MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 253

Episode Date: October 28, 2014

Featuring Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez, Diego Sanchez, Wallid Ismail, Ian McCall, and Javier Mendez. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

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

On this Tuesday, October 28, 2014, it is not Monday. I was traveling home from Brazil yesterday. And I was very tired because overnight flight 10 hours. I was actually sitting in coach, of course. I haven't quite made it to where I get business class. But here's the worst part of the whole thing. I was sitting in the exit row and for some reason the exit row

I don't know if anyone has ever experienced this but a lot of air seems to come through that door and I was on the plane for 10 hours and it was freezing cold I actually thought for a second I had hypothermia because I don't use the sheets that they give you, the covers what do you call those things?

You know what I'm talking about right? So the fleece whatever's because I feel like it's just infested with disease I believe that they actually don't don't even wash those things, they just fold them up and put in that plastic bag, so I refused to use them. But I was so cold that I actually used two. It was very painful. I take a very long, hot shower when I got home.

I was freezing. Freezing. I don't understand people who go on planes wearing shorts, sandals, tank tops. What's wrong with you, people? How aren't you not cold? I'm freezing. I wear layers in July. Anyway, so that's why we didn't do the show yesterday.

But we're here on a Tuesday. It's like a Monday. I always get confused when I do it. And we have a great show plan for all of you. I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Hope you enjoyed UFC 179. I was in Rio. I had lots of us. I Yi. My final count was three because I started to feel really fat. But it was so damn good good. And I want to give a shout out to my good friend Guillermo Cruz, who was my tour guide, him and his lovely girlfriend, Carol, took me around on Friday night, showed me the ropes. I actually learned a lot about Rio, which I'll share with you later on in the show. It was a great trip. And, of course, Josealdo retained his title defeated Chad Mendez in an all-time classic. Some people calling it the greatest featherweight title fight of all time. I hate that we always have to call the greatest something something of all time after the fight. It was a great fight. Maybe the fight of the year, up there with Johnny Hendricks versus Robbie Lawler, and we will discuss that and a whole lot more throughout this show. Now, on this show, what's happening? Well, 325 will take your questions and comments. You know the drill. Hit us up. 305 will go inside the vault, and I got a funny story about this week's video.

Really funny story, but I'll get to that 305. 245, we're going to talk to Diego Sanchez. Diego Sanchez was supposed to fight at UFC 180, but unfortunately he had to pull out of the fight. He injured his knee, and this came just like a couple days after Joe Lozahn pulled out of the fight.

UFC 180 officially cursed. 225, we'll talk to Ian McCall. He fights on November 8th against John Lineker in Brazil. 2.5, we're going to talk to Javier Menace. about Kane Velasquez pulling out of UFC 180. As I mentioned, I think it's cursed. And Kane Velasquez was the one guy on the one card this year that could not pull out, had to pull out, had surgery late last week.

We'll talk to Mendez about that and other AKA related matters. 145, the legend, Valid Ishmael? Is there a more entertaining guest than Valid Ishmael? I don't know. Arguably the most. He'll join us at 145, talk about some interesting and interesting. exciting news in his world. And at 125 Eastern Time, we'll talk to Luke Rockhold as he prepares for Michael Bisping November 7 in Sweden, in Sydney. And by the way, they keep promoting it as November

8. It's not November 8. It's November 7. It's November 8 in Australia. But in fact, November 7 here in the United States. Primetime on Fight Pass. So don't miss out. But first, let us go to the Skype Machine and welcome in our first guest of the day. He made his UFC debut at UFC 178 back in September. Looking forward to talking to Eddie Alvres on the MMA hour. Eddie, how are you, my friend? How's it going, Ariel? I'm doing great, and I appreciate you stopping by.

I know you have some family stuff to take care of, so I appreciate the time very much. I haven't heard or seen much from you since the fight. In fact, is this your first interviews since UFC 178? Might be, man. I didn't, I don't know. Kind of been recluse lately. I've just been keeping away from Twitter.

I apologize to my fans. I apologize to everyone. I haven't really talked much or did anything, but I need a time from, I need a little bit of time after the fight. That's all. And I certainly respect that. How did you deal with it?

Because this was a big deal, many years in the making, big stage for you. I know you had been waiting for this moment. For so many years, it didn't go your way. Afterwards, how did you deal with it? it. I was bad. I've been fighting for a long time and I thought I thought that I knew how to deal

with losing a lot better than how I dealt with it. But it's always good for me, it's always good to lose every once in a while. I always say that I don't really care about winning as long as I don't lose. And it's good to get that feeling again to get that fire, to get a little excited again to get back in there and compete. It pissed me off. Piss me off a lot. So I'm going to have a lot going into this next fight, a lot of motivation, a lot of fire for this next training camp.

So when you say it was bad, what do you mean? Like, how did you react? I don't know. I put a lot into this. I put a lot of sacrifice into it. I move my family from Philadelphia to Florida. I put a lot of people through a lot of sacrifices. And for me to go out there and to be anything but perfect, I get angry if I'm not.

And I made a couple mistakes during the fight, and I wasn't able to compete the way I wanted to compete. And I, you know, and I came up short. And that definitely wasn't the night and it wasn't the stage to do it on. So I was angry. I'm still angry. And I'll get it figured out. There's a couple small adjustments that need to be made. made and I'll make them adjustments and I and I'll win my next one for sure.

Have you pinpointed these mistakes and if so can you share with us what they are? They may have been, I don't know, maybe I'll just, I keep them myself. I think I fought the first round well. He comes out pretty certain. Let me just say Seroni did a good job of figuring some things out and sticking to his game plan and he did better job than I did of executing that night. And that's what I'm most made about, because usually I'm the one who's able to execute. I'm the one who's able to go out there and enforce my plan.

And he did a better job than I did. And my hat's all filmed. He did a good job, real good job. In hindsight, do you feel like you put too much pressure on yourself because this was your UFC debut? No, no. Maybe not enough. Wow. What do you mean?

I don't know. I definitely, pressure is not something I deal with anymore in my career. It's not an issue for me. If anything, I need to get myself a little more excited, get myself, you know, get myself pumped up and slap myself a little bit and get myself into the fight. Sometimes I need to take a punch or two just to get myself excited and let myself know that I'm in the fight.

Definitely, it wasn't anything that the fans are going to say on Twitter, like, oh, maybe I've got past them or maybe I had the jitters. It really wasn't. It was a matter of, I went out there and I didn't execute, and he did, and he did a good job doing it. And some nights are yours and some nights aren't. It's that simple. I don't think we need to make it any more complicated than that.

And fair enough, you know, I remember talking to you at the Media Day. You were very excited to be there. You said you were almost like a fan. you were taking this all in, and you seemed to be in great spirits, but what was it like when you were under the lights? It was pay-per-view, Bruce Buffer saying your name, co-main event, Vegas, all that stuff.

Did any of that get to? I mean, did you ever have a moment like, wow, I can't believe it. I'm finally here. This is about to happen, and did it affect you negatively or positively? No. I definitely enjoyed the show. I enjoyed being there. I try to put myself in that present moment and enjoy the energy, the crowd.

I think I just never really, if I could explain it, I never really got comfortable. I've been in fights where I've gotten comfortable and I've gotten in this creative flow where I can do things and I can just be present and enjoy the fight that I'm in. I never really got comfortable in that fight where I felt that way. I just felt like, you know, I don't know, felt a little chaotic. And I didn't like the way it felt. and maybe I do. Maybe I just needed to get that fight out of the way.

I needed to lose, and I needed to get myself comfortable being in that octagon. Was Donald tougher than you thought he would be, or the same? No, I don't think he didn't really do anything different than what we've seen in the tapes. I think I took some really, like, damaging leg kicks in the fight. that just sort of, they sort of disabled me. I think a lot of people see me fighting. I was fighting a fight. I was really damaged in trying to hide it,

trying to hide it from number one, trying to hide it from Donald, and number two, trying to hide it from the fans and everybody. But I was damaged. I was damaged pretty badly, and I was just trying to tell myself that, you know, just one shot, when one good shot and this guy will go out.

You know, I was just trying to keep myself in there and trying to keep reminding myself of that. But I was damaged pretty good. Yeah, did you suffer any serious injuries as a result of those kicks? Nothing serious where I had a broken bone or anything like that. Just sort of immobilized me. and my biggest, you know, I'm a threat when I'm able to move. My movement is a big part of my game and he did a good job, you know, shutting down a movement.

And when I wasn't able to move and I started sort of instead of setting my punches up where normally I'll be a little more intelligent about it, I watched the tape. I was just sort of a little wide with my punches, throwing the same thing, not being, not trying to create any kind of. fusion or setups. I made some mistakes. And, you know, I can definitely say I can do better. I can do a lot better. How many times you watch it? A lot less than what I thought I would.

I thought I would just, like, watch it until I was completely sick of it. But I watch the tape, and it makes me very angry when I watch it. So I can't really watch it in its entirety. I kind of start watching it, and then I shut it off. And I get a little pissed off. So I don't watch it as much as I actually thought I would watch it. Yeah, I don't blame you. I'm actually surprised to hear that you actually watched it once.

I wouldn't be surprised if you said you didn't watch it yet, at least. You know, the fight was announced essentially a month before the event, and I know there were rumblings about it beforehand, but did you feel like you had enough time to prepare for the fight? I think considering that as many fights as he's fought, and he's fought five times this year or something like that. I don't know if it was, I don't know. I think I can beat any guy given, you know, six to eight weeks.

I think that maybe if I just was able to fight a little bit more before just to catch up with him. Yeah. Because he was so active and he'd been to gym so long and had so many fights and I only had one. I think if I was just able to catch up a little bit and get. a fight or two, I think I could go out there and do better than what I did. But I'll make sure going into, you know, before I fight my next fight, that I get them fights out of the way in the gym, that I make sure I put myself in the cage and make sure

I really fight my training partners and try to get, try to play catch up with some of these guys who've been so active if you understand what I'm saying. Yeah, definitely. So you don't feel like you did that? enough leading up to this fight? Maybe I think maybe if I could if I could say maybe something I could do better yet that was something that I I could have did better. I think before the Chandler fight I knew I was off for a year so what I did was I put myself in the cage and I made sure that I got real fights in you know five five minute rounds of real fights with my training partners

and maybe I was a little bit hesitant of doing real fights in the gym because of the concussion that I suffered. So, you know, whatever, I can go back and hindsight's 2020. I could say, oh, I should have did this, should it did that. The fact is, is that Donald executed, I did it, and I rarely make mistakes twice, so I make sure it doesn't happen again. that's all. And by the way, just to be clear, the concussion stuff, is it over with or do you still feel any symptoms?

No, I don't feel any symptoms. Okay. And I don't. I don't. And I think that I can put that past me. I don't have to worry about going back there. I think I was sort of worried about that. I didn't want to drop out of another fight because I suffered something in training.

I'd rather suffer it during the fight, you know. Are you back to training? Yeah. Yeah. You know, I heard... We had sparring today, so... Oh, and you sparred? Yeah.

Did you win? Yeah. Could you beat? Come on, Ariel. We don't discuss what goes on in the gym, okay? That's true. That's true. My bad. I crossed the line. I'm sorry about that. I heard there was some talk and correct me if I'm wrong. You don't have your next fight book yet, or do you?

No, no, no fight. No, no fight. Nothing definitive yet. I'm waiting to hear from Glenn Robinson about what's going down. Do you want someone in particular? No one in particular. More than anything, just as soon as possible. I just feel like I need to fight more. So my mind didn't change at all.

I still want the best guys in this division. my mind hasn't changed one bit, so whoever the best guys in this division are, I want them in front of me. That's really just how I feel. I heard there was some preliminary talks of Benson Henderson, which would make a lot of sense to me, former champions coming off a loss. Have you heard anything about this? Nothing of Ben Henderson, but I like that name. I like a name like a name like that. Totally makes sense, right?

Yeah, yeah, I like I like this matcho I like a Ben Henderson matchup I feel like I can do well against a guy like that And you know the UFC they're all over the place But the next time they're here on the East Coast Is January in Boston Would you prefer to fight on the East Coast closer to Philly

Or do you not care? I would I mean, I would love to do it in Philly itself Yeah, that would be great Anywhere near the East Coast is fine I believe I fought Josh Neer. Last time I fought in East Coast, I think I fought Josh Neer or something like that.

It's been a while. Yeah, yeah, man. I would love to bring it back to the East Coast, let my fans come and see me live. Speaking of Philly, they showed you on the Embedded video series right before the fight. You went to Philly for a media day,

and it was amazing you were doing all these radio interviews and whatnot. Did you feel like you were for the first time in your career getting more love than all those other fights combined as far as media love is concerned like all of a sudden you make it to the ufc and like wow people are starting to notice you did it feel that way yeah i got me pissed off got me really me my brother you know and my my friend matt we had i have a small crew of people who help me get to this point uh to be able to get to the UFC and we started on local shows and bringing all my friends and fans to Philly and we just

try to market ourselves. So my brother and my friends, they would call these radio stations and talk to them and say, hey, you know, this guy's fighting and a bunch of people are going. It's a big deal. And none of these media outlets would even talk to us. They were like, yeah, whatever, man. and, you know, I fight my first fight in UFC, and every media outlet literally was willing to sit down with us and give us their time. I was happy about it, but I made sure each one of them, I told each one of them that me and people of mine

been trying to contact them for seven years that, you know, they're like, oh, we're sorry, I'm like, no, you're not. So you called them out on the spot on the air? Yeah, yeah, yeah. couple of. Good for you. Yeah. You remember the ones in particular, right?

You don't forget that stuff. Yeah. I think... Johnny come lately's. Johnny come lately's. No, they're just, you know, I guess it makes sense for them. I can't blame them,

but I would have liked to see them back the little guy, you know, when I first in the beginning. Especially a local guy, too. Yeah, yeah. You got to make some noise. It got to make sense for him. Did a part of you think, Man, you know, I've been missing out a little bit.

I mean, I've had such a great career and, you know, the hardcore fans, the MMA community knows me, but what have I been missing out on by not getting here sooner? No, I have zero regrets of the timing of, you know, when I came to the UFC and whatever. I truly believe my last outing, I, you know, I can't argue with anyone. It was a bad night of fighting for me. But I really believe I'm at my best now. I'm in the best place that I've been. And these next couple years, they'll be my best years.

And I'll become the champion. I really feel like that in my heart. And, you know, it's just a matter of going out there and execute and showing it. So, of course, you have to get back in there, but you're confident that this will become a positive, that this will ignite you, this will give you, you know, the motivation that you need to go on a run right now. You're past looking at this as a negative, right? Yeah, yeah, I'm okay with losing, man I lose like every three years or so

I look at my record for Sherdog I think like every three years I take a loss And then I go on a tear for like the next three years So I understand You know, you can't win all the time And sometimes it's important to get to see the other side So you can You know you don't take winning for granted

It's also very interesting because some people may have watching you for the first time and now they're like oh Eddie like you're ranked 14 I don't know I didn't look recently but going into that fight which was absolutely ridiculous so they may not they may be kind of looking past you and now you can really surprise some people as opposed to making the debut and all the splash I feel like you can sneak up on people now yeah I perform better that way like it's better when no one expects anything from you you can go out there and sort of relax a little bit you know relax and enjoy yourself then be so tense and and and try to fulfill everybody's expectations.

So I think it's just a matter of being comfortable. I need to take the next couple months and make sure that the next time I step back in the octagon, that I'm super comfortable, that I'm okay, that I'm ready to settle in and enjoy the fight. Ideally, do you have a specific date when you want to return? You know, anytime within the next three, four months, I'm okay. I've already started training, so if they can give me a date within the next three, four months, I'm okay with that.

And what about that shirt, Underground King, that you were wearing? I mean, what a shirt that is. I love that you call yourself that. And am I, is it okay for me to take a little bit of credit for that? I mean, I feel like you said it to me in an interview first. Is that fair or is that unfair on my part? Yeah, what? Because I, wait, so if I say something to you. Yes. And it's on your interview. Yes. then you in return can take full credit. Not full, a little bit, I said.

Not full, I'm going to take full. Can I take a little bit of credit? Why a little? Why even a little bit? Not even a little. Okay, fair enough. That's why I'm asking. All right, you can take all the credit.

I just wanted to know if in my interview with you when you got signed, was that the first time you said it publicly? Yeah, it might have been. So, yeah. Look, we can create a legacy together. There we go. Whenever I say something, I guess, you earn the ancillary rights to me.

To me, why I'm on your show. It's a great shirt. Where can people buy it? Yeah, where? I believe on Jaco, jaco clothing. Jocco clothing.com. I love it, sir. It's a great shirt.

It's beautiful. Where is it? You should have it hung up. You know, we brought it. And I sent you a check to wear it? Well, you didn't send me a check. But your good friend, Josh, over there, did hook me up with one of them. I believe.

that you cast the check and you don't have the shirt. That's not true. So we have to talk about this. Now you're questioning my ethics. Okay, before I let you go, let me ask you two predictions, all right? Gilbert, Anthony, who you got? I'm going to take Gilbert. Oh, wow.

In an upset, why? Why? I don't know what. I got to do MMA math, I guess. No, not MMA math. Just you feel like he has something. He brings something to the table. That would be a problem for Anthony.

You don't have to answer why if you don't want to. Gilbert's really tough to finish. So, although Anthony does a good job finishing, it's hard for me to not look, not remember the Clay Guita fight. You know, I think I, and Gilbert's intelligent. He's not a stupid guy. He definitely, he picks a game plan and he's really good at sticking in that game plan. So I think he's looking at the Clay Guida fight as well,

and he's seeing that if he can follow a certain trend, a certain game plan that he can make the fight easier for himself, who knows? You know, that's a bunch of MMA math. But I think Gilbert does a good job executing, sticking a game plan executing, and I think that he has the tools to do what Clygwita did, but better. So maybe a kind of fight like that, but we'll see.

And finally, just for old times sake, because it's probably my favorite moment of the year. I mean, top five for sure. You and Will Brooks, that was fantastic stuff. Brooks or Chandler, who do you got? I'm going to have to, I'm going to pick Chandler this time. Will you watch it? Yeah, yeah, I'll watch it.

Am I allowed to say I'll watch it? Well, we didn't actually say what it is. You can just say you'll watch it, you know. No one knows what we're talking about. I'll, yeah, for sure. I'll watch it. Look, I'm a fan first. That's your title.

They're fighting for your belt. that's not my belt we're done with that I gave that up do you still have it I think it's in Philadelphia I think it's at my house in Philadelphia there you go they're going to have to go there and take it from you it's yours

I ain't have it all right Eddie I wish you the best thank you very much for coming on really appreciate it looking forward to your return and all the best your family as well thank you I want to apologize to the fans that was not my best outing.

And tune in the next couple months or so. We're waiting to hear on my fight. And please tune in. I will redeem myself. And I can't wait. Same here. Can't wait as well. There he is.

Eddie Alvarez. Thank you very much for the time, Eddie. We appreciate it. As always, good to hear from him. Good to talk to him. One of the very best still, in my opinion, in the lightweight division. It didn't go his way, but it's always interesting when a guy like that with that much buzz, hype, and that kind of record comes into the UFC, doesn't perform you typically, especially someone like him in his prime,

you typically expect him to come back, very strong, very motivated, and, you know, goes on a run. In fact, our next guest knows a thing or two about that. Great segue. Let's go to the phone lines and welcome in the man who will be facing Michael Bisping on November 7th here in the United States. It's not November 8, November 7, November 8 in Australia, but it's November 7. here in the United States and North America, the one and only Luke Rockhold. Luke, how are you? I'm doing all right here.

I was grooming my beer. I thought we were going to do a Skype interview, but, you know. What happened? Thankfully, I guess I'm all right here on the phone. Why no Skype? I don't know. Why not Skype? That's a good question I could ask you.

New York, Rick, why not Skype for Luke? I've always been prepared for Skype. I've always typed you. I was always prepared, and, you know, just underestimating me this time, I guess. Well, let's be honest. I mean, sometime your connection's not the best. So I feel like maybe this was, you know, the safest route to go. Wow. Well, I did see... No, I'm just saying. I did see, by the way, that beard on Ultimate Insider. And I presume that was a couple of weeks ago. So it's probably... Have you, have you trimmed it since? Thing is looking thick right now. I lost feeling of my face. I don't know where my face went now.

It's, I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. I have not trimmed. Oh. I have cleaned. I've cleaned the edges. I got a straight razor's shade the other day.

Cleaned it up nice and proper. But I don't know. I don't know. I'm sticking with my Giants right now. We're going to win the World Series. And we'll see how far I take this. Your Giants. I mean, are we really going to talk about bandwagon stuff now?

I mean, when did you start following these guys? September? I've been the Giants fan. August. Will Clark. Will Clark was my idol back in the day. I'm a barrier, boy, and my parents brought me to both A's and Giants games. I'm not an A's hater either.

But, you know, I just like Will Clark, Will Clark, and Matt Williams. And, you know, so you tend to go to your idols at the time. And so I tended, you know, I swayed more to the Giants. But I was always a fan of Ricky Henderson when they A's back in the day. How about Barry Bonds? How do you feel about him? Are you a bit ashamed that you rude for him? It's funny how karma comes back to people like that, you know.

What do you mean? It's pretty amazing to see, like, you know, obviously watch Bay do this thing in this time. Can't say I didn't like watching it. But, I mean, for the guy that's been his whole career on the Giants and didn't get one title and then pretty much leaves and they go off and about to win three out of four titles. Oh, wow, that's what you mean. That's interesting. It's pretty amazing.

Yeah, it's interesting to look at it in that perspective. So is this beard, is this a playoff beard? Like if they win tonight, if they beat the Royals, are you done with the beard? That's a good question. I don't know. Don't do that. I definitely ran with the playoffs, with my Giants. I just started going with it.

And for now, I don't know. I don't see a shade in the near future. By the way, can you sympathize? We just had Eddie Alvarez on the show, and I said, oh, this is a good segue, because a lot of buzz came in, debut didn't go his way. It kind of reminds me of you to a degree. Champion in another organization, can you sympathize with what he's going through? He said he took the loss very hard.

Yeah, I mean, it's all about how you take a loss. You got to better yourself from your loss. And, you know, Eddie is a, man, the guy's a stud. He's been champion all over the world and been one of the top fighters forever. So I expect him to come back and do his thing. He's still young enough to bounce back and compete. Who knows? Who knows what's in him, and he's got a good camp, so we'll see. How long did it take for you to get over that UFC debut?

It took a couple hard weekends at the bar. That's it, just two? I don't know. It was just annoying. It was funny. You know, you go out after a fight like that, and, you know, you've taken a hard loss like that, and all these people, like, you don't even know. you're like trying to like sympathize for you and you're like I don't want your sympathy. I know what I signed out for. Oh.

You know, I mean like people like it's funny. People like trying to like, people who barely know like trying to like, instead of giving you a handshake, like you'll try to give you a hug, you like, what the hell are you doing? You're away from me. You know what I mean? Like, I'm fine. I know what I'm doing here.

You know, I mean, and people act like it's over. It's like I know where I'm at. I knew I knew I could bounce back. And, you know, the moment after, you know, driving home on the bus, I was just like, you know, I just couldn't believe I got caught with that kick. And so, and I know I'm better than that. I know all better myself. And, you know, that was a huge learning experience for me.

And I'm happy it happened. It truly made me a lot better fighter mentally. And, you know, and physically I think I'm coming to my prime, and I'm realizing how good I am. And let's talk about this fight. I mean, this is one of the most anticipated fights the rest of the year. This is a few that is years in the making. I mean, this is great stuff.

This is what the fight game is all about. But let's not forget, after your most recent win, let's not forget that there was some heavy talk. I mean, from the man himself, the president himself of the UFC, Dana White told UFC.com that he was leaning towards Leota Machita versus Luke Rockhold. This made no sense. And it feels like there was only one guy out there, really banging the drum, trying to get everyone to smarten up and realize that they had gold in their hands here and they were ignoring it. It feels like there was one guy who was really putting his neck out on the line. I mean, you know. I know.

It'd be nice to get a shout out. You know, a press conference here, a stare-down, something. And it would be nice to get some kind of recognition. I mean, should I expect that in Sydney? What are we thinking? Ariel, you want me to give a shout-out on the mic? It would be nice. Maybe, you know, after the win or something.

I mean, weigh in when they interview you. I mean, let's just not forget. You were supposed to fight Leonel Machina in a fight that no one wanted to see. Yeah, no, I, I, uh, Ariel Juan. You got to give Ariel a lot of credit here. Yeah, he pushed his fight, and so I got it, you know, for the entertainment, you were about to see here, you got a credit area, Hawaii. Wow.

But a bit of that, you know, he pushes the envelope in the fight business, and, you know, between me and Michael and you, I think we made this fight happen. What were you thinking when they were talking Machita? Like, really? I mean, everything is lining up for the Bissping fight. It's the fight you wanted, he wanted, and you're going to give me Machita? This makes no sense, right? But Chita was a little bit out of the blue. I thought it was a no-brainer.

You know, I was out commentating on the on the Brisbane-Kung-Leath fight. I thought they were building that and then, you know, and then they swung me with this Machita thing. So, you know, I was just, I'm just fortunate this happened because this is my opportunity to show his mouth and I don't think it would ever happen again. So this fight needed to happen now.

And I wanted that opportunity. community, and thank God, we got it, Ariel. We did it. We did it. And how about Daniel Kormier, your supposed friend and ally, going on UFC tonight and reporting that you're fighting Leona Machita? I mean, totally throwing a wrench in our plans, really stunting what we were trying to do here. I mean, he kind of messed things up for a bit.

Thankfully, we fixed it or I fixed it, whatever. We, I, same thing. But, I mean, he kind of screwed things up for a bit, right? You know, he's always, he's trying to, like... He's Mr. Media now. He's Mr. Media, he's learning from the best. I think he's been hanging around you all too long. He's trying to get that next breaking story.

Yeah, well. He's on the game, you know. In people's ears, he's talking to front row behind. He's talking to everyone. You know. You can't trust him. Yeah, he screwed it up, but we can't. You can't always believe what D.C. says.

You know, you take everything with a grain of salt. So the fight gets made. You're happy. Bissing's happy. They send you out there to Australia to do a press conference, a media day, and then there's a video of you guys going back and forth where you're arguing about your credentials, his credentials,

and you watch that video. How do you feel like you did? Did you feel like you feel like, did you feel like, all right, it could have done better? I mean, do you sit there and analyze that stuff? Because that's a big part of the game when you're fighting Michael Bisping. I'm a true competitor in every sense of the word. Yes, I've heard this.

If it's a physical battle or verbal battle, and I don't like losing. and, you know, I was, I have some things I had could say, but I shouldn't say, and I was a little tongue-tied, and for better or worse, I, you know, I bit my tongue that time, but, you know, I believe I came back strong in the counterpunch, and there's a lot you didn't even see, so, I mean, you know, I'll come back, don't worry, don't worry about me. I'm always, I'm always better myself from every exchange. What were some of those things that you said that didn't make it or that you held back? Tell us here now. I feel like we need to hear this stuff. No, you know, there's some good moments in our exchange. Bisbing went back to his suit comment.

Okay, so he pulled up on another one of those will after the fight. I'll beat your ass out. I'll buy a new suit. The man, I was mad after the fight. I was like, Busning, I was like, don't worry about it. I was like, I got a knife. I got a nice three-piece waiting for the press conference after I knock you out. You already have it, picked?

I've already had it a while back. I had it tailored about a couple months ago, and I just got it. And then I had it bought a couple months ago. I had it tailored about a month ago, and it's waiting. It's pristine, a very nice three-piece. It's going to be proper at the after-fight press conference. You bought it for that occasion in mind when you were you were picking out your, your wedding tucks.

Yeah, I don't need a suit for the pre-fight press conference. It's all about the after-fight, you know, what's important, you know, looking good after I beat his ass. Now, do you still think that you're going to beat him in the first round? There's a very good possibility that could happen. You know, I train, I train hard. I train hard with a great team, and I know what I'm capable of. And, you know, I envision a lot of finishes a lot of times, and they happen.

and, you know, I talked about the body kick with Costa a lot with my pre-fried interviews and with the team. And then with Boch, I knew there was a possibility. There was always a possibility to get my triangle. That's one of my favorite submissions, and I've been waiting to get that one. So, you know, it was one of my finishes I envision. And so I have a couple. I envision with visiting. And, you know, I think it can definitely come true.

It's going to happen, really. I don't know. I'm not going to force the issue. I'm not going to be, you know, I'm not going to risk anything, you know, but I believe if I wait and find the opportunities, I can finish him early. And, you know, first time would be nice. Does this feel like the most important fight of your career because of the personal issue with him? There's a lot of buildup to it. And, you know, in the UFC and Belford was a pretty big built-up fight, too. This is another big fight to bounce. You know, show myself as one of top contenders as the number one contender. You know, I want to separate myself from a whole division of this fight and show some things that nobody's seen before. I believe I can put on a better performance I did the last two fights,

and that's what I'm looking to do. How are you going to react, though, when you're in the cage with him? He's talking smack, maybe you see that face that you really dislike. I mean, are you going to fight too emotionally? That's what I'm afraid of. Look at me. I look at my demeanor in the interviews and out of the pre-fight. Everyone thinks like you're getting me.

I'm emotional, this and that. Look at me now and look at me versus Belfort. I'm a completely different person. I was actually very heated up in the Belford exchanges. I was emotionally invested, and you can see it in my eyes and my demeanor. In this fight, I'm definitely, I feel relaxed. I feel, you know, I know nothing's getting to me in the big picture. in there and I'm going to fight my fight.

I enjoy fighting. I really do, and I've realized that over the last couple years, and, you know, I just go in there relaxed and I fight my fight. That's what I've done the last couple of fights. You can see a completely different fighter in the cage, and that's what you're going to see in this one. Busving, I believe he hipes himself up. I think he, like, I don't know if he really enjoys fighting.

You see him when he's like he's doing all he's, you know, trying to create this controversy before the fight. When even when he's walking to the cage, I just talking. I've studied my opponents a lot and how they carry themselves. And you can see him. He's psyching himself up just to get in that cage. And he slap himself, you know, yelling and screaming and getting in the cage stomping around. You know, I truly enjoy the fighting, you know.

And it's weird. It's like when people hit me, you know, it just makes me kind of happier, even more. I've never seen enjoy a moment in a fight. He seems like he's kind of tense and a little stressed out in there. You guy will fight to the bitter end and he'll take. you know, punches and do everything to win. You know, I admire that and I respect that, but, you know, I don't know if he really enjoys fighting like I do, and that's what I'm going to go in there and do and just

I'm going to enjoy myself and get to win. Do you believe in the back of his mind that he is truly worried about this fight, that he knows he has gotten himself in a doozy here and that you're better than him? Do you think he believes that and that he's a little worried? I think there's a thought in his head, no doubt. you know, I think he felt that. I think he's just, you know, I think he's determined. He thinks he can outwork me and do some things.

You know, that's what I have to, you know, respect about business. He's going to go in there and he's going to give him his best attempt, even if he thinks he's a little outdone. You know, I think he's going to come with his best. And what I think he knows he's in, you know, he's in an uphill battle. So whatever, it's going to be fun. No matter what, I'm going to go in there, I'm enjoying myself, and I promise you this is going to be enjoyable for every fan,

everybody tuning in, get your fight past, get ready, because this is going to be, let me want a hell of a fight. How about this little stat, courtesy of our friends over at Fight Metrick? I don't know if you knew this. Since the advent of the five-minute round, no fighter in UFC-slash-strike force combined history has more first-round finishes than the one-and-only Luke Rockhold. How many does he have? Nine.

Did you know this? I didn't know that I know I like to finish the first job There you go You should tell him that That's a pretty That's a pretty nice combination between the two I'm the most on

How about that? He's telling you that you can't finish people And then we have the stats The numbers never lie Now I'm told that at 5 o'clock Eastern time Two in the West You're going to have a conference call With Michael Bisping

It's going to be you and him And the media Now you know he's going to try To bring it pretty strong Are we prepared for this Do you have some ammunition? I am prepared. You know, I've learned from my mistakes,

and I'll come on with it every time from now on. Trust me, it's going to be good. Is everyone tuned into this? I don't even know. I really, Chuck told me I was on today. I thought I was on Thursday, but, you know, he was right and I was wrong, and we're on today at like 2 o'clock.

Who's Chuck? Chuck. My boy Chuck. The, Chuck Minnall from my site, M.M.A. fighting? Yeah. Yeah, I talked on the world.

earlier. Oh, that's nice. So you were actually going to miss... We actually talked to about a sports psychologist analyzing our counterpunch segment. Oh, wow. I got some good stuff. I got some good stuff, how he analyzed that and what people think of that. So, you know, by professionally, you know.

So you feel prepared. Maybe they can bring that up in our conference call today. Sure. Hopefully a media member is listening right now. Now, when do you go to Australia? I leave Thursday. Thursday night. I'll be flying out about 5.30.

Now, is that enough time to get acclimated? It's going to be, you know, it's going to be the morning over there on Saturday morning locally. Is that weird for you? Do you feel like you're going to have to change your body clock? Saturday morning to a Saturday fight. I have a full week on the ground in Australia. That'll be plenty of time. I just get there.

You know, you try to adjust on the plane and, you know, get up and push through a hard day in Australia the whole day. And then I like to get a workout right before bed, you know, exhaust myself and try to start the clock, you know, at the right time. And so I do that for the first couple nights. Usually I get adjusted. I'll be just fun. And I feel like the number one contender spot is pretty wide open, especially with Wyatman and Belford getting moved to February. Do you have an idea what you're going to say on the mic afterwards? Are you going to ask for that title fight if you win?

I mean, what's the game plan as far as after Michael Bisping? I got some ideas in my head, but it all depends on how I finish and how I perform. I'm a realistic person, and as long as I go out there and do what I'm capable of, I know what I'm going to say. And, you know, that's what's going to happen. So, I mean, I expect nothing left. Are you over the fact that you didn't get the AKA captaincy that, you know, you went forward and D.C. beat you out. Are you over that? I really

I get care less you know I like to better my team I like to help my team when I can I definitely install some technique

and some wisdom and some of the younger guys but you know if D.C. can you know talk his way into it and he can do his thing I I tend to take

big leafs of absences after the fight so it's probably best I don't assume that role Um, you know, I just, I'm going to, I'm going to just enjoy myself as, uh, that's just a fighter in the gym. And D.C. can, he can keep all these captain titles that he somehow likes, you know, he can, he's good. He's good with his mouth, no doubt. Does it drive you nuts, though? I mean, being around that guy every single day, what's it like?

Yeah, you, you've, uh, starting to experience that, huh? He's quite the, uh, the shit disturber, isn't he? It's a love and hate relationship. You know what I mean? It's definitely, definitely is one of us. And we, you know, I'm pretty much, everyone will take his crap in Jim, and I'm the only one that's going to give him shit back. And, you know, sometimes you can't take it,

and get a little button sometimes and go back and forth, and as you can see in a lot of the videos. So, yeah, I'm sure you hear about it. Not a time in the Fox Studios. Yes, yes, of course. All right, well, we'll let you go. Good luck with this conference. conference call. It's at 5 o'clock Eastern time, and I believe we'll be streaming it on

MMA fighting and also be available all over the place, UFC.com, and one night. The fight is November 7th in Australia, November 7th here in the United States on Fight Pass. By the way, how do we feel about it being on Fight Pass on TV? Are you okay with that? You know, I'm okay with it. I'm going to fight my fight. You know, I'll see. I mean, it's not really, I don't know, it doesn't really matter to me. I wish more fans would tune into it. You know, it's like I'd just have to explain it. more and more. It seems like everyone's hitting me up. No, what's the deal with this? Fight past. No one knows exactly what it is.

I'm going to try to make people aware as possible. I want everyone to see this because it's going to be one of the best fights of the year and people are not going to want to miss it. So I'm just going to, we've got to inform people. Fight past. Get it. Yes. It's actually, it's easy. You can get what, a free month trial, right? I think it's a week. I think it's a week. Free week trial. So if you haven't got it yet, I I mean, you got a free-week trial.

What better fight to start with than me and Bisbing. And watching Bizbing get completely humiliated. I can't wait to just put this guy in his place. The guy is just, you know, he's a piece of work. It's funny. You know, it's a little bit annoying is that he's actually trying to play this like the better. He was about to say something really good. Luke, where'd you go?

See what I mean about the technical issues? Can we call him back? I just wanted to finish that thought very quickly. Apologies for the delay in our next guest, but I just wanted to finish that thought because it seemed like he had something really important to say. And as I predicted at the top of the interview, Luke always seems to have technical problems with phone, Skype. We continue to power through it because he's a great guest, great guy, great fighter. But I really wanted to hear what he had to say. Let me know when he comes back.

That fight in less than two weeks, it's a busy weekend for the UFC. Oh, what happened? He just said I lost you. Call him right back very quickly. We'll get him on for one minute. Hey, Luke. Yeah, we were so good. I told you.

Always. Always something with you. What were you saying? That's very interesting? Just busy trying to play the other side of the role. And, you know, even with the counterpunch thing, them painting them out to be this family man and that. It's fine.

I don't know what he's trying to pull off here. but we all know who Bidding is and don't think I just go off on people for no reason I pick my people very wisely and you know Busbing deserves every bit

I'm going to give to him I think your true colors show after the fight and you'll see you know how I care myself and we all have seen how Busbyn carries himself after a fight it's bitten on people's corners and you know

if he did that to one of my corners there's about two of my guys that both go in there and beat his ass too well I can't wait also Javier and Bob Cook Sure yeah that would be something What would have seen that would be Can't wait for the fight November 7th

Also cannot wait for my shoutout Don't forget if you want to get fight past You'll hear Luke Rockhold give me a shout out He said it on this show he promised And it's going to be great Shout out Good talking Ariel Thank you Luke all the best to you

Safe travels Thank you There he is Luke Rockhold Up next for him Michael Bissping November 7th in Sydney Okay let's move along Welcome in one of our favorite guest, the one and only, the legend himself, joining us from Brazil. Valid Ishmael, Valid, my friend. How are you?

Wonderful, man. Like the flag you have your office in my brother. You see that? Just for you. Just for you. Who is the little... The little man? The little man is the one and only. The man who is carrying the flag for Brazil these days. The UFC featherway champion, Josealdo himself. Oh yeah, he's the best What a fight Unbelievable

Were you there? You know, after this fight Almost I'm not I not sleep It goes like 7 a.m. It was great fight You know, before we get to What we booked you on the show for

I want to ask you about that Because I was in Rio Were you in Rio by the way Were you at the fight? Man, I was in another city Oh, okay Because I do I produce the jungle fight

The next jungle fight and I was in Sao Paulo and I watched through the TV but it was wonderful because you know in Brazil

have 13 point in global TV Wow This is about 20 million people About 20 million people watch you have seen in Brazil Unbelievable And Jose Aldo won the fight

And this was great for the Brazilian for the Brazilian business, for the Brazilian MMA. Well, actually, that's what I want to ask you about, because, you know, on that night, back on Saturday, it wasn't going Brazil's way. I mean, they were losing some fights, and we're not used to seeing the Brazilian fighters

lose in Brazil on UFC cards. And it really felt to me, especially with Gover losing the film, the Komen event, that everything was on Josea Aldo's shoulders. Like, he's the last Brazilian champion. He had to go out there and do something. What has happened to Brazilian MMA? You are the man when it comes to Brazilian MMA.

What has happened? I'm going to tell you, the Brazilian need to be more focused. You know what I mean? Now the fighters in Brazil start to be a big star. This can kill the business here. The fighter, if he wants to win, he needs to be focused. He cannot go out, cannot party. You know what I mean?

This is a hard business. Why this is the best sport in the world? because you need have full condition strategy, you need to be focused, you need to be hungry,

you know what I mean? And the best part Jose Aldo showed that. You know what I mean? I tell, I tweeted after the fight, I say, Jose Aldo save Brazilian MMA.

You know what I mean? He saved, no doubt about it. Because if you lose our last, our last belt, this is going to be really bad for the Brazilian, for the Brazil MMA. But I really think Fabrice Verdon is going to get the title. Man, just something really strange happened for Fabrice Verduu not get our second belt. You know what I mean?

This is going to be our second belt in Mexico. I had no doubt about. You know the best part? Yes. Both come from jungle fight. This is part. That is true. The only lost Jose Aldo had is in jungle fight.

And the beginning of the career of Fabrice Verdun was in jungle fight. And this is great. In fact, the only guy who ever beat Josealdo, Luciano Azevedo was at the fight. He's a Bopé officer. He was there in Rio at the fight. I saw him. I saw your Instagram. Yeah.

It was really nice. You just forgot to tell he beat us the old in jungle fight. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that. I'm joking. But I just want to ask you one thing. You've noticed some of these guys

once they got to the UFC they've developed big heads. They're getting too cocky, parting too much. You've noticed this. And how can we fix this problem? I have no doubt about it. I tell the fire, say, hey, you want to win.

You need to be focused. You know what I mean? The Brazilians need to be focused. Because when the Brazilians and any fight in the world, start to want to be an actor, start to be a lot on TV. You know, the next step is going to lose the focus. You know what I mean?

The focus. Sure. Even I talk to Becky about that. Betty was in the media all the time. I say, Beth, now is the time to you be focused. You know what I mean? Is enough, is enough of the media. The fighters need to train, train all day, but she trained hard.

You know, the best part, Brazilians is still training hard and he's going to come back on there's another belt the second belt of UFC is going to come back on November 15

in Mexico. I have no doubt about with Fabrice and my work in Brazil is always develop new fighters. You know what I mean? Let's go talk a little bit about enter Yes, let's talk about it. Yes, so let me set it up. Let me set it up.

Let me set it up. So we know that you are the brains behind jungle fight. I mean, it's been around for years, and you have developed so many great talents, as you mentioned, some of them. And you've helped bring guys to the UFC, guys and girls to the UFC. You are really one of the pillars of Brazilian MMA. And there is a documentary coming out. It's called Enter the Jungle.

And in fact, it is narrated by the legendary Ice Tea. And I saw the trailer. We're going to play some of it right now. Tell us how long have you been working on this. There's a trailer out at Enter the Jungle. the jungle themovie.com and it looks like a fantastic film. How long have you been working on this?

About two years with the two great director is Alex from England and Tommy from the United States. And the guys do a great job. I'm going to tell you, the guys did all the job, you know what I mean?

All the work. I just play the real valise. You know what I mean? Go for the pavelas, go for the cities, to try to discover new talent for UFC, you know what I mean? You know, jungle fight.

I work 100% with UFC because I was like to tell people. You know, this is the World Cup. And my fires, I have a good relationship. And all the fires I develop, I send it for UFC. Actually, what have the idea? The people have idea. In Brazil, MMA is the second big sport. just lost for soccer.

Right. And for the last trial, yesterday, the trial for UFC, for Toofi Brazil 4, I think. Yeah. For Tofuu Brazil, have 6 plus

100 fighters on the trial. This is unbelievable. You know, Brazil is the land of MMA. Brazil is not the land of soccer. I tell people, The land of soccer is England.

Brazil is the land of MMA. We have the best fighters, you know. Even we not get a lot of belt in UFC right now, but Brazil is really well represented. And I still work to develop new, to discover new fighters. And the people want to see how I do it. What entered the jungle? When's the come out?

It's right now on demand, on demand. Oh, it's out already. Oh, you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's where on the TV you can go for Dish Network. Let me see, the guy's just, the director just sent me the place. You can get the pay-per-view, Tommy. Tommy just sent me the links.

Okay. the general for in the men on concast let me see the people you know what about iTunes can you get it on iTunes not yet not yet I'm also playing on dish TV direct TV and vibe quit something like that do you B I K-U-I-K-U-I-T-Y-Y I'm gonna send a email you can tell the I will tell the people. So it's out already. And how did you get Ice Tea to be involved in this? No, this is the director.

You know, all the credit, all the credit for the picture from the directors. You know what I mean? The director do all the job. This guy's really good. The guys who was nominated for the Emmy. Oh, wow. Back in the, like two years or three years ago. This guys, Alex and Tommy.

Tommy I don't know how to pronounce his name He needs to be your show Tommy Sauer You can go to enter the jungle website Tommy Sowers and Alexander Harvey Yes

You can go also to my Twitter Or to my Instagram It's W-A-L-L-I-D J-F-C It's my Instagram And my Twitter You can see a little bit Like the fresh

the flash about the documentary and it's a great, you need to see you, we're going to send you the link for you, Ariel. Now it's not just the promo because it's a hard job. I go to the favelas, really the heart of the favelas, you know what I mean, to look

the new fighters. And now I do this in San Paulo, in Belain do Paras, in the north of the country. For you have an idea, in the north of Brazil, the MMA is bigger, soccer.

Really? You know what I mean? I was, it's my dream to beat soccer on the TV rating. This year, 2014, one weekend we beat the soccer.

Wow. Jungle fight or UFC? Jungle fight, jungle fight. Jungle fight in Brazil is on sport TV. UFC in Brazil is on global. It's a 20 million people.

Yeah, yeah. Believe it is huge. Jungle fight is on sport TV 1.5 million houses you know what I mean? 1.5 million houses about 3 million people if you talk two people

two persons per house sure sure you know what I mean and we're doing great man I think we work together you know I send my fire for there for UFC we still have a show in the combat

you know what I mean the UFC channel yeah combatche yeah combat yeah the UFC channel in Brazil. The life is great. You know what I mean? We just need to keep it up.

So what's the premise of this documentary? They follow you for two years to see how you develop the organization and find talent. Is that the gist of it? Yes. Yes. When I saw the fight, I tell, you know, this is going to be a great fight. It's funny. Most of

the fighters in this documentary is in UFC right now. Wow. Yes, it's really, really great. You know what I mean? I believe even the Wesley, Wally, one day, I don't know if Wally is,

so many fighters, I believe in me, man. We put more than 100 fighters in UFC, and I'm glad to that, you know what I mean? You're so passionate, Valid, and you really are an ambassador for the sport, but what about the state of Brazilian M. I mean, do you feel like the young kids are as into it these days as they were a few years ago

because I heard even the event on Saturday it wasn't sold out. The idols, they're not there. You know, Anderson was injured, Big Knock. Does it still feel the same, or do you feel like it's going down a little bit? No, no, for sure. Not to imagine that, you know, 20 million people watch. U.S. in Brazil cannot go bigger than that.

That's true, yeah. What is the show in the United States? How many people watch in TV, the biggest one? Well, I mean, the NFL does pretty well around 20 million or so. I talk to TVA. I talk UFC. Oh, UFC, no way. I mean.

Yeah, okay, two, three million, something like that. We have 20 million. Right. You know what I mean? How can go down? People say the MMMA go down in Brazil don't know nothing about. Sorry, because it's huge here. And it's growing every day.

You know, my show in Brazil is like full crowd. I did the last show in San Paulo. in Sao Paulo was full, you know what I mean? The rafety in Mexico going with you really well because, you know, we broadcast jungle fight by the SPN

the Portes and the ESPN3 in the United States. I've seen it. I've seen it here. I've seen it in my home. Of course, I like it very much. Oh, thank you. It's good. Because you see, you know, the fighters fought in jungle fight

is the fight don't choose opponent, you know what I mean? You know how guys know who is going to fight who, the opponent, by the internet. When I launch the card, the guy knows who he's going to fight. Wow.

Nobody choose opponent in jungle fight. You know what I mean? Because these are the guys really strong, mentally, physically. I believe I have the best fight, the best fighters. beside UFC.

Well, your numbers speak for themselves. Can you confirm something for me? I read a stat that, you know, recently Paolo Tiago was unfortunately released from the UFC. Is he your first fighter that you brought to the UFC to get released? Is that true? The first one. Wow. What happened?

What happened with him? You know, Andy, he was really good. This is the crazy part. Pauli Thiago won the best knockout of the night. He gets the best submission of the night and the best fight of the night and the best fight of the night to his career. He got six on the ranking. I really don't know.

You know what I mean? What happened with Paul Biav? Even are going to have a meeting with him. And I told him, hey, if you want to work with me in jungle fight, help to develop new fighters, help me with the fighters I have in UFC,

you're very welcome. You'll tell me what you want to do because he's so loyal and I have a big appreciate what he did for the sport because he's a kind of heroes in Brazil because he's from Boppy, he's a police office, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. And he was a great fight.

I still believe he's a good fighter. But, you know, the sport, keep it up, you know what I mean? You need get the pace. You need the war. But, you know, I believe he last fight was a good fight. You know what I mean? But it is what it is. I told him, I'm going to support him,

wherever he wants to do it. You mentioned... But this is true. My first fighter to be fired, yes. You know, over here, we're big fans of what Betch Kohia has been doing this year. Unbelievable with the Four Horsewoman. It's great stuff. But she's not going to get the next title shot.

So what do you think? What do you think they're going to do with her? I think she's going to fight. I don't know, man. You know, she now will wait for her next fight. she got a little injured on her eye. Okay. She's recovered right now.

Okay. I hope she can fight in February. Okay. You know what I mean? Against two? Whatever, man. Whatever you have to see. You know, all my fires will not choose upon it, you know?

I told back, when I told her that you need to be focused because now something really tough is coming for you. But you know the best part? She's great. She probably died worried. I'm going to beat. Whatever UFC put in front of me, I'm going to beat. I want the tire.

I want to beat. Ronda. Yeah. She's great, man. She's great. She really focused. I believe, hours in my life, I believe the attitude, the focus beat the talent. You know what I mean?

I was, I believe, the will beat the talent. You know what I mean? And I still believe that can beat. Honda, you know what I mean, have no doubt about. But anyway, it's going to be a great fight. Anyway, it's going to be a great show. But all every UFC put her to fight, Bet, you know what I mean?

The guys come out of a jungle fight, not choose opponent. You can ask Joe Silo, you can ask Sean. You know, he sent me, hey, your father is going to fight this day. I don't care who is going to fight. because I tell my fights you need to be ready for fights for the title because you know what happened

in jungle fight I do so many shows per year I want my fighters be ready to fight the best fighters in the world you know what I mean? Yeah and the way he did that is go for UFC Let me ask you about one

other one of your fighters you're no longer with Eric Silva is that true Yeah yeah this is true What happened? We have a great run together. A very good run, yeah. Yes, it was wonderful. He got another way of his life.

I give him the best wishes. You know what I mean? And did the life go on? That's it, no problem. No problem at all. He was a great kid. I tell you the truth, even the time we split, say, Valid. You know, I want a lot of people new in my life.

I say, hey, man, go ahead. you know what I mean move forward you know what I mean you know I tell you the man I support the fighters or whatever the guys want to do you know what I mean sure I'm not happy I'm not happy oh I'm happy no I was peace on the moment

but after I say no it is what it is you know this is good for you I hope he can come back and track the victory because he has a talent you know what I mean he has talent he has talent he focus few people can

beat him. You know what I mean? I believe he can be the champion. I still believe. Yeah, you were the first ones to say that when he came to the UFC, he looked so good. When is the next jungle fight event? The next one is going to be November 29. Okay.

You can watch on ESPN. Okay. Yes, PN. Deportes and the SPN 3. And the show is going to be wonderful. It's going to have Argentina guy against the Brazilian guy. You know, how is my work I keep it up to develop the new fighters, the new stars? How does I tell the people, how I work hard to develop the next UFC champions?

Because, you know, the last four UFC champions pretty much come from the jungle fight was Liotto Matida come from jungle fight. Renambaron, the last fighter, and number one. Barone in Brazil was in jungle fight. That's true. Jose Aldo, the only loss for Jose Alto was in jungle fight. I have another champion. Who is the another champion

come from jungle fight? Hmm. Let me see. But, okay, let's go talk about the next one. Verdun. Oh, Jacare. Verdun, yes. Verdun?

How I forgot Verdun? Yeah. No, Berndon's not going to be the next champion if it's something really strange. Really strange. Really strange. But, you know, What makes the sport the best sport the world?

You never know what's going to happen. This is the sport of a brave, you know what I mean? Like I told you, if you're not focused enough, but you know, the good part. Verdun loves fight, man. This guy is unbelievable. He had fun, you know what I mean? When I wait to him, I said, Bernda not be focused. He looked at me, said, hey, Balit, how good?

They're going to beat the guy tomorrow. I train hard You know what I mean He, in the day of the fight he's happy You know why He's happy Verdu is happy

Why? Because he's trained good You know He focused in the time of training He's the same Jacare Jakares really focused

But does it sometimes bother you Like you build these guys up And then they go off To the UFC Like You know No no No

No not Man come on You know I mean OFC do a great job Give good money money for the guys, you know what I mean? But now I'm going to tell you the two.

Now, Bellato started to do a good job. Oh, really? They're starting to pay up. Yeah, yeah. Because I know Scott Cooker, he's come from the business, you know what I mean? Sure, sure. You didn't like Bjorn Rebney? Uh-huh. Bjorn, what do you think of him? The Bjorn, the guy was before.

Yeah. The guy just raised money, don't know nothing about the MMI. He's a blind guy. It's a blind guy. with deep pocket when he raised money. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. But this guy, the Scott Cooker,

even I not work with Bellato, now I have a lot of respect. Even next year, Belato is going to be in the Fox TV in Brazil. Yeah, Fox Sports World, right? Latino, Latin America. I'm going to tell you, this guy is going to grow a lot in the Latin America. But it's good for the sport, you know what I mean?

It's good. I tell the people, you know, Who stay in the game, who work hard, who know what to do it. Because the people say, oh, but Lee, Belato is going to compete against jungle fight. I tell people, hey, if I'm afraid of anybody, I stay. On this day, I still stay in the Amazon. You know what I mean? Yes.

I come out from the Amazon to fight. I come out from the Amazon to be the best in what I do it. You know what I mean? And from the minor league, no minor league's best is better at the jungle fight. This I bet. I put my fighters, my champions against anyone. Well, Valid, I got to tell you, I wish I can have you on the show every week. You are such a joy to talk to.

It's so good to always see your face at the event, smiling face. You are a legend of Brazilian MMA. And I am so excited to see this documentary when you told me last week that there's a documentary about your work in Brazil called Enter the Jungle. And you can watch it right now. that's even better news. I didn't even know it was out yet. This is fantastic stuff.

I urge everyone to check it out, learn some history, see what Valida is doing over there in Brazil, and you can see it right now on your pay-per-view provider, cable provider, and hopefully soon on iTunes, right? We'll be on iTunes? Yeah, yeah. No, no doubt. We're going to pull all over Netflix.

Oh, yes. We're going to pull all over because I'm going to tell you, one of the line I have in the documentary, just for the people I have a idea, I say, oh, because some five, I say, oh, it's a lot of pressure. I say, the people don't handle the pressure, you stay home and cry,

because the MMA is business for who can handle the pressure, something like that, you know what I mean? My line is not, you know what I mean, I put it out. The people train, the people love MMA, need to be ready for the pressure. Because if you cannot handle the pressure, you cannot do MMA in any state. Because the promoter need to be tough.

The reporter needs to be tough. You know what I mean? Everybody in this business needs to be tough. Because believe me, the fighters think all fighters, tough fighters, think it can conquer the world. And you need to be tough enough to tell the parties, hey, this you can do this, you cannot do it. There is only one, Valid Ishmael, Valid.

Thank you so much for the time. Good luck with the document. and we'll talk to you very soon. All the best with the show on November 29th as well. Thank you, my brother. And see the documentary on demand. On demand. It's a one documentary.

This director, Alex, and Tommy did a great job. And thank you very much, my brother. Bye-bye. I will tweet out the link as well. Thank you so much. All the best. And we'll talk to you very soon, Valid. Thank you.

Appreciate it. There he is. Valid Ishmael. A legend stops by. Great stuff from him. Check out the documentary. It's called. Enter the Jungle. And if you go to Enter the Jungle, the Movie.com, you can see the trailer. Fantastic.

Ice-T. narrating. How about that? All right, let's move along now and welcome in our next guest. He is the head coach over at the American Kickboxing Academy. He's been around the sport for a very long time. In fact, we spoke about him on this very show last week. We'll get to that in a second. But first, let us welcome in Javier Mendez to the show. Haveyer, how are you? Good, Ariel. How are you? Thanks for having me on. It is our pleasure. Thank you for coming on the show. So let's talk about some bad news off the top. very unfortunate. Kane Velasquez had to pull out at UFC 180.

Everyone knows by now. Can you tell us exactly what happened? Why did he have to pull out of the fight? Well, originally, you know, he had a slight pair of the meniscus, which I don't know how in the hell you knew about that because, you know, you're calling snooping around, and I'm like, no, he's fine, he's fine, you know, and he was fine. He was training.

He was doing everything necessary for the fight. Everything was fine. There was not a problem. the fight was going to go on. He had in great sparring sessions. And then he was, you know, working on sprawling drills. And it was a little slippery, and his knee kind of went, when he went to sprawl, his knee went one way. And the body went another way.

And next to know, I hear a yelp. And I'm thinking, oh, crap. So, you know, the combination of the MCL, the MCL alone, that's far alone would have took about it to fight. But the combination of the slight tear in the meniscus and that, that just kind of was a little much. When you heard about the first injury, were you concerned at all? Because everyone remembers Junior Dos Santos Fox. He was not

100%. He fought through it. They needed him on the card. It was a part of you thinking as this coach. I mean, you don't care about all that. It was stuff. You just want your guy to be as healthy as possible. Were you concerned about him going into the fight at that point, even before the second injury? I was not too concerned, and I'll tell you why.

And for the junior fight, he wasn't able to kick whatsoever. brought the whole fight. He wasn't able to wrestle once the injury happened to meniscus. He wasn't able to do anything. All he was able to do was box. So he was able to do back and forth boxing. And in my mind, I'm doing freaking great, you know. Yeah, we can box. No problem boxing, but now we're boxing the guy that's a better boxer. So I'm like, crap, we're in trouble. You know, so I wasn't feeling too comfortable. And then the week of the fight, you know, I told Kane, well, you know, we're going to have to kick. So you might as well try kicking.

So he was kicking with his right leg, and it was awful, not a problem. As soon as I hadn't kicked with his left leg, he says, can we stop? And I said, okay, something's wrong. Kane said stop. Kane's got incredible pain tolerance. So when he said, stop, what's wrong? Because my left leg hurts. And I went, oh, man.

So I was very concerned. So I'm just giving the story to follow up. Sure. So then now going into this fight with Fabicio, the slight tear of the meniscus, there was no stop. He was kicking hard, both legs, wrestling. uh, jiu-jitsu, there's no problem. So, so, so, you know, there's a little bit of a problem, but so minor that it wasn't going to affect the fight whatsoever. And how did he deal with the news? When he finally came to terms with the fact that he had to pull out,

I mean, there was so much riding on this. He was their guy going into Mexico, the ultimate fighter, Latin America, like I said earlier, this felt like the one guy on the one card that they just could not afford to lose. Everything was on his shoulders. How did he deal with it? Uh, you know, it's kind of hard to read them at times. Yeah. And, you know, he threw a few profanity-type scenarios, but not, like, bad, you know, just like that fucking sucks, you know, that type of thing. Yeah. But that's him. I mean, he doesn't really show too much emotion.

And he just, you know, whatever he's got to do to get back in there, that's what he'll do. So it wasn't as bad as an emotional roller coasters as you would think where he's up and down. No, he's just kind of level-headed all the way through regardless of an injury or not. just goes right through it. And he had the surgery, right? It went well? The surgery, okay. The surgery went well, but there was more damage than anticipated, which did make sense to me because he's so freaking tough that, you know, pain is something that if someone says, oh, that hurts, and you're thinking, okay, how bad is it?

But when Kane says, how, you're thinking, okay, it must be a lot worse than he's making it out to be because that guy can take pain like I've never seen anybody. You know, so it turned out that his MCL was worse than that put two anchors on it. Wow. So he'll be out a little longer than anticipated because of the MCL, you know, the damage to the MCL. So initially we were thinking March, you think it's going to be longer than that? I don't know. I don't know.

I mean, we'll see how I talked to the talk. It says, you know, we'll see how the progress goes. But, you know, the dogs doing everything from Grasden to PRP on him to try to get him recovered quicker than possible. But we'll see. You know, only time will tell. But, you know, let's hope, you know, March or April or something of that nature can happen from. But, you know, I don't really know. Is he on crutches now?

Yeah, he's on crutches right now. Two weeks on crutches. Then he'll be on a brace, knee brace for, I think, I believe, six weeks. Wow. And then, yeah, so if you count all that, then you can ready figure the numbers, right? And, you know, no secret that he's battled injuries, he's been out. I mean, last time he fought was in October. As his coach, are you starting to fear that we may not get to see King Velasquez live up to his full potential?

This guy, I mean, he's already a Hall of Famer because he's championing, and he beat some of the very best. But he has been hit with injuries. Do you fear that, you know, this is going to affect him now? Well, no, what I do think is this. I believe he had never got injured. He'd be the greatest heavyweight of all time right now. Okay. Because of what the guy can do.

What I do believe is that it's just going to take longer for people to recognize him as the greatest, you know, because of the injury factor. Even if he doesn't ever get injured going forward, he still has a good, you know, depending on him, he has a good six to seven, eight years, even ten years of fighting if that's what he chooses to do. So he's still going to hit that goal being the greatest of all time. But obviously, you know, we can't label him there. Not yet because he needs more fights, I think. Well, yeah. But he will get there. He will get there.

It's just going to take a little longer. But you know how some guys are susceptible to injury? Are you worried about that now? You know, no. I mean, you know, it's like I was explaining to somebody. It's like you look at two of his fights. Look at the fight with Brock Lesnar. you know, he tore his shoulder on that one fight.

And if you're watching the fight, what can you tell me happened there? Then you look at that last fight with Junior, where he tore the other shoulder there. And you look at that fight. So one was a grueling five-round war, the other one's fast-paced, and yet he got injured on both of them. So is it overtraining? I don't know. Because you've got two scenarios that how do you justify a short fight versus a long fight?

You know, is it him pushing, him passing him, the barriers or is his body weak? I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. All I do know is that I do think about it all the time. And I've been doing a lot from the first times that these were happening to try to minimize the potential injuries because I would look at him. How do you feel today? He goes, I'm a little tired. Okay, well, let's chill out, take the day off. We do a lot of that. So it's not like he trains harder than everybody else. You know, as far as time-wise, he doesn't. He does not. He does not train longer than everybody. He doesn't.

If anything, he does sometimes a shorter, trototap workouts only because his arms will get tired, you know, or something that would happen. Does he push himself? Yes, he pushes himself beyond what other people do, but that's just who he is. How can you tell somebody not to push himself? That's who he is. What do you say to those people that say that at AK, they're training too hard? They're too, you know, susceptible to injury because they're going too hard. and this is a big problem in our sport.

Injuries everywhere, but it appears as though some of the A.K.A. guys are getting more injured than others. Are they going too hard? Is it time to take a look at what you're doing in the gym to rectify this possibly? You know, I think we go harder than some gyms, but not all gyms. I think we're equal right with other ones. And the thing of it is, this is the way it works. You know, the guys have an option, you know, to spar or not spar.

They can spar once a week, where they go hard twice a week, three times a week. It's their choice. It's not everybody spars no matter what. No, you know, we listen to how they feel. If a fighter doesn't feel like it, I won't make them do it because if that mental doubts there, it's no good. You know, and if a fighter feels comfortable sparring once a week, then that's all he'll get, you know. But I won't, you know, I won't never not allow a fighter to go, to feel what it's like to go only go, you know, never go really live because that's never going to be good for him.

I look in case and point, Robbie Lawler. He never used to go live from what I was told. Now he went to American Top Team and then made him go live and look what happened to do mergers and knew Robbie Lawler. So he went up to his full potential. So, you know, I've been around the sport long enough to know that you're going to have to at least try it out at least once a week to go full sparring, full pads a whole bit. Of course you've got to be careful and you have to be, you know, safe with your sparring

partner, but you have to at least go all out once a week at least. But you're getting ready for a fight. Do you have any idea why these injuries are happening so often? I mean, is it just, you know, this is the sport and we're going to have to deal with it, or do you think that it's time for all the teams to look at what they're doing? No, I think it's just a sport. You know, I'm looking at everything and I'm looking at us getting injured in the four disciplines that we practice, right?

Boxing, hardly any injuries. You know, we get rib injury here and there from boxing, maybe a cut, maybe a concussion, you know, so those are the primary injuries that happen for boxing, but hardly any of those have ever taken a fighter out. Kickboxing, you've got more potential damage with the knees and the whole bit, you know, there's more injuries there than Jiu-Jitji, you got elbows. You've got, you know, you've got more injuries potentially happen there. And then you got wrestling, which is the bigger culprit out of all of them.

It's, you know, wrestling is one that hurt us the most, you know. So are we not to wrestle, are we not to kickbox? that we're not, you know, Jiu-Jitsu. I mean, we have to do all the arts. Yeah. Whether we like it or not, we're M.M.A. fighters, so we have to practice of all. And if we don't, then how good are the fighters going to be going up because somebody else that is practicing everything proper? Well, you do have a fight coming up with one of your guys, one of the best guys in your gym, Luke Rockhold, November 7th, and Sydney.

Will you be there with him? Yes, I will be there. We also have Mike Swicks bringing South. Palailele from New Zealand. I mean, no, he's not Australian, I believe. So he'll be on the card, too. So there'll be two AKA guys there, one from Thailand and Luke Rockholds from here. So Palleli is now part of A.K.A. He's with Mike Swick.

Mike Smith will be their corner in him, yes. Wow. So he's really taking over over there. Is he ever going to come back to the States, or is he just going to stay in Thailand? I think Mike's going to stay in Thailand and rule over there. That's what I think he's going to do. He knows how to do it. he's driven, and I think he's going to be a great coach.

I don't think he's done as a fighter yet either, but... Oh, really? When he's completely... He's still signed with the UFC, so he's not done. Right. So if he's still going to get back in there, I think he should. But as a coach, he's going to be great. And what about this Rockhold Bisping fight?

Because we just had Rockhold on, it's a very personal fight. Are you concerned about anything Bisping brings to the table? Um, experience, I guess, you know, knowing how to win. It sounds like you're reaching, though. Nothing comes to your mind. No, nothing comes to mind that I'm like, oh, my God, I'm really worried. No, no, no. I mean, if Luke stays calm and relaxed, I don't see much of a threat.

I don't, I mean, I just want to be a bucket boy that day with no advice given and him doing what he needs to do. I mean, that's the ideal situation. And you know what, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what ends up happening. He seems very confident that he's. win pretty early, first round. Do you foresee that as well? No. I don't want to go there. This thing is a tough customer. I'll just go, for me, what I always like to do is I'm going to go five-round war.

So you expect the worst, basically? Yes, I expect the worst. I expect the five-round war, but I expect Luke to win. I don't expect them to come out the loser in this one by any means. No way. I don't even, it doesn't even enter my mind. What about the new captain over at AK, Daniel Kormier, do you feel like this is the right guy for the job? Oh, absolutely. 100%. You know, the one

thing is he goofs around a lot. When it comes down to team and keep the team together, there is no one better than that guy. That guy is an unbelievable team captain. I'm proud of I had a great one in John Fitch and now I got even I got better up in the sense that

someone that actually relishes and just cherishes that role. Really loves that role. Fitch was, and I have nothing, but great things to say about John Fitch. So I'm ecstatically happy that Daniel Cormay decided to take that position. So, so what happened to Fitch? Is he no longer a part of the team? No, he's still, he's always going to be part of the team. No matter where he goes, I don't care where that guy goes. I don't care what team he goes to. I don't care who he represents. That guy through and through his AK will always be AKA. And I always love that guy.

So where is he now? he's with one kick Nick up in Las Vegas, and I guess him in Phil Barone is another guy to this, always going to be A.K. regardless of where he's at. He's always going to be a great friend, and I always look at those guys as A.K., I don't care. Do you know why he left? Phil, the living situations over here, you know,

that's one of the biggest problems in San Jose. It's so expensive. We don't have a really lucrative situation for anybody to come and live over here and be able to train. That's one of the biggest major obstacles that we have here in San Jose. It's expensive over there. So you're talking about John, though, right? With John, no, John, I'm sorry.

I thought you're talking about Phil. I got it mixed up. No, with John, I think he's pursuing some kind of a project with Phil, and it was better situated than it would be in Las Vegas to get the bed off the ground, and I guess looking good, and, you know, hopefully it works out great for him. You know, during his heyday, you know, there was Fitch and K. And Cossack and Swick and Josh Thompson was there. I mean, it felt like AK was kind of a lightweight,

welterweight type of gym. Now it seems like you're more of a heavyweight, light, heavyweight, middleweight gym. Has the gym evolved as far as, you know, the main stars coming out of the gym these days? Do you feel that way? Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like changing a little bit. Now we're higher up in the upper ranks. But then, you know, we got Habib, you know, in the lightweight division.

I really 100% in my heart believe that guy's going to be the champ. And it's going to probably happen in 2015. I think you're going to see a new champion in the lightweight division and Habib. Wow. You think he's ready. Do you think he should get a title shot upon returning, or would you like to have him fight one fight before that? You know, whatever the UFC decides, you know,

but if he gets a title shot upon returning, I have no problem with that. You know, that kid's unbelievable. He's unbelievable. One of the thing about Daniel, of course, that big fight against John Jones on January 3rd. Any concerns about his knee? He decided not to have the surgery and he had some more time to prepare. But is there any concerns at all from your perspective? No, not at all. He, you know, he's been dealing with that for four or five years, you know, so it doesn't show any, any different in his sparring whatsoever. No, I'm not

concerned about that at all. What about his age? Do you feel like he has to win now? I mean, he's coming, he came into the sport a little older. He's, you know, in his mid-30s, do you feel like this is his time that he has to win now? It's almost do or die for him to be a champion. No, I don't think he has to do it now. I think it's more if he wants to do it now. I think in his mind he's got a set up. He's going to beat up John.

He's going to give John a rematch and beat him up again, and then maybe take one more contender, and then he's going to retire and do the Fox Sports Analyst and do a fantastic job there like he's doing now. Yeah. So has he told you this? This is his game plan? Uh, more or less jokingly around. Yeah.

But I actually, I actually, you know, I actually believe that what he wants, he can, he can achieve because he's always achieved everything he said he was going to do. And I'm not going to tell you he was joking, joking because he wasn't. So I think that, to be honest with you, I think that that's going to be the goal. I think that he's going to be John and the remit to be John again, then Gustafson or whoever, and then maybe one or two, and then, you know, we'll see where he's at from there, you know, but I definitely see him being the champ. I definitely see him defending it, you know, and I don't think he's too old because, you know,

he started at a later age, so he's not beat up. Right. You know, if you want to call wrestling beat up, I don't know how that equates to MMA. So, no, he's still, as far as I'm concerned, he's still a young fighter because he's only been in the sport less than five years. Last thing before I let you go, last week on the show we had Daniel on, and we were talking about him being captain and whatnot,

and I played him a clip of you addressing the team. Remember when that whole thing happened with the video game that day? It was November of 2008, and you addressed the team, and I just happened to be there. I was just kind of new to the business, but you allowed me to be in the gym and talk to some guys. I interviewed you, Kane, Fitch, and you had this big kind of meeting with everyone on the mats,

and you even held our microphone. and you let us film it. It was a great moment. I always appreciated it and very thankful that you allowed us to do that. Do you remember that day? Oh, yeah, vividly, I remember, because it was chaos that day.

It was like, oh, my gosh. You know, I have to be the calm guy, you know. Yeah. I have to look at everything. I can't just jump the gun. I have to look at the whole scenario around me, and I have to be able to make sure that I don't hurt any of my fighter's feelings

and I treat them all equal. And I say the right thing. that benefits them all, not one in particular. You know, it's got to be a team-type speech, you know. So I was very careful and what I had to say. So it was quick, but trust me, my mind was racing up and down, you know, like on what not to say, you know, it's a tough call sometimes when you're in that kind of a chaos, you know. We didn't know what the heck's going on.

We didn't know if my guys had a job with the UFC. We didn't know anything. All I knew is that the best thing for us to do is stick together as a team. and explain to them why we're a team and why it's important. Even though this is a sport, it's not a team sport. It doesn't matter. Wrestling is not necessarily a team sport, but you still have a wrestling team. What a moment it was.

You had a young Kane Velasquez there. He just had, you know, maybe one or two fights in the UFC. That clip has now resurfaced. It's online. Would you like to see it? Do you want me to send it to you? No, it's okay. You don't want to see it?

No, I hate watching myself because I'm always so critical. and I'm one of those knuckleheads that, you know, if I get bad press, I just, man, I just, if it's true, I accept, 100% accept everything that's true about me. If they call me fat or hops got a double chin or, you know, I'm cool, or Hobbs lazy, I'm cool, that's all probably true, you know, but when it comes out to things that aren't facts, they hurt my feeling, man. But this is good stuff. This is you addressing the team like a real coach, Captain.

This is all good, none negative about it. Yeah, but even the good stuff, I just kind of like, okay, I just move on ahead, you know. All right. You know, it's kind of like, I don't know. I do what I do because I love to do what I do, and I don't really pay much attention on the other stuff. But it does bug me when I get bad stuff that's not true. But truth stuff's okay. Someone's the truth that, you know, if I have stuff on something, someone says it, I'm good with it because it's true.

Well, it's a great moment in MMA history. thankful that you allowed us to film it and always thankful for your time. I wish you and Kane obviously the best, hope for a speedy recovery. Good luck with all the big fights coming up, A.K. always very busy. And as always, congrats on all the success, the gym doing very well as

always. Thank you, buddy. Thank you for having me on. It's always a pleasure. All right, there he is. Have your Mendez, head coach over at the American Kickboxing Academy, doing a fine job, unfortunate, very unfortunate that Kane Velasquez will not be able to fight at UFC 180. Hopefully he returns sooner rather than later, as you probably know by now, Mark Hunt versus Fabiisha Verdume will be the interim

heavyweight title fight main eventing that show November 15th in Mexico City. All right, let's move along. November 8, the big night for the UFC, November 7, big night for the UFC that weekend, and not this weekend next weekend. They have two shows, one on a Friday night on Fight Pass and then November 8. It will be headlined by Shogun Huah versus Jimmy Manuel in Brazil, Uberlandia. And in my opinion, arguably the biggest fight as far as the rankings are concerned is a flyaway battle between John Lineker and Ian McCall. And Ian McCall joins us right now on the phone to discuss the big fight and a whole lot more. Ian, how are you? You're wonderful.

How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for joining us. By the way, I just saw a promo for this fight card. They were promoting it in Brazil. I was just there for UFC 179. And I was kind of shocked. You know, I talk about this on the show a lot.

I kind of put it aside and say that it's not that big a deal. But I was still shocked that your fight wasn't being billed as the quote-unquote combing event. Does this surprise you? Oh, no one cares about us. I've come to the conclusion that it's like it's not racism. It's like small personism. Yes. You know, no one really gives a shit about us, and it's true.

I mean, maybe it's Demetrius's fault for not being, you know, the guy marketable, even though he's an amazing athlete. Maybe it's my fault for not beating him up when I should have. Maybe people just really don't care about seeing people, small, you know, half-sized people fight. I don't know what it is, and I, it's frustrating, but at the same time, I'm just, you just get over at whatever. I just going to go in there and do my job. So, but to be fair, you're not feeling the love. Is that accurate?

Not at all. I don't, we don't, I mean, look at the numbers. We don't, we don't get paid the same. We don't get, I mean, and I'm not. hitting the UFC, the UFC treats me amazing. If you want to make more money, you fight more, you win more. But it's just an overall consensus from everybody that we just kind of get swept under the rug,

and no one seems to really care. It's like, you know, the women get a lot more exposure than we do, and let's be honest, like, where the fighter they are. You know, it's one of those weird things where, you know, they put someone like Carrioso in the main event, and everyone's like, well, who cares about this fight? but he's been on the undercard. I mean, they've done very little to tell us that this guy is an important main event fighter.

And now, you know, your fight is on the main card. Let's not kid ourselves, but it's not being pushed. I mean, this is three versus four as far as the rankings are concerned. You know, you look at the guys above you, they're probably not getting a towel shot. Dodson's injured. Benavita's had two shots. I mean, this is the number one contender fight for the flyaway title. How is it not co-main event?

I get it, Shogun, main event. But how is this not co-main event? Have you ever had a chance to talk to Sean Shelby, UFC, and say, look, what do we have do to get a little more attention here? No, no. I don't talk to anybody because I get a big mouth and all in this shit to people. And no one wants to hear what I have to say anyways, but it's true. You know, it's BS because we don't get, no, they don't push us like they should.

And like you said, we are the two top guys going for a number one contender fight. you would think they would promote it more. And obviously Shogun is going to head behind the card. That's fine. Shogun Shogun, everyone endorses him. He's huge. He's an ex-champian. But it's like we're, you know, the stepchild, no one cares about.

So do you think it falls on Demetrius's shoulders? Like if he was Connor McGregor and, you know, a big talk or all that stuff, do you think things would be differently? Does it all start with him? Yes. And I don't mean to pick on him, but it does. You know, the guy has the personality of my coffee mug. Actually, my coffee mug has more personality because it's the Joe Rogan coffee mug.

So never mind. You know, he doesn't do his job as far as marketing. As fighting, we all know, he is awesome. He does great. He improves whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But this is entertainment. This is the entertainment business. And as a whole, the private division, apparently we're not doing enough.

So I'm just going to take it up on myself to do. beat the crap out of everybody, become champion, and then just start talking shit like Conover-Gregor and cause some trouble. You never know, I'm like in a DUI. No, no, don't do that. Who knows? I'm going to do it as right hand to make money and get the little people some publicity. But the blueprint is there, right?

I mean, I would understand if you make some noise, nothing happens as a result. All right, it's not worth it. It seems like all the guys who make noise get a lot of good things. So why wouldn't you do that, right? Exactly. And that's what I'm going to start doing. I'm going to start, which I kind of already do. You do?

You do a great job. I kind of lay a little bit because I have a kid and I have a girlfriend and I don't want to cause too much trouble. But it's like, I don't know, it sucks. It's kind of depressing at one point because we're never going to get the love that everybody else gets. And that translates for money, that translates to fame, that translates to everything that you strive for when you're an athlete, you know. So I was talking to someone close to you, and they were saying that, and correct me if I'm wrong here, the mindset going into this fight is, all right, are we going to make a run? Are we going to make another run at this title?

Are we just going to, you know, win a couple here, lose one, win a couple? Like, this is sort of the crossroads of your career. Do you feel the same way going into this fight? Oh, yeah. I mean, if I screw this up, you know, where do I go from here? You know, I become a gatekeeper? Well, no. You know, I don't think John Linnakerner-Curtis is, you know,

going to be that hard to be if I stay smart and I don't let him hit me. Obviously the guy hits hard, but what else is he good at? You know, like not much. He punches really hard and he keeps trying to talk trash and trying to go, you know, kind of like get me to just slug it out with him. Hey, I'm not stupid. I'm going to hit you from the outside. I'm going to make you miss. I'm going to make you pay. And big thing, I have two hands now. So I'm going to beat you with both of them and then I'll get a finish. and then, you know, run around, maybe do a failed back foot like that time. What about that hand, though, because you tweeted a picture. We're going to show it now as early September, and this thing was straight out of like the nutty professor.

It was unbelievable. I'm showing you right now the stitches. It was blown up, of course. You've had problems with the hand before. And then just a couple of days later, they announced this fight. Is that hand going to be ready to fight in less than two weeks? It's ready. It's ready.

You know what? I've had three surgeries, two breaks, one infection. and if you look at it, it looks bad, but I can punch hard with it. You know, I'm finally able to hit hard with it. And I tweeted that picture, you know, a month or so after, you know, everything happened. Okay. The infection and all stuff. So it's a lot better now.

I mean, I can't make a complete, like, great fist anymore, but I never will. You know, but it's not going to affect my performance. unless somehow my hand breaks again, which it's pretty much just a giant mass of scar tissue. I don't see how it would break. So you feel the hand issues are behind you now? Yes, hand issues are behind me. That's, you know, not going to be a problem. How much pain were you in going into that picket fight and in the picket fight?

Was it a big problem? Were you afraid that you would not win that fight simply because of the hand? No. You know, God's odd fit to bust me with kids. two hands. So I never thought I would lose just because of my hand. I have elbows, I have knees, I have kicks, you know, I have a good hand. And plus I did hit it with, I hit them with the veteran. But even when I was in Ireland, the UFC helped me and they had, they had a docking come and drained twice. Wow. So my hands got, I just said it's all swollen and, and, you

know, my, my hand was the best. And they, you know, had to stick needles in and suck it all fluid, but that's not going to stop me from, from, you know, fulfilling what I'm here to do, and that's, you know, win these fights, become world champion, and show the world that I'm the best, you know, that no one else is better than me. You're causing a ruckus on, on Twitter these days, Ali Bagotinaw, John Linnaker, it's like you're picking fights with everyone. Are you doing, is this part of you trying to just, you know, gain some attention for the division, or do you genuinely like these guys? you know what i never had a problem with baga tina she started it and if you if if i've always been a fan

i like russians russians are funny wacky crazy people and he's a good fighter but i'll beat the bark off that guy like he's i'm a better version of him and um for him to come out and to talk shit about me and john when you're on suspension homie like you just got caught for drugs you, you, like, you're on suspension and then you decide to call us out. And then you, when I, when I gave him one chance to not stop sitting stuff, and then he says, well, you know, have Dana, you know, provoke my suspension so we can fight. And I'm like, are you, are you stupid? I don't know.

I don't know if he's using Google Translate or if he's just dumb. But that was his fault. Now, Linnaker, again, I have no reason not to like the guy. besides his fact that he's disrespectful and ugly, and he doesn't make weight, and it just seems like a dick. But I just don't like him. Something about him just bothers me, and, you know, that's just how I am. I don't like somebody, especially if I'm fighting him, I'm going to tell you, I don't like you. And I don't know.

He just, it's weird because he'll say something, and then I don't know if it's the fact that he doesn't have, like, Wi-Fi down in Brazil, if it goes in the jungle or something, but he never engages me on Twitter. Like, he never, you know, he never has it. It's not fun, but, oh, well, I'm going to keep, you know, talking trash and having fun and, you know, being me. Are you worried about the weight that it's going to, I mean, it's probably a good thing to a degree because you get some of his money, but that, you know, it's a constant problem. He's overcoming recently, but are you worried that you're not going to get the best John Lineker because he's going to have problems making weight? I mean, deep down, I hope he has a horrible weight cut. I hope he missed his weight, and I could sit next to him drinking the coconut water.

water while he tried to cut the rest of the weight, and I can talk shit to him. If you know what, if he misses weight, that's his fault. Then I will have a field day with it. Of course I'll fight him. I'm not going to not fight the guy. I went all the way down to Brazil. But I'll make him pay for it either way. Whether he makes weight or not, he's going to get finished and he's going to get embarrassed.

I mean, it's pretty simple. How do you feel about going back to Brazil? In fact, Brazil helped you get back on track, right, after the benefit of the benefit of Vita's loss had a fight of the night performance at UFC 163, but you're going back there to fight a Brazilian, and do you have any reservations about that? UberLandia, honestly, never heard of UberLangia until this fight car was announced. So what did you feel about it?

When I heard of UberLandia, I just pictured a bunch of tall, blonde, beautiful people do stepping around, but... It does sound like some sort of fantasy world, doesn't it? It does. You know, it just sounds like some German settlement down in Brazil, but it's from what my coaches say, and I'm around Brazilian all day. I love Brazil. Brazil, treated me great.

The people were awesome. The food's good. I don't know where, you know, I think, the southeast. But I'm just kind of thick of traveling. It's expensive. You know, UFC only pays for one coach and me. Well, I have more than one coach. I have, you know, and then it comes, and this is with every fighter.

We have to fly the rest of our camp down. And they're like, well, that's your fault. Well, yeah, but one person can't help you get ready for everything. Like getting ready fight camp or fight week is a, like there's so much going on that I have three people that always go with me. Three to four. So I have to fly those extra people down and spend the extra like five grand when on top of it. We don't make much money. Like realistically, I mean, especially guys that might, we don't make money.

You know, so it's, it's just hard and diet-wise. I'm super good with all that. I've educated myself with all that stuff. So it's not hard. Plus, you know, in the fight week, you don't work out that much or that hard. You just focus on cutting weight and then doing all the media nonsense and, you know, just relaxing. But it's, I don't know. It's cool to see other parts of the world, but I'd rather fly at home.

How many hotel rooms do you get? one so you got you got you got four dudes more stinky fighters trapped in a freaking hotel room

and then me you know it's just being cranky the whole time it's just it sucks but

that's the game that's you know that's the name of the game so I guess I just you know you're complaining

the you know people that don't care I guess so do you actually go out and get another room or do you all fit in and squeeze in that room

If it was local, like let's say I fought in Vegas, I'd get another room, I fly, or everyone would drive out, you know, but the fact that, you know, we have to pay for the extra people to come down, it's usually about one room, you know, and it's a bonding experience for people in a tiny foreign country room. But it's not very comfortable, I would imagine. No, but I get my own bed. Everybody else thinks in the other bed are on the floor, because I'm a pretty much. Madonna. Did you have to pay for all their meals and stuff while? I mean, do you end up losing money on these trips? Well, no, they give us pretty in.

Okay. But for one coach? Yeah, exactly. So it's rough. You know, the whole situation is hard. And, you know, as much as I want to complain and just do that stuff, it's not going to change. You know, like now, like, UFC's going to all of a sudden, like, oh, well, Ian complained on TV or on radio, so now we're going to give everyone an extra flight or two in an extra room, an extra per die.

And no, it's, this is how it is, so we just deal with it. I'm living my dream. I'm doing what I love to do, and it's just parts of it suck, you know, parts of every job sucks. You know, I mentioned earlier that this is three versus four. I think it's a number-and-or fight. Have they told you that if you win, you're fighting DJ next? Kind of. I mean, it's been mentioned. It's never...

I don't know. I just don't think UFC wants me to win. I don't think they wanted me to beat Brad. Oh. I don't think they wanted me to beat John. I don't think they want... I just... I don't know.

But I think they realize that I am the best, and they're just kind of like shit. Why do you think that? This guy might pull off. I don't know. There's some, you know, things like... I've heard, you know, and it's all rumor mill stuff. I heard that they wanted to do tough,

tough Europe with Brad, you know, and Demetrius and kind of run the whole global market for tough. And then I beat up Brad with one hand. And he only landed like 20-something punches on me. So that was kind of embarrassing, you know. And I don't know. It could me just being cynical and me being, you know, thinking everyone's against me.

I'm not really sure. Well, what did you think of Demetrius's win over Carriaso? Were you impressed? Demetrius always looks good. Carriy also, on the other hand, I was shocked. I thought he was better than that.

Like, I was like, you know, no one, you know, no one could count this guy out, he's legit, blah, blah, blah. He looked like crap. I mean,

he, his, he didn't look good at all. Like, it was, I don't know, it was kind of shocking on that end of it.

Maybe it was a bad night. Maybe Demetrius really is that good. I don't know. I mean, the Demetrius I fought, I'm not afraid of you know and I see him

you know just tooling all these people and it's I'm just not really that impressed and I don't know it's uh he's always going to get better and

the good guys like myself like Benavitas you know those people we're all we're getting better too we're not the only he's not the only one that's getting better so

um you know we're coming after him when you were watching that fight you were like wow I can't believe this guy got a title shot and I haven't had one title shot yet. Yes, you were in the tournament, but you still never fought for the UFC belt. Did that bug you?

Well, yeah, but that's my own fault. I mean, I believe that. That's, I don't, you know, I don't blame anyone for my own screw-ups. And with Chris getting a title shot, who else was that? You know, there was no one else who deserved a title shot, and I won't complain about it. Well, DeVitrice's champ, he has to fight, he wants to fight, he has to make money, he has to, you know, he has to do what he has to do as a champion. So I didn't have a problem with that fight.

I just thought it was going to be more... I thought it was going to be a better fight. Let's end on this and I'll let you go. Always great to have you on the show. Love having you. Thank you. I hate always asking this question, but I feel like it's a real thing in our sport.

You know, the last two wins, dominant wins, but they were decisions. Do you feel like you need a finish to really get people excited about you fighting for the belt? fighting Demetrius for a third time. Is that a real thing that you think about? Of course. It pisses me off all the time. You know, it's, I don't know, you know, it just hasn't come together for me. And I search for the finish, you know, the last fight, I guess I, I mean, I didn't,

I don't know what it was. I guess I was just too preoccupied with my hand or what it was, but I didn't. And the fight before that, I don't know what happened. I just, it just hasn't come yet, but yes, I need to start finishing people, and I understand the criticism because I haven't finished people in the UFC yet, but it's going to start happening, and, you know, that's what it takes. It's a cumulative thing of hype, of excitement, of winning, of all this stuff that you have to do to get the audience,

the adoring public on your side, and I haven't done all that yet. Are you feeling one? Are you sensing one going into this fight? You feel it coming? Yes. I think I'm going to finish Lenker. You know, definitely within the bell. And I just, I don't know if the fact that I don't like him for some strange reason,

but I think I'm just going to beat the crap out of him. Well, I can't wait. Great fight. In my opinion, the most important fight on that card, November 8. It's on Fox Sports 1, Uber Langia, Brazil. Ian McCall versus John Lineker, in my opinion, the winner, number one contender in the Flyweight Division. What the heck do I know?

But I'm naming it a number one contender fight, so how about that? Ian, best of luck to you, safe travels to Brazil. Can't wait for the fight. Looking forward to it very much. And great to have you on you. You're such a great interview. We always love talking to you. Thank you for having me, man.

All right, there he is. Ian McCall, Uncle creepy himself stopping by. Great to have him on the show, as always. A huge fight for him. A huge fight for the flyweight division. I know sometimes I make fun of the whole Co-main event thing, but that is a co-main event. That's a co-main event.

That can, I mean, that's the biggest fight on that card. But it's not the Co-Main Event. It's the People's Main Event. That's what it is. And that is more important than Main Event or Co-Main Event, as we all know. Let us move along. Last guest of the day, saved the best for last, perhaps. The People's Champion in many ways.

This is a guy who the people love to watch fight, and they were very excited to see him fight on November 15th in Mexico City. First he was supposed to fight Norman Park, then he was supposed to fight Joe Lozahn. Unfortunately, none of them will be fighting on November 15th, all injured with various injuries. Of course, we're talking about Diego Sanchez, who joins us right now on the phone. Diego, how are you? I'm doing good.

You know, in all this, I'm just positive and, you know, just grateful that I didn't blow my ACL or I didn't make a stupid decision to, you know, because I was so pumped to fight Joe Lozahn. Like, I was like, I waited a week, and I was like, I just kept training. I was like, oh, it's going to heal. I'm going to be okay. I'll be better. You know, I was using Keyneso tape and doing just what I could, you know, if it's just hitting the bag a little or just doing what I could.

And when Joe Lozon fell out, like immediately, it's crazy how powerful the mind is because immediately, like, that night that Joe Lozahn fell out, like, 50% onset of the pain in my knee, like, kicked in. So what was going on, I had a mental block. Like, I was subconsciously, mentally blocking this pain to accomplish a mission because I was so pumped. You know, all the fans made all the little posters, Joe Rose-on and me just is just the epic matchup, and I was just, I was pumped for it myself. So what happened? What's the injury? It's a high-grade tear to my L.C.L.L. C.L. Lateral ligament.

And, you know, this is one of those things. Like, you know, I wasn't even, like, a very forceful thing. I spun for a knee bar, and my opponent was defending, and he pulled my leg, and he pulled my foot, and my knee just pops at that perfect angle where, like, you know, it was in that figure four position, and it just pops to, like, the side of the knee popped. And, you know, anytime the knee pops, it's scary, you're like, oh, shit. Like, is that my ACL? You know, you get scared.

But I went to my sports doctor and, like, he did the little test, like, to see us, like, the ACL is blown and stuff. And so he told me it wasn't. And I was like, well, I'm going to try to, I'm going to see if, you know, right away, I got a game-ready unit and I started icing, ice compressing. ice compression, elevation, and doing what I could to try to recover. I really wanted to make this fight happen. I know that some fighters, they're

able to fight injured sometimes and pull it off. You know, look at Junior Dos Santos, won the world title on a heart knee. And that's what I, I thought the match-up with Joe Lozahn, I didn't feel that he was his threatening with his

wrestling, and I know he's a great grappler, and he's, you know, You know, it's pretty much more of a boxer. So I felt like I could go in there, and I could probably just box with him, and I felt like I could take him out. And just, you know, when he fell out and Norman fell out, I was like, well, I'm injured. I'm like, maybe this is meant to happen.

I'm going to go get an MRI, you know, and get it checked out. And when I went and got it checked out, the doctor's like, look, dude, he's like, you really shouldn't. He's like, he's like, you shouldn't. And I was like, well, what about if I get a cortisone shot, you know, in my knee? If it's not, like, completely torn, I get a cortisone shot, and I can train, and I can pull this off, you know, because I'm in, like, I'm in excellent, I'm a phenomenal shape. Like, in the best shape of my life, I'm so ready to go fight at high altitude. If I could, if I can train, I could pull this off. And he's like, you know, he's like, if you do that, there's a high chance that you make the wrong movement and you completely, uh, breast.

rupture dependent. And so I was like, well, you know, I don't have enough time in my career. I'm, you know, I'm going to be 33 or 32 years old. I'm going to be 33 as I don't got time for eight months off. I don't got time for another surgery. So I was like, all right, well, I'll fight another day. You know, I know Joseph was going to be pissed. And, you know, it is what it is.

And it just didn't happen. It wasn't meant to be. Do you need surgery? No, I avoided surgery. Wow. I avoided surgery. It's a grade 2 tear, so I'll be able to do some PRP and some stem cells, get some stem cells and some PRP on the tear site of the. It's a tear in the connection site.

The connection site of the ligament or the ligament ties in. That's where the ligament tore, but it's not completely poor. like it's poor. It's still attached, so I'm going to be all right. Did they say how long you'll need in order to come back? I go back in four weeks, and they tell me, you know, I go from there. But the doctor said basically six weeks, six weeks, no impact, you know, no, no jumping, no twisting. He said, there's some things I could do like ride the bike, real, real life.

and upper body stuff. But obviously I'm super bummed about it. But like I said, I'm positive that it's going to be a quick turnaround. And as long as I stay in shape and stay healthy and don't put too much weight on in the holidays, I can have a quick turnaround. And, you know, I've already instant message to me. And me and Joe Lohan have instant messages to each other. And I'm like, look, dude, I got hurt.

He's all right. He didn't say what his injury was. I don't, you know, why he chose to not disclose what the injury was. But he's like, he's like, look, there's a fight in Boston January 18th. And I'm like, well, if my need, if Doc says I could fight and I'm good to train, he's all, I'll go fight you in. I'll go fight you in Boston. So, you know, we're not, we're not trying to play Joe's job in a way, but, you know, we're both, you know, we're both pumped on that fight. and the fans, the fans are pumped on our fight,

and that's the reason that we fight is for the fans, and so, you know, why not? If it's possible, I'm going to push for it, he's going to push for it, and see if we can make it happen. You know, anyone who's followed your career knows that fighting in Mexico City was a huge deal for you. You've been talking about it for quite some time. How did you handle the news when you came to terms with the fact

that you will be not fighting on that card? See, that's a thing here. That's a thing, really. It was just, it was hard because it was just something that I had just been envisioning for so long. And it just, you know, we went down there. We did, I went down there. I did a press store down there. Yeah.

I didn't know the people, you know, went to the children's hospital. I mean, we did a lot of work for this event. And, you know, it's just, it's been, what, 13 years. You know, I'm in the U.S. season trying to get a show done in Mexico. I believe the first mixed marshal. arts that they had down there on TV was season one of the ultimate fighter and it just

it was just a dream to go fight down there and you know come out to the Marachi music and just you know just I knew that crowd was going to be an epic crowd you know I think they were going to go crazy 25,000 crazy Mexicans just screaming and yelling and you know I love that type of crowd

so yeah I was pumped on it and I'm disappointed in the same at the same time but you know sometimes it's just things aren't meant to be and you just got to accept it. And, you know, so in Pazza, you know, I'm just, I'm pumped for, for Gaston. He gets, he gets, he gets the big, you know, he, he's,

him and Ellenberger, they got that big fight, and, you know, he's going to have to carry the Mexican crowd, you know, with Gojito, Eric Perez fell off the car, I fell off the card, Kane fell off the card, you know, so he's going to be the headline Mexican fighter now. and I think he's going to do a great job. And they have a tough fight in Ellenberger. But I think that that card is going to be okay. I think it's going to be a good card still.

Do you believe in these kind of things like, you know, you mentioned Eric Perez, Kane Velasquez, Joe Lowe's on you, some of the biggest names on this card. And of course, you know, Kane, I mean, he was the heavyweight champion, Mexican descent, all that stuff, all injured, all out. Do you believe when we say, oh, this card is cursed? Do you believe in that kind of stuff? You know what? I don't know. I, I, I, there's no way of saying if I believe in it or not, but it seems like it kind of might be.

You know, like it's, it's not out of the spectrum of my belief because it's really, really eerie the way, the way everything turned out. And there's a lot of, like, witchcraft down in Mexico. And, I don't know. I know. I know there is. It's a lot of, like, the, um, there's a lot of, like, the, um, you know, like they've got the Mexican healing doctors where they do like, they do like this type of witchcraft. They call them brujas in Spanish. But, yeah, no, there's a lot of, like, there's a lot of open, open witchcraft down there. And I don't know.

I'm not going to throw that out there because I'm not an expert, but it was really weird how everybody fell off. And especially Kane, you know, the heavyweight champ, the main event. he's out that's that was you know he's their he's their main guy and he's he's he's Mexico's main got and so you know it it sucks it just it just sucks and it just happens like that but you know the way I'm looking at it is like this is like um I think um Fabricio is gonna gonna finish Mark hunt and and it's gonna set up the rematch fight with um Kain and Fabricio down there and I think they'll probably still do that It did a lot of promotions, the fans want it, and it might even work out better because it'll be title,

Champion versus Champion, and you know the fans and the pay-per-view, people like that, champion versus champion thing. And maybe I'll be able to get on that card. I still would like to go fight in Mexico. It would still be still one of the things to do on my bucket list. You know, originally you were supposed to fight Norman Park on this card, and when they did the press conference, the stare-downs were great, and he called you out and you accepted.

There was a lot of buzz. And then it's one of those rare occasions where a guy gets injured and then the replacement fight might actually be more anticipated than the original fight. They brought in Joe Lozahn. And it was weird.

It was like, wow, Joe Lozon and Diego Sanchez have never fought. It feels like you guys have been around each other for so long yet you've never fought and both of you are a fight of the night machines. So everyone was very excited about that. When you looked at it, like, which opponent did you like better for yourself?

Did you feel like, oh, wow, I just got a better fight? I like the Joe Lodon fight because he's just been around longer and drank tire and his style of fighting is a go-for-it style. You know, and nothing to take away from Monroe Park style of fighting. He fights hard, too. And that's why I like to own Park Fight 2 is because he was going to, I believe he was going to go in there and come at me and fight me. but no definitely

without a doubt the Joe Lozofi has a more epic nostalgia to it it's just like it's like an instant classic

and I almost didn't like how much pressure they were putting on it to be like the greatest fight but no no

it works out you know and it set something up so so possibly in the future you know that's that's a

fight me and Joe. Like I said, that's a fight me and the Luzon. We both agree that it's a great fight, and we both like that fight. And where we're at right now in our careers, we like that fight, the fans like that fight, and so it just makes sense to go forward with that fight.

Plus, I think Norman Park already has a fight lined up, too, from what I read on his Twitter or something like that. You know, did a part of you feel like you really needed to get back in there and sort of gain the, you know, the admiration of the MMA community, because let's be honest, you received some heat after the

Ross Pearson fight. A lot of people thought you did not win that fight. Did you feel like you needed to rectify that? It was definitely, it was definitely, that was definitely in the back of my mind. And, you know, it was just like, I just got to fight. I got to fight anybody. I just got to get back in there. I got to get back in there. I'm healthy. I need to go. Like, I don't, I don't do as good with the downtime. Like, you know, I'm just like, you know, I'm just like, you know, I'm in the gym, you know, but it's just once I have that face, once I have that person to focus on as a goal and put in the back of my mind like, okay, this guy's training to whip my ass. I got to have that in the back of my mind.

I have a picture on my fridge of the guy I'm fighting, you know, to motivate me. But, you know, and I think that comes with just being in the sport so long. You know, I've been fighting for, you know. I think almost 13, 14 years. So, you know, yeah, I like to have that motivation of an actual fight, you know, opposed to when you're young and you're just like, you just want to make that name for yourself. So it's a different type of hunger. But, no, no.

And then, yeah, you know, I came out. My last fight was Ross Pearson, you know, was, you know, I got a fight for my hometown, but, you know, it didn't turn out the way I wanted to. you know, I didn't fight to the, I didn't listen to my coaches, I didn't fight to the best game plan, I just was fighting recklessly, looking for a knockout,

and it didn't come, you know, and I got a lot of, a lot of backflack from all the fans, especially all the European fans who already hate me, because I have this thing with Connor McGregor and Dan Hardy, and,

and, Ross Christian actually was like, really one of the coolest guys that I've met and he had a ton of respect and like I didn't lose no respect for that guy he's a great fighter and um that night he put on a good fight you know in no way did I get my ass kicked I was right there still fighting and um you know I don't you know I thought it was a a strategic match you know very similar to you know when I had the strategic match with Miles jury you know it was very one of those strategic matches and In both those fights, I learned a lot.

And in 2014, I, I, I've switched my focus a lot to speed training and realizing that I need to, you know, become a faster fighter. You know, I need to become faster on my feet. I need to be quicker, explosive. And so, you know, like this last training camp, I did all my, all my strength of conditioning at Parisi Speed School, which is a school that, that it focuses more on speed and explosive. and doing all kinds of different stuff. So that has worked out good for me. And I just feel like in 2014 I was able to evolve and get strong where I need to get

strong. And I'm excited for 2015. I'm excited for whoever they put it in front of me, to be honest. I was pumped to fight in Mexico City. But whatever's next is next. And I'll be ready for it. Do you still believe you beat Ross Pearson that that win? was rightfully yours?

You know what? My belief in the system is the belief in the system. It is what it is. And sometimes, you know, it's going to go to the judge's scorecard. And I don't feel like he did decisive damage on me. I don't think he'd feel like he put me in, like, a dangerous, like, almost going to finish me. And I felt he did play it safe. And I felt I was coming forward with pressure.

I definitely gave him the second round. And the first round and the third round could have gotten either way, depending on the judge that's judging the fight. And, you know, I'm not going to say, look, look, oh, no, Ross Pearson, he beat me. You know, I went back and I watched the film and he beat me. No, I'm not going to say that because, you know, that's badly stupid. You know, like, I'm not going to say that. Like, it's not in my interest for me to make a statement like that.

but do I think that he played a smart game plan hit me with some body shots and you know yeah I think he played a smart game plan I think I landed some good shots too and I was putting the pressure of the fight and I was going for it you know it's just one of those facts where it just depends on what judges

is scoring the fight because you know and that night I got my hand raised whether it be in my hometown or not I got my hand raised and I have a win on my record They had a chance to, they did whatever they went, went to the court systems and tried to appeal the boss. They didn't appeal. It didn't get reversed. So, yeah, I feel that the victories in my head.

I can get criticized on it or not, but it is what it is. And, you know, like I said, I have a lot of respect for Ross Pearson. And I'd love to fight him again if that's what the fans and the UFC wants me to do. I'm not afraid I'm not afraid to fight and I fight him any day of the week and you know that's what it comes down to

it's it's it's just one of those tough things you know it's one of those things that when you have a long career like I have you're going to have ups and downs and and that was one of those bitter victories where you know I you know

yeah it hurt and it hurt the fans you know, the backlash from the fans, just not being able to enjoy a victory, yeah, it hurt, and it is what it is, but in the end of the day, you know, I've got to take care of my family. I got a new house for my kids,

and life is good, you know, and I'm on to the next one, on to the next fight, and I'm going to keep doing what I love because I have a love for this sport of fighting. Like, you know, it's not, People say, what do you do this for? Why do you fight?

And I was sitting in my hot tub last night, and I was asking myself this. I was saying, why you fight, Jaylor? Why? Why do you fight? Is it, you know, the job? Is it the career? Is it the fans? Is it your family?

Is it your legacy? Is it the history that you're going to leave on the sport? And none of that shit matters. None of it. To me, I fight because I have a. passion for it. And that's why I want to fight guys that are going to give me passionate fights, guys that are going to get me passionate about the fighting. And, you know, for me, you know, if there's one fight that I could have, it would be Connor McGregor. I'll go fight

him. I'll go, I'll go fight Connor McGregor in Ireland. He wants to fight in a football stadium. I'll go fight him in a football stadium. Well, let's talk, let's talk about Connor. He said he wanted to replace you. He put it out there with the tweets and everything like that. I mean, what's going on there? Why, you're not even in the same way class? I know he's dabbled at 155, but why is there an issue there between you and Connor? You know, see, the thing is,

when he jumped on the spot, it's like, it just, you know, he started barking up the wrong dog alley, because, you know, like, I'm one of the guys that laid the bricks for this great career that he's having. You know, I was one of the ones that created the expansion for this sport.

I helped build the foundation on this big building. And, you know, the guy just is disrespectful. He don't respect that. He doesn't disrespect any of the other fighters in his division that have paid their dues. And it's like, for me, you know, being confident, yeah, that's cool, man. Yeah, you're, dude, he's a great mixed martial artist. You know, I studied the guy. He's very intelligent.

He has a smart mind for the fight. He knows how to study the fires. He's very athletic. He's strong. He hits hard, and he's a good fighter. But there's a respect factor, man. You've got to have respect. And from the beginning, that bothered me.

Nobody spit up to him, so I stood up to him. And then, you know, and I just was like, look, man, you know, like, don't talk shit about these guys. They're paid their dues. And right away, he fired back at me, like, oh, you're fat, you're pathetic. I'll beat you in one round. fight you at 170 at any day. And it's like, what, what's up, bro? You know, like, this is the thing.

This guy's really good. He's really good. And yeah, he has a real good hype train on him right now. He's done some awesome things in his four fights in the UFC. And he's looking even for a towel shot. You know, and this guy could probably beat 95% of the fighters that he's got to face at 145. Maybe 95%.

You know, I think the ones that will give him a tough fire Cub and Frankie, I think those are the two guys. Of course, Aldo, you know, those three guys are going to give him a hell of a tough fight. Mendez, too, Bermudas. It depends because he's a big guy at 145. And he hits hard at 145. But this is the thing.

He could beat 95% of those guys, but this guy can't beat me. I know it in my heart. This guy can't beat me. and I'll say this, and I'll say it once, I'll say it again, styles make fight. And I'm 100% confident within five rounds that I will finish this guy, that I'll make him tap, that I'll make this guy tap, that I'll make him give up. I give up, and I know this in my heart.

And this guy has a lot of willpower and confidence in himself, and the power of the mind, and if you visualize and you mentalize and you put it all in, you know, and you study nine hours a day, type of shit. But you know what? Spousal make fights, man.

And I'm a different animal. When I'm in my top shape and when I'm strong and my grappling and my wrestling and it all comes together, this guy can't beat me. And the thing is, I like this guy

because he, gets under my skin in a positive, motivating way. Because I see the way this guy evolves with his kicks. I see the way this guy works hard and the way he likes to believe in himself. It sparks this motivation and inspiration inside of myself. And, you know, it's why I fight. It's the passion, you know. I want to fight.

I fight passionate. I fight with passion. I thought with all my heart, on my soul, all my mind. And, you know, all my best fights, you know, you look at guys like Nick Diaz, you know, Gilbert Melendez, guys that I knew were the best in the world, guys that I knew that were these top, top guys, you know, that I knew that they will hurt, they have the potential to hurt me and create such a more of a challenge. Those have always been my best fight.

And so, yeah, you know, that's the fight that in my, My mind, this is the guy that I'm training for. So he keeps telling the UFC that he wants to fight you. Have you told the UFC I want to fight him? Oh, I told him. Yeah. I told him. I said, I come.

I replied to him. I said, I come to really oblige. Bring it on. Bring it on. I got to fight out. I would love. Come fight me. Come fight me, dude.

Yeah, you're real relaxed. Yeah, you've got good conditioning because you're real relaxing. You know how to relax in there like no other. Well, you know what? Let's see if you could relax or fighting meat. No, you're not going to be able to relax the way you do with other guys.

And you're not going to be able to hit I'll take your shot and I'm going to keep coming forward. I'm going to keep putting pressure on you. And that's the style. It's a style matchup. He don't know it. He don't know it because he's so young

and he's so cocky. And the longer that he goes, yeah, the better that he gets, but to me, in my opinion, that he's at his most dangerous right now. And the longer that they go, I think Cona McGregor is going to be Cona McGregor's the worst enemy because he's the one who's going to be his own downfall. And that's because of his lack of respect, lack of respect.

And, you know, he's just, he'd like to talk a lot of shit. Do you think they're protecting him? I would. I would. I would. I would protect the hell out of him. You know, you know, I know the guy's making a lot of money. You know, I know the guy is making a lot of money.

Everybody wants to see him. Everybody wants him. I'll order the fight. just to see him see if maybe the guy gets beat because I want to see the guy getting knocked out

so bad yeah he has that some guys love him some guys hate him type of factor and yeah the guy's gonna make

a lot of money for the company you know he is and that's probably why he's getting paid so good right now already you know what

you know I'm sure there's a lot of fighters that are just upset that he's getting paid so much so fast

in the game but I don't care about that you know I earn my contract I paid my dues and, you know, I'm not going to cry about that. You know, the UFC, they do their job, and, you know, if they feel fit, they feel fit.

But I just want to fight the guy. I want to fight the guy. I want to fight the guy for the main reason that this guy brings out the best in me. And so, you know, we'll see. I've even really given it some considerable thought of dropping the 145 just to fight. Wow. Just to fight him. That's how much you want to fight up.

That's how much I would love to fight this guy. Five rounds. I'll fight him in Ireland. I'll fight him in, I'll fight him in freaking anywhere. I'll fight him anywhere in the world. I'll fight him in Mexico. Maybe on that next. I don't care.

If he wants to do it, he says he wants to do it, but that's a talk. He don't want to do it. You don't think he really wants it. I'm telling you, this guy, he knows the cards he's pulling. He threw that card out there, just to get people riled up, just to get people riled up and get people excited on something.

He knew that UFC wasn't going to let him. He don't want that fight. One last thing I want to ask you about. What about Dan Hardy? Out of nowhere, he's taking all these shots at you. He told M.MA junkie recently, he meaning you, is what's wrong with mixed martial arts right now. I know.

I know. I know. I don't know, man. You know, he's, I don't know. I don't know, man. I don't know if the guy's just like an envy is jealous dude. I think, you know, he's suffering from, like, when you get out of the game, because he got out of the game, he's out of the fight game.

And I think he was suffering from just people like, you know, you're out of the spotlight. And, you know, people don't think about you no more. People don't care. You know, like, it's like, yeah, you started doing it a little commentating, but it's like you're out of the spotlight, and I think he just wanted to try to find a way back into the spotlight. And, you know, if he's another guy, you know, I don't care. I'll, I'll fight, I'll fight him too.

I'll fight him too. I'll fight whoever the UFC puts in front of me, to be honest. It's like there's so many lightweights. It's just such a stacked division. And right now it's like, I would, want big fights that people and the fans are going to care about. I don't want to just fight like the no-nameers that don't have a following that just are just some guy that's climbing up the ladder. I want to fight a Joe Lodon who's put some put some

work in the game. I want to fight Connor McGregor, you know, Ross Pierce and you know, to be honest, even even the first fight that I had in Mexico, you know, with Norm, it's like I was just taking that fight just to get back in there. I needed a fight. Right. I was like, I got to get a fight. This guy wants to bite?

All right, I'll fight him. But, you know, I know that, you know, as you get older, you know, you've got to get as many fighting as you can. You know, you got to be smart, get those big fights that you, they're going to build your brand. You know, right now I feel good. I feel healthy, you know. And it's just, I'm going to recover from this injury and come back stronger. Well, Diego, always a pleasure.

Always love having you on the show. You're always very honest with your thoughts. It was really sad to hear that you wouldn't be fighting. I know how important that was to you, how big of a deal was you versus anyone. You just wanted to be on that card. So unfortunate news, but happy to hear you won't need surgery. You'll be back sooner rather than later. Thank you for the time, as always, Diego.

talk to you very soon. Get well soon as well. Appreciate it. All right, thank you, Diego. Bye-bye. There he is. Diego Sanchez. Always great to have him on the show. The one and only. There is only one, Diego Sanchez. A very unique character in the world of mixed martial arts. It seems like everyone these days wants to fight him. Dan Hardy kind of coming out of nowhere as well, defending his friend,

Ross Pearson, and interesting to hear his thoughts on that fight as well. So he will not be fighting at UFC 180. In the last week or so, UFC 180 has just been decimated with injuries. He hypothesized that witchcraft was involved. I don't know about that. Could be. I'm no witchcraft. I was going to say, was that restaurant which, was it called witch?

Was it called witchcraft at restaurant? Yeah, it was called witchcraft. Different kind of witchcraft. I'm no expert. I think the main card now will be, still some big fights on the card. Mark Hunt, Fabrice Verdoom, Elenberger, Gaslam, Bermuda's Lime. Thomas, I, Smith, a couple of tough Latin America fights, but it's not the same. Cain Velasquez, like I said, the one guy on the one card that they just could not lose.

That was just a punch to the gut. All things considered, it seemed like the UFC handled it pretty well. I was talking to Dana White about it briefly and just, you know, it's part of the business. By now you're probably numb. I thought it was, you know, I thought the sky was falling at that point. Cain Velasquez, finally, all the stars align for Cain Velasquez to fight in Mexico, and he's not going to fight in Mexico in their debut. The card is already sold out. It's sold out in minutes.

They had tough Latin America on Televisa. They have their own channel. And Cain, the guy, I mean, just think how big Cade would have been after the fact. He's already huge going into the fight. But if he went into that fight, beat up Verduem, retained his title, he'd be a megastar. I would think. Now you have the great story of Mark Hunt fighting against Rebishop Redume, which is fine. I mean, I'm excited.

You know we like our KFC King here. It's not Kane versus Verdume. It's a very good replacement. One of those rare times where it's a very suitable replacement, but, you know, there are some legitimate questions and concerns, I think, especially now with Javier Mendez saying that it might be later than March, and he hasn't fought since October of last year. That's a bummer. heavyweight champion. That's a very marketable fighter. Mexican-American, a beast, only lost once. He was injured. That was on Fox. Came back. Avenged that loss twice. I truly believe that there needs

to be a rule in place. This is no knock on anyone. If you can't defend your title within a calendar year, there needs to be a talk about moving on. Now, if you last fought in October of 2013 and your next fight is booked for November of 2015. As long as you have a fight booked, but if you don't, I kind of have a problem with it. It just holds up things. And look, these days, if you're a UFC champion, it's almost like you're cursed. T.J. Dillishaw recent surgery.

Johnny Hendricks recent surgery. Anthony Pettis recent surgery. Ronda Rousey recent surgery. Chris Wyman recent surgery. John Jones recent surgery. Kane Velasquez recent surgery. What the heck? Aldo is the only guy who's even though he's been hit, no surgery for him,

but he's at the battle injuries as well. Crazy. I'm assuming we'll talk about that in our questions and comments section after Inside the Vault, but for now, let us go Inside the Vault. And this is a funny story because I picked this particular interview because I was thinking of Jose Aldo, who, by the way, has not been standing for most of the show. That is a problem. Look at this great setup New York Rick did.

homage to the champion. I was in Rio for UFC 179, I got to tell you what a difference it was from UFC 134. UFC 134, we were there. It was a party. People were crying, people were dancing, people were celebrating Big Nog, comes out of nowhere,

essentially on one foot, knocks out Brendan Shab, Shogun Huah avenges his loss to Forrest Griffin, Anderson Silva, just toys with Yushinokami, avenges that loss. It was an explosion.

It was a coronation. It was one of the greatest moments in UFC history. They finally returned to the birthplace of MMA and the Brazilians just kick ass. And then afterwards, you know, they've been back there many times, and they kicked ass. They kicked ass, you know, the percentages were just unbelievable. No one, other than Nick Lentz, wanted to go to Brazil and fight a Brazilian there. But then, I mean, if you notice, the foreign... are catching up. And it all came to a head on Saturday night because the foreigners really

were doing better than Brazilians. They were going to decisions, no problem. Foreigner winning here, foreign winning there, Brazilian getting tapped out there. I mean, it was unbelievable. And, okay, Fabio Maldonado got them back on track a little bit with that win. Embracing with Anderson Silva, all that stuff. Great moment with Anderson coming out. And I thought it was great that the UFC did that. They need to do more of that stuff, really putting the focus on the fighter, having him come out. That was pro wrestling 101 right there. I mean, that was straight out of Monday Night Raw.

Bring him out there. First time back. Ovation, the music. Incredible moment. Very smart to do that. But then it's Glover versus Phil Davis, and Phil Davis completely dominates Glover. And now all of a sudden, we head into the main event,

and it's Jose Aldo versus Chad Mendez. A lot of people picking Chad Mendez, and it really felt in that arena, like, this wasn't just for the best. Well, this was for Brazilian MMA, because let's not forget, Joseoaldo, the last Brazilian UFC champion, the last champion out of Novo Nia, at least for now, they're already on a losing streak as far as that event is concerned.

They had lost more than they won. I mean, this wasn't just for Joseo, this was for Brazilian MMA. That crowd, by that point it was like 2.30 a.m., that crowd did not want to go home with zero champions. and I think it would be like four and seven or something like that on the night. Joseo Alto came out there, and in my opinion,

really asserted himself as a star. I'm very curious to see what happens to Joseo Alto now. And it's very reminiscent of Anderson and Chelsanin. This is the one comparison that I think we can make with Chelsaunin and Anderson. Connor, in my opinion, has lit a fire under Joseoaldo. And Chad Benda, we can't forget him. I mean, he fought a great fight.

He put a lot of pressure on him. Aldo, he made him go out there and be aggressive and look like the Aldo vold. The Aldo that we love watching. I mean, the guy is just so damn talented. And it seemed like every time he got an eye poke, he would come back and get really pissed off. And yes, there was a controversy with the, you know, the bell and all that. But, you know, I have a hard time blaming anyone. Mark Goddard said he didn't hear it. Dana White said he didn't hear it. Both fighters said they didn't hear it. I think it's a great idea to maybe look into having an earpiece involved. That's a different discussion for a different day. But Jose Aldo went out

there and asserted himself as the man as far as Brazilian MMA is concerned. I'm really curious to see how he draws the next time out because this wasn't sold out. It was packed. It was full. But from what I understand it wasn't actually sold out. Fine. What happens now? How does he sell the next time he fights? How does he get covered the next time he fights? This felt like one of those performances that we'll look back on. Wow. And then he finally gets his Joe Frazier. He gets the Frazier to his alley and Conne McGregor. If Conne McGregor can beat Dennis Cesar, all signs point to that fight happening. Wow. Ireland or Brazil, you could do a stadium perhaps. Definitely in Ireland, but I think now with his performance, you could do a very big arena in Brazil.

So it felt to me like the old Aldo was back. The Aldo that I always say on this show, this is the guy that I want to pay to watch. If I had to pay to watch one guy, it's Jose Aldo. He's just so entertaining, so much fun to watch, comes out with that line afterwards, which I totally botched in my post-fight interviews. I completely missed it. I don't know if it was just late or loud or whatever. I said that he called Connor a clown. In fact, he called him a Joker,

which made it that much better. He said, I'm the king. Chad is the prince. And now we have a Joker. Great line. Brilliant line. Aldo did everything right on Saturday. He was humble.

He was... I had a great moment. When I was in the back, I was interviewing Chad Mendes, and he was very emotional. I don't know if that interview even aired on the post-fight show. They didn't post it online for some reason,

but he was very emotional, and he was very kind to come talk to us, very gracious in defeat, and he was actually sitting there with his coach, Dwayne Ludwig. They were having a personal moment. He was very emotional. And even Jose, in English, said to him, great, great fight, Chad. Thank you, Chad. It was a very nice moment between two guys who have had their issues, but you could tell there's respect there. Josealdo did everything right, and that fight, do not get a twist. It was more important for the entire Brazilian MMA scene, almost than it was for him. I mean, it wasn't just about that title. It was incredibly important. The stakes were super high in that fight.

So it got me reminiscing about Jose Aldo, this guy who we've essentially seen grow up in front of our eyes from, you know, undercard WC fights, getting that title at UFC 123 at Auburn Hills prior to the event, fighting in front of 55,000. And now in front of his people, the last remaining, at least for now, Brazilian UFC champion, stepping up to the plate and producing one of the very best fights of the year. So it got me reminiscing about him and getting all nostalgic. And then I started thinking about just how great of a year it has been for the feather weights and the lightweights and the bantam weights. And you have to credit world extreme cage fighting for that. They brought in the bantam weights. They brought in the feather weights. They brought in an influx of lightweights that really helped propel that division to a whole other level.

And if you just look at the, I mean the next two title fights for bantamweight and featherweight, T.J. Dillishaw versus Dominic Cruz. Joseo Alto potentially against Khan McGregor, if he gets by Dennis Siever. Those arguably are the most anticipated title fights in both of those divisions. Finally, it feels like the bantam weights and the feather weights are here. They can hang with the big boys. They are producing big-time fights. So it got me thinking about when the WEC and the UFC merged, October 28, 2010.

And then, right before this show, my good friends over at MMA History, Today at MMA History Today tweeted that it was exactly four years ago today that that announcement was made. That it was exactly four years today on this very website, the old version of it, Fanhouse, which later became MMAfighting.com,

we broke the news that UFC and WC merge. Yesterday, when I picked this video for Inside the Vault and I actually even wrote on my little rundown thing, October 28, 2010, it didn't even click that that that was, was exactly four years ago today. How about that? Four years ago today, we broke the news, courtesy of Dana White, in a Boston hotel room that UFC and WC would merge come 2011. And then I'm reminded that it was exactly four years ago today. How about that? One of the great moments,

one of the biggest moments. It was rumored. It was discussed for so long. Finally, we would see the feather weights. Finally, we would see the bantam weights. There weren't any flywights just yet, but of course, Demetrius came from WC and a lot of great lightweights as well. They would be coming over to the UFC, and quite frankly, they did fantastic. They continue to do very well. But it really feels like the bantam weights and feather weights have arrived. So I thought it would be fun to go back to that interview, October 28, 2010, Boston, Massachusetts, Dana White breaks on this very website that WEC and UFC would become one in just a couple of months. Here it is. Ariel Hawani standing alongside the president of the UFC, Mr. Dana White, and Dana, thank you so much for the time today.

I want to take you back to July. That's when I first heard a rumor that WEC was merging with the UFC, and since then I've gathered a lot of information. Now I confidently present it to you, and I ask you the question. Is WEC merging with the UFC? Yes. When? The last fight for the WEC will be in December. Then every fight from there on out.

the 55 pound division will roll into our 55 pound division and we will add all those lower weight classes now people have obviously been bugging you about this for quite some time why now the timing was right the reality is you know we purchased the wc we started these uh you know getting these lighter weight guys exposure on television um you know sending them around the the country and arenas now as the ufc continues to grow globally and we're doing more and more fights now it makes sense to bring in those lighter weight classes. Was this always the plan from the beginning, just sort of build that brand, build those fighters, those weight classes, and then eventually merge them together with

UFC? Yeah, it all depended. You know, we put the WC out there. We knew that we could get out, you know, we knew the fights were exciting. These lighter weight guys were great. Get out there, building some exposure while we were putting together the global plan. Because you never know how fast that thing's going to go or how it's really going to work, but it's worked out incredibly.

You know, we're going to add more fights every year. and add more countries and more television networks in different countries. So now it makes sense. Now there are two WC events left on the calendar on versus. There's one coming up in November. There's one coming up in December. Any hesitation on your part to confirm this now before those two events are done just so that they don't seem like, you know, lame duck events?

You know what I'm saying? Like when a coach gets, you know, when someone says to a coach, you're about to get fired at the end of the season, that kind of thing? But nobody's getting fired. There's nothing lame duck about it. I mean, the great thing about the WEC and what people have loved about it is, tell me the last time you saw a boring WEC event from top to bottom. These lighterweight guys go after it.

And, you know, I actually think it's cool that you'll have the opportunity to see two more WEC events before they roll into the UFC. So have you started to think? I mean, obviously people are wanting to see, you know, your eye favor in the UFC, Jose Al do all those guys. Have you started to think about, you know, how you're going to introduce them to the UFC audience? Yeah, I think that, you know, I think the people that watch it on versus are the UFC audience anyway. I mean, you're a fan of mixed martial arts, and, you know, once they come into the UFC,

they're just going to be part of the whole machine. The way that we promote fights and do it now, they're just part of the whole deal. Sort of along those lines. There was a rumor that Jose Aldo was offered a fight against Kenny Florian, and that got people to think that maybe this was happening sooner rather than later. A, was that, in fact, true? And was that your plan in terms of introducing him to the 155-pound weight class in the UFC? Yeah, the answer is yes to both.

Yeah, you know, we already knew this was going to happen. And, you know, we'd been working on it for a while. And he had talked about going to 155 pounds, and Kenny Florian would have been a great test to see if he was ready for that title. So who turned down the fight? Jose Aldo did. Are you surprised by that? Yeah, I thought that he wanted to fight at 55.

If he doesn't, that's fine. but, you know, we heard he did, and so we offered it to him. But now that 135 and 145 are coming to the UFC, doesn't it sort of make sense to keep him there at 145 so he could be sort of like the poster boy, the dominant champion at that weight class? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Depends on what he wants.

You know, if he wants a few more fights there and then maybe try to move up to 55, it's all up to him. I don't ever try to tell guys. It's like at the last press conference with the Diego Sanchez thing. I think Diego Sanchez in shape looks awesome at 170 pounds, better than 155. I say that that's how I feel, but at the end of the day, he needs to make his own decision. Any idea when we will start to see 135 and 145 pound bouts in the UFC?

Immediately. I mean, these guys are going to roll right into the UFC now, you know, starting in January. Is it possible that maybe, you know, you need an extra fight on a December card or something that we might see it before January? Probably not. No, it's probably, I think it'll happen in January. It will be the first one. But who knows? I never say never, anything could happen.

Obviously, people want to see Aldo. any idea when he will debut in the UFC? Probably, probably in January. You think he will defend the title, which I presume will now be the UFC featherweight title? Yes. Against who? I don't know yet. Some people were talking about Mark Hominick, all that stuff. A little premature, right? Yeah. Okay. Let me ask you in terms of TV. Obviously, UFC is on versus now, but also WC is on versus. What does it mean to have the WC guys go into the UFC for your relationship with versus? We kicked this thing off. We did two UFC fights on versus, and now we're going to do a deal with them for four fights in 2011. So there will be four fights on versus that are UFC obviously fights. What about Spike? Same deal?

Yeah, well, you know, like you said, we have the deal with versus right now, and we have our deal with Spike, so it's all good. And just curious, obviously, used to put on more than four events on versus in the past, WC and UFC combined. What about those extra events that are just kind of up in the air? Is it just, you know, because you're now giving them the four main UFC cards, it just kind of evens out? Yeah, in our spike deal, we can do four other fights. So we're doing as many as we can on another network. Any idea when the first UFC on versus officially, we know what the guys coming in there will be on versus?

I don't yet. Okay. Would the thinking be to put those guys on those cards, you know, the guys who have made a name for themselves on the versus cards to keep them fighting on those versus telecasts? Uh, no, we're going to put UFC fights on. These guys are UFC fighters. Once this thing rolls in, their UFC fighters will be fighting everywhere on Spike versus and pay-per-view and everywhere. And what does this mean in terms of your staff? You know, we know that there are people who work for WEC only. What does it mean for them? Yeah, they're going to, they're going to

roll into the UFC now too. Listen, this thing isn't getting smaller, it's getting bigger, you know, we need the staff. Was there a reason why you did it now in terms of you're putting on so many events, you need more title holders and things like that, or is it just the timing with the TV deals and whatnot? No, no. We're at that point now where we're doing more fights and more places than we need more guys. I've been waiting for this day. You know, this is actually a great thing for mixed martial arts, and I can't wait until we add more weight classes now, which will... Good point, because 125 has been one that people have been talking about for a long time. Is that ever going to happen? Yeah, it's absolutely positively going to happen. And, you know, this merger happening

is great for everybody. It's great for the sport. It's great for the light away guys. And it's great for the guys who don't have a place to fight right now. Speaking of TV situations, you recently talked to broadcasting and cable, and they were asking you a bunch of questions about TV deals and whatnot, since we're breaking news here. Anything else you want to break? No, I think they pretty much asked me everything. You know, listen, the guy asked a lot of great questions that I really can't answer right now. So I did my best.

Okay. Final questions. UFC 121 just ended. Have you talked to Brock Lesnar since? I have not. I've talked to his guys, but I haven't talked to Brock. What do you think his mindset is like right now? You know, I think he's, you know, he's probably sore, and it's the first time he's ever had something like that happened to him. He's taking a couple days to rest and relax and sleep and, you know, hang with his family,

and Brock and I'll probably talk in the next few days. Speaking of Mr. Lesnar, I'm sure you're aware of this whole situation with the underdard. That is taking a life of its own online. Are you disappointed? I mean, now we sort of have figured out that The Undertaker was sort of going into business for himself here in terms of trying to create this moment and challenging Brock, so to speak. Are you disappointed that a WWU guy would be sitting caged out of your event and just sort of do something like that? And maybe in some ways just, you know, kind of mess with the integrity of MMA and the UFC?

Not really. I don't think it messes with the integrity. I know The Undertaker. I've known him for a long time. I give him those seats, you know. he's a good guy and whatever his thing is, it just so happened. You happen to be standing there. Brock walked by him and he said what he said.

And everybody went crazy about it. But no, it doesn't bother me at all. Okay. Final question, Tito Ortiz. Have you made a decision on his future? No. You're about to say something. I said, well, no.

All right. So there it is. WC merging with the UFC come January 2011. We look forward to that. Four events on versus the same amount of events, of course, on Spike TV. we thank you for the time. Congratulations on the news. We look forward to those fights going down in the UFC in the near future.

So how about that? Fascinating stuff. It's so much fun to go back to those interviews, especially the ones with Dana Way where we were talking about all this kind of news, mergers, flywates coming, Brock Lesnar, T, Tor, T's, what a different time it was, but also some foreshadowing. TV deal coming up, Fox at the time. I don't even think they were talking to Fox.

I think NBC Universal was perhaps. the frontrunner and Spike was obviously still in play and then moving over to Fox later on, but they were still on Spike TV and very, very interesting, very interesting to go back to that day, October 28, 2010. In fact, he was a little bit wrong because he said it could happen, but he was, he was gearing towards January for the first WC guys to come in, but it actually happened on December 4th, 2010. There were actually three featherweight fights at the Ultimate Fighter 12 finale in Las Vegas. The first ever won was Fretz and Paizhao versus Pablo Garza. And Garza won that fight via flying knee KO. In fact, Fredsen Paizhou was out for a very long time,

it was a very scary moment. This was back in the day when the undercard wasn't even televised. Tyler Toner defeated, actually he lost to Ian Loveland via unanimous decision. And the big fight on the main card was Leonard Garcia versus Nam fan, somewhat controversial, Garcia defeating fan via split decision. So there they were. UFC 125 was supposed to be the debut of Joseoaldo on January 1st of 2011. And you talk about fight cards that were cursed. That was one that was cursed as well.

A ton of injuries on that card. and Jose Aldo was supposed to fight Josh Grisbee pulled out Dustin Porreier stepped in and Dustin Porreier defeated Josh Crispy Josh Crispy went from fighting in the main event to the spike prelims and Las Viet decision

never got that shot Porre of course still in the UFC coming off that loss to Connor McGregor so great stuff there four years it has been and as I mentioned it really feels like the feather weights bantam weights and to a degree the fly weights but I don't think It's the same case.

I mean, it's really a great time to be a featherweight and bantamweight. We care more about those divisions, in my opinion, now more than ever, given what Aldo did on Saturday and Connor, and of course, the return of Dominic Cruz, T.J. Dillshaw, Faber, still very much in the mix. Very interesting time for them. Fun to look back at that interview. All right, let us move along. Let us welcome in Mr. New York Rick. New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here.

How are you on this Tuesday? Doing good. Well, I'm doing well as well. I just came back from Rio. Thanks for asking. And, you know, I got to say, what a trip it was. I was only there for 48 hours. I had three bowls of assayi. Now, have you tried assay before? I have. Not in Brazil, though. Yeah, it's not. It might as well be called pizza here. It's a completely different food. It's unbelievable. I've never really tried anything like this. You're really missing out. I would suggest that it's, worth the trip alone, the flight alone, just to try this SAE, once in a lifetime stuff. I think I'll pass on taking a trip just to taste the assaye. But if I ever do end up there, you can bet I will have it. I got to tell you this one thing.

I went out with Guillermo Cruz and his lovely girlfriend, Carol. Yep. Check this out. We go to this restaurant, right? And we parked the car. Well, he parks the car. He was driving. and he parks the car on the sidewalk, essentially.

It's just a free-for-all. Anyone parks wherever they want. And then we're walking, and this guy comes up to him and says, I don't know what he says, actually, because I don't speak Portuguese, but he clearly is telling him something. And then Guillermo gives him, I don't know, three, four dollars, hairls, Brazilian hairls, right?

I was like, what was up with that guy? What was he asking you for? And this is what he explained to me. There are no parking meters in Brazil, essentially they have these guys who occupy these territories and when you park your car in their territory they'll come up to you and say all right in so many words they won't be as blunt about it but the deal is all right if you're going to park it here and you don't want me to mess with your car key your car ruin your car you know blow out your tires steal your car you're going to have

to give me something and if you give me something then I'll watch out for your car and no one's going to mess with it. you basically have kind of like these pirates who are squatting and he's like yeah look at that guy look at that guy look at that guy they're all these guys just around how messed up is that these guys who you have to pay to leave your car alone and then they act as a watchdog i found that to be mind-blowing what do you think i'd i mean quite honestly if i'm paying you know you know how expensive is to park in new york if i'm paying that kind of money i'd honestly rather be paying these guys to watch my car than just paying a meter. Well, it's a little bit weird, right? Oh, it's certainly weird, but, you know, the value that you're getting, it might not be so bad. Well, I think it's a little strange, especially if the police is involved in one night.

I just couldn't believe that guy, that guy, that guy. These people are watching over your car and you have to pay them off. He told me a story about a guy, you know, who hangs outside of where his girlfriend lives, and he's like, all right, you know, I'm going to be here almost every day. I can't pay you every time, so let's just cut a deal. Maybe at Christmas time, I'll give you a little extra, but you've got to leave me alone. I found this to be unbelievable. There are people who are just out and about, everyone knows what their deal is,

and you just have to pay them off to leave your car alone. What the hell? Very strange. Then we went to this place where they give you essentially muffins. These things look like muffins. They're in the paper and everything, but there's chicken in them, shrimp, apricots, hearts of palm. I highly suggest if you ever go to a foreign country to hang around locals because they expose you and they take you around to things and tell you about things that you would never be exposed. That's why I was so thankful that I was able to hang out with them on this trip because I would never go get that food.

I wouldn't even know where to go to get this food. But it was very interesting stuff like these muffins, but they weren't muffins. They weren't sweet. They were just baked like them with bread, but that stuff inside. You know what I'm saying? I do. sounds delicious. It is delicious.

Wish I had some. Yes. But not going to Brazil just for that. Well, I don't say you go for that. The assayi I think you should go for it. You kind of did so. No, no, the assay you should go just for it. Without a doubt, BB Sukkos, my goal, if anyone wants to get in on this with me, perhaps you,

I want to bring BB Sukkos to the United States and figure out why we can't get it to Brazilian standards. Why we can't make ASEA the same. We can make pizza the same as Italy. We make hamburgers the same as Germaners the same as Germany. Germany. You know, because Hamburg, hamburger. You know, we, we can make sushi

like in Japan. Why can't we figure out asae? I don't get it. Makes no sense. Let's figure it out. You want in on it? I'm in.

You want in? It's a business proposition. Amen. A manager once approached me about getting in on it, but I didn't feel right about it. You know, I don't want to mix business of pleasure,

but he said he was going to do it. Here we are two years later. He hasn't done. done it, I really think someone is sitting on a gold mine. Figure it out. Could be you. I heard it's Guadana. That's the secret ingredient.

You know what Guadana is? No, what is that? You have a lot to learn. You need to get out of Brooklyn. That's your problem. What is it? Oh, it's like this sweetener. It's a great soft drink as well.

I don't know exactly what it is, but it's some kind of sweetener. It is maybe the secret to the assayi goodness that we're missing here in the United States, but it's just fantastic. The food there is great. It was great to be there. The fans are so into it. The journalists are really great. You know what I love about the journalist there, by the way, I must say. They're all so supportive of each other. They're such friends. I mean, it's amazing. Here in the United States, I feel like no one talks to each other.

And there, everyone is so friendly and helpful and supportive and, like, no one's stepping on each other's toes. The MMA journalist I'm talking about. It's really something else. I really enjoy my time over there. We were at the world famous Madagana Zino, which is right across the street from the Maracana. and if you didn't see my interview with Tony Martin, the last MMA fight to happen at the Matakena in 1955, Gileme told me, was Camura versus Gracie. Camora wins via Camora, and then the first fight at this stadium

for a UFC event, he wins via Camorra. How about that? Incredible. Full circle. I mean, that's freaky stuff if you ask me. Anyway, let's answer some questions. It was a great trip overall. It was a very quick trip, but I was in and out, and I enjoyed it.

Okay, our first question. We talked about this last week. Let's see if your stance has changed. Aldo versus Mendez 3, generally, two losses to the current champ makes it very difficult to sell a third fight. However, do you think given how entertaining Aldo versus Mendez 2 was, there's a chance we may see a third fight between them in the future? I think it's going to be a while. I think there's a bit of a queue building up now. I mean, Cub Swanson is in there. Frankie might be in there. I mean, those guys haven't had a second crack at Aldo. So it's going to be hard to get a third crack before some guys get a second crack. And of course, you have guys like Bermudez and Connor, most importantly, who haven't even fought him once.

So I think it's going to be a while. Unfortunately, for Chad Mendes, he has now finally reached that Yeraiah Faber, Joseph Benevita's territory, where he lost to the champion twice. Although Faber got lucky now because Brow's in the champion, but he was stuck in that territory for a bit, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough to get a tough shot. I wonder. I mean, Mendez is going to go out there. He's going to keep winning fights. He's just, he's stuck in that, rich Franklin, right? He was in that territory as well, losing twice to the champion. So I don't see it happening. Even though the fight was tremendous, I don't see it happening anytime soon. This question posits, why is Connor still on free TV? Dana has claimed over and over that McGregor is a needle mover, quote unquote, and gets spots and seats. If this is true, why does he keep getting put on free TV in a time when pay-per-view sales are struggling? And there's a shortage of stars.

doesn't it make sense to have the few remaining draws for pay-per-view? Maybe Connor isn't as big as many claim. The viewership certainly indicates this. Aside from Ireland, where he is obviously a megastar, the cards he's been on have not brought in record-setting numbers. Well, I completely disagree with everything said in this question. First off, okay, his first fight was on Facebook, Marcus Brimidge, Facebook. His second fight was on Fox Sports 1 prelums on the first day for Fox Sports 1,

August 17th of last year. So it was the very first day for the channel. his third fight was on fight pass, and then his fourth fight was on a paper view, but it was headlined by a fight that no one really cared about. It was a great fight on paper for the hardcores, but I don't suspect that it did record numbers. So this, in my opinion, main event slot,

Fox Sports 1, more established, right after the NFC championship game, where they will obviously be pumping it up. You know, the NFC championship game is on Fox, so you know that they're going to promote Fox Sports 1. That's why they're doing this fight on a Sunday, in Boston, this is his biggest opportunity. You have to sometimes take a step back

and you can't throw guys on pay-per-view. These days, free shows are seen by more people than the pay-per-views. So this, in my opinion, as a concept, is a brilliant move. This is the move other than going on Fox, like Big Fox, this is the move that you have to make. Now, does the fight make sense?

I don't like the fight. I'll come out and say it. I don't like the fight. Why? Hold off on that. Okay. There'll be a question on that. Okay, but as far as the actual platform is concerned, no, this is the right move.

It makes more sense, in my opinion, to put him on this than some, you know, co-main event of a pay-per-view. But I think they're saying we're being fed the line that Connor is already this huge star. I don't know if we're being fed that line, to be honest with you. Who's feeding us that line? He's being treated like a star. He's being flown around, you know, the Fortita Hotel, the suits, the, you know, the interviews, the kids.

Q&A, all that stuff. I mean, yeah, he's being treated that way, but no one is actually going out. I mean, in fact, I got to give Dana credit. He was actually doing his best to build up Denisiever, which he's going to do, and we'll get to the fight in a second. But I really feel like subconsciously, they're doing everything. It's very clear what is happening. The seeds. Very clear. But no one is actually coming out and saying, look at the records. Look at this. Look at that. Except for fight pass. But that was expected because that was fight pass. And the thing has only been around for seven months, you know, at the time they did. other than him being a bigger star than Brock Lesnar and GSP and all that.

Okay, you're right. You're right about that. You know, I have to say about that comment, I think we need to go back and look at the clip. That was said to mean an interview, and it was transcribed in a tweet, essentially. And I'm not sure if the context was put out there the right way. I mean, I don't remember the interview now. It was said after UFC 178, and they never posted the whole thing. for some reason. I have no idea why they never posted the whole thing online. They cut out that part. They just posted the first two minutes and it happened in the fourth

minute. But I think we need to go back. And I'm not trying to make excuses here. Obviously, he's not as big as GSP and Brock Lester. And I think it's going to be hard to even surpass them when all is said and done. But I don't know. You like the strategy. I'm fine with putting him on free TV. But the fight, we'll get to that. Okay, here's the question. Guys, do you see Dennis Sever as a big threat to Connor McGregor? Seaver has pretty good top game on the ground and fairly decent kickboxing with power,

but Connor can possibly TKO him similar to how Cove did. Thoughts on the style matchup? And do you think Connor should face Mendez before he fights Aldo for the belt? So this is assuming that he has already beaten him, Siever that is. Mendez has clearly shown that he's right below the champ. So I know it's cool to criticize the UFC for how they've handled Connor McGregor. but as far as the fights are concerned, I think that he has had to have, you know, a pretty tough run.

I mean, this is a tough road. All the guys that he has fought and defeated are still in the UFC. Marcus Brimidge at the time was undefeated in the weight class. Max Holloway, as we've come to learn, is no joke, tough guy. Of course, he was supposed to fight Cole Miller, then Diego Brando. Tough winner, okay, fine, step up in competition. Not the biggest step up, but I was fine with the matchup. And, of course, I was fine with Dustin Poria as well, top five guys.

this is the one that I'm not fine with for a couple reasons. The main one is Dennis Siever is one fight removed from a PED suspension, right? I mean, he came back, he beat Rosa, but prior to that, he had been suspended for using HCG and he was on the sidelines for quite some time. And I have a problem. I view Connor McGregor these days as the featherweight version of Floyd Mayweather. They're essentially the same way class, but my point is everyone wants to fight him. Everyone, every weight class wants to fight him.

He's a lottery ticket at this point. He's kind of like Michael Bissping to a degree. And I just don't know if, or I actually don't know. I feel as though someone who is coming off of a suspension for using a PED should not be given that lottery ticket. I don't care if it's one fight removed, two fights removed. I think it's too fresh. I think it's too fresh to do that. So I feel like he doesn't deserve it.

and then let's talk about the numbers. Let's talk about the records. As far as the official UFC rankings are concerned, Dennis Siever is ranked ninth. You know, I just have a hard time justifying, and I get it. Look, this reminds, what does this remind me of? I had one in my mind.

I was thinking about it earlier with this fight. They've done this before. The precedent is there. You know, you roll the dice, you win, and now you're even bigger, you're seen by more people. I get what they're trying to do, but I just kind of wish that it was against someone more worthy.

I just wish that. And, you know, let's be honest, things can happen. Things can happen in a fight. So what, right now everyone, no one would complain with Aldo versus McGregor now, right? I mean, you can't complain. The beef is there. Yep.

So why roll the dice? So you're, but you've addressed this specifically from Dennis Siever standpoint. What about from Connor McGregor's standpoint? Well, for him, I mean, he's getting paid. Can't forget about that. And he's getting to fight someone who he will probably be, right?

So there's, he's getting, he's getting a chance to remain active. And, you know, hone his skills, get a little more confident, comfortable. There's no negative if, A, he wins, and B, remains healthy. No serious injury. You're all good. Your main eventing in Boston, you're going to be treated like a star. You're going to be promoted, NFC championship game. You know, you're going to sell a lot of tickets.

You're going to make money. All that stuff is all good. But I'm just saying, you know, right now, it kind of reminds me of Crowe Cop versus Couture. you know, you have the fight, don't screw it up. And I'm afraid, you know, even we talk about on the show on the time. Timing is everything, right? With title shots? Well, the timing works out here.

You know, you could come out and book that fight right now, and you can be like, look, Cub, you're fighting November 22nd. We can't wait that long. We got to book this fight. And you can get the winner if you want. Let's see what happens with your fight, of course. The timing works out. Now, the timing doesn't work out at all. Now, of course, you know, Alda can wait.

he fights every, you know, seven, eight months anyways, so the timing would work out there, but I just don't like the idea of messing with things. And more importantly, I don't like the idea of a guy lower rank coming off a PED suspension, getting this lottery ticket. Quickly, before we move on, Connor versus Mendez rather than jumping straight to the title shot. No, I would never do that for one main reason,

because if Mendez wins, you don't want to go a third route. You can't do that again. Can't do the third fight again. It's too soon. So you want to keep your options open. And there's a bit of a beef there, but Siever, you know, he has his beak English. Connor, you know, says a lot of things about him. And even he acknowledged that it's a little weird that he's getting the shot.

But you know what I mean? Do you not agree with me? You like the fight. I mean, it's, I think it's just a fight for. It's a showcase. Yeah, a fight for Connor McGregor to showcase himself. But this isn't pro wrestling. And that's not from me analyzing.

his skills versus Dennis Siever's skills. I'm saying it from the perspective of what it's supposed to be or what it's being presented as, which is Dennis Seaver is a tough fighter and let's watch Connor McGregor take him out. You know, if he wins and is healthy and he'll come off like a star in Boston and like I said, promoted an MNC championship, it's a brilliant move, but unfortunately we can't predict these things. Yeah. We can't script these things. So right now, between now and January,

the fight we want to see, right, is Aldo v. McGregor. We all agree on that, right? Yep. At this point, we're ready to see it. I'm nervous that we're going to screw it up. You know, I think that fight is ready to be in a stadium in Ireland, and it's pretty damn close to being ready in Brazil as well coming off that win. I'm nervous about screwing it up, and this is, you know, look, is not the toughest guy's fight?

I mean, I would venture to say that Porier is obviously tougher than him. You can make a strong case that Holloway is tougher than him. Right? you can make that case. I don't know what would happen. Who would you pick in that fight? Holloway or Seaver? I might go Seaver.

Fair enough. Stylistically. But I understand your point. It's not a gimmie, right? It's not a gimmie and it's not, this is not a significantly bigger step for Conno McGregor or anything like that. Well, it's a step back. I mean, Poria is better.

Maybe, possibly a step back, but if not a step back, lateral at best. Fair enough. It's just, it's risky. But, hey, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, curious to see what they do with Cub and Bermudas and those guys. Again, it just proves that if you talk, you get people invested, you get people robbed up. And I got to tell you, did you see the Q&A on Friday? Uh, no, I saw the tweets. I did not see the Q&A. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. It wasn't a Q&A. It was everyone stepping up to the mic,

threatening him. He had a bodyguard there. It was Andy Kaufman in Memphis, him telling them that he's going to take their women and all this stuff and insulting them. him. He has a bodyguard right next to him. He's dancing around like Vince McMahon. I mean, the whole thing was surreal. I thought there was going to be a brawl. I thought there was going to be a huge riot there because he was just egging them on. It was unbelievable. They need to package that. We'll have a good question about that later. This one you kind of addressed a little bit. So let's just hit this briefly with Dana saying Connor gets the next shot if he can get past Dennis. People, a seever that is. People are worried about Cub Swanson. I have no sympathy. This is a little bit of a rain. Well, you could go. You could go. I'll fight whoever the UFC gives me because this is sports and entertainment. If you want to be in the public eye and not an empty gym like most martial arts, you have to be entertaining. No one is asking him to be Connor, chale, or call someone out. We are asking for him to be unique, entertaining in himself.

Here's the actual question. What should Cub do to be entertaining but true to himself? Well, if you notice, he's becoming a lot more vocal. He's starting to see what's happening here, and he's seeing his opportunities slip away, and he's going on Twitter. now the key is what's he going to say leading up to that fight on November 22nd? What's he going to say after that fight if he wins? That's the key. You know, how is he going to get the people behind him?

Is he going to say, once again, I'm not going to beg? Because then I can assure you he's not getting the title shot. You know, I'm not quite certain that he, you know, he put out that tweet about being assured a tell shot. I'm not sure if that's the case. Does it matter? Can he skip? At this point? The line.

I don't know, man. I don't think it matters. I think the train has left the stage. I think it's over. Unfortunately, because, as I've said a million times, I think I'd like to, first of all, I'd like to see Cubs Swanson get a second shot. And I'd also like to see Cubs Swanson. I don't even remember where I was going at that.

But the second thing was Cubs Swanson deserves the second title shot. I want to see it, and he has more than earned the second title shot. If you beat Frankie Edgar, you have a strong case. But if Cubs wins and Bermuda's wins, it's not a bad number one contender fight. It's unfortunate for them, but look, Connor is winning. He's won four in a row, and look at all these questions about him. He's a huge star. He's top five right now in the UFC as far as people who we talk about.

The other thing that's interesting is Connor McGregor smartly established a system where everybody calls out Connor McGregor, and it doesn't mean anything. Because they're all calling him out. It doesn't, it doesn't generate any fights, or it generates only one fight, but he's called everybody out. and calling out Connor McGregor is almost meaningless at this point. It doesn't get you anything. Because everybody's on that line. You don't get anything out of that. Sure, but it just shows how everyone wants that lottery ticket.

Cole Miller was the first one to do it and he got it, but now everyone's doing it so it's hard to get and the UFC's going to go their own way. Well, it was because of Connor, not because of anything. It was entirely because he called everybody out and made calling him out meaningless because he already did it. Now he's the one who's benefiting from it. But Cole got that fight because he called that Connor first. He was the first one to really call him out.

Yeah. But now everyone's calling him out. So it really reminds me of Michael Bisping. Everyone wants that lottery ticket. The UFC's going to go any way they want. And that just proves once again that, you know, you talk some trash and you become all of a sudden one of the most talked about guys in the UFC. I mean, I really think he's top five, right?

Who's that? Connor. As far as who the people care about right now, most talked about guys in the U.S. what you're saying. You know, you can make a case, John Jones. I'm not ranking them right now, but John Jones, Ronda Rousey, you know, I don't know what to do with Pettison Kane because they've been out for so long.

Connor? Yeah, I think Connor's pretty comfortably in that top five. Yeah. Our next question, speaking of people selling themselves, is Davis still a hard sell for the title? I thought his performance against Glover was nothing short of amazing, but I can't pretend that there have been a few fights where I didn't think. much of Davis and that he would never make it to the top. There were a number of haters after this fight, and I couldn't understand what the hate was about. Do you think Davis can shed this image?

I'll tell you the only thing I didn't like about Phil Davis on Saturday night was the post-fight interview. I really didn't like the post-fight interview, and I think it was very telling because that was a dominant win over a former number one contender. I mean, it was dominant. It was very one-sided. In his home country, in Glover's home country, coming off an embarrassing, loss to Anthony Johnson, a loss where he was talking a lot about the champion, and, you know, Johnson, this win, you know, this win on Saturday night made Johnson even look better. Johnson went out there in his second fight back in the UFC and just completely dominated Phil Davis. So Davis rebounds was relatively quiet. We tried to get him on the show.

You know, wasn't having it, relatively quiet going up to the fight and goes out there and takes care of business. And in a division where there aren't a lot of contenders left for John Jones after D.C. and Gustafson, and let's not forget, Phil Davis still has that win over Gustafin. In my opinion, Phil Davis squandered a major opportunity to get himself back in the mix. He's not going to get the title shot next. He's not going to get in two fights because there's already a line there. But get yourself back in the conversation. Instead, he calls out Anderson Silva.

And look, I can appreciate something like that. I appreciate calling out a legend. But I didn't think the timing was right, especially Anderson comes back. He's in Brazil. First time back, gets a squandered. great ovation, this great walkout. And I kind of felt like he was raining on his parade, to be honest. And I love callouts. I love all that stuff. But it just didn't feel like the right time. Plus, there's no way they're going to do Phil Davis for Sanj and Silva. Yes, I know he's fought at

205, but it's just not a fight that anyone's clamoring for at this point. So why waste that opportunity? All he had to say was, I'm back. John Jones, I'm coming for you. You better watch out. You better hope that, you know, you can get by this guy and this guy, and then I'm coming for you. I will never make that same mistake twice. I will never lose again until I meet John Jones, and I'm getting that tell. That's what he had to say. That's how you capture people's attention.

That's how you get people talking about you, not calling out Anderson someone being like, what? So the performance was great. It was the post-fight stuff that I just, I did not agree with. Our next question about the lack of depth in the light-heavyweight division. The light-heavyweight division has essentially had the same fighters in the top 10 for the last couple of years. It is like it's on repeat with the same guys.

getting matched up and 80% of the fights are meaningless, as most have lost to the top three guys in Jones, Gustafson, and Daniel Karmier. With the Jones injury, it also means the new slash real contenders like Gustafsson, Davis, and Rumble Johnson will have to take fights, but against who and what if they lose? With no new emerging prospects who will take their place, light heavyweight is in danger of becoming completely irrelevant, full of recycled fighters. How can the UFC bring new life to a division, which was considered the best three to four years ago? I'm not too worried about that. People say that all the time.

They've said that about the middleweight division. They've said that about the featherweight division. They've said that about the band of weight division. And look at those divisions now. They've said that about the lightweight division. I mean, everything is cyclical. People come around, prospects emerge. I'm not worried about that.

But that just goes to show that Phil Davis is in a very unique spot. Let's put Anthony Johnson on the sidelines. It's very unfortunate. He would be so close to a title shot, but we don't know what's happening with him, suspended indefinitely. Phil Davis is one of the few guys who hasn't fought John Jones, who wasn't lost to John Jones. He is very close to a title shot, whether we like it or not.

He's just there. So why waste your... Why not call out the champion? That's the bigger fight for you. That's the possible fight for you. The other fight is not possible, so why waste your time with that? I wonder if he bounced this idea off someone, and they told him it was a good idea,

because if I were him, I think if you would have called out John Jones, people would have been buzzing, been like, you know what? Phil Davis, one more win, and he's in that conversation. you look at the top 10, he's really one of the few guys who has an actual chance of fighting for the belt in the next year and a half. And for some reason, he didn't go that route. I have no idea why. And let's also remember that the champion and, you know, the probable number one contender, Gustafsson, are both relatively young. So even if the division as a whole isn't quite young, the guy at the top is probably going to be there for a while, and they'll find matchups for him, regardless of whether they're prospects or established fighters or whatever it may be.

Yeah, and he's in a good spot because I think people would be down to see him to fight against Jones. I know people would be down to see him against Cormier, and he has a win over Gustavson. You know, he's in a pretty good spot. The one guy that is troublesome for him is Rashad because he had that very one-sided loss to him, but Rashad's not in the picture, at least right now. He was coming back at some point. I just think Phil Davis could have used that opportunity much more to his advantage. I agree with you, but I think they'll match him up with somebody good and he'll get another win.

He doesn't have to be a comedian all the time. You know, like sometimes we just want to hear why you want to go out there and kick ass and win the title. That's fair enough. But that's who he is. I just don't think he hurt his chances. I mean, I think it was just, you know, an opportunity. He could have called out John Jones and didn't. Because he has some great wins.

His resume is pretty damn impressive. He didn't take a step back, but he, He could have easily taken a step forward. Yes. I agree. Our next question. This is a three-parter. Let's try and bang, bang, bang.

What are the chances of Anderson Silva actually finishing out this new contract? Probably the same as Connor becoming heavyweight champ. Correct. Yes or no? Anderson Silva finishes his new contract. The 15-fight thing? Yeah. My response to that is all that glitters is not gold.

You feel me? I guess. I'm going to go and say no. I don't think he was going to finish his original contract, the new contract. I don't think there's any chance he has that many fights. I would love to. I would love if he did.

But at the same time, you know, guys can get cut when they're at the end of their road. They can retire and not fulfill those contracts. I don't think, you know, Anderson's over. Go ahead. Why we get worked up about these contracts, I have no idea. These aren't guaranteed deals. it's not like he's getting paid for all the fights on his deal. You know, people can get cut.

People can retire. People can do a whole bunch of stuff. You're not going to pay. You're going to pay for the fights that you fight. So why do we get so worked up on these deals? This guy signs a new three-fight deal, four-fight deal. It really doesn't mean anything at the end of the day. I mean, for something like Anderson, I guess, okay, you just want to have him locked up

so that he doesn't go to Belator at this point, which is obviously not going to happen. But, you know, that's the significance. 400 fight deal. It means nothing. People are, wow, why do he sign... What, he's not getting paid for 15 fights off the bat, if that's even true? Our next question, now that Fight Pass is almost hitting its one-year mark, will we see a title defended on Fight Pass in the future? If so, which one would you predict it is?

By the way, Uncle Creepy, going after Linneker, post-MMA hour interview, He said, I wish people give more fucks about John Linnaker, so we actually got some publicity out of this fight. And then Linnaker responded to him, and he said, English, please, and take the fork out of your mouth before you talk, Kay? Thanks, Cupcank. I feel like if I made chimp noises, you'd understand me better. Uh-uh, ah, uh, I'm going to embarrass you, fat boy.

Oh, my. Yikes. What were you saying? Fight Pass. Well, we see a title defended on Fight Pass. Oh, you know what? I don't know. There are, how many titles now?

Heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantam weight, flyweight. So there's going to be 10 by the end of the year with the straw weights coming. They need those for pay-per-view. They made it clear that pay-per-view is, you know, the main events, that's for title fights. And then number one contender fights on Fox, then FS1, then Fight Pass. I have a hard time seeing a title fight going to fight pass anytime. soon. So this next question is about title fights we've seen on free TV. The welterweight, featherweight, and women's band and weight titles are the only ones not to be defended on free TV. Wow.

Which includes Fox, FS1, FX, versus, etc. Which title would be the first of those to be defended on free TV? When was the light heavyweight title defended on free TV? Oh, I know. Dan Henderson versus Rampage on Spike. Um, if I had to pick, I don't know, if I had to pick, I'll go a women's bantam weight because that's the one that probably needs a little more pushing. Ron Rousey, I'll go with that. Sure. You? I don't know. I don't, I mean, it's tough, but you don't know who's going to be the champion when that time finally comes. You have to pick one. Um, picking a number between one and three. Uh, featherweight it is. Featherweight title. Connor McGregor on free TV one day as champion. That's my prediction. How about poor Nick Lentz? Dennis Siever actually went above him in the rankings. That's... This proves how stupid those rankings are.

It's like, whoever's in the news, let's bump him up. You know what I mean? How did Porier... Anyhow. And why is Chan Sung still in the rankings? Our final question from the website. What fights are you looking forward to, for the remainder of the year? And why?

Mine are Hendricks Loller 2 because of the first battle. and Bisping Rockhold for obvious reasons. Well, definitely Bissping Rockhold next. Can't wait for that fight. November 7. I'm excited about Hunt for Doom. I mean, obviously, it's a bummer, but, you know, it's still the KFC King getting his title shot,

so I'm excited about that. Hendricks Lawler is going to be great. First fight, in my opinion, is still the fight of the year. Just barely above Aldo versus Mendez. And, I mean, I want to see Pettis back, of course, against Melendez. Some good fights coming up. I feel like I'm missing one.

The tough 20 finale. Oh, the return in A. Diaz. I quickly wrote down a few myself. You touched upon Pettus Melendez, Edgar Swanson. McCall Lineker coming up. I really like that fight. I'm excited about that. I guess Uncle Creepy wishes there was a little more promotion, but I love that.

Bobby Green versus Edson Barbosa. Tony Ferguson versus Abel Trujillo. that one's going to be awesome. Swanson Edgar is a very important fight. Very important. Another one I wrote, how about New York's own ally Akinta versus Ross Pearson?

That's an exciting one. November 7. There's a lot of... JDS Miyoch. It's going to be a good end of the year. Yeah, that should be fun. The return of Braille? Junior come back.

Well, I mean, he wasn't gotten that long. Well, I mean, the return. I mean, let's see if he get back on track. And it will be seven months. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, he was a champion. Nate Diaz? Nate Diaz. That's going to be exciting.

Yeah, it's good. And then right at the beginning of next year, you've got Nick Diaz coming back. Oh, next year is bananas. Yeah. If it all holds up, Jones Cormier, Ronda Katzenegano, Diaz against Silva, Wydenman, Belfort. That's just in the first two months. It's going to be a good 2015.

Hopefully, better than 2014. What does that mean? Well, 2014, there were so many great fights, and then they all fell apart. See, now you... I jinxed it? You can't talk about it. Well, I'm just being honest. It's been very frustrating.

I mean, the cane thing was just the cherry on top. Bear with me as I get these Twitter questions out. First Twitter question. What did you think of Aldo's post-fight speech? And you already touched on that. And now we have a picture to accompany that. Oh, yes. How about this?

Aldo the King. Look at Mendez, the Prince. The Joker himself, Connor McGregor, the, the, the Joker is the best one. I saw somebody on Twitter who aptly pointed it out that it kind of combined playing cards and, like, medieval. Well, what's a prince? A prince would be under a king. No, I know, but in the playing cards? Maybe a jack or something?

No, yeah, a jack or something like that. And then the Joker would be the other one. But Connor would be more appropriately called a jester in that nomenclature. But either way, it was an incredible, like, it was a little unexpected. But I think the fact that it was translated almost worked better because he said it. People exploded for it. And then we got the translation and it delivered for sure. I would like to challenge Josealdo.

I have a simple challenge for Josealdo. I'd love to see him try to do some interviews in English. Because I got to be honest with you, I saw him. I interviewed him after the Wands and after his win. And he said, hey, Ariel, thank you, Ariel. He clearly speaks English. He gets it. I mean, he's obviously not fluent,

but I can assure you the man understands English, because you can tell when you're asking a question he's starting to process it and he's about to answer. I just think it would help him out so much. He has a great personality. He's a fun-loving guy. Clearly, you know, he's able to come up with one-liners. I think if you would start to speak English, just try a little bit.

It would do wonders for his career. So that is my challenge to Jose Aldo. Start speaking. Just trying because I think it will go, look what a difference to JDS, Anderson, the Nogara brothers. The list goes on and on. When there's an effort being shown, I think people start to get excited about that and they like you a little more. It helps you. It's not just for us, the media.

It actually helps as far as your popularity is concerned. Maybe it can help with this. What do you think about what does Josie Aldo have to do to be the pound for pound king? In my opinion, he needs to beat the Joker in Connor McGregor, then move up to 150 and take that strap home as well. How about the responses to this question? Well, his friend, his friend got a little. Was it his friend?

His friend writes to shut up, fool, and then he writes to his friend, I'm trying to get my question on TV, so F off, LOL. Mission accomplished. Yeah, well done. It's on a TV right now. You know, I think he's number two,

and I think that if he beats Connor... If he beats Connor... Well, listen, listen, if he beats Connor and then goes up, because, okay, let's see, obviously we have to see what happens, but if Lamos beat Bermudas and Edgar beat Swanson, it's going to be... I mean, there aren't that many options from him right now,

and he's... Look at the interview. you with Dana. Talked about 155 with Kenny Florian. That was four years ago. I think if he went up there and obviously won... And then Kenny Florian came down. Yeah. Weird, right? U.S. U.S. 136. He's right there. I mean, I was

actually talking to Uri Fabor about this after the fight, and he was making a strong case for Aldo being number one. I still think Jones is number one given who he has defeated and how he's defeated them, but Aldo's right there. Pound for pound is so subjective, but one, two, that's pretty damn good.

So I think he's there. I just think, honestly, I think that we don't appreciate Jose Aldo enough. Is it because of what you said? I mean, I think it's a bunch of things. Maybe his performances as of late, it doesn't feel like he's going out there and really, you know, he's really engaged in the fight. I don't know, but it just feels like,

I talked about this a little bit on the pre-fight show on Saturday. Like, we need to really start appreciating this guy because talents like this do not come around very often. And I think after Mendez getting a second crack at him and fighting the fight that he fought and defeating him, I think he's finally starting to get a bit of that respect. but it felt, you know, there's something to be said for just, you know, Dana is very powerful as far as sending a message, right, and putting something out there. And when he puts something out there and, you know, he backs Ronda Rousey and Chuck Liddell, Hannah-Brough, didn't really go that well.

But when you hear Dana backing these guys, I think the fans start to get on board. And he's never, for whatever reason, has never really done that with Joseo Alto, you know, and I think that has something to do with it as well. So I'd love to see the UFC push this guy. This guy is really damn good. and he's an all-time great. He's the greatest featherweight of all time. He's a Hall of Famer for sure. He's one of the greatest fighters of all time. You make a strong case for Joe Zaldo

being one of the top ten greatest fighters of all time. No joke. Right? I agree with you. Why doesn't he get that respect? Maybe he doesn't speak enough English or at all. Maybe he seemed disinterested in his fights. Or, or maybe he just hasn't found that foil.

And that's where Connor comes in. Because look at Anderson pre-chail and post-chail. Chale did more for Anderson than Anderson did for Chale. Yes. Anderson was the one with the Burger King and the Nike and all that after that fight. What does Chale have? Chale has a name that's recognizable. Well, and what? If Anderson went out and starched him, would you ever have been talking about Chale Sondon after that? But that's what I'm saying. Chale did more for Anderson than Anderson did to Chale.

Rewan. I'm saying, would you be talking about Chale Sondon? on it if Anderson went out and starched him. Well, he did starch him the second time. Well, he already made his name. No, no, no, but I'm talking about just what he brought out of Anderson. The trash talk, the feud, all that stuff. That made Anderson who he is today. And in the story of the first fight, coming back from the injury and all that and from the

jaws of defeat was tremendous for his legacy. But even up until that point, like that fight, it helped him definitely the way the fight went to ultimately winning the fight, but I think that even if he would won that fight via knockout on the first round, he still would have been a huge star because of the rivalry leading up to that fight. And then it just got even better. Beats him in the fifth round after getting killed the entire fight and then coming back and beating him again after the rivalry getting even more heated. I don't know if I necessarily agree with you that he did more from him. He did more. What did Chale gained? Okay, so Chale Gain the Fox deal and obviously got paid.

We would not be talking about Chal Sondon if he didn't. you know, get that Anderson-Solo fight and put on a great performance. If he fought somebody else, we wouldn't be talking about Chal Sondon. Chale won four rounds but lost the fight. So Chale doing what he, even in that sense, like Chale-dominating and then losing, who did that benefit more? Anderson or Chale? But it was because it was Anderson-Silva.

It was because it was the guy. He won those four rounds from the guy. Don't get me wrong. It helped Chal-Sanin. Chil-San was just a mid-tier middleweight. That's what I'm saying. But I think... He elevated Chale from a mid-tier guy

to somebody that got a title fight with John Jones based on... He didn't do anything. Chale elevated it himself. Chale was the only one to call him out, talk trash. But Anderson needed Chale to become the star that he is today to be loved the way he is today. You know what I'm saying? I do.

Anderson didn't throw a life to kill and help him out. I do know exactly what you're saying because I remember around that time, there was still a lot of talk, a lot, lot, lot of talk of Fador being the guy. Sure. And this is still, you know, this is still after it was almost, you know, it was, in my opinion, I thought that Anderson was the guy at that time. And it became, it became more true as time went on and he started acquiring more wins and things like that.

But at the time, there was still a lot of people who were, you know, who were beating the drum for Fador. And I think after that fight and the subsequent fights, you know, finishing Chale, Vitor and all that, that Anderson Silva's legend became bigger. And I think that that was the jumping off point for that. So I definitely agree with you that that fight was pivotal in Anderson Silva's career and his legacy as the best fighter ever. But I think that he elevated Chale just by being Anderson Silva. 1,000 percent, but you get what I'm trying to say, right? Like Chale had to do all the work himself.

Oh, he did the heavy lifting. Yeah. And Anderson wasn't, I mean, after UFC 112, I mean, people hated Anderson. People were tired of him, wanted to see him get cut. People hated this guy. Now he's walking out to sold out arenas. Anderson wasn't a star at that point.

He became a star after he knocked out Vitor Belfort. And then he went to Brazil and defeated Okami. I mean, this was way past the Chale fight. Yes. Remember that. That was 126. Chale was 117. He only became a star in Brazil.

Brazil wasn't paying attention to 117. So that's why I'm saying I feel like, okay, then the rematch and everything, okay, then he became a huge star. but, you know, the stuff leading up to it, I mean, it wasn't being felt all the way to Brazil. It's being felt here to a degree, but his image was severely damaged. Anyway, the point is, everyone needs a foil. Bird needed magic, you know, Ali needed Frazier. Yeah, they elevated each other.

Everyone needs a foil. Yeah, everyone does. And Aldo never had that. He never had that guy. Connor's that guy. Our next question, Ariel, you witnessed the Q&A. I told you we would come back to us. Will Connor get to the Chale level of heat in Brazil?

A super show at Maracanaa is that how you say it, versus Aldo would be epic. I mean, it's there. I mean, they never brought Chale to do a Q&A like that in Brazil, so it's hard to compare. And they were very careful with Chale. Because Chale was, you know, there was something, there was something very personal about Chale

and he was actually going after these people but Conner is just as personal and the thing is I think people truly believe that Connor is a threat to Aldo and people compare him to Chale I get it there are comparisons there and especially when comparing the champion that they're talking about Aldo

Sylvan never had that foil but that was a very very tense situation no one was asking him a question it was essentially come up to the mic insult him and it's unfortunate that they weren't translating in the microphone and the translator was just essentially talking to Connor and then you'd hear his response,

but it was super tense, and he was loving it. He was eating it up. He was, you know the Vince McMahon walk? He was doing that all over the place. The haters going to hate strutting down the... He called it the billionaire strut. It was just amazing. Now, have you seen other Q&As?

Yeah, I've been to thousands of them at this point. Let's be honest. They don't really ask questions at those things anyway. No, no, but it's all ass kissing. It's all like, oh, who do you think he's going to... You know, this was... And Connor was like, oh, yeah, come here and say it's my face. Like he was challenging them.

This guy was like, you know, you're a fake purple belt or whatever he's, brown belt, I think he is. Connor was like, bring me your mamacitas. It was, it was Andy Kaufman in Memphis when he's talking about, you know, the toilet paper, and this is a bar of soap, and this is how you rub yourself, and this is how you clean yourself, you people smell. That's what it was. In fact, I asked Connor afterwards, I was like, you know who Andy Coppin was because I thought he stole it from him.

He says he'd never heard of him, and I believe him grew up in Ireland. Why the hell would he hear of Andy Kaufman, who was around way before he was. he was born. But it was, if you know Andy Coppin in Memphis, his feud with Jerry Lawler, going into his home turf and insulting the people and the legend there, it was straight out of that. It was unbelievable. If you haven't seen that Q&A video, you must go out and see it. This is our final question, and it needed to be asked. What's next for Neil Magny, top 10 fighter next, or title contender fight? Neil Magny, what a fascinating story this is, because this is a guy who lost two of three in the UFC,

And, you know, no one's talking about Neil Magni. Who's talking about him? He's on the undercard. And on Saturday, he ties Roger Huerta's record, modern-day UFC record for most wins in one calendar year. Five wins. This is, I'm not talking about the tournaments and all that. Just, you know, post-tournament era of UFC. He wins five in a row in 2014 and says he wants to get one more.

And he says he wants to fight in Phoenix. On December 13, break the record. But the problem is, when I interviewed him afterwards, he's like, oh, whoever the UFC he wants. Man, say someone. But you can... Say something. Say even top 10.

Say top 10. Just say that. You know what I mean? You can bet, though, that if somebody falls off, he'll be jumping in at an opportunity. Okay, but the top 10... I agree with you. The UFC top 10, top 15, doesn't even have him. He's not...

Like, who's talking about Neil Magny in the top 15? Well, the quality of opponent he's beaten in this streak hasn't been... That's the problem. You know, worthy of... much note. That's the problem. So, like, would you put them in your top 15 right now? Would you put them?

I mean, that's, let me, let me, uh, would you put them, let me, take a look. Here's, here's a 10 to 15. Give me a list. Dung Young Kim, Kelvin Gaslam, 11, Rick Story, 12, door to me and 13. Gunner Nelson 14, Ryan LaFlair, 15. No, I would not put him in over any of those guys. I think he could have earned himself a fight with some of those guys, though. So he beat, um, he beat, you know, Patilino on Saturday.

Yep. via TKO. He beat Alex Garcia. He beat Rodrigo de Lima. He beat Tim Means and Gassan Umalatov at UFC 169. That's when this all started. These are all solid wins. Yeah, they're all solid. They're all good. I mean, I mean, I agree. Maybe you put him 15 over Ryan LaFlair, maybe, because he's been a little active here. You throw him a bone. I don't know. The point is,

I don't even know if he gets a top 10 fight next. Do you push him just because he's won five in a row? No, I think he's earned himself at least a chance at the next level. But is that top 15 or is that top 10? Top 15. Rick Story, Jordan Means. If they put him in a top 10 fight, I wouldn't complain. So maybe you put him against Gunner Nelson?

Yeah, why not? I don't know if Gunner's going to come back in December. He wants to fight in December. And I think that's kind of cool and that would probably be good for him if he's healthy to try to break that record because that would be a feather in his cap. But I would just love to see him. Just get on the mic and don't, okay, you don't want to say a name? Fine.

Just say top 10. just say I want to get respect. I want to be ranked. I've won five in a row. I have the longest active winning streak in the Walterweight division. You know that? The longest act of winning streak. Think about all the guys. Rory, Robbie. Of course, they're fighting tougher guys. But still, he has something that he can now, you know, run with. And again, I thought, you know, look, you can't force these guys to not be themselves. But I think we need to recognize this part of the job at this point, right? Going out there and winning is one thing. And it's the most important thing. It'll always be the most important thing.

No one would care about Connor McGregor if he didn't win, but you have to get people interested. That's a big deal. That's a record. I can assure you if a loudmouth guy, you know, got that record on Saturday, we'd be hearing a whole lot about it. So we'll see, that's interesting.

Yep. That's it for the questions. Okay, one last thing before I go, and a reminder that the Michael Bispeng, Luke Rockhold, conference call is live at the top of the hour, 5 o'clock Eastern, 2 p.m. in the west, and 9 p.m. GMT. The UFC, right as we started this show, the UFC sent out a little press release. It wasn't even a press release. It was like a picture.

It said, UFC, the time is now, and now is in red. It said, save the date for a can't miss event in Las Vegas on Monday, November 17th, a formal invitation to follow on November the 5th. What is this? all about. Any guesses? What's around that time? What's your guess? Well, that's two days after Mexico, but I don't know if it's related. I wonder if they're just trying to kind of program our show. You know? I mean, there's nothing to tune into at this moment, so they can't steal the shine. We'll see. I will do my digging. See what I come up with. I know UFC this weekend. They're off.

Invicta. Invicta. Well, before we get to Invicta, Titan is back on Friday on CBS Sports Network. Mike Ritchie versus Yoshyuki Yoshida for the Titan FC lightweight title. I like that fight. That's 10 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network, Mike Ritchie, undefeated since leaving the UFC against Yoshida, former UFC fighter as well. Also, Desmond Green versus Miguel Torres.

How about that? I like that. And I like this fight as well. Jose Figueroa versus our pal, Tyler Stinson. So all this is on CBS. CBS Sports Net on Friday evening. That's at 10 p.m. That's Halloween night.

And Cage Warrior is also back on Saturday. And then Invicta is also back on Saturday on UFC FightPass. The main event is Barb Honchak versus Takeohashi, former Strike Force fighter, Honchak, of course, the Flyway champion. And Mizuki Inouye versus Carolina. Can you say it? Nope. Can I have better luck than me.

Kowalkev? Colval Kavats. Yeah, that sounds about right. I feel like the W is really a V. Yeah. Colovacavits? Caitlin Young, veteran on that card, training with Josh Barnett these days,

Jodi Escobel, who fought on the last Invicta card. So all that, 9 p.m. Eastern on UFC Fight Pass, and then next weekend it's the double header. All right. That does it. That's it. Hit my music. Some people hypothesizing that the big announcement

is the return of GSP. Who knows? We'll find out. Why in Las Vegas, though? You know it would be fun if we did this show live from Las Vegas. How about that? Who wants to take a trip to Las Vegas?

That would be fun, right? Go to Las Vegas, do the show live, break the news, talk to the newsmaker, and let's have some fun. Let's take the MMA hour on the road. How about that? It'll never happen. we don't get any love.

We're kind of like the fly weights of SB Nation, right? I'm just kidding. Anyway, I want to thank Eddie Alvarez for stopping by. Thank you very much to him. And looking forward to his return to the UFC. Good luck to Luke Rockold. He has that conference call in 14 minutes. Let's see if he is able to hang with Michael Bisping verbally.

Valid Ishmael. Great stuff. Check out the documentary. Enter the Jungle. Can't wait to watch that. Thank you very much to Javier Mendez and all the best of course to Kane Velasquez as he recovers from knee surgery.

Great stuff as always from Ian McCall. Good luck to him on November 8th against John Lineker. And once again, great stuff from Diego Sanchez. And get well soon to him as well. It'd be great to see him fight sooner rather than later, especially against Joe Lozahn. So we're back next week, same time as usual and place, of course, same day.

Monday, 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. GMT. Thank you so much for watching. Until this, I'll pay. Somebody. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. In the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch.

So why not you? Try O-D-O-4-3 at O-D-O-O-D-O-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-D-O-Com. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more.

DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information.