MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 258

Episode Date: December 2, 2014

Featuring Alexander Gustafsson, Scott Coker, Claudia Gadelha, Edmond Tarverdyan, Roxanne Modafferi, Marc Laimon, Robbie Lawler, and Yves Edwards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Halwani. Inside our New York City studio, a beautiful Monday afternoon here in New York City. And yesterday, by the way, I was watching the Grey Cup on TSN in Canada. It was on ESPN2, but it was the TSN feed. And something hit me. The most significant thing that I learned, while watching that broadcast was I was watching a sideline interview, and I don't know how this came up,

but the reporter said 2014. So for all the people who say that it is incorrect that I keep saying 2014, it has occurred to me that it is perhaps a Canadian thing, sort of like Z, Z, that sort of thing. 2014 were a month away from 2015. It's not improper. It's just Canadian. So how about that? You learned something new.

so happy to be here. It feels like there's some there's some excitement in the air. UFC 181 just days away now, one of the best pay-per-views of the year, two title fights. And what's great about these fights, they're kind of up in the air. I mean, we've had some title fights where you get the sense that you know what's going to happen

this time to very close fights, two very interesting fights and fights that, you know, one, it's a rematch of the fight of the year. How often does it happen that we get a rematch within the same calendar year of the fight of the year and one of the participants has gone out and won twice since that fight.

Often we'll see, you know, an immediate rematch and, you know, you need some time to get excited about these things, but this time it's very unique and it's Robbie Lawler versus Johnny Hendricks. And then the main event is Johnny Hendricks, excuse me, is Anthony Pedest versus Gilbert Melendez. Anthony Peders versus Gilbert Melendez,

we have not seen Anthony Pedest defend his title once. He won it in August of last year. It's been a year and a half since he fought, Finally, the champion defends his belt against Gilbert Melendez. We haven't seen him fight since October last year. So I think there's a lot of anticipation in the air. It's going to be a great car. We'll talk about that all show long.

We have a lot to get to on this show. At around 3.45, we'll take your questions and comments, as usual. Hit us up. Excuse me, you know where. 335, we're going inside the vault. This one very much related to UFC 181, a fun one to look back at. At 320, we're going to talk to Eve Edwards, who late last night, announces retirement, 17 years in the sport, if you recall two weeks ago, he was on this show talking about his upcoming fight in Austin.

He, of course, lost that fight, and he has since called it quits, so we thought we'd catch up with Eve and put a bow on his great career, the uncrowned champion, right? At around 305, we'll talk to Robbie Lawler about that big title fight, another crack at the belt for the veteran, the ruthless one. That's at 305. He is in Los Angeles doing some media, so he'll stop by. I appreciate that. At 2.45, we're going to talk to Johnny Hendricks's head coach over at Team Takedown. That is Mark Lehman. A lot of credit to him for what he's done with Johnny Hendrix. Looking forward to that discussion. At 225, we're going to talk to Roxanne Mataferi, who returns to action this Friday in Victa FC10. She has a big fight coming up. She is seemingly reinvigorated. She had a great performance in her last fight against Tara LaRosa, and always a pleasure talking to the Happy Warrior, who is represented right over here on our desk. 205, we're going to talk to Edmund Tarverde, and I think there's a lot of interest in the Brendan Schaub versus Travis Brown fight, and a lot of pressure on Edmund because, you know, some of his fighters outside of Ronda haven't been faring all that well in the UFC. So what can he do with Travis Brown, who has been training with him for the first training camp leading up to a fight, a big fight for both men, and Edmund will stop by to talk about Travis Brown's preparation.

Claudia Gadalia, who has a big fight at UFC on Fox 13, a undefeated strawweight fighter. A lot of people think she will fight the winner of Tough 20. She'll stop by at 145. She is a very hot, I mean, you call her a prospect, you call it contender, whatever you want to call her. She is doing well, and she won her UFC debut in July. So we'll talk to her from Brazil at 145. And at 125, we're going to be joined by Scott Coker, the president of Bellator MMA, to talk about the comings and goings in that organization.

But first, let us go to the phone lines and welcome in our very first guest of the day. He joins us from Sweden, where on January 24th, the UFC is expected to pack a 30,000-seat arena, the Telettele 2 arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The main event is going to be Anthony Rumble Johnson versus their native son, Alexander Gustafsson, the winner expected to be the number one contender in the UFC Light Heavyweight Division. And right now, Alexander Gustafin joins us on the phone. Alex, how are you? I'm good, thanks.

Are you? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it as always. So what was your reaction when you heard that this was the plan for the UFC? They weren't going to go to the normal-sized arena that they've been to a couple of times in Stockholm. They were going to a stadium and it was all going to be surrounded around you. You were the main draw.

What was your reaction when you heard that? Well, I was very happy. You know, it's one of the biggest stages here in Sweden. and yeah, I was just, you know, I was just way happy. I walked around with a smile. I came with a smile, and, you know, I'm just so excited to this fight. And, you know, it's in my hometown against Anthony, so I'm really excited. Did you feel, you know, someone like myself who is constantly very neurotic

and always looking at the glass half empty, did you feel like, oh, man, like the pressure is on me to sell this thing out? Like, are they actually going to get 30,000 people to come? Did you feel any of that pressure? No, not at all, actually. I just, you know, I know I'm there to do my job. I don't feel any pressure at all just when it comes to something out of the arena. You know, I'm just, you know, I have one focus in my head and that's something, Johnson, nothing else.

And I got a great team around me, and I know for sure it's going to be, it's going to be that night. It's a great card, great main event, great co-main event, Dan Henderson versus Gehgar Musassi. They announced recently Phil Davis versus Ryan Bader. But some of the fans, you know, in Sweden and in Europe have been writing me telling me, well, this is a great card. but the main event is going to happen at around 3 a.m. local time. Have people been telling you that they're concerned about this at all? It's crazy because it's the first time in my career I'll be fighting that late at night or early in the morning.

Yeah. You know, I'm actually really looking forward to it because, you know, it's the first time and I can, you know, I can't wait to see how it feels and how, you know, I'm going to stop training it also at that time. So I'm very curious to see how my body will really. and, but you know, here, you know, the fight call is so good and the arena is so good. So, you know, it doesn't matter what time it is. It will still be packed.

What will you do to get acclimated to fighting at that time? Are you going to change your whole schedule around? Yeah, yeah, you know, the last couple of weeks on my camp, I'm going to change a little bit of all my trainings. I'm going to train at night and I'm going to train, and I'm going to train first or second workout at night evening. and then I'm going to train three or in the morning or in the night. So I'm going to be like, I'm not going to see daylight at all. Are you typically a night? I don't even know if to call it a night or a morning person.

Like, is this going to be a major change for you? It's going to be a big change. Or, you know, I'm a morning person. So I like to, you know, go to bed very early and go up very early. So I'm very curious to see how this will, you know, affect me. But, you know, when you fight, it doesn't matter what time it is. You go in there and you fight. That's what, you know, how it is.

It's no secret that you wanted the John Jones fight and it was taken away from you after the injury and then Cormier comes in. Did they tell you way back when, even before they announced it to the media and the fans, that this was the plan? Like, don't worry, you're going to get a pretty good consolation prize. You're going to fight in your home country in front of 30,000. The second biggest show, biggest show in Europe.

Did they tell you that, or did you find out essentially like the rest of us? No, no, you know, I found out when you guys find out, you know, it's, you know, When he got official, I was, you know, a little bit of, you know, it was a little bit of shot because, you know, I didn't expect that. But, you know, I just, it can't be better than this, you know. Okay, of course, when you're fighting, you know, for a title shot, you fight for the title. But, you know, this is something I'm really looking forward to. Have you ever been to that arena as a fan, or that stadium, I should call it? No, I never seen a game there.

I was there with Anthony, and, you know, I was sitting some pads. and stuff, and I just walked in that arena. It's huge. And, you know, when you hit that pad, it just, you know, echo, you know, around the whole whole buildings are quite amazing. What kind of team or what kind of sports do they play there? Is it indoor soccer? What do they have there?

Yeah, yeah, mainly soccer. Is it a big team that plays there? Like a famous one? Is it a famous team that plays there? Like, is this stadium a very big deal? Does everyone know what it is in Sweden and in Stockholm in particular? Well, let me check it out. Biggit Lager from Spilller.

Yeah, it's a famous team of Hamar B. You weren't even sure yourself. I guess you don't follow any soccer or anything like that, or football, as they call it? Well, only, you know, Sweden plays, like some World Cups or something. I follow it, but not especially, you know, specific teams. I know you did a sort of media day with Anthony last week,

and you saw him in Vegas, but most recently in Sweden in that arena, great stuff of you guys hitting pads and it sounded like, you know, gunshots in there is amazing. But the biggest thing that people took away from it was the size difference. What did you make of Anthony? Because it looked like he was a lot bigger than you. Yeah, no, you know, I'm taller than him, but he's huge. You know, he's such a, like, a deep person, you know.

He never, you know, he's so wide, you know. But, you know, we took that picture that, you know, just, spread all over the place. It was just the angle. It just looked funny and we put it up on Facebook. Yeah. It's just a fun thing to do. But, you know, he's huge. He's like a train coming at you, come at me, so I have to be ready, have to be prepared. Do you think, would you call him fat? Do you think he's fat? No, he's not fat. You know, I just think he's, you know, he's very thick, like, you know, he's huge. Like, his arms are huge and his chest and his back and his shoulders and his neck, his head, everything is just shooting. That was the original. That was the

original plan, that's the fight they always wanted, but he was suspended for a little bit, and it looked like they may go with Rashad Evans. Were you following that stuff? Were you worried that you wouldn't get this fight? Because it seemed like for a while you needed to get warmed up to the fight. Then you accepted it. Then he got suspended, and then we didn't know what was going to happen. It felt like you didn't have an opponent, and they were asking you about Rashad, and you were kind of up in the air, up in the air. So, like, were you nervous about you being sort of left out of this whole title picture? Well, you know, I just want to fight, basically. You know, I knew I could. couldn't sit there and wait for something good to happen.

I just knew that, you know, I need the fight and I need to, like, I need some motivation, you know, because when you train, you train so hard, you need something that motivates you. And it's tough to stay in, and I'm always in shape and I always training, but it's hard to train hard and it's hard to, like, you know, progress as a fighter if you don't have a fight coming up. So, you know, I just knew that fight. And, you know, I thought, you know, Anthony is, he's,

a great fighter and he's an entertaining fighter, so when I thought about it, you know, I'd, you know, why not give him a chance? And, you know, so I'm just happy to fight him. I'm really happy to fight him. It's an entertainment fighter like me. If you couldn't get Anthony,

were you feeling like you weren't as motivated? Like you went from the belt and then number one contender fight and then it seemed like there wasn't much going on for you. Were you struggling to get motivated for another option? Well, you know, I just,

I just wanted a fight, basically. I was a little bit, like, very, very anxious about that because I didn't know anything, but what's, you know, I was on the, they're going on. So I have to, I just have to have patience, you know, and be cool. And now I'm here, and, you know,

I have, you know, the final, that I'm really looking forward to, so. Have you been impressed with him as of late? In his return to the UFC, he beat Phil Davis, and Littlenog, what do you make of his performances? Well, I think he's, yeah, I'm impressive. You know, he's done well. He came in from nowhere and just, you know,

as a train, went through everyone. So, you know, I'm very impressive, and I really looking forward, you know, because I believe, you know, he's got some skills and he has a very heavy hand. He's a good striker, and, you know, I'm a good strike. It's going to be a good clash.

This may sound like a silly question, but I'm just wondering, Has anyone in the UFC told you that if you win this fight, you will 100% get a title shot? That is a very, like, it's hard for me to answer that because, you know, I really believe so. I really hope so. And, you know, I know that, but at the same time, it's just like nobody has really confirmed 100% anything. So, you know, but it doesn't matter to me. I don't look past Anthony at all.

I need to focus on this guy. I need to be 100%. I need to be the best Alex out there. You know, I have to be the best prepared. So I'm just focusing on me right now. Does that bother you that you haven't been told that? No, not really. Not now.

No, I just want to fight Anthony now. And, you know, when I'm finished trim, you know, when I win over him, I'm, we can take that question then. How's your knee feeling? Are you 100% cleared? 100%. Yeah, I'm feeling. I'm actually at the gym now.

Just get out of the shower. So I'm feeling good. Okay. 100%. Recently, you were in Las Vegas. They had all the fighters there, and Lorenzo Fertita tweeted a picture of you and John Jones signing autographs and things like that,

doing some behind-the-scenes stuff. What was it like having to spend time with him? I think you were on the bus with him and all that. What was that like for you? It was fine. It was good, you know? Did you talk? You know, we talked and we laughed a little bit,

and it was nothing serious. Was it awkward for you at all? No, not at all. No, no. Was he acting weird towards you? No, not really. It's just, you know, just himself and, you know, I'm on myself, so we just, you know, have fun. What did you make of that whole presentation, being there with all the fighters?

It felt like the UFC was making a big deal and seeing Anthony right after the fight was announced. Did you like being a part of that? Yeah, it was, you know, it was a great stage and, you know, great fighters, like legends like Anderson Silva. And, you know, I just had a great time. so great to be around, you know, that's such a great fighter, so I had a great time there. Any interesting things happened behind the scenes backstage? You had a chance to talk to someone, they told you something, anything that you walked away with, wow, I can't believe this happened? Well, no, I can. I don't think so. You know, we just talk, we joke and have fun,

but nothing I really like that's stuck in my mind now. Right. You know, I wanted to ask you this for sometime, when the UFC was in Sweden back in October, it wasn't the best night for Swedish MMA. There were some losses, and a lot of fans were expecting some of the fighters to win, and then you went on Facebook and defended your team, which I

respected very much, and I thought that you were very much on point. What has been the backlash from that evening? Are you sensing that the fans are a little down on the fighters or on Swedish MMA? What have you heard or felt from people after that event, which was kind of the opposite

of what happened in Ireland a few months back? All the Irish fighters won, and this time people were expecting the same thing, and that didn't happen. Well, it's, you know, it's always going to be criticus, whatever you do. Like, if you have a good day, you have people with you, if you have a bad day, and I'll turn against you. And, you know, that's a good part of the game, you know, I respect. So it's, you know, one of those bad days we had.

So it was not a good evening at all, but at the same time, you know, it happened right now, today in this gym. It's just a happy faces. People are like, you know, having fun and, you know, tell jokes. No one is, you know, sad or anything. You know, it was just a bad day for us, basically. And like time like now, I don't hear anything about that event at all, you know. It was just, you know, it was very fresh back then and people talked about it for a week. too, but then, you know, it goes away.

So, and now from the 4th of January, I'm going to show the people what, you know, what Swedish fighters made them, so it's all good. Did you feel like you're sort of the, or do you feel like you're sort of the captain of Swedish MMA? Like, you needed to speak out and have your teams back, even guys that aren't necessarily on your team, but just to speak up, because we don't often see that from you to kind of stick your neck out there and really be, you know, outspoken and even if it's not, you know, it's somewhat controversial in things.

like that. Do you feel compelled to do that? No, you know, I'm not, I'm not, I don't see myself like as a, as, I don't see myself in that position from my, my own point of view, but at the same time, you know, it's my teammates we're talking about and my friends, I train with them every day. I know, you know, how tough it is for them, you know, to, you know, I know how tough it is, you know, elite athlete to train every day and then, you know, you go up there, like, and you fight your horrors. and, you know, so I just felt like, you know, it was fine for me to say something, but generally I don't feel, I don't feel, you know, I don't feel myself in that position.

I just do what I do, and I do what I love every day, and I just have fun doing it. So, you know, and everything that comes through with, it's just like a bonus. And for young guys like Nicholas Baxter, who a lot of people think, you know, could be a contender, did you ever talk to him about, you know, like your fight against Phil Davis? You know, you were young and it ended up being the best thing to happen to you. You were able to, you know, retool. and evolve as a fighter and look at you now. Did you talk to them about that Abu Dhabi fight

and how you were able to turn that negative into a positive? Well, you know, I just, you know, I don't necessarily talk to them for hours. I just, you know, give them some good advice, short advice that I know it was for me. And, you know, basically stuff like, you know, see the good things in everything and, you know, take this as a learning experience, for example, or listen to your coaches, like, develop your game.

Like, stuff like the basic stuff, and that works for me, and I hope it was for those guys. How would you describe this year for you 2014? Because it feels like it was sort of up and down. You had the Manoa fight, and you thought you were getting a title shot, and you've only fought once since. It's amazing. Only once since that John Jones fight.

How would you describe what's happened this past year? Oh, it's been tough. It's been tough. It was good to this. you know, in my fight in March, but it's been, it's been tough, you know, you know, been training so hard for a very long time and not have a fight and they got injured. So it will see, it will, it's been tough, but it also been, you know, some good, good types of it, you know, I've been relaxing too. I've, you know, had a good summer and

enjoying my time with my family and friends and, you know, and also in training, I've been doing progress every day and I think I'm a better at a league today in skill-wise than I was when I fought gym in Manoa so you know

both good and bad stuff you know but mostly good will you be spending the entire camp in Sweden probably yeah you know

we're planning to stay here but we're also looking into maybe to come over to the team alliance maybe or you know because I'm fighting

in Sweden so we haven't decided yet. We're still talking about it. Or maybe they'll come to you? Or maybe, yeah. We're looking at different possibilities. Okay.

Best for both. And by the way, we saw that video of you playing hockey with Forrest Griffin and Joanne Calderwood. You were actually really good. Did you play as a youngster hockey? Yeah, I did, yeah. You know, I've been doing all kinds of sports, and hockey was one of those sports I like doing most. and it's just, you know, it's like learning how to run a bike. You know, when you can run a bike, you can always do that.

So, thank you. But did you play seriously or just sort of record? Like, did you ever think that you might be a hockey player as opposed to a fighter or anything like that? No, not really. You know, I wasn't a team. I say it's a young kid and we play, but not in a high level. You know, I was just the one that, you know, tackle my opponent to die. basically.

I'm not that good on the skate. Well, maybe compared to Forrest Griffin, you look like a superstar. You look like Peter Forsberg. Yeah, I think almost everyone will look like a superstar. Yeah, that is true. Final thing for you, and then we'll let you go. Will you be in attendance January 3rd when D.C. fights Jones?

Are you staying home? I don't know yet. Let's see what happens. I have no idea. Okay, and I've heard you go kind of both ways here about who you want to win, what you want to see happen. For the record,

what do you want to see happen when D.C. fights Jones? Well, I think D.C. is, you know, it's a great after and such a great person. So, I don't know. You know, like what I said was, you know, you know, great to see, like, for example, like, like D.C. to win, you know,

because they would mix things up. And, you know, you know, he's a great fighter. And, but at the same time, me, personal, I want Jones to win because I want to fight him. If I want to take belts from anyone, I want to be doing not PC. Fair enough. Alex, I really appreciate the time.

Can't wait for it. My first time going to Sweden, so I'm very excited to attend and cover the event on January 24th. Alexander Gustafin versus Anthony Johnson. It's on Fox here in the United States. 30,000 seats. It's going to be a great scene.

I wish you the best of luck, and I appreciate you stopping by. Thank you so much. Okay, we'll see you soon. There he is. Alexander Gustafin, and by the way, tickets on sale right now. They were on sale as of Friday,

and I do believe they're selling pretty well. This is the second biggest event that the UFC will have ever put on. The first one, of course, UFC 129, 55,000 seats at the Rogers Center in Toronto. That was GSP versus Jake Shields. I think that they have a great shot of pulling this one off. 30,000, a huge deal for Gustafsson. He's never been more popular there. And I think that the fans, after what happened on October 4th, are itching to celebrate Swedish MMA.

And, you know, it's interesting that Cona McGregor fighting a week prior in Boston, and if you put them on that card, it would have been, you know, a complete knockout as far as ticket sales are concerned. But I still think with that fight, Musasi from nearby Holland against legend and Dan Henderson at 185, Davis versus Bader. I think they're going to sell it out.

That's my impression. I think the fans will step. But it will be interesting to see how they react to the time situation as far as the main card being on at like 2 a.m. or something like that. But I haven't heard that much resistance. Just sort of like, oh, really? interesting, but no one's saying that they're going to boycott because of that or anything like that.

So we'll see what happens, January 24th on Fox. All right, let's move along. Very excited to welcome in. Once again, the man who has helped steer the Belator ship in a completely different direction, and it seems to have been met with a lot of positive reviews and a lot of enthusiasm from the mixed martial arts community, the former founder of Strike Force. I guess you can't really be a former founder. You are once and always is a founder, but now he is the president of Bellator Mixed Martial Arts. He is the one and only Scott Coker joining us on the phone right now. Scott, how are you? Great, Ariel. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for joining us. It's great to talk to you as always. So congratulations, Bellator 131 a couple of weeks ago. A huge success, right? Did you ever imagine when you were laying this

thing out and this kind of being your first real big show that you had your fingerprints all over? Did you imagine it would score ratings like the ones you guys pulled in? You know, I'll tell you, I didn't, in the very beginning, I thought, okay, maybe we could do a million, five, million six. And then when I started seeing the firepower and the muscle that Spike and Kevin was putting behind this show, I said, oh, I think we can get the $2 million. And I remember talking to some of the execs there. I go, guys, I think we could hit that $2 million mark. But they had a 2.2 peak number for that fight. It was pretty impressive, and we're very proud of it.

What did that tell you about what the MMA fan is interested in 2014? Because, you know, the hardcore is the people who, you know, we live in this little bubble here, who say, oh, you know, Bonner and Ortiz, and they're older, and the mask, and this and that complaining, yet it pulls them that rating. So what did you walk away with as far as what the fans are interested in these days? You know, I'll tell you, I think we have something for everybody. And if you look at the fight car from top to bottom, I think there was something that a hardcore fan.

fans could appreciate, the fringe fans could appreciate it. And I think that what we did is we were able to get the fans that maybe had left M.A. You know, for the last several years and bring them back. And that's just a casual fan. And I think that, you know, in that number, you see a lot of casual fans, just sports fans and just fight fans. And overall, you know, fans that love to watch sporting events and entertainment events. So I think that we're successful in bringing that fringe fan back.

And that's good for the industry, Earl. It's not just good for a bellator, but I think it's good for the overall industry as a whole. How would you describe the relationship these days with Spike and Viacom? Of course, they own the company, so it's a lot different. But there seems to be a lot of synergy, seems to be this great honeymoon period as far as what's going on right now. And I'm curious if you can compare that to, say, when you were with Showtime, when they didn't have a financial interest in the promotion strike force. Yes, it's a lot different.

And, you know, Showtime was great, did a great production. They did, you know, good marketing on the network. But, you know, you're talking about everything from, you know, how to integrate local sales to national sales to international sales. I mean, the meetings that we're having with all the departments, I mean, it's, you know, a massive army of people that get integrated into, you know, let's say the Bellator 131 show. So it's a much different commitment level because, like you said,

that they own the property and Showtime, they were just our broadcast partner. And so it's a little bit different. And when you look at just the overall impact that it's had, I mean, everybody from the top down in Viacom through Spike, you know, the word that we're hearing is that we're all in, that we're in. We love it.

And, you know, we're happy that it's heading in the right direction. And I'm happy to be here, you know, guiding the ship. So we've seen a lot of changes as far as the look of the, the event is concerned from the ramp, the screens, to the, you know, the color of the mat. Is that it is, is that what a big Bellator event is going to look like, or are there more changes in store? Oh, no, there's going to be some more changes. Oh, like what? You know, we're going to have some, I can't tell us, top secret.

You always ask me that, and I always tell you it's top secret. How about in a week? Will you tell us in a week? You can have to tune in on February 27th on our next temple event, which is the British invasion at the Morgan Sun. Yes. So you have February 27th, but you're back in January as well. So the tent pole events will look different

than the regular monthly events. Is that fair to say? Yes, that's correct. And there's still going to be four tent poll events, quote-unquote, next year, right? That's the plan? That's the plan. How difficult was it for you as a promoter and someone that loves to put on these big events?

You kind of had to run through this final season, the week-to-week thing. That was already pretty much in place before, you really had a chance to take over. Were you, at times scratching your head, like these don't feel like big events. This is not what I'm about as far as a promoter is concerned. It just feels like we're putting on an event to put on an event.

Was that a tough thing to go through for you, almost like a lame duck season in a way? Well, I don't think it was a lame duck season. I think that I learned a lot on how they operated and got to know everybody and see the infrastructure and how Spy TV interfaces with our operation and how we operate with, let's say, the international sales and the sponsorship sales. There's so many divisions now that are involved and have their hands in this product.

It was a really good learning curve. But now I feel that in the beginning, starting with 2015, you know, we do have some agreements that we're going to still go to some of the Indian Reservation casinos, but we're going to also go into some bigger venues. But four times a year, you're going to see, you know, what you saw at Bellator 131, and then some. So there's a lot of, it feels like all of a sudden, like a year ago, Bellator wasn't really being discussed as far as, you know, a player in the free agent market

and where guys are going to go, but things have certainly changed since you came on board. Have you noticed, like, have you had managers reach out to or fighters reach out to who maybe in the past weren't all that interested in going to Belator fighting outside of the UFC and saying, like, okay, I want to do business with you. I used to work with you in the past. Like, have you started to hear that from either representation or, or actual fighters themselves. Yes, I mean, we've heard from all the camps and all the top managers.

And, you know, just to say hello and get re-engaged and just to say, look, when you have somebody that's a free agent and we'd like to have a conversation about them, you know, please let us know when they're free. And we're not trying to interfere anybody's contract. But, you know, from the manager side, you know, they're happy because, you know, it's always better and healthier for our industry in a marketplace when you have more than one bidder. And so the manager are happy, willing me, they're very content. I mean, they're very happy with the way it looks in the future, having more than one bidder.

And also, there's fighter camps that call me specifically. And some of these guys are really close to me and saying, look, in the past, we wouldn't have even considered it because the contracts were way overreaching. And we didn't like to manage it there. And we didn't like the style that was being run. And, you know, we're not going to even be a player. and, you know, to join with Bellator. But now, you know, that door is open, and we're already signing some of the guys, and, you know, the door is, you know, it's a, it's a nice, it's a nice feeling because I feel like three years ago when, you know, I, you know, sold the company and I was all like a three year or maybe two year, two year kind of hiatus. I just felt like, you know, I just picked up, it sounds like, it feels like it feels like I just picked up where I left off.

And now we're back to engage with the athletes, doing big fights, and doing great TV shows. And it feels really good. What kind of a mess did you inherit? Now that you've had a chance to assess the entire company, how much damage was there? Well, I can tell you this. It's been challenging, but I think that we're through most of it. But, you know, they were just run differently. And I can tell you one of the biggest issues to me was that,

There was no dialogue between the current staff when I walked in and the parent company. And what I mean by that was none of the departments were talking to each other. And so that was really one of the first things that I wanted to get going was, look, you guys have a counterpart, and you guys should integrate with them, and let's go on the same page. And, you know, let's bring everybody's brainpower and marketing muscle and firepower and, you know, and PR and digital. in every department. Let's get everybody's brainpower engaged in this product, and let's grow this thing because something that's substantial, and we're going to need a lot of firepower to do that.

So, you know, the ownership group is, you know, Spike TV, Viacom, let's integrate with those guys, and let's make this thing happen. And I would say, what, it's only been, areas only been like four and a half months that came on. And I think we moved some pretty big mountains, and that's four and a half months, and did some great shows, put on some great fights. and 2015 looks bright.

Where do things stand with Rampage Jackson? It seems a little unclear at this point. Yeah, you know what? I think that's a fair assessment. I mean, you know, we're just waiting for him to engage us to when he's ready to compete again. And we're talking to his management. And, you know, scoring. There is dialogue, but, you know, he's got a lot of other things on display.

I'm told, you know, you want us opening a sports bar and has an app that he's doing. He just opened a gym, and, you know, he was extremely busy doing other things. What's his issue, though, because it feels like he's unhappy, and he sent out that tweet about, you know, the UFC and all that. And at one point, he seemed skeptical of you, and then he seemed like he got over that skepticism. But it seems like something's bothering him. Like, what's his issue? I don't know. You might have to talk to him about that.

I wish. You know, I mean, you know, a fighter, and, you know, we're the promoter of a producer, and, you know, you know, we're the promoter of a producer. and he's the talent and sometimes talent is not happy. And that's just the nature of this business. I mean, you of all people know,

how many, you know, fighters fall in that category. Have you had a chance to speak to him face to face or over the phone like just you and him? We've met actually many times

in the past. So we have, you have got to know a little bit and have a lot of respect for him and it's just, I just think it's going to be a matter of time. So you are confident he will fight again for Bellator? Yes, I'm confident of that.

Will Bellator get into the Brock Lesnar's sweepstakes? You know, that's a good question. I mean, you know, we had a conversation internally, and it's worth a conversation, but, you know, that's something that we'll pursue maybe, you know, later into January or into February, we'll start that conversation. But I would say, look, you know, any fighter,

that's out there or any, you know, you know, star athletes, not star athlete in the sense of like a, you know, baseball player, but, you know, like a Brock Lesnar or somebody that's, that really wants to fight, we're going to have a conversation with them because, you know, if they can move the needle, we're going to want them on Spike TV. And, I mean, he's probably one of the biggest names. We don't even know that he'll come back to M.MA, but it appears though he's going to be

a free agent from wrestling later this year, and there seems to be some interest there. That's a pretty big fish. if you can catch him, right? You would agree with that. I think that he's a big needle mover. Yeah. I do think, though, that, you know, there's been several years of the past,

and, you know, I think that, you know, he still has the WWE limelight, so I think that there's a lot of, you know, he still has a lot of star power. But, you know, to come back and say, hey, I want to train, I want to commit, I want to fight, and, you know, that's going to be a big commitment

on his part. So we haven't had a conversation yet, but we'd like to at some point. Can you in any way address this, I guess, this story, controversy with Frodo? I mean, he's going on Twitter and throwing out a lot of accusations. He had the visa issues. He was a contender.

Won the tournament. He was supposed to fight for a belt. Never materialized because he was unable to get a visa. And now it seems like he wants out of Bellator. Is there anything you could tell us about this situation? Yeah, it's something that we're working. It's an ongoing, working, a relationship, with him and when I talked to the attorneys about it last week or earlier in the week last week,

they basically said, look, he came in, he had a visa, and then for some reason, you know, his visa was revoked and he was not allowed to come back into the country. And so, you know, unfortunately, they're not giving us the information as to why, and we're continued the process, and it's an ongoing process. But, you know, hopefully we'll have something here really shortly in what, we'll what's going to happen with him, because if he cannot come in the country, then, you know, then, you know, he should, we should probably just release him at that point. Are you working towards cutting ties with him, or do you want to keep him? Are you trying to get him the visa so that he can continue to fight for you?

Oh, I mean, we've continued to try to get his visa for, you know, the last, I want to say, two months, and even before that, they applied, and they were denied. And, you know, and there's a lot of, you know, rumors out there that there are, there, there's no facts based on some of the stuff that was set out there. I'm just trying to give you facts. Yeah. And the facts were that, look, he applied, he was denied, and he's not allowed to come in the country. And, you know, we don't know why.

And we're trying to find out why. And we're going through the process of the staff says to find out why. What was the mindset behind signing Aaron Pico? Huge prospect, youngster, 18 years old. It appears as though he may have a future trying to get, you know, obviously a future in wrestling. He wants to go make a run at the Olympics. But also, he's talked about boxing.

he's talking about MMA, and you're getting in at the ground floor. He has yet to fight any kind of M.A. fight. Why did you sign him now? Well, I tell you, when, you know, you keep hearing somebody's name over and over and over, and all he'll say is, you know, Bob Cook came to me and said, Scott, this is the number one prospect of MMA right now, and you should really take a look at this kid. And Bob and Javier have been very good to me and brought me, you know,

the last time he said to me was when Daniel Cormié signed with Strike Force. The time before that, was when we fought Kane, Alaska was on his first fight. And then even in between that time, he said, Scott, this is going to be the next champion. And it was Luke Rockhold. Oh, wow. So when Javier and Bob comes to you and say, hey, Scott, this is the guy, then you know what? Then you do what you have to do to make it work because this kid not just has a wrestling

pedigree, but a Golden Gloves boxing champion, he's way ahead of the curve. and when I talked to him, when I got on watching train, I said, this guy is going to be a great fighter. And, you know, he's got some work to do, but he's got time to do it. But I can't wait for him to start getting in the cage and fighting for Bellator. So realistically, when do you think he'll make his debut for Bellator? Well, you know, I'm not sure if you followed it, but over the weekend, he won in France.

He'd be to a world champion in his way class, which means that, you know, he's obviously a frontrunner for the Olympic games. But if he loses for some reason, you know, anything can happen in the Olympic trials at that point that he'll come to, you know, he'll come to Bellator. But if not, hopefully things go well for him

and he goes all the way to Olympics and he competes Olympics won the gold medal and then it starts fighting for us. What if he says I want to go for another gold medal or has he told you it's won and done? No, I think he says it's time to come fight. I mean, he's got that fight in him. He's just one of those guys that really wants to be a fighter deep inside.

But he has so much time and resources and energy, and he has so much riding on the Lions Olympics that he wants to go through that experience, which, you know, what a great experience for him. And we're going to support him all the way. And hopefully he'll win the gold, like I said, and then we'll have a gold medalist fighting in the Belt for a cage right after the 16 Olympics. Was this the beginning of the pipeline, opening between Scott Coker and AKA.

You mentioned Bob Koch, Javier Mendez, very close to them. Bob Cook used to work for strike force. It seemed like you always had your finger on the pulse, especially there, because that's your backyard. Is this the beginning of that? Yeah, I think that it's not the beginning. It's the restart of our relationship. And, you know, Bob and I and Javier talk about it.

There's some fighters that make sense to fight for us, and there's some fighters that, you know, make more sense to fight in the UFC. So, you know, they're going to have fighters in both because, you know, at the end of the day, they are a free enterprise business, and they're going to want to have fighters actively participating in both leagues. Do you regret the whole Vandrelai-Silva thing announcing him and then having to take him off and he said he was, you know, a threat to be sued and all that? Do you regret getting involved in all that? Well, you know, I tell you, Vandale is a star in our sport. And, you know, we didn't understand or we didn't even know that there was any kind of relationship still.

You know, we were on the impression that based on representation that, you know, he was free to do whatever he wanted to do. So, you know what? It was, you know, it was just a little bit of a mess for, you know, a couple hours. But then it all got smoothed over and worked out. And we understand everybody's position. And we just move forward. So, you know, until he's free, we're definitely not going to engage with him on another. on other projects.

Another legend, of course, someone that Van der Leyen knows is Tito Ortiz. He's going back and forth with King Moe. It seems like Moe wants to fight. Tito kind of pushing him away. What do you make of that fight? And if not that fight for them next, what are your plans for them? You know, I'll tell you, that's something we could probably answer in the next couple weeks or beginning of the year because, you know, the holiday, he just, you know, Tito just fought.

Mo just fought. The holidays just hit. So I'm going to actually re-engage with them probably this week. and sit down with Pito and his manager, and then, you know, sit down with Pogan about Moe and discuss what's in the future for those guys, because, you know, we want to get those guys both back into the cage as soon as possible.

Are you interested in that fight? Do you think it makes sense for them? You know, I'm not sure. I have to think about it. I'll have to really, you know, speak to my guys internally, talk to Rich and Zach and everybody spike and see if that fight makes sense or not. What about Stefan Bonner?

Will he fight again for Bellator? Yes, Stefan Bonner will fight. He will probably fight sometime. I wouldn't say, you know, probably in April or May. Okay. We're going to have him fight in one of our shows. Do you have a fight for him yet? No, there's no upon it at this time.

One of the big stars coming out of that show was Joe Schilling. I mean, what a finish that was. Is he going to stick to M.MA for now? Has he told you that? Is that part of his deal? Joe Schilling, what a talent, you know, he is. And I followed him in the glory fights. and we're proud of him on a roster.

He will be fighting, I think, sometime in the first quarter, for the end of the first quarter for Bellator. But that doesn't mean he can't fight for glory. I mean, if he has a glory fight, then, you know, we'll work around it. So he'll have a contract with both leagues. You always have something for me, Scott. I mean, you always have some sort of exclusive news. You got anything for us?

Any fights you want to announce? Any signings? Sure, I have some good stuff for you. You do have something. Wow, look at that. What do you got? Yeah, you know what? On the January

fight with Pit Bull versus Strauss We're just in that We're going to announce our co-man event Right here right now It's going to be Bubba Jenkins

Okay Fighting Georgie Per Cagnon Yes As a co-main event And then at the At the fight on the In February

At the Moogyn Sun On the 27th The British invasion It's going to be We just added MVP Michael Page And he's going to fight Curtis Millender

From California So those are two fights That we're announced right here So I guess it makes a lot of sense to have MVP on that British invasion card. I was wondering about his status. So thank you for those two little scoops.

I appreciate it. Where did the whole British invasion thing come from? I like things like that. I think that's a perfect thing for Beltaire. I have these gimmick events. Not all the time, but when it works out where it works out here, I think because it doesn't feel like you're really forcing it, it feels like all these matchups make sense.

How did this come about? Was that your idea, Rich's idea? Who deserves credit for this idea? Yeah, well, you know, I think it came down to the fighters. And we said, okay, we want to have Douglas Lehman fight, Paul Daly. We want a big fight. Great. Let's make it even bigger.

Let's put on Immanuel Newton fighting Liam McGarry. And then it just started looking like in the UK versus the United States. So I said, well, let's make say UK versus the United States. And it's called the British invasion. And here we are. Wow. So it's going to be a great fight. It's going to be one of our 10 polls.

It's going to be amazing production. But, you know, when you look at this fight carpet, from top to bottom, it's going to be amazing fights and something we're going to be really proud of. This one's on a Friday. Are you not going to go? Would you prefer not to go head-to-head with the UFC if possible? Would you want your own night?

Well, actually, you know what? Our tent polls traditionally will be on Saturday night. Okay. The venue was booked for a concert on Saturday, so it was a venue situation. But this one time we're going to do Friday night, and we'll see how it does. But the next one, like the three ones to follow,

will all be on Saturday, at least as of right now. Yeah, that's correct. Are you going to change the name of Bellator? Pardon me? Are you going to change the name? Are you going to call the organization something else? Do you want to get rid of the name Bellator?

You know, I'll tell you. I think that I'm very happy with the name Bellator. Okay, because there were some jokes about Spike Force. You heard about this, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think, guys, you know what? I mean, if you look at what Bellator meant five months ago and what it means today, I think it means completely.

different, you know, has a completely different meaning and feeling. And it's just going to keep changing. And, you know, I think we've been receiving a lot of positive press and the fans have really supported us, which are thankful. And Spike TV has been fantastic. And we're going to keep driving ratings and putting butts in seats and continue to grow this brand. A couple quick things before I let you go.

Any plans to go international next year outside of the U.S.? You know, I'll tell you, I'm sure you, well, I'm sure you already know that we have the Channel 5 deal in place for the last show when Tito fought, and then I'm sure that I think it's, I don't know if it's confirmed, I'll find out for the year old, but I think that Channel 5 is going to run

the British invasion again the next day. And then, you know, I think we're going to head over there and have a couple of meetings because, you know, we'd like to be a regular show on Channel 5 in the UK, and then let's build it up there on TV and then eventually go over there and do a live event. All right, and what about San Jose? Are you going back there next year?

we definitely will be in the Bay Area for sure and the Shark Tank though we're talking to the Greenlander, we're talking to, pardon me Shark Tank? Yeah, it's called the SAP Center. Yeah, I know, but I'm a stickler for, you know, nostalgia. Yeah, I like the Shark Tank myself. But we definitely would be in San Jose next year.

Okay. This is, you know, this is our, you know, this is our home, the original home. Right. The original home of Scott Cogor. Okay, final thing. Are you surprised, Scott? are you surprised that this has happened so quickly for you that you talk about, you know, what the name means five months later as opposed to when you took over?

Did you really envision things to turn around like they appear to have turned around in the last, you know, really it feels like even less than five months because it took you some time to really get that first event and season under your belt. But does it surprise you at all how quickly things have changed? Yeah, I mean, yeah, the answer is yes. I mean, I think that if you look back five months ago, we probably took me, you know, a month to learn everybody's name. another month to figure out all the fires that we have and then all the issues

that we're having and you know to navigate through those waters while doing eight weeks of fights in a row and then doing the big tent pole event

between Ortiz and Bonner and to you know and to continue to build or change this brand and put on the fights that I think that really the fans want to see

in such a short time it's not just a testament to you know let's say myself and the group, but it's a testament to the team because there was a team behind this thing, and it wasn't just the fight team inside Bellator, which I think they did a great job.

But, you know, it was a commitment behind Kevin and Spike and those guys and putting it all together. And that's how we were able to move these mountains in such a short time. Because if we didn't have a commitment for the network, then this would have been a much slower process. And originally, when we sat down and mapped it out,

we thought we would be at this point, maybe it would take a year. Wow. So I think we're way ahead of where we thought we would need to be or where we would be. And so it's a good feeling. And you know what? It's one of those things where everything just clicked and it just started rolling. And once we kind of got rolling, it just read into the next fight, the next fight. And also we're playing the big fight.

And then no one got hurt. And the promos that came out of Spike TV were unbelievable. and then the matchup between Arches and Bonner started building heat. I mean, it's just, you know, it was all the right things that needed to happen, happened,

and, you know, he's got a knock on wood. All the best to you, Scott. Thank you so much for the time. Congrats on the great rating a couple weeks ago, and good luck in 2015. I'm sure we'll be speaking, but good luck as you plan everything

for a big year for you next year. Yeah, thank you, and air you've got to come to the show. Yes, I will be there. I miss you. All right, buddy. Okay. I'll see you soon.

There he is. Scott Coker, president of Bellator MMA. Appreciate his time very much. All right, let's move along. The Straw weights very much in focus in the UFC tough 20 featuring 16 of the best. And next weekend is a big weekend for them

because the tough finale will take place on Friday and we'll find out who the first ever UFC Strawway champion will be. We still don't know who's going to be fighting in the finals. We'll find out next week. But also, at UFC on Fox 13, the following night in Phoenix, a very important fight taking place in the UFC's 115 pound division. It pits Claudia Gadalia, who is undefeated fighting a fellow undefeated fighter from Poland, Joanna Yedjerich. And Claudia joins us right now via the phone from Brazil. Claudia, how are you?

How are you? I'm good, man. I'm good as well. Thank you very much for joining us. So, you know, you were originally announced as part of the cast for the Ultimate Fighter 20. Of course, you weren't on the show. I'm wondering, have you been watching it? And if so, what do you think of it? Man, I'm so happy to not be there, you know, because I'm watching all these girls having a lot of drama in the house, you know. And also will be a lot of problems to me to make the weight there, you know.

So I'm so happy to not be there, you know. and I'm happy also to making their debut and also the contender the following day. So do you feel as though they have been good representatives of the sport and in particular your division? Like are you happy with the way they're coming across on the show? Yes, yes, I'm happy, you know, that division is a very talented division, you know. We can to stay, you know.

Every fighter there has a lot of talent, a lot of skills to show, you know, and I'm happy the way we are going, you know. Who do you hope wins the show? Man, I think Joanna Caldera will in the show, you know, but I want, who I want to win is Carlos Pazzo, you know. I want her to have the belt, so I can't fight her. So. How are things between you and her? Because you were supposed to fight a couple times. There was a lot of back and forth.

Seems like bad blood. Does that still remain? Yes. Yes. Because the first time we were going to fight, I broke my nose. The second side we were going to fight. I got sick and I went to the hospital, you know. She talked a lot of shit, you know, about that.

She said I was secure, you know. She was talking a lot of things about what happened, you know, and I didn't like it. So I want to fight her. you know, and I feel that I'm the contender right now, you know, I'm going to win my next fight, and then if she has the belt, we're going to fight for the belt. Has the UFC told you that your fight the following night is for the number one contender spot? Yes. Okay, so if you win that fight, you're fighting for the belt.

Yes. Whoever weighing that fight, fight for the belt. You made your debut in July, and you made history, because your fight was the first ever strawweight fight in UFC history. what was it like for you to be there? Like, in a million years, when you got into this sport, did you ever think it was, of course, it wasn't a possibility at the time

because we didn't know there'd ever be a UFC stradweight division, but did you ever even allow yourself to dream of being in the cage, UFC, Octagon, Bruce Buffer, all this stuff? Like, what was that like? Well, that was a dream, you know? I'm fighting, you know, not MMA,

but since I'm 15 years old, I'm fighting, you know. I fought BJJ in my whole life, and I just, you know, I just, decided to be a fighter, you know, and I'm fighting for that for 10 years, you know. So I think I deserve that chance, you know, that UFC gave me to be the first starweight fighter, you know. And I'm so happy for what it's happening with the division right now, you know. And I think the UFC for me was like a dream that I always fought for, you know,

and be the first strong fight of the division was so important to me, because that was so hard for that, you know, and I was not in the house, you know, and I felt like they gave me a present, you know. It seemed like even afterwards when you were talking to the media, you were a little emotional about the whole thing, almost to the point of tears. Why were you so emotional?

Because it's not easy to be a fighter in Brazil, you know. It's not easy. And I left my home when I was 15 years old. And then I came here to Rio de Janeiro to train with Aldo and Barang and all these guys, you know. So for 10 years, not with my family, you know, with my friends. And I gave up everything so young to live that dream, to be a fighter. put that in my mind that I want to be a fighter, and I just left everybody and everything behind,

and I came here to train. It's very emotional to me, you know, because it's hard. It's hard being a fighter here, and I survive it, you know, and I made it to the UFC. I made it for the best show and the war, you know, and that's very important to me. What made you want to do that,

15 years old, to leave everything and focus on being a fighter when there aren't a lot of opportunities, especially at that time for fighters like you. Why did you do it? I think I started to train with Henan Barang, you know, back in North here in Brazil. And since I started, I just saw a lot of things, a lot of good things about the sport. You know, I just, I was like growing up with the sport, you know, the sport where teaching me how to be, a woman, you know, how to grow up and watching these guys training and competing to survive made me want to do the sense, you know.

And life was hard for me. It still is, you know. But I put that in my mind, you know, that I saw the sport how a way to survive. in Brazil, because it's not easy, you know. I'm for a poor family, you know, and things are not easy here. So the fight made me learn a lot of things about life, made me grow up as a woman, and taught me a lot of things, you know, and made me survive here. It's interesting to hear you say to grow up as a woman,

because I'm wondering if you were around other women when you were training. Were you the only one, or was there a group of you? Sorry. You say, you know, grow up as a woman, and I've often heard stories of female fighters being the only female in the gym, that there weren't a lot of peers or role models around that you kind of had to be one of the guys and train with guys. Was that a different case for you? Like, did you have the opportunity to train with other women and grow with other women, or were you on your own in that sense? I mean, when I say I grow up as a woman, I'm an adult, you know, because I left home when I was very young, you know, and I learned it about life. I grew up, you know, fighting.

I grew up in a fight a sport, you know. And that's what I mean when I say grow up as a woman, you know, because the sport made me adult, you know, made me a real woman, you know. But for sure, it's hard for being a girl and have to be around all many, you know. It's hard for sure, you know. But now I think it's better, you know. I have a lot of friends that are men, you know, all the fighters at the gym, they are my friends. And I think girls together are a lot of drama, you know. I don't like that.

I read, I believe it was in Tatami, that you used to have a drug problem at a young age, and MMA helped you get rid of that. How bad was this addiction for you? What's a bad time of my life, you know, and like I told you, the sport saving my life, you know. When I was 15 years old, I had problems with drugs, but the sport showed me the different way of life, you know, and made me a better person and taught me. how to live in this faraway, you know. Do you get a lot of people coming up to you, and now that you're a little more famous,

I'm assuming it will get a lot bigger once you have a long career in the UFC, but do you get people coming up to you and saying that you're a role model, that they've heard your story, that your story is helping them out? Has it reached that point for you yet? Sorry? Do you get people that come up to you and say that you're a role model, that, you know, what you've been able to overcome, addiction and leaving home and becoming a pro athlete that they look up to you, that they consider

you someone that, you know, they want to strive to be like and things like that. Yeah, for sure. For sure that my history is inspiration for people here in Brazil, you know, because like I said, life is not easy, you know, and especially up there north where I'm from, you know, and I'm moving here so young with all these, you know, I wanted, I wanted to be a fighter so bad and I'm moving here and I asked my coach to train in his gym. I didn't have money to pay the gym. I didn't even have money to pay the rent and I survive it, you know, and I'm here for

10 years fighting for that, you know, and now I made it for the EUSC, you know, and people see that, you know, people see that and they see that as inspiration for their life, you know, especially for the people that are trying so hard to do something and, you know, and it couldn't do yet, you know. So I think that that's a very good history to look at and be spread by, you know. Did you ever consider quitting? Was it ever too tough for you? Right.

Was it ever too tough for you where you thought that you might not be able to make it to the UFC or any high point in this sport, where you thought maybe I'll have to quit and do something else, get a real job? Well, I know. I'm also, I'm a fighter and also I am a life student, you know, I'm the last semester of a law school. And then what's so hard to make it to the UFC to be a pro athlete and study, you know. But I always thought that I have to be something after quit fighting, you know. So I always try to study so much.

and then also train, and it was hard to do both together, you know, but, hey, I made it, you know. I'm the last semester of my life school, and also I'm a USC fighter, you know. I never taught about quitting, you know, because that's what I put in my mind. That's what I wanted my whole life, you know, and nothing but God will make me stop. How important was that win for the team and for Brazilian MMA that Jose Aldo had over Chad Mendes in October? Like, it felt to me like this wasn't just Aldo versus Mendes. This was for Novuniao. This was for Brazilian MMA, the last UFC Brazilian champion.

Did you feel like this was a bigger deal than just that fight? Did you feel like there was a lot of pressure on him and was the team feeling that as well? No, Jose Albu, he's amazing, you know. I always have a brain behind, you know. he don't worry about the pressure, you know. For sure that was a great moment, you know, because Chadman just came up, you know, he got way better than he was when they fought the first time.

But I think Jose Auto is the name. You know, nobody can beat him right now. And to me, he's the best fighter in the war. And now you have Fabrice Radoom, who is the interim champion. Are you confident that Brazilian MMA will get back on track? and do you have a reason as to why the last couple of years have been a little tough for Brazilian MMA? Any kind of theory?

Sorry? Do you have a theory as to why Brazilian MMA seemed to have suffered a little bit the last couple of years? Like there was a time where it seemed like all the champions were going to be from Brazil, and then it almost felt like all of them weren't going to be from Brazil? Do you have any kind of theory as to why that happened? I think we worked so hard here, you know,

as the fighters there are also, you know, But we have to grow up so much about doctors, about nutritionists, you know. I think you guys have better doctors, have better supplements, have better things to the camp, you know. We only have the feeling here, you know. We want to fight. We have that Brazilian feeling that. We want so much, you know. When we get inside the doctor's down, we have, like, the target eyes, you know.

Like, we only look straight, you know. And the last, the last thing is bad for us, because I think we need to get better about the doctors and the nutrition, you know. And speaking of which, you said that you weren't on the show because, you know, it was hard for you to make the weight so many times in the span of a few weeks. like, for example, how much weight do you have to cut from now to your fight on December 13th? How difficult is this going to be for you? And every time when you do it? It was harder before because I used to be 145 pounds and I had to drop down to 115, you know? But this time we did a different strategy, you know.

So I already lost a lot of weight. And then now I am only 1 30 pounds, you know, and there's two weeks to the fight, and I only have to lose 15 pounds, the stand of 30, you know. So we did that different strategy now. And this time will be easier, and I won't lose performance, you know. My first fight, you know, you'll see I lost some performance. I felt that, you know, because I caught a lot of weight. But this time I held my weight, and I did a different experience.

Friday, and it would be way better for sure. Well, I look forward to it. I will be there covering it. I look forward to watching you and fight in person for the first time. A pleasure to have you on the show for the first time as well, Claudia. Best of luck to you, safe travels to Phoenix, and thanks for the time.

Thanks for coming on today. Thank you. See you so. Okay, oh, bigado. Oh, there she is. Claudia Gadalia, fighting in Phoenix, UFC on Fox 13. and she said right here on the interview that that is a number one contender fight. So how about that?

That's a big weekend for these straw whites. And I like that they did that very much, having the finals of the ultimate fighter on Friday, and then you'll get a champion, and then if this is, in fact, a number one contender fight, then you'll get a number one contender 24 hours later. Claudia Gedelia versus Yohanna Jekic, which I think is what I said the first time, but it's a tough name. I practice. In any event.

Big weekend. That's next weekend. This weekend. Another big weekend for the UFC. UFC 181. Two titles on the line. And then a very important fight at heavyweight between Brendan Schaub and Travis Brown.

And one of the interesting storylines going into that fight is that Travis Brown has been training with a new team. In particular, a new coach, Edmund Tarverdian, out of Glendale, California. And he joins us right now to talk about that fight and a whole lot more. he's on the phone. Edmund, how are you?

I'm good, good, how are you? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for stopping by. So tell me, let's go back to the beginning. How did your relationship with Travis Brown come about for you to become his main head coach? I was out in Vegas for the fights, and he, you know, hit me up and just said that he wants to speak to me, and he spoke to me about working with him,

and I said, all right, I have some time. He said, could we get some work? and today and we went to the gym and I did a couple of rounds of had work with him. I guess before that he spoke to Neil Malanson and Ricky Landell about, you know, to talk to me and they said it's a good idea.

But nothing was 100%. You know, he just wanted to try and speak to me and we worked and he really liked it afterwards. When I got back home, he reached out to me again and just wanted to work. So I said, that's fine, you to come in.

And also twice a week, he started off, coming in two, three times a week from San Diego, just coming out to trial. And then he said that he wants to bring his video, you know, of his last fight that he fought with Verdum and for me to take a look at it with him because he hasn't even watched it himself after the loss. So I watched it when I spoke to him

and the pointers I gave to him and what we talked about, he really liked it. And wanted to start to work with me. And, you know, I gave him my thoughts about, you know, doing a full training camp, so I could really, you know, see what's going on. I like my fighters to be here twice a day, you know, with me, stays a week.

So I could really, you know, get him in this top shape of their lives before they enter the octagon. And he really liked the idea, so he just brought the whole team down here. You know, Ricky and Neil, you know, they've been coming out and, you know, week by week and putting in work. And it's been great. And when you were assessing his, you know, his fighting style and his most recent fight, did you think, wow, I mean, this guy needs a lot of work, I can help him here and there. Did you feel like he was a big work in progress? Absolutely.

You know, Fridon was taken off on him, and there was not much you could have done. Of course, he had a broken hand from the first round, but that's not an excuse. You know, he had a little lady under him, and he had one hand. I even told him you have one hand. You could have won the fight with one hand. That's what I believe he could do that. And even if, you know, you have a little bit. one hand, you don't want to get hit with unnecessary

shot like that, you know, so you have your legs under you to keep the distance right, so he's an athlete, but he had a lot of learning to do, a lot of learning, you know, it's not only one thing, you know, he's had something special already, you know, nothing paying away from, you know,

Jackson's camp and what he's done, you know, with his career, but absolutely. I saw a lot of mistakes, you know, the guy can't punch from short distance or middle distance. you know, he has to swing his hand. And, you know, even swinging, I mean, when he was out here, you really couldn't have punched.

You know, he punches, but you have to swing to be able to connect that shot. And yes, it does happen because he just has that fire in him, the fighting thing, you know. He just does it in there and it's been working for him, but not at top level when somebody could really keep the distance the right way. You won't be able to land the shot. And then what happens, you know, so he had a lot of learning to do. Now you punch this from short distance, long distance, when we're doing was in his face, you know, touching him. He couldn't come with a shot. He needs to swing.

And if you don't have that room to swing, what happens, basically, you lose a fight. It shouldn't be like that, you know. So he had a lot of learning to do, and he's been looking very different. You know, he told Fox Sports recently. He told him this, which raised some eyebrows. He said, I know how to go out there and F stuff up, but I don't know how to fight. That's one of the things that I'm learning right now. As a fighter, you kind of don't want.

want to admit that, but at the same time, I'm not looking to sit here comfortably in the three or four spot. I'm going for the championship. So anytime I have a fight, I have to go back and dissect everything. And people walked away saying, you know, and that's the end of the quote. This is a guy who trained with Greg Jackson and Mike Wigglejohn. He doesn't know how to fight. That's kind of a shot at them. Did you feel like this was a guy who didn't know how to fight properly? You got to look at it differently. Championship level fight is different. You know, you've got to be able to fight. You've got to be able to use what you have.

But fight. Fight and the word in general is like, you know, can he fight? Of course he could fight. The guy, you know, gets in there and gets a lot of knockouts. So he does know how to fight, but knows how to fight properly and knows how to balance his war and knows how to win a will be able to win opponents at top level. Absolutely not. But now he can, you know, because now he knows exactly what he's doing.

I've had him spar with boxing Olympians, heavyweights, prospects. He's been looking great. You know, he's never had those rounds in. And when you're in there, and then you have to be ready for everything. You got to train with the best and be able to, you know, do things correctly. So that's why when he saw all these adjustments, if a heavyweight cannot hit the bag for one round, one round, there's something wrong with that. And Chavez-Round couldn't hit the back for one round. He would get fatigue because he couldn't let his hands go constantly the way I wanted him to go.

So he basically did a lot of strength and conditioning, this and that, which is good. It's great. The sport has evolved. There's a lot of strength and conditioning coaches out there that are doing a hell of a job, you know. Even now in boxing, they use it. But let's go back. Let's go back in the days that they didn't have a lot of strength and conditioning coaches, right? Were there heavy weights that could have fought 30, 50, 100 rounds?

Yes, there was, right? They banged it out. They let their hands go. They banged it out. Everybody was in shape. They could have fought. So he basically did things that he didn't learn a strength. Now he's fit.

He could throw 100 punches per round constantly with weight. He shadow boxes 12 rounds. He spars many, many rounds. He's on the back constantly doing backgrops, letting his hands go. So basically his strength and conditioning his body and learning how to box and learning how to place is shot. He didn't have that. So that's why when he doesn't have that, he's like, what the fuck I can't. I'm sorry about that.

No problem. No problem. No problem. He's like, what the hell? I can't get the back for a round. Of course, they might be thinking that. But Travis Brown is not one guy that's going to be hesitant, you know, to fight now because, you know, he's had a loss. Or, for example, you know, now he thinks he doesn't ought to fight.

No, no, that's not going to happen with him. He's a fighter. He's going to go out there and fight. That I know, you know. The guy fought with one hand and was, you know, behind. You know, we don't care and stop him. It says a lot. You know, he does have heart.

He does go out there and fight. And now he's going to go out there and fight and be able to fight the right way, I would say. Do you feel like you have had enough time to revamp him and get him ready for this fight to where he's a different fighter or a better fighter? Has there been enough time? Absolutely. You know, we're lucky enough.

Yes, we've had that time because before the fight, two months, three months, I've worked with him before even the fight got announced, you know? we were working together already three days a week, at least, you know, so I was putting a lot of work with him, you know, individual attention. And all this camp, he's been just playing one-on-one with me, and I've been with him at least three, four hours a day, you know. So he has had enough time and, you know, with the opponent that we have right now, it's going to be great, you know.

And the number one thing is I'm really happy with his performance and sparring sessions that I always go back to. And, you know, it's very important for me. That's why a lot of the fights, you know, what the champion, what Rhomba have called knockouts. And it has happened is because of what I see. You know, what you see is what you're going to expect. You're going to see that, and the outcome is going to be nearly as what you see in the peak of the training camp when you have really great sparring partners that have had, you know, have been hired and have been in there to really, you know,

go in there and, you know, sparking going there and fight, not a tip-tip, not that stuff, you know. really be able to engage during spawning sessions and see what happens and how it's looking great doing that. Have you ever trained Brendan Shaw before? No, I haven't. Never worked with him? No. I don't know if you heard this, but he told Joe Rogan recently, this was his quote.

I'm not going to go into detail, but I think it's a great thing for me that he's training there, meaning at your gym. I'll put it like that. I think it's a good thing for me. And later on, you know, Joe went on to ask him, like, if you thought it was a mistake. and he said yes. What do you make of that? Well, those are his thoughts, you know.

He's, of course, you know, it's his thoughts. He's, of course, you know, from Santa Monica, and he's known about me. And, you know, he's did. I pick and choose my fighters, so I'll tell you this much for sure. It's the way they approach me and do what they speak to me before. or they want to really be in my gym and train with me. So there has been, you know, I have heard that he did want to work with me, and I said that's not the way it's going to happen.

So stuff like that has happened. So I don't know if there's hard feelings or not like that, you know, but it really doesn't matter at this point. I don't want to cause unnecessary drama, but what it is, it's just if he thinks that it's a mistake, it's what I do. And, you know, I have fighters in the gym, so I'm less worried about what he thinks, you know.

Right. I got champions in the gym, so I really don't care. I've been doing this since I was 16 years old, and I've had my own gym, and I've been successful with what I've been doing, and it's his thoughts. But, you know, if he thinks that it's better for him, it's going to, you know, motivate him that he's going to come out there and win, and he's trying to lower my status of, you know, he's not in Winklejohn, so that's the reason, or Craig Jeff, and that's the reason I'm going to beat him.

You know, it's not going to work, because honestly, you know, somebody asked me if he could fight, I think he can't fight for shit, you know? That's what I think. Why is that? Why is that? Because I like heavyweight that could punch and really, you know, yeah, he's had knocked out few here and there. But once a year, it wouldn't stick, we'll fire too, you know. It wouldn't stick my fire once a year.

But this guy can't do much. You had Orlovsky on the ground, he was ground and pounding. And I didn't see anything special, you know, nothing really happens to the guy. You're heavyweight punching somebody on the ground. You got to do some damage, you know what I mean? Let's go out there. There's other fighters out there that are in the 135 position. And even Rhonda, when she hit somebody on the ground,

was totally different, right? Absolutely, yeah. I think he can't fight for shit. That's what I think. Have you been... Not my reason. He fights to survive, you know? Right.

You feel he doesn't go for the kill? I know he fights to survive. Everybody knows that. So that's why I could say he can't fight for shit. Are you concerned that the fight will turn into that kind of fight on Saturday? It is a concern. Absolutely. And we're aware of that.

I said it's a tragedy for me to watch something like that. if somebody like that that is surviving, if I gets a W. It's not going to happen. I talked to that about that with Travis. He is aware. That's why you have to be working all the time, you know,

not let him mind bug you, try to hold on to you or anything like that for you to get off of what you're supposed to do, you know, and you get a win like that. It's not right. It's not, it doesn't look good. It's embarrassing. It's something that I would never want to see.

And the fans and the crowd, everybody. I don't think anybody enjoys that. You know, so we don't, it's not going to happen, and we know exactly that is stuff like that is a threat, you know, somebody that fights to survive and then holds on and somehow gets to win. I don't know. That's not happening.

Have you been cognizant of this chatter that, you know, Ronda's doing so well, but the other fighters in your camp aren't doing well in the UFC? And, like, do you feel pressure now with Travis, a new guy to get him when you, Jake has stumbled, and some of the other female fighters have stumbled? Like, do you feel like something needs to start going well for the fighters not named Ronda Rousey

to gain that, you know, that respect from the community again. Everybody that says that, you know, I have been working in my gym, a lot of fires, but the ones that I spend six days a week would, you know, Ronda and, you know,

I've been working a little bit more extra with Jake Ellenberger, of course, but we've had issues there and another one would be trapped right now. Yeah. So the other fighters, you know,

it's still out of my gym. Yes, I take responsibility, but, you know, they've had tough challenges and, you know, not, not,

and a lot of them, you know, some of them get losses and then come, you know, they come to me and it's not easy to bring the best out of them

at those situations. You know what I mean? So people start realizing, oh, there's something wrong. I hope they could realize it earlier and come, come out earlier.

That's why it's a difficult situation. for me, but I'm not going to make excuses. You know, I take the opportunities I have, and fighters come out here and want to learn, you know, after their losses, and they do come out, you know. But, you know, in the future, it's a promise. I'll have my young fighters come out there

and they're going to dominate a lot of people. They dominate them right now. A lot of pros come in my gym, you know, from the U.S. or whatever, and they've dominated. Right now I have a girl to remind him of Batron. She will dominate the whole 115-pound division. She will eat them alive. that's been seen in the gym

wherever from the ultimate fighter have come they don't last none of them last it's another threat it's fear it's 40 professional fights 23 years old 23 years old most decorated

fighter from Holland Dutch kickboxer amazing boxing skills and defeated boxing record also but it's just relentless been wrestling every day a mini animal, Mike Tyson. That's what I would call it, 115.

So if that gets in the ring, you're not stopping her. How far away is she from the UFC? She's only one and all. She's the only one in all right now. Okay. Sean Shelby, everybody's aware. I've told Dana about her. Sean Shelby is like, what the hell we need to get her in here. And anybody looks at her, they're going to be knowing what they're going to be up against.

And she could go up against the 135 years, most of them. I'll tell you that much for sure. She's 115 pounder. What's your take on what's happened with Jake Ellenberger? Why is this happening? Why did he lose that fight in the one prior? I think you worked with him the last two fights, right? Yes.

Why? Did you have any sort of theory on this? Jake, you know, Jake's last fight, you know, I talked to him. I don't know how much time to speak to him after the fight. You know, he did something that just gave, gave his back and gave his head. Instead of, you know, controlling the person on the ground, he did a suplex. And it's hard to say, and for me as a trainer, I mean, it's a little bit of a mental issue right now, you know, instead of him pulling it off, like he can, he's a great fighter and he could wrestle everything. So it was a little bit tactical mistake.

I would say he did it, you know, and that some, you know, after the Robbie fight, you know, just before the Robbie fight, he had a loss and then with Rory and then Robbie, you know, it's just been tough for him. So he needs a little bit to just step that up. But we'll see. I haven't had a chance to really speak to him to see what he's going through. But, you know, the mental aspect, I would say, is number one right now for him. Will you continue to work with him? You know, he absolutely, you know, he's a great guy, and I would want to bring the best out of them. And I do really try, and we have at the time in there.

He's been looking better, you know, striking while he's getting the pressure that he's supposed to. And he's been handling it pretty well, you know, before. he couldn't really, you know, have, he couldn't handle the weight. He's been handling it very well. He's been opening up, getting more comfortable and striking. But now he went on the ground, I mean, you know, he gave up his back, and, you know, it's like not much I could do at this point,

but we'll figure it out afterwards. By the way, and before I let you go back to Travis, do you have a lot of experience or do you prefer or not prefer working with heavyweights? Because I think, I'm thinking of the fighters that, you know, from boxing in MMA, they're smaller fighters. Travis, obviously, a big boy. What kind of experience do you have working with heavy weights, and is it a different kind of beast?

Like, do you prefer it or not prefer it typically? Oh, it's really, you know, heavyweight. Of course, you have to be aware of the sparring sessions. They engage more big, you know. They punch harder. So before he came in, you know, no headgear sparring. I said it's unnecessary. I said, you don't spar without a headgear.

Like my boys have Dominic in the gym, US Olympia, and, you know, he's 2008, 14 and 12 knockout. So you can't spar with him without a head gear. I said, it's not going to work. And the first day he spart, he knew that it's not going to work like that, you know what I mean? So I said, we have to get a headgear. We got a professional headgear winning everything is, you know, the way it's supposed to. He's been spying great boxing rounds with him and really looking good, very, very good. He's been looking very good.

So there's a little bit tactical adjustments that I did with him that, you know, he, He didn't have, and it would be unnecessary. You get more, you know, head punishment to the brain during spying sessions. You're spying three days a week. It's unnecessary to do it without a head here, you know. So I've, you know, taught him a lot of things that he didn't know, and he wasn't doing it the way it should have been, and he's been getting great rounds. And so all those little tactical adjustments I made, I've had the experience, but it's on the individual athlete.

It doesn't matter if it's a heavyweight or not, but those things do matter, like the sparring session. punishment. Of course, they punch bigger. They're bigger boys. But Travis is like, when he trains, I take him out to the track to run, you know, watch him. He runs the fourth, fifth mile, six minutes, you know? So he runs quicker than a lot of the lightweights I have. Wow. He's an athlete. It's not like, oh, it's a big difference. Now it's a heavyweight. It's personality. Everybody has different personality. Every champion trains differently. The trainer's job is to bring the best out of them to see what's missing, what he could add what he could make the fighter

understand and grow the fighter. That's the trainer's job. So if you understand that, you understand concept, then you have the intelligence. You could bring the best out of them. It doesn't matter heavy weight or not. Just a little example I gave you. You run six minutes in the fifth mile. Does everybody, does a lightweight do that?

Not all of them could do that. So on the track, they run the fifth mile in seven minutes. So it's, you know, little stuff that we put together but he's going to get so. It really doesn't bug me. I love it. I love working with him. You're an amazing guy and just trains

very, very, very hard. Final question. You're so good a prediction, so let's hear it. How's it ending on Saturday? I love when you call your shots. I go, Travis Bruton knockout. I call it a knockout. Early? Second or third round? All right. At the end of second.

End of second? Yes. Okay. We'll see. Just days away. Edmund, always a pleasure. Thank you very much for the time, and good luck Thank you, Michael. Take care. There he is. Emmen Tarverdian of the Glendale Fighting Club. He now working with Travis Brown, who faces Brendan Schaub on Saturday, UFC 181A. Very interesting fight in the heavyweight division and some interesting words about

Brendan Schaub's fighting skills, which we'll all see on display. On Saturday, I think that's one of the, obviously, it's a third to last fight on the card, which is a gray card. It's really interesting to see where Travis has, evolved since that fight against Fabriceo, how he rebounds from that loss to Fabrice Verdum in April. And Brendan Schaub as well, let's not forget, he's coming off a very disappointing performance. A lot of people, including myself, thought he beat And Jarlovsky in Vancouver back in June, but it's a loss on his record. And as time goes on, you tend to

forget what actually transpired in the fight, right? I mean, you look at some of the controversial fights in history. As time goes on, they just become a loss. And you have to rebound. You have to get a win. You have to, you know, get back on track. And what better opponent to do that against than Travis Brown, who is one fight away from fighting for the belt that Brendan Schaub can win this fight. He's very, very much in the mix to steal a line from Dana White. And if Brown wins as well, the heavyweight division rather shallow these days in the UFC, so I think that if he wins, especially via knockout in the second round, first round, third round, whatever, very much in the mix as well. Interesting fight, looking forward to it very much. All right, let's move along.

Another busy weekend, as I said, in the world of mixed martial arts on Saturday, it's UFC 181. On Friday, there's Invicta FC10. It's taking place in Houston, the promotion's debut in the Lone Star State. And, of course, the main event features Michelle Watterson. The karate-hadi is back, defending her title at 105 pounds. Another interesting fight on the card. Roxanne Modifery versus Andrea Lee. This is a late-replacement fight.

It was supposed to be Roxanne Monteferry versus Vanessa. of Porto, but Porto pulled out of the fight. So now it's the relative newcomer to the sport, Andrea Lee, facing the veteran Roxanne Madaferi, who looked so good in her last Invicta fight defeating her longtime friend and rival, perhaps, Tara La Rosa. Now the happy warrior joins us on the phone. Roxanne, how are you?

I'm awesome, thanks. Thanks for having me on your show, Ariel. It is a pleasure, as always, to talk to you, and congratulations on your last fight. What a great performance that was. Would you say in your entire career, and you've been around the block for quite some time now, was that your best fight ever?

I think that was definitely my best striking performance ever, for sure. And is this a credit to your new team over there in Las Vegas, Syndicate? Yes, absolutely. I mainly give my credit to John Wood, my new head coach, who's been giving me striking private lessons many times a week, and also my team syndicate, just the training there is awesome. So prior to that, officially you were on quite the losing story. streak, right? I mean, you had lost six in a row. I know you won on the ultimate fighter,

but those wins, as far as your record, don't count. So what did it feel like to finally get back on the winning track, to finally get that monkey off your back? That was the best feeling ever. You know, after I won my fight, I just jumped up and screamed, and my coach helped me up, and I was just so happy, you know, finally get back on the winning streak and prove that I'm still in the game, you know? Was there a point where you felt like, like, what do I have to do? Will I ever get another win? And it's like something that comes so regularly. It's like something that you take for granted almost when you're a contender

and you've been around the sport for a long time. You pick up a win, you move on. But it was like you were in this rut. Did you start to think if that feeling, that winning feeling would ever come back? I did think that, and I did feel a little bit stagnant. And my friend had been telling me to, you know, you should go back to the States. You should come back to the States. My American friends were telling me.

And I was like, no, I love Japan. I shall have leave Japan. but, you know, it was the right move. You know, and the ultimate fighter kind of opened my eyes to that. So now that I'm here and I'm getting a lot of, you know, personalized coaching and, you know, things have kind of evolved a lot in America. So I really made the right decision and I think that was a big factor in me, you know, doing well again. Does it part... And I'll continue.

Yes. And we look forward to that on Friday. Does a part of you wish that you would have come back to the States earlier? Yeah, it does. But I recognize that the route that I took, like, the opportunity was there for me, you know? So if I'd move back earlier, I probably wouldn't have had the same opportunities. I would have, you know, I might not have come to syndicate.

So I think that, you know, I mean, everyone has their own destiny. Sure. Yeah. Why did you choose syndicate? I did you choose a gym? Why did you choose that gym? Yeah. Yeah, I decided to try, like, every gym in Las Vegas and then decide.

But, you know, I came to syndicate, and I took a, I took a little. one of John Woods' MMA classes, and I just decided this one. Like, the way he ran at was just fantastic, and we didn't do just kickboxing or just Jiu-Jitsu. We did, like, M&A stuff, you know, and just it was just awesome. So I pretty much love his coaching, and I love the classes there. And that people are awesome. Did you try out other gyms in Vegas?

A few. Okay. Yeah. You don't strike me as the Vegas type. What's it like living there? It actually kind of reminds me of Japan. You know what? Wow.

I can live in the suburbs, but I go like 10 minutes and I'm in downtown. So that's kind of like Vegas. You know, like I live maybe 15 minutes away from the strip, but I'm really close to everything. So, you know, I don't really. I don't gamble. I don't drink, but I like kind of being around those pretty lights and the busy people. And I love humanity.

So I love the crowds. I love feeling like, you know, there's no zombie apocalypse. Everyone's alive and bustling, you know. I actually... That's why I like Vegas. I know exactly what you mean. Like, you don't want to be too far removed where you feel like it's desolate and there's no one there and no life, right? Exactly.

And do you envision living there forever? Like, even after you stop fighting and do you really love Vegas? You know what, I don't know. I'm not sure. It's a good question. Right now I really dig the MMA scene here. I'm trying not to think years ahead, you know. Anything could happen.

How many more years has, you know, going to Vegas and training with John M. would, how many more years has that added to your MMA career? Like, was there a point where you were thinking, all right, I don't have much left here, and now do you feel this new sense of optimism and rejuvenation as far as your career is concerned? That's really fun. You should say that because that's exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking maybe like I could squeak out another year or something out of my body because I'm, you know, feeling kind of beat up just from nagging injuries.

But then I came here and I feel like, well, I'm improving. and I met Jake Stepple, who's the best chiropractor I've ever met. I feel great. Like, I have no more back pain. Like, I used to have, like, horrible back pain. I couldn't even get out of bed. But now I'm like, all right, I'm up and I'm running stairs. Amazing.

So I feel like, I wonder, you know, if I can even, like, be a contender, like a belt contender. And I actually have, like, my future opening up for me now, I feel. So you feel like you have several years. Like, you don't have an end in sight anymore. No. Yes, you were correct. Did you have, like, at some point in your life, did you say, okay, come 35 or 30 or whatever, I'm not going to fight anymore.

Did you ever put that on yourself? No, I didn't. That's good. I think that's the right way to go. You know, you wrote, you've always been sort of at the forefront of blogging and being in contact with fans and social media and all that. And just a couple of days ago, actually, yesterday you wrote a very thoughtful blog post on your website about the November 30th day, because that was the anniversary of your one and only official UFC fight. and you talked about the emotions involved and whatnot.

Can you go back to that? What kind of rollercoaster of emotions did you feel from before the fight to during the fight to after the fight? What was that like for you? Had you ever experienced anything like that? Well, thank you for so much reading my blog. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that was quite a roller coaster.

You know, I saw the world opening up in front of me. It was amazing. You know, when I first debuted in Japan in 2003, everything was so different like it was called smack girl, the promotion I dig you in. And, you know, there was a 30-second ground rule. So you could only be on the ground for 30 seconds. And then the rest did you up because it was boring for the audience. We wanted to see like girls fighting, right?

And, you know, I felt like my goal is to be in the UFC. And then 10 years later, you know, I'm actually fighting in the UFC. It's amazing. So, you know, I felt awesome and I felt excited. And then when I lost, I was like, man, like, I wonder if they're going to cut me now, and I felt so sad. And as I was walking under the ring, as I wrote in my blog, like the fans just cheered just as loudly as when I'd entered.

Like, they really supported me, and I just felt so loved and happy. Like, even though I lost this fight, I still did this, and, you know, I still have a love of my friends and fans, and it's just awesome, and I think I can keep going, you know. Are you a little disappointed that you weren't given another chance? Yeah. I have mixed feelings. I believe that if I had won, then I deserved another chance, but I lost.

So, I mean, that's the way it goes. I should have won. On the other hand, you know, the UFC tends to, you know, they want to give the fans the fights that they want to see. So people wanted to see me fight. So, I don't know. I knew I had improvement to do, so I didn't really hold it against them. I kind of figured out keep fighting and then someday maybe make it back. So is that still a goal?

Do you want to get back to the UFC? I don't know. You know, I'm happy with Invicta for now. They're awesome. They've given me two fights already relatively quickly. And as you may know, there's no 125 pound division in the UFC now. And there's no way I'm going up to 135. You're done with that. So, um, done. Why? Do you just feel like they're bigger than you? You know, I'm not really a power fighter. You know, I consider myself more like ninja tricky like rather than like, pick you up and slamp you sort of muscle. Right.

So even going up into 135, I have people cutting from like 155. So that's even more of a disadvantage, but I already have. So, yeah, I think 125 is the best for me. I've often heard fighters who can be the toughest men and women that I've ever met. Talk about the moment where they hear Bert Watson yell out, you know, we're rolling. It's time to come out. It's like you're going to, you know, you're going to war, you're going to be executed. The range of emotions and the descriptions that I've heard about this moment when Bert yells out backstage,

that it's your time to get out there, make that walk and get into the cage and fight in front of everyone. It could be the most terrifying thing in the world. And you touched on that in your blog post. Can you recount what that, like, when you first heard his voice, what goes through your body? To be honest, I was trying to calm my mind, and Bert's voice kind of made me nervous. I know I got to know him better after that fight and I think he's awesome

I just I don't put myself up like that though You have a different approach Is this something that maybe in In hindsight you wish Like can a fighter is that even And I don't even know if you know the answer to this Can a fighter say hey bird

I would appreciate Can you not yell like that will take me out of my zone It'll make me more nervous Have you ever heard of someone making that request? I haven't heard of it I don't know I'm interested That's a good question.

I really love Bertha. We worked together once at an event, and he's such an amazing man and a great mentor, and I respect him so much. Yeah, he is great, and he's a legend, and he does fantastic work, but I can understand how it would be a little jarring if you're trying to get into a certain mindset, and then his voice is piercing. I mean, it could be somewhat terrifying if you're about to do something that is kind of terrifying, as cage fighting can be. Well, personal challenge. I just have to overcome. Yes. So in your last fight against Tara, you looked so good as we mentioned. You got off the losing streak and you were able to pick up a win, a much-needed win. And it was bizarre. It was kind of a bizarre scene because she was like dancing and smiling and everything. What was that like for you to be there? Because you're kind of the happy worry. We have your fan right here representing on the set here with your autograph. We have it every week. We appreciate it. But she was kind of stealing your thing. And it wasn't like, it was very strange. I don't even know how to describe it. With her. smiling and then you smiling and the dancing and all that.

What was that like for you to be involved in that? Yeah, it was actually a little bizarre. I didn't expect her to have that kind of mindset. You know, I know that she believes in just going out and having fun now, you know. She was actually happier than I was. Yeah, which is not often. You don't see that often. And, you know, when I was in the cage, you know, I danced for a minute and I gave her the thumbs up, you know.

And then after that, I just, in my mind, I saw about I'm on this official like five fight losing streak and I never want to feel that ever again and I'm going to punch your face in and I just got serious and ever since then like I just thought without a smile and that was it. Did you ever think that maybe being so happy like that you needed to be meaner? Like you were going to get rid of the happy warrior gimmick. You were going to get this mean streak out there and switch from, you know, the happy go lucky woman that we see today and we talk to today into this, you know, or a fighter and all that.

Did you ever feel like that was missing in you? I don't know. I was actually thinking about you. You asked some good questions, Ariel. Oh, thank you. That's why I have the best. But anyway. I appreciate it.

When I first started fighting, I was like that, like, garr, going to battle all kill. And then I switched to, like, happy, wear, happy go lucky. And I believe that that as a positivity, and people need that positivity, and that actually helps me in my fights to stay so positive like that. But now, I don't know, I feel like I need to have this balance where I still think positively, but more not so happy or lucky.

More, I don't know, not quite extreme as I used to be. Is the Happy Warrior no more? Oh, the Happy Warrior is still there, just not inside the ring. Okay, wow. The Happy Warrior had left the cage. Wow. That's interesting. Will you still go?

Will that be your nickname? Oh, outside the cage? I'm still definitely the Happy Warrior, but inside there's a different person. in there. I know you've been asking people or teasing about your get-up at the way-ins. What can you tell us about it? What are you going to be rocking? That's a good question. You might have to watch and find out. You got something special? Yep, I do. Wow. Okay. You can't tell us anything. No hints.

The force will be with me. Okay. What kind of socks are you wearing right now? Right now? Yes. You ask a good question. I am wearing the famous crocodile socks that I wore on the Ultimate Fighter season 18. Oh, wow, okay. Because if anyone follows you on Instagram, they'll see that you have a wide array of socks, different kind of wacky, zany socks.

You love socks. Why do you love socks so much? I love socks. I love socks. Hmm. Well, I love my feet. I think my feet are my favorite part of the body. Okay.

And the socks are something I can collect, and they're cheap, and they're easy. And I didn't used to have a sock fetish, but it's kind of, came about. A sock fetish. Very strange. Yeah. Not in a kinky way, but just kind of like I collect socks. I understand.

And then fans started giving me socks, so now maybe like 50% of my socks are fans' gift, which is freaking awesome. And a lot of people might get a little bummed out if they got socks as a president, but you appreciate it. I do. They have to be cool, though. They can't be just like white. Yeah.

They have to have like something on them. Do you ever wear just normal white socks? No. But I was actually going to this formal event, and I was looking for black socks. And I had to, like, there weren't any in my drawer. I only had design socks. So I had to, like, dig into my suitcase in my closet to try to find, like, my dress socks. Did you find any, or you didn't have any?

I did. I found any. No, actually, I didn't find any. I had to get, like, something with a design and, like, fold the top down. Wow. Speaking of the Ultimate Fighter, by the way, have you been watching this season? Oh, yeah. What do you make of it since you've...

obviously been a part of it, you know what goes on behind the scenes in front of the camera, the final product, and now that there are women involved again, what's it like for you to watch it? I find the whole thing fascinating. Why? I love seeing the training. I love seeing the interactions with people. You know, I personally know half the cast. It's kind of bad that, you know, Heather is kind of getting people not liking her so much. She's kind of had a tough time.

but I know how it can be locked up in a house with people for a long time, you know? I know that some things are shown, others aren't shown. I hear stuff from my friends like, oh, actually this happened, but they didn't show it, damn it. I'm like, all right, that sounds about right. So I'm just enjoying and wishing that there could be like a DVD with like lots of extras that we can see more of the story, you know. Does it bring back memories, bad memories, good memories? Yeah, but it brought back some memories, yeah. Would you do it again?

Yes. You would? Wow. Most people say they would never do it again. Why are you different? I had a pretty good experience. I got along with almost everybody in the house. I got fantastic coaching.

Yeah, it was fun. I got free food. Yeah. Maybe also it could be because also that wasn't my first experience is getting such like American personalized training. So it was just a shock. you know, like a difference. I don't know if I'd want to leave

syndicate now, but in general, it was cool. So before I go, we've got to actually talk about this fighter, before I let you go, I should say. You go from Vanessa Porto, who kind of has a similar record to yours, to Andrea Lee, who's just 2-0. Were you surprised when they came up with this opponent? I was really surprised

until I researched her a little bit and found out that she has a 7-3 amateur record plus, like, a boxing, like, golden gloves, title award thing. She's quite a dangerous opponent, I think. You know, it's not going to be a cakewalk. A tougher opponent, in your opinion, than Vanessa was?

I don't know. I think, you know, she'll have her own dangerous points to her. And how do you see the fight playing out? That's a very good question. I see it playing out everywhere, and I'm going to look for the finish. Oh, all right. Well, I look forward to that.

Thanks, Anne, always a pleasure. Best of luck to you on Friday. We'll be watching Invicta FC number 10 in Houston. Roxanne Modifari, she is back. The Happy Warrior, outside of the cage, but not inside the cage, against Andrea Lee. Another great card from Invicta, headline, of course, by their Adamweight champion, Michelle Waterson. A pleasure to have you back on the show, Roxanne. Best of luck to you, and we'll talk to you very soon.

Thank you very much. All right, there she is. Roxanne Modifery, and check her out on Twitter, Roxy Fighter. She has some great blog posts and also very interesting Instagram filled with socks, different kind of socks, very interesting stuff. So there you have it. Friday, that's on UFC FightPass, by the way. Okay, back to UFC 181. Main event, Robbie Lawler, who will be joining us in around 20 minutes or so against the champion, making his first official title defense. Some of us thought that the fight at UFC 171 was kind of an unofficial title defense because we thought that he was.

his fight against George Tampierre was in fact a win. But nevertheless, this is the first official title defense. It's Johnny Hendricks versus Robbie Lawler to a rematch of what I believe right now is the fight of the year. And we wanted to have Johnny Hendricks' head coach on the show to talk about this big fight on Saturday night. So we're talking to Mark Lehman right now who joins us from Sin City. Mark, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing?

I'm doing great. Thank you very much for joining us. A lot to get to here. You're already in Las Vegas. how long have you guys been there? Johnny's been here since Thanksgiving and the coaching staff got in on early Saturday morning. So when this fight was announced, of course,

it was a replacement for the Vitor Belfort, Chris Wyman fight, and right before it was announced, there was some talk about when Johnny would be ready to fight again after the bicep surgery. Were there any concerns on your part that he was taking the fight too quickly that he might not be 100% for this fight? Not really because Johnny was getting back.

Hey Mark. Hey, we lost you there. The connection wasn't good at all. Are you in a bad area? Well, I am in the Palms Casino, and my signal has not been the greatest. But can you hear me now? Now you're perfect. Don't move.

Don't move. I'm trying to say exactly where. I'm not going to move. Don't blink. All right. So if you can respond to that again, we didn't hear anything. Okay. Well, people were saying Johnny was going to fight in the beginning of next year,

but that's because basically all the cards were full. And we were actually got cleared for Johnny to start working out again, and we were slowly getting him back into the full swing of training. And we took some very, you know, smart steps in his rehabilitation. And he was ready. He was just getting ready, and then, you know, Weidman had an injury, and the UFC asked if Johnny was ready to go, and we thought he was, and he's ready to go right now.

So it all kind of worked out. And, you know, from a coach's perspective, it's very interesting because, you know, he last fought in March, tremendous fight, won the fight, and he's been out with this injury. Since then, Robbie Lawler has fought twice to try to get back to the number one contender spot. He did so. He beat Ellenberger and, of course, Matt Brown over the summertime. deserves this shot, but how do you feel about the first title defense being against the guy who you just beat? Would you have preferred to be against someone else?

I mean, you can't really deny Robbie. He iced Ellenberger and dominated Matt Brown. I mean, I think he deserves that spot. I don't think there's anybody else more deserving than him right now, and it's always nice to fight somebody new, but I kind of look at this as a whole new fight since the last one, you know, Johnny had some injuries going into that fight. and he was able to get the W, but right now it's a whole different Johnny getting ready to fight Robbie Lawler. So I'm just excited for the challenge. You know, Robbie Lawler's an incredibly dangerous opponent who has some of the most explosive strikes and diverse striking arsenal in the UFC today. And, you know, you've got to be on point with him.

Otherwise, you can be looking up at the lights wondering what happened. You know, it's interesting to hear you say that because I just watched the countdown show, and they had a great scene of you breaking down his finish against Josh Kosteck. And I don't want to say it's like you're, you have so much respect for him. It's amazing to hear you talk about him and almost like to the point where you fear the worst when Johnny is fighting him because you have that much respect for his power. Is that the right way of putting it or am I a little off? Like you really, you are concerned with his power, with his striking.

Like you know full well that if things go wrong, if he gets, you know, in the right spot, it connects the right way, that it could be lights out, right? Yes, and the same could be said for Johnny. But, you know, right now you're looking at a welterweight division that is stacked with killers. It's never, ever been this deep. I mean, there are guys out there who can put your lights out, who can submit you. It's a very awesome time to be a fan of the welterweight division, and Robbie Lawler is incredibly dangerous. I mean, he has such a fight library to study.

and, you know, seeing some of his knockouts, you know, the Joeyville senior, the Adlon Amagov, you know, like just crazy dynamic striking where he just ices people, you know, the manhuff fight. That's always scary when you see Robbie getting pummeled for a round and then right before the round ends. You can barely walk in his leg, but he, you know, puts Melvin's lights out. You know, he's incredibly dangerous. And to see the strides that he has made as a fighter to go from a guy who fought Chakureen pretty much got dominated on the ground. And then when he went against Kosteck, you know, you got to see his butterfly guard, his ability to get back up to his feet and take something that, you know, people would say was a weakness of Robbie Lawler. And he's made it a strength and he's adapted grappling to, you know, make use of some of his power and some of the things that he excels at as a fighter. And he is incredibly dangerous and he's incredibly strong and explosive.

And, you know, it's going to be a challenge fighting him once again. And can't wait for Saturday night. I know you're a student of the game and you've been around for a long time honestly did you foresee this happening to Roby Lollah? Did you ever think in 2014 let's be honest he had kind of a down period in his career and he wasn't a contender, he was outside of the UFC of course

but even when he got back to the UFC I don't think a lot of people envisioned this and some called him the comeback fighter of the year last year he might even make a case for that this year as well did you think that he would be able to turn things around like he has become one of the very best welter rates in the world You can't ever doubt the human spirit and what drives people.

And, you know, Robbie's been in this game for a long time. I mean, I think his first UFC fight was back at UFC 37.5. And I think he was actually the first guy to ever fight on Fox. I can't remember what the best damn sports show peer. I think it was. I was actually in the audience there. I got to see it at the Bellagio. And, you know, to see his career and have its ups and downs, you know, it's –

I actually knew Robbie. way, way back in the day and actually did a little training. And he's a very cool guy. And, you know, like, I mean, he's, he's super fun to watch. You know, like, even if he's fight that he's lost, he's put on good shows. And when he has it going for him, he's, you know, one of the most exciting guys to watch in the division. Or, and all of them, me, to be honest. And it's just, it's crazy to see how people can change your games and take weaknesses and make them strengths.

and there are so many times people say, oh, if this guy only had a ground game, he'd be good, or if this guy only learned how to strike, he'd be good. But a lot of those guys just never got that. And now, you know, Robbie has developed his ground game to a level where it is able to fight off some of the best welterweights in the world, and that's a very challenging puzzle

as a coach and a fighter to assault. Does the preparation for this fight feel any different now that you are the champion, that you guys have that belt, and the chase is over, you now have to keep the belt. Does it feel any different? Not really. It still feels

like incredibly dangerous. Johnny being the champ, I mean, I always thought we had the best one 70-pounder in the world now. We just have a strap of gold to kind of prove that, but each fight is you're fighting for that belt. And I don't feel Johnny's relaxed on that. I feel

he's more hungry than ever, and he knows what's at stake in this fight. And, you know, to do all the cool things that we get to do and be a part of he has to continue to be champ and that's his goal you know is to retain that title and it's a very tough task again here

with Robbie Lawler. How did you first link up with Johnny? One of my friends brought him into my gym and we just kind of started working out. He came in with a couple of other guys from Team Takedown and then after a little while I kind of pursued them and pursued their management. I wanted to work with them because I really felt Johnny and some of the other guys had a lot of potential to go far in the sport. And, you know, I think that was kind of neat to see.

You know, it's like it's easy to see when somebody's already in the UFC and they're already good that you start working with them then. It's a little bit different. But to see that raw potential in someone and, you know, you want to kind of want to kind of work and mold it. It's, it's been a, a very interesting journey, you know, and it's not like, you know, for Rory McDonald's, everybody's been saying since they went, oh, my God, this guy's the next champion, you know, like he's had a lot of hype from him from the beginning. Like, Johnny, nobody really expected him to be champion. Every time he fought and beat somebody, it was always a fluke or luck. And, you know, Johnny Hendricks is a winner. If you look at him through his,

you know, grade school, high school, college career, I mean, the guy finds a way to win. And, uh, he's a very incredible athlete and he's an incredible competitor and it's an honor and privilege to work with him. It was a great scene when he won the belt. When they announced that he was the winner, he was very emotional. This is something that he's wanted for a long time and talked about for a long time. And again, some thought that he deserved it against GSP. But what was it like for you? Like, did you feel validation?

Did you feel relief that you finally got that UFC champion? You're the head coach. So, you know, the head coach gets a lot of praise as well. What were the emotions that you were feeling? Just finally, you know, like got to get robbed in Vegas on the 25th anniversary to, you know, I thought we had GSP beat. And, you know, that robbery was just motivation to get back there. And once we did it, it was a lot of emotions came out. You know, it was a long journey to get there.

So it was pretty awesome. Did you feel like you have earned that respect as a head coach? of one of the best in the world champion in one of the toughest way classes. Like since then in March, do you feel like people view you, talk about you differently now? You know, I don't really know, nor do I really care. I just know that I got some of the fighters that believe in me, and I got a management team behind me that believes in me, and I really feel we're poised to do some special things here in the near future,

and that's the only people I really care about proving anything, too. but, you know, we have gotten other fighters coming down, wanting to kind of check out what we're doing because we do things completely different than almost every other martial arts team or mixed martial arts teams out there. And I think that's kind of what separates us from everybody else.

And, you know, we have such a great coaching staff. We have, you know, Stephen Wright does our striking, Tony Cabell does our boxing, Kenny Monday does our wrestling, and Adrian Ramirez is our strength and conditioning coach. and all our coaches are at every single practice, and we're always communicating, talking, trying to figure things out, studying video.

It's a very ethnically diverse team and our coaching staff, and we have a lot of fun with each other and really keep learning from each other. You know, it's like we all have grown as coaches because we're just fight nerds that want the best for our athletes, and we don't have 40, 50 guys to look after. Our sessions are very individual. We bring in specific training partners,

and it's a very small, tight-knit group that everybody's constantly communicating and are on the same page. What happened with Pat Kern? He joined the team, he left the team, very short period. A lot was made of him joining the team and then leaving the team.

Can you comment on why things didn't work out? I mean, you probably have to ask Pat about that to get an answer. All I can say, the coaching staff really bent over backwards for them, and try to provide him with the best training environment possible. Again, like I was kind of saying earlier, like with Johnny, you know, I've been with Johnny, I think, for like seven years now or something. You know, and it's like those seven years we've built a lot of, you know, trust, communication, and we can kind of read each other's minds and know what we're looking for and what's going to happen.

When you bring in somebody who is already successful in another organization already champ already established, sometimes it's hard to get that trust and to get that rapport with fighters and it takes time you know and uh I think we're asking Pat to do some things that strategically thought would be advantageous to him but sometimes it's hard to kind of change who someone is you know but you'd really have to ask him about that and that's one of the perils of coaching yeah

not not having your guys raised from the ground up. Right. I had Johnny pre-Zoufa, you know, and there are, there's now you're starting to see guys that are coming in and they're making homegrown champs. And before that, you know, you didn't really see that. You see guys that were in the UFC that go to Super Camp and all else in his champ. And it's like, okay, well, you pick the guy that was already good and establishes good.

It's different when you build that person from the ground up and start at a very low level and take them through the process to go from, you know, fighting on some card in Oklahoma to fighting for the title in, you know, Vegas or Texas. You know, we could probably do a whole other interview for hours about everything that's gone on in your career. But I wanted to ask you this, you know, and I think a lot of people might not know this.

You were a coach on the first season of the Ultimate Fighter, right? Season one, two, and four. And, of course, you know, I think people remember you from season four with the whole Matt Sarah thing. But season one, it felt like, and my memory may be a little bit foggy. Now, it felt like you were kind of, you weren't as much a part of the show as far as what was shown on camera. And, of course, no one knew what the ultimate fighter was going to be. It was very hush-hush.

I was even reading interviews with you prior to the show coming out. You weren't really able to talk too much about it. A, I wanted to know how you got that opportunity. And B, did you ever in a million years think that it would propel the sport into what it has become today? Yeah, I mean, I remember the first day we showed up there. I think it was like 5.36 in the morning. start to work the guys out. And it was just a very strange feeling because it's like nobody knew it was going to

happen. There was no ultimate fighter before. There just wasn't the mainstream acceptance. And, you know, to kind of film that show. And I mean, the first season to me, I mean, it was awesome. You know, I mean, it was a very, you know, talented cast. And we had some great coaches. And it was just a super awesome time to be part of that, you know.

And to see where that has propelled the UFC. and all that. I mean, it's just absolutely amazing. All the things that, you know, you were saying, you know, 10, 15 years, it's going to be like this. Once they get it in Vegas and then once they got it on TV and everybody got to see the finale,

it just, you know, propelled the sport. And it was really awesome to be a part of that. Did you think it would turn into all of this? I don't know. You know, I guess I always was kind of hoping we'd have, like, you know, a Friday night fight type of thing. Or I was hoping the Pertitas would open a, you know,

a fight station, casino. where they just have like a 5,000-seat venue and just always have fights on Friday night. I was kind of hoping something like that would happen. You know, I mean, we're getting 50-some shows a year, and it's like, it's insane to see where the sport has gone. Because I remember back in the day, it was like there were five to six shows a year, and it just be like, oh, man, I can't wait for the next U.S. C. Yeah. So until it's going to fight, you know, it's like, oh, my God, I can't wait, I can't wait.

And now it's like there shows every single week, sometimes two shows a day where you're talking about like a 12-hour commitment to watching. fights and, you know, to be a fight fan. And I mean, God, the fight path, I mean, if I would have had that back in the day, oh my God, what a awesome tool that is for, you know, coaches, fighters, and fans to be able to access all,

Zufa's library of fights. It's such a cool thing. Like, back in the day when I was doing Jiu-Jitsu, I'd get VHS tapes. And, you know, do you remember what those are? You know, like those big bulky things with VCR. To watch things now, we have YouTube and

fight pass. and it's just the way things have gone. It's just absolutely amazing. I really can't wait to see what's going to happen next, you know, because I think there are, you know, the UFC's in a great position to really, you know, get away from cable, get away from television, kind of do their own thing. You know, like, I think there's new media out there, and there's different ways to access fans.

And I think they're in a very, very unique situation. And I can't wait to see what happens with it. So do you agree with me that Lawler Hendricks won back in March as of right now Fight of the Year? And, you know, if I didn't have to watch that fight and be involved emotionally in that fight and have a fighter at it, I would have looked back like, wow, that was one hell of a fight. And, I mean, if you look at it from the outside, it was very entertaining. I mean, those guys stood, those two stood right in front of each other and just slugged it out,

and it was unbelievable. You know, I wish rounds three and four would have gone a little bit different, but, you know, watching them live and then actually breaking them down on tape, it was much, it was a little bit easier to watch, but it's still tough to watch, but, you know, it's, it was an unbelievable fight, and those guys showed a tremendous amount of heart and fortitude to push and entertain the fans. There was some drama. It was amazing. There was some drama the day before at the Wayans. What should we expect as far as the Wayans are concerned? How's his weight? Right now, Johnny's ahead of schedule on his weight.

We've been doing everything under the tutelage of Mike Dolce. We got Johnny out here early, and it's been a good weight-cutting session. The coaches also have a contest to see who's going to – we have weight goals that we have to meet. Oh, wow. I've already dropped, I think, 15 pounds already. Wow. Being here in Vegas, yeah. Congrats.

So it's – yeah, I mean, it's – I think it helps Johnny. you know, like all the coaches do it with them, and that's kind of the things. Each fighter's different, you know, like when we have heavy weights fighting, it's not that big of an issue for the weight cut. But Johnny's got to cut his weight. We have all the coaches in there, cutting it with them, and it kind of is a team effort to help get them there. And I expect us to be the smoothest weight cut we've had yet.

And final thing, are you expecting the same kind of five-round? I mean, I thought it came down to the final minute, to be honest. Are you expecting the same thing? Are you expecting something different? Every fight is different. you know, like, the slate's white queen. We know what happened. You know, I think one of the thing that's very interesting

is that Robbie Lawler's never had a rematch in his career, and this is the first time Johnny's had a rematch in his career also. He did fight, by the way, he did fight Scott Smith twice off the top of my head. Oh, you sure about that? I didn't check my staff. He did fight Scott Smith twice? Twice, yeah, back to back. Okay.

Then I stand corrected. But it's, you know, it's very interesting. I think it kind of, Johnny's had to wrestle the same guys over and over again in his college career. And I think that kind of might benefit Johnny a little bit because Johnny is a very, his fight IQ is incredibly high and his ability to adapt and adjust on the fly and figure out what his opponent is doing and how to beat them is really second to none. He's very, very skilled at understanding his body and what his body has to do to beat his opponent. So I don't know what's going to happen. We've got a few different game plans prepared for a few different scenarios. So hopefully Johnny can beat his, you know, John Fitch knockout record, but we're not counting on it.

But I do expect a very exciting fight. And I think everyone does as well. Can't wait for just days away now, a rematch of the fight of the year. Mark, thank you very much. Best of luck to you guys. Looking forward to it. Appreciate the time. Thank you very much, Ariel.

You have a great day. is Mark Lehman, the head coach for Johnny Hendrix. And we go from Johnny Hendricks's head coach to the man they'll be facing on Saturday night. This is very exciting. The ruthless one. Robbie Loller joins us right now, the number one contender in the UFC's Walter 8 division. Robbie, how are you? Pretty good.

How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for the time. I know you're very busy. You know, we were just talking to Mark Lehman, who is Johnny Hendricks's head coach and talking about how this is Johnny's first rematch. I corrected him. You've had one before with Scott Smith.

What's it like? you know, as far as rematches our concern, especially this close. Do you remember what it was like with Scott? Do you feel like you have an advantage because you fought the guy, or do you wipe the slate clean, so to speak? Yeah, and I also fought a battalion,

Follingia battalion, Hawaii and rematch. But, no, I'm not too worried about, I'm not the same guy was when I fought Hendrix the first time Norris He, so I've always been working on just getting better and finally tuning my skills. that I'm the best probably long that I've ever been before. Do you think it is to your advantage that you have fought twice since that fight,

and he hasn't fought once? I don't really worry too much about how much he's fought and how much I've fought. I just worry about how much I've gotten better, and I feel like that's my advantage. Did you think that you would get an opportunity to fight for the belt this quickly, within the same year after you lost that fight, or did you think that it would be a long road back? No, I wasn't sure how I was going to.

it happened, UFC didn't tell me I was going to get a rematch. So I just got back to work as soon as possible. And then right after my next fight, I got back to work as soon as possible and put myself in the situation I am today. I'm just working hard and preparing myself to win a belt. It's funny that you allude to that because since you returned to the UFC in February of 2013, so less than two years ago, this is your seventh fight. And we've had some champions who have only fought once in almost two years, tons of injuries.

What's been your secret? How have you remained so healthy and so active when so many others seem to get injured all the time? I think it's maybe they're just hitting that point in their career. I was hurt a lot early in my career. Learn my body, learned how to train and figured it out. Plus, my coaches do a really good job of keeping me healthy. And it's just a learning process. You learn your body, you learn how to not to take so many bumps and bruises and practice so that you're healthy to fight.

And I think it also has to do it a lot of a lot. Do you spar less? Do you do something less that you used to do a lot of that has led to less injuries for you? No, I just take care of my body. I spar more now than I have for the longest time. I'm an American top team, so I don't think that's the issue. I think it's just recognized my body finding imbalances in my body and my body and my muscle. and fixing those so that my body's balanced and I can train hard.

Do you prefer to fight this often, or maybe when this fight is done, would you like to take a long break? I'd like to take a long break. It's been a long road. It's been a lot of work, but obviously fighting more often, it keeps me in shape, keeps me sharp, and I've been getting better, but definitely a rest to spend time with my family would be nice. What was your reaction when they told you that they wanted you guys to fight on December 6? Because this fight wasn't supposed to happen now. It was supposed to happen next year. It was supposed to be Wydenman Belford.

Did you need to get some convincing? Were you in the right mindset? What was your reaction? No, I was in the right mindset. Dana called me and said, hey, what do you think about a fight for the title, December 6th? I said, okay, let's move forward. How do you get better? How do you get ready for that?

And I just, I wasn't too worried about the date. and I was already getting other guys ready for their fights, so I was in shape, and it was the right time. Have you watched the first fight a lot? Not a lot. I watched it right after I fought him, and then I watched it about a month and a half ago, so I might watch it one time this year before the fight this week.

But my coaches do a good job of watching tapes, breaking it down and showing me bits and pieces before sparring in different situations that they think I need to be better in, and we fine-tune those spots so that I'm stronger. He suffered a pretty serious injury in the fight. You look back and say, you know, like, I should have been able to capitalize on this more. Are you surprised that he was able to even last five rounds with you? You know, a torn bicep is pretty serious, and even seeing the picture afterwards,

he obviously was out for a long time. You know, what was your reaction when you found out that he was dealing with that for the majority of the fight? Um, nothing really. I don't feel like I missed opportunity. It was what it was. I didn't get the job done and how can I get better. That's how I think. I don't really look at, oh, it's a missed opportunity. I look at it as figuring out a way to be better the next time and that's what I've been doing. So have you done different things preparing for this fight than you did the first time around? I think I've just sharpened my tools, just worked on my skills so that I'm sharper in a lot of positions and I'm more well-versed in situations than I was before. It's a lot of little techniques here and there. On the countdown show, they showed your family who have moved to Florida, and not too long ago

they were talking about how you were commuting and you didn't get to see your family. How big of a difference has that been for you, that you actually can live and see your family on a daily basis as opposed to, you know, being away for a couple months for the training camp. Yeah, it's definitely better. I get to see my son grow. I miss a lot of my family the first half of this year. It's nice having them around. It's nice that they can enjoy the nice Florida weather,

and we can hang out at the pool and swim pretty much every day. And it's just awesome to have them around so we can grow together. So you're enjoying Florida? Because, to be honest, you don't strike me. is the Florida kind of guy for some reason? Well, I'm pretty low-key laid-back, but you find people like me everywhere in the world. That is true.

Are you, you know, it seems like I was saying, I think that you were the comeback fighter of the year last year, and you might even, you know, you might even be the fighter of the year this year if you win this fight. Are you surprised by this, you know, what's happening to you in the last couple years in the UFC? Like, is this a surprise?

Is this a shock to you, or are you over that? Did you never, did you never, you know, get surprised by all this. Did you expect your career to get back on this track? Yeah, I expected this the whole time, which is funny to say. A lot of people wrote me off a long time ago, but I never

wrote myself off. I always believed in myself. Always thought that I could be the best. And that's what I've been doing all these years. This didn't happen overnight. It didn't all of a sudden I showed up February last year and I was this dominant fire. This was years

in the making. This was a lot hard work, dedication, and hours, and rule and time put in, and that's what you're seeing now. You seem like a guy with a lot of pride. What was it like hearing people writing you off and saying that you were done and all that? I don't really care what anyone says, but I just think it's funny now. I mean, I always believed in myself. It didn't matter what people thought of me.

It just mattered that I was getting better, pushing myself to get better. And those are the things I concentrate on it. I don't really concentrate on what everyone else is saying. We were talking with Mark about UFC 37 and a half. Do you remember that fight? Oh, yeah, I do remember that fight. It was the first UFC fight on free cable. Yeah, on Fox Sports.

Did you understand what the significance of all that was at the time? No, no, I didn't really worry about those things. I still don't really worry too much about those things, but obviously that was a big point in the sports, or the sport MMA and the UFC at that time. And I just show up and fight is what I've always tried to do. And I think this PR stuff, I'm getting a little better nowadays. But, yeah, I just try to show up and fight and beat me.

I mean, being in Vegas, you know, the marquee, you know, a huge event, all that. That doesn't get you a little more excited than your typical daily thing? I mean, I'm excited, obviously, but I've been doing this for a long time. I've been around the sport for a long time. I've been in corners of guys in huge fights, so I'm just kind of used to it. It doesn't really bother me. It doesn't affect me at all, but I'm excited for this opportunity to headline a card in Vegas and for a world title.

Definitely exciting. And I'm assuming you win the title, that's a career highlight your first UFC belt. But before going into this fight, what's the, the best moment of your career, the one that sticks out the most? Probably coming back just recently or not that recently, coming back and fighting cost check coming back to the UFC and then showcasing that I was here. So Notts, Elite X, CBS, Strikeforce, all that stuff,

it was the return to the UFC, the run that started this title run right here. Yeah, every moment's been pretty big throughout my career, but I feel like that was the start and let us. everyone know that I was coming. How many more years do you want to fight for? I want to fight as long as I'm healthy, as long as I'm motivated to fight and train hard and train with the young bucks

and compete at a high level. That's kind of... I leave it up to my body and my mind. And right now, all as well, right? All as well. And final thing for you, Rob, you know, that fight, I think it was the fight of the year, the first one. It went down, in my opinion, to the final minute. It was so much fun to watch.

both were fighting in this phone booth in the pocket. It was just tremendous action. Are you envisioning the same kind of fight again? No, I want it to be one-sided. I don't want to take any bumps or bruises. I want to go out there and dictate all aspects and come out looking the way I went in with no bruises. So I'm looking to go out there and dominate and dictate.

Johnny's a hell of a competitor, and I'm looking to go out there. put it on him. Thank you very much, Robbie. Appreciate the time and best of luck to you. Thank you very much. All right, there he is. Robbie Lawler, a huge fight for him,

rematch of what I believe is the fight of the year thus far. Still some more events to go, at least, you know, as far as UFC is concerned, four more events. You never know what can happen. But we're getting a pretty special thing on Saturday. Two titles on the line. We're getting that fight, of course, Hendricks v. Lawler, 2. and then Gilbert Melendez versus Anthony Pettis,

which is obviously a headliner in its own right, a tremendous fight at 155 pounds and a fight that we've been waiting for for quite some time. I mean, they announced that fight back in February, and it's finally happening. Remember when they announced it in February, December 6th, or at least December, they didn't announce the specific date, felt like it was, I mean, 10 years away,

and now it's finally here. And it's a pretty damn good main card as well. A great card top to bottom. So looking forward to that very much. We'll talk more about UFC 181 a little later in the show. But for now, let's go to our last guest of the day. A couple weeks ago, Eve Edwards was on. He was preparing for a fight in Austin.

Fortunately for him, things didn't go his way. And last night, via his Facebook page, he announced his retirement from mixed martial arts. 17 years in the sport at one time considered one of the very best at 155 pounds, if not the best. And at some point, you know, all good things come to an end. So we wanted to have him back on the show to talk about this announcement and where he goes from here. Eve Edwards on the line right now. Eve, how are you? I'm good.

How are you, I'm doing great. Really appreciate you stopping by. I know there's probably a lot going on and you're a busy man. So thank you very much for the time. As always, why did you decide to make this announcement now? Well, I've been just kind of thinking about it for a bit, especially after last week. and like just trying to weigh things out you know my training camp felt really good had good sparring sessions had everything going well um conditioning weight cut was easy everything worked

out well except fight night and um i mean that performance that i'm capable of now i i need a i don't need to be doing this it's um i still like like i guess like i can still do those things in the gym, but I, like, my last cup performances, I just sullying the things that I've done in the past, and I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to continue to make that, you know, to dirty that more than I already have.

Did you know right then and there on November 22nd, when the fight was over, that that was it for you? Um, if I did know at that point, I was probably in denial. or hoping for some reason to not because it took me a while to say anything about it. And I know I still love fighting, man.

I still want to, you know, but like I have to be smart. I have to, I mean, I don't want to be the guy. I don't want to be the guy. I feel like I've stuck around longer than I should, but I don't want to be the guy that sticks around too long. you know what I mean the guy that's fighting for a paycheck or the guy that's risking his health

like seriously risking his health I guess I can still have some of the same fun in the gym but I know it won't be the same as competition but yeah it's just something I wonder when it was over it was definitely was like as soon as

as I was fully conscious of what was going on I don't, like when I, I remember getting, like, standing up on my butt and, like, how did I get knocked down? I got to, okay. And then I don't remember, I don't remember my leg being caught in the air. I still haven't really watched it. I remember my leg being caught in the air. And then I remember being in an arm bar, I think I was in practice.

You know what I mean? So, it's one of the, and then as soon as I was, like, coherent, I was like, I think I'm done. I don't, I don't know. But, like, I don't want that to be the case, but I don't, I don't, yeah, so it's one of those things. Are you fearful for your health? Like, have you been experiencing anything that makes you feel like, okay, for my health alone, I need to stop fighting? No, no, absolutely not. I haven't, I haven't had that be an issue ever.

Like, that's, see, that's my problem. I still feel like I thought when I was 26. You know what I mean? In the gym, I probably still look like the same guy, you know? And like as far as having my faculty, I would like to have them as long as possible if until the moment I die, I honestly thought I was going to die fighting. Not necessarily in the cage, but I just didn't. I don't, I don't, I don't be in an old man.

I don't know how I'm going to deal with, with having to have help to go to the bathroom or walk up some stairs. You know what I mean? But, so I haven't had, I don't have, like, any, any health issues that I'm concerned with, but at the same time, I want to be smart enough to not wait until, oh, I'm forgetting things, or I can't seem to grab something tiny. You know what I mean? I don't want that to be an issue

before I start thinking, maybe I should stop doing this, you know? So that's kind of where I'm at. When you were on the show a couple weeks ago, we were talking about how you were going to turn things around and your explanation for the recent losing streak, now that, you know, I know it's fresh, but you've finished that last fight

and you're taking a step back. Do you have any explanation for this? Or is it just, you know, father time caught up to you, and this happens to everyone, every single fighter, you know, at some point has to realize that his time or her time has come? You just think that, you know, it's just 17 years of putting your body through this and this was your time, or do you look back and say, voted on this or that differently?

I wouldn't have to retire right now. I don't know. I am one of those guys. You get the football game, and let's say Tom Brady or Peyton Manning is a quarterback, and Manning gets hurt, and his backup has to come in there and play, and they lose because the backup throws four interceptions. You know what I mean? I'm the guy that says, Tom, I mean, I'm a Peyton Manning fan, but Peyton Manning even throw up four interceptions. Just because the other guy was in there doesn't mean the outcome will be different, you know?

But it could also mean the outcome completely different. So that's like the arm I can. I can't say that if I did this different, I would still be fighting. Maybe if I'd wrestled in high school, I would be better at wrestling. My record would be a little different. I would still be fighting. But maybe if I wrestle in high school and I continued to make weight for all those years and put that toll on my body, I wouldn't have been able to do this until I was 38.

You know, there's both sides of that I coined. So I don't know. How difficult was it to write that Facebook post? Took me since Tuesday. You started on Tuesday. On Tuesday of last week, I had been thinking about, at that point I made a decision that I can't, I can't do this anymore. Like, I want to, but I shouldn't. If I'm going to leave behind anything, any kind of a legacy, all I'm going to do is punish it or,

not really add to it at this point because um like I don't know if I have I don't know how many more fights I have left in me honestly um I don't feel like I can't do it a bunch more times but like my last my performance my last performance is

is the most disappointing of of all of them you know um I've always I've always wanted to go into a fight and I've all all of ever wanted to be able to do is perform, show that I know what I'm doing, and sure that I'm capable of doing this, and everything else will work itself out, you know? So I don't, I didn't, I don't know, man, it's, oh, man, it sucks so bad, because I still,

I still love this game, but I, I just, I'm willingly deciding not to play anymore. I know that you're typically pretty active on social media, but I noticed that as far as Twitter is concerned, you haven't said anything or responded to anyone. I'm wondering if you have checked in on your Twitter and seen the outpouring of support and messages. I just saw Matt Sarah write something very nice to you, other fighters as well. Have you seen any of this stuff? Because it's pretty amazing to see how much respect. I mean, everyone saying positive things about you, how you were a testament to this sport, class act, and the list goes on and on. Have you seen? seen any of this?

I haven't really been looked at my Twitter or my Facebook. I looked at my Facebook last night for like five minutes. And I saw something, Steve Montgomery, this kid at ATT, who you'll probably be talking too soon. You guys will definitely know who he is pretty soon. A really tough guy, good kid. And he said something. And it's just, I don't even remember what it was.

But it was something along the lines of, like, he looks up to me. I've talked to Steve a bunch of times, training with Steve a bunch. And, like, I can't, I can't see that from people that I know and respect. Like, it made me cry. You know what I mean? This has been the biggest part of my life besides my family since I was 17. Like, virtually every day since I was 17. 17 years old, probably two months total in the last 21 years.

Like, I've had a day that has nothing in doing fighting, you know? And so, like, it's awkward enough, like, trying, like, walking away from it. We had a long day yesterday, my wife fell asleep early on her, and then I posted that. I didn't want to post that with her. awake because I don't want I don't want her to ask me what I'm doing and worry about like what's wrong with me

she's sleeping I'm reading these things and I start I get starts fucking with me man I don't I love fighting man and I don't do that anymore did she know that you were going to do this like did you talk to her at least beforehand yeah yeah

she knows she knows what's going on with me um I mean she's my best friend you know I tell We talk about everything, but I'm not, like, I'm not big on change very much, you know what I mean? And, like, this is, this is everything, man. Like, all my friends, all, every single one of my friends is through fighting. And all my best friends are guys that I sweat or bled with, you know? And now I'm, like, now I'm like, I'm willingly saying,

Okay, that's it. You know? Do you feel like you've prepared yourself for this? Like, were you one of those guys that just never wanted to think about life after fighting, so you didn't, you know, get your mind ready for it or anything outside of the gym ready? Like, is this a complete life changer? Do you think you've done enough to at least prepare yourself? I mean, obviously the shock of it all, and it's so fresh right now,

and certainly appreciate your time and everything that you're saying and how open you are. But do you feel like you've prepared yourself for this? I thought I was Yeah But Like I didn't expect it to feel like this I knew like someday it was going to end

But like It's like if you're in a good movie And you're like really into it And then you realize This shit is really good But it's going to end at some point And I think it's kind of like that

It's like I mean an extreme version of that But it's like I don't even I've watched a couple of fights today. I don't want to watch any of my fight. I don't know when I'm going to be able to watch a fight of mine, you know, because it's like I'm never going to do that again.

I love doing this, man. I absolutely loved it. There's a story I tell people about one time training it, and Kibow and I are getting together, and he's on top of me with little gloves, and he's hitting a little bit too hard. and like in the head and I'm like

I'm not going to complain I just think well you just got to get up you're still having a good time you got to get up and get out of the spot spot um like that's what fighting is for me

it's like I'm in practice with a friend who's hitting me in the face too hard but I'm having a good time I'm not going to do that I can do that in the gym but I'm never going to do that in competition anymore. And that competition enhances, like, the excitement of it all.

Like, because everything matters at that point. There's no, there's no give. There's no, okay, let's try that again. No, like, every moment is critical, and, like, that's never going to happen again. Do you think that you will remain a part of MMA, perhaps a coach with ATT, your own, your own team, something like that. Do you envision that sort of thing happening? Yeah, definitely.

I love technique. I love seeing people use technique. I love showing somebody something and having them pull it off. You know, I've been helping out with the rest of us at my wife's high school. She's an assistant principal, and I've helped them out a couple of times in the past couple of years. And I go to their meets. and like just seeing somebody do something that you showed them and have success with it.

That's like one of the best feelings in the world. I've known that for a while, and I know that's something that I want to do. I know I have a lot of information. I don't want to give some guys that so they can refine it and make it better for the next guy. So I know that's definitely a part of the future for me, but yeah, I mean, I don't know what capacity.

I don't know if I'm trying. and become like a Carlo Boyo or Harvey Mendez or Craig Jackson, but I know I'll definitely be a coach to some degree. Do you think that you're going to take a bit of a break from MMA? Like, you know, obviously teammate of yours, Robbie Lawler, fighting this weekend. And, I mean, it feels like there's a fight every weekend, to be honest, as far as the UFC is concerned, not to mention the others. Do you think you might, you know, just take a break from it and not watch for a bit?

The only, I was like, like, a month ago, I was super excited about Pettus and Melendez, and I'm still excited about it, but like, it doesn't hold the same meaning, you know? I mean, it's definitely an important fight, and it's a big fight, I'm still excited about it. But it's like, like, I don't have the opportunity to ever challenge one of those guys ever, you know what I mean? so it doesn't have the same impact. I'm definitely going to be watching Robbie's fight and it's important for that one. That one, that's probably the only fight that matters to me

going forward right now. It's the only fight that's been inked that I really am concerned about. Robbie helped me get ready for this last fight and the outcome is my fault. But like that guy is amazing, man. I've never seen that guy even have a bad day, even in the gym. And I think it's going to be a different story. I'm definitely going to be tuned in.

I'm going to be pumped up and excited about it. And I'd be really happy to see, you know, Robbie is a new world champion. But, like, yeah, after that, I don't know. I don't know what's – I don't even know what the next car is after that. And I'm not too concerned right now. I'm sure I'll watch it, but I'm not even thinking about it. We were talking a bit about this when you were on just two weeks ago, but now that you have officially retired,

is there a moment that sticks out as your favorite, or even something that we didn't get to witness as fans of the sport, something that happened behind the scenes, anything that kind of when you think about your MMA career, this is the moment? No, I mean, there's tons of little memories, but any time, like any time that question's asked to me, the first thing that pops into my head is when, When Mike beat Uriah the first time being in the corner and just all the,

um, how happy that made, that made me, you know? It was, that, that was like, my best friend, and he just won a world title. The guy I trained with all the time, you know, I'm probably six, seven inches tall in Uriah, but I try to imitate him as much as possible. We worked on some of some of the things that I do that Mike liked that he thought, help him for that fight and you know he won him in his corner he wanted he wanted um we just

did a whole lot of work for it and like he he was able to I mean that's the best feeling the world man um being a part of a world championship and um I don't know I think like whenever if you

when you ask that question that's the first thing to pause to mind like really nothing else does he recently I mean he didn't make as official as you, but it sounds like there's a chance you may never fight again. Did you talk to him about this and just kind of starting this new chapter in your career?

Yeah. Like I said, man, Mike is one of my best friends. And of all the guys I know, you know, him and Dinn are the only guys that are a little bit older than me and pretty much in the same

situation. I've talked to Mike. he's called it and checked in on me. You know, the people that knew about this, I made this decision basically on Tuesday of last week, and the people that knew about it then were, you know, my manager, Dan Lambert, Joe Silva, Mike Brown, and Dustin Porriere,

because I talked to Mike and Dustin about it a bunch, you know, and those other guys too, but, like, I had really, Mike and I had a little conversation about it, and, you know, he's trying to give me some advice and, you know, and telling me it gets easier not to worry about it. You know, it's just a different part of life, but, like, it's all good here, and then I believe it's because we guys never lied to me, but at the same time, like, it's dealing with it is not the easy part.

What do you think you'll miss most about the actual fight? Everything, man. Like, I literally will never check in, have bird check my weight. You know what I mean? I'll never walk into the cage again and feel that canvas under my feet. And that's like a great feeling. And then the best feeling of all is just getting your hand raised when it's over, whether it be a minute and a half or 15 minutes, you know.

That's the best feeling the world is success. At that point, and I'm going to miss that the most. I have missed that the most. I think, you know, some people were talking about, you've given us a lot of highlights, but the way-ins were always a lot of fun because you'd always be eating, and then you'd give your opponent something, you know,

to chew on as well. When did you start that? Wow, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just like food. guess. Yeah, I don't know when I started doing that.

I noticed, though, I didn't notice. Unfortunately, not a lot of people are doing that, but I didn't notice it. Some people start taking a superhero underwear thing, and they start rocking a superhero underwear because I feel like that's my thing, but I don't have a thing anymore, so I guess everybody can have it now. Right. But it's certainly memorable. as I said at the beginning

a lot of people once considered you the best, that 155, the uncrown champion, all that. Is that something that, you know, maybe is a regret that you never got a chance to be that UFC champion even though you were, you know, if there was a belt involved, that you probably would have been

the champion, does that bother you? Yeah, it does bother me. Because, like I said before, you know, I'm a that train of thought that's like just because Peyton Manning wasn't in there doesn't mean things would be different you know what I mean

but when it's something like that when it was a fight that was and should have been or originally scheduled it would be a title fight or should have been a title fight I can't that's the only regret

I have you know something that's out of my hands and and I can't I can't do anything about it. That's something that'll never go on my resume, can't put it on my tombstone, can't go anywhere, you know what I mean? I was never a UFC world champion.

And, yeah, that was a big part of what I wanted. Initially, I wanted to fight the UFC, and I finally got there. After having some success, I wanted to fight for the belt. and, you know, through one opportunity didn't happen, and then I was never able to earn the opportunity again. So, yeah, that sucks, man. That's definitely the only thing I regret.

Do you have a favorite opponent, someone that you truly loved fighting? My favorite opponent is Mike Brown. I love that guy. But the person I loved fighting the most, probably Aaron Riley. Really? Why? Why? Because he could take it, and I like dishing it out.

Wow. And that's pretty far back in your career. Yeah. No, I mean, I, I, yeah. I mean, those fights were fun, you know what I mean? But I think the reason why those fights, both those fights actually really started a snowball situation for me in my career both times. The first time was in Texas at a small hook-and-shoot show for the pancreation rules. And that was my first big fight.

You know, Aaron had a name. He was the hook-and-shoeat guy. they brought them to Texas to fight me and that kind of started a snowball effect from me of some good things happening and then the second time we fought that was a fight that got me my first UFC contract

you know so I was really really excited about both those fights going in and then you know good things came from both of them so I think that one that definitely is is probably the most memorable opponent because it meant so much to my career. You know, I know you said that you were kind of worried about tarnishing your legacy, everything you've done.

I get the impression based on how people are reacting to this news that you haven't done that, and you have left a tremendous legacy in this sport, and people remember you with great fondness. But if you have it your way, how do you want people to remember Eve Edwards of the fighter? Um, someone that, like, that wouldn't back down, you know, um, one thing, I've never, I've never picked and chose opponents, uh, like, I, I just wanted to fight. I wanted to be a fighter. And so, you know, Joe Silver called, uh, when I was my own manager, Joe would call me, and I would take a fight, um, it didn't matter, you know. Um, so I can make the weight, I would take

the fight, whether it be on this or not. Um, and that's, I guess, That's how I want to you to remind me, just somebody with skills and that, you know, that represented his skills and who he was and, you know, never backed out. And, you know, I just, I just, just want to be a fighter. I just, I just want to be a member of the fighter, somebody that was truly the fighter in the core of his being. Well, Eve, I can't thank you enough. I really appreciate the time. I know we're supposed to be emotionless and unbiased. but, you know, I can honestly say, loved covering you, love getting to know you.

I really appreciate you. You've always been really kind to me, as I told you, you know, personally, even when I was younger in this sport, you were always so gracious, one of the true class acts that I've ever met in my life, let alone MMA. So I know that you'll find a new calling. You'll be a part of this sport for a long time if you choose to be or be great and excel at something else. I don't think MMA will be the same without you. And I appreciate it, and I thank you for everything that you've given us as fans of the sport. I know a lot of people feel the same way so I can talk for everyone here.

So thank you very much for everything. Congratulations on an amazing career. Nothing to be ashamed of. I don't think you should have any regrets. You've done it all. You've fought them all and you gave us some great memories. So congratulations. Enjoy retirement.

Go get a pinocalata or something. Kick back, relax. And hopefully, you know, some point in the future, we'll cross pass again. I think you'd make a great coach, a great mentor, and I'm excited to see what you do after fighting. thank you aerial man i really appreciate it um thank you for raising the level of journalism in the game man um

for real you and guys like ben and and the guys from you know Greg and and and and Jeff thank you very much man the sport wouldn't be where it is yeah the fighters and and you know different promotions but you guys you guys play a big part in that too man And I just want to say thank you for all the kindness. I'm not giving you any BS, man. I really appreciate it, especially you guys, particularly the guys. I just mentioned you and Ben and Damon and T.J. and Greg, those guys. I just want to say thank you, man.

Hopefully, this isn't the last time we talk. For sure not. If we never talk again, I just want you to know, I appreciate everything for real from the beginning until now. Thank you so much. I'll make sure of that. I hope it's not the last time. I'm certain of that. And the sport isn't a sport to cover.

It's not worth covering without people like you. So thank you for everything. Really appreciate. And again, thank you for the time today. And thank you for being so for open. Congratulations on a fantastic career. And all the best to you and your family, Eve. Thank you.

I appreciate it, man. All right, there he is. The one and only. The Thug Jitsu master himself, Eve Edwards, calling it a career after 17 years. one of the very best, and I'm not even talking about inside the cage, one of the very best in this sport. If you ever met him, the guy has an infinite amount of time. He's always open, he's always honest, he's always gracious with his time, and he was great to watch. He was great to cover. Unfortunately, you know, father time, it hits us all, but 38 years young, 17 years in the sport,

a lot of fights that aren't accounted for. The man had an amazing. amazing career and nothing to be ashamed of. And, you know, I do think it's worth celebrating that he's able to say, you know what, as much as I want to do this, I just can't do it anymore. And a lot of guys don't have that in them. That's a tough thing to do, as you can tell by the emotion, which I definitely appreciate it. And my heart goes out to him because it's got to be a tough thing. You're only 38 and you have to do something different. And you're doing something from, you know, when you're 17 and probably even before that he knew he wanted to be a fighter. So from a teenager to a grown man, a father, a husband, now you just have to do something

different. That can be daunting. That can be scary. But I think that Eve Edwards has left a great enough legacy in this sport to where he'll always have a place in this sport if he wants it, coach something of that nature. And I think if you're a young fighter who is close to Eve, ATT, or where he lives, I think it would behoove you to lean on this. man and to reach out to him because he has an infinite amount of knowledge and he's he's been there he's fought him all he's done it all and really one of the great guys so sad to see him go but very happy that he is saying all right enough is enough there's no more that i could do it's not worth it anymore tough decision but it takes a lot of courage and i respect him doing that thank you very much jeev

edwards and congratulations on an amazing and memorable career all right that does it for our interviews let us go inside the vault. Mark Lehman alluded to this in our interview. He talked about when Johnny Hendricks knocked out John Fitch in just a matter of seconds. He knocked him out at UFC 141 in 12 seconds. And remember, this is John Fitch. John Fitch doesn't get finished like that. Not that quickly.

Not that way. And Johnny Hendricks, who had had a pretty good run up until that point in Zufa, wasn't considered a true contender. until that finish, in my opinion. He had wins over Mike Pierce, split decision, T.J. Waldberger, TKO finish, lost to Rick Story, beat Charlie Brennaman via TKO at 117. Majority decision win over T.J. Grant.

Defeated Ricardo Funch. Amir Sadala, that was a quick one. But it wasn't contender stuff. Then he fights John Fitch, U.S. 141, December 30th, 2011. Friday night, by the way, remember December 31st was a Saturday, headline, of course, by Brock Lesnar versus Alistair Overeem, and John Fitch got knocked out in 12 seconds.

Amazing. Highlight real stuff. That changed it all for Johnny Hendricks. After that, he defeated Josh Kossack, Martin Kampman, Carlos Condit, fought GSP, of course, controversy, and then the Robbie Lawler fight. But the John Fitch win changed it all for Johnny Hendricks. I had the opportunity to talk to Johnny Hendricks immediately after that fight in the locker room, and you could tell that the man was obviously very excited, but he had title on his mind.

Amazingly, it would take him a few more amazing wins to finally get the title shot. Some might say he deserved it right after that win, but he had to do a little more work, which puts into perspective how far he's come and what he has done to earn the spot that he is in today. For now, let's go inside the vault. Let's look back at UFC 141, December 30th, 2011, Las Vegas, Nevada, Johnny Hendricks talking about his 12-second knockout of John Fitch. Here it is. Ariel Hawani post-fight at UFC 141 alongside Johnny Hendricks, who needed just 12 seconds to finish John Fitch tonight. And Johnny, congratulations on a huge win.

What are the emotions going through your body after that one? My emotions was, I'm ready. You know what I mean? I'm ready for my next goal. And that next goal is, good Lord willing, get us, your job. at the title. When you were sleeping at night, envisioning this fight, did you ever think that it would end like that? I had one or two, but most of them, most of my dreams, I'm losing. I always lose. I don't know. I can't stop it. I'll sit out there and I'll beat his butt and I'll get knocked out.

Or the first 10 seconds, I'm getting knocked out. That's the way my mind always works. So that way, whenever I wake up, I train that much harder. You know what I mean? And, man, I don't know, I really don't know what to say. I knew that I told everybody I want to hit him as hard as I I don't know how hard I hit. I've been throwing about 80% here lately, and today I just wanted to let it fly and see what happened. You hit him pretty hard with that left hook. Was that a punch that you were looking out for? Yes, that's one of my favorite punches.

That's one of my most accurate punches. And, you know, I can't say enough. You know, God bless me so much. Now he blessed me with a hell of the right, left hand. A lot of people were counting you out in this one. A lot of people even said that you didn't deserve to fight John Fitch. How much did that bug you? it bugged me every day.

You know, I got mad at those guys, but I also thanked those guys every day because I woke up and I trained my butt off every moment, you know what I mean? Because every interview I did, they said, Johnny, you know, they're already talking about John Fitch fighting GSP or Carlos Condent, you know what I mean, Nick Diaz. And I was like, just give me a puncher's chance, you know. That's really all that I've really wanted, you know, because I think I can prove everything else out there, but I just wanted at least somebody to be like, you know what,

Johnny might not be able to compete with him, but he at least has one punch power. And tonight, that's why I wanted to show. Something changed for you, mindset, training, whatever, after the loss to Rick Story, your first loss, they say fighters come back even stronger. Was that the case with you? Oh, yeah. You know, Rick Story,

he's a solid fighter. He's a tough fighter. And, man, he was a better fighter that night. You know what I'm saying? He did everything that I wasn't doing. And I thank him, every night. night, you know what I mean, for that loss because I wake up and I don't want that feeling again. I was sick for four months, you know what I mean? I couldn't, I don't know, it's something that you can't explain. I just ate at my heart, you know, my soul, that loss. And, man, I wanted to do everything in my power to not have that feeling again. And that's what I'm going to

keep doing because I want that belt and I want to get, I don't want to feel, you know what I mean? I don't want to feel that, you know, I almost lost it, you know what I mean? Fact or fiction is Johnny Hendricks the number one contender now to the UFC Welterweight title? Goodwill and yes, that's what I want. You know what I mean? I want that belt. I believe that I just proved myself that I can.

You know what I mean? I don't need anything else. You know what I mean? I don't need to take another fight, I don't believe. But if I have to, I have to. You know what I mean? But I want that belt. That's all I'm looking for.

You know, this fight, I told everybody I want to shock the world. I did it once in the UFC. That was against Amir Sadala. Everybody counted me out. I did it again against John Fitch. And, man, I'm the only person that's finished him in the UFC. Nobody else can say that. Not even GSP.

It took him five rounds to get a W. It took me 12 seconds. Thank God. Unbelievable. Enjoy. Just do me one thing. Do not shave the beard. It is fantastic.

You can't let that go. I have to shave it. It's a ritual, right? Whenever I get back to my hotel room, I already have my razor plugged in. It's going off. And it's coming back, though, right? Yeah. As soon as I find out who I'm fighting next, as soon as I find out, I start growing it. Thank you for the time.

Congrats. Enjoy it. And I look forward to seeing that beard in action again this Saturday. So it's amazing to hear him talk, thinking that he has, at the time, done enough, and yet he had to go out and fight Josh Kosteck, Martin Kampman, Carlos Kondit, to finally get that title shot a year ago, UFC 167 against GSP. win that fight, but got another crack at the belt after GSP vacated the title. According to my man Michael Carroll over at Fight Metric, that was the second fastest knockout in Walterweight history. And Johnny Hendricks also one of four UFC fighters with three plus knockouts in under a minute.

The others, Vitor Belfort, Anthony Johnson, and the one and only Mike Quickswick. I love those locker room interviews, and that feels like a long time ago, even though only, what, three years ago? Friday night, UFC pay-per-view, those fun stuff. Last fight for Brock Lesner. Can't wait for Saturday night. UFC 181. All right.

Now it's time to take a look at some of your questions and comments. Mr. New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. Hello. How you doing? Good, you? I'm a little emotional. Eve Edwards.

Incredible. Yeah, felt bad for him. I mean, it's tough. Can you imagine being in your 30s and having to find, you know, you do something for so long, almost 20 years. It's who you are, what defines you, and then pro athletes, especially fighters for some reason, because it's, I don't know, maybe not. I mean, team sports different, being on your own different, but gosh, it's got to be so tough.

So my heart goes out to the guy. Right call, though. I said in the back here, outside of my wife, I don't think I love anything as much as he loves fighting. It's crazy, right? It's incredible. You could truly sense that he loves this and it kills him. And that's why it sucks. to get older, but 38 years old,

17 years, you know, what was his record? At least his official record, 42, 22, 1, 1-no contest. So what is that? 66? Official fights, but he says that he has way more, and I believe him. That's a lot of fights.

We'll never see records like that again. Yes, but I mean, it's tough. But the toughest thing for fighters is to know when to say when. And you know, you can make a case, let's be honest, that maybe he should have said goodbye a little earlier. But I really don't get the sense. Like, when you think Eve Edwards, do you think him losing to Akbar Ariola, Holman, and Medeiros? I think of the kick. You know, that's the first thing.

I think most people would agree, right? Yeah, of course. I mean, I don't think, I'm struggling to think of a fighter who's had a career as long as his. Okay, that sentence stands by itself because having a career as long as his is nearly impossible these days. But anybody with a lengthy resume in MMA, people don't remember them for those losses that they had at the tail end or sprinkled in the middle. It's all about their highest moments, and Eve had plenty of those. How about this stat? Also from Michael Carroll, 20 lightweight appearances in the UFC for Eve Edwards, tied for second most in the division's history.

Do you know who's the first? Who's the most? No. Who's in first? Tell me. Guy who was talking about, Glysson T-Bow. too. That's another one. Still going strong.

Still going strong, yes. But not quite the same career that Eve had, I think. No. What do you think of Glycen T. Bow's greatest moment? What is it? Right, exactly.

No, I agree with you completely on that point. It sucks that he never got that UFC belt. Yeah, the highest high for Eve is incomparable to somebody like Gleason T-Bow right now. But, you know, he's still a contender

and he could change that. In any point, but this is about Eve anyway. Yeah, yeah, what are you getting? Don't watch Poetic on Gleason. We don't want to talk about him. Well, you know, you've got to show him some love. But I haven't seen.

When's the last time you were at an event? It's been a while, right? Jersey, I think. The Fox one? It's been a, no, no, no, not that one. Not that far back. But it's been a minute. I haven't seen the Bob O'Reilly montage.

I wonder if the Thompson kick is still in there. I know it's had like an upgrade, a significant upgrade. Oh, yeah. It's had many upgrades. But I wonder. it's in there, and if it's not, hopefully they bring it back now. Yeah. Anyhow, congratulations to Eve once again.

Great career. And yeah, thanks for coming on. That was great. How about the love for you? How about that, huh? I mean, that's got to feel good. It feels great, yeah, being included, you know, with those guys. But it's true, man. You know, he's thanking us. I always tell people, MMA's the best sport to cover because of the fighters. It's not even because of the fights.

It's because of the fighters. of how open they are, how honest they are, how raw they are, they're not jaded, they're not packaged. I mean, you get emotion, you get actual real people who tell you how they feel about things. And it's always entertaining stuff. It's always genuine. It's always authentic. And, I mean, he's a perfect example. And they're so accessible.

The best of the best are accessible. You know, from the rookies all the way to the veterans to the champions. They're all so very accessible. It's people like Eve. I mean, he encompasses it so great. He truly is a testament to the sport. He is what is so great about covering this sport. Down to earth, accessible, open, friendly, pleasant.

He does things that we can only imagine. We can only dream of doing. He's an actual fighter, but yet he's not a total asshole or d-bag or dick or anything like that. He's just a great guy to cover. And that's what makes this sport. I mean, if it was just filled with A-Rods, this would be the worst sport to cover. Can you imagine doing a show like this? Right?

I mean, what's the meat of this show? It's the interviews. Yeah. The personalities. Could you imagine if they were all, you know, like NBA players? I love the NBA. My favorite sport. Have you ever watched a post-game show in the NBA?

No, there's no need. It's horrible. Those interviews are, I mean, I feel so bad for these people. Following them 82 games a year, 162 for baseball, and you'll get the odd character here and there. But in M.MA, we are so spoiled by these characters, by these great people. I love it. So he encompasses us.

at all. He really represents it, and that's what I'm going to miss. And I hope as the sport gets bigger, we don't lose those characters. Well said. Let's jump into the first question from the website. Yes. You touched upon this, actually. Robbie Lawler, is he the fighter of the year if Robbie wins the title on Saturday? Should he be the fighter of the year, even with a loss on the year? I've been thinking about the year-end awards a lot lately. And really, I mean, you look back at last year, and, you know, obviously much has been made of the fact that this hasn't been the best year ever for MMA, and in particular the UFC. But did you remember last year when we were talking about Fighter of the Year,

fight of the year, knockout? We had so many great options. We did. Like the number four best option last year would probably be number one, whatever it was this year. When you think about each category for this year, you really have to think. There's no clear-cut answer for any of them.

Except for this one. Don't tell me you're going to say what I think you're going to say. Well, I'm not going to say it. I'll save it. Yes. But year and show we're going to give out our Fighter of the Year award. It's been a record-setting year. And there's... Yeah.

But, you know, I don't know how I feel. Okay, let's say he wins, right? Let's say he wins the belt. He does have a loss this year, though. But he was so active, three and one, which is way more than a lot of other guys. You know, it's one of those losses that... Yeah, it was very close. You can't count it again.

I mean, you can't... It's a loss is a loss. And I'm sure, you know, he has no sour grapes about that loss. But the way he lost is different than other losses. In the history of the Fighter of the Year Award, if there even is some kind of history, I wonder how many people have a loss on their record in that year. You know what I mean? That's why I almost feel like he's the ultimate comeback fighter of the year.

Like last year he was and this year because he was able to rebound from a heartbreaking loss. He can't win it twice in a row. Look, he came back from a heartbreaking loss and was so active. I mean, less than two months later, beat Jake Gellberger and then Matt Brown. I think, why? Who's comeback fighter of the year? I mean, I haven't really thought of it all that much. I haven't thought about it either, but last year was the comeback year.

you can't come back again. Doesn't, that's not how it works. Anyway. He can be fighter of the year, though. Put it this way. If he does win, and especially if it's an impressive fashion, a great fight like it was, you know, back in March. Strong case.

Strong case. Absolutely. And by the way, even though it's two fights, Johnny Hendricks, strong case as well. Absolutely. If Johnny Hendricks retains, I mean, yeah. I mean, your pick, Wydman, didn't he win? Who's my pick?

Last year. Oh, Widenst. Didn't he only win two or three or something like that? No, it was two. I mean, he beat the greatest of all the time, but yeah, you can... It's a similar thing. Yeah, you know. Okay.

People's main event this Saturday. This person suggests Trujillo versus Ferguson. And I've got to be honest with you, Pettus Melendez. I mean, have we forgotten about that? Right? Petis Melendez. I mean, that's a main event on any other card. Yeah.

It's Pettus Melendez. And Brown Shob is awesome. I mean, the whole main card. The return of Todd Duff. Duffy, Duffman back? It's been a while, two years, against Anthony Hamilton who looked good in his last fight. Ferguson Trujillo is tremendous.

I'm not taking anything away from it, but, you know, the title fight in the co-mean event. Faber against Rivera, Eddie Gordon, Sergio Pettis on the fight-pass prelims. It's a great card. I wish Holly Holm was still on it, though. That's a bummer. No, it is a great card, though.

It is a great card. Also, I was looking forward to the Corey Anderson-John Valante fight, Not to harp on the fights that aren't happening, but that was originally on this card. Anyhow, to answer the question, I think that, yeah, I think it's got to be Pettus Melendez. I'm with this person. I like this one. Trujillo versus Ferguson. Over Pettus.

Melendez. I just love that fight. Petes, I think we forgot how exciting and dynamic and incredible he is. It's been so great. I have not forgotten. But it feels like it's been. Honestly. It feels like a turn.

It feels like Sergio, too. It feels like we haven't seen Sergio in forever, too. Yeah. But this is my pick. Kill a season. And, uh, Elkicue. Uh, is UFC 181 the best pay-per-view of the year?

Uh, you know, I, I, I, I hate all this best, best, you know, of all time, best of the year, because it feels like we get kind of caught up in the moment. We were saying that about 178. Um, 178 had great stories and rivalries and, and I don't know. It's tough. It's up there. Is it the best? I don't know.

Let's wait. like to see what happens, but it's certainly in the top five, right? It's certainly in the top four. Sure. Okay. Right now? At some point. Okay. Yeah, it's certainly up there. It's certainly up there.

I mean, two title fights. What I love about these title fights, they're so entertaining. They're so tough. I mean, it feels like sometimes there are title fights and it's like, all right, I get the sense. You know, like when Demetri's Johnson fights, as of light. You get the feeling that he's going to win. He's a overwhelming favorite. I mean, we haven't really, I could look at the odds. Well, let's do that right now. What do you think the odds are? Do you know what they are? Which fight? The two main fights. So, I don't know the exact odds, but I'm sure, I'm sure Pettis is going to be a favorite. And I'm sure Hendricks is going to be a favorite. You don't know what the odds are.

No, but if I had to guess degrees, I'd say, Hendrix may be a little under 2 to 1 and I'd say Pettus would be about 2 to 1. Well, super close. Hendrix minus 2.211 and Oh, that's Loller. It's almost on the dot.

Plus 195. Petis minus 240. and Melendez plus 216. That's a little steep. Especially for a guy coming back, for Pettis. You think it should be closer? Yeah, I mean, I already said on the show, wait, hold on, I'll come back to that in a second. Okay.

Well, I think, I mean, yeah, I guess so. Probably should be closer. But what I love about it, odds aside, I love the fact that these fights really feel like toss-ups. and one of them is a rematch of fight of the year. My opinion, the other is Anthony Pettus returning for the first time in a year and a half. Melendez returning for the first time in a year and change. Melendez, you know, some might say, was robbed of the title

when he fought Benson-Henderson. It's super close fight. I'd have to watch it again to really have a say on who I thought won. I feel like I've watched four million fights since then, but I just love those two fights. They're just so great. Back-to-back two title fights like that. I mean, I thought these days that the UFC would kind of

to shy away from two titles on the line on the same card because, you know, there's so many shows you want to kind of spread the wealth. But I'm not going to complain. This is great. This sure beats UFC 177. So Eric is telling me that a contestant on this season's Ultimate Fighter has called in. So let's go to line number one. Hello? Are you there? Oh, hello, Ariel. So good to hear your voice again. Now, who is this? Angela Magagna, from Tough 20.

Hello, Angela. How are you? I'm wonderful. How are you? Is this the Angela Magania? Yeah, this is Angela, the Tough 20 bully. The Tough 20 bully. Now, thanks for calling in.

What's on your mind? I got some questions for you, but I wanted to ask you first what's on your mind. Oh, okay. I was calling in because of why? back, you see you got a hold of me and told me that some journalists were getting a hold of them and crying about what I was writing all over Twitter and in my antics a bit, some just like some really soft journalists.

And they kind of laughed at me, but the judge that said journalists was trying to get me in trouble and seeing if I was going against the conduct code, which we all kind of just laughed at. But I'm just something, was that you? Absolutely not. I can tell you I can look right into the camera on my family's life. I did not call in to complain about your, to be honest, somewhat weak trollish antics on Twitter, but no, I did not complain about them. What is up with that?

Why are you turning into this type of personality? I don't like it very much. I mean, I'll say I don't like it, but I did not go to the extent of complaining about it because I couldn't care less. I appreciate someone trying to be entertaining and trying to get their name out there and trying to, you know, spark things up, but to go and complain about it seems futile. Yeah, it's pretty weak. Oh, you know what?

It was just like after being, you know, I really didn't like the social media. I was never into that before tough 20. And, you know, the USC wants us to be on social media and active. And so then I downloaded Twitter and it was like, I just became like, I really liked it. I really got into Twitter and became, like, I feel like it became. a part of me almost. So then I started getting these from these peasants saying that all these abusive things. So, I mean,

I've always been, you know, a royal bloodline. So I just took it upon myself to just, you know, I don't poke anybody doesn't, I don't poke at anybody who doesn't poke me first. You know, I just makes my, like, my real bitch come to surface the way that these people try to act online. So I'm just being myself in, and I'm just, I'm not going to edit myself. I'm not going to censor myself anymore.

I mean, as far as I can go. And so I just kind of giving back what I've been given. I don't know. I just, I don't know. Sometimes it's just Twitter, I've just, it's crazy for me. I just get stuck in there. Sometimes I sit down to eat dinner and I get on my phone and I'm looking at my phone and an hour will go by and I haven't eaten any food.

And then I look at my phone all these tweets and I'm like, oh my God, what have I done? It feels like it's consuming your soul. It feels like you're almost addicted to it. I'd say just a bit, you know? It's just, I've become one with it. You know how, like, there's certain points in your life where you feel like you've become one with certain things, like, you know, maybe, or just like you're on the good vibrations

with the universe to receive things. And so I just feel like I've kind of become one with that. Do you feel like you're kind of getting intoxicated by it, though? I just take in the rains, you know? Do you feel like you're kind of getting intoxicated by it, because it seems like, I mean, you're throwing out a lot of negativity into the atmosphere. Like, why's so negative?

Why are you trying to start things? Like, I saw you wrote, weren't impressed with my interviews and things. Like, well, why go, I mean, if that's how you feel, it's how you feel. But it just seems like it's a lot of negativity. Well, you know, I just, I didn't think that was being negative. I thought that was constructive. I thought you would message me.

Well, certainly wasn't positive. Huh? It certainly wasn't positive, right? It wasn't positive. No, I'm my opinion. It's just my opinion. So you think that on Twitter you're being constructive as opposed to, you? to negative or positive. You're just being constructive.

Well, no, no, no. The ones that come at me, I mean, they poke me, like these, these, scummy Twitter peasants, like, what do they expect? If they're going to poke at me, I'm going to poke at me. I'm going to poke that. What's what the peasants thing, though? What is that? Well, they're scummy little peasants, but... Why are they, why are they lower peasants? Why are they lower than you? Why are they beneath you? Why are they beneath me? Because I'm, your majesty.

What is that? So, of course. What are these royal bloodlines that you, that you claim to have? Like, what's, what's the royalty in your family? Well, I was chosen. I mean, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. I wasn't, like, a chosen person. But, no, I, wait, Ariel, I have a question for you.

Have you seen his best career and stuff saying that she's been an ensemble off of Rhonda? This chick's crazy. Like, who does she think she is? She's only got, like, 5,000 followers, and she thinks she's going to get a title shot at Rhonda. And it's like, Beth, you, like, bladed your own eye just so that you want to be able to fight Nisha.

Now you want to talk about Rhonda. Like, who does she think she is? Her butt was better than her head. Like, her name should be birthed cornhole. I don't get her. I don't understand who she thinks she is. Did you write this down? Is this material that you wrote down?

What? I'm just talking to you. I know. But we're having a discussion about your personality, is my first time talking to you in this setting, and you're going into some material about someone that means nothing. I mean, she's not even in your weight class. Why are you getting involved with her?

I just don't know who she thinks she is to come across, like, she's going to get that shot with Rhonda. Ronda doesn't know my friend. So let me ask you this, Angela. Let me ask you something. Let me ask you something. You say you don't know, you don't know who she think she is. Who do you think you are?

I mean, I see you talking about Michael Bisping. I'm actually, they want me to headline me there in Australia. I'm possibly going down to get some media stuff in Mexico because of, you know, my Latin background, and that's where I'm from is Mexico. So I'll be, I mean, they love me. And they know that I'll fill seats. And they know that I'm a great fighter,

and I fill in the seats, and they're going to use me. And they want me to be the spokesperson actually on the, on the Southeast Asia side of the world, that's why I did that media tour in China with them a while back. Oh, right, right. Now they're trying to expand into Singapore and stuff, so they want to make me their spokesperson,

but maybe they're going to do it in Mexico, too, is what they were saying, so. Are you fighting on the finale? Do you like cheeseburgers? No, actually, I don't. Are you fighting on the finale? No, I had a dream last night about them. Oh, here we go.

Here's more routine. Are you fighting on the finale? Yes, of course. We're all fighting on the finale. Well, how am I supposed to know that? They haven't announced anything. Yeah, they said all 15 girls from the show were fighting, all 15. Yeah, but there could be injuries.

Just one injured. Justin's injured. Yeah. But you are fighting. Are you looking forward to it? Of course. I've been doing this really cool stuff where I, you know about Ashton projection, where you can, like, it's like lucid dreaming, but you do it from an awake state

so you can go, like, to these different dimensions and, like, actually go to other places and see people. Okay. I've been doing that with my next opponent. I can't tell you who I'll be. Of course, yes. But I've been doing it. Yeah, I've been doing it with my next opponent.

And it's really been giving me some really good insight onto someone for training. Like, I know now a lot more of her training, and I'll be able to definitely capitalize on that when it comes to fight time. And also, like, I was able to get a piece of her clothing while in the tough house. And I've been, yeah.

Well, it's really odd. Like, if you take somebody's clothing and there's sense on it, your body can become one with theirs. And so. Did you actually get the clothing? I can get a better insight onto what she's doing. You actually got it? Yeah, yeah, I have. I've actually posted a picture of it on Twitter, me smelling and showing by people, how that works, that whole, like, with their, with their scent and then me.

And then if I smell it, then it makes to become, like, more of one with them. And my body will be able to react better with hers and they'll be. fight. How'd you get it? Oh, she left it. Weird. In the house, she left it behind. Did you enjoy being on the show?

I loved it. Me and the scrapettes, we had a really good time. But I still do want to fight a couple of the girls in the show. I mean, I can't tell you who I'm fighting. Sure, sure. But even if I'm fighting in this next couple weeks or not, I still want to fight. I'd love to get Heather, of course. Everybody knows that one.

and Albert Daly, I mean, Ashleyne Daly. Oh, I don't like that. Let me make a personal challenge to you. How about this? Hey. Are you up for it? Do you want to hear it? Yeah, I'm listening.

What's the personal challenge? Take your foot off the guys a little bit. You know, I think people will be fans of yours if they see the real you. And from my perspective, from where I'm sitting right here, this doesn't feel like the real you. This feels like someone told you that you should do this together. gain more Twitter followers or more fans or get noticed. And this may have worked in the early days of social media, but I don't feel like it is being received as well as you think it is.

So just be yourself. I have such a problem is, well, I don't know why you're saying that because I am being myself. Totally. You actually feel like the other people out there, the fans are peasants. You truly feel that way. Of course you don't. So you're not being yourself. Yes, I do.

you should see that the abuse of, I've gotten death threats, death threats from these people. Yes. You should see the abuse that they put on me. So why would I not call them peasants and they'd be below me if they're trying to bring me death threats? Like, who wouldn't do that? Are you familiar with the term ex-pox heat? Huh? Are you familiar with the term ex-poc heat?

No, I'm sorry. No. Look it up. Google it. Ex-Poc heat. There's two kinds of heat. Is that a fighter, an entertainer. someone in your position can have.

And you are treading on X-Pock heat. You don't want X-Pock heat. You want good heat. You want passionate heat. You don't want X-Pot heat. Okay? That's my advice for the day. I've enjoyed watching you on the show. I wish you the best of luck on December 6th.

Excuse me. Not December 6th. December 12th. Oh, wait. Well, quick, though. Do you know who Amanda Binds this? Oh, here we go. Do you watch the name for movies? I don't want to hear your routine that someone wrote for you.

I just wanted to get out there like a shout out to Amanda, and I would like people to retweet my collage, please. I took a lot of time to make that, and I feel like she just really misunderstood. Kind of like I'm being misunderstood right now. Perhaps. I just kind of know how that feels. Well, I appreciate that.

I don't want you to think that I'm jumping to conclusions. That's just my perspective. We have to move along. We have a short amount of time left on the show, but I do appreciate you tuning in and calling in and I wish you the best of luck and, you know,

think about what I said, all right? Okay, I'll think about it. Thank you. Bye. There's Angela Magana. Tough 20 cast member. Thank you very much to New York Rick for setting that up.

You're welcome. Yeah, so moving on. Did we... Did we address. Do you agree with my take on her? You know how. I mean, if anybody agrees with you, it's going to be me, right? I'm even, I'm even sick of Connor McGregor's.

And by the way, by the way, by the way, I just want to make something clear because I see Chris Herrera writing in. That was in an interview. Don't get it twisted. When I reach out to someone and I invite someone onto the show, that's an interview. This wasn't an interview. This was a fan calling in who just so happens to be Angela Magania. So I'm allowed to weigh in as I please. That wasn't an interview.

I wasn't crossing any interview line or anything like that. Let's not start. I saw her tweets. I've seen the tweets. They're not funny. They're in poor taste. And it's not going to get you any kind of fan. It's Xbox heat.

So if she wants to go that route, more power to her. But I don't think it's going to end up well if... At some point, you're going to need the fans on your side. You're going to need, you know, people's good faith and their support. And I don't think, you know, I get gimmicks. Trust me. No one gets gimmicks. No one vouches for gimmicks.

No one tries to advocate for gimmicks more than this guy. But there's heat and Xbox heat, and she's got Xbox heat. Did we sufficiently discuss UFC 181 as the pay-per-view of the year? Yes, we did. Cool. Next question. A common one these days. Uriah Fabor on the prelims.

Why is Uriah Fabor on the prelims again, especially below Todd Duffy versus Hamilton? Uriah Fabor is on the prelims because he's a very smart guy. Uriah Fabor is one of the smartest fighters. recent memory. Uriah Faber is the Oscar Delahoya, if you get what I'm trying to say, of MMA. The guy is a businessman, and he typically puts himself in the right situations, the right business call. I mean, the guy is very in tune with what makes business sense. And Uriah Fabor feels at this point, I mean, that was his stance going into the last fight that he was the headliner on the prelims. He feels like if I'm a headliner on a free show, when pay-per-view numbers aren't, you

Now, they're not quite where they used to be in. This one might be a little different, two titles on the line. But remember, UFC 175, two titles on the line. And arguably, you had some bigger names involved, right? Wyman, Ronda Rousey. He feels like more people are going to see him, his sponsors, things like that. So the guy's smart. The days of thinking that, oh, pay-per-view is the end-all-be-all, that's where you want to be, are over.

Because now that there are so many fights shown for free, and, well, not for free, per se, I mean, it's cable TV, you have to kind of pay a little bit for that, but it's not quite pay-per-view money. It's the same thing. I mean, if I were a fighter and I had the option of fighting, let's say, in front of 300,000, 400,000, or 700,000, or 800,000, what would you rather? I don't get these fans, as we talked about before, who complain about favor not being on the pay-per-view because, like, it's a slap in the face or there's less prestige involved. Who cares? You don't have to pay for him. You don't have to pay for the watch to fight.

It's free. It's better that way, right? I mean, why would you want to pay if you're such a huge fan? So, bizarre. I just think it's a testament to how smarty is. Also, I think Uriah Fabor controls this, whereas some others, if they were dropped from pay-per-view to free TV, it's not in their control.

I don't think anybody, you know, is under the impression that Uriah Fabor doesn't control. If he wanted to be on pay-per-view, I imagine that it wouldn't be too tough for him to be on that pay-per-view card rather than on the Fox part. Yeah. I almost wish this next question was up right after. Now that we're coming to the end of Tough 20,

what did you make of the season? I personally thought it was up there with the best. Also, do you think the UFC can get away with another season of Tough? They got away with this one because of the new female weight class. No, I think Tough needs a fresh coat of paint. People love when I say that. I think that Tough needs to be revamped for many reasons. But the main one is, all right, we just went from 16 of the best,

including Angela Magania, fighting for the belt, right? Where do you go from here? You're going to have eight light weights and eight light heavy weights fighting for a contract. It just feels like a major step down. So to me, it's been 20 years. It was a nice run. Now they're fighting for the belt. Now we've seen the complete evolution of this whole thing where you have 16 women fighting for a belt. Who would have thought? That would be the case back in 2005. Now it's time to switch things up. Now, again, I feel like the ultimate fighter is very useful overseas. I saw it firsthand in Mexico.

Latin America, successful, Brazil is successful, China, wherever else they want to go overseas. Absolutely. Keep using that model. But here in the United States, it needs to be revamped. All signs point to them identifying this and knowing that this is the way to go,

so I expect the next season to look different. And that's the right call. How many times can it look different, though? I mean, it can look completely different. I mean, and is that enough? I mean, at a certain point. Well,

first things first, there needs to be a bit of a break from the reality shows because here's the thing. Back in the day, there were 15 UFCs, 10 UFCs, 20 UFCs. So the people that were fighting

on the prelims or trying to get into the UFC, those people are already, you know, they're already in the UFC now. You know what I mean? Like the Kenny Florians, the Josh Kostick,

the Bonners, the Gryffins, those people are already in the UFC. So now you're thinking, and let's be on, honest, there are people in the UFC today that probably shouldn't be in the UFC, right? So now you're trying to take the people who aren't included in that group and then, you know, fast-track them to the UFC. And it's not just the winner.

You know, it's not just the person who gets the contract that, you know, look at this season. Well, someone else. Well, sometimes, yeah. I mean, I don't think there's any set way that that goes. Sometimes, you know, there'll be. But more often than not, there's a couple here. Sure. I think they get a shot.

You get one shot. The times have changed. before with so few events, there was a lot of available guys, a lot of guys who are maybe ready for the UFC but just having on that opportunity, whatever. Those days are over, so you've got to switch it up.

Now, if you do something different, like, you take the flyweight division and you use it as a tournament, that's cool, but again, like even this one, I feel like we've kind of we lost a little steam, like this tournament is almost taking forever, and even the last episode, or this episode, I think there are two fights on the show,

I think, if memory serves me correct, So it's like now they almost feel like they're rushing it. And why does it only have to be like three, four days before the finale? Like I get that you want to keep it all together, but why not have it, you know, two, three weeks or a month so that we can build it up and talk to these people and reflect. Like we can't even, next week on this show, we can't even talk about the finale because the final episode is on Wednesday. So I feel like it's all, it was like, it was drawn out and then it's rushed at the end and it's weird to have a tournament play out like that. So it needs to be revamped. The ultimate fighter name can stay, but there needs to be.

be a break and the whole thing needs to change. Domestically. Our next question. Should the UFC release Vanderlei? It is clear Van der Le Sovo won't be fighting again. I'm not sure. You know, I don't know if that's 100% clear. So should the UFC release him from his contract and allow him to make money elsewhere, i.e.

Bellator, or are they right to keep him from associating with competitors? Well, I mean, he is banned for life. So I guess he could go overseas and fight somewhere. Yeah, but he would be... He would be really digging his own grave if that happened. I mean, that would be the worst thing that he can do. Wait. Step back for a sec.

Yeah. If he's banned for life here, right? But in Las Vegas, at least Las Vegas, their jurisdiction, he's banned for life. Which typically would mean that other jurisdictions will pay attention to that. Why would fighting overseas be so bad if he probably can't fight here anyway? The reason I say that is because his lawyer said that they are going to appeal, and I feel like they are still holding out hope that this. Oh, okay.

Yeah. But let's say the legal proceedings play out and the same thing is in place. Sure. And I think fighting overseas, you know, just go fight overseas. Why not? Yeah, if he wants. But yes, I would wait to see because if you go fight in January and this thing hasn't played out, then it's done. And look, you want me to put on my Lorenzo Fertita hat, Dana White Hat?

No, I wouldn't release him. Why would I give him to Bellator? I mean, look, at the end of the day, they didn't do anything wrong. You know, he was the guy who didn't do the drug test and then everything happened afterwards. and, you know, personally, I feel like the ban is a little too harsh. I don't think he should have gotten a lifetime ban, but it is what it is at this point. Why should the UFC give him to Beltor so that they can, you know,

promote him and have him at these events, you know, I don't know. It just, I get the, I get the argument that, okay, the guy has to go out there and make money. It's a good argument. Yeah, but he's still under contract. You know, the UFC didn't do anything wrong. They were giving him a fight. But how long can they keep him like that? He made his bed.

Well, I guess, you know, there's got to be... Every contract is different. That's why guys negotiated. Maybe there's a thing where if you don't fight for five years, it expires. Who knows what's going on? I'm just throwing out a number. I don't know. It could be indefinite.

I don't know. But if it was the UFC saying, we're not going to give you fights, we don't want to book you, and they're still keeping him, then I think it's one thing. But who made this bed? Certainly.

But that's what makes it feel icky. But I think it's a similar situation to Eddie Alvarez where, you know, he's being held, and he could be out there, making money elsewhere, or as you said, obviously it would make sense. It would be prudent to wait until the legal proceeding is finished and figuring all that out. But I don't know. I feel like it's very similar to Eddie Alvarez where it's time for him to go and I think you should just go. Holding him up from making money, it just feels wrong. Now, the difference in that situation is

Eddie Alvarez didn't do anything wrong. Vanderle-Silva, people are not on his team right now because he did do something wrong. And that's what makes it feel different. But I don't know. don't think it's much different. And I think... So you think he should be free to do that stuff? At a certain point. Because it's very clear... Do you see anything changing?

Well, here's the thing. I mean, showing up at some Dave and Buster's thing, I mean... Like... You know, it's just... If they're going to parade him out there and make him seem like he's part of the Bellator family and he's going to go out and talk about the U.C., I can see there being an issue, but it's like some fan, you know, event... I mean, who really cares?

I mean, it's hard for me to put myself in those shoes. all I'm saying is I have a hard time blaming the UFC for any wrongdoing right now because they wanted to book him in a fight. They put him on the ultimate fight. They didn't make this situation for him. Now, him's showing up at an XFC event and doing some stuff. I mean, Belator is Belator. I can understand why I would piss them off.

But you really think they'd be pissed if you showed up at some, you know, shudoh event in Brazil? No. Personally, I doubt it because guys show up with those events all the time. Do you ever see him fighting for the UFC again? honestly never say never but you know let's just say they get this thing reduced to two years three years right i mean it's gonna be i mean that's that's what it comes down to we there's there's all kinds of reasons um from a from a tactical standpoint that they should hold on to him and not release

him but just from the fact that he will probably not be booked in another ufc fight at some point you just got to cut him loose yeah i don't think now's the time no certainly not and You made the most important point that I didn't think of is the legal battle. That needs to be completely finished. All the appeals, all that, that all has to be done before any decisions make sense. Our next question, Madison Square Garden. History was made when an amateur MMA promotion hosted Madison Square Garden's first MMA event, breaking the record for competitive sports events.

How important is it for amateur MMA promotions in the Big Apple, New York City, to be present or does it not really make a difference in pro-legalization? As far as the legalization is concerned, I doubt it. I mean, I've always felt like this wasn't really an MMA problem. There's nothing to do with the sport. Political problem. Culinary Union, you know, the Fertitas. I mean, really, the UFC is just being used as a pawn.

That's why amateur MMA is legal and not pro-MMA. That's exactly why, because the UFC and Zufa, Fertitas in particular, aren't involved in amateur MMA. Now, if I'm an amateur MMA promoter, I try to take advantage of this and say I'm putting on this event here in Manhattan that the others can't, sure, but let's not forget it costs money to put on these events at places like MSG. And amateur MMA promotions aren't swimming in the dough. And that's why I think for the most part you haven't seen this happen. Now, you know, also amateur MMA as far as the scene is concerned,

isn't quite where amateur boxing is at. You know, I know that there's the IMMAF that's trying to do things and they have their tournament that they had this past year. They'll have it at the Fan Expo or International Fight Week next week. So next year, the sport is evolving. One of the many things that are changing about the sport, but it's tough. It's tough to pay that venue fee in a place like MSG to put on. Can't hurt, though. Can't hurt, but you'll be losing money. No, no, no. I just mean to have events in New York. Oh, yeah. Whether it's MSG anywhere. It can't hurt. Hamersstein ballroom. To a degree, I am surprised, but let's not forget, once again, you're not Belletor, you're not the UFC, you're not World Series of Fight. You're not

making money. It's very hard to make money. Now, you are getting by by not having to pay the fighters, right? So that's a good thing. But I think if you're an amateur MMA promotion, you're trying to start from the ground up and make a profit, you can't just jump into Hammerstein or stuff. So there's shows going on all the time now, Queens, all that stuff. There's shows going on. But yeah, I don't really sense that there's much of an MMA scene, if any, in New York right now, even when amateur MMA is concerned. There are some victory and all that, but it's not like, you don't, I don't really hear. hear it and I'm here. I live here. So cool story.

They wrote about it on Fightland, I believe. Definitely worth checking out. But I don't expect that to be a common thing. Also, it was the theater, not the garden garden, but that's, you know. Well, I mean, that would be tough. Yeah, it was a big venue. This is a hypothetical. MMA rematches.

I thought this was interesting. Some rematches from, you know, not so recent history. Who do you think would come out on top in these MMA rematches if they were to happen now? Oh, yeah. First one's great. All of them are great because the guys are in very different places than they were at the initial time. So, Junior Dos Santos versus Verduem. Right now?

Yeah. I'll go with Verdume. I think I'm taking JDS still. Oh, yeah. Dominic Cruz versus Demetrius Johnson. At 135? I guess it's got to be 135, right? I can't see Dominic Cunning to 145.

This is the toughest thing in the world. I'll go with Dominic again because that's his weight class. But, man, I don't know. It doesn't look like Dominic's lost a step, so I'm taking Dominic. Rashad Evans versus Leota Machita at light heavyweight. I mean, it's tough with, I don't know how Rashad's going to come back. I kind of, hmm, I still kind of feel like I'll lean towards Rashad. What do you think?

I would take Machita at this point. Yeah, he's good against the wrestlers. Am I going chalk? So far I'm picking all the guys who won the first time. Anderson Silver versus Vitorre Bortfurtr. Gosh, that's a tough one. I feel like that's a very tough one. Geez. I'll still go Anderson.

I would too, but I mean, that one's completely up in the air. Who knows? Who knows how Anderson looks when he comes back? Vitor's first fight, Sands TRT. I mean, this one's really tough. Dillishaw versus a Sunsau. Dillishaw. Yeah, me too. So I think that's the first rematch that I picked, where I picked the other guy.

Rory MacDonald versus Carlos Condit. I'll go with Rory. Me too. Condit, all that stuff. Roy McDonald versus Robbie Lawler. Dang. That's the most recent one. That one's great.

You might see that very soon. I don't know, man. I feel like I keep counting out Robbie Lawler and he keeps defying the odds. I'll go with the Canuck. The Red King. I think I would take Rory too, but that one's tough.

And last, Robbie Lawler versus Nick Diaz. Again, I'll go with Robbie just because he's been way more active. I feel like we're on the same page here. I'll take Robbie, too. Super tough ones. Good question. Yeah, great question. Next super fight. What are the next plausible super fights the UFC can make? Well, technically they never got to make any of them that they were always talking about.

But, you know, I was actually thinking about this yesterday. Daniel Cormier, John Jones, is a super fight. Right? I mean, that's an undefeated heavyweight who probably would have fought for the belt by now, coming from a different organization, all that stuff, undefeating the UFC. I mean, that feels like a super fight to me, now? There's no way he wouldn't have fought for the belt at heavyweight at this point. It feels like a superfight. had the fast track.

Diaz Anderson, that's a super fight, right? If that's a super fight, then certainly John Jones, Daniel Carmay, is a super fight. Now, I guess he's... In the most literal sense, the way that we've come to understand it as weight class versus weight class, I guess,

Cruz and Johnson rematch, the one we just mentioned, that could be something. This is the one. Anderson GSP. If Anderson wins, that fight is a no-brainer. I just said Cruz,

as if Cruz was a champion. Whoops. That's still somewhat of a superiors. Superfight. But it's, and I mean, the, the whole thing is right there for the taking if he can beat Nick Diaz. And that is the superfight of all superfights, right? I mean, who's not watching that? Yeah, that would be, I mean, that's a stadium show right there.

A more meta question. Ariel, do you have any regrets, for example, missing an event that was amazing, not being there for one specific moment, not getting an interview you wanted, anything at all you wish you could have done while being an MMA journalist? And he says he knows mine is, not. not being at USC Dublin. That's great. I wonder if he is from, oh, that's yours. Okay, I thought this particular guy.

No, that's my... Is that really yours? I don't know. I mean, I... I don't feel like I got the impression that you really missed out on that. You're a Conno McGregor hate or for God's six. No, I'm not.

I've come around. What do you mean? Come around. I was draped in the flag on this very show. You just hated on him like 20 minutes ago. No, I did not hate on him. Yes, but I... You compare it to Angela Magania.

Loosely. If you give me the choice... between an interview with Connor McGregor saying his, you know, this suit and that suit, blah, blah, blah, versus the Thug Jitsu master. The interview we just got on the phone, something like that. The real, gritty truth, you know, no facade. I mean, it's no question what I'm taking every time. I get it. Anyhow, two things come to mind. Number one, not being at Fader versus Verdume.

I had a wedding in Montreal, my friend Brandon, the next night, and it just was going to be impossible. to get from San Jose to Montreal. So I took the weekend off, and this was like right in the thick of the whole Strike Force thing, and I was going to all those Strike Force events pre-ZUFA. And I remember sitting on my parents' couch,

their home in Montreal, watching that and being like, I can't believe I did not attend this. And I went to all the other Fador fights in Strike Force, Affliction, all that stuff. I missed the Arlovsky one because I was out of the game for a second working on the primetime show,

but man, did I want to be at that fight, especially after the fact. I mean, I can't say, And no one really believed Redoom was going to win or was going to pull off that kind of an upset in that fashion. But after the fact, knowing how important this was and how huge of a victory was, I mean, that killed me. The other one that comes to mind, and I don't want to get into it all that much, but it was the whole Crowcock thing, UFC 99. I mean, that to me is the biggest regret of them all the way. I handled that and let my emotions get the best of me.

That was noob Ariel at his best. And, I mean, that was a great learning experience about many things, about how to conduct yourself as a professional. how to not let your emotions get the best of you. And most importantly, it made me develop a lot of thick skin because I remember, I remember saying to my wife, like, the internet has turned on me. And it made me realize how quickly people will turn on you and, you know, try to shit on you and, and, you know, dance all over your grave and things like that, which I have learned many times since then.

But that was the first one. Like I said, a stupid throwaway line after essentially repeating what someone else on the show said, that was picked up. People ran with it. and we're just very happy to do so, and it was just so dumb. And anyone who knows me knows how I felt about Miracle Crow Cop. In fact, Jerry Park.com, that website that I talked about, I mean, one of his great moments is sort of immortalized at the top of the page,

had him on the show. That was, you know, one of the interviews I've always wanted to get. So it was just stupid, always regretted it. It came full circle. He came back. I did learn a lot. And I was actually thinking about mentioning it in the interview, but I was like, eh. And it's not.

Yeah. But, yeah, those are the two that come to mind regrets. Yeah, I mean, nothing else to say. How about this one? CM Punk, Ariel, did you hear the Colt Cabana podcast? Is that how you say it? Col Cabana, yes. With CM Punk, and will you be doing another interview with him next year?

Well, you know, the CM Punk interviews typically take place in Chicago, which is where he's from, around the UFC on Fox event, but this one is going to be in Sweden. So unless he's in Sweden, it's not going to happen around the same time. I don't know if they're going back to Chicago. No plan. of that have been announced, but I did hear it. And I thought it was really cool for a couple reasons. I thought it was really cool because, you know, he did this interview. Everyone wanted

this interview. Everyone wanted to hear this interview. I mean, I'll be honest, I wanted the interview too. Never really, I mean, I did reach out a little bit, but like I never really made a strong play for it. That being said, not disappointed at all. Because how often is it that you get to talk about this super intense, stressful, you know, it was somewhat emotional. I would imagine exhausting turn of events, life-changing events

with your best bud. He got to do this with his best bud and you can't hate on that. And almost uninterrupted. Nobody else is jumping in asking other questions he can kind of get it off his chest.

He got to say what he wanted to say and everyone was eating up every single word. I had a hard time downloading it. I had to go through YouTube, I think, to listen to it. But it was a riveting stuff if you haven't heard it, I think Colt did a great job, even playing devil's advocate at times.

But to me, the part that really stood out was, here's a guy who is deeply unhappy, who is now very happy, and he got to share this turn of events with his best friend. And that felt very personal, and it felt like we were almost eavesdropping on this conversation between two long-time friends. So I highly recommend it. It was great. Hopefully we'll interview him. Yeah, hopefully we'll get to interview him soon. I don't know when. But just happy he's happy.

Because remember, the first question I asked him when we interviewed him last January was, are you happy? And at the time, you got the sense, the guy wasn't happy. He seems happy. He's married. He seems free. He's doing his own thing. So more power to him.

Let's bring it back to an MMA context. How about the fact that there was a clause in the, what was it, separation or whatever, that he couldn't sign with the UFC? Well, I found that very interesting. Well, of course. I mean, Triple H and Vince, they always love to say, like, how the UFC is in. competition. And even the UFC says that to a degree, it's 100% competition.

I mean, pro wrestling fans have graduated into MMA fans. They fight for the same time. They fight for the same audience, in my opinion. Until this day, that's why Brock Lesnar continues to be brought up. That's why, you know, you always see MMA journalists and fans

talking about the big matches and things like that. You see wrestlers at fights and fighters at wrestling matches and all. I mean, they're 100% intertwined. and MMA has taken a lot. The foundation of mixed martial arts comes from pro wrestling, in my opinion.

I mean, a lot of what we see today, the pageantry, the storylines, everything. Even similarities between some of the big stars in the UFC. Dana White, I mean, a lot of that is pro wrestling. Connor McGregor is pro wrestling. He's Rick Flair, for God's sake. So, yeah, that's just silliness. And that right there just proves that they may say something

to the public, but they very much believe that it is competition. He also mentioned, you know, in his time off, he was spending a lot of time over at the Gracie Academy doing Jiu-Jitsu, so that was pretty cool too. Yeah, he did a Gracie breakdown. Oh, I think more than one. Oh, yeah, but he did do one recently.

Yeah, but I think he's done a few, which is fantastic. Yeah, he's great. I'm a fan. Question from Twitter. What do you think the chances are of us seeing Aldo Edgar 2 in New Jersey, in April, on the Fox card? Well, if, let's see, yeah, if Conner-Megger loses in Boston, then you'll have three months to prepare for that.

I think there's a good shot. Here's the thing, though. They've really moved away from putting on title fights on Fox. It's very clear the way they speak. Top contender fights on Fox. Title fights on pay-per-view. Fight nights get, you know, similar contender fights. Fight pass get, you know, the big kind of local draw

and maybe a big fight or two at the top. It's pretty clear the way they've broken it down now. So I would be surprised with so many shows on the table these days them giving away title fight for free. Crazier things have happened, but I don't know. I think the bigger question is, what are the chances of Edgar getting the title shot? And I think we have to wait and see what happens with Connor

because I think Edgar beating Swanson and Llamas beating Bermudez has really opened the door for Connor. If he loses, though, the unthinkable happens, then it opens the door for Frankie. I agree with you completely, and this question reminded me of my regret. I meant to say it earlier, but I forgot.

And now I've remembered it again. it was attending UFC 118 in person. That was my biggest regret. Watching Frankie Edgar just pulverized BJ Penn. That hurt. But you got to see James Tony in person. For what was it, one minute, two minutes. Yeah.

But I did become a big Frankie Edgar fan. But man, that was tough. That really hurt. I drove all the way to Boston and then drove back that night just heartbroken. Sorry to hear that. You know, it happens. Do you think Rampage Jackson? Jackson will return to the UFC.

Now, the context for this is he's in the UFC video game, I believe. Rampage has said, you know, it's recently on Twitter about knowing, you know, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. And I feel like there was something else. But, you know, whatever is swirling around, do you think we will ever see Rampage back in the UFC? Rampage is going on 37. I think they make it right. I think Belator recognizes that they need people like Rampage. especially after what happened with Tito and Bonner that rating.

I think they make it right. You never say never, though. I mean, think about it. In this sport, much like in pro wrestling, the craziest things have happened. I was just watching on www.com. I don't even know how I ended up there. Oh, I was looking up the whole Steve Austin.

Steve Austin is doing a podcast. There's Vince McMahon on WWE Network. How bizarre is this? Why? I don't know. It just seems weird. It just seems like they're really trying very hard to get people to watch that thing.

As a podcast fan of all kinds. But is it a podcast? It's a show, right? It's video. I mean, I guess... That's what the... Our show is not... No, but is this the Steve Austin podcast

or is this just a show on the WD? Like, I subscribe to the Steve Austin podcast on iTunes. Will I get it on my feed? No, right? Well, it appears exclusively elsewhere. So I understand that point, but I think the format will be Steve Austin choosing. It would be cool.

I think it will be cool. The point is I was looking up what this whole thing was about, and I stumbled upon, like, the greatest, the biggest wow moments in recent WWB history, like when Goldberg made his debut, Eric Bischoff. And a lot of those were like, holy crap, you know, never say never moments in W, all that stuff.

So you can't, you can't say never. You know, do I... Wait, what? You know, what was the connection here? So, like, people would say, Rampage Jackson, never returning. You can't say that. Oh. You know what I mean?

Like, who would have ever thought Eric Bischoff would be in... See, I didn't understand. I didn't get that reference. Goldberg came back to... No, he, like, when he made his debut. This guy was WCW, and then he made his debut. Oh, so the conversation was like he will never be in WWF. Right.

And then he came to W. Sting. Sting, right? I see. Yeah, yeah. Well, I feel like it's different for wrestlers because when they're older, they still kind of work. True. Like Hulk Hogan, isn't he still working and all these guys?

Well, he's not actually competing, but yes, you make a good point. The point is, I see a lot of similarities. It's like promoter issue with the guy and they come back and they patch it up. You know, for the most part, the UFC has had a similar stance to Vince McMahon where it's like, if it makes sense, what is it? If it make dollars, it makes sense, right? I feel like Rampage and Dana specifically, but the UFC in general, it's, it's like, if it makes sense. It's always been a business thing. It's never like a personal thing.

I feel like it's always been actually even more than that. I mean, remember when Rampage had his issues and Data went that press conference for UFC 87 and stood up for him and brought him out there. And even on off the record, in TSN recently, he said that, you know, he likes Rampage. I mean, it was almost like, remember when Rampage had his last fight against Glover in Chicago and Dana said, you know, I'm going to miss you. It almost felt like a son and a father and the father was being like, you know, it's time for you to move on. That's the feeling I get to.

I could see Rampage fighting for the UFC again. So can I. I feel like it's a Tito, Dana White thing. Dana hasn't really bashed him, and he's been pretty good about it after the fact. I mean, I know he's had his issues and whatnot, but it almost feels like Rampage has always been,

like he was hurt by things Dana White said. Like, he actually hurt him as opposed to this anger. He was like, he was sensitive about it as opposed to, you know, wanting to, you know, take down the UFC. That being said, I feel like Scott Coker will try to do everything and his power to keep him because they need people like Rampage. So I don't know.

Father time may be against him, but I wouldn't rule it out. Our next question, if Phil Davis gets a win over Bader, does that make him the next contender after Gustafsson and Rumble Johnson? I think it's too soon to say that. I mean, he's going to have to fight. He's going to have to fight after that. I mean, he's not going to fight January 24th and then wait for the next title fight. You know, they're not going to keep him on the sidelines for that long,

especially if he gets a big win. I love that fight, by the way. I saw some people hating on that fight. I mean, that's the fight that makes total sense for both guys. Plus, I love the fact that they're both great wrestlers and it can cancel each other out. Like, this is a perfect fight. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with this.

This is a no-brainer. I was very surprised that people were down on this fight. But are there other contenders at light heavyweight that really have stood out? I mean, I guess OSP now after the showgun... Yeah, well, I'm not saying... I'm not saying OSP deserves the next title shot or anything, but what I'm saying is there's,

it's kind of wide open. And if Phil Davis, you know, beats Bader, who else is there? Really? OSP? Wait, I just said that and you were giving me help. No, no, no, but OSP has the fight. And then... Oh, Phil versus OSP.

Yeah. And then that's the number one contender? Who knows? I mean, it's crazy to think like this. It's like, there's nobody here. Like, it's really... The next title fight, if we're lucky, you know, after them fighting in January, the next title fight is when?

Memorial Day? Well, the great thing is we have two lined up. Cormier and Gustavson. Or Johnson, sorry. Sorry about that. So that means that the next one after that would probably be went. September, earliest, October. I mean, just given the way these guys fight.

So many things can happen. Yeah, so many things can happen. Here's asking for a prediction of exactly that circumstance and scenario. Who is the light heavyweight champion this time next year? John Jones, Daniel Cormier, Rumble Johnson, Gustafsson, maybe even Anderson Silva. Okay, I don't know about that one. this one makes my head hurt.

I don't know. Do you know? You're going to say DC. Of course I'm going to say DC. But I already said it. I already said it last week on the show that I was going to go with him, right? How many times do you want me to say it for God's sakes? Is it for God's sakes or God's sake?

I think it's God's sake. But who's mad at you, you know? Yeah, who's mad? Who's mad about that? That's true. If you have multiple gods and it's for God's sakes. for, oh, with the, with the apostrophe after. Oh, after the S.

Yeah, multiple gods. What does it even mean? What does God's sake mean? I'm not sure the, the breakdown of what that. Honestly, like, if I say to you, like, for God's sake, like, if you actually... You look that up while I look up the next question. But I'm saying D.C.'s champ, you're kind of wishy-washy, but probably D.C. By the way, it says, for God's sake, no ass, is.

is rude, also for God's sakes. So you're rude? No, I said sakes. Oh, that's the way it's properly said. I think. It's all very confusing. That's like the season's greeting of the saying? I think.

The other one's the Merry Christmas. I'm not sure about that analogy. What a show. I mean, what a show. It's very bizarre. This has gone places I did not expect this show. We started with 2014, a little less, on that and we end with for God's sake or sakes.

I mean, oh, the places we went. Yes. If I'd call into the show, can I go on a rant? Please, we would love to hear from you. Are you going to call people peasants or no? No. We don't like that. Peons. Next Twitter question.

Considering the lack of depth in the heavyweight division, can Kane ever really be the greatest of all time? This person, I think, sarcastically is saying nine fights with Junior Dos Santos. is that really going to make you the greatest of all time? I'm not ready. Well, I don't know if we can say right this second. He's certainly in the conversation right this second.

But I understand the logic. Yeah, but I see, I have a problem calling him greatest of all time when he's active. Let's see how the whole body of work stacks up to the others, and then we'll decide. Why do we have to call him the greatest of all time right now? Well, I don't think that's the question. I think the question is, can you foresee enough challengers or enough heavyweight depth for that to happen? Because I can see, I could see a circumstance or a scenario where the heavy, The heavyweight contenders just aren't that great, and Kane just kind of...

He beat a prime JDS twice. He beat a prime Bigfoot Silva. He'll have to fight Verduem. You know, there's Travis Brown out there. I mean, that's enough challenges. And I hate always getting down on the division. Fador, you know, beat quite a few. I hate getting down on a division.

Look, I'm not saying he's a great of all time right now. I'm not saying... I think he is. But I hate getting down on division and saying, oh, there, no challenges? Because who foresees any of these guys coming out? I mean, who... That's fair. thought Gusifson was going to turn into what he turned into.

Who thought, you know, McGregor, even when he was in Cage Warriors, the point is, or look at the middleweight division. Remember when the Middleweight division was so, oh, look at the welterweight division. Look how great the welter weights are right now. Even the lightweights. Look at the feather weights. The point is, look at the U.S. You'll see it. Things are great.

Heavyweight. Not so great. It's tough to say. Things change, so. My opinion is I think Keynes already the greatest heavyweight of all the time. Why? Tell me right now. his resume as you said i mean beating junior

you were the one just touting you were just touting fader's resume i wasn't touting i was playing devil's advocate i'm saying fador you know fadour has beaten a long list of guys and many of them multiple times i mean beating bignog the way he did you know you could make the you could make a case for fador in my opinion i think kane is the best ever um and i think you know this is just adding to it everybody he beats from here on is just adding to it all right interesting i don't know if i could quite go that far just yet so fador for you still? Right now, yes.

I mean, there is that famous video of you arguing with Dana White. I stuck to my guns. What year is that from? I haven't thought about that in a while. That was right after UFC 111, so 2010. Wow. I'm doing the pilot for the Daily Line on Versus, and they make me sit there at the ill-fated show

on the ill-fated network, and I'm sitting there with Dana White in studio watching me, and I'm a bit of a newcomer to the scene, right? He's watching, and they ask me, who's the pound king? and I say Fyodor. Did you say it like that at the time?

I think so. And Dana's watching and looking and he's seething and he's like steam coming out of his ears and he doesn't say anything. They say all right, segment over,

comes up and they just go braw-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-h. He's just starting crazy-crazy-cray. And they're filming the whole thing and then they post it online to gain some buzz for this show. The interview never even airs, but they just use me to get some attention

for the show. And I was kind of like, what the hell just happened here? I mean, a lot more personal to you than it is to me. It's just my opinion. Anyway, that was crazy. I don't even know if it's online anymore.

That's one from the vault. Yeah, that is from the vault. Our next question, Lombard wants George St. Pierre in Melbourne. What do you guys think of that? Oh, okay, well, first of all, congratulations to all our Aussie fans. Why, why? I thought you were making a joke about the spam tweet.

There was a spam reply to his question. You've been selected as today's Prize Patrol, Melbourne, winner. Oh my. Go to this page to claim. I hope he didn't. No, there was the political party. I believe it was the Labor Party. Is it the Labor Party? I don't know. My Australian politics a bit off.

But they won and they are going to lift the cage ban in Victoria and the UFC talking about doing a big show 55,000 fans, November 15th next year. Still kind of up in the air but that's what it seems like they want to do. So, big show, you need some big fights.

Is Lombard GSP that fight? I think a lot can happen. I mean, let's think back to this time last year. Think about all that has happened. You know, so I think it's a little soon. Lombard on the card would make a lot of sense. GSP on the card would certainly make a lot of sense. Do they fight each other is the question.

I don't see GSP coming out of retirement to face Hector Lombard. Well, he could have fought already. What do you mean? He could fight in April and then fight in November. Who knows? Lombard could be the champ for all we know by then. I still don't see him coming out of retirement to face Lombard. No, but that could be maybe his second.

fight out of retirement. You get what I'm trying to say? Oh, maybe the way I see, I don't think GSP is ever coming back permanently, ever. Oh, really? I think he's coming back taking one fight, another one if it can interest him, but I don't think he's coming back for good at any point. No, no, he's coming back. I don't think so. That's just my guess, but I think he is. Yeah, you seem very definitive on that. Yeah, well, you want my opinion? Well, you said he's coming, maybe you know something. I don't know. I don't know. Our next question, And with Bellator 131 ratings being so high, is it time for the UFC to actually see Belator's real competition?

I mean, I feel like they do see that. Look, competition could be close or could be far. They are number two, that's for sure. So just by default, their competition. Does that rating mean anything? Sure. In the long run? Yeah, it means that people are interested in their product.

It means that they are able to get a big rating. I mean, that no matter how you slice it or dice it, that's a very significant rating. I mean, Spike TV, I got people, I'll tell you this, I was at a wedding last week, and someone said to me, what happened in that Stefan Bonner-Ortiz fight? I saw the, this guy knew nothing about MMA, but he saw the little interview show that they had with Jimmy Smith.

Spike TV is a channel that people associate with fighting. And a lot of people don't know the difference between all of this stuff, Bellator UFC. They know what Tito is. They know what Bonner is. And that's part of the evolution of the sport as well, with guys becoming free agents. The UFC has laid the groundwork,

but guys are going to go out and do their own thing, and there are going to be other promoters coming out and trying to compete. So, yeah, 100%. If anyone doesn't think Belator is competition, you're just fooling yourself. They are 100% competition. Now, is there a big gap between one and two? I do believe so today, yes.

I mean, let's not forget. People want to compare Belator 131 to the rating that UFC 180 had. But that was the best of Bellator. That certainly wasn't the best of the UFC. I mean, that was the tough Latin America prelims, right? So you can't really compare that. But significant, absolutely.

More power to him. Yep. I think the UFC thrives on competition. I think they like this sort of thing. Competition's good for everybody. Yeah. You don't, I mean, the people, it's, it's, this is very strange to me, this just came to me. It's very strange how everybody's so mad at the UFC, you know, for being the only product that's viable.

And then when Bellator comes around, the same people or similar people want to knock it as, like, you know, low rent and this and that. Just be happy that there's multiple fight leagues. There's multiple options for fighters. and, you know, people are able to tune in. Competition is good for everybody. Yeah, so I think, by the way, and we'll get to this on our final show of the year, that's one of the big stories to watch. I mean, what Bellator, the momentum and all that.

I mean, it's fun. I think it makes things fun just from an outsider's perspective, right? I mean, to see a little bit of back and forth. But I do give them credit, I mean, both sides' credit. I like the fact that we're going about things a little differently, time. Scott never takes shots. These days, the UFC isn't taking shots. It doesn't have to be that way. And I

think that's somewhat refreshing. That may surprise people to hear me say that, but I like the way it's being conducted, at least right now. It seems very professional, cordial, and why shouldn't it be? Before we go, that was the last Twitter question. Before we go, Kevin Thang, skip

to my Jays, says, Will the thrill is a very underrated member of the MMA hour? Yes. Random comments are always hilarious. There you go, Will. What do you have to say about that, Will? Who is this peon? You see, you are appreciate... You know, let's be honest, I felt like today you were a little bit down. Maybe this brains your day a bit.

Maybe it lifts your spirits. What do you say? I have a red bowl, so I'm good. You're good now. Yeah, yeah. Who is that? Kevin Thang, skip to my J's. Kevin Thang, you rule.

The next stop is Alex, right? Who's completely overshadowed by your big head of hair. Oh, come on. We never get to see him. There he is. The Mystery Man. Okay. We have a minute left.

A minute. Okay. Everyone's getting mad at us. We're going way too long. Alex White, Clay Collard. Oh. Alex White. Yes.

Matt Hobar, Sergio Petis. Sergio. Raquel Pennington. And yes, that is correct. Raquel Pennington, Ashley Evan Smith. Pennington, UFC experience? Whoa. Incorrect.

Corey Anderson, Justin Jones. Anderson. Correct. Eddie Gordon, Josh Saman. I'm happy to see these guys again, the tough 19 guys. You're thrilled. I like Eddie Gordon in that one. Yes, Francisco Rivera, Uriah Faber.

Come on, Uriah. Abel Trujillo, Tony Ferguson. As I said, this is the one I'm loving the most. El Kukui. Correct. Travis Brown. Oh, Todd Duffy, Anthony Hamilton. Duffman.

Correct. Brown Shop. Brown. Correct. And we spoke about the other ones, Gilbert Melendez, underdog. I really like Gilbert, I think. Also, by the way, RFA back and one-fc. Hadra Gracie making his one-fc debut on Friday. Also, Bibiano Fernandez fighting on that card and Invicta on Friday as well. So it is a very busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts,

and we'll be back next weekend to talk about all that and a whole lot more. Did I say next weekend? I meant next Monday. We'll be talking about that. Next Monday, I will be in Las Vegas at UFC 181 beginning on Wednesday night to cover UFC 181 big two title fight card. Can't wait.

You can't my music, Alex. Yeah. We did it, friends. Another show in the book. Now, is it another show in the book or books? By the way, someone telling me that... Oh. There's the Dana-White debate.

It's on Daily Motion. Someone sent it to me. Hmm. It's Xbox Heat, not Epox Heat. Someone's telling me it's for God's sake. God's sake, which makes a lot of sense. You think I know how to speak the English language, but sometimes when you do a show for four hours,

we're very minimal breaks. You tend to lose your mind. It's a great show, though. Thank you very much to everyone who tuned in. Thank you very much to everyone who called in. Well, that one person. And thank you very much to everyone who wrote it. Of course, thank you very much to everyone who was a guest on today's show.

A guest, Alexander Gustafson, best of luck to him, UFC on Fox 14. Anthony Johnson, huge fight, 30,000 seed arena. Can't wait. Thank you very much to Scott Coker, Belta R MMA president. June, January 16th, they are back. Announced a couple of fights. That was fun. Thank you very much to Claudia Gadalia.

Top contender at 115. Thank you very much to Edmund Tarverdian. Great stuff from him. Thank you very much to Roxanne. Maddaferi. Good luck to her on Friday. Thank you very much to Mark Lehman. Good luck to him on Saturday. The one and only. Good luck to him on Saturday. And of course, Eve Edwards, thank you very much to him. Thank you for all the great memories. Thank you for a tremendous career. It was a pleasure to cover you, my friend. Back next Monday, enjoy all the fights. You missed anything. iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Tilly, say, hey. Samadio. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder? With it

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