MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 255

Episode Date: November 10, 2014

Featuring Cain Velasquez, Rafael dos Anjos, Al Iaquinta, Ian McCall, Melvin Guillard, Nam Phan, Jimmy Smith, and Dave Meltzer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Inside our New York City studio, so happy to be here on this beautiful day here in New York City. What a wonderful weekend for mixed martial arts, a very busy one, a very fun one, a lot of great results, big wins, great finishes. Friday in Australia, one of the most. fun shows of the year and most fun shows in recent memory. Highlighted, of course, by Luke Rockhold defeating Michael Bisping that feud officially over. Rockhold moves on. Didn't do it in a round as he predicted, but it was very close to that. And then on Saturday night, OSP emerges somewhat of a sad scene in Uberlandia, the Brazilian fantasy world. It was not a fantasy world for Shogun Hua, though, a very quick finish, very not Shogun-like, if you will. And now we

wonder where he goes from here. But for me personally, a memorable weekend, one of the weekends that I will really never forget for the rest of my life. One of the best weekends of my life, of course, I was back in Syracuse for the first time in 10 years. I want to thank everyone who was there. I want to thank everyone who came to the little talk that I gave, and in particular, the eight or so students who came to watch Friday Night's Fight with me. It was very powerful. It was very symbolic because, you know, I used to watch UFC fights. I used to watch sporting events by myself for three years while I was a student at Syracuse University between 2001 and 2004. I was all alone.

I couldn't find a soul to watch anything with. And here I was 10 years later. Happy as can be on Cloud 9, the day was already fantastic. And eight or so students came to my hotel. We set up a laptop on top of a bar. And we were sitting in the lobby watching a tremendous show in Australia. and I felt like the richest man in Syracuse. I was like, wow, I come back and now I have eight great friends.

We took a picture I posted it. I want to thank all of those guys who showed up, in particular my man Jehoun, who set that whole thing up, two years essentially in the making. I'll talk a little more about my trip to Syracuse later on in the show, but it was really one of the most surreal and gratifying weekends of my entire life, and I'll never forget it. I want to thank everyone off the top for being a part of it,

those who were a part of it. So who's joining us on today's show? Well, we got a great one for you. At around... Well, I screwed up the post here. I put two, three-twenty-fives. That's weird. That is awkward.

I messed it up because we had a late addition to the show, but I think you can figure it out. At around 3.45, we're going to go inside the vault, and this is a really fun inside the vault, because it's from back in 2011. That's when the interview was shot, but on November 10th of 2014, it is very relevant, and it's a very fun watch,

because this fighter has come a long way and it's just fascinating to hear the kind of emotions he was feeling at the time and what he was saying at the time and where he is today. So you're going to enjoy this one a lot. After that, we'll take your questions and comments. As always, hashtag the MMA hour,

leave a question or comment in the comment section below. 325, we're going to talk to Ian McCall. He did not have a memorable weekend. He did not have one of the best weekends of his life. Of course, he was supposed to fight John Lineker in Brazil. He had to pull out of that fight at the 11th hour, essentially, after making weight. He suffered a blood infection and just a horrible turn of events for Ian McCull.

He is landing in Orange County any minute now. So hopefully all goes well and he'll join us at 325 Eastern Time. At 305, we're going to be joined by Ally Quinta, who had a tremendous weekend, who defied the odds, essentially, and defeated Ross Pearson in Australia on Friday. What a performance for Ally Quinta. And then he quoted the Iron Sheik himself, saying he was going to make the lightweight division humble. How about that? Tremendous stuff from Ally Quinta. He joins us at 305. At 245, we're going to be joined by the UFC heavyweight champion, Kane Velasquez. Of course, he was supposed to fight this weekend in Mexico City. He will not be fighting this weekend. Instead, it's going to be Mark Hunt versus Fabrice O'Roodoom for the UFC interim heavyweight title. So Kane Velasquez, in his first interview since pulling out of the fight, will be joining us at 245. 225. We're going to be joined by Jimmy Smith, who is the color analyst. for Bellator MMA. What a fascinating weekend coming up this weekend in the world of mixed martial arts. World Series of Fighting, Bellator and the UFC, all with very big shows on Saturday night. And Jimmy Smith is going to be talking about Bellator's part in all of that at around 225. At 205, Melvin Galard, the former UFC lightweight contender, who is now in World Series of

fighting. He'll be talking about his WSOF lightweight title fight against champion Justin Gae on Saturday night. a huge fight for both guys. A real test for Gaitch. See how he stacks up with one of the veterans of mixed martial arts at 145. Hafeel Dosanjos, who faces, of course, Nathan Diaz on December 13th, UFC on Fox 13. He will join us at 145, if you recall. He called out the MMA media. He said, you know, I don't get the respect that I deserve.

That was via Twitter on this show last week, in the middle of the show. and now we're going to have him on the show to talk about where he's at, why he doesn't feel the love, and of course the big fight coming up in essentially 33 days. 125, we're going to be joined by Nam fan. He makes his Beltor debut, Beltor 131, that's this Saturday against Mike Richmond. Our old pal NAM back on the show resurfacing after getting cut from the UFC. Good to have him back on the show. So as you can tell, a lot of people joining us today.

there is a lot to get to. But before we get to all of those guys, let us go first to the Skype machine and welcome in my good pal colleague over at M-Mayfinding.com and, of course, over at the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Wrestling Observer.com. The one and only Dave Meltzer joins us right now. Dave, how are you? I'm great, Ariel. Hey, on that thing right behind you that Helwani's nose, did you ever see the video for Lance Russell's nose? I did not. You need to look that up on YouTube. It was a song that Jimmy Hart wrote that actually had in the early mid-80s in Memphis. It actually had a lot of airplay and everything like that.

Really? So you'll get a kick out of it. Just look up Lance Russell's nose on YouTube. Now, was this his way of making fun of his nose, or was it more of a love letter to his nose? You know, it was kind of a little bit of both. Okay, fair enough. I mean, it was definitely, you know,

he was a heel manager and he was making fun of the TV announcer, but it was not done in a mean-spirited way by any means. You know, I'm happy you bring this up for two reasons. A, I don't know if you were joining us at the top of the show, if you had connected yet. But I talked about going back to Syracuse University for the first time in 10 years. A wonderful weekend. A lot of emotions.

One gentleman flew from Newfoundland, Canada, which is very far. He had to go through New York City, all that stuff. His last name is Noseworthy, Dave Noseworthy. And when he first reached out to me that he was actually going to be coming to this and traveling all the way from Newfoundland, I thought he was playing a joke on me, the whole nose thing. His actual last name is Noseworthy. And number two, one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on today's show and why I was thinking of you, among many other reasons, was I was back at SU this weekend, and it was very

nostalgic for me and a lot of emotions going through my body. It was just, it was surreal stuff. And I walked by the library, the student library. I have a picture of it that we can throw up here any second now. It's called the Bird Library. And the first thing I thought about, there it is right there, my wife standing in front of it, the first thing I thought about when I walked past this library on the campus of SU was every lunch for, you know, for a very long period of time, I would go into the basement of the library with my tuna sandwich or whatever I had at the time, and I would read the Wrestling Observer newsletter. That was my thing. I would just go in there in a little hole in the corner and just read your newsletter. I used to run to my mailbox as a student because I had no friends. I had nothing else to do, and I would get so excited when the newsletter would come in my mailbox, because I had almost a friend to talk about this stuff. I didn't talk about it with anyone. I was just reading it and consuming it and reading about Bob Sapp and 50 million people. So it made me sick of you. And it was just brought back a lot. lot of memories. And by the way, one of the first guests that I had on my show back at

SU when I was just a student was you. You were talking about your days at the Cal Palace and the Rock. So it just, it was just a lot of fun. And you were the first person I thought about when I saw that library. Yeah. I got my own story. Yesterday I was talking to Jason Jordan, who's the CEO of Bellator. Yeah. And he grew up one block from where I live. Wow. Yeah. He was just going like, you know, he asked like where I was, and I go San Jose. And we go through, and we're going through, well, what part? Well, where are you close to? And then he told me the street address, and I go, that's a block from my house. So that was pretty interesting. And you never met him, you've never run into him? Never spoken to him before or anything like that. No, no. And he'd

long, he left San Jose, you know, at college, I think. He was Stanford. So it's been a number of years. So I'll meet him whenever Bellator comes to San Jose, which I'm sure will be next year. Yeah, probably sooner rather than later. Okay, let's get into this weekend before we look ahead. a lot of big stories, but let's start with Shogunhua because everyone loves to talk about this stuff. I mean, this is a guy who obviously lost, didn't look great. I mean, physically, he looked great,

but the fight didn't go his way and, you know, the Shogun of Old doesn't lose to an Ovin Saint-Pru, but it just shows how far he has fallen. What do you do with Shogun-Hua at this point? I mean, we always talk about retiring. It's not our place, but if you were him, is this the time to hang it up? If he's financially set and has something for the rest of his life,

absolutely. but you never know everyone's different I you know I was looking up after and I was looking back at the old Shogun fights after you know thinking like well should he retire should I write that he should retire you know you all those things immediately come to your head and it really has been since 2011

where I think that the last time we saw the old Shogun which would have been the Griffin fight and the first Henderson fight I mean he looked good in the second Henderson fight but then he got clocked and then this one I mean what I was thinking is like, you know, yeah, this doesn't happen to Shogun Hua. I mean, like, one, he shouldn't have lost, but number two, I mean, he lost on the first

punch and never recovered from the punch. And that's the sign when you don't recover from the punch and you get caught with a punch that probably weren't going to get caught with anyway, you know, back in the day. It's not good. And it's not, it's not fun to watch a superstar be diminished at that level. So I would hope that it would be time, you know, and again, if he had been always looking good and it was a fluke and the flukes happened in this business. But it didn't

feel like a fluke even though it was a 30 second finish. It doesn't sound to me from what he's saying. Of course, after the fight is a lot different than in six months time, but it doesn't sound to me like he's even interested in hanging him up. Like he's viewing this as just a setback and it's amazing that he's just 32 years old.

And it's one thing to talk about Dan Henderson retiring at his age and his 40s. 32 years old, what do you do at this point? It's amazing how far he has fallen in such a quick amount of time. I know you say since 2011, but 32 is 30. I mean, what do you do at 32 and your career is done, right? That's a tough thing.

Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, look at BJ Penn. I mean, it's like, it's really weird. It's like you don't know when it's going to be for these guys, and I think some of it may have to do with the fact that those wars that they had in sparring when he was first breaking in probably took years off of his effective career. You know,

one thing I think that everyone's going to, you know, in time, everyone's going to have to figure out is effective training for longevity. because we've seen guys who can train effectively to get to the top really fast, but if it takes years off the other end, maybe you need to slow down in other ways. I don't know. I mean, there's all kinds of theories about that.

But, you know, yeah, at 32, you shouldn't be done at 32. And he looked like he was done. The formula when you have a veteran in combat sports is, all right, when you realize that this guy can no longer make a run for the title, you try to book him typically against an up-and-coming star so that he can give him the rub, and now you have a new star. But I was just reading some stuff and, you know, taking it all in. And moments ago on Twitter, a fan of the show and someone who works for Fight Metric,

Michael Cowell was saying, well, this doesn't really elevate Ovin St. Prue. It almost makes you feel depressed. But it's not like you're saying, okay, Ovin St. Prue is a new killer. Look what he did to Shogun. Now you have a contender in the making. Do you feel the same way? Because this was such a sad scene at 4 a.m. in Brazil that it didn't really have the effect that it should have, you know, given the circumstances, veteran versus youngster.

Yeah, I think that if it had been like a war and a really close fight and Ovens would have won, I think it would have been one thing. But yeah, when it was over, it was like, yeah, I wasn't thinking like, wow, you know, like with Anthony Johnson and Nogera, for whatever reason, I guess because he was so devastating. And I thought, like, Anthony Johnson came off as a killer, whereas I think in this one, because I guess the punch wasn't so devastating and he went down, you almost just felt the sadness. And it was like, yeah, I wasn't thinking like, oh, I can't wait to see Oven St. Prue against Gustafson. for the title shot or Oven St. Prue against Rumble, you know, for, you know, a top contender spot. But it helps him to a degree in the sense that in that light, heavyweight division, there's a finite number of guys in there. And he could fight those guys. So it's, and, you know, without that win, he couldn't have fought those guys. So it does help him. But, yeah, I didn't get the emotional thing of when I got with Rumble Johnson's recent fights.

No. And then what about OSP just completely dropping the ball? I mean, you just beat Shogun in Brazil, the place. places dead quiet. You're in the main event on Fox Sports and all that stuff. And you ask for Fabio Maldonado or Anthony Perosch? I mean, to me, that's just like, I don't want to fight the top guys. I'm not interested in elevating. What? You're asking for Anthony Perot and Fabio Maldonado? I mean, that just ruined the whole scene for me as far as trying to make this guy into a start. Do you feel the same way? You know, as funny is when he said that at first, at first I thought, oh, you know, it's a joke. I mean, he was kidding. But then the way the reaction was, I wasn't

sure if it was, but yeah, no, it was a complete misfire because it was a joke nobody picked up on it. And that's not the time to make that joke in the sense of, plus if it was a joke, you're making fun of, you really don't want to make fun of those guys either. But, yeah, no, of course not. He should have been, he should have asked for Rumble Johnson or Gustafson or Bill Davis, something like that, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he should have asked for, and those are the three guys.

He should have asked for one of those three guys, if not all three, and gotten some interest in that. And then people, you know, if you do that, then people go, oh, yeah, you know, he's at the level of a Phil Davis or Augustaubson. And now, you know, by your own interview, you put yourself in that category. And like you said, when it came out, and right now are people talking about him in that category? No. And without win, you know, he should be in that mix with those few contenders. Yeah, if you consider yourself a top 25 guys as opposed to a top five guy, no one's going to view you as a top five guy, if you're calling out, you know, number 24 and 25, whatever they may be.

So what's your prediction today, you know, less than 40? hours removed from the fight, do we ever see Shogun Who a fight again? Well, based on what you just told me, I say yes. Because I just don't see I don't see UFC telling him, no, we're not going to book you one more time. But, you know,

I mean, if it's another fight and he comes out and gets clocked like that, then I would think that, you know, at that point you have to have the intervention. But I don't see, yeah, like I said, this will be his decision and unless his people talk him out of it. And at 30, you know, if he says he wants to fight again, You can always say it's a fluke, and it is MMA.

There are flukes. I mean, we've seen people, you know, I remember thinking about this when I wrote the article for today. I mean, I remember seeing Mark Hunt against Melbourne Manhoff, you know, and that's like eight years ago in Japan, and he lost in 18 seconds, you know, and I'm going like, well, you know, he just got knocked out by a middleweight, and his, you know, his one big thing was that his jaw was solid, and now he gets knocked out, and his skill level isn't that high, and so let's write off Mark Hunt. And now Mark Hunt's in the main event going for the interim championship, you know, this, this comes. Saturday. So, stranger things have happened. In your opinion, has the UFC prepared itself for this moment? I mean, we've seen a lot of guys who are either close to retiring or have retired as of late. Have they done a good enough job of preparing for this moment bringing in a new wave of superstars? Because we always view those

pride guys and the old UFC guys in a certain light. And it's very hard to recreate that, I know. But do you think that there's enough of a cue behind these guys who can take the torch and keep this thing going along? Well, the talent is It's just the idea of getting the aura of the talent over. And I think that that's really a problem when you have so many shows and the audience is so deluded. If there were two million people that were watching that, and there weren't, I mean, I haven't got the ratings, but I'm sure there weren't. Sure. That were watching that. Ovens, people would be talking about Ovens on the water cooler and go, oh, you know, he beat Shogun.

I was sad about Shogun. But when it's not that many people, then it's so much harder. I mean, even with a guy like Connor McGregor, I keep thinking if Connor McGregor would have shown up in the Spike days, he would have been so much bigger than he, is right now. And again, with all these guys coming up, the key is to get millions of people watching them, and that doesn't happen. So it's a tougher deal right now to make the new guys. Plus, the first guys you see are always the ones. And so many people started with this sport in 050, 607. So the first people that you see, those are the ones that you are nostalgic for and you think of as the top guys. And it does become increasingly harder unless you get a new generation of fans

coming in. And we're really not getting that. I mean, we don't have that college-age fan that was there eight years ago. Some of them are still fans now, but they're older. But to them, the heroes are still the Randy Couture, Chuck Lidl, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, and, you know, GSP, and all that. And then we're not getting that high school and college kids come in with their new young favorites like an Anthony Pettus or something. It's just not happening as much. One other thing about Saturday night, of course, E. McCall didn't fight John Lineker. I actually feel like this is a blessing in disguise. Of course, you want E. McCall to be healthy and all that.

But now I feel like you have two contenders and they didn't cancel each other out. I think you roll the dice with John Lineker and you say, look, we're giving you the title shot. We know you've missed weight, but at this point, I mean, there's no one really else for you to fight. If you miss weight, you're done.

It's over. We're not giving you another chance. If you make the weight, go fight for the title. And McCall, you give him a top contender fight and now he's just one fight away from fighting for the belt. Do you agree, is that the direction you would go in because Linneker is asking for the title

or do you go in a different direction? I don't know because again, boy he struggled with 126. I, I, you know, if it was one missed weight, I would, or even, you know, and even two, I would be worried, but one missed weight, I would go, okay, you know, everyone's entitled to a mistake. But this is three and a half, kind of. I mean, he did make weight, but it was also one pound over, and it's like now he's got to make 125.

And, man, I just can't trust, I couldn't trust giving him a title shot if it was me. I would, I would, and it isn't even the win. It would be like, I don't know. I mean, you can't do this, but I would almost want to go to him. him and just go, look, you're going to have one fight, and if you win this fight, you're going to get a title shot, but you also, you've got to make weight with no struggle, and you don't have to make 125, but it will help your chances to make 125, because I can't trust him making 125 right now.

Symbolically, I was hoping that he would hit 125 to prove it to them, but that didn't happen. Now, let's move along to Friday. What a fantastic show in Australia. All finishes, broke a record, all that good stuff, highlighted, of course, by the Rockhold win over Bisping, a true star. making performance. What do you do with Luke Rockhold next? I think that, you know, he doesn't want to fight Jacaree Sousa, but there's Jacques Re Suza, and there was, I would keep him away from Machita just because Machita already got a title shot,

and if Machita beats him, you're doing nothing for anyone. It's Jacre or Romero, right? It's Jacre and Yo-Romero's the other choice, yeah. But he had a great promo about Jacre. He said, I'll kick your ass again. I thought that was fantastic stuff. Yeah, well, then that's, and also that's the guy. I think Romero probably needs one more win. I think the jockey is ahead of Romero. I think Luke Rockhold's ahead of Romero. But I mean, the thing is, is like, I look at that Belfort and Weidman fight, and again, I mean, how many guys have come to you? Because I know they have to me, and gone, you know what,

I don't think Belfort's going to make that fight. I think he's going to get injured. I think something's going to happen. And I would say that, you know, Luke at that point would become the logical guy. And I think Luke Rockhold and Wyden and Wyden is kind of an interesting fight. I mean, and probably be a great fight, too. So I think that the idea right now is, would book Luke Rockhold against probably Jacques-Aray on the undercard on Feb 28. And if something happens, Luke Rockhold, because he did beat Jacaray once, even though it was three years ago, I would go with him as the guy in case either of those guys drop out. And if Wyden drops out, you could put Luke Rockhold and Belfort, which is one of the reasons

I said that, because you know how much Luke Rockhold wants to fight with Belford now. So that's how I would kind of do everything. with everything you just said except for one thing, I'd like to see it as a main event because I want to see them go five rounds. I think if you really promote it the right way and go back to the first fight and how close it was, you need to see five rounds in the rematch.

I can see that. The only thing is that... But they have to fight around the same time as February 20th so that they be ready. You could do it like two weeks before, two weeks after, and then if something falls off, then you can switch, yeah. Yeah. As long as they're getting ready right about the same time.

Because I want that backup plan. I think UFC should always have now, because of all the injuries, when it comes to championship matches, they should always have a backup plan in the sense of a number three, four, five contender fighting either on the card or a week before or a week after. So if something happens, you can plug the guy right in. He's already in training. He's already ready. After this loss, do you officially close the book on Michael Bisping Contender, or do you think he wins again,

and he's right back in there, given his mouth and his ability to hype a fight? You know, I don't 100% close and lock the door, but I close the door, you know, in the sense. of how many times has he been one fight short and he's still never beaten that top five top eight guy ever. So I think it's going to be difficult for him to do that. But, you know, he'll fight again. Look if he beats three, four guys in a row. I mean, one, no, no, he's going to need a lot more than one and he's going to need a win over, you know, like he's going to need a win over a Leoto Machita, which might be someone who he faces next because, you know, he can talk up the plate and everything. And it's a good win for Machita if Machita gets it.

But if he goes and wins that, then you, okay, you take notice of him. But still, there's so many guys that have beaten him that have not gotten championship fights. Tremendous finishes all night long in Australia. Was there one that really stood out, one fight, one performance that you really loved? I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but there was, I mean. Boy, there were, there were so many. I mean, I mean, like, you know, you could say like the, God, the, the first, the Marcus Brimidge. Marks was fantastic, yeah.

Yeah, and it was like he didn't even get a bonus. And, you know, and again, those bonuses that night was really hard. But I thought when I saw that, it's like, well, we got, we got one bonus locked. You know, the Smolka kick was really cool. Sweet chin music, right? Sweet chin music, yeah. And I just, again, you know, it's like, it's early in the game, but I really like Jake Matthews.

I liked them before. I mean, it's like when you get a 20-year-old kid who looks like that, who's well-rounded, and you're thinking, how much is this guy going to improve? and I liked, you know, I don't think that he should be booked with Ellenberger. I think that's too big of a jump at his age. But I did like the moxie of going out there and going, I want Jake Ellenberger on January 18th in Boston. And, you know, better than, God, I have no idea what I want next.

I mean, it's like, I'm listening to this guy, and I think he's got the drive, and he's got the idea of where he wants to go, and he's picked out an opponent, who's a really good opponent for him at this stage of the game. So I was impressed with him. and, you know, just is the way he engaged the crowd and everything. And Australia, believe me, Australia needs a superstar. They don't have a superstar. And, you know, can he be the GSP or the Rory McDonald or somebody like that?

Who knows? If he's just a good at 20, at least the shot is there. I saw remnants of a, you know, or the beginnings of someone who could really be somebody. And hopefully he'll pan out. Yeah, and he's super young. By the way, I think he was referring to Joe Ellenberger, which made it even more interesting that he was, you know, he was shooting for the younger brother and not the biggest star, but he knew his path. He knew his path. And I appreciate that. As Joe Allenberger, okay, that actually makes sense.

Yeah, I appreciated that. Last thing before we let you go, this weekend, a lot of action. All three of the major North American promotions are busy on Saturday night, WSOF, Belator, UFC. Of course, the big one of the mall is Mark Hunt versus Fabrice Over Doom. I'm not too torn up about, about Kane, not being there. I mean, it's such a bummer that he's not fighting in Mexico and all that stuff. But Mark Hunt is just such a fun story. For Doom's a great story. I mean, the fight, regardless of the location and the venue and all that, is a fun fight and an interesting story for media people to chew on.

I'm worried, though, that Mark just doesn't have enough time, the elevation. He's talking about not doing anything for weeks after the Roy Nelson. I'm worried we're not going to see the best Mark Hunt. Do you give him any shot on Saturday, given everything he's battling? Well, Mark Hunt always has a shot, but it's exactly what you said. It's like, you know, if it wasn't the elevation, even with the short time, I mean, Mark Hunt's one of those guys who just will get through. But, I mean, Mexico City elevation, I mean, that's a different kind of elevation that I doubt he's ever fought there before. And, I mean, training there for a couple weeks will get him somewhat acclimated.

But, yeah, the odds are against him a lot in this one. I mean, like, look, you know, what Verdum went there two months ago? Yeah. Wasn't it? Yeah. So, I mean, that tells you something. You know, I mean, you go to Mexico for two months. That tells you that you're scared about the other.

I was scared for Kane, you know, because he was going to do all his training in San Jose. And, I mean, Kane's a cardio machine. But, I mean, again, that elevation will sap your cardio if you're not ready for that, you know. I mean, you could have the greatest cardio in the world at sea level, and you go up there. And if you're not acclimated to it, you're going to be in trouble. But, you know, he didn't choose to train there. Which fight are you most looking forward to on Saturday? There's some fun ones.

Any card. Pick a card. Gosh, let me think. I mean, I mean, Brooks and Chandler, to a degree because the first fight was very good. The Verduman and Hunt, those would probably be the two that I would be most looking forward to. Guy, there's, on the Mexico undercard, I mean, you know, the Gaston fight, you know, that's a nice fight and everything, but I'm not, you know, I wish to, you. Diego Sanchez was there because the idea of Diego Sanchez fighting in Mexico City, you know,

because Diego will always give you a good fight. The Mexico card really, you know, it's kind of a disappointment now that we're here because I think that the way it was laid out, it was probably going to be a real fun night. And maybe it still will be. Yeah, we'll see. Dave, thank you so much for the insight. Thank you for keeping me company all those years in Syracuse and the library. Appreciate your time, as always, and we'll talk to you soon.

Okay. All right, there he is. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and, of course, MMA fighting.com. All right, as I mentioned, a lot going on this weekend. One of the fun stories, of course, is the return of our old friend, former UFC veteran, longtime veteran of mixed martial arts making his Bellator debut on Saturday night against Mike Richmond. He is the one and only NAM fan who joins us right now on the MMA hour. Nam, how are you? I'm good. Thanks for having me back, Ariel. It's been a while, my friend. Where have you been?

I know. I've been a while. I miss you guys. I don't know. Nam Fran in the house. I know, damn fan. I think it calls that. Well, it's good to talk to you. Congratulations on the Bell Tour deal. You know, a lot of fans, when you leave the UFC and then you kind of try to find your way

through regional promotions or overseas, they just kind of forget about you. Was that the vibe that you got from people? Like, where people ask you, are you still fighting? Where have you been? Even though you want a couple, an impressive fashion outside of the UFC, did you get the sense that people just forgot about you?

Oh, of course. You know, if you're not in the UFC, nobody cares. You know, if you had the U.S. or a bellator, nobody cares. So it's something that's very natural. There's no big deal. It doesn't really do. What was your reaction when the UFC cut you? Oh, you know, I mean, I think it was just kind of a natural pattern.

Before me, even guys were after three fights, you know, they were getting, cut, so it's something very expected. You know, so I wasn't surprised. You weren't surprised at all. You were at peace with the decision. Oh, yeah, I mean, it is what it is. You know, I don't ever bother me. Correct me if I'm wrong. I was reading, I believe it was an article about you on Sherdog. Did you consider retiring after that?

Oh, I mean, you know, I have three losses, you know, even, you know, it kind of I can't get in my mind. If you lost this guy, this one wasn't the best before than my life, you know. But then I don't make my decision right after a fight. I go home and I think about it. Then if I still decide to retire, whatever it is, then I'll go forward with it.

But then I'm thinking about it. I'm like, see, I'm just 31 years old. I can't retire. I can still do this. You know, I still feel healthy. It's still for good. You know, stay on my brains together. So you ended up taking a couple of fights in Tokyo.

Your first was in July. You won that fight via first round TKO. Your second, not that long ago in October, which you won via submission. How good did it feel to get that first win outside of the UFC under your belt? Because it had been a while, August of 2012, since you had lost last one, to go out regional show, Grand Slam MMA,

and to win via TKO and then submission, how good did that feel? Oh, great. Wow. I haven't thought that a wow. It's like a drug, right, that you just want to keep chasing. It is. It is. You know, that's my fighting is addicting, you know. It feels pretty good. Glory is very addicting. And what about just being, you know, you were in Tokyo, and I know your last fight was over in China, but, like, kind of, not the birthplace of MMA, but was there anything special about just being on a regional show and coming from, you know, you got you went to pancreas, of course, afterwards, but in Japan, I mean, did that mean anything to you at all? Oh, of course, I know. That's the birthday, to me, it's like the birthplace of mixed martial arts.

I play that family over there, you know, so it's great to fight over there, and I visited my friends and family with it. I love playing Japan. Now that you got your groove back, do you have any idea why you were in that rut in the UFC? Why did you lose those fights? I think I lost those fights I lost to good fighters You know

I don't want to say I don't want to make any excuses Why I lost for For any reason Maybe this person in my life Or I didn't train correctly I didn't incorrectly I didn't incorrectly

Whatever it is You know I can make up a thousand And excuses But you know That doesn't take away from the talented Fighters that I fought I lost to good guys

And that's all I can say also in that article I read that you you cut some people out of your life that you felt were kind of a distraction is that accurate very accurate

like who I don't know some friends and I thought were friends or people you call it you call a guest man or something like that

or my strength condition again I need to do the strength condition with you know I felt like I was being over-trained, you know, and we couldn't come to an agreement, so I was like, okay, you know,

funny for now, I'm just gonna do my own thing right now. I have, it's just trained, like, you get a spa every day, you get to work technique, get a row every day, and then any place you get left ways, and like, I was just cross-in, and like, dang, that's just too nuts. I figured out of cooking out, you know, so, like, you know, the guy that was helping with my strength and condition,

hey, we need to do the office, this is too much. So, I admit, we just, you know, we're still on good terms, but we just, I don't show them as much anymore. So when I think of cutting people out, distractions, and whatnot, I think of bad eggs. I think of people who are leading you down the wrong path and whatnot. But that doesn't seem to be the case unless you're, you're not mentioning that. I mean, that's just trainers who you feel like you're not vibing with. Where there's some bad eggs as well that were just kind of, you know, just distracting you in a negative way outside of the gym, outside of the cage?

Oh, yeah, I think there was. There were. I mean, not a lot, but, I mean, of course, this change the training, regimen, and then, of course, there's some personal issues, too. But, like I said, you know, I fought good guys, and they beat me for a square, you know. Any true to the rumor that you considered enlisting the services of one Sensei Segal to help you get back on track? That's what I heard, but I wanted to hear it from you. No.

Really? I heard that. I actually heard from a couple of people that you felt like this might, you know, he did such great things for Liotto and Anderson that you thought that maybe he can help you in any kind of way. No, I rather shoot myself in the face. Ask that guy for help. You still haven't seen the light. Look at the mirror. I look at the mirror. I look at something in the mirror to shoot myself in the face. I want to help a headache and ask me after help. I'd rather do that. I was more pleasant to me than asking that guy for help.

But it's true of that, you know. You still haven't seen the light. You still don't recognize how brilliant of a coach he is. Man, I understand. Well, you know what? I don't understand. Some anime fans, they love this guy. They think this guy's a freaking anime god.

I'm like, are you freaking kidding me? Dude, you, you're an NBA fan. How are you, this is legit? Are you freaking nuts? What do you mean? Look at the proof is in the pudding. He's one of the most accomplished coaches in the sport. Look who's under his tutelage, Anderson, Leot.

I mean, hey, by the way, by the way. Danny Corrie, apparently. Daniel, how about that? Our old friend D.C. hooking up. Hey, what about this? It seems like Anderson has kind of, you know, kicked him to the curb, and look what's happened to him in his last two fights. Coincidence?

Coincidence? I think not. I think not. Exactly. So you are seeing the light. And look at Cormier, how good he's doing these days. And, you know, the proofs in the play. There you go.

Oh, God. What did that, would that been something if you actually showed up to your fight in Belator with him in your corner? Well, would that be something? Oh, man. You know what? I think I'll retire. You'd rather. I'll retire.

You'd rather retire than better yourself, than advance your career. No. I'm worse. I'll be more worse. I know. Oh, man. This is going. Do a lot of people, do a lot of people call you Namfran still?

Oh, yeah, it's just for fun. I think once in a while you get called Namfran, you know. It's for fun. But, man, I mean, if I, you know what, I love to freaking judo throw a freaking stupid and things like to buy his ponytail. That'd make my day. That's what I like to do. You'd like to judo throw him?

By his ponytail. Oh, by. his pony tail. Wow, geez. I can't condone that. I don't even know if he still has a ponytail. Does he still have a ponytail? I don't know. When's the last time you saw him? I've never met him, but

I thought he didn't have a ponytail, no? I don't know. I don't know. I thought I saw a video of him dancing in Russia. Oh, yes. Wasn't that amazing? What style? What grace? Oh, my God. Look at like a buffoon.

What the heck are you doing? You know, I got to say, When I'm in front of him, when he's next to me, when we're doing an interview, I'm just so taken by his aura, his greatness, that it's just amazing. I mean, I'm not going to looking at his ponytail, to be honest with you. Oh, my God. Oh, man. His aura made you want to fucking punch my Peter's screen.

Wow. Why so much hatred? Maybe you need to free yourself of this hatred. Free your soul. Open your heart. And they go to learn from him. live with him learn

yeah exactly man no I would love to I would not ever and I and I

and I guess there's no other fighter I would to give any other fighter too

don't go learn for him don't train with him if you know if you know any better oh you know what if you

and this is what I suggest if you want start in me you should learn from him from scratch don't care with

from him scratch. Let's see what happens. Well, that's even a greater compliment. You're saying that you should start your career with him. He should be the backbone, the foundation of your MMA knowledge. That's huge. Exactly. That's all right from scratch.

Not like say, let's take Anna Silva or Lino when they're like freaking like all your superstar and say and go in their freaking locker room and give my pepsoxact and say, I tell me everything. Like, no, get out of here. That boy. You know, I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. I thought, you know, it's been a while since you've been on the show. I thought maybe you saw the light.

I thought maybe you moved on, but apparently it's still very much alive in you. The hatred. The disdain. Yeah, the fire. The fire is still burning. The whole hatred still burns very strongly. How did you link up with Belator? How did that come about?

Oh, yeah, you know, I was doing the fights in Japan. And then I got home, I was in Belator contacted me, kind of my manager, and so there's got to be a fight at any of the only one. They want to get that show. I'm like, okay, sounds like a good idea. Let's do it. That's it. Is it a one-fight deal, or did you sign a longer deal with them?

Oh, we got a multi-fight deal with those guys. I like them now. We've wanted to hurt from here. Because they're the old strike force guys and have a pretty healthy relationship with Scott Coker and all the guys in Strike Force. Before that, he had a very bad, so I was very scared of playing with them. But I think it's good. So this kind of opened it up.

Like if this was still the old regime and you were out of the UFC, your options would have been limited. But now, and I think a lot of people share that sentiment with you, you remember, you didn't fight for him often, but you're from the Bay Area. You've trained there before, and you did fight from the past. Your dealings with Scott from what you were calling his team. always positive? Very positive.

I've always had a good relationship with Scott and everyone from my strike force. When you left the UFC, did you think you'd get an opportunity like this, like on a big stage network TV spike you fought there before, or did you feel like maybe you just have to fight regional promotions and things of that nature? Did you still hold out hope that you'd be back on a big stage? Yes, definitely, definitely. I always did, yes. But then no one that takes a first of,

fighter is on a three-fight losing streak. You know, so you get to, I try to build a way back up to something, and then see what comes up, and now I have a negotiation power. What's it like being in the UFC for a few years, and now you're in the real, you know, regional scene, smaller attendance, probably crappier locker rooms and things like that. Was that humbling? Oh, no, no big deal at all, because that's where I started. Yeah.

It just goes like, it just goes back to home, see the whole room again, you know? no big deal at all you say that's where you started but you want to keep building and going up so even going back there's like wow this is different you know the way they treat the fighters not that it's bad but there are certain perks with being involved in UFC and they're organized and things of that nature none of that bummed you out you were it was it almost like refreshing to go back to your roots

oh you know I'll see the pay is definitely more greater that's always a plus you know yeah this is the best you know I want to say that But I wasn't in shock where I went to go back to the regional scene because, you know, I knew where I was at. And it's the thing I expected. It wasn't, like, surprised me. So what do you know about Mike Richmond?

The man you'll be fighting on Saturday night. He is a former Marine, and obviously San Diego, very popular with the Marine Corps. What do you know about this guy? And, B, are you expecting to not be the fan favorite on Saturday? Um, you know, a fan theory. Yeah, it seems like I'm, it's still on the underdog, right? It's hard to find fights on, like, I'm going on YouTube and whatever, and I'm trying to find fights, but it's very difficult. But from what I've seen, man, he's going to be a freaking tough of the nails starting to second guess myself.

You know, I was like, man, man, I should, be I should have watched the fight before I signed the contract. If you would have watched the fight before, would you have said no? Um, yeah, I might have said, man, you know, hey, you know, guys, you know, guys, you know, like, a good idea. This is a tough fight, man, you know, hey. You know, big, big, that's easy, man. Mike, man, he's got to Marine. What can I do to Mike Richmond?

That's going to scare him. What's a part of them? Dude, this guy's fought in freaking Iraq. He's, like, kill some people, you know? You know, I'm about, he's like 5'8, I'm 5'5-6-80-g guy, I'm 135 pounds. I can't scare him. He's not intimidated by me. me? Dude, he's got guns. He's going to die. He's bullets and balls. This ain't nothing, you know?

Well, I'll tell you what could intimidate him, or who would intimidate him? You show up to that arena with a six-foot-six man with that belly in those glasses and that hair, wearing a black trench coat. I'll tell you what, Mike Richmond is going to be pretty scared. He's pretty intimidated. Once again, you drop the ball, ma'am. Can't believe it. You know what? Maybe I should, for this fight, I guess, in a Sal Marine, like, Mike Richman, I should get in contact with a senior goal. Because, you know what, I need every advantage I can get.

If I can intimid him somehow with that freaking weirdo, I didn't have to do it. But in all honesty, is confidence a bit low right now? Where are we at right now? Oh, confidence-wise, you know, being honest with a serious, I mean, I wouldn't take the fight. I didn't get out of a chance to win. I fight anything can happen I respect Mike Rich in what he's done

and he's, you know, he's been through this, minute he's being serious when I said what can I do to, I don't think he's intimidated by me whatsoever. He fought good guys, he fought tough guys, you know, but nonetheless, I still think I have what it takes to beat him. One of those guys were maybe not known

by the casual fan, but still tough. Like, you have to almost explain who he is, so you don't get the gratification of beating him or the satisfaction from the fans when you beat him because he's not a household name. He hasn't fought on bigger stages and things like that. Do you get that sense as well from people when you tell them who you're fighting?

Possibly, because everyone is familiar with UFC and better than it's coming up. But Harcoy Amosan fan definitely know who Mike Richmond is for sure. He's very dangerous. And you're still sticking with the 135 thing? I mean, you still feel like that's the best weight class for you? I think so. Unless I fight in Japan. Oh, why is that?

Because in Japan, you know, a hundred-fiffton-pound Asian guy is still a hundred-four-pound Asian guy. What about the same size, same strength? No big deal. Man, if you're in America, my five hundred-four-hundred-hundred-hound, I think I was like, I'm like, fucking twice my size. Like, what the heck? What is this? Is that 10080?

Wait, so in Japan when you fought those two fights, Was that 135 or 145? The first one I fought in Japan with 140 and the second one was 45. I was like, dude, this feels pretty good. Yeah. I don't have to overpower. It feels good.

It feels fun. And what about, I mean, the weight cutting, it's a pleasure not having to cut those extra 10 pounds, right? Exactly, yeah. 10 extra pounds is always fun not to do. How much do you weigh now? All right now, I get down to 153. Oh, is that good for you?

Monday before, 18 pounds or 17 pounds? Oh, yeah, that's very normal, yeah. Okay. Well, any prediction on how it ends, your big return to network TV? Well, I don't know how it's going to. If it ends, I'm going to win, dang sure. Okay, that's a start. How it's going to play out?

I don't know. Hopefully, I'm going to see from his fighting style, my fighting style, it's going to be a lot of punches thrown. That's it. But at the end of the day, you know you're winning. A lot. You are a high-volume puncher. More than three.

A lot of punches. More than three. Okay. Wow. Well, my expectations for this fight have just gone through the roof since before we spoke and now. It's just amazing. So I can't wait for this, Nam.

Hopefully in the next few days, if you want me to pass along the number and you know what I'm talking about, you know, just to boost your confidence a little bit. let me know and I'll hook you up, all right? Yes. Thank you. You know what? This fight, I'm a Marine.

I might need that. Whatever, whatever chances I can get to intimidate him, I will get it. All right. I'll shoot myself in the face, like I said. All the best, you, Nam.

Great to talk to you again. Good luck on Saturday against Mike Richmond. All right, thank you all right, guys. And Dickie and him hour. All right, there he is. Nam fan joining us. Big fight for him.

for Bellator, Bellator 131, this Saturday night on Spike TV against Mike Richmond. All right, let's move along. Speaking of big fights, our next guest has a very big fight on December 13th. UFC on Fox 13 and Phoenix, Arizona. He faces Nathan Diaz. He is on some kind of role, most recently defeating in very impressive fashion. The former UFC lightweight champion, Benson Henderson. Of course, I'm talking about Rafael dosangos.

Howell, how are you? I'm good, man, but yourself. Well, I appreciate you joining us today on this Monday. I know you're going to training soon, so thank you very much for the time. You know, I was doing the show last week at around this time, and I got a tweet from you, and this sparked my interest. You said, MMA media shows me no love. I keep beating top guys.

I guess I need to talk more. So you're not feeling the love from us. You're feeling disrespected. No, I've been on the road for a long time. So I've been in the UFC for six years. And so I have 16 fights in the UFC. I've been really the top of guys. Since I moved here, so I moved here to chase my dreams, you know, like three years ago.

And since I moved to California, I've been improved a lot of my skills and I've been showing the people's lives. But I feel that people don't give the respect that I deserve. know, that's why I feel. So why do you think that is? Why do you think people aren't giving you that respect? I don't know, man. I really don't know.

I ask myself all the time, but I think what I have to do is, I think I keep beating people. I keep winning my fight. And so, and try to reach my goals, try to get my balance. That's what I want. You say, I guess I have to talk more. I mean, obviously these days in MMA, the guys who talk a lot, they get what they want, but you can't force it. If you're not that kind of guy, it's hard to fake that sort of thing. So are we going to see you try to talk more trash, or are you just kind of throwing that out there like, okay, I know what you guys are doing, you follow the guys who talk a lot, you cover the guys who talk a lot, and that's why I'm not getting the love.

Yeah, that's why I think people who just going to see. getting a lot of hype on those guys, like Conan McGregor. This guy just got, and at three fights only FC, and a lot of hype on this kind of guy, because they talk, you know, they talk a lot. But it's not, like, I'm not this kind of guy. I prefer people see me because I'm winning my fight. That's how I want people to see me like that.

But I don't know, maybe that's why I think. I need to talk more and all I call people's out it's not it's not how I am but I feel I need to do this more to

bring like the attention a little bit more for me and what about after you defeated Benson Henderson I mean what a performance he doesn't get finished like that it was unfortunate for you because you know it was in Tulsa Oklahoma so not a big market and

same day as the Michael Bispen-Kung-Leafite even though you beat him even though you beat a former champion and a top contender, did you still feel like right afterwards that people weren't talking about you enough? There was a bit of controversy. Some thought it was an early stoppage.

Did you feel like you didn't get, you know, the attention that you deserved after a win like that? Yeah, I think the things got, after that fight, the things got a little better. People started talking more about me. But I didn't think it was early stoppage at all. I think people who watch the fight, who understand about M&A, see that, because the judge did a perfect job.

The judge is there to prevent the fight to get hurt, you know. I think that way, Ben is just going to get hurt more because he was out. And after that fight, things got a little better. People started talking about me more. but I think my big big jeans should come. I have fought against a tough guy making years on December 13. My fault is on that fight right now.

But I'm looking forward to being here and get my car shot. And then what about this tweet that you sent out on November 5th? Just bought the UFC game for my kids. They asked me why I'm not in it. I'm ranked third in the world. Help me out. At Dana White,

at Lorenzo Furtt. So not only are you not getting the love from the media, it sounds like you're not getting the love from your employers, or at least that's how you feel. Yeah, man, I really feel bad about that. I got a game for my kids, and they were asking, why are not in the game? Oh.

They say, I have a lot of guys that they'll be here, and they are here. Why are not? So, man, I was like, I have no good to, just, I don't know how to say to them, and then I made that to it, you know, because I'd be on there, like I said, I'd be on the company for six years already, and, I mean, you know, I moved here to try to get better, to, you know, to try to put a good show for the fans. That's why I moved to California, and I've been working hard for the past three years. and so I got a little kind of frustrated when I got one of my kids' actions for that so that's why I made that too little.

When you bought the game before putting it in, did you know that you weren't in the game yet or did you just find out when your kids were searching for you? Yeah, I just found out when the kids were searching for me because I asked for a couple friends who bought the game before and one of my friends, they say he's seen him on the game and then when I bought for my kids, I'm not sure that I'm not on the game,

so that's why I did. You keep talking about this great run that you're on, and you really are. I mean, you've looked fantastic. As of late, your last two fights, great finishes. You also defeated Jason High. You also have wins over Evan Dunham, Donham, Donner, et cetera. But, you know, not that long ago,

you had the tough loss to Clay Guida at UFC 117, also a split decision to Glyston T-Bow, you lost at 139. I mean, you weren't getting the big fights. You weren't getting any kind of attention. You weren't viewed as a top contender. How have you been able to turn things around? What's been the secret to your success? Yeah, I think after a movie here, I got like, my focus is only training.

Like, my focus is training and go on and go on, and go on. Since I'm moving here, all my hard work is being paid off since I moved here two years ago. And the training here with Master Cordero is amazing for me. So I found my team here. Every time that I have fight schedule, I call my master Gordor, Jujica coach. And he came here. He's taking with me, you know. and so the combination

between Master Gordo and Rafael Cordero is an amazing combination and I have another great friends to make a rich coach as well Philippe Gala Monica he's helped me all the time and Jacob Harman

wrestling and man I just since they moved here it got a lot better who convinced you to move there who gave you that idea to leave Brazil and come to the United States yeah

Well, once, like before I moved, they came here to training. I stayed two weeks. And so I felt that I got to move. If they want to reach my goals, I got a, I got a, you know, I got to move to California to training with the better partners. And the fighters here, the training is more competitive than Brazil. And at that time, the team that I was training in Brazil, that wasn't that good.

So normally they go go training and people don't show up and I was there by myself like training by myself to fight against the top guys in the world. And so that's why I stayed in two weeks. I got a good training.

That's why I want to go home. I spoke to my wife and I say, we got a move. I want to reach my dreams. I want to be a UFC champion. So we got to move him down. I did. You mentioned how?

Afel Cordero, he, of course, is also the coach of Fabrice Verdum, and I was watching the countdown show, and Verdume has been in Mexico for the last couple of months preparing for his title fight this Saturday, and you're preparing for a big fight. It's essentially a month away. Has it been hard not being with Hafeel Cordero as he prepares, you'll still get those last few weeks with him, but as you started your camp and whatnot, it sounds like he wasn't there. Has that been hard? Yeah, it's like, but he'll be back next week. But we won't, we won't, we won't, in Brazil together, train over there because we

was in Brazil with Beni Dariushi he fought there and we was together. But Raphael's not here, but we talk every day and my Beni Dariu is helping a lot. We always train together here and he's holding meets

for me, sparring with me. We have a big team here. So it's not like, it's hard to be without Raphael, but He's going to be hitting one week, so we're going to have like four weeks to be short. What was your reaction when they told you you're fighting Nathan Diaz? Because for a while, he was out of action.

He hasn't fought. By the time you fight him, it will be over a year, contract issues and whatnot. He wasn't really on the radar. What was your reaction when you got that call? Yeah, I got a surprise because he wasn't fought for a year. so and he's not easy on the top 10 but

but I the title five is scheduled for December 6 and I want to be in shape you know I want to keep active

and I think the only guy before me is Kabib and when Kabib is out he's just going to be back next year and

so I accept I accept this fight because I want to be in shape. You know, I want to fight around the same time as a title belt because after I really look and looking forward to being late years. It's a tough opponent, but after this, so I don't have a good to fight anymore. So I want to get my title shot. Do you think he deserves a fight against the top three-ranked guy?

Do you think he deserves this kind of fight, co-main event on Fox, especially since he has in Fox? in the year? So to be honest, I think, no. I think no, he's no deserve. But like I said, I accept this fight because I want to be active. I want to be in shape. And I want to fight around at the same time as the battle fight.

Because so we have a good time to like to fight next. Because I want to have my parents. I want to be the first Brazilian to get this value. I want to bring this belt to Brazil. So any Brazilian got this belt on lightweight before, I want to be the first one. How far away from a title shot do you think you will be, if you beat him on December 13th?

I hope after being him. I hope I'm already there. I think I deserve it. Man, it would be my 17th by the UFC. I've been in a company for six years. So I think like Melendez, he fought three times FC. His first fight was for the title.

He lost and he won, he almost lost for Diego's first. It was a tough fight and then he's fighting for the belt again. So in my opinion, it's not fair. But after being eight years, I think I deserve a title shot. Are you concerned, though, that, you know, if Habib comes back, since he's the only guy to beat you as of late, that he will get the shot first, even though he hasn't fought in a while? Yeah. That's why I say he's out, but if he was like 100%, it's fair to he get a title shot first than me.

But he's out. So I think after this fight, I think it's my time. I think I deserve this chance. How did you react to that loss? Because that was a huge fight for you. And who knows what would have happened, you know, if you defeated him, how close to a title shot or if you would have already gotten a title shot, already. How did you react after losing Tim in April? Yeah, I was feeling a lot of pressure before that fight. So I fought with a lot of pressure.

I think for the fact to be like eight months, you know, eight months we know fight since the Iran is five. It was eight months. I think that's affecting my performance a little bit. I'm not making any excuse. Khabib is a tougher part. I lost for him.

he did a great job he did a good strategy but i got i got a little through straight after that fight because i couldn't fight so after five i was like 100% i didn't got any damage right the way i called to my manager say i want to fight again if someone get hurt i want to fight so bad so then they booked me to fight in 45 days after against jason high and so then i i beat Jason high and then I saw the hands right away. So do you feel like just the gravity of the moment, the stakes, a big fight, you know, you were the featured fight on the Fox card and all that right before the main card, did you feel like that just got to, like you got too nervous?

Yeah, I was, I think the fight should be eight months with no fight, and then I got a fight against Habilov, Hussein, Gabilov before. but two weeks before the fight, Rusun Kabilov got hurt. And then I was training so hard since October last year. And then Kabilov got hurt. Then my fight got reschedule. I suppose fight Kabilov on February. But the fact got reschedule for April.

And I think that I lost kind of a little reason. I was really tired because I was training a lot. I think this makes a difference a little bit for me. Who do you think wins? Anthony Pettis or Gilbert Melendez? I think Anthony Pettus will be him. You think Pettus retains, he's still the champion. By the way, I also noticed via your Twitter, you mentioned how it was sad to see what happened to Shogun.

I know Cordero has trained him in the past. Have you ever trained with Shogun? So I trained with him once, but my normal tie wrestling. I just feel bad because, I mean, I like Shogun. moon. He's a legend. So he inspired me a lot for my career, too. So I felt

his opponent did a great job. But I felt bad because the way it was, you know? You know, you are younger than him, just two years younger and maybe haven't been through the wars that he has been, but does that kind of freak you out to see a guy at 32 years old who's done so well?

And, you know, now he's in a tough spot in his career. Does it make you think about yourself? Like, I need to get going here. I need to get this title shot and make some money and get this, you know, get this career really going before, you know, the sport of MMA can be very cruel and things happened very quickly. Did it make you start thinking about yourself when you saw that happen? Yeah, for sure, man, for sure. So I just turned 30, you know, like I said, I moved here.

I got two kids, man, and I moved my whole life. You know, I made my plans, but, you know, I put my plans on God's hands and, and, I do my work, you know. That's how I do. But I mean, I really feel that because I got kids, you know, I want to give a good life out there. And that's why I'm moving here to, you know, to try to give their better future.

So give them the opportunity that I didn't have. So, man, I'm here. I want to be champion so bad. And how do you expect to beat Nate Diaz? This is going to be an interesting fight for you. He might talk to you. He might try to, you know, bait you and all that stuff. How do you expect to beat him?

Yeah, like I said, he's a tough opponent. Got big boxing with jiu-jitsu, a long guy, so it's tough to fight against all guys. But I've been trying a lot, my boxing skills, more Italian skills, wrestling. I think I'm better well around the fight of the hand. I got more weapons. but I don't see I have my strategies

so like I'm gonna like we're gonna trade some points gonna be a good matchup for the fans

but I'm gonna I really looking forward to my Jiups as well and it's hard to fight against all guys but

I have this advantage when I fight when I fight against all guys I fight better I did against Theroni against Terry Aetting I fight this

against all guys. That's interesting. Why do you think that is? I don't know, man. In my whole life, when I was fighting jiu-jitsu tournaments, always in a fight against all guys, I did. I don't know why. I think my genetic, I a little shorter, and then I fight good, you know, when I fight guys

with long legs. So, especially when I'm on top, I fight you. I fight well. Well, Hafeel, I wish you. best of luck. Hopefully you'll feel some love from this interview and beyond. I look forward to seeing what you do and say leading up to this fight on December 13th. And I look forward

to the fight very much. A great fight. Co-main event on Saturday, December 13th in Phoenix, Arizona. It's UFC on Fox. Number 13, Hafeel Dosangios versus the returning Nathan Diaz, a very important fight at 155 pounds. Hafeel, thank you for the time. Good luck to you and we'll see you in Phoenix.

Thank you, my friend. See you there. Thanks for the opportunity. All right, there he is. One of the top contenders, very close to a title shot. Chabib Nirmagamadeoff, the one thorn in his side as of light, so we'll see when he's ready to return. But it could happen that if Chabib sees his return delayed for whatever reason, he does have that win over Donald Seroni. And some people tend to forget that for whatever reason.

You know, that fight could be very well, the fight that propels them into that number one contender spot. We'll see December 13th. All right, let's go from the UFC lightweight division. vision to the World Series of Fighting Lightweight Division. As I mentioned, Saturday night, very busy night for the world of mixed martial arts. The three top North American promotions are all putting on events. And one of the big fights on Saturday is a lightweight title fight for the WSOF lightweight title, champion Justin Gaichie going up against long-time veteran of

the sport. Melvin, the young assassin Galard. And he joins us right now on the MMA hour. Melvin, how are you? It's great to talk to you. Thank you very much for the time. By the way, are we still the young assassin? Even though you're a veteran now and whatnot, do you still consider yourself a young assassin? What you think, man? Of course I'm the young assassin. You only get one nickname in this sport, and that's the one I'm going to live and die with.

I like it. Why change it? I don't like those people that picked their nicknames, by the way. Who gave you that nickname? I gave myself my nickname. I was 14 years old, being up grown-ass men, so I was well deserving of giving myself that name. Okay, fair enough. So you just thought of that on the spot? Nowadays, guys are picking nicknames based off of what goes good with their name or some guys pick nicknames. It's definitely not based off of their fighting. I'll tell you that.

Do you still feel like that 14-year-old killer, the guy beating up the older guys? Is that guy still in you? I haven't taken any damage in the fight. You know what I mean? I haven't gotten my ass whoops. So, you know, I have fresh legs. I still feel like I'm 20 years old. I have no problem with that.

You know what I mean? You know, I feel age is just a number. and it's all about how you take care yourself. So how's life after the UFC? You had a great debut in World Series of Fighting in July. You defeated Jay-Z Cavalcante. Now you're getting a title shot. What's it like being a part of World Series of fighting?

It's great, man. I mean, life after the UFC, not so bad right now. You know what I mean? You know, I'm with an organization that actually has given me a title shot. You know, I was with the UFC nine years and was never given a title shot. So I'm a happy camper just for, just for a game. for being able to fight for a title. The money is definitely good,

so I'm not complaining at all. I have no complaint. So you're feeling love from them? Oh, yeah, of course, man. I mean, they might want to show me some love. If not, I'll show what to be fighting for. Right. You know, prior to that debut in July, the last time you fought outside of the UFC was 2008.

What was it like just being in a different setting, different promotion, different people? What was that like for you? I feel good right now. I mean, you know, like I tell everybody, you know, I miss being in a different setting. the UFC, you know, but I don't, I don't desire to be back no time soon. You know, I'm having fun of World Series.

It's a new organization. It's new faces, new people, you know, and it's just refreshing. It's giving me a fresh start, you know, right now, you know what I mean? The UFC, you know, being that nine years and with that one organization, you know, it started getting a little still, you know what I mean? And the traveling was fun, but, you know, traveling all over. the place. And, you know, it just got a little boring.

You know what I mean? And when I got released, I wasn't so mad about it. I was like, you know what? Maybe God got something else in store for me. And here we are today talking about me fighting for a world title instead of talking about Melbourne won't, no top five contender in the UFC like it had always been. Right. Prior to that fight, you missed Wade.

Why? The time, they switched the time to 11, and I wasn't used to that. So I misjudged my way in. You know what I mean? Like I was used to weighing at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. And when they told me 11, I kind of misjudge it because whenever I do my weight cuts, I do a two-day cut. So my two days ended up being one long day instead of two days. So I ended up not even getting any sleep that night.

The night I was cutting, I was cutting until the next day. I had never slept. So it was very stressful. I was tired. And it just ended up happening like that, you know what I mean? And, you know, Jay-Z tried to hit me for 20 grand. I was like, you're freaking crazy. And I know I'm still having to give him 15, but I was trying to only give him 10.

But when I gave me a 15, I let him know. I let it be known that. You know, you want that 15 so bad because you're definitely going to get knocked out. And, you know, the way my contract is set up, you know, I get my bonuses. So I was happy. I earned my money back that I had to pay Jay-Z, so it wasn't no big deal. So when you say he was trying to hit you up, I mean, doesn't that go through the commission, or was he asking you personally for this? The big thing ever, bro, like normally through the UFC, it is through the commission.

This one here, the commission was like, you guys hash it out, come up with a, come up with an agreement. I was like, what? Because normally it's like 6%, right? Yeah. Well, yeah, it was ridiculous, bro. So he had to go up to you personally and negotiate this with you? Well, yeah, we was negotiating. He never came up to me.

he sent his, he sent one of his flockies. Well, I wouldn't even say that. He said Sean, Sean's my buddy. I can't call Sean like that. But he said Sean to come negotiate with me. And he wouldn't budge. He really wanted 20 grand. I was like, I'm not giving you 20.

I said, I don't have to fight this quite. I said, I'll still fight for a title next. Who cares? And I was like, you probably need to make a paycheck right now anyway because you haven't been fighting. I had just fought for the UFC. So I was okay. So then he was like, or 15, I was like 10.

And he wouldn't budd after. the 15, so I was like, I'll give you 15. And then I was like, okay, you definitely get the 15, but you know it's going to come with a price. So I ended up knocking them out, and I ended up getting the bone, I ended up double and triple him up on the way right back, so it didn't matter. By the way,

who's Sean? Is he work for him? Or WSOF? They're teammates, man. Oh. One of the fighters. But no, the commission had nothing to do with the negotiation. Would you have preferred they get involved? I mean, it's kind of weird for the fighters to be negotiating this, right?

I really would have because then he wouldn't even, he definitely wouldn't have got no 15% Right Right. I mean no 15, no 15 runs. Right. That's weird. So that actually pissed you off going into the fight and you put in your mind, I got to knock this guy out or I will knock this guy out. Yeah, I mean, dude, I'll go into the ring with the mindset. I'm going to knock everybody out, though.

Justin Gates, he's the next on the his list. I will be crown world champion on the 50. It's my time to get my sign, you know, and I'm not going to let anybody take that away for me. You know, plus this year, this year I made, 20 years being an MMA professional fighter, and I'm proud of it.

You know what I mean? I hit two centuries already, you know, and I mean, two decades, and I feel great. I still feel young, and I'm a finisher, you know what I mean? And I happen to have to stress that

to people because, I don't know, I got people sleeping on me a little bit, but I'm only 31 years old, but I'm at my prime right now, so I think a lot of fighters should definitely be worried right now. So you're not feeling the love. I don't know me, bro.

I don't care whether somebody love me or hate me. You know what I mean? I'm already, I've been around this spot long enough to know you're going to have people that are going to love you, they got people that hate you, and then you got the ones that stuck in the middle when things are good, they're with you, when things are bad, they flop on you.

So the only person I care about having my back at all the time is my wife. You know what I mean? She's my best friend. She's my rock. She's my biggest support system, bro. So I can care. less if everybody in the world hate me, other than my family. You know, my family loves me.

So, you know, as far as outsiders, I can care less. They all come and go anyway. So you mentioned two decades. Looking at your record, it says that you made your debut in November of 2002. So what do you mean by two decades? Nah, dude, I've been fighting professionally since I was 16 years old, well, y'all, your people's work is not updated. I keep telling everybody that.

Turned off, not updated. I have won over 200 fights already. You know, summer sanctions, some are underground. But, dude, I've been fighting professionally since I was 16. I started in MMA at the age of 14. I have 45 amateur fights that I never wrote. So at some point, you get bored of this and tired of it? I mean, that's a long time to fight.

No, man. Like, no, no, no, not at all. But I love it. You know what I mean? It's my childhood dream. That's what I want to do for a living. I love what I do. I love every minute of it. And right now, at the age of 31, it's about making money.

You know what I mean? I've had the fun, you know, of becoming a famous fighter, becoming a UFC fighter. You know, I'm already a no-famous fighter. Now I want to make the money, you know, and that's why everybody's, like, really obsessed with me going back to the UFC, you know, unless the UFC can offer me more money

when it's time to return, then I won't be going back, you know what I mean, because everywhere I go, I'm already knowing is a UFC fighter, you know what I mean? So I have that status, you know what I mean? And I've had some great fights in the UFC, and I want to go back to the UFC officially. But right now, man, I'm enjoying why I'm at,

with World City. Like I said, I'm enjoying the fact that I'm about the crown world champion come November 50th and I'm excited about that. And, you know,

when people talk to you, when you're on the street and forth and whatnot, do people, are people up to speed or is it the case where people are saying, where did you go?

You're not on the UFC. We don't see you anywhere. What's the reception like? A lot of people aren't up to speed and the funniest thing about it is my Godhard fans are, yeah.

The funny thing about it is when I feel fighting for a world title and world serene. They're like, well, who's the champion of World Series? I'm like, Justin Gachey. And they're like, who the hell is that? I mean, he's the champion. Nobody even know of. So, you know, right now,

he needs to win over me just so people can even know who he is. So I'll be dead if I allow him to be famous all of my name. You know, he's undefeated. He's looked good. What do you think of him? Are you impressed? I mean, I trained with him last year, you know, for about six months when I was up there with Grudge.

And I like Justin. He's a great job. guy. He's a tough fighter. He's a tough. But he's one of those guys, you know, he's telling me for a guy like me. You know, I mean, when I say that, you know, guys like him that like to come forward, very aggressive, they all get knocked out, such as Shane Roller, Waylon Lowe, he was in front of wrestle, very strong, but those guys came forward and they got knocked out. So guys like Justin, he's just like those guys that are fighters. I mean, I know he's working with Trevor. So in my mind, I'm guessing he thinks he knows how to box.

So that could be the end of his night if he definitely coming here trying to outbox me. Because I'm definitely the better strike at here. What were those training sessions like? I mean, we just went out. I mean, you know, people get the misconception of training and fighting for real. You know, you got to understand when you're training, you're just trying to get his change. I train different. You know, when I go to gym, I don't care if a guy is playing.

a hundred pluses on me, a guy that takes me down a hundred times. You know, I'm in a good shape. You know, when I'm in a gym, is there to get a shape. You have bodies in front of you to help you, to get the timing down. You know, we went out of that times,

but being charged in a gym, got an accountant in the right, you know, and it was the same way with Jay-Z. You know, me and Jay-Z were training partners, and there were times where, you know, Jay-Z would pepper my legs to where my legs was sore. He would catch me with a little shot. And then, you know what I mean,

when it was kind of, When the lights came on and it was trying to get paid, there was a different story. People don't understand that about me. When it's trying to get paid, I'm a different kind of fighter. But in the gym, I'm a smart fighter. That's why I haven't had any injuries. That's why I haven't had any knees blown out, any surgeries. I've never had a surgery.

I've been blessed to still be healthy after all these years because I train a certain way. Some people don't like how I train or how often I train. But for me, it's smart. You know what I mean? And that's why I'm going to have longevity in my career. And you're with ATT, right? Yeah, I'm with ATT right now. And how's that going?

Because, you know, the last couple of years, you've been looking for a home bouncing around. How do you feel at ATT? I'm good. I love all those guys at ATT. I'm not going anywhere. When I retire from this point, I'll be retiring from ATT as a world champion.

Do you feel like they've received you well? Why has it worked there as opposed to some other places? Well, I mean, it would have worked in Denver. We came to an agreement on financial situations, you know what I'm saying? But, you know, I find it funny in this sport how I remember two years ago, you know, a coach would be honest with a coach of God, you know, in this support. Oh, man, you give me an opportunity to coach you. I remember those times, not that long ago.

Now, you know, you got coaches want to be paid more than the fighters. Coaches won more famed than the fighters, you know what I mean? And it's ridiculous. I think, you know, some of these coaches are trying to put their hands in fireless pockets a little bit too deep. You know what I mean? And they need to relax and chill, you know, and take what they can get. You know, not all of us are making John Jones money, you know what I mean? And I think a lot of coaches need to get that through their heads, man.

Just be honored to be able to train a guy that is in the upper echelon. That is going to be a legend one day, you know, and make your money off these schools. But trying to make these big percentages off of a fireball. fighters, man, I think it's kind of a little bit ridiculous. So what percentage do you think the coach deserves? Me, personally, I say 5% across the board. That's what I say.

I mean, that's what we pay at ATP. And I'm loving it. I like it. There's no problem with me. I mean, I think it's fair. You know what I mean? I mean, because coaches are supposed to make their money technically off of running schools and running a business. That's what you mean. Because when when somebody find out, oh, Melvin Galard trains at ATT, that might get you 10 more clients,

you know? You know, and that's how it works. I mean, I need it happen. Like, well, people will come to train at a jump because their favorite fighter trains there. And it's not just me, it's other fighters too, you know? And I feel that's when they're making their money. So why hit fighters up for 10 and 1 15%? You know, we got agents.

We have to pay 15% or 20%. You know, we can talk to 50% all day. But when you spread the money across the board, when we're not really making that much money, I think it gets a little bit ridiculous. That's all. So did you feel that was the case with Trevor Whitman in Colorado? That's why you left? Man, look, I'm not going to sit here on an interview or glass Trevor like that.

You know what I mean? We just didn't come to an agreement. It was a mutual agreement that we didn't come to. And that was it. It wasn't no bad blood, anything like that. Me and Trevor's still buddies. But I wasn't okay with the percentage that he wanted. and we just parted away

it was no big deal so don't try to pick this interview and make it out to be malicious. And there was never nothing malicious about it. You know what I mean? We both were two adults and we didn't see how that I'm the opposite. That was it. Sorry, when you're preparing

for this fight, are you thinking a lot of those training sessions? Like, do you feel like you have a good read on who Justin Gachie is going into this fight because you did train with him for six months? Of course. I mean, not just that, but I recorded all my training sessions with Trevor, majority of them. Oh, wow.

I go back every day, and I watch myself work with Trevor hitting Mitz. You know, I watch a lot of those videos. I watch video of me working with Harry Hoof when I was with the Black Billions. See, what people understand, I'm a striker. I can be a great strikers. You have to move around sometimes and visit different striking coaches to pick up different techniques and different things. And I've done that along the way. I wasn't crazy.

I mean, nobody's ever promised to you, you know what I'm saying? Your marriage is not even promised to you. So you know coaches aren't. So when I would go to these places, I would have my testers recorded. Of course I'm going to go back and study those days because the same thing he was teaching me, he was teaching justice. So you learn. I mean, dude, to be a great fighter, you have to travel around, and you have to get, you have to get advice. You have to get, you have to learn different techniques from different places, man, to be a great fighter.

You mentioned your 20-year career. How many belts did you get in that 20 years? I had eight. I had up to eight belts within the 20 end. I vacated my pickboxing title to go to the UFC. I haven't had a title shot in the last 10 years as of right now. So I'm long overdue for a piece to go, and I'm going to get that belt, man.

How do you think it's going to feel when you get it around your waist? Have you been thinking about that, dreaming about it? Oh, yeah, dude. I just been thinking about all the new people I was going to come back around it to my life that I've got to tell you got out of my life. And all the old friends that disappeared on me when things got tough, especially when I got released from the UFC. It's very funny how a lot of people,

several other people, just kind of disappeared. You know, I'm okay with that, though. You know what? I got my best friend sitting right next to me right now, and she's all the friend I need, you know what I mean? And it's going to feel bitter sweet. And I know there's a lot of people out there wanting me to fail that want me to not succeed and be champion.

but I got a rude awakening from them. They're going to be so disappointed. So do you feel like, and correct me for wrong, are you going into this fight with a bit of a chip on your shoulder? Like, you're out to prove a lot of people wrong. I always have a chip on my shoulder, but I'm Melvin Gilar, right? Like I said, it's got a lot of people out that I don't like me. For a lot of unknown reasons.

But you know what? None of them will ever be mad enough to come to my face and tell me mad to man because they definitely are going to take that ass with it. So I can care of that. But I always have a chip on my shoulder, even as a fighter. I mean, not the way you have to be in the game.

You know what I mean? Like I said, I respect Justin. He's a friend of mine. But there will be no, there will be no pity on Justin when I'm in that ring with him on Saturday night.

You know what I'm saying? I'm going for the kill. I go for the juggler. I'm going to cut a stroke. I'm going to do whatever I can to win that fight. And it won't be, I'm going to make it ugly. It won't be a pretty fight.

That's the way I fight. That's what makes me who I am. Love it. Great to talk to you again, Melvin. Best of luck to you on Saturday. And looking forward. to seeing if you can get that belt around your waist once again. I will have that belt around my waist, Ariel.

And I'll talk to you, post, fight, so that we can celebrate about it on air. Okay, I look forward to it. All the best. All right, man, thank you. There he is. Melvin Galard, the young assassin, one and only. Great stuff out of him, certainly with a large chip on his shoulder. On Saturday night, he'll be facing Justin Gachie, WSOF, lightweight title. Also on that card, of course, David Branch. if you missed our interview with David Branch last week.

Tremendous stuff from him. He learned MMA from a, or at least was first exposed to MMA, from a crackhead in a chicken store. Chicken shop, chicken restaurant. A crackhead in a chicken restaurant. Gave him a UFC tape, and that's when the WSOF middleweight champion, of course he wasn't that at the time.

He is that today first was exposed to mixed martial arts. He faces Yushin Okami on Saturday. Justin Gaichie versus Melvin Galard, and also Jessica Aguilar, the WSOF strawweight champion against Kalindra Faria. Three title fights on the line, and hopefully no shenanigans there, because I feel like in the history of mixed martial arts, something always bad happens when there are three title fights on the line. Dating back to early UFC, it just always seems like something screwy happens when there are three title fights on a card. Hopefully that's not the case.

That's on NBCSN, 9 p.m. Eastern time from Tampa, Florida. All right. So it's not just WSOF, as I mentioned. There's UFC, UFC-180, Mark Hunt versus Fabrice O'Vo Verdume, and then there's also Bellator, a big Bellator. Part of this sort of Bellator tent pole event thing that we've been hearing for quite some time, the tournaments are no more, the weekly events are no more. It's going to be these kinds of events. And, of course, this one is headline by Stefan Bonner.

versus Tidore Tis, also Michael Chandler versus Will Brooks, Joe Schilling versus Melvin Mannhoffin, King Moe, who is supposed to fight, Tom the Blas. He's still in action on Saturday night.

One of the men who will be calling the action on Spike TV on Saturday night is our next guest. He is, of course, Jimmy Smith. He joins us right now on the M.A. Our Jimmy, how are you? Good, man. How are you doing, bro?

I'm doing great. Thank you very much for joining us. So a lot to get to with you here. First, let's start with Stefan Bonner and Tito Ortiz. I thought that you were the one shining light from that segment a few months back at the Mohegan Sun. You held on to the microphone, and you noted that as well, which is the number one rule. You didn't give it up, so kudos to you.

But when you were in the midst of all that, what were you thinking? Two masks, the things that were said. What was going through your mind when you were front and center in the middle of those two guys? It sounds funny. Kind of like holding on to the mic is a gimmick, but like all I was thinking was we can't lose control of the show. you know, I mean, people will have this idea, and I've heard it a million times at Bellator, quote-unquote, set up that it was staged. We had no idea what was going on when, you know, Justin McCulley came in with a mask and everything. I don't know who he is.

I don't know what Deppin is talking about. When they en masked him, I still didn't know who it was. So it's kind of like you're just holding on at that point. And we knew they might push and shove. That's why there were so many people in the cage, just in case something happened. But as far as this theatrics of Justin McCauley and the mask guy and all that stuff, confused. Confused.

He's hoping the show doesn't go completely off the rail production-wise, and thankfully it didn't. I believe you when you say that, I believe everyone who has said that after the fact. But is that a good thing? Like, should you try as a company, as a promotion, to avoid those situations? Should someone have asked Stefan Bonner, you know, who is this guy in the mask? What are you doing? What's your plan here? Completely.

My first thing was, like, how did this guy get in here? When I saw him cached side, He had the mask on all night. Like he was Caged side with the mask on. I thought it was a TNA wrestler. I literally thought, oh, it must be a TNA guy and, like, this mask is his stick. And you get in there and suddenly there's this guy, I have no idea who he is, why he has a mask on, what is going on.

Yeah, why those kind of things happened in the first place? Yeah, I think the same thing everybody else thinks about that kind of stuff. When we blocked it originally, meaning, you know, deciding wherever he's going to stand, camera-wise for the director and everything. Nobody was in the building. We rehearsed about five hours before the show start. So, Stefan Bono wasn't there. Tito wasn't there.

Scott Coker wasn't there. When we blocked it, we just went, okay, we'll have him stand here and him stand here. It's like we rehearsed it, like stage. We had no idea. So when all those people came in the cage, it was just a much shock to me and the producers that was everybody else, if you watch the incident, I turn to the camera and I say, I'm going to hold the mic. People thought I was, like, talking to the fans.

I'm talking to the producer. Because I can't obviously speak to him. It's not, you know. Right. So I turned to the camera and went, I'm going to hold on to the mic, just so he didn't panic. Because he's in my ears going on, what's going on? And I'm like, I don't know. Like, I look at the camera, I'm kind of like shaking my head because we don't know what's going on.

So, you know, you try and keep it on the rails. But the difficulty is, you know, a lot of people have asked me about this. Like John Jones versus Daniel Cormeo, when they shove each other on stage, you can't really control that kind of thing as a promotion. You want tension, you want animosity, you want the hype, but you don't want it going so far off the rails that everybody gets suspended, which can happen. So, yeah, it's a fine line, and it's really hard to walk as a promotion, but as a production, which is the side I'm on, I'm just trying to hold on the mic and keep it from make sure we have time to go to commercial. So it's kind of a war between various things that are pulling in different directions. So, yeah, it's not easy. Who taught you that rule?

Never give up the mic. I think my first day there. So now my first day of, I did M1, and we didn't have Cates at interviews. We didn't have anything holding the mic. I don't remember, but somebody, I think the producer, told me, he said, oh, yeah, rule number one, you can never let go to the mic because you lose control of the show. I mean, we've got to cut to commercial, and Stefan Bonner's still yelling and streaming. We can't go to commercial.

And, you know, being a televised show, we don't have a three-hour pay-per-view. Where a guy can grab the mic and thank everybody. and you have a three-hour block of time, we don't. Most of the time when I'm interviewing a fighter, they're counting in the air, like, down from 15, saying, okay, you've got to cut this off in five seconds. So if I lose the ability to do that, I can't control the show anymore, and that's huge.

So what's the impression that you're getting from people? Did that spark their interest? Because I believe a lot of people will say, oh, this is ridiculous and whatnot, but they'll still watch. They're just saying that for whatever reason. Oh, it's too pro-restling, but they're still talking about it.

They're still watching. Do you get the sense that more people are interested in this fight because of these theatrics or have people been genuinely turned off? I think more people are in the category you're talking about where they've expressed disapproval with it, but they'll watch it, where they're interested in it and don't want to admit it. Because the one thing I can tell you, man, is they really hate one another. And people ask me, somebody asked me, they said,

what's the difference between, you know, a WWDE type thing? And what you guys did, I said, we didn't script anything. We didn't tell Stefan, like, I don't know why. and when Stefan explains why he hates Tito so much, it's really weird. It's really obscure. It's like he starts talking about ex-managers and, you know, I'm an M.M.A. insider,

and I don't know who these people are. When we were doing the Wintertake All show, in between takes, they would, like, argue. Like, they really hate each other. They were, like, arguing in between takes, and it really degenerated into this kind of really, really insider baseball kind of stuff. Well, this manager's so-and-so,

back then that you didn't pay and Kito's arguing about paying him. And I'm like, I don't even know who they're talking about. So it's like if Bellator had set this up, we would have made it a much more easy to understand kind of rivalry because his animosity goes way back about weird stuff that's really hard to follow. But it's

there. I mean, they really hate one another. So because it's so personal, what are you expecting out of these guys? Are you expecting it like a bar room where all strategy goes out the window and they're just going to fight off emotions? Or are you expecting a vintage bomb? He hates this guy, so he's going to bring it out, or vintage Ortiz. I really have no idea what to expect from this fight.

What about you? No, neither do I. To me, it's all about camp. These guys aren't, if it's not 10, 50 years ago. It's about who made the little tiny adjustments in Camp, Stefan Bonner, coming in awful long layoff. Cheeto, obviously, coming off neck surgery. It's who got through eight weeks healthy. It's who made the right preparation.

It's who did all these things that prime you physically and mentally for the fight. I mean, all these lead-up things get much more crucial as you get older. Every fighter talks about as they get older, you know, training smarter, training smarter. Whoever trained the smartest is going to win this fight. Strategy-wise, once it starts, Tito's used to being an emotional fighter. That's kind of where Tito lives is in that zone where, you know, he's talking trash to his opponent. So he's used to emotional fights. I think it's going to be how Stefan approaches it.

Because generally, he's always fought aggressively, he's always fought hard. I don't remember a lot of bad. blood in his fight. So it's will the emotions eat him up because it's a little bit of new territory for him. He's always been aggressive, but I don't remember this kind of personal animosity going into a lot of his fight. How do you feel about this fight

going on last above the title fight? Great rematch, Will Brooks, Michael Chandler. How do you feel about that? Well, one thing is, I think it'll be a bit more dramatic in terms of, for Will Brooks versus Michael Chandler, I think they're obviously in their

prime, they're much better, you know, In terms of the top 10 argument, their fight will mean a lot more, but I think we're going to see deep water. I think we're going to see a tactical fight. We're going to see two guys that are hard to finish. I think we're more likely to get that spectacular fight-ending, card-ending kind of moment with the Tito versus Bonnie. You can criticize where they are in their careers,

but the reason, you know, the thrill in Manila was so great is they were just past their prime and couldn't quite finish the other, so it led to a war. I think we might see that again with these two guys. So I think we have a better chance of it ending the card on that high note finish. Because Chandler Brooks, as good as they are, I think we're going to see a war, but we could see those five rounds. We could see more of a tactical engagement. Stefan Bonner, I think it's going to be a lot.

I mean, Bonner versus Teito can be a lot bludder. I think we're more likely to see that top finish. So the new Scott Koker regime, they have one season under their belt, and of course the seasons are no more. This kind of signals the end of Belator's 2014, and a lot of big things planned for 2015. What do you make of the new regime? Because you were very much, you correct me from wrong, you were a Bjorn guy, right? You got along with Bjorn. I believe he brought you into the company and all that stuff.

So what did you make of the switch from Bjorn to Scott Coker? Well, as far as the structure, it's, you know, everybody knows last season was Bjorn season. I mean, Bjorn, you know, sign the fighters, it was kind of the last hurrah of the old regime was the last season. So Scott didn't have a chance to really change things around and do it the way he wanted to do it. it. Things are much more laid back is the best way to put it. You know, people are a lot more relaxed under Scott Coker. He's much more of, hey, what do you think kind of guy? You know, I'm bringing in everybody in their opinions. And, you know, that's a step away from what we've been doing with before. But this is really the kickoff to the Scott Coker

era is November 15th. You know, it's really, this is his first big swing at the pitch, and we're going to see what he can bring. What I've seen, like I said, is more of that. at bringing everybody into the process a lot more. His management style is very, very different than Bjorn, who was single-minded and driven and got, you know, Belator so far with that vision, but that same single-mindedness could make him very difficult to work with. And so this is Scott's big swing is November 15. I mean, I'm going to kick off.

These are the kind of fights from the scene next year. So I'm interested to see it. As an employee, as a guy, you know, as a commentator, I'm interested to see how it goes and the changes he makes. Are you a fan of getting rid of the tournament? It made things really Promotionally difficult It made it unbelievably difficult

And the best story I can tell That from my own experience Is the first Eddie Chandler fight We had this great fight Obviously a new champion Chandler I thought it was five in the year Amazing fight Somebody from Bellator ran up to me

As soon as it was over Like as soon as we signed off And I took my head set off And he ran up and he goes Oh my God It's so amazing to do so much for us And I turned to the guy and I said, what am I going to say? Tune in next season where Eddie Alvarez might win a tournament and get a rematch if he beat three guys in a row.

And the guy just went, it just deflated and completed. We can't ever strike while the iron's hot. If you like a guy and he loses in the first round of the tournament, you don't see him for nine months. The reload process was so incredibly difficult. I mean, that was the criticism. Guys would get hurt. The tournament champion would get. get hurt, and so everything would back up.

So our tournaments, I remember one time introducing the fighter, I forget what weight class, and I wanted to talk about the champion, and I couldn't remember who the champion was. Wow. And we finished our piece, and I was like, and it came back to me, obviously, and I was like, I was sitting down so mad at myself, I was, God, how did I forget that? And I sat there, and I go, because I haven't seen him fight for like a year and a half. So, yeah, I don't remember who it is, and that's the problem with the tournament format,

is it made this fight, this pinnacle fight, the tournament champ versus the champion, took half a year. It was very hard to strike when the iron was hot, so we'll be able to see a lot more of that next year. I'm excited about it. There's around 16 or so shows scheduled for next year, from what I understand,

one a month, and then there'll be like four really big one, as they call, tent pole events. For you personally, as a broadcaster, as someone who has to sit there for, like, six or so hours and call these fights, when you were doing it back-to-back-to-back for 13 straight weeks, and you just finished up the last season and it won't be like that anymore.

Did you get burnt out? I mean, what was it like traveling to all these places back to back, not having a lot of time for repair and all that stuff? What was that experience like as a broadcaster? Last week was rough. The last like, you know, the last like two or three weeks, like the first two months were pretty good. And then that last month was, it started grinding on you.

Everybody in the crew started noticing it. People were snapping at one another over stuff. that last three months, and it was spent time on the road, that last week or two of the three months, it is brutal. And promotionally, I remember I was doing an interview with Mara Renal one time, and he threw a curbel at me and goes, so in three weeks. I literally had to run to my computer and get up the fight in three weeks because I don't know. I'm dealing with one fight a week. And the idea that I don't know what's happening in two or three weeks, you know, how are the fans supposed to know? When you do that many shows, I mean, it's like they almost blur together.

I mean, you're having trouble keeping them separate in your head, and that's my job, let alone the fans. So I'm looking forward to being able to build up, to be able to talk about a fight for a long time, to be able to engage the fans for a good month or two about a particular fight is going to be a nice change of pace. So I've talked to a lot of people on and off the record since June, and everyone has the same answer. I'm wondering if you'll have the same one as well. Have you talked to Bjorn Rebney? everyone says no

no one knows where the heck he is do you know where he is have you talked to him I have not why from the bottom of my heart nope I have not spoken of all

I have no idea what he's up to what he's doing it's unbelievable yeah were you friends what was your relationship like well he pretty much

left me alone um that's good I mean yeah I mean I don't know how how other commentators you know their relationship with what their bosses is

but he people have this idea that that you like he was in my ear during a show telling me to hype a certain guy. No, he pretty much left me alone.

I pretty much didn't have to deal with him very much. So as far as the show went, you know, I don't have many of the negative experiences or negative stories. He kind of pretty much left me alone to do my job. So, yeah, but on the flip side, when it was a regime change and someone else comes in, I didn't feel the particular need to contact it either. You did say goodbye, best of luck, it was a pleasure, nothing. Nothing, zero.

Heard nothing from him. You have no idea where he. he is? No idea. That is fascinating. How long did you work with this? Literally no clue. That is unbelievable. All right, well, maybe one of these days he'll resurface. Maybe we'll see, ma'am. It's like

he's become the Yeti or something. It's unbelievable. We saw him every single week for how many weeks a year, and now all of a sudden no one knows where he is. He's not tweeting nothing. Melvin Mannhoff, Joe Schilling, what a fun fight. It's a classic strike force fight. It's right out of Scott Cooker's playbook. What's your prediction? I'm setting

the line of takedowns for both guys combined at one. You go the over or the under? I'm going with the over seriously because what you call a takedown. Because if you watch Muay, if you watch Gloria, I know you do, I watch kickboxing, that tangled up mess

where fighters get separated all the time, which people who don't like Muay that's why they don't like it or kickboxing when they separate them, in those instances, Joe Schilling isn't as used to fighting moitai in an MMA context as much as Manoff is. So we might get tangled up, throw a bad knee, and end up getting tossed. And I think that would be more of an issue for shilling.

That's something he needs to worry about. But that Mouetai quench where their legs get all tangled up and one guy slips and falls. We might see that a couple times. Schilling isn't used to. He's used to a referee then separating him standing up. Manoff is a little more conscious of his balance. He sets his stance a lot lower when he fights M.MA. That's something Shilling's not used to.

So I think he might fall or a slip, what you might call a throw more than once. Maybe a couple of times you might see that. What's your take on King Moe? Because, you know, he has those losses to noon. He's in that weird territory, like a guy like Chad Mendez in the UFC or I favor, where you lose to a champion a couple times. And it's not, you know, it's not very clear where you're going because you're not going to get typically another shot at the guy.

So how do you feel about King Moe these days? Well, King Moe is one of most physically talented guys in Bellator. I mean, in MMA period. I mean, you know, his credentials, his wrestling, his explosiveness. He has all the tools to put it together, but you're exactly right in terms of promotionally. You don't ever want the Rich Franklin effect. Well, you're the best guy who isn't the champion. It's hard to sell somebody.

Two is usually your limit. It's hard to sell somebody on a rematch with a guy. First he knocked him out, and then I thought it was a very clear unanimous decision for the second fight. It's hard to sell the fans on a third fight with Emmanuel Newton. That being said, there are some tough guys coming up at 205, Leon McGier. especially, if someone took the title away from Emmanuel Newton, I don't think it's hard to sell a championship fight with King Mo. I think it's tough with Emmanuel Newton.

But I think if Newton loses the title to any of those 205ers, then you're talking about him definitely being in the mix. He's talented. So of all the fights on the main card, fan, Richmond, Schilling, Mannhoff, Lawal now against Joe Vedipo, Brooks Chandler, Ortiz, Bonner. Which one sticks out? Which one are you the most excited for? Brooks Chandler.

For sure. That's the hardcore fans delight, right? my number one. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm a huge fan of Chandler. I'm a huge fan of Brooks. You know, Brooks has a big, big, big, big chip on a shoulder. Completely. I mean, and I understand it. I mean, I understand it completely. So this is the guy who beat Chandler last time. And yet still, when you talk to most MMA people, most of the MMA media, Chandler, Chandler, Chandler, Chandler, Chandler, Chandler, and Brooks won the last fight. Everyone seems to kind of forget that. I scored it for

Chandler, but the judges gave it to Brooks. He won. He got the belt. He deserves that championship respect. And I don't feel he's getting it. And so you're getting a dangerous guy physically anyway. A guy with a lot of talent, a lot of ability, and you're giving him some extra motivation. But Chandler's a beast. So that's the fight I'm really looking forward to. Jimmy, big fan of your work, keep it up. And great job holding that mic a couple months back in Connecticut. That was fantastic, especially your line at the end that you still had the mic. Good luck. this Saturday. A big show for Belator will be watching. Appreciate the time as always.

Hey, thanks a lot, brother. I appreciate him. All right, there he is. Jimmy Smith, color commentator for Bellator MMA, Belator 113 one this Saturday on Spike TV. Okay, let's move along now. Very excited to welcome in. The reigning, the defending UFC heavyweight champion, it's unfortunate. He was supposed to fight this Saturday night. UFC 180

in Mexico City against Rubikov-Dum. That is not happening, at least before now. He will not be in action, had to pull out of the fight. So very thankful. and appreciative that he is joining us right now for a couple minutes right here on the M.A. Our of course I'm talking about the one and only Kane Velasquez. Kane, how are you?

I'm good. How are you doing? I wanted to play this just to get you in the mood. I know you're not going to be fighting on Saturday, so I just wanted to play. Oh, I screwed it up. Look at me, I screwed it up. I got so nervous that we were in front. Here it is.

Your song. There it is. We were talking a few weeks back that your entrance song is my favorite. So I just wanted to play just to put you in the mood, but I screwed it up. Anyway, Kane, I appreciate the time. How are you feeling? We had your coach on a couple of weeks ago.

Javier Mendez. He told us about the injury, but tell us how are you feeling after the surgery? Feeling good, you know. Once again, I've been to this before, so it sucks, but it's something that I have to do for my career. So, you know, I thought this was best.

You know, I tried everything I could do, make the fight. And, you know, I just couldn't. So, you know, do the surgery, the surgery went well. The doctor, you know, and obviously it just seems like every time you go into surgery, the doctor actually finds more stuff wrong with you than previously thought. So, you know, and that was my case. So, yeah, yeah.

So right now, you know, rehabbing this right now and just trying to get back as soon as possible. What was the more stuff that they found? So before my ACL, I felt that was pretty loose. You know, in training, I felt like my body would twist one way, but my leg would kind of stay in one direction. So I kind of felt like it was very unstable. But with that, I kept telling the doctors that, hey, you know, I think my MCL is kind of jacked up because I feel like, you know, this is going wrong with it or whatever. And then they obviously said that my meniscus was to work tour also, but my MCL is fine. And once I went for surgery, they put me out, and the doctor was able to bend my knee around

and, you know, found out that my MCO was actually just really, you know, stretched out where he can kind of move my leg around, you know. So, he found out of the MCL. So he ended up reattacking the MCL and then also, you know, working on the menisca. So does March still seem like doable for your return, or do you think because of that it's going to be a little later? You know what, right now? I don't know.

I'm just going to play by ear, you know, take every day, you know, just try to get better every day, you know what I mean? Just do the rehab, listen to the doctor. You know, that's for much all I can do, you know. I would love to make data, you know, all I want to do was fight in Mexico for this card, you know, and it kind of sucks that I can't do that. So, you know, just pick up where I left off and just kind of like. like take care of this right now and you know just try to get better that's that's pretty much it

what was it like when you came to that realization that you wouldn't be fine i know how big this was for you and your family it was so important for you and you you know it felt like you were the one guy on the one card that they couldn't afford to lose so it was devastating for all involved but what was it like for you and you came to that realization that you wouldn't be fighting in mexico um just just just just sucked you know what i mean um um going through practice every day and you know know, just limiting, just, you know, just not really doing the stuff that I could do as far as rolling. You know, I try to roll some of the days that I could, some days I couldn't, and, you know, I just said, hey, I'm going to just baby it until I can, until I get two weeks out. And then two weeks out, I'm going to try to, you know, do everything.

Kick, you know, be on the ground. It doesn't matter, but I'm going to do what I can do to make this fight. And, you know, when I finally realize that, you know, I can't do it, my, you know, it's just not working for me, you know. Yeah, it just sucked, you know. It felt like, you know, like something's destined, you know what I mean? Like, this is where I'm destined to be. I'm just in the fight with this card. And it just didn't turn out that way, you know.

So it just, yeah, it just kind of devastating to me. And from what I understand, you're still going to Mexico, right? You'll be doing some PR stuff there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going there. I'm doing the PR stuff for the UFC. and, you know, I want to be there for the guys, you know, the guys that were on the tough show, the guys that I helped out, and, you know, I want to be there for them also, for sure. Is that almost going to make it harder?

Like, if you didn't have to go, you can just maybe not watch it and do something else on Saturday, but to be in that arena in front of your people and people that you train with and were expecting to find on the same card as, what's that going to be like? Is it going to eat you up inside? Yeah, definitely. It will, for sure, you know. Um, but yeah, you know, it's not going to happen. So it's going to suck.

Yeah, being there, you know, being, being there and wanting to fight. But, uh, you know, this is the thing I can do about that right now. So, yeah. What do you make of the UFC's decision to put in a interim title? Do you agree with this move? Yeah, that's fine. I mean, I've been active for a while. So to me, you know, that stuff doesn't matter, you know.

Just as long as when I fight, I fight for a belt, and that's all that matters for me. So I don't really care that, you know, that they decided to do that, yeah. As you mentioned, you've been inactive for a while. You've had a few surgeries. It's been over a year. Are you starting to worry about, you know, the way your body is reacting to training? No, because when I train, you know, I train well, you know. So I just, I think just, you know, when something's all me, I just kind of work through, you know, that's my mentality, you know.

You mean if something hurts or, you know, something's injured, I mean, I think my pain to, where it's just pretty high where it's pretty bad where it might need surgery, but I'll just kind of work through it. So, you know, again, it's part of the sport. You know, we all go through it. I might have gone through them more than, you know, than most, but, you know, I'm going to keep doing it. Yeah. Before you suffer that final injury that forced you to apply out of the fight,

how close to 100% were you? Because you were still battling a knee issue? So, like, were you even like 80%, 70%? Probably 80%. Yeah, you know, it was just hard because, you know, I guess I've had this knee injury for a while, but all of a sudden for this camp is what it really just, you know, just broke in my face, you know. And I was just saying, you know, if I knew that it was just bad, I would have just got it done when I got my shoulder done. You know, then I'd be done with it. Right.

And, you know, yeah, having to do it. you know, pretty much going through a whole training camp. I mean, that just makes it just that much worse. So, yeah, yeah, just all those factors that come into play when thinking about this. You know, well documented that you weren't 100% going into that first JDS fight. Do you think if you didn't go through that experience and suffering your only loss, that you probably would have fought through this and this was such a big deal for you? Like, obviously you don't want to go through all that again and fight when you're not 100%

and take one for the team. Do you think that almost led to your decision to say, you know what, I just can't risk it this time around? Yeah, yeah. You know, I just kind of made a promise to myself that, you know, if something like that ever comes up where, you know, I'm just really bad or it's a big injury, but I'm not going to go through with it, you know. So I just made that promise to myself that I wouldn't do that again. Yeah. How's the shoulder, by the way? So it was great.

It has been great for, you know, since, since, you know. something else in surgery. So I haven't had any problems with it during training, you know, coming back or anything. So I'm happy about that, you know, just kind of sucks that once you get over something that, you know, it comes along and kind of sets you back, yeah. Can you do anything in training? I mean, obviously, the knee is a big part of everything, but like, are you able to do anything or do you just have to stay on the couch for now?

Right. No, you know, just lift over body. You know, I can do the aerodyne. You know, like one laying on the adine and then, you know, using the arms. So, I mean, I can do some stuff here and there, yeah. What about D.C., your old friend, becoming captain of AKA. Are you in support of this? Yeah, yeah, I am.

You know, he's been my coach, you know, forever. He's going to help me out with the rest of him, and that's always in my corner. So, yeah, yeah, I definitely do, yeah. You know, yeah. Are you going to be able to help him prepare for Jones at all? I'm going to try. I'm going to try, you know. Again, just listen to the doctor and, you know, know, hopefully just rush this whole thing.

And, you know, of course, you know, smart, but but try to be, you know, quick about it, yeah. Have you said in your mind, and we'll let you go in two minutes, have you said in your mind how, how many more years you want to do this for? You know, you're putting your body through a lot. You're the baddest man, the heavyweight king. Do you know how long you want to do this for? I don't have a set date, no. I'm going to keep doing it until I can, you know, or try I can't do it pretty much successfully, you know.

So, again, you know, playing it by year. I don't have a set date, but I feel like I'm still competitive out there where I can, you know, where I can be at top, you know, just on top so much I do that. Who's your pick for Doom or Mark Hunt? I think with Doom, you know, I think Mark Hunt just has the, you know, the knockout power. And that's pretty much, I think, Radoom, you know, with his length, also if it goes to wrestling, or if it goes on the ground, the doom has it

but you know I think on the feed with that the power that that Han has I think he has a you know

good chance of winning it there but I think that that's pretty much it and final question I know you want to get back and fight wherever whenever but is it still a goal of yours

do you want to repay the fans in Mexico do you still want to fight there sooner rather than later yeah yeah definitely sure yeah that's the you know you're just looking forward for this fight

and now that it's not happening I mean yeah I definitely want to fight there yeah all right Kane thank you very much really appreciate the time

get well soon safe travels to Mexico and good luck with the team this weekend as well thank you cool thank you all right there he is

the UFC heavyweight champion Kane Velasquez joining us totally botched his entrance song there that's that's on me I was doing it myself I thought of it late

and late in the game um I thought it may be brightened him up, but it didn't really. Nevertheless, if you're a fan going to the event, you're in Mexico. Good to know that. At least Kane-Blascus will be there. I do believe he is doing the Q&A before the event, before the weigh-ins on Friday, and I'm sure they'll have him do some PR stuff and meet the people.

So at least he will be there. Got to make it a little tough, but at least his presence will be felt in Mexico City. Looking forward to getting over there. When do I get there? Wednesday morning. All right, let's move along. One of the big winners on Saturday night was Al-Iquinta. Huge win over Ross Pearson, co-made event of that show in Sydney, Australia. Fantastic finish. Fantastic post-fight interview. Everything was fantastic out of the Long Island native. And he joins us right now. It's very early in the morning over in Sydney, Australia. He is still there.

It's in fact almost 7 a.m. And look at Aliaquinta. Outdoors, tank top, just living the dream over there. Australia. How are you, my friend? I'm doing good, man. Doing good. Sydney's treating me well. Where are you right now? About 12 hours north of Sydney. Byron Bay. Okay. What are you doing there?

I'm just chilling, man. A bunch of the guys from the UFC, the people that work for the company came up and rented up like a villa. It's pretty cool. Me and Al Jermaine Sterling came up. I'm going to get some surfing in today. just hang out and relax for a little bit.

Now, did you plan this before the fight or after you won? You're like, all right, I'm sticking around. This is a good place for you. I'm going to celebrate. Kind of both. I knew that one of the gentlemen that worked with the UFC, Brock, he had told me in Halifax that they were doing this. And I never liked to make plans for after the fight.

So I kind of gave him a tentative yes. I said, we'll see how the fight goes. And right after I fought, he was like, yo man what's the plan you coming up or what and uh i talked to talk to sterling aljermaine and he was like yeah let's do it so we uh we're gonna hang shoot down to the beach in a little bit get some training in and uh it's gonna be a good one how long are you staying there for i don't know man i'm halfway yeah i'm halfway across the world so i'm gonna i've always won't i think i might no no did we lose al al you there oh i'm still here okay got me yeah yeah

It froze on us for a second, but we still got you. All right, so this was a big fight, a big opportunity, a big stage, veteran of the sport. You weren't the favorite. Honestly now, and I know you were confident going into the fight, did you think you'd be able to stop Ross Pearson on the feet? Like that, impressive fashion early in the fight. Did you think that was going to happen? It was definitely one of the scenarios I played out in my head. You know, I think about the fight constantly leading up, and I was, I go through,

getting beat up for two rounds and having to come back and win and all these different scenarios. And one of them was definitely going out there and just having a flawless performance, you know, not really taking too much damage and, you know, just sticking and moving good footwork, doing everything that we game plan and go over and practice. It was really just like a sparring match. One of our guys, Johnny Bonilla Bowman, has a really, he's got a style similar, but he puts a lot more pressure on. so this was actually a little bit less, you know, a little bit less stressful of a fight than going through a sparring session with that guy.

You know, there was obviously a lot of attention on the Rockhold Bisping fight that was, you know, that was the main event and they were doing a lot of trash talking and whatnot. I remember watching the pre-fight press conference and you weren't asked the question throughout most of it. Finally, you were asking, you were like, oh, you thought you were going to get out of here without a question? Were you enjoying, even though you were in a co-made event, were you enjoying flying under the radar, or were you annoyed that you weren't getting enough attention? I was kind of enjoying it, I guess, kind of letting the main event take a lot of the attention. You know, it's my first time fighting in such a big, you know, in any sort of a high-profile fight. So to have a little bit both ways was kind of good, I think. I got to, you know, fight in front of the big crowd.

It wasn't too much heat behind it, so I was kind of just, you know, doing my own thing. What's the confidence like with the team now, with Chris doing his thing? and it just seems like every long-go-sera fighter is on a role these days, including yourself. I mean, you're one of the high-profile guys, but does it just feel like you know you guys are unstoppable? Do you have that aura about yourself these days? Maybe a little bit.

I mean, we're just really having fun with it. It's not, we're not taking it too serious, I guess. I mean, obviously when we're getting in there, we're serious, but, you know, the whole team got to come out to Australia. And, you know, everyone came, supported me. in the sauna before the wayans I had the freaking the whole team was there

there's no one that does that you know so it's definitely something special and we're all having fun you know Chris coming out to support me it gives you a lot of confidence having everyone behind you even Longo got in the sauna Longo didn't get in the sauna

but but Sarah's 24 inch pythons they were able to fit inside the sauna He was in there, yep That guy is gigantic What's he on these days? I don't know, man He does push-ups before he goes everywhere

So his arms are always jacked up Right, right The guy's scared I loved your post-fight interview You quoted the Iron Sheik Where did that come from? The Sheik, man He's the man, you know?

I don't know I'm just a big fan of the Sheik We were watching, I was actually watching it Cut and Wait you know, I was trying to watch videos on my phone just to try to pass the time. Every minute seems like an hour in the sauna. Right. So I put on a, my last three minutes, I put on an iron sheet clip.

And I was like, all right, this sucks. I'm going to stay in just till this little clip is over. So we played it. We were all laughing and watching it. And then, you know, I was like, shit, three minutes is a really long time. But the she got me through it. The sheik helped me out. So he told me, he said, he said, I'm iron sheet class.

now so you know it's a big step I'm on the MMA hour and now I'm chic iron I'm chic class

so it's good good things are happening in Australia things are really looking up but he tweeted you right you saw that yeah man he's I think he's a fan

now it's good it's amazing he might have to come out to Long Island teach me some teach me some moves I love that you said you'll make

the lightweight division humble like like Sheiki baby says but did you plan that on the spot or did it just enter your mind right then and there. Like, did you plan it beforehand, or did you, did you, did you decide on the spot? I was just kind of, when I was in the son, I was just thinking, you know, I was kind of just joking around like, ah, in Australia, suplexing kangaroos, like, what would the, what would the she, what would W-W-I-S-D? What would the sheik do?

You know? So I, I checked out of my inner sheik after the fight, I guess. I don't know. You know, you've looked very good in your last two fights in September. You had a great win over Houdrigo Dan. That was fantastic stuff. Prior to that, you had the Mitch Clark fight, and I remember seeing you after the fight. I mean, you were obviously devastated. Everyone, it seemed, I mean, like, this was a layup for you, right? I mean, Al-Quinta, tough guy. It seemed like everyone was picking you to beat Mitch Clark. How did you handle that loss? How were you able to rebound? And in the moment, how are you dealing with it? It was definitely not fun. But what are you going to do? There's nothing really to do.

you could get you know kind of get it could force you to be lose focus and go off and do the wrong things maybe but uh I got right back in the gym and and the first thing I was doing was

jiu jitsu right away trying to try to you know fix any mistakes that I made it was really not even too big of a mistake I just you know I got caught in a bad position where he was good he had a move that he was really good at and he capitalized on it. So, you know, I was just, I was pretty much dominating the fight till then.

Yeah. And that's what I really had to, you know, think about how good I was doing until I got caught, I guess. Did you take him lightly? Like, did you hear, were people saying, oh, you're going to smoke this guy and all that? And did that, you know, maybe let your guard down a little bit? I don't think so, maybe. I don't really remember. I don't, I would never really take that stance on a fight at all. You know, I've seen him, I watch all his fight, so I know he's dangerous. He was 10 and two at the time or something, so he had a pretty good record. It was just

you know, if anything I was, you know, it was my fourth, I was on a three-fight winning street. That was my fourth one. They gave him, you know, they gave me that fight. It was like, I can't lose, I got to win this fight now, you know, he was, I should have finished it in the

first round. I don't know. Yeah. It's just, finish him in the first round, and that never would have happened. So that's another thing I took away from it, you know? that uh got to just put more pressure on i guess i don't know well you came back and you had the fight against them and then you get a really high profile fight so it seemed like in the eyes of the ufc you're stocked and fall all that much um what were you saying to yourself before the

the pierce and the days leading up to it were you saying the same were you putting that same kind of pressure and then some on your shoulder because this was a big deal for you uh when i got the call for this fight i was kind of i was like five weeks of out, I was just like, Australia, it was just everything was awesome about it, you know. I was already pretty good shape. Sometimes my camps get a little too long, it gets drawn out during like the fifth week. I mean, really good shape and me and Ray are like, man, when is this fight already? We got three more weeks of training. I wish the fight was tomorrow. So this, the timing worked out perfect. It was like five weeks, just long enough time for me to get really good, good shape and, you know,

come out to Australia a little early, get acclimated. and have a good performance. It was awesome. Everything, never mind going in, just have fun. Everything about this is fun. You mentioned you're with Al Jermaine Sterling.

He went to Australia and found out that his fight fell through. You're preparing for a big fight. What was it like being with a teammate who travels all the way from New York to Australia and then finds out his fight fell through? He must have been pretty bummed. He was definitely bummed. He was,

he was bugging Sean Shelby all week. get me a fight, this and that. He was up until the Saturday before we came here like Wednesday. So that whole week he was still keeping his weight down, hoping maybe one of the guys didn't get into the country or something like that. But, you know, so he was still training, and he's going to fight soon. So he just kept training hard and got some good. We got a bunch of really good workouts in a while we did that down here.

We went to the UFC gym and it was good. You have one of my favorite corners in MMA just because they're so entertaining Longo and Sarah and then you got Chris their last two fights he's dancing all over the place in the front row

How much can you hear those guys because I actually go out of my way to try to listen to them because they're so entertaining Especially in between rounds But during the fight as well And they have such unique voices Do you hear them very well

in the middle of your fights? Definitely for sure I hear loud and clear And I think my opponents do too we were kind of we were playing around not playing around but Matt was yelling some stuff to me that he didn't want he knew that I wasn't going to do

but I would think like I was going to do it hear that but if he was yelling like right here I would take down I thought I was going to really try to take him down I thought that was the game plan you know right and good thing you're from NASA are you

still there? Can you hear me? Oh no. Yes. You there? It's getting a little choppy. Maybe let's try to reconnect. We're going to call you right back because it's just getting a little choppy, so maybe we'll reestablish the connection, okay?

Right. Let's call him right back on Skype. Just about to close out here with Ally Quinta, joining us from beautiful Australia, 12 hours away from Sydney, Australia. Hopefully the connection's okay. He's outdoors. We appreciate him waking up. It's around 7 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday morning over there.

coming off that huge win over Ross Pearson on Friday night that was on the Fight Pass show won via second round TKO afterwards quoting the Iron Sheik I mean it was just a fantastic night for Ally Equinta and he is on some kind of role these days

wins over Couture, Hallman Lee Dan Pearson we spoke about the Mitch Clark fight that wasn't all that long ago but it feels like it was 10 years ago when you talk about what he's done in the back half of 2014. That was just in May. But since then, he's put together two very solid performances and didn't even get a bonus on

Friday night. I mean, a win like that over a guy like Ross Pearson typically would warrant some kind of bonus. But this was such a special show with all those finishes. Every single one, it broke the record for most finishes in UFC history. It's tough to do. Still there? Can you hear me, Al? Looks like he's still choppy. Yeah, I got you, man. Sorry about that. Okay, no problem.

Hey, by the way, this was a record-breaking show for the UFC, all those finishes, going into your fight. Like, were you watching that? Were you saying, all right, I got to keep this train moving along? Did you notice that stuff? Did it give you some kind of motivation? No, I didn't, I don't really watch the fights too much. In the back, I just like to kind of relax.

but everyone in the locker room was coming back pretty excited so yeah you know it was definitely a good energy in my locker room were you annoyed that you didn't get a bonus yeah I was pretty pissed man I think any other card a fight like that you know coming in being the underdog getting the win you know the way I got it but uh you know it is what it is yeah well like I said you weren't the favorite people were counting you out but right here on the the MMA hour, they were not counting you out. In fact, our own betting expert, New York, Rick, went on the record and gave you a shout out on last week's show. We have the clip right here. Let's hear you, you for your own record, you have to hear this. In case you missed it last week,

here's New York, Rick, talking about Ally Quinta going into the fight. Ally Quinto, Ross Pearson. I think Pearson's going to be the favorite, but I think Quinta is going to give him problems. 172, minus 172 for Pearson plus 160 for Allie Quint. Are you picking the New Yorker? Wouldn't be a bad pick. You know what? I'm picking out. Oh, yeah. A fan of the show. Shout out to Al.

Shout out to Al. How about that? Shout out to Al. You hear that? Awesome, man. That was awesome. New York, Rick. Us New York is stick together. I like it. Who makes sense for you next? Who do you want? I don't know, man. I think that

everyone's pretty much got a fight. So I'm going to just stay ready. I think there'll be an opening somewhere, probably beginning of the year next year. I think there's, you know, everyone at 55 above, you know, at Ross's level and above, it's pretty much booked up for a fight. So if they call me on a few weeks notice, I'm definitely game to just hop back in there and do the same thing again. I'll probably be the underdog again.

And, you know. I'm just going to sit here with the dead air and wait for it to come back, will it to come back? Al going once. Oh, he's done. Should we try to get him one last time? I just wanted to say one more thing to him. Let's try one more time. All those people coming back to work in Australia are probably cramping our style.

Oh, look at that. I see our video cam shot over there. I never knew how it looked. That's pretty cool. We may have lost him. I just wanted to tell him that I know he's from Nassau County. I had the pleasure of going to the Nassau, Memorial Coliseum yesterday.

I went to see Frozen on Ice with my family. My first time at the, soon-to-be former home of the New York Islander is a historic arena as far as NHL is concerned, and I just wanted to tell him that I was there, and everyone sends their best, but I don't know if we're going to get it. Al, do you hear us?

Al, are you there? I'm back, man. There he is. He's back. Hey, I just wanted to tell you one last thing. I was at the NASA Memorial Coliseum yesterday watching Frozen on ice with my family. Have you ever been to that arena? I know you're from the area.

Nassau Conoiseum? Yeah. I grew up there, man. You like the Islanders? I was playing roller hockey on there in between periods, way back when I was a little kid. I love that place. I used to wait outside. I used to wait outside when the hockey players used to go from the Marriott across.

They would walk across that little walk to the Coliseum before the games. I used to stand there and get autographs. Look at you now. That place probably feels like a gazillion miles away. I mean, it technically is, but you're literally the other side of the world, right? Yeah, man, it's crazy. Crazy right now.

But when do you think they're going to have a fight in freaking NASA College? Yeah, man, in my backyard. What is this crap? It is crap. It is crap. I mean, that place, it's not exactly the mecca, is it? I mean, it's a little old.

Yeah, they're moving to Brooklyn now. Yeah, they're smart. They're smart. They're smart about that. By the way, what's the itinerary for today? What are you doing? Let's live vicariously through you. I don't know.

These guys probably sleeping. They're still sleeping. Yeah. I'm probably going to surf a lot, get some training in. That's probably pretty much it. Sounds like a blast. A couple beers. Yeah.

Yeah, of course. Why not? Live it up. Al, I want to wish you a congratulations. Huge performance for you. Long Island MMA continues to roll along. Looking forward to what's next, and I appreciate you waking up early over there. You got it, man. Thank you. I appreciate you having me. All right, there he is. Ally Quinta joins us from Australia. Great stuff, great win. He's now on two in a row.

And that was by far the biggest win of his UFCN MMA career. Okay, let's move along. Just a couple of weeks ago, we had Ian. McCall in the show in preparation for his gigantic fight against John Linnaker. That was the, at the time, it wasn't even the co-main event. But after the Jimmy Manoa injury got bumped up to the co-mate event, it was supposed to happen this Saturday. By now, you know the fight did not happen due to a blood infection suffered by Ian McCall after the Wands on Friday. So I wanted to have him on the show to discuss that, where he goes from here, how he's feeling, and a whole lot more. He joins us right now via the phone.

Ian, how are you? Doing good just actually finally got home I'm happy to I guess about that How long was the journey? 30 hours

Gosh You must be exhausted Yeah I'm you know I'm tiny So I sleep And I'm pretty good about sleeping anywhere But it's just

You know Being on the plane sucks Especially for that long So it And being sick doesn't help So I'm tired You know

I just need to rest And I'm assuming the last thing you want to do is do an interview on the phone after just getting home. So I appreciate the time very much and we'll make it as quick as possible. How are you feeling physically? Tell us, like, what exactly does it mean when you have a blood infection? Well, you know, my respiratory system is really sore. And my throat, my chest, my whole body aches.

The medication, they have me on four different antibiotics. and, you know, those make you feel crappy, too. So it's just, I'm really tired, a little shortness of breath, just, I mean, I've, you know, I guess I had, you know, fever all weeks, so I've just, that's kind of gone, but just headaches and, you know, you're just kind of like a flu type of symptoms, I guess, but I don't know, it's just, I don't know, pain's just, pain's all kind of relatives. I guess when you're used to putting yourself through, through so much suffering, it doesn't, just kind of like dull to it.

How long were you dealing with this for? I don't know exactly. I do know that the UFC, you know, gave me their, you know, pre-fight, you know, blood tests for, you know, I don't know if it was one of the random testing things, like the CBC. I'm guessing it was for drugs and stuff. And, you know, they came back and, you know, I did it and then you get your results back quickly. My doctor called me the next day and, like, hey, we know, we have a problem. And I was like, well, you know, like, what? Do I have AIDS or something?

And then he's like, no, you know, you know, your white blood cell count is high. And I was like, well, how are you feeling, you know? Is anything busted up? Do you have any inflammation? And of course, I have inflammation. And, of course, I was dragging ass, you know, in the gym a little bit. Comparatively, I just kind of chalked it up to me. I had a cold and I was overtrained a bit.

But, you know, I'm a very healthy person. I eat incredibly healthy. I live a very healthy lifestyle. I do a lot of rehabilitation. I mean, I get, like, as far as I get three massages a week. I'm at my physical therapist every day. I do cryotherapy pretty much every day. I do intervening vitamins.

I mean, I do a lot of stuff. Seaback, you know, but I do so much stuff to take care of myself. I also do yoga, you know, on top of my training. So it's like, it's, I'm very healthy and very healthy. fit, I just figured that it would pass. And once I weaken my immune system with the weight cut, I just, my body completely failed me. How long have you been, do you think this has been something that's been going on for a long

time and you just noticed it now? Like, looking back once you found out that this was an issue? Probably three weeks, maybe a month. You know, but it wasn't that bad. I was coughing up some green stuff. And, you know, it was just, I was a little. slow in training. You know, as far as, you know, I was still getting all my training in. I was still, you know, resting a lot and doing everything, you know, everything was on point. It was just,

you know, energy levels were a little bit low. So then I was doing even more recovery stuff, you know, like making sure of getting more juice in and more, you know, more stuff for recovery. And it's just, I don't know, I just figured I'm strong enough to, you know, cure it myself. I don't like taking antibiotics. I don't like putting that stuff in my body. You know, it kind of goes against just how I work. How does someone contract something like this? I have no idea.

They didn't tell you? I mean, it could have been from it because I had my infection in my hand a couple months ago. I could have touched something and put my finger in my mouth. I mean, who really knows? sweating with other men all day. Right. That doesn't happen. When you weighed in on Friday, how did you feel?

I felt horrible, man. You did? Yeah, when I, Thursday night, you know, because all week I had a fever. Every night I would train. I'd go way down. I wasn't sleeping. I maybe slept in like half an increment in time. I'd say that an hour of sleep a day the whole time.

which I usually get not much more than that, maybe two, three, if I'm lucky four hours a day, but it was even less. And then when I started my weight cut, I usually a hyperhydrate to, I wake up around, you know, 10 over. I think I woke up at 9.5 over that morning. Well, I hyper hydrated up to 15, and then I lost 12 and a half in under two hours, which is a lot, you know. So when I, and then I felt horrible.

So I went up to my room, drank some of my coffee. fabric stuff, getting some coconut water, had a banana. And I felt a little better. So I figured I was about, you know, five or six pounds over at that point, which is fine. And that's where I usually like to be. I usually like to, you know, I'll float another pound or two and I'll cut the four or five in the morning. So again, no sleep. You know, it was like zero sleep that night.

And I just felt awful. I was on the bird of throwing up the whole time. And I've never thrown up. in my entire life working out. I'm like, and I don't say that as a joke. I have an issue with throwing up. I can't. It's very hard for me to throw up.

I can only throw up when I'm really, really sick or if I'm really, really, really drunk. I guess the only two occasions I can think of. But anyway, so I go cut the rest of the weight. I don't feel that bad cutting weight, you know. I was just a little slow. Got the weight off. And then as I go to walk downstairs from, you know,

the sauna to the scale, I started throwing up. And, you know, when you're already that low, throwing up, there's not much in your system. So I'm throwing up, like, the espresso that I drank earlier and vile, like, foam. So I started throwing up, and, you know, they, you know, Bert and them and, you know, Isabella, they found me, you know, in the lobby or in the hallway throwing up, which I felt bad, and I threw up on the floor. some snow trash can but uh

so then you know I laid down by the scale took my sweats you know I weighed myself with all my clothes on and then I just just and then I saw that I was light and then I took my clothes off

and laid their kind of still sweating on some towels and weighed my clothes just to figure out you know the math of where I was and my coach like dude drew light like just I made this for probably half an hour four or five minutes and just kind of try to relax and everything felt

didn't I didn't feel good at all but I got up checking my weight and I was a pound and a half under. I think I did a little more. So my coach who goes upstairs, gets me a whole thing, a whole big, you know, carton of coconut water. And I drank like, you know, probably at least a pound and a half of coconut water. And that was, you know, before William, that was, I was bringing in a couple hours.

That made me feel a lot better than I weighed in. And usually backstage, I've got a lot of energy, I'm just shadow boxing. and it's also a mental thing. I like to show the person that I've got energy for days. I've got cardio for days. I'm a, you know, we're cut weight. You're dying. I'm going to move around right now.

Like, we fought right now. I bury you, you know. I just sat there. I couldn't move. I didn't want to move. I want to do at least have, save whatever energy I had for the stage.

So I did, you know, and I went on and I made my weight and I put on a little show. And then once we got backstage, it just got worse. And I started to eat and drink. Well, I started to drink. I definitely couldn't get food in. I took, which is probably not the smartest fruit to eat,

but I took, like, and I'm not kidding here, I took one bite of pineapple, and I was like, I need a trash can. So, you know, Isabella brought a trash can over, and I didn't throw out, but I felt like it. And then they wanted to do a group picture. Everybody after Joe gave us the speech, and I couldn't stand up. So then, of course, you know, everyone gets out and leaves.

Well, they had to give me a little. IV at the stadium. The doctor's like, you have to have one right now. Like, you know, let's do it now. So I did, I gave anyone. And then took me, you know, back to the hotel. I just tried to stay positive and, you know, just keep breathing and relaxing and focus and just eat a little, I was eating very small amount of food.

Like, you know, a protein shake here and a little bit of chicken and vegetables. And so I don't go gorge myself before my flight. eat, you know, as healthy as I eat any of the day. So, and then I keep eating, and then, you know, my coach just brought some sushi and, and, you know, it was actually really good sushi. You can look it up on Yelp and in New Orleans. It was actually, it was really good. But, you know, I was just trying to be positive and kind of put the stuff out of my head.

And then I laid down and my body just started, like, seating up. My throat and my back and my head and my hands and, like shooting pains and all the stuff I was having a lot of trouble breathing. I couldn't really see. You know, I just, I mean, I had probably drinking at that point, 10 pounds of water. I had an IV in me. I was, you know, I should have felt a lot better. And I couldn't see my phone.

Luckily, I was able to text my coach. Like, you need to grab a doctor and come up because they went to go watch the fight in the lobby. And I'm like, you got to get the doctor and come up. I don't feel good. No. I don't know what to do. And then mentally, you know, that's just, the stuff starts going through your head and you're just panicking. And then the doctor saw me.

He's like, no, no, no, okay, we're taking. So they rushed me to the hospital, into the hospital. And I don't really remember much of the hospital. I don't know why. I don't know if I fell asleep or what, but I guess they, I didn't, I don't remember them drawn blood. I don't really remember much. You know, we were just carting around in a wheelchair. And, you know, they drew some blood and the doctor said if it comes back positive for, you know, a bacterial or some sort of infection in your system, then I'm going to have to pull you.

If it comes back negative, then, you know, we'll reassess everything in the morning, see how you feel, I'll look at you, give you the evaluation. And then, you know, they were, man, I slept. You gave me another IV with some ibuprofen under, you know, whatever they give you. make a picture that was to break my fever. I had a little bit of a fever throughout the night, not too bad, but I woke up in the morning,

and I actually slept like 10 hours probably, which was crazy. And when I woke up, I, you know, kind of rolled over, grab my phone, just kind of like looking at the internet,

and then I saw that I got pulled, so I saw that I had an infection, so I didn't, I guess the doctor came that night to talk to my coaches. Wow. You know, they didn't bother waking me up. that's how you find out

yeah well I mean I knew it was coming pretty much so I just you know it's I mean I wasn't complaining about it because obviously

had an infection but those were those were rules he said if you have an infection I'm gonna pull you like you can't fight like that yeah

you know your health your health comes first you know UFC's very very behind that you know they that's the first like you know

I apologize to everybody, you know, obviously, because I feel bad for the UFC, for me, to my bosses, for fans, for media, for my coaches, my family, you know. But the first thing, everyone at UFC is always like, listen, you're healthy. Like, we can't, you know, that's the main thing. We have to take care of you guys because, what's they do? You know, they looked out of my best interest. I had the UFC people or doctors calling me every hour or two until I left, you know. So it was good as far as being taken.

care of. You know, they definitely were behind me in that part. So, once you wake up and read on your phone that you're out, what do you do? How do you react? Honestly, I just try not to cry to myself. Like, I try to just lay there and not cry like a little girl, you know. And just, you know, it's depressing. It's something that, you know, you strive so hard for.

And I'm, you know, I look at my, I'm a machine, you know, like, I can fight through this. Like, why? You know, why did my body fail me? You know, how did I let this happen? Like, I'm, you know, people can talk all the shit they want. And I don't care what they say on Twitter. I have all these Twitter trolls that talk shit. But, like, as far as myself, it's like, what so much training I put in this kind of shape?

I know I'm this healthy. I know I'm, you know, this tough. I know I'm this much of a badass. Like, how is this vehicle? that I've created failed me like this. And, you know, why is it, why is it doing this to me? You know, you just, you go through a lot of emotional stuff, and I just, you know, lay there and just try to be somehow positive about it, you know.

It's just, it's just, you know, a little bit of, it's just confusing. It's hard to just even think of that sort of situation. How long afterwards were you released from the hospital? Oh, they took me back that night. Oh, okay. Yeah, I didn't stay in the hospital that night, because they didn't need me to. You know, my fever wasn't that bad. I mean, I don't think I had a fever when I actually got to the hospital because it was kind of coming in rolling all week.

And we should have known. I mean, you tweeted on November 3rd that you had a bacterial infection, but I don't think anyone really understood where you were coming from. So obviously, as you mentioned, you knew about this, and you also tweeted after this news came out, you tweeted a picture of both you and Linneker, which was interesting for many reasons. of course you guys had your back and forth, which did a great job of selling the fight. What was that interaction like? You know,

John doesn't speak English. Right. And I speak very, very little. We most probably speak equal amounts of English and Portuguese. And there was so much riding on the line with this fight for both of us that I know. And he was, you know, I have a lot of respect for John. He was an awesome, an awesome, good guy through all this, very nice. You know, I'm friends with his age, and I'm friends.

I've become friends with, you know, them more or less than before. It was, you know, us, you know, talking crap to each other is, it's business, you know. It's entertaining. And, yeah, of course, we're going to, we're getting a lot like me in the fact that we're going to get this fight. Like, no matter as nice as we are to each other, we still want to punch each other with the face. Did you say anything to him through his manager? Did you have any kind of conversation? Yeah, we had talks.

I just said, you know, I'm really sorry. And, you know, I hope that we get to fight soon, but that, you know, I wanted to make sure you knew that how sorry I was and how, you know, heartbroken. I really am to have to do this, you know, especially to him because, you know, that's the main person, you know, he's got a life, he's got a kid, you know, he's got a girlfriend. He has a career.

He's got things that, you know, Most of people don't take into consideration because they don't go through it. We go through physically, mentally, emotionally, you know, with our entire lives. He told the media this on Saturday night, quote, he paid the price for his jokes. He made fun of my situation drinking coconut water while I had to cut 0.7 pounds, and God punished him. What do you think of that? Is that surprising to hear him say that after your meeting afterwards? No, you know, he's probably got a point. God hates me.

I came to that conclusion a long time ago. You know, I'm a failed Catholic, so I'm pretty positive. God hates me. But if it's because I'm funny, that's fine. You know, I'll pay the price to be funny. Sorry, I'm funnier than you. So have they given you a sort of timeline when you will be able to train again and potentially fight?

Do you have any idea when you can get back in there? No, we're talking about it now. I'm going to go see a doctor tomorrow. And, you know, just get evaluated, make sure everything's going well. I don't know. They probably won't take my blood until next week, I'm guessing, because my medication is done. So I think I'm done with one of the medications, another one's done in a couple days,

and then the other two lasts for 10 days. So it's just going to be, you know, I get to relax this week and I try my best not to go work out, you know, it's going to be hard. But maybe I can go to yoga or something. I always feel like I have to do something. And do you think the idea that makes the most sense is you versus Linneker, or do you want to go in a different direction? Oh, no, I want that fight.

I think it makes a lot of sense. I think that him trying to, you know, go around me is weird. like, you know, we still have a date. We got to dance, Mommy. Like, we're going to get down. We got to get some games to play. And, you know, I get it. You don't want to fight me because whatever stupid reasoning you're having in mind.

But, and I just think he's realizing it's a very bad fight for him. You know, like, I made weight. I made $1.25. I mean, I have a sick. Like, I'm going to make weight. Like, you miss weight. you're not even, you're good, you know, like, I think you realize it's the kind of, you know,

individual that he's going to have to deal with when I am 100%. And I don't know if he really wants anything to do with that. And by the way, I commend you, you still went to the fights on Saturday. How tough was that to be sitting there knowing that you should be fighting? It was awful, you know, realistically.

But the UFC didn't make me go or anything, but they asked me and said, hey, you know, just, if you could, you know, would you mind going? But, you know, you don't have to because if you don't feel good, we don't want you to do anything. And I was like, I can do it. I'll have to sit on a suit and I'll go shake some hands and talk to everybody, show everybody that. I think a lot of people thought it was maybe the weight cut, you know, because people are cutting weight and very stupid ways and hurting themselves. And, you know, it was, it was no one's fault but my own, obviously.

It was this infection. You know, I just thought I was stronger than it. And that, again, my body failed me. You know, I, uh, you know, everything else was good. You know, everything else mentally, physically, I was on point. It's just, um, once I hit, once I weaken my immune system that much, my body shut down. And, um, it was hard being at the fights, one, because I wanted to fight. Two, you know, the card wasn't that exciting.

So I think we would have brought a lot of life to it. Um, and three, it was incredibly hot, you know, it was hot in the arena. the music was loud, which I had a crazy headache. I don't know if anyone noticed, but there was actually a trash can underneath my seat. Wow. Wow. But, you know, that's part of my job. Like, I'm going to go there.

I'm going to do it. Like, I'm sick, so what? You know, I guess the bad attitude to have, I should be dressed and taking care of myself. But I feel like I owe it to everybody, you know. final thing and I don't mean to pour it on but I'm just genuinely curious what's it like going on that trip and even following you on Twitter I know it wasn't the most enjoyable flight out there with all the issues TSA and whatnot going there you're in a foreign country oberlandia doesn't even sound like a real place to be honest sounds like some kind of Brazilian fantasy worlds they keep calling it and then the 30 hours back you walk home

and you didn't even get a chance to go out and do the thing that you left to do I mean what's what's that feeling like that you're experiencing now it's so frustrating and so depressing and so just makes me sick. You know, like I come home with, you know, all that work for nothing. I mean, luckily, I didn't think I was going to get paid a dime. I don't, I was like, okay, cool, I don't deserve it. You know, that's fine. Like, I'm not going to get paid for this.

Like, I understand that I wouldn't. But luckily, you know, the UFC gave me my show money, which is, you know, a big thank you to them. because having only fought once in a year and a half, you know, that's probably your banking account. But, you know, they were nice enough to grant me that. And still, you know, they were never negative towards me about it. They just want to make sure I'm okay, you know. But, yeah, that whole thing of traveling all, you know, 30 hours there, 30 hours back,

and just not feeling good about it and now being sick and then having the most annoying child ever on the plane. Like, one of those kids, you want to just, like, open the hatch and punt him out. Like, God, like, people need to control their kids better. But, you know, it was, it's more mental than anything. Physically, I've been through a lot. I'm going to be okay physically, you know. Whether it's broken bones or whatever, I'll be just fine.

It's just the emotional thing that's really dream. just want to be with my, you know, my family and just relax and smile. Ian, appreciate the time very much. Thank you for coming on the show, especially after just landing. Get well soon. Looking forward to seeing you back out there. And, again, most importantly, just rest up and feel better sooner rather than later. All right, there he is.

Ian McCall, Uncle Creepie stopping by unfortunate, very unfortunate. We were talking about this show last week, I believe New York Rick said it himself that that was one of, if not the most important fights of the weekend, and just devastating news that he was not able to fight just a few hours before the fight. You hear now what he was going through, not really related to the wake-up, but who knows how your body's feeling after something like that.

Just very bad luck, and another piece of bad news that comes through for the UFC an anticipated fight that just doesn't play out. There are so many fighters on these cards, so many fighters on the roster, things are going to happen, and they're going to be a lot more magnified than they were a few years ago, simply because there are more fights, more fights, more fights, more fights, more fights, more cards, all that stuff.

Just the percentages go up. But it has been a bad stretch for the UFC, hopefully for them, after coming off arguably the greatest year in UFC history last year, 2015 bring some good luck, although it's kind of weird when people say that because there's really, I mean, does, does, does. you know, does the ether know that it's going from 2014 to 2015? What's the word I'm looking for? Do the external powers that be, the factors, the injury bugs and whatnot?

Do they know that it's a new year? Is there any difference between December 31st and January 1st? I think about these things. I wonder. I worry about them. But a lot of people like to say that, New Year's resolutions and whatnot. Anyhow, that does it for today's interviews. appreciate everyone who stopped by and gave us some of their time. Let's go inside the vault now.

And I mentioned at the top of the show that this is a fun one to watch in November of 2014, because back when we conducted this interview on February 27, 2011, this fighter was in a much different place. I was at UFC 127, and coincidentally, that was also in Sydney, Australia. back then it was called the Acer Arena and you know it was an okay card that was the card that was headlined by BJ Penn versus John Fitch it actually turned out to be a more interesting card than a lot of people thought going into it the fight ended up being a draw

but it's one of the cards that I look back and really enjoy because of just being in Australia and Australia a great country remind me a lot of Canada and we've got to do a lot of fun things produce some good videos so it was a very memorable trip But one of the early fights on the card featured Chris Tushre versus Mark Hunt. Mark Hunt was going into that fight, a loser in his last six fights. Lost to Josh Barnett in one round. Lost to Fyodor Emilienenko in one round.

Although that was a very memorable fight and he had his moments in that one as well. Lost to Alstair Overeem in a minute and 11 seconds. First round, of course. Lost to Melvin Manhuff in just 18 seconds. Dave Meltzer mentioned. Lost to Gaira Musassi in just a minute, 20 seconds. And then, of course, lost to Sean McCorkel, the lowest of lows at UFC 119, a minute and three seconds.

Now, if you recall, Mark Hunt, he had a contract with Pride when the UFC, when Zoufa bought Pride, and because of that losing streak, at the time he had lost five in a row, the UFC wasn't all that interested in employing Mark Hunt. So they offer to just buy him out of his contract, pay him what he's owed for X amount of fights, and then he just goes on his way.

Well, he didn't want to do that. The story has been told. He wanted to fight. He wanted to prove his worth. He finally convinced them to do so a couple years later, gets a shot, curtain jerker fight, first fight. Indianapolis, he fights Sean McCorkel. And I remember when this fight was announced, it was the, you know, the internet clown

Sean McCorkel fighting this, you know, former K-1 champion. Yes, he was on the losing streak, but very much well-known. We remember him from the old days. So, wow, Mark Hunt's finally fighting in the UFC after this losing streak. First round finishes galore. What's going to happen? McCorkel beats him in 63 seconds. At that point, I think a lot of people thought, all right, well, that does it for the Mark Hunt experience in the UFC.

But they gave him another shot. And it made sense. Sydney, Australia. He calls Australia home. It made sense. So they put him up against Chris Tushar, who, if you recall, was part of Brock Lester's team. And that's when it all started. That's essentially where this run that has now led him to this interim title fight in Mexico City of all places on Saturday night.

This is where it started. February 27, 2011, he knocks out Chris Tucherer in the second round, a minute and 41 seconds, and what a knockout it was. Walk off K.O., which has become the norm for him as of late, most recently doing it to Roy Nelson. And all of a sudden, we were starting to think, all right, great knockout. Obviously not against the top contender, but maybe this is the win that gets Mark Hunt back on the right path. After that fight, we had an opportunity to talk to Mark Hunt right outside his locker room and just listen to the words that he is using. Listen to how elated he is to just get back on the winning track. It had been so long.

In fact, the last time he won in MMA was May of 10. 2006, almost five years, it took him to get another win. So what you're about to watch is my post-fight interview at UFC 127 with Mark Hunt, an elated Mark Hunt, as he, we didn't know at the time, but now we know, began this journey to an interim title fight. Here it is. Ariel Halwani post-fight at UFC 127 alongside the Super Samoan Mark Hunt, who just picked up his first UFC victory in a very, very impressive fight, Mark.

and it's been a long time coming for you in the MMA world. You haven't won in several years. How good does this feel? I'm over the moon. I haven't won in such a long time. It's been ridiculous. I couldn't even be a wooden chair, even had a broken leg. I just haven't been winning at all.

But I'm so happy to win this fight. It means a lot to me and my family is great. In the first round, you were rocking. Clearly, you didn't want to go to the ground with him. Even when you knocked him down, you had no interest. And the second round with that upper cut, you'd even wait for the referee to stop the fight. You knew right then and there that,

he was done, you just walked away. Why'd you know? I can feel it. You can just feel it. I felt it. I just felt it. Did he hurt you at any point in the fight? He actually caught me a punch in the...

I think it was a punch. I had below vision. But he did catch me, so... But a long time, I haven't spent much time in the Arctic and all the ring. And if I did, it's probably been not that long. End of the first round, he was going for the Kimura, and it was almost shades of your first UFC fight. how close was he to actually sinking it in?

He wouldn't have got it. He wouldn't have got it. I would let him make my arm. Fedor had me in the same position. I knew how to skip out of those things. Like I said, I wasn't losing tonight. You talk about not winning for a very long time, but you look at your record, and you fought some of the best heavyweights of all time.

You talk about Fedor, Alster Overeign, Barnett, those guys. Do you feel as though your record is almost deceiving, in a sense? I don't think so. I don't think anyone that knows. How you did, Mark? Ah, good job. Thanks, brother. Good luck.

I was a record deceiver. I fought a lot of big names, but, yeah. What was the question here? Sorry. It's okay. You got props from Michael Bisping. That's good enough. So what do you need to do now to get on a role, to finally get your career on a role here in the UFC? Well, I've got some good guys I'm working with. I got some good soil out here to help me more. I just had a lot of a good camp at the moment, having been with them for training. But I'm looking forward to go to some proper training, try and get some abs.

Move on from there. Try to get some abs? You don't know about abs? You don't know about the abs. You were rubbing your belly after the wind. Just playing. Did you say you injured your leg? No.

You did. Yeah. But how was your training? Training's been good. I mean, just got good guys who helped me resting. So it was really good. I shopped around for you guys. Help me out.

So it's been really, really good for me. Did you spend any time at ATT for this camp? Not for this camp. But I'm going back over there. Best camp. I hired everyone ATT. Final question. What about this crowd? This was your first MMA fight in Sydney and this is now your adopted home hometown and they were cheering for every single thing that you did even when you walked out. It was pretty amazing, right? It is for me because I've been I lived here for 12 I've been here for like 14 years. I started here as a kickboxing fighter

Well, I'm originally from New Zealand, but my family's here. This is my home and I've been fighting from here for a very long time, but I'm Tonight has been really good. Everyone for cheering me on, it's been really great. Is Mark Hunt officially back? I wouldn't say back. I just glad for the victory. I just got a lot of work to do.

I got a way a lot of work to do, but I'm prepared for a long haul. A lot of improving to do, man. I mean, yeah. All right, we'll go have some KFC. You deserve it. You had to say that. So how about that? Not even willing to say that he is back.

and then three years later, here he is, fighting for the UFC belt. An amazing story. One of the best stories in UFC history, and if he does pull it off, it certainly will be right up there because that is a comeback that I think very few people expected.

I forgot about the Michael Bissping moment there, giving him props after the fight. That's cool. That's one of those things that you don't get to experience as much these days. And he even dropped that you didn't know about. I forgot about that.

It's been using that one for a while. So there he is. You know, if you didn't see, see the UFC countdown show. They did a good job. You could tell that it was, I mean, obviously it's a bummer not to have the Kane Velasquez footage and not to be able to tell that story. But they used some of it.

And you could tell they had some great stuff. But Verdoom speaking in Spanish is great. He's very likable. Hunt, very interesting. I mean, I find him to be a fascinating character. They did a good job with that story. And even Hunt, you know, it's like one of these black clouds that hang over these events when you don't get the fight that you want.

But just having Hunt of all people in there, that story, if you've been watching him fight for so long in combat sports in general, it's hard to feel too bummed about it. Of course, Kane, not fighting in Mexico, it's just devastating for all involved. But I'm still excited for this. I still love that story. I'm a little concerned about, you know, what he was talking about. They were very open. They were very honest about not having a lot of time, not being able to spar. the elevation, all that stuff.

But man, what a great quote that he told submission radio last week. What was it? Like one knockout? There goes your black belt. There goes your effing black belt. So I suggest checking out the UFC countdown show. And of course, after that win over Chris Tushre,

what was that? That was a weird noise. He actually went on to fight Ben Rothwell, UFC 135. That's the infamous fight where both of them were huffin and puffin at the end of the fight. Hopefully we don't see the same thing. if it goes three rounds or more because of the high elevation.

And Mexico is even higher up than Denver is. And then afterwards, it was finishes galore with Czech Congo at UFC 144. And then the great Stefan Strew finished, took the Junior Dos Santos fight on short notice, went pretty far with Dos Santos, but then got knocked out by spinning heel kick. The tremendous fight against Antonio Silva. And then, of course, most recently the knockout of Roy Nelson back in September. in Japan. So that's inside the vault. That's Mark Hunt. That's February of 2011. Before we get to the questions, let me just wrap up this weekend because I touched on it very,

very early. You know, I had a chance to talk to some of the students at Syracuse University. I talked about how much it meant. Did you follow me on Twitter and whatnot? Without a doubt, one of the most, I just want to get this off my chest so then we can move along. one of the most surreal and gratify, I've used these words, but I can't find any better words, to be there as a father, to go into a place that you were there for 10 years, 10 years ago, every day you would look at these things, these murals, these pictures on the wall, these streets, in the most depressed state possible, and to return 10 years later when you never thought that you would be back with your little son, with your baby in your arms, with your wife,

and to come back a happier man, to come back in a much better place. I kept thinking, and I said this a bunch, I kept thinking of Charlie Sheen. Charlie Sheen used that term that was very obnoxious. No one liked hearing him said. He kept saying winning, winning, winning. He kept saying winning, winning, it was so annoying. But honestly, for some reason, that's what came to mind. Charlie Sheen came to mind when I was there because I felt like, okay, I want, here I am, 10 years later, never thought I'd be back, virtually ignored over there,

had a very tough experience and I could come back and by no means do I feel like you know this is the end of my career and here I am I didn't even have to give the talk to the kids to the students that was gravy just being able to come back there and eventually leave and not feel like you're a prisoner and be able to experience this all over again with my family was was unbelievable and then to watch the fights on Friday with those students and to feel like a rich man to feel that love to feel that admiration, to feel that acceptance was unbelievable. So I thank everyone involved. I thank Professor Nicholson.

I thank Jehoun, who had a big part in all this. I met the student Jehoun at UFC 160 in Vegas a couple of years ago, and he asked me, do you want to go talk to the kids? I said, it's the only reason why I'll ever go back. I have no interest in ever going back, and he worked at it. And finally, almost two years later, we got it done. So it was a long time coming, and it was just such a thrill. It was so great to be there.

and that's why I got this guy there because I feel like I can finally close that wound. No one will really understand, and we all go through things, and you get depressed, and, you know, you have tough time. I mean, I'm not alone in that regard, but it's like going back and settling a score, squashing a beef, closing a wound

with someone that you were in a fight with for 10 years. Why was I in that fight? I'm not quite sure why I held that grudge, why I had so much animosity towards that place for so long. It was just a tough time, but I held it in my heart, and it was a negative thing. to come back and finally feel like I can be proud to be from Syracuse. Remember when John Fitch was on

the show and I kind of crapped on it and I felt bad afterwards, but I could be proud to be an alum of Syracuse, that I can move on with my life, that I can actually, you know, like, like, like celebrate the fact that, you know, I was able to go there and get this degree and whatnot. It's, it's an unbelievable feeling. It's, it's overwhelming to settle that score, to squash that beef, to be friends again with someone that you weren't friends with, that you considered an enemy, that you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you considered, you know, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this bad, ugly moment in your life. You had such disdain towards it. It's, it's, it's, it's free. I feel like, I feel like, I'm 100 pounds lighter. It's unbelievable. So I'll never forget that weekend. That was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that. Oh, I like, I, just want to thank you. I like, orange men much better. Well, they wanted to be all PC, you know, because the women were getting upset, but what is orange?

I mean, what does that even mean? Well, it is, it is nondescript, so I mean. They're just a color? That's their team. It doesn't make any sense. Maybe I'll be able to change that one day. Well, it doesn't, what is that? I mean, it's like the Browns.

But I think the Browns have, they have a reason for being called the Browns because I think Paul Brown was their original owner or something like that. I'm probably botching this, but you can't, you can't just drop the man. or men, right? It's weird. You could do some. I mean, didn't St. John's, they went to Red Storm. They went to Red Storm.

Yeah. What were they called the Red Men? The Redmond, yes. So you just, you just, maybe Syracuse can adjust it to orange something else. The Orange Crush, I don't know. Orange Crush, I like that. There you go. Probably, though.

Take it. Have it. Yeah, but it's probably copyrighted, right? I don't know. Yeah. But that sounds awesome, so congrats on that. Yeah, it was great. Thank you.

I mean, I didn't want to step. all over it, jump in and say anything. There's nothing really else to say. No, there's nothing to say. I just wanted to get off my chest because I know a lot of those guys. Man, those guys, man, I was watching those fights with those kids and I hate to call them kids, but they are, I mean, they are like 10, 12 years younger than us. This is pretty amazing.

They watch everything. I mean, they were quoting old interviews. They were such hardcore fans, watching all the fight past shows. I mean, this was the hardest of the hardcore and we were just sitting. I tweeted a picture of them. We were sitting in the lobby of this hotel on Friday night with my laptop because it was kind of

annoying that we couldn't go to a bar or something to watch it because it was a fight pass show. But it made it even cooler that we were sitting there in this hotel that I'd been at so many times when my parents would come visit me and I would be so depressed being there because I didn't want them to leave. I was homesick all this stuff. And I'm just sitting there with these friends and we're having a great time watching these fights. It was just what it was just the most amazing feeling going back to the mall over there, which they changed. By the way, they changed the name of that mall. We were talking about it a couple weeks ago. It was the Carousel Center. Now it's called Destiny USA. Another horrible decision. That's what the weird name changed.

Is Carousel Center necessarily that good? It's kind of... We didn't lose anything that great. Carousel Center is pretty cool because there's a big carousel in the mall. Oh, wow. So it's memorable. What is Destiny USA?

It doesn't even tell you what it is. Like, if I tell you I'm going to Destiny USA. I'd be more intrigued. Yeah, I guess. It does sound like uberlangia. Yeah, I'd want to know. But anyway. Okay.

Awesome. That's fantastic. Thank you. All right. Let's go to the questions. Okay. First question regarding Michael Bisbing. In your opinion, would you like to see Michael Bisbing retire?

I think this is going to be a theme for today's show. Oh, no. Not being able to beat top five guys at the ripe age of 35 doesn't bode well for a title shot. I don't want to see him retire. I mean, he's not getting knocked out. He's losing to some top guys. And I still think there's, I mean, there's still a lot of value in Michael Bisping. I'm not concerned that he's getting knocked out.

I mean, look, if he does retire, if he is asked to retire, it's going to be, you know, I think. I mean, just looking on the surface, because. of his eye, right? The eye does not look the same as it did when he started. It doesn't look great. He's not concerned, so I guess, to a degree, we can't be concerned, but you see this a lot in combat sports. We're more concerned about fighters' health and they are. That being said, it's not a Shogunhua situation, in my opinion, where he's getting knocked out, finished quickly. I mean, it's just not the same thing. So I don't view him the same way as I do Shogun Hua. I still think there's a lot of money to be made, and that's not always the number one

reason, but he can make a lot of him a UFC. He's still a big draw. He still knows how to self-fight, and I still think that he can be a guy who can win some fights. Can he win those top eight fights? I'm not sure, but I still think he can be somewhat relevant in the middle-weight division. I think you hit on it early, the first point, which is, you know, the miles on Shogun are not the same as the Miles on Michael Bisping. Yeah, and training in his fights. He hasn't been in those wars. Yeah. I mean, I don't think Michael Bisping should retire. I don't think he thinks he should retire. So when I saw that fight and I saw how it played out, first thing that came to mind was in, oh, he's done.

Right, exactly. When I saw that fight, it was like, wow, Luke Rockhold just elevated him. Like, Bisping was a part of the equation, but it wasn't the story minutes later. OSP Shogun, it's like immediately like, oh, Shogun, I mean, you know what I mean? It's a totally different takeaway. Yeah. Nobody, you know, all the talk about Shogun OSP is about Shogun. Yeah.

Which is unfortunate because what a, what a punch and what a, win for OSP. But yeah, you're clearly right about the conversation afterwards in that fight is completely different from the conversation after Saturday night's fight. Yeah. Our next question about the future of the middleweight division. It seems that the general consensus is that Rockhold and Jokuree should have a title eliminated a rematch bout for the next middleweight shot after Vitor Belfort. What would that mean for Yol Romero? I think he fights the winner of Dalloway and Machita and gets the next shot if he wins, thoughts. I like that, especially if Dolewe wins because it's a fresh matchup and the winner can move on. Machita's in that weird

spot, although Machita fought Wyman great. And if you get a couple of wins in a row and Wyman's still the champion, I don't think people are going to hate on that rematch. But that's what I would do. I don't think Romero's there quite yet. By the way, I wouldn't hate a rematch against Tim Kennedy. I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon, but I'm just saying I wouldn't hate that. Who's this for Rockhold? No, for Romero. I think you can sell that. But all that being said, it's got to be Rockhold, Susa, or Sosa, as they call them now. And it has to be relatively close to that February 28 date because, just in case, you know, Belfort or even Wyman gets injured, one of them needs to slide in, A, and B,

as we've talked about on the show, they have to be on the same kind of schedule as the champion. I want to see that rematch. The first fight was great. It was in a weird setting. Hardly anyone was there in Cincinnati. It was kind of an afterthought of a fight, and just that whole event was just very bizarre. but I think if you promote it the right way, especially considering what they've done as of late and how good they've looked, and even you put that promo there, that Rockhold, I mean, that was the best thing Rockhold has said in months.

That was tremendous emotion. It was raw. It was great. It set up that fight perfectly. That's the fight I would do. I feel like it was almost a lack of emotion, which was so awesome. He seemed like almost dis-acred.

He was just, he was over it. He was like, you know, if that's what they want, I'll just beat him again. But if you're not interested in that fight, you don't even say the guy's name. Oh, no. Clearly, that told me he's interested in that fight. Yeah. But it's, it was, he has so little, he has so little respect for the fact that this keeps being brought up.

Yeah, yeah. He's like, I already did this. And now I'm going to do it again. And it's a very valid rematch. You know, Jacques-Rae was the champion. It was close. I mean, these guys are clearly the two next in line for the title. I don't want to see either of them wait because that means they're not going to see them fight for so long.

I mean, that's the, it's a no-bra. brainer. If that fight doesn't happen, it doesn't have the same heat, obviously, as Bisping Rockhold, but I feel the same way. It's a no-brainer that has to happen. Let's touch on the heat between Bisping Rockhold. Rockhold couldn't wait to pick him up and shake his hand afterwards. It was very Shamrock Diaz-esque. And I noted this actually off air before we taped the MMA beat on Thursday. I got the sense that towards the end of this quote-unquote feud, there was a lot of respect there. You could just see the way they were talking to each other at the press conference.

It wasn't Rivera Bisping. It wasn't, there wasn't that disdain. There was, there was mutual respect. They had trained together. There was something there below, and you saw that after the fight, which I thought was nice. I had no problem with it. Even the cut, did you see the, like, behind the scenes cut or the unsaid or whatever

director's cut of them in the chair with John Anick? Yes, yes. They could not have been, you know, talking about each other's actual mixed martial arts games with more respect. The entirety of their feud was over, you know, the training. thing and the coffee thing. It was all outside stuff. In terms of mixed martial artists, they had the utmost respect for each other. And that was clear even in the lead-up, even in the midst of the heat, it was clear that each man respected the other man's game.

And I think that was what we saw at the end of the fight. I would have like maybe if he waited a little more time, I mean, as soon as the fight was over, he lifted him up and couldn't wait to give him a pat on the butt. Right. You know, after, it just kind of kind of feels like we got cheated a little bit after all that heat and then, you know, they can't wait to hug it out. But, you know, what a great fight and what our performance by Rockhold. This might surprise some, but I have no problem with that stuff. I know a lot of people get all up in arms about that. I love those moments. But then how, I mean, it's at a certain point, when are we going to have some real heat? When are we going to have some real heat?

Yeah, but then every time afterwards, they're hugging, you know, every time. We don't understand what these people have been through. They were just in a cage locked up. punching each other and you build up you have this you know look bisming it's one thing if he lost and then jumps up and pats him on the bud and hugs him out but when the winner who you know is is younger and has more of a career now ahead of him and whatnot pulls him up from the ground and says you know what hold your head high you're a warrior all that stuff it was an honor i have no problem with that you i don't have you gain a whole different uh level of respect for someone after being in there with him and when it's the winner reaching out and picking like like yeah

Shamrock, that was a beautiful moment. I have no problem with that. When it's the loser going out there and hugging it out and being like, oh, it was all for shows, all business. It was like, oh, come on, man, you just lost. Chill out. But the winner doing it, and especially like that picking him up, I think that that just exemplifies the beauty of MMA that these guys are really professional and they embody that martial arts

spirit and whatnot. I'm on the same page, but then don't sell this as, you know, the feud of all feuds. These guys hate each other, blah, blah, blah. The word hate gets thrown around every single time we have one of these. matchups and then they're hugging it out in the cage. You don't do that to somebody you hate. I don't care if they were just in fighting with each other and stuff. It's hard.

It's not a big deal. I'm not saying it's a big deal. I have no problem with what happened. The word hate is overused in society. You know what I mean? That's fair enough. But, you know, I'm so sick of these feuds being sold as he's got, you know, this one's for real.

This one's for real. These guys really, really can't stand each other. Can't be in the same room, blah, blah, blah. And then it's the same story every time. I guess I prepared myself for that moment because I was starting to pick up on the fact that they did really not hate each other. I mean, it was very clear if you watched that pre-fight press conference. When you get, who's one that comes to mind where it was like, even before the fight? Like when they faced them off, they even touch gloves.

And that doesn't happen. You know, like Hughes and Sarah, you got the impression. These two guys really dislike each other. And then they hugged it out and annoyed people. I get that. But this one, I had already come to terms with the fact that they really don't hate each other. you know, at the end of the day, what was this feud based on? I mean, these guys trained together.

Rockhold was annoyed that Bissping said that he was the champion and all that stuff and talked about training when he shouldn't have. That's what a bit, and it was, you know, two and a half years later, it's hard to hold on to that. It's hard to hold on to that hatred because clearly they were friends to a certain degree because they trained with each other. Not best buds, but they were acquaintances. It's hard to hold on to that one moment.

So I had no problem with him. I give Luke a lot of credit for doing what he did. So you like Rockhold and Jacquet, obviously. I do as well. And Romero versus the winner of Dalloway versus Machita. I like that as well. Yeah, I think that's the right way to go. Next question.

What should be next for Shogun? Retire or fight at middleweight? So this is a weird one because I know everyone has a take on this. And it does feel different than the Dan Henderson situation that we talked about not that long ago. Henderson, a lot older than Shogun. and it's amazing that Shogun is just 32. Shogun is my age. He's my age.

Imagine if someone told me right now, you must retire from being an M.A. reporter. What the hell am I going to do? You know what I mean? It's very daunting. I sympathize with him. He put out this Facebook post. It sounds like he's leaning towards,

but you know, you can't really put much stock into what they're saying now. He does have tough Brazil coming up. He is a name. He's a legend. He can open gyms. He can do a lot. But I always feel weird about telling a guy

to retire. Now, here's what I'll say. You can't say he needs to retire or go to 185. That makes no sense to me. A fight's a fight. You're getting punched 205, 185. Yeah, the guys are bigger. But really, you really think that it's retire or 185? You really think that's going to change all that much. If you feel so strongly that he must retire today, why will a weight class really change? I mean, you want, this is a guy who didn't want to cut weight. You want him to put his body through all that at this age with all those wars. That's a tough thing in itself. And there are still killers at 185. There are guys who used to fight at 205 fighting at 185. So I don't understand that point of view. I just feel like he needs to take some time off. Here's the question. Do I want to see him fight again?

No. I don't. Am I going to go out there and start picketing and, you know, puffing on my chest saying that he must retire and this is a very tough topic. I know, like let the guy do whatever the hell he wants. At the end of the day, it's his career, it's his life. He's going to have to pay the consequences if he does want to keep fighting. And if there's a very, there's anything that's going to come as a result of that. But if you're asking me, do I care to watch Mircea Shogun Huah fight again? After everything he's been through, after everything he's done?

No, he's done enough. He's conquered it all. UFC champion, pride, all that stuff. What more is there for him to accomplish? I don't want to see him in there against OSP. I don't want to see, and that's the thing. Michael Carroll nailed it. OSP is not really elevated from this.

This is a fight that was just thrown together at the last minute. It was 4 a.m. in Brazil, the crowd went on. I mean, I don't feel like OSP. And then he completely botched it. that call out. Don't get me started on that. But I don't feel like Shogun is in that position anymore where even a loss to anyone. If he lost to the equivalent of Conn McGregor at 205, whoever that may be, they're not elevated at this point because it's kind of like the sad situation. Oh, he's a shelve for him herself. We don't want to see it. So the question to ask is, do you want to see

this guy fight again? And I don't. We've seen him do it all. I prefer he just retire and is some kind of ambassador. Will I stop him? Will I try to stop him? Will I keep talking about this? No, because at the end of the day, it's their call. It's their career. It's their life. To be fair to the question, I think the move to middleweight is less so people saying, oh, he should either retire or move to middleweight. It's more so that it's clear that that's what he's probably going to do. Yeah, but I see people saying this and I don't understand that, you know, I don't understand that these are the options. Well, it comes from Shoga, not from the fans. Because I know.

Shogun clearly something is going wrong. And the only justification that he can come up with is that it's, you know, time to move down a weight class. Get that new coat of paint. That's a problem in itself, right? But that's from Shogun. Yeah. Because the alternative is him admitting to himself that it's time to hang him up. And if he's not ready to do that, then he has to come up with another solution, which is, okay, let's move down a division.

And I'm in the same boat. I'm okay if Shogun never fights again. but ultimately we have no say in this. Like, I feel strong. If they come out with Shogun versus Anderson, right? I mean, that's probably the best fight they could put on because they're coaching and all that stuff and legends. I won't be excited.

I don't want to see it. Shogun versus Bisping, I won't any five. I don't want to see it. Here's the thing, though. We can't keep doing this where as soon as one of these legends loses and it looks pretty bad. OSP really put them out. That all of a sudden the outrage comes out.

We had no problem with this fight booking. Sure. Nobody was complaining about this fight beforehand. So we can't all of a sudden, when he gets knocked out, which can happen in a fight, it's going to happen in a fight. We can't all of a sudden say, oh, that's it, he's done. He should go out because he's not thinking that, and we shouldn't be thinking that. If we have a problem with Shogun fighting, it should have been all ahead of time. Sure, yeah, 100%.

I don't think a lot of people, despite what the promo said, I don't think a lot of people thought the fight was going to end like this. Exactly. If people were predicting that fight, everybody's predicting OSP to wrestle him. Nobody's predicting that OSP is going to hit him with a counter, you know, stepping away, and Shogun's just going to go down like that. So it was weird to watch. In my opinion, the outrage needs to come before. No, you're 100% right.

I do want to say he looked fantastic. I mean, did you see his physique? No, his physique. Shogun. Shogun looked like he was in tremendous shape. I never buy into that. I mean... I'm just saying whatever he was doing in the gym, it looked good, but that's, you know, as we know,

that's not even a quarter of the battle. Look at Mark Hunt. For me, for me, there's guys, you know, if they look good, oh, this BJ Penn, he made weight at 145. This type of stuff never really matters to me. And especially with Shogun, he's come looking all kinds of different ways into the cage. And the performances have been up and down. But yeah, there's nothing really to say on this.

I know this is the big topic of the day, and that's why I put this question in there. But it's the same story. We can't really make these guys do anything. But that's what I'm saying. The question is, do you want to see him fight again? I don't. I don't. But it's like, do I think he should retire?

I can. I can't say that to any grown man who's out there trying to make a living. It's his decision. Our next question, this is about OSP. St. Peru seems to do very well against strikers and a weakness towards wrestling, since Glover-Teshire has great boxing and decent wrestling. Do you see that potential matchup making sense? Glover is ranked number six, coming off a loss with something to prove.

If not, who do you think could be next? other potential matchups are number 11 Manoa or number 12, Fay-Zhao, when they're both healed up. You know, here's what I like. The light-heavyweight division is getting a little more interesting than it was. I mean, it's not quite there. It's not quite featherweight or lightweight, but it's getting a little more interesting. And yes, it's good. I say that he wasn't elevated.

I mean, of course, he won the fight. It was impressive. It's just one of those things where it's not the result of, you know, Shogun of three years ago losing to OSP. You know what I'm saying? His stock was already down. But he's a good. guy that you can put a fresh face and all this stuff. So, okay, fine. This is what I would do at light heavyweight. Now that Anthony Johnson is free of all charges, his suspension is over,

Gustafin Johnson makes all the sense in the world. That's the fight that they wanted to happen in the first place. Then I'm going to skip Rashad Evans for now because he says he'll only be ready around March or so. I like Phil Davis versus Ryan Bader. I think that makes a lot of sense as far as the styles matchup and where they're at in their career. I like that very much. I'm going to skip over Dan Henderson because he told me last week that he's probably moving down to 185 next. I really like OSP versus Manoa.

I like this idea that this gentleman threw out there. I think that makes a lot of sense they're close. This was obviously Manua's fight that OSP took over. Interesting styles matchup as well. So yeah, I think that makes sense. I think it was Mark Romandi of Fox Sports.com throughout OSP versus Rashad. I don't know if OSP is ready for that. I mean, Rashad is coming back,

and he's kind of in a no-man. line, but I think we just need to wait until he's 100% to put him in that mix. So if I were booking the fights now, Gustafin versus Johnson, Bader versus Phil Davis, and OSP versus Manoa. Those are the top fights. If OSP had come out and called his shot against Rashad, then maybe I would have, you know, been a little more open to that. Oh, yeah. I mean, he should have come out there and shot for the moon. I mean, like, look, I screwed up against Bader. I'm sorry, but this is the new OSP. I'm going out there and finishing guys. I just knocked out Joe Davis, Gustafson,

John, you're all next. And instead he, was that a joke? What did you think? I did not think it was a joke. Because you saw his coach say something to him in his ear, right? I mean, it was clear that this was premeditated. At least his coach thought it was a good idea. If it was a joke, it was a horrible joke.

If it was serious, it was a botched move. Even if it was a joke, why take that opportunity to make a joke? I don't think it was a joke. By the way, it was amazing the atmosphere. It just got super quiet. I mean, he had, and he, and you could tell that they didn't want to show Shogun because he was obviously out of it. So he was just standing there dancing very awkwardly in a, you know, in a cage with these people off to the side and completely quiet, stunned arena. And what a bizarre scene that was.

And we didn't realize it at home wherever we were, but it was 4 a.m. in Brazil at the time. Oh, we'll get to that later. Oh, okay. All right. We will get to that later. Manoa, OSP. Makes perfect sense. Yeah.

I heard people, I think it was Cormier and Phil on the pre-show saying that they would have liked the winner, even if it was Shogun to face Manoa. I don't know about that. I feel like if you take the fight, you don't really want to move laterally. I'm always a little reluctant for stuff like that where... What do you mean? He had the fight booked against Manoa, then he gets a win, and then he faces him again. So essentially that win didn't really do anything for him. Oh, I see what you mean.

I'm always a little reluctant. on those fights, but I think for OSP, since he won, there's nothing to talk about it. It makes perfect sense. I guess. I don't necessarily feel that way because there's only so many options, but I get what you're trying to say. It feels like the win was worth nothing. You know what I mean?

Like, why take the fight at all? You could just sit down, sit on the bench and then face Manoa later. Why take a fight with OSP? And it turned out, you know, he got knocked out. So if he had sat down and faced Manoa, his stock wouldn't have fallen as far. Right. next question in a weekend full of finishes what was your favorite personally i liked the jake matthews finish because it also showed his potential man there were a lot of them especially on friday holy moly

that was just such a fun fight you know i got mine the one that came to mind right away was was uh the the the sweet chin music by louis smoker but that's on my pick that's on my pick what's your pick also i got to give a special shout out to anthony perosh who continues to defy the odds He's great. It's just unbelievable this guy that he continues to win and we're impressive. Now if he calls out OSP,

now we got something. That makes sense. If he starts, right, he says, hey, OSP called me out. I want that. That'd be great. I'm going with Marcus Brimidge.

The Bama Beast. I love those, especially when they're kicks. I love what those kicks look like they don't, they don't mean anything. Like they have no impact. They're just these grazing shots

and the way the fighter, the guy who is hit with this, the way he falls, and especially in this case, that was just beautiful. The way the way Brimidge moved his body, the way it landed. It wasn't a full impact. It was just this grazing shot, and those end up being some of the more devastating ones.

So it was the first fight of the entire weekend, as far as the UFC is concerned. And it was super impressive. He didn't even get a bonus for that. So, yeah, I love those. It was just a thing of beauty to watch that actually unfold. So I'll go with Marcus Brimich. Yeah. Was that yours?

That was going to be mine just because of the actual technicality of it, like the kick itself. was incredible. But how about, you know, a Homer pick, New York's own ally of Quinta? You got to keep riding that bandwagon. No, I mean, it was a great finish. Who else? Whitaker had a great one. That was a great fight, first of all.

Great fight. Hester and Whitaker, they were battling. I mean, some of those shots that Hester was landing would have put lesser men out pretty quickly. So, kudos to both those guys. Chris Clements had a great finish, Daniel Kelly. The only fight that wasn't all that exciting was. was the Soapololi fight?

And how about, I mean, the main event, obviously. Oh, tremendous. Rockhold and Bisping. Incredible. What about the Gracie's bringing out our old pal, CM Punk for the breakdown of that one? There you go. Did you see that?

I didn't see the video yet, but I heard that that happened. Yeah. You know, CM Punk, mercenary. He's doing whatever he wants these days. Yeah, exactly. All right. Next question. Who's next for Demetrius?

Everyone seemed to agree that McCall versus Lindeker would determine the next challenger in the flyweight division. Since the fight didn't take play. who should be next for Demetrius? Also, will Lennox's constant struggle to reliably make weight at 125 pounds, make the UFC hesitant to put him in a title fight? You know, I got to say, this is what I mentioned earlier to Dave Meltzer. The only move that really makes sense, especially with John Dotson being out for a little more time with the ACL,

I would do, and it's a big gamble, trust me, I know it's a big gamble. But at some point, how long are you going to keep John Lodzson? Lindaker off to the side and punish him for making weight but sort of close to maybe missing it 126 and needing a second try. I would give him the title shot and say, look, if you don't make this weight, if this ends up being a non-title fight, if you can't fight for whatever reason, you're gone. I mean, because at this point, I mean, why do that, though? Because there's, A, there's no one else.

A, it's a great fight. It will be part of the promotion. It'll be something they can play up and say it or whatever. and if you book the Uncle Creepy fight at this point, I mean, that just puts Demetrius on the sidelines for even longer. This was the number one contender fight. If you do Demetrius versus John Lineker in what? February, March, who's Demetrius going to fight?

I don't want to see Chris Carrioso too. I don't want to see that. Does Demetrius honestly need credible challengers? I mean, what happens after... Yes, he does. Look at the way we viewed his last fight. That's what I'm saying, though. What happens, does it really make that much of a difference?

What happens after he beats Linneker or what happens after? But that's a credible challenger. I want to see Linneker versus... That is. And then what? Well, then you got McCall. Yeah, you can keep that down the line. See, why put Linneker in the situation where he's on the verge of getting cut? Just let him keep, you know...

Just let him keep fighting random people? Well, McCall is not random. That's a good fight. But then you eliminate... And also... You eliminate a contender. He's... He's getting close to...

He's making weight, but he's getting close to missing weight at 126. Right. He's not making 125. That's why you got to put that stipulation. But you're backing yourself into a corner. unnecessarily. You're saying I'm going to cut you if you don't make this weight. I mean, for him, he's missed enough. And look at what happened with Anthony Johnson. I mean, you miss enough. You shouldn't be in the UFC. Now, I'm not trying to hate on him because

he did make the weight. But 126, I wanted to see him in a number one contender fight. We all viewed it as such. I want to see him come out and hit him. No doubt about it. It didn't happen. He needed a little more time. So what I would say is, and you don't have to make this a public thing. Look, this is the deal. You're in the division. You're doing great. What are you five and one, lost your first fight since then you've looked very good, but you continue to have problems making weight. We're going to give you this opportunity. But if you can't make the weight, then you're either, okay, maybe it's move up to 135 or get cut, or get cut, the same thing that they said to Henry Sehudo. That's what I would say. And then you have McCall fight someone else to get back on track,

maybe one of the winners of the fights coming up in December, and now you have some action at 125, especially when you consider the returning John Dodson. But if you do McCall versus Linneker in February March. That means Johnson is either going to be out for a long time, A, or B, he's going to fight another no-name guy. I mean, who else is out there that really makes sense? If you give him Leniker right now, it makes sense.

He was ready to fight. It's fine, but I can wait for it. And he has the record. But who do you give him? Who cares? I don't want to see that. Let's just watch DJ go to work. It's the same thing that we're going to continue to watch.

I want to see him in relevant fights and there's a relevant contender out there. Yeah. Specifically in this division and with Demetrius, I'm okay with, you know, plugging in whoever's the flavor of the month. He may not say it, but he needs it for his own career, for his own relevancy. He needs relevant, tough opponents. The problem is he makes it look too easy, and I think he's, I don't think there's anybody in the division that he won't make it look too easy against, which is, you know, the gift and the curse.

Linneker, I don't think, I don't think. I don't think, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think, only Linneker, wins, but I mean, okay, wow, Linneker. Okay, let's see this. Linneker versus Johnson. I was a tough test. I love that fight, but I don't think. I think only John Dodson can give him trouble. And I think even in this case, that DJ has progressed too much to the point where he's just a few steps above the rest of the division.

But I would love to be wrong. I would love to see a competitive fight. And they need to buy themselves some time for Dodson to come back because he's coming from ACL. It's going to take some time. Our next question, how will fighters respond? Given the prevalence of home country decisions in Brazil, do you think we'll see more fighters declining offers to fight Brazilians in that country? or have the Brazilian fans themselves become such villains to international

MMA that fighters will want to show up and silence the crowd. P.S., I met this person at Glory 16, and I was all class. Well, that was a weird way of phrasing it because it makes it seem like he was saying he was saying that you are all class. Yeah.

But it made it seem like you were saying that he was all class. Yeah, yeah. Now, Glory 16, was that the one on Friday? No, that was 18. 16 was Denver. Oh, yes. Okay, first things first.

I don't really think that's fair. I mean, you saw some decisions at UFC 179, which was in Rio, two weeks ago, that weren't in favor of the Brazilians. Now, I know that in the co-mate event on Saturday, there was a controversial decision, but I don't think it's fair to peg it on the Brazilian judges. I also think there was a close fight, and this hasn't really been an issue, to be honest. I think there was maybe one card initially where that was kind of an issue. Yeah. But I think the judging spin in Brazil was fine, and I think the judging in the, the judging in, most of the events, we've been on a decent run.

There haven't been many bad decisions recently. But it just takes one. And you know that they're coming. I mean, the one on Saturday, fine. And I never think that it's motivated by somebody's country of origin. I really never think that. I think the entirety of bad judging is incompetence and not a situation of bias rooting for the home country. That's my opinion.

I'm sure, I mean, there has to be cases. have to be cases where it's happened and we'll never know, but I don't think that that's a big reason for this. Also, another thing, I mean, the UFC, I know that the CABMMA is independent, but, you know, the UFC helped get that thing started. You see a lot of those familiar faces. I hear this a lot, though. I hear a lot about, you know, you're not going to win a decision in Brazil, but I haven't found that that's really a factor. But I, but I've heard that quite a bit. What do you mean? You know, fans, say that that's part of the equation that this guy you know he's going into enemy territory he's

probably not going to win a decision um but i haven't i haven't found it it's more of a boxing thing by the way how was uh how was glory on friday oh it was incredible what a card um Zach moikasa that dude is something that's the guy who beat pat barry he is at glory 16 in fact oh yes he was in the tournament what did he do on friday he won his first round matchup in devastating fantastic fashion and then um in the finals he faced solo Cavalari who defeated him, knocked him out. So that tournament was incredible. That was the heavyweight tournament? Light heavyweight. And then DeVic Kiria versus Robin Van Rousmelon in the trilogy fight and Robin closed it out. He's got three wins. Incredible fight. It was just

a really, really solid night of fights. And did they announce their next one? Yeah, the next one is December 19th. Location TBD at this point, but it will be glory now. December 19. All right. Headlined by RICO Verhoeven versus Errol Zimmerman. Oh. Heavyweight matchups. Title?

Title fight? Title on the line. Wow. Shout out to our good pal, John Gooden, who just tweeted, good thing about this jet lag was that I was awake for the M.M.A. hour. I believe he's still in Australia. Or maybe not. I don't know if he's taking a bath or not.

He didn't mention that. But another great job by John and Dan Hardy on Friday as well. our next question celebrity fan of the show Justin Gehche if Justin Gehche gets past Melvin Geyard this weekend should the UFC come calling if so who would you like to see them matching him up against

well you know off the top of my head I haven't looked into his his contract or I don't know the status of his contract but I have to imagine I mean World Series of fighting while they do have a good relationship with the UFC they aren't in the business of just letting guys go to the UFC I know some guys have made a stink or two in that has resulted in them going. And by the way, I just, I can't stand that. I can't stand the public complaining. I mean, in what other walk of life do you just get to complain publicly? And I know you are a public person. I know you are, you are a celebrity in your little bubble, but I just

don't like that route complaining. And I guess it works. Time out. Yes, it works. It's, I understand where you're coming from. It's annoying. And it's not my, it's not my personal preference. I wouldn't do it. But at the same time, if we're talking about all these guys saying, you know, campaign for what you want, you know, make some noise. I want this fight. Make some noise. Blah, blah, blah. If it comes in the opposite direction with them being unhappy or, you know, calling their shot in that way,

I don't necessarily have a problem with it from that perspective. If that's the only outlet they have, this is their platform, this is their stage. And if they're unhappy with something and that's the way they're going to get business done, then I don't necessarily have a problem with it. Okay, fair enough. Using any means necessary to get what they need to get. as I said, not my style. That's not the way I would do it.

But we can't be mad at them for doing what we've been begging them to do, which is use this platform, connect, and do, you know, campaign for what they want. All right, all right. Take it easy. You're right. It's a good point. Also, the proof is in the pudding. I mean, things tend to happen and change when you do it.

It's just, you know, I just, it's not the way I would like to do business if I were, you know, in those shoes, but you can't hate on it. Okay, fine. Can not disagree with you there. Okay, fair enough. The tact is completely different. Exactly. That being said,

if World Series Fighting wants to have some kind of, you know, future, I would think they'll try to keep Justin Gichi. He's, you know, one of the guys that they, A, created, B, you know, he's one of their top guys. He's a legit fighter.

He's exciting. He's undefeated. He's had some fun fights for them. He is their champion, of course, if he retains on Saturday. So, I mean, let's be honest. Let's call like it is. I'm pretty sure he wants to go to the UFC.

I'm pretty sure he thinks he's ready to go to the UFC. But, you know, I don't foresee World Series of Fighting unless he is a free agent. And why would you let your champion go into a title fight as a free agent? I don't see him leaving after this fight. He's a hell of a fighter. Oh, he's tremendous. I mean, he's like him, Marlon Marius. I mean, say what you will about World Series of Fighting.

They've done a pretty good job in a short amount of time, two years, essentially. in building some guys that, let's be honest, none of us knew who they were going into this fight. And these guys were on the first couple of events. Justin and Marlon Marius were there from the start. It's not like these guys were brought in all of a sudden. They've been there from the start, and it's paying dividends. They're really good. So, yeah, I mean, I foresee them trying to keep him around unless he has some kind of out.

This is a big fight for him. This is his biggest test by far. It's a great fight for him. It's a great fight for Melvin. It's an even bigger fight for Justin because he gets to fight that name that he hasn't necessarily been given thus far in WSOF. And I'll say this. I don't think if it gets into a slug fest that Justin is necessarily on the losing end of it because his chin is so good. He can really take a shot and he can really throw one back.

Now, getting hit by Melvin is a completely different thing than I'm sure he's seen before because, you know, we all know how hard Melvin hits. and then in that first round, it's going to be dangerous, but I don't know. I think if they get into a slug fest, it's not necessarily completely in Melvin's favor. I think it's going to be a really good fight. Would you make of Melvin's demeanor in that interview? I thought he, I mean, he seemed a little more,

I mean, he's always interesting and love talking to him, but he seemed a little more ornery than usual. It's getting close to fight time. Yeah, maybe. And, you know, you're talking about, you've trained with this guy in the past, you know, all that kind of stuff. It brings out that fire. Yes. Update from John Gooden.

He couldn't get a room with a bath, unfortunately. So as a result, he's giving a two out of five stars to Airbnb in their rating system, which I think it should be one. No bath the hell on a Monday or a Tuesday over there. Bullocks. Our next question, so is it official? Oh, yeah. They're questioning.

Is it official? I think it is official. Anthony Johnson's back. Who should he fight and when? Gustafson seems the fight to make, and would that be the number one contender fight for the Jones DC winner? If they do that fight, that should be the fight.

You know, the original plan was Anthony Johnson. This is the fight that they wanted. They won Anthony Johnson versus Alexander Gustafsson. They were thinking about maybe December, but I think that that wasn't really going to play out. So what we're hearing is maybe January if they can get all the ducks in a row,

it's, from what I'm told, not official just yet. But they went to Rashad Evans when they couldn't get Anthony Johnson. He tried to give it a go, as I reported last week on UFC tonight. But he's just not 100% to fight in January. His leg doesn't feel strong enough. He doesn't have that explosiveness that he's used to, especially a big fight like that. So he didn't want to rush it.

He's hoping to be back in March. But now that Anthony Johnson is 100%, he's not banged up, nothing like that. I think that's the fight to make it, especially around the same time. It's not going to happen for sure. on the same card as DC Jones, but it has to happen, in my opinion, around the January timeframe, A, if one of those guys gets injured, and B, again, you want to have them on the same schedule. So what are the options for that? What are the other cards around that that it could possibly land on? Well, there are four fight cards in January scheduled. There's one January 3rd, Vegas. That's

D.C. Jones. I don't expect it to happen there. There's another one, January 18th in Boston, that's headlined by Connor versus Denis Zivray I don't expect it to happen there. There's January 31st in Las Vegas, Nick Diaz versus Anderson Silva. It might happen there.

But there's one other one that has yet to be announced that I would expect it to happen there. There you go. Final question from the website. Person who was on the show today. Meta Morris, Rogan versus Smith. Joe Rogan versus Jimmy Smith.

Love it. At a future Meta Morris, would be great to watch. Yes. Would you guys like that? to see it, who gets the win? Yes, sign me up. I love that.

I would love to see it. I don't know who gets the win because I'm not schooled enough. I'm not versed enough in the intricacies of both of their jiu-jitsu games, but of course, it sounds amazing. I doubt it ever happens,

but if Meta-Morris could get Joe Rogan to perform, I mean, that would just be, that would be dynamite, right? Yeah, that would be the biggest thing that they can do. One of the biggest things. It would be a lot of fun.

But yes, sign me up, get all the gimmicks out there that's what Amanda Morris needs okay our first question from Twitter I told you this would come up yes why does the UFC keep making events here in Brazil so late this person's obviously from Brazil is it to cater to the US audience

Shogun and Aldo fought after 3 a.m. Yes I was there there's a follow-up don't you think in the long run the UFC will lose their audience here promoting the Brazilian fighters so late you know that's a very good question that's probably a question for someone like Guillermo Cruz who was from Brazil, who was Brazilian.

I was there at UFC 179. It was very late. And the fight aired live on Global, which is their Fox. I mean, it doesn't get any bigger than that. That's national broadcast television. But what good is it to put that fight on at 3 a.m.? Now they will replay it, but still, live is live.

So you bring up a great point. What it goes to show is American TV, at least right now, rules the day. But that's fight pass. even. No, no. Shogun, he's talking about Brazil. Oh, yeah, right. That was on Fox Sports 1. You're right. Trust me on this. As someone who lives in New York, and I think a lot of people would agree, at least

old fathers like myself, at least I consider, I feel old. A.m. A fight happening at 1230 a. I mean, I'm tired. I am so tired. So, yeah, I'm all four of the fights happening earlier. Like, those shows at N at 10 p.m., tremendous. Love it. More of that, please. I don't see it happening anytime soon because you also want to cater to the Pacific standard time zone and, you know, everyone on the West Coast of the United States. But American TV and the money that Fox pays, they want it to be in that 10 to 1 a.m. time slot, which is the typical UFC time slot as far as pay-per-view is concerned here on the East Coast. So that's what's going to rule the day. Now, the time difference, like, let's see, current time in Uber Langea is, 730. So they're three hours ahead. So if you wanted to be in prime time in Uberlandia,

remember this whole thing, as far as TV programming is concerned, it's like, it's a puzzle. And there was football on college football. They got to slot it in there at a certain slide. And it has to be a somewhat consistent slot. It can't just be randomly 4 p.m. this time. Like, you know, okay, there's a Fox Sports 1 card coming up. It's probably going to be at 10 o'clock. You know by now that those are, you know, the times where, you know, okay, it's going to be prelims from 8 to 10 and the pay-per-view or the main car, So there's something to be said for consistency, and they can't keep moving around depending on the timesone that they're in. So fortunately, local market suffers.

That's where Fight Pass comes in, for the most part, even though the Australia card was on Saturday morning in Australia, but the reason they said that happened was because the local audience is used to that sort of thing, which when they were there the last few times, the shows did happen in the morning locally. Yeah, it's a tricky thing. It's hard to keep up with all these time zones. End of the day, I think America will always win out, especially given the amount of money that Fox pays.

Well, also, I guess you have to bank on the viability of selling tickets in Brazil at this time. And I guess the cost-benefit is that people will still show up. People will show up, but yeah, at the end of the day, it's great to have the people in there and it's great to have the tickets, but you want to try to reach as many eyeballs as possible to grow the sport take it to the next level, and that's, especially on global, that's national TV, that's in a good time, some prime time, all that stuff. So it does hurt.

It is a little counterproductive to do that. But UFC 179, if they would have made that at what, you know, 7 to 10 Eastern time, they would have taken a hit, pay-per-view-wise. At least they think so and believe so. Yeah. Our next question. With the UFC announcing- It's hard to juggle all those balls.

Go ahead. With the UFC announcing their entire 2015 schedule next week, Which new markets do you think the promotion will enter next year? So if you missed it, last week, they announced that the big announcement next week, November 17, will be a few things. They're going to bring out all the fighters who are fighting in the next two months, all the main and co-main events. So that's pretty cool.

They're going to have this big press conference open to the public. They're also going to make a quote-unquote very special announcement. We don't know what that is right now. And for the first time ever, they're going to announce their entire 2015 schedule, they being the UFC. This excites me greatly for a few reasons. Selfishly, as a media member, I think it's fantastic. We're going to know the schedule.

Now, we need to take that schedule with a grain of salt because let's not forget, early this year, they announced the Canadian dates and two of those fell through. So things are going to happen. Now, I'm a little concerned. In the fight game, I like to think, okay, let's say we have Conn McGregor and we have Joseo. We need to wait for these guys to be healthy. We need to get the right venue, the right, you know, the right location, all that stuff. it's tough to announce these dates in advance, and you hope that they're not trying to just fill holes.

Most of these dates are planned beforehand. They just haven't been made public, but there is some moving around. So you don't want to see them try to shoehorn guys into certain dates. That's the tricky part here. So I wouldn't take this as gospel. I wouldn't set in its stone, as they say. But it's great. It makes it feel like a real supporting event. I'm very much in favor of it. I don't think, and from what I understand, this is, in fact, fact true, they're not going to come out and say, all right, on April 14, we're going to be in Oklahoma. On June 23, we're going to be in Rio. They're not going to actually plug every single date with a location. They'll give you the dates. They'll tell you the schedule, but I don't think every single date is going to have a location tied to it. That's where you get away from

shoehorning yourself or, you know, trying to plug a hole when it just makes no sense to have a certain fight in a certain city. It still feels like a real sporting event. I still think it's great, but I almost think it benefits the media more than the fans because we could plan things out. We get a good sense of the schedule, all that stuff. The fans, if they just hear that there's an event in location TBD on June 14, it doesn't really do all that much for them. Good start. I like it, but I don't think you're going to hear, you know, I think you're going to hear some. They're definitely going to announce some, from what I understand, but you're not going to hear if they go with 49 events, 48, 46, you're not going to hear every single new market.

out there. And again, don't forget, last year, they were talking about Poland, they were talking about this. That didn't come to fruition this year. So things can change. And I, and I, and I think we should give them that kind of flexibility. This is the fight game. You have to go to the right place, at the right time, the right city with the right fighters. And you can't just, this is in the NBA where you can say, you know, on October 30th, the Knicks are playing the Cavs. It doesn't work like that. And I don't want to see them stick to that script like it's, you know, 100% because I I think that's just counterproductive. You know what I mean?

I do. You don't want them to just back themselves into a corner and say, this is the event, this is the venue, we have to get it done. Yeah, so it's a good thing and a bad thing because if they announce, okay, on May 10, we're going to Montreal. And, okay, well, what if no one's ready who makes sense to fight in Montreal for May 10? So then you're going to go with two random guys. I mean, that's not how this whole thing was built. This whole thing was built, especially in combat sports. You have a guy who's from New York or a Puerto Rican who's big draw here, and you're going to bring him to New York.

not going to bring them to Florida or, you know, some random place. It's, you have to leave yourself open for some of that. It's also just asking for the same problems that we're facing this year, where, you know, guys get hurt and then what? Then what do you do with that, that card or, you know, whatever you have to do. But yeah, it removes some of the flexibility that's required. It's going to be interesting to see how much they do unveil. But I think just announcing the dates is a starting point. Oh, by the way, one other group of people that really benefits from this is the competition. Now you can get a sense for, okay, when is the UFC not holding a show? And I'm going to try to avoid that. Because as much as I love this Saturday, as much as I love the fact that there's,

a lot of action, it's a lot of fun to talk about, it kind of sucks that they're all going on at the same time. I mean, they're literally going on at the same time. Nine to 12 for Bellator, nine to 11 for World Series of Fighting. You know, the UFC is right in the middle of all that. It's, I mean, I think it kind of sucks. So I'd rather see the big promotions avoid each other if possible. This is our final question. You may not have any response to this, but we'll see. Last episode we talked about podcasts.

What do you listen to? This person listens to me. You, I guess, separate from the MMA hour. I don't know. That's weird. He's talking about you. Luke Thomas's podcast, Chales podcast, Joe Rogan's podcast. And he may have.

And now he favored it his own tweet, so I thought about not even doing this, but I saw it too late. Okay, this guy's name is Minick Mottsefeld? Yeah. click on his name. Oh, no. Are we about to go down a wormhole that we can't come back from? Okay, let's go to... What do you...

Okay, can you get his... Location? No, no, the profile. This is the profile. This is it? Yeah, there's no... You can't go to, like, the main one. This feels like the...

I can, but it's not going to tell you anything additional. No, I want to go to his favorites. I want to see how often he favorites his own tweets. Probably not how often. Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait, wait a minute. Go back to the tweets for a second. The most recent one is a tweet from Daniel Cormier on September 23rd. Yeah, because the replies are not there. Oh, let's see the replies. Okay, now it comes up. Okay, fair enough. Okay, fair enough. Um, let's see how, oh, okay, wait a second.

Look at, okay, he sent something four hours ago, then September 23rd, right? Yeah, he hasn't tweeted in a while. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. Um, let's go back up, go to the favorites. Oh, my God. I want to see how, he only has four favorites. Okay, it's the first time he did it. So give the guy some slack. right? Yeah, he slipped up. Slipped up. You're focusing on the wrong thing here. Well, you were the one that said it.

I didn't notice that he favored it his own tweet. Okay, so to answer your question, Minick, recently, I discovered the Serious XM app, right? And I got serious when I got my car, but I didn't really pay attention to it because it was free, but I had to buy it after a year. And I got to tell you, it has, reacquainted me with Howard Stern because I get all his interviews. It's fantastic. You get all his old

interviews. I mean, not all of them, but last like three years, old shows. I have been obsessed with catching up because it's hard to listen to the full interviews in your car. I'm not in my car all that often. So that's been my go-to now. When I'm on the subway or traveling anywhere, walking anywhere, I'm going to the Sirius XM app because, and I'm just listening to the Howard Turner's stuff. It's just fantastic. What an amazing thing. Now, as far as podcasts are concerned, Okay, you know what I was listening to on the way here? What? I was listening to, and I don't listen to this show often,

but I was really enjoying this conversation. I was listening to Bill Simmons, and the only reason I was listening to it this time, Bob Ryan. Yes, I listened to that yesterday. What a great conversation. I mean, that book sounds fantastic, right? How about Bob Ryan? He's great.

Just so many years in the game and still, you know. But I love those kind of books. It's Bob Ryan, old NBA writer for the Boston Globe, came out with this book about, it's called Scribe, about his career. I love that kind of stuff. I think I'm going to buy the book. So I was listening to that.

I love live audio wrestling. Oh, yeah. I enjoy that very much. I think they had Howard Finkel on the show and Gene O'Kerlin yesterday, so I'm going to listen to that, maybe even on the flight to Mexico. I think, what else?

You know, I like, I don't like when shows... I've got a ton. I don't like when shows become a podcast, like it's a TV show and they put it a podcast, but I do like listening to Keith Oberman. that's a good one the Nix Fix podcast with

Alan Hahn I enjoyed that Jericho's good so those are a few oh and the one that I really love was here's the thing hosted by Alec Baldwin his interviews were great

and his voice was great but unfortunately I don't think he does it anymore so I can't find any new episodes those are some that come to mind let us know what do you listen to Mr. New York Rick I've got a ton I can run through them all let's see quickly go go comedy I like

Doug loves movies Jay Moore, great interview. I love when he interviews people. Crossover sports a little bit. Adam Carolla, Mark Marin, WTF. You Made It Weird. So we're going through the comedy, nerdist podcast. Wait a second.

One of them is called You Made It Weird? Yeah. Pete Holmes. He interviews mostly comedians, but really, really interesting one. Sclarborough Country, Sklar Brothers. How Did This Get Made? Comedy Bang Bang. Improft for Humans. Jesus.

How do you have time to list all this? 10-minute podcast. Well, I'm backed up on some of them. Okay. The fighter and the kid. Now we're starting to move into the MMA slash sports area, Fighter and the Kid.

That's a good one. Brendan Chobb, Brian Callan, shout-out. Joe Rogan, co-main of Ed podcast, Chad and Ben. Wow. What's that? MMA report with John Pollock and Law and live audio wrestling.

That's one in my rotation as well. Now we're getting to the wrestling one. Now I have to say, I listen to a ton of wrestling podcast without actually watching wrestling. Me too. I don't watch it at all. I couldn't agree more.

It's more enjoyable to listen to them speak about it than actually watch it. I hear about these old stories about when I used to watch or even before, and I find it much more interesting than kind of watching actual wrestling. You like that one, the Grant Land one, right? I love Chee Pete on the Grant Land Network, but I have both of Steve Austin's shows. He has one uncensored and one censored show. I have both of those. Jericho, Talk is Jericho.

Good old J.R. who was in the house at Glory. Yes, yes. Did you meet him? On Friday. I didn't meet him. Come on. I'm not one of those people.

I don't really like to go up to people. Sure. I don't take pictures. I don't ask for autographs. I kind of just do my own thing. Chale Sonnen, obviously, which kicked off with an interview with Ariel Hawani. Oh, yes.

I heard of it. Piper's Pit. That one, how is that? They don't update so frequently, but I'm enjoying it. I downloaded it once, and I didn't think it was,

it was the first episode seemed kind of all over the place. Yeah, now we're like 30 deep. now. So, Josh Barnett's podcast. BS report, we talked about that, Bill Simmons, then the Grant Lamb ones, and then my all-time favorite. All-time favorite. This is the one.

Number one. People, go get it. Desus versus Mero, the best podcast in the world. What? Put out by complex media. Desus? Desus. He's a guy who made his bones on Twitter.

And it's just these two guys from New York talking about the hottest topics of the day, it's the funniest thing you will ever hear. Jesus versus Merrow. It's a daily show? Mm-mm. Every Friday. Mm-hmm. Tuesday on the podcast app for the audio.

No mention of the MMA hour. Well, I mean, that goes without saying, right? Well, I don't know. MMA-B'd MMA hour. Those go that. No mention of it. It wasn't there, so I don't know if it does go without saying. Well, it goes without saying.

It just went without saying. All right, all right. Well, that's some great insight into your life. There's a lot of, I listen. listen to a ton of podcasts. So trust me when I tell you Deezis versus Merro. But also, you know what's a great one? Yes. The MMA hour. Yes, it is. Oh, by the way, as we

talk about podcasts here, let's give a warm welcome back to one of the OGs of mixed martial arts reporting. Josh Gross, who's back in the podcast game. He just came out with Gross Point Blank. I got another one to add. Yep, yep. I listened last week. Very enjoyable. Good to hear Josh back. So best of luck to

Josh. Minick, I hope you appreciate all that and wrote it down. That's a lot of information. Anything else That's it. Okay, quickly, before we go, Ricardo Lamas, Dennis Bermudez. Oh, the odds? Or who I think is going to win? No, no, the odds. Dennis has got to be the favorite there.

Yes, minus 210 plus 170. Jake Ellenberger versus Kelvin Gaslam. What were Jake's last two fights? Jake is on a bit of a streak, right? He's on a streak, right? Yeah, he lost to Robbie Lawler and Roy McDonald. See, those losses don't really They're not indicative of much

Because those guys are the best of the best I'm going to say Kelvin might be a favorite I'm surprised you're having trouble with this one Really? Yeah I think Kelvin will be a favorite But I'm not sure that that fight's not closer Kelvin minus 220

Jake plus 185 I think that could be a mistake I think that Jake is a little better than Are you picking Jake? I'm not picking Jake because I think Kelvin is a blue chip prospect I think that the way he mixes up his game is very reminiscent of the guys who are of the new era of the new generation where they grew up training MMA rather than coming from all their disciplines and then packaging it all together. So I think Kelvin is one of those guys.

So I think I ride with Kelvin, but I'm not sure that he should be that big a favorite. I mean, the fight with Story showed that, you know, a guy like Story made it a tough fight for him. And if we see the Jake who is that aggressive and walking guys down and throwing bombs at their heads, I think that could be a close fight. That said, I'm not going out on the limb like I did last time in picking Jake like I did with Al, but I do think that it might be a little closer. Verdoom Hunt. That's going to be Verduem all day.

Yeah, Hunt is plus 375, Verdum minus 387. Final question to you this time next week, of all the fights that are going down on Saturday, what's the one that's going to stick out? What's the moment? Who's going to be... I know you like to break out those clips. Pat yourself on the back like you do with Ally Quinta. What's the moment that's going to stick out?

I think it's going to be... It's going to be one of two things, and it's from the same fight. It's either going to be proven, established, bellator champion Will Brooks, or it's going to be the resurgence of Michael Chandler getting his belt back And that's the moment that we're going to be talking about on Monday morning.

That's it. It's going to be Brooks and Chandler. And it's going to be one of those two. Wow. I think that's it. There you go. There you have it. That does it for us. A big weekend coming up.

You can hit my music. I go to Mexico at midnight tomorrow. I don't know why I book such a weird flight, but I get there early, early Wednesday morning. So I'm looking forward to it very much. my first time in Mexico City since 1999. Last time I was there, I was the captain of the Pan American Canadian boys basketball team. We made it all the way to the bronze medal game. We lost to Brazil.

What an experience it was. That was the last time I was there. So very excited to be back. I've been reading about that new arena that they built. It looks fantastic. It's unfortunate. No Kane Velasquez, but the UFC is finally making its debut in Mexico City. something that they've wanted for quite some time.

So I'm very much looking forward to taking that whole atmosphere in. Of course, World Series of Fighting on Saturday Night as well, and Belator returns on Spike TV, a new look Belator, 10 poll events, as they like to call them. So a lot to digest this coming week. I'm sure there's going to be a whole lot of news breaking as well. No MMA beat because I will be in Mexico, but the M.A. Beat is back next week in case you were wondering.

All right, I want to thank everyone. who joined us this week. I want to thank everyone who tuned in. I want to thank Dave Meltzer for his great insight. I want to thank Nam Fran, aka Nam Fan. Good luck to him. And his Bellator debut. I want to thank Hafeldos Santos. Good luck to him. Want to thank Jimmy Smith. Good luck this Saturday. Want to thank Kane Velasquez. All the best. Want to thank Ally Quinta. Congratulations. And all the best to Ian McCall as well. Back next week, same time and place for Miss Athe-HIS, I-2, all the good stuff of the number. Support for this show comes from the Home Depot.

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