the Miracle Krocop with the mask and pride back in the day. He later on became Albert. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you ever consider doing a match with the? a fight with the mask on? Yes. I mean, if it was allowed, yeah, that would be pretty cool. But I think there's a lot of, you know, it would be probably a little uncomfortable and a little hot.

Yeah, it's hard to be. Can I see you wear it? I mean, it just looks so good. I feel like this is an opportunity here to wear it. No? No? If you want. Yes, I'd like to see you wear it.

I wonder what the Hilpen went. Really? I mean, it's a beautiful mask. I love Lucille, Bray. You're going to make fun of me. No, I'm not going to. I have the utmost respect. Nacho Libre, my favorite movie, one of my top five.

It's a great film. And I just want to see how it looks. Because you claim that you don't wear it, but I know for a fact I've seen you wear masks many times. Well, I have wore them and posted. It's just funny posts, but when I walk out, I don't wear it. Well, I think you should. Here we go.

Really? Jessica Aguilar, putting on the mat. Look at that. That is so cool. That's the first time I actually put this one on. Really? How does it feel? Yeah.

It's pretty cool. It's really neat. Actually, these just got from, these just got to me from Mexico yesterday. Why did you take it off so quickly? I was admiring it. See, Ariel, really? What? I'm being honest.

Great for Halloween. It's a good time. Can people buy the, I mean, you should sell them. People can dress up as Jessica Aguilar. No, no, no. Calm down. I'm trying to build your brand here, Jessica. Thank you, Ariel.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You didn't like wearing it, though, apparently. No, I do. It's just a little high. Oh, okay, okay, I understand. It's hot under the lights.

Okay, well, actually, we've run out of time, unfortunately. Awesome. But I appreciate you coming on. I wish you the best of luck on November 15th. It's good to know that the fight is actually happening. It's actually a great night for World Series of Fighting because there are three title fights on that card. On November 15th, it's taking place at the USF Sundome in Tampa Bay.

David Branch v. is Yushin Okami for the middleweight title, lightweight title fight between Justin Gaichi and Melvin Galar and, of course, the Jessica Aguilar. I call you the Jessica Aguilar, because you are number one as far as the rankings are concerned, versus Kalindra Freya. I wish you the best of luck, Jessica.

Thank you so much for the time and great to have you on the show. Thank you, Ario, it was an honor. Thank you. Hola. Adios. Adios. Horrible. My son actually has Spanish class later today at 4.30, maybe I should go check it out. So there she is, Jessica Aguilar, top-ranked straw weight, according to my good pal, Robert Sargent. Okay, let us move along. One more guest today,

and at the top of the show, when I was running it down, I said that it's apropos that we have Dan Miller on today because of what happened recently in the world of sports. So I'll get to that in a second. First, let's welcome in Mr. Dan Miller. Dan, how are you? Hey, Ariel. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for joining us. Do you know why I consider it very apropos, other than the fact that your fight, your return to the UFC was announced just a few days ago, why it is perfect that you're on the show here today? No. You have no idea.

So yesterday in the NFL, Peyton Manning broke the touchdown record. He was playing the San Francisco 49ers, I believe, 509 touchdowns. He plays for the Broncos now. And this is remarkable because, as you may know, Peyton Manning had multiple neck surgeries and now here he is playing better than ever. And correct me from wrong, you had a very similar surgery to what Payne had, a spinal fusion, right?

Yeah, that's correct. Pretty much the same, from what I've heard, pretty much the same exact surgery, same disc and everything. And correct me from wrong, did you happen to at least consult with one of the doctors that worked with him?

I guess he was on the consulting team that worked with Payton. he was uh you know he spoke with peyton and i guess apparently that's what he said that's pretty it's pretty amazing i mean to to to do that in a sport in like football and m mma where it's you know so much contact involved to go through a surgery like that for those that don't know what that means what exactly does spinal fusion surgery entail um so basically they fused uh two of my vertebrate together um they took the disc out put a sliver of cadaver bone in there, put a titanium plate on it, and let it heal together.

So basically two of my vertebrates fused into one. And was this just wear and tear, or did you suffer an injury that led to this? Just wear and tear. Something that, you know, it's been going on for a couple years, just getting progressively worse. When did it really start bothering you to the point where you felt, okay, I need to fix this? probably I'd say you know

late 2011 2012-ish you know it started to get really kind of to the point where you know it was

every week it was kind of bothering me you know I would get really bad stingers and you know

I tried to train through it you know after fights I did some PT and stuff and tried to

go you don't go a different route in surgery but it just didn't didn't work for me so you've you've competed

in at least two fights while dealing with this injury and a serious one? Yeah, it just got, again, it started to the point where it was like, you know, it was bothering me, but then it got worse and worse and worse. It just never, I can never get it to the point where, you know, with physical therapy, getting it better. When did you have the surgery? I had it in July, a year ago this July.

And July 13th. Before the surgery, did they tell you, there's a chance you may not. ever fight again? Was that even a possibility? Yeah. Going into it, they said that, you know, there is a chance of a slight chance, and then, you know, they were saying that once they opened me up, and if they had to do two, you know, my career would be done. Oh, my.

So you really had no idea if you'd ever fight again? Yeah, pretty much. That was the first question I asked my wife when I saw her. Did they do one or two? And you knew right away, given that answer, that there was still a chance for you to fight? Yes. How long was the recovery? Like, how long did it take for you to feel like you were 100% or at least, you know, as good as possible?

I had no, you know, there was no contact for at least six months. After six months, there was a lot to do, like, you know, a little bit of, you know, in pads, doing light, you know, light workouts and stuff like that. And then it was like nine months He gave me pretty much the The green light to go Got a full bore And then

I think just resided This over the summer Early summer I got I was able to go You know Pretty much said I could fight So it was almost a year Any trepidation

Did you feel a little nervous When you first got out there? Of course there's a little bit You know A little bit But the same thing as You know Anything else

I got over it real quick. You know, I broke my thumb in one of the fights and first couple punches I threw with my right hand. It's thought about, but then it didn't take long to get over it. I feel great. You know, at training now, I feel I feel really good. I like how you compare a neck surgery, spinal surgery, to a broken thumb. Yeah, it's like the time I broke my toenail. It reminds me the exact same thing. You say you feel great. When's the last time you felt this good? It's a couple years

This training's gone You know this well You know I'm still early in the training Camp and everything like that But as far as like I really wasn't able to wrestle for a while So now you know I got back into wrestling

And and I'm in that feels awesome And I believe Just off the top of my head And correct me from wrong This is the longest layoff of your MMA career right? Yes Yeah definitely How much do you miss it

Just being out there competing all that I miss it so much I want to get in there so bad just you know especially watching Jim and being in the corner with him and you know

because it was always like he would fight I would fight he would fight I would fight so there was always that like it was always something that going to his fights and experience always made me want to do it more

and now but I was able to now it's like it's just been burning and I want to get back in there and you know So you're coming back, and by the time you fight, I guess it'll be like a year and a half or so, but you're coming back as a middleweight. Most people remember you as a middleweight.

You had your best run in the UFC as a middleweight, but as of late, you fought as a Walterweight. Why did you decide to go back to 185? You know, I tried Walter Wade just to see if I could do it, if it was something that would just better my career. But, you know, I did it twice. I had kind of a rough time making the weight. And I just felt like I could fight a lot better at middle weight that I could perform, you know, way better.

So it decided that, you know, I'm not the biggest and, you know, strongest middle weight, but at least that when I walk into the ring, I can feel 100%. How bad was the weight cut? I mean, did you not feel like yourself even by the time you had, you know, 24 hours or so to rehydrate? I just didn't, yeah, it just didn't feel right. You know, it was just one of the things that I, not that, you know, it was just that, you know, it was just that, you know, it was just, you know, it was just, you know, too hard of a cut. and I just feel like what I, you know, especially with the training I can do now,

and feeling what I'm feeling during training, I think, you know, middle weight is a better option for me. Do you regret going down to 170? Do you think it was a mistake for your career? I don't really regret it. I mean, it was something that, you know, I took the chance. I knew it was going to be one of those things where it's either going to work or not. And, yeah, I took that chance.

And, you know, it took a little bit of time off the, you know, the clock, but, you know, not competing at middleweight now, you know. But, you know, it's all right. I don't regret it. So I understand that both you and your brother, Jim, who, of course, also fights in the UFC, you guys are opening your own gym, right? Yeah, that's correct. When's it opening?

Open open up, actually November 1st, a little less than two weeks. We, you know, put a lot of time into the gym. We've been doing it for, you know, been building it out. and everything for a while. Jim and I are doing most of the work. Jim and my father are doing most of the work. You're building it yourself? Pretty much.

Man. So, you know, my father, we did construction prior to, you know, fighting in the UFC and stuff like that. And, you know, that's what my dad did for 30 years. So we figured we'd take it on ourselves, you know, and just, you know, have some fun with it. I feel like such a loser. I feel like such a loser, a useless loser when I talk to people like you build your own.

I would just look up who can help me build it, who I can hire. I guess I would hire someone like you to do it. How long did it actually take from when you first started to November 1st? How long did it take to actually make this thing? A couple months. Yeah, we really get into the place until early June, late May, and then we were kind of concentrating on Jim's fight a little bit too. Right.

So it slowed down a little bit. But then once we kind of got the ball rolling after his fight and everything, just came together. Now, is this a gym that will be open to the public, or is it just for you guys in pros, you know, guys preparing for fights? No, definitely open to the public. We have, you know, we'll have jit-two and more Thai classes to start and, you know, hopefully expand from there.

but yeah, we hope to have a good group of people come in and train with us and just, you know, take classes and hopefully enjoy as much as Jim and I. This is called Miller Brothers M.MA, right? That's correct, yes. Where in New Jersey? It's in Sparta, New Jersey. Now, we grew up. And it's very close to where both of you live, right? Yes, I still live in Sparta now.

And Jim's like, he's in the next town over, but he literally lives like, two minutes from the gym. And I'm curious, I mean, is it a 50-50 split as far as revenues concerned? How do you work that out with your brother? Well, every month we fight. We fight it out. Okay, that's cool. I like that.

Every way to get that month. Wow. Is that open to the public? I'd love to cover that. Yeah. We got a cage, so we're just going to open up the garage doors to follow the gates and fight it out. Anyone's welcome to come.

And are you still part of AMA? Yeah, we're still, Mike and I still work with Mike and Mike Constantino. That's correct, yeah, Mike Costantino. And, you know, we primarily do most of my training up at our place who was, you know, a couple minutes away. And, you know, it's easy for me. We have pretty much everything we need, but yeah.

So how will that work? Will you invite people, will you invite Mike to come to you? Or will you have, like, this is a new team, So how are you going to prepare for your fight there if it's just opening in a few days? Well, we'll have guys come up. I'm training now with guys at the place. Some guys come up and train with me

and, you know, I have my coaches there. And, you know, we bring some guys in and we train. So same thing. You know, same thing we'd be running the AMA. Just, you know, doing it up here. Is this something that you guys as you were, you know, when you were growing up and trying to make it in the sport, even before you were in the sport.

Is this something you always dreamed of to own your own gym? Yeah, I mean, we knew it was going to happen eventually. Just weren't sure. You know, earlier on, we were trying to concentrate just on fighting, and, you know, I had a lot of stuff going on, too. So it just wasn't the right time,

and, you know, finally, you know, my personal life's kind of calmed down a little bit. You know, we're, you know, getting towards the, not the end, but it's getting late. during our careers and, you know, I don't really know how much longer it's going to take, you know, be doing it. So we figure we're doing it now while we're still fighting and, you know, make these, you know, try to make it easy on us, especially we both have three kids and right now.

And being close to home, train close to home makes it a lot easier. And of course, we can't talk to you without asking about your son, Dan, Dan Jr. How is he doing after everything that he had to, you know, to overcome with the kidney disease in the transplant. How's he doing now? It's been a while since we talked to you. He's doing awesome.

He's doing excellent. He's in school now. He's doing full day. Wow. He's really well. Really, really, really well. That's tremendous news. So happy to hear that.

How old is he now? He's four and a half. He'll be five in January. Wow, and he's doing great. Yes. And you've had a kid since then, right? I had two. I have two young daughters, yes.

You're a machine. and they're not twins, right? They're not twins, right? No, no, they're not twins, dude. I got a, Danny's four and a half. I got a three and a half year old and a one and a half year old. Well done. Are we going to go for four?

What's the game plan? No, we had the four, but there's no kids in my future. That's it, you're done. As of right now. it moves up to me and it would be done and is this almost like a competition thing with you and Jim

that's what it seems to be yeah now there's no as far as I know there's no I've always got first though you have we'll see what he has to say about that

by the way does he have his next fight yet he does not no is he taking the rest of the year off um he's just kind of we're trying to get this gym open and doing a lot of work,

but he's training it and I guess, you know, just seeing what they have and stuff. I don't know. Okay. Well, I wish you the best of luck with the gym. Of course, it's great to have you back. And, of course, you had to overcome a lot. Your health is concerned with the spinal fusion.

Has any MMA fighter ever have to over? I know Tito's had a few of those, but that specific one, do you know of any? No, I don't. Wow. That's amazing. Well, best of luck to you with the gym. Best of luck on December 20th. Great to have you back, and all the best to your family, Dan.

Thank you for the time. Hey, thank you very much. I appreciate it. All right, there he is. Dan Miller. Check out his new gym, November 1st. If you're in the Sparta, New Jersey area, seems fitting that the Miller brothers are from Sparta, right? It just sounds like a very tough place to be. Dwayne Finley over at Bleacher Report is doing this MMA road trip.

series and he spent some time with them and their father, who's also a very tough man, to put it mildly, a lot more man than I am. And he went camping with them and they were getting all kinds of branches and wood to build a campfire and doing all sorts of other things. They're in this area, these woods that were heavily populated by black bears. and it seemed very scary, if you ask me. But they did it, and that's just another day in the life of the Miller brothers.

Great guys represent everything that's good in MMA. Great to have Dan Miller back in the mix. He returns to action on December 20th against Daniel Sarfeehan, and he returns as a middleweight where he enjoyed the majority of his success in his MMA career. Been in the UFC for quite some time. IFL as well. he has been around the block,

been doing this since 2005. All right, that does it for today's interviews. Hope you enjoyed them. And now it's time to go inside the vault. So as I said at the top of the show, we're going to do things a little differently. Oh, by the way, before I get to Inside the Vault, let me remind you or let you know,

because I haven't told you yet. So I can't remind you just yet. I have to inform you that next week's show is on Tuesday. Tuesday, October, the 28th. Why is it on Tuesday? Well, that's because I am going to Rio for UFC 179, and I love going to Rio. I love going to Brazil.

It's an honor to go to Brazil. To cover MMA, are you kidding me? It's the dream. But my one gripe with Brazil is that there are no Sunday morning flights to go back to the United States, and that's what I love to do. After an event, no matter what time it ends, I'd love to take the earliest flight home, 6, 7 a.m.,

so I could be home on Sunday afternoon, as quickly as possible because then I have to do this show on Monday and you need time to recuperate and be with your family, et cetera. Well, for some reason, in Brazil, they don't have any flights back to the United States on Sunday morning. You have to wait until Sunday night. Of course, there are much worse things that you would have to endure in life than spend a day in Rio, but you get where I'm coming from. In any event, my flight is Sunday night around 9 something, and by the time it lands, it's just be impossible to do the show. So the show is going to be on Tuesday, and I know we did a show on Tuesday last week,

but that should be it, I believe, for the time being as far as the Tuesday shows. So I apologize for the inconvenience, but please mark it on your calendar. Next week's show is not on Monday. It's on Tuesday, 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. GMT. And then the following week, we will be back in our usual Monday. day time slot. One other piece of information that I want to share. I've mentioned it on Twitter, but I don't think I've mentioned it on this show. On November 7th, I'm going to be returning to my old stomping grounds of Syracuse University. The great people over at the Newhouse School of

Public Communications have asked me to speak to the students. And this is one of the greatest honors of my career, because when I left Syracuse, and the story of myself in Syracuse, I've talked about it. You can see it on that Fightland piece and other interviews if you want to learn more about it. I always said when I left, I said, I'm not coming back unless they asked me to come back. And when I was a student there, one of the great things that they did was they'd bring in people like Bob Costas and Marv Albert and other great broadcasters, Mike Tarrico. I even saw Brian Goertz, the former head writer of WW RAW. They would come talk to the students.

It's very inspiring, and it's one of the great things that they do at Newhouse. So I said if they, you know, my time there was, it was a little contentious at best. And I said, all right, if they asked me to come back, then I'll come back. Well, it's been 10 years since I graduated on November 7th at 3.30 p.m. at Newhouse, I believe, 3. I'll be talking to the students. And this is amazing. I am so honored and so excited to do this. Well, at first it was just for the students. But I just got off. the phone with Professor John Nicholson, who is running the show over there, and he told me that

they're going to open it up to the general public, because there are some people who want to come in from other parts of central New York or outside of the great state of New York, and they like to come, which is unbelievable to me. So now, good news, it's free and open to the public. You don't have to be a student at Syracuse University. They're going to have a flyer if you're interested, be talking to the students or the people there, answering some questions. And I'm thinking right now, and if there's enough interest, I'll do this. That night, Luke Rockhold is fighting Michael Bisping on Fight Pass in Australia. And I'll be there with my family, but it's later on in the night.

I was thinking maybe of joining up with some of the students there. If anyone is having a party at their dorm and if their RA allows it, I don't even know if you need permission for something like that, but maybe we can have a little fight party. So if there's any interest, let me know. Also let me know if you're interested in coming from outside of Syracuse. University because they wanted to get some kind of head count. I'm expecting at least 10,000 people. They're shooting for 150. Um, regardless, I think we'll, we'll have a great time. So that's November

7th, Syracuse University, 3.30 p.m. Let me know if you're interested. Great honor for me. And I'll probably plug it before then as well. Okay, inside the vault. How are we doing things a little differently? Well, now that we got some of the classics out of the way, the ones that I really wanted to share. And there are tons. I figured, all right, let's do. let's try to have some kind of connection to the present day. Back in the day before I became an MMA journalist, I used to work on a show called Classic Now, and it aired on ESPN Classic. In fact, the host of the show was Josh Elliott, who you may see now on NBC. He was on the Today Show, formerly of ESPN and Sports Illustrated. He was the host of Classic Now. And the point of Classic Now

was to tie the past to the present. And sometimes we were trying a little too hard, but it was a very fun show. unfortunately it was short-lived. I think it only lasted eight months or so. My job on the show was the head researcher. So I would sit next to Josh Elliott while he was taping the show. And if someone said something that was factually incorrect, it was my job to catch it. That's the kind of memory I had as far as sports trivia and factoids are concerned. I mean, I remembered everything.

And I knew a heck of a lot as well. If I read it once or heard it, I just remembered it. If it had to deal with sports, it registered. It entered my mind. So that was my job on that show. So I figured as, you know, I come from this world and pay homage to the show that I once worked on, it would make a lot more sense to tie the past with the present. So in our first installment of Inside the Vault Classic Now edition, you get what I'm trying to say,

I wanted to look back at UFC 123, November of 2011, where in Auburston, I've been here's Michigan. And I got to say, this was a very interesting event for many reasons. But, you know, it was back in the day where, you know, the UFC, pay-per-views were big, but it was rare for the UFC to put on an event that didn't have a big title fight as the main event. As far as pay-per-view events are concerned, this one did not have a title fight in the main event. It was Quentin Jackson coming off his loss to Rashad Evans versus the owner-Machita coming off his title loss to Shogun Huah. That was the main event. The UFC was returning to Auburn Hills for the first time in a very long time. turning to the state of Michigan for the first time in a long time.

Also on that card, Matt Hughes versus BJ Penn, Gerald Harris versus Mikhail Falcow and Phil Davis versus Tim Boch, great win by Phil Davis, George Sutteropoulosos versus Joe Lozong was also on that card. And it was a bit of a weird time. It was November of 2011, as I mentioned. To be exact, it was November 20th of 2000. I said 2011. I'm in 2010.

Excuse me. November 20th of 2010. It was very cold. and dark and it was just a weird. It was, we were staying in this really crappy hotel close to the Palace of Auburn Hills and we were next to the Pontiac Silver Dome

and they told me that there were these wild dogs like it was completely abandoned and it just got a creepy feeling about the whole situation. Nevertheless, it was a memorable event for me because before the pay-per-view started, they awarded Joseoaldo the UFC featherway title. Josealdo didn't have to win a fight to become UFC featherweight champion.

He was the WEC champion, WC 145 pound champion, and once they decided to merge WC and UFC, of course, both were owned by Zufa, they just awarded him the belt. And no problem with that. They did the same with Ronda Rousey and Dominic Cruz and many others. But unlike them,

they asked the media that was just kind of sitting around, eating the pre-fight meal, they said, hey, we're going to have a ceremony in the middle of the cage, in this empty arena before the fight card starts, before the crowd starts to file in, and we're going to award

Joseoaldo his featherway title. It was very strange. Empty arena, he comes in there in the middle of the cage, Dana White gives him a belt, and all of a sudden, voila, he's the UFC featherweight champion. Now, if you recall,

he was supposed to fight Josh Crispy at UFC 125. That's when he was going to defend his title for the first time. It didn't happen. He got injured, and Josh Crispy ended up fighting Dustin Porre. Destin Porre.

Destin Porre ended up beating him, and the rest is obviously history. Josie Aldo ended up defending the title UFC 129 in front of a sold-out Roger Center, 55,000 plus. He defeated Mark Homonick, very memorable fight. So I thought, because Joseo Aldo is defending

his title once again, he's the longest active UFC champion, also the last remaining champion from Brazil, which is very interesting to me. He's in action this Saturday against Chad Mendes in Rio de Janeiro. I thought it would be fun to go back to that night, November 20th, 2010, right after he was awarded

the belt, we had a chance to interview Jose Aldo. Now, this isn't the most memorable interview, but the time is memorable. And it's interesting to go back and look at when he just became champion and how he was back then. And there's a great video of him buying a suit for the event and just getting so excited, the first suit he ever bought. I know this is a personal favorite of New York Ricks. Every time he's trying something on, he's going, wee!

Wee! It's great. I mean, the joy on his face is just, is priceless. I suggest checking that out. But before you do that, check out my interview with Jose Aldo right before UFC 123, November 20th, 2010. Ariel Hawani, alongside the man who has just presented the new UFC featherweight championship. Mr. Joseo, and Jose, congratulations, first off, on this belt. I know it's a big deal, but first, let me just say, I love your shoes. Did you steal this style from me?

Yeah, I'm living and learning. I don't think I've ever been this well-dressed in my life. And yeah, maybe I got a little bit of influence from many people. Well, obviously a very big deal. I know you've dreamed of this moment for a long time. Did you ever think that you would get the UFC belt in a ceremony inside an empty arena like that just in front of a few media members? It's kind of a different situation than some of the other champions have had.

No, no, I think I'd expect to gain, I was going to win the belt by fighting, but it's such an honor for Dana to present me with this belt. today and it's a dream from true. What did you think when you first heard that the WEC was going to merge with the UFC? I think it's awesome, not just for me, but for all of the Peszo Leve. I think the merger is great, not only for myself but for everyone that was in the WC.

We're obviously very recognized in the WC, but the UFC is a bigger stage. There's more recognition from the media and from the fan, so it's going to be a great thing for everyone. In some ways, for a while, you were sort of like the best kept secret in MMA. Do you feel as though now is your time to shine, now is your time to shine, now is your time to really let the world know how great you are? Con Certees, I think that's that I think this is my time. I was fighting a huge event, but maybe didn't have the recognition from the fans and from the media.

And I think this is the time everyone is going to be able to see my work. We had heard rumors that you were offered a 155 pound against Kenny Florey and obviously the fight is not happening. Can you explain exactly why it's not happening? So, the other than I fought when I was when I was looking for him, to fight with him in December. In my part, I accepted, I want it.

I think Kenny is a great leader, so I've been, right after I defended my WC title, I was offered the fight against Kenny Florian, and I'm ready to fight anyone, but that's really not just up to me. My coach thought it wasn't the right timing to make the move, and I really do listen to my coach. Nothing against Kenny. I think he's a great guy, he's a great fighter, but it just wasn't the right time. Okay, final question. You're facing Josh Crispy on January 1st, UFC 125.

Your quick thoughts on him. He's sort of a young phenom himself and has looked fantastic. in WEC. Josh Grispy is a very technical fighter. He's a very tall guy and he's going to be a challenge from my defending my belt for the first time and I just want to get back into the gym, get back into training. This whole night was amazing but I really want to get back to train. We will let you do that.

Congratulations on getting the belt. We look forward to seeing you on January 1st. Obrugado. Thank you. So there you have it. The fight of course never happened. He got injured. Grispy fights Porier.

Porier beats Crispy. and on and on it went. But that was very memorable. You saw a bit of the footage there, got the belt, new suit and all, a great moment for Joseo. And he returns on Saturday at UFC 179. It should be a great scene.

Bitter rivalry between Chad Mendes. It all comes to a head at UFC 179 on pay-per-view. I will be there. Now, New York, Rick. I'm here. You attended that event, correct? One of my favorites, yeah. How many events have you attended in your history as a MMA fan?

So my first one was 101. That was your first. That was my first. Wow. Because I wasn't like trying to go to them. And then when I found out BJ was on the East Coast, I was like, I have to go to that. So that was BJ Penn and Kenny Florian and Anderson and Forrest in Philly. So that was 101.

The next one after that, I think, was 118, another BJPen. That one not so good. Frankie really put it on them on that one. Then 123, which we're talking about now. Correct. And then 133, I think. So I've pretty much gone to just the Philly. No, you went to UFC on Fox 5?

That's right. I went to the jersey. Three, three. Jersey card. Jim Miller against Nate Diaz. How do I remember your events and you can't even remember it? So yeah, I've kind of only gone to the East Coast Jersey Philly cards except for that one, the one in Detroit, 123. And the only reason I went to that was because I also went to the Michigan, Wisconsin college football game that same day.

So I went to the football game in the morning. We were getting slammered on some beverages. Yes. Had a great time at that. Michigan won. All my friends are Michigan alum. So that was why we went. We made a trip to Michigan.

And then I went to UFC that same night, which was pretty awesome. The original trip was just to go to the football game and it just so happened. No, no, no. The trip was to, they were going to probably go back to Michigan for the football game. So I was like, dude, there's a UFC that night. Let's turn it into the craziest sports day ever. Yeah. And we did.

Wow. And your boy won. And my boy won. His last win in quite some time. No, I think that's it. well yeah but what i mean is before that he was on a bit of a losing streak as well right right right right i remember they did the press conference at the mGM in detroit it's a bit of a weird scene there you know what i also remember great event it was a great event great card i remember a lot of things tell me

first thing i remember was um edson barbosa on the oh yes on the undercard um kicking mike lulo's legs up mike lullo who happens to be maggie hendricks's cousin i i saw that later in her Yahoo article. Yeah. And I remember thinking this guy was like a Josealdo in the making. After seeing him destroy his legs like that, I thought this guy's going to be something. And it turned out he turned into a pretty good fighter. So that was his debut.

Look at you, a real eye for talent. Well, I just, I was impressed by the leg kick. You don't often see a leg kick TKO. Yeah. And he put one on in his UFC debut, which is pretty impressive. No, no, of course. one was very high. And Lula was tough, super tough. He hung in there for all three. I mean, I don't know how. So let's see. What else was on that card? Well, I feel like you should remember these things off top of your head.

Well, I just remember it was a stack card. Like, there were a lot of good fights here. Let's see. I have it in front of me now. Caro Peresian and Dennis Hallman. Yeah, well, you know, our friend Chuck Mittenhall actually shadowed Carl Prisian and he wrote an article for ESPN.com. I mean, it was Prisian's return. and it didn't go very well. Yeah. But very eye-opening stuff about Parisian and what he was battling at the time. That was interesting.

Simpson and Munoz? Yes, that was a great fight. Well, it was kind of sloppy, but it was just entertaining. Yeah, it was an entertaining one. And, you know, they had a previous relationship before that. So then Matt Brown and Brian Foster, that was interesting because I remember thinking, you know, Matt Brown's career was not going as well as he would have liked at that moment.

and now he's completely turned it around since. So that was like a real capsule moment, a real moment in time. Soderopolis, who was, you know, on a huge winning streak versus Joe Lozon. I remember that was a really exciting fight as well. Back and forth, Lozon looked like he had it in round one and then Soteropoulos came back. Phil Davis doing the Mr. Wonderful submission on Tim Boch. Yes. And then the fight with the least activity in MMA history.

Gerald Harris versus Miguel Falcow. Is that how you pronounce? Mikel. Mikel. Falcum. Wow. That was good. How about this?

Remember at the time when Sauteropoulos beat Lozon, that was his 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8th win in a row. And everyone thought, I mean, one more fight, if that, he's the number one contender. Goes to Australia, UFC 127, loses to Dennis Siever, unanimous decision loss, and has not won since then. Yep. Siverr, Dosanjos, Pearson, Noons, Mike Ritchie has not one since then. He looked like a real contender at that point. And it's almost the opposite of Matt Brown. Yes.

It was not looking good then, and now he's looked incredible. Well, I tell you, the one thing I really remember about that card was when we were waiting for Joseado to get the belt. They were running through the walkouts. They rehearsed these. People might not know this, but they actually rehearse the big walkouts. And we were in the arena and it was empty and no one was there yet. And all of a sudden the Pride theme song comes on. and everyone's like, what the heck?

This is amazing. And then you saw Rampage Jackson's name on the screen, the graphics. So clearly they were rehearsing Rampage's walkout, and we figured out that Rampage was coming out to the Pride Song. Now, this is before all those other guys were doing it, like Dung Young Kim and whatnot. Rampage was coming out, throwback, Pride Song against Machita. It was amazing. And we got a taste of that early on.

So that's one of the things I remember about the card as well. I think it was a good crowd, but they haven't been back since for some reason. Yeah, I think it was a good crowd, too. The turnout was okay. Let's see what it says. It was a crowd of $16,000, $2.1 million gate? Yeah.

Man, guess what the buy rate was for that card? According to published reports, they never confirmed this. $400,000? Wow. Wow. Can you imagine a $500,000 buy rate today with that card? No title fight. Yeah, it wouldn't happen.

Amazing. But it was a good card. I really had a great time. And BJ Penn's last win, it really, I felt like it was something big was on the horizon there. And I really. Yeah, fortunate. How about Mike Chiapetta's story about BJ Penn? Did you know that?

Which one? Were you listening earlier when he was on? Who's that? Chiapetta. I'm kidding. What's your problem? Yeah, I was listening. So what do you have to say about it?

Fantastic. You don't know what I'm talking about? No clue. What's wrong? What were you doing? Were you working back there? Maybe. Maybe. But it was like in the middle of the show. What could you have been doing?

Looking for questions? Could be getting questions. Could be calling somebody up. You never know. Got to keep it spicy. He said that BJ Penn was his guy and one of the reasons why. That's what you meant by story. I thought you were talking about something he was writing.

Yeah. He said it bookended his career. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Gosh. Sorry. I heard that. I guess it wasn't exciting enough.

I love that story. That was a great story. It's not much of a story, quote, unquote. But it's interesting. I figured a BJ Penn fan would appreciate that story. I G-chatted you during it. How about that? You don't pay attention.

How am I supposed to know? You wrote Clap Chiapeta. Like, I'm supposed to know that's what it was referring to. Like, I'm looking at your G-chats in the middle of an interview. A riveting interview. What were you doing during the interview? I'm looking at the Skype. I'm not going to look at it.

It's rude to look away. Sometimes I have to glance at the time just to stay on point. But for the most part, I got to look at my guest. In any event, let us move along to questions, comments. Do we have any? We have. You nixed one of them by, well, one of the commenters asked about your appearance at Syracuse. So we had to drop that one.

Well, what did they ask? They just wanted to know the details of it. But you, okay. For now, all I know, it's November 7th, 3.30, and everyone is welcome. And let me know if you're interested. You don't really have to let me know, but they wanted to know. and I'll have an exact location in the coming days. Congratulations, that's pretty awesome.

Thank you. For viewers who might not know, what's this Syracuse? What is that? There's not much to tell you about Syracuse, to be honest, but it's, look, it's school that many consider to be the top for broadcasters, in particular sports broadcasters. It's not a ball. It's not a ball.

Well, their mascot is an orange. I think he said mall. Oh, it's not a mall. Oh, well, okay, well, I'll tell you two things. First of all, they used to be called the Orange Men. Now they're just called the orange, which I think is very strange. Like, they're just the color. And second of all, the mall is Carousel, the Carousel Center.

And that was the main thing that I tried to sell people on. Like, when I was begging my friends come visit me, please, for the Love of Guard, save me from this place. Carousel Center was the place. In fact, I read recently that it's sinking. It's the second largest mall in North America. Number one, anyone know it? Isn't that the one in Minnesota?

Yeah, Mall of America. No. I have my facts wrong. I'm pretty sure number one is in Edmonton. You said it in North America? Yeah. Yeah, North America. Canada. Let's see. Largest mall. Oh, here we go. Top five largest malls in the U.S. Okay, here we go. Is Edmonton? Yes. Okay. Of quick, because it's so cold. They want to have like huge things. People can hide in. Wait a second. They were, they were selling me. Nice sell job. Okay, so Mall of America is number one. Five shopping malls.

Pennsylvania's King of Prussia mall. Yeah. You know this? I've been there, yeah. South Coast Plaza. There's no way that's bigger than, I've been there in Orange County. The Mill Creek Mall in Erie, Pennsylvania. So, what, and Aventura, there's no way.

Moving on from this mall stuff. This is BS. How about, how about walk and talk with, how about Ariel gives the speech to the student? everybody's there, everybody. Oh, amazing. I thought this was a question. And then walk and talk at the mall with Ariel Hawani. What, people just walk and talk with me?

No, you record it. Walk and talk. Yeah, yeah. Mall, Ariel Holwani, this famous Syracuse mall. Yeah. Then you have watched UFC with the fans later. Full day right there. Yeah, I guess.

But do we really need to walk and talk? Why can't we just sit in the classroom or whatever? And Syracuse is playing Duke the next day. and it's like senior weekend or whatever they call it. So I feel like there'll be a lot of emotion involved. So it's a good time if you want to take a trip up to Syracuse and see it. It's a lovely campus. But I don't know.

Walking Talk in the mall with me, I don't even know what that means. I'm just going to have like a horde of people following me and we're going to be answering. Okay, you in the back. What do you have to say? How can you even pull that off? Not everybody. Maybe just one camera and one person and you and a nice little intimate moment. No one cares.

Let's move on to questions. Okay. What is the largest immediate rematch? If Mendez beats Aldo, do you think there is a chance the UFC will give Aldo an immediate rematch? I'm personally not a fan of immediate rematches, but they seem to have become quite common when a long-reigning champion loses.

I don't know. I mean, Connemar Greger might have something to say about that. And because they have a very popular contender just waiting there, it seems like he may be first in line now. I don't know. If there's some kind of controversy and Mendez wins, then maybe I could see it happen. But I wouldn't be surprised if Aldo loses.

Now, if I were him, I'd be pissed because, A, I've been champion for so long. And B, this is his, you know, I don't love when a champion has to fight a challenger a second time after beating him once. You know, I was never in favor of Anderson fighting Dan Henderson again. And, you know, it's funny. This fight, and you look at who Chad Mendez has beaten on the way to getting this fight. I mean, you have so many contenders now, Cub and Connor and there are others. Frankie has a claim. There's a lot of people that have, you know,

formed this queue behind Jose Aldo, but he came in at the right place at the right time. He hasn't fought since December. Now, of course, the fight was supposed to happen in August and Aldo got injured, but still interesting to note. I don't necessarily love that idea, but I will say I'm intrigued by this matchup, very intrigued by this matchup, actually,

because I really think it's a hard one to predict. The first fight was close leading up to the point where Chad tried to take him down. Aldo held onto the cage. Seconds remaining in the first round, knocks him out with the knee, an amazing knockout. But what would have happened if he didn't hold onto the cage? I feel like he probably wouldn't have knocked him out at that point. Maybe later on, but the round probably would have ended. Who knows?

So we're going to see the rematch. There's enough doubt out there. I like it. If Aldo loses, I could see them going to someone else, and then maybe he has to fight once and getting the rematch. but, you know, it's hard to predict these things. He would certainly have a case, but if I had to guess and go on the record here,

if he loses, my guess is they don't give him the immediate rematch. Our next question, what matchups make sense for Phil Davis? Should he get past Glover-Teshara? And what matchups make sense if Glover Tashara wins? It seems like they won't receive a title shot in a while, but someone in the top 10 to 15 could still present challenges. Well, Phil Davis has a better shot. then Glover to Shera, that's for sure, because he hasn't lost to John Jones,

and he did a good job of riling him up before their fight at UFC 172 in April. I don't know, this is a weird one, because they both lost on the same night. They both didn't look great. I mean, they were fighting great fighters, so it's easy to not look good, but it's weird when this happens. Both guys lost on the same night, now they're fighting each other, and there's not a whole lot at stake, at least right away, because, of course, Cormier's next, and then Gustafin's next,

and, you know, maybe Anthony Johnson, if his situation gets sorted out. And then they would be right below those guys. I mean, you look at the light heavyweight division. Right now, Glover is four, Davis is six, five is Johnson, three is Rashad, two and one, Kormier and Gustafson, respectively. It's not a very deep division. So, in my opinion, especially for someone like Phil Davis, if he can do something spectacular in the next two fights and get back on track, he'd be right in there.

So I think that's at stake. I mean, you can't give up. You want to get back on track. You want to win. You want to look good. Davis has some success in Brazil. Glover gets to go back to Brazil and get back on track there. So it's interesting for a co-mate event fight.

How about Phil Davis tweeting out just moments ago that he's flying to Brazil from California in the middle seat? I mean, what a nightmare that is. How does that even happen? Middle seat. Did you see that? I saw it. Wild.

I feel bad for my boy, Phil. Yeah. And Phil, you know, I got to say, I tried to get on the show multiple times. Well, he is flying right now. Well, not this week. I took that into account. Just saying.

Our next question, a quick return to Sweden. How likely... We had a lot of questions about this, by the way. How likely do you think that the rumors about a quick return to Sweden next year is with Rashad Evans versus Alexander Gustafsson as the main event? And how do you see this supposed match playing out?

Well, you know, Rashad would probably be ready around... You know, he tours ACL in February, so it's going to be February, March. I think it's a fight that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I would love to see Gustafsson v. Johnson. Let's forget about all the other stuff. That fight was made. I think that's a true number one contender fight. Of course, if he is guilty of what he's being accused of,

then they got to do what they got to do. This is a pretty good plan B, in my opinion, and an interesting fight, and it would make sense. sense to have Gustafin fight. The same way it makes more sense to have Aldo fight. I know pissed off Chatt Mendez, but Aldo fighting in Brazil is a better draw than fighting in Los Angeles or anywhere else. Gustafin should be fighting in Sweden, especially if he's not fighting for the belt. And, you know, it's an equal match where the champion doesn't have to travel to a foreign country and fight on enemy territory. So I like it. As far as how it plays out, I mean, it's a tough one, right? Because

Gusen would be fighting Evans, who's probably the best. best wrestler that he's fought since Phil Davis, right? I'd say John Jones is probably the best wrestler. Yeah, but as far as credentials, I mean, M.A. Yeah, but that's not in play. Otherwise, you know, Chale Sondon wouldn't have gotten thrown on his back by John Jones. MMA wrestling is, credentials matter when, you know, because it's formed habits. It shows, you know, who's been through that wrestling grind and who kind of knows. who has the skill set that they can adapt, but the best MMA wrestlers

are not necessarily the most decorated collegiate wrestlers. And I think that John Jones is the best wrestler in that division. Sure. So Gustafson not only holding his own, but taking Jones down, is a very good sign if he was in a matchup with Rashad Evans. Now, the difference I think between Rashad Evans and John Jones is John Jones would prefer to keep it standing anyway

and would like to keep boxing, whereas Rashad's game is, even though his boxing has looked very good and come a long way since the very beginning, he always likes to mix it up. He's one of those, he's one of the guys who mixes it up the best, I'd say, in terms of transitioning from pure striking into a takedown. I used to call Demetrius, you know, Splenda or like Sugar Light because he reminded me of the way Rashad is able to seamlessly transition from the striking game. Really? You've called him that? Yeah. I've never heard you call him that. Twitter, maybe.

By the way, Splenda is a fantastic nickname. It's good, but I think that. I've never heard you say that. He's been on the show like eight times. You've never even said that once. Well, how many times do I get to talk about Rashad? He hasn't fought. No, but Demetrius, Splenda, is great.

But he's outgrown that. He's his own, he's a very different fighter than when I used to call him that because he has all the tools now. Demetrius is the most well-rounded fighter I can think of currently in the UFC. He has all the tools. He's not, I wouldn't compare him to anybody. I'd say that people could be compared to him when they start, you know, making a name for themselves. But anyway, I'm getting off track.

Wait, wait, but do you think he's number one, pound for pound? No, I think John is, but I think he's number two. Okay. Overall, though. Overal, though. Wow. And anyway, I'm getting off track, but Rashad mixes his game very well, and I think that he would look to take Gustafin down in combination with, you know,

using his boxing, and it would be a really good test. I also think Anthony Johnson would be a good test just because of his game-changing power, his defensive wrestling abilities, and I think that that would be a great stand-up fight. So I think either one of those is really a good test for Gustafson to see how he would look again in a rematch with Jones. But really a tough assignment. Either guy. Who wins? Who wins out of which matchup? Rashad and Gustafin.

Yeah. I'm a big, big fan of Rashad. I think Rashad is behind ACL injury. I think Rashad behind Cormier is the number three guy in the division. Jones, Cormier, Rashad, in my opinion of how I think they match up. Interesting. But the injury is a huge factor here. Not that, you know, Gustafsson didn't need some time off himself, but I think that it, I don't know.

I hate predicting things off injury. I don't like to bet them when I bet. I don't like to bet guys coming off an injury. injury like this. But if if all things are equal, Rashad is healthy and, you know, there's no concerns about his health, I think he can beat Gustafsson and would beat Gustafsson. Taking nothing away from Gustafsson. Sure, sure, it's your pick. But if he is injured and, you know, feeling the effects of that injury, I think Gustafsson could put him away. Moving on. Next question. Counterpunch versus, uh, or three greater than

signs, countdown show. I haven't seen this yet, but I believe you probably have. Which do you think is better for promoting fights? The countdown show or the recently returned counterpunch with John Anick, the last episode being John Jones and Rashad Evans. In my opinion, there's nothing better than two opponents being interviewed

together. That's why Face Off was so popular on HBO. Counterpunch with Jones and DC would be awesome. Well, I don't think it has to be one or the other. They just aired one on Ultimate Insider last night. with Michael Bissing and Luke Rockhold. And it was great. My only gripe was that it was too short.

It was like four or five minutes long. It was heavily edited. I understand for the show, it's a 30-minute show. They have to do it that way, but play the whole thing online. Unless something horrible happened, I feel like it would only be good to do that. So I don't feel like it has to be one or the other. The countdown show serves its purpose. It can air as a one-hour block thing, sell the fights, more than one fight,

tell you a bit about the guys, and counterpunch, face off, whatever you want to call it, serves its purpose as well, especially when there's a legitimate rivalry there. I don't think you can pull it off with every fighter or fight. I think you need that dynamic, which clearly Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping, who, by the way, we're sporting fantastic beards, both of them. Well done. I have not seen this episode yet, but I look forward to it. Yeah, yeah, I do recommend, and I think that John Anick did a great job.

So I don't think that it has to be exclusive. It's almost complimentary. And they've done it with Jones and Evans, but they also did the countdown, and it's fine. So, I mean, maybe for a fight pass show where there's no countdown show produced, then you can do something like that. But again, there needs to be a hook there.

Like, you can't really pull it off with Dalloway and Machita. That probably, if you're going to do a countdown, they probably won't do a countdown because it's just a fight pass. No, excuse me, it's a fight night on FS1, but still they probably won't do a countdown. That probably is better. A countdown is probably better for that fight. But Biss being Rockhold, that's why I wanted the fight. There's something special there.

It's amazing that it's, that fight is in 18 days, right? 18 days. That's amazing. So quick. Time is really flying. It's a little bit scary. One I really liked, I remember on, I think it was Ultimate Insider. Correct me if I'm wrong.

wrong was when Uriah Faber and Dominic Cruz sat down and watched the fight together. Yeah, that was fun. That was some good television right there. Also, Bellator is doing one with Tito and Bonner, which is funny because it looks like it's taking place in a 1950s saloon. And also, Tito is sitting on a chair backwards, which just feels very 1996, which is somewhat fitting for that fight. By the way, some breaking news.

Tony Herrera on Twitter tells me that the West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in North America and the 10th largest in the world. Congratulations to Edmonton. So there you have it. No, it says it right here on Wikipedia. Oh, wait a second. The mall was founded by, okay, who immigrated from Iran. It was the world's largest mall until 2004. Wait a second.

Oh, the world's largest. World's largest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there you go. Congratulations. You know what it's valued at? Well, in 2007, what it was valued at?

Take a guess. How's Canadian money working again? Just guess. $3 billion. What? Will? Just guess. That's the fun part of it.

$400 million. Alex? $926 million in Canadian currency. How about that? So what is that equal to an American currency? well back then it was in a different spot the Canadian dollar is actually doing very well these days now what does it exactly mean

I think it's pretty close I think it's Canadian dollars I think it's one to one not it's 0.8 so one Canadian dollar equals 0.89 US dollars so essentially 0.9 almost one to one how about that you guys are almost as cool as us you do realize Cowboys Stadium what's up still not Cowboys Stadium it's not it's not it's not

I don't even know what that means, but it's not. 1.2, Bill. Oh, wow. All right, moving along. Speaking of Bellator, before the mall talk, now with Scott Coker in charge, this question is posed. Would Bellator be interested in Alia Della Z's idea of co-promoting a fight card, WSOF versus Bellator, challenging for the number two spot?

Coker has previously done this with Dream and M-1. Should we see organizations coming together for big fight cards, rivaling, excuse me, rivaling the mighty UFC, or do you think Bellator is heading where Strike Force once was and doesn't need the so-called rub off lesser organizations? It's interesting. You know, they're doing less cards next year, so they don't have as many slots to fill. But I think that would be, I think, I mean, it would be intriguing. I just can't see, I mean, how would they pull it off? Like, what would NBC think if they're giving their, look, if you're going to do a World Trade's Fighting versus Bellator show, you're going to have to put all.

your best fighters. If you want it to be a true indication of who is the better promotion, what's the better promotion? Well, you're going to want to put your best guys. That means you're going to tie up all your top guys, you're going to have nothing else to promote, right? I mean, that's kind of the issue with the November

15th show. They're putting all their top guys, or at least most of them, and that leaves us with shows like the one we had this past Friday. So in theory, I think it's a good idea. But if you're trying to put on a show once a month, they're doing 16, so it's going to be more than once a month, and World Series of Fighting has their own commitments.

I mean, that alone makes it almost impossible to pull off. Now, maybe they do one or two, and that's kind of cool. But still, how are they going to, you know, there's all these problems with the gate. How are they going to split that? And if it's on pay-per-view, how do they split that? I doubt it would be on pay-per-view. But then, what, you know, what channel does it air on? How do they decide that?

There's all these problems. So I, what is going? Before we move on to the Twitter question. I thought it was worth showing and noting that More than half of the comments section was dedicated to Daniel Cormier gifts And they are incredible What is this? So that was from, I believe, when Cormier was doing the ESPN Hot Mike interview

And he, like, reacted to something John said Oh my God And people have inserted him into Look at the DC getting the chick at the chick at the DC getting the chick. Wait, this is the... With the Rashad face and Rumble. Wait, this, oh my gosh, I didn't notice that. Wait a second, go back to the chicken.

Like, this is an actual thing, or did people make it for our show? I doubt that, but if they did, they're incredible. I doubt, I'm sure that this was made just on forums on the internet. Look at him. Look at him awarding John Jones is the winner. That is amazing. What is this? That's, uh, that's, uh, what's his name's mom?

Mani Pachio's mom. Oh yes. That's great. Holding the Crosse. That is a fun way. We saw this one. John Jones body issue. We saw that one already. Wait, what's that one? That's 50 cent from one of his music videos. It looks like Corvier stealing the belt in the back of the car if you look closely. The Charlie Chaplin one is amazing. Who makes these things? Look at this one. Look at this family guy. Very intricate. Do they talk? No, there's no audio. It's an image. But Cormeier is going to come busting through that damn wall. That is amazing. Have you seen these before?

I looked through every single one of them when I was... Two girls would come. Oh my God. Cormier and Schaller in the middle. Throwing the shoe. This is incredible. John Jones. When did he make that?

Some of these are... Some of these are amazing. That... fight one is amazing. Oh my gosh. Look at this one, throwing the shoe. Oh, my gosh. This is incredible.

Zoolander with Kormier. Oh, look at the wrestling. Chain. Right. You see him flip? Oh, my God. Okay. Cormia's Nospharatu. If you're listening to this, you're

if you're listening to this, you're probably very annoyed, but this is amazing. I highly suggest to go to the comments section of today's show. Post. By the way, is it all Steve Madden? Look, it's all the same guy. Yeah, I guess he found a lot of them. Oh, this one. The Rashad mask. Oh, this is his shoe. Oh, my God. How does Steve Madden have this many gifts? I'm sure these were posted on a forum now. I didn't realize that it was the same person posting all these, so yeah, I'm sure. Oh, we got to show these to DC. This is unbelievable. This is unbelievable. If you are listening to this after the fact. You have to go to the comment section of the MAAfighting.com.

So, yeah, I just wanted, I wanted to show that before we moved on to the Twitter questions. Any other ones? No, those, those are the ones. Holy moly. I mean, that wasn't enough for you? That was incredible. I just wanted to know. I wanted to know. Oh, my God. That was unbelievable. Are you like sweating right now? I'm crying. Muckus coming out. I mean, everything's coming out here. That was amazing. Okay, Twitter questions. Does McGregor versus the loser of of Aldo versus Mendez sound more intriguing

than McGregor versus Bermudas or Lama, the winner of that fight. Yeah, of course. I mean, that's a title fight. At this point, you know, I keep going back and forth. I will be mad.

Well, he's asking versus the loser. Oh, the loser. Oh. Hmm. You know, I don't like that because if it's Mendez and if Mendez wins and Aldo's still the champion,

you're not going to give him another shot against Aldo. So if men, this is really important for Chad Men's. is, and I feel like this isn't being discussed enough. I mean, he's going to enter that awkward spot that Yoraya Faber lives in and Joseph Benavitas, ironically, both

alpha-meld guys. And there are others as well. Junior Dos Santos is in that spot. Two losses to the champion, Vincent Henderson, Anthony Pettis, it's very hard to get that third crack. But he has a trump card that those other guys do not, which is, in the first fight, Josie Aldo cheated, and it directly led to the knockout.

That's why he's getting the second fight. But I feel like you can, if he comes out and has a decent performance, you know, still loses, but has a decent performance. He has that card that he can play where that first one, you know, like none of those other circumstances you mentioned were guys who at any point it felt like there was something questionable about the victories. Close fight, maybe, but not a blatant foul that led directly to a finish. And he can always play that card. that gets him the second fight and he played it. But if he loses straight up in the second fight, yeah, yeah.

If he losing the second fight, then it's going to be impossible. I mean, it's going to be very hard, in my opinion. That division is, there's a long line forming, but I think Chad Mendez is, he doesn't fall far if he loses. He's still probably able to beat all the other guys in that division. In my opinion, I think he's the second best behind Aldo. What about Benavides? Yeah, I could see Benevita's fighting for a title very soon.

Really? Yeah. I think he has one win. Well, that's because of inactivity. If he was racking up wins, I could see him fighting for... Faber. Would you do Faber again? If Brau is still the chance. If you earn it, you earn it.

I think Faber could fight for a title for the next 10 years. He's going to continue to beat guys who are not the champion, and then he will continue to get title shots. And I have no problem with it. If you earn it, you earn it. And I think that Chad Mendez could earn it again. again, if he loses, which is not an assured thing at this point. But you don't like that fight versus the loser. No, I don't like it.

Connor needs to fight the winner, in your opinion. Yeah. By the way, Connor, in case you didn't hear, is going to be in Brazil. That should be very interesting as well. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean he's getting the shot because guys show up, but I think it's very interesting and relevant and smart to have him there or have him talk to some of the media there. It's a big market for the UFC.

he can help generate some interest in the fight. I mean, you see Yaldo and Mendez, they're being asked about him almost as much as each other. So I think it's a good call. Yeah. Come on. There's no coincidence there. Well, you're kind of, you know,

dancing around it a little bit. No. He's there for a reason. Well, look, I was in Dublin when he fought, and Cub Swanson was there. And everyone's like, oh, of course he's going to fight Cub next. Did he? Nope.

It's not the same. It is the same. No, this is a title fight. Connor McGregor will walk into. to that cage. You think so? And say, Jose, your belt is mine. You think if Aldo wins, he walks in?

Guaranteed. Wow. I don't know if that's true. There's a reason he's there. All right. Next question. How much sense would it make for GSP to face the winner of Silva versus Diaz? The timing seems to be never better than now.

Well, if Diaz wins, do you really want to see that fight again? I do not. Yeah. But I would love to see Silva versus GSI. It's the same kind of fight, right? No belts tied. We've always wanted to see these fights. Absolutely.

I never really thought of that, by the way. Silva Diaz happening January 31st. Brilliant. Sign me up. Bring it to Canada. Yep. Well, bring it anywhere. Yeah, well, that's true.

You can bring it to Vegas. You can bring it to... You could bring it to Mars, and people would come for that one. Wow, what a great thing. I wonder what weight it would be at. Have you seen... I just actually retweeted a picture from Farazza Habbi. he said, look who's back.

I thought I retweeted it. Maybe I didn't. What happened to it? I'm pretty sure I retweeted it. I guess I didn't. Slip it? Yeah. So anyway, first day back in training.

George St. Pierre looked awesome. GSP looks kind of big, and I'm not talking about fat. He's jacked. You see this picture? No. I'm going to retweet it now, just for you. Here we go. Retweet.

Click. There we have it. So anyhow, he looks big. I wonder if it would be. maybe 180. You think it would be 180? You think Anderson can make 180? Oh yeah, I think Anderson can make 180.

Wasn't he, wasn't the hangup not Anderson when the discussions were really getting down to the nitty-gritty? Wasn't he, you know, even willing to go down to like low 170s or something like that? Hmm. I don't know about that. I mean, that's all, you know, everybody's talking. But that doesn't, that's not. He's gotten older now. Yeah, I don't know.

But I remember distinctly feeling like at that time, that Anderson's weight was not what was holding that up. And by the way, I'm being told here from someone, I don't know if he wants me to say my name or not, his name or not, so I'll leave that out. But he tells me via G-chat that Aldo can't hear Connor McGregor's name anymore. There was a media day last week with big media outlets, and he said he wouldn't talk about McGregor.

Interesting, right? Oh, he's going to hear about him if he wins. Probably going to hear about him this week as well. He's going to walk right into that cage and he's going to hear a whole lot about it. bottom. So we're all in on Silva GSP. Yeah? All in. I love that.

Let's make it happen. Although, which fight would you prefer? Silva GSP or GSP Rory? Silver GSP. Really? Yeah, I mean, it's just more relevant at this time. Is it? If Rory's champion, you could sell out Rogers. I don't think GSP would do that anyway.

He wouldn't come back and Rory just got the title. I'm assuming it, you know, in this time, in his timeline, he just gets the title, and then all of a sudden GSP comes out of the shadows to either contend or even win the title back. I could not see GSP doing that. Plus, I'd rather see Silver v. GSP. How about Jeremy Bauder tweeting out,

the DCMMA, which is Daniel Cormier's Twitter, gifts in the common section of this post have my stomach hurting from the laughs. I mean, this post, that's what we are, that's what this show is, this post. We're just a regular post. Oh, come on. I mean, where's the respect?

Shout out to Jeremy Botter. Sort of. Our next one. How did you find Shales podcast? Oh, yes. You owe us an explanation. Did you download it to hear the Chris Leibon story? I did.

I listened to it as well. Okay, let me know what you thought. Oh, I thought it was fantastic. And I thought it did turn into a bit of you interviewing him, which is to be expected. I mean, that's what I expected. Did you expect it because it was his first time, talking to MMA media. Well, I know you.

Yeah, but I don't go on people's shows and turn the tables. I agree with that, but it's too tempting for you. Sure. Chao Sondin, on his show, giving you the forum to talk a little bit, I feel like it was too tempting that you could not, not ask him about it, and you asked him about it, and he spoke, I feel candidly about it. How did you feel about it? I was blown away by his candor.

I mean, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was fascinating stuff. You know, it's, it might not be the answer as we want to hear, but it's refreshing to hear someone just tell it like it is. I did download it because I wanted to hear what the big fuss was. It's Chris Lieben's story that he was selling and then kicked me off. I couldn't hear it live. And guess what?

I heard the story already. So I maintain that it was... Now, where did you hear the story? I'm pretty sure he told it to Chris Jericho when he was on his podcast. Maybe, but I also feel like I heard the story and not there. I feel like I read it on ShoreDoh. So you're saying he said it multiple times. That's his big story.

What I think happened. I think one of the people who was there told that story on Sherdog. What do you mean Sherdog? Like a Sherdog Radio? No, Sherdog, the forum. You think I frequent the Sherdog Forum? I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about how I think I came across that story.

That cesspool of humanity? Oh, stop. Okay. I think one of the people who was there retold that interaction. And the whole thing about Chales after party, all the details that he told. I believe I read that on Sherdogs Forum. So it was a nice stroll-down memory lane for me. I guess, but do you agree that it's probably not the best way to end all your shows with a Chris Lieben story?

No, why not? We'll see. How about a story from the road? How about a story from the road? Chale says he doesn't have the stories. What do you want him to do? B-S. He's got great stories.

He's got better stories than Levin. Overall, I thought it was a really solid debut for Chale, first of all. It can only get better from here as he gets more rapid. and gets more experience. And yeah, it was a good podcast. He's going to be very good. He's going to be very good. He's a natural when it comes to the stuff.

He's a very good interviewer. I'm being told he said it on the Joe Rogan podcast, so there you have it. He's definitely said it before. And I'm curious, now that he settles into the role and doesn't have to talk about himself, I'm curious to see how good he becomes as an interviewer. You know, I said I'll leave some of the stuff from my memoirs. There was some stuff that didn't make the show, but we'll save that for it. a different day. How about that? For now, I think he did a great job putting it together. Podcast

One is killing it. Yeah. I'm wondering, does Podcast One pay for their spots on the iTunes charts? Because how do they, like they have like eight out of the top ten sports podcasts. I mean, what's going on here? I mean, they're all very successful and very popular. They got Stone Cold and Jim Ross and Jericho and Chale now and Rich Eisen from the NFL. But it's just, unless the Halwani effect, because 10 hours in, Chale was number of. number one. Can it happen that quickly? And then if you look at the iTunes, I have a big gripe with the iTunes top 100. Have you ever looked at these? Get them. Well, if you look at them, there's like some shows that haven't been updated in literally three years that are still,

that have moved up in the rankings. And then you come back three hours later and they move down like, how does this happen? Who's downloading these shows that would put it in the top 50? Makes no sense. Get at us, iTunes. I feel like you have to pay, honestly. I don't know how legit it is. I'm just throwing it out there. Shots fired at iTunes. I'm just saying. Come at us. Let us know. This is the final question from Twitter. Jeremy Bauder trying to make up for his disrespectful tweet, but I'm not buying it. Two questions left.

Blocking him. Okay, go ahead. Hey, Ariel, yesterday MMA History Today, at MMA History Today, that's a Twitter account, spoke about you and Jari Park. Can you tell us about this? Well, I'll tell you a bit about it. First off, shout out to MMA history today. Those guys do an amazing job, and it's a great. Twitter feed every day, letting you know what happened on this day in MMA history. So I love

that stuff, being the history buff that I am, especially when it comes to sports. Now, you might be surprised when I was telling you about my great memory and all that that I didn't remember that yesterday, October 19th, was the seventh birthday of my beloved jaripark.com. And I remember in the morning, I was looking at my phone, I was like, October 19th, why do I know that day? Why does that day sounds so familiar. I kept thinking about it, thinking about it, and then midday, check my phone, see my Twitter, MMA history today reminds me that on October 19, 2007, I launched jerrypark.com. How about that? I had no idea. I totally forgot, and it's a bit scary. I feel like I'm losing, even before the show started. New Yorkerick reminded me that I did an AMA on Reddit, and I have

no recollection of this ever happening. I mean, you just don't love the fans. That's okay. No, I think I'm getting old or lack of sleep, who knows what's going on. There's too much going on here and I need a bigger head. But anyway, Jerry Park, I launched this website and it's still up, jerrypark.com, J-A-R-R-Y, Park.com. I launched it in my cubicle at Spike TV. I told the story before, but in short, I get to Spike TV in 2007, September of 2007. I want to work there at TV production.

They're the home of the UFC, TNA. Wow, this is so great. one week into the job, I realized that this place isn't for me. It's a very uninspiring place to be. I went to a fight, Dean Thomas versus Kenny Floreen. We did absolutely nothing there, and I just couldn't do that. So I said, I'm going to be an MMA journalist. I'm going to follow my dreams of being an MMA journalist. So I said, okay, I'm going to start this website. And every morning I'm going to post an interview with a fighter. It doesn't have to be MMA, MMA boxing or pro wrestling. At the time, the Fight Network had just launched in Canada. And that to me was, wow, what a great idea. I want to work

there. So I'm going to do this website, right? So, and I love doing interviews and radio interviews, sort of like what we do here. So every morning, I'm going to post an interview. So I was thinking about a name. What kind of name? How do you actually come up with a name for a website? And you go on one of these sites and you throw in a URL and it tells you if it's available. Somehow I stumble upon jaripark.com. Jari Park was the original home of the Montreal Expos who are no longer with us. Well, back then, they were just three years removed from their move from Montreal to Washington. They're now the Washington Nationals. And I was so surprised that jaripark.com was even available. Like, I mean, that would be like central park.com. Obviously, a much bigger scale, but

Jerry Park still exists in Montreal. They play tennis there. They have tennis tournaments there. It's a city park. It still exists. You know, I've always wanted to know, maybe this park jari, which is the French name, does that? No, wow. No one even bought that. That's so bizarre. So, I was like, wow, jerrypark.com still exists. That's unbelievable. I have to buy this. So I thought about how you can tie it to MMA, and I christened it the Coliseum of Combat Sports. And I have a whole explanation on the site why I call it jerrypark.com, what it means to me.

And that's what we did. Every morning, I posted an interview, an audio interview. I used to go on MySpace and send out like 30 messages a day. That was my job. And you wouldn't believe who would write back to me. It was unbelievable. biggest names, Tito and Chuck Liddell, the biggest names were right back. We would do these interviews. I would record them. I'd post them on the site, my WordPress site. And when I launched it on

October 19th, I gave myself eight months to get notice. I said, if I don't get a job by April 1st, 2008, I'm going to shut this thing down and I'll go do something else. I'll go back to TV production. I ended up getting a job on March 28, 2008, three days before my deadline was up. and I ended up working for MMArated.com and you know the rest there. One other interesting thing about jerrypark.com. The first interview I ever posted on jerrypark.com was an interview with Kurt Angle.

At the time, I was very close with Kurt Angle. And he had just been arrested for DUI, his first. And it was very big deal. And he gave me this one-hour interview when he was at his kid's softball game. And Dave Meltzer, very thankful. I'll always be very thankful to him for doing this, wrote a huge like a three-page recap of this interview in the wrestling observer newsletter.

And I was like, wow, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Like that to me, I made it. And just when Jerry Park was one month old on American Thanksgiving of 2007, Moro Rinalo had me on his Fight Network radio show with John Pollock. They invited me. And that's me. I was like, wow, I can't believe it.

It's all downhill from here. So those are some of the memories I have for jerrypark.com, seven years old. Time flies, unbelievable. and I'm really touched that M.A. History Today remembered that. And I asked him how he remembered it, and he said that I mentioned it in the Chale interview that I started on October 19th. So you remembered this a week ago? Yes.

And then forgot. Totally forgot. Crazy, right? How about that? Now, Jerry Park ties into the next question as well. Oh, yes. The next question. Okay, I'm putting this out there.

How did you in New York Rick meet? Now, do you know how it ties in? I mean, I feel like I know how we met, but I don't know how it ties in. So when I was, I've told the story before how I emailed you out of the blue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Marcus Brimidge, Rampage. Yeah, and talked about that and wanted to work with you for you on the MMA hour. I like four better than with, but whatever, tomato.

Work for you on the MMA hour, sir. but I was scouring the internet for your contact info. Oh. I could find nothing except your email address for Jerry Park. And that is what I used to send that fateful email. Wow. So you sent it to Ariel at jerrypark.com. I did.

Which I just threw out here. How about that? Boom. I wonder if it's even available. It is available. And that is what I used. How did you, so you knew about Jerry. because it was still like several years removed.

I knew about it in a very like roundabout way. I'd heard it, but I had like it wasn't something like I visited. It wasn't bookmarked or anything like that. But in scouring and searching, I found it. And I thought that is how I'm going to do it. It's funny because nowadays you just probably send a tweet, Facebook message. Oh, there's, yeah, there's plenty of other ways to get noticed. But that was it, Jerry Park.

But you weren't a visitor of jerrypark. No. When it was actually active. That's before I started consuming in the main media like that. When did you start? No, you know what? That's not before because back in, it depends.

I mean, I was actually on the forums, Sherdog forums. Again, I'm referencing the Sherdog forums. Are they paying you for all these? No. Back in the days of pride. But I wouldn't say I necessarily went to websites because I wasn't interested

did so much in stories and articles and news, I kind of just wanted to find other fans. So I would say I didn't start visiting websites for news regarding MMA until around that time. So yeah, Jerry Park was not something I visited regularly at the time that it was live, at the time that, you know, you had. When did you start you said? So what year? if if if you know i what would you say the the the heyday of pride would be oh six oh yes that was way before no but as i was saying i was on the forums more i wasn't really you wouldn't go to the news you know i wasn't i wasn't i wasn't into that until later when i started okay how about this

picking up news so maybe oh seven oh eight is when i started you know looking for actual mMA news how about this december 14th 2011 Eric Jackman to Ariel at Jerrypark.com. Don't. Don't. 4.54 p.m. Hey, you chose the question. I got to give the actual email here. All right. Mr. Helwani, I found the email.

I had to go back. You know many emails I just had to go back? Mr. Helwani. I have it starred. It means something to me. I'm not sure if this is the right avenue to contact you, but I couldn't find any other email address and I don't have a premium account on LinkedIn.

So I'm giving this a shot. First off, you're like totally wasting my time with this introduction. Just get right to it. Well, I was hoping you would see the Jerry Park email and, you know, it would mean something to you and there would be reverence. Sure. I'm a 24-year-old New Yorker who is currently interning at Gawker Media and that stint is coming to an end. I have nothing lined up for the immediate future, so I'm taking the advice I've seen you give in multiple interviews and going for something I want. How about that?

Wait, real quick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Was he actually 23 at the time? Hmm. When were you born? My birthday is August 1st, 1987.

When was the email from? We're so bad at math. I can't even think. December 14th, 2011. So he was 17. What? You were 17? That means you're only...

Will is messing with you. Were you really 24? So when did you say it was from? 2011, December. Yeah, I was 24. All right. I turned 24 that August. As an avid MMA fan, I followed

the sport daily, including your Twitter, videos, and NBC slash AOL articles. I believe you are the premier journalist in the sport in brackets, as evidenced by the awards. Enough ass kissing, though. Close bracket. And you just happen to run the MMA hour for my hometown. I want to be a part of it. Any part of it. I'm willing to work unpaid, open brackets, which is a stupid thing to say. Why would you ever, ever recommend that. I've already graduated with a degree in marketing from Baruch, so I don't need college credit either. Close bracket to simply be involved. If you need any more information or a reference from my previous employer at Gawker Media, I'd be more than happy to provide that. I appreciate the time and hope to hear from you. So, okay, wait a second. In your signature, it says Twitter.com

hashtag exclamation point weasy but geeky that was my original Twitter what the heck is that I had to change it once I thought you were New York Rick

I told you when I was coming on the show I had to select something more easy something a little easier to remember I really have no recollection of that I always thought you were New York Rick I thought that was so cool

wow this guy's name's actually New York Rick weisy but geeky that was your name what does that even mean It's a lyric from a song by Donald Glover. He calls himself Weezy but geeky. Weezy is Little Wayne. Is that the guy from Clueless? No, that's Donald Faison, I think.

Who the hell is Donald Glover? Donald Glover is a rapper. His rap pseudonym is Childish Gambino, but his acting exploits can be seen on community. I also see your LinkedIn account. you've you've you've you've you've kept it updated but the picture is very old yeah I don't I mean I don't really use it I don't use Facebook I don't use LinkedIn very much okay so this is kind of funny then I'm looking at the email thread here and I sent it to Chad who works at Vox I wrote

looking for someone and then I sent it to Brian who works at MMA fighting I said looking for someone and then I even sent it to my my colleagues at versus slash NBC the time looking for someone So I actually sent this email within minutes, by the way, within minutes to three people. That's the kind of guy you are. Okay, now this is my response. This is a lot of fun. Are you enjoying it? It's making me a little uncomfortable, but I'll ride with it.

Nice to meet you. I just sent your email to my employers. Unfortunately, I don't do the hiring, but you seem like a great get for anyone. I will let you know what I hear back. Good luck and keep in touch. Ariel, P.S., thanks for the kind words. Nice to the point. Hmm.

Then I got a couple of responses. Okay. Well, this is interesting. One just said, I love you. Oh, oh, this is great. This is great response. Okay, this is you. Same night.

Ariel. So all of a sudden you drop the Mr. Halwani routine. I'm geeking out like Marcus Brimidge meeting rampage right now. Before we do that, did you sign off as Ariel? Sure. You did? But still, I didn't give you the okay. It's all you.

Excuse. I didn't give you the whole like, oh, Mr. Halwani, my dad. Everyone who says that really likes being called mystery. You realize that. Anyway, I wasn't expecting any response. No commentary on you. I just know you're a busy man and probably get tons of random emails every day, let alone one this immediate.

How about that? Words can't express how appreciative I am that you even look, oh, took the time out of your day to make a single fan feel like anything is possible. Wow, where is this humility now? Even if nothing comes of bad. this. I understand that it's not entirely your call and ultimately a bureaucratic process. You'll always have a fan right there. Can't thank you enough. Okay. This is a long conversation we're having. Now here's my response. My pleasure, man. I've been there before. We all need to help

along the way to realize our dreams. I'll definitely let you know if you don't hear back for me in a few weeks, definitely write back. And then Chad writes back. Yeah, that would be great. respond and CC me. Hey Eric, meet Chad. Chad runs production for Vox Media. Chad. Eric reached out, blah, blah, blah. Hey, now Chad wrote you. Nice to meet you. What's your schedule?

And then in the midst of all this, verses turned you down, and off we went. Thanks, versus. Well, look where they are now. So what did you do? You had to go in, do a... I interviewed with Chad. How'd that go? Good. I'm here, right?

Yeah, that's true. You actually helped build the... Literally build. With your own hands. I carried a, I'd say, six-foot by four-foot piece of plexiglass that served as the divider between the studio. You know, remember the little hotbox area with me, Isaac, and Jared at the time. Sure.

So I carried that piece of plexiglass onto the subway and brought it home from, I believe it was in Chinatown. Oh, yeah, that's amazing. Okay, before we wrap this up, let me just get your thank you note. out of the way. Oh, God. This is on January 1st. Wow, they interviewed you on January 1st, or maybe you just... They interviewed me in late December, I think. Okay. Ariel, I'd like to start out by expressing the utmost gratitude again for you taking the time to read my initial email. That act alone meant a lot to me and exceeded my expectations. Due to your email on my behalf, I was able to get a meeting with Chad two weeks ago. At that point, he offered me a position in some

capacity. My title and day-to-day responsibilities remain murky slash unclear. Wow, look at you with the passive aggressive shot at chat. Guys helping you out. Helping out with the MMA hour. Needless to say, I cannot be more excited and I intend to work as hard as possible to contribute to an already amazing product. I'm still in disbelief at how accommodating

and generous the people I've contacted have been and how quickly things have happened. Thank you. Eric Jackman. P.S. I hope you had a great Hanukkah New Year. Look at you trying to earn some brownie points. And great work at 141. Oh, the UFC 141.

The head is interviewed. was one of my all-time favorites. Get out of here. No, it really was a good one. If you go back and watch that one. I think it was either his first or second one. I really, I really liked that one a lot. I still to this day, remember it. And the Vokman spot was dot, dot, dot, interesting. Although you used five dots. I think that's when he, like, ranted against.

Yeah, yeah. Hey, last thing you wrote, but, comma, why no Dana interview? Kidding. What was what was up with that? I don't know. I don't remember. I do remember the Heddus and Volkman thing. I don't know. What was the Heddis one about?

It was either the first one where I just liked his demeanor. He had the little backpack on. Ah, yes. Kevin Durant-esque. Yeah, and he just seemed like he was, you know, such a, such a well-spoken kid for such a young competitor in the UFC. And I really just, I really just enjoyed his personality and his demeanor. And I still, you know, I think Hedis is a good,

a good interview. Yeah, he is. Haven't seen him in a while. Yeah. I was just thinking that. I was like, there's not really a recent reference I can make, but I do remember really enjoying that one.

And obviously, we've also referenced the Marcus Brimidge. Sure. Who could forget? At the end, I wrote some stuff. Glad to have you on the team. Welcome to the team. Looking forward to working with you.

And thus it began. Well, that was fun. Sure. Finally, before we get to our quick picks here, the odds and all that, how about some breaking news? Phoenix Native and 2008 Olympic wrestling gold medalist Henry Suhudo is back in action on December 13th. UFC Fight Night, aka UFC on Fox 13 at the U.S. Airway Center in Phoenix, Arizona. This was just announced and reported by the AZ Central Sports.

And who's he fighting? He's fighting. Dustin Camorra. Three-round, bantamweight bout. That is interesting to note and important to note because, as you recall, he failed to make weight in his UFC debut as a flyweight. And Dana said it's bantam-weight or bust. So he's going up to 135 and he'll be making his debut.

Of course, he's from that area. So it makes a lot of sense to have him fight on the card. So good luck to Henry Sohudo. He was on this show talking about his struggles. We wish him the best of luck. Okay. It is UFC 179 this weekend. How about some look at some picks on the odds?

Yeah, you're going to have to do it. Oh, all right. Here we go. I looked it up earlier when we were talking to Chia Pada. Let's rifle through them. Actually, before we do that, two things. Oh, by the way, now I'm getting people who are asking for a job. Give me a job, too, and New York Rick is a bum.

You open that door. You opened to Pandora's box. Do you have audio experience? Yes. What are you trying to say, Will? That's it. You're done with us? Oh, my gosh.

I'll interview them. That'd be fun. Yeah, that would be. I could use an intern. That could be a Skype day. That's one of the time slots on the show. You have to Skype in for your interview. Well, I feel like we need a step before that because we get some freaks, you know?

Yeah, yeah. Let's, you know. How about this breaking news that Will wants out? No. Just like that? What do you got? You jumping ship? I mean, I got fired six months ago.

I just keep showing up. Just for this show. Yeah. Keeping the dream alive. Well, you'll always have a home here. I don't care what happens to you. Two things. Yes.

One, MetaMores 5, tickets on sale. Okay. People go out and get them. It's going to be incredible. Second, this Friday. Do you know what's this Friday? This Friday is, okay, this guy keeps emailing me now. Stop email me for a job. New York Creek is not leaving.

He keeps calling you a bum, by the way. Sure. Not the first time somebody is. Okay, this Friday is October 24th, right? Yes. I don't know. Bellator is back on Friday. Okay.

But also, Glory's back. Oh, yeah. Top 20 knockouts. Look at you with the plugs. 11 p.m. on Spike. Glory, top 20 knockouts. I feel like there's something else. I don't remember.

Okay, that's good to know. Yeah, it's a good show. So it's right after the Belltor card. It's right after. Which is a good card, by the way. Return of Bobby Lashley, Manuel Newton, fighting once again, defending his title. Friday night on Spike is like a, a,

destination now, a fight destination. Sure. And the bellatory debut of Marluse Kunin. That's fun. Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, let's look at the odds. Okay, so as I said, you're going to have to look at these, because I've already looked at these. I looked at, I knew the, the co-meant event, because I was interested in Glover and Phil. I don't know that one. Well, let's start from the bottom. Okay. Tony Martin versus... Now we're here, by the way. Go ahead. Did you get it? Oh, I got it.

Yeah. Starting with Tony Martin and Fabricio Camois. Moranga. I'm going to go with Fabricio. He is. He's a slight favorite. Minus 130, Tony Martin, plus 110. Our next one.

Christos Gagos versus Gilbert Burns. I'm going to go with Durino. That's Burns, right? Oh, come on. Yes, of course. Yes, he's a moderate favorite. a pretty big favorite minus 330 Gagos is plus 270

this is a fun one Andre touchy-feely versus Felipe Arontas man touchy-feely got to get back on track I'll go with the pizza lover himself yes Fili is minus 120 Arontas is plus 100 so it's essentially

a pickum yep as was the first fight so a few close ones so far this is a fun one Wilson Hayes versus Scott Jorgensen yeah yeah yeah Yeah, that's an important one on 125. Hmm, I'm going to go with Georgie. No, Wilson Hayes, minus 155.

It doesn't surprise me because of his style. Hmm. You know, Wilson Hayes, there's no secret of what he's going to do. He's going to come in there and try and wrestle Jorgensen, and Jorgensen's going to have to stop it. Hmm. So stylistically, I think the odds make sense in that regard, right? Yeah, I guess, but still, I mean, he's been around.

Yeah, I guess. And Jorgensen, let's call it how it is. Jorgensen has not been winning lately. he's a veteran, he's got great experience, he has great wins in his career, but at this time, it feels like the momentum's on Wilson Hayes aside. I would love to see a Jorgensen win, but we'll see what happens. Former Elite XE champion. Our next one, Jan Cabral versus Neuki Kotani. Yes, the big WVE fan. I'm going to go with Cabral.

He is a big favorite, minus 600, Kotani plus 450. Mr. 2014 himself, Neil Magny. Oh, yes. Versus. I would have picked them anyway. William McCarillo? Yes, Patolino. He's the one with the dyed hair, correct?

Yes, the Daffy Duck guy. He's an exciting fighter. He is. Well, I would have picked Magnus on that great streak. How many of you want? He's won a ton of a war. And he's fought like four times this year? Yeah.

This is fifth. This is his fifth. Geez, Louise. Yeah, I'll go with Magni. He is a moderate favorite, minus 245. And the comeback on Macario is plus 205. All right. Our next one, Benile Darius versus Carlos Diego Ferreira.

Carlos. He is the favorite minus 200, Benile Darius plus 170. Have you gotten them all right so far, except for Hayes and Jorgensen? Yeah. Okay. How about that? And they were close. So this might be your most impressive performance.

Thank you. I mean, journalist of the year four times. This is right up there with that. I'm about to send another email after the show. Thank you. Thank you. Tank me. I will.

Next one, Darren Elkins versus Lucas Martinez. Hmm. You know, sometimes you want to side with the Brazilian in Brazil, but I'm going to go with Mr. Elkins. That's correct. Minus 175, Martinez plus 155. Again, style. Yeah, yeah. We know what Elkins is trying to do.

Our next one. Fabio Maldonado versus Hans Stringer. I'll go with Fabio. Slight favorite minus 150, Hans Stringer plus 130. Killing it. And Komene event. Lover Tashara versus Phil Davis.

This is a tough one, right? Is it close? As Chuck Ladell falls over, is it close? You won't even say. Phil Davis. Phil Davis is the underdog. Wow. Glover Tashara minus 325.

That's sizable. Phil Davis plus 265. Everyone's off the Phil Davis bandwagon. I feel like people think that his wrestling has been kind of exposed by Rumble Johnson in the sense that... Glover Tashara has no Rumble Johnson as far as wrestling is concerned, right? Glover's take down defense isn't... Phil Davis. It's pretty good.

Yeah. We saw, you know, Rampage tried to wrestle him a little. bit. I mean, it was more of a slug fest, but I don't think Glover is going to be very easy to take down, although I think Phil will be more persistent and a little sharper on the takedowns in this one. I could see value in Phil Davis because of the stylistic matchup, but it's going to be dicey. You know, Phil, when he's standing, he gets a little, he gets a little wobbly on his feet, he gets that ice skate. He seems to be one of those guys who can't really grip the mat and he starts sliding around and that could be a problem against a guy who hits with the kind of strength that Glover

to Chera does. I mean, so you're going against your boy. I think the values on Phil Davis. Wow. After all that. What I'm saying is I think he will be persistent and I think he will be able to eventually secure takedowns that make the difference. But it's a, it's a super dangerous fight for Phil. I mean, he's, you know, he doesn't have easy fights. So that's, that's an interesting style of fight. And I I think it's going to be exciting one way or the other. Well, he's back at the scene of the crime. He defeated Leonardo Machita and Wagner Prado in Brazil. He's two-in-old in Brazil.

And in fact, I'm pretty sure I've become a Rio expert. If you look at his Wikipedia page and maybe Guillermo Cruz, he's still watching, I'm pretty sure the photo of him on his Wikipedia page is on the streets of Rio because I noticed the sidewalk. And he's walking shirtless on the streets of Rio. So what I'm trying to say by that is Rio has been good. to Mr. Wonderful. The adopted son. Yeah.

And we already mentioned the odds on Aldo Mendez. Aldo is the favorite at minus 230 and Mendez plus 190. Scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you for the rematch? I don't think the rematch portion of it plays into it. No, just the fight. The fight as it is, I'm excited because I don't feel... But you didn't answer my question. Scale 1 to 10. Eight?

That's pretty excited. Yeah, I mean, I don't think we see. saw what Chad Mendez is truly capable of in the first fight. I think we got robbed a little bit of seeing, you know, how this is going to play out. And as we know, Aldo is always fantastic early and late he leaves a little bit, you know, to be desired. And we'll see if Chad can capitalize on that or if he, you know, can make it an interesting fight early as well. I don't think we saw how this one will play out in the last fight. So I'm pretty excited to see it. Well, that is all well and good. I'm going over there for two reasons. A, to see my

colleague over at Army fighting Guillermo Cruz in person. Don't get the opportunity to do that very often. And two, to have some assayi. Last time I was there, I had seven servings of assayi in a 72-hour period. This time I'm actually there for a little over 48 hours. How many assayees will I have? Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, to find out. I'm not going to go that crazy this time. because I almost went too crazy and it turned me off from Asseye for quite some time,

but I am excited. Boni Asaii with granola. I mean, I went to one in Brooklyn. ASEI plays. It was nothing compared. I mean, it was almost laughable that they were calling this ASEI on Bedford. I don't want to give them. Actually, I will say I went there and there was a huge fan over this kid who said he was 19

and he's going to be a future Bantamway champion. So I'll give him a shout out. He was working behind the counter. But if you've had ASEI in New York City at least, It's not even asa'i, comparing it to what they have in Brazil. It is unbelievable. I wish I could bring it back for you guys. Amazing stuff.

Maybe I'll bring some bunny icee. Off air, you should tell us where it is so we can go try it here. Fair enough. If you ever bring back the real stuff. Yes. But man, it's something else. It's really something else. The assay in Rio, unbelievable.

Also, what's unbelievable there? They're juices. They have Mandarin juice, and it feels like you're taking a bath in the rainforest. for us. It is so fresh. So the fights are cool, but that's why I'm really going. All right. That does it. Right? We're good.

We're done. I'm looking at this Daniel Cornier vase with the Popeye. So great. Thank you to Steve Madden who did that. It really is. All him. Well done. UFC 179. This Saturday going to Rio, Thursday night. You can hit my

music, but don't worry because the MMA beat is still on. this Thursday. I planned it so that I wouldn't miss the MMA beat because you need your MMA beat. But remember, Monday, no show, back Tuesday, same time, same place, different day. And then the following week, we're back. Monday. I like the Monday show better.

It feels right. Coming off the weekend, big fight, that's our day. Sometime you just can't pull it off. Unfortunate. How about this? I wanted to mention this. It's been a while since I brought this stuff up. We're on SoundCloud now.

Thank you to the people in the back who hooked that up. And we're getting a lot of love on SoundCloud. People are going to SoundCloud. So now you can get us on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Tune in, and other places as well. But SoundCloud seems to be a spot that people go. So thank you to SoundCloud. Good to be there. I want to thank Mike Chiapetta for stopping by.

All the best to him. It was great to catch up. I want to thank Daniel Cormier for stopping by. Congratulations on the co-host gig. What is Gilaire might have to say? Yep, that's Rio. How about that? Phil Davis.

I know my Rio. I want to thank Hoise Gracie. Check him out tomorrow at the Meeting Greed 5 to 7 in San Diego, Dave and Busters. I want to thank Mitch Gagnon. Best of luck to him as he faces Hennon Barow on December 20th. Thank you very much to Jessica Aguilar and her luchador masks. Good luck to her on November 15th. Thank you very much to Dan Miller.

Good luck to him on December 20th. and good luck with the new gym opening on November 1st. Thank you so much to all of you for all your questions, comments, and for your time. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next Tuesday. Same time and place. Enjoy UFC 179. I'll see you there.

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